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HERMIT OF HAMPOLE
and
MATERIALS FOR HIS BIOGRAPHY
BY
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Published by the Modern Language Association
of America
NEW YORK: D. C. HEATH and COMPANY
LONDON: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
MDCCCC XXVII





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SCRIBED TO
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WRITINGS ASCRIBED TO
RICHARD ROLLE
HERMIT OF HAMPOLE
and
MATERIALS FOR HIS BIOGRAPHY
BY
HOPE EMILY ALLEN
Published by the Modern Language Association
of America
NEW YORK: D. C. HEATH and COMPANY
LONDON: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
M DCCCC XXVII
1 9 27


Approved for publication in the Monograph
Series of the Modern Language Association
of America
EDWARD C. ARMSTRONG
ROBERT HERNDON FIFE
JOHN LIVINGSTON LOWES
JOHN MATTHEWS MANLY
WILLIAM ALBERT NITZE
Committee of Award
PRINTED IN ENGLAND AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
BY JOHN JOHNSON PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY


Wah
1-16-51
22142
THE
PREFACE
HE present work has been years in the making, and the
obligations which it has involved have been corre-
spondingly numerous. When working for a master's degree
at my own college of Bryn Mawr in 1905, I first studied
Richard Rolle for a seminary report, at the suggestion of
Professor Carleton Brown, who now, after over twenty years,
brings out my completed work in the series of which he is
general editor. At a time when my interest was pre-
dominantly in modern English, Professor Brown's unique
enthusiasm for the manuscript literature of medieval England
(and especially the theological) proved a stimulus which in
the end brought me back to Richard Rolle; when a candidate
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Radcliffe College
in 1908-10, I was advised by Professor W. H. Schofield, of
lamented memory, to resume for a seminary report the study
of Rolle which had been started under the direction of Pro-
fessor Brown, and the rich interest of the subject in time
diverted me for my dissertation from a modern subject.
Under the extraordinarily generous and stimulating direction
of Professor Schofield I made in 1910, as a contribution to
the volume of Radcliffe Monographs presented to Miss Irwin
under his editorship, an article on the authorship of the Prick
of Conscience: for this work I was given the Elizabeth Allen
Paton Memorial Fellowship, given by Miss Lucy Allen Paton.
In 1910 I received the Fellowship of the Association of
Collegiate Alumnae (now the American Federation of Uni-
versity Women) to be used in investigating the manuscripts
of Rolle. These I have studied in European libraries and
from rotographs at home, from 1910 till the present. I was
unfortunately prevented from completing the requirements for
a doctorate, but while a candidate at Radcliffe College, with


viii
PREFACE
a thesis on Rolle, I received kind assistance from Professor
Kittredge, Professor (now President) Neilson, and Professor
Robinson.
During my years of study in European libraries I have
received kindness from persons too numerous to mention by
name. I can only record my gratitude in general terms to all
owners and librarians whose manuscripts I have used, and
to the committee of the Modern Language Association of
America, who have read the present work in manuscript. In
England I owe special gratitude to the late Professor Napier,
to Professor Craigie, to Mr. G. G. Coulton, to Miss Paues of
Newnham College, and to Mr. Herbert of the British Museum
-to all these for repeated services. Miss Paues lately brought
to my notice the Upsala MSS. Mr. Herbert, like Professor
Brown, during these many years has never forgotten to bring
to my attention any new fact that has come to him concerning
Rolle, and it is also my special good fortune that during the
laborious process of preparing this work for the press his
learning and accuracy have been constantly at my disposal.
Wherever possible he has gone over the quotations from
unedited works with rotographs of the manuscripts, and he
has several times read the whole book in manuscript and in
proof.
I am much indebted to R. P. Livarius Oliger, O.F.M., of
Rome (to whom I was introduced by Mr. A. G. Little), and
especially for pointing out to me the Trier and Naples MSS.;
to Monsignor Pelzer, of the Vatican Library, and especially
for directing me to the Cracow, Ghent, Prague Cathedral, and
Schlägel MSS.; to Dom Noetinger, of Solesmes, especially for
assistance with patristic citations. Many other obligations
have been recorded in the text.
I am much indebted to Professor Lucy Martin Donnelly
for direction in my early years as a graduate student; to


PREFACE
ix
Miss M. E. Temple for a very stimulating influence on my
early medieval studies; to Miss J. P. Strachey for receiving
me at Newnham College during the most strenuous period of
my early researches; to Miss Margaret Deanesly for much
assistance with manuscripts; to Miss Joan Wake for assistance
making possible my long journey in search of continental
manuscripts; to Miss Esther Lowenthal for my extended
pilgrimage to the scenes of Rolle's early life; to Miss B. H.
Putnam, Miss H. E. Sandison, Miss Joan Wake, Mr. Hilary
Jenkinson, Mr. Hubert Stuart Moore, and Miss Evelyn Under-
hill for general scholarly assistance; and to the Librarian of
the Society of Antiquaries for use of his library.
HOPE EMILY ALLEN.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1927.
KENWOOD, ONEIDA, NEW YORK.





INTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. PRINTED EDITIONS, ETC.
A. Early Editions
B. Modern Editions
C. Modernized Texts
D. Scholarly Investigations
CHAPTER II. PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
A. Bodl. MS. 861
B. Longleat MS. 29
•
C. MSS. Camb. Univ. Dd. 5. 64 and Thornton
D. Douay MS. 396
E. Vienna MS. 4483
F. Heneage MS.
G. Other Large Collections and Summary.
•
·
9
14
16
19
22
2 226
34
36
•
37
39
•
43
45
CHAPTER III. The Office of St. Richard Hermit
ABBREVIATED
TITLE
CHAPTER IV. Super Aliquos Versus Cantici Canti-
corum (in which the author signs his name in the
text)
Additional Note (on the development of Rolle's mysti-
cism)
Office
51
Cant.
62
83
CHAPTER V. EARLY WORKS (LATIN)
Canticum Amoris
Judica me Deus, A, B, C, D
Melum Contemplativorum
Super Lectiones Job in Officio Mortuorum.
·
89
Cant. Am.
89
Judica 93
Mel. 113
Job 130


xii
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATED
TITLE
CHAPTER VI. SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
(LATIN AND ENGLISH) .
PART I. Miscellaneous Commentaries (Latin)
Super Threnos Jeremiae
Super Apocalypsim (usque ad cap. vi)
•
145
.
150
Thren. 150
Арос. 152
Super Orationem Dominicam
Super Symbolum Apostolorum
Super Mulierem Fortem
O. D.
155
S. A.
157
Mul. Fort. 159
PART II. Commentaries Connected with the Psalter
(Latin and English).
De Dei Misericordia
Latin Psalter (Manuscripts, etc.)
English Psalter (Manuscripts, etc.)
Psalters (general discussion)
Super Magnificat
Super Psalmum xxm
Additional Notes (Commentaries on Pss. xc-xci)
CHAPTER VII. TREATISES (LATIN