Coventry.
COVENTRY originated, according to tradition, in a convent established
here as early as the sixth century. Canute is said to have been the
founder of another. Whatever may be the truth of the matter, it is
certain that the great Saxon Earl Leofric and his wife Godifu in 1043
founded that Benedictine Monastery whose Priory church afterwards became
the Cathedral, whose scanty ruins alone remain. These real and legendary
religious houses, together with the Monastery of the Carmelites, or White
Friars, and numerous others originated a curious notion that the name
“Coventry” was really a corruption of “Conventry,” the place of convents.
It was an excusable mistake, when we consider that the somewhat similar
name of “Covent Garden” in London does in point of fact derive from the
old garden of the Abbots of Westminster, but it was a complete mistake,
all the same. The place-name comes from a little stream called by the
British the Couen, not easily to be found in the city itself, but rising
to the north and passing through the village of Coundon. (There is a
stream of similar name, the “Cound,” at Church Stretton, in Shropshire.)
It was thus the “place on the Couen.” The Saxons, who called that stream
by a name of their own, the “Scir-burn,” that is to say, the “clear
stream”—which in course of time became the “Sherborne”—did not succeed in
changing the name of the place, as they did at Sherborne in Dorset; and
“Coventry” it remained.
The most famous incident in the ancient “history” of Coventry is entirely
legendary; but although proved to be inherently improbable, if not
impossible, the story of Godiva and her ride through the streets clad
only in her own modesty, is one that will never be destroyed by
criticism. It is too ancient a myth for that.
About the year 1130 the monkish writer, Roger of Wendover, started it.
Whence he derived the story no one knows, but he probably heard it as a
folk-legend unconnected with place or person, and took it upon himself to
fix the tale on Leofric and his Countess Godifu. He had courage in doing
so, for it was only about a hundred years after the time of Leofric and
his wife that he wrote.
“The Countess Godiva,” he says, “who was a great lover of God’s mother,
longing to free the town of Coventry from the oppression of a heavy toll,
often with urgent prayers besought her husband, that from regard to Jesus
Christ and His mother, he would free the town from that service, and from
all other heavy burdens; and when the Earl sharply rebuked her for
foolishly asking what was so much to his damage, and always forbade her
for evermore to speak to him on the subject; and while she, on the other
hand, with a woman’s pertinacity, never ceased to exasperate her husband
on that matter, he at last made her this answer: ‘Mount your horse, and
ride naked before all the people, through the market of the town from one
end to the other, and on your return you shall have your request,’ on
which Godiva replied, ‘But will you give me permission, if I am willing
to do it?’ ‘I will,’ said he. Whereupon, the Countess, beloved of God,
loosed her hair, and let down her tresses, which covered the whole of her
body, like a veil, and then mounting her horse and attended by two
knights, she rode through the market-place without being seen, except her
fair legs; and having completed the journey, she returned with gladness
to her astonished husband and obtained of him what she had asked, for
Earl Leofric freed the town of Coventry and its inhabitants from the
aforesaid service, and confirmed what he had done by a charter.”
The incident of Peeping Tom was never thought of by Roger of Wendover,
and does not become a part of the story until the seventeenth century.
Who was the genius who invented him is not known; but from that time
onwards the peeping tailor who alone of all the people of Coventry spied
upon Godiva as she rode through the empty streets becomes an essential
part of the legend. His fate takes so mediæval a turn that he seems
really older than he is. Tennyson adopts him, in his poem, as a
“low churl, compact of thankless earth,
The fatal byword of all years to come,
Boring a little auger-hole in fear,
Peep’d—but his eyes, before they had their will,
Were shrivell’d into darkness in his head,
And dropt before him. So the powers who wait
On noble deeds, cancell’d a sense misus’d.”
A half-length effigy purporting to be Peeping Tom occupies a niche in the
wall of the “King’s Head” in Smithford Street. He is really a portion of
a figure of St. George from one of the old Coventry civic pageants; but
he looks so peculiarly unsaintly and has so lecherous a grin that no one
can for a moment dispute his entire suitability for the present part.
Coventry became so important a place in the early part of the fourteenth
century that it was granted a charter of incorporation, and afterwards
fortified with walls and gates. Parliaments were held there, in the
stately buildings of the Priory; Coventry Cross became one of the most
famous City Crosses in the kingdom; and the trade guilds were among the
richest and most powerful. The mayors, too, were important and fearless
magistrates, as we may judge from the example of John Horneby, who in
1411 caused the riotous Prince Hal, afterwards Henry the Fifth, to be
arrested for creating a disturbance, and thus ranks with Judge Gascoyne,
who on another occasion committed the Prince to prison.
