Chapter 51
- Kempe explains to a cleric what the phrase "Be fruitful and multiply" (from Genesis 1:22) means.
- Kempe receives Communion every Sunday in the minster and weeps and screams a lot. People are freaked out.
- A priest reminds Kempe that she meant to leave after fourteen days, and time is getting on.
- Kempe tells the priest that she means to stay fourteen days—more or less. Once again, she gets in trouble and has to report to the Chapterhouse to answer more questions.
- Friends appear to support Kempe; things get tense.
- Kempe is asked if she has a letter of permission from her husband to be on pilgrimage to St. William Fitzherbert's shrine.
- Kempe says that she has her husband's verbal permission and asks if other women have to have a letter of permission from their husbands to move about. Zing.
- Kempe gets as huffy as you will ever see her in this text: why can't she be left in peace?
- Once again, the clerics examine Kempe's religious ideas and find that she isn't a heretic. In the end, she is summoned to appear before the Archbishop of York and is sent to prison till then.
- But Kempe's friends speak up and take responsibility for her so that she doesn't have to go to jail.
- A cleric who had sided against Kempe asks her forgiveness. He wasn't really against her, but he was afraid to stand up for her.
Chapter 52
- A monk comes to York to preach and decides to make Kempe the butt of his sermons.
- Kempe decides to be glad that God has sent her more trials, because suffering=love of God.
- Kempe is escorted to the Archbishop of York by sympathetic people who vouch for her.
- When Kempe gets to the Archbishop's house, people hate on her in a big way. They want her burned. Kempe tells them to watch their mouths: cursing will be their damnation.
- The archbishop has already determined that Kempe is a heretic, without speaking to her. He has the wicked preacher monk and another doctor of divinity with him.
- Things don't look good for Kempe. It doesn't help that her prayers have left her in a puddle of tears and sobbing loudly. But she answers the archbishop's questions about religion well.
- The archbishop still accuses Kempe of being a "wicked woman," based on the rumors he's heard. She says that there are rumors about his reputation as well. Ouch.
- The archbishop just can't even with Kempe anymore. He wants her to swear on the Bible that she will get out of town.
- But Kempe won't leave until she can say goodbye to her friends and go to confession. Go, Kempe.
- The archbishop tries to make Kempe swear that she won't teach people or call them out on their sins.
- That's also a no go. Kempe can't promise that she won't speak of God or spirituality.
- There's a bit of kerfuffle about what St. Paul said about women preachers—but Kempe will have none of it. She doesn't preach.
- A doctor of divinity accuses Kempe of telling a horrid tale about a priest. The archbishop demands that she tell the tale.
- The tale involves a priest and a bear that devours pear-tree blossoms and then poops them out. The archbishop actually likes the story a lot.
- Another cleric feels guilty when the tale is told, because he's a lot like the bad priest in it. He later begs Kempe for forgiveness.
- The archbishop wants to pay someone to escort Kempe outta there. Young men jump at the chance, but the archbishop won't have it. A man from his household gets the job.
- Kempe kneels before the archbishop and asks his blessing. Amazingly, he gives it—and asks her to pray for him.
- Kempe goes back to York, where she wows people with her wisdom, despite her lack of education.
Chapter 53
- After visiting with friends and her confessor, Kempe makes her way to Hessle to cross the Humber (about 37 miles southeast of York). But she gets arrested.
- This time, it's the Duke of Bedford's men. Apparently, Kempe's a wanted woman (Lollardy again).
- People are actually gathering in the streets to scream for Kempe to be burned. Not good.
- Men tell Kempe that she should go home and act like a real woman, rather than keep up wandering this life of hers.
- Kempe keeps her chin up and tells "good stories" to the men who escort her. When they arrive, one of them regrets harassing her because she speaks "good words."
- This guy asks Kempe to pray for him if she is ever a saint in heaven; Kempe says that she hopes he will be a saint in heaven himself.
- Once again, Kempe is given good lodgings in the house of one of her jailers. This time, they lock her up and take away her purse and ring. They also arrest the Archbishop of York's man (who was with Kempe) and throw him in prison. This is not a wise political move.
- Kempe may be locked up, but she has a window. Women gather outside, and she tells them good stories.
- When the wife of the household isn't able to give Kempe drink, the women get a ladder and bring refreshment to her.
Chapter 54
- Kempe hears (with her "bodily ears") Christ calling to her. He tells her that humiliation is a good thing. It's even better than having her head cut off three times.
- Christ promises that Kempe's sorrows will be turned to joy.
- Now Kempe is brought to another chapterhouse—this time at Beverley Minster. The Archbishop of York is there, and he is not pleased.
- The Archbishop of York tells the assembly that Kempe is all right. What's the problem now?
- Again, Kempe is accused Lollardy, but there is something more political behind the accusation this time.
- The Duke of Bedford has a personal problem with Kempe. The archbishop has her held again.
- The accusation is that Kempe encouraged the Duke of Bedford's daughter to leave her husband.
- Kempe denies it and promises that she will go to the mother and get a letter saying that she had no part in such a plan.
- People clamor for Kempe's imprisonment, but the archbishop asks her about her conversation with the Duke of Bedford's wife. It includes another tale, which Kempe tells.
- The archbishop approves of the tale and can't understand why Kempe has so many haters.
- Kempe asks the archbishop for his letter and seal to prove that she has been exonerated from all charges of heresy. She would just like to get back home.
- The archbishop does this, and he also gives Kempe back her possessions. She finally gets an escort back to the Humber, which she can finally cross.
Chapter 55
- So Kempe crosses the Humber on her journey south—and is promptly arrested as a Lollard. Again.
- Things are easier this time, because Kempe has witnesses and the letter from the Archbishop of York.
- Kempe hitches a ride with a man and his wife who are from London and gets as far as Lincoln. Again, she is tormented and questioned by authorities. She tells them that she gets her wise words from the Holy Spirit. That shuts them up right quick.
- Kempe is also taunted by "gentlemen" who want her to tell them if they will be damned or saved in the afterlife. Kempe tells them that if they don't stop cursing, they will be damned.
- Kempe finally makes it to West Lynn, just outside of her hometown of Lynn. She sends for her husband, her confessor, and a doctor of divinity. She describes all her trials.
- Now, Kempe feels she must go to the Archbishop of Canterbury for another letter and seal so that she might be at peace in her own town.
- So Kempe travels to London to meet with the Archbishop at Lambeth Palace. She gets her letter.
- On their way home, Kempe and company are once again arrested. But they have the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter now, so they are instantly released, and they finish their journey.
- Home is not a comforting place for Kempe. There's lots of slander, ugly deeds, and humiliation. People really hate her there.