1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,520 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, six hundred and fifty years ago today or 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: possibly six hundred and fifty years ago this past Monday. 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Julian of Norwich had a series of religious visions that 4 00:00:13,760 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: she would go on to document in her book that's 5 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:20,800 Speaker 1: now known as Revelations of Divine Love. So we are 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: bringing our episode on her out as Today's Saturday Classic. 7 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: This originally came out on May fifteenth, twenty nineteen. Enjoy 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:45,199 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 10 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. We are going to talk 11 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: about a medieval mystic today, which is a topic we 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,000 Speaker 1: seem to roll around to about once every three years 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: or so. They're usually topics that you have selected, Mike. 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: I feel like it's one of those things that your 15 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: brain just is like, I need a little mysticism now. 16 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: Sometimes I do. It's also I took a class in college. 17 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,399 Speaker 1: I studied literature in college, and I took a class 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: that was all about medieval women writers and it was 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: about women writing in medieval Europe and then also women 20 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: writing in hay On, Japan, which was happening at the 21 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: same time, and a lot of the women who were 22 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: writing in medieval Europe we were mystics in one way, 23 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: so like, that's part of it. I really loved that 24 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: class and I loved so many of the women writers 25 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:36,039 Speaker 1: that I learned about in it, even though at this 26 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: point starting it's starting from scratch with research, Like I 27 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 1: don't remember any of the details from class from oh, yeah, 28 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,160 Speaker 1: twenty years ago. That's yeah, my brain can't retain it 29 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: in any sort of clarity for that long. Yeah, this 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: time we are talking about Julian of Norwich. And we've 31 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: talked about other mystics before, like I just said, there 32 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: was Marjorie Kemp and Hildegard of Bingen. We haven't really 33 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: talked about mysticism in general or how that fits into 34 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: the context of medieval European history and specifically Christianity in 35 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:14,280 Speaker 1: medieval Europe. So we are going to cover that context 36 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: today in addition to talking about Julian. And mysticism is 37 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,480 Speaker 1: not unique to Christianity, or to Europe or to the 38 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: medieval period. It's been part of religions around the world 39 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: for most of human history, and secular mysticism exists as well, 40 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: but when it comes to Christian mysticism in Europe, things 41 00:02:32,639 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: really started flourishing in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 42 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: These centuries were dangerous and chaotic, and we are really 43 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: going to only scratch the surface in this recap. In 44 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,240 Speaker 1: thirteen oh nine, Pope Clement the fifth moved the papal 45 00:02:47,320 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: capital from Rome to Avignol in France. He was escaping 46 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: political pressures in Rome, and then also did this to 47 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: appease King Philip the Fourth of France. Over the next 48 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: seven decades, the papacy became increasingly French, rather than being 49 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: more Italian as it had been before. Then. In thirteen 50 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: seventy seven, Pope Gregory the eleventh moved the seat of 51 00:03:10,480 --> 00:03:14,639 Speaker 1: the papacy back to Rome, but his successor, Urban the sixth, 52 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: was difficult to work with and butt heads with the cardinals. 53 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: So the cardinals elected their own Pope, Clement the seventh, 54 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:25,519 Speaker 1: who returned to Avignon, and this set off a series 55 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 1: of rival popes and anti popes in what became known 56 00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:32,400 Speaker 1: as the Great Schism or Western Schism, which lasted until 57 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: fourteen seventeen. The Catholic Church was immensely powerful and religion 58 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 1: touched virtually every facet of people's lives. So all of 59 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: this upheaval damaged the Church's reputation and spawned all kinds 60 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: of chaos and uncertainty. Yeah, we talked about it a 61 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 1: little bit more in the episodes about the defenestrations of Prague, 62 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: which involved throwing people out of windows. In thirteen thirty seven, 63 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: So to rewind a little bit, ongoing conflicts between England 64 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 1: and France evolved into the One Hundred Years War and 65 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: that continued off and on until fourteen fifty three. So 66 00:04:06,680 --> 00:04:09,440 Speaker 1: the one Hundred Years War was in a lot of places, 67 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 1: overlapping all of this chaos in the Catholic Church. The 68 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: war was connected to disputes over territory into the line 69 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,479 Speaker 1: of succession of King Charles the Fourth of France. He 70 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: died without an heir, and then England tried to take 71 