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Margery Kempe's Mysticism Explored
ELIZABETH BRENNEMAN
Communicated By: Dr. James Blodgett
Department of English
ABSTRACT
My goal was to investigate Margery Kempe and other female mystics, or contemplatives, of the
Middle Ages and discover what the practices and beliefs of these women were. And further, based
on these findings, to determine if Kempe, author of The Book of Margery Kempe, can be considered
a genuine mystic, a madwoman, or a fraud. I found that mysticism is not religion in itself, but an
aspect of many different religions. During mystical contemplation an individual attempts to become
as close to God as possible. Most mystics live a life of seclusion, celibacy, and self denial in order to
spend the maximum amount of time contemplating Christ's sacrificial death. I found that although
Margery Kempe had many experiences in common with other female mystics of her time, she was
unique in at least one aspect, that of her uncontrollable weeping episodes upon thinking of Christ's
death. 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.
Margery Kempe's Book of Margery Kempe gives one
view of what life was like for a woman in England during
the Middle Ages. Contrary to my previous ideas about
this time in England, I found that Margery Kempe did
not fit into any of my preconceived categories of noble
lady of leisure, downtrodden servant, or nun. Kempe
was apparently what we today call middle class. She
was not a lady of leisure but worked for a living. However, she was not a scullery maid or some such servant; she owned her own business. I was surprised that
Kempe had a say in what she did with her life and
in what happened to her, although not as much as we
women believe we have today. Much like Chaucer's
Wife of Bath, Kempe wanted to live her life as she felt
was best and was willing to do the things necessary to
reach her objectives. In contrast to the Wife of Bath,
who opposed the church's viewpoint on many subjects,
Kempe felt called by God to a mystical, or contemplative, lifestyle and worked within the church to reach her
goals.
As I read Kempe's autobiographical book, I became
increasingly interested in the contemplative lifestyle
that she adopted at age twenty. Her practice of mysticism as part of her religion was different from any
religious practice I had previously heard of. My first
reaction to her highly demonstrative style of Christianity was to think that she was a bit "wood", or crazy, as
was said during the Middle Ages in England. In fact,
in the excerpt from her Book in Longman's Anthology,
Margery Kempe admitted to an early bout of madness
after the birth of her first child. My thought was; if
she was crazy once, maybe all her reported visions after this episode were just more craziness. It all seemed
a little farfetched to me. However, during class discussion, and while doing my research, I began to change
my opinion. Kempe's eight month period of madness,
while probably caused in part by postpartum hormonal
changes, was also linked to her faith in Christ and her
fear of eternal damnation. Like the vast majority of
people in England during the Middle Ages, Kempe was
a fervently religious Catholic. In her Book of Margery
Kempe, she feared that she would not live after having
given birth and called for a confessor "fully wishing to
be shriven for her whole life, as near as she could" (502).
She wanted to confess her sins, to be freed from guilt
before she died, in order to be able to get to heaven.
The confessor, in his haste, did not get to all Kempe's
sins, in particular an undisclosed sin she was most worried about, ".... and soon after, because of the dread
she had of eternal damnation on the one hand, and his
[the confessor's] sharp reproving of her on the other this
creature [Kempe] went out of her mind .... " (503). I began to see this early episode as a precursor to her later
religious experiences as a mystic. Her devout faith in
Christ played a large part in both cases. In fact, her
first ecstatic mystical experience was what brought her
out of her madness. Jesus Christ appeared to her and
spoke to her, "and presently the creature [Kempe] grew
as calm in her wits as she ever was before .... " (503).
What was this mystical experience that Margery had?
I wanted to learn about the mystical aspect of religion
and how Kempe's experiences then, and later in her
life, could be considered mystical experiences.
In his book, The Catholic Heritage, author
Lawrence Cunningham states that contemplation, or
mysticism, as it is referred to today, is "a phenomenon
which is part of all major religions" (85). Mysticism is
not a distinct or independent form of religion but rather
an element in established religious communities and
traditions throughout the world. Christian mystics, like
Margery Kempe, focus on contemplating and thinking
of Christ's life, death, and resurrection as a means of
experiencing God as fully as humanly possible. In addition, they perform many acts of self-denial including
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fasting and living a life of poverty and solitude as further means to unite with Christ. For these practitioners, mysticism represents a way back to the source of
being, a way of experiencing Christ and heaven before
death. For me, learning of the existence of other Middle
Ages mystics made Kempe's reported experiences more
believable. I began to think that perhaps Kempe was
not crazy but in fact had experienced an aspect of religion that many people, of many religions, experienced
before her, and that many after her have experienced.
