English Travels of Margery Kempe

Paper Summary:

This is a paper dealing with the English travels of Margery Kempe (c1373-1448), laywoman and visionary. It deals with the logistics of her travel, the reasoning behind it, and what types of individuals she sought out on her travels, and their reactions to her.

From the Paper:

"Margery Kempe (c1373-1448), laywoman and visionary, lived a life that included a marriage that produced fourteen children, conversations with God and Jesus through visions, standoffs against mayors and various men of the church all around England, and many journeys to popular pilgrimage sites on the Continent. Her colorful narrative is preserved in The Book of Margery Kempe, which she dictated to scribes before her death. To understand how and why Margery went about amazing and upsetting people throughout England, we must look closely at her travels to visit with archbishops, bishops, and priests across the country. In looking at her travels within England, we can understand what motivated Margery, how she enjoyed her "dalyawns" in the Lord with those who found her divinely inspired, and how her piety grew through her courage to face off against those who did not approve of her. We will see that through travel Margery developed a gift for extracting strong reactions, whether positive or negative, from others."

More papers on English Travels of Margery Kempe:

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• Analytical Essay # 22745 : "Margery Kempe's "Quest for Spirituality"
• Analytical Essay # 113784 : "Sex and Sensuality in "The Book of Margery Kempe"

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