King’s Lynn (or “Bishop’s Lynn” in Margery’s day) comes from Lin, Lenne, or Leuna, meaning “the place of the spreading waters”.  Several rivers (the Ouse, Gay, and Nay) form an estuary and marsh near Lynn, and this source of salt (once an expensive commodity) generated the city’s prosperity.  Lynn, which only became a significant settlement in the Middle Ages, was also an important trading port, and a member of the Hanseatic League.  The two historic guildhalls in King’s Lynn testify to the city’s mercantile importance.  In the middle of the tumultuous 1300s, Lynn suffered from the bubonic plague, losing half its residents.  Floods and storms sometimes played havoc with Lynn’s economy, disrupting trade and sinking ships.  Into this atmosphere of hazardous prosperity burst the disconcerting Margery Kempe in 1373.

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A map of King's Lynn from the 1500s

Whitefriar's Gate

The Seal of King's Lynn, featuring St. Margaret

Guildhall at King's Lynn