Précis
Margery Kempe, a fifteenth-century Englishwoman whose book was a spiritual narrative of her life and pilgrimage through Europe and the Holy Land, considered herself to be a mystic, divinely inspired, yet she was denounced as a heretic by her peers and the Catholic church and was thought to be a hysteric.
In order to better understand Margery, factors of her life regarding her physical, mental and spiritual states must be considered in greater detail. Her episode after the birth of her first child was most likely caused by "postpartum depressive psychosis with features of agitation" and was probably prolonged due to suppressed feelings of guilt for an unconfessed sexual premarital sin. Her confessor did not enable her to heal through confession, and when she became mute would not grant her absolution, thus driving her to acts of self-destructive behavior and delusions. Through a vision of Christ speaking to her, Margery instantaneously and completely recovered and resumed her life as before, although with an intense passion to worship the Lord. After more confusion of sexual desires involving a married man, Margery was intent on living chastely with her husband and convinced him to do so. He then granted her permission to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
A great portion of her Book describes her tribulations as a pilgrim. Her costume of white, symbolizing her chastity, was not suitable for travel and her manner of being overcome with the spirit and weeping profusely caused her peers to question her character and truthfulness. They also refused to believe her actions were the work of God and often abandoned her; however, Margery continued in her devotion to the Lord. In November 1414, her "mystical marriage" to Him was accomplished in Rome followed by her senses being heightened along with increased outbursts in public with and losing consciousness.
It was only after the illness and death of her husband that she requested to be relieved of her crying fits. Finally realizing that she could be a nuisance to those around her, she became more philanthropic in her community and visited sickbeds and prayed for many, in particular one woman who suffered from a postpartum psychosis like herself. Her desire to help those who were ill may have derived from her illnesses of "dysentery" or what sounds like "gallstones," or perhaps "typhoid fever followed by cholelithasis," that caused her great pain and physical suffering but strengthened her faith in God.
In examining her health history by her own account, a simple to diagnosis of religious hysteria is possible considering her psychotic episodes, the fits of public weeping she experienced, the "migraine-like scotomata, the convulsions," her visions and heightened sensory disturbances, her conversations with God and other spiritual figures, her unquestioning admission of her symptoms and insensitivity of their effect on others. However, there is more to consider in her than mere religious hysteria.
In her Book, Margery appears honest and is proved be accurate in areas that can be cross-referenced. She was conscious of sin, knew that only by God's grace could she be saved, proved her faith before many courts by her words, and wrote her treatise to comfort others who were in need. She also invited comparison with St. Juliana of Norwich. These instances of rational thought give rise to questions of Margery's innocence of being a hysteric.
Robert Carter, author of On the Pathology and Treatment of Hysteria, classified hysterical tendencies into three progressive changes: primary or initial episodes that can be non-recurring, secondary or subsequent attacks that could be spontaneous, and tertiary or those voluntarily recollected by the patient that excited her and that included her knowledge of her power to produce them. According to Carter, tertiary tendencies are developed by a person who feels neglected and who desires sympathy and solicitous attention describing Margery in terms of her spiritual advisers and confessors who took her seriously, not her peers.
Mysticism, an introverted and personal act, leaves Margery much room to be free with her experiences and actions without being concretely deemed a Lollard or heretic. Because it is "ineffable" or must be experienced directly, contains "noetic quality" or insight into depths of truth with authority, is "transient" and requires "passivity," a person could not judge Margery's truthfulness though she was able to report her visions and experiences. One obvious truth that can be derived from this more detailed account is that Margery Kempe's actions were both that of a mystic and a hysteric, her experiences were a "necessary form of self-therapy to avoid recurrence of psychosis" and were "a valid solution to her emotional problems in the context of her time."