How we cite our quotes: (Book.Chapter.Page)
Quote #1
Soon after, this creature was moved in her soul to go and visit certain places for her spiritual health, in as much as she was cured; and she could not without the consent of her husband. She asked her husband to grant her leave and he...soon consented [...]. (I.10.57)
Kempe doesn't get much fuss from her husband about going away to Jerusalem, but there is some negotiating that has to be done. It's a good reminder to us that a woman in this time did not have personal freedom to pursue a "higher calling," especially when that calling came after marriage and motherhood.
Quote #2
"And make my body free to God, so that you never make any claim on me requesting any conjugal debt after this day as long as you live—and I shall eat and drink on Fridays at your bidding." (I.11.60)
Kempe's negotiations with her husband to remain chaste take on the language of commerce. The "conjugal debt" that she speaks of here is the obligation of spouses to respond positively to each other's sexual needs. Kempe will have to agree to pay her husband's financial debts to secure his promise to never demand sex from her again.
Quote #3
They cut her gown so short that it only came a little below her knee, and made her put on some white canvas in a kind of sacking apron, so that she would be taken for a fool [...] They made her sit at the end of the table below all the others, so that she scarcely dared speak a word. (I.26.98)
Kempe's companions to the Holy Land are not the nicest, most sympathetic people. But when they take to mutilating her clothing, they make it nearly impossible for her to leave her lodgings and move about the city. It's clear that Kempe is appalled by the amount of skin she would show, and such shame—and fear of reprisals—would restrict her ability to visit holy places.