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| GLOSSARY: THE BOOK OF MARGERY KEMPE
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I. Aachen to Dover See also over 150 images in MMK Devotional
Images Database, arranged alphabetically Aachen
Aachen in north-western Germany (in French, called Aix-la-Chapelle),
was the capital of Charlemagne's empire in the 9th century.
It became the site of one of the great medieval pilgrimages because
of the textile relics obtained by Charlemagne and Ortho III.
The four “Great Relics” include the cloak of the Blessed Virgin,
the swaddling clothes of the infant Jesus, the cloth on which St.
John the Baptist’s head lay after his beheading, and the loin cloth
which Jesus wore on the Cross. These four relics were shown
only once every seven years. Advent
In the liturgical year, Advent is the four week period ending on
December 25, Christmas Day. It was a time for penance and
reflection. Advent actually opens the liturgical year, appropriately
as a time of waiting for the coming of the savior. The prayers
during this time reference the waiting of the Israelites with citations
from the prophets such as Isaiah (Is 30:30) "People of Sion, behold
the Lord shall come to save the nations." anchorite
An anchorite or anchoress was a person who separated him or herself
from society in order to devote a life to penance and prayer in
solitude. Anchorites were similar to hermits, but their location
was invariably within populated communities, not the desert or forest
location of the traditional hermit. They could be members of religious
orders but they also could be solitary individuals who chose to
live an ascetic life marked by permanent enclosure in a building
or part of a building (an anchorage or anchorhold) attached to a
religious foundation. The highly popular guide for the female
anchorite, the 13th-century Ancrene Wisse, outlined a liturgical
day with a series of prayers, some in the vernacular, more simple
than that of the Benedictine rule, and gave many rules for conduct.
Chief among them was scrupulous observation of chastity and limited
contact with the outside world. An example of an anchoress
is Julian of Norwich
(1342-{1416-1423}) who lived in an anchoritic cell at St. Julian’s
church in Norwich. See anchorite's cell attached to the south choir
of All Saints Church, King's Lynn. angel
In many religions, angels are supernatural, spiritual beings. In
Christian tradition, angels were created by God to have an immortal
nature. The word “angel” comes from the Greek word for “messenger.”
Most often in literature, angels act as messengers between God and
humankind. Unrelated to matter, they possess intelligence and free
will. Angels occasionally take human form and are often depicted
this way in Christian art. According to The Celestial Hierarchies
by the 6th-century Pseudo-Dionysius, angels are divided into nine
orders and three hierarchies, comprising the nine orders of angels.
Articles
of Faith The term “Articles of Faith” was employed
in the Middle Ages by theologians such as St. Bernard and Thomas
Acquinas to denote key revealed elements of Christian religious
doctrine. Not every aspect of piety would be termed an article
of faith, nor has there been universal agreement on what constitutes
the essential “truths.” At the very least, however, they include
the elements set out in the Apostles' Creed and, during Kempe’s
time, the nature and efficacy of the Seven Sacraments. Kempe
was questioned on the Articles of the Faith at Leicester by Richard
Rothley, Abbot of Leicester (Ch. 48), at York by John Aclom (Ch.
51), and then by Henry Bowet, the Archbishop of York (Ch. 52); all
were convinced of her understanding of the then practiced orthodoxy
of the church. Arundel
Thomas Arundel (1353-1414) was the archbishop of Canterbury, the
primate, the ecclesiastical superior for all the English church.
Arundel who was named to position of Archbishop of Canterbury in
1397, but was banished by King Richard II in the same year.
He was returned to the office when Henry IV came to power.
Arundel was known for his vigorous prosecution of Lollards and other
heretics during his time as Archbishop. Assisi
Forty miles north of Rome, the town of Assisi was the
home of several martyrs, but is best known as the birthplace of
St. Francis, one of the most influential leaders of the 14th century.
Assisi claimed to possess three important relics: the Veil of the
Virgin Mary, and the remains of St. Francis (both at the Basilica
of St. Francis) and the remains of St. Clare, foundress of the cloistered
women's movement dedicated to the same ideals as the Franciscans
(at the church of St. Clare). In addition to the these relics,
St. Francis had established in Assisi a chapel known as the Portiuncula
Chapel, which was itself closed within a 13th century Gothic church.
