wife of bath five husbands canterbury tales general prologue

Housbondes at chirche dore she hadde fyve,
Withouten oother compaignye in youthe –
But thereof nedeth nat to speke as nowthe.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue. We get a glimpse into the colorful private love and sex life of the Wife of Bath, when we hear that she married five husbands at the church door – not counting others she was with in her youth.