Proem 
The proem is dated 1436 and is written by her priest-scribe. The purpose of the book is to comfort sinners through a story of the inexpressible mercy of their Savior. He states that many worthy clerics had urged Kempe to record her feelings but she would not consent until twenty years from her conversion and only at the express command of God. Her first scribe, a native Englishman who had lived in Germany (or the Netherlands) produced an incomprehensible text. This priest-scribe, who knew her well, had many scruples about writing, even sending her to another scribe and delaying four years, but he is ultimately reassured through her prayers and his own experience.

Preface 
This is Kempe's preface. She speaks of herself in the third person as "a creature," set within the pride of the world who becomes drawn to Christ. The order of events in the book is not chronological, but as Kempe could remember them. 

Chapter 1
Margery Kempe begins with her marriage (to John Kempe) about the age of twenty, (about 1393). She becomes ill during the pregnancy and birth of the first of her fourteen children, believing that demons surround her. She is saved by a vision of Christ clothed in silken garments who sits on her bed and assures her that he will be with her throughout her life. 

Chapter 2
This chapter continues to focus on the first twenty years of Margery Kempe's married life, including her failed businesses as a brewer and a miller and her prideful way of dressing. She mentions her high social status as daughter of a mayor of Lynn (John Brunham). 

Chapter 3
Margery Kempe now experiences a moment of deep conversion. While in bed with her husband she hears a sound so sweet she knows that it presages paradise. She begins a regime of penance, frequent confession, and prayer vigils in church night and day. She begs her husband to let her live chastely. 

Chapter 4
After two years of spiritual progress she is given three years of temptations, specifically of lust. She describes a failed assignation with a man for which she is greatly ashamed. 

Chapter 5
During Advent Kempe is at prayer in her parish church of St. Margaret's, in the chapel of St. John (south choir aisle), when Christ speaks with her plainly. He tells her to leave off wearing a hair shirt as penance and her saying of many beads; Christ himself will direct her piety. She must abstain from meat and also take as a confessor the anchorite (unnamed) at the Dominican House in Lynn. 

Chapter 6
In this and the following chapter Kempe speaks of a meditation on the Life of the Virgin. Christ allows her to experience the events as if she were actually present. She assists at the birth of the Virgin and then cares for her. Then she accompanies Mary to her cousin Elizabeth and helps with the birth of John the Baptist. Finally she is present at the birth of Christ. 

Chapter 7
She continues her narration of the meditation with the arrival of the Three Kings. Then, when the angel tells Joseph to take his family to Egypt, she accompanies them. 

Chapter 8
Probably a memory of an event that occurred after 1418, Margery Kempe speaks of a time at prayer when the Virgin appears and assures her that she is saved and they she may claim a guest to sit next to her in heaven. She names her confessor R. (Robert Springolde, a secular priest assigned the parish functions of St. Margaret's). The Virgin then tells her that, in addition, her entire family will be saved. 

Chapter 9
Kempe prays that Christ inspire her husband to grant her a chaste marriage. She is in St. Margaret's and a section of the wooden roof with a stone falls on her head and back but she is not seriously hurt. Master Alan, a Carmelite doctor of divinity, investigates and proclaims it a miracle of God's grace; others, however, interpret it as God's wrath. 

Chapter 10
Kempe speaks of being moved in her soul to visit places for her spiritual health. Her husband supports her intention and travels with her.

Chapter 11
Early summer, 1413, Margery Kempe finally receives her husband's consent for a permanent, chaste marriage. As they are traveling from York to Bridlington on a hot day, they sit down under a cross. Here he agrees that he will give up his conjugal rights if she will pay his debts and cease her Friday fasting in order to share meals with him. 

Chapter 12
Kempe speaks of being sent by Christ to visit many religious sites. She describes visiting an abbey and, while at dinner with the abbot, another monk listens to her words. Afterwards, in the church, the monk asks her about his own spiritual state and she is able to tell him his sins. He repents, is grateful, and gives her a fine dinner and gold to pray for him. 

Chapter 13
Margery Kempe is at Canterbury cathedral and her behavior causes clergy and layfolk to accuse her of Lollardy. (This most probably happens after 1415 and her return from the Holy Land.) Her loud weeping causes a hostile reaction among the monks (whose primary public concern is the administration of the pilgrimage to St. Thomas's shrine). Her husband keeps his distance during her stay. 

