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Ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum (Lucem 1:38)1
[Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word]2
In this paper, we examine the life of an extraordinary woman, Margery Kempe, who in the early fifteenth century overcame an episode of insanity, described as postnatal psychosis by medical historians, to live a life of remarkable freedom based on her absolute belief in her special relationship with the Godhead.3 When this episode of postnatal psychosis, found at the beginning of Margery's life story, is examined closely and in context with the rest of her autobiography, it becomes evident that it had a profound effect on her sense of well-being and that, following her recovery, her life and her worldview were transformed. Our purpose in examining this episode is to show how and why Margery developed strategies that would eventually enable her to leave married life and the possibility of future childbearing. The difficulty of achieving these goals is demonstrated when, later in her autobiography, Margery says that she has given birth to fourteen children.
Today postnatal psychosis is considered a serious psychiatric emergency that affects one to two women per thousand in the first four weeks following childbirth.4 Women can experience auditory, visual, and olfactory hallucinations and delusions, and there is an increased risk of self-harm, suicide, and infanticide associated with the condition. 5 Margery, of course, did not have access to the modern medical understanding of postnatal psychosis. Instead, she came to understand her experience by interpreting the symptoms of this condition in terms of her own worldview, using religious imagery. For example, she be- lieved that her illness resolved following a conversation with Christ; such experiences of conversation with divine figures continued for the rest of her life and were recorded in her autobiography.
Although these conversations have been interpreted by Trudy Drucker, Marlys Craun, and Phyllis R. Freeman, Carley Rees Bogarad, and Diane E. Sholomskas as auditory hallucinations and therefore as evidence of ongoing mental illness, we interpret them instead as empowering strategies Margery used both to recover from, and to attempt to prevent further episodes of, postnatal psychosis.6 In her autobiography, she refers to these conversations when justifying any decision that would be considered unconventional in...