Return to the index of "Other Women's Voices."
Updated 02-11-08
Margery Kempe (c.1373-aft.1439)
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"I THINK THAT THE GOSPEL GIVES ME LEAVE TO SPEAK OF GOD."
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According to her Book, Margery Brunham came from "worthy kindred" of the city of Lynn; when she was about 20 years old, she was married to John Kempe of that city and gave birth to 14 children (we don't know how many survived to adulthood). When she was about 35 she had a visionary experience and felt that she had been "called from the pride and vanity of this wretched world." She began to live an ascetic life and tried to avoid sexual relations with her husband. It took about five years, but John Kempe eventually agreed to their living together without sexual contact.
In 1413, aged about 40, Margery began the travels that, with her ongoing visionary experiences, make up her Book. Her trips were pilgrimages, either to spots considered holy or to people who would confirm that her way of life --- her kind of asceticism, her apparently uncontrollable need to pray and weep aloud --- was in fact pleasing to God, if not to her neighbors or to the clergy of Lynn.
At first she visited the bishop of Lincoln, the archbishop of Canterbury, and the anchorite Julian of Norwich. From the autumn of 1413 to the summer of 1415, she was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Rome. In the summer of 1417, she was a pilgrim at Santiago de Compostela in Spain; on her way home she went to York and London.
During the 1420's Margery remained at home in Lynn. At some point her husband became ill, and she nursed him for several years before his death in 1431. Also during this period, "twenty years and more from the time that this creature first had feelings and revelations," a scribe began to write down Margery's story as she told it to him. After the first scribe died, Margery took her book to a priest, but because of her local reputation, he put off working with her on revising the book for some four years.
In 1433 Margery went on a pilgrimage to Norway and Germany; this trip would become the subject of the second part of her Book. By 1436, the priest-scribe had completed his revision (under Margery's strict supervision) of the 89-chapter Book 1; two years later he and Margery wrote the 10-chapter Book 2. Margery is mentioned in the records of Lynn in 1439; after that we know nothing of her.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from a translation in print,
Information about:
Editions
Secondary sources.
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1. This set of links is the best place to start online: you can link to an "Introduction" to Margery's Book, to a "Structural outline," to a "Summary of chapters," to a glossary, and to a bibliography of editions (through 2000) and criticism (through 1999); all are prepared by Sarah Stanbury and Virginia Raguin. At the very top of the main page, the link "Intro" will take you to Lynn Staley's valuable introduction to her 1996 edition of the Middle English text; at the other links, you can go to the individual chapters of Staley's edition, with useful notes. If you wish to try the Middle English text, this is a good way to do it.
2. Another way of linking to the Middle English text edited by Staley. Here you may link to the introduction or one of several parts of the text, not individual chapters (for excerpts from a 2001 modern English version by Staley, see below, under "In print").
3. At the right, a page from the 1400s manuscript that was found in 1934.
4. For modern English:
(a) From Chapter 1, the description of Margery's derangement following the birth of her first child (with omissions that are not noted); this is followed by lines from later in Book 1, ending with a passage from Chapter 75 (again with unnoted omissions), in which Margery helps a woman undergoing the same postpartum crisis. The translations are by Barry Windeatt. (The compiler, Marlys Craun, sees the passages as evidence that "Kempe was psychotic for much of her adult life.")
(b) From Chapter 11, on Margery's husband's agreement that they will live together in celibacy, followed by passages on Margery's experiences in Rome (Chapters 37-39).
(c) About two-thirds of the way down the page, Margery's account of her visit to Julian of Norwich in about 1413 (Chapter 18).
(d) After a brief biography and itinerary, a link to Chapters 26-34 and 37-42, on Margery's pilgrimage to Jerusalem (1413-16); the translation is by William Butler-Bowden. You can also link to maps of Margery's travels in England and abroad, to two student essays, and to an annotated 1999 bibliography.
(e) Use your browser's search function to go to "Kempe" for the first half of Chapter 79, in which Jesus consoles his mother and Margery before his passion; the translation is by Windeatt.
