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The Book of Margery Kempe
'Alas that I ever did sin! It is so merry in Heaven!'
The Book of Margery Kempe (c. 1436-8) is the extraordinary account of a medieval wife, mother, and mystic. Known as the earliest autobiography written in the English language, Kempe's Book describes the dramatic transformation of its heroine from failed businesswoman and lustful young wife to devout and chaste pilgrim. She vividly describes her prayers and visions, as well as the temptations in daily life to which she succumbed before dedicating herself to her spiritual calling. She travelled to the most holy sites of the medieval world, including Rome and Jerusalem.
In her life and her boisterous devotion, Kempe antagonized many of those around her; yet she also garnered friends and supporters who helped to record her experiences. Her book opens a window on to the medieval world, and provides a fascinating portrait of one woman's life, aspirations, and prayers. This new translation preserves the forceful narrative voice of Kempe's book and includes a wide-ranging introduction and useful notes.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
The Book of Margery Kempe (c. 1436-8) is the extraordinary account of a medieval wife, mother, and mystic. Known as the earliest autobiography written in the English language, Kempe's Book describes the dramatic transformation of its heroine from failed businesswoman and lustful young wife to devout and chaste pilgrim. She vividly describes her prayers and visions, as well as the temptations in daily life to which she succumbed before dedicating herself to her spiritual calling. She travelled to the most holy sites of the medieval world, including Rome and Jerusalem.
In her life and her boisterous devotion, Kempe antagonized many of those around her; yet she also garnered friends and supporters who helped to record her experiences. Her book opens a window on to the medieval world, and provides a fascinating portrait of one woman's life, aspirations, and prayers. This new translation preserves the forceful narrative voice of Kempe's book and includes a wide-ranging introduction and useful notes.
ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
321 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1438
About the author
Margery Kempe
16 books43 followersThe following biography information provides basic facts and information about the life and history of Margery Kempe, a famous Medieval character:
Nationality: English
Lifespan: c1373 - c1438
Time Reference: Lived during the reign of the English kings Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV
Date of Birth: She was born Margery Brunham at King's Lynn, Norfolk (then called Bishop's Lynn) in approximately 1373
Family connections : She was the daughter of John Brunham, a wealthy merchant in King's Lynn who was involved in local politics and achieved the position of mayor and Member of Parliament
Education: Margery Kempe was unable to read or write but had people read to her. She dictated her memoirs which were transcribed as 'The Book of Margery Kempe'
Married: Margery Kempe married John Kempe at the age of twenty in 1393. Hence the assumption that she was born in 1373.
Children: Margery and John Kempe produced 14 children
When the "visions" of Margery Kempe began: She experienced her first Christian vision c1394 following the delivery of her first child
What provoked the visions of Margery Kempe? She was suffering from a disturbed state of mind caused by any number of events including depression (post natal), feelings of guilt, an over-imaginative mind, a spiritual crisis and an unsympathetic confessor
She suffered the equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Her condition was so severe that she had to be constrained. It was punctuated by loud and unrestrained crying
She then experienced a vision and emerged calm and 'came to her senses'
Unclear of how she should respond to the visions she continued everyday life with her husband and produced many more children. This was seen as an impossible way of life for a "spiritual woman" and she was strongly criticised and even rebuked for attempting to live a life totally devoted to Christ but as a married woman
In 1403 she and her husband took vows of chastity before the Bishop of Lincoln
She then took to wearing white - which brought more criticism as the normal color for a woman of her age and station would have been black
She annoyed people further by her uncontrollable weeping and wailing at holy sites and during mass
Margery Kempe was accused of being a Lollard but cleared of this by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She undertook pilgrimages to sacred places in England including Canterbury, Norwich and York
Margery Kempe was a contemporary of the Medieval anchoress, Julian of Norwich, who she visited
In the autumn of 1414 she undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land via Venice
She reached Jerusalem and visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and travelled on to Bethlehem
She returned to England in May 1415
Further pilgrimages took her to Rome, Germany, Norway and Spain
In 1433 she undertook a pilgrimage to Danzig
Margery Kempe dictated the content of 'The Book of Margery Kempe' to men hired as scribes
'The Book of Margery Kempe' was recopied by a travelling priest
The manuscript containing the 'The Book of Margery Kempe' was lost for many years and only rediscovered in 1934 by Miss Hope Emily Allen, although its existence and some of its contents were known from references and quotations in other medieval books
Miss Hope Emily Allen identified the manuscript copy of 'The Book of Margery Kempe' in the library of Colonel Butler-Bowdon of Pleasington Old Hall in Lancashire, England
Date of Death: The last known reference to Margery Kempe was at King's Lynn in 1438 although her exact date of death is unknown
Margery Kempe
The story and biography of Margery Kempe contains interesting information, facts & the history about the life of this Medieval woman of historical importance.
Nationality: English
Lifespan: c1373 - c1438
Time Reference: Lived during the reign of the English kings Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV
Date of Birth: She was born Margery Brunham at King's Lynn, Norfolk (then called Bishop's Lynn) in approximately 1373
Family connections : She was the daughter of John Brunham, a wealthy merchant in King's Lynn who was involved in local politics and achieved the position of mayor and Member of Parliament
Education: Margery Kempe was unable to read or write but had people read to her. She dictated her memoirs which were transcribed as 'The Book of Margery Kempe'
Married: Margery Kempe married John Kempe at the age of twenty in 1393. Hence the assumption that she was born in 1373.
Children: Margery and John Kempe produced 14 children
When the "visions" of Margery Kempe began: She experienced her first Christian vision c1394 following the delivery of her first child
What provoked the visions of Margery Kempe? She was suffering from a disturbed state of mind caused by any number of events including depression (post natal), feelings of guilt, an over-imaginative mind, a spiritual crisis and an unsympathetic confessor
She suffered the equivalent of a nervous breakdown. Her condition was so severe that she had to be constrained. It was punctuated by loud and unrestrained crying
She then experienced a vision and emerged calm and 'came to her senses'
Unclear of how she should respond to the visions she continued everyday life with her husband and produced many more children. This was seen as an impossible way of life for a "spiritual woman" and she was strongly criticised and even rebuked for attempting to live a life totally devoted to Christ but as a married woman
In 1403 she and her husband took vows of chastity before the Bishop of Lincoln
She then took to wearing white - which brought more criticism as the normal color for a woman of her age and station would have been black
She annoyed people further by her uncontrollable weeping and wailing at holy sites and during mass
Margery Kempe was accused of being a Lollard but cleared of this by the Archbishop of Canterbury
She undertook pilgrimages to sacred places in England including Canterbury, Norwich and York
Margery Kempe was a contemporary of the Medieval anchoress, Julian of Norwich, who she visited
In the autumn of 1414 she undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land via Venice
She reached Jerusalem and visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and travelled on to Bethlehem
She returned to England in May 1415
Further pilgrimages took her to Rome, Germany, Norway and Spain
In 1433 she undertook a pilgrimage to Danzig
Margery Kempe dictated the content of 'The Book of Margery Kempe' to men hired as scribes
'The Book of Margery Kempe' was recopied by a travelling priest
The manuscript containing the 'The Book of Margery Kempe' was lost for many years and only rediscovered in 1934 by Miss Hope Emily Allen, although its existence and some of its contents were known from references and quotations in other medieval books
Miss Hope Emily Allen identified the manuscript copy of 'The Book of Margery Kempe' in the library of Colonel Butler-Bowdon of Pleasington Old Hall in Lancashire, England
Date of Death: The last known reference to Margery Kempe was at King's Lynn in 1438 although her exact date of death is unknown
Margery Kempe
The story and biography of Margery Kempe contains interesting information, facts & the history about the life of this Medieval woman of historical importance.
