According to the legend, Godiva disagreed with the heavy taxation her husband Leofric, imposed on his people. In response to his wife’s constant objections, Leofric promised to lift the tax if she would ride a horse through the English town of Coventry naked. To his surprise, Godiva rose to the challenge and rode naked without anyone daring to look at her but Peeping Tom and Leofric kept his promise.
Anglo-Saxons Versus Normans
Nerys Jones tells a story slightly different from the legend. Her story is set in 11th century England. The English crown is at the centre of scheming campaigns between the Anglo-Saxon nobles and Normans waiting for the nearest opportunity to seize the throne.
Jones’ Godiva is a noblewoman, a wealthy land-owner, a founder and patron of St. Mary’s, a Benedictine Abbey in Coventry. She is a respected guardian of the people under the rule of the House of Lovric. While her husband, the Earl of Mercia is away fighting Normans and designing plans with his fellow nobles to keep the throne in Anglo-Saxon hands, Godiva struggles to ensure welfare of her community as famine and diseases threaten to disrupt the peace.
King Edward the Confessor
But their happy marriage is soon to be tested as Lovric’s political power and Godiva’s beauty are a thorn in the watchful eye of the Court. King Edward the Confessor, a masterful joker and a passionate chess player manipulates the couple into unwillingly joining his army of pawns that are played against each other. When their eldest son Alfgar is skilfully manoeuvred into plotting against the king and imprisoned, and their younger son taken hostage on account of his brother’s activities, Godiva and Lovric are summoned to the royal court at Winchester. The game begins, and with it Godiva’s ordeal.
Poker-faced Edward practices religious devotion while he engages in strange sexual games with Queen Edith. Despite her spouse’s obsessions, Edith is being sexually rejected as Edward refuses to produce an heir.
Mystery Voyeur
The endless intrigues cause Godiva to mistrust Lovric and he is driven away into another battle, while she falls blindly into the arms of a sinister lover. With her husband absent, Godiva meets the king in secret, as she fears his raids against her lands would bring an end to the peace in her community. She accepts the penance, the harshness of which provokes an outrage in Coventry. On the day of the ride, all the doors and windows are shut as no one dares to see her ladyship disgraced, but Godiva’s maid Agatha notices that one pair of eyes does watch from the church tower.
Agatha is a refreshing character in this narrative. She is loyal, outspoken and brave. Her common sense attitude enlivens the story, especially in the gloomy episode when Godiva falls ill after the ride and is cared for by nuns who believe Godiva is possessed by a she-vampire.
Will Godiva recover from her ordeal? What role did her secret lover play in her downfall? Who was the sinister figure in the tower and what was the real purpose of the penance? Is her marriage with Lovric ruined forever?
This is a very enjoyable read with plenty of historical detail and believable characters. Nerys Jones would have undoubtedly offered her readers more fascinating stories if she had not passed away during the publication of Godiva.
Godiva by Nerys Jones published by Macmillan (2008), 344 pages including Postscript
ISBN 978-0-330-45280-9
