The date of appearance of Coventry, probably, can be considered the 7th century - the time of the founding of an Anglo-Saxon monastery on this land. But only the construction of the Benedictine abbey in the 11th century by Leofricus, Count of Mercia, gave the first impetus to the development of the city. Not a single story about Coventry can do without the famous legend, the main character of which is Lady Godiva (Godiva is the Latinized form of the Old English name Godgifio, which means "a gift from God"; there are 17 different spellings of her name).
In the middle of the 11th century, the pious wife of the Count of Mercia was highly celebrated as the patroness of several monasteries. But such is the irony of fate, today she is remembered only thanks to the legendary horseback ride, which, by the way, she most likely did not make.
The legend of Lady Godiva riding a horse in the costume of Eve through the streets of Coventry is one of the most popular folk stories, the city is simply flooded with postcards, souvenirs and statues with this plot. Of course, today we are interested in: did this extraordinary woman really exist and how true is the legend about her revolutionary way of fighting tax increases?
What do the legends of Lady Godiva say?
In those days, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England, Edward the Confessor, ruled. He, like many other monarchs, always lacked money, and he replenished the treasury, frankly, not in the most original way - by raising taxes. The same Earl of Mercia was obliged to ensure that the money was promptly collected in Coventry and the surrounding area and delivered to its destination.
Like most of Edward the Confessor's subjects, the people of Coventry already suffered from excessively high taxes. And so, when, one not the most successful day, they were informed about the increase in the already prohibitively high taxes, the townspeople began to ask the count for mercy. However, all the pleas of their overlord Leofric ignored, and refused requests to alleviate the plight of the population, not even paying attention to the fact that new taxes threatened the inhabitants of Coventry with ruin.
So, instead of helping the townspeople, a refusal was given. At this tense moment, Leofric's very religious wife intervened. The Countess once again decided to intercede for her fellow countrymen. Overwhelmed with compassion for the desperate people of Coventry, she asked her husband to lift the burdensome extortion. However, the Count did not like her intercession. And then, annoyed, perhaps by her insistence, in order to teach his wife a lesson, the count offered her the following: "Your request will be granted if you ride naked on a horse through the city from end to end."
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The count expected his wife, in horror and confusion, to refuse intercession - it was unthinkable for a woman of her rank to agree to such an offer. But she, to his surprise, gave her consent. The next morning, stripping naked and covering her nakedness with only her loose hair, Lady Godiva saddled her horse and rode through the market square.
The famous English poet Alfred Tennyson described this event as follows:
… she hastily got up
Upstairs, to her chambers, she unbuttoned
Orlov belt buckle - gift
Harsh spouse - and for a moment
Slowed down, pale as a summer month, Half-closed by a cloud … But immediately
She shook her head and, dropping
Almost to the toes a wave of heavy hair, She quickly threw off her clothes, sneaked
Down the oak stairs - and left, Gliding like a ray among the columns to the gate
Where was her favorite horse, All in purple, with red coats of arms.
She set off on it - like Eve, Like a genius of chastity. And froze
Barely breathing with fear, even air
In the streets where she rode …
After such a count, there was no choice but to fulfill the request of his wife.
This is how Lady Godiva entered history as a unique tax reformer on horseback, or so it is commonly believed. Over time, the legend has acquired more and more new, sometimes piquant, details.
According to one of the versions, during Lady Godiva's passage through the square, the embarrassed townspeople did not raise their eyes at her (it is somehow hard to believe, knowing human nature, even medieval).
According to another, she told the residents of Coventry to sit at home behind closed shutters (it is also not very hard to believe that absolutely everyone obeyed) on the morning when she was going to drive through the streets, and thus saved herself from the offensive glances of commoners.
According to the third, it was impossible to see the countess's body, because it was hidden under the opaque veil sent down by God.
And in the end, there is an assumption that Godiva's nudity was symbolic - there were no precious jewelry and attributes of power on her dress while driving through the market square, which was unacceptable for noble people according to the customs of that time.
