Editing Julian of Norwich (section)

=== 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}}