Godiva

Godiva, Lady, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lord of Coventry, is said to have obtained from her lord the remission of certain penalties imposed by him on the townsmen by riding naked through the town in the year 1040. There was a stained glass window commemorating the occurrence in St. Michael's church, and the story used to be recalled to memory in the procession at Coventry fair. Leigh Hunt, Tennyson, and Robert Brougn have written on this theme. [Coventry.]