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: control of the French throne. This war was marked by 72 00:04:25,720 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: active battles as well as lengthy sieges, and it's the 73 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:31,800 Speaker 1: war where jodov Arc, who was a French mystic in 74 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,119 Speaker 1: her own right, came into prominence. In addition to war 75 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: and religious upheaval, there was the Great European Famine, which 76 00:04:38,880 --> 00:04:42,480 Speaker 1: lasted from thirteen fifteen to thirteen twenty two, followed by 77 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 1: the Black Death, which peaked in thirteen forty seven. It 78 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: is impossible to calculate exactly how many people died as 79 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: a result of either of these, but the most common 80 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: estimates are that the famine killed about five percent of 81 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: the population, while the Black Death killed as much as 82 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: one third. That is a widely but it's also extrapolated 83 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: from a few specific cities. Records and members of the 84 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,520 Speaker 1: clergy were disproportionately affected by the Black Deaths since their 85 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: religious work involved caring for the sick and the dying, 86 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: and England specifically experienced its own problems in addition to 87 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: all of this, including massive flooding and thirteen fourteen that 88 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 1: helped set off that famine, and the peasant uprising of 89 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: thirteen eighty one, which is also called Watt Tyler's Rebellion. 90 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: This rebellion started in East Anglia, which is where Juline 91 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: of Norwich lived, and it started as a response to 92 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:37,320 Speaker 1: some unpopular laws that had been passed that year. These 93 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: included a poll tax and the Statute of Laborers. That 94 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: second statute set a cap on workers' wages because of 95 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,200 Speaker 1: a labor shortage that followed the Black Death. Of course, 96 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: there were plenty of other things going on as well. 97 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: In the face of all this chaos and war and death, 98 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:57,640 Speaker 1: many people in Europe felt like the world was corrupt 99 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: and out of control, and that God turned his back 100 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: on mankind. Religious thought and writing were often cynical and 101 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:08,320 Speaker 1: focused on the fear of hell and damnation, and the 102 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:12,119 Speaker 1: Church also started cracking down on heresy. We should also 103 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: note that there were definitely people of other religions besides 104 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:18,800 Speaker 1: Catholicism in Europe at this time, but Catholicism was the 105 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,719 Speaker 1: overwhelming dominating force in the places that we're talking about. 106 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: Mysticism was a response to all of this, and it 107 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: was essentially the opposite of that trend toward fear and damnation. 108 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:34,280 Speaker 1: It can be tricky to pin down an exact definition 109 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:38,360 Speaker 1: of what is and isn't mysticism, though in the medieval era, 110 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: Christian mystics were all over the place in terms of 111 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: their backgrounds and life experiences. They included members of the 112 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: clergy and the laity. Some were wealthy and others were poor. 113 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: Some were highly educated, and others couldn't read or write. 114 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: So each individual mystic might not embody every single hallmark 115 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: of mysticism, but they still all fit under that overall umbrella. 116 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: As a general rule, Europe's Christian mystics approached God and 117 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: religion through love instead of fear. They were devoted to 118 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: the humanity of Jesus Christ and to having a personal 119 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: relationship with him. They often described some kind of intense, 120 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: transformative experience in which they were awakened to a sense 121 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:23,679 Speaker 1: of the awe inspiring love of God and Jesus. Many 122 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,960 Speaker 1: had visions or revelations in which they viscerally experienced God's 123 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: presence and felt personally connected to the Deity. Many of 124 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: them wrote about or dictated those experiences in the vernacular 125 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: rather than informal Latin, even if they had formal training 126 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: in Latin. Even though mystics tended to approach religion through love, 127 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: it wasn't necessarily a cozy hugfest. Mystics tended to be outsiders, 128 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: and they often lived very solitary lives. Mystics also tended 129 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: to live in really restrictive ways. The life of a 130 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: mystic tended to be filled with penitence and abstinence and 131 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: a sense of purification. As examples, In previous episodes, we 132 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: talked about Marjorie Kemp wearing a hair shirt as a 133 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: form of penance, and Hildegarde of Bingen interpreting serious illnesses 134 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: as punishment from God for failing to do what he 135 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: had asked of her. Anchorites and hermits took this life 136 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:22,520 Speaker 1: of restriction, abstinence and solitude to an extreme. Both chose 137 00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: to live in a solitary way, with their lives devoted 