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November 6, 2014
My then-roommate and I had a class together in which we read this book. When a stray cat turned up at our house and insisted on moving in with us, we named her Margery because she whined so much.
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April 6, 2020Well that was a bit strange.
The second thing I would say, is avoid this older edition with it's old 'translation'. The editor in fact suggests that the English was only slightly modernised, my general impression, as maybe you can tell from the updates, is the translator produced a weird sounding Tudorbethan style that often comes over as a pastiche. It has neither the pleasures of the original, nor the clarity of a modern translation. The passages about lice or Margery tormented by visions of naked men and being told by the devil that all she has to to make it stop is to select which one she will be intimate with first, are rendered particularly obscurely, no doubt out of respect for a 1950s readership who wouldn't want to read such filth. But the 50s are over now and we ought to be able to read about people stripping off their clothes on pilgrimage to attack each other's lice freely - the fifteenth century wasn't just about the battle of Agincourt after all.
The third point is that this is also simply a deeply odd book . This book might be a tremendously rare thing - a medieval autobiography, except that Margery was illiterate, people have to read to her throughout the book, it might be ghostwritten, but the book tells us that it was written twice, firstly by a mysterious man (and I still suspect that this might have been her son - the only one of her sixteen children who is named) who had spent a long time abroad in the German speaking world (as did her son) was literate, but in an idiosyncratic way , who undertook nonetheless to write out the story that Margery tells of her life. This man dies (Margery's son also predeceased her) and Margery passes the manuscript on to a priest who can't understand what he wrote at all, we're given the impression that it was written in some weird north sea melange neither English nor German, however after some time, prayer and the intervention of God, the Priest continues with the manuscript. It is unclear if he rewrote it and if so if he edited, or reworked the material in any way, his text has come down to us in a mysterious manner, excerpts were published but the complete manuscript first came to light in the 1930s. So it is odd, you can decide for yourself if it is an autobiography, biography or something sui generis.
One of it's odd features is how depersonalised it is - hardly anybody is named, Margery herself is invariably referred to as 'this creature', her husband is named once and that midway through the book, as I said only one of her sixteen children gets a name, people who help her might be called the 'good priest' (or whatever the profession happened to be) those who hinder her likewise might be the 'evil friar' . When the occasional Bishop, or Mayor or Abbot's official is named they leap off the page at the reader. Typing, my stomach full of coffee and pancakes, I wonder if this was a deliberate literary decision in imitation of the Gospels in which repeatedly we come across 'a Centurion', 'a woman taken in adultery', or 'a fisherman' when presumably all these people had names, but by implication they are irrelevant, it is the role and relationship to the central narrative figure alone which is of significance. If so then this is a further way that Margery is a difficult figure for the reader, for all her protestations of humility she's plainly holier than thou, and me. This isn't a new feeling, her neighbours seem to have felt the same already in the fifteenth century and they were not always shy in expressing their displeasure, one man pours a bowl of water over her head (I did wonder if 'water' was not a fair rendition of the original), and after a hundred pages with Margery one can see why.
One of the few people named is Julian of Norwich who Margery goes to visit early in her career of being holy. The comparison is a bit unlucky as the two are very different mystics. Julian had a series of visions at a precise time in her life that she then contemplated for years before having them set out in writing - Revelations of Divine Love, her vision insights are striking and distinctive. Margery is very different, she has an ongoing interior dialogue with God (the whole trinity) and the Virgin Mary, with the occasional vision. Her religiosity is characterised by intense emotion, specifically the habit of bursting into tears and screaming for hours at a time, in church services, during open air preaching, at pilgrimage sites, even randomly out in the countryside, this it turns out was a phase, but one which went on for ten years. Margery when she began to be holy gave up eating meat, however all her weeping and wailing left her weak, eventually the Virgin Mary appears to her and asks her to start eating meat again just so she can sustain herself in the work of weeping and wailing. One of the good things with Margery is that there is no false modesty about her. One gets the impression that she was pretty proud and haughty before being holy - she was of a fancy well to do family in King's Lynn (then Bishop's Lynn) a fairly busy port town in eastern England , her father was an important prominent citizen, as was her husband - once she becomes holy this is even more marked the Virgin Mary will have her as her servant, while she will become Jesus's lover, and mother, and daughter apparently simultaneously (and incestuously), maybe we are meant to understand this in a spiritual sense but it feels pretty physical in her expression, though I understand this isn't so unusual (at least in mystical circles ). It seems to me significant that while she has the subordinate role, it is to the very highest spiritual beings in her world.
The crying is very interesting, as you can imagine many people who came into contact with Margery found it difficult to cope with, if we are being polite. She is accused of being a heretic, specifically a Lollard - something which could lead to your being burnt unto death in the England of her time. Yet in a way her extreme emotional response is a reasonable reaction to the practise of religion in her day, if you are being told to focus on the awful sufferings of Jesus on the cross, and the unbearable grief of Mary, crying is the least one can do. Her contemporaries repeatedly and in many countries found it a bit too much though .
The expression of religion is however always very public, Margery eventually, after the sixteen children, convinces her husband to take a vow of chastity with her, they then have to separate and live apart as no will believe they are chaste if they live under the same roof. The husband, a true romantic, only seriously protests when Margery wants to go on pilgrimage (Rome, Jerusalem and Compostella) then he insists that she pay off his debts first .
She is also troubled by revelations from God about who is going to die, and once dead if they go to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. She finds this hard to deal with. Once or twice there are instances of her knowing things that God told her, some are fairly generalised like suspicion of shysters and frauds, who go on to trick and defraud the gullible. Once she convinces a priest that she has true insights from God by telling him what three sins he has committed and hasn't confessed to, the Priest however is not at first impressed, 'and my lechery' he says 'was it with married or unmarried women?' after a moments consultation with God: 'married' quoth she. Is accusing a priest of lechery with married women evidence of a connection with God , a lucky guess, or a reasonably safe deduction, with all due respect to any passing Priests who take their celibacy seriously, I'm not sure.
