One of the most recognisable figures in English folklore, Peeping Tom owes his name to the medieval legend of Lady Godiva and her famous naked ride through the streets of Coventry. According to later versions of the tale, a man named Thomas defied the request that townspeople remain indoors and watched the noblewoman pass by on horseback – for which he was struck blind or dead as punishment. The phrase “Peeping Tom” entered the English language as a term for a voyeur, and it has remained in common use ever since.
The Legend and Its Origins
The story of Lady Godiva dates to at least the 13th century. In it, Godiva – wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia – rode through Coventry covered only by her long hair, in an effort to persuade her husband to lift the heavy taxes he imposed on his tenants. The episode involving Thomas appears in later retellings, adding a moral consequence to any act of voyeurism. Whether the ride itself ever took place is debated by historians, but the legend took firm hold in Coventry’s identity and has shaped how the city is remembered across the English-speaking world.
Lady Godiva in Coventry’s History
The historical Godiva, whose Old English name was Godgifu – meaning “gift of God” – was a documented Anglo-Saxon noblewoman and a significant patron of religious institutions. She and Leofric founded a Benedictine monastery at Coventry in 1043, on the site of a nunnery previously destroyed by the Danes. The couple gave generously to monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock, and Evesham, and Godiva donated several works in precious metal to Coventry, crafted by the celebrated goldsmith Mannig. She also bequeathed a necklace valued at 100 marks of silver to Coventry, sent another to Evesham, and gave a gold-fringed chasuble to St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Both she and Leofric were among the most generous Anglo-Saxon donors of the period before the Norman Conquest, and their names were commemorated together in the mortuary roll of Saint Vitalis of Savigny in 1122.