Godiva

Godiva, Lady, fl. c.1040-80, wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia; famous for her legendary ride through the city of Coventry. She was a benefactor of several monasteries, especially that at Coventry, which she and her husband founded (1043). The legend about her, which first appears in the chronicle of Roger of Wendover, states that her husband agreed to remit the heavy taxation on the people of Coventry if she would ride naked through the town on a white horse. The story of Peeping Tom, the only person who looked through the closed shutters, did not enter the legend until the 17th cent. Michael Drayton (1613), Tennyson (1842), and others made Lady Godiva the subject of poems. A bronze statue of her by Sir William Reid Dick was erected in Coventry in 1949.

(flourished circa 1040–1080) Anglo-Saxon gentlewoman famous for her legendary ride nude through Coventry, Eng. She was the wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia (d. 1057), with whom she founded a monastery at Coventry. There is no evidence connecting the rider with the historical Godiva. According to the legend, Leofric, exasperated over Godiva's ceaseless imploring that he reduce Coventry's heavy taxes, declared he would do so if she rode naked through the crowded marketplace. She did so, her long hair covering all of her body except her legs; as a result Leofric removed all tolls except those on horses. A later chronicle asserts that Godiva required the townsmen to remain indoors at the time fixed for her ride. Peeping Tom, a citizen who looked out his window, became part of the legend in the 17th century, and in most accounts he was struck blind or dead.

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(flourished circa 1040–1080) Anglo-Saxon gentlewoman famous for her legendary ride nude through Coventry, Eng. She was the wife of Leofric, earl of Mercia (d. 1057), with whom she founded a monastery at Coventry. There is no evidence connecting the rider with the historical Godiva. According to the legend, Leofric, exasperated over Godiva's ceaseless imploring that he reduce Coventry's heavy taxes, declared he would do so if she rode naked through the crowded marketplace. She did so, her long hair covering all of her body except her legs; as a result Leofric removed all tolls except those on horses. A later chronicle asserts that Godiva required the townsmen to remain indoors at the time fixed for her ride. Peeping Tom, a citizen who looked out his window, became part of the legend in the 17th century, and in most accounts he was struck blind or dead.

Learn more about Godiva, Lady with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Godiva's Hymn (sometimes Engineer's Hymn or Engineers' Drinking Song) is a traditional drinking song for engineers. It was originally sung by students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; although students there still recognize it, disapproval from the administration has marginalized its presence. In many university engineering faculties, military engineering corps and other engineering organizations and societies, Lady Godiva is a school icon or mascot.

Godiva's Hymn is sung either to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic or The Son of a Gambolier Near Christmas, it is a tradition of the Lady Godiva Memorial Bnad (sic!) to sing Godiva's Hymn to the tune of Good King Wenceslaus.

A variation, in which the word "mountaineers" is substituted for engineers, is part of a collection owned by the Aberdeen University Lairig (mountaineering) club, and was sung in Crianlarich, Scotland in January 1980.

External links

• The Compleat Godiva Project: full collection of verses to Godiva's Hymn courtesy of the University of Toronto
• Lady Godiva's Hymn, Montreal polytechnique's version: Complete hymn with additionnal home made verses.
• Chorallaries of MIT Engineer's Drinking Song: additional verses, both standard and off-color courtesy of MIT
• National Engineering Book of Song & Verse: from the Université de Montréal ca 1972 and containing a version of Godiva's Hymn
• Ceng.ca Full Collection of the Carleton University Version of the Engineering Hymn (Unedited, adult content), plus additional engineering songs
• The Lady Godiva Memorial Band: a marching band whose repertoire consists of this and other engineering themed songs, with sheet music provided on their website.
• Lady Godiva's Hymn (a collection of verses): a long list of verses