Margery Kempe: In Search of the Scribe Master Alan William E. Bolton

Master Alan the Man One person who had a good deal of contact with Margery Kempe and has been mentioned as a possible scribe is Margery’s friend, Master Alan. Although after a little investigation it becomes pretty clear that Alan was not Margery’s second scribe, knowing about Alan helps to clarify the chronology of the Book. It also adds to our understanding of the confusing literary and spiritual meanings of the Book. It is clear from the Book that Margery and Master Alan had a rather close relationship and it seems he even offers to be her amanuensis. It is rather interesting and significant, then, that despite their close relationship and he being a seemingly appropriate person for the job, Alan does not, in fact, write the Book for her. In keeping with the tenuous nature of much of the information in the Book, the identity of the “worschepful doctowr of dyuynite wych hygth Maystyr Aleyn, a Whyte Frer” (22/11-12) cannot be known for certain, and some attention must be given to this problem before continuing. The editors of the Early English Text Society edition of the Book, Sanford Brown Meech and Hope Emily Allen, suggest that Master Alan may most likely be identified as the well-known indexer, writer, and Carmelite monk, Alan of Lynn (see their note to 22/11-12). However, Anthony Goodman, in his book Margery Kempe and Her World, suggests that Master Alan could possibly be one Aleyn Gaywood (88). Gaywood, according to Goodman, is also a Lynn Carmelite and appears in 1408 testimony at a Court of Chivalry. Goodman’s account of this other man is complicated, however, by Francis Blomefield’s account in his Essay Towards a Topographical History Of the County of Norfolk of the same deposition. Blomefield claims that an “Aleyn, the Gaywode reader in divinity” (613, my emphasis) testified. Henry J. Hillen, in his History of the Borough of King’s Lynn, offers a clarification of Blomefied’s assertion. He claims that the Aleyn testifying in this deposition was “at that time, the reader of divinity at the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Gaywood” (710, my emphasis). The hospital of Mary Magdalen was “on the causeway leading to Gaywood” (Stokes 16), which is a geographic area very near to King’s Lynn proper. Clearly they are talking about the same man, but Blomefield and Hillen take this man to be Alan of Lynn. This seems most likely given the slim chance that there could be two Carmelites Named Alan with doctorates in divinity, both in Lynn at the same time. Although Alan of Lynn was a rather prolific writer and scholar, the specifics of his life are difficult to piece together. He was born c. 1348, which is datable by the above mentione deposition appearing in Blomefield’s Topographical History of Norfolk (see BMK note to 22/11-12 for a summary). The deposition is dated to the ninthyear of Henry IV and Alan gives his age at the time as 59. Emden, in his Biographical Register of Cambridge University, also gives his year of birth as c. 1438, presumably following Blomefield. Alan received his doctorate in divinity from Cambridge University, and was later made lector in theology at Lynn Carmelite Friary in 1407 where he preached and lived until his death (Emden 381). Alan of Lynn was quite a prolific scholar and writer throughout his life, making him one of Margery’s most learned companions. He is credited by the Renaissance historian John Bale in his Scriptorum illustrium, with creating indexes for a great number of ecclesiastical and classical books (552-53, see also Sharpe 33), although only three primary examples of his work have survived to this day (Copsey 200). Most interesting of the indexes he created in relation to the Book of Margery Kempe are those Bale claims he made for Revolutiones Brigittae, Prohetiae Brigittae, and the Stimulus Amoris, all of which the Book “demonstrates familiarity with” (Stokes 16). The precise date of Alan of Lynn’s death is rather important in relation to the Book of Margery Kempe because it can help to solidify the chronology of several events in the Book. The date of his death, however, is not precisely known. Meech and Allen’s note to 22/11-12, containing their discussion of Alan of Lynn, provides a comprehensive description of what is known about his death. They cite Blomefield, who gives the earliest date of Alan’s death as 1421; however, he offers no citation (see Blomefield 613). Hillen in his History suggests that he died in 1428, but also offers no citation of authority. It would appear that this is where Kate Parker, in her contribution to A Companion to The Book of Margery Kempe, “Lynn and the Making of a Mystic,” gets her 1428 date for Alan’s death, but she does not offer a citation either.^1 Emden notes only that he died after 1423, citing Bodley MS. 73 (SC 27635), fo. 52v (381) and by the inclusion of an index noted by Bale of Gregory’s Moralia, compiled in 1423 (382). In a fairly recent entry in the online version of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Richard Copsey gives the date of Alan’s death as 1432, but it appears that he bases this on a date that is often suggested as a possibility for when the Book of Margery Kempe was first written. There is, however, a compelling argument that the composition of the Book commenced several years earlier—c. 1429.