The Story of Lady Godiva

by DON SILVER

THE great Dr. Johnson was once regarding a nude study in an art gallery when a passer-by stopped and, nodding to the picture, said, "Don't you agree that it is indecent ?" "It is not," retorted the doctor, "but your observation is."

A like mentality lies behind the Godiva legend. In an all-healthy minded community there would not be—there could not be—a Godiva legend. For there would be nothing shameful in the sight of a nude woman, and, consequently, there could be no Peeping Toms, Dicks or Harrys.

Now we have a British film based on the legend. It is "Lady Godiva Rides Again." It is not a serious study of Godiva and her story, just a pleasant romp, but the central figure is a beauty-contest winner who appears in a local pageant as Godiva.

"Oh, the shame of it!" wails her father on hearing the news. "Nothing like this has ever happened to us before !" If he had bothered to watch his daughter he would have seen no more of her figure than the tip of her nose and her ten toes, for she was so swathed by a long mane that she appeared to be hiding in a bundle of hay. No matter. Such is the inherited convention about the display of the naked body that the mere thought of a nude presumably sets up gooseflesh. No need to be seen to be naked ; to be known to be naked is enough. Which, of course, is the final absurdity.

The first Lady Godiva was wife of Leofric, Earl of Marcia, and it was about 1040 A.D. that she made her famous—or notorious—ride. She had begged her husband not to proceed with his plan to levy extortionate taxes on the townspeople. Leofric agreed, on condition that she rode unclothed through the crowded streets of Coventry. So much is fact. Why he made this request of his wife is not known. Perhaps as a jest. Maybe she had said, womanlike, she would " do anything " to help the people and he took her at her word.

But the ride itself appears to have been little more than a legend. If it did take place, little was heard of it beyond the borders of Coventry. For in those days there were no means of communication, except on foot. Not until the thirteenth century was there a written account of "the ride."

This appears in Flores Historiarum, by Roger of Wendover. But there seems to be no doubt of Lady Godiva's piety and goodness. Before her death in 1057 she was benefactress to several monasteries, including Coventry and Spalding.

Between the 13th and 17th centuries the ride was enacted several times a decade. In its modern guise the Lady Godiva ride has become a stunt for a generation nurtured on sex and sensation. But in bygone days parades of naked men or women were often used to protest against civil or social injustice. A notable instance is St. Francis of Assisi who, being rebuked by his bishop, snatched off his clothes in protest and walked through the streets naked.

Dudley, in Worcestershire, staged a Godiva procession in 1929 with 100 Tableaux. The girl playing Godiva received abusive and threatening letters, but the biggest protest came against the excuse for the ride, that Dudley Castle had been owned by Leofric and built by Godiva's ancestor, Dodo, in 700 A.D. Declared a prominent church worker, "It is positively indecent to seize so flimsy an excuse to parade a practically nude woman through the streets of Dudley. Coventry had the excuse of a legend. The best we can do is to produce Dodo fiction."

Porthcawl's 1935 Godiva Ride brought strong protests. Two members of the Council resigned. The Church said that the idea was " the Spirit of the Devil," so the Council decided to choose a Godiva from outside the town. This in turn brought protests from the local girls. The pageant was a failure--netting only £60 from the crowd of 60,000.

Even men have been " Godivas," as in Brighton in 1935, when the chosen girl was forced to withdraw. In the same year, at Farnborough, the proposal to have a Godiva Ride to raise £4,000 for the local hospital roused many protests. In the end, an almost-naked man rode as Godiva. In the same year £2,434 was collected from crowds watching a Coventry bus-driver as Godiva. But takings dropped £1,000 the following year and films were blamed for the loss. " The public see so many undressed ladies on the screen that the pageant no longer has the same effect."

What effect? It isn't what you see but what you think you see! What a comment on the modern mentality!

The shame of Godiva was never that of the woman, but of the onlookers.