Margery Kempe: Medieval Mystic and ‘Heretic’ Heroine
Margery Kempe was, for the first 40 years of her life, an ordinary woman. Born into a middle-class family in 14th century East Anglia in England, she is remembered today for her remarkable later life as a holy woman and medieval mystic. Even though her career choice makes her interesting, as female mystics were uncommon at the time, the most remarkable thing about Margery’s life is the record she made of it in
The Book of Margery Kempe . This book about her life is the earliest surviving autobiography in Middle English that we have.