138 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:31,560 Speaker 1: to introspection, penitence, and spiritual purification. Hermits typically lived in remote, 139 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,640 Speaker 1: undeveloped areas, but had the freedom to move from one 140 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:39,800 Speaker 1: hermitage to another. Anchorites stayed in one place, enclosed in 141 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:43,599 Speaker 1: a small cell attached to a church or other religious site. 142 00:08:43,679 --> 00:08:47,880 Speaker 1: There were two hundred fourteen documented anchorites and hermits in 143 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: England in the fourteenth century. They were thought of as outsiders, 144 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: but they could also be sources of counsel and guidance 145 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: for the communities around them. They might act as teachers 146 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,680 Speaker 1: or just sort of spear virtual counselors, and some of 147 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: those who had been ordained as priests might also act 148 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,679 Speaker 1: as confessors. Paul of Thebes is usually described as the 149 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: first Christian hermit. He fled religious persecution in Egypt in 150 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: about the year two fifty and lived in a cave 151 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:19,080 Speaker 1: in the wilderness. It's not clear who the first anchorite was, 152 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: but the practice was being formalized by the twelfth century. 153 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: The formal steps to becoming an anchorite included a religious 154 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: service with mass and prayers to the dead, because after 155 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,200 Speaker 1: being enclosed, the anchorite was considered dead to the rest 156 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: of the world. An anchorite's enclosure was called an anchor hold. 157 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,040 Speaker 1: The recommended size for an anchor hold was twelve feet 158 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,559 Speaker 1: or about three point six meters square, but they really 159 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: ranged from small nooks that you could barely turn around 160 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:50,760 Speaker 1: into much more spacious accommodations that might even have multiple 161 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: rooms or accommodate guests. Anchorites typically had at least one servant, 162 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: and some anchor holds were large enough for the servant 163 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: to live with the anchorite while still having the freedom 164 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: to come and go. And this might sound like a luxury, 165 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:07,760 Speaker 1: but it was really a necessity. Since you couldn't leave 166 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: the cell, you were dependent on someone else to do 167 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: everything from emptying the chamber pot to procuring food to 168 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: replenishing your supply of menstrual rags. The typical layout of 169 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:22,160 Speaker 1: an anchor hold usually had three windows. One of them 170 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:25,199 Speaker 1: faced into the sanctuary of that adjoining building that the 171 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: anchor hold was built into, so the anchorite could observe 172 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: religious services and receive communion and speak to a confessor. 173 00:10:32,200 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: Another was used to deliver things like food and other supplies, 174 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,199 Speaker 1: and to allow the anchorite to act as a teacher 175 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,920 Speaker 1: or a confessor. A lot of anchorites also did some 176 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: kind of work, like sewing or copying, and that work 177 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: would be passed back and forth through the second window. 178 00:10:48,720 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 1: The third window was for light, and it had a 179 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,400 Speaker 1: translucent covering over it, and sometimes this covering had two 180 00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: layers with it was basically a cutout with an opaque 181 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,480 Speaker 1: layer that created a shape of a cross in the light. 182 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: Some anchorites had a little freedom of movement. The window 183 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,319 Speaker 1: into the sanctuary might be more like a door, allowing 184 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: them to enter the church at night, and sometimes it 185 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: was the anchorite's responsibility to keep the candles lit at 186 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 1: night or to sound the alarm if something went wrong 187 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: at the church. The second window might open out into 188 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: a parlor or other area where the anchorite could sit 189 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,319 Speaker 1: and talk to members the religious or secular community, and 190 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: some anchor holds had small garden plots attached which the 191 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: anchorite tended. Apart from this, though, an anchorite who left 192 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,359 Speaker 1: their anchor hold was subject to arrest and potentially damnation. 193 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 1: Being an anchorite was one of the few religious roles 194 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,320 Speaker 1: that was open to women. Female anchorites were often called anchorises, 195 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: and more women than men she used to pursue this 196 00:11:46,559 --> 00:11:50,319 Speaker 1: particular life. There were also women who were called vowises, 197 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: who lived a very similar life, but did so in 198 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:56,200 Speaker 1: their own homes. A lot of them were widows. Although 199 00:11:56,440 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 1: male anchorites tended to have been priests, female anchorites and 200 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:04,400 Speaker 1: vowises were often lay people. Being an anchorite was also 201 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: one of the few ways that a person could pursue 202 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,160 Speaker 1: such a devotedly religious life without having money. Joining a 203 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: convent or