Chapter 14
Kempe reflects on the value of suffering and rejection. These are the marks of Christ's life. She thinks of martyrdom. Christ speaks to her mind, saying that as long as she is willing to do something, it is as if she done it. Just as a priest baptized a child with water, so will Christ wash her in his precious blood and remove all sin. 

Chapter 15
Christ commands that she visit Rome, Jerusalem, and Santiago de Compostela, the three great international sites of pilgrimage. He also commands her to wear white, the color reserved for consecrated virgins. Margery Kempe then speaks of her travels to religious sites, invariably accompanied by her husband. They journey to Lincoln in the summer of 1413 and ask the Bishop, Philip Repyndon, for official recognition of their chaste marriage. He receives them well, Margery is invited to eat a meal in the bishop's company. He refers her to the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel for final approval of her privileges. 

Chapter 16
During the later summer or autumn of 1413 Margery Kempe and her husband journey to London to the archbishop's palace at Lambeth. She speaks critically to the archbishop's retinue concerning their swearing. She is rebuked by being reminded of a former priest from Lynn burned as a Lollard in 1401. Arundel receives her in his garden; he gives her written permission to choose her confessor and to receive communion every Sunday. She then returns to Lynn and tells her adventures to the Dominican anchorite. 

Chapter 17
This chapter is retrospective. Margery Kempe describes that previously while she was bearing children, after a birth, Christ commanded her to bear no more children. She should go to Norwich and speak with Richard Caister, the Vicar of St. Stephen's (a secular priest). She describes telling him about her heavenly conversations that were far superior to words from any book she heard read (including those by St. Bridget, St. Bonaventure, or Walter Hilton). Caister was convinced and became one of her supporters. 

Chapter 18
She continues to recall her connections in Norwich and support from many religious. She met with the Carmelite, William Southfield, who confirmed her manner of life. She also spoke with Dame Julian, the anchoress and author of Showings. Kempe recalls that Julian urged her to obey Christ's instruction to her. Others, not knowing her inner feeling, were critical. The Domincan anchorite in Lynn, her principle confessor, however believed her and urged her to go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. 

Chapter 19
Before going to Jerusalem, Margery Kempe speaks critically to a respectable lady about the state of her soul and that of the woman ‘s deceased husband. The woman complains to Margery's Dominican confessor. Kempe urges another woman to give money for masses and as alms to the poor to ease her husband's stay in purgatory. 

Chapter 20
Margery Kempe hears mass and sees the sacrament flutter at the moment of the elevation. When the priest raises the chalice it also moves to and fro. Christ reveals that he has not shown such a miracle to St. Bridget. He confirms for Kempe that every word in Bridget's writing is true, and that she will succeed in her quest for grace. 

Chapter 21
This chapter is retrospective, recalling events before she and her husband had entered a chaste marriage. Christ tells her that she is with child and that she need not fear her continued devotions for he will arrange for it to be looked after. Christ explains the maidenhood is the highest state and widowhood better than wedlock; still he loves her as much as he loves any maiden. The Virgin Mary then appears to her. She tells no one of this except her confessor the Dominican anchorite. 

Chapter 22
Margery Kempe continues to relate Christ's assurances to her that she can be the spiritual equal of a consecrated virgin. Christ gives her a long picture of joy in heaven where he will take her by one hand and his mother by the other and will call her his darling, and his blessed spouse. 

Chapter 23
Kempe describes her "pastoral work" around St. Margaret's. She counsels a vicar who asked her advice on the efficacy of his ministry. She reveals that the soul of a recently deceased woman is in purgatory and that her husband will die shortly. He beseeches Christ to have mercy on the soul of a wicked woman, and he does. She prays for others who are gravely ill and they recover. 

Chapter 24
Kempe continues to note her capacity to give good advice. She counsels a priest against buying a book from a young man. The priest ignores her and is swindled by the man. 

Chapter 25
This chapter deals exclusively with the struggle of the chapel of St. Nicholas, dependent on the parish church of St. Margaret's, to achieve independent status. This would entitle the St. Nicholas to administer all sacraments, as well as to church women after childbirth and to bury the dead. Margery, as was her father, when he was mayor, is bitterly opposed. 

