a companion to the book of margery kempe

Such marginalization, the editors argue, has been brought about in part by the erroneous assumption that there were no women writers operating in Britain before the emergence of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This volume focuses on women's literary history in Britain between 7, a period traditionally marginalized in accounts of women's writing in English. Finally, I offer a revised explanation for the collaborative model behind the production of this text. Both findings help to anchor the supposedly autobiographical narrative in its immediate historical situation, thereby strengthening the historicity of the work. A second previously unknown document shows the extent of Robert Spryngolde’s ties to Margery Kempe’s family, strengthening his role as the clerical scribe behind much of The Book.

As a result, the discovery of the letter corroborates the theory that the son was Kempe’s first scribe. This information, in turn, sheds new light on the account of The Book’s production as given in the Proem. The first item, a letter prepared for her son in Danzig (modern Gdańsk) in 1431, discloses the son’s name and the reasons for his journey to Lynn. My paper presents two pieces of new evidence relating to Margery Kempe’s son and to Robert Spryngolde, her confessor.

The authorship of The Book of Margery Kempe has been the subject of much debate ever since the sole manuscript copy of the text was identified by Hope Emily Allen in 1934.

A companion to the book of margery kempe