(f) A group of brief passages, which, unlike the original, has Margery speaking in the first person. The translation is by Tony D. Triggs (for information on Triggs' 1995 book, see below, under "In print").
(g) At Anniina Jokinen's "Luminarium" site, links to other excerpts (some in modern spelling).
5. Henry Pepwell's 1521 Treatyse of Contemplacyon, collated with Wynken de Worde's 1501 printing of the same; the spelling has been modernized. This is a selection of passages taken from the Book, and it was all that was known until the full manuscript was discovered in 1934. Note that Pepwell (and his modern editor, Edmund G. Gardner, in 1910) believed that Margery was a anchorite. At another site, the opening page of Wynken de Worde's 1501 book, A Shorte Treatyse of Contemplacyon Taught by her Lorde Jhesu Cryste, or Taken out of the Boke of Margerie Kempe of Lyn.
6. Essays, etc.:
(a) A 1997 biographical essay by Lynn H. Nelson, good on chronology.
(b) For a more detailed biography and material on the early history of the Book, a 1999 essay by Charity Scott Stokes.
(c) "Illuminating the Soul: Religious Enclosure and the Validation of Mystical Experience in The Life of Christina of Markyate and The Book of Margery Kempe" (2006), by Ruth R. Roberts, compares Margery with an influential English Benedictine nun of the 1100s, seeing in the Book an effort to show that the 1400s lay-woman Margery, by living in a metaphorical rather than an actual cell, represented a new laicized kind of spiritual life.
(d) "Margery in Dansk" (2005), by David Wallace, deals with part of the little-discussed Book II, discussing the 1433 voyage to Danzig; Wallace sees the chronological account in Book II and specifically Margery's account of her Danzig stay as representing a romance narrative unlike the contemplations of Book I.
(e) "'Thei stodyn upon stoyls for to beheldyn hir': Margery Kempe and the Power of Performance" (2002), by Sheila Christie, discusses the ways in which Margery presented herself to those who heard her and the ways in which her audiences responded to her.
(f) "The Book of Margery Kempe and the Pre-Tridentine Documentation of Sanctity" (1999), by Thomas L. Long, describes how Margery went about the process of authenticating her experiences and revelations.
(g) "Mapping the Problems of Sexual Desire in The Book of Margery Kempe" (1996), by Liliana Sikorska, describes Margery's search for an ideal love to counterbalance the misogyny she faced.
(h) "Mysticism, Meditation, and Identification in The Book of Margery Kempe" (1995), by Carolyn Coulson, discusses those visionary experiences in which Margery observes and participates in the life of Christ.
(i) "Margery Kempe and the Rhetoric of Laughter" (1986), by Karma Lochrie, sees Margery using those episodes in which she laughs at herself and others as a way of persuading her readers to accept her serious purpose.
(j) "The Boke of Margery Kempe and the Book of Showings of Julian of Norwich," not an essay but rather a thought-provoking set of notes written by Arnie Sanders for his students.
(k) An abstract of a 2007 dissertation, "'Sche knelyd upon hir kneys, hir boke in hir hand': Manuscript Travel, Devotional Pedagogy, and the Textual Communities of The Book of Margery Kemp," by Sara Gorman; you can download a PDF file of the dissertation, which looks at the ways in which Margery's earliest readers received her text.
(l) Go to "Kempe" for an abstract of a 2005 conference presentation by Shawna Geissler, "The Flesh Made Word: Margery Kempe's Experiential Feminine Christianity."
7. Reviews (for more information on the books' treatment of Kempe, see "Secondary sources"):
(a) Jenny Rebecca Rytting on Liz Herbert McAvoy's 2004 study Authority and the Female Body in the Writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe.
(b) John T. Sebastian on the 2004 essay collection, A Companion to The Book of Margery Kempe.
(c) Helen Clare Taylor on Lynn Staley's 1994 study, Margery Kempe's Dissenting Fictions.