Chapter 26
(In 1413, Margery Kempe's father dies). Probably in the autumn of that year, she embarks on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. She stops to pray at the cathedral of Norwich and a church in Yarmouth, the port of her embarkation. Crossing the channel, she passes through a "large town called Zierikzee," in the Netherlands. Her route is then by land, during which she offends her companions 

Chapter 27
Kempe arrives at Constance in late 1413. She meets with an English Franciscan who has come to the city for its Council of 1414 when issues of heresy, including the Lollard movement, are being discussed. She travels to Venice via Bologna. Remaining in Venice for thirteen weeks, she again offends her English companions by her piety. 

Chapter 28
In spring, 1414, Kempe sails from Venice in a galley, lands in the Holy Land, and travels to Jerusalem by donkey. She describes entering the church of the Holy Sepulchre at evening and remaining there until the following evening. The Franciscans who administer the church lead the pilgrims around the church to each holy place. She then adds her reflections on this crucial moment when she received her gift of tears. 

Chapter 29
Kempe collapses with grief at the tomb of Christ and weeps at the place where Christ was nailed to the cross and before the stone slab where he was prepared for burial. She received communion at the place of his crucifixion. She later follows the Via Dolorosa, the path Christ took carrying his cross through Jerusalem. 

Chapter 30
Kempe goes to the River Jordan and Mount Quarantyne where Christ fasted for forty days. She sees the birthplace of John the Baptist and also visits Bethany the site of the grave of Lazarus. She revisits the Holy Sepulchre and mentions the chapel where Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene. She then returns to Venice and sets out for Rome. She describes traveling with two Franciscans and a woman who owned a statue of the Infant Jesus. When they come to cities, the woman allows other women to dress up the image and kiss it. 

Chapter 31
August 1414, she arrives at Assisi and receives the great indulgences of Lammas Day (August 1). There she meets a Roman matron [Dame Margaret Florentyne] who allows her to travel with her part to Rome. Arriving at Rome, she is received at the Hospital of St. Thomas of Canterbury, an English-supported foundation. She can receive communion on Sundays there. A priest arrives and speaks against Kempe so that she is ejected from the hostel. 

Chapter 32
Without English-speaking clergy, Kempe is hard pressed to find a confessor so that she can be shriven in order to receive communion. Christ sends St. John the Evangelist to be her confessor in her soul. An Italian priest in Santa Caterina in Ruota believes her sincerity and gives her communion. 

Chapter 33
Kempe makes the acquaintance of a German-born priest [Wenslawe] attached to St. John Lateran. They speak through an interpreter. She urges him to pray to be able to understand her speech. After thirteen days he understands her English. To test her, he administers communion to her far from others and she still has her boisterous sobbing. He then believes that her tears are sincere and supports her against her detractors. 

Chapter 34
Wenslawe asks her to put aside her white clothes and she obeys him. He also orders to serve an impoverished old woman in Rome as part of her penance. 

Chapter 35
November 9, 1414, the Feast of St. John Lateran, Kempe in the church of the Holy Apostles in Rome. She is granted a vision of her own marriage in heaven to Christ, witnessed by the Father, Holy Ghost, the Virgin, and a host of saints. She then describes other tokens of God's favor that she received over the twenty-five years since her conversion: sounds, melodies, flying things, like specks in a sunbeam, and a burning heat in her breast. 

Chapter 36
Christ continues her consolation to Kempe begun in the previous chapter. Fasting, penance, or praying with beads are good beginnings. The most pleasing devotion, however, is weeping, and contemplation. In the most explicit passage of the book, Margery Kempe describes Christ as a husband, who will lie in bed with her and she may kiss him. She then describes other tokens, these of hearing, such as a sound like bellow or a little bird. 

Chapter 37
Christ assures her of his confidence in her love and of the truth of his promises to her and her confessors. Then follows specific mention of Rome. Shortly before Christmas, Christ tells Kempe to inform her confessor Wenslawe that he wishes her to wear white clothes again. She does and he agrees. She stops serving the poor woman, and gives all her money away, including money she had borrowed from Richard, an English companion. 

Chapter 38

She is in St. Marcellus Church in Rome in great poverty. She is given some money by a man in response to her pious conversation. She meets again with Dame Margaret Florentyne who has her to dinner every Sunday and who also gives her food to take away. Others also feed her.

