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Margery Kempe (c. 1373 – after 1438) is known for writing The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. An autobiography, from the Greek αὐτός autos "self" βίος bios "life" and γράφειν graphein "to write" English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States This book chronicles, to some extent, her extensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe and Asia. In Religion and Spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or Search of great Moral significance

Contents

Early life

She was born Margery Brunham in King's Lynn (then Bishop's Lynn), Norfolk, Kingdom of England and married at the age of 20 to a local man named John Kempe, with whom she had 14 children. King's Lynn is a town and Port in Norfolk, England. Over the years the town has been known variously as Bishop's Lynn and Lynn Regis Norfolk (ˈnɔrfək is a low-lying county in East Anglia, England, United Kingdom. The Kingdom of England was a State (927-1707 located in Western Europe dating from the ninth or tenth century to the early eighteenth century when it was legally Her father, John Brunham, was a merchant in Lynn, five-time mayor, Member of Parliament and merchant whose fortunes may have been negatively affected by downturns in the economy, especially in the wool trades, of the 1390s.

Her vision and its impact

Following the birth of her first child, Margery fell ill and feared for her life. After a failed confession that resulted in a bout of self-described "madness," Margery Kempe claimed to have had a vision that called her to leave aside the "vanities" of this world. The confession of one's Sins is a religious practice important to many faiths e Having for many weeks railed against her family, and friends, Kempe reports that she saw a vision of Jesus Christ at her bedside, asking her "Daughter, why hast thou forsaken Me, and I forsook never thee?" From that point forward, Kempe undertook two failed domestic businesses — a brewery and a grain mill — both common home-based businesses for medieval women. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Christ is the English term for the Greek ( Khristós) meaning "the anointed "

Though she had tried to be more devout after her vision, she was tempted by sexual pleasures and social jealousy for some years. Eventually turning away from what she interpreted as the effect of worldly pride in 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 chaste marriage with her husband, and began to make pilgrimages around Europe to holy sites — including Rome, Jerusalem, and Santiago de Compostela. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In Religion and Spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long journey or Search of great Moral significance Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַיִם, he-Latn Yerushaláyim; Arabic: ar القُدس, ar-Latn al-Quds) is the Santiago de Compostela (also Saint James of Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia and a UNESCO World The stories surrounding these travels are what eventually comprised much of her Book, although a final section includes a series of prayers. Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a Deity or spirit The spiritual focus of her Book is the mystical conversations she conducts with Christ for more than forty years.

From 1413 to 1420, Margery also visited important sites and people in England, including Philip Repyngdon the Bishop of Lincoln, Henry Chichele the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Julian of Norwich. Philip Repyngdon (or Repington, or Repyndon) (died 1424 was an English Bishop and cardinal. See also List of bishops of Lincoln and precursor offices The Bishop of Lincoln heads the ( Anglican) Henry Chicheley (also Checheley or Chichele) (c 1364 &ndash 12 April 1443 English archbishop, founder of All Souls College Oxford, was born The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Julian of Norwich (c November 8, 1342 – c 1416 is considered one of the greatest English mystics Little is known of her life aside She also went to Rome, where she stayed at the Venerable English College in 1416. The Venerable English College is a Roman Catholic Seminary in Rome for the training of priests for England. Her thoughts concerning these trips and her revelatory experiences make up much of her book, but a key focus is also her 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 Holy Blood of Wilsnack. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in The Holy Blood Wilsnack were allegedly miraculous hosts which became the site of medieval Pilgrimages to Bad Wilsnack, Germany. Two different scribes did the writing for Margery, under her strict supervision. A scribe (or scrivener) is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession

Kempe's significance

Part of Margery Kempe's significance lies in the autobiographical nature of her book: it is the best insight available that points to a female, middle class experience in the Middle Ages. The middle class, in colloquial usage consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social Influence or power. Kempe is admittedly unusual among the more traditional holy exemplars of her time, such as Julian of Norwich. Margery, in fact, visits Julian in her anchorhold in Norwich and they discuss together Margery's visions as to their orthodoxy, deciding that because they lead to charity they are of the Holy Spirit. Though Kempe is often depicted as an "oddity" or even a "madwoman," recent scholarship on vernacular theologies and popular practices of piety suggest she was not, perhaps, as odd as she appears. Rather than being the ramblings of a madwoman, her Book is revealed as a carefully constructed spiritual and social commentary. As Swanson (2003) explains, in an imprecise date in the 1420s, a man took up the task of writing down the life of this then little known Norfolk woman, and although he died before completing the task, the script was continued by another scribe. In the text it is claimed that first her dying son wrote out the book, but in fact the priest who then takes up the work finds the original version to be written in strange Germanic forms and in a foreign handwriting. Margery's daughter-in-law, with her at this time, was from Gdansk, with its special devotion to Birgitta of Sweden and the "Revelationes", and it is more likely she who is the scribe, rather than the dying son. The outcome was "The Book of Margery Kempe", a book that is effectively ghost-written. Her autobiography begins with "the onset of her spiritual quest, her recovery from the ghostly aftermath of her first child-bearing" (Swanson, 2003, p142). There is no firm evidence that Margery Kempe could herself read or write, but Leyser notes how religious culture was informed by texts, as was that of her more well-known contemporary Julian of Norwich, noting how 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. Julian of Norwich (c November 8, 1342 – c 1416 is considered one of the greatest English mystics Little is known of her life aside Richard Rolle (1290–1349 was an English religious writer Bible translator and Hermit. Walter Hilton (died 24 March[[ 396]] was an English Augustinian mystic. Among other books that Margery had read to her were, repeatedly, the "Revelationes" of Birgitta of Sweden and, in fact, her pilgrimages carefully copy those of that married saint who had had eight children.

Kempe and her "Book" are also significant because they record the tension in late medieval England between institutional orthodoxy and increasingly public modes of religious dissent, especially those of the Lollards. Lollardy was the political and religious movement of the Lollards from the mid- 14th century to the English Reformation. Throughout her spiritual career, Kempe's adherence to the teachings of the institutional Church is challenged by both church and civil authorities, most notedly the Bishop of Lincoln and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel, who acted rigorously against heresy, enacting laws that forbade allowing women to preach, for example. See also List of bishops of Lincoln and precursor offices The Bishop of Lincoln heads the ( Anglican) The Archbishop of Canterbury is the chief bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the Thomas Arundel (1353 - 19 February 1414 was Archbishop of Canterbury in 1397 and from 1399 until his death an outspoken opponent of the Lollards Heresy is an introduced change to some system of belief especially a religion that conflicts with the previously established canon of that belief

Kempe was tried several times for such illegal acts as allegedly teaching and preaching on scripture and faith in public, and wearing white clothes (interpreted as hypocrisy on the part of a married woman). She proved her orthodoxy in each case, but came dangerously close to heterodoxy in her challenging responses to clerical authorities. Had Kempe's book been fully extant prior to the Reformation, it would likely have been destroyed. The Protestant Reformation was a reform movement in Europe that began in 1517 though its roots lie further back in time The fact that it was lost until 1934 is undoubtedly the only reason it is available to us today. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In the 15th century, a pamphlet was published which represented Kempe as an anchoress, and which stripped out of her "Book" any potentially heterodoxical thought and dissenting behaviour. Anchorite (male/ anchoress (female (adj anchoritic from the Greek anachōreō signifying "to withdraw" "to depart into the rural countryside" Because of this, scholars believed that she was a vowed religious holy woman, like Julian of Norwich, and were surprised to encounter the psychologically and spiritually complex woman described in the "Book. Julian of Norwich (c November 8, 1342 – c 1416 is considered one of the greatest English mystics Little is known of her life aside "

In 1438, the year her book is known to have been completed, a Margeria Kempe, who may have been the Margery Kemp we are talking about, was admitted to the Trinity Guild of Lynn.

The last record of her is in the city of Lynn in 1438, and it is not positively known when and where she died. Her book remained essentially lost until a manuscript was found in the private library of the Butler-Bowdon family in Lancashire in 1934. Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

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References

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