The Book of Margery Kempe by Sara Hayter

Margery kempe is a disrupter: in life she transgressed the boundaries of expectations for her sex and status. Her story has been told through the lens of madness and mysticism, of uncontrollable emotion and religious dedication. She provoked discomfort from the clergy, as well as lay people, resulting in trials (and acquittals) of heresy as well as threats of sexual violence and rape. The Book of Margery Kempe is her story, dictated by her through various scribes and proves to be a fascinating and rare insight into middle class medieval life. It is also a testament to Margery herself; despite being illiterate, she would be dedicated to putting her experience, emotions, interactions, travels and religious devotion into words, despite the challenges of this. Not much is known about Margery’s early life. In fact, hardly anything is known about Margery’s earliest years. Her book opens as an adult, already married and in the grip of motherhood. She was born around 1373, in the port of Bishop’s Lynn (now King’s Lynn). The daughter of John Brunham, a prominent figure in the community, the Mayor of Lynn for five terms, as well as a successful merchant and member of parliament. Around 1393, in her twentieth year, Margery married John Kempe, whose father, much like Margery’s was a successful merchant. We meet Margery at the beginning, a married woman, in the throes of motherhood, with the birth of her first child. In her lifetime she would become pregnant at least fourteen times.

After Margery’s first pregnancy, the book indicates that Margery experienced difficulties lasting about eight months. Many modern historians have theorised that she was experiencing postpartum psychosis or depression. The book describes a disturbing scene, after the birth of her first child, Margery begins to experience months of distress, perhaps trauma and maybe grief. After all, childbirth in the middle ages was incredibly risky for both mother and baby. The reader does not know if the child of Margery survived or not. In the book, Margery mentions that she did not know or recognise the people around her, and would scratch at the skin on her chest, as well as thoughts of suicidal ideation. This introduction to Margery is deeply touching. Unfortunately we do not have insight into how the birth was for her, or the outcome. The fact that she experienced such levels of distress after her first childbirth points to the experience being traumatic and lifechanging. The response to her distress is disturbing and it would have undoubtably had a profound impact on her and maybe prolonged her difficulties further. At a loss of how to handle Margery’s emotions and behaviour, she was chained up in her home. After months being chained up, Margery experiences her first vision of Christ. The book describes Christ, in a beautiful robe, sitting on her bed. He asks Margery why she had forsaken him, as he had not forsaken her. It is this experience, that begins Margery’s quest into religious devotion and pilgrimage. After this first encounter with Christ, Margery’s distress is alleviated, and she asks her husband for the keys to the buttery, and sits down to a hearty meal. It is these seemingly ordinary details that makes The Book so important; it is a rare glimpse into the life of a middle class woman in the medieval period. This first encounter with Christ is a pivotal part of Margery’s narrative, but it did not lead to a transformed spiritual life straight away. The reader learns that Margery turns her hand at brewing for 3 to 4 years, and then milling. Both businesses were unsuccessful, and Margery, as well as settling her own debts, had a settle that of her husbands too. In around the year of 1413, Margery’s dissatisfaction with marital intimacy came to a head, and it is then that she convinces her husband to cease all sexual relations. She forgoes meat and wine and dresses in white as commanded by Christ in her visions. The Book is awash with the very real tensions Margery faces in both her domestic life, and her spiritual one. She abhors sexual relations with John, which in turn leads her to frequent confession and penance, and yet the book also describes her grappling with sexual temptation and thoughts of adultery. The tension between Margery’s earthly role and expectations and her devotion to Christ, her visions and her holiness runs throughout. Her lack of virginity and her marriage is a particular source of despair to her. She is constantly seeking validation from Christ about this issue. However holy and devout Margery is, her earthly life and demands, in particular her marriage to John pulls her back into the domestic sphere. In The Book we learn of a fascinating exchange between Margery and John, in which John asks Margery, if she were to choose between his head being cut off or sexual intercourse with him, which one would she choose. To this Margery replies that she would rather his head be struck from his body than to have ever sex with him again. When John falls down the stairs and injures himself badly, Margery is dragged from her travels, her visions and spiritual life to care for her husband. It is a fascinating insight into the daily and ordinary domestic life of a woman caring for her husband. Within this ordinary scenario, Margery tries to make sense of her situation, stating that her husband’s accident and subsequent illness is punishment for taking such delight in his body in the past. It is these intimate details that makes The Book such a rare and important read. We are privy to these snippets of daily life that is so rare in medieval literature. Motherhood for Margery is also a source of contradictions She has birthed fourteen children, and yet she does not mention her children or relationship with them. Despite the absence of her own motherhood experiences in the book, motherhood is a continual theme in her spiritual life through her visions of Christ and the Virgin Mary. In one moment of the Book, Margery see’s a poor woman with her baby and it reminds her of Jesus and Mary. Her visions are extraordinary; she is there at the birth of Jesus, not just in a witness capacity, but practically helping in his birth. She is also at the births of various other religious figures. Her preoccupation with motherhood coupled with her extensive personal experiences of childbirth is such a pivotal part of Margery’s narrative. While her thoughts, feelings and relationships with her own children are obscure and absent, her visions and participation and fascination of mothering and motherhood is clear for all to see. Childbirth is also a springboard into spiritual awakening and a life of religious dedication and reinvention.

