Julian of Norwich

NAME Julian of Norwich (also known as Lady Julian, Dame Julian, Mother Julian, or Juliana of Norwich). Her real given name is unknown; she took her name from St Julian’s Church in Norwich, where she lived enclosed as an anchoress. (1), (2)

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Julian of Norwich is famous for Revelations of Divine Love (also called Showings), an account of sixteen mystical visions of Christ's Passion and God's love that she experienced during a near-fatal illness in 1373. She spent the rest of her life as a walled-in anchoress attached to St Julian's Church in Norwich, meditating on and eventually expanding her account into what became one of the most celebrated works of medieval Christian mysticism, famous for lines such as "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well." (3)

BIRTH Julian was born around 1342, probably in Norwich, Norfolk, England, though the exact date is unknown; historians deduce the year from her own statement that she was "thirty and a half years old" when her visions occurred in May 1373. Her birth name is unrecorded, and "Julian" is a name she took (or was given) from St Julian's Church in Norwich, where she later lived as a recluse. (4)

FAMILY BACKGROUND Almost nothing certain is known of Julian's family, though scholars generally believe she came from a family of some means, possibly involved in Norwich's prosperous textile or mercantile trade, given the education and literacy her writing displays. Her own account of her illness in 1373 mentions that her mother was present at her bedside, one of the very few personal biographical details she includes in her book. (5), (6)

CHILDHOOD Details of Julian's childhood are entirely absent from the historical record, as she reveals nothing of her early years in her writings. She was around six years old when the Black Death arrived in Norwich in 1348-1350, an event that devastated the city and almost certainly shaped the world of loss and suffering she grew up in. 

EDUCATION Julian describes herself in her writings as "unlettered," which most scholars interpret to mean she had not been formally schooled in Latin (the language of the educated clergy) rather than that she was illiterate in English. Some historians suggest she may have been educated by Benedictine nuns, possibly at a school attached to Carrow Abbey near Norwich, which would explain the sophistication of her theological thought despite her claimed lack of formal Latin schooling. (7)

CAREER RECORD 1373 While critically ill in May, Julian experienced a series of mystical visions of Christ, which she wrote down shortly after recovering in what is known as the "Short Text." 

1390 She entered full enclosure as an anchoress at St Julian’s Church in Norwich, taking a formal vow to remain in her small cell attached to the church for the rest of her life to devote herself to prayer, contemplation, and spiritual counseling. 

1395 After two decades of quiet theological meditation on her visions, she completed the expanded "Long Text" of Revelations of Divine Love, creating the first book known to have been authored by a woman in English. 

1413 Margery Kempe, another famous medieval English mystic, visited Julian at her cell in Norwich to seek spiritual advice, documenting Julian's wisdom in The Book of Margery Kempe.

APPEARANCE No contemporary portraits or physical descriptions of Julian exist. Historical depictions generally visualize her in the simple dark habit and veil worn by medieval recluses and vowesses, looking out from the window of her anchorhold.

David Holgate's statue of Julian, outside Norwich Cathedral, completed in 2000 By User:Poliphilo -

FASHION As a consecrated anchoress, Julian wore plain, coarse monastic garments—typically a dark tunic, a black veil, and simple wool robes designed for warmth in an unheated stone cell. She eschewed worldly clothing entirely. (6)

CHARACTER Julian was deeply compassionate, serene, and intellectually courageous

Julian's writing reveals a character marked by warmth, intellectual courage, and deep compassion; she grappled openly with difficult theological questions, such as why an all-loving God permits sin and suffering, rather than offering easy answers. Her repeated insistence that God is never angry and that "all shall be well" reflects a personality inclined toward hope and reassurance even amid the plague, poverty, and social unrest of fourteenth-century Norwich. (8)

SPEAKING VOICE  No direct description of Julian's speaking voice survives, but Margery Kempe, who visited her around 1413, recorded that Julian 'was expert in such things and could give good counsel,' offering reassuring, affirming spiritual guidance — a portrait consistent with the warm, direct tone of her own writing. Julian herself distinguished this outward counsel from the interior locutions of her visions, which she described as words 'formed in mine understanding,' an inward voice of spiritual clarity addressing her soul directly." (9)

SENSE OF HUMOUR Her writings reveal a subtle, quiet warmth and an occasional light touch. In her visions, she describes God scoffing at the Devil's impotent malice, noting that God "scorned his malice and discounted his powerlessness," reflecting her belief that evil is ultimately devoid of real substance.

