Margery Kempe
Encyclopedia
Margery Kempe is known for dictating The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first autobiography
in the English language
. This book chronicles, to some extent, her extensive pilgrimage
s to various holy sites in Europe
and Asia
, as well as her mystical conversations with God. She is honoured in the Anglican Communion
.
(then Bishop's Lynn), Norfolk
, Kingdom of England
. Her father, John Brunham, was a merchant in Lynn, five-time mayor, and Member of Parliament
. His mercantile fortunes may have been negatively affected by downturns in the economy, especially in the wool
trades, of the 1390s. The first record of her Brunham family is the mention of her grandfather, Ralph de Brunham in 1320 in the Red Register of Lynn. By 1340 he had joined the Parliament of Lynn
sat down at her bedside, and asked her, "Daughter, why hast thou forsaken Me, and I forsook never thee?" She relates, at first, intending to become God's servant, but admits she could not "leave her pride nor her pompous array." Kempe undertook two domestic businesses—a brewery
and a grain mill—both common home-based businesses for medieval women, both of which endured for a little while, then failed.
Though she tried to be more devout, she was tempted by sexual pleasures and social jealousy for some years. Eventually turning away from her vocational choices, Kempe dedicated herself completely to the spiritual calling that she felt her earlier vision required. Striving to live a life of commitment to God
, Kempe negotiated a celibate marriage with her husband, and began to make pilgrimage
s around Europe and Asia to holy sites, including Rome
, Jerusalem, and Santiago de Compostela
. Her book consisted of her accounts related to these travels, although a final section includes a series of prayer
s. The spiritual focus of her book is on the mystical conversations she conducts with Christ for more than forty years.
From 1413 to 1420, Kempe also visited important sites and religious figures in England, including Philip Repyngdon, the Bishop of Lincoln
; Henry Chichele
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
; and the mystic Julian of Norwich
. Travelling to Rome in 1416, she stayed at the Venerable English College. Her thoughts concerning these trips and her revelatory experiences make up much of her book, but she also recounts persecution by civil and religious leaders. The last section of her book deals with a journey in the 1430s to Norway
and the Holy Roman Empire
, where she visited the relic Holy Blood of Wilsnack
. Two different scribe
s wrote for Kempe, under her strict supervision.
experience in the Middle Ages
. Kempe is unusual among the more traditional holy exemplars of her time, such as Julian of Norwich
, a member of a religious order. In describing her visit to Julian in Norwich, Kempe tells of their discussion of Kempe's visions and assessment as to their orthodoxy. They decided that because the visions led to charity
, they were of the Holy Spirit
.
Although Kempe has been depicted as an "oddity" or a "madwoman," recent scholarship on vernacular theologies and popular practices of piety suggest she was not as odd as she appears. Her Book is revealed as a carefully constructed spiritual and social commentary. As Swanson (2003) explains, in the 1420s, Kempe began dictating her book to a scribe. After his death, she continued to work with another male scribe, to complete The Book of Margery Kempe. While Kempe began dictating her book, her husband John Kempe fell ill, and she returned to Lynn
to be his nursemaid. Soon after, he and her son both died. Her final travel was to Danzig with her daughter-in-law.
Her autobiography begins with "the onset of her spiritual quest, her recovery from the ghostly aftermath of her first child-bearing" (Swanson, 2003, p. 142). There is no firm evidence that Margery Kempe could read or write, but Leyser notes how religious culture was informed by texts. She could have had works read to her. There is some evidence that the Incendium Amoris by Richard Rolle
influenced Margery Kempe; Walter Hilton
has been cited as another possible influence on Kempe. Among other books that Kempe had read to her were, repeatedly, the Revelationes of Birgitta of Sweden and her pilgrimages were related to those of that married saint, who had had eight children.
Kempe and her Book are significant because they express the tension in late medieval England between institutional orthodoxy and increasingly public modes of religious dissent, especially those of the Lollards. Throughout her spiritual career, Kempe was challenged by both church and civil authorities on her adherence to the teachings of the institutional Church. The Bishop of Lincoln
and the Archbishop of Canterbury
, Thomas Arundel
were involved in trials of her allegedly teaching and preaching on scripture and faith in public, and wearing white clothes (interpreted as hypocrisy on the part of a married woman). Kempe proved her orthodoxy in each case.. In his efforts to suppress heresy
, Arundel had enacted laws that forbade allowing women to preach, for example.
