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Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a
Cistercian nunnery Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in ...
in Hampole, now in
South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. ...
. In the words of Nicholas Watson, scholarly research has shown that " ring the fifteenth century he was one of the most widely read of English writers, whose works survive in nearly four hundred English ... and at least seventy Continental manuscripts, almost all written between 1390 and 1500."


Life

In his works, Rolle provides little explicit evidence about his early life and education. Most, if not all, of our information about him comes from the Office of Lessons and Antiphons that was composed in the 1380s in preparation for his canonisation, although this never came about. Born into a small farming family and brought up at
Thornton-le-Dale Thornton-le-Dale (also called Thornton Dale) is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England, about east of Pickering on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. The area of the village encompasses 39. ...
near Pickering, he studied at the
University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...
where he was sponsored by Thomas de Neville, the
Archdeacon of Durham The Archdeacon of Durham is a senior ecclesiastical officer of the diocese of Durham (Church of England). They have, within the geographical area the ''archdeaconry of Durham'', pastoral oversight of clergy and care of church buildings (among other ...
.Edwin Hubert Burton (1912). "
Richard Rolle de Hampole Richard Rolle ( – 30 September 1349) was an English hermit, mystic, and religious writer. He is also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, since at the end of his life he lived near a Cistercian nunnery in Hampole, now in Sout ...
". In ''Catholic Encyclopedia''. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
While there, he is said to have been more interested in theology and biblical studies than philosophy and secular studies. He left Oxford at age eighteen or nineteen—dropping out before he received his MA—to become a hermit. Leaving the family home, he first went to Pickering and housed with a
squire In the Middle Ages, a squire was the shield- or armour-bearer of a knight. Use of the term evolved over time. Initially, a squire served as a knight's apprentice. Later, a village leader or a lord of the manor might come to be known as ...
, John Dalton, for perhaps three years. It was probably while still living with Dalton, two years and eight months after becoming a hermit, Rolle had his first mystical experience. Around a year later, he felt similarly after listening to a choir, and he began to take less interest in all things temporal. Dalton himself was arrested and his lands confiscated in 1322; the lack of mention of this fact in accounts of Rolle's life makes it likely that he was no longer living with Dalton by this point. It is unclear where Rolle lived from 1321/2 until his death in 1349. One theory is that Rolle spent the early 1320s at the renowned
Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...
, becoming well-trained in theology, and perhaps being ordained there.Maynard Smith, p. 346 This theory is based on the entries in three seventeenth-century manuscripts at the Sorbonne, assumed to be copies of medieval originals, which record a Ricardus de Hampole as being admitted to the Sorbonne in 1320, entering the prior's register in 1326, and noting that he died in 1349 among the sisters of Hampole near Doncaster in Yorkshire. Scholars, however, are divided on the authenticity of this material. Whether or not Rolle studied in Paris, it is probable that most if not all of this time was spent in
Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = District , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat ...
, either living with his family at
Yafforth Yafforth is a village and civil parish in Hambleton, North Yorkshire, England about west of Northallerton. The village lies on the B6271 road between Northallerton and the village of Scorton. The parish had a population of 174 in the 2011 ...
, or, given the uncertain political conditions in the region at the time, wandering from patron to patron. Around 1348, Rolle knew the Yorkshire
anchoress In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...
Margaret Kirkby, who was his principal disciple and the recipient of much of his writingsPastors and visionaries: religion ... - Google Books
/ref> and would be important in establishing his later reputation. Rolle died in Michaelmas 1349 at the
Cistercian nunnery Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in ...
at Hampole. Because of his time spent there, where he was director of the inmates, he is sometimes known as Richard Rolle of Hampole, or de Hampole. It is unclear what his function was there: he was not the nuns' official confessor, who was a Franciscan (in any case, it is unlikely he would have had ecclesiastical sanction for this, since unless the theory about his ordination in Paris is correct, he was probably not ordained, since his name is not in the list of those ordained in the dioceses of York or Durham in the relevant years).''Richard Rolle, the English writings'', translated, edited, and introduced by Rosamund S. Allen. Classics of Western Spirituality, (New York / London: Paulist Press / SPCK, 1988), p. 24. However he wrote ''The Form of Living'' and his English Psalter for a nun there, Margaret Kirkby (who later took up a similar life to Rolle, as an
anchoress In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...
), and ''Ego Dormio'' for a nun at
Yedingham Yedingham is a village and former civil parish halfway between West Knapton and Allerston, nine miles north-east of Malton. It is now in the parish of Ebberston and Yedingham, in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, but was historicall ...
.Maynard Smith, p. 347 It is possible that he died of the
Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
, but there is no direct evidence for this. He was buried first in the nuns' cemetery at Hampole. Later records of people making offerings of candles at his shrine show that he was moved first to the chancel and then to his own chapel.


Works

Rolle probably began writing in the early 1330s, and continued until his death – but there is no certain chronology of his various works. He wrote in both Latin and English, with his English works apparently all dating from after c. 1340. The precise dating of Rolle's works is a matter of much modern dispute. The dates set out by
Hope Emily Allen Hope Emily Allen (1883–1960), was an American scholar of medieval history who is best known for her research on the 14th-century English mystic Richard Rolle and for her discovery of a manuscript of the Book of Margery Kempe. Early life and ed ...
in 1927 have been widely used by later writers, but in 1991 Nicholas Watson set out a rather different vision of the chronology of Rolle's writing. In one of his best-known works, ''Incendium Amoris'' (''The Fire of Love''), Rolle provides an account of his mystical experiences, which he describes as being of three kinds: a physical warmth in his body, a sense of wonderful sweetness, and a heavenly music that accompanied him as he chanted the
Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
. The book was widely read in the Middle Ages, and described the four
purgative Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation. Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubri ...
stages that one had to go through to become closer to God: described as open door, heat, song, and sweetness. His last work was probably the English ''The Form of Living'', written in autumn 1348 at the earliest. It is addressed to Margaret Kirkby, who entered her enclosure as a recluse on 12 December 1348, and is a
vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
guide for her life as an anchorite.''Richard Rolle, the English writings'', translated, edited, and introduced by Rosamund S. Allen. Classics of Western Spirituality, (New York / London: Paulist Press / SPCK, 1988), p41. His works are often classified into commentaries, treatises and epistles. As such, the commentaries are: * ''Commentary on the Readings in the Office of the Dead taken from Job''. This commentary on nine readings from the
Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars a ...
which form part of the readings for the office of the dead was used extensively by York clergy in the fifteenth century. Surviving in forty-two manuscripts, it was the first of Rolle's works to be printed, in Oxford in 1483. * ''Commentary on the Canticles'', a commentary on the first two and a half verses of the Song of Songs. It survives in thirty manuscripts. * Two ''Commentaries on the Psalter''. One is in Latin, and may belong to the very early period after Rolle left Oxford. The second is an English commentary with translation of the Latin Psalms into English, which was designed to help Margaret Kirkby to understand the doctrines behind the Psalms she was to chant in her anchorage. For nearly 200 years this commentary remained the only authorised translation of the Bible into English; it did not need diocesan permission for its use. It exists in about 20 manuscripts. * ''Treatise on Psalm 20'', in Latin * ''Super Threnos'', a commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah * ''Commentary on the Apocalypse'', on the first six chapters of the
Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...
* Other commentaries on the
Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...
, the
Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for " y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical servic ...
and the
Apostles' Creed The Apostles' Creed ( Latin: ''Symbolum Apostolorum'' or ''Symbolum Apostolicum''), sometimes titled the Apostolic Creed or the Symbol of the Apostles, is a Christian creed or "symbol of faith". The creed most likely originated in 5th-century ...
* An English explication of the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
* ''Super Mulierem Fortem'', a comment on Proverbs 31:10 Other works include: * Two English ''Meditations on the Passion'' * ''Judica me Deus'', probably his first work, written around 1330. This survives in four versions, and is an ''apologia'' for his hermit lifestyle, making use of the pastoral manual of a fellow Yorkshireman,
William of Pagula William of Pagula (died 1332), also known as William Paull or William Poull, was a 14th-century English canon lawyer and theologian best known for his written works, particularly his manual for priests entitled the '' Oculus Sacerdotis''. Pagula was ...
. * ''Contra Amatores Mundi'' (''Against the Lovers of the World''), which survives in 42 manuscripts. * ''Incendium Amoris'' (''The Fire of Love''), written before 1343 (the date of Rolle's marginal note), which survives in 44 manuscripts (15 from the Continent) and one Middle English translation.Bernard McGinn, ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (New York: Herder & Herder, 2012), p344. * ''Melos Amoris'' (or ''Melum Contemplativorum'') (''The Melody of Love''), which survives in 10 manuscripts. * ''The Form of Living'', his last work, which survives in 30 manuscripts. It contains 12 chapters and was written at Hampole for Margaret Kirkby when she was living in a cell in Richmondshire. Three letters survive. All are addressed to single recipients, and contain much similar material: * ''Emendatio Vitae'' (''Emending of Life''). This was the most popular work of Rolle, with 110 manuscripts (17 from the Continent), and seven independent Middle English translations. * ''Ego Dormio'', a Middle English
prosimetrum A ''prosimetrum'' (plural ''prosimetra'') is a poetic composition which exploits a combination of prose (''prosa'') and verse (''metrum'');Braund, Susanna. Prosimetrum. In Cancil, Hubert, and Helmuth Schneider, eds. ''Brill's New Pauly''. Brill O ...
, one of two letters written for nuns. (the title comes from the incipit of the work, and is from Song of Songs 5.2) * ''The Commandment'', one of two letters written for nuns. Works once thought to be Rolle's: * While the most popular poem in Middle English, '' The Pricke of Conscience'', was once attributed to him, it is now known to have been written by an anonymous
Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
author in the 14th century. * It is now thought that ''De Dei Misericordia'', a comment on Psalm 88:2, was written by John Waldeby in the later fourteenth century.