Chapter 39
Kempe describes the poor sharing what little they have with her; they remind her of the Virgin and Christ. A gentlewoman asks her to be the godmother to her child. When the Brothers of the Hospital of St. Thomas hear such good repute of her, they invite her back. She visits the church that shelters the room that St. Bridget died in. She adds that Christ warned her about bad weather when she was about to follow the devotions of the Stations of Rome.

Chapter 40
An English priest comes to Rome and is told by others that Kempe has been receiving the sacrament of penance from a priest who cannot understand English. The priest asks her confessor Wenslawe to join his party for dinner, where, expectedly, the two priests can communicate only in Latin. Kempe, however, tells Wenslawe a story from the Bible that she had learned from clerics in England. The party is amazed that he can understand her. 

Chapter 41
Kempe speaks of attending sermons where Germans and others spoke and regrets her lack of comprehension. Christ preaches to her in her heart. Many people notice her piety. She is reassured in a vision of St. Jerome at his tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore that her tears are blessed. 

Chapter 42
Kempe leaves Rome for England in the spring of 1415. Again passing through Constance, she takes the Rhine River road to Middelburg, a port in the southern Netherlands. She is hesitant about which ship to take for the crossing and is frightened during heavy rainstorms. Christ assures her that he will keep her safe. 

Chapter 43
Finally there is good wind for the passage but only a small boat. At sea, they are threatened by a storm, but it passes. She lands, probably at Yarmouth, and journeys to Norwich, arriving May, 1415. She offers at the cathedral, visits Richard Caister, Vicar of St. Stephen's, and sees an anchorite at the Chapel-in-the-Fields. 

Chapter 44 
Kempe stays on in Norwich and is given white clothes by a good man and receives communion on Trinity Sunday wearing white. Her husband joins her in Norwich and they come home together to Lynn. She is sick during the winter, and in debt, but she still resolves to go on pilgrimage to Santiago. In the spring she leaves Lynn for Bristol, remaining there for six weeks. 

Chapter 45
July through early August, 1417, in Bristol, waiting for a ship to take her Santiago, Kempe witnesses the Corpus Christi procession in the town. She is summoned to appear before the Bishop of Worcester, staying at his residence near Bristol at Henbury, Gloucestershire. He receives her well, giving her lodging until the ship is ready and also gives gold for her voyage. She arrives in Santiago after a seven-day voyage, stays there for two weeks, and then returns to Bristol. After five days in Bristol she travels to the Cistercian Abbey of Hailes, Gloucestershire, to see the relic of Christ's blood. She rebukes the monks for using many oaths, and they take the corrections well. 

Chapter 46
Late August through September, 1417, Margery Kempe is in Leicester. She speaks of being in a fine church and being moved by the Passion of Christ when seeing a crucifix. She is brought before the Mayor who interrogates her on suspected Lollard beliefs. Instead of being sent to prison, Kempe is detained in the jailer's own house where she is well treated by him and his wife. 

Chapter 47
Kempe is then interrogated by the Steward of Leicester. Two of her companions are then put into prison, but unusually heavy storms raise fears that this action is bringing punishment from God. The two men are then released to be interrogated in the Guildhall by the Major and leaders of the city. The storms subside but her companions stay the night outside the city. 

Chapter 48
Further interrogations follow in the church of All Saints, Leicester. The mayor, the Abbot of Leicester, canons of the abbey, and the Dean of Leicester (probably from the collegiate churches of St. Mary the Less or St. Mary the Greater) confront Kempe. They sit at the high altar and ask questions about her belief in the Eucharist and her white clothes. She is asked to go to the Bishop of Lincoln to secure his approval. 

Chapter 49
Outside Leicester's city walls, she stops by St. Mary's (Leicester) Abbey, a foundation of Augustinian canons, and enters the church. The abbot writes a letter of introduction for her to the Bishop of Lincoln (Philip Repyndon, who had been a predecessor, abbot of St. Mary's from 1494 to1404). She is able to get a letter from the Bishop commanding the Mayor of Leicester to let her travel as she pleases. 

Chapter 50
1417, fall, Kempe arrives at York and is shunned by an anchoress who previously encouraged her. She mentions being in other churches. Clerics (canons) in the Minister question her about her beliefs, but many laypersons receive her well, inviting her to meals. 

Chapter 51
Other clerics in the Minster question her. She is then ordered to appear in the Chapterhouse for a formal examination of faith. She receives communion in the Minster with great cries. 

