The Book of Margery Kempe Freedom and Confinement Quotes

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.

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.

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.

The Papal Legate learns that Kempe's companions to Jerusalem have been punishing her for speaking about God—and, of course, for weeping. The company expects him to agree with their actions, but he surprises them by approving of Kempe's behavior and refusing to restrict her desire to speak of good things. Kempe's encounters with the clergy are certainly a mixed bag, but she's careful to include positive moments like this to show that she has influential supporters.

Here, Kempe is arrested in Leicester on her way home from pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It's a serious situation, since people are calling her a heretic and asking for her to be burned. But it turns out that even the jailer responsible for her confinement isn't willing to treat her unjustly. Kempe is anxious to show us that there is goodness and justice in the most desperate situations.

Although she's in grave danger—this particular group of clerics would like her charged with heresy, which is punishable by death at the stake—Kempe appears calm and collected. The idea of confinement as a result of her religious beliefs appeals to her, since it is close to martyrdom. And martyrdom is totally okay with her because it's a guaranteed pass to heaven, which is a kind of eternal freedom for Kempe.

The Mayor of Leicester really does not like Kempe, though we never fully understand why. Kempe wants us to know that this man is willing to behave unjustly if he has to in order to keep her locked up. It is possible that the Mayor feels some kind of political pressure to keep her in custody so that she won't make more mischief and get him in trouble.

Although Kempe has proved herself innocent more than one time, she pretty much gets arrested wherever she goes in England. This time, she's pretty nearly home when it happens. Lollardy is a heresy against the Roman Catholic Church, and it had many principles that appealed to women—that's why Kempe is so often accused of it.

Kempe makes it nearly home but doesn't want to set foot inside her town, because she has many enemies there and doesn't want to be taken into custody again. Her only hope of peace is to head back to London, to the Archbishop of Canterbury's residence at Lambeth Palace, to get ecclesiastical approval for her way of life. Even so, the clergy will never be uniform in its response to Kempe's brand of spirituality.

Not only is Kempe constrained by her husband, the clergy, and public opinion, but God himself also makes demands on her that she'd rather not take up. In this case, he's telling her to accompany her daughter-in-law back to her home in Prussia. Kempe objects because she is under a vow of obedience to her confessor—she is not a free woman who can go where she pleases. She knows that leaving without permission will have serious consequences.