Who was the Wife of Bath?

The Wife of Bath is one of the 29 pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales." In her prologue, readers learn of her five marriages and her twisted ways of justifying her lifestyle. She tells of how she won the men's hearts and admits her best husbands were rich.

She also speaks in her prologue of being less than an honest woman, so it is unclear how much of her story is meant to be believed. She obviously craves attention and even wants the friar to tell her he desires to hear her tale before she agrees to start it. Not ironically, the topic of her tale is how all women desire to rule over their husbands.