Godiva’s Not-so-Naked Ride

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Today, the name Godiva evokes two things: fine chocolates, and a gorgeous blonde nude astride a horse. But in her own time Godgifu was best known as the wife of the earl of Mercia and as the generous benefactor of religious houses in Coventry and Lincolnshire. This episode will take you through what we know about this woman and will hint at the origins and growth of her legend through the middle ages and beyond.

​Host: Samantha

Further Reading

Daniel Donoghue, Lady Godiva: A Literary History of the Legend, Blackwell, (2003).

Katherine French, “The Legend of Lady Godiva,” Journal of Medieval History 18 (1992): 3-19.

H.G. Hewlett, ed., Rogeri de Wendover liber qui dicitur flores historiarum. Rolls Series, 84 (1886-9).

Ann Williams, “Godgifu” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,  (2006).

Music: "Evening Melodrama" by Kevin Macleod (www.incompetech.com)