Godgifu: The Bare Truth Behind the Lady Godiva Legend

Many of you will be familiar with the legend of Lady Godiva, a medieval noblewoman who rode through the streets of Coventry naked, covered only by her long hair. The story goes that Godiva’s greedy husband was exacting punitive taxes on the townspeople, and she plead with him to lower them. He agreed, though on the absurd condition that she ride her horse naked through the town. Godiva defiantly called her husband’s bluff. To maintain her modesty, she issued a request that the residents of Coventry avert their eyes, though one man, a tailor named Tom, violated this request and was miraculously struck blind. So arose the phrase ‘peeping Tom’. The compassionate Godiva gained the triumph over her greedy husband and secured tax relief for the people of the town.

Less well known are the life and deeds of the real medieval woman on whom this story was based, who lived centuries before the fictitious legend of ‘Godiva’ was ever recorded. ‘Godiva’ is a Latinisation of the Old English name Godgifu. Godgifu, who lived from c.990-1067 was the wife of Earl Leofric of Mercia, and she was a major and influential female landholder in England before the Norman Conquest. Godgifu is perhaps less romantic, less miraculous, and less appealing to the male gaze than the iconic Lady Godiva - but she’s real. It’s time to revisit Godgifu’s life, her reputation, and her relationship to an eventual mythology that she never could have imagined.

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