Editing Julian of Norwich (section)

== Life ==
=== Sources for Julian's life ===
Little of Julian's life is known. The few scant comments she provided about herself are contained in her writings, later published in a book commonly known as ''[[Revelations of Divine Love]]'', a title first used in 1670.{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=148}}{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=lii}} The earliest surviving copy of a manuscript of Julian's, made by a [[scribe]] in the 1470s, acknowledges her as the author of the work.{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=148}}

The earliest known references to Julian come from four [[Will and testament|wills]], in which she is described as being an [[anchoress]].{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=148}} The wills were all made by individuals who lived in [[Norwich]]. Roger Reed, the rector of [[St Michael Coslany, Norwich]], whose will of 20{{nbsp}}March 1394 provides the earliest record of Julian's existence, made a [[bequest]] of 12{{nbsp}}[[Shilling#Kingdom of England|shillings]] to be paid to "Julian anakorite".{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiv}} Thomas Edmund, a [[Chantry]] priest from [[Aylsham]], stipulated in his will of 19{{nbsp}}May 1404 that 12{{nbsp}}[[Penny#England|pennies]] be given to "Julian, anchoress of the church of St Julian, Conisford" and 8 pennies to "Sarah, living with her".{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiv}}{{refn|1=It has been assumed by the historian [[Janina Ramirez]] that Sarah was Julian's maid, and her link to the outside world. According to Ramirez, she probably had access to Julian by means of a smaller adjoining room.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=18}}|group=note}} John Plumpton from Norwich gave 40 pennies to "the anchoress in the church of St Julian's, Conisford, and a shilling each to her maid and her former maid Alice" in his will dated 24{{nbsp}}November 1415.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiv}} The fourth person to mention Julian was Isabelle, Countess of Suffolk (the second wife of [[William de Ufford, 2nd Earl of Suffolk]]), who made a bequest of 20{{nbsp}}shillings to "{{lang|fr|Julian reclus a Norwich}}" in her will dated 26 September 1416.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiv}} As a bequest to an unnamed anchorite at St Julian's was made in 1429, there is a possibility Julian was alive at this time.{{sfn|Crampton|1994|p=11}}

[[File:The Book of Margery Kempe, Chapter 18 (excerpt).png|thumb|alt=manuscript of page of Kempe's book|Part of the manuscript ({{circa|1440}}) dictated by the mystic [[Margery Kempe]] to a [[scribe]], in which she mentions visiting "dame jelyan" ([[British Library]])]]
Julian was known as a [[Spirituality|spiritual authority]] within her community, where she also served as an adviser.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiii}} In around 1414, when she was in her seventies, she was visited by the English [[Mysticism|mystic]] [[Margery Kempe]]. ''[[The Book of Margery Kempe]]'', which is possibly the first autobiography to be written in English,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/20/margery-kempe-first-autobiographer-digitised-british-library |title=Margery Kempe, the first English autobiographer, goes online |last=Flood |first=Alison |date=21 March 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=4 February 2019 |archive-date=7 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190207015724/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/mar/20/margery-kempe-first-autobiographer-digitised-british-library |url-status=live}}</ref> mentions that Kempe travelled to Norwich to obtain spiritual advice from Julian,{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=viii}} saying she was "bidden by Our Lord" to go to "Dame Jelyan{{nbsp}}[...] for the anchoress was expert in" divine revelations, "and good counsel could give".{{sfn|Butler-Bowden|Chambers|1954|p=54}} Kempe never referred to Julian as an author, although she was familiar with the works of other spiritual writers, and mentioned them.{{sfn|Crampton|1994|p=11}}

=== Visions ===
Julian wrote in ''Revelations of Divine Love'' that she became seriously ill at the age of 30. She could have been an anchoress when she fell ill, although it is possible she was a [[Laity|lay person]] living at home,<ref name="ABC">{{Cite ODNB |id=15163 |title=Julian of Norwich (1342–c.1416) |last=Bhattacharji |first=Santha |date=2014}}</ref> as she was visited by her mother and other people, and the [[enclosed religious orders|rules of enclosure]] for an anchoress would not normally have allowed outsiders such access.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|pp=x, xv}} On 8{{nbsp}}May 1373 a [[curate]] administered the [[last rites]] of the church to her, in anticipation of her death. As he held a [[crucifix]] above the foot of her bed, she began to lose her sight and feel physically numb, but gazing on the crucifix she saw the figure of Jesus begin to bleed. Over the next several hours, she had a series of 15 visions of Jesus, and a 16th the following night.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=ix}}{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=37}}

Julian completely recovered from her illness on 13 May;<ref>{{Britannica | id=307843| title=Julian of Norwich| author=}}</ref> there is general agreement that she wrote about her "[[wikt:Special:Search/shew|shewings]]" shortly after she experienced them.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=219}} Her original manuscript no longer exists, but a copy, now known as the ''Short Text'', survived.{{sfn|McGinn|2012|p=425}} Decades later, perhaps in the early 1390s, she began a [[theological]] exploration of the meaning of her visions, and produced writings now known as ''The Long Text''. This second work seems to have gone through many revisions before it was finished, perhaps in the 1410s or 1420s.{{sfn|McGinn|2012|p=425}} Julian's [[revelation]]s seem to be the first important example of a vision by an Englishwoman for 200 years, in contrast with the Continent, where "a golden age of women's mysticism"<ref>{{cite journal |author=Nicholas Watson |title=The Composition of Julian of Norwich's ''Revelation of Love'' |journal=Speculum |volume=68 |number=3 |date=July 1993 |pages=637–683 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2864969 |doi=10.2307/2864969|jstor=2864969 }} Quoted in {{harvnb|Leyser|2002|p=219}}</ref> occurred during the 13th and 14th centuries.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=219}}