monastery typically required some kind of dowry, and 204 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: in some places this was the case for anchorites as well, 205 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,880 Speaker 1: but some anchorites were supported by the church and the 206 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: local community, including through the giving of alms and bequests 207 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: in people's wills. Julian of Norwich was an anchorite, and 208 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: we will talk about her after a sponsor break. The 209 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: woman we know as Julian of Norwich was born in Norwich, 210 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: East Anglia, England, in thirteen forty two. I recognize natives 211 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,320 Speaker 1: to that place pronounce it slightly differently, in a way 212 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: I can't quite replicate, because it ends more like a jay. 213 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,320 Speaker 1: Norwich was the second largest city in medieval England after London, 214 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: several schools, multiple monastic communities, and a cathedral that dated 215 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: back at least to eleven oh three. This region prepared 216 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,439 Speaker 1: students for study at Oxford or Cambridge and for the priesthood. 217 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:15,520 Speaker 1: Norwich had at least fifty parish churches, four of them 218 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,679 Speaker 1: within half a mile of Saint Julian's Church, which is 219 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: where Julian was enclosed. And because the Catholic Church had 220 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: such a large presence in the city, Norwich also had 221 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: a large community of artisans who worked on church commissions. 222 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:34,319 Speaker 1: These included architects, glass workers, stone workers, painters, sculptors and others. 223 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: Norwich was also a trading hub with a thriving merchant 224 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: and craft community. In other words, it was a prominent, 225 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,720 Speaker 1: bustling and culturally rich city. We don't know much at 226 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: all about Julian's life, like literally almost nothing, but we 227 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: can draw some conclusions about her growing up in Norwich. 228 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:55,160 Speaker 1: She might not have had a formal education, but she 229 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: did grow up in a place that valued education, which 230 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: probably influenced her understand standing of an approach to the world. 231 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: And even if she didn't have much formal religious instruction, 232 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: this thriving religious community in Norwich would have trickled into 233 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,199 Speaker 1: things like the sermons that she heard during regular church attendance. 234 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: She really might have been hearing a wider variety of 235 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: more complex and nuanced religious thought that she would have 236 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: been if she had grown up in a more remote 237 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: area with the same parish priest her whole life. We 238 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: also know that Julian lived through all of that upheaval 239 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: that we talked about before the break. The Black Death 240 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: reached Norwich at the start of thirteen forty nine when 241 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: Julian was seven, killing about a third of its population 242 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: and half of its priests. Although the Black Death ended 243 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:45,480 Speaker 1: in thirteen fifty three, plague returned to Norwich twice more 244 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:49,320 Speaker 1: before Julian became an anchoress, first in thirteen sixty one 245 00:14:49,480 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: and then in thirteen sixty nine. And we don't know 246 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: whether Julian married or had children, but her religious writing 247 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,040 Speaker 1: includes themes of motherhood and mothering that we're going to 248 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: talk about more in the wa little bit. And it's 249 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 1: possible that if she did have children, that they may 250 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:05,800 Speaker 1: have died in one of these plagues or from some 251 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: other cause. Julian wrote that in her girlhood she prayed 252 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,960 Speaker 1: for three things. One was that she wanted to understand 253 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: the passion of Christ. Too. She wanted to experience a 254 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: physical illness that was so serious that she and everyone 255 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: in her life would think she was dying. This illness 256 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: would let her suffer along with Christ, and the severity 257 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: of this illness would let her be purged and then 258 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: come back to God with a life of worship. The 259 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: third thing that she prayed for was that she wanted 260 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: what she described as three wounds to be made deeper 261 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: in her life. In the words of Grace Warwick, who 262 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: edited Julian's work in nineteen oh one, these wounds were quote, 263 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: contrition inside of sin, compassion inside of sorrow, and longing 264 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: after God. When she was, in her own words thirty 265 00:15:54,240 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: and a half, Julian became very ill so sick that 266 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: she and everyone around her did that that she was dying. 267 00:16:01,960 --> 00:16:04,640 Speaker 1: This illness lasted for seven days, and on the fourth 268 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 1: day she was given last rites. The seventh day of 269 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: this illness was either May eighth or thirteenth, thirteen seventy three. 