He is a lady husband than the city. The True Story of Lady Godiva. Legend of the Noble Savior

-) - Anglo-Saxon countess, wife of Leofric, earl (earl) of Mercia, who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England so that the earl, her husband, would reduce exorbitant taxes for his subjects.

Legend

According to legend, Godiva was the beautiful wife of Count Leofric. The count's subjects suffered from exorbitant taxes, and Godiva begged her husband to reduce the tax burden. One day at the next feast, being very drunk, Leofric promised to reduce taxes if his wife rode naked on a horse through the streets of Coventry. He was sure that this condition would be completely unacceptable to her. However, Godiva put her people above her own honor and pride and took this step. The inhabitants of the city, very loving and respecting her for her kindness, closed the shutters and doors of their houses on the appointed day, no one went out into the street. So unnoticed she drove through the whole city. The count was amazed at the dedication of the woman and kept his word by lowering taxes.

historical reality

Most likely, this legend has little to do with real events. The life of Leofric and Godiva is described in detail in the chronicles preserved in England. It is known that Leofric built a Benedictine monastery in 1043, which overnight turned Coventry from a small settlement into the fourth largest medieval English city. Leofric endowed the monastery with land and gave 24 villages into the possession of the monastery, and Lady Godiva gave such an amount of gold, silver and precious stones that no monastery in England could compare with him in wealth. Godiva was very pious and after the death of her husband, being on her deathbed, she transferred all his possessions to the church. Count Leofric and Lady Godiva were buried in this monastery. The chronicles are silent about the events described in the legend.

The story of the naked horsewoman was first mentioned by the envious of the fame and wealth of Coventry - the monk of the monastery of St. Alban Roger Wendrover in 1188; according to him, the events took place on July 10, 1040. In the future, popular rumor only supplemented this tradition. Later in the 13th century, King Edward I wanted to find out the truth about this legend. A study of the chronicles confirmed that in Coventry, although 17 years later, starting from 1057, the tax was indeed not levied. In the same year (August 31 or September 30) Count Leofric died. However, how these events are connected and whether they are connected at all is not clear.

Peeping Tom

According to some versions of the legend, only one resident of the city, "Peeping Tom" ( Peeping Tom), decided to look out of the window at the naked horsewoman - and at the same moment went blind.

The story about Tom has been known since 1586, when the council of the city of Coventry ordered Adam van Noort to depict the legend of Lady Godiva in the picture. After the order was completed, the painting was exhibited in the main square of Coventry. And the population mistakenly took Leofric, depicted in the picture, looking out the window, for a disobedient citizen.

Memories of Godiva

In 1678, the people of Coventry instituted an annual celebration in honor of Lady Godiva. This festival is held to this day. This is mainly carnival, where there is a lot of music, songs, and fireworks in the evening. Carnival participants dress in costumes of the 11th century. The procession starts from the ruins of the first cathedral and then follows the route laid by the once brave lady. The final part of the festival takes place in the city park near the monument to Lady Godiva. The music of that time sounds here and the participants of the holiday compete in various competitions, the most popular of which is the competition for the best Lady Godiva. This competition is attended by women dressed in the clothes of ladies of the eleventh century, and long golden hair is an indispensable condition for the competition.

Not far from the former Coventry Cathedral there is a monument - Lady Godiva with her hair flowing on horseback. The image of the monument is also placed on the seal of Coventry City Council.

The image of Lady Godiva is quite popular in art. Poems and novels are dedicated to her. The image is recreated in marble, on a tapestry, on the canvases of painters, in films, on TV and even on a wrapper of Godiva chocolate. Archaeologists have found stained glass windows depicting Lady Godiva, which are now in the preserved church of the first monastery founded by Leofric and Godiva. The asteroid (3018) Godiva was named after Lady Godiva.

In 1955, the American director Arthur Lubin made a full-length film based on the legend. Feature Film"Lady Godiva of Coventry". The main role in the film was played by Irish actress Maureen O'Hara, who was popular in the 1950s.

