- Margery Kempe explains what is to follow in the book and why it was written. It's the life of a sinful person who hits rock bottom, learns humility, and strikes up a relationship with the big J. C. (That's Jesus Christ, ladies and gents.)
- Kempe wants to talk about her experiences to show how merciful God is—not to praise herself. She clues us in to an important piece of logic that appears in this work: Christ shows her favor by destroying her life.
- Kempe loses health, wealth, and the respect of her neighbors—but it's a good thing. This makes her humble and helps her seek a more spiritual existence.
- Note: Kempe refers to herself at this point (and will throughout the work) in the third-person as "this creature."
- Kempe's spirituality manifests itself in a pretty irritating way: she cries a lot and shrieks out when she has her visions. We mean, we've all been there, but still…
- The rebukes Kempe gets from her neighbors only encourage her. If she suffers for her love of Christ, it's a good thing, and she's not going to keep it quiet just to please the Joneses.
- Kempe says that she converses with God in her soul. (Remember that when she speaks of Christ or the Holy Spirit, she's talking about members of the Trinity, which make up one God).
- Kempe says that Christ is "at home" in her soul, an image that she shares in common with another, greater female mystic, Julian of Norwich.
- Though she feels like God is truly part of her when they speak, the convos are also kind of above Kempe's head, so much so that she can't really relate the substance of what the big guy actually says to her.
- At some point, Kempe got worried about these visions and chats. Were they really from God, or were there darker forces at work? She asks clerics to help her determine this, and the response from them all is positive: the weeping and the visions are truly from God. She is encouraged.
- The clerics also urge Kempe to have her experiences written down in a book (like most women at the time, Kempe is illiterate and can't do it for herself).
- But Kempe feels that it's not the right time to write this stuff down, and she waits more than twenty years to record her experiences, when God tells her to.
- Problems arise immediately. Kempe has no writer until a "man out of Germany" comes to England with his family and offers his help. He dies after writing the bulk of her spiritual memoirs.
- When Kempe shows the man's efforts to a priest friend, he can't read the manuscript. The German-influenced dude's English wasn't so good.
- Also, the priest is a little freaked out by the slanders being spoken against Kempe by her neighbors. He's not sure he's doing the right thing by helping her out, so he abandons the project.
- The priest suggests that Kempe work with the friend of the first scribe to figure out what the text says.
- Kempe tries, but Scribe #1's friend doesn't get very far and gives up. She returns to her priest friend, who decides to give it another go.
- It's an auspicious start: the priest finds the text easier to read now. He reads what he can understand out loud, and Kempe corrects him when necessary by dictation.
- Kempe tells us that the book is not written in chronological order, because she is working from memory and is recalling only that which is true and important.
- The transcription of the book goes well, until the priest suddenly has a problem with his vision. He can see everything else just fine, but the manuscript has suddenly become illegible to him.
- Kempe thinks this is because of an enemy's jealousy and begs the priest to persevere. He does, and soon all is well.
- Kempe explains that the priest added this proem to more fully explain the "publication history" of the book. The other preface (which appears next), is the one written earlier by the German scribe.
- The proem closes with a confirmation of the date: 1436 C.E.