[Loch-ruadh] Interesting article

[STEVE K ROURKE]

http://englishculture.about.com/library/weekly/aa071001a.htm

Lady in the Glass
Could archaeologists be looking at the image of an Anglo-Saxon queen?

Archaeologists believe that fragments of painted glass found in rubble at
Coventry's first cathedral, part of a great Benedictine abbey which was
destroyed in the dissolution of the monasteries, depict the image of Lady
Godiva (d. 1070).

Although the it dates from the 14th century - 300 years after the
Anglo-Saxon Christian princess rode naked through the marketplace to save
her people from unjust taxes - the glass was produced a century after the
first written version of the legend. Indeed, during the 1300s glass was a
great luxury, and stained or painted glass even more so, indicating that the
woman was definitely of high status.

The fragments were pieced together from thousands of shards of medieval
glass, and it is also possible that more of the image may still lie in boxes
that have not yet been examined. Although there is little evidence to prove
its authenticity, the piece does show the face of a beautiful woman with
long wavy hair, suggesting to some that it could be the earliest image of
the city's heroine. >

The tombs of Godiva and her husband, Leofric, were looted and destroyed many
centuries ago. Records indicate they were both buried in the small church
they founded on the hilltop in Coventry. Around this grew an impressive
cathedral, far bigger than the cathedral destroyed in the Blitz or its
modern replacement. The glass was found within the ruins of the nave,
meaning the men who destroyed the abbey probably smashed it in from outside.
It is thought to have come from a large window in the nave, near the site of
the lost tombs.

Legend says that when Lady Godiva informed her husband that the townspeople
were crippled by excessive taxes, he scornfully offered to relieve them if
she rode naked - or in some versions simply "unadorned", without any head
covering or jewellery - through the marketplace. Although her flowing
locks covered her naked body, much later versions of the story include an
unfortunate tailor who was struck blind for peeping at her through his
shutter. He was henceforth known as 'Peeping Tom'.

The face and any other fragments will be displayed in a new visitor's
centre, due to open in August 2001.