Lady Godiva

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Leofric was Earl of Mercia.  At some point he married a woman named Godgifu ("God's Gift") whose name has come to us as Godiva.  She is most famously known for her legendary ride while naked through Coventry to protest her husband's high taxes on the populace.  That this could have actually occurred is very doubtful.  It is not noted by any contemporary chronicler and it would have been quite newsworthy certainly.  The story is first recited about 200 years after her probable death.
 
Leofric was Earl of Mercia.  At some point he married a woman named Godgifu ("God's Gift") whose name has come to us as Godiva.  She is most famously known for her legendary ride while naked through Coventry to protest her husband's high taxes on the populace.  That this could have actually occurred is very doubtful.  It is not noted by any contemporary chronicler and it would have been quite newsworthy certainly.  The story is first recited about 200 years after her probable death.
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==Primary sources===
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*Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, G.N. Garmonsway (tr,ed). J.M.Dent Ltd, London 1972 (reprint 1992), pg 159 : "The Laud Chronicle (E) — 1036 [1035] (footnote: E has misplaced the vacant annal for 1036) In this year Cnut passed away at Shaftesbury, and he is buried in the Old Minster, Winchester.  Soon after his passing there was a meeting of all the councillors at Oxford, and earl Leofric and almost all the thanes to the north of the Thames, and [Cnut's] household troops in London, elected Harold as regent of all England...."
  
 
==Secondary sources==
 
==Secondary sources==

Revision as of 17:18, 14 August 2007

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