RELATIONSHIPS Julian never married and had no recorded children, having withdrawn into religious life following her illness. She is known to have had a maid or servant who lived in a room adjoining her cell, and she maintained an ongoing pastoral relationship with visitors, most notably the mystic Margery Kempe, who sought her counsel and recorded the encounter in The Book of Margery Kempe. (7), (10)

Julian maintained a deep connection with the local community through her cell's parlor window, serving as a spiritual guide, counselor, and confidante to visitors from all walks of life.

MONEY AND FAME As an enclosed anchoress, Julian would have owned no personal property, but she was sufficiently well-regarded that Norwich citizens left her bequests in their wills to support her and her servants, indicating genuine local renown during her lifetime. 

Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe by Gemini

Her lasting fame, however, is a modern phenomenon: for centuries her work was little known outside a small circle, and she only became widely celebrated as a major spiritual writer and the first female author in English from the twentieth century onward. (7)

FOOD AND DRINK No record survives of Julian's specific diet, but as an anchoress she would have followed guidance such as the Ancrene Wisse, which prescribed a modest, largely meat-free diet of bread, pottage, vegetables, and limited drink such as ale, provided by her servant through the cell's window. (11)

MUSIC AND ARTS Though Julian left no account of it herself, the layout of her cell — with a window opening directly onto the church — meant her daily life would have been immersed in the sounds of the Latin liturgy, chanted Psalms, and church bells. (12)

Her writing itself has since inspired numerous artists, composers, and poets, including T. S. Eliot, who quoted her in Four Quartets, and Denise Levertov. (1)

REVELATIONS OF DIVINE LOVE On May 13, 1373, Lady Julian of Norwich, who was seriously ill and apparently had quite enough on her plate already, experienced sixteen mystical visions over the course of two days. In these revelations, God showed her something she would spend the rest of her life thinking about: the extraordinary depth and persistence of his love.

The visions were not simply a dramatic spiritual experience to be filed away under Things That Happened Once. Julian believed they had been given to her so that she could meditate on them, understand them more deeply, and share what she had learned with others. Which is rather generous, considering most of us struggle to remember what we were thinking about yesterday.

After making a full recovery, she wrote an account of each vision, producing a manuscript now referred to as the Short Text. 

The beginning of the 15th-century Short Text.

About twenty years later, when she was around fifty, Julian wrote a far more extended version of her writings, now known as the Long Text. this much-expanded version was circulated in manuscript form as A Revelation of Love. It was the first surviving book in English known to have been written by a woman, and one of the great works of Christian mystical literature.

For nearly three centuries, Julian's work existed only in a handful of manuscript copies and was read by very few people. The title as its known today, Revelations of Divine Love, first appeared in 1670, when the English Benedictine monk Serenus de Cressy published the first-ever printed edition, under the full title XVI Revelations of Divine Love, Shewed to a Devout Servant of Our Lord, called Mother Juliana, an Anchorete of Norwich: Who lived in the Dayes of King Edward the Third.

Julian's central message was remarkably simple: however alarming things may look, God's love is greater than all of it. In Julian's words, “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” It is difficult to imagine a more useful thought to carry around with you.

LITERATURE Besides authoring her own masterpiece, Julian was well-versed in devotional literature and spiritual classics of her time. Her writing shows the influence of Middle English vernacular traditions and contemporary mystical literature.

