Circa 1373-Circa 1440
Laywoman And Autobiographer

A Fulfilled Life. Margery of Kempe wrote the first English-language autobiography, commonly known as The Book of Margery Kempe (1436-1438), which relates the spiritual aspirations of a bourgeois laywoman through her mystical experiences, pilgrimages, and travels to the Holy Land, Italy, Spain, and Germany Kempe was born circa 1373 at King's Lynn in Norfolk, England, of middle-class parents Her father was locally active as mayor of Lynn She married John Kempe around 1393 By the age of forty she had given birth to fourteen children and negotiated a joint vow of chastity with her husband thereafter She was active in commercial society, having organized public work, invested capital, and run a brewing business The last references to her occur in 1438 when she was admitted to the prestigious Guild of the Trinity, and she is mentioned again the following year The original manuscript...