This joly clerk, Jankyn, that was so hende, Hath wedded me with greet solempnytee, And to hym yaf I al the lond and fee That evere was me yeven therbifoore. But afterward repented me ful soore; He nolde suffre nothyng of my list. By God, he smoot me ones on the lyst, For that I rente out of his book a leef, That of the strook myn ere wax al deef.

This joly clerk, Jankyn, that was so hende,
Hath wedded me with greet solempnytee,
And to hym yaf I al the lond and fee
That evere was me yeven therbifoore.
But afterward repented me ful soore;
He nolde suffre nothyng of my list.
By God, he smoot me ones on the lyst,
For that I rente out of his book a leef,
That of the strook myn ere wax al deef.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Wife of Bath’s Prologue. Smitten by the young Jankin who marries her with great solemnity, the Wife of Bath hands over all the land and property she inherited from her previous husbands. But she very quickly regrets this. But Jankin turns out to be a wife beater who will not allow her any of her desires. He makes her deaf in one ear when he hits her because she tears a page from his book.

Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes