GODIVA (Io4o–Io8o), a Saxon lady, was the wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia and lord of Coventry. The people of that city suffering grievously under the earl's oppressive taxation, Lady Godiva appealed to her husband, who refused to remit the tolls. At last, says the legend, he said he would grant her request if she would ride naked through the streets of the town. ° After issuing a proclamation that all persons should keep within doors or shut their windows, she rode through Coventry, clothed only in her long hair. One person disobeyed her proclamation, a tailor, ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom, who is said to have struck blind. Her husband kept his word and abolished the obnoxious taxes.
The oldest form of the legend is given in Flores historiarum by Roger of Wendover, who quoted from an earlier writer. Godiva probably died a few years before the Domesday survey (1085 86), and was buried in one of the porches of the abbey church. The Godiva procession, instituted May 31, 1678, as part of Cov entry fair, was celebrated at intervals until 1826. The "Peeping Tom" in Hertford street, Coventry, was perhaps an image of St. George.