By Elizabeth Reid Boyd/The Conversation
Lady Godiva , an icon of protest, myth and sensual defiance , has galloped through centuries of our cultural imagination. She is most widely known for the legend of her naked horse ride, in which she supposedly rode through the city of Coventry, England, in nothing but her cascading hair.
According to the popular tale, Godiva pleaded with her husband, Lord Leofric of Mercia, to lift an oppressive tax that threatened to impoverish the people of Coventry.
Leofric issued a provocative challenge: he would only revoke the tax if she rode unclothed through the town. In a gesture of defiance and compassion, she undertook the ride.
The townspeople, in respect, shuttered their windows, except for one man named Tom, who was struck blind. This is where we get the phrase “peeping Tom”. Moved by her courage, Leofric kept his word and abolished the tax , or so the story goes.
While many historians believe this naked ride never actually took place, Godiva, the 11th century noblewoman, was real , as is her enduring influence.
Godiva has been endlessly remixed, from appearances in literature, to art, to music, to comics, and even chocolate.
