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A Fictional-True Self: Margery Kempe and the Social Reality of the Merchant Elite of King’s Lynn

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2017

Michael D. Myers
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The social reality of the merchant community of King’s Lynn played an integral role in the formation of Margery Kempe’s self-image throughout her life. In her young-formative years, Lynn’s merchant elite imparted personal, commercial, ethical, and religious values. As the daughter of John Brunham, one of the most influential members of Lynn’s elite, the merchant community also provided Margery with status, security, comfort, and self-worth. Even in her later years as Margery formulated her holy self-image as she questioned, and eventually rejected, the role imposed on her by Lynn’s merchant culture as the daughter of Brunham and wife of John Kempe, she continued to identify herself through that culture. When asked by the mayor of Leicester in 1416 or 1417 to identify herself, Margery confidently replied, “Sir, I am of Lynn of Norfolk, a good man’s daughter of the same Lynn, who had been mayor five time of that worshipful borough and alderman also many years, and I have a good man, also a burgess of the said town, Lynn, as my husband.”

Type
Research Article
Information
Albion , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , Fall 1999 , pp. 377 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference on British Studies 1999

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Footnotes

*

A draft of this paper was presented at the Thirteenth Annual Conference of the Medieval Association of the Midwest held at the University of Iowa, September 1997. I would like the Department of History, University of Notre Dame, for their generous support. I would also like to thank Kathleen Biddick, Mark Addison Amos, as well as Douglas Biggs and Gloria Betcher for their valuable and constructive comments and suggestions.

References

1 The Book of Margery Kempe, Meech, Sanford Brown and Allen, Hope Emily, eds., Early English Text Society, Original Series, no. 212 (Oxford, 1940), p. 111.Google Scholar Renderings of the text into modern English are mine. All references and quotes from The Book of Margery Kempe will be from this volume.

2 Staley, Lynn, Margery Kempe’s Dissenting Fictions (University Park, Penn., 1994), p. 171;Google Scholar and Goodman, Anthony, “The Piety of John Brunham’s Daughter, of Lynn,” in Medieval Women, Derek Baker, ed. (Oxford, 1987), p. 348.Google Scholar

3 Aers, David, Community, Gender, and Individual Identity, English Writing 1360-1430 (London, 1988), p. 85;Google Scholar and Ellis, Deborah S., “Margery Kempe and King’s Lynn,” in Margery Kempe, A Book of Essays, McEntire, Sandra J., ed. (New York, 1992), p. 139.Google Scholar

4 In addition to other works cited in this article, the following sample the extensive bibliography on Margery Kempe: Glenn, Cheryl, “Reexamining The Book of Margery Kempe,” in Reclaiming Rhe-torica, Women in the Rhetorical Tradition, ed. Lundsford, Andrea A. (Pittsburgh, 1995), pp. 53-71;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Triggs, Tony D., trans., The Autobiography of the Madwoman of God, The Book of Margery Kempe (Liguori, Mo., 1995);Google Scholar Neuburger, Verena E., Margery Kempe, A Study in Early English Feminism (New York, 1994);Google Scholar McEntire, Sandra J., “The Journey into Selfhood: Margery Kempe and Feminine Spirituality,” in idem., ed., Margery Kempe, A Book of Essays (New York, 1992), pp. 51-69;Google Scholar Dickman, Susan, “Margery Kempe and the English Devotional Tradition,” in The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England, ed. Marion Glasscoe (Exeter, 1980), pp. 156-72;Google Scholar and Painter, Nancy F., “Reading the Book of Margery Kempe,” Exemplaria 3 (1991): 29-66.Google Scholar

