Bir Orta Çağ Kadınının Ruhani Gelişimi: Margery Kempe’in Kitabı

Doğum tecrübesine kadar sıradan bir hayat yaşayan Margery Kempe, hayatını bağlıklıkla Tanrı’ya adayan kadın bir mistiğe dönüşmüştür. Okuma yazma bilmemesine rağmen, Ortaçağ toplumunda kadın bir mistik olarak kendi deneyimine odaklanarak hayat hikayesini anlatabilmiştir. İsa’yla ilgili hayali gördüğü şeylerin hikayesi olarak iki erkek katip tarafından yazılan otobiyografik çalışması, Margery Kempe’in Kitabı, ataerkil toplumda bir Ortaçağ kadınının hayatına dair pek çok detayla dolu bir şekilde Margery’nin ruhani gelişimini tasvir etmektedir. Kendisi için ruhani bir kariyer çizen Margery, toplumunun kısıtlayıcı kurallarına direnmiştir ve kitabı aracılığıyla kendisini güçlendirmiştir. Bu çalışma, Margery Kempe’in Kitabı’nda anlatılan hayat hikayesine göre Margery Kempe’i sıradan bir Ortaçağ kadını, mistik bir kadın ve hacı olarak öne çıkarmayı amaçlar.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Margery Kempe, Margery Kempe’in Kitabı, Ortaçağda Kadınlar, Mistik, Margery Kempe, Margery Kempe’in Kitabı, Ortaçağda Kadınlar, Mistik

The Spiritual Development of a Medieval Woman: The Book of Margery Kempe

Living an ordinary life until her experience of childbirth, Margery Kempe turned into a female mystic who devotedly dedicated her life to God. Despite her illiteracy, she was able to tell her own life story by focusing on her experience as a female mystic in the medieval society. As an account of her visions of Christ, her autobiographical work, The Book of Margery Kempe, written by two male scribes, depicts Margery’s spiritual development tinged with various details about the life of a medieval woman in the patriarchal society. Making a spiritual career for herself, Margery resisted the restrictive norms of her society and empowered herself through her book. This paper aims to bring the figure of Margery Kempe into focus as an ordinary medieval woman, a female mystic and pilgrim in reference to her life story narrated in The Book of Margery Kempe.

Keywords:

Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, Women in the Middle Ages, Mystic, Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, Women in the Middle Ages, Mystic,

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