For this month’s dive into Nottingham’s weird history, we take a look at the unusual life of Lady Godiva…
With International Women’s Day fast approaching alongside Mother’s Day (remember to do your bit and get flowers sorted for your mams) we thought it best to highlight a particularly well-known noblewoman, and her generous donations to Nottinghamshire.
With countless properties under her belt and a particularly remarkable act of protest (if you believe the legend) Lady Godiva has intrigued LeftLion’s Myth Busting Operations Team (a fancy term for a bloke currently writing about an 11th Century noblewoman in a Greggs, in a Primark, in Birmingham).
Her heritage is rather murky, but we can assume she came from a rather wealthy family given the sheer amount of land she owned. This included estates across England and even ownership of Coventry – yes that’s right, she owned Coventry, which she later sold for a pint of mead and some straw (according to false legend). During her time in Coventry, according to one Roger of Wendover, to protest her husband’s unlawful taxation of the Cov locals, she rode completely naked through the streets. Interestingly enough, every single person was ordered to stay indoors apart from one man named Thomas who thought he’d see if the rumours were true. Unfortunately for him, the rumour mill had spun a truth, and he was instantly blinded for his act of peeping, hence the phrase “peeping Tom.”
Whether you believe Roger’s tale is one thing, but Lady G’s involvement with Nottingham involved less permanent vision loss and much more clothing. With her serious hold on the medieval property ladder, with land in Bassetlaw and in Rushcliffe, the largest of all of her properties was in Newark.
She decided to rather generously donate the income she earned from her property in Newark (where the Trent Bridge House is now located) to Stow Monastery near Lincoln. This donation helped to raise funds for further development within the area and religious life.
Despite the name Godiva deriving from the Old English word “Godgifu” meaning ‘gift of god,’ her philanthropic endeavours seemed to give back to God instead. Perhaps a form of divine intervention as the big man realised, he may have presented locals with too many gifts from God. Alongside this particular donation, she also gifted precious metalwork and a string of prayer beads in her will to the Church. Lady Godiva’s charitable donations helped to develop Newark’s churchly prominence and cemented its place on the map.
Lady G has presented herself as one of the most influential women of the 11th Century. Both her serious donations to her community, and physical act of process that you may or may not believe in, are testament to her character as an individual fighting against greedy officials and standing up for what’s right. Though her Notts connection is not too well-known, her legend still runs to this day – unfortunately for her, not through Coventry anymore. I can only assume the horse was clamped.
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