Monday, May 23, 2011

Lady Godiva's Gallery

The legend of Lady Godiva was first written in 1057 by chroniclers in the Benedictine abbey of St. Albans. The following is part of a narrative from Matthew Paris's Chronica Majora, circa 1250.

"Then the Countess Godiva, dear to God, mounted her horse naked on the day agreed upon and, by loosening the braids of hair on her head, veiled her whole body except her brilliantly white legs.

"And when she had finished her journey unseen by anyone, she returned rejoicing to her husband, who considered it miraculous. And Count Leofric, releasing the city of Coventry from its servitude, confirmed its charter with the stamp of his own seal."


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Jules J. Lefebvre, 1890
Edmund Blair Leighton, 1892G. Jones, 1852
Sir Edwin Landseer, 1865Adam van Noort, 1586John Collier, 1898






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