She justifies the importance of doing this by boldly asking: ‘Botte for I am a woman shulde I therefore leve that I shulde nought telle yowe the goodenes of God, sine that I sawe in that same time that it is his wille that it be knawne?’ ( ST 7). As aforementioned, at the beginning of her first text, Julian shows great concern for her limitations as a woman, distinguishing the spiritual tasks of sharing and teaching God’s word and committing only to the former. The anchoress’ personal commitment to seek the true meaning of that which was shown to her is matched in her sense of responsibility to accurately and widely share her revelations with ‘alle myne evyn-Cristende’ ( ST 7). Each of Julian’s texts, therefore, is provisional to the time of its writing and each represents a single moment in their authoress’ life-long interpretative process.

The longer text professes itself to be ‘begunne be Gods gift and his grace, but it is not yet performid’ ( LT 86). The differences between Julian’s short and long works range from narrative expansion on her visions and elaboration upon their meaning, to the addition of visionary moments that go wholly unmentioned in the first text. A minimum of fifteen years separates these texts, however, and as a result, the second, far longer redaction is notably influenced by the extended period of contemplation that spurred the anchoress to return to her earlier composition (Watson and Jenkins 33). Testament to her life of enclosure are the two versions of Julian’s writings that survive, both of which ostensibly describe the same visionary event. In contrast to her contemporary counterparts, Margery Kempe in particular, Julian is often unduly overlooked in every strand of medieval studies despite being uncontestably deserving of canonical status, not least because she is the first woman ever known to write in the English language. Julian pens this admission close to the beginning of her writings, in which she wonderfully and wisely documents a divine visionary experience she had whilst deathly ill in 1373 and on which she continued to ruminate over the course of her subsequent life of enclosure in a Norwich anchorhold. She makes it clear that she is unable to serve as a teacher to her reader, ‘For I am a woman, lewed, febille, and freylle’ ( ST 7). Julian of Norwich, an early fifteenth century East Anglian anchoress, and important Christian mystic and theologian, is the first person to draw attention to her own limitations as a woman. Art: ‘The Young Virgin’, Francisco de Zurbarán

Julian of norwich short text