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Godiva (; ;〔Pronounced , meaning "God's gift", making it equivalent to the name Dorothy.〕 fl. 1040–1067), known as Lady Godiva, was an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to a legend dating back at least to the 13th century, rode naked – only covered in her long hair – through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants. The name "Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom had watched her ride and was struck blind or dead. == Historical figure == Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. They had one proved son Aelfgar, Earl of Mercia.〔Patrick W. Montague-Smith ''Letters: Godiva's family tree'' The Times, 25 January 1983〕 Godiva's name occurs in charters and the Domesday survey, though the spelling varies. The Old English name Godgifu or Godgyfu meant "gift of God"; Godiva was the Latinised version. Since the name was a popular one, there are contemporaries of the same name.〔Ann Williams, ‘Godgifu (d. 1067?)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, October 2006 (accessed 18 April 2008 ) 〕〔("Lady Godiva, the book, and Washingborough" ), ''Lincolnshire Past and Present'', 12 (1993), pp. 9–10.〕 If she is the same Godiva who appears in the history of Ely Abbey, the ''Liber Eliensis'', written at the end of the 12th century, then she was a widow when Leofric married her. 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.〔In the Stow charter, she is called "Godgife" ()〕 She and her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock and Evesham.〔''The Chronicle of John of Worcester'' ed. and trans. R.R. Darlington, P. McGurk and J. Bray (Clarendon Press: Oxford 1995), pp.582–583〕 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.〔Dodwell, C. R.; ''(Anglo-Saxon Art: A New Perspective )'', 1982, Manchester UP, ISBN 0-7190-0926-X (US edn. Cornell, 1985), pp. 25 & 66〕 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 in the City of London received a gold-fringed chasuble.〔Dodwell, 180 & 212〕 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.〔Dodwell, 220, 230 & ''passim''〕 The manor of Woolhope in Herefordshire, along with four others, was given to the cathedral at Hereford before the Norman Conquest by the benefactresses Wulviva and Godivausually held to be this Godiva and her sister. The church there has a 20th-century stained glass window representing them. Her signature, ''Ego Godiva Comitissa diu istud desideravi'' (The Countess Godiva, have desired this for a long time ), appears on a charter purportedly given by Thorold of Bucknall to the Benedictine monastery of Spalding. However, this charter is considered spurious by many historians. Even so, it is possible that Thorold, who appears in the Domesday Book as sheriff of Lincolnshire, was her brother. After Leofric's death in 1057, his widow lived on until sometime between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and 1086. She is mentioned in the Domesday survey as one of the few Anglo-Saxons and the only woman to remain a major landholder shortly after the conquest. By the time of this great survey in 1086, Godiva had died, but her former lands are listed, although now held by others.〔K.S.B.Keats-Rohan, ''Domesday People: A prosopography of persons occurring in English documents 1066–1166'', vol. 1: Domesday (Boydell Press: Woodbridge, Suffolk 1999), p. 218〕 Thus, Godiva apparently died between 1066 and 1086.〔 The place where Godiva was buried has been a matter of debate. According to the ''Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham'', or ''Evesham Chronicle'', she was buried at the Church of the Blessed Trinity at Evesham, which is no longer standing. According to the account in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "There is no reason to doubt that she was buried with her husband at Coventry, despite the assertion of the Evesham chronicle that she lay in Holy Trinity, Evesham."〔 Dugdale (1656) says that a window with representations of Leofric and Godiva was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lady Godiva」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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