Marion Glasscoe, author of English Medieval Mystics,
asserts that Kempe's visions and other actions become
more acceptable and believable when looked at through
"the context of piety in England and Europe [during
the Middle Ages] which no doubt Margery took for
granted and against which she seems less unusual.. .. "
{281). Upon first consideration, many modern readers may assume that Margery Kempe was either crazy
or deceptive in reporting her experiences. However, if
her experiences are filtered through the Middle Ages
point of view of devout faith, Kempe becomes more
acceptable. In my research, I explored Kempe's different mystical experiences in the context of her time and
place in history, and in the context of mysticism. My
desire was to better understand both her life and what
a mystical life entails, and to determine if she was a
fool, a fraud, or a genuine mystic. Were her visions of
God, her episodes of hearing heavenly music, her bouts
of uncontrolled weeping as she contemplated Christ's
sacrificial death, and her later marriage to the Godhead madness or genuine? Was her wish for celibacy
within her marriage frigidity or religiosity? Was her
desire to receive the Eucharist weekly an example of an
extremely pushy person or an extremely devout one?
Perhaps Kempe was not mad, frigid, or pushy; perhaps she was a genuine mystic and all her actions and
experiences were authentic religious experiences. In researching mysticism I found ample basis for the validity
of Kempe's experiences.
Elizabeth Brenneman
at Sext, None and Evensong, stretching herself in a cruciform posture" (Games of Faith, 40). Glasscoe tells of
another woman, Christina from St. Truden, and how,
among other things, "she cast herself into heated ovens
or boiling cauldrons". She states that these accounts of
Christina's actions "convey a feeling of a disturbed personality" (40), much like my initial reaction to Margery
Kempe.
Margery Kempe was not the most highly demonstrative female mystic of the Middle Ages, nor was she
the first female mystic. In his book, The Growth of
Mysticism, Bernard McGinn relates that mysticism has
been a part of Christianity for many centuries and "solidif[ied] in the fourth century" (26). The early mystics, of the fourth through ninth century, were men and
primarily monastic. However, by the 12th century, female mystics had been established; "in these days God
make manifest His power through the frail sex, in these
handmaidens whom He filled with the prophetic spirit"
(Zurn Brunn, English Medieval Mystics, xiiv). For example, over two hundred years before Margery Kempe
was born, Hildegard of Bingen, a German nun, was a
well known and popular mystic. She corresponded with
many prominent people, among them popes, emperors,
bishops, and abbots. Among other activities, she received visions and performed exorcisms. Her fame as
a mystic spread throughout the Christian world. Most
female mystics were nuns or anchoresses, often shutting
themselves off from human contact in order to contemplate Christ, never entering into marriage or mothering children, as Kempe did. However, Kempe was not
unique in being a wife, mother, and mystic. Mary of
Orgnies (13th century) was married but, with her husband's cooperation, dedicated her life to God. Bridget
of Sweden (15th century), in spite of an early marriage
and eight children, lived an increasingly ascetic and religious life which she devoted herself to completely after
her husband's death. So, Kempe's ecstatic visions and
her celibacy within her marriage were not unusual experiences for a female mystic of the Middle Ages. What
I will not attempt to explain all of the beliefs and
of her marriage to the Godhead in an ecstatic vision;
practices of mystics as they strive to experience God
was that an experience unique to Kempe?
