biography
| name: |
Kempe, Margery
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| |
née Brunham
|
pronunciation:
[kemp]
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (c.1373–c.1440)
|
| biography:
| Writer of one of the earliest autobiographies in English, the daughter of a Mayor of Lynn. She was the wife of a burgess in Lynn and the mother of 14 children. After a period of insanity she experienced a conversion, and undertook numerous pilgrimages. Between 1432 and 1436 she dictated her spiritual autobiography, The Book of Margery Kempe, which recounts her persecution by devils and men, repeated accusations of Lollardism, and her journeys to Jerusalem, Rome, and Germany. Her book is valuable as a source of contemporary expression. |
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