(d) Rebecca Krug on the 2005 essay collection, Voices in Dialogue: Reading Women in the Middle Ages.
(e) Clarence Thomson on the 2000 collection, Lay Sanctity, Medieval and Modern: A Search for Models.
(f) Brian Patrick McGuire on Rosalynn Voaden's 1999 study, God's Words, Women's Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of Late-medieval Women Visionaries.
8.At "Mapping Margery Kempe," the site of which #1 above is a part, you can link to information and images connected with Margery's life.
9. A 2008 bibliography of editions and studies.
10. For historical background, links to online information on Lollardy, of which Margery was frequently accused.
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Translations
[Lynn Staley, whose 1996 edition can be seen online, has translated the work for a Norton Critical Edition. The book also includes five excerpts from works that may have influenced Kempe's views and seven critical essays originally published from 1987 to 1998. Staley's introduction and notes are helpful, as is the book's bibliography; there is no index. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The book of Margery Kempe: a new translation, contexts, criticism
/ translated and edited by Lynn Staley (A Norton critical edition).
New York: Norton, c 2001. (xxii, 305 p.: map)
LC#: PR2007.K4 A199 2001; ISBN: 0393976394
Includes bibliographical references (p. 303-305)
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"I am no heretic, nor shall you prove me one."
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[In 1417, in her mid-40s, Margery was on her way home from her pilgrimage to Spain. She was arrested by the mayor of Leicester (who believed her a Lollard and so a threat to both church and state), but released after she appealed to the bishop whose jurisdiction included Leicester. Then she went to York, where she met much the same fear, stayed longer than the local clerics liked, and was ordered to go to the Archbishop of York. Her danger was very real; people suspected of being Lollards had been burnt. However, the humor in her description of her interaction with the Archbishop is surely intentional; it's difficult to imagine Margery and her scribe not smiling as they wrote this --- once the danger had passed:]
On the next day she was brought into the Archbishop's chapel, and there came many of the Archbishop's household, despising her, calling her "lollard" and "heretic," and swearing many a horrible oath that she should be burnt....
At the last ,the said Archbishop came into the chapel with his clerks, and sharply he said to her, "Why go you in white? Are you a maiden?"
She, kneeling on her knees before him, said, "No, sir, I am no maiden; I am a wife."
He commanded his household to fetch a pair of fetters and said she should be fettered, for she was a false heretic. And then she said, "I am no heretic, nor shall you prove me one."
The Archbishop went away and let her stand alone. Then she made her prayers to our Lord God almighty to help her and succor her against all her enemies, ghostly and bodily, a long while, and her flesh trembled and quaked wonderfully so that she was fain to put her hands under her clothes so that it should not be espied.
Afterward the Archbishop came again into the chapel with many worthy clerks.... Some of the people asked whether she were a Christian woman or a Jew; some said she was a good woman, and some said no....
And then anon, after the Archbishop had put to her the Articles of our Faith, to which God gave her grace to answer well and truly and readily without any great study so that he might not blame her, then he said to the clerks, "She knows her faith well enough. What shall I do with her?"
The clerks said, "We know well that she knows the Articles of the Faith, but we will not suffer her to dwell among us, for the people have great faith in her dalliance, and perhaps she might pervert some of them."
Then the Archbishop said unto her: "I am badly informed of you; I hear said you are a right wicked woman."
And she said again, "Sir, so I hear said that you are a wicked man. And, if you are as wicked as men say, you shall never come into heaven unless you amend yourself while you are here."
Then he said full roughly, "Why, you, what say men of me?"
She answered, "Other men, sir, can tell you well enough."
Then said a great clerk with a furred hood, "Peace, you speak of yourself and let him be."
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"I preach not, sir, I.... use but communication and good
words."
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[Luckily for Margery, the Archbishop was less zealous than some of his clerics; he just wanted to wash his hands of her:]
Afterward said the Archbishop to her. "Lay your hand on the book here before me and swear that you shall go out of my diocese as soon as you may."
"No, sir," she said, "I pray you, give me leave to go again into York to take my leave of my friends."