Shakespeare rightly made Falstaff more ashamed to march through this rich
and populous town with his ragged company of a hundred and fifty
soldiers, and only a shirt and a half among the lot, than Godiva had been
to ride through the primitive place of three hundred years before, with
nothing—
“If I be not ashamed of my soldiers, I am a soused gurnet . . . you
would think that I had a hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, lately
come from swine-keeping, from eating draff and husks. A mad fellow
met me on the way and told me I had unloaded all the gibbets and
pressed the dead bodies. No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I’ll not
march through Coventry with them that’s flat; nay, and the villains
march wide betwixt the legs, as if they had gyves on; for indeed I
had the most of them out of prison. There’s but a shirt and a half
in all my company; and the half shirt is two napkins tied together,
and thrown over the shoulders, like a herald’s coat without sleeves;
and the shirt, to say the truth, stolen from my host at Saint Albans,
or the red-nosed innkeeper of Daintry.”
Coventry, in right of this importance, became a city in 1451, and went on
from good to better, until the suppression of the religious houses. At
that time its population numbered 15,000, but within a few years it had
declined to 3000. Yet in another thirty years the city is found
receiving Queen Elizabeth not only with enthusiasm and splendid pageants,
but with the present of a purse of £100; although the depression was
still acute.
“It is a good gift, an hundred pounds in gold; I have but few such
gifts,” said her Majesty, who was great but greedy.
“If it please your Grace,” answered that courtly Mayor, “there is a great
deal more in it.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“The hearts,” he rejoined, “of all your loving subjects.”
“We thank you, Mr. Mayor,” said the Queen, “it is a great deal more,
indeed.”
But she did not confer the honour of knighthood upon him.
James the First, visiting Coventry in 1617, was given £100 and a silver
cup; probably in the hope of getting a renewal of the charter; but in the
next reign we find a very different spirit. “Ye damnable puritans of
Coventry,” says a letter-writer of the time, “have thrown up earthworkes
and rampires against his Maiestie’s forces, and have put themselves in a
posture of defence.” It was at this time that the expression arose of
“sending to Coventry” any objectionable person. Those thus consigned to
Coventry were prisoners of war, Royalists captured by the people of
Birmingham, for whom no prison could be found except in this walled and
fortified city.
Those walls were promptly destroyed at the Restoration, by order of
Charles the Second, the citizens of Coventry offering no objection. They
had grown weary of the Commonwealth, and when the King came to his own
again the city was given over to festivity. The fountains spouted claret
(not good claret, nor very much of it, we may suppose); bonfires blazed;
and a deputation waited upon the King in London and gave him £50 and a
basin and ewer of gold.
Coventry Cross, already mentioned, was built between the years 1541–44,
at the time of the city’s decay, after the suppression of the
monasteries, and was the gift of Sir William Holles, Lord Mayor of
London, who bequeathed £200 for the purpose. It was described by Dugdale
as “one of the chief things wherein this city most glories, which for
workmanship and beauty is inferior to none in England.” But soon after
Dugdale wrote this the Cross wherein Coventry so gloried was destroyed,
and the chief outstanding architectural feature is now formed by the
spires of St. Michael’s, Holy Trinity, and Christ Church: Coventry indeed
being known far and wide as the “City of the Three Spires.” It is rather
unfortunate that the fine grouping of these three spires, seen best from
the approach to the city by the Kenilworth road, is spoiled by the most
distressingly commonplace houses in the foreground; and that from no
other point of view do they group at all.
St. Michael’s spire, incomparably the finer, rises with the tower to a
height of 303 feet; that of Holy Trinity to 237 feet; and Christ Church
to 201 feet. St. Michael’s church has the reputation of being the
largest parish church in England, a distinction claimed also by St.
Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, and St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. The honour
appears to belong to St. Michael’s, which in other ways is a notable
building. It is generally said to have a nave and four aisles, the two
additional “aisles” being really chapels of similar length and
appearance: the work of the Smiths’ and Girdlers’ Companies and the
Fellowship of Woollen Cardmakers; two among the great trading guilds of
the city. The Cappers, the Dyers, the Mercers, the Drapers and the
Smiths had also their part in these outer aisles. The greater part of
the church is of the Perpendicular period and is due to the local family
of Botoner, who expended their substance lavishly upon it—
“William and Adam built the Tower,
Anne and Mary built the Spire;
William and Adam built the Nave
And Mary built the Quire.”
So ran the old rhyme. The works were in progress between 1373 and 1436.
A narrow road separates St. Michael’s from Holy Trinity, which, although
in itself a fine Perpendicular building, suffers by comparison with its
greater neighbour. Here also the guilds—the Tanners, Marlers, Butchers
and others—exhibited their wealth and piety in the building of chapels;
and here was a noble stained-glass fourteenth-century window containing
the figures of Leofric and Godiva, with the inscription—
[Picture: Stained-Glass Window Inscription]
Christ Church retains only its ancient spire, the ruined body being
replaced in 1829 by a work in the most lamentable style.