Although she goes to a lot of places: Rome, Jerusalem, Leicester, London, Lincoln, York, Danzig (Gdansk), Prussia, Aachen, Stralsund, Canterbury, Ipswich, Norwich etc. There is no interest in them as places, buildings, sites, or their appearance, population, and customs, only in what happens to Margery (crying, praying, being abandoned (but not by lice) having no money, giving away money that belongs to other people). So again this is an impersonalised memoir all the more to focus on the personal - the relationship with God, there really is nothing else other than Margery's interior relationship with God and it's manifestations in the physical realm. As with Julian of Norwich, there is not a lot of interest in saint's outside of a narrow group (though much a bigger group of saints than Julian's), in Margery's life there is John the Baptist, St. Anne, and St Bridget of Sweden although Margery protests that she hath not read her book at first, that reading comes later, despite which there probably was an awareness of her as she visits Rome on the occasion of Bridget's canonisation and meets one of Bridget's servants (they have no common language and don't communicate - a recurrent theme). Bridget significantly was a mother with a second career as a holy woman, like Margery, virginity might have been the ideal but both women break ground in asserting, I don't know how to phrase it maybe, a post-virginal sanctity,the potential for an extraordinarily holy life by an everyday (ish) woman. The other saint mentioned is Catherine, I'm not sure if this is Catherine as in Catherine wheel or Catherine of Siena, the former would be more conventional, the latter an interesting choice a young woman who withdrew from daily life and because of that became more significant in the life of her community, again like St. Bridget a 'modern' inspiration for Margery if that was the Catherine she referred to.
That is Margery, a difficult person to be with, with an intense relationship with the divine. Her book even in this foul translation probably more artful than I can recognise. A medieval woman who did what she wanted on her own terms and who was much abused for it, she was plainly deeply annoying, but then I guess saints probably mostly are.
The second thing I would say, is avoid this older edition with it's old 'translation'. The editor in fact suggests that the English was only slightly modernised, my general impression, as maybe you can tell from the updates, is the translator produced a weird sounding Tudorbethan style that often comes over as a pastiche. It has neither the pleasures of the original, nor the clarity of a modern translation. The passages about lice or Margery tormented by visions of naked men and being told by the devil that all she has to to make it stop is to select which one she will be intimate with first, are rendered particularly obscurely, no doubt out of respect for a 1950s readership who wouldn't want to read such filth. But the 50s are over now and we ought to be able to read about people stripping off their clothes on pilgrimage to attack each other's lice freely - the fifteenth century wasn't just about the battle of Agincourt after all.
The third point is that this is also simply a deeply odd book . This book might be a tremendously rare thing - a medieval autobiography, except that Margery was illiterate, people have to read to her throughout the book, it might be ghostwritten, but the book tells us that it was written twice, firstly by a mysterious man (and I still suspect that this might have been her son - the only one of her sixteen children who is named) who had spent a long time abroad in the German speaking world (as did her son) was literate, but in an idiosyncratic way , who undertook nonetheless to write out the story that Margery tells of her life. This man dies (Margery's son also predeceased her) and Margery passes the manuscript on to a priest who can't understand what he wrote at all, we're given the impression that it was written in some weird north sea melange neither English nor German, however after some time, prayer and the intervention of God, the Priest continues with the manuscript. It is unclear if he rewrote it and if so if he edited, or reworked the material in any way, his text has come down to us in a mysterious manner, excerpts were published but the complete manuscript first came to light in the 1930s. So it is odd, you can decide for yourself if it is an autobiography, biography or something sui generis.
One of it's odd features is how depersonalised it is - hardly anybody is named, Margery herself is invariably referred to as 'this creature', her husband is named once and that midway through the book, as I said only one of her sixteen children gets a name, people who help her might be called the 'good priest' (or whatever the profession happened to be) those who hinder her likewise might be the 'evil friar' . When the occasional Bishop, or Mayor or Abbot's official is named they leap off the page at the reader. Typing, my stomach full of coffee and pancakes, I wonder if this was a deliberate literary decision in imitation of the Gospels in which repeatedly we come across 'a Centurion', 'a woman taken in adultery', or 'a fisherman' when presumably all these people had names, but by implication they are irrelevant, it is the role and relationship to the central narrative figure alone which is of significance. If so then this is a further way that Margery is a difficult figure for the reader, for all her protestations of humility she's plainly holier than thou, and me. This isn't a new feeling, her neighbours seem to have felt the same already in the fifteenth century and they were not always shy in expressing their displeasure, one man pours a bowl of water over her head (I did wonder if 'water' was not a fair rendition of the original), and after a hundred pages with Margery one can see why.
One of the few people named is Julian of Norwich who Margery goes to visit early in her career of being holy. The comparison is a bit unlucky as the two are very different mystics. Julian had a series of visions at a precise time in her life that she then contemplated for years before having them set out in writing - Revelations of Divine Love, her vision insights are striking and distinctive. Margery is very different, she has an ongoing interior dialogue with God (the whole trinity) and the Virgin Mary, with the occasional vision. Her religiosity is characterised by intense emotion, specifically the habit of bursting into tears and screaming for hours at a time, in church services, during open air preaching, at pilgrimage sites, even randomly out in the countryside, this it turns out was a phase, but one which went on for ten years. Margery when she began to be holy gave up eating meat, however all her weeping and wailing left her weak, eventually the Virgin Mary appears to her and asks her to start eating meat again just so she can sustain herself in the work of weeping and wailing. One of the good things with Margery is that there is no false modesty about her. One gets the impression that she was pretty proud and haughty before being holy - she was of a fancy well to do family in King's Lynn (then Bishop's Lynn) a fairly busy port town in eastern England , her father was an important prominent citizen, as was her husband - once she becomes holy this is even more marked the Virgin Mary will have her as her servant, while she will become Jesus's lover, and mother, and daughter apparently simultaneously (and incestuously), maybe we are meant to understand this in a spiritual sense but it feels pretty physical in her expression, though I understand this isn't so unusual (at least in mystical circles ). It seems to me significant that while she has the subordinate role, it is to the very highest spiritual beings in her world.
The crying is very interesting, as you can imagine many people who came into contact with Margery found it difficult to cope with, if we are being polite. She is accused of being a heretic, specifically a Lollard - something which could lead to your being burnt unto death in the England of her time. Yet in a way her extreme emotional response is a reasonable reaction to the practise of religion in her day, if you are being told to focus on the awful sufferings of Jesus on the cross, and the unbearable grief of Mary, crying is the least one can do. Her contemporaries repeatedly and in many countries found it a bit too much though .
