ABSTRACT
KEMPE, MARGERY (ca. 1373-after 1438) Controversial mystic and author of the rst extant autobiography in English. The Book of Margery Kempe is both a mysti cal treatise consisting of the author’s visions and conversations with Christ and a narrative of her life, including her conver sion, pilgrimages, and arguments with church authorities. Kempe, who was illiterate, dictated her autobiography to two different scribes. The original manuscript has been lost, but a 15th-century copy was discovered in 1934.
