How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Line). We used the line numbering found on Librarius's online edition.
Quote #13
Of latter date, of wyves han he red
That somme han slayn hir housbondes in hir bed,
And lete hir lechour dighte hire al the night
Whyl that the corps lay in the floor up-right.
(771-774)
The treachery of a wife having sex with another man in their marital bed is one familiar to us from "The Miller's Tale." The gruesome image of the husband's corpse bleeding to death on the floor is an addition made by the anti-marriage tracts from which Jankyn reads.