Since a plenary indulgence was granted to those who kept vigil at
this chapel from Vespers of August 1 to Vespers of August 2, many
pilgrims were attracted to this site. Assumption
Because of the sinless nature of the Virgin Mary, it is believed
that she alone of the human race received the privilege of bodily
assumption into heaven. Her death, located by tradition to
Mt. Sion, was not truly a death, but a sleep and therefore referred
to as her "dormition." This was commonly represented in art since
the 12th century. While the apostles gathered around her body,
Christ appeared taking her soul. Then the Virgin was bodily
assumed into heaven, to sit next to her son, whose body had already
achieved its perfected state through his resurrection. Thus,
the Virgin acts as the model for the human race who are promised
the resurrection of the body (Apostles Creed) on the day of the
Last Judgment. Austin
Friar or Augustinian FriarThe Augustinian Friars, formally
organized in 1256, traces its roots to the philosopher and theologian
St. Augustine of Hippo. The friars are dedicated to communal
living, prayer, study, and solitude. They expanded throughout
Europe, Asia, and Africa during the Middle Ages in the role of missionaries
as well. Members of the Order can be identified by their black
tunic tied with a leather cord. They Friars are distinct from
the Augustinian Canons, and older order with a more regular and
organized communal life. beads
(praying of beads) Such beads refer to the use of beads
on a knotted string used as a device for keeping count of prayers
or the continuous repetition of biblical passages. The practice
of counting prayers with pebbles or beads is attested to from Early
Christian times. The modern Rosary, comprising 15 Our Fathers
and 150 Hail Marys is a development of this tradition that gained
great popularity in the 15th century. The first confraternity
of the rosary was founded in Cologne in 1475. St. Stephen's
in Norwich, mentioned by Kempe in Chapters 17 and 43, contains a
brass tomb memorial of 1410 showing a woman with two small pilgrims
(with staves) praying their beads at her feet. Bethlehem
Bethlehem, located 5 miles south west of Jerusalem, is an important
pilgrimage site as the place of Christ's birth. The Gospels
recount a census that compelled Joseph and Mary to journey to "the
town of David which is called Bethlehem" and while they were there
she was delivered of a child. "And she brought forth her firstborn
son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the in." (Luke 2:4-7).
Beverley Beverly is a market town and inland port in the northeast of England, in County Humberside, on the River Hull. Formerly a cloth trade center, Beverly still boasts a considerable trade today. Beverly Minster is an outstanding example of Gothic architecture. The church owes its existence to St. John of Beverly, who founded a community of monks and nuns in the 8th century on the site that would later become the site of the Minster. A shrine to St. John was established in the Minster, and this shrine became a popular site for pilgrimages in the Middle Ages. The choir and double transepts were built early in the 13th century, and the present nave replaced the original Norman nave in the 14th century. Because the chapter was secular, Beverly Minster avoided the Dissolution that fell on the monasteries under Henry VIII. Beverley
Chapterhouse The Chapterhouse of Beverly, demolished
in 1550, was that of the collegiate church (of canons) of St. John
the Evangelist at Beverly. Like the Chapterhouse of York Minster,
this was where the canons met and discussed business and financial
issues. Beverly also had a cathedral (Minster) which was originally
served by a chancellor, nine canons, and seven clerks. Later several
chantry priests and minor officials were added to the hierarchy
of the Minster. The secular duties were administered by a provost,
who was not necessarily a member of the chapter. Blood
of Hailes The Cistercian Abbey of Hailes in Goucestershire
displayed a relic of the Holy Blood. In Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales, the Pardoner mentions the popular medieval oath "By the Blood
of Christ that is in Hayles," the kind of oath that Kempe also condemns.
In the late Middle Ages, the devotion to Christ's Passion
made such relics a magnet for pilgrimages. Westminster Abbey
and the chapel of the Holy Blood in Bruges were other sites claiming
such devotional treasures. The abbey is now a ruin with only segment
of the cloister extant. Bologna
Bologna is an ancient Italian city, a former Etruscan town, located
at the foot of the Appenines. Bologna lies 51 miles northeast
of Florence on the route across northern Italy. In the 12th
century it was incorporated as a free commune and is the seat of
the oldest European University. Its major church, San Petronio,
dates from the 14th century. Bonaventura
Little is known about St. Bonaventure’s (1221-1274) origins.
