Margaret Kirkby

Margaret Kirkby (possibly 1322 to 1391–94), was an anchorite of Ravensworth in North Yorkshire, England. She was the principal disciple of the hermit Richard Rolle, and the recipient of much of his writings.

Life Variations of her name include Kirkeby, Kerkby or Kyrkby. Information about her comes from a biographical office of Rolle written between 1381 and 1383, when Margaret returned to the Cistercian nunnery at Hampole some thirty-four years after Rolle's death. Her recollections were used to provide a biography of Rolle celebrating his sanctity. Miracles reported by pilgrims from across the North of England were also recorded to encourage an unofficial cult.

Margaret was also instrumental in the composition of a liturgical commemoration of the gift of canor, the mystical ecstasy that Rolle celebrated in his writings, which Evelyn Underhill relates to a song of joy. Additional information is provided in a brief life of Rolle written before 1405.

From a small landowning gentry family in Ravensworth, it may be surmised that Margaret first became interested in the solitary life as a young nun of Hampole guided by the convent's spiritual director, Richard Rolle.

However, Margaret's career was of wider historical significance. In 1357 she obtained the unusual concession of being allowed to change cells and was enclosed in Ainderby so that she could observe the celebration of mass in the parish church. Thirteenth-century episcopal registers had emphasised the recluse's service to God through a penitential, ascetic life, and the achievement of a mystic union with God was mentioned if at all only in passing. The register of John Thoresby, Archbishop of York, confirming the enclosure suggests to Hughes that "in common with the epistles of Rolle, Margaret desired an eremitic life in order that she might fashion herself as a servant of God more freely and more quietly with pious prayers and vigils. Such language indicates how she and Rolle were pioneering a change in the conception of the eremitic vocation".

Having returned some time between 1381 and 1383, Margaret lived at Hampole until her death ten years later. To judge from Stapleton's bequest, this occurred in or before 1394. She was buried in the cemetery of Hampole near her master and her remains are presumably in the garden of the old schoolhouse of Hampole on the site of the convent.

Frances Beer argues that from her life "we can surely conclude that [Margaret] was strong, courageous, intelligent, purposeful – deserving of the great esteem in which she was held by her great friend and advisor [Rolle]".