JULIAN OF NORWICH, SHOWING OF LOVE

TEXTS AND CONTEXTS, TIME LINE & MAPS
 

 have now, in my retirement, studied the lives and writings of three women, all of whom included theology in their works, Birgitta of Sweden, Julian of Norwich, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. All three had access to Hebrew and I found in order to edit their writings that I, too, needed to learn Hebrew. In the process of editing their writings, I also drew up time lines, tracing not only their texts but also their contexts: those who came before them, influencing them, giving them models; those who were their contemporaries, colleagues and friends; and those who came after them, preserving their texts, using them as models. (Other such time lines, compiled from the papers at 'The City and the Book' international conferences in Florence, may be found at http://www.florin.ms/spacetime.html and http://www.florin.ms/gimelf.html.) For time is like a river into which streams flow and which becomes an ocean. One goes ever forward, not backward. And the sequence of books written in time by authors who have read other authors and who will be read by further authors is also not unlike the genealogies of human families as mirrored in the shelves of libraries. Again, going ever forward and not backward. In this timeline I study what texts were in what manuscripts, for instance that library of texts that is the Amherst Manuscript, and who owned them, to trace these influences, even to the extent of giving the evidence for the much-travelling between Norwich and Oxford, Norwich and Italy, Norwich and Flanders, of Cardinal Adam Easton's magnificent library of theological books. One can play games with this list, for instance searching 'Cambrai', 'Lowe', 'Stapleton', 'Bramston', down the centuries. These writers, men and women, similarly became my inspiration and model as a writer, as a scholar, as a contemplative.