Later reputation and veneration

Richard Rolle inspired a flourishing cult, especially in the north of England, which was still active at the time of the
English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...
. Part of this may have been due to the efforts of Margaret Kirkby, who moved to the priory, probably between 1381 and 1383, to be near the body of her master, Rolle. Margaret may have spent the last 10 years of her life here, and between 1381 and 1383 a
liturgical office Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partici ...
for Rolle, including a great deal of biographical information about him, was written; it likely includes stories about him remembered by older members of the community. Rolle's works were widely read in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, more so even than Chaucer. Works of his survive in about 470 manuscripts written between 1390 and 1500, and in 10 sixteenth- and early-seventeenth-century printed editions (including the sixteenth-century edition by
Wynkyn de Worde Wynkyn de Worde (died 1534) was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognised as the first to popularise the products of the printing press in England. Name Wynkyn de Worde was a German immigra ...
). In some manuscripts, Rolle's ''Commentary on the Psalter'' is interpolated with
Lollard Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catho ...
teaching, providing indications of one group who read his work. Rolle's work was not uncontroversial. He was criticised by
Walter Hilton Walter Hilton Can.Reg. (c. 1340/1345 – 24 March 1396) was an English Augustinian mystic, whose works gained influence in 15th-century England and Wales. He has been canonized by the Church of England and by the Episcopal Church in the Unite ...
and the author of '' The Cloud of Unknowing''; a defence of Rolle's work was written by the hermit Thomas Basset in the late fourteenth century against the attack of an unnamed Carthusian. The shrine and priory at his burial place of Hampole was dissolved on 19 November 1539. The remains can be seen in an old schoolhouse in Hampole. Rolle is remembered in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
with a
commemoration Commemoration may refer to: *Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion *Commemoration (liturgy) In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, a commemoration is the recital, within the Li ...
on
20 January Events Pre-1600 * 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution. * 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom. *1156 – ...
and in the
Episcopal Church (USA) The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...
together with
Walter Hilton Walter Hilton Can.Reg. (c. 1340/1345 – 24 March 1396) was an English Augustinian mystic, whose works gained influence in 15th-century England and Wales. He has been canonized by the Church of England and by the Episcopal Church in the Unite ...
and
Margery Kempe ' Margery Kempe ( – after 1438) 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 Kempe's d ...
on 9 November.


