Lady Godiva's ride

She rode naked to free her town.

Godiva, wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, is a real Anglo-Saxon noblewoman. The legend, written down by the 13th century, says she begged her husband to lift a heavy toll on Coventry, and he told her to ride naked through the market place. She let down her hair to cover herself and rode through the town, and he kept his word. British History Online quotes the early Latin version, which says nobody saw her but her very white legs.