*=birth
†=death
 

621 B.C. Huldah advocates the study of the Torah to King Josiah in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22.14-23.3, 2 Chronicles 34.22-33)
605 B.C. King Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah, destroys Jeremiah's scroll of prophecies dictated to Baruch. Jeremiah and Baruch reassemble lost, censored text (Jeremiah 36)
587 B.C. Jeremiah has deeds to property written up by Baruch, sealed, and placed in an earthern jar (Jeremiah 32.14). Practice still be observed with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
445-4 B.C. Ezra advocates the study of the Torah in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8.1-18)
*185-†232 Origen of Alexandria, deeply versed in Hebrew and Greek, favorable to women, whose writings, translated by Rufinus, Adam Easton owned
327 †Helena
*274-†337 Constantine, 302 Proclaimed Emperor at York, 312 Christianity adopted by Empire
*340-†420 Jerome, influenced by Origen
*347-†404 Paula and *368-†419/420 Eustochium Julia, Paula's daughter. All three laboured together translating the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, all three dying in Bethlehem
381-384Egeria's pilgrimages
Later half of 5th centuryPseudo-Dionsyius, who pretends to be an eyewitness to the Crucifixion and to Paul's preaching on the Areopagus in Acts, whose writings influence Abbot Suger to invent Gothic architecture at St Denis (Dionysius, thought also to cause France's conversion to Christianity), whose works in a Victorine manuscript Adam Easton owned and whom Julian cites in Showing of Love
719 †Pega, Guthlac's sister on pilgrimage in Rome
c 1000Guthrithyr of Iceland
1105-70?-Rabbi Joseph Kimhi
1086 A Jewish Isaac living in Mancroft, Norwich
*1115-†1180 John of Salisbury, his Policraticus owned in manuscript by Adam Easton, in Julian's Lord and Servant Parable
1144  Murder of William of Norwich, Jewry present in Norwich until 1290, under the protection of the royal Castle, including Rabbinic scholars and poets, following that date only by conversi
1146 Carrow Priory, dedicated to St Mary, founded by King Stephen, who also gives Priory St Julian's Church, Norwich Cathedral Priory having oversight of them
1155 *Margaret in Jerusalem
1160 Aelred of Rievaulx writes De Ordo Inclusarum for sister
*1160?-†1235? Rabbi David Kimhi, Rabbi Joseph Kimhi's son, author of Miklol (Perfection), owned in manuscript by Adam Easton, who also had access to Kimhi's Psalm Commentary, used in Julian's Lord and Servant Parable
*1160-†1240 Cardinal Jacques de Vitry, supporter of Marie d'Oignies, influences Birgitta's Magister Mathias, Cardinal Adam Easton, Margery Kempe's confessor
*1167-†1213 Beguine Marie d'Oignies
1175 Isaac's House (the Music House), Norwich, built by Isaac Jurnet. Has same stonemason marks as at Carrow Priory, Cathedral Priory Infirmary
1187 Margaret of Jerusalem in Seige of Jerusalem. Thomas of Froidmont, her brother, will write Liber de modo bene vivendi ad sororem for her, owned by Birgitta of Sweden and in Amherst Manuscript
1190 February, attacks against Jews in Lynn which spread to Norwich.  †Rabbi Moses Kimhi, son of Rabbi Joseph, older brother to Rabbi David Kimhi, all three writers of Hebrew grammar, theology
1210 Isaac of Norwich (Isaac Jurnet) imprisoned by King John. *Mechthild of Magdebourg
1222-36 Letters of Dominicans Jordan of Saxony and Diana d'Andalò
1231 †St Elizabeth of Hungary
1233 London, Public Record Office tallage roll with caricature of Norwich Jews, Isaac, Mose, Abigail. Mechthild of Magdebourg a Beguine, later becoming a Dominican Tertiary. After a great illness she will begin to write her Revelations or The Flowing Light of the Godhead with encouragement of Dominican Heinrich of Halle
1236? Apostoli heretic Aleydis and 20 of her companions burned at Cambrai
1246 Bishop Richard Wich of Chichester formulates Canon for Anchoresses
1247 Anchoress, Chichester
1253 Hak Jurnet of Norwich, imprisoned in the Tower of London, converts to Christianity. Bishop Richard Wich of Chichester's Will provides bequests for five anchorites, two men and three women.
1255 Murder of Hugh of Lincoln
1256 Ela, niece of Walter, Bishop of Norwich, Anchoress at Massingham
1256 *Gertrude the Great of Helfta
1260 *Meister Eckhart, Friend of God
*1270-†1340-Nicolas of Lyra
1273Mechthild perhaps Prioress of formerly Cistercian, later Dominican, Convent of St Agnes, Magdebourg
1277 *Cristina Ebner, Friend of God
1284 Acession of Edward II
1285 Mechthild of Magdebourg takes refuge in Cistercian Helfta with Abbess Gertrude
1286 Marguerite d'Oingt, Carthusian, writes Latin Meditations
1289 Margaret and Alice, Anchoresses at St Olave's, Norwich
1290 King John's Expulsion of the Jews from England. Some conversi in Norwich remain. *Richard Rolle. (Rolle in Amherst Manuscript)
1291 *Margaret Ebner, Friend of God
1293 *Jan van Ruusbroec, associated with Friends of God (Ruusbroec in Amherst Manuscript)
1294 Meister Eckhart, Friend of God, gives Easter Sermon, University of Paris
1295 *Heinrich Suso, Friend of God (Suso in Amherst Manuscript)
1296-1306 Marguerite Porete writes Mirror of Simple Souls. Guy II, Bishop of Cambrai, declares it heretical and orders it burnt in her presence. (Porete, Mirror, in Amherst Manuscript)
1297 †Mechthild of Magdebourg at 86 at Cistercian Helfta
1300? *Johannes Tauler, Friend of God
1302 Meister Eckhart, Godefroid de Fontaine (Marguerite Porete's supporter), Professors of Theology, Paris
1303 *Birgitta of Sweden
1303-78 Babylonian Captivity, Avignon, of the Popes by the French
1307 *Rulman Merswin, Friend of God
1308 'Juliana of Norwich', a Jewish conversa
1309 Elizabeth of Hungary, King Andrew III's daughter, enters Dominican Convent at Töss
1310 †1 June Marguerite Porete, condemned in XV Articles for writing Mirror of Simple Souls by 21 Sorbonne Professors (including Victorines, Carmelites, Austin Canons, Benedictines and the Franciscan Jewish convert Nicolas of Lyra), is burned as a lapsed heretic in Paris. †Marguerite d'Oingt. †Mechthild von Hackeborn at Helfta (Amherst Scribe also writes out her Book of Ghostly Grace)
1311Birgitta's first Revelation. Meister Eckhart returns to teach at Paris, living in same Dominican convent as Marguerite Porete's Inquisitor, William Humbert. † Gertrude the Great of Helfta
1312 Margaret Ebner's great illness. Meister Eckhart in Strasbourg, writes Liber Benedictus for Friend of God Queen Agnes of Hungary, has charge of women's convents
1320 Meister Eckhart, Prior of Frankfort
1325 6 August, Na Prous' Confession, Carcassone, she is burned as heretic
1326 Meister Eckhart tried by Inquisition for Liber Benedictus and Book of Comfort, both written for Queen Agnes of Hungary
1327 Accession of Edward III. †Meister Eckhart
1329 John XXII's Bull of Condemnation against Meister Eckhart
1330 *Adam Easton. *Alfonso Pecha. Heinrich Suso tried by his Order's General Chapter for his use of Meister Eckhart's teaching, censored and forbidden to lecture
1332 Friend of God Heinrich of Nördlingen's first visit to Margaret Ebner †Elizabeth of Hungary at Töss, vita written by Elsbeth Stagel.
1338 Margaret Kirkeby at 16 meets Richard Rolle
1339 Henry Suso, Horologium Sapientiae. Extract in Amherst
1340 *Gerhart Groote, founder of Brethren of the Common Life. †Nicolas of Lyra
1341/42 *Henry LeDespenser, who will be Bishop of Norwich
1342 Birgitta of Sweden's pilgrimage to Compostela. Her vision of St Dionysius (St Denis) in Arras. December, *Julian of Norwich
1343 Jan van Ruusbroec founds Hermitage of Groenendael, Green Valley, with Jan Hinckaert and Franc Van Coudenberg
1344 Heinrich of Nördlingen translates Mechthild of Magdebourg's Flowing Light of the Godhead from Latin to German for Margaret Ebner. Birgitta's vision as Bride of Christ
1345 Birgitta commences her Revelationes, with guidance from Master Mathias, whom she calls 'Friend of God', who studied Theology in Paris under Nicolas of Lyra and translated the Bible from Hebrew into Swedish. Margaret Ebner commences her Revelations
1346 Friend of God comes to Narrator of Tauler's Book of the Master. 1 May, Royal Palace of Vadstena made over to Birgitta for Abbey by King Magnus and Queen Blanca
1347 *Catherine of Siena. Edward III licences Austin Friars to settle in Norwich, between Isaac's House and St Julian's Church, paying rent to the Benedictine Prior of Norwich Cathedral Priory
1347-48 Birgitta sends peace embassy to Pope Clement VI, Kings Philip VI of France and Edward III of England about Hundred Years War. Copies of letter she sent, October 1848, by Bishop Hemming of Åbo and Master Mathias, proliferate in English manuscripts. She prophesies that if King Magnus does not reform Christ as Ploughman will afflict Sweden with the Black Death. Prophecy will influence Piers the Ploughman, Die Ackerman von Boehme. Henry of Nördlingen writes asking Margaret Ebner to pray for John Tauler
1348 Black Death
1349 †Richard Rolle. Margaret Kirkeby is 27. His writings to her in Amherst Manuscript. Alice de Hedersete, Prioress of Carrow. Ruusbroec and his companions take Rule and habit of Augustinian Canons. Birgitta leaves Sweden, comes to Rome, 1350.
