A women’s network in fifteenth-century Rome: Margery Kempe encounters ‘Margaret Florentyne'

Bale, Anthony; Giosuè, Daniela

doi:https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526146625.00020

A women’s network in fifteenth-century Rome: Margery Kempe encounters ‘Margaret Florentyne'

Author(s)

Bale, Anthony

Giosuè, Daniela

Date Issued

2021

Type

bookPart

Start Page

185

End Page

204

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526146625.00020

Abstract

This essay concerns Margery Kempe’s encounter with one of her key female interlocutors and supporters, referred to by Kempe as ‘Margaret Florentyne’ or ‘Dame Margarete Florentyn’. Kempe first meets this lady in the Italian city of Assisi and is then supported by her in Rome. In this essay we posit the identity of Margaret Florentine, who has not previously been identified. Whilst the details given by Kempe are scant, we suggest that “Margaret Florentyne” was Margherita degli Alberti (d. after 1417), a member of the wealthy Alberti banking family of Florence and Rome. This identification leads us to explore the Alberti family's deep devotion to, and patronage of, the cult of St Bridget of Sweden, their civic piety, their involvement with the Knights Hospitaller, and their exile in Rome: all aspects that are retrievable from Kempe's account. We can thus place Margery Kempe in the context of Renaissance Rome, leading to a new understanding of Kempe's devotional and cultural milieux. https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526146618/encountering-ithe-book-of-margery-kempei/

Handle

http://hdl.handle.net/2067/46043

File(s)

Name

BALE, GIOSUE'-MK and MF Abstract.docx

Size

11.13 KB

Format

Microsoft Word XML

Checksum (MD5)

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