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flomu:

Back in the 11th century, the Lady Godiva, as Countess of Mercia, had personal charge over the good people of Coventry. When these extraordinary events took place, they were being burdened terribly by taxes. In order to arrange for tax relief, she needled her husband Leofric at every opportunity until one day he made her a rash promise. He would grant her request to lower taxes only if she rode through town naked.Clearly Leofric meant it as a joke for he considered his wife to be practically a religious fanatic. So the very idea that Godiva would agree to his challenge took him completely by surprise. For the record, the real reason she rode naked through Coventry is that she did it for her people. There was no other reason. But there is simply no escaping the fact that she was driven to these desperate lengths by a husband who consistently refused to listen to her perfectly reasonable requests. He was your usual paternalistic man. He elevated the female body to almost mystical heights, which is why he conceived of the wager in the first place, but he was totally unable to deal with the real woman inside that body.Godiva planned her insurrection carefully, to ensure it would play out the way she envisaged. She was thinking it over when she remembered all the artists who had portrayed Mary Magdalene in the nude, covered only by her long flowing hair. It was then she decided that riding through the town in the nude would create a double image: her nudity would be interpreted as a sign of her humility and repentance before God and as a sign of her sexual allure. She was certainly not ashamed of her nudity. Long hair expresses a woman’s sexuality and hers was not dead yet, whatever Leofric had to say about it. In fact, she enjoyed flaunting the very thing Leofric thought he had the most under control — her body. Did she do it to get back at her husband? Yes of course. This was his idea in the first place. He set the challenge because he did not think that his virtuous wife would dare and perhaps also because, as the years passed, he had grown to have less respect for her. She wondered if he cared either way. However, she knew he was shocked when she accepted the challenge and that’s when he tried to add more conditions. He argued that the ride had to be through the crowded market on fair day, but she objected that that wasn’t part of the original challenge. She felt that when it was over he had to be rightfully humiliated. And that is what happened.After the infamous ride was over, the official view around Coventry was that she had risked her virtue and reputation for a worthy higher goal. Her husband Lord Leofric, Earl of Mercia, would be the first to concede that there is no higher goal than a tax break, but he was shocked and disappointed when she displayed her body in public. He was, after all, one of the most powerful men in Anglo Saxon England and he had an image to protect. He was responsible for governing most of the western and central region, which meant he had to raise taxes for the king and this he did, efficiently. His wife, the Lady Godiva, on the other hand, was practically a saint, and he had only meant that if she was really keen to do something for her church and her people, she should have stripped herself of some of her possessions, not the clothes she had on. He had meant her to face up to the fact that she had too many dresses and too many shoes and that she should have given some of them to the poor if she really wanted to do something practical! The whole thing had been a silly misunderstanding and now it was a national disgrace that would bring shame on Coventry.In his heart, he simply did not fathom how she had come to do it. He knew Godiva to be a deeply religious woman — she had an obsession with the Virgin Mary, rather than the wicked Mary Magdalene. He supposed she must have decided this was going to be a religious experience. Perhaps she saw an opportunity for sainthood since saints got the nod for a lot less these days. Once she got a lot of people around town talking about the power of God at work, then she got some of those foolish young monks over at the Benedictine monastery of St. Albans to spread the story around that she was a candidate for sainthood and that he was some stingy old fool. Monks are always looking for sexy stories in order to get a following, otherwise no one would listen to them. The whole thing reminded him of that story of the Emperor’s New Clothes except in reverse: she took her clothes off and had no one watch! Godiva was encouraging people to treat it as a religious experience when it was nothing of the kind and he had heard of at least one fellow who didn’t think it was either. That fellow had stuck his head out to have a look at her and now he was being persecuted by the fanatics from the local abbey — the same monks that Godiva had surrounded herself with.Leofric was forced to pretend the whole thing was a miracle, which in a way it was, since almost no one did see her nudity. But the worst thing about this was that he had to grant the tax break. He doubted that Godiva gave a single thought to where he was going to raise the extra £5000 a year to pay for her extravagance. Women! This was not how a noblewoman should behave — it was undignified and unladylike — and he doubted he could ever trust his wife again. A woman should be subservient to her husband; she should not seek actively to humiliate him. As Ephesians 5: 22-23 states in her very own bible: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church.”