1350 John Whiterig, monk of Durham Abbey, student at Benedictine Durham College, Oxford
1350-51 Adam Easton at Benedictine Glucester College, Oxford. Birgitta prophesies to Clement VI that if he does not leave Avignon for Rome lighting will strike bells of St Peter's melting them and he will die.
†Magister Mathias, buried with Dominicans in Stockholm. Jan van Ruusbroec sends Spiritual Espousals to Strasbourg Friends of God.
1351 Heinrich of Nördlingen visits Cristina Ebner, She has vision about John Tauler. † Margaret Ebner
1352 Lightning strikes bells, 2 December, †Clement, 6 December. Adam Easton, student at Oxford. Bishop orders his immediate return to Norwich, and they are to bring the books and valuable plate belonging to Norwich Cathedral Priory. Easton replies he has Prior's permission to remain at Oxford, appeals to the Pope against the Bishop
1353 John Whiterig first visits Farne
1356-57 Adam Easton and Thomas Brinton's studies at Oxford interrupted by their recall to Norwich to preach against Franciscans, Easton preaching in Norwich 14 August, Feast of the Assumption. Prior informing Oxford's Prior of Students he is not sending Easton back to incept for the present as he is required to preach in Norwich on true doctrine and confound the Friars. John Whiterig, Novice Master at Durham. Margaret Kirkeby transfers anchorhold from Layton to Ainderby
1359 Jan van Ruusbroec writes Mirror of Eternal Salvation for Dame Margaret Van Meerbeke, a Poor Clare in Brussels before this date
1361 †John Tauler †Michael of Northbrooke, Bishop of London, Founder of London Charterhouse, thought to have translated Porete, Mirror of Simple Souls as M.N. †Dominican Elsbeth Stagel, after compiling Life of Henry Suso, which will be continued by her Sisters at Töss.
1361-1375 Thomas Whiting, Priest at St Julian's Church
1363 Adam Easton returns to Oxford twice from Norwich, Norwich Priory paying his travel, 'In expensis Ade de Easton versus Oxoniem et circa cariacionem librorum eiusdem, cxijs iijd', total cost 154s 8d. John Whiterig, hermit on Farne, begins to write Meditations, to be quoted by Julian in '1368' Westminster Showing of Love. *Christine de Pizan, in Italy. Before 1363 Jan van Ruusbroec writes The Seven Cloisters for Dame Margaret Van Meerbeke
1363-64 Norwich Cathedral Sacristan contributes to Adam Easton's Oxford inception
1364 9 October, Friend of God appears to Rulman Merswin
1364-65 Norwich Cathedral Refectorer contributes to Adam Easton's Oxford inception
1365 Margaret Cat, Prioress at Carrow. Isolde of Bridgwater in Jerusalem
1365-66 Norwich Cathedral Master of Cellar gives Adam Easton, 'Master of Divinity', 30s
1366 30 September Adam Easton prior studencium at Oxford. Rulman Merswin purchases Gruneworth, founds there the Convent of the Green Isle of the Friends of God. †Henry Suso
1366-67-Via Veritatis fresco painted in Spanish Chapel, Santa Maria Novella, Florence, with portraits of Catherine of Siena, Birgitta and Catherine of Sweden, Queen Joan of Naples, Lapa Acciaiuoli, Pope Urban V and Emperor Charles IV of Bohemia
1367 Sir Henry le Despenser with Sir John Hawkwood supports Urban V's sojourn in Rome, August. Adam Easton again in Norwich 1367-68. Alfonso of Jaén at Montefalco with other Spanish hermits, hears about Birgitta. Cloud of Unknowing written during this period (to be followed by other treatises by the same author), for a 24 year old Latin-less contemplative by a monastic using gender inclusive language with access to Pseudo-Dionysius' Works
1368  Julian of Norwich, '1368' Showing of Love Westminster Text? Adam Easton leaves Norwich for Papal Court in Avignon, working for Archbishop, now Cardinal, Langham, returning with letter from Urban V to Edward III dated 3 May 1368. Birgitta successful in having Pope Urban V and Emperor Charles IV meet in Rome. Alfonso Pecha surrenders bishopric to Urban V at Montefiascone to be a hermit, like his brother Peter who founds Hieronymite Order
1369 Adam Easton returns to Papal Curia as socius to Cardinal Symon Langham of Canterbury. Margery Eudes Prioress at Carrow
1370 Birgitta and Alfonso, at Montefiascone, attempt to persuade Pope Urban V to return to Rome and present him with her Revelationes in the presence of Cardinal Beaufort (to be Pope Gregory XI). Sir Henry le Despenser at Pope's side, 3 April, when news comes of vacancy of Bishopric of Norwich, is consecrated in Rome 20 April, 12 July receives spiritualities from Archbishop of Canterbury, 14 August receives temporalities of his see from King Richard II. From 1370 on Norwich has more anchorites than any other English city. Richard Lavenham, Richard II's confessor, lecturing on Birgitta's Revelationes at Oxford
1371-73 Langham and Easton at Pope Gregory XI's request, work to negotiate peace between England and France. Thomas Pykis, Precentor of Ely, pays 40s to Easton's clerk, 'pro labore suo'.
1372 Birgitta journeys to Jerusalem in her seventieth year. Before 1373 Jan van Ruusbroec writes The Seven Degrees of Love for Dame Margaret Van Meerbeke. †William Jordaens, who had translated Ruusbroec's Sparkling Stone into Latin, which will be translated into Middle English in Amherst Manuscript, along with Julian of Norwich, Showing of Love
1373 Thomas Brinton, Adam Easton's fellow Benedictine, in Papal Curia until January when he becomes Bishop of Rochester. Julian of Norwich's Vision, May viii/xiii, 4:00 a.m., dawn, in her 31st year. Alfonso sent by Birgitta to Avignon to persuade Pope to return to Rome. †Birgitta, Rome, 21 July, Vigil of Mary Magdalen, on returning from Holy Land pilgrimage. Catherine of Siena examined by Dominicans, Spanish Chapel, Florence.
1374 March, Catherine of Siena writes of Alfonso of Jaén being sent, at death of Birgitta, to her by the Pope to be her spiritual director; unable previously to write, she now begins to write influential letters, including one to Sir John Hawkwood. She visits William Flete at Lecceto. Her Miracoli are recorded. Alfonso's brother, Peter, has Hieronymite Order with Augustinian Rule confirmed. *Margey Kempe.
1375 Catherine of Siena receives the stigmata, Pisa. †Cristina Ebner
1376 January, Gregory XI, at Birgitta's and Catherine's urging, returns to Rome from Avignon. †Easton's patron, Cardinal Simon Langham, 22 July. Adam Easton writes to Abbot of Westminster, 18 November, asking for a copy of Wyclif's statements against Benedictine Order. William Flete, the English hermit in Lecceto, and other disciples accompany Catherine of Siena to Avignon. Catherine of Sweden professed at Vadstena.
1377 19 February, John Wyclif summoned to appear before the Bishops in the Lady Chapel, St Pauls, comes to them accompanied by John of Gaunt. Londoners supporting him. Henry le Despenser, for insisting on mace being born before him in Lynn, customarily reserved for Lynn's Mayor, meets with rebellion from Lynn townsfolk, is wounded in fray. Mayor, during this period was often John Brunham, Margery Kempe's father. Gregory XI condemns Wyclif's teachings, is visited by Nicholas of Basle, Friend of God, with the gift of a Swiss clock to gain audience. Accession of Richard II.
1377-78 Catherine of Siena dictates Dialogo to her secretaries. Richard II reconfirms privileges of Carrow Priory, in first year of his reign. Carrow has 14 nuns
1378 1 February, Vadstena granted Peter in Chains indulgence. †Gregory XI 27 April, in Lent, as St Birgitta and Friends of God predicted. Urban VI elected 8 April amidst violence. Cardinals' declaratio against Urban VI, elect Clement VIII as Anti-Pope. Great Schism. November, English Parliament supports Urban VI. Pope desires to send Catherine of Siena and Catherine of Sweden, Birgitta's daughter, to Queen Joanna of Naples. Catherine of Sweden refuses. Alfonso of Jaén spiritual director to Blessed Clara Gambacorta of Pisa. Two Popes until 1309. 3 December, Vadstena granted Porziuncula indulgence
1379 Adam Easton presents Defensorium Ecclesiastice Potestatis to Urban VI. Alfonso of Jaén writes Epistola solitarii and edits Birgitta's Revelationes, publishing these together
1379-80 Poll Taxes, 1379, 1380, cause hardship, unrest, in England
1380 †Catherine of Siena's vision of Church as Ship under whose weight she collapses, 29 April. Margaret Kirkeby at 58 returns to Richard Rolle's Hampole. Friends of God receive vision on Good Friday, 23 March
1381 John Ball preaches at Blackheath Corpus Christi Day 13 July, 'When Adam delved and Eve span Who was then the gentleman?' Peasants' Revolt. John of Gaunt's London Savoy Palace burned. Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, tortures and kills many rebels, attending John Litester, a Norwich dyer, self-styled 'King of the Commons' at the gallows. Wyclif retires to Lutterworth, translates Bible from Vulgate Latin into English, writes Servants and Lords upon collapse of Peasants' Revolt. †Jan van Ruusbroec. †Catherine of Sweden at Vadstena. Adam Easton made Cardinal of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, December