Then he gave her leave for one day or two. She thought it was too short a time, wherefore she said again, "Sir, I may not go out of this diocese so hastily, for I must tarry and speak with good men before I go...."
Then said the Archbishop to her, "You shall swear that you shall neither teach nor challenge the people in my diocese."
"No, sir, I shall not swear," she said, "for I shall speak of God and reprove those who swear great oaths wheresover I go, unto the time that the pope and holy church have ordained that no man shall be so hardy to speak of God, for God almighty forbids not, sir, that we shall speak of him. And also the gospel makes mention that, when the woman had heard our Lord preach, she came before him with a loud voice and said, 'Blessed be the womb that bore you and the teats that gave you suck.' Then our Lord said again to her, 'Forsooth, so are they blessed that hear the word of God and keep it.' And therefore, sir, I think that the gospel gives me leave to speak of God."
"Ah, sir," said the clerks, "here know we well that she has a devil within her, for she speaks of the gospel."
Immediately a great clerk brought forth a book and laid St. Paul for his part against her that no woman should preach.
She, answering thereto, said, "I preach not, sir, I go in no pulpit. I use but communication and good words, and that will I do while I live."....
And then anon after, the Archbishop said, "Where shall I get a man who might lead this woman from me?"
Quickly many young men started up, and every man said, "My lord, I will go with her."
The Archbishop answered, "You are too young; I will not have you."
Then a good, sober man from the Archbishop's household asked his Lord what he would give him if he should lead her. The Archbishop offered him five shillings, and the man asked for a noble. The Archbishop, answering, said, "I will not spend so much on her body."
"Yes, good sir," said the said creature, "our Lord shall reward you right well again."
Then the Archbishop said to the man, "See, here is five
shillings, and lead her fast out of this country." [pp.91-95]
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"I have excused myself against my enemies...."
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[Margery had finally left the city and reached the river that marked the boundary of the York diocese when she was stopped again; the Duke of Bedford was, while King Henry V was in France, the most powerful man in England:]
And so she went to Hessle and would have gone over the water at Humber. Then she happened to find ther two Friar Preachers and two yeomen of the Duke of Bedford. The friars told the yeomen what woman she was, and the yeomen arrested her as she would have taken her boat....
"For our Lord," they said, "the Duke of Bedford has sent for you. And you are held the greatest Lollard in all this country or around London either. And we have sought you in many a country, and we shall have a hundred pounds for bringing you before our Lord."
She said to them, "With good will, sirs, I shall go with you wherever you will lead me."
Then they brought her again into Hessle, and there men called her Lollard, and women came running out of their houses with their distaffs, crying to the people, "Burn this false heretic."
So, as she went on toward Beverly with the said yeomen and the friars before said, they met many times with men of the country, who said unto her, "Damsel, forsake this life that you have, and go spin and card as other women do, and suffer not so much shame and so much woe"....
[After a few days locked up in one of the yeoman's homes in Beverly:]
On the next day she was brought into the chapter house of Beverly, and there was the Archbishop of York and many great clerks with him, priests, canons, and secular men. Then said the Archbishop to the said creature, "What, woman, are you come again? I would fain be delivered of you."
And then a priest brought her forth before him, and the Archbishop said, all who were present hearing, "Sirs, I had this woman before me... and found no default in her.... I gave one of my men five shillings to lead her out of this country for the quieting of the people.... Is there any man who can say anything against her?"
Then other men said, "Here is a friar who knows many things against her."
The friar came forth and said that she disproved all men of holy church and much ill language he uttered that time of her.... "And, sir, she says that she may weep and have contrition when she wishes."...
"My lord," said the friar,... "[M]y lord of Bedford is angry with her, and he will have her."
"Well, friar," said the Archbishop, "and you shall lead her to him."
"No, sir," said the friar, "it falls not for a friar to lead a woman about."
"And I will not," said the Archbishop, "that the Duke of Bedford be angry with me for her."...