Margery travelled extensively in her lifetime and this is documented in detail in The Book. Her travels took her across the U.K, visiting an anchoress, most likely to be Julian of Norwich and overseas to Norway, all across Italy, Santiago, Jafa and Jerusalem to name but a few. It is a fascinating insight into medieval travel and illustrates Margery’s commitment to her faith. It also demonstrates peoples reactions to her visceral devotion. Margery openly weeps in public, much to the astonishment and annoyance of her townsfolk and her fellow pilgrims. She weeps during Mass and church sermons, much to the annoyance and disapproval of the clergy. She has several run ins with church authority, who arrest her, question her and accuse her of Lollardy. Threats of sexual violence also occurs. Some of the clergy preaches against her and during her time in Cawood, Archbishop Bowet interrogates Margery on her faith and she is then ordered away from the diocese. It would not be the first diocese she was to be escorted from. Not everyone was so hostile to her; Julian of Norwich confirmed her visions for instance. Her visions of Christ’s reassurance in her outward expression of faith is a source of relief against the hostility she faces, and the need for reassurance from others; whether that is Christ, or her peers, is a preoccupation for Margery throughout the book. As Margery was illiterate, The Book was written by various scribes. As with Margery’s life, the writing of the manuscript was eventful, filled with difficulties and perhaps touched by divine intervention. It took a long time to get her life story written down with the use of three scribes, which only testifies to Margery’s determination and strength to ensure her testimony is captured for all to read. The first scribe, quite possibly her son, dies, leaving the text incomplete and difficult to understand. The writing was almost impossible to interpret. Margery takes what is written to a priest, who is unable to read what is written. Aside from being unable to read the text, the priest hears rumours and gossip slandering Margery’s reputation and stops working on the manuscript. After this, Margery is not discouraged and takes the text to another scribe. The priest is submerged with guilt for not helping Margery, praying to God to help him understand what is written. In a turn of events, that seems so fitting with Margery’s life and story, the priest’s prayers seem to be answered and he continues to work on the manuscript. Margery’s death is dated around 1439, and in her lifetime she was treated with much vitriol. The Book does have instances where people help her and believe in her visions and holiness, but there is much scorn and hatred for her. Through Margery’s dictation, we are given access to medieval marriage, religious life, motherhood, travel in the Middle Ages, domesticity, and how people, especially women, are treated when they disrupt the status quo. It is also a reflection on how others treat someone that acts and thinks so differently to their own. One cannot escape the misogyny of institutions and people when Margery expresses her faith, albeit loudly and with much emotion. As well as one strong willed woman’s story of holiness, of personal struggle, it is a commentary about navigating society in the Middle Ages, with all the expectations of sex, of religious worship and identity, of societal expectation and suspicion. Maybe Margery’s story is not one of so called ‘madness’ and mysticism, but of finding identity, spirituality and expression in a society that seeks to supress it, especially for women.