Back in the 11th century, the Lady Godiva, as Countess of Mercia, had personal charge over the good people of Coventry. When these extraordinary events took place, they were being burdened terribly by taxes. In order to arrange for tax relief, she needled her husband Leofric at every opportunity until one day he made her a rash promise. He would grant her request to lower taxes only if she rode through town naked.

Clearly Leofric meant it as a joke for he considered his wife to be practically a religious fanatic. So the very idea that Godiva would agree to his challenge took him completely by surprise. For the record, the real reason she rode naked through Coventry is that she did it for her people. There was no other reason. But there is simply no escaping the fact that she was driven to these desperate lengths by a husband who consistently refused to listen to her perfectly reasonable requests. He was your usual paternalistic man. He elevated the female body to almost mystical heights, which is why he conceived of the wager in the first place, but he was totally unable to deal with the real woman inside that body.

Godiva planned her insurrection carefully, to ensure it would play out the way she envisaged. She was thinking it over when she remembered all the artists who had portrayed Mary Magdalene in the nude, covered only by her long flowing hair. It was then she decided that riding through the town in the nude would create a double image: her nudity would be interpreted as a sign of her humility and repentance before God and as a sign of her sexual allure. She was certainly not ashamed of her nudity. Long hair expresses a woman’s sexuality and hers was not dead yet, whatever Leofric had to say about it. In fact, she enjoyed flaunting the very thing Leofric thought he had the most under control — her body. Did she do it to get back at her husband? Yes of course. This was his idea in the first place. He set the challenge because he did not think that his virtuous wife would dare and perhaps also because, as the years passed, he had grown to have less respect for her. She wondered if he cared either way. However, she knew he was shocked when she accepted the challenge and that’s when he tried to add more conditions. He argued that the ride had to be through the crowded market on fair day, but she objected that that wasn’t part of the original challenge. She felt that when it was over he had to be rightfully humiliated. And that is what happened.

After the infamous ride was over, the official view around Coventry was that she had risked her virtue and reputation for a worthy higher goal. Her husband Lord Leofric, Earl of Mercia, would be the first to concede that there is no higher goal than a tax break, but he was shocked and disappointed when she displayed her body in public. He was, after all, one of the most powerful men in Anglo Saxon England and he had an image to protect. He was responsible for governing most of the western and central region, which meant he had to raise taxes for the king and this he did, efficiently. His wife, the Lady Godiva, on the other hand, was practically a saint, and he had only meant that if she was really keen to do something for her church and her people, she should have stripped herself of some of her possessions, not the clothes she had on. He had meant her to face up to the fact that she had too many dresses and too many shoes and that she should have given some of them to the poor if she really wanted to do something practical! The whole thing had been a silly misunderstanding and now it was a national disgrace that would bring shame on Coventry.

In his heart, he simply did not fathom how she had come to do it. He knew Godiva to be a deeply religious woman — she had an obsession with the Virgin Mary, rather than the wicked Mary Magdalene. He supposed she must have decided this was going to be a religious experience. Perhaps she saw an opportunity for sainthood since saints got the nod for a lot less these days. Once she got a lot of people around town talking about the power of God at work, then she got some of those foolish young monks over at the Benedictine monastery of St. Albans to spread the story around that she was a candidate for sainthood and that he was some stingy old fool. Monks are always looking for sexy stories in order to get a following, otherwise no one would listen to them. The whole thing reminded him of that story of the Emperor’s New Clothes except in reverse: she took her clothes off and had no one watch! Godiva was encouraging people to treat it as a religious experience when it was nothing of the kind and he had heard of at least one fellow who didn’t think it was either. That fellow had stuck his head out to have a look at her and now he was being persecuted by the fanatics from the local abbey — the same monks that Godiva had surrounded herself with.

Leofric was forced to pretend the whole thing was a miracle, which in a way it was, since almost no one did see her nudity. But the worst thing about this was that he had to grant the tax break. He doubted that Godiva gave a single thought to where he was going to raise the extra £5000 a year to pay for her extravagance. Women! This was not how a noblewoman should behave — it was undignified and unladylike — and he doubted he could ever trust his wife again. A woman should be subservient to her husband; she should not seek actively to humiliate him. As Ephesians 5: 22-23 states in her very own bible: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church.”