In the 15th century, a pamphlet was published which represented Kempe as an anchoress
, and which stripped from her "Book" any potential heterodoxical thought and dissenting behaviour. Because of this, later scholars believed that she was a vowed religious holy woman like Julian of Norwich
. They were surprised to encounter the psychologically and spiritually complex woman revealed in the original text of the "Book."
In 1438, the year her book is known to have been completed, a Marguerite Kempe, who may have been Margery Kempe, was admitted to the Trinity Guild of Lynn. The last record of her is in the town of Lynn in 1438, and it is not positively known when and where she died.
Kempe's book was essentially lost for centuries until a manuscript (now British Library MS Additional 61823) was found by Hope Emily Allen
in the private library of the Butler-Bowdon family in Lancashire in 1934. It has since been reprinted in numerous editions and inspired numerous spiritual seekers, as well as scholars trying to understand the role of women in the Middle Ages.
The manuscript was copied, probably slightly before 1450, by someone who signed himself Salthows on the bottom portion of the final page, and contains annotations by four hands. Since the first page of the manuscript contains the rubric, "Liber Montis Gracie. This boke is of Mountegrace," it is likely that some of the annotations are the work of monks associated with the important Carthusian priory of Mount Grace in Yorkshire. Although the four readers largely concerned themselves with correcting mistakes or emending the manuscript for clarity, there are also remarks about the Book's substance. Two of these annotators are especially interesting, since their comments suggest ways in which the Book was read and why it was preserved.
on November 9 and in the Episcopal Church (US)
together with Richard Rolle
and Walter Hilton
on September 28.
Both spouses had equal rights over each other's body, so neither was allowed to retire to religious life, take a vow of chastity, or go on a crusade or a pilgrimage without the willing consent of the other
Kempe was motivated to make a pilgrimage by hearing or reading the English translation of St. Birgitta's
Revelations. This work promotes the purchase of indulgences at holy sites; these were pieces of paper representing the pardoning by the Church of purgatorial
time otherwise owed after death due to sins. Margery Kempe went on many pilgrimages and has been known to have purchased indulgences for friends, enemies, the souls trapped in Purgatory and herself.
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
in the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. This book chronicles, to some extent, her extensive pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
s to various holy sites in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, as well as her mystical conversations with God. She is honoured in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
.
Early life
She was born Margery Brunham in King's LynnKing's Lynn
King's Lynn is a sea port and market town in the ceremonial county of Norfolk in the East of England. It is situated north of London and west of Norwich. The population of the town is 42,800....
(then Bishop's Lynn), Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe. At its height, the Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and several smaller outlying islands; what today comprises the legal jurisdiction of England...
. Her father, John Brunham, was a merchant in Lynn, five-time mayor, and Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
. His mercantile fortunes may have been negatively affected by downturns in the economy, especially in the wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
trades, of the 1390s. The first record of her Brunham family is the mention of her grandfather, Ralph de Brunham in 1320 in the Red Register of Lynn. By 1340 he had joined the Parliament of Lynn
Marriage and family
At the age of 20, Margery Brunham married a Norwich man named John Kempe. She had 14 children with him.A vision
The narrative of Kempe's book begins just after her marriage, and relates the experience of her difficult first pregnancy. While delivering this child, she became gravely ill and feared for her life. She called for a priest to hear her confession, as she had a "secret sin" that had been weighing on her conscience for some time. The priest began to censure her before she could divulge this sin in its entirety, and then left. Fearing eternal damnation, she fell into a delusional state, where she describes seeing devils around her, and was considered a danger to herself and others. She was chained in a storeroom for six months, until, as she describes, JesusJesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
sat down at her bedside, and asked her, "Daughter, why hast thou forsaken Me, and I forsook never thee?" She relates, at first, intending to become God's servant, but admits she could not "leave her pride nor her pompous array." Kempe undertook two domestic businesses—a brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....
and a grain mill—both common home-based businesses for medieval women, both of which endured for a little while, then failed.