more fully, I hope to illustrate how Margery Kempe's
experiences should be considered mystical experiences,
In my initial reading of the excerpt from Kempe's
based on how they fit into the framework of the female Book in The Longman Anthology, the experience that
mystics of the Middle Ages. I discovered that most I found the least believable was her account of being
of the visions Kempe had and the things she did were wedded to the Godhead, which consists of the three
not unique to her, or to her time in history.. Indeed, great powers of heaven; God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy
when compared to other female mystics of her time, Spirit. In the Middle Ages, as is still the case today,
Kempe's experiences seem almost tame. For instance, nuns were considered to be brides of Christ. However,
Glasscoe relates that Mary of Orgnies, a Medieval mys- nuns are not already married to a man at the time of
tic, "practiced severe self-mortification", "lived three their marriage to Christ, as Kempe was. They did not
years on bread and water", and, "sometimes went bare- marry the Godhead in an ecstatic vision, while hearfoot to church in winter", and that Elizabeth Spalbeck, ing God's voice and other sounds and melodies, and
another Middle Ages mystic, "imitated the passion of smelling sweet smells, as Kempe did. Perhaps nuns do
Christ at the canonical hours; at Matins, beating herself not wed the Godhead in such a fashion today, but in
as she remembered Christ being taken with swords and my research I found that Kempe was not original in
stave; at Prime, walking with arms twisted behind her her actions here either. Elizabeth Petroff writes in her
like a bound thief to commemorate Christ being led ... ; book, Body and Soul, of Catherine of Siena's (1347-
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Margery Kempe's Mysticism Explored
1380) "vision of a mystical marriage with Christ" (18)
and of Angela of Foligno's (1248-1309) being "woo[ed]
by the Holy Spirit as she was on a pilgrimage to Assisi" (27). Kempe may seem crazy or deluded to the
modern reader; however, when she is put into context
of the female mystic of the Middle Ages, she does not
seem that crazy or even unusual after all.
I next looked at Kempe's fervent desire to receive
the Eucharist, the part of the Christian sacrament of
communion in which consecrated bread and wine are
consumed as the body and blood of Christ, every Sunday. In the Catholic churches of the Middle Ages
communion was only given a few times a year. Was
Kempe's desire to commune more often the desire of a
lunatic or the heartfelt wish of a true mystic? Shortly
before Christmas one year as she was kneeling in a
chapel, weeping and asking mercy and forgiveness for
her sins, Kempe heard Christ speaking to her. He told
her, "Instead of meat you shall eat my flesh and blood
that is the true body of Christ. This is my will, daughter, that you receive my body every Sunday.... " (Longman 508). In my research I found that Kempe was
not alone in her desire to commune so frequently. In
fact, I discovered that the devotion of many of these
mystical women centered on the Eucharist. Some of
these female mystics are reported as reaching the point
where they could eat only the consecrated bread of the
Eucharist. Another is reported as having been able to
detect an unconsecrated host (the bread) because she
could not digest it. Amy Hollywood, author of The
Soul As Virgin Bride, relates that it has been found
in many of these women's writings that "the Eucharist
often serv[ed] as the opening for more extraordinary
experiences of God's presence" in the lives of these
female mystics of the Middle Ages (51). This could
be argued to be the case for Margery Kempe as well.
She began receiving communion weekly on her pilgrimage to Jerusalem. It was later that she experienced
her first bout of uncontrollable weeping as she contemplated Christ's passion, and later still that she wedded
the Godhead.
Kempe was beginning to seem more and more acceptable, within the context of mystic practices. Addressing her bouts, or fits of uncontrolled sobbing,
Glasscoe relates that "her crying became so convulsive that she was thought to be possessed, epileptic,
or possibly a mere charlatan", and so disturbing that
some preachers would not tolerate her in church (272).
This is one experience that I believe to be unique to
Margery Kempe. I was able to find only one other
reference to crying in all of the writings of the female
mystics researched. Mechthild of Magdeburg, a thirteenth century mystic, wrote "whenever I saw anything
that was beautiful or dear to me, I began to sigh, and
after that to cry and after that to think .... " (Hollywood
69). This is crying, but it has a more subdued nature
to it. It does not seem to be the uncontrolled weeping
of Margery Kempe. Kempe's faith and its outward ex-
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pression were much more physically demonstrated than
most, if not all, of her contemporaries.
