With the forest being mostly unsuitable for the cultivation of crops, the Saxon settlers would have cleared the land and concentrated on raising cattle and sheep, eventually leading to Coventry's successful wool industry and great wealth.

[9] Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva (a corruption of her given name, "Godgifu") rebuilt on the remains of the nunnery to found a Benedictine monastery in 1043 dedicated to St. Mary for an abbot and 24 monks.

[11] He [Leofric] and his wife, the noble Countess Godgifu, a worshipper of God and devout lover of St Mary ever-virgin, built the monastery there from the foundations out of their own patrimony, and endowed it adequately with lands and made it so rich in various ornaments that in no monastery in England might be found the abundance of gold, silver, gems and precious stones that was at that time in its possession.Edward the Confessor, who had been crowned king by this time, favoured pious acts of this nature and granted a charter confirming Leofric and Godiva's gift.

This was known as the "Prior's-half", and the other was called the "Earl's-half" which would later pass to the Earls of Chester, and explains the early division of Coventry into two parts (until the Royal "Charter of Incorporation" was granted in 1345).

[21] Coventry also has some surviving religious artworks from this time, such as the doom painting at Holy Trinity Church which features Christ in judgement, figures of the resurrected, and contrasting images of Heaven and Hell.

Running through the town was the River Sherbourne which provided a source of water and power for mills, and there were plentiful supplies of timber nearby for fuel and building purposes.

[29]This trade was assisted first by a 1273 Crown charter enabling export to "any places beyond the seas", and then by another in 1334 that granted traders freedom from toll and other dues for their merchandise throughout the realm.

Reflecting Coventry's commercial and strategic importance, in 1355 construction began on city walls, a vast and expensive undertaking funded by local tolls and taxes, and for which King Richard II allowed stone to be quarried from his park in Cheylesmore.

The Guest House on the corner of Palmer Lane provided lodgings for pilgrims to the priory, and there were numerous inns in the city to cater to the needs of travellers, merchants and local inhabitants.

[35] In 1465 the Coventry mint was established where nobles, half-nobles and groats were coined,[36] but it was disbanded a few years later, and the Golden Cross inn, built in 1583, now occupies the site.

On several occasions between 1456 and 1459 parliament was held in Coventry, which for a while served as the effective seat of government, but this would come to an end in 1461 when Edward IV was installed on the throne.

[48] Cheylesmore Manor House, currently the home of Coventry's Register office, lists Edward, the Black Prince and Henry VI among the royals who lived there.

[51] A sumptuous banquet was prepared in honour of King James I's visit to the city in 1617, but relations between the monarchy and Coventry deteriorated later when protests were made against his son's request for a considerable contribution of "ship-money" in 1635.

The King made an unsuccessful attempt to take the town in late August 1642, appearing at the city gates with 6,000 horse troops, but was strongly beaten back by the Coventry garrison and townspeople.

It is believed that the phrase "send to Coventry" (being treated coldly or ignored) may have grown out of the hostile attitude of residents of the city to either the troops billeted there, or towards the Scottish Royalist prisoners held in the Church of St. John the Baptist following the Battle of Preston.

When his brother, King James II visited the city in 1687, he received a magnificent reception in an outward show of loyalty to the Crown, but within two years most of the same people were celebrating the coming of William of Orange.

[67] The city continued to produce ribbons, woven labels and other small textile items, and 1904 heralded the opening of Courtaulds' first silk works at Foleshill in Coventry.

Most notably these were general engineering, metal casting, drop forging, chain-making and the manufacture of instruments and gauges, machine tools, and all types of electrical equipment.

[71] Due to the importance of war production in Coventry it was a target for German zeppelin attacks and defensive anti-aircraft guns were established at Keresley and Wyken Grange to protect the city.

[77] Construction of a new Council House to take on the administration duties performed by St. Mary's Hall, and designed to be in keeping with its medieval surroundings, began in 1913 but was delayed during World War I.

[81] Starting in 1931, large sections of the city centre were demolished to make way for a new street plan, more suited to the motor car, with the timber-framed buildings to be replaced by modern structures.

[89][page needed] It was designed by Basil Spence and contains the tapestry, Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph by Graham Sutherland, the bronze statue St Michael's Victory over the Devil by Jacob Epstein that adorns the exterior wall and a striking memorial to Cuthbert Bardsley, bishop of Coventry from 1956 to 1976.

The development of Coventry's central business district was unnaturally restricted through the construction of a major orbital ringroad in the early-1970s, leading to a hodge-podge of "mixed use" city zones with no clearly defined functions, aside from the cathedral quarter and a 1950s shopping precinct.

Nevertheless, several pockets of the city centre still have a number of medieval and neo-Gothic buildings (Ford's Hospital, The Golden Cross, St Mary's Guildhall, Spon Street, the Old Blue Coat School, the Council House, and the Holy Trinity Church etc.)

The introduction of high-quality housing developments, particularly around the city's southern suburbs (such as Cannon Park, Styvechale Grange and south Finham) catered for a larger middle-class (and relatively well-paid working-class) population.

Coupled with some of the UK's finest sporting and leisure facilities of the time, including an Olympic-standard swimming complex and a pedestrianised shopping precinct, Coventrians enjoyed a short-lived golden age.

[95] Since the 1980s, Coventry has recovered, with its economy diversifying into services, with engineering ceasing to be a mass employer, what remains of manufacturing in the city is driven by smaller more specialist firms.

It is believed that the Charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery, also kept a school for needy scholars, and that priests attached to various parish churches taught children in their spare time.

Coventry Technical College, based at the Butts, was opened in 1935 and offered courses in engineering, construction, secretarial and cookery studies, reflecting the needs of the area at that time.

[118] Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva were responsible for the first major act of benevolence when they founded a monastery in the early settlement of Coventry, and some of the more notable benefactors and people that have since aided its development are listed as follows:[119]