Write a review on the article "Lady Godiva"

Notes

Literature

Donoghue D.. - John Wiley & Sons, 2008. - 176 p. - ISBN 978-04-7077-701-5.

An excerpt characterizing Lady Godiva

“Eat, young lady countess,” she kept saying, giving Natasha one thing, then another. Natasha ate everything, and it seemed to her that she had never seen or eaten such cakes on yuraga, with such a bouquet of jams, nuts on honey, and such a chicken. Anisya Fyodorovna went out. Rostov and his uncle, washing down their dinner with cherry liqueur, talked about past and future hunting, about Rugai and the Ilaginsky dogs. Natasha, with sparkling eyes, sat straight up on the sofa, listening to them. Several times she tried to wake Petya to give him something to eat, but he said something incomprehensible, obviously not waking up. Natasha was so cheerful at heart, so happy in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon. After an accidental silence, as almost always happens with people who receive their acquaintances for the first time in their house, the uncle said, answering the thought that his guests had:
“So I’m living out my life… If you die, it’s a pure march—nothing will be left.” What a sin then!
Uncle's face was very significant and even beautiful when he said this. At the same time, Rostov involuntarily remembered everything that he had heard good things from his father and neighbors about his uncle. My uncle had a reputation throughout the whole neighborhood of the province as the noblest and most disinterested eccentric. He was called upon to judge family affairs, he was made an executor, secrets were trusted to him, he was elected judge and other positions, but he stubbornly refused public service, spending autumn and spring in the fields on his brown gelding, sitting at home in winter, lying in his overgrown summer garden.
- Why don't you serve, uncle?
- He served, but quit. I'm not fit, it's a clean march, I can't make out anything. It's your business, and I'm not smart enough. As for hunting, it's another matter, it's a pure march! Open that door, he shouted. - What did they shut up! - The door at the end of the corridor (which uncle called the kolidor) led to an idle hunting room: that was the name of the human for hunters. Bare feet quickly slapped and an invisible hand opened the door to the hunting room. From the corridor, the sounds of a balalaika were clearly audible, which was apparently played by some kind of master of this business. Natasha had been listening to these sounds for a long time and now went out into the corridor to hear them more clearly.
- This is my coachman Mitka ... I bought him a good balalaika, I love it, - said my uncle. - It was customary for my uncle that when he came home from hunting, Mitka would play the balalaika in the bachelor's hunting lodge. Uncle loved to listen to this music.
“How good, really excellent,” said Nikolai with some involuntary disdain, as if he was ashamed to admit that these sounds were very pleasant to him.
- How great? - Natasha said reproachfully, feeling the tone in which her brother said this. - Not great, but it's a charm, what is it! - Just like mushrooms, honey and uncle's liqueurs seemed to her the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm.
“More, please, more,” Natasha said at the door, as soon as the balalaika fell silent. Mitka tuned in and again valiantly rattled the Lady with busts and interceptions. Uncle sat and listened, his head tilted to one side with a slight smile. The motif of the Lady was repeated a hundred times. The balalaika was tuned several times and the same sounds rattled again, and the listeners did not get bored, but only wanted to hear this game again and again. Anisya Fyodorovna came in and leaned her fat body against the lintel.
“If you please listen,” she said to Natasha, with a smile very similar to her uncle’s smile. “He plays well with us,” she said.
“He’s doing something wrong in this knee,” my uncle suddenly said with an energetic gesture. - Here it is necessary to scatter - a clean march - scatter ...
– Do you know how? Natasha asked. Uncle smiled without answering.
- Look, Anisyushka, that the strings are intact, or something, on the guitar? I haven’t taken it in my hands for a long time - it’s a pure march! abandoned.
Anisya Fyodorovna willingly went with her light step to carry out her master's order and brought the guitar.
Uncle, without looking at anyone, blew off the dust, tapped the lid of the guitar with his bony fingers, tuned it, and straightened himself in his chair. He took (with a somewhat theatrical gesture, leaving the elbow of his left hand) the guitar above the neck and winking at Anisya Fyodorovna, he began not the Lady, but took one sonorous, clear chord, and measured, calmly, but firmly began to finish the well-known song at a very quiet pace: and ice pavement. At the same time, in time with that sedate joy (the same that Anisya Fyodorovna's whole being breathed), the motive of the song sang in the soul of Nikolai and Natasha. Anisya Fyodorovna blushed and, covering herself with a handkerchief, laughingly left the room. Uncle continued to cleanly, diligently and energetically firmly finish the song, looking with a changed inspired look at the place from which Anisya Fyodorovna had left. A little bit something laughed in his face on one side under a gray mustache, especially laughed when the song dispersed further, the beat accelerated and something came off in places of busts.
- Charm, charm, uncle; more, more, ”Natasha shouted as soon as he finished. She jumped up from her seat, hugged her uncle and kissed him. - Nikolenka, Nikolenka! she said, looking round at her brother and as if asking him: what is this?
Nikolai also really liked the uncle's game. Uncle played the song a second time. The smiling face of Anisya Fyodorovna appeared again at the door, and from behind her there were still other faces ... "Behind the cold key, she shouts: wait a girl!" my uncle played, again made a deft enumeration, tore it off and moved his shoulders.
“Well, well, my dear, uncle,” Natasha groaned in such an imploring voice, as if her life depended on it. Uncle stood up and as if there were two people in him - one of them smiled seriously at the merry fellow, and the merry fellow made a naive and neat trick before the dance.
- Well, niece! - shouted the uncle, waving his hand to Natasha, tearing off the chord.
Natasha threw off the handkerchief that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands on her hips, made a movement with her shoulders and stood.

