<< prev in category - next in category >>

Named for the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, who, it is said, rode naked, but for her long hair, through the streets of Coventry {see planet  (3009)} so that her husband would reduce the oppressive taxes he levied on the people of the city. In a later, embellished version of the legend, the populace was entreated to stay behind shuttered windows; but a tailor named Peeping Tom, who disobeyed, was instantly struck blind. (M 9770)