Chapter 08: Margery Kempe: The Wild, Wailing Pilgrim of the 14th Century
“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, then she must seek them abroad.”
In September, 1934, a remakable discovery was made in a country house near Chersterfield, England. A tattered book was discovered hidden in a cupboard, partially eaten away, but preserved nonetheless. It was a verified copy of one of the earliest known biographies written in English by none other than a 14th century mother, mystic and Medieval pilgrim, Margery Kempe.
“The Book is the earliest autobiography in English. It was written in 1436–38 by Margery Kempe, who lived in the East Anglian town of Lynn in the early 15th century and was at various times a horse-mill owner and a brewer, but later in her life became a visionary and mystic. Her remarkable Book records ‘hyr felyngys and revelacyons and the forme of her levyng’ [her feelings and revelations and the form of her living], allowing us a window onto the life of an ordinary, middle-class person in a prosperous town in late-medieval England.” (1)
Everything we know about Margery Kempe we learn from her book. But guess what? While she was a woman of means from a respectable family, she never learned to read or write. So how did it come about that she became the author of a book?
Hiring a scribe or two would do the trick. A common practice for thousands of years, Margery believed her story was worth preserving. Some researchers attribute one of her sons as a scribe, while another scribe was likely a local priest.
So who was Margery Kempe and why is she a woman of interest?
There are very few images directly attributed to Margery Kempe. While there is a great many of her contemporary Julian of Norwich it seems the controversies that followed Margery in life and death failed to make her a suitable subject to memorialize. Here we have a contemporary sculpture inspired by Margery (circa 1980s); an elaborate Medieval book cover; and a carved wood likeness of Margery affixed to the end of a pew at King’s Lynn Minster, King’s Lynn, UK.
Her story begins around her 20th year as she married a local “respectable” man, John Kempe. Soon afterwards, Margery had her first child. And it seems Margery then suffered from what we now know as post-partum depression.
The Kempes’ had an affectionate marriage and satisfactory love life. Margery soon became pregnant with the first of her fourteen children. The pregnancy and birth were very hard. After the child was born, she suffered a postpartum depression and mental breakdown that lasted eight months. She acted frighteningly strange and tried to commit suicide. After having a vision of Christ, she recovered dramatically and her position as mistress of the house was restored. (2)
But Margery’s visions continued long after the postpartum depression subsided and her Book recalls story after story of spiritual events and experiences that caused her to convulse and break out into sobs and wailing, to hear and see Christ comforting and instructing her, and to speak sermons and exhortations that were spirit-filled and authentically sincere.
PILGRIMAGE LESSON FROM SISTER MARGERY #1: TRUST YOURSELF. When you seek God, you will find God…and God will find you. You are equipped to hear from God yourself. You don’t need anyone intervening on your behalf to santize or filter you. Seek Godly wisdom - yes of course. But believe Jesus when he said things “Seek first my kingdom” (Matthew 6:33) and “If you hunger after me, you will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
During an Easter service in1413, Margery was worshipping in her parish church when a stone fell from the ceiling and hit her. Remarkably, she was unhurt. It was after this incident she was inspired to go on pilgrimage.
She and John traveled the countryside in the summer of 1413, visiting shrines, chapels and cathedrals. During these visits she attracted attention to herself. She would fall down in fits and burst into tears, sometimes offending, sometimes impressing and sometimes boring onlookers.(3)
Margery was devout, determined and undeterred. In Medieval England, spiritual encounters had to be verified by the church. One could not just claim a vision without it being vetted by the proper religious authorities. So that’s what Margery did
She went to Norwich to visit the vicar of St. Stephens. He gave her a good reception apparently, and while there, she visited Dame Julian of Norwich, an anchoress and mystic who also had visions and supernatural encounters with the Divine. The women visited for many days and their conversations were deeply supportive and encouraging of one another. For Margery to leave her husband and kids and embark on such a long journey broke all the societal and religious rules of their day and she was not entirely sure if it was Jesus Christ or psychological madness that was compelling her to go.
