Margery Kempe…Mystic and Pilgrim

Presented by Margo Markesteijn

January 15, 2008

Topics in Mysticism

Professor G. Miller, BTS

Born the year 1373 as Margery Brunham in Bishop of Lynn, England.

Married John Kempe in 1393 and brought 14 children into this world.

First mystical experience following the birth of a child.

Two failed business ventures before becoming a pilgrim.

In 1413 made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Rome in 1414 and began to cry/wail.

Accused of being a Lollard and heretic.

1436 and 1438 un-named priests edit Margery’s book.

In 1438 Margery is admitted into the Guild of the Trinity.

In 1440 Margery dies.

References

Aers, D. “The Making of Margery Kempe: Individuality and Community” in Community, Gender and Indidivual Identity: English Writing 1360-1430. London: Routledge, 1988.

Atkinson, C. W. Mystic and Pilgrim: The Book and the World of Margery Kempe. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Hirsch, J. C. The Revelations of Margery Kempe: Paramystical Practices in Late Medieval England. Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1989.

Kieckhefer, R. Unquiet Souls: Fourteenth-Century Saints and Their Religious Milieu. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

Skinner, J. (Trans.) The Book of Margery Kempe. New York: Doubleday, 1998.

Windeatt, B. A. (Trans.) The Book of Margery Kempe. London: Penguin Books, 1985.