Rolle, Richard

ROLLE, Richard (Richard of Hampole, Brito; Richard the Hermit). - Hermit and mystic, b. probably around 1290 in the province of York, d. at Hampole on 29 Sept. 1349. The few biographical details about R. come almost entirely from the Office of st. Richard Hermite, compiled at the end of the 14th century to promote his canonization. He studied for some time at Oxford, then, in pilgrim's garb, withdrew to a solitary life, housed in a cell by the wealthy Dalton family; there he composed part of his early works. At the end of his life he was at Hampole, where he died, probably of the plague.

He is among the greatest English mystics of the 14th century. He wrote with equal readiness and equal fervor in Latin and in English, in prose and in verse. The degrees of mystical experience, the supreme individual experience, are for him represented, in ascending order, by calor, canor, dulcor. Among the greatest of his Latin works is the Melum contemplativum, still partly in manuscript: others are the Incendium amoris and the Emendatio vitae. Of the English ones, written in the last period of his life and addressed in part, in the form of epistles, to the recluse of Hampole, Margery Kirkeby, the most perfect is The form of living or, under its Latin title, Forma vivendi (in prose mixed with verse); also fine are Ego dormio et cor meum invigilia (in English verse), the Cantus amoris, The Psalter (much reworked later, also by Lollards) and several other mystical lyrics. R. is moreover the author of delightful apologues in English, set out in the form of "bestiaries." His influence on English literature and spiritual life down to the schism was very wide. His work possesses very remarkable literary merits.

Augusto Guidi