He was born in Italy to a humble family, and sources indicate that
Bonaventure was probably not his real name. He became a high
ranking member of the religious order known as the Franciscans or
Friars Minor which was founded by St. Francis of Assisi. Bonaventure
believed that philosophy and religion needed to work together in
order for the faithful to understand God. He stressed the
need to perform acts of contemplation to expel sin from the body
and become more receptive to God. His text of the life of
Francis of 1260 (Legenda Maior) is a model of eloquence and
passion. He used Francis as a model of how one can reach ecstatic
knowledge of God through prayer. Bowet, Henry The Archbishop of York from 1407-1423 was Henry Bowet. Bowet’s activist role in investigations of Lollardy is indicated by a 1411 commission to inquire into “insurrections, rebellions and Lollardy” in South Wales and by his investigation of John Taillour in 1421. See Anne Hudson. The Premature Reformation: Wycliffite Texts and Lollard History. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 34, 126. brewing
Brewing was the essential and widely practiced commercial industry
of making ale and preserving grain. In many communities commercial
brewing was so widespread that many of the households brewed ale
for both their own consumption and for sale to others. Most
women learned to brew as a part of their domestic routine. Brewing
remained an important aspect of women’s work throughout the Middle
Ages. Bridlington
Bridlington is on the North Sea, about 30 miles north east of York.
It has an excellent harbor. Bridlington Priory was founded for Augustinian
Canons about 1110 by Walter de Gant. It became one of the wealthiest
monastic houses in Yorkshire. The "good prior" mentioned by
Kempe is John of Thwing, canonized in 1401. His tomb rapidly
became a place of pilgrimage, visited by Henry V. At its height,
when Kempe visited, the church was as large as that of Beverley
Minster. Almost all of the priory's buildings were pulled
down following the Dissolution of 1537. What remains is the
13th -century nave of the church converted into a parish church
and the gatehouse, or bayle, dating to 1388. Bristol
Bristol is a city in southwest England, 118 miles west of London.
Situated in the protected waters of the Bristol Channel, it was
a place of commerce from early times and site of departure by ship
for Margery Kempe's voyage to Santiago de Compostela in 1417.
Bristol was incorporated as a city in 1155 and was active in medieval
trade. The diocese of Bristol was founded in 1133, when Robert Fitzharding
established an abbey church of Augustinian Canons (White Friars).
The abbey church thereafter served as a cathedral. The nave was
originally Norman, but it no longer exists as such. The chancel,
which still exists, is early 14th century and the transepts date
from the late 15th century. The cathedral was plundered in 1539
and was almost demolished, but Henry VIII stopped the demolition.
He chose the diocese of Bristol to be one of his six bishoprics.
burgess
A burgess was a member of a medieval town inhabited by free
commoners. In contrast, peasants (persons living in the countryside)
were attached to the land that was actually owned by the lord of
the manor. Caister, Richard, see Vicar of St. Stephen's, Norwich Calais
Calais is a seaport in France and about 22 miles across the English
channel from Dover. It was, and still is, one of the principle
ports linking England and France. In the Middle Ages, the
city was fortified in the 13th century by the count of Boulogne.
Calais was besieged by King Edward III in 1346 for a year.
Its citizens were reduced by starvation (Rodin's famous statue of
the Burghers of Calais relates to this incident). Queen
Philippa's intercession spared the citizens the King's wrath.
The city continued under English rule for two centuries. Thus,
when Margery Kempe passed through Calais in 1435, she was already
on English soil. Calvary
Christ was lead to Mount Calvary, or Golgotha, as he carried his
cross upon his back. Normally, executed criminals were tied
to the cross, but Christ was nailed through his hands and feet.
Over his head was placed a placard on which was written wrote the
charge against him: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the
Jews" (INRI: Iesu Nazareth Rex Iudeorum). Then the cross was lifted
up and fixed in the ground, exposing Christ in his last agony.
People who passed by continued to mock him, shouting, "He saved
other: he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let
him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him" (Mt.
27:42). According to the Gospel, from noon until 3:00 there
was an eclipse of the sun. Then Jesus died, calling our, "My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46).
candle
Altar decoration and processions with candles were invariably a
part of solemn devotional moments. Margery Kempe also speaks of
celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi when a “solemn procession
with many candles and great solemnity (that) went through the town
(Ch. 45). Candles were expensive and major objects of donor
piety, the giving of candles often being commemorated in church
records. The number of candles used marked the great or lesser
solemnity of a mass in official accounts. For example, the merchant
guild of Bridgewater in 1393 stipulated that their chantry priest
(one saying special prayers at a designated altar or chapel within
a church) should provide Two torches which are to burn and illuminate
every day during the elevation of Christ's body in the mass for
the Blessed Virgin in the said choir, weighing 16 lb; see Rubin,
Miri. Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, 60-62.
