Julian of Norwich

English mystic

• Born: 1342
• Birthplace: Probably Norwich, Norfolk, England
• Died: After 1416
• Place of death: Norwich, Norfolk, England

Julian was a significant English medieval mystic, whose book, The Showings of Julian of Norwich, made her the first-recognized English female author.

Early Life

A contemporary of the great English authors Geoffrey Chaucer and William Langland and of the theologian John Wyclif, little is known of Julian of Norwich’s (NOHR-ihch) life. Even the name Julian by which she is best known might not have been her given name but instead arisen from the name of the church that contained her anchorhold. The scant, verifiable, biographical details available come from a few autobiographical references in her book, The Showings of Julian of Norwich (written c. 1373-1393; published c. 1650-c. 1670, 1901; also known as the Revelations of Divine Love), a brief description of a meeting with fellow East Anglian mystic Margery Kempe, described in Kempe’s autobiography, The Book of Margery Kempe (1940), and from several contemporary wills that record bequests to Julian and her servant.

Julian lived during the turmoil in fourteenth century Europe and England, including the Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1309-1377), the Great Schism of the Papacy (1378-1417), the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), the Black Death throughout Europe (1347-1352) and recurrent plague, bad harvests, outbreaks of cattle disease, and the Peasants’ Revolt in England (1381). These events might help explain the great number of English mystics such as Walter Hilton, Richard Rolle, Margery Kempe, and the unknown author of the mystical prose work The Cloud of Unknowing (fourteenth century), who were devout seekers of not only refuge but also answers through solitude, meditation, and prayer.

Because Julian vividly described colors and cloth in her book and possibly because she had familiarity with paintings of the crucifixion extant in Norwich, it is thought that she came from a wealthy family engaged in the Norwich textile trade. Apparently familiar with the contemplative life, it is possible that she may have been a Benedictine nun prior to becoming an anchoress, a holy recluse, who lived in a cell (or anchorhold), at the Church of Saints Julian and Edward in Norwich, East Anglia, England. To become an anchoress, she would have had to face an interview by the local bishop to ascertain whether she had a genuine “calling” to a life of devotion. Such a vocation would have been unusual for Julian, as most women, especially the wealthy, were expected to marry, have children, and keep house or assist in the management of the family estate. Julian’s church, located on the main road in England’s second largest city, would have been in close proximity to the bell in the Cathedral of Norwich, which would have helped regulate her devotion or prayer. The cathedral dated to Norman times and about thirty churches existed in the city at the time, making it an important center of religion and religious artifacts in England.

Life’s Work

At the age of just over thirty years (according to Julian’s account), Julian was stricken with a serious ailment of seven nights’ and six days’ duration. She believed she was taken ill as a result of previous prayers for three gifts from God, a better knowledge of Christ’s suffering, a severe illness and the wounds of contrition, and compassion and longing like those of the martyred Saint Cecilia. She was given the last rites on the fourth day, and on the seventh day, she went numb from the waist down and again received the last rites. At one point Julian’s mother closed Julian’s eyes thinking her daughter had died. On either May 8 or May 13, 1373 (the manuscript sources differ), she recovered and received sixteen visions, revelations, or “showings,” as she called them, which she believed to be of divine origin as she meditated on the crucifix a local curate had brought to her. The crucifix appeared to come to life in a re-enactment of Christ’s crucifixion. Scholarly, medical explanations for her illness range from diagnoses of self-induced psychosomatic episode to botulism, cardiac arrest, ergotism, or a reaction to herbs.

The sixteen visions she reportedly experienced were the following:

• 1. The crowning of Christ with thorns
• 2. The signs of Christ’s passion
• 3. The almighty, all-knowing, all-loving God has made everything
• 4. The beatings of Christ’s body and the shedding of his blood
• 5. The devil is defeated by Christ’s passion and sufferings
• 6. The heavenly reward for God’s faithful
• 7. The experiences of God’s grace bringing joy and the experience of temptation bringing sadness
• 8. Christ’s suffering and death
• 9. The joy that the Trinity experienced because of the sufferings and death of Christ
• 10. Christ shows his heart divided in half
• 11. The revelation of Christ’s mother, Mary
• 12. The Lord is the essence of all there is
• 13. That believers should appreciate the creation of nature, the creation of human beings, and Christ’s atonement
• 14. That Christ is the basis of believers’ prayers
• 15. Believers will enter their reward in heaven leaving their pain behind
• 16. The Trinity lives eternally in the souls of the believers, and through his love the believers will not be overtaken by the devil

Feeling compelled to share these “showings” with others, even though she was a woman, Julian prepared in the first-person vernacular a short description (usually referred to by scholars as the Short Text) soon after the visions, although some scholars argue the work was composed as late as 1388. Julian pondered these visions for about twenty years, and around 1393, she wrote an expanded version (called the Long Text) roughly six times the length of the Short Text, which is highly regarded for its poetic, spiritual, devotional, and theological elements and makes her the first recognized English female author.