Chapter 52

Kempe continues to be a point of controversy in York and is examined by Archbishop Henry Bowet in the chapel of his palace in Cawood, just south of York. She asks his permission to see her confessor at the Priory of Bridlington. 

Chapter 53
Escorted from York, Kempe goes on to Bridlington priory. There she speaks with her confessor William Sleightholme and others who had encouraged her previously. Sleightholme gives her money to help her travel home. She goes to Hull then Hessle to cross the Humber but is arrested by the Duke of Bedford's men and brought to Beverly. 

Chapter 54
In Beverly, Archbishop Bowet of York again interrogates her about Lollard tendencies in the Minster's Chapterhouse. Bowet questions her also in private. The archbishop accepts her sincerity, gives his blessing, and arranges for an escort out of his diocese. 

Chapter 55
1417, she crosses the River Humber and is arrested. Someone who had seen her interrogated by the Archbishop at Beverly testifies to her acquittal and she is released. She travels south to Lincoln. At Bishop's Lynn, she asks her husband to travel with her to London to acquire a dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury. (He is Henry Chichele, successor to Thomas Arundel, who died in 1414.) Having secured the letter, they return to Lynn via Ely, once again avoiding ill treatment by showing required Episcopal approval. 

Chapter 56
Kempe speaks of many illnesses, of head, side, and back, lasting over eight years. During a bout of dysentery she receives the Sacrament of Extreme Unction (Last Rites). She compares her suffering to Christ's Passion. After the sickness abates she speaks of her emotional outbursts increasing so that she is given communion privately in the Prior's chapel in Lynn. 

Chapter 57
At St. Margaret's in Lynn, a monk arrives who causes the prior to expel her from the chancel area. She produces Archbishop Chichele's letter of 1417 and regains her privileges. She mentions the ceremony of the Easter Sepulchre in the chancel and gives other examples of her meditations, especially on Good Fridays. 

Chapter 58
This chapter appears to be retrospective. Kempe's confessor, the Dominican anchorite has died (1415?), but a new priest comes to Lynn who is sympathetic to her. He reads her many books as well as passages from the Bible with comments by the Church Fathers, such as St. Jerome, whom she mentions earlier. Kempe names St. Bridget'sRevelations, Walter Hilton'sScale of Perfection, the Pricke of Love, then considered to be by St. Bonaventure, and Richard Rolle'sFire of Love. 

Chapter 59
Kempe continues to discuss her listening to holy books and sermons. Christ reveals to her souls to be saved and damned. She is troubled by the devil in her meditation but then comforted by an angel. 

Chapter 60
Kempe is stirred to go to Norwich. There she prays with great distress at the tomb of Richard Caister, the Vicar of St. Stephen's who was very supportive of her. (Caister died in March 1420) A woman visits her in a church in Norwich and sees her deeply moved when contemplating a pietá statue. The woman declares that Kempe sets a good example and invites her to eat at her home. 

Chapter 61
A friar renowned for his sermons comes to Lynn and preaches in the chapel of St. James. At first he does not complain about her loud weeping. As she is a constant presence, he soon wants her put out of the church. There is considerable discussion among Lynn clergy about Kempe’s behavior and for years she is not allowed to attend the friar's sermons. 

Chapter 62
On the feast of St. James, the same friar preaches in St. James Chapel yard in Lynn. He is hostile to Kempe, criticizing her manner of piety. The priest who would become the scribe for Kempe's Book is at first influenced. He subsequently reads examples weeping in books on Mary d' Oignies and Elizabeth of Hungary and in treatises by Richard Rolle and St. Bonaventure, and comes to her support. 

Chapter 63
Kempe writes about all the people in Lynn who are against her. She reassures her confessor that she can bear all their enmity. She describes her prayers in various places in St. Margaret's and explains Christ comforting words to her.

Chapter 64
Chapters 64 through 66 describe Kempe's conversations with Christ. He tells her to listen to him and that he honors those who are held in contempt by others. Kempe begs him to remember his charity to all sinners. 

Chapter 65
Chapters 64 through 66 describe Kempe's conversations with Christ. Christ now replies that no one will be damned unless well worthy of it. He speaks of heaven waiting for Kempe where angels offer her tears that are "angels' drink." 

