Richard Rolle

term that century the golden age of English mysticism. He showed such promise as a school-boy, while living with his father William Rolle, that Thomas de Neville, Archdeacon of Durham, undertook to defray the cost of his education at Oxford. At the age of nineteen he left the university to devote himself to a life of perfection, not desiring to enter any religious order, but with the intention of becoming a hermit. At first he dwelt in a wood near his home, but fearing his family would put him under restraint, he fled from Thornton and wandered about till he was recognized by John de Dalton, who had been his fellow student at Oxford, and who now provided him with a cell and the necessaries for a hermit's life. At Dalton he made great progress in the spiritual life as described by himself in his treatise 'De incendio amoris'. He spent from three to four years in the purgative and illuminative way and then attained contemplation. After wandering a while, finally he settled at Hampole near the Cistercian nunnery, and there he spent the rest of his life. He became known as the 'Hermit of Hampole.' After his death his tomb was celebrated for miracles, and preparations for his canonization, including the composition of a mass and office in his honour, were made; but the cause was never prosecuted. His writings were extremely popular throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and very many MSS. copies of his works are still extant in English libraries. The Lollards, realizing the power of his influence, tampered with his writings, interpolating passages favouring their errors. To defeat this trickery, the nuns at Hampole kept genuine copies of his works at their house.