In Chaucer's tale The Wife of Bath women's roles as being secular come into play. It is said that the heaviest influence on women in the Middle Ages where that of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary also represented the church and marriage, since she was only married once it was accustomed to follow in her footsteps.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/zatta/wife.html
Chaucer was born as the sun of a wine merchant. In his lifetime he served time as a courtier, Justice of the Peace for the Duke of Kent, and even spent a bit of time in the military. He lived the black death and the peasants revolt which was quite extraordinary since it killed off a third of Europe's population. The Canterbury tales was Chaucer's most noted and popular work of literature.Chaucer was one of the first poets to be buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.
http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/wifebath.htm
The Catholic Church was not only a governing power but help sustain an "ideal"of morality. The furthest records indicate that the Celtic community had respect for women only because of the church. This helped form the building blocks for the "doctrine of marriage, virginity and equality of sexes could be built."Being monogamous was the most common relationship found but polygamy was not unheard of but most commonly found in the Danes and Northmen. Divorce and re-marriage were less common if found at all while concubinage was never forbidden it ceased to be legal, in certain circles it was found and tolerated.
http://www.medieval-spell.com/Roles-Of-Women-In-The-Middle-Ages.html