=== Personal life ===
[[File:Revelations of Divine Love (Add MS 37790) f. 97r.png|thumb|alt=15th century manuscript of Julian's Short Text |The beginning of the 15th century ''Short Text''. "Here es a vision schewed be the goodenes of god to a devoute woman and hir name es Julyan that is recluse atte Norwyche and ȝitt ys on lyfe {{lang|la|anno domini millesimo}} ccccxiii". ([[British Library|BL]], Add MS 37790)]]

The few autobiographical details Julian included in the ''Short Text'', including her gender, were suppressed when she wrote her longer text later in life.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiii}} Historians are not even sure of her actual name. It is generally thought to be taken from the church in Norwich to which her cell was attached, but ''Julian'' was also used in its own right as a girl's name in the Middle Ages, and so could have been her [[Christian name]].{{sfn|Groves|2010|p=74}}

Julian's writings indicate that she was born in 1343 or late 1342, and died after 1416.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|p=xiv}}{{sfn|Beer|1992|p=130}} She was six when the [[Black Death in England|Black Death arrived]] in Norwich.{{sfn|Upjohn|Groves|2018|p=13}} It has been speculated that she was educated as a young girl by the Benedictine [[nun]]s of [[Carrow Abbey]], as a school for girls existed there during her childhood.{{sfn|Beer|1992|p=130}}{{sfn|Watson|Jenkins|2006|p=4}} There is no written evidence that she was ever a nun at Carrow.<ref name=ABC />

According to several commentators, including Santha Bhattacharji in the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Julian's discussion of the maternal nature of God suggests that she knew of motherhood from her own experience of bringing up children.<ref name="ABC" /> As plague epidemics were rampant during the 14th century, it has been suggested that Julian may have lost her own family as a result.{{sfn|Obbard|2008|p=16}} By becoming an anchoress she would have been kept in [[quarantine]] away from the rest of the population of Norwich.{{sfn|Beer|1992|p=130}} However, nothing in Julian's writings provides any indication of the plagues, religious conflict, or civil insurrection that occurred in the city during her lifetime.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=31}} [[Kenneth Leech]] and Sister [[Benedicta Ward]], the joint authors of ''Julian Reconsidered'' (1988), concluded that she was a young widowed mother and never a nun. They based their opinion on a dearth of references about her occupation in life and a lack of evidence to connect her with Carrow Abbey, which would have honoured her and buried her in the grounds had she been strongly connected with the priory.{{sfn|Leech|Ward|1995|p=21}}

=== Life as an anchoress ===
[[File:CCCC MS 79 fol72r 300px.jpg|thumb|alt=illustration of a medieval bishop blessing an anchoress|A bishop blessing an anchoress, from MS 079: Pontifical ({{circa|1400|1410}}), [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]]]
Julian was an anchoress from at least the 1390s.{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=148}} Living in her cell, she would have played an important part within her community, devoting herself to a life of prayer to complement the [[clergy]] in their primary function as protectors of souls.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=11}} Her solitary life would have begun after the completion of an onerous selection process.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=206}} An important church ceremony would have taken place at St Julian's Church, in the presence of the [[bishop]].{{sfn|Rolf|2018|p=50}} During the ceremony, [[psalms]] from the [[Office of the Dead]] would have been sung for Julian (as if it were her funeral), and at some point she would have been led to her cell door and into the room beyond.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=13}} The door would afterwards have been sealed up, and she would have remained in her cell for the rest of her life.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|pp=5, 13}}

Once her life of seclusion had begun, Julian would have had to follow the strict rules laid down for anchoresses. Two important sources of information about the life of such women have survived. {{lang|la|De institutione inclusarum}} was written in [[Latin]] by [[Aelred of Rievaulx|Ælred of Rieveaulx]] in around 1162, and the {{lang|enm|[[Ancrene Wisse|Ancrene Riwle]]}} was written in [[Middle English]] in around 1200.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|pp=210, 212}}{{sfn|Fugelso|2020|p=127}}{{refn|1=Apart from {{lang|enm|The Ancrene Riwle}} and {{lang|la|De institutione inclusarum}}, the most important of the 13 surviving texts are [[Richard Rolle]]'s ''Form of Living'' ({{circa|1348}}) and ''The Scale of Perfection'' (written by Walter Hilton in 1386 and later, prior to his death in 1396).{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=148}}|group=note}} Originally made for three sisters, the {{lang|enm|Ancrene Riwle}} became in time a manual for all female recluses.{{sfn|Leyser|2002|p=211}} The work regained its former popularity during the mystical movement of the 14th century. It may have been available to Julian to read and become familiar with—being a book written in a language she could read.{{sfn|Baker|1993|p=149}} The book stipulated that anchoresses should live in confined isolation, in [[vow of poverty|poverty]], and under a [[vow of chastity]].{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|p=11}} The popular image of Julian living with her cat for company stems from the regulations set out in the {{lang|enm|Ancrene Riwle}}.{{sfn|Ramirez|2016|pp=11{{ndash}}13}}

As an anchoress living in the heart of an urban environment, Julian would not have been entirely secluded. She would have enjoyed the financial support of the more prosperous members of the local community, as well as the general affection of the population. She would have in turn provided prayers and given advice to visitors, serving as an example of devout holiness.{{sfn|Windeatt|2015|pp=xii{{ndash}}xiii}} According to one edition of the ''[[Cambridge Medieval History]]'', it is possible that she met the English mystic [[Walter Hilton]], who died when Julian was in her fifties, and who may have influenced her writings in a small way.{{sfn|Tanner|Previté-Orton|Brooke|1932|p=807}}