The expression of religion is however always very public, Margery eventually, after the sixteen children, convinces her husband to take a vow of chastity with her, they then have to separate and live apart as no will believe they are chaste if they live under the same roof. The husband, a true romantic, only seriously protests when Margery wants to go on pilgrimage (Rome, Jerusalem and Compostella) then he insists that she pay off his debts first .
She is also troubled by revelations from God about who is going to die, and once dead if they go to Heaven, Purgatory or Hell. She finds this hard to deal with. Once or twice there are instances of her knowing things that God told her, some are fairly generalised like suspicion of shysters and frauds, who go on to trick and defraud the gullible. Once she convinces a priest that she has true insights from God by telling him what three sins he has committed and hasn't confessed to, the Priest however is not at first impressed, 'and my lechery' he says 'was it with married or unmarried women?' after a moments consultation with God: 'married' quoth she. Is accusing a priest of lechery with married women evidence of a connection with God , a lucky guess, or a reasonably safe deduction, with all due respect to any passing Priests who take their celibacy seriously, I'm not sure.
Although she goes to a lot of places: Rome, Jerusalem, Leicester, London, Lincoln, York, Danzig (Gdansk), Prussia, Aachen, Stralsund, Canterbury, Ipswich, Norwich etc. There is no interest in them as places, buildings, sites, or their appearance, population, and customs, only in what happens to Margery (crying, praying, being abandoned (but not by lice) having no money, giving away money that belongs to other people). So again this is an impersonalised memoir all the more to focus on the personal - the relationship with God, there really is nothing else other than Margery's interior relationship with God and it's manifestations in the physical realm. As with Julian of Norwich, there is not a lot of interest in saint's outside of a narrow group (though much a bigger group of saints than Julian's), in Margery's life there is John the Baptist, St. Anne, and St Bridget of Sweden although Margery protests that she hath not read her book at first, that reading comes later, despite which there probably was an awareness of her as she visits Rome on the occasion of Bridget's canonisation and meets one of Bridget's servants (they have no common language and don't communicate - a recurrent theme). Bridget significantly was a mother with a second career as a holy woman, like Margery, virginity might have been the ideal but both women break ground in asserting, I don't know how to phrase it maybe, a post-virginal sanctity,the potential for an extraordinarily holy life by an everyday (ish) woman. The other saint mentioned is Catherine, I'm not sure if this is Catherine as in Catherine wheel or Catherine of Siena, the former would be more conventional, the latter an interesting choice a young woman who withdrew from daily life and because of that became more significant in the life of her community, again like St. Bridget a 'modern' inspiration for Margery if that was the Catherine she referred to.
That is Margery, a difficult person to be with, with an intense relationship with the divine. Her book even in this foul translation probably more artful than I can recognise. A medieval woman who did what she wanted on her own terms and who was much abused for it, she was plainly deeply annoying, but then I guess saints probably mostly are.
September 19, 2009
After having to read this for my Lit class, and reading a book by St. Theresa of Avila two years ago for a history class, I have come to the following conclusion:
Female mystics are the single most boring, long-winded people on the planet.
Margery Kempe's life had all the potential to be a well-made, expensive, but ultimately poorly received religious film from the Mel Gibson canon. She had visions, was psychic, and spent most of her adult life traveling across Europe and the Middle East while refusing to have sex with her husband. At the same time, she traveled with a colorful variety of men, and if she slept with any of them she's certainly not going to tell us. God punished her for twelve days by making her see visions of naked men prancing back and forth in front of her with the devil telling her she had to fuck all of them, and all she had to do was pick who would be first.
I make it sound kind of interesting, or at least readable. It is not. Here's my summary of Margery's book: blah blah blah blah blah blah i'm not worthy blah blah jesus blah blah blah god is awesome blah blah blah blah self-righteous blah blah blah blah jesus blah blah blaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh jesus blah. Amen.
Read for: Women in Early British Literature
Female mystics are the single most boring, long-winded people on the planet.
Margery Kempe's life had all the potential to be a well-made, expensive, but ultimately poorly received religious film from the Mel Gibson canon. She had visions, was psychic, and spent most of her adult life traveling across Europe and the Middle East while refusing to have sex with her husband. At the same time, she traveled with a colorful variety of men, and if she slept with any of them she's certainly not going to tell us. God punished her for twelve days by making her see visions of naked men prancing back and forth in front of her with the devil telling her she had to fuck all of them, and all she had to do was pick who would be first.
I make it sound kind of interesting, or at least readable. It is not. Here's my summary of Margery's book: blah blah blah blah blah blah i'm not worthy blah blah jesus blah blah blah god is awesome blah blah blah blah self-righteous blah blah blah blah jesus blah blah blaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh jesus blah. Amen.
Read for: Women in Early British Literature
January 13, 2016
margery kempe is an unmistakably physical presence, a voice that rings clear over the centuries, a body that she reinstates ownership over again and again, a soul that she lays bare to the world; there is something very lonely in the story of a woman who must exist in the liminal space between layperson and saint, aspiring to one and shunning the other but never quite belonging to either. despite her own surety that earthly scorn will be heavenly joy, that her distance from the people around her will bring her closer to christ, that her current pain is as deserved as her future release, i'm left with a kind of sadness that i can't quite shake.
August 13, 2007
One of the oldest autobiographies in the English language, should you choose to believe the illiterate Margery Kempe truly dictated it, is bitterly funny today. Kempe recounts her marriage, failures in business, curiously kinky religious visions, and spuriously selfish pilgrimmage. It is at once a window into the biases of a bygone age, and a thinly humorous commentary on the human condition. Was she driven mad by trouble childbirth, lying to get ahead in the world, or truly touched? The Church had its opinion, which is why the book went missing between the 15th and 20th centuries. She was a heretic, an entrepreneur, and worst of all for her time, a woman. It's hard not to have sympathy for her, or for the people she dragged around.
Penguin books translated this edition into modern English to be more accessible for modern readers, and good on them - it makes it easier to breeze through if you are so-inclined.
Penguin books translated this edition into modern English to be more accessible for modern readers, and good on them - it makes it easier to breeze through if you are so-inclined.
March 10, 2019
I would have been blessfully ignorant of this book if not the remarkable book - Sex Before Sexuality: A Premodern History - that I read earlier. Having read The Book of Margery Kempe, I ought to admit that Sex Before Sexuality summed up everything that might be of interest for you in this book in a couple of words, relieveing you from whimpering, sobbing, crying, weeping, moaning, suffering, endless narrative offered by Margery and those who wrote for her.
January 1, 2018
Review will follow. I just need to write my essay first. :)
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July 28, 2017not going to lie, i did some judicious skimming towards the end. i believe in women supporting women but julian > margery, those are the facts.