[After yet a few more days:]
In a short time after, the Archbishop sent for her, and she came into his hall. His household was at a meal, and she was led into his chamber, even to his bedside. Then she, obeying, thanked him for his gracious lordship that he had shown to her before time.
"Yes, yes," said the Archbishop, "I am worse informed of you than ever I was before."...
Then his steward said, and many more with him, crying with a loud voice to the Archbishop, "Lord, we pray you let her go hence at this time, and, if ever she comes again, we shall burn her ourselves."
The Archbishop said, "I believe there was never woman in England so treated as she is and has been." Then he said to the said creature, "I know not what I shall do with you."
She said, "My Lord, I pray you let me have your letter and your seal as a record that I have excused myself against my enemies and nothing is charged against me, neither error or heresy, that may be proved upon me, thanked be our Lord, and John, your man, again to bring me over the water."
And the Archbishop full kindly granted her all her desire, our Lord reward him his meed.... [pp.95-99]
[Predictably, John neglected to give Margery the Archbishop's letter when he left her at the Humber, so once out of York territory she was immediately arrested again --- and eventually freed again.]
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[Barry Windeatt's is an easily available translation; the introduction is useful, if occasionally patronizing (for Windeatt's later views, see his 2000 edition of the original below, under "Editions"). The book has a chronology and good notes, but no index:]
The book of Margery Kempe / translated by B.A. Windeatt (Penguin
classics). Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin; New York,
N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking Penguin, 1985. (332 p.)
LC#: PR2007.K4 A3 1985; ISBN: 0140432515
Bibliography: p. 331-332.
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[This translation by John Skinner changes the third person of the original to a first person narration, but Skinner never tells the reader that he has done so; the introduction merely speaks of "loosening the language" (p.4). The "loosening" occasionally leads to anachronism, if not actual error (e.g., Margery speaking to Jesus about her husband, "He will humiliate me publicly if I put so much as a foot wrong" is in the original: "He schal do me mech schame yyf I telle hym any lesyng [lies]"). Skinner's introduction, notes, and a brief timeline are helpful:]
The book of Margery Kempe / a new translation of John Skinner
(An Image book). New York: Image/Doubleday, 1998. (343p.)
LC: PR2007 .K4 A199 1998; ISBN: 038549037
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[Tony Triggs' translation also use the first person, but Trigg's introduction says so, and justifies it:"[W]e hear her account in the first person, just as her scribes must have heard it themselves" (p.12). The language used is closer to the original than in Skinner. The book has a useful introduction, a chronology, maps of Margery's pilgrimages, a brief bibliography --- but no notes (and notes are essential if you are not an expert on 1400s English society):]
The book of Margery Kempe: the autobiography of the madwoman
of God / a new translation by Tony D. Triggs (A Triumph classic).
Liguori, Mo.: Triumph Books, 1995. (219 p.: maps)
LC#: PR2007 .K413 1995; ISBN: 0892438258
Includes bibliographical references (p. 219).
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[A recent edition of the Book by Barry Windeatt. The Middle English text is accompanied by notes "translating" many words and by a separate glossary. Windeatt's introduction is thorough; his notes provide a useful review of recent studies. The book also includes Wynkyn de Worde's 1501 A Short Treatyse of Contemplaycyon... Taken out the the Boke of Margerie Kempe of Lynn:]
The book of Margery Kempe / edited by Barry Windeatt (Longman
annotated texts). New York: Longman, 2000.
LC#: PR2007 .K4 A199 2000; ISBN: 058230461X, 0582304601
Includes bibliographical references and index. Text in Middle
English with explanatory materials in English.
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[The print version of the Middle English edition by Lynn Staley that is available online:]
The book of Margery Kempe / edited by Lynn Staley (Middle
English texts). Kalamazoo, Mich.: Published for TEAMS (the Consortium
for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in association with the
University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, Western
Michigan University, 1996. (viii, 262 p.; 26 cm)
LC#: PR2007.K4 A199 1996; ISBN: 1879288729 (pbk.)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 10-16). Text in Middle
English; introduction in English.
