• Travelsignposts Home
  • Country Guides
  • City Guides
  • River Cruises
  • Europe Photos
  • About Us

England Travel

  • Home
  • Photos
  • Map
  • Weather
  • Site Map
  • Destinations
  • Sightseeing
  • Shopping
  • Food
  • Getting around
  • Useful facts
  • News & Events
You are here: Home / Sightseeing / Seeing Lady Godiva on Her Horse in Coventry

Seeing Lady Godiva on Her Horse in Coventry

By Helen Page Leave a Comment

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

She Took the Tax Away and Built Herself an Everlasting Name :

Lady Godiva in Coventry © Travel Signposts..

Our stop at Coventry Cathedral gave us the opportunity to pay a visit to Lady Godiva.  Whilst the thought of a beautiful young woman riding naked on a horse, with only her with long tresses to cover her modesty, still fires the imagination of many people, do many remember why she did it?

Lady Godiva Legend

Lady Godiva was an Anglo-Saxon noble woman whose husband, Leofric, was the Earl of Coventry. According to popular legend, her husband was a nasty piece of work and taxed his people heavily. Lady Godiva felt sorry for the people of Coventry who were suffering under her husband’s oppressive taxes. She appealed to her husband again and again, but he steadfastly refused to reduce the taxes.

There are many versions to this legend, and in the one told to us today, Lady Godiva’s  husband said he would reduce the punitive taxes if she would mount a white steed and ride naked through the city of Coventry.  Lady Godiva made the self-sacrifice and agreed to ride naked through the city, but on condition that all the people would lock themselves indoors and not look. It’s at this point that the guys in the audience pipe up “so why bother”.

According to this version of the legend, all the citizens in town obeyed and stayed indoors, all except a curious tailor who has since become known as Peeping Tom. He could not resist seeing Lady Godiva riding naked on her horse and decided to peek through a keyhole.  Just when he did, a flash of sunlight reflected off a glass into the keyhole and blinded Peeping Tom.

In the end, Lady Godiva’s husband agrees to abolish the onerous taxes and hence the words by Tennyson “Then she rode back clothed on with chastity…… She took the tax away and built herself an everlasting name.”

Everlasting fame she has certainly achieved as up till today, many songs and poems have been written about her and paintings as well.  The Herbert Gallery and Museum has displays on this 11th century legend.

Although the story of her horse-ride may be a legend, Lady Godiva and her influence were definitely real. Lady Godiva lived in the 11th century and her charity and power are well documented in history.

The city of Coventry holds a Godiva Festival in July each year to celebrate its historic connection with Lady Godiva. This free weekend of music and entertainment includes a Godiva procession through the streets Coventry’s War Memorial Park.

Click here to get a free PDF of this post

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Sightseeing Tagged With: lady godiva, lady godiva coventry, lady godiva history, lady godiva horse, the lady godiva

avatar

About Helen Page

Helen Page is a prolific blogger and ardent traveller; she runs Travelsignposts with her professional writer and photographer husband Tony.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You can also find us on

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Latest Additions

  • Cambridge: A Vibrant City for Everyone, Not Just Students
  • Visit Portsmouth and Discover England in Miniature
  • Brighton – The Coolest City in the UK
  • Liverpool- “A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All”
  • Guernsey – A Little Bit of Heaven in the Channel Islands

Plan and Book Your Trip


eNews and Updates

feedburner Sign up now to get emailed news as well as other site updates!

Get the Guerrilla Travel Photography ebook here now!
City Guides
Country Guides
River Cruises

Who is behind Travelsignposts?

Helen and Tony Page at Singapore Changi Airport

We're Helen and Tony Page, and we love travelling - lucky as we've been doing it for the last few decades!

Tony has long been a professional photographer and writer, but Helen now writes most of the posts and takes a lot of photos herself!

Travelsignposts is our main travel planning site, but we've just launched Travelsignposts China and Tony also runs the Travelsignposts Photo and Guerrilla Travel Photography web sites, as well as publishing the Take Better Digital Photos and Guerrilla Travel Photography eBooks.

Read more about Helen and Tony or contact them.

Other Countries

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Devon & Cornwall
  • England 2
  • Estonia
  • Europe (General)
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Netherlands
  • Norway
  • Portugal
  • Scotland
  • Spain
  • Switzerland
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

Resources

  • Take Better Digital Photos eBook Take Better Digital Photos eBook
  • Take Better Digital Photos Free eCourse
  • Travel Signposts Photo – our main travel photography site
  • Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook Guerrilla Travel Photography eBook

Copyright © 2022 ·Lifestyle Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress · Log in

Get a free PDF of this post!
Just enter your email address below and we'll send it to you immediately.

Please enter your Email Address