The Legend of Lady Godiva
1969; Routledge; Volume: 80; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/0015587x.1969.9716624
ISSN1469-8315
Autores Tópico(s)Medieval Literature and History
ResumoTHE legend of Godiva was recalled to our minds and flared up for a while in the press in 1967, when the City of Coventry celebrated the 9ooth anniversary of her death. It is a legend which offers a challenge both to historian and folklorist, for the problem it presents is that of the relationship between historical events, written records and popular tradition. It is the more complicated and the more interesting for us because the folklore does not end with the Middle Ages, but has continued to develop in Coventry up to the present day. For all the Godiva Cafes and Cinemas, and the small, flesh-pink figure on a horse which rushes madly round the balcony in the main square every time the clock sounds the hour, there is something here beyond mere commercialism. The eleventh-century Godiva is still reverenced by the people as a great lady, the founder and benefactor of their city, whose story should not be doubted or tampered with. In the Godiva legend we have a complex and fascinating problem of folk tradition, to which this paper offers no more than an introduction; much further remains to be done.
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