Julian’s advice to trust her inner calling and not worry too much about what other people thought seemed to have a profound and empowering impact on Margery. While Julian had chosen to wall herself into a cell and live as an anchoress, she gave Margery her blessing to wander the wide world. (4)
The connections between these two women was remarkable and their stories, and enduring influence cannot be underestimated.
Margery was born in 1373, the same year that thirty-year-old Julian received her “showings”—the divine visions that would inspire her landmark book Revelations of Divine Love, the first book written in English by a woman. Both women lived in Norfolk, in cities less than 45 miles away from each other. Both women were literary pioneers whose lifework was lost to obscurity, only to resurface in the twentieth century. (5)
This contemporary icon painting of Julian and Margery depicts their time together before Margery’s pilgrimage. It demonstrates a lovely kinship and supportive connection of these two deeply spiritual women living out their callings in very different ways. Notice how close they are seated next to one another. The second image is the Church of St. Julian in Norwich. The third image is a contemporary stained glass art piece with her famous phrase,”All will be well”; and finally a modern icon image of St. Julian by American iconographer Kelly Latimore. For images 1 and 3 I am still looking for the artists to credit their brilliant work.
PILGRIMAGE LESSON FROM SISTER MARGERY #2: FIND YOUR PERSON. Margery lived an authentic, if not misunderstood life. But she found a kindred soul in Dame Julian, a fellow mystic and a woman also in the margins of mainstream Medieval life. Living our truth can be a hard, lonely journey. Find a companion along the way… to share the joy and the pain, to cultivate kinship, accountability and to spur you on when you feel weary.
So Margery returned home with her church endorsements, hoping they would shield her from the gossip and accusations from the townspeople who didn’t agree with her visions, her outbursts of weeping and fits of sobbing nor her constant preaching. Although she created controversy everywhere she went, Margery always had supporters among the clergy. (6)
Preparations thus began to embark on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Rome and the Santiago de Compestela …without her husband or kids. She was convinced that Christ was compelling her to go and therefore nothing would stand in her way. Think about how remarkable this was. A 14th century woman, married with 14 children, requesting to leave them for a lengthy period of time, at least 1-2 years with no guarantee that she would actually return. Medieval travel was dangerous at the best of times. But women were especially vulnerable. Margery believed with all her heart, mind and soul that God would protect her.
But preparing for such a journey was no small undertaking. First she had to get permission from her husband and then permission from her church.
Kempe agreed to pay off her husband's debts and to give up her Friday fasts and eat and drink with him as she used to and, in return, he agreed to renounce any claims to her body and allow her to travel wherever God should lead her. (7)
Having received money from her family, permission from her husband and encouragement from the church, in the fall of 1413 she embarked on the first leg of her pilgrimage, Jerusalem.
Medieval historian Lisa Deam, in her 2021 book, 3,000 Miles to Jesus, maps out Margery’s possible journey from Norfolk to Jerusalem based on typical routes taken by European travellers. (8)
Leg 1: From home to Venice, by foot, horse, mule
Departure Time: late winter/ early spring
Duration: 2 weeks - 2 months
Leg 2: Layover in Venice
Duration: 4 weeks - 3 months
Activities: sightsee; change currency; book travel to Holy Land
Leg 3: Venice to Jaffa by sailing galley
Departure: Spring/ summer
Duration: 5-6 weeks
Pray for survival and avoiding sickness
Leg 4: Layover in Jaffa
Duration: 5-14 days
Avoid illness, scrounge for food, go through customs
Leg 5: Jaffa to Jerusalem by donkey
Departure: Whim of local officials
Duration: 3 days
The above images depict the diversity of Medieval pilgrimage stories. From nobility entourages to solo peasants taking one step at a time. Here we have a German woodcut from 1490, paintings from the 14th and 15th century (painting #1 is entitled A pilgrim woman in Robinet Testard’s ‘Le roman de la rose’ in Bodleian Library (15th century) and I am still researching painting #2 ) and a bronze pilgrim badge from Amiens, France. Sacred stops along a pilgrims way would have tokens for the pilgrim to purchase (of course) as they reached specific milestones or destinations.
Seven to eight months on a one way journey, filled with abandonment, delays, sickness, hostile weather, depleted finances and reliance on the kindness of strangers. Margery Kempe faced additional challenges in that her demonstrative displays of spirituality made many people uncomfortable, resulting in her being exiled and alone, a stranger in strange lands.