1381-86 Chaucer writes Second Nun's Prologue, Tale of St Cecilia, using Dante, Paradiso XXXIII.1-34, as does Julian in Showing. His Prioress' Tale retells the blood libel stories of the murders of Saints William of Norwich, 1144, Hugh of Lincoln, 1255
1382 14 January Richard II marries Anne of Bohemia at instigation of Pope Urban VI, Liber Regalis written for the double coronation, likely by Adam Easton, with Bohemian illuminators, Bohemian courtiers will bring back to Charles University Wyclif's Oxford University writings. Philip Repingden nails theses, Twelve Conclusions, to doors of St Mary's, St Peter's, London, Archbishop Courtenay suppresses them, Repingden submits to Courtenay, October, will later become Bishop of Lincoln. Blackfriars Synod against Wyclif, 21 May, Earthquake damaging Canterbury Cathedral and London, nevetheless Earthquake Council condemns Wyclif's errors. Plot to murder Bishop of Norwich, conspirators beheaded. Pope Urban VI commissions Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, to lead Crusade against Anti-Pope Clement VII's supporters in France. Crusade published by King, 6 December
1382-1384 Sister Ritamary Bradley believed Julian travelled to Rome and saw the Vernicle displayed in St Peters on Good Friday. If she stayed with the Benedictine nuns at nearby Santa Cecilia in Trastevere under the care of the Cardinal of England, Adam Easton, these would be the most likely dates for that pilgrimage
1383 Adam Easton, at Pope's request involved in arranging Richard II's marriage/coronation with Anne of Bohemia, sees that marriage offerings are not witheld from Benedictine monks at Westminster Abbey. Bishop of Norwich's Crusade in Dunkirk, Ypres, Bourbourg, ends disastrously. Wyclif opposed to Crusade. Henry le Despenser chastised by Parliament, temporalities seized November. †Wyclif in retirement at Lutterworth Parsonage. Thomas Brinton, Bishop of Rochester, preaches against heretics who 'newly preach and assert that the Cross of Christ and images should not be worshipped'. Luis de Fontibus, Franciscan from Aragon, reading Peter Lombard's Sentences at Cambridge. Hilton derives Eight Chapters on Perfection from him, Paris BN Anglais 41 contains this work with Pore Caitif, owned by James I of Scotland in prison in England
1383-1385 Walter Hilton writes on Mixed Life to Adam Horsley
1384 †Gerhart Groote, forbidden to preach except to priests, and only a deacon, of plague. Ann Whyote, Hermit at Eastgate, Lynn. Walter Hilton leaves Cambridge to be a Hermit
1384-1386 Cardinal Adam Easton with Pope Urban VI at Naples, then Nocera. Pope has Easton compose Office of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to heal Schism
1385 Pope imprisons and tortures six cardinals, among them Adam Easton, in 'a noisome and reeking dungeon' in Nocera, 11 January. (Julian's Parable of Lord and Servant.) Pope escapes from seige, 20 August; when he arrives in Genoa 23 September, only Easton is still alive, Richard II, English Benedictines, Oxford University, having written on his behalf. Easton, who had prayed to Birgitta that if his life were spared he would work for her canonisation, remains imprisoned under house arrest until 1389. Bishop of Norwich Henry le Despenser assists King agains French invasion of Scotland, July. Bishop's temporalities restored, 24 October. Geoffrey and Philippa Chaucer paid £13 6s 8d by citizens of Norwich, 3 November
1385-86 John Brunham, again Mayor of Lynn
1385-95 Raymond of Capua writing Legenda major of Catherine of Siena's Life and Miracles
1386 Walter Hilton's friend, Adam Horsley, enters Beauvale Charterhouse
1386-87 Bishop Henry le Despenser in Flanders with kinsman, Earl of Arundel. Thomas Arundel, Earl's brother, Chancellor
1387 July, John Wells, Ramsey Benedictine, sent to Urban VI to intercede for imprisoned Adam Easton, fails, following year dies in Perugia, being buried in church of Santa Sabina. Walter Hilton actively invovled against Lollardy
1388 Julian's Long Text 'Love was his Meaning' Showing, 15 years after 1373 Vision. Archbishop Courtenay examines Matilda, Anchoress at St Peter's Leicester, finds her 'not to answer plainly and directly, but sophistically and subtilely', has her placed in custody until she answers his questions humbly and retracts, then has her returned to her reclusorum. Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, on Royal Council
1389 †Alfonso of Jaén at Genoa, 19 August. †Pope Urban VI, 15 October. Adam Easton restored by Boniface IX, 18 December, as Cardinal of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Henry le Despenser only bishop, apart from Archbishop Courtenay, suppressing Lollardy
1389-90 Norwich Cathedral Priory Master of the Cellar pays 48s 7d for transport of Easton's books from Flanders to Norwich. Almoner pays 10s 'pro cariagio librorum domini cardinalis'. Prior of Lynn contributes 20s towards expenses 'circa libros domini Ade de Eston'
1389-96-Chastising of God's Children written as retreat addresses for Benedictine nuns, perhaps at Carrow, includes Alfonso of Jaén's 1379 Epistola solitarii, quotes Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love, is quoted at Benedictine Barking Abbey 1408
1390 Adam Easton's Office for the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary published. 9 February, he writes to Abbess of Vadstena countering Perugian 'Devil's Advocate' objections to Birgitta's canonisation
1391 Cardinal Adam Easton on canonisation commission for Birgitta, sends Boniface IX Defensorium Sanctae Birgittae before October. His argument states that women can have visions, citing Mary Magdalen and Philip's four daughters who were prophetesses. Birgitta canonised, 7 October. Lollard William Brut arrested for stating 'women have power and authority to preach and to make the body of Christ and they have the power of the keys of the church, of binding and loosing', since they can baptise, the Bible giving Deborah, Huldah, Mary Magdalen and Philip's four daughters as prophets who preach. Cambridge doctors of theology have William Brut submit
1392 Cardinal Adam Easton given living of Heygham in Norwich, perhaps in Norwich 1389-1396
1393 Julian's Long Text completed, February/March. Text now includes Parable of Lord and Servant who is Adam/Christ, reflecting Wyclif's 1381 Lords and Servants. Marriage of Margery Brunham to John Kempe. Anna Palmer, Anchoress at St Peter's Church, Northampton, harbours Lollards, is imprisoned. Cambridge doctors of theology counter William Brut's statements on women and the Church by citing Aristotle on women's inferiority
1393-97? Nicholas of Basle, Friend of God, burned at the stake in Vienna
1393-99 Raymond of Capua, Catherine of Siena's confessor and biographer, in contact with William Backthorpe, Dominican Prior of Lynn, and with William Flete, Catherine of Siena's English hermit disciple in Tuscany
1394 'Julian anakorite' left 2s by Roger Reed, Rector of St Michael's Coslany Norwich in his Will, 7 June. †Anne of Bohemia, Richard II's Queen, daughter of Emperor Charles IV, sister to King Wenceslas, at Sheen of the plague, King Richard has palace destroyed
1395 John Purvey completes translation of Wycliffite Bible, prefacing it with a General Prologue
1395-1429 Jean Gerson, Chancellor of Paris
1396 †Walter Hilton. Struggle between Norwich Cathedral Priory and Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, resolved. Thomas Arundel, Despenser's relative, becomes Archbishop of Canterbury, is touched by Cardinal Adam Easton's kindness and hospitality to him in Rome. Editha de Wilton, Prioress of Carrow, is prosecuted, gaoled, then acquitted, by Prior of Norwich and Thomas Roughton, monk, for harbouring a murderess
1397 †Cardinal Adam Easton, O.S.B., of Norwich Cathedral Priory, at Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, 20 September. Tomb epitaph erroneously gives date as 15 August 1398. Richard II sends Richard le Scrope, then Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, to Rome for canonisation process for Edward II. Bishop Braybrooke releases William Thorpe, Lollard
1398 Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York
1399 William Sawtre, chaplain of St Margarets Lynn, Margery Kempe's parish church, is tried for heresy before Henry le Despenser, Bishop of Norwich, 25 May. Despenser opposes Henry of Lancaster, is arrested and imprisoned, then reconciled. Christine de Pizan attacks Roman de la Rose, commencing Querelle de la Rose. Boniface IX grants indulgence to all contributing to building Norwich Cathedral. Deposition of Richard II. Accession of Henry IV. †Raymond of Capua
1399-1414 Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury. Chancellor again 1407-1410
1400 Rebels demand Archbishop Arundel's execution
1401 †William Sawtre, burned in chains as a lapsed heretic, after first being stripped of all clerical orders, at Smithfield, 26 February. Death penalty, De Heretico Comburendo, instituted for Lollards. †Margaret Kirkeby at Hampole, aged 79. Archbishop Arundel visits Norwich to pacify his kinsman Bishop Henry le Despenser's opponents