Canterbury
Canterbury (Kent) is located 55 miles south west of London and 16
miles inland from the port of Dover. The city was a Roman town and
still bears traces of its Roman road plan. St. Augustine of Canterbury
brought Christianity in 597, soon converting Ethelbert, King of
Kent. Canterbury's fortunes were even more enhanced by the acquisition
of a national saint, Thomas Becket, who was murdered in the cathedral
by knights of Henry II in 1170. Soon miracles attracted pilgrims,
attested to by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The archbishop
of Canterbury, by Kempe's time, was the acknowledged Primate, or
ecclesiastical superior, of all England. He resided for a
major portion of the year at Lambeth palace in London, there more
accessible to the monarch. It is at Lambeth that Kempe went
to receive a dispensation for frequent communion and entrance to
normally reserved clerical spaces. Cawood
Cawood was the site of the palace of the archbishops of York, located
9 miles south of York Minster. Today none of the structures that
Kempe would have seen are extant. Kempe visited Henry Bowet,
Archbishop of York during the time of her visit, in Cawood where
he accused her of being a heretic. See the palace and chapel
of the bishop of Lincoln for a comparison. MMK:
Lincoln chalice
The chalice was a vessel used for the celebration of the Eucharist.
Wine mixed with a little water was poured into it and when the priest
said the words of consecration, "This is my body," the faithful
believed that Christ was actually present, mystically. The
wine became Christ's blood (as the bread became Christ's body).
The chalice as well as the bread was held up for the faithful to
see. Given the importance of the ritual, a chalice was invariably
one of the most richly decorated objects in the church treasury,
usually of gold and of semi precious stones and with imagery related
to the Eucharist. Chapel-in-the-Fields,
Norwich The church known as the Chapel-in-the-Fields
was founded in 1248 as a hospital and chapel dependent on the parish
of St. Stephen's in Norwich. It was dedicated to the Virgin
but called its familiar name because of its location in the field
southwest of the city. It developed into an important collegiate
church with a dean, chaplains, and chantry priests, all founded
by individual donors. chaste
marriage Kempe is determined, after 14 children,
to enter into the category of chaste wife - maintaining the lawful
bond of marriage but vowing not to exercise sexual relations.
She bargains with her husband: she pays his debts, he grants that
they live chastely. Virginal marriage was not an unusual status,
and of considerably more advantage to the wife. The status
of a layman within civic and church organization was not appreciably
changed, but a woman was accorded greater respect and social autonomy.
Widows were, in general, more advantaged than wives. In the late
13th century, Jacobus deVoragine compiled the Golden Legend,
a collection of saints' lives ordered according to the liturgical
calendar. He also recorded rituals such as the Greater Litany
on the feast of St. Mark (April 25) and the lesser Litany, also
in the spring, celebrated in the three days before the feast of
the Ascension. He describes processions for both; for the
Greater, he speaks of seven ranks of participants: first the clergy,
then the monks, then religious, nuns, then children, then the laymen,
then widows and virgins, finally married women. This ranking
gives some indication of the problematic position of the married
woman that persisted even in Margery Kempe's time. Well-documented
examples of virginal couples in the 14th-century can be found in
"The Virginal Marriage of Elzéar and Delphine" and "A Holy
Woman During the Hundred Years' War: Jeane-Marie of Maillé”
in André Vauchez. The Laity in the Middle Ages: Religious
Beliefs and Devotional Practices. Ed. Daniel E. Bornstein, trans.
Margery J. Schneider. University of Notre Dame Press: South Bend,
Indiana, 1993. choir
The choir is the area of the church reserved for the clergy or religious
for their communal prayer. During Margery Kempe's time the public
areas of a church, the nave, was named the "church." The areas
used by the clergy are specifically called a choir or a chapel.
Kempe's access to the choir was obtained by a special dispensation
by the bishop. Christmas
Christmas is the feast commemorating the birth of Christ. It is
fixed in the liturgical year as December 25 and is preceded by four
week of fast called Advent. The Gospels recount
a census that compelled Joseph and Mary to journey to "the town
of David which is called Bethlehem" and while they were there she
was delivered of a child. "And she brought forth her firstborn son
and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because
there was no room for them in the in." (Luke 2:4-7). The birth
was heralded by angels who announced to Jewish shepherds that their
Messiah had come. Later, wise men from the east, gentiles,
arrived to acknowledge Christ's birth. In the Middle Ages,
Christmas was not an extremely important feast; it was far less
solemnly celebrated than Easter. For Kempe, however, with
her frequent references to Christ and a child, and her imagining
that she was present as a handmaiden to the Virgin, the moment had
particular resonance. Cobham’s daughter Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, was the leader of Lollard opposition in the 1410s. Kempe' was being called a follower of Oldcastle, and thus a heretic. See Lollard and contemporary description of Oldcaste's death. "Confiteor"
Confiteor is the ritual prayer of contrition The world confiteor
literally means "to confess." The Confiteor is a prayer of
open confession and a plea for forgiveness, a part of the Mass and
traditionally used as a preparation for the sacrament of Penance.