Those who traveled with her found it difficult to watch such exhibitions. It was even more difficult to listen to Margery while she continually lectured her traveling companions about spiritualism and living a good, Christian life.
Margery was a well-read woman. She knew the literature of her time; she knew the great personages who influenced the general population. Throughout her life, Margery had sought out those learned people to support her belief that she was spiritually driven and not a pawn of the Devil. Many of the people she met believed in her, but there were just as many people who thought she was just playacting when she displayed her fits of tears and screams, a mood that overcame her during moments of deep spiritual contemplation. (9)
PILGRIMAGE LESSON FROM SISTER MARGERY #3: DO IT ANYWAY. Margery did everything required of her to be able to undertake this pilgrimage, at great cost and sacrifice. But she did it anyway. She endured ridicule and suspicion. But she did it anyway. She was constantly having to justify her behaviour, her theology, her thinking. But she did it anyway. During her travels, she was abandomend on more than one occasion by her companions, even having to go navigate the Swiss Alps on her own. But she did it anyway. This commitment to her beliefs and the courage she called on with every step she took is an inspring testimony to her Christian faith, her unwavering pursuit of God and her wild, deep love of Jesus. Margery was ALL IN.
Margery Kempe returned from her first journey to Jerusalem, via Rome, in the the spring of 1415 a changed woman, full of new revelations, new insights and an unshakeable commitment to living a pilgrim’s life in perpetuity. Her book, The Book of Margery Kempe, goes on to tell stories of her subsequent pilgrimages to the Camino de Santiago de Compestelo in Spain in 1417, as well as many other adventures visiting sacred sights and relics throughout England and Europe. After the death of her husband in 1431, one of her last recorded pilgrimages was to Danzing/ Gdansk, Poland with one of her daughters-in-law in 1433.
While there is no record of her death, it is believed she died around 1438 at approximately 65-67 years old.
As mentioned previously, The Book of Margery Kempe is a remarkable piece of important Medieval literature for many reasons. It was written in English, rather than Latin, Italian or French. It tells the story of an ordinary medieval woman of humble means from a first person perspective. Most written works during this time were commissioned by noble people of privilege with status and wealth, elites with resources to hire scribes and aquire the required parchments and writing tools.
These four pages are from two different copies of The Book of Margery Kempe housed in the British Museum. There are two different scribes and styles of printing (images 1-3 are from the longer version of her book) and image #4 is a later version which was written several years after she died. Interestingly the edited copy left out much of her spiritual teachings and visions in keeping with traditional religious gatekeeping that did not approve of women teaching or preaching on religious matters.
The content of the book is personal and at times, provocative and controversial becuase she shares her spritual visions, intimate holy expereinces and encounters with the Divine in a way original readers (perhaps even contemprary readers) were highly suspcicious of. Margery was in fact arrested, held in prision, accused of withcraft and Devil worship for her behaviour and her speaking about her experiences in public places.
Margery had always believed strongly in what she set out to do, what she felt was her calling, and this memoir was a continuation of all the good that she had done in her life. She wanted it to be a story of reflection and instruction to all who followed in her beliefs. She felt good about her calling; she felt good about her dictation of the events that had marked her life. She was writing a story that was worthy of all that she had done. (10)
PILGRIMAGE LESSON FROM SISTER MARGERY #4: SHARE YOUR STORY. Margery Kempe lived a remarkable life and recorded a remarkable story. She had suffered from post-partum depression, was institutionalized and incarcerated. Margery was abandoned, maligned and exiled throughout her life. She embarked on epic journeys that required stamina, determination and resilience. She never stopped speaking about her love and devotion to her faith and she embraced the complexity and messiness of an unconventional life. Within the confines of 14th century Medieval England, she lived her life on her terms and was willing to pay the price to the very end. So share our stories, sisters and brothers. All of it. The good and the humiliating, the painful parts and the glorious mysteries. Who knows? Perhaps 600 years from now it may inspire a new generation of pilgrims to take a leap of faith and pursue their the God-given, deep longings in their soul.