Besides its churches, Coventry is famed for its ancient “St. Mary’s
Hall,” originally the hall of St. Mary’s Guild, but afterwards serving as
that of the Holy Trinity, a religious society which amalgamated and
swallowed up St. Mary’s and many others. It became the headquarters of
the old municipal life of Coventry, and so it still remains; a noble
centre for the city’s business and hospitalities.
Coventry nowadays is remarkable for its modern manufactures. In the
thirteenth century it was soap that supported the city. Later it was
prosperous in the making of woollen fabrics, needles and pins, and famed
for a dye known as “Coventry Blue.” As time went on, silk-weaving and
ribbon-making took prominence, and doubtless it was from Coventry that
the promised “fairing” was to have come that is mentioned in the old
ballad of that faithless Johnny who was so long at the fair—
“He promised to buy me a fairing to please me,
A bunch of blue ribbons he promised to buy me,
To tie up my bonny brown hair.”
But by 1869, when the duty on foreign-made silks had been removed, the
silk and ribbon trade began to decline, and the enterprising citizens
turned to the manufacture of sewing-machines. Then came the velocipede,
the bicycle, and the motor-car. In the making of those two last-named
articles and in that of ordnance, Coventry has found its fortune. They
are not Shakespearean manifestations, and so need not be enlarged upon in
this place.
In spite of its modern growth, Coventry remains a very picturesque city.
In Butcher Row, and in narrow old alleys little touched by modern
developments, something of the mediæval place may yet be traced; and in
those two charming old almshouses, Bablake’s Hospital, founded in 1506,
and “Ford’s Hospital,” built in 1529, half-timbered work is seen very
nearly at its best.
NOTES.
{21} He should have said _Much Ado About Nothing_.
{213} As these pages go to press a singularly full confirmation of these
remarks appears in one of the September 1912 issues of the _Birmingham
Post_: “Evesham District Council have decided to build sixty cottages at
Broadway under the Housing of the Working Classes Act, and the Local
Government Board have sanctioned the borrowing of £10,000.” Thus, a
number of brand-new dwellings are to be built, to rehouse those villagers
whose ancient homes have been taken from them. It is a curious sidelight
upon the spread of culture.
{272a} Draw closer.
{272b} Took prisoners.
{272c} They took.
{272d} If it might be done.
{272e} They would not agree to the King’s terms.
{272f} They would not abide by their wishes.
{272g} Then excommunicated them.
{272i} More.
{272j} Counsel.
INDEX
ABBOT’S NORTON, 200
— Salford, 199
Alcester, 2, 231
Alderminster, 188
Andoversford, 216
Arden, Family of, 9, 232–235
—, Forest of, 2, 7, 129
—, Mary, 9, 232
—, Robert, 9
Ardens Grafton, 156
Aston Cantlow, 9, 235
Atherstone-upon-Stour, 187
Avon, river, 2, 3, 45–48, 78, 190, 210, 219, 240, 262, 205, 260
* * * * *
Baddesley Clinton, 7
Balsall, Thomas, 77, 98
Banbury, 2, 18
Barton, 147, 199
Beauchamp Family, the, 247–253, 255, 267
Bicester, 18, 20
Bidford, 58, 137, 147–153, 195
Billesley, 12, 232
Binton, 47, 147, 195
Brailes, 191
Broadway, 212–215
Broom, 163
* * * * *
Campden Wonder, the, 183–185
Charlecote, 17, 47, 114–126
Charles the Second, 143–146
Chipping Campden, 173–185
Cleeve Common, 218
— Priors, 199
Clifford Chambers, 10, 68, 166–109
Clopton, Family of, 28, 72, 81–83, 230
—, House, 83, 230
—, Lower, 173
—, Sir Hugh, 40, 63, 82
—, Upper, 173
Combe, John, 78, 98
—, William, 134
Compton Wynyates, 191–194
Cotswolds, the, 215
Coventry, 280–290
* * * * *
