Revelations of Divine Love is a medieval book of Christian mystical devotions. It was written between the 14th and 15th centuries by Julian of Norwich, about whom almost nothing is known. It is the earliest surviving example of a book in the English language known to have been written by a woman. It is also the earliest surviving work written by an English anchorite or anchoress.
Julian, who lived all her life in the English city of Norwich, wrote about the sixteen mystical visions or "shewings" she received in 1373, when she was in her thirties. Whilst she was seriously ill, and believed to be on her deathbed, the visions appeared to her for several hours in one night, with a final revelation occurring the following night. After making a full recovery, she wrote an account of each vision, producing a manuscript now referred to as the Short Text. She developed her ideas for decades, whilst living as an anchoress in a cell attached to St Julian's Church, Norwich, and wrote a far more extended version of her writings, now known as the Long Text. She wrote in Middle English.
Julian's work was preserved by others. Various manuscripts of both the Long Text and the Short Text, in addition to extracts, have survived. The first publication of the book was a translation of the Long Text in 1670 by the English Benedictine monk Serenus de Cressy. Interest in Julian's writings increased with the publication of three versions of Cressy's book in the nineteenth century, and in 1901, Grace Warrack's translation of the manuscript of the Long Text known as 'Sloane 2499' introduced the book to twentieth-century readers. Many other versions of Julian's book have since been published, in English and other languages.
Julian of Norwich
Revelations of Divine Love was written by Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), an English anchoress and mystic. Julian's dates can be surmised from various sources: Julian herself wrote that she experienced her revelations when she was thirty and a half years old in May 1373 (in chapters 2 and 3 of her Revelations), and the author of the preface to the so-called Short Text version of Julian's writings stated she was still alive in 1413. The celebrated mystic Margery Kempe wrote about her visit to Julian, which probably occurred in 1413. She is also mentioned by name in Isabel Ufford's will, which is dated 1416. The English antiquarian Francis Blomefield incorrectly wrote in the second volume of his History of the County of Norfolk that Julian was still alive in 1442.
Throughout her life Julian lived in the city of Norwich, an important commercial and religious centre in England during the Middle Ages. The Black Death of 1348–50, the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, and the suppression of the Lollards, all occurred during her lifetime.
In 1373, seriously ill and convinced she was close to death, the 30-year-old Julian received a series of visions, or 'shewings', of the Passion of Christ. All the revelations but one appeared to her over a period of several hours during one night; the last occurred a day later. After recovering from her illness, Julian lived the rest of her life as an anchoress, in a cell attached to St Julian's Church.
Details of her life remain unknown, but she is known with certainty to have existed, as she was the recipient of a number of wills, and she is mentioned in an account by Kempe, who met her at her cell in Norwich. It is not known for certain whether the name Julian was adopted once she became a recluse: the authors Liz McAvoy and Barry Windeatt have both commented on the lack of historical evidence that the true names of anchoresses were ever changed to match the patron saint of the church they belonged to, pointing out that Julian was a common girl's name during the Middle Ages, and McAvoy notes that Julian is the old form of the modern name Gillian.
Julian referred to herself in her writings as "a simple creature unlettered", a phrase perhaps used to avoid antagonising her readers, especially in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The term unlettered in the Middle Ages might have meant that she was herself illiterate, or that she did not receive a formal education, rarely available to laywomen. The city contained many convents whose orders recognized the importance of education. Many had boarding schools for girls, where they were taught to read and write. Scholars are not sure whether Julian attended such a school. It is possible that Julian had an educated brother and became literate through him.