Though she tried to be more devout, she was tempted by sexual pleasures and social jealousy for some years. Eventually turning away from her vocational choices, Kempe dedicated herself completely to the spiritual calling that she felt her earlier vision required. Striving to live a life of commitment to God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, Kempe negotiated a celibate marriage with her husband, and began to make pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
s around Europe and Asia to holy sites, including Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Jerusalem, and Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
. Her book consisted of her accounts related to these travels, although a final section includes a series of prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
s. The spiritual focus of her book is on the mystical conversations she conducts with Christ for more than forty years.
From 1413 to 1420, Kempe also visited important sites and religious figures in England, including Philip Repyngdon, the Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
; Henry Chichele
Henry Chichele
Henry Chichele , English archbishop, founder of All Souls College, Oxford, was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
; and the mystic Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
. Travelling to Rome in 1416, she stayed at the Venerable English College. Her thoughts concerning these trips and her revelatory experiences make up much of her book, but she also recounts persecution by civil and religious leaders. The last section of her book deals with a journey in the 1430s to Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, where she visited the relic Holy Blood of Wilsnack
Holy Blood of Wilsnack
The Holy Blood Wilsnack were three allegedly miraculous hosts, which survived a fire in 1383 that burned the church and village to the ground. The relics became the destination of medieval religious pilgrimages to Bad Wilsnack, Germany for nearly two centuries. Revenue from the many pilgrims...
. Two different scribe
Scribe
A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...
s wrote for Kempe, under her strict supervision.
Kempe's significance
Part of Margery Kempe's significance lies in the autobiographical nature of her book: it is the best insight available of a female, middle classMiddle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
experience in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. Kempe is unusual among the more traditional holy exemplars of her time, such as Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
, a member of a religious order. In describing her visit to Julian in Norwich, Kempe tells of their discussion of Kempe's visions and assessment as to their orthodoxy. They decided that because the visions led to charity
Charity (virtue)
In Christian theology charity, or love , means an unlimited loving-kindness toward all others.The term should not be confused with the more restricted modern use of the word charity to mean benevolent giving.- Caritas: altruistic love :...
, they were of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
.
Although Kempe has been depicted as an "oddity" or a "madwoman," recent scholarship on vernacular theologies and popular practices of piety suggest she was not as odd as she appears. Her Book is revealed as a carefully constructed spiritual and social commentary. As Swanson (2003) explains, in the 1420s, Kempe began dictating her book to a scribe. After his death, she continued to work with another male scribe, to complete The Book of Margery Kempe. While Kempe began dictating her book, her husband John Kempe fell ill, and she returned to Lynn
Lynn
Lynn commonly refers to:* Lynn , a given name* Lynn , a surnameLynn may also refer to- Places :United States* Lynn, Alabama* Lynn, Arkansas* Lynn, California* Lynn, Indiana* Lynn, Massachusetts** Lynn...
to be his nursemaid. Soon after, he and her son both died. Her final travel was to Danzig with her daughter-in-law.
Her autobiography begins with "the onset of her spiritual quest, her recovery from the ghostly aftermath of her first child-bearing" (Swanson, 2003, p. 142). There is no firm evidence that Margery Kempe could read or write, but Leyser notes how religious culture was informed by texts. She could have had works read to her. There is some evidence that the Incendium Amoris by Richard Rolle
Richard Rolle
Rolle is honored in the Church of England on January 20 and in the Episcopal Church together with Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe on September 28.-Works in print:*English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Edited by George Perry...
influenced Margery Kempe; Walter Hilton
Walter Hilton
Walter Hilton was an English Augustinian mystic.-Biography:Hilton was born ca. 1340-45; he was first recorded in January 1371 as a bachelor of law attached to the diocesan court of Ely, and again in 1375...
has been cited as another possible influence on Kempe. Among other books that Kempe had read to her were, repeatedly, the Revelationes of Birgitta of Sweden and her pilgrimages were related to those of that married saint, who had had eight children.
