Margery Kempe
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Margery Kempe was an English Christian mystic, known for writing through dictation The Book of Margery Kempe, a work considered by some to be the first autobiography in the English language. Her book chronicles her domestic tribulations, her extensive pilgrimages to holy sites in Europe and the Holy Land, as well as her mystical conversations with God. She is honoured in the Anglican Communion, but has not been canonised as a Catholic saint.
Page from The Book of Margery Kempe
Autobiography
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An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written biography of one's own life.
Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote Confessions, the first Western autobiography ever written, around 400. Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne, 17th century.
A scene from the Baburnama
Cover of the first English edition of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, 1793