And whan that I hadde geten unto me,
By maistrie, al the soveraynetee,
And that he seyde, "Myn owene trewe wyf,
Do as thee lust the terme of al thy lyf;
Keep thyn honour, and keep eek myn estaat" –
After that day we hadden never debaat.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. The Woman of Bath Alison is a woman ahead of her time and probably Chaucer’s most vital creation. Having by her mastery and manipulation achieved sovereignty in her marriage to the young Jankin, he speaks in words of complete submission, telling his own true wife to do as she pleases the rest of her life. After that day they never had an argument, she adds.