is the suffix of its name, for "_tre_ is British, and signifieth the
same that _villa_ in Latin doth;" while the first part may be derived
from the convent or from a supposed ancient name, Cune, for the
Sherborne brook.

The first date we have is 1016, when Canute invaded Mercia, burning
and laying waste its towns and settlements, including a house of nuns
at Coventry founded by the Virgin St. Osburg in 670, and ruled over by
her.[1]

But there is no sure starting-point until the foundation of the
monastery by Earl Leofric and the Countess Godiva, the church being
dedicated by Edsi, Archbishop of Canterbury, in honour of God, the
Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Osburg, and All Saints on 4th October,
1043. Leofwin, who was first abbot with twenty-four monks under his
rule, ten years after became Bishop of Lichfield. The original
endowment by Leofric, consisted of a half of Coventry[2] with fifteen
lordships in Warwickshire and nine in other counties, making it (says
Roger de Hoveden) the wealthiest monastery of the period. Besides this
the pious Godiva gave all the gold and silver which she had to make
crosses, images, and other adornments for the church and its services.
The well-known legend of her ride through Coventry first appears in
the pages of Matthew of Westminster in the early fourteenth century.
The Charter of Exemption from Tolls is not in existence, and the story
of Peeping Tom is the embroidery of the prurient age (1678), in which
the pageant was instituted. In a window of Trinity Church figures of
Leofric and Godiva were set up about the time of Richard II, the Earl
holding in his right hand a Charter with these words written thereon:

I Luriche for the Love of thee