Went To Coventry

EARLIER this month I spent an extended weekend in Coventry, based in a Holiday Inn at junction 2 of the M6.

I had thought it was fairly well-known that the expression "sent to Coventry," meaning to shun, originated in the English Civil War.

The story goes that captured Royalists who were transferred to the town, a Parliamentary stronghold, were snubbed by locals.

This was the version given by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, in his The History Of The Rebellion.

However it seems not everyone accepts this, at least not at Wikipedia and Wiktionary

One problem with Hyde's story, at least in my view, is that enemy prisoners would naturally be shunned.

But perhaps in this particular case some were allowed relative freedom to roam the town on parole, only to find no one would socialise with them, and this ostracising was maintained especially strictly.

In any event, this is the generally accepted origin of the expression, and I certainly do not have a better explanation.