Was Margery Kempe a genuine mystic, a lunatic,
or a clever deceiver, who imitated the experiences of
other women who had come before her? As I previously
stated, I was initially reluctant to see Kempe as an authentic mystic because of her early period of madness
and because I was looking at her through my point of
view rather than through the point of view of the mystical experience. After class discussion, in which we considered Kempe as a devoutly faithful Christian of the
Middle Ages, it appeared likely that she was genuine
in the visual and auditory ecstasies she reports having experienced and sincere in her desire for celibacy
and weekly communion. In addition, her continued
determination to live her life as a mystic, despite the
many hostile reactions she encountered seemed genuine.
However, after further research into Middle Ages mysticism, I could find only one experience that was unique
to Kempe, that of her frequent, uncontrolled weeping
upon her contemplation of Christ's passion. I began
to question her authenticity again and to wonder if she
was a charlatan.
Although she could not read or write, Kempe had
some access to the works of the other mystics of her
time as she refers to at least one by name in her dictated Book of Margery Kempe. She was no more devout, no more a seer, than other female mystics. In
fact, in comparison with her contemporaries she was a
watered down version of a mystic. She was celibate, received communion weekly, and went on a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem, but she never lived on the Eucharist alone or
threw herself into a boiling cauldron. However, it could
be considered that God did not call her to these more
extreme activities. Even in her own time, Kempe was
not universally thought to be a genuine mystic. Some
saw her as an authentic mystic who received communiques from Christ. William Southfield, a White Friar,
thanked Jesus after hearing "her meditations and what
God had wrought in her soul" (Longman 512). Others saw her as a fraud. She was asked by townspeople
who knew her, "why do you talk so much of the joy
that is in heaven? You don't know it, and you haven't
been there any more than we have" (505). Some just
thought of her as incredibly annoying to be around
whether she was genuine or not. She wept too much
and spoke constantly of the love and goodness of Christ.
In fact, she was apparently so annoying that her fellow pilgrims abandoned her on the way to Jerusalem.
Glasscoe refers to Kempe as "always liable to express
physically what was to be understood spiritually" and
that "she [Kempe] lays herself open to denigrating interpretation; but there is the possibility that this may
reflect more on the interpreter than on herself" (293).
The fact that Kempe was annoying, overly demonstrative and that many of her experiences were not original does not make them any less valid. I doubt that
I have experienced anything unique in my lifetime but
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Elizabeth Brenneman
that does not make my experiences any less authentic.
Ultimately, I have come to consider Kempe's experiences as genuine based on her devout faith and her continued determination to live her life as God instructed
her to, no matter the scorn of her husband, the court,
and her fellow Christians. Kempe never wavered in her
love for and awe of Christ in spite of opposition and
scorn at almost every turn. She was not a stereotypical woman of the Middle Ages, but a faithful woman
of God more concerned with her coming heavenly life
than her earthly life. While she annoyed many of her
fellow Christians and townspeople and may seem crazy
to the modern reader, Kempe, based on my research,
was a genuine mystic living her life for Christ.
REFERENCES
- Cunningham, Lawrence S. The Catholic Heritage.
New York: Crossroads, 1995.
- Glasscoe, Marion. English Medieval Mystics.
London and New York: Longman, 1993.
- Hollywood, Amy. The Soul as Virgin Wife. Notre
Dame and London: University of Notre Dame
Press, 1995.
- Kempe, Margery. "The Book of Margery Kempe"
(excerpt).· The Longman Anthology of British
Literature, Volume 1. Ed. David Damrosch, et
al. New York: Longman, 1999.
- McGinn, Bernard. The Growth of Mysticism.
New York: Crossroads, 1994.
- Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda. Body and Soul. New
York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
- Zurn Brunn, Emilie and Georgette EpineyBurgard. Women Mystics in Medieval Europe.
New York: Paragon House, 1989.
Elizabeth Brenneman is currently a sophomore, with an expected graduation date of 2006, as she
is attending part-time. She is a secondary education English major, and plans to minor in Spanish
in order to teach English as a second language or Spanish. This paper was originally written for
L301, English Literature to 1600, with Professor Blodgett. "I became interested in the subject of
mysticism because it was something that was totally new to me, and I wanted to learn more about
the topic. I was surprised to learn that Margery Kempe was not a lone practitioner of mysticism
but that there was actually a centuries old history of mystical practice behind her. In addition, my
initial unfavorable reaction to Kempe, which later changed to acceptance, was a reminder to me to
reserve judgment until all the facts are in."