Julian’s contemporary reputation as a holy woman attracted the attention of Margery Kempe, who sought out Julian in 1413 for advice about the uncontrollable weeping Kempe experienced. According to Kempe, their visit lasted “many days,” and Julian assured Kempe that the tears were a gift from God and not the devil. A bequest by a local man in 1416 to Julian and her servant indicated that she was alive at that date and still an anchoress.

Significance

Julian’s description of the revelations, which she maintained were rooted in God’s expression of love for humanity and intended to benefit others and not just herself, has attracted considerable scholarly attention. Commentators have focused on a number of passages in her book, the depiction of the universe as a “hazel nut” in God’s hand, the parable of the Lord and the servant, the discussion of sin and the problem of evil, the attack of the devil, the motherhood of God, and the Trinity, specifically the second member of the Trinity, Jesus.

Other areas of interest lie in examinations of the differences between the Short and Long Texts. For example, Julian noted that the Short Text was aimed primarily to a readership in the contemplative life. However, this is not mentioned in the Long Text. So it appears that she reached out to a wider, lay readership in the Long Text. There is much greater detail of the physical aspects of the crucifixion in the Long Text. In the Long Text she provides cross references to the revelations as a type of index for the benefit of the reader, and the revelations are numbered.

Believers may accept the visions as of divine origin; skeptics, while rejecting that explanation, focus on interpreting the visions in the manner in which Julian understood them given her religious background and her understanding of biblical and theological works within her own cultural context. This has led to speculation about Julian’s educational background because she referred to herself as “unlettered.” It may have been that she was just being humble because she obviously had a broad understanding of the Bible and theological works, or it may have referred to the fact that she had no formal training in Greek and Latin and was largely self taught. The complex content and sophisticated treatment of her material as well as the intricate reasoning and rhetoric indicate a superior intellect whatever the status of her education.

Her book has drawn greater attention to the position of women in late Medieval England. Her description of Jesus as a mother, unusual and original although not unique to Christian writings, has led many scholars, especially feminists, to explore gender-related theological issues and may be one of the factors that has led to the usage of female pronouns and terms to describe the God mentioned in the Bible.

Among the deep theological issues with which Julian grappled is the concept of origin of sin. Her answer explained that Adam (the servant) wandered away from God (the Lord) an act that was unintentional and involved no wickedness and God in love sought out Adam. She did not ascribe wrath to God as had many earlier theologians. God is said to allow sin and tolerate evil because it will result in the positive, beneficial goals of Christ’s crucifixion: the atonement of sin and the providing of salvation so that “all shall be well.” Although she remained orthodox, Julian came close to Universalism (the belief that all will be saved) when she maintained that God will perform “on the last day” a special deed for the benefit of sinners who had been destined for eternal damnation. In such a fashion, she was able to focus on the purpose of the revelations manifestation of God’s love to humanity.

Bibliography

Abbott, Christopher. Julian of Norwich: Autobiography and Theology. Rochester, N.Y.: D. S. Brewer, 1999. Part of the Cambridge Studies in Medieval Mysticism series, this text explores the meanings of autobiography, such as that composed by Julian in her Revelations, in the context of women and mysticism.

Baker, Denise Nowakowski. Julian of Norwich’s “Showings”: From Vision to Book. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994. Focuses on Julian’s development and significance as a thinker and theologian within her religious background.

Beer, Frances. Women and Mystical Experience in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge, England: Boydell Press, 1992. A comparative study useful for placing Julian within the context of medieval women mystics.

Colledge, Edmund, and James Walsh, eds. A Book of Showings to the Anchoress Julian of Norwich. 2 vols. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1978. A scholarly edition with an excellent introduction.

Jantzen, Grace M. Julian of Norwich: Mystic and Theologian. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 2000. A full consideration of Julian’s life, spirituality, and theology.

Jones, Catherine. “The English Mystic: Julian of Norwich.” In Medieval Women Writers, edited by Katharina M. Wilson. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1984. A brief consideration of Julian that focuses on her message of optimism. Contains selections from her work.

Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Translated by Clifton Wolters. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1973. A very accessible translation for the general reader.

Kempe, Margery. The Book of Margery Kempe: A New Translation, Contexts, Criticism. Translated and edited by Lynn Staley. New York: Norton, 2001. This critical edition of Kempe’s autobiographical work contains an excerpt of her “Shewings of Julian of Norwich,” and places Kempe in historical context.

McEntire, Sandra J., ed. Julian of Norwich: A Book of Essays. New York: Garland, 1998. Provides an excellent overview of scholarship from the late 1990’. Comprehensive bibliography will greatly assist students and other researchers.

Stone, Robert Karl. Middle English Prose Style: Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich. The Hague, the Netherlands: Mouton, 1970. A detailed, critical literary analysis of two great late-medieval prose devotional works, The Book of Margery Kempe and Julian’s Revelations.

Yuen, Wai Man. Religious Experience and Interpretation: Memory as the Path to the Knowledge of God in Julian of Norwich’s Showings. New York: Peter Lang, 2003. Part of the Feminist Critical Studies in Religion and Culture series, this text looks closely at Julian’s Revelations and the experience of memory in intellectual life.