Margery Kempe

The earliest autobiography (Ruud, 2006) in the English language was written in 1436. The Book of Margery Kempe was the dictated account of her life by Margery Kempe, a Norfolk woman, who gave a clear account of her postpartum psychosis (Andrews, Briggs, Porter, Tucker & Waddington, 1997; Kent, 2003; Porter, 1988; Porter, 2002; Ruud, 2006; Schaus, 2006), during which she had visual hallucinations of angels and male sexual organs (Atkinson, 1983; Goodman, 2002; Kempe, 1436; Roffe, 2000), and spoke regularly with Jesus and Mary (Lochrie, 1994; Roberts, 1981). Because she attempted suicide by biting her wrists (which left permanent scars), she was restrained in a storeroom for eight months (Miller, n.d.), and at one point was suspected of demonic possession. Her “cure” came about through being read the scriptures, and no further psychiatric disturbance occurred for her other thirteen pregnancies (St. Margaret’s Church, King’s Lynn, 2003). Her husband, however, suffered a form of dementia after a blow to the head (Andrews, Briggs, Porter, Tucker & Waddington, 1997).

Margery Kempe

References:

Andrews, J., Briggs, A., Porter, R., Tucker, P., & Waddington, K. (1997). The history of Bethlem. London, England: Routledge.

Atkinson, C.W. (1983). Mystic and pilgrim: the book and the world of Margery Kempe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Goodman, A. (2002). Margery Kempe and her world. London, England: Pearson Education Ltd.

Kempe, M. (1436). The book of Margery Kempe. Retrieved from http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/staley.htm

Kent, D. (2003). Snake pits, talking cures and magic bullets – a history of mental illness. Brookfield, CT: Twenty-First Century Books.

Lochrie, K. (1994). Margery Kempe and translations of the flesh. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Miller, V. (n.d.). The life and pilgrimages of Margery Kempe. Retrieved from http://chass.colostate-pueblo.edu/history/seminar/kempe/victoria.htm

Porter, R. (1988). Margery Kempe and the meaning of madness. History Today, 38, 2, 39-44.

Roberts, A. (1981). Mental health history timeline. Retrieved from http://www.studymore.org.uk/mhhtim.htm

Roffe, D. (2000). Perceptions of insanity in medieval England. Retrieved from http://www.roffe.co.uk/keele.htm

Ruud, J. (2006).  Encyclopedia of medieval literature. New York, NY: Facts on File Inc.

Schaus, M. (Ed.) (2006). Women and gender in medieval Europe: an encyclopedia. New York, NY: Routledge.

St. Margaret’s Church, King’s Lynn (2003). Margery Kempe. Retrieved from http://www.stmargaretskingslynn.org.uk/margery_kempe.htm