INTRODUCTION
PART I
The Lady Julian
Beati pauperes spiritu: quoniam ipsorum est regnum cælorum
S. Matth. v. 3
VERY little is known of the outer life of the woman who nearly five hundred years ago left us this book.
It is in connection with the old Church of St Julian in the parish of Conisford, outlying Norwich, that Julian is mentioned in Blomefield's History of Norfolk (vol. iv. p. 8l): "In the east part of the churchyard stood an anchorage in which an ankeress or recluse dwelt till the Dissolution, when the house was demolished, though the foundations may still be seen (1768). In 1393 Lady Julian, the ankeress here was a strict recluse, and had two servants to attend her in her old age. This woman was in these days esteemed one of the greatest holiness. In 1472 Dame Agnes was recluse here; in I481, Dame Elizabeth Scott; in 1510, Lady Elizabeth; in 1524, Dame Agnes Edrygge."