270 00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:16,840 Speaker 1: This date discrepancy is because in surviving copies of the 271 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: manuscript there are two different sets of Roman numerals. One 272 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: says that this happened on May the VIII, and the 273 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:28,400 Speaker 1: other says that it happened on May the XIII. Her 274 00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: curate had brought a crucifix for her to look at 275 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:34,760 Speaker 1: in her last hours. On the seventh day of her illness, 276 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: at about four in the morning, Julian's mother, thinking that 277 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: she had died, bent over to close her eyes, and 278 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: in that moment Julian started experiencing a series of fifteen 279 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: religious visions that went on until about nine am the 280 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: following night, when it was clear that she was not dying. 281 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:55,120 Speaker 1: She had a sixteenth vision that confirmed what she had 282 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:59,560 Speaker 1: seen before. Not long afterward, Julian documented what she had seen, 283 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,240 Speaker 1: either by writing it down or by dictating it to 284 00:17:02,360 --> 00:17:06,840 Speaker 1: an amanuensis. She described herself as quote a simple creature 285 00:17:06,920 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 1: that could know no letter, which suggests that she dictated 286 00:17:10,000 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: her account. But at the same time, her later writing 287 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 1: reveals a complex understanding of various aspects of theology, something 288 00:17:17,840 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: that it would have been really difficult for her to 289 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 1: attain without knowing how to read. So it's possible that 290 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:27,119 Speaker 1: that quote no no letter meant that she didn't know Latin, 291 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: not that she couldn't read or write English. Or it's 292 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:32,439 Speaker 1: possible that she didn't know how to read when she 293 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 1: first experienced these visions, but that she learned how to 294 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:38,240 Speaker 1: read later. There's also a note at the end of 295 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: one of the surviving manuscripts that references a scribe who 296 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:45,680 Speaker 1: had written it down, but that was probably a scribe 297 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,879 Speaker 1: who copied the manuscript, not like the scribe who was 298 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:52,359 Speaker 1: literally writing it with her at the time. At some 299 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: points after she experienced these visions, Julian was enclosed as 300 00:17:56,920 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: an anchor write at the church of Saint Julian and 301 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: Connesbert in Rich. According to Bloomfield's History of Norfolk, which 302 00:18:04,119 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: was written in the eighteenth century, quote in the east 303 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: part of the churchyard stood an anchorage in which an 304 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,280 Speaker 1: anchors or recluse dwelt until the dissolution, when the house 305 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:16,879 Speaker 1: was demolished, though the foundations may still be seen. In 306 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:20,240 Speaker 1: thirteen ninety three, Lady Julian the anchors here, was a 307 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: strict recluse and had two servants to attend her in 308 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: her old age. This woman was in these days esteemed 309 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:31,439 Speaker 1: as one of the greatest holiness. The history goes on 310 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: to name four other anchorsses who followed Julian at the church, 311 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:38,960 Speaker 1: with the first one starting in fourteen seventy two. The 312 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: first contemporaneous reference we have to her as an anchorite 313 00:18:42,520 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: dates back to thirteen ninety four, although she was probably 314 00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: enclosed well before that. Although Norwich had an extensive religious 315 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:53,479 Speaker 1: and spiritual community, there were no recorded anchorites in the 316 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: city before Julian. Most sources conclude that she took the 317 00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: name Julian, naming herself after the church where she was enclosed. 318 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 1: Although it was typical for people who became monks and 319 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:07,800 Speaker 1: nuns to leave their given name behind and take the 320 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: name of a saint, which still happens today, there weren't 321 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:14,400 Speaker 1: many other documented cases of people doing the same thing 322 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,120 Speaker 1: when they were enclosed as an anchor wite, so Julian 323 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: really may have been named Julian from birth. It was 324 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:22,560 Speaker 1: not an uncommon name for women at the time. It 325 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: was essentially another spelling of Jillian. Or she might have 326 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 1: become a nun at some point and taken the name 327 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: of Saint Julian when she did that before she became 328 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,879 Speaker 1: an anchorite. That's really speculation, though there's not documentation that 329 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: she had ever been a nun. About twenty years after 330 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:42,040 Speaker 1: writing this first account of her visions, Julian wrote a 331 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:45,239 Speaker 1: much longer one, about six times as long as that 332 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: first document. She went into each vision in much more 333 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: detail and into how she now understood them. After twenty 334 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: years of inward reflection and study. She had finished this 335 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,239 Speaker 1: longer document by about thirteen ninety three. Beyond that, we 336 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 