Lady Godiva (1 Viewer)

Sussex Boy · Feb 25, 2022

Morning all,

I recently gave a talk on the life of Lady Godiva, looking at the time period in which she lived, what the sources say about her life and her legacy. There’s also a mention of how she relates to the Sky Blues in there too. This was also an advertised City of Culture event. It’s now online to watch. Here’s the link if anyone would like to watch:

Many thanks and PUSB.

Best wishes,
Steven

Otis · Feb 25, 2022

Covkid1968# · Feb 26, 2022

Good stuff… never heard Godivas hubby pronounced like that. Could be that Sussex twang or the correct way to pronounce it. Either way…. Enjoyed that so thanks for sharing

Sussex Boy · Feb 26, 2022

Covkid1968# said:
Good stuff… never heard Godivas hubby pronounced like that. Could be that Sussex twang or the correct way to pronounce it. Either way…. Enjoyed that so thanks for sharing

Thank you very much for watching and for your kind comments! Yes, I too had originally pronounced it Lee-off-rick until I watched the 1955 Lady Godiva film with Maureen O'Hara. I then verified with a friend and colleague who studies Old English and apparently the "Leof" would be pronounced "Leff" and the "ric" as "rich". This would explain why the "wic" in Gippeswic became Ipswich (and in that example I believe the G is pronounced as a Y). One of my ambitions in the future is to design a GCSE course for Old English, but that's a topic for another day!

Question: is the flag of Coventry with Godiva in the middle ever flown by anybody at City games?

Covkid1968# · Feb 26, 2022

Sussex Boy said:
Thank you very much for watching and for your kind comments! Yes, I too had originally pronounced it Lee-off-rick until I watched the 1955 Lady Godiva film with Maureen O'Hara. I then verified with a friend and colleague who studies Old English and apparently the "Leof" would be pronounced "Leff" and the "ric" as "rich". This would explain why the "wic" in Gippeswic became Ipswich (and in that example I believe the G is pronounced as a Y). One of my ambitions in the future is to design a GCSE course for Old English, but that's a topic for another day!

Question: is the flag of Coventry with Godiva in the middle ever flown by anybody at City games?

Well you learn something every day… that’s how I shall pronounce it from this day forth.

I’ve seen it at games, music festivals and most commonly in my garage.

Otis · Feb 26, 2022

Am 30 mins in. Very fascinating. Thank you so much for all your work and research.

Kneeza · Feb 27, 2022

It's been in my You Tube watch list for a few days now. Hopefully I'll get chance to watch it today!

Sussex Boy · Feb 27, 2022

Covkid1968# said:
I’ve seen it at games, music festivals and most commonly in my garage.

Excellent stuff! I need to purchase one. I’m hoping to get to a City game by the end of the season, so would bring it with me.

I’m delighted people are enjoying the talk. Thanks everybody for your kind comments!

lifeskyblue · Mar 2, 2022

Excellent talk. Passed link on to my daughter (she will be fascinated). Never realised early sources had mentioned Godiva for her religious donations etc. and I had never equated Her grandchildren’s role in the events of and following 1066. And as for the pronunciation of Leofric…a complete new one on me.
The section on the Victorian fascination with Godiva (artwork and poetry) made me think in a wider context the Victorians did revive an interest in all things pre Norman and I think the ‘legend’ of Godiva did fit in with that. Even a revival in names such as Alfred, Edith, Edwin etc show the interest in the period

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Sussex Boy · Mar 3, 2022

lifeskyblue said:
Excellent talk. Passed link on to my daughter (she will be fascinated). Never realised early sources had mentioned Godiva for her religious donations etc. and I had never equated Her grandchildren’s role in the events of and following 1066. And as for the pronunciation of Leofric…a complete new one on me.
The section on the Victorian fascination with Godiva (artwork and poetry) made me think in a wider context the Victorians did revive an interest in all things pre Norman and I think the ‘legend’ of Godiva did fit in with that. Even a revival in names such as Alfred, Edith, Edwin etc show the interest in the period

Many thanks for such kind comments about the talk. I'm delighted you enjoyed it and I hope your daughter does too!

