The Book of Margery Kempe states that Margery, traveling with a group of other pilgrims that including her confessor and her maidservant, arrived at Zierikzee on a ship from Yarmouth. While the text does not provide a specific length of time she was in Zierikzee, it says that “she received communion every Sunday,” implying that she was there for at least a few weeks (96). Her receiving communion also suggests that Zierikzee had Catholics and Catholic churches. Zierikzee is described as a “large town,” though no other straightforward descriptions of the city are given (96). Due to Zierikzee’s proximity to water, it is possible that it played a major role in their economy and its people’s daily life, but Margery did take note of it, implying she did not care much about the environment of Zierikzee.

While in Zierikzee, Margery’s confessor becomes extremely angry with her for not eating meat. This dispute may suggest that the easiest and most fulfilling foods that her group could obtain in Zierikzee contained meat, and therefore Margery’s refusal to eat meat caused an issue for the group when getting their meals. Margery largely focuses on this dispute between her and her travel group when describing the rest of her time at Zierikzee. Her group refuses to stay with her for a night, giving her a noble and angrily telling her to “go where she likes and shift for herself as well as she could” (97). Margery does not describe her previous lodgings (with the group) or if she was able to obtain lodgings for the night she was on her own. However, based on the frequency with which Margery describes she suffers, the absence of a description detailing a night of suffering implies that she was likely able to secure lodgings. Therefore, the noble was likely able to cover her necessary costs (either because nobles were an accepted currency in Zierikzee or because they were at least considered to have some value there).

While Margery spends some time describing how “cruelly” her fellow pilgrims treated her, she spends one line describing how she thinks the people of Zierikzee perceived her: “she received communion… with much weeping and violent sobbing, so that many people marveled and wondered at the great grace that God worked in his creature” (96-97). By using the words “marveled and wondered” and framing her tears as a great gift from God, the text implies that some people in Zierikzee may have found her tears to be a wondrous sign of religious devotion and connection to God. However, considering how often people become frustrated with Margery for her constant crying, this view may also just be reflective of how Margery wanted to be perceived, rather than how she was actually perceived. Either way, her crying seems to have been very noticed by people, suggesting few if any people in Zierikzee rivaled the frequency and drama with which Margery Kempe cried.

Rather than describing Zierikzee and its people/culture, Margery Kempe focuses on recording her feelings, her relationship with God, and the suffering she is experiencing for God while at Zierikzee. These focuses suggest that her purpose in having the Book of Margery Kempe written was to gain religious admiration from her journey,  not unlike an attempt at an autobiographical hagiography.