As for taxes, there are lines in the ancient ballad where it is said how the discouraged and disgraced earl canceled all extortions levied on the inhabitants of Coventry, with the exception of the tax on the maintenance of horses. Chronicles testify that up to the 17th century, the city actually boasted such a tax-free status.
However, historians still added a fly in the ointment, claiming that they could not find any evidence of contemporaries of this at least resonant trip.
However, archaeologists have discovered stained glass windows depicting Lady Godiva, which are now in the surviving church of the first monastery founded by Leofric and Godiva. True, on these stained-glass windows the legendary lady is depicted in a full dress.
In the 16th and early 17th centuries, another character was added to the story. A tailor named Tom is said to have disobeyed the countess's orders. He clung to the crack in his window shutter and peeped at the lady. The voyeur was punished by God - Tom suddenly went blind, and Alfred Tennyson in his poetic work "Godiva" also mentions him:
… There was someone
Whose baseness gave rise to this day
Proverb: he made a crack in the shutter
And I really wanted, all in awe, to cling to her, How his eyes were clothed in darkness
And flowed out.
The deservedly punished tailor was the inspiration for the expression Peeping Tom. By the way, there is an opinion that the following amazing series of events served as the reason for the appearance of the character "Peeping Tom". 1586 - The city council of Coventry commissioned the artist Adam van Noort (1562-1641) to depict events from the legend of Lady Godiva. He did so, but put in the picture in the window opening Leofric, looking at the Countess passing by. For reasons unknown, the city fathers exhibited the painting in the main square of Coventry, and the population mistakenly thought that Leofric was a disobedient citizen; so there was an addition to this plot.
Historical accounts of Lady Godiva
And what is said in a reliable historical chronicle? Is there any truth in this mysterious story?
The story of the naked horsewoman was first mentioned by the monk of St. Alban's Monastery Roger Vendrover in 1188 in the book "Flores Historiarum", and according to it it happened on July 10, 1040. The author probably used some now lost source. And perhaps he himself decided to glorify this amazing woman in this way. Subsequent chroniclers invariably adorned the spicy history with new details. Today, English historians, while agreeing that the Countess is a real historical character, still doubt the credibility of the legend about her peculiar intercession for her countrymen.
According to documents, the Countess was a wonderful woman in all respects - kind-hearted and generous - and patronized the arts. Lady Godiva actually lived in England at Coventry in the middle of the eleventh century. Historians say that in about 1028 (according to one version - in 1030), being by this time a wealthy widow, she became seriously ill and, believing that her death hour was near, bequeathed all her rather solid state to a monastery in the town of Ili (testament stored in the Coventry archives). However, they managed to cope with the disease, and after some time Godiva married an Anglo-Saxon aristocrat, Earl of Mercia and Lord Coventry, Leofric III.
The powerful Count of Mercia was also no stranger to lofty matters. Soon, in 1043, the count and the countess founded a monastery of the Benedictine order in Coventry, one of the cities that were in the possession of the count. Leofric allotted land to the monastery and gave 24 villages to the monastery. The monastery transformed Coventry overnight from a small settlement into the fourth largest medieval English town. On October 4, the monastery church was consecrated with the names of St. Peter, St. Osburg, All Saints and the Virgin Mary, in whom the Countess believed infinitely. Later, thanks to her gifts - gold and jewelry - the monastery church became one of the richest in England.
The Countess outlived her spouse by 10 years and was a powerful and pious ruler. After the death of her husband, the countess continued to patronize the churches, supported at least half a dozen more monasteries. She was very devout and donated land and money to the church. After death, both Count Leofric and Lady Godiva were buried in the monastery they built. But all these details of the biography of a noble aristocrat are known today only to medieval historians. And descendants revere the famous legend with awe.
Later (in the XIII century), King Edward I wished to find out the truth about this legend. A study of the annals confirmed that no tax was actually levied at Coventry in 1057 and later. But is this fact a reliable proof of the reality of the events described in the legend?