^2 In short, it cannot be determined exactly when Alan of Lynn died. At any rate, if Alan of Lynn was in fact born c. 1348, he would have to have been rather advanced in age around the dates mentioned above. In 1423, the date mentioned by Emden, he would have been 75 years old and in 1428, the date mentioned by Hillen, he would have been 80. In 1432, if Copsey is correct, he would have been 84 years old, and if he was still alive when the second scribe rewrote the Book in 1436, he would have had to have been 88 years old and 90 in 1439, when the second book was written. Although it is certainly possible that Alan was alive when the second version of the Book was written, it is unlikely. Not only would he have been rather elderly, there is no mention of him in the second book. Master Alan in the Book of Margery Kempe Master Alan is mentioned throughout the Book and is always described by Margery and her scribe positively. Alan is first referred to by name in chapter 9 of the first book when he investigates after a stone falls from the ceiling of St. Margaret’s Church and strikes Margery on the back (22/11-12). The whole incident is likely to have occurred in the early summer of 1413 (see Meech and Allen’s note to 21/18). Here, as in other parts of the Book, Alan makes an appearance to affirm the miraculous quality of something that happens to Margery or to defend her. He is mentioned next in chapter 55 (136/15), where he and Robert Springolde meet Margery and her husband in West Lynn. She has just returned from York, but only stops briefly to say that she is on her way to London to get the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter and seal (136/24). This event must happen in late 1417 because Margery is in York in September of this year (see Margery Timeline Chart). It would also appear, that when the famed Franciscan preacher comes to Lynn and forbids Margery from attending his sermons, Alan of Lynn, described as a “White Frer, a solem clerk & elde doctowr” (150/23-24), comes to her defense. Alan of Lynn appears again in chapter 69 when the Carmelite Provincial, understood to be Thomas Netter, admonishes him not to have contact with Margery (168/4-20). Alan then falls ill and does not recover until Margery prays for him (169/18-25). At this time he is given leave to speak with Margery again (170/5-8) and he gives her a gift of two knives as a token that “he wolde standyn with hir in Goddys cawse, as he had don be-forn-tyme” (170/24-26). Charity Scott Stokes argues that this occurs sometime between “1422 and 1425” (38), but it may indeed have occurred as early as 1417, as Kathryn Kerby-Fulton suggests (259). She points out that Netter was particularly active in his denunciation of possible Lollards and was also conveniently in the area at this time. In the passage in the Book, it appears likely that someone complained to Netter directly about Alan’s relationship with Margery. The last two times that Alan of Lynn appears in the Book are in chapters 88 and 89, the last chapters of book one. In chapter 88 Margery learns in a revelation that Master Alan and Robert Springolde will be granted a place in Heaven (216/26-33). Interestingly, this revelation happens when “this booke was first in wrytyng” (216/4), which means that Alan of Lynn was alive when the first scribe was writing the first version of the Book.^3 Alan makes his last appearance while the Book was being composed in the very end of book one, near Christmas. Margery has a vision that he will preach a good holy sermon, but rather than merely being a premonition, Christ himself tells her that he “schal spekyn in hym” (219/23) words of great solace and comfort. She tells her confessor, Robert Spryngolde, of the vision, and despite her fears that her premonition will not be realized, Master Alan delivers the promised sermon. Alan, it appears, is alive at the time when the original scribe completed the first book, because shortly after this passage, it comes to a close. Margery, Master Alan, the Scribe, and the Issue of Authority It is highly unlikely that Master Alan was either the first or the second scribe. It is clear that if he were the first scribe, his educational training and his apparent comfort with literate material would have allowed him to write a copy of her Book that would not have to be rewritten. It is not likely that he was the second scribe simply because he was probably not alive when it was composed. Further, the inconsistency of chronology and the sort of amateur quality modern scholars have detected in the Book also suggest that it was written by someone less comfortable with writing than Alan of Lynn. However, it is rather significant that Alan was not Margery’s scribe. Indeed, Alan of Lynn at times seems as if he would have made the perfect amanuensis for Margery, and yet he is not. By the relationship described in the Book, it is clear that Margery and Alan could be considered close friends. It seems Alan had an interest in her spirituality as well, attested by his interest in the miraculous stone that fell on her back and his constant defense of Margery’s wailing, despite the opposition of the famous Franciscan preacher and his own Carmelite Provincial, Thomas Netter. Further, a certain “Whyte Frer,” who is probably Alan, appears at the beginning of the first book (6/9) and is reported to have offered to “wryten frely yf sche wolde” (6/9-10). Alan, perhaps as a result of his exposure to other written accounts of women mystics, is interested and willing to write the Book for Margery. Margery is warned in a vision, however, that she should not “wryte so sone” (6/11) and it was still “many years” until she was compelled to have her life story transcribed. The question, then, is why did Alan of Lynn not write the Book for Margery if he was such a seemingly appropriate scribe? Although this may not be answered in full, a sort of partial answer may be attainable. The proem claims that when the Lord finally told Margery that she should write down her feelings, that she could find no “wryter that wold fulfyllyn hyr desyr ne geue credens to her felingys vn-to the tym that a man dwellyng in Dewchlond whech was an Englyschman…” (4/3-5) is convinced to write the Book for her. As we know, Master Alan was in fact alive at the time of the Book’s first composition and it seems odd that the scribe would claim that she could find no one to write for her given Alan’s seeming enthusiasm. It may be that Alan simply