Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

by Janina Ramírez

Margery hears voices and has companions (Jesus among them) whom only she can see and hear. She also suffers what appear to be fits, where she ‘writhed and wrestled with her body’. When she is about to have a seizure she describes her skin changing colour, turning ‘purple like lead’.31 She hears and sees celestial melodies and white lights that flash around her day and night. She even describes being assailed with the repeated vision of men’s genitals, paraded in front of her as temptations.32 Today we might diagnose her as schizophrenic, epileptic (some of her contemporaries suggested this too),33 or psychotic, but to those around her she was either possessed by the devil, or could possibly provide a direct link to God.34 It certainly seems many wanted Margery’s prayers and intercession: she was paid handsomely for communing with Jesus on other people’s behalf.