Kempe and her Book are significant because they express the tension in late medieval England between institutional orthodoxy and increasingly public modes of religious dissent, especially those of the Lollards. Throughout her spiritual career, Kempe was challenged by both church and civil authorities on her adherence to the teachings of the institutional Church. The Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
and the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel
Thomas Arundel was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death, an outspoken opponent of the Lollards.-Family background:...
were involved in trials of her allegedly teaching and preaching on scripture and faith in public, and wearing white clothes (interpreted as hypocrisy on the part of a married woman). Kempe proved her orthodoxy in each case.. In his efforts to suppress heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, Arundel had enacted laws that forbade allowing women to preach, for example.
In the 15th century, a pamphlet was published which represented Kempe as an anchoress
Anchorite
Anchorite denotes someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life...
, and which stripped from her "Book" any potential heterodoxical thought and dissenting behaviour. Because of this, later scholars believed that she was a vowed religious holy woman like Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich is regarded as one of the most important English mystics. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches, but has never been canonized, or officially beatified, by the Catholic Church, probably because so little is known of her life aside from her writings, including the...
. They were surprised to encounter the psychologically and spiritually complex woman revealed in the original text of the "Book."
In 1438, the year her book is known to have been completed, a Marguerite Kempe, who may have been Margery Kempe, was admitted to the Trinity Guild of Lynn. The last record of her is in the town of Lynn in 1438, and it is not positively known when and where she died.
Kempe's book was essentially lost for centuries until a manuscript (now British Library MS Additional 61823) was found by Hope Emily Allen
Hope Emily Allen
Hope Emily Allen , a medieval scholar, is best known for her research on the 14th-century English mystic Richard Rolle and for her discovery of the Book of Margery Kempe....
in the private library of the Butler-Bowdon family in Lancashire in 1934. It has since been reprinted in numerous editions and inspired numerous spiritual seekers, as well as scholars trying to understand the role of women in the Middle Ages.
The manuscript was copied, probably slightly before 1450, by someone who signed himself Salthows on the bottom portion of the final page, and contains annotations by four hands. Since the first page of the manuscript contains the rubric, "Liber Montis Gracie. This boke is of Mountegrace," it is likely that some of the annotations are the work of monks associated with the important Carthusian priory of Mount Grace in Yorkshire. Although the four readers largely concerned themselves with correcting mistakes or emending the manuscript for clarity, there are also remarks about the Book's substance. Two of these annotators are especially interesting, since their comments suggest ways in which the Book was read and why it was preserved.
Veneration
Kempe is honored in the Church of EnglandCalendar of saints (Church of England)
The Church of England commemorates many of the same saints as those in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints, mostly on the same days, but also commemorates various notable Christians who have not been canonised by Rome, with a particular though not exclusive emphasis on those of English origin...
on November 9 and in the Episcopal Church (US)
Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)
The veneration of saints in the Episcopal Church is a continuation of an ancient tradition from the early Church which honors important people of the Christian faith. The usage of the term "saint" is similar to Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Those in the Anglo-Catholic tradition may...
together with Richard Rolle
Richard Rolle
Rolle is honored in the Church of England on January 20 and in the Episcopal Church together with Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe on September 28.-Works in print:*English Prose Treatises of Richard Rolle of Hampole, Edited by George Perry...
and Walter Hilton
Walter Hilton
Walter Hilton was an English Augustinian mystic.-Biography:Hilton was born ca. 1340-45; he was first recorded in January 1371 as a bachelor of law attached to the diocesan court of Ely, and again in 1375...
on September 28.
