She therefore went to Norwich where her visions told her to seek out Julian for validation. Kempe experienced visions and voices which she believed came from God but was routinely mocked and doubted. She is also mentioned, in glowing terms, by the mystic Margery Kempe in her autobiography (the first in English), The Book of Margery Kempe. One of these bequests mentions a maid named Sarah who served her and an earlier maid named Alice. Her historicity is established through bequests left her in wills between 1394-1416 CE. In reality, nothing can be claimed about Julian's life since all that is known is what she mentions in her work, and from that one learns that she lived in Norwich as an anchoress, experienced a near-fatal illness, had a mother who tended her while sick, and was served by a maid. These life stories variously depict Julian as a widow who lost her family to the plague and renounced the world, a scholar who turned her back on society, and a layperson who only became an anchoress after her visions, among other possibilities. Nothing can be claimed about Julian's life since all that is known is what she mentions in her work.
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