Over the last year or so I've been collecting a medieval legends silver round series from Provident Metals.

I posted about the series when it was announced and asked for guesses about which legends you thought would be featured. Check it out, and follow along...

Round 3

Lady Godiva

Of the first three, this one is most interesting to me, probably because I know nothing about this one, so let's dig in.

First, here is some mintage info:

The Myth

It's well documented that Lady Godiva was an actual person, a noblewoman and wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. She had 9 kids and died sometime in the middle of the 11th century.

The myth goes like this; Lady Godiva was feeling sympathetic to the townspeople of Coventry and their plight in the face of extreme taxation by her husband, Leofric. She repeatedly asked him to lower the tax so finally, after much pleading, he agreed to lower the tax if she rode through the streets naked 😍

She took him at his word and made a proclamation to the town that no one should look the night of her ride. Everyone, save for one poor soul, obeyed as she rode through the streets of Coventry in the buff. It is said that one fucking guy person did look upon the naked Lady riding through the streets, and was immediately struck blind, forever to be know as peeping tom xD

Had to be the church that stuck that little gem in the myth. Puritans aside, that's an interesting story and one I had no knowledge of until today. Fun!

Stacker Alert!

Looks like a halfpenny with Lady Godiva on the obverse was minted in Britain from 1792-1795.

Cool! Looks like they run about $150 for an average coin 😬 on ebay.