Modern editions

* Andrew Albin, ''Richard Rolle's Melody of Love: A Study and Translation, with Manuscript and Musical Contexts'', (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2018) [Contains an alliterative English translation of the ''Melos amoris,'' plus a spurious chapter, manuscript marginalia, and associated music; see als
companion website
* Frances Comper, ''The Life of Richard Rolle'', (J.M. Dent, 1928) [Contains an English translation of the Office for Rolle on pp. 301–11. The original Latin text of the Office is in Reginald M. Wooley, ''The Officium et Miracula of Richard Rolle of Hampole'' (SPCK, 1919).] *''English Writings of Richard Rolle Hermit of Hampole,'' ed.
Hope Emily Allen Hope Emily Allen (1883–1960), was an American scholar of medieval history who is best known for her research on the 14th-century English mystic Richard Rolle and for her discovery of a manuscript of the Book of Margery Kempe. Early life and ed ...
(1931) *''The Contra amatores mundi of Richard Rolle of Hampole'', introduced and trans. Paul F. Theiner, (University of California Press, 1968) ranslation into English, alongside Latin text, of ''Liber de amore Dei contra amatores mundi''* ''Le Chant d'Amour (Melos Amoris)'', ed. Francois Vandenbroucke, (Cerf, 1971) his uses the Latin text of the edition of E.J.F. Arnould (1957), alongside a parallel French translation.* ''The Fire of Love'', trans. Clifton Wolters, (Penguin, 1972) *''Biblical commentaries: Short exposition of Psalm 20, Treatise on the Twentieth Psalm, Comment on the first verses of the Canticle of Canticles, Commentary on the Apocalypse'', trans. Robert Boenig, (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universität Salzburg, 1984) *''Richard Rolle, the English writings'', trans., ed., and introduced by Rosamund Allen. Classics of Western Spirituality, (Paulist Press / SPCK, 1988) [includes modern editions of ''The English Psalter and Commentary, The Ten Commandments, Meditations on the Passion, Ghostly Gladness, The Bee and the Stork, Desire and Delight, Ego Dormio, The Commandment'', and ''The Form of Living''] *''Richard Rolle: Prose and Verse'', ed. S.J. Ogilvie-Thomson, Early English Text Society 293, (Oxford: OUP, 1988) [This is the standard modern edition of many of Rolle's Middle English works, with the important exception of the English Psalter.] * Malcolm Robert Moyses, ''Richard Rolle's Expositio super novem lectiones mortuorum'', 2 vols, (Salzburg, 1988) *''The tractatus super psalmum vicesimum of Richard Rolle of Hampole'', ed. and trans. James C. Dolan, (Edwin Mellen Press, 1991) *''The fire of love'', ed. by Halcyon Backhouse, (Hodder and Stoughton, 1992) ranslation of ''Incendium amoris''*''Richard Rolle: Emendatio Vitae. Orationes ad honorem nominis Ihesu'', ed. Nicholas Watson, (PIMS, 1995) he Latin text of ''Emendatio Vitae''*''Richard Rolle: Uncollected Prose and Verse with related Northern text'', ed. by Ralph Hanna for the
Early English Text Society The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
, (Oxford University Press, 2008) *''Richard Rolle: Unprinted Latin Writings'', ed. Ralph Hanna (Liverpool University Press, 2020) * Spahl, Rüdiger, ed., ''De emendatione vitae. Eine kritische Ausgabe des lateinischen Textes von Richard Rolle mit einer Übersetzung ins Deutsche und Untersuchungen zu den lateinischen und englischen Handschriften'' (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009). ritical edition of the ''Emendatio Vitae''* Hudson, Anne, ed., ''Two Revised Versions of Rolle's English Psalter Commentary and the related Canticles, vols. 1-3'', .
Early English Text Society The Early English Text Society (EETS) is a text publication society founded in 1864 which is dedicated to the editing and publication of early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. Most of its volumes contain editions of ...
, o.s. 341-3 (Oxford University Press, 2012–4) * Van Dussen, Michael, ed. ''Richard Rolle: On Lamentations. A Critical Edition with Translation and Commentary''. Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Liverpool University Press, 2020)


See also

*
Christian mysticism Christian mysticism is the tradition of mystical practices and mystical theology within Christianity which "concerns the preparation f the personfor, the consciousness of, and the effect of ..a direct and transformative presence of God" ...
*
Mystical theology Mystical theology is the branch of theology in the Christian tradition ...
*
Henry Suso Henry Suso, OP (also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings, and Heinrich Seuse or Heinrich von Berg in German; 21 March 1295 – 25 January 1366) was a German Dominican friar and the most popular vernacular writer of the fourteenth centu ...
*'' The Cloud of Unknowing'' *
Walter Hilton Walter Hilton Can.Reg. (c. 1340/1345 – 24 March 1396) was an English Augustinian mystic, whose works gained influence in 15th-century England and Wales. He has been canonized by the Church of England and by the Episcopal Church in the Unite ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * *Roman, Christopher (2017), ''Queering Richard Rolle''. * * * *.


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolle, Richard Middle English literature 1290 births 1349 deaths 14th-century English people 14th-century Christian mystics Alumni of the University of Oxford English hermits English religious writers English theologians University of Paris alumni People from Pickering, North Yorkshire English Catholic mystics 14th-century Latin writers 14th-century Christian texts 14th-century deaths from plague (disease) Pre-Reformation Anglican saints Anglican saints