Re-Sisters by Cosey Fanni Tutti

Author:Cosey Fanni Tutti
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

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I could relate to so many of Margery’s struggles as a woman, but it was something about Delia that opened up a way into Margery’s world and helped me understand her more. Delia found it advantageous to know the rules so she could work with and against them. That struck a chord with me about both Margery’s actions and the writing of her book. Margery wrote that she ‘was governd aftyr the rewelys of the Chirch’. She had to know the Church’s rules inside out because everything she did in her life was viewed through the lens of religion and judged accordingly. She was an expert on orthodox religion. She’d had it drummed into her from birth, had learnt the Bible from having it read to her and through sermons she attended, and was always very aware that the Church would be watching for any unorthodox or deviant behaviour. Adversity is the mother of invention, you do and use what you can to make your life bearable and hopefully fulfilling. Some, like Margery, take it that much further, to the very edge. That’s what made her so visible. She broke with convention but made very good use of the rules of the Church to defend herself, as her escape route out of a life that she no longer felt was for her.

One thing that stands out about Margery’s tales of her many struggles with the Church and secular authorities is that when she was repeatedly accused of heresy her defence was impeccable. She was indomitable – which really infuriated the men who accused her, that a woman could get the better of them. She was thought of as inferior to them and as such she shouldn’t have been able to outsmart them. Whatever tricks they tried to outmanoeuvre her failed, and in some cases she ended up winning their support and respect.

During the prolonged persecution she faced in Bishop’s Lynn Margery had managed to retain the support of some influential clerics and wealthy, important lay people who believed in her visions and were only too happy to help her out of some of the tight spots she got into. They were there for her when she needed money to fulfil her vow to go on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. She visited them to tell them about her plans, fully aware they knew she was flat broke. As it was usual for people to pay pilgrims to say prayers on their behalf, saving them the trouble of travelling, her friends were more than likely to help her finance her trip. She secured a substantial amount of money, enough to buy an expensive, warm fur cloak and to reimburse Richard the hunchback the money she’d borrowed from him in Rome. She was able to repay him when she met him on her arrival in Bristol, where she was to sail from. She also ran into an old friend, Thomas Marshall, who was going to Santiago too. He paid for her passage in full and escorted her.

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