5 Staley, Dissenting Fictions, p. 40.

6 Book of Margery Kempe, p. 9.

7 Ibid., pp. 23-24. For Margery’s marriage below her status see Gallyon, Margaret, Margery Kempe of Lynn and Medieval England (Norwich, 1995), p. 41;Google Scholar Goodman, , “John Brunham’s Daughter,” p. 352Google Scholar; Ellis, , “Margery Kempe and King’s Lynn,” pp. 140-41;Google Scholar Neuburger, , Margery Kempe, A Study in Early English Feminism, p. 52Google Scholar; and Glenn, , “Reexamining,” p. 93Google Scholar. As David Aers notes, the whole midsummer dialogue is couched in terms of a commercial negotiation, Community, Gender, and Individual Identity, p. 96. The passage, however, seems to indicate that John is a much shrewder bargainer than he is given credit, because he seems to get exactly what he wants most, payment of his debts.

8 Goodman, “John Brunham’s Daughter,” p. 349.

9 Staley, Dissenting Fictions, p. 62; and Gallyon, Kempe of Lynn, p. 54.

10 John Brunham was elected mayor in 1370, 1377, 1378, 1385, and 1391 and Lynn’s representative at Parliament in 1364, 1368, 1378, 1382, and 1384, Strange, Hamon Le, Norfolk Official Lists (Norwich, 1890), pp. 190-91 and 206-08Google Scholar respectively. He held the prestigious and powerful office of alderman of the Great Guild of the Holy Trinity between 1394 and 1399, Richards, William, The History of Lynn, 2 vols. (King’s Lynn, 1812), 1: 467;Google Scholar and King’s Lynn Corporation Archives [hereafter cited as KL C] Be 587. The Great Guild of the Holy Trinity of Lynn was one of the few merchant guilds that survived into the late middle ages with its political authority intact. It members formed “the dominant element in town government” and can be considered as “synonymous with the governing group of the town”; Owen, Dorothy M., ed. The Making of King’s Lynn, A Documentary Survey (London, 1984), p. 63Google Scholar; and Hanawalt, Barbara, “Keepers of the Lights: Late Medieval English Parish Gilds,” in The Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 14 (1984):Google Scholar 26. Reflecting the close ties between the guild and borough offices, the unusually high entrance fee to the guild of 100s. ( Gross, Charles, The Gild Merchant, 2 vols. [Oxford, 1890], 2, p. 160)Google Scholar coincides with the annual income required for candidacy to the borough’s governing Council of Jurats from which the mayor was elected (KL C10/2, f. 17). Furthermore, the alderman of the Great Guild selected the first four of the twelve-member committee who elected the mayor (KL C2/29).

11 A Calendar of the Freemen of Lynn 1292-1836 (Norwich, 1913), p. 13. Ralph probably became a freeman sometime between 1325 and 1335.

12 After becoming a burgess in 1353, except for 1356, 1366, and 1368 John Brunham held a variety of offices other than mayor or alderman in Lynn’s administration until his death in 1413, such as chamberlain (1355, 1361, and 1367), coroner, and juratus, or console a total of thirty-five times, Holcombe Ingleby, ed., The Red Register of King’s Lynn, 2 vols. (King’s Lynn, 1920) [hereafter cited as RR], 2: 2-175 passim. [All citations from the RR will be from volume II unless noted.] The chamberlain account of 1377 notes “lohannem de Brunham lustic. Pacis,” KL C39/47. It must be noted, however, that considerable gaps in records exist between 1395 and 1412. The alderman of the Great Guild of the Holy Trinity selected four jurati who then co-opted eight others. This body of twelve jurati then selected twelve to twenty-four consoles to serve on the mayor’s advisory council. At times, this council included the jurati. The cursus honorum of Lynn in the late-fourteenth century usually began with selection as juratus or console (the rank of precedence is usually in that order) and these offices could be held multiple times, followed by chamberlain, mayor, a few terms as parliamentarian, and possibly alderman of the Great Guild of the Holy Trinity. This schema excludes the lower tier of offices such as watchman of Lynn’s three gates or sergeant-at-mace, which did not require citizenship or guild membership. Rarely did members of this lower tier rise to the higher cursus honorum.

