A wise professor of mine once said to me "Every piece of historical evidence is a nugget of pure gold". "Wow" I thought, what a precious commodity. Could every piece of evidence hold such importance that it can be easily comparable to one of the most precious metals on earth? The answer is that it is easily comparable and exceedingly important. Evidence of a historical nature is in a sense more precious than any nugget of gold. A nugget of gold is good for a limited number of things: currency, the enhancement of beauty, and any extraneous circumstances linked with those two base uses. In a sense, evidence is like gold whereas every bit of it is precious, and should be treasured and handled with care. Historical evidence is something from which countless information can be drawn. It can be used over and over again to open doors and solve puzzles that develop as new information is discovered elsewhere. Evidence gives a more comprehensive and less biased view to the historians' perspective. Just as gold has been known to bring pleasure and pain to humankind, historical evidence can bring insight just as well as confusion. If it does bring confusion, the historian must remember that e

This is just one example of the grace that is bestowed upon Margery throughout her account. She constantly praises the magnanimous nature of God. Although she might have other motives for writing the account of her life, she demonstrates many times over that she appreciates the goodness of god.

The strengths of the evidence are that the evidence is in accordance with the ideas and teachings that we know of other examples of John Wyclif's work. Wyclif is known to be a professor that "anticipated the later Protestants by placing the authority of scripture over the pronouncements of popes and councils"(Hollister 332). This characteristic is in accordance with the ideas mentioned in the document. It is also mentioned that this particular document is taken from a longer more detailed one. "Concerning the Pope" by John Wyclif helps us to retrieve from the past the sentiments of the irritated and educated opinion of a respected official when writing on the subject of the division of the church. It reflects the mood of the crisis that is going on within the minds of the laity. Wyclif wants radical reform, and he wants it immediately.

The backdrop in which Wyclif wrote this document is during the Great Schism. This division of the church was started when Pope Gregory XI decided to move back to Rome in 1376 after the papacy had resided in Avignon for 67 years. He died in 1378 and pressured by the "Roman mob" (Hollister p. 333) the cardinals elected Urban VI, an Italian pope who after elected to office sought to reduce the cardinal's revenues and influence. The French Cardinals returned home and elected a new Pope, while back in Rome Urban elected new cardinals. This continued for 37 years until the Council of Pisa was called and a 3rd Pope was elected. The Roman and Avignon Popes were supposed to resign to the new Pisan Pope but neither would and the Schism did not end until the Council of Constance (1415-1418).

As the book progresses Margery gives up "commoning" with her husband and therefore lives a chaste life in order to please the lord. She gives up meat and travels around begging and preaching of God's goodness. When she adopts this apostolic style of life, she receives even more evidence of God's grace. Margery has painted a picture of herself that is void of corruption of any kind so perhaps she is trying to make herself a foil of the corruption of the Great Schism which is going on throughout a large part of her life. For whatever reason is the real reason Margery wrote this book, two things are plainly evident when reading this text - Margery wanted to live a simple religious life like that of Jesus Christ and she did not take much stock in ecclesiastical wealth because she is repeatedly rewarded for sacrificing, not for receiving.

"Daughter, I bid you again into church, for I shall take away from you your crying so that you shall no more cry so loud. Nor in that manner of way as you have done before though you would" (Kempe p. 114).

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2835
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)