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[The print version of Henry Pepwell's 1521 selection that is available online:]
The Cell of self-knowledge: early English mystical treatises
/ by Margery Kempe and others (Spiritual classics). New York:
Crossroad, 1981. (128 p.: ill.)
LC#: BV4500 .C44 1981; ISBN: 0824500822
Profitable teachings from the life of the Bride of Christ Catherine
of Siena -- A short treatise on contemplation as taught by our
Lord to Margery Kempe -- A letter to a friend on hearing the
song of angels / Walter Hilton -- The letter on prayer -- A much-needed
letter on moderation in spiritual impulses -- A treatise on discernment
of spirits, necessary for those who wish to lead a spiritual
life -- The love of God / Richard Rolle -- Contemplation / Richard
Rolle.
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[Marea Mitchell's study describes in detail the publication
history and critical reception of the Book since the discovery
of the manuscript in 1934, revealing the presumptions and preoccupations
of its successive readers. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Mitchell, Marea. The book of Margery Kempe: scholarship,
community, & criticism. New York: Peter Lang, c2005. (xiv,
157 p.: ill.)
LC#: PR2007.K4 Z783 2005; ISBN: 0820474517
Includes bibliographical references (p. [145]-151) and index
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[Liz Herbert McAvoy's study does not compare Margery with Julian of Norwich; instead, three of the book's six chapters are given to each of the two women. For each, Herbert McAvoy discusses what the written text and our knowledge of the period's views reveal about the writer's treatment of motherhood, feminine sexuality, and the public female voice. In the process of presenting her own interpretations, Herbert McAvoy sums up in detail earlier research and critical studies. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Herbert McAvoy, Liz. Authority and the female body in the
writings of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe (Studies in medieval
mysticism, 1465-5683; v. 5). Cambridge; Rochester, NY: Boydell
Press, 2004. (viii, 276 p)
LC#: PR275.M9 H47 2004; ISBN: 1843840081
Includes bibliographical references (p. 238-261) and index
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[This collection presents 12 essays (as well as a helpful introduction by Barry Windeatt). Two essays that would perhaps be most useful to the general reader are these: John H. Arnold's "Margery's Trials: Heresy, Lollardy and Dissent," which provides the historical background for the accusations made against Margery; and Allyson Foster's "A Shorte Treatyse of Comtemplacyon: The Book of Margery Kempe in its Early Print Contexts," which discusses the content and the reception of the excerpts printed in 1501 and 1521 (a collation of which is available online). (See the book's table of contents online.)]
A companion to The book of Margery Kempe / edited by
John H. Arnold and Katherine J. Lewis. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK;
Rochester, NY, USA: D.S. Brewer, 2004. (vi, 246 p. : ill.)
LC#: PR2007.K4 Z724 2004; ISBN: 1843840308
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[Anthony Goodman's study is a useful supplement to the general introductions found in the various editions of Margery's Book. Goodman's chief focus is on the social and political situation in the city of Lynn and the area around it, positioning Margery in a very specific society and showing her response to it. Maps and other illustrations are helpful, as is a detailed bibliography. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Goodman, Anthony. Margery Kempe and her world (The medieval
world). London; New York: Longman, 2002. (xx, 274 p., [8] p.
of plates: ill., maps)
LC#: PR2007.K4 G66 2002; ISBN: 0582368081
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-268) and index
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[Nicholas Watson's essay in this collection, "The Making of The Book of Margery Kempe," discusses in detail the process by which the Book was created --- its organization, the roles of the scribes --- and presents Margery's ministry as one of teaching. Watson's essay is followed by Felicity Riddy's "Text and Self in The Book of Margery Kempe," which rejects Watson's view of a autobiographical narrative in favor of a polyvocal text. The two critics' dialogue concludes with an "Afterword" in which each identifies the differences between their views. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Voices in dialogue: reading women in the Middle Ages / Linda
Olson and Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, editors. Notre Dame, Ind.: University
of Notre Dame Press, c2005. (xvii, 508 p.: ill.)