1: just don't have a lot of mi documentation. Even in 337 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: this account of her visions, she doesn't talk about herself 338 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: much at all, so what we have to piece together 339 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,920 Speaker 1: comes from other people's accounts. Marjorie Kemp, who we talked 340 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:16,240 Speaker 1: about in a previous episode, visited Julian in about fourteen thirteen, 341 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: and Marjorie referred to Julian as dame, which was a 342 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: title that was commonly used for nuns. Some sources point 343 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:25,800 Speaker 1: to this as evidence that Julian did become a nun 344 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:28,880 Speaker 1: before she became an anchorite. But it does appear that 345 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 1: Marjorie is the only person who refers to her this way. 346 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:34,120 Speaker 1: Most of the rest of the details we have about 347 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: Julian come from other people's wills. People came to her 348 00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: throughout her time as an anchorite for help and guidance, 349 00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:44,080 Speaker 1: and several of them remembered her in their will. We 350 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: know she had at least two servants during her lifetime 351 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: because someone left each of them money. Isabelle Uffered, who 352 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,919 Speaker 1: was the Countess of Suffolk, left Julian twenty shillings and 353 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,440 Speaker 1: her will in fourteen sixteen, along with making other bequests. 354 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 1: This was the last person to specifically named Julian in 355 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: their will, but some other people left bequests to an 356 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:09,200 Speaker 1: anchorus at Saint Julian's, not naming the name the anchors 357 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:11,360 Speaker 1: by name. Then that went on until fourteen twenty nine. 358 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: Since Blumfield's History of Norfolk says that the next anchorus 359 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: after Julian came in fourteen seventy two, it's possible that 360 00:21:19,119 --> 00:21:22,760 Speaker 1: these unnamed anchorses were Julian and that she was still 361 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: living as late as fourteen twenty nine, and after the break, 362 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about all those visions that we've been 363 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:42,880 Speaker 1: referencing and their influence on Christianity. While Julian herself called 364 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: her visions showings usually with an E instead of an 365 00:21:46,840 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: O in show, her book is often published under the 366 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:54,080 Speaker 1: name Revelations of Divine Love because the overarching theme of 367 00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:56,280 Speaker 1: these visions, it's all about the love of God and 368 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 1: loving God. It begins quote, this is a revelation of 369 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: love that Jesus Christ are endless bliss made in sixteen 370 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: showings or revelations particular, in a simple conversational style, she 371 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:11,280 Speaker 1: walks through her series of visions. Along the way, she 372 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:14,959 Speaker 1: documents her understanding of God's love for mankind and various 373 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:19,800 Speaker 1: elements of theology. In her relating her first revelation, she writes, quote, 374 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: I saw that He is unto us everything that is 375 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: good and comfortable for us. He is our clothing that 376 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: for love wrappeth us, claspeth us, and all encloses us 377 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: for tender love, that he may never leave us, being 378 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: to us all thing that is good as to mine understanding. 379 00:22:37,359 --> 00:22:41,640 Speaker 1: Her tone is very comforting and reassuring and stresses over 380 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: and over that God loves all of his creations. She 381 00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: frames this as a comfort that she needed to receive 382 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:51,359 Speaker 1: from God, and now that she has, she's sharing it 383 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,840 Speaker 1: with the rest of the world. The visions began with 384 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,159 Speaker 1: Julian looking at a crucifix on what she believed was 385 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,680 Speaker 1: her deathbed, and many of the earliest showings are related 386 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: to the crucifixion of Jesus and specifically what was happening 387 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,920 Speaker 1: to him on the cross. The visions themselves are not 388 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:12,040 Speaker 1: necessarily comforting. Many of them are focused on wounds, suffering, 389 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,959 Speaker 1: and pain. Julian described an early showing of the blood 390 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 1: coming out from under Jesus's crown of thorns as quote 391 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: quick and lifelike and horrifying and dreadful, sweet and lovely. 392 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: But no matter how graphic the descriptions are of Jesus 393 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: on the cross, each one circles back to Julian gaining 394 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: a deeper knowledge of the scope and breadth of divine love. 395 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: Julian's accounts of the earliest showings mainly involve the vision 396 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:43,159 Speaker 1: itself and her understanding of what the vision means. Sometimes 397 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,280 Speaker 1: God or Jesus speaks to her or asks her a question, 398 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: which she answers, and at first these are pretty straightforward. 