An autobiographical account of the life of a Norfolk lady belonging to King's Lynn's troubled stately but troubled elite, 'The Book of Margery Kempe', comprises descriptions of her mystical intimations interlinked with equally dramatic accounts of mundane experiences, in Margery's home town, in many English regions, and as far  afield as Brandenburg, Rome and Jerusalem. The heroine's determination to flout convention and to marginalise herself lead to hair-raising escapades, related with as graphic and zestful intensity worthy of a picaresque novel. The Book has been much used to illustrate problems of status and marriage among medieval women: the figure of Margery has become something of a gender icon. The present study focuses on The Book's content and themes in relation to their social, cultural and political settings.