Margery Kempe - 15th c. professional pilgrim

A journey to the Holy Land with the 'church lady.'

Amid the tumult of the High Middle Ages, many Christians journeyed to the Holy Land, as well as local shrines. Margery Kempe was a notable pilgrim, or at least noticed by others. Consider the following excerpt from her autobiography:

“I had to stay there (Calais) for three or four days awaiting a ship, and during this time I met a number of old acquaintances. I wanted to sail to Dover with them but they wouldn’t lift a finger to help me and they wouldn’t tell me which ship they were using. By various means, I managed to keep abreast of their plans. I went on board with all my baggage. They suddenly changed to a different ship. I knew they were planning to sail in a hurry, so I left all my things in the boat I was in and with the help of our Lord I was able to get a place on board their new ship. I could tell the others didn’t like me. When we reached Dover, I wasn’t able to get a companion to lighten my journey. I therefore struck out for Canterbury by myself.”

(The Book of Margery Kempe, translated by Tony D. Triggs, Liguori, MO: Triumph Books, 1995)

Margery knew why her company was unwanted:

“I had to put up with shame and condemnation because I wore my white clothes, and also because I cried so loudly when our Lord made me think about His Passion. Many people said that no saint in heaven had ever cried as much as I did, and...I must have a devil inside me making me cry. For the love of our Lord, I bore it all patiently.”

She also describes an encounter with Dame Julian of Norwich, whose book has enjoyed more critical acclaim than Margery’s. (Neither woman has been declared a saint by the Church.) Margery's text hits closer to home compared to the more traditional text of Julian. I've met a few Margerys.

When I imagine Margery Kempe’s life as a film, Tracey Ullman comes to mind for the lead role. There is a touch of the manic to her story, which she dictated to two scribes over many years. She visited Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago, Spain, in addition to many sites in Britain.

Part of me wants to admire her plucky perseverance.  Then again, she was the spoiled daughter of a local burgess in Lynn Bishop (now King’s Lynn) in Norfolk. She birthed fourteen children and was thrown in jail at least once by a mayor who proclaimed, “We don’t want our wives following you!” She made her final pilgrimage against the express orders of her confessor.

It was an era of disobedience. The bubonic plague epidemic of 1347-1351 had decimated the population sufficiently to render the nobles and clergy desperate for day laborers, creating an imbalance of feudal powers. Smaller groups of disaffected Christians such as the Lollards in England and the Hussites in Bohemia were contemporaneous. (The pope's return to Rome from Avignon in 1416 did little to dispel the growing unease about the temporal powers of the papacy.) Popular piety tended toward the desperation that Margery voiced with her tears. Comparatively, you might call it the calm before the storm of the Reformation.

Although untamed in her piety, Margery Kempe was sincere in desiring to honor God. It might be said that she required others to serve Him, if only through the penance of her company. In the end, her gratitude is her noblest quality. Please, Lord, let me imitate her honest thanksgiving for those who are forced to suffer me lightly.