Here is a painting of Lady Godiva by John Collier. She was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who many say was a widow when she first married Leipfric before the Norman Conquest. Living in Coventry, England, she and her husband were great benefactors of religious institutions, giving money to different monasteries and nunneries. She is listed in the Domesday Survey and over time, long after her death, religous leaders wrote the "history" of her naked ride.The legend has it that her husband oppressed and over-taxed his tenants, so Lady Godiva kept appealing to him to relent. He laughed her off by telling her that he would relent, if she would ride through town naked! So, she did. It is said that she requested that everyone look away and that one gentleman didn't and was struck blind -- thus the sub-legend of the "Peeping Tom" being born! Her husband is said to have relented on his taxation! She lived on after Leipfric and maintained vast land holdings and wealth even in the days after the Norman Conquest.
Now some say that she was never really "naked," that perhaps she was just not wearing noble jewelry, or perhaps she was wearing a penitent's white shift. Others say that the ride never took place at all. But still, the legend persists, and you know how it goes -- where there's smoke, there's fire!!
You can read more about this liberal lady at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godiva
or
http://www.abacom.com/~jkrause/godiva.html
or
http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/070377.html