1402 Jean Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, attacks Ruusbroec's writings, and Roman de la Rose, supports Christine de Pizan, in Querelle de la Rose
1403 *Thomas Gascoigne
1404 Thomas Edmund, chantry chaplain of Aylesham, Norwich, Will, 'Item Iuliane anachorita apud ecclesiam sancti Iuliani in Norvico xii idem sar, commoranti eum eadem viijd' Archbishop Arundel's Register, i, fol. 540v, 19 May
1405 Rebellion against Henry IV. Chief Justice Gascoigne refuses to judge Archbishop le Scrope, whom Henry IV has executed 8 June, following Archbishop's scaffold sermon on Christ's Five Wounds, it taking three sword blows on his neck to kill him, is canonised by popular acclamation.
1406 Henry IV excommunicated for three years. †Henry le Despenser, 23 August, buried Norwich Cathedral. 29 November, Sir Henry Fitzhugh at Vadstena, accompanying Henry IV's daughter Philippa tp her royal Swedish wedding, gives Cherry Hinton, Cambridgeshire, for founding English Brigittine monastery
1407 Six barrels containing 228 of Adam Easton's books arrive from rome for Benedictine Cathedral Priory, Norwich, among them texts of Origen, Pseudo-Dionysius, Rabbi David Kimhi, John of Salisbury. Norwich Benedictine Alexander of Tottingham consecrated Bishop of Norwich at Gloucester, October 23. Brigittine brothers, among them Katillus Thorberni, sent from Vadstena to establish a monastery in East Anglia. They proceed to York. William Thorpe re-examined for Lollardy by Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury
1407-1409 Archbishop Arundel's Constitutions opposing Lollardy, preachers required to be licensed, also licensing required for ownership of Bibles in the vernacular
1408 Henry IV writes letter 26 April protecting Swedish monks in England for Brigittine foundation. Canterbury Convocation forbids reading Wyclif Bible
1407-1421 Brother Katillus, Vadstena Brigittine in England, responsible for manuscripts of Rolle, Hildegard, Mechtild von Hackeborn, Adam Easton, he copied coming to Vadstena
1409 Election of Peter of Candia as Anti-Pope Alexander V, a Greek and a Franciscan, he had studied in 1370s in Norwich and Oxford. Archbishop Arundel publishes further Constitutions against Lollardy, controlling and requiring licensing of preachers, books, universities to control heresies. Lincoln Cathedral 114, Adam Easton's Defensorium Sanctae Birgittae, copied at Vadstena, sent to England. Three Popes from 1409-1414
1309-21 Nicholas Love Prior of Carthusian Mount Grace, Yorkshire
1410 Lollard Disendowment Bill. Archbishop Arundel licenses Carthusian Prior Nicholas Love of Mount Grace's translation of Speculum Vitae Christi. John Badby, tailor from Evesham, burned in chains at Smithfield for Lollardy, though Prince Hal attempts to convert and save him. Wyclif's works burned at Prague
1411 Hoccleve's De Regimine principum, written for Prince Hal, includes Birgitta's Revelationes IV.105. Bonfire at Carfax Oxford of Wyclif's books
1412 6 January, *Joan of Arc. Archbishop Thomas Arundel again Chancellor
1413 Julian of Norwich's Short Text of Showing of Love gives this date for the devout woman who is a recluse at Norwich and '3itt ys oun lyfe'. †John Brunham, Margery Kempe's father. Margery Kempe visits Julian of Norwich. For their conversation with each other: http://www.umilta.net/soulcity.mp3. Margery forces her husband to a Vow of Chastity, 23 June. She and her husband visit former Lollard Philip Repingden, now Bishop of Lincoln, then Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Lambeth Palace, Arundel giving her permission to receive Communion weekly. She begins her pilgrimage to Rome. †Alexander of Tottingham, Bishop of Norwich, Richard Courtenay succeeding him. Accession of Henry V, following discussing St Birgitta with William Alnwick, Recluse of Westminster, the night of Henry IV's death in the Jerusalem Chamber, Westminster Abbey
1413-14 Sir John Oldcastle Revolt. Bonfire of Wyclif's books at St Paul's London
1414 Oldcastle Lollards propose mass meeting in Giles Fields, 10 January, demand Arundel's execution. Margery Kempe visits Chapel of St Birgitta, Rome 7 October
1415  22 February Henry V lays Syon Abbey's foundation stone, 3 March Charter of Henry V 'De fondatione monasterii Sancti Salvatoris et Sanctis Birgittae de Syon' and he names St Birgitta in his 24 July Will. 4 May Council of Constance orders Wyclif's bones be dug up, his writings condemned. 16 July Jan Hus burned at Constance. Margery Kempe in Norwich, May. (Visits Julian again?) Brigittine nuns arrive in Lynn from Sweden 26 August, journey to Brigittine Syon founded by Henry V. Abbess Matilda Newton, Recluse of Barking, Confessor General William Alnwick. Both resign shortly after. 25 October Henry V wins Battle of Agincourt, attributing victory to St John of Beverley, who consequently becomes a major Syon patron saint. (Long Text interpolates St John of Beverley?). Birgitta's canonisation confirmed, Council of Constance, with support of material from Bishop Hermit Alfonso of Jaén, Cardinal Adam Easton, the Benedictine Prior of Norwich Cathedral being present, despite objections from Jean Gerson, Chancellor of University of Paris who also attacks Jan van Ruusbroec's Spiritual Espousals. Merchant John Plumpton of Conisford, Norwich, Will 'Item lefo le ankeres in ecclesia sancti Juliani de Conesford in Norwice xid et ancille sue xijd Item lefo Alicie quondam ancille sue xid' in Archbishop Chichele's Register, ii, fols. 170v-171. Alice Hermyte, perhaps Julian's former maidservant, wills chalice to St Giles' Church.
1416 Isabella Ufford, Countess of Suffolk, daughter of Thomas Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, Will, 'Item heo deuyse a Julian recluz a Norwich xxs', Archbishop Chichele's Register, ii, fol. 95, 27 October. Executor of Countess' Will, Sir Miles Stapleton, whose daughter, Lady Emma Stapleton, was Anchoress at the Carmelite White Friars Norwich. John Wakering, Bishop of Norwich
1417 Margery Kempe on pilgrimage to Compostela. On return is tried and detained for heresy in Leicester and detained again in York. Sir John Oldcastle burned in chains, St Giles Fields, for Lollardy. Hereford, Wyclif's former associate, enters St Anne's Charterhouse, Coventry, founded by Richard II in memory of Queen Anne of Bohemia. Henry V's supplica to Pope Martin V for confirmation of Foundation of Syon Abbey, Canonisation of St Birgitta
1418 Margery Kempe returns to Lynn
1419 1 July Pope Martin V reconfirms Birgitta's canonisation, awards Henry V, Syon Pardon, equivalent to Vadstena Abbey's St Peter in Chains' indulgence, for Syon Abbey. †Sybil Felton, Abbess of Barking
1420 First professions at Syon Abbey. Abbess Matilda Newton, Confessor General William Alnwick now replaced by Joan North, nun of Markyate, St Albans, Thomas Fyschbourn, anchorite of St Albans. Henry Suso, Horologium Sapientiae, 'scriptum finaliter in monte gracie Ultimo die mensum may .M.cccc.xx deo gracias R.', translated into Middle English for a noblewoman, now Cambrai 255, there owned by English Benedictine nuns who also had Julian's manuscript texts. An extract in Middle English was already included in the Amherst Manuscript. In 1420s images are being burned by Lollards in Loddon, Norfolk
1421 Henry V again names St Birgitta in 10 June Will, possesses gold cross with her relics
1421-1442 Lady Emma Stapleton, Anchoress with Carmelite White Friars, Norwich, awarded Adam Hemlyngton, Oxford Doctorate in Theology, as spiritual director
1422 Revelation of Purgatory 10 August written by a Winchester Benedictine nun
1422-23 Dame Emma Rawgton, Anchoress at York All Saints, prophesies to Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, concerning child king Henry VI's double coronation in St Denis, France, and in England, and states that if Richard founded a chantry at Guy's Cliff hermitage in Warwick he would be blessed with a male heir
1425 22 March, Richard Beauchamp's son and heir born
1425 Carmelite Thomas Scrope Bradley preaching in Norwich streets in sackcloth and iron 'And he used to cry out that the new Jerusalem, the bride of the Lamb, would shortly come down from heaven, and that she should immediately be prepared for her Spouse'. †John Wakering, Bishop of Norwich, wills a thousand marks to be shared by anchorites, recluses and the poor
1426 William Alnwick, Bishop of Norwich
1427 Vadstena scribe writes Vitae of St Alban, Catherine of Sweden, Peter Olavi, acquired by Thomas Gascoigne, Chancellor of Oxford University, patron of Syon Abbey. Record of a Norwich beguinage
1428-31 Bishop William Alnwick of Norwich's heresy trials, Norwich and Lynn, 60 people, 9 of them women, prosecuted for heresy in Norwich, those condemned being burned, those who abjured being flogged on Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, in the Cathedral before Bishop or his representative, and fasting on bread and water on Fridays
1428-78 Dame Julian Lampyt, Anchoress at Carrow for 50 years
1429 Bequest to an 'anchoress in the churchyard of St Julian's'. Christine de Pizan at royal convent of Poissy writes poem in praise of Joan of Arc. John Burrell, servant of Thomas Moon, in Norfolk, confesses to saying the Pater Noster, Credo and Ave in English as his brother taught him.