Chapter 66
This chapter concludes Kempe's conversations with Christ. Christ tells Kempe to eat meat; she should inform her confessor that is it Christ's will. She establishes therefore that she is excused from fasting since the Lord has assured her that he does not want her weak.

Chapter 67
January 23, 1420, a great fire burns down Lynn's Guildhall. Flames threaten St. Margaret's. Kempe urges her confessor, Robert Springolde, to carry the Blessed Sacrament towards the fire. She prays for God's help and a snow falls and quenches the fire. 

Chapter 68
In Lynn, Kempe finds preachers who support her. Thomas Constance, a Dominican visiting Lynn, confirms the value of pious tears. During a sermon at St. Margaret's on the Feast of the Assumption, she is tolerated even though interrupting the sermon. During a Lenten sermon, an Augustinian Friar from Lynn, who had criticized her previously, now respects her vocal outbursts. 

Chapter 69
Kempe continues to mention her religious supporters and sermons by notable clergy when she was very moved in spirit. Bishop Wakeryn of Norwich preaches in St. Margaret's. Master Alan, a learned Carmelite (White Friar) in Lynn is supportive but is ordered to keep his distance from her. He had answered her questions about the scriptures. She finds a good confessor in the secular priest (parish priest) appointed by the Prior to administer the Chapel of the Gesine in St. Margaret's.

Chapter 70
Kempe is deeply troubled by the grave illness suffered by Master Alan and prays intensely at the high altar of St. Margaret's. He recovers and his Provincial (Thomas Netter, who was concerned with women Lollards) allows him to speak with her. She has dinner with him and another woman who also took vows of chastity. Kempe's confessor approves. 

Chapter 71
Christ reveals to Kempe the future disposition of local clergy in Lynn, in particular the Prior of St. Margaret's. She mentions walking up and down in the Carmelite Church in Lynn. 

Chapter 72
Kempe speak of her joy in her devotions. Again, she mentions that when she witnesses religious rituals, such as anointings or processions with the Eucharist, she reflects on the precedent for these actions in Christ's own life. She describes how many laypersons honored her.

Chapter 73
Kempe describes a procession on Holy Thursday that prompts her to see in her soul the actual moment when Christ parted from his loved ones. Similarly she talks about beholding the moment when the Virgin appears to die, and how she spoke to Kempe assuring her of the value of her suffering 

Chapter 74
Kempe continues to speak of the joys of closeness to Christ, the Virgin, and the saints through her meditations. Her confessor gives her permission to show God's grace by kissing sick women and she comforts a troubled girl. 

Chapter 75
While praying in St. Margaret's she is asked by a man to visit his wife. The woman has just given birth and is out of her mind. Kempe's presence greatly calms the woman and Kempe visits her frequently. 

Chapter 76
Kempe's husband falls down stairs and becomes bedridden. They had previously lived apart, but now she takes her husband to live with her, caring for an incontinent invalid. 

Chapter 77
In one of the most theological passages of her treatise, Margery speaks to Christ about his charge to her, especially her great weeping in public. Christ reassures Kempe that her feelings are efficacious. He wishes that his mother's sorrow be known through Kempe. 

Chapter 78
Kempe speaks of church rituals, such as those associated with Palm Sunday, that allow her to imagine herself present at the actual events of Christ's Passion. She specifies the smiting of the door of the church with a staff and the lifting up of the Lenten veil to reveal the crucifix. 

Chapter 79
Kempe begins a detailed meditation on the Passion of Christ. Kempe sees "in her soul" the events, beginning with Christ taking leave from his mother, paying in the garden of Gethsemane, taken by soldiers, and then mocked, stripped, and beaten. 

Chapter 80
She continues to describe the Flagellation in detail. Then Christ is given his cross and he falls, witnessed by his mother, as he carries it to Golgatha. He is nailed to the cross, using ropes to stretch out his arms. Kempe sees the Virgin swoon and St. John take her on his arms. Joseph of Arimathea comes to help remove the body and place it in the tomb. 

Chapter 81
Christ is placed in the tomb and Mary is comforted by John the Evangelist. Jesus appears to Mary after his resurrection and then to Mary Magdalene in the garden near the empty tomb. 

Chapter 82
Kempe describes the Feast of the Purification (Candlemas) a major feast in late medieval times. She describes how when seeing women brought to the church to be purified after childbirth (Churching), or at weddings, she thinks back on the precedents in the life of Christ and the Virgin. 

Chapter 83
Two priests test her gift of tears by taking her to a church of St. Michael outside of Lynn. Despite the fact that no one else is present, Kempe's cries are even louder then when she has an audience. She continues to explain the depth of her meditation. 

Chapter 84
Margery Kempe visits the Abbey of Denny, a Franciscan foundation of nuns, a few miles north of Cambridge at the abbess's request. Many impediments delay this trip, but Christ comforts her, telling her that anything she does for the care of others is as if she is doing it for him. 

Chapter 85
Kempe tells of her prayers said in her parish church St. Margaret's, and also the Dominican Church (Black Friars). The chapter is retrospective. She describes meditative states. Once she was given a vision of an angel who shows her a book with the Trinity all in gold. She asked that her name be written at the Trinity's foot. She was also given visions of Christ with the wounds of his Passion and as a child in his mother's arms. 

Chapter 86
The entire chapter is a transcription of Christ's words of reassurance to Kempe. Christ calls her his "blessed spouse" and speaks of the Trinity, the importance of the receiving the Eucharist, and the intercession of the saints, especially Mary Magdalene, Catherine, and Margaret. 

Chapter 87
Kempe again speaks of her contemplation as she lay still in church. The chapter is cumulative, speaking of the nature of Christ's "sweet dalliance in her soul" by which time could be shortened or lengthened and she felt she heard the voices of Christ and his saints. 

Chapter 88
Kempe speaks of the years she spent writing this Book, concerned that she neglected her prayers in the effort. Christ replies that her intentions are as important as he actions. Christ commends her confessor Robert Springolde. 

Chapter 89
Kempe concludes her Book by looking back thought the years that she was writing her treatise. They were filled with many spiritual comforts and assurances from Christ. 

BOOK II

Chapter II/1
The second book is dated to April 1438. (Ed. Note: Margery Kempe was admitted to the Holy Trinity Guild in Lynn before Easter, 1438.) Kempe describes her son, whom she tried to convince to become a priest or monk. Instead, he took up work for a merchant. After contracting a skin disease, which Kempe attributed to punishment for lechery, he lost his job. Ultimately he was cured, married a German wife and had a daughter in Germany. 

Chapter II/2
Leaving their child behind, Kempe's son and daughter-in-law come to visit her in Lynn. She credits her son's conversion to a pious life to her influence. Both her husband and son die about 1431. Kempe's daughter-in-law wants to return home, expecting to embark from Ispwich. A little distance outside of Lynn, at mass, Kempe "is commanded in her soul" to go over the sea with her daughter. They return to Lynn, then travel to the shrine at Walsingham, then Norwich, receiving support from a Franciscan in Norwich. 

Chapter II/3
Kempe and her daughter-in-law set sail to Germany from $$ Ipswich or Yarmouth (April 1433?) They encounter heavy storms on Palm Sunday, finally arriving in Bergen, Norway, ten days later. They spend Easter Sunday on land and leave for Germany the following day. 

Chapter II/4
April through May, 1433, they arrive in Gdansk (Danzig) then East Prussia, and stay for five to six weeks. Kempe then arranges to visit the pilgrimage site of Wilsnack by ship. 

Chapter II/5
Kempe lands at Stralsund, a port close to Wilsnack and, despite illness, she visits the site where the miraculous hosts display the blood of Christ. 

Chapter II/6
Going overland to Aachen by wagon, Kempe and companions pass by a friary where the sacraments are exposed to celebrate the octave of the Feast of Corpus Christi. She is so boisterous in her adoration that her company leave her. She then meets poor travelers who must beg. They are lice-ridden and she become infected. 

Chapter II/7
July 1433, finally reaching Aachen she meets with an English monk and is able to see the Holy Relics of Aachen that are exposed only once in seven years. She has trouble finding travelling companions but finally reaches Calais. 

Chapter II/8
From Calais she sails to Dover on the English coast and then travels to Canterbury.

Chapter II/9
She leaves Canterbury for London dressed in a conspicuous pilgrim's garb and is well received by some and slandered by others. 

Chapter II/10
July 1434, Kempe goes to the Carthusian monastery of Sheen and the Bridgettinemonastery of Our Savior just outside of London to gain the special indulgence associated with the visit. She then returns to Lynn. She ends the second book with a long list of people remembered in her prayers.