May 14, 2025
This may go down as my most interesting reading experience of the year. Margery was a delightful, yet very peculiar person, for her time, the 1400s, or really any age. She was extreme in all her behaviors, especially her emotional love for Jesus, which I both admire and envy ... somewhat. The suffering she endured for her full-hearted love was nothing to be envied for sure, and yet, having had such a dry love for so long, I confess to missing the affectation of days gone by. However, such public displays as Margery was prone to and found beyond her control? No. I cannot even imagine what it must have been like for her, even though she tells us over and over how she alienated and offended so many, was ostracized, banned from groups, churches, towns, etc. That she wasn't burned as a witch, is testament to the protection of Jesus and His Grace.
I also cannot imagine what it must have been like to be her friend or family. Her outbursts, which are one thing to read about, must have been disturbing, even for believers. She lived in an era of much greater faith than we do, yet how many can bear well with someone who is (seemingly) calling attention to him/herself on a regular basis? We had a man at our Cathedral downtown named Michael and he used to shout out, "Amen!" and "Preach it brother!" and various other positive (but LOUD!) comments when the Spirit moved him during homilies he liked. He could be a bit disruptive, and until you got to know him his comments seemed out of place in the usually staid Catholic Mass. However, as time went by, I grew to like and even love him and wish we all felt more comfortable being able to express our Love and Faith so openly. I remember feeling a great sense of loss when he died though I did not know him well.
Margery reminds me of Michael. Of course, she went way beyond anything he ever did. She called herself 'the creature' throughout the book. She was married and had 14 children by her husband but felt called to chastity, something she struggled against her husband with for years and finally won. She had the Gift of Tears (actually loud crying!) and unflagging enthusiasm for our Catholic faith. She was able to give correct answers (credible evidence for her beliefs) whenever questioned though she never received any theological training which would seem to indicate the Presence of the Holy Spirit within.
She went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with a group who hated her--for her loud crying during inspirational homilies and during Communion--and chucked her out. From there, she found a companion to get her to Rome and then met up with her old group and tried to modify her behavior so as to have their traveling company again. This was only partially successful. She went to Santiago de Compostela and other holy places on her own, although meeting up with other pilgrims, friars and travelers along the way.
Margery would have been less visible, but it was Jesus' desire for her to stand out in her clothing and behavior to atone for other sinners which made her a focus of public ridicule and anger. She struggled with her fellow citizens, was arrested, jailed and brought before bishops, mayors and other authority figures. She remained calm during questioning, relying on Jesus and the kind people He sent her. However, when she was alone, she frequently called on Him in fear and uncertainty. He allowed her a great deal of suffering which He said He wanted her to endure for His sake, but He promised to bring her Home to Him and reward her richly in Heaven.
I have read other reviewers here on GRs who have belittled her comparing her to my heroine, Teresa de Ávila, but considering they didn't even spell her name correctly and she is a saint and the first woman doctor of the church, to lump Margery in the same category as the Great Teresa is praise rather than insult. Although both women shared many of the same battles, living back when women were considered property, witches and chattel and endured some of the same scorn and suffering on behalf of the Jesus they loved, they are still more different than alike.
The biggest qualm I have with this book were the visions associated with the Blessed Mother and how she was portrayed at the time of Jesus' death. These may be true for all this poor sinner knows but they do not fit other things I have read and come to believe about Our Lady, and this bothered me. Mary was portrayed as emotional as Margery herself. 🤔
As for the rest of the book, I found it to be interesting and for the most part, inspirational and that IMHO was the point of the book. I don't think Margery made up her visions and locutions, but I also don't rule out that she might have been she somewhat deluded, as we all are. Recommended with reservations.
I also cannot imagine what it must have been like to be her friend or family. Her outbursts, which are one thing to read about, must have been disturbing, even for believers. She lived in an era of much greater faith than we do, yet how many can bear well with someone who is (seemingly) calling attention to him/herself on a regular basis? We had a man at our Cathedral downtown named Michael and he used to shout out, "Amen!" and "Preach it brother!" and various other positive (but LOUD!) comments when the Spirit moved him during homilies he liked. He could be a bit disruptive, and until you got to know him his comments seemed out of place in the usually staid Catholic Mass. However, as time went by, I grew to like and even love him and wish we all felt more comfortable being able to express our Love and Faith so openly. I remember feeling a great sense of loss when he died though I did not know him well.
Margery reminds me of Michael. Of course, she went way beyond anything he ever did. She called herself 'the creature' throughout the book. She was married and had 14 children by her husband but felt called to chastity, something she struggled against her husband with for years and finally won. She had the Gift of Tears (actually loud crying!) and unflagging enthusiasm for our Catholic faith. She was able to give correct answers (credible evidence for her beliefs) whenever questioned though she never received any theological training which would seem to indicate the Presence of the Holy Spirit within.
She went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem with a group who hated her--for her loud crying during inspirational homilies and during Communion--and chucked her out. From there, she found a companion to get her to Rome and then met up with her old group and tried to modify her behavior so as to have their traveling company again. This was only partially successful. She went to Santiago de Compostela and other holy places on her own, although meeting up with other pilgrims, friars and travelers along the way.
Margery would have been less visible, but it was Jesus' desire for her to stand out in her clothing and behavior to atone for other sinners which made her a focus of public ridicule and anger. She struggled with her fellow citizens, was arrested, jailed and brought before bishops, mayors and other authority figures. She remained calm during questioning, relying on Jesus and the kind people He sent her. However, when she was alone, she frequently called on Him in fear and uncertainty. He allowed her a great deal of suffering which He said He wanted her to endure for His sake, but He promised to bring her Home to Him and reward her richly in Heaven.
I have read other reviewers here on GRs who have belittled her comparing her to my heroine, Teresa de Ávila, but considering they didn't even spell her name correctly and she is a saint and the first woman doctor of the church, to lump Margery in the same category as the Great Teresa is praise rather than insult. Although both women shared many of the same battles, living back when women were considered property, witches and chattel and endured some of the same scorn and suffering on behalf of the Jesus they loved, they are still more different than alike.
The biggest qualm I have with this book were the visions associated with the Blessed Mother and how she was portrayed at the time of Jesus' death. These may be true for all this poor sinner knows but they do not fit other things I have read and come to believe about Our Lady, and this bothered me. Mary was portrayed as emotional as Margery herself. 🤔
As for the rest of the book, I found it to be interesting and for the most part, inspirational and that IMHO was the point of the book. I don't think Margery made up her visions and locutions, but I also don't rule out that she might have been she somewhat deluded, as we all are. Recommended with reservations.
April 1, 2023
The Book of Margery Kempe is an excellent example on late medieval mysticism and well worth of a read. I'm little bit ashamed that after a whole university degree focusing on medieval mysticism, I'm only now picking up Margery Kempe's book. The Penguin Classics edition had an excellent introduction and notes and I highly recommend picking up that edition as it explains the background and has extensive notes in the back.