1431 †Joan of Arc at 19 by burning at the stake, whose judges included William Alnwick, Bishop of Norwich. Syon Abbey moves from Twickenham to Brentford
1433 †Joan North, Abbess of Syon. Council of Basle, 13 August, 123 Articles of Birgitta's Revelationes attacked in Gerson's De probatione spirituum, condemned but Birgitta's reputation is ably defended by Cardinal Turrecremata, whose Defensorium, replacing that of Adam Easton, derives largely from Alfonso's Epistola solitarii. Margery Kempe in Norway, Gdansk, Aachen
1434 Margery Kempe visits Sheen, Syon Abbey, for the Syon Pardon. Thomas Gascoigne, Chancellor of Oxford, passionately supports Syon
1434-35 Dame Margaret Heslyngton, a recluse, asks Richard Misyn, Prior of Lincoln Carmelite house, to translate Rolle's Incendium Amoris into English, included in Amherst whose internal dates run from 1413-35 where Lincolnshire scribe writes out Richard Misyn's translations of Richard Rolle, Marguerite Porete's Mirror of Simple Souls, Golden Epistle, Suso, Ruusbroec, etc., with Julian of Norwich's, Showing of Love. Same scribe also writes out British Library, Egerton 2006, Mechtild of Hackeborn, Book of Ghostly Grace, St John's College, Cambridge, G.21, Deguileville's Pilgrimage of Man.
1435 Henry VI uses Birgitta's Revelationes IV at Congress of Arras, and again in 1439
1436 Margery Kempe 'writes' her 'Boke of Margery Kempe'. Bishop William Alnwick translated to Lincoln
1438 Margery Kempe joins Lynn's Guild of the Holy Trinity
1439 †Margery Kempe. Fasciculi Zizaniorum copied out in Norwich Carmelite house by Roger Alban, anti-Wyclif, anti-Mendicant, includes earlier documents
1440 †Francesca Romana, Rome. Dominican anchorite Geoffrey of Lynn composes Promptorium Parvulorum Latin-Norfolk English Dictionary
1441 Pope Eugenius IV grants Carmelite Thomas Scrope Bradley indult to chose his confessor.
1442 †Lady Emma Stapleton, daughter of Sir Miles Stapleton, Executor of Countess of Suffolk's Will, Anchoress of Carmelite Priory, buried in their church, 2 December
1445-75 Dame Agnes Kyte, Anchoress at St Julian's Church, Conisford
1446 Cardinal Torrecremata's Defensiones, supporting 'Birgitta of Sweden's canonisation, published
1449 †William Alnwick, Bishop of Lincoln. Isabella, Anchoress at Lynn
1450 Thomas Scrope Bradley nominated Bishop of Dromore, suffragan bishop in Norwich
1461 Canonisation of Catherine of Siena
1466 Prioress, nuns, anchoress of Carrow attend John Paston's funeral
1468 Elizabeth Sywardby wills copy of Birgitta's Revelationes in English
1481 Elizabeth Scott, Anchores at St Julian's, Conisford. Margaret Purdawnce wills copy of Birgitta's Revelationes in English
1483 †Julian Lampyt, Anchoress at Carrow, 1428-1478. Margaret Kydman, nun, takes over her anchorhold
1484 Vadstena's privileges restored by Sixtus IV
1485 †King Richard III, who with his wife, Anne Warwick, own Egerton 2006, Mechtild of Hackeborn's Book of Ghostly Grace by same scribe as Amherst
1491 †Thomas Scrope Bradley at 100, suffragan bishop, preacher, giving all his goods to the poor
1493 Anne, Countess of Warwick commissions The Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who was her her father, includes Anchoress of York All Saints' Dame Emma Rawgton's prophesies.
1495 Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, Edward IV and Richard II's mother, who had had Birgitta's Revelationes, Mechtild of Hackeborn's Book of Ghostly Grace, Life of Catherine of Siena, read to her at meals, wills to granddaughter Bridget, at Dominican convent at Dartford, Golden Legend, Lives of Catherine of Siena, Matilda, to granddaughter Anne, Prioress of Syon, volume of Hilton and Bonaventure and Revelationes of St Birgitta
1499-1508 Carthusian James Grenehalgh at Sheen Charterhouse annotates manuscripts, among them Julian of Norwich's Short Text Showing, Amherst
1500 Joanna Sewell professed as Sister at Brigittine Syon abbey
1508 James Grenehalgh sent to Coventry Charterhouse
1510 Lady Elizabeth, Anchoress at St Julian's, Conisford
1514 Carrow's nuns respond to Bishop's Visitation that 'All is well'
1516 Thomas Gascoigne's 'Life of St Birgitta of Sweden' printed by R. Pynson in the Kalendre of New Legende of England
1519 Wynken de Worde prints The Orcherd of Syon manuscript, Brigittine English translation of Catherine of Siena's Dialogo, discovered at Syon by Steward Sir Richard Sutton
1521 Henry Pepwell prints Cloud Treatises, Catherine of Siena, Margery Kempe, Walter Hilton
1524 Agnes Edrygge, Anchoress at St Julian's, Conisford
1525 Elizabeth Barton's serious illness at 16, Virgin heals her. Benedictine Dr Edward Bocking, O.S.B., appointed her confessor
1528 Elizabeth Barton, become a Benedictine nun, speaks with King Henry VIII. Her supporters are from Sheen and she is often at Syon, meeting with Sir Thomas More at the instigation of Richard Reynolds. Dr Bocking has her write a 'great book' of her visionary prophecies modeled on Birgitta's Revelationes, Catherine's Dialogo, translated as Orcherd of Syon
1530 †James Grenehalgh at Hull Charterhouse
1531 Thomas Bilney, at stake, exonerates Katherine Manne, Norwich Anchoress, for having given him Tyndale's New Testament and 'The Obedience of a Christian Man'
1532 †Joanna Sewell at Syon Abbey
1534 †Elizabeth Barton, executed, 20 April. 'This day the nun of Kent, with two Friars Observant, two monks and one secular priest, were drawn from the Tower to Tyrburn and there hanged and beheaded'. All copies of the 'great book' of visionary prophecies destroyed. Sir Thomas More among those guilty of treason concerning Elizabeth Barton
1535 4 May, Richard Reynolds, Syon Brother, abnd three Carthusian Priors executed by drawing, hanging and quartering. 6 July, Sir Thomas More executed. Margaret Roper purchases his head and later is buried with it in her arms. Carthusians send message to Anchoress Katherine Mann that she write to them as to how it is with her 'in thys tyme of tribulacyon and calamite', telling her to say no more than 'Credo Ecclesiam Sanctam Catholicam'. Norwich obtains Blackfriars and 'ankress-house' and declares that 'K. Manne, syngle woman, shal have fre libertye to occupie within this cittie so long as she shall kepe her shoppe and be soole and unmarryed', granting her life pension of 20s a year
1539 †John Bramston, Syon Priest Brother, buried at Syon, 28 June. 28 November, Syon Abbey suppressed by Henry VIII
1544 Syon Abbey Psalter has entry 'Elynor Mownse lowe was borne into this world upon the innocenttys day in the mornyng betweyne xii and one of the cloke of the yere of our Lord 1543. God make her a good woman'
1545 †Sr Elizabeth Mouton's pension ceases. She professed before 1518 at Syon
1556 Sr Elinor Fettyplace gives parish church at buckland Sarum Missal, will retrieve it at Elizabeth's accession. She, Elizabeth Yate, and five other Syon Sisters living at Lyford Grange, continuing Syon's Brigittine Offices
1557 Syon Abbey restored by Queen Mary, 1 March
1558 †Queen Mary
1559-1861 Syon Abbey goes into exile second time
1564 8 May, Pope Pius IV recognises Syon in exile as same as Syon Abbey, in document addressed to Archbishp of Cambrai
1575 *David Baker, at Abergavenney to formerly Catholic parents
1576 Office in Choir at Syon Abbey given up for want of Office books
1578 Syon Abbey sends young Brigittine Sisters to England from Mechline. Some return to the Yates at Lyford Grange. Several are imprisoned, several die. †Sister Anne Stapleton, 24 December, Fulham
1580 †Sister Mary Champney, Syon Sister in England, receives Last Rites and then arranges with George Gilbert for printing of Syon Office books and 'One Scale of Perfection', the Walter Hilton book much loved at Syon. Her father steward to Sir Marmaduke Constable of Burton Constable. Paris Long Text of Julian of Norwich, Showing of Love, written on Flemish paper with watermark of this date where Syon Abbey and Sheen Anglorum were both in exile. 18 November, Elizabeth Saunders, Syon Sister, captured at Alton, imprisoned in Winchester Castle by Bishops, for possessing 'certayne lewde and forebydden bokes' and 'Campion's Brag'. Syon Abbey in exile moves from Flanders to Rouen
1581 17 July, Philip Lowe and Brigittine Sisters Catherine Kingsmill, Juliana Harmon, arrested with Fr Edmund Campion, S.J., at Mrs and Mrs Francis Yates' Lyford Grange, Buckland, where Syon nuns stayed. Lowe family owns Julian, Showing, Westminster Manuscript
1582 Manuscript of Cloud of Unknowing, Syon or Sheen, coeval with Paris Long Text, written in exile in Antwerp region
1586 8 October, John Lowe, priest who caused 500 conversions to Catholicism since 1583 in England, drawn to Tyburn, hanged and quartered
1587 Letter mentions return of Sister Elizabeth Saunders to Syon Abbey now in Rouen
1588 April, Mrs Philip Lowe condemned as felon for receiving priests, to die in prison at 50
1594 Syon Abbey leaves Flanders for Lisbon, moveables in 'five crates and a cask'. Paris Long Text left behind in Rouen, comes into Bigot Library
