The First Published Woman in the English Language

The Title At Hand: Revelations of Divine Love

Early May, 1373, a 30-year-old woman has 16 visions in a near-death experience.  She begins to write about them.

She begins with this description (her first vision--each is a chapter):

"And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazelnut, lying in the palm of my hand, it seemed, and it was as round as any ball. I looked thereupon with the eye of my understanding, and I thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus: 'It is all that is made.' I wondered how it could last, for I thought it might suddenly fall to nothing for little cause. And I was answered in my understanding: 'It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it; and so everything has its beginning by the love of God.' In this little thing I saw three properties; the first is that God made it; the second is that God loves it; and the third is that God keeps it."

The woman lived in Norwich, at the shrine to St. Julian.  She is known as Julian of Norwich, but I would say a more fitting name would be J. of Norwich.  She wrote in Middle English and the quote above has been transformed into a more familiar style.

The value of what she says, doesn't rest, it seems to me, in the thoughts themselves, though one senses that she is aware that she is doing something quite profound.  Instead, the key word is 'lying'.  In this understanding, the little thing isn't actually in her hand.