Editing Lady Godiva (section)

== Legend ==
The legend of the nude ride is first recorded in the 13th century, in the {{lang|la|[[Flores Historiarum]]}} and the adaptation of it by [[Roger of Wendover]].<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=The City of Coventry: The legend of Lady Godiva {{!}} British History Online |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol8/pp242-247 |access-date=7 September 2024 |website=British History Online}}</ref> Despite its considerable age, it is not regarded as plausible by modern historians,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/lady-godiva-the-naked-tr.html|title=Lady Godiva: The Naked Truth|last=Coe|first=Charles|date=1 July 2003|website=Harvard Magazine|access-date=5 March 2019|archive-date=6 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043237/https://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/lady-godiva-the-naked-tr.html|url-status=live}}</ref> nor is it mentioned in the two centuries after Godiva's death, whereas her generous donations to the church receive various mentions.
[[File:Maidstone 018.jpg|thumb|19th century [[equestrian statue]] of the legendary ride, by [[John Thomas (sculptor)|John Thomas]], [[Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery|Maidstone Museum]], Kent]]

According to the typical version of the story,<ref>Joan Cadogan Lancaster. ''Godiva of Coventry. With a chapter on the folk tradition of the story'' by H.&nbsp;R. Ellis Davidson. Coventry [Eng.] Coventry Corp., 1967. {{OCLC|1664951}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=French |first=K.&nbsp;L. |title=The legend of Lady Godiva |journal=Journal of Medieval History |volume=18 |year=1992 |pages=3–19 |doi=10.1016/0304-4181(92)90015-q}}</ref> Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grievously under her husband's oppressive taxation. Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to lower the taxes. At last, weary of her repeated requests, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride on a horse through the streets of the town. Lady Godiva took him at his word, and after issuing a proclamation that all persons should stay indoors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her [[long hair]]. Just one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as 'Peeping Tom', disobeyed her proclamation in what is the most famous instance of [[voyeurism]].<ref>[http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/LadyGodiva.htm Lady Godiva] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501063326/http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/LadyGodiva.htm |date=1 May 2006 }}, Historic-UK.com</ref>  In most versions of the story, Tom is struck blind or dead for his transgression.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peeping-Tom-English-legendary-figure Peeping Tom] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230724171358/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Peeping-Tom-English-legendary-figure |date=24 July 2023 }}", ''Encyclopedia Britannica''; accessed 24 July 2023.</ref>

Some historians have discerned elements of [[pagan fertility rituals]] in the Godiva story, whereby a young "[[May Queen]]" was led to the sacred [[Cofa's tree]], perhaps to celebrate the renewal of spring.<ref name=Times>Marina Warner. ''When Godiva streaked and Tom peeped'' ''[[The Times]]'', 10 July 1982</ref> The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, attended only by two knights.<ref>[http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/flowers/godgifu.html "Lady Godiva (Godgifu)"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622104755/http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/britannia/flowers/godgifu.html |date=22 June 2006 }}, ''Flowers of History'', University of California San Francisco</ref> This version is given in {{lang|la|Flores Historiarum}} by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes. In a chronicle written in the 1560s, [[Richard Grafton]] claimed the version given in {{lang|la|Flores Historiarum}} originated from a "lost chronicle" written between 1216 and 1235 by the [[Prior (ecclesiastical)|Prior]] of the monastery of Coventry.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyanswers.co.uk/medieval-renaissance/lady-godiva-anglo-saxon-noblewoman-or-medieval-legend/|title=Lady Godiva: Anglo-Saxon noblewoman or Medieval legend?|last=White|first=Frances|date=14 July 2015|website=www.historyanswers.co.uk|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190316180709/https://www.historyanswers.co.uk/medieval-renaissance/lady-godiva-anglo-saxon-noblewoman-or-medieval-legend/|archive-date=16 March 2019|url-status=live|access-date=16 March 2019}}</ref>

