Leofric, Earl of Mercia (968–1057), English noble and benefactor of churches
On screen, Leofric has been portrayed by Roy Travers in the British silent short Lady Godiva (1928), George Nader in the film Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955), and Tony Steedman in the BBC TV series Hereward the Wake (1965).
The Exeter Book has been at the Exeter Cathedral Library since 1072 where it was donated by Bishop Leofric.
Gruffydd now allied himself with Ælfgār, son of Earl Leofric of Mercia, who had been deprived of his earldom of East Anglia by Harold Godwinson and his brothers.
It is said to have been re-founded and re-endowed in 1054 by Leofric and Godiva encouraged by Bishop Wulfwig as a Minster of Secular Canons with the Bishop at its head.