To vigilies and to processiouns,
To prechyng eek, and to thise pilgrimages,
To pleyes of myracles, and to mariages,
And wered upon my gaye scarlet gytes.
– Geoffrey Chaucer
The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. While her fourth husband was at London for all of spring, the Wife of Bath went out quite a bit socially and liked to wear expensive and brightly colored scarlet gowns. It was not just out of vanity, but she liked to see and be seen by lusty folk, she says, being ever mindful of providing for her future and shopping for the next husband.