Meet the Cast
Margery Kempe
A Material GirlWe don't know much about Kempe's life before her conversion experience, but we do know that she was a go-getter from a prominent family in Bishop's Lynn. This was a thriving market t...
John Kempe
By the time her story was written down, Margery Kempe wasn't all that into her hubby anymore (she prefers Jesus), so we don't know all that much about him. But here's what we do know. For one thing...
Robert Spryngolde
The scribe who straightens out Kempe's first, corrupted version of Book One and works with her to produce Book II is often—but not always—identified as Kempe's confessor, Robert Spryngolde. Lit...
Master Aleyn of Lynn
Apart from Robert Spryngolde, Master Aleyn is Margery Kempe's special ecclesiastical friend and champion. He's also an intellectual heavy-hitter: a Cambridge-educated doctor of divinity and Carmeli...
Richard of Caister
Richard is the saintly Vicar of St. Stephen's Church in Norfolk. Kempe meets him immediately after giving birth, when Jesus commands her to fix her hair and walk over to Norwich to meet with this h...
Julian of Norwich
Jesus commands Kempe to visit "Dame Julian," who is the author of Revelations of Divine Love and is considered one of the greatest English mystics. Julian was an anchoress at St. Julian's Church (n...
The "Good Friar" (aka The Preaching Friar or Dominican Friar)
You know that popular guy in school everyone loves because he's good at everything, says the right things, and bullies the easy targets? Well, in this book, that's the "Good Friar," the kryptonite...
Kempe's Son
Though she has fourteen children, Kempe's role as mother is not the focus of her narrative. We only hear about one of her sons, who is described as a "tall young man." He goes into business and fal...
Kempe's Daughter-in-Law
It's a tale as old as time: mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law do not like each other. Well, the relationship between Kempe and her "tall" son's widow does not deviate from this script. Although t...