The mythological roots of the legend
The legends of the Countess may have mythological roots in one of the pagan rituals associated with fertility. Mysteries involving female priestesses can be found in many pre-Christian cultures (often the priests were naked or dressed in special robes). This also happened among the Celts. Rites related to land, harvest, fertility were common among the Druids. Most likely, echoes of ancient beliefs and customs that have existed for centuries on this land are reflected in the legend of the Countess.
Image of Lady Godiva of Coventry
Not far from the former Coventry Cathedral there is a large monument - Lady Godiva with her hair loose on horseback. The image of the monument also appears on the seal of the Coventry City Council. Statues of various sizes of the famous horsewoman and the "Peeping Tom" adorn the city in dozens.
1678 - in honor of the legendary countess, the inhabitants established an annual festival that has survived to this day. In Coventry, the legendary trip of Godiva was also staged for the first time - the role of the countess was played by a boy. The performance was repeated periodically until 1907, until the attire, or rather the lack of it in the performer of the role of Godiva, became the subject of public gossip.
And in 1907 this reprehensible act was stopped. Now this holiday is a carnival with a lot of music, songs, fireworks. Carnival participants dress in 11th century costumes. The procession starts from the ruins of the first cathedral and then follows the route laid out by the once beautiful lady. The final part of the festival takes place in the city park near the monument to Lady Godiva.
The music of those times sounds here and the participants of the festival compete in various competitions, the most popular of which is the competition for the best Godiva. This competition is attended by women dressed in ladies' dresses of the 11th century, an indispensable condition for the competition is the presence of long golden hair.
In the 19th century, two European playwrights incorporated the story of Lady Godiva into their plays. In the play Monna Vanna, Maurice Maeterlinck, winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize in Literature, transformed Lady Godiva into an Italian noble lady. For the sake of saving her native Pisa from hunger, she yields to the demands of a voluptuous enemy general and appears in his camp, covering her naked body with a cape.
Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler created an image similar to Godiva in the play "Fraulein Else". Having received the order to appear naked in front of the man on whom the life of her father depended, the heroine was unable to resolve the conflict between modesty and love for her father. Elsa chose to commit suicide.
The image of Lady Godiva is quite popular in art. Pre-Raphaelite artists often turned to him. The protector of the Coventry residents was recreated in marble, on canvases, in films.
1966 - Lady Godiva's name suddenly flashed on the front pages of newspapers due to absolutely incredible circumstances. Published in the same year, Debrett's Book of Peers, a detailed guide on who is who among the English aristocracy, a new perspective was expressed on the lineage of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen, among whose ancestors, as has long been known, was William the Conqueror, according to the compilers of the reference book, was also - in the 31st generation - a descendant of Harold, the monarch deposed by William.
After the defeat and death of her father in the battle of Hastings on October 14, 1066, Harold's daughter fled to the continent, where she married Vladimir Monomakh, the Grand Duke of Kiev. Their descendants can be traced back to several European royal dynasties. One of them returned to England during the reign of Edward II Plantagenet, king who was brutally murdered in prison in 1327.
Meticulous readers of Debrett's Book of Peers have traced the pedigree of Vladimir Monomakh's wife: her great-great-grandfather was none other than Leofric, who supposedly sent his pious wife on horseback riding in the nude through the streets of Coventry. Thus, Queen Elizabeth can claim to have her ancestry, among other greats, and from Lady Godiva.
By the way, in 2003, one fine day, a modern lady Godiva in exactly the same attire, or rather without him, rode up on a horse in broad daylight to the residence of the Prime Minister of Great Britain on Downing Street. She was accompanied by a number of women demanding tax breaks from the government for working parents who had to hire nannies. It is not known whether the government made concessions, but this case itself may indicate that the British do not forget about the beautiful Lady Godiva.
Also in honor of the legendary countess, the asteroid 3018 - Godiva was named. And oddly enough it sounds, but sometimes clothing stores get their name in honor of Lady Godiva.
Maria Zgurskaya