Of latter date, of wyves hath he red That somme han slayn hir housbondes in hir bed, And lete hir lecchour dighte hire al the nyght, Whan that the corps lay in the floor upright.

Of latter date, of wyves hath he red
That somme han slayn hir housbondes in hir bed,
And lete hir lecchour dighte hire al the nyght,
Whan that the corps lay in the floor upright.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Jankin carries on with his anti-feminist book readings to his wife Alison, Wife of Bath. This time about the gruesome tales of wives who had slain their husbands in their beds, and had sex with their lecher all night while their husband’s corpse lay on the floor alongside.

Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes