LADY GODIVA’S RIDE

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 October 1939, Page 8

LADY GODIVA’S RIDE

IS THE STORY TRUE? The story of Lady Godiva’s ride on a white palfrey through the streets of Coventry, in a state of nudity, has been celebrated by ballad makers, poets, painters, and sculptors, says a writer in the Melbourne “Age.” Lady Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who taxed the people of Coventry so harshly that they came to her and begged her to intercede with her lord. She did so, and scornfully he offered to repeal taxation if she rode naked through the town. Is the story true or false? One objection to it is that in the eleventh century in which Lady Godiva lived there was no town of Coventry. But there may have been a periodical market there, close to the monastery founded by Lady Godiva and her husband. She was a very pious woman, and gave large benefactions to the Abbey church at Coventry. The first written account of the story of her ride in order to bring relief to the people is _ given by the chronicler, Roger of Windover. He reports her as begging the relief of the “villa” of Coventry from a heavy bondage of toll. Leofric replied, “Mount your horse naked and pass through the market of the villa from one end to the other, when the people are assembled, and on your return you will obtain what you ask.” The chronicler states that she “just loosened her hair, thus veiling her body, and then mounting. her horse and attended by two knights, she rode through the market, seen of none, her white legs nevertheless appearing, and having completed her journey, returned to her husband rejoicing.” This account was written about 1230 (nearly 150 years after the death of Lady Godiva). Another account, written about 1307, omits reference to two knights escorting Lady Godiva, and declares that no one saw her because by a miracle she was invisible to human eyes. Her proclamation that all people should keep within doors and shut their windows when she rode through the town was first mentioned in a ballad about 1650. Not till 1732 was there any mention of one man having disobeyed her injunction, and not till 1767 was it suggested that he had been punished by being struck blind. In 1782 he was referred to as “a certain taylor,” and another account states that he was one of Lady Godiva’s grooms. The name Peeping Tom, given to this discreditable individual, occurs first in the official records of Coventry on July 11, 1773, when a new wig and fresh paint, were supplied for his effigy. The effigy, which is carved in oak, originally stood in Green Friars Lane, but was removed to Hertford Street, where it now stands. It is said that this effigy originally represented St. George, the Patron Saint of England. The official records of Coventry show that a Godiva procession first became a feature of Coventry Fair on May 31, 1678, and that it continued to appear at the fair regularly until 1826. Since then a Godiva procession has been revived at Coventry from time to time, and other towns in England have copied it in connection with celebrations of their own. In the seventeenth century the part of Lady Godiva was taken by boys. It will be seen from the facts given that at best there is only a modicum of truth in the story, and that embellishments have been added “in order to give verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvicing narrative.” But in Coventry, where a movement is now on foot to erect a public statue to Lady Godiva, everybody has to believe in the story—or pretend to. In the great hall of the guild hall at Coventry there is a small statue of Lady Godiva, and there is another one in the room of the Mayoress. Mr. H. V. Morton, who visited Coventry when gathering material for his book, “In Search of England,” does not commit himself to belief or disbelief in the story, but he quotes a high official at Coventry as saying to him:—“l don’t believe it happened. But don’t mention my name or I shall be driven from the city.” We know Lady Godiva lived and founded a religious house here. Her name was, therefore, respected. It was not until 150 years after she died that we have any documentary evidence of the ride. There is no contemporary reference to it. Now. as Sir James Frazer points out in his book, “The Golden Bough,” the ride of a naked or bough-clad woman on a white horse occurs in the folk lore of many heathen people. I suppose it had something to do with heathen sacrifice. I believe that Godiva’s famous ride is nothing more than an ancient folk tradition, coming down from remote heathen times. What would be more obvious than for tale makers to link up the legend with the naked woman on the white horse? However, we can prove nothing.