Abstract
...ith the wealth came political power. If ever there had been a time for the separation of church and state, Medieval Europe was that time and place. The settlers of North America founded such a state in reactionary zeal to this corrupt system of control over citizens’ lives. It seemed that the church held the keys to material wealth, to social status, and to heaven and hell itself. They preached that God became man, and dwelt among us. Sunday sermons declared that Jesus was tempted in every way like we are, yet He was without sin so that He could lead us to God. But in Margery Kempe’s life, no one cared enough to demonstrate this God, nor his concern for her. God was somewhere on up on a cosmic throne, and he was spoken to only by richly robed priests from the stage in a marbled cathedral. This contradictory precipice stood directly in the path of Ms. Kempe’s attempt to understand herself, and her God. So Margery Kempe, as she “was coming from York-ward bearing a bottle with beer in her hand and her husband (clutched) a cake in his bosom” set upon a path to find God for herself. Her desire was not unlike that of men and women today, who look for meaning, or escape, beyond the everyday trappings of life. She was not a woman who could approach the heights of social standing which echoed down the cathedral’s arched colonnades. She was told she was loved by a loving God, but she lived as a nobody, trying to stay alive in the countryside where hundreds were dying of the Black Death. The Black Death no doubt caused a good deal of the population to attain newfound religious zeal. Onto this landscape, understanding the power a distant God became her consuming goal, a task that she determined deserved all of her effort. From this point, Margery’s life is an illustration of conflict around her. Her purpose is to find a relationship with God, and with her meager understanding, she sets out. The conflict is demonstrated in Mary’s demeanor, and her interaction with all of society around her. She is ostracized by the other church going crowd because of her strange behaviors, including extended periods of crying, and making herself available to men. “For some said it was a wicked spirit vexed her; some said it was a sickness; some said she had drunken too much wine; some banned her; some wished she had been in the haven; some would she had been in the sea in a bottomless boat; and so each man as him thought. Other ghostly men loved her and favored her the more.” In her pursuit of godliness, Mary swung wildly through a spectrum of human behaviors. She made declarations of her experience of divine visitations, and the more she made personal sacrifices, the more she experienced strange, supernatural revelations. These experiences, interactions between herself and spirits of the past or purported face to face revelations of Jesus himself, left Mary in tears, but never in peace. From such experiences she set out on yet another journey, or goal, or self imposed austere behavior. Chapter 11 is a discussion between Mary, her ‘husband’ and the Lord at the end of 3 years of fasting from sexual relations. Her husband thinks that she is a “no good wife” for her behavior, but Mary is convinced that this course has brought her closer to her God. Her prayer to end this period of fasting reveals the key to her strange behavior, and the plight of the people of her time. "Lord God, thou knowest all thing; thou knowest what sorrow I have had to be chaste in my body to thee all this three year, and now might I have my will and I dare not for love of thee. For if I would break that manner of fasting which thou commandest me to keep on the Friday without meat or drink, I should now have my desire. But, blessed Lord, thou knowest I will not contrary to thy will, and mickle now is my sorrow unless that I find comfort in thee. Now, blessed Jesu, make thy will known to me unworthy that I may follow thereafter and fulfill it with all my might." In this passage, Mary recounts the difficult course she has pursued in order to gain acceptance with her maker. She has attempted to be sexually chaste for 3 years. She will not eat meat, or drink strong drink on Fridays. She declared she would not do anything that is contrary to her Lord’s will, even though her sorrow was deep, and her husband c...