A modified version of the story was given by printer [[Richard Grafton]], later elected [[Elizabeth I's first parliament|MP for Coventry]]. According to his ''Chronicle of England'' (1569), "Leofricus" had already exempted the people of Coventry from "any maner of Tolle, Except onely of Horses", so that Godiva ("Godina" in text) had agreed to the naked ride just to win relief for this horse tax. And as a condition, she required the officials of Coventry to forbid the populace "upon a great pain" from watching her, and to shut themselves in and shutter all windows on the day of her ride.<ref name="grafton">{{cite book |last=Grafton |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Grafton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wr4_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA148 |title=Grafton's chronicle, or history of England: to which is added his table of the bailiffs, sheriffs and mayors of the city of London from the year 1189, to 1558, inclusive: in two volumes |publisher=P. Johnson |origyear=1569|year=1809 |oclc= 1455223 |volume=1 |place=London |page=148 |access-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425021551/https://books.google.com/books?id=wr4_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA148 |archive-date=25 April 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Grafton was an ardent [[Protestantism|Protestant]] and sanitized the earlier story.<ref name="Times" />

The ballad "Leoffricus" in the [[Percy Folio]] ({{circa|1650}})<ref>{{cite book |title=Bishop Percy's folio manuscript: Ballads and romances |publisher=Trübner |year=1868 |editor-last=Hales |editor-first=John W. |volume=3 |place=London |pages=477– |chapter=Leoffricus |editor2-last=Furnivall |editor2-first=Frederick J. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gc0jAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA477}}, pp. 473-.</ref>{{efn|A variant of this ballad can be found in the ''[[Collection of Old Ballads]]'' (1723–25).}} conforms to Grafton's version, saying that Lady Godiva performed her ride to remove the customs paid on horses, and that the town's officers ordered the townsfolk to "shutt their dore, & clap their windowes downe," and remain indoors on the day of her ride.<ref>{{Harvnb|Hales|Furnivall|1868}}, 3:473-, vv. 53–60</ref>{{efn|{{Harvnb|DNB|1890}} thus was inaccurate in stating that "This ballad first mention the order..", since Grafton had printed it earlier.}}

===Peeping Tom===
{{redirect|Peeping tom|other uses|Peeping Tom (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Peeping Tom effigy Coventry-Gentlemans Magazine-vol96(1826)-p20.png|thumb|Wooden statue of Peeping Tom exhibited for the Coventry parade. Sketch by W. Reader (from an 1826 article)]]

The story of Peeping Tom, who alone among the townsfolk spied on the Lady Godiva's naked ride, probably did not originate in literature, but came about through popular lore in the locality of [[Coventry]]. Reference by 17th century chroniclers has been claimed,<ref name=Times/> but all the published accounts are 18th century or later.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hickling |first=W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfkVAAAAYAAJ&q=lady+godiva |title=History and Antiquities of the City of Coventry: Being a Descriptive Guide to Its Public Buildings, Institutions, Antiquities, &c. Also the Ancient Legend of Lady Godiva. The Whole Compiled from the Earliest Authentic Records, and Continued to the Present Time |date=1846 |publisher=W. Hickling of Coventry }}</ref>

According to an 1826 article submitted by someone well versed in local history identifying himself as 'W. Reader',<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reader |first=W. |year=1826 |title=Peeping Tom of Coventry and Lady Godiva |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6hJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20 |journal=The Gentleman's Magazine |volume=96 |page=20}}, ib., "Show Fair at Coventry described". pp. 22– (with a sketch of Peeping Tom wooden statue)</ref> there was already a well-established tradition that there was a certain tailor who had spied on Lady Godiva, and that at the annual Trinity Great Fair (now called the [[Godiva Festival]]) featuring the [[Godiva Procession|Godiva processions]] "a grotesque figure called Peeping Tom" would be set on display, and it was a wooden statue carved from oak. The author has dated this [[effigy]], based on the style of armour he is shown wearing, from the reign of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] (d. 1685). The same writer felt the legend had to be subsequent to [[William Dugdale]] (d. 1686) since he made no mention of it in his works that discussed Coventry at full length.{{efn|{{Harvnb|Reader|1826|p=22}} "yet no one, including the late Sir W.&nbsp;Dugdale, even hints at the circumstance in question. We may safely, therefore, appropriate it to the reign of Charles II".}} (The story of the tailor and the use of a wooden effigy may be as old as the 17th century, but the effigy may not have always been called "Tom".){{efn|See 1773 date below, and the alternate suggested name "Action".}}