did not come forward at this time to help her with her Book—that his earlier offer was rescinded. However, it also possible that when the Book was first being composed, Alan was advanced enough in age that he would not have been able to undertake such a task. A colleague of mine4 has pointed out that perhaps the miraculous nature of the sermon Master Alan gives in the end of book one is miraculous because of his advanced age. Certainly he had given good sermons before, but while the Book was being written he was quite old and may have been rather frail and delivering a rousing sermon might have been difficult and noteworthy. Conjecture aside, he certainly had access to Margery before the actual composition of the Book and if he is the same White Friar mentioned in the proem, he was willing and able to be Margery’s scribe. It is also entirely possible that the reason Alan of Lynn did not play much of a role in the conception of the Book is the result of Margery’s spirituality. Indeed, it is because of divine intervention that Margery does not have the White Friar, who is presumably Alan, write for her in the first place. The Book explains that it was too soon, but it is also Margery’s spiritual sense that tells her when it is soon enough to write her Book. Indeed, the composition of the Book is dictated by her spirituality, and despite her closeness to Alan, it is completely possible that he was not part of the spiritual sensibility of her book-making endeavor. Notes 1). Parker’s date for Alan’s death is further confused because she also claims that Alan was Margery’s amanuensis. Even by Parker’s dating this cannot be the case, because the Book itself gives the date that it was recopied as 1436. If Alan died in 1428, then he certainly was not the scribe of a book composed years later. 2.) The argument for the first draft of the Book being written in 1432 rests primarily on the idea that Margery’s son wrote this copy for her in the month before he died (Meech and Allen have him dying c. 1431, l). Nicholas Watson offers a convincing argument, backed up by Felicity Riddy, which suggests that if Margery’s son did write the Book, it is most likely that he did so several years prior to his death. Watson points out that the proem claims that the first draft was commenced about “xx yer” after her conversion, which seems to have occurred around 1409-1410 (428-9 n. 12). The date of Margery’s conversion c. 1409-10 may also be backed up by dating the length of her attempts at both of her failed businesses. Margery recovers from the illness she suffered in having her first child around 1394-5. She then makes two failed entrepreneurial attempts for “iii yer or iiij” (9/32), at what time she “gan to entyr the wey of euer-lestyng lyfe” (11/10), which coincides roughly with Watson’s time for Margery’s conversion. If the proem is correct in stating that writing was commenced twenty years after her conversion c. 1409, then composition the first version of the Book commenced c. 1428. 3.) If the above argument for the date that the Book was first composed is somewhat accurate, Alan of Lynn would have to have lived to at least c. 1428. 4.) Thanks to Bryan VanGinhoven for pointing this out to me. Bibliography Alumni cantabrigienses: a biographical list of all known students, graduates and holders of office at the University of Cambridge, from the earliest times to 1900. Ed. John Venn and J. A. Venn. Nendeln: Kraus Reprint, 1974. Bale, John. Scriptorum illustrium Maioris Brytanniae, quam nunc Angliam et Scotiam vocant: catalogus, 2 vols. in 1: Basel, 1557–9; facsimile edition, Louisville, Ky., Lost Cause Press, 1959. A biographical register of the University of Cambridge to 1500. Ed. Alfred Brotherston Emden. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963. A biographical register of the University of Oxford to A. D. 1500. Ed. Alfred Brotherston Emden. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957-59. Blomefield, Francis. An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk, containing a description of the towns, villages, and hamlets. Fersfield, 1739-75. Electronic reproduction. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Available via the World Wide Web. The Book of Margery Kempe. Ed. Sanford Brown Meech and Hope Emily Allen. London: Early English Text Society, 1940. Clark, John P. H. “Late Fourteenth-Century Cambridge Theology and the English Comtemplative Tradition.” The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England: Exeter Symposium V: Papers Read at the Devon Centre, Dartington Hall, July 1992. Ed. Marion Glasscoe. Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 1992. 1-16. Copsey, Richard, O. Carm. “The Carmelites in England 1242-1540: Surviving Writings.” Carmelus 43 (1996): 175-224. ———. “Lynn, Alan (1347/8–1432).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. Oxford: OUP, 2004. 9 Nov. 2006 <http://www.oxforddnb.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/view/article/268>. Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee. Vols. 1 and 14. London: Humphery Milford, 1917. Hillen, Henry J. History of the Borough of King’s Lynn. Wakefield: EP Pub, 1978. Kerby-Fulton, Kathryn. Books Under Suspicion: Censorship and Tolerance of Revelatory Writing in Late Medieval England. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. Goodman, Anthony. Margery Kempe and Her World. London: Longman, 2002. Parker, Kate. “Lynn and the Making of a Mystic.” A Companion to The Book of Margery Kempe. Ed. John H. Arnold, Katherine J. Lewis; Barry Windeatt (introd.). Cambridge: Brewer, 2004. 55-73. Sharpe, Richard. A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540. Publications of the Journal of medieval Latin, 1 ed. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1997. Stokes, Charity Scott. “Margery Kempe: Her Life and the Early History of Her Book.” Mystics Quarterly. 25.1-2 (1999): 9-67. Back Home