Abstract
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Medieval English mysticism underwent a change. During the fourteenth century, there was an increase in lay piety, particularly among women. Gradually, more women claimed to have direct revelations from God. While revelations from God have always been a part of Christianity, visionaries became heavily associated with women because revelations directly from God did not require in depth scriptural reading because that most lay women lacked literacy. What is regarded as true or false mysticism was shaped by gender and sexuality. This thesis will focus on four mystical texts from Medieval England to chart the increasing anxiety from Catholic authorities about the feminization of mysticism. The Cloud of Unknowing (fourteenth century) written by an anonymous author is often viewed as the pinnacle of English mysticism and he wrote with increasing wariness of the changes in mysticism. Richard Rolle (1300-1399) was associated with the feminine and wrote primarily for women and serves as an example of a male engaging with visionary piety, which was increasingly was associated with the feminization of mysticism. Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) is a notable example of feminizing mysticism because of her view of Jesus as mother. Margery Kempe (1373-1438) engaged in ecstatic, often erotic lay piety. Gender and sexuality influenced mystical experience, and for the English mystics of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, their mystical experience influenced how the viewed gender and sexuality.