Lady Godiva
(d.1067)

woman, Lady, and Lady of Coventry (until 1067)

Died aged unknown

Lady Godiva (/ɡəˈdaɪvə/; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English Godgifu, was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries. Today, she is mainly remembered for a legend dating back to at least the 13th century, in which she rode naked – covered only in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation that her husband, Leofric, imposed on his tenants. The name "Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend, in which a man named Thomas watched her ride and was struck blind or dead.

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Commemorated on 3 plaques

Lady Godiva Clock At every hour the clock at the top of this tower sets in motion in the openings below, puppets recalling the legend of Lady Godiva's famous ride naked through Coventry. Peeping Tom, the tailor who disobeyed her command to stay behind closed shutters is seen to look out of an upper window and is stricken with blindness.

Hertford Street Shopping, Broadgate, Coventry, United Kingdom where they is commemorated

You are standing upon the site of three ancient edifices. On the summit of Hill Top (approximately on this site) a convent was established about the year 650 A.D. by a Saxon lady, later canonised under the name of St Osburg + + The convent was destroyed by the Danes when they ravaged Mercia in 1016 A.D. + + + Twentyseven years later (1043A.D.) a Benedictine Abbey Church was built on the same ground by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his Countess Godiva. Leofric and Godiva are said to have been buried respectively in the two porches which stood nearly on this spot. + + + Here about 1140 A.D. was commenced the building of the Benedictine Priory Church or Cathedral of St Mary which was completed about 1220 A.D. and demolished subsequent to 1539 A.D. It possessed three spires and a central tower. + + + Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

8 Priory Row, Coventry, United Kingdom where they was

Godiva, Lady of Coventry (died 10th September 1067) and her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia (died 28th September 1057) were buried here in the church of Benedictine monastery they founded in 1043 on the site of St Osburg's nunnery, sacked by the Danes in 1016. The Saxon church, which became Coventry's first Cathedral in 1102, was replaced in the 13th century by a great church, destroyed at the Dissolution in 1539. The remains of the west end are here exposed to view: vestiges of the east and adjoin the present cathedral. No traces of the Saxon buildings have yet been discovered.

3-5 Priory Row - Priory Gardens, Coventry, United Kingdom where they was buried here in the church of Benedictine monastery (1067)