13 Thomas Botkesham purchased his freedom in 1346 (Calendar of Freemen, p. 9), and was elected mayor in 1350, 1360, 1363, and 1369, parliamentary representative 1371 and 1399, and alderman 1370 or 1371 and 1379 as well holding the office of chamberlain, juratus, and console at various times: Strange, Le, Official Lists, pp. 190 and 207-08;Google Scholar Richards, , History of Lynn, p. 467; and RR pp. 2-149Google Scholar passim respectively.

14 Calendar of Freeman, p. 10. Elected mayor in 1342, Betelee represented Lynn at Parliament in 1376, 1380, 1384, and 1387, Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 191 and 206-07. Betelee served as Alderman sometime during the reign of Richard II, Richards, History of Lynn, p. 467. For the offices of console and juratus see RR, pp. 2-165 passim.

15 Edmund Belleyetere was elected mayor in 1390, 1394, and 1399, and went to Parliament in 1386 and 1388, Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 190 and 207. Between 1370 and 1390 he served either as a juratus or a console seventeen times as well as chamberlain three times, RR, pp. 2-95 passim. Robert Botkesham served as mayor in 1395, 1403, and 1410 and attended Parliament in 1391 and 1408, Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 190 and 207-08. From 1378 to 1395 he was elected either juratus or console thirteen times and chamberlain twice, RR, pp. 2-138 passim. Elected mayor in 1352, 1353, 1354, 1359, and 1366, William Bitterynge also served as either juratus or console fifteen times between 1345 and 1370, RR, pp. 56-182 passim. In 1361 and 1364 Simon Guntone was elected mayor and in 1353, 1362, and 1366 represented Lynn at Parliament, Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 190 and 206. He was elected juratus or console sixteen times between 1350 and 1376 as well as chamberlain three times, RR, pp. 56-176 passim. Elected mayor in 1372 and 1379, Galfrid Tolboothe also was chosen either juratus or console twenty-five times between 1357 and 1382, Le Strange, Official Lists, p. 190; and RR, pp. 2-158 passim. Finally, although only elected mayor once (1376), Richard Hontone represented Lynn in Parliament in 1380 and 1382 as well as being chosen juratus or console twenty-four times between 1358 and 1387, Le Strange, Official Lists, p. 207; and RR, pp. 2-158 passim. Others who could be included in this list are John Cockesforde, Thomas Curzon, Galfrid Fransham, John Wythe, John Titeshale, and Robert, Thomas, and John Waterden. The careers of John Couteshale and Thomas Drewe can be included in this list, but are discussed in conjunction with their families.

16 RR, 1, p. 104: ca. 1320 “Radulfus de Brunham, j aketone [padded tunic], bacinet [light helmet], et cyrothecas [heavy leather glove], precii xiijs.” For Brunham’s selection as juratus see RR, 1, pp. 6-7 and 2, pp. 182-83 and 204-05. Because John entered the freedom through patrimony indicates that he was the eldest son of Ralph, and also suggests that Ralph had been a burgess for some time.

17 Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 190 and 208. Robert may possibly be Margery’s uncle, the relationships are difficult to work out. Robert’s entry into the freedom of Lynn was never recorded, but the entry of an elder son through patrimony is relatively rare until the fifteenth century. Thus Robert could be John’s eldest son and Margery’s brother. It is also possible that Robert is Margery’s uncle and the eldest son of Edmund Brunham, who entered the freedom in 1358 through apprenticeship to his father John, Margery’s father. John Brunham, Margery’s brother, became a burgess on 14 June 1394 (RR, p. 9), but never seems to have been very active in Lynn politics.

18 Calendar of Freemen, p. 3; Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 189-190 for mayoralties and 206-08 for Parliament; and RR, pp. 2-200, passim, for offices of chamberlain, juratus, and console.

19 A11 references from Calendar of Freemen, pp. 7-19; and Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 189-90, for mayoralties and 206-08 for Parliament. It was not uncommon for an eldest son to have the same first name as the father.