Dancing Marston (or Long Marston), 141–146
Dingles, the, 133–135
Dorsington, 147
Dudley, Ambrose, Earl of Warwick, 253, 275
—, Robert, Earl of Leicester, 16, 241–243, 252, 273–275
* * * * *
Ettington, 2, 186, 188–190
Evesham, 137, 200–210
Exhall, 158
* * * * *
Feldon, the, 2, 164, 191
Frog Mill, 216
* * * * *
Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 73
Gaveston, Piers, 256–259
Greet, 216, 217
Grendon Underwood, 18–21
Gretton, 216, 217
Grevel, William. 176–178, 180
—, or Greville, Family, the, 178, 245, 250, 254, 264
Guy of Warwick, 255, 266
Guy’s Cliff, 266
* * * * *
Hall, Dr. John, 48, 72, 93, 97
Harrington, 200
Hartshorn, 216
Hathaway, Family of, 12–15
—, Anne, 7, 12–15, 101–113
Henley-in-Arden, 2, 8, 235, 237
Hicks, Sir Baptist, Viscount Campden, 178, 180
Hillborough, 147, 152–154
* * * * *
John of Stratford, 75–77
* * * * *
Kenilworth, 268–280
* * * * *
Leek Wootton, 267
Long Marston, 141–146, 169
Lower Clopton, 173
Lucy Family, the, 47, 114–126
—, Sir Thomas (“Justice Shallow”), 17, 114–119, 124
Luddington, 12, 47, 68, 147, 195
* * * * *
Marlcliff, 199
Marston Sicca (or Long Marston), 141–146
Mickleton, 173
* * * * *
Newbold-on-Stour, 188, 190
* * * * *
Oxford, 18
* * * * *
Pebworth, 139–141
Preston Bagot, 237
Preston-upon-Stour, 187
* * * * *
Quiney, Richard, 28–30, 33, 58
—, Thomas, 33, 39
Quinton, 169, 173, 234
* * * * *
Ralph of Stratford, 75, 77
Robert of Stratford, 75
Rowington, 237
* * * * *
Salford, Abbot’s, 199
—, Prior’s, 199
Shakespeare, Family of, 6–11
—, Edmund, 59
—, Gilbert, 10, 58, 59
—, Hamnet, 22, 26
—, Henry, 240
—, Isabel, 7
—, Joan, 10, 52, 59
—, John, 5, 8–11, 15–17, 22, 26, 51, 59, 166
—, Judith, 33, 39
—, Richard, 7, 10, 59
—, Susanna, 48, 52, 93, 97
—, Thomas, 7, 237
—, William, 5–7; birth, 9; marriage, 11–15; goes to London, 16–21;
success in London, as actor, dramatist and theatrical manager, 23–26; his
return to Stratford-on-Avon, 27–30; purchases New Place, 38; he retires,
31–33; death, 33; scene of his school-days, 67–70; his residence, New
Place, 70–74; the Bacon fanatics and Shakespeare, 85–91, 94;
Shakespeare’s grave and monument, 89–95; Shakespeare, poacher and
deer-stealer, 114–119; Shakespeare the countryman, 127–135
— Farm, Grendon Underwood, 20
— Hall, Rowington, 7, 236, 237
Shipston-on-Stour, 180, 190
Shirley, Evelyn Philip, 188–190
Shottery, 12, 15, 101–113
Snitterfield, 7, 8, 9, 11, 49, 238–240
Southampton, Henry Wriothesley, Earl of, 17, 30
Stinchcombe Hill, 217
Stratford-on-Avon, 1–5, 8–11, 26–100
—, American Memorial Fountain, 43
—, Bridge Street, 39
—, Chapel, 63, 75
—, Clopton Bridge, 3, 40, 45, 164
—, Grammar School, 5, 15, 67–70
—, Guild, the, 4, 60–67
—, Harvard House, 37, 41–43
—, Holy Trinity Church, 13, 26, 75–100
—, Mason Croft, 60
—, Memorial Theatre, 44
—, Mop Fair, 37
—, Nash’s House, 39, 72, 73, 74
—, New Place, 28, 31–33, 70–74, 84, 101
—, Old Stratford, 3, 48, 72
—, Red Horse Hotel, 40, 43
—, Rother Street, 3, 43, 101
—, Shakespeare Hotel, 34, 43
—, Shakespeare’s Birth-place, 49–59, 110, 231
Sudeley, 216, 217
Sunrising Hill, 2, 18, 186
* * * * *
Temple Grafton, 12, 13, 154–156
Tewkesbury, 216, 219–229
Tomes, John, 143–146
* * * * *
Upper Clopton, 173
* * * * *
Warwick, 240, 265
—, Beauchamp Chapel, 248, 253
—, Castle, 254–265
—, Earls of, 247, 249–265
—, Leicester’s Hospital, 241–245
—, St. Mary’s Church, 245–253
—, Westgate, 240
Welcombe, 98, 133–135, 235, 238
Welford, 147, 195–197
Weston-on-Avon, 147, 197
Whitchurch, 188
Whittington, 216
Wilmcote, 9, 232–235
Winchcombe, 215
Wincot, 169, 234
Wixford, 160
Woncot, 217
Woodmancote, 217
Wooland, the, 2
Wootton Wawen, 235
Wriothesley, Henry, Earl of Southampton, 17, 30