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June 8, 2015*Limps on with Reading Project 2015 despite exploding internal organs.*
I ... have ... not ... given ... up.
So Margery Kempe.... I don't know what to make of Margery really. She's kind of the anti-Julian of Norwich really.
And she is probably clearly beyond nuts.
But, y'know, being a Medieval woman was clearly epically uncool so ... there's something kind of almost admirable, and endlessly compelling, about the story of the Margery Kempe. I mean, she was illiterate, working class, married ... in essence, completely powerless and completely value-less.
And yet she is ... falling off donkey's for Jesus.
And this book is just extraordinary.
Let me put it this way. In the Book of Margery Kempe:
Margery Kempe is Bella Swan. And Jesus Christ is Edward Cullen.
I ... have ... not ... given ... up.
So Margery Kempe.... I don't know what to make of Margery really. She's kind of the anti-Julian of Norwich really.
And she is probably clearly beyond nuts.
But, y'know, being a Medieval woman was clearly epically uncool so ... there's something kind of almost admirable, and endlessly compelling, about the story of the Margery Kempe. I mean, she was illiterate, working class, married ... in essence, completely powerless and completely value-less.
And yet she is ... falling off donkey's for Jesus.
And this book is just extraordinary.
Let me put it this way. In the Book of Margery Kempe:
Margery Kempe is Bella Swan. And Jesus Christ is Edward Cullen.
July 31, 2024
“When this creature was twenty years of age, or somewhat more, she was married to a worshipful burgess [of Lynn] and was with child within a short time, as nature would have it.”
This interesting biography took me to the turn of the fifteenth century when the Late Middle Ages was morphing into the Early Renaissance. Margery Kempe, a married women with 14 children decides that her devotion to God eclipses everything else in her life, and embarks on a mystical journey to get as close as she can to His Love and Grace, and to conform her life to His will. While the narrative is somewhat disjointed, springing back and forth between different episodes in Margery’s life, the reader must decide: does Margery have a special relationship with God and are her actions spiritually beneficial, or is she somewhat unbalanced emotionally and do her actions have a negative impact on those around her?
While Margery speaks of her devotion to God and of the special protection and attention he sends her way, a repeated theme runs through this book of her unusually shocking weeping and crying, and how her behaviour alienates the people around her. In story after story, Margery weeps and wails in loud outbursts, a person or the people get irritated with her and, at the least, want her to stop and, at the most, want her imprisoned. Margery does show a comprehension that her behaviour sows discord with those around her, and does try to moderate her reactions, but is unable to because of the force of feeling for God in her heart; she simply cannot control her response.
At first, like many people Margery met, her weeping and sobbing drove me crazy. I think in this book she described every incident that she wailed and moaned, and I was soon in complete sympathy with the people who wanted her either run out of town or put in prison. Yet about mid-way through the book I began to think ……….. How did Margery conduct herself as a person? What were her traits and how did she interact with other people whom she met in life? Yes, her life was completely given to God and he was her primary source of love and care and motivation, but the result of that love was her willingness to help and care for people, her desire to see people saved and experience God’s grace like she had, and, surprisingly, her meek yet powerful words that she used against her accusers. Rarely did she respond in kind to their recriminations, intimidation or threats, but with an honest and sincere demeanour, that often would disarm them. Did she ever hurt anyone with her behaviour? No, she was simply annoying and, therefore, was it right to ostracize her, berate her and throw her in prison for being bothersome?
Ultimately I felt that this book said as much about the society around Margery, as Margery herself. Their intolerance for anyone different than themselves, their impatience at her benign behaviour and their lust for vengeance was quite startling, yet when I compared it to our society today, how different was it really? Don’t we display the same intolerance, the same prejudice and the same narrow-mindedness as the people of Margery’s time? Are we exasperated or offended by people with different ideas or bothered when people behave differently than we expect? I think, if we’re honest, we’d be compelled to answer “yes”.
The book also gives fascinating details of medieval life. While we, as moderns, always tend to think women were oppressed and had no say in how they lived their lives, Margery chose to live apart from her husband, traveled around Europe often in the company of men, and quite forcefully made her own choices about the path her life would take. Certainly she was occasionally reprimanded by priests or given advice by townspeople that she should behave like a “normal” woman, but the vast majority of people appeared to accept her lifestyle without comment and are much more concerned or annoyed with the quantity of her weeping and emotional distress.
Margery’s amazing perseverance in her beliefs, and her ability to remaining faithful when she is imprisoned, ostracized, mocked and threatened, are what impacted me while reading this biography. Her lack of anger and her tolerance towards her persecutors is truly heroic. While I wouldn’t want to be Margery Kempe, and I didn’t agree with all her decisions, I can certainly see traits within her that would be beneficial in my own life, and for that, I have a reluctant admiration for her single-minded faithfulness and unquenchable spirit.
This interesting biography took me to the turn of the fifteenth century when the Late Middle Ages was morphing into the Early Renaissance. Margery Kempe, a married women with 14 children decides that her devotion to God eclipses everything else in her life, and embarks on a mystical journey to get as close as she can to His Love and Grace, and to conform her life to His will. While the narrative is somewhat disjointed, springing back and forth between different episodes in Margery’s life, the reader must decide: does Margery have a special relationship with God and are her actions spiritually beneficial, or is she somewhat unbalanced emotionally and do her actions have a negative impact on those around her?
While Margery speaks of her devotion to God and of the special protection and attention he sends her way, a repeated theme runs through this book of her unusually shocking weeping and crying, and how her behaviour alienates the people around her. In story after story, Margery weeps and wails in loud outbursts, a person or the people get irritated with her and, at the least, want her to stop and, at the most, want her imprisoned. Margery does show a comprehension that her behaviour sows discord with those around her, and does try to moderate her reactions, but is unable to because of the force of feeling for God in her heart; she simply cannot control her response.
At first, like many people Margery met, her weeping and sobbing drove me crazy. I think in this book she described every incident that she wailed and moaned, and I was soon in complete sympathy with the people who wanted her either run out of town or put in prison. Yet about mid-way through the book I began to think ……….. How did Margery conduct herself as a person? What were her traits and how did she interact with other people whom she met in life? Yes, her life was completely given to God and he was her primary source of love and care and motivation, but the result of that love was her willingness to help and care for people, her desire to see people saved and experience God’s grace like she had, and, surprisingly, her meek yet powerful words that she used against her accusers. Rarely did she respond in kind to their recriminations, intimidation or threats, but with an honest and sincere demeanour, that often would disarm them. Did she ever hurt anyone with her behaviour? No, she was simply annoying and, therefore, was it right to ostracize her, berate her and throw her in prison for being bothersome?