20 Calendar of Freemen, pp. 7-15; Le Strange, Official Lists, p. 190 for mayoralties and 207 for Parliament; and RR, pp. 2-147, passim, for offices of chamberlain, juratus, and console.

21 Calendar of Freemen, p. 15; Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 189-90 for mayoralties; and RR, pp. 2-200, passim, for offices of chamberlain, juratus, and console.

22 Calendar of Freemen, p. 12.

23 Thrupp, Sylvia, The Merchant Class of Medieval London (Chicago, 1948), p. 193.Google Scholar

24 Book of Margery Kempe, pp. 7-8, 11-12, 15-16, and 21-24.

25 Book of Margery Kempe, App. Ill, p. 363.

26 Dobson, R. B., “Admission to the Freedom of the City of York in the Later Middle Ages,” Economic History Review, 2nd Ser., 26 (1973): 9-10Google Scholar. Entry by patrimony can be found in the freemen lists of Lynn before 1387, for example Thomas Bryntone, son of Richard Bryntone, entered through patrimony in 1358 (Calendar of Freemen, p. 13), but the absence of several prominent burgesses of Lynn in the lists reflects the general practice of not recording the entries of eldest sons at this time.

27 RR, p. 103.

28 The careers of a few contemporaries of John Brunham demonstrate the pattern. Edmund Belleyetere began his political career in 1370 after becoming a freeman in 1364, RR, pp. 95-6, and Calendar of Freemen, p. 16. Thomas Botkesham was elected juratus in 1349 just three years after becoming a burgess of Lynn, RR, p. 185, and Calendar of Freemen, p. 9. Thomas Couteshale became a console in 1370 after entering the freedom in 1361, RR, p. 100, and Calendar of Freemen, p. 15. Galfrid Fransham was elected chamberlain in 1357, seven years after becoming a citizen, RR, pp. 57-58, and Calendar of Freemen, p. 12. John Waryn became a citizen in 1365 and was elected chamberlain in 1374, RR, p. 116, and Calendar of Freemen, p. 17.

29 “Et de xx solidis ffratribus Minoribus pro trigintalibus Iohannis Kempe & sociorum dicte so-cietatis hoc Anno deo comendatorum,” Book of Margery Kempe, Appendix III, p. 365. A trigintalium is a service of thirty masses celebrated for the soul of the deceased.

30 Thrupp, Medieval London, pp. 193-95.

31 RR, p. 5. Both entered the freedom by paying entry fees of 40s. on 28 May 1393. Simon’s pledges for entrance were Thomas Drewe and Thomas Waterden. To have such prestigious men as pledges speaks highly of the regard for Simon. The entry for John is incomplete, but this should not be considered a slight. Both entered together, and the lack of completion of John’s entry may suggest that his pledges were the same as Simon’s.

32 Book of Margery Kempe, p. xlviii.

33 Ibid., p. 179.

34 Public Record Office [hereafter cited as PRO] E. 122/ 94/9 for 1388.

35 PRO E. 122/94/12 in the early 1390s.

36 PRO E. 122/93/31 for September 1390-November 1390.

37 PRO E. 122/94/23 for September 1390-February 1391.

38 Koppmand, Karl, ed. Die Recesse und Andere Akten der Hansetage von 1256-1430, 6 vols. (Leipzig, 1872-1889), 3, no. 404, pp. 404-14.Google Scholar The goods of John Brandon, Thomas Waterden, Thomas Urry, John Locke, John Draper, Edward Belleyetere, and Robert Waterden were also seized.

39 Koppmand, Die Recesse der Hansetage, 3, p. 406; and PRO E. 122/93/31; 94/9; 94/12; and 94/23. As Deborah S. Ellis notes these merchants had “mutual interests and associations,” “Margery Kempe and King’s Lynn,” p. 141.