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich was a fourteenth-century female mystic and anchoress, a religious person living secluded in a cell within a church. According to her own accounts, Kempe visited Julian and stayed for several days; she was especially eager to obtain Julian's approval for the "very many holy speeches and converse with our Lord...also the many wonderful revelations, which she described to the anchoress to find out if there was any deception in them. For the anchoress was expert in such things and could give good advice." Evidently, Julian approved of Kempe's revelations, or at least did not denounce them as false, giving Kempe her most credible source that her religiosity was genuine. However, Julian does instruct and caution Kempe to "measure these experiences according to the worship they accrue to God and the profit to her fellow Christians." Julian is also the one to justify and confirm that Kemp's tears are physical evidence of the Holy Spirit in soul. At the end of their discussion, Julian finally encourages Kempe to "Set all your trust in God and fear not the language of the world."Mysticism
During the fourteenth century, the task of interpreting the Bible and God through the written Word was restricted to men, specifically ordained priests; to interpret God through the senses and the body became the domain of women, primarily women mystics, especially in the late Middle Ages. Three classical ways in which mystics directly experience God: first, bodily visions, meaning to be aware with one's senses—sight, sound, or others; second, ghostly visions, such as spiritual visions and sayings directly imparted to the soul; and lastly, intellectual enlightenment, where her mind came into a new understanding of God.Pilgrimage
From the 790s it was stated as a universally acknowledged truth that women could not travel without coming into contact with men. For women vowed to a religious life, this was impermissible, therefore nuns had to abstain from pilgrimage. While women not vowed to religion faced the same implications, the religious woman was supposed to be aware of her weaknesses, and accept the resultant constraints.Both spouses had equal rights over each other's body, so neither was allowed to retire to religious life, take a vow of chastity, or go on a crusade or a pilgrimage without the willing consent of the other
Kempe was motivated to make a pilgrimage by hearing or reading the English translation of St. Birgitta's
Bridget of Sweden
Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden Bridget of Sweden (1303 – 23 July 1373; also Birgitta of Vadstena, Saint Birgitta , was a mystic and saint, and founder of the Bridgettines nuns and monks after the death of her husband of twenty years...
Revelations. This work promotes the purchase of indulgences at holy sites; these were pieces of paper representing the pardoning by the Church of purgatorial
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...
time otherwise owed after death due to sins. Margery Kempe went on many pilgrimages and has been known to have purchased indulgences for friends, enemies, the souls trapped in Purgatory and herself.
Editions of her book
- Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe, 1436, Ed. W. Butler-Bowdon, with an Introduction by RW Chambers. London: Jonathan Cape, 1936.
- Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe. Edited by Sanford Brown Meech, with prefatory note by Hope Emily AllenHope Emily AllenHope Emily Allen , a medieval scholar, is best known for her research on the 14th-century English mystic Richard Rolle and for her discovery of the Book of Margery Kempe....
. EETS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1940. - Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe. Ed. Lynn Staley. TEAMS. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1996.
- Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe: A New Translation, Contexts and Criticism. Trans. and ed., Lynn Staley. New York: Norton, 2001.
Further reading
- Arnold, John and Katherine Lewis. A Companion to the Book of Margery Kempe, Woodbridge Suffolk: Boydell and Brewer, 1994.
- Bhattacharji, Santha. God Is An Earthquake: The Spirituality of Margery Kempe, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997.
- Dinshaw, Carolyn. Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities, Pre- and Postmodern.
- Glenn, Cheryl. “Popular Literacy in the Middle Ages: The Book of Margery Kempe.” In Popular Literacy: Studies in Cultural Practices and Poetics, ed. John Trimbur. (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001).
- Leyser, H. (2003). "Women and the word of God", In D. Wood (ed.). Women and Religion in Medieval England. Oxford: Oxbow. pp 32–45. ISBN 1-84217-098-8
- Lochrie, Karma. “The Book of Margery Kempe: The Marginal Woman’s Quest for Literary Authority”, Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 16 (1986): 33–55.
- Staley, Lynn. ""Margery Kempe's Dissenting Fictions", in D. Wood (ed.). Women and Religion in Medieval England, University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994. ISBN 1-84217-098-8
- Swanson, R. (2003). "Will the real Margery Kempe please stand up!", In D. Wood (ed.). Women and Religion in Medieval England, Oxford: Oxbow. pp 141–65 ISBN 1-84217-098-8
- Watt, Diane, Secretaries of God. Cambridge UK: D. S. Brewer, 1997.
- Watt, Diane, Medieval Women's Writing. Cambridge UK: Polity, 2007.
- Witalisz, Wladislaw, "Authority and the Female Voice in Middle English Mystical Writings: Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe," in: Homo Narrans: Texts and Essays in Honor of Jerome Klinkowitz, ed. Zygmunt Mazur and Richard Utz (Cracow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2004), pp 207–18.
External links
- Mapping Margery Kempe, a site including the full text of her book with explanations.
- Middle English Text of The Book of Margery Kempe.
- The Book of Margery Kempe at Google Books
- The Soul a City: Margery and Julian
- Commentary on The Book of Margery Kempe by Tom Butler-Bowden, 50 Spiritual Classics.