399 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: So Jesus asks, art thou well pleased that I suffered 400 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: for thee, and Julian answers, yea good Lord, I thank THEE, 401 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: yea good Lord. Blessed? Mayst thou be? Or God asks 402 00:24:01,320 --> 00:24:04,879 Speaker 1: wilt thou see her referring to the Virgin Mary before 403 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: showing Julian a vision of the Virgin Mary. But in 404 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: later visions, Julian becomes more active and starts asking direct 405 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:17,439 Speaker 1: questions about religious issues. The thirteenth Revelation begins quote after this, 406 00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: the Lord brought to my mind the longing that I 407 00:24:20,119 --> 00:24:23,159 Speaker 1: had to him afore. And I saw that nothing letted 408 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,760 Speaker 1: me but sin. And so I looked generally upon us all, 409 00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:29,640 Speaker 1: and we thought, if sin had not been we should 410 00:24:29,680 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: all have been clean and like to our Lord as 411 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: he made us. This is essentially asking why God didn't 412 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: just use his power to prevent sin in the first place, 413 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,920 Speaker 1: leaving mankind pure rather than in a state of suffering, 414 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: basically preventing all these problems. Jesus answers Julian with the 415 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:50,679 Speaker 1: most famous line from her showings, quote, it behooved that 416 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,439 Speaker 1: there should be sin but all shall be well, and 417 00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 1: all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall 418 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 1: be well. The thirteenth Revelation continue on from this, largely 419 00:25:01,880 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: as a meditation on the idea of all shall be well. 420 00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: In her showings, Julian also writes about Jesus in a 421 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 1: way that probably would have been considered heretical if it 422 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: had gotten wider recognition while she was alive. That has 423 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: happened in more recent years as well. While reflecting on 424 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: her first fourteen visions, Julian meditates on the idea of 425 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: God and Jesus as a mother. Quote the mother may 426 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,200 Speaker 1: give her child suck of her milk, But our precious 427 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,760 Speaker 1: Mother Jesus, he may feed us with himself, and doeth 428 00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,960 Speaker 1: it full courteously and full tenderly, with the blessed sacrament 429 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: that is precious food of my life, and with all 430 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,960 Speaker 1: the sweet sacraments He sustaineth us full, mercifully and graciously. 431 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:46,080 Speaker 1: She later goes on to say, quote this fair, lovely 432 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: word mother, it is so sweet and so close in 433 00:25:49,680 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 1: nature to itself, that it may not barely be said 434 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: of none but Him and to her that is very mother, 435 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: of him and of all to the property of motherhood 436 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: belongeth natural love, wisdom, and knowing. And it is good 437 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: for though it be so that our body forthbringing be 438 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: but little, low and simple in regard of our spiritual forthbringing, 439 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: yet it is he that doeth it in the creatures, 440 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: by whom that is done. Julian's fifteenth revelation is one 441 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,640 Speaker 1: of closure. She writes about how the whole time she 442 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:25,520 Speaker 1: was receiving these visions, she hoped that she would quote 443 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,760 Speaker 1: be delivered of this world and of this life. But 444 00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: in this last revelation she is shown how being removed 445 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,919 Speaker 1: from pain and want is a reward for patience in 446 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,320 Speaker 1: abiding by God's will. She later says, quote, and in 447 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: this he brought to mind the property of a glad giver. 448 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:44,920 Speaker 1: A glad giver taketh but little heed of the thing 449 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: that he giveth, But all his desire and all his 450 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: intent is to please him and solace him to whom 451 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: he giveth it. And if the receiver take the gift 452 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 1: highly and thankfully, then the courteous giver setteth at not 453 00:26:58,359 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: all his cost and all his travail, for joy and delight, 454 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,639 Speaker 1: that he hath pleased and solaced him, that he loveth. 455 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: And then After this, God leaves her with the thought quote, 456 00:27:08,359 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: what should it then aggrieve THEE to suffer? A while 457 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: sith that is my will and my worship. Julian had 458 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: her sixteenth vision the following night, as she was beginning 459 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: to recover and her life was no longer in danger. 460 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: She writes of this one as gaining insight into her 461 00:27:24,560 --> 00:27:28,159 Speaker 1: own soul, But in it she is also visited by Satan, 462 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 1: who she calls the fiend. She thinks to herself, quote, 463 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:34,960 Speaker 1: thou hast now great busyness to keep THEE in the faith, 464 00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: for that thou shouldst not be taken of the enemy. 465 00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: Wouldst thou now from this time evermore be so busy 466 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,520 Speaker 1: to keep THEE from sin? This were a good and 467 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: a sovereign occupation. Julian's book ends with several chapters of 468 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:51,760 Speaker 1: her personal understanding of all these visions, and by her 469 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:53,639 Speaker 1: book I mean the longer version of all of this. 470 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: It wraps up with her overall sense of the whole 471 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 1: of them being Quote what'st thou learned thy Lord's meaning 472 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: in this thing? Learn it well? Love was his meaning? 