LC#: HQ1143 .V67 2005; ISBN: 0268037175
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
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[This collection contains an essay, "Popular Literacy
in the Middle Ages: The Book of Margery Kempe," by Cheryl
Glenn, which situates Kempe in a "text-based" but not
"text-dependent" society and shows the effect of this
situation on her composing process. (See
the book's table of contents online.):]
Popular literacy: studies in cultural practices and poetics /
Edited by John Trimbur. [Pittsburgh, Pa.]: University of Pittsburgh
Press, c2001. (x, 322 p.: ill.)
LC#: PN56 .P55 P56 2001; ISBN: 0822941368, 0822957434
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[Terence Bower's article discusses the significance of Margery's description of her travels, both in England and abroad. Bower's notes give a thorough review of earlier research. (See the issue's table of contents online.):]
Bowers, Terence N. Margery Kempe as traveler. Studies in
philology, 97.1 (Winter 2000) 1-28.
LC#: P25 .S8; ISSN: 0039-3738, 0081-8372
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[Peter Pellegrin's essay in this collection, "I wold thou wer closyd in a hows of ston": Sexuality and Lay Sanctity in The Book of Margery Kempe," shows how Kempe's role as a wife and mother affected not only others' perception of her (i.e., not enclosed in a house of stone as a holy lay-woman should be) but also the imagery she used to describe her relation to God and to other people. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
Lay sanctity, medieval and modern: a search for models / Ann
W. Astell, editor. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame
Press, c2000. (x, 250 p.)
LC#: BX1920 .L39 2000; ISBN: 0268013306
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[Rosalynn Voaden's study has a thoughtful chapter on Margery
which discusses the various discourses of the Book and
the conflicting roles of Margery as visionary. The book's first
two chapters are a valuable review of medieval thought on visions.
(See the book's
table of contents online.):]
Voaden, Rosalynn. God's words, women's voices: the discernment
of spirits in the writing of late-medieval women visionaries.
Suffolk, UK; Rochester, N.Y.: York Medieval Press, 1999. (204
p.)
"A York Medieval Press publication in association with the
Boydell Press ... and with the Centre for Medieval Studies, University
of York"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references
and index
LC#:BV5091 .R4 V62 1999; ISBN:0952973421
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[This collection includes an essay by Janet Wilson, "
The Communities of Margery Kempe's Book," which analyses
Margery's relationship with the clerics and laity in her community.
(See the book's
table of contents online.):]
Medieval women in their communities / edited by Diane Watt.
Toronto; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1997. (xii, 250
p.: ill.)
LC#: HQ1147 .E85 M435 1997; ISBN: 0802042899. 0802081223
Includes bibliographical references and index
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[Lynn Staley's 1994 study gives a close reading of the text. Staley is useful on background of the period:]
Staley, Lynn. Margery Kempe's dissenting fictions. University
Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, c1994. (xiii,
224 p.)
LC#: PR2007.K4 Z75 1994; ISBN: 0271010304, 0271010312
Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-216) and index.
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[This earlier article by Staley treats in more detail than does her 1994 book the subject of Margery's scribes. The discussion is useful because it calls into question the effect of translating the Book using the first person, as Skinner and Triggs have done (see above). (See online a partial table of contents of the volume.):]
Johnson, Lynn Staley. The trope of the scribe and the question
of literary authority in the works of Julian of Norwich and Margery
Kempe. Speculum, 66 (1991), 820-838.
LC#: PN661 .S6; ISSN: 0038-7134
------------------------
[Use some caution here: This is an easy-to-read biography by Louise Collis, based on Margery's Book, but in some parts more imaginative than reliable:]
Collis, Louise. Memoirs of a medieval woman; the life and
times of Margery Kempe. New York, Crowell [1964] (269 p. illus.)
LC#: PR2007.K4 Z72; ISBN: 0060909927
First published in London in 1964 under title: The apprentice
saint. Bibliography: p. 261-263.
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Updated 02-11-08
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