1605 *Hugh Paulinus Cressy, Yorkshire. David Baker takes name of 'Augustine', Clothing as Benedictine Novice in Padua
1622 Thomas Robinson, Licensed Pirate, publishes libel against Syon Abbey
1623 Foundation of Benedictine Our Lady of Comfort, Cambrai, then in Spanish Netherlands, by monks of the English Congregation in exile, Dom Rudesind Barlow and Dom Benet Jones, who brought over nine young Englishwomen, of whom Dame Gertrude More, Thomas More's descendant, is Foundress
1624-33 Father Augustine Baker, spiritual director to English Benedictine nuns at Cambrai (now Stanbrook Abbey), encourages them to continue use of medieval devotional treatises in their prayer
1626 Hugh Cressy, Fellow at Merton
1629 Father Augustine Baker writes commentary to The Cloud of Unknowing. Margaret Gascoigne, OSB, professes Vows at Our Lady of Comfort, Cambrai, Catherine Gascoigne to become Abbess, both relatives of Thomas Gascoigne, Chancellor of Oxford, devoté of St Birgitta of Sweden and Syon Abbey. Cambrai owns 'The Revelations of Saint Julian'
1630 Dame Catherine Gascoigne, O.S.B., installed as Abbess at Cambrai, will be Abbess for 40 years
1633 †Dame Gertrude More, O.S.B., Foundress of Our Lady of Comfort, Cambrai, dies of smallpox at 27. Manuscripts from Syon Abbey and elsewhere go to St John's College, Cambridge, including Chastising of God's Children, Hugh of St Victor, Birgitta's Revelationes, Adam Easton's David Kimhi
1634 Dame Bridget More, O.S.B., Professes Vows at Cambrai
1636 Edinburgh University acquires Lowe Syon Abbey Psalter
1637 Hugh Cressy, Dean of Leighlin, Ireland. †Dame Margaret Gascoigne, O.S.B., who had quoted from 'The Revelation of Saint Julian' , planning there for it to be used during her own dying, which Augustine Baker tells us, she did.
1641 †Augustine Baker, OSB.
1646 Hugh Cressy converts to Catholicism
1647 Hugh Cressy publishes Exomologesis
1648 Manuscript of Cloud of Unknowing stating it is written out at Cambrai from copy written out originally in 1582. 1582 original, written at Syon or Sheen in exile, likely read by Augustine Baker
1649 Hugh Cressy Professed as Benedictine St Gregory's, Douay, 22 August, taking name in religion of 'Serenus, exiled Queen Henrietta Maria gives him 100 crowns for journey from Sorbonne to Douai
1650 Intensive manuscript copying at Cambrai in preparation for daughter foundation, Paris. G, Gascoigne Fragment, Dame Bridget More, scribe; U, Upholland Fragment, Dame Barbara Constable being scribe, preparation for a scholarly collated printed edition of Julian, Showing
1651-53 Serenus Cressy, O.S.B., on being ordained priest, sent to officiate as confessor to English nuns in Paris, Benedictine house founded by Dame Clementia Cary, Dame Bridget More elected Prioress
1655 Dom Claude White attempts to censor Dom Augustine Baker's methods at Cambrai, Dame Catherine Gascoigne withstanding him
1663 Dame Barbara Constable, O.S.B., of Cambrai, writes a Spiritual Treatise for her brother, Sir Marmaduke Constable, quoting Ignatius, Polycarp, Dionysius ('St Denis his high and divine books'). Syon Abbey Sr Mary Champney's father was steward to earlier Sir Marmaduke Constable of Burton Constable
1670 Serenus Cressy publishes Julian's XVI Revelations collated by the English Benedictine nuns's Sloane manuscripts with earlier, now lost, manuscripts then in their possession
1672 Sir John Bramston accused as Papist on evidence of Portuguese spy Ferdinand de Macedo
1674 † Serenus Cressy, O.S.B., East Grinstead, Sussex
1677 Ampleforth Abbey owns manuscript of Cloud of Unknowing copied out in this year from Cambrai's 1648 manuscript
1702 Pierre Poiret speaks of 'Julianae Matris Anachorite Revelationes de Amore Dei, Anglice. Theodidactae, profundae, ecstaticae', Theologiae Pacificae itemque Mystice, Amsterdam, p. 336
1706 Paris, Long Text, Showing of Love, finally comes to Paris from Rouen, the Bigot family's library being sold to the King of France, today, Bibliothèque Nationale Anglais 40
1719 †Pierre Poiret, near Leyden
1724 English Benedictine nun in Paris writes 'Colections'
1774 3 May, *Rose Lowe
1793 3 October, the English Benedictine nuns of the Paris daughter house became prisoners of the Revolution within their own convent. 13 October, Sunday night, 22 Cambrai nuns violently ejected from Abbey by men with clubs in their hands, in half an hour having to gather their necessary possessions in bundles, not allowed boxes or trunks, and taken in open carts to prison in Compiègne, together with their 73 year old priest and with French Carmelites. Several die in prison, including their priest. Their prison a former convent of the Visitation Order. All their books and papers seized by the Revolution and placed under seal, then catalogued carefully by their schoolgirls, next disappearing across the border to Belgium, among the manuscripts likely the exemplar Julian Manuscripts used for the 1670 Cressy edition.
1794 15 July, the English Benedictine nuns of the Paris daughter house were taken to the Chateau de Vincennes with just a bundle of necessaries each.16 July, Our Lady of Carmel's Feastday, 16 Carmelite nuns from the prison at Compiègne, formerly of the convent of St Denis, guillotined in Paris while singing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. The English Benedictine nuns given the clothing of the guillotined French Carmelites. One Carmelite, Marie de l'Incarnation, escapes to tell the tale to the English Benedictines, giving them the names of her dead companions, greatly assists the imprisoned English nuns, by 1814 refounds Compiègne's Carmel. The Revolutionaries did not destroy monastic libraries, partly because Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon argued that it was crucial for the State to seize these books in the name of the People. Ameilhon obsessively organized this task of preserving and cataloguing all these collections, insisting upon careful records being made, and thus the 3,845 books Cambrai had owned were meticulously catalogued by the English nuns’ former French schoolgirls, then disappeared; and likewise the 2,245 books the Paris daughter house treasured were now catalogued under the auspices of the Revolution, though these mostly were returned with the nuns to England who came to found St Mary's Abbey, Colwich, Staffordshire, where these books are still
1795 Cambrai Benedictine nuns celebrate their first Mass in 18 months, are released, applying to Edward Constable of Burton Constable for funds, 16 surviving nuns making their way to Dover by 3 May, still wearing the dead Carmelites' clothes. Mr Coghlan the bookdealer arranges for the Marchioness of Buckingham to shelter them. Stowe 42 Manuscript of Julian's Long Text Showing of Love on paper with English watermarks, may have been written at this time to thank her. 3 July, Mr Peter Coghlan and his wife help the returning English Benedictine nuns, this time from the Paris daughter house
1786-97 Dame Ann Teresa Partington, O.S.B., writes narrative of prison sojourn of Cambrai Benedictine nuns, which will be used in canonisation process of Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne
1809 Sr Rose Lowe, Professed at Syon Abbey, Lisbon
1821 Bishop James Yorke Bramston, who was in Lisbon studying theology, acquires Westminster Julian Manuscript
1822†10 January, Sr Rose Lowe
1836 Paris Benedictine daughter house settles at Colwich, Staffordshire
1838 Cambrai nuns settle at Stanbrook, Worcestershire
1861 Brigittine Syon Abbey returns from Lisbon to England
1909 Martin Buber translates, anthologises Julian of Norwich
1911 Julian's Showing of Love Short Text discovered in Amherst Manuscript
1947 Sr Anna Maria Reynolds, C.P., edits both Sloane Manuscripts of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love for her 1947 University of Leeds M.A. Thesis
1955 Betty Foucard discovers and translates Westminster Cathedral Text of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love.
1956 Sr Anna Maria Reynolds, C.P., edits Westminster Cathedral Text with Paris and Amherst Manuscripts for her University of Leeds Doctoral Thesis
1976,-86,-93 Marion Glasscoe publishes edition of Sloane Manuscript Long Text of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love
1978 Edmund Colledge and James Walsh publish two volume edition of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love, Paris collated with Westminster, Sloane, and Amherst Manuscripts; Frances Beer publishes edition of the Amherst Manuscript's Short Text of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love
1994 Edward P. Nolan, Cry Out and Write, publishes Julia Bolton Holloway's 1991 transcription of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love from the Westminster Manuscript
1997 Hugh Kempster publishes edition of Westminster Manuscript of Julian of Norwich's Showing of Love
2001 Sr Anna Maria Reynolds, C.P., Julia Bolton Holloway, publish diplomatic edition of extant Julian of Norwich, Showing of Love, Westminster, Paris, Sloane, Amherst Manuscripts
2006 Nicholas Watson, Jacqueline Jenkins, publish modernised edition, The Writings of Julian of Norwich, comparing two manuscript versions
 