NATURE Julian's most famous image drawn from the natural world is her vision of all creation as "a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand," which she used to illustrate the smallness of creation compared to God's infinite love. This image demonstrates a contemplative sensibility attuned to finding profound spiritual meaning in small, ordinary natural objects. (6)

PETS Anchoritic guides such as the Ancrene Wisse generally forbade animals, with a specific exception for a cat to control vermin. Though no contemporary record confirms it, popular tradition holds that Julian kept such a cat, and she is frequently depicted with one in later art, such as a stained glass window in Norwich Cathedral. (13)

Julian of Norwich (window in Norwich Cathedral) By Amitchell125 -

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Julian's days were structured around religious devotion rather than hobbies or recreational activities in any conventional sense; sources indicate she spent at least five hours daily in prayer. (8)

No record survives of Julian's specific daily activities outside prayer and writing, but anchoritic guides such as the Ancrene Wisse indicate that needlework and spinning were common, sanctioned occupations for enclosed women of her era, sometimes extending to mending or maintaining plain church textiles. (14)

SCIENCE AND MATHS Though not a scientist, Julian expressed a striking, holistic vision of cosmology, viewing the entire universe as a small, created object held safely in the hand of God. Her work shows a keen, logical mind that systematically analyzed her mystical experiences over decades.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Julian's theology is centred on the conviction that God is entirely loving and never angry, even in the face of sin and suffering — a strikingly optimistic and, for her time, unusual position. She famously described God in maternal terms, referring to the "Motherhood of God," and explored themes including predestination, the nature of evil, and the reconciliation of sin with divine love, making her one of the most original theological voices of medieval England. (3), (9)

POLITICS Julian was politically neutral and completely removed from secular statecraft. However, she lived in Norwich during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, led in Norfolk by Geoffrey Litster, which brought violent unrest directly to her doorstep.

SCANDAL "Her writings edged toward theological positions that sat uneasily with orthodox doctrine — including a striking insistence that God feels no wrath toward humanity, and reflections that some scholars read as gesturing toward universal salvation. She never crossed the church's teaching on hell outright, and repeatedly affirmed her submission to Church authority within the text itself. Combined with her quiet, enclosed life and the fact that her book circulated only among a small readership until its first printing in 1670, this shielded her from any accusation of heresy in her lifetime. (15) (16)

MILITARY RECORD She was a non-combatant religious recluse living through the period of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS  In May 1373, at age thirty, she suffered a severe, unidentified illness that left her paralyzed and near death, prompting her priest to administer the last rites before her sudden recovery. After entering her anchorhold, she lived a sedentary, indoor life into her seventies

HOMES For most of her adult life, Julian lived in a small cell attached to St Julian's Church in Conisford, Norwich, where she remained permanently enclosed as an anchoress, with only a window opening onto the church and another onto the street through which she received visitors. This cell, now reconstructed as a shrine, remains a site of pilgrimage today. (7), (8)

TRAVEL As an anchoress under a vow of permanent enclosure, Julian did not travel once she entered her cell, living her entire later life within the confines of St Julian's Church in Norwich. 

DEATH The exact date and circumstances of Julian's death are unknown; a contemporary will confirms she was still alive in 1416, making her at least 73, but no record survives of when or how she died. 

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Julian of Norwich has been referenced by numerous modern writers and poets, most notably T. S. Eliot, who drew on her phrase "All shall be well" in his poem cycle Four Quartets, as well as by Denise Levertov and Iris Murdoch.

She continues to be commemorated in the Church of England and Roman Catholic calendars, with a feast day observed on May 8 and May 13 respectively, and remains a popular subject of biographies, theological studies, and devotional literature. 

ACHIEVEMENTS Julian of Norwich's central achievement is authorship of Revelations of Divine Love, recognized as the first surviving book in the English language written by a woman, and one of the most significant and original works of medieval Christian mysticism. 

Her theological insight — particularly her unwavering vision of God's love as constant and unconditional even amid immense suffering — has secured her lasting recognition as one of the most important English mystics and theologians, with interest in her work growing substantially in recent decades.

Sources: (1) Wikipedia (2) Wikipedia (3) Britannica (4) Wikiquote (5) EBSCO Research Starters (6) The Culturium (7) Julian of Norwich Centre (8) Encyclopedia.com (9) A Clerk of Oxford (10) CBE International (11) Mysterious Britain (12) Patrick Comerford (13) University of New Brunswick journal (Ancrene Wisse study) (14) PieceWork Magazine (15) Disoriented Theology (16) Patheos