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Why is Margery Kempe important to history?
Margery Kempe, (born c. 1373—died c. 1440), English religious mystic whose autobiography is one of the earliest in English literature. The daughter of a mayor of Lynn, she married John Kempe in 1393 and bore 14 children before beginning a series of pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, Germany, and Spain in 1414.
What did Margery Kempe discover?
Margery Kempe ( c. 1373 – after 1438) was an English Christian mystic, known for writing through dictation The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language.
Was Margery Kempe a real person?
Margery Kempe (née Brunham) was extraordinary in many ways: after the birth of her first child (the first of 14) she had frequent visions of Jesus. She also travelled widely, was accused of heresy and finally overcame adversity and the barriers of illiteracy by having her experiences captured in writing.
What were the visions of Margery Kempe?
Margery describes terrifying visions of fire-breathing demons, who goad her to take her own life. She tells us how she rips at her flesh, leaving a lifelong scar on her wrist. She also sees Christ, who rescues her from these demons and gives her comfort.
Who found the Book of Margery Kempe?
Hope Emily Allen
The Salthows manuscript, then owned by Colonel W. Butler-Bowdon, was found in a country-house in Derbyshire in the early 1930s, and was identified as Margery Kempe’s book by Hope Emily Allen, who was instrumental in the publication of the second modern edition of the text.
Who found The Book of Margery Kempe?
Is Margery Kempe a mystic?
Margery was one of several notable female mystics in the late medieval period. The most well-known example at the time would have been St Bridget of Sweden, a noblewoman who dedicated her life to becoming a visionary and pilgrim following the death of her husband.
Did Margery Kempe have mental illness?
Margery Kempe (c. 1373-1439), author of the first spiritual autobiography in English, wrote the only personal account of madness by a woman in the Middle Ages. Conventional sources define her mental state as hysteria or as postpartum psychosis, a diagnosis which helps to explain her first recorded disorder.
How is Margery Kempe a mystic?
It was found that all of Kempe’s visions, actions, and experiences fall into the category of mystical experiences. I determined that Kempe was an authentic mystic based on her devotion to a mystical lifestyle even in the face of ridicule and hardship, and because of her determination to live her life devoted to Christ.