a town of Warwickshire, in England, situated in W. Long. 1. 26. N. Lat. 52. 25. It is an ancient place, and is supposed to derive its name Coventry, from a convent formerly situated here. Leofric, earl of Mercia, who rebuilt the religious house after it had been destroyed by the Danes, and was lord of the place about the year 1040, is said, upon some provocation, to have loaded them with heavy taxes. Being importuned by his lady, Godiva, to remit them, he consented, upon condition that she should ride naked through the town, which he little imagined she would ever comply with. But he found himself mistaken: for she accepted the offer, and rode through the town with her long hair scattered all over her body; having first enjoined the citizens not to venture, on pain of death, to look out as she passed. It is said, however, that a certain taylor could not help peeping; and to this day there is an effigy of him at the window whence he looked. To commemorate this extraordinary transaction, and out of respect to the memory of their patroness, the citizens make a procession every year, with the figure of a naked woman on horseback. After Leofric's death, the earls of Chester became lords of the city, and granted it many privileges. At length it was annexed to the earldom of Cornwall; and growing considerable, had divers immunities and privileges conferred upon it by several kings; particularly that of a mayor and two bailiffs by Edward III.; and Henry VI. made it, in conjunction with some other towns and villages, a distinct county, independent of the county of Warwick. But afterwards Edward IV., for their disloyalty, deprived them of their liberties, which were not restored till they had paid a fine of 500 marks. By a charter from James I., an alderman is allotted to each ward, with the powers of the justices of the peace within the city and its liberties. The walls were ordered to be demolished at the reformation; and now nothing remains of them but the gates, which are very lofty. Coventry is noted for the two parliaments which were held in it; the one called the parliament of Dunces, and the other of Devils. The former was so called on account of the exclusion of the lawyers; and the attainders of the duke of York, the earls of Salisbury, Warwick, and March, procured the other the epithet of Devils. The town-house of Coventry is much admired for its painted windows representing several kings and others that have been benefactors to the city. The chief manufactures carried on here are temmies and ribbands.

Coventry sends two members to parliament, and gives title of earl to an ancient family of the same name.— Coventry is a bishop's see. The bishopric is said to have been founded by Offa king of Mercia, in the year 656 or 657; and although it hath a double name, yet, like Bath and Wells, it is a single diocese. It was so extremely wealthy, that king Offa, by the favour of pope Adrian, constituted it an archiepiscopal see; but this title was laid aside on the death of that king. In 1075, Peter, the 34th bishop, removed the see to Chester. In 1102, Robert de Limsey, his immediate successor, removed it to Coventry; and Hugo Novant, the 41st bishop, removed it back to Litchfield, but with great opposition from the monks of Coventry. The dispute was finally settled in a manner nearly similar to that which is mentioned between Bath and Wells. Here it was agreed that the bishop should be styled from both places, and that Coventry should have the precedence; that they should choose the bishop alternately; and that they should both make one chapter to the bishop, in which the prior of Coventry should be the chief man. Matters continued thus till the Reformation, when the priory of Coventry being dissolved by king Henry VIII., the style of the bishop continued as before. But an act of parliament passed, 33d of king Henry VIII., to make the dean and chapter of Litchfield one sole chapter to the bishop. This fee hath given three saints to the church, and to the nation one lord chancellor, three lord treasurers, three presidents of Wales, one chancellor to the university of Cambridge, and one master of the Wardrobe. The old church built by king Offa being taken down by Roger de Clinton, the 37th bishop, he built the beautiful fabric that now stands in 1448, and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary and St Chad. During the grand rebellion, the church suffered much; but, soon after the Restoration, it was repaired and beautified. This diocese contains the whole counties of Stafford and Derby (except two parishes of the former), the largest part of Warwickshire, and near only one half of Shropshire, in which are 555 parishes, of which 250 are inappropriate. It hath four archdeaconries, viz. Stafford, Derby, Coventry, and Shrewsbury. It is valued in the king's books at £599:18:2½, and is computed to be worth annually £1,2800. The clergy's tenth is £599:16:11½. To this cathedral belong a bishop, a dean, a precentor, a chancellor, a treasurer, four archdeacons, twenty-seven prebendaries, five priest vicars, seven lay clerks, or fingering men, eight choristers, and other under officers and servants.

CO-VERSED sine, in geometry, the remaining part of the diameter of a circle, after the versed sine is taken from it. See GEOMETRY.