40 RR, pp. 72-103 passim. It may be reasonable to speculate that John Kempe never engaged in an even more active political career because he was too active in commerce to spare the time.

41 Pledge for Lyster, RR, p. 12; elected chamberlain, p. 9 (Simon was chosen juratus at the same assembly also); pledge for Frampton, p. 13; and “collectores dimidie decime” p. 15. The “decime” was the subsidy granted by Parliament to the Crown, and in this case appears to have been collected in two installments, hence “dimidie decime.” John’s father also served in a similar position (“sub-collectores decime domino regi’) in 1373/74, RR, p. 114.

42 Bolton, J. L., The Medieval English Economy 1150-1500 (London, 1980), pp. 297-303;Google Scholar Reynolds, Susan, An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns (Oxford, 1977), p. 147;Google Scholar Power, Eileen, The Wool Trade in English Medieval History (Oxford, 1941), pp. 63-85;Google Scholar and Lloyd, T. H., The English Wool Trade in the Middle Ages (Cambridge, 1977), pp. 261-66 and 273-75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43 Bolton, , Medieval English Economy, pp. 294-97Google Scholar; and Power, Eileen, “The Wool Trade in the Fifteenth Century,” in Power, E. E. and Postan, M. M., eds. Studies in English Trade in the Fifteenth Century (London, 1933), pp. 72-74.Google Scholar

44 Carus-Wilson, E. M. and Coleman, Olive, England’s Export Trade 1275-1547 (Oxford, 1963), pp. 52-56.Google Scholar

45 For general surveys of Lynn’s trade see Fudge, John, “Anglo-Baltic trade and Hanseatic commercial systems in the late fifteenth century,” in Walter Minchinton, ed. Britain and the Northern Seas (Pontefract, 1988), pp. 13-14;Google Scholar and Carus-Wilson, E. M., “The Medieval Trade of the Ports of the Wash,” Medieval Archaeology 6-7 (1962-63): 182-201.Google Scholar

46 Lloyd, T. H., England and the German Hanse 1157-1611 (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

47 Postan, M. M., “The economic and Political Relations of England and the Hanse from 1400-1475,” in Studies in English Trade in the Fifteenth Century, p. 98;Google Scholar and Lloyd, , England and the German Hanse, pp. 73, 277.Google Scholar Evidence of the dangers involved in trade with the Hanse can be seen in the confiscation of goods valued slightly over £1900 of Lynn merchants and those from other English towns in Danzig, noted above; Koppmand, Die Recesse der Hansetage, 3, no. 404, pp. 404-414.

48 Walker, Simon, The Lancastrian Affinity 1361-1399 (Oxford, 1990), p. 206.Google Scholar Richard II usually appointed members of the merchant elite of the town as royal customs officials for that particular customs headport with a former mayor often being appointed to the prestigious position of collector of customs and subsidies: Baker, Robert L., “The English Customs Service, 1308-1343: A Study of Medieval Administration,” in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, n.s. 51, pt. 6 (Philadelphia, 1961):Google Scholar 1; and Cobb, H. S., ed. The Overseas Trade of London Exchequer Customs Accounts 1480-1 (London, 1990), p. xvi.Google Scholar This pattern can be seen in Lynn throughout Richard’s reign, but changed under Henry IV ca. 1400. Until that time merchants such as Edmund Belleyetere, John Brandon, Thomas Drewe, and John Wentworth had been both mayors and customs officials: Le Strange, Official Lists, pp. 190-91; PRO E. 122/356/14 and 17; E. 122/94/2, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 23; E. 122/95/7, 8 and 15; Calendar Patent Rolls, Richard II, 1377-99, 6 vols. (London, 1895-1909), 2: 128, 237; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Richard II, 3: 247, 455; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Richard II, 4: 50, 240, 241; and Calendar Patent Rolls, Henry IV, 1399-1413, 4 vols. (London: 1903-109), 1: 2, 9, 467. Henry IV, however, tended to appoint men not only from outside the merchant community of Lynn but also who were not connected to the borough.

