Julian of Norwich (c. 1343 – after 1416), was an English anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works attributed to a woman. Julian lived in permanent seclusion as an anchoress in her cell, which was attached to St Julian’s Church, Norwich. She lived all her life in Norwich, and wrote about the sixteen mystical visions or “shewings” she received in 1373, when she was thirty. Seriously ill, and on her deathbed, the visions appeared to her over a period of several hours in one night, with a final revelation occurring the following night. After making a full recovery she then wrote an account of each vision.

Ashley Grote is Director of Music at Norwich Cathedral