The first line begins, "I confess to almighty God. . ."
confession (see sacrament of penance) confessor
A confessor is a priest with the faculties to hear confessions and
dispense the sacrament of penance. Often people went to the same
confessor repeatedly for ongoing spiritual advice. Kempe clearly
follows that practice. In the late Middle Ages, frequent confession,
even two a three times a day, was a goal of the intensely spiritual.
St. Bridgit of Sweden was known for confessions this frequent. Margery
Kempe refers to her own frequent confessions. The pressure to defend
orthodox behavior must also have been a factor; by constant references
to the clergy who guided her, Kempe presents a view of her docile
submission to clerical authority. Often the confessor would command
a specific penance, such as fasting, the saying of prayers, giving
of alms, or even travel to a specific pilgrimage site.
Constance
Constance (Konstanz) is a port in southern Germany on Lake Constance.
It was known since late Roman times and was reputedly founded by
the Emperor Constantius Clorus (c. 300 A.D.) It was a powerful
city in the medieval era with churches dating from the 11th century.
A merchant hall, the Kaufhaus, was the site of the Council of Constance
of 1414-18 where papal authority was confirmed through the deposition
of three antipopes. In particular proto-Protestant doctrines
espoused by Jan Huss, Jerome of Prague, and John Wycliffe of Oxford,
whose ideas led to the Lollard movement in England, were condemned.
Margery Kempe passed through Constance in the winter of 1413-14,
just as the Council delegates were arriving. Corpus Christi Corpus Christi is a feast day that was first established in the diocese of Liège, Belgium, in 1246 in response to increasing interest in the Eucharist typified by the visions of Juliana of Cornillon (c. 1193-1258). Pope Urban IV (James Pantaleon, a native of Troyes who lived some time in Liège) asked Thomas Aquinas to write the liturgy for the feast. The definition of the Eucharist and its aid to faithful and condemnation of sinners is explained in one of Thomas's hymns Laude syon: Through his flesh as food abidethCorpus Christi became a universal Christian feast in 1317. Celebrating the sacramental body and blood of Jesus Christ, the feast day typically involves eucharistic processions. This was a highly popular late medieval feast; its focus was the Passion and redemptive act of Christ and it brought all of a town together for communal activities. Margery Kempe speaks of a “solemn procession with many candles and great solemnity (that) went through the town" (MK Ch. 45). Often dramatic performances were associated with it, such as the “interlude” paid for by the city of Lynn in 1384 for the embellishment of the feast. Bibliography: Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992, 43-44, 12, 92, 101. Kolve, V. A. The Play Called Corpus Christi. Stanford, 1966. Rubin, Miri. "Corpus Christi: Fraternities and Late Medieval Piety." Studies in Church History 23 (1986): 97-110. Rubin, Miri. Corpus Christi: The Eucharist in Late Medieval Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, esp. 164-204 for establishment of the feast. Catholic Encyclopedia Online [Chapter 2] [Chapter 45] [II: Chapter 5][II: Chapter 6] Danzig
Danzig (now known as Gdansk; Kempe called it Danske in Duchelond)
Danzig is a port on the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Vistla river
in Poland. It was first mentioned in the 10th century as the
Polish city of Gdansk. It joined the Hanseatic League in the 13th
century and was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in 1308.
Its vital position made it a prize for power plays in the Baltic,
and it was successively independent, Russian, French, Polish, and
German, and lastly Polish again, as the times changed. Blessed
Dorothea of Montau (1347-1394) had lived as a recluse in Danzig
before being transferred at the request of the Teutonic Knights
to their cathedral of Marienwerden two years before her death.
Her life paralleled somewhat Margery Kempe's. She was married
at the age of 17 and bore her husband eight children, only one of
whom survived, later entering a Bridgettine convent. Dorothea
received permission to live as a recluse (an anchoress) and became
renowned for her sanctity. She was highly honored by the order
of Teutonic Knights who exercised great control in the area.
It has been suggested that Kempe was aware of Dorothea's life as
a model for her own construction of sanctity; Kempe's text, however,
does not give explicit reference to Dorothea. devil
The devil, also known Satan, was believed to be a fallen angel,
the prince of evil spirits (lesser devils). According to Christian
Scriptures Christ was tempted by the devil in an attempt to stop
his mission of saving the world (Matt. 4:1-11). Dover
Dover is a port in the easternmost section of Kent, 22 miles across
the channel from the French port of Calais. In the Middle Ages,
Dover was fortified and the remains of Dover Castle, which occupies
a commanding position on the cliff walks, show both Saxon and Norman
(11-12th century) construction. |