Margery Kempe (l. c. 1373 - c. 1438 CE) was a medieval mystic and author of the first autobiography in English, The Book of Margery Kempe, which relates her spiritual journey from wife and mother in Bishop's Lynn, England to a chaste Christian visionary and popular – if controversial – public speaker. Kempe was illiterate and dictated her life story first to her son and then to a priest, as she records in her book, and it remains a significant resource on Christian spirituality and life in the Middle Ages.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 1373 - c. 1438Life of Christian mystic Margery Kempe.
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c. 1393Marriage of Margery Brunham to John Kempe.
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c. 1393Margery Kempe experiences mental breakdown after the birth of her first child.
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c. 1394Margery Kempe recovers and devotes herself to God following a vision of Jesus Christ.
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1413Margery Kempe travels to Canterbury; almost burned as a heretic for speaking about God.
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c. 1413Margery Kempe visits Julian of Norwich for validation of her visions.
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1414Margery Kempe is in Rome; visits Saint Bridget's room.
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1417Margery Kempe on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
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1417Margery Kempe tried for heresy at Leicester and released.
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c. 1431Margery Kempe returns home to care for husband who dies the same year.
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c. 1431Margery Kempe dictates the first draft of her book to her son John who dies shortly afterwards.
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c. 1436Margery Kempe dictates her story to a priest who writes it down, correcting earlier version.
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1438Final revision of The Book of Margery Kempe; Kempe assumed to have died this same year.