473 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,879 Speaker 1: Who showed it THEE love? What showed he THEE love? 474 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,679 Speaker 1: Where four showed it he for love hold thee therein, 475 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:15,200 Speaker 1: and thou shalt learn and know more in the same, 476 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,680 Speaker 1: but thou shalt never know nor learn their other thing 477 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:22,440 Speaker 1: without end. Thus was I learned that love was our 478 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,120 Speaker 1: Lord's meaning. We know that Julian viewed this whole experience 479 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: as a gift from God that she then went on 480 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,120 Speaker 1: to share with others, and unlike many of the other 481 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,480 Speaker 1: books written by Anchortes and hermits during this time, she 482 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:37,639 Speaker 1: seems to have meant her work for everyone, not just 483 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: for other solitary religious people. And this was remarkable. Julian 484 00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 1: wrote surely confidently and authoritatively about religion when that really 485 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: wasn't considered to be women's domain, and she did it 486 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: for ordinary people, not only for her own religious circle. 487 00:28:54,760 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: She also did not shy away from material that could 488 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:00,520 Speaker 1: have led to her being condemned for heresy. Yeah, there 489 00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 1: were other women Anchorites who were writing things that were 490 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,120 Speaker 1: sort of meant as guides for other people like themselves, 491 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 1: so sort of a guide of how to be an 492 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: Anchorite or theological questions for other Anchorites. But she really 493 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: seemed to want this to be a work for everyone, 494 00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: And we know that people were talking to and learning 495 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:25,120 Speaker 1: from Julian while she lived, but it doesn't appear that 496 00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: many people were really reading her work until much later. 497 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,680 Speaker 1: Some of this is because of attitudes in England in 498 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: the decades after her death. So in fourteen oh one, 499 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,200 Speaker 1: while she was still living, King Henry the fourth ordered 500 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,680 Speaker 1: for heretics to be burned, and that included anyone found 501 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: with heretical books, which Julian's showings could have been. The 502 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,560 Speaker 1: oldest surviving copy of the short version of her account 503 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: dates back to the fifteenth century. There are three handwritten 504 00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:55,160 Speaker 1: manuscripts dating back to the seventeenth century. The first time 505 00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:58,240 Speaker 1: it was printed was in sixteen seventy, almost three hundred 506 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: years after that first religious Explosians, and it probably came 507 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,480 Speaker 1: from a sixteen fifty manuscript. The first people who wrote 508 00:30:05,520 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: about reading Julian's work were three Benedictines from England who 509 00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 1: had been exiled to France. That happened in the seventeenth century. 510 00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:16,160 Speaker 1: The Church of Saint Julian was largely destroyed on June 511 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: twenty seventh, nineteen forty two, when it was bombed during 512 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: World War two. By then it was affiliated with the 513 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,080 Speaker 1: Church of England rather than the Catholic Church. The structure 514 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:27,520 Speaker 1: was rebuilt in the nineteen fifties, and at that time 515 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: the site of the former anchorites cell was turned into 516 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 1: a shrine to Julian, although that shrine is probably larger 517 00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 1: than the actual anchor hold was. Had history played out differently, 518 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 1: Julian of Norwich and several of her contemporary English mystics 519 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:45,280 Speaker 1: might have been canonized, but the Protestant Reformation began about 520 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: one hundred years after her death and England split away 521 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,240 Speaker 1: from the Catholic Church. Today, she has an unofficial feast 522 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:55,840 Speaker 1: day in the Catholic calendar. It's on May thirteenth, while 523 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,880 Speaker 1: the Anglican, Episcopal and Lutheran churches listed as May eighth. 524 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 1: She has become a symbol of comfort and hope in 525 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 1: the century since she lived. The Order of Julian of 526 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,200 Speaker 1: Norwich was established within the Episcopalian Church in nineteen eighty five. 527 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:15,760 Speaker 1: That's Julian of Norwich. Her life was so strange, especially 528 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: to a modern eye, because she was in this anchor 529 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,040 Speaker 1: hold for a lengthy amount of it as far as 530 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: we know. And at the same time, like her writing 531 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:32,520 Speaker 1: is just so comforting, just over and over and over 532 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: and it's like and but God loves all of his creatures, 533 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:40,280 Speaker 1: and it's great. It's sort of her whole underlying tone 534 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: throughout all of it. Thanks so much for joining us 535 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,479 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. 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