Who is Lady Godiva?

When you say “Godiva” you may think of the Belgian chocolate brand, but actually Godiva is a 900-year-old British legend. Lady Godiva is a legitimate historical figure born in 990 AD. It is not known when She died, but it has been assumed to be between 1066 and 1086.

Lady Godiva was a noblewoman who was married to Leofric, the powerful Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry, who lived in the 11th century. She was a philanthropist and was known for her donations to churches.

The story began after Lady Godiva took a trip to the market.

He smiled at every face he saw as he walked through the stalls. He lingered when he saw a salesman crying. Then he heard a farmer say, “Leofric must love the poor because he creates many of them.”

He angrily walked up to the farmer and asked, “What do you mean? Leofric works all day and all night for Coventry and its people. ”

“You must mean the good of England and the good of the king,” said the farmer.

Lady became even angrier with the rising laughter and sarcasm;

“I understand your criticism of taxes. But you know every kingdom must have taxes? Otherwise, how does civilization work?

The farmer blushed because he realized who he was talking to.

He said, “Oh… oh my god. I am sorry. ”

He said you don’t need to apologize. I want to hear your honest opinion of my husband and his staff. All!”

“The taxes… I hate to mention it, however a number of us could not pay the taxes,” he said. And some of them are wrong. Like the Heregald Tax: This pays for the King’s personal protection. How does this help us? And why is fertilizer taxed? Our animals can’t stop doing what’s natural…”

The farmers laughed.

“Look at us, we pay taxes on our windows and our food. I have a family of five and the King taxes every foot of every sock. I’m not sure we can get socks! ”

Lady Godiva couldn’t take it anymore.

” You are absolutely right. This is an indefensible and unfair tax abuse. This must stop and this will stop. ”

The Lady was offended by the unfair taxes Leofric imposed on the citizens of Coventry. About a year had passed. She was discussing taxes with Leofric every night; she suggested new ways to stop the tax.

Then one hot summer evening, the arguments reached boiling point.

Leofric;

“I can’t just cancel,” he said. What will the king think of me? ”

Lady;

“Why do you care?” said. Can the thoughts and riches of one person be compared with the views and riches of thousands of people? ”

He said, “The king is extra than a person. And if that’s what you think, you have to prove to me that you care more about that than other people’s opinions. If you pass through naked town, I will cancel this tax. ”

“Then so be it,” said Lady Godiva “Tomorrow afternoon, while the solar is at its peak, I will trip thru city naked.”

Clever and prudent, Lady Godiva fled into town at sunrise to speak with the citizens. She asked everyone to lock their windows and not look at her as she walked through town.

There was no market that afternoon, no dogs barking, no children playing in the street. And Lady Godiva looked up proudly as she walked naked through the town. In every street he passed, curtains were drawn and doors were closed. The townspeople were true to their word.

And it is said that after she finished her journey, only two people had seen Lady Godiva: both suffered the consequences. Her husband had watched and then wrote to the king of his plan to change taxes, thus serving his sentence. The second is that a cheeky boy named Tom peeked through the keyhole to see him. Rumor has it that in some sources he was blinded there, and in some sources he was punished by being shot.

And so taxes were reduced.

This story of Lady Godiva, a real person from the 11th century, is legendary according to many historians.

Contemporaries of her life mention that “Godgifu” was one of the few female landowners in England in the 1000s. However, the story of horse riding without clothes is not mentioned in any written source of the period.

This story appeared 100 years after his death in a book written by Roger Wendover, an English monk who was known to stretch the truth in his writings.

Meanwhile, the legend of “Cheeky Tom” was added to the story in the 16th century,

And later have become a not unusual place time period for a voyeur.