I learned from travelling in Europe from library to library exploring manuscripts that Japanese scholars on trains doing the same found it necessary in studying a culture other than their own to organise their research according to time, as above, and to space, as below, where I give a map of the pilgrimages women, including myself, made across Europe and beyond, and a map of Julian's Norwich:
 

Helena and Paula from Rome, Egeria from Spain, Guthrithyr from Iceland, Birgitta from Sweden, Margaret and Margery from England , on Pilgrimage to the Holy Places.
 

Map of Norwich, 1728

http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/norwmap2.html
 

Indices to Umiltà Website's Julian Essays:
Preface
Influences on Julian
Her Self
Her Contemporaries
Her Manuscript Texts ♫ with recorded readings of them
About Her Manuscript Texts
After Julian, Her Editors
Julian in our Day

Publications related to Julian:

Saint Bride and Her Book: Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations Translated from Latin and Middle English with Introduction, Notes and Interpretative Essay. Focus Library of Medieval Women. Series Editor, Jane Chance. xv + 164 pp. Revised, republished,  Boydell and Brewer, 1997. Republished, Boydell and Brewer, 2000. ISBN 0-941051-18-8

To see an example of a page inside with parallel text in Middle English and Modern English, variants and explanatory notes, click here. Index to this book at http://www.umilta.net/julsismelindex.html

Julian of Norwich. Showing of Love: Extant Texts and Translation. Edited. Sister Anna Maria Reynolds, C.P. and Julia Bolton Holloway. Florence: SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo (Click on British flag, enter 'Julian of Norwich' in search box), 2001. Biblioteche e Archivi 8. XIV + 848 pp. ISBN 88-8450-095-8.

To see inside this book, where God's words are in red, Julian's in black, her editor's in grey, click here. 

Julian of Norwich. Showing of Love. Translated, Julia Bolton Holloway. Collegeville: Liturgical Press; London; Darton, Longman and Todd, 2003. Amazon ISBN 0-8146-5169-0/ ISBN 023252503X. xxxiv + 133 pp. Index.

 
'Colections' by an English Nun in Exile: Bibliothèque Mazarine 1202. Ed. Julia Bolton Holloway, Hermit of the Holy Family. Analecta Cartusiana 119:26. Eds. James Hogg, Alain Girard, Daniel Le Blévec. Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 2006.

Anchoress and Cardinal: Julian of Norwich and Adam Easton OSB. Analecta Cartusiana 35:20 Spiritualität Heute und Gestern. Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 2008. ISBN 978-3-902649-01-0. ix + 399 pp. Index. Plates.

Teresa Morris. Julian of Norwich: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Handbook. Preface, Julia Bolton Holloway. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. x + 310 pp.  ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-3678-7; ISBN-10: 0-7734-3678-2. Maps. Index.

Fr Brendan Pelphrey. Lo, How I Love Thee: Divine Love in Julian of Norwich. Ed. Julia Bolton Holloway. Amazon, 2013. ISBN 978-1470198299

 

Julian among the Books: Julian of Norwich's Theological Library. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. xxi + 328 pp. VII Plates, 59 Figures. ISBN (10): 1-4438-8894-X, ISBN (13) 978-1-4438-8894-3.

Mary's Dowry; An Anthology of Pilgrim and Contemplative Writings/ La Dote di Maria:Antologie di Testi di Pellegrine e Contemplativi. Traduzione di Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotto. Testo a fronte, inglese/italiano. Analecta Cartusiana 35:21 Spiritualität Heute und Gestern. Salzburg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik Universität Salzburg, 2017. ISBN 978-3-903185-07-4. ix + 484 pp.

To donate to the restoration by Roma of Florence's formerly abandoned English Cemetery and to its Library click on our Aureo Anello Associazione:'s PayPal button:   THANKYOU!

JULIAN OF NORWICH, HER SHOWING OF LOVE AND ITS CONTEXTS ©1997-2024 JULIA BOLTON HOLLOWAY | || JULIAN OF NORWICH  || SHOWING OF LOVE || HER TEXTS || HER SELF || ABOUT HER TEXTS || BEFORE JULIAN || HER CONTEMPORARIES || AFTER JULIAN || JULIAN IN OUR TIME ||  ST BIRGITTA OF SWEDEN  ||  BIBLE AND WOMEN || EQUALLY IN GOD'S IMAGE  || MIRROR OF SAINTS || BENEDICTINISM || THE CLOISTER || ITS SCRIPTORIUM  || AMHERST MANUSCRIPT || PRAYER || CATALOGUE AND PORTFOLIO (HANDCRAFTS, BOOKS ) || BOOK REVIEWS || BIBLIOGRAPHY