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The Book of Margery Kempe: A Woman's Life
in the Middle Ages;
trans. Barry Windeatt; preface by Alice Thomas Ellis; illustrations by
Chris Daunt.
London: Folio Society, 2004.
xxxiii,297pp.
Hardback with slip case.
Members'
price £19.95
The text of this edition
was previously issued in Penguin Classics.
Lost for centuries, The Book of Margery Kempe is the
earliest known autobiography of an English person, and one of the most
extraordinary and engaging. Born in the 15th century into a well-to-do
Norfolk family, Margery Kempe describes how, during the madness that
comes upon her after the birth of her first child, a vision of Christ
calls her to a spiritual life. Only after twenty years of marriage -
during which she bears fourteen children in all - and the failure of
her brewery business does she persuade her understandably reluctant
husband to join her in a vow of chastity, enabling her to embark upon
her spiritual journey. Margery seeks counsel from local religious
figures of her day, including the Archbishop of Arundel and Julian of
Norwich, and, driven by her passionate experiences in meditations of
being present at Christ's birth, betrayal, death and resurrection, her
pilgrimages take her across England and Europe to the Holy Land,
Assisi, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. Her frequent weeping and
wailing and her fearless outspokenness do not endear her to her peers,
but, even when spat upon, accused of being drunk, confronted with the
wrath of the clergy, interrogated as a heretic and threatened with
burning, Margery remains defiant.
Hers is the authentic voice of a highly individual medieval woman:
spiritual yet with earthly passions (sexual temptation did not entirely
forsake her) and though she was illiterate (her book was dictated),
Margery's memory when cross-checked with historical records is
remarkably accurate. Full of zest and vigour, with moments of endearing
honesty, it is one of the most powerful "Lives" of the period.
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