Godiva, Countess Of Mercia

Abt 979 - 1067  (~ 88 years)

• Name	Godiva, Countess Of Mercia
  Born	Abt 979	Mercia, England
  Gender	Female
  AFN	8XQ9-4D
  Died	4 Sep 1067
  Buried	Coventry, England
  Person ID	I26144	Smoky Mountain Ancestral Quest
  Last Modified	12 Jan 2001

  
  

  Father	Thorold, Sheriff Of Lincoln,   b. Abt 954, Of, Mercia, England
  Relationship	Disproved or Challenged
  Mother	Mrs-Thorold Of Lincoln,   b. Abt 959, Of, Mercia, England
  Relationship	Disproved or Challenged
  Family ID	F9617	Group Sheet

  
  

  Family	Leofric III, Earl Mercia,   b. 9 May 968, Mercia, England ,   d. 25 Aug 1057, Bromley, Stafford, England  (Age 89 years)
  Married	1029
  Children	+ 1. Alfgar III, Earl Mercia,   b. Abt 1001, Of, Mercia, England ,   d. 1058, Mercia, England  (Age ~ 57 years)   2. Hereward Of Mercia,   b. Abt 1003, Mercia, England
  Family ID	F9615	Group Sheet

  
  

• Notes

  Godiva, Lady (flourished about 1040-80), Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia (flourished 1005-57). She is known to have persuaded her husband to found monasteries at Coventry (1043) and Stow. According to legend, she obtained a reduction in the excessive taxes levied by her husband on the people of Coventry by consenting to ride naked through the town on a white horse. Only one person disobeyed her orders to remain indoors behind closed shutters; this man, a tailor known afterward as Peeping Tom, peered through a window and immediately became blind. The oldest form of the legend is in the 13th-century Flores Historiarum (Flowers of the Historians). A festival in her honor was instituted as part of Coventry Fair in 1678. ---------- Reference: "The World Book Encyclopedia", 1968, p G235. "Godiva, Lady," Microsoft (R) Encarta. Copyright (c) 1993 Microsoft Corporation. Copyright (c) 1993 Funk & Wagnall's Corporation