49 Cal. Pat. Rolls, Henry IV, 2: 369.

50 The average number of cloths exported by denizen merchants, i.e., English merchants or those licensed as English merchants, through Lynn between Michaelmas 1396 to Michaelmas 1399 was 1,738 and 1,492 cloths between Michaelmas 1406 and Michaelmas 1420, computed from Carus-Wilson and Coleman, England’s Export Trade, pp. 89-92. These averages compare well to Hull (1,481 denizen cloths) and Southampton (712 denizen cloths), which have been noted as centers of England’s cloth trade, Carus-Wilson, E. M., Medieval Merchant Venturers (London, 1954), pp. 258-64.Google Scholar

51 Thrupp, Merchant Class of Medieval London, pp. 223. This resulted from failure to produce male heirs, lack of education, or a son not following in the career path of his father (p. 204).

52 John Brunham died before 16 October 1413. A conveyance of that date (Be. 397 and Book of Margery Kempe, Appendix III, p. 362) by John, his son, notes “predicti Iohannis Brunham patris mei defuncti.&” See KL C6/4 for Robert.

53 Of course, the Kempes continue in The Book of Margery Kempe.

54 Thrupp, Merchant Families, pp. 205-06.

55 Ibid., pp. 191-233 and 279-87; Nicholas, David, The Later Medieval City ¡300-1500 (London, 1997), pp. 180-86.Google Scholar

56 Holt, Richard and Rosser, Gervase, “Introduction, The English Town in the Middle Ages,” in idem, eds. The Medieval Town, 1200-1540 (London, 1990), p. 9.Google Scholar

57 For the offices see KL C6/2-6; and Official Lists, pp. 190-91 and 208-09. For merchant activities, all references PRO E. 122 series: Galyon, 95/8; Petypas, 95/27; and Hunte, 95/27.

58 Official Lists, p. 191; and PRO E. 122/93/31.

59 The literature on the urban crisis is extensive. A brief survey of the debate should include: Britnell, R. H., The Commercialisation of English Society 1000-1500 (Cambridge, 1993)Google Scholar; Dyer, Christopher, Decline and Growth in English Towns, 1400-1640 (London, 1991, esp. pp. 37-50;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Rigby, S. H., “Late Medieval Urban Prosperity: The Evidence of the Lay Subsidies,” in Economic History Review, 2nd Ser., 39 (1986): 411-16;Google Scholar Bridbury, A. R., “English Provincial Towns in the Later Middle Ages,” in Economic History Review, 2nd Ser., 34 (1981): 1-24;Google Scholar Phythian-Adams, Charles, “Urban Decay in Late Medieval England,” in Abrams, Philip and Wrigley, E. A., eds. Towns in Societies (Cambridge, 1978), pp. 159-85;Google Scholar and Dobson, R. B., “Urban Decline in Late Medieval England,” in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 5th Ser., 27 (1977): 1-22.Google Scholar

60 Carus-Wilson and Coleman, England’s Export Trade, p. 96.

61 On the persuasiveness of commerce and the mercantile mentality present in The Book of Margery Kempe see Aers, Community, Gender, and Individual Identity, pp. 74-116, esp. 87-96; and Staley, Dissenting Fictions, pp. 48-50 and 63-64.

62 Myers, Michael D., “Well-nigh Ruined?: Violence in King’s Lynn 1380-1420” (Ph.D. diss., University of Notre Dame, 1996), pp. 34-42.Google Scholar

63 Book of Margery Kempe, p. 9.

64 Ellis, “Margery Kempe and King’s Lynn,” p. 141.

65 Book of Margery Kempe, p. 9 [the implication that Margery has to brew or mill because of John’s failures] and pp. 23-24 [the “midsummer eve” episode]: “I grant that I will pay your debts before I go to Jerusalem.”