Absolutely, you're right about the revival of Old English names during that period. I recently read a book about King/St. Edmund of East Anglia, who was slain by the Danes of the Great Heathen Army in the 800s. Edmund was a patron saint of England for quite some time, but receded in importance from the Tudor period onwards. The author makes the point that if Scotland achieves independence one day, we'll have to search for our "English" identity further rather than merely our "British" one. I wonder if such a scenario would see another rise in Old English names like the ones you mentioned?

Liquid Gold · Mar 3, 2022

Is she getting cancelled for showing off her bits?

Sussex Boy · Jun 26, 2022

Hi all,

For those of your who like your history, my latest talk was about Emma of Normandy, who lived during the same time as Godiva. There aren't too many links between Emma and Coventry, but 2/3 of the way through the talk I mention a link I found between Leofric (her husband) and Lady Wulfrun of Wolverhampton, which was enquired about a few months ago in the Godiva talk and I thought some of you may find it of interest. Aelfgifu of Northampton is interlinked with this story too.

Best wishes and hope to see you all for a game this season at some point upon my returns to Coventry.
Steven

OffenhamSkyBlue · Jun 27, 2022

Liquid Gold said:
Is she getting cancelled for showing off her bits?

No, they are perfectly free to show off their bits - but any budding Peeping Toms will be put on the sex offenders' register if they pay the slightest bit of attention. That's how it works these days!

As for the name, i'm sure all the staff at the dearly-departed "Menzies Leofric Hotel" would have been trained phonetically to say "Welcome to the Mingis Leff-rich Hotel, Cuventry"
I still struggle with the change from Boadicea to Boudicca!

duffer · Jun 27, 2022

Sussex Boy said:
Many thanks for such kind comments about the talk. I'm delighted you enjoyed it and I hope your daughter does too!

Absolutely, you're right about the revival of Old English names during that period. I recently read a book about King/St. Edmund of East Anglia, who was slain by the Danes of the Great Heathen Army in the 800s. Edmund was a patron saint of England for quite some time, but receded in importance from the Tudor period onwards. The author makes the point that if Scotland achieves independence one day, we'll have to search for our "English" identity further rather than merely our "British" one. I wonder if such a scenario would see another rise in Old English names like the ones you mentioned?

Dibs on Aethelred.

I'm pretty sure we could frame the return to old English names as a Brexit benefit. I'll write to Jacob.

Sky_Blue_Dreamer · Jun 27, 2022

OffenhamSkyBlue said:
No, they are perfectly free to show off their bits - but any budding Peeping Toms will be put on the sex offenders' register if they pay the slightest bit of attention. That's how it works these days!

Well, to be fair I think Peeping Tom would've taken being put on a register, seeing as his punishment was supposedly having his eyes gouged out!

OffenhamSkyBlue · Jun 28, 2022

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:
Well, to be fair I think Peeping Tom would've taken being put on a register, seeing as his punishment was supposedly having his eyes gouged out!

The 11th Century equivalent???

Sussex Boy · Jul 1, 2022

duffer said:
Dibs on Aethelred.

I'm pretty sure we could frame the return to old English names as a Brexit benefit. I'll write to Jacob.

Excellent ideas. The great thing with Old English names is that they're usually two words joined together, so you can mix and match. Here's a list from an Old English textbook, with definitions alongside. I've Anglicised the spellings. Take one from the 1st table and one from the 2nd.

1st element	2nd element
aelf - elf	gar - spear
aethel - noble	heah - high
ead - blessed	red - advice
eald - old	ric - powerful
god - God	flaed - beauty
leof - dear	gifu - gift
wyn - joy	thryth - power
	gyth - battle
	sige - victory
	stan - stone
	weard - guardian
	wine - friend

Lady Godiva (1 Viewer)

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