Ultimately I felt that this book said as much about the society around Margery, as Margery herself. Their intolerance for anyone different than themselves, their impatience at her benign behaviour and their lust for vengeance was quite startling, yet when I compared it to our society today, how different was it really? Don’t we display the same intolerance, the same prejudice and the same narrow-mindedness as the people of Margery’s time? Are we exasperated or offended by people with different ideas or bothered when people behave differently than we expect? I think, if we’re honest, we’d be compelled to answer “yes”.
The book also gives fascinating details of medieval life. While we, as moderns, always tend to think women were oppressed and had no say in how they lived their lives, Margery chose to live apart from her husband, traveled around Europe often in the company of men, and quite forcefully made her own choices about the path her life would take. Certainly she was occasionally reprimanded by priests or given advice by townspeople that she should behave like a “normal” woman, but the vast majority of people appeared to accept her lifestyle without comment and are much more concerned or annoyed with the quantity of her weeping and emotional distress.
Margery’s amazing perseverance in her beliefs, and her ability to remaining faithful when she is imprisoned, ostracized, mocked and threatened, are what impacted me while reading this biography. Her lack of anger and her tolerance towards her persecutors is truly heroic. While I wouldn’t want to be Margery Kempe, and I didn’t agree with all her decisions, I can certainly see traits within her that would be beneficial in my own life, and for that, I have a reluctant admiration for her single-minded faithfulness and unquenchable spirit.
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November 8, 202315th century Barbie (what was I made for?)
July 15, 2012
What a hoot this book is! Margery Kempe was a real person, someone who, after having a bunch of children and many years of marriage, decided that she wanted to be a nun. So she traveled to Rome (from England) to get a papal annulment, and discovered that she enjoyed traveling so much that she went on Jerusalem. Her adventures are told with a certain tongue-in-cheek and also some self-righteous indignation that are both edifying and hilarious. Even hearing only her side of things, the reader is glad not to have known her.
I've recently bought a companion book to this because I'm eager to read it again, only with all the references to what else was going on at the time and what certain catholic-isms mean.
I've recently bought a companion book to this because I'm eager to read it again, only with all the references to what else was going on at the time and what certain catholic-isms mean.
July 31, 2022
An important primary source not only because it is the earliest known autobiography of an Englishperson, but is also a revelatory window into the life of a Medieval Christian woman.
Margery Kempe didn't always behave in the way that was expected of her. She never acted against the teachings of the Church (England was Roman Catholic at the time which is 1373-1438), but was often accused by other people of being a heretic because she did odd things like wear only white clothes, did not eat meat, and took a vow of chastity at the age of 40, while still married, and after bearing 14 children (who can blame her?). The oddest thing about her, and which caused her much suffering and persecution her whole life, was her constant sobbing, weeping and wailing in church, groaning and roaring while the congregation was trying to listen to a sermon or take holy communion. She was vilified and even imprisoned for this behavior and escaped being burned at the stake, many times being accused of being a Lollard. The Lollards were pre-Reformation Christians who believed that the laity should read the holy scriptures themselves and did not need the instruction of a priest to understand the Bible. Chief among the Lollards was John Wycliffe who translated the Bible into vernacular English which became popular among Lollards, despite efforts to suppress it by Henry IV. Wycliffe was declared a heretic by Pope Martin V and the Lollards were persecuted and martyred for their beliefs. Margery Kempe was not a Lollard but since she made it a habit to go on pilgrimages and would engage people in conversation about her faith (she was effectively teaching the gospel in her travels) and having long discussions with priests and friars, people were jealous of her knowledge of God and accused her of either being possessed by evil spirits, or of holding Lollard beliefs.
Anyone who is interested in Medieval history and/or Church history will probably find this book rewarding. A passage that impressed me very much and which describes Margery Kempe's unique position as a Christian woman of the Medieval Era, is one which she claims came from Christ himself, in one of the many instances in the book where he speaks to her directly:
"Daughter, if you knew how many wives there are in this world, who would love me and serve me well and duly, if they might be as free from their husbands as you are from yours, you would say that you were very much beholden to me. And yet they are thwarted from their will and suffer very great pain, and therefore they shall have great reward in heaven, for I receive every good will as a deed."
Good for Margery. She was able to serve God the way she felt she was called to do, despite being a woman in a time in history where people did not always accept the way she chose to live her life. She is a good example of how we should desire to please God and worship Him no matter our circumstances or position, and no matter if we are ridiculed or laughed at.
Margery Kempe didn't always behave in the way that was expected of her. She never acted against the teachings of the Church (England was Roman Catholic at the time which is 1373-1438), but was often accused by other people of being a heretic because she did odd things like wear only white clothes, did not eat meat, and took a vow of chastity at the age of 40, while still married, and after bearing 14 children (who can blame her?). The oddest thing about her, and which caused her much suffering and persecution her whole life, was her constant sobbing, weeping and wailing in church, groaning and roaring while the congregation was trying to listen to a sermon or take holy communion. She was vilified and even imprisoned for this behavior and escaped being burned at the stake, many times being accused of being a Lollard. The Lollards were pre-Reformation Christians who believed that the laity should read the holy scriptures themselves and did not need the instruction of a priest to understand the Bible. Chief among the Lollards was John Wycliffe who translated the Bible into vernacular English which became popular among Lollards, despite efforts to suppress it by Henry IV. Wycliffe was declared a heretic by Pope Martin V and the Lollards were persecuted and martyred for their beliefs. Margery Kempe was not a Lollard but since she made it a habit to go on pilgrimages and would engage people in conversation about her faith (she was effectively teaching the gospel in her travels) and having long discussions with priests and friars, people were jealous of her knowledge of God and accused her of either being possessed by evil spirits, or of holding Lollard beliefs.
Anyone who is interested in Medieval history and/or Church history will probably find this book rewarding. A passage that impressed me very much and which describes Margery Kempe's unique position as a Christian woman of the Medieval Era, is one which she claims came from Christ himself, in one of the many instances in the book where he speaks to her directly:
"Daughter, if you knew how many wives there are in this world, who would love me and serve me well and duly, if they might be as free from their husbands as you are from yours, you would say that you were very much beholden to me. And yet they are thwarted from their will and suffer very great pain, and therefore they shall have great reward in heaven, for I receive every good will as a deed."
Good for Margery. She was able to serve God the way she felt she was called to do, despite being a woman in a time in history where people did not always accept the way she chose to live her life. She is a good example of how we should desire to please God and worship Him no matter our circumstances or position, and no matter if we are ridiculed or laughed at.
October 28, 2016
This is an extraordinary book is so many ways: Kempe was a fifteenth century woman who becomes a mystic, having religious visions, not dissimilar, in some ways, to Joan of Arc who was her contemporary. Living in what is now King's Lynn, Norfolk, she travelled on pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, and gives us an insight into her medieval world.
