Second Story of the Awesome Margery Kempe

Second Story of the Awesome Margery Kempe

     Not all English Catholic authorities accepted Ms. Kempe as a holy woman expressing her conventional Catholicism in loud and incessant pronouncements to all the public.   Many thought she was a Lollard and thought she was possessed by the devil.  She and her husband John took vows of celibacy.  In an effort to prove her godliness she met with church officials who were convinced she was a holy person. She took to public displays of her godliness by long diatribes reproving sinners, explaining the words in the scriptures and by being extravagantly pious.

      John Kempe gave her permission to travel to the Holy Land after she paid his bills.  She wished to dress in white; this wasn’t allowed by church authority; she dressed in gray.  So she set out with other highly-sought-after pilgrims.  She hired a maid to accompany her.  She makes no mention in her autobiography of her 14 children.

     Common advice in guide books (of which there were many) includes a need to establish good relations and friendship with other travelers.  Many tried to curb her exhortations to all and sundry; even a priest traveling in the group could not keep her from admonishing all she met in their matters of general behavior.  Finally the matter came to a head.  The edict followed – she would be left behind with no hope for succor if she uttered another word.  She finally got the message; she shut up and was allowed to continue with the group.  The others did not believe she would be silent, but she was.  They arrived in Venice and then continued in very small crowded boat.  They went to Jaffe and then to Jerusalem and other Christian places under the rule of Muslims.