The English city of Coventry has been famous for its beautiful legend since ancient times. She tells the wonderful story of Lady Godiva (or Godgifu, and there are from 50 to a hundred different spellings of this name). Everything supposedly happened in the middle of the eleventh century. In those days, England was ruled by Edward the Confessor, known for his extravagance and inability to manage the household. Since there was a shortage of money in the country, the king could not think of anything better than to raise taxes. Residents of different regions of England began to resent, because they were already paying a lot of money. Titled persons had the right to collect them. In Coventry it was Earl Leofric of Mercia, lord of the city and husband of Lady Godiva.
The legend also says that the citizens begged their overlord for a long time not to make them beggars, but he was as hard as flint. In the end, the kind and pious wife of the count also began to implore him in every possible way to have pity on his subjects. After another request, the lady's husbandGodiva told her in his hearts that it was as impossible for him as it was for her to ride a horse naked through the streets of the city, and that if her wife decided on such an act, then he would abolish cruel taxes. Unexpectedly for her husband, the woman agreed. She, as the legend says, sat naked on her beloved horse and rode through the streets of the city, and its inhabitants allegedly sat at home and did not show themselves outside. Only one of them, "peeping Tom", tried to look through the crack at this marvel, but immediately went blind. After that, Count Leofric, bound by the feudal word of honor, had to reduce taxes.
But how much truth is in this beautiful story? Is there any confirmation of Lady Godiva's efforts to reform the tax system in her hometown? This story itself relies on only one source - the monastery chronicle, which was written by a certain brother Roger Wendrover a hundred and fifty years later. No other information about the incident was found. As for the biography of the main character, Lady Godiva from Coventry really existed. Documents show that she first married at a very young age, and almost immediately became a widow. Around 1030, she became very ill and bequeathed her entire fortune to a monastery in the small town of Ili. But the woman managed to recover, and soon she married Count Leofric, already known to us. Since he was the lord of Coventry, the aristocrat moved there.
Historians also claim that both spouses were very devout and in every possible way donated funds to monasteries and churches. Some medievalists write that this was donedisinterestedly. For example, in 1043, the earl and his wife founded a Benedictine monastery near Coventry. As a rule, in such monasteries there were relics, to which pilgrims rushed. Indeed, after a while the city became very prosperous and ranked fourth in the country in terms of economic development. Maybe in connection with this, the count decided to raise taxes, wanting to also get his share of the total we alth? Moreover, the spouses did not spare land and money for the monastery. They were buried in it after death.
Be that as it may, but already in the 14th century, the English kings tried to find out if there was some truth in the legend, the heroine of which is Lady Godiva. Her story became very popular, and therefore specialists were convened to study various chronicle sources. They found confirmation that from 1057 to the seventeenth century, the inhabitants of the city were indeed exempt from some onerous taxes. But whether this was due to the beautiful horsewoman, or whether something else was the cause of this phenomenon, remains a mystery. On the other hand, the period of the 11th-12th centuries is a time in European history when many events are mentioned exclusively in the monastic chronicles. It is therefore possible that the legend of Lady Godiva is plausible. After all, why not?