One of the things about Kempe is that she was always very disruptive, no silent meditations for her: instead she cried and made much noise when in the throes of what were very boisterous visions, and so annoyed many of the people around her.
Her book has rather simplistically been described as the first autobiography in English but it's far more complex than that. For a start, Kempe couldn't write (as was common for the non-aristocratic of the time) and so the text is a collaborative artefact. Scholars still debate exactly what role Kempe might have played in the authorship of this text: certainly it is written in the 3rd person with Kempe herself described as 'that creature'.
The translation by Bale is very well done, and his introduction and notes are helpful and concise: perhaps too concise. This is probably a publisher issue but given the questions this text poses, it might have been helpful to have a longer introduction to tease out some of the contemporary approaches to the work. The bibliography is modern and up-to-date, though (2015), which is useful.
So this is fascinating for all kinds of reasons, not least as an early example of women's 'writing'.
September 12, 2010
Frequent repetition (mostly of "Oh how wonderful god is. Let me repeat the story of the crucifixion in gory detail one more time") dropped this down from three to two stars. I actually enjoyed this far more than I thought I would as an atheist reading a Christian mystic's account of her religious life.
What I most liked where the rare and occasional glimpses of 15th century life - travails with lice and travel plans, the occasional decrying of fashion. Margery is feisty indeed, though I mostly cheered for her detractors - she must have been annoying as hell with her divinely inspired wailing and screaming.
I was just a teeny bit full of schadenfreude that the religious authorities had to put up with her because of their own policy of tolerating all manner of religious excess so long as it was "orthodox". Millions of counts of disturbing the peace, but she could answer the question of the trinity accurately. Sucks to be you, medieval English courts!
What I most liked where the rare and occasional glimpses of 15th century life - travails with lice and travel plans, the occasional decrying of fashion. Margery is feisty indeed, though I mostly cheered for her detractors - she must have been annoying as hell with her divinely inspired wailing and screaming.
I was just a teeny bit full of schadenfreude that the religious authorities had to put up with her because of their own policy of tolerating all manner of religious excess so long as it was "orthodox". Millions of counts of disturbing the peace, but she could answer the question of the trinity accurately. Sucks to be you, medieval English courts!
May 11, 2022
maybe embarrassing that i read the original text in eight days but meandered my way through the translation for the best part of a month ? but also i have been feeling dreamy & sentimental & tearful, too dreamy & sentimental & tearful to rush.
margery is my friend ! i thought about her almost daily fr maybe two-thirds of my degree, not because i was at all interested in becoming a medievalist, but because she felt vividly, wailingly alive to me and i loved her beyond all reason ! i still think about her, i still love her, maybe even more so bc with time away from lectures, the immediacy of medieval term has ebbed and left just her, stranded in my present ! she Compels me !
margery is my friend ! i thought about her almost daily fr maybe two-thirds of my degree, not because i was at all interested in becoming a medievalist, but because she felt vividly, wailingly alive to me and i loved her beyond all reason ! i still think about her, i still love her, maybe even more so bc with time away from lectures, the immediacy of medieval term has ebbed and left just her, stranded in my present ! she Compels me !
November 11, 2019
(TW: alcohol mention)
If you ever feel like getting so drunk you cannot see the words in front of you then read a single chapter of this book and take a shot every time Margery weeps, wails, roars, or does anything pertaining to crying. Make sure you have a stomach pump handy, because she does this every other sentence.
My favourite bit is when she gets so excited about Jesus that she falls off a donkey. Other than that it's just a lot of crying. Not the worst book I've ever read for class but it was tedious to say the least.
If you ever feel like getting so drunk you cannot see the words in front of you then read a single chapter of this book and take a shot every time Margery weeps, wails, roars, or does anything pertaining to crying. Make sure you have a stomach pump handy, because she does this every other sentence.
My favourite bit is when she gets so excited about Jesus that she falls off a donkey. Other than that it's just a lot of crying. Not the worst book I've ever read for class but it was tedious to say the least.
March 17, 2023
Sweet Christ, Margery is annoying. Everything is about her, always, all the time, but she plays it off like she's unworthy of any attention at all. It's such intense "pick-me" energy that I don't know what to do with it. I have some sympathy for just how awfully people treated her, but on the other hand, she wasn't all that kind to most people for most of her life. The main body of my sympathy comes from how she was forced to sleep with her husband and have so many kids - no one deserves that type of experience. Her story is interesting (though the writing style frustrates me to no end) so I'm putting this one at a solid 2.5 stars.
May 21, 2020
It's cool because it's one of the earliest examples of female auto-biography, but that's it. If Margery Kempe existed today she'd be in a Louis Theroux documentary telling children they're going to hell and justifying anti-social behaviour with how she is 'holier than'st thou'. If you knew her and saw her in the street, you would walk quickly past, head down, pretending you didn't see her because you really really don't want to talk to her she's so annoying.
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September 26, 2018
I kind of think this is one of those books that shouldn't really be reviewed.
It's the biography of Margery Kempe, a 14th-century devotee who sees visions of Christ. It's clear she believes she really does see them; she gets so much abuse for it that I can't imagine anyone faking it.
Also, God punishes her by sending her visions of dicks.
It's the biography of Margery Kempe, a 14th-century devotee who sees visions of Christ. It's clear she believes she really does see them; she gets so much abuse for it that I can't imagine anyone faking it.
Also, God punishes her by sending her visions of dicks.
March 17, 2017
One of the rare books that I would stop reading from the very first pages if it weren't required for a class.
September 3, 2022
christ this was boring
October 9, 2022
damn god wilding with these descriptions of the sex he wants to have w margery
October 26, 2023
first manic episode written down in the english language
July 25, 2025
1/5 all this bitch does is cry
Edit: have changed my mind
Edit: have changed my mind
February 18, 2024
Kempe can be repetitive and irritating. But her story is sad and salutary. Overwhelmed by child bearing and marital rape, she flees into religion, travel, and weeping.
February 23, 2024
A lot was spoken but not a lot was said
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July 28, 2026“[If] it were possible for Me to suffer pain again as I have done before, I would rather suffer as much pain as I ever did for your soul alone rather than that you should be separated from Me forever.”
My main impression is one of sadness that Margery suffered so much in her soul as she grappled with both a probable mental illness and a genuine devotion to her Lord. It comforts me to think of the joy and rest she must have felt once she reached heaven, once she met the Savior face to face and received true and total clarity as to which of her visions had come from him and which had not, which crosses he had asked her to shoulder and which had been burdens foisted on her by illegitimate tongues. What an exhale that must have been for her weary spirit.
[For] sometimes, revelations are hard to understand, and sometimes things that people believe to be revelations are deceits and illusions, and therefore it is not appropriate to give credence too eagerly to every stirring, but rather to wait discreetly and test if they are sent from God.
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