W. Reader dates the first Godiva procession to 1677,{{efn|{{Harvnb|Reader|1826|p=22}} "In 1677{{nbsp}}... the Procession at the great Fair was first instituted."}} but other sources date the first parade to 1678, and on that year a lad from the household of James Swinnerton enacted the role of Lady Godiva.<ref>Hartland, E. Sydney, (1890), ''[[iarchive:scienceoffairyta00hartiala/page/75|Science of Fairy Tales]]'', p. 75, taken down from the ''Annals of Coventry'', ms. D:"31 May 1678, being the great Fair at Coventry.. and Ja. Swinnertons Son represented Lady Godiva"</ref>

The English ''[[Dictionary of National Biography]]'' (''DNB'') gives a meticulous account of the literary sources.<ref name=dnb>{{Harvnb|DNB|1890}}, "That one person disobeyed the order{{nbsp}}... first stated by Rapin (1732){{nbsp}}... Pennant (Journey from Chester to London)(1782) calls him 'a certain taylor.' The name 'peeping Tom' occurs in the city accounts on 11 June 1773 when a new wig and fresh paint were supplied for his effigy."</ref> The historian [[Paul de Rapin]] (1732) reported the Coventry lore that Lady Godiva performed her ride while "commanding all Persons to keep within Doors and from their Windows, on pain of Death", but that one man could not refrain from looking and it "cost him his life"; Rapin further reported that the town commemorates this with a "Statue of a Man looking out of a Window."<ref>{{cite book| author1 = Paul M. Rapin de Thoyras| author2 = N. Tindal Thomas (tr.)| title = The History of England| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pHJZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA135| edition = 2nd| volume = 1| year = 1732| publisher = J., J. and P. Knapton| page = 135| access-date = 16 April 2022| archive-date = 25 April 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230425020145/https://books.google.com/books?id=pHJZAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA135| url-status = live}}</ref>

[[File:Lady-Godinas-Route-Gillray.jpeg|thumb|300px|In ''Lady Godina's Rout;—or—Peeping-Tom spying out Pope-Joan'' (1796), the English satirist [[James Gillray]] appealed to the Godiva legend in caricaturing the fashions of the time.]]
Next, [[Thomas Pennant]] in ''Journey from Chester to London'' (1782) recounted: "[T]he curiosity of a certain taylor overcoming his fear, he took a single peep".<ref name=pennant/> Pennant noted that the person enacting Godiva in the procession was not fully naked of course, but wore "silk, closely fitted to her limbs", which had a colour resembling the skin's complexion.<ref name="pennant">Pennant, Thomas, (1811) ''[[iarchive:journeyfromches00penngoog/page/n205|The Journey from Chester to London]].'' p. 190.</ref> (In Pennant's time, around 1782, silk was worn, but the annotator of the 1811 edition noted that a cotton garment had since replaced the silk fabric.)<ref name=pennant/> According to the ''DNB'', the oldest document that mentions "Peeping Tom" by name is a record in Coventry's official annals, dating to 11 June 1773, documenting that the city issued a new wig and paint for the wooden effigy.<ref name=dnb/>

There is also said to be a letter from pre-1700, stating that the peeper was actually Action, Lady Godiva's groom.{{efn|{{Harvnb|DNB|1890}}, "Poole quotes from the 'Gentleman's Magazine' a letter from Canon Seward (ca. before 1700) which makes the peeper 'a groom of the countess,' named Action (?Actæon – same name as the figure in Greek mythology who was put to death by being hunted with hounds after seeing the goddess Artemis in her bath)".}}

Additional legend proclaims that Peeping Tom was later struck blind as heavenly punishment, or that the townspeople took the matter in their own hands and blinded him.<ref>Leman Rede, (1838), "Peeping Tom", ''[[The New Monthly Magazine|The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist]]'', Part the First, p. 115: "Tradition adds, that the people resolved to close up their houses{{nbsp}}... but{{nbsp}}... that one, whose name has not survived, looked forth upon her, and was stricken blind, as some affirm, by the vengeance of Heaven; or, according to others, was deprived of sight by the inhabitants." (A quote from a source merely identified as "a modern writer".)</ref>