Lady Godiva by Liz Mitchell, Boney M - Lady Godiva Statue, Coventry, UK - Immortalized in Lyrics on Waymarking.com

The statue of a naked, life-size Lady Godiva riding her horse stands in Broadgate in the centre of Coventry. It was unveiled in 1949 and is one of the few equestrian statues outside London to be listed. The statue is made of cast bronze and has a Portland stone plinth.

Lady Godiva, was an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. They had one proved son Aelfgar, Earl of Mercia. According to a legend dating back at least to the 13th century, Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants.

Both Leofric and Godiva were generous benefactors to religious houses. In 1043 Leofric founded and endowed a Benedictine monastery at Coventry on the site of a nunnery destroyed by the Danes in 1016. Writing in the 12th century, Roger of Wendover credits Godiva as the persuasive force behind this act. In the 1050s, her name is coupled with that of her husband on a grant of land to the monastery of St Mary, Worcester and the endowment of the minster at Stow St Mary, Lincolnshire. She and her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock and Evesham. She gave Coventry a number of works in precious metal made for the purpose by the famous goldsmith Mannig, and bequeathed a necklace valued at 100 marks of silver. Another necklace went to Evesham, to be hung around the figure of the Virgin accompanying the life-size gold and silver rood she and her husband gave, and St Paul's Cathedral, London received a gold-fringed chasuble. She and her husband were among the most munificent of the several large Anglo-Saxon donors of the last decades before the Conquest; the early Norman bishops made short work of their gifts, carrying them off to Normandy or melting them down for bullion.

On the plinth below the statue are written some words from Tennyson's poem "Lady Godiva":
"Then she rode back, clothed on with chastity. She took the tax away and built herself an everlasting name"

Source: Wikipedia (visit link)

Musician: Liz Mitchell, Boney M. Name of Song: Lady Godiva Relevant Verse: She's a lady, LADY GODIVA / The hero of Coventry / L-L-Lady Lady Godiva / She rode into history Location website: [Web Link]

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