At one point the family called the local curate to perform the last rites. She was confined to her bed in her mother’s home, surrounded by those who were nursing her. In 1372, Julian states she was thirty when she succumbed to a fatal type of illness. The plague returned once again in 1368 along with a cattle plague and a bad harvest the next year. But everyone from all walks of life and all classes died from the plague. Medieval people believed the plague was sent by God as punishment for man’s sins. A few months later the Black Death returned and this time it targeted infants and small children. When Julian was nineteen, the steeple of Norwich Cathedral fell to the ground in the storm. Everyday medieval life was inextricably linked to the church.
Throughout her writing it is evident she sought teachings and preaching from her local priests. Julian may have learned reading and writing from her mother or from the priests in her parish. We don’t know how she got the education that allowed her to write her books. We don’t know if she married or if she had children or even if she was a nun. Julian at Conisford in Norwich where she had a cell and lived as an anchoress or perhaps her real name was Julian or Juliana which was a common name at the time. She may have taken her name from the parish church of St. She lived in Norwich or nearby and may have been from a privileged family. And her compositions were works of theology by a woman which may explain why her books were not well known or publicized during her lifetime and for hundreds of years after she died.įrom her writings, we know that Julian was most likely born in 1342. But the books were also written by a woman making them even more extraordinary. English was rarely used for literary purposes during Julian’s time which makes her books remarkable. We do know she wrote two texts in English on her visions and their meaning. Very little is known of her actual life, not even her real name. Her work encompasses her descriptions and explanations of the spiritual insight gained through a series of spiritual visions and visitations she experienced during her severe illness.Julian of Norwich was a mystic, theologian and anchoress in late fourteenth-early fifteenth century England.
Showings of Love (also known as Revelations of Divine Love)Īlthough her work bears various titles, Julian chose the word showing, a word used in the Middle Ages to describe a manifestation, a revelation, a dream, or a vision, usually of a religious nature. Deciding to become an anchoress, over the next several years she wrote two versions of her Showings of Love. As she recovered she experienced a series of visions. \): Lady Julian’s cell and the window opening into the church.Īccording to her own account, when Julian was thirty years old, she suffered a nearly fatal illness.
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