Until now, the deed of Lady Godiva is praised in the UK. It consisted in the fact that a beautiful woman rode naked on a horse through the whole city in order to reduce taxes for ordinary people.

In this ancient history intertwined early Christianity and outgoing paganism. Who was the brave rider? How has her memory survived to this day? What makes one doubt the well-established legend of the beneficent lady? In the article we will try to answer these questions.

Legend of the Countess

According to legend, Lady Godiva's kindness was so strong that she could not endure the suffering of the common people of Coventry. The count of this city was her husband, who once again decided to increase taxes. The countess began to beg her husband to change his mind. In the next conversation, Earl Leofric said that he would fulfill her request only if he saw his wife ride a naked horse through the whole of Coventry.

The legend of Lady Godiva says that the heroine seized the opportunity to help people and decided to accept her husband's offer. On the appointed day and hour, she rode on horseback, covering her body only with luxurious golden hair. The townspeople at this time were in their homes with closed shutters.

The earl was forced to fulfill his promise and reduced taxes for the people of Coventry.

Real historical figure

The act of Lady Godiva, sung in legend, is associated with a real person. It is assumed that the count's wife lived in the XI century. Her husband was one of the most influential people in England and owned not only Coventry, but also vast territories in Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire.

The count, together with his wife, built a large Benedictine monastery in his city, giving him more than 20 villages and a lot of jewelry. After the death of her husband, the woman gave all the possessions of the count to the church.

As for the deed described in the legend, there is no mention of it in the sources of the 11th century. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle, as well as the “Book of the Last Judgment” by V. the Conqueror, is silent about the naked horsewoman. Lady Godiva, whose history is much disputed, is mentioned with her feat in 1236 in the records of an English monk. The source, which was written 2 centuries after the death of the heroine, indicates the date of her noble deed, namely July 10, 1040. In addition to this inconsistency in written sources, there are a number of other contradictions that are worth considering separately.

Contradictions in the legend

The story of the kind countess has its adherents and skeptics. Not everyone believes in its reality, despite the historical basis.

The main contradictions in the legend:

the wife of the count was very obedient to her husband, but at the same time she opposed him on the issue of taxes;
the townspeople revered the lady as a modest, chaste lady, and she rode naked through the whole city;
Lady Godiva came from an aristocratic family, and her immense sympathy ordinary people didn't fit the times.

Many have tried to understand the legend. For example, in the XIII century, the English king Edward the First tried to find out the whole truth. AT modern time English professor Daniel Donahue dealt with this issue. He argues that the legend is full of pagan rituals, moreover, it was the inhabitants of Coventry who from ancient times worshiped the pagan goddess, represented in the nude on a horse.

Representatives of the Christian church, most likely, replaced the pagan goddess with a real woman with a similar name and supplemented her pious image with a story about taxes.

Lady Godiva's act became famous in art and culture. Even those who do not believe in the legend are happy to celebrate the holiday that takes place annually in Coventry in honor of her.

Memory of the Lady of Coventry

In the city of Coventry, of course, they remember and honor the legend of their lady. Here is a monument with a naked horsewoman, and annual celebrations have been held since 1678. The legend glorified the city, so the locals support it and dress up in costumes of the 11th century on the day of honoring their patroness. At the monument, the best "Lady Godiva" is chosen, who must have long golden hair.

The image of a noble horsewoman in art:

"Lady Godiva" - painting by John Collier;
"Lady Godiva of Coventry" - a feature film by Arthur Lubin;
“Prayer of Lady Godiva” - painting by E. Landsier;
poem by Osip Mandelstam;
one of Freddie Mercury's songs.

7 843

The English legend of a beautiful lady who overcame her modesty for the sake of the well-being of ordinary citizens is known throughout the world. Researchers are divided into skeptics who believe that the story of Lady Godiva is a myth, and those who firmly believe in her veracity. But perhaps both camps are partly right. Be that as it may, in England they still praise the feat of a naked horsewoman ...

Legend of the Noble Savior

According to legend, the kind-hearted Lady Godiva could not look indifferently at the suffering of the inhabitants of the medieval English town of Coventry, whom her husband, Earl Leofric, once again raised taxes. She repeatedly turned to her husband with a plea to take pity and cancel the requisitions.

For a long time the count was adamant. Finally, tired of the requests, he angrily declared that he was ready to make concessions if she rode naked on horseback through the streets of the city for which she so passionately asked.

The count believed that the condition set was too humiliating and impracticable. However, Lady Godiva, having caught her husband at his word, decided on a crazy step. She rode out into Coventry Square, covering her nakedness with only her luxurious hair. The townspeople at the appointed hour stayed at home and closed the shutters on the windows. The legend mentions the tailor Tom, who looked at the rider through the crack in the door.

Painting by John Collier "Lady Godiva" (1898)

Heavenly punishment was instantaneous - he went blind.
The Count had no choice but to fulfill his promise. Lady Godiva for the people of Coventry became a heroine and a savior from an unbearable tax burden.

Real woman and historical inconsistencies

Lady Godiva, wife of Leofric, Count of Mercia, did indeed live in the 11th century. Her husband was one of the most influential people in England, close to the Anglo-Saxon king Edward the Confessor. Authorized by the monarch, he collected taxes from his subjects.

There remains evidence of the count's cruelty to non-payers, up to and including the death penalty.
In addition to Coventry, to which the legend refers us, a wealthy aristocratic family owned lands in Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. It is known that the spouses were actively engaged in the construction and repair of temples and chapels in their possessions.

In Coventry, they erected a priory, a huge Benedictine monastery, which occupied half of the medieval city, and gave him possession of 24 villages. The monastery chronicles describe Lady Godiva as a devout parishioner and generous patroness.

One gets the impression that contemporaries have not heard anything about the courageous act of Lady Godiva. The Anglo-Saxon chronicle, compiled before 1066, bypasses the extravagant departure of the count's wife in silence. There is not a word about him in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book, a detailed source of information about 11th-century England.

The first mention of a naked horsewoman appears in the records of Roger Wendrover, a monk of the monastery of St. Alban, only in 1236, or almost 200 years after the death of Lady Godiva. He even indicated the exact date of the event - July 10, 1040.

The painting by the artist Edmund Leighton depicts the moment when the lady makes her noble decision. 1892

At the end of the 13th century, King Edward I, being an inquisitive person, wanted to know the truth about the history of Lady Godiva and instructed to study the documents of a bygone era. Indeed, in 1057, some taxes in Coventry were abolished, which was an unprecedented case for those times. However, the difference of 17 years between the departure of the brave horsewoman and the actual date of the abolition of taxation made the inquisitive king doubt the veracity of the story.

The legend of Lady Godiva is filled with contradictions. The lady is obedient to her husband, but boldly seeks the abolition of taxes. She rides naked through the streets of the city, but in the minds of the townspeople she remains modest and highly moral. She is from the ruling class and yet sympathizes with the plight of the common people.

Professor of English literature Daniel Donahue claims that the myth developed over the centuries and was based on the life of a real woman, who may have helped the common people. However, this myth lay on the fertile ground of ancient folklore legends and pagan rites. The legend of Lady Godiva appealed to the inhabitants of Coventry, because from time immemorial they worshiped a naked pagan goddess on a horse.

Monument to Godiva in the center of Coventry.

ancient goddess

Before the Norman invasion, the Angles, the Mercians, lived to the north of present-day Coventry, and the Saxons, the Hwicke, lived to the south. It is with the latter that the appearance of the word "wicca" is associated - a pagan sorceress. By the way, in the official title of count

Leofric, he was also referred to as "Lord of the Hwikki".
The Khvikki's supreme goddess of fertility was Koda, or Goda. This ancient name is found in many geographical names in the area southwest of Coventry. During excavations in the village of Veginton on the southern outskirts of Coventry, archaeologists discovered a temple of the goddess Goda. In the north there is a settlement of Koda. It has been suggested that an entire region, the Cotswolds, is named after this goddess.

Coventry, isolated among the forests, far from major cities and main roads, was an ideal place for the preservation of pagan culture for several centuries after the adoption of Christianity. It is now generally accepted that the toponym "Coventry" comes from the name of the sacred tree Kofa, which was worshiped by the locals and near which pagan rituals were performed.

Every year, in the middle of summer, in honor of the goddess Goda, mysteries were arranged with a procession in which a naked priestess, personifying the goddess, rode around the city on horseback and headed to the sacred tree, where she was honored and sacrificed by young men and horses.

Christianization of a pagan holiday

The Anglo-Saxon pagan cult lasted a very long time. Even after the construction of the monastery of St. Osburgh in the 10th century and the Benedictine abbey in 1043, annual pagan processions and sacrificial rites continued. Failing to ban the pagan holiday, the monks very wisely replaced the pagan goddess with a real pious woman with a consonant name, and here the tax story came in handy. In fact, the monks changed the meaning of the holiday - instead of a pagan cult, the worship of a believing Christian, almost a holy woman, began.

A turning point in the minds of the inhabitants of Coventry occurred around the 12th century. The pagan Goda was forgotten, Lady Godiva was revered, the processions continued, but they no longer had anything to do with paganism.

The figure of the peeping Tom in this talented substitution is interesting. In paganism, Tom was associated with the young man who was sacrificed to the goddess. The monks, on the other hand, managed to make an odious figure of a punished sinner out of a curious tailor.
Undoubtedly, the ecclesiastical authorities have chosen the most Right way the fight against paganism, which was too strong to be eliminated overnight. They managed to transform the worship of the pagan goddess into the worship of a good Christian woman, while omitting all the unwanted details from the past.

Festivals and festive processions in Coventry continue to this day. They are dedicated to Lady Godiva, and her name has become a brand and part of the history of the city. Whether this story is made up or real, the modern inhabitants of Coventry do not care. Every year, like their ancestors many centuries ago, they gladly go to the main square of the city to pay homage to their protector and patroness - a naked woman on horseback.

The Peeping Tom detail is said to have originated in 1586, when the Coventry city council commissioned Adam van Noort to depict the legend of Lady Godiva in a painting. After the order was completed, the painting was exhibited in the main square of Coventry. And the population mistakenly took Leofric, depicted in the picture, looking out the window, for a disobedient citizen.

Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836-1911) Lady Godiva.

E. Landsier. Prayer of Lady Godiva. 1865

Leofric endowed the monastery with land and gave twenty-four villages into the possession of the monastery, and Lady Godiva gave such an amount of gold, silver and precious stones that no monastery in England could compare in wealth. Godiva was very pious and after the death of her husband, being on her deathbed, she transferred all his possessions to the church. Count Leofric and Lady Godiva were buried in this monastery.
However, the chronicles are silent about the events described in the legend.

The image of Lady Godiva is quite popular in art. Poems and novels are dedicated to her. The image is recreated, on a tapestry, on the canvases of painters.

Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1904) Lady Godiva.

Equestrian statue of Lady Godiva, John Thomas Maidstone Museum, Kent, England.19th century.

Marshall Claxton 1850 Lady Godiva.

Alfred Woolmer 1856 Lady Godiva.

Salvador Dali.Lady Godiva.

clip_image012clip_image012
Lady Godiva "with a flowing red mane" is mentioned by Osip Mandelstam in a poem. I was only childishly connected with the sovereign world ...

Lady Godiva is mentioned by Sasha Cherny in the poem "City Fairy Tale" ("...stan, like Lady Godiva's")

Lady Godiva is mentioned by Joseph Brodsky in “Lithuanian Nocturne” (“At midnight, all speech / acquires the grip of a blind man; so that even the “fatherland” feels like Lady Godiva”)

Lady Godiva is mentioned by Boris Grebenshchikov in the song “Steel” (“Well, if someone is not already but already / And the soul is like that lady riding in a negligee”

Freddie Mercury mentions Lady Godiva in the song Don't Stop Me Now: "I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva".

The famous Belgian chocolate owes its name to the beautiful legend of Lady Godiva, which in Belgium is still told to children at Christmas.
Chocolate "Godiva" is the official supplier of the Belgian royal court, it is served at the official ceremonies of the Cannes Film Festival.

Archaeologists have found stained glass windows depicting Lady Godiva, which are now in the preserved church of the first monastery founded by Leofric and Godiva.

Surely everyone has heard of Lady Godiva. A brave woman decided to ride naked through the streets of the city on horseback in order to exempt its inhabitants from taxes. In Britain, this character is so popular that all the inhabitants are confident in the reality of the legend, whose actions date back to the beginning of the 11th century. In fact, Lady Godiva took off all her clothes for the common good - let's try to figure it out in this review.

Legend has it that Lady Godiva was the beautiful wife of Count Leofric (968-1057). Her husband did not deny himself the pleasure of imposing excessive taxes on the inhabitants of the city of Coventry. Out of compassion for the people, Lady Godiva begged the Count several times to lower taxes. Tired of her perseverance, Leofric said in his hearts: if his wife agrees to ride a horse through the streets of the city naked, then he will cancel taxes. Lady Godiva decided to take this step and, hiding behind only her hair, left for the city. At this time, all the inhabitants were sitting at home with closed shutters, and only the tailor Tom tried to peep through the keyhole. The Lord punished him, and the guy immediately went blind. And the count had to keep his promise.

For the first time, the monk Roger Wendrover mentions this event in his chronicle in 1188, more than 100 years after the death of Lady Godiva. He even indicates the exact date of the event - July 10, 1040. Each subsequent century, the legend was overgrown with new “details” of the feat of Lady Godiva.

The legend of Lady Godiva was so popular that in the 13th century the English king Edward I decided to find out the whole truth about such an extraordinary event. According to authoritative chronicles, in 1057 (17 years later than the date declared by the monk Roger), taxes were indeed abolished in Coventry. But none of the official chronicles mentions a naked lady.

According to the real life stories of Lady Godiva and Leofric, in 1043 the earl built a Benedictine monastery in Coventry, to which he gave possession of 24 villages. Lady Godiva, being very pious, made generous donations to the church, and before her death she gave all her lands to the monastery. The count and his wife were buried in the same monastery.

Some researchers find the clue to the naked horsewoman in pagan folklore. Until the invasion of Britain by the Normans, the territory of Coventry was occupied by a tribe of Angles - the Mercians, who worshiped the goddess Gode. Every year in the middle of summer, honors were paid to the goddess and processions were organized, which were led by a naked priestess on a horse, personifying the God.

In turn, Catholic priests, who could not eradicate pagan beliefs, as a rule, adjusted them to the canons of the church. Therefore, the image of a pagan deity was associated with the pious and compassionate Lady Godiva, who achieved the abolition of taxes. People's rumors only "polished" the legend.
From 1678 to the present, the people of Coventry have held a costume festival in honor of Lady Godiva.
Great Britain is a country with incredible rich history and traditions. On its territory remained

I have heard many legends in my life, but this one stuck with me. An amazing story that is almost a thousand years old. It happened in a small British town, where I visit more often than in Moscow.

In the UK, even the smallest town has its own history. The British are amazing people in this regard, they are not just proud of this or that event that happened to them, they live it.
There is a small town not far from Birmingham, about which I have already told you many times. I am there, only for last year I've been there 6 times, and this year I've been 3 times and I'm going again. I have my reasons for that, but that's not the point now.

The main pride and legend of this small town is Lady Godiva. Here is her story:
According to legend, Godiva was the beautiful wife of Count Leofric. The count's subjects suffered from exorbitant taxes, and Godiva begged her husband to reduce the tax burden. Once at the next feast, being very drunk, Leofric promised to reduce taxes if his wife rode naked on a horse through the streets. He was sure that this condition would be completely unacceptable to her. However, Godiva put her people above her own honor, pride, and took this step. The inhabitants of the city, very loving and respecting her for her kindness, closed the shutters and doors of their houses on the appointed day, no one went out into the street. So unnoticed she drove through the whole city. The count was amazed at the dedication of the woman and kept his word by lowering taxes.

What is surprising in this story, in my opinion, is that the act itself and the acceptance of it by the people have the same value and complement each other with respect.

1. In the city center, on the main square, there is a monument to Lady Godiva:

2. As the legend says, Godiva sits naked on a horse:

In 1678, the people of Coventry instituted an annual celebration in honor of Lady Godiva. This festival is held to this day. This is mainly a carnival, where there is a lot of music, songs, and fireworks in the evening. Carnival participants dress in costumes of the 11th century. The procession starts from the ruins of the first cathedral and then goes along the route laid by the once brave lady. The final part of the festival takes place in the city park near the monument to Lady Godiva.

3. Blue ribbons tied to the sculpture speak of a recent holiday:

4. If you go a little further than the square, you can get to the building of the city cultural center Herbert. Entrance, like almost all museums and galleries in the UK, is free:

5. The gallery has a separate room dedicated to Lady Godiva:

6. Basically, paintings by different artists and eras are exhibited here, which depict the famous Godiva. This painting by artist John Collier (John Collier) 1898:

7. In the same room, along with great artists, drawings of ordinary children who study in Coventry are exhibited. Amazing and very touching.

9. F.A. Phillips 1902:

10. Lady Godiva by Marshal Claxton 1850:

11. The image of Lady Godiva is quite popular in art. Poems and novels are dedicated to her. The image has been recreated in marble, on a tapestry, on paintings by painters, in films, on TV, and even on a wrapper of Godiva chocolate. On my way to the UK, I had a layover in Brussels. I bought a tile specifically for this post:

12. Godiva is depicted on each slice of chocolate. It tastes very good too:

13. It is clear that Belgian chocolate:

In 1955, American director Arthur Lubin made a feature-length feature film based on the legend, Lady Godiva of Coventry. The main role in the film was played by Irish actress Maureen O'Hara, who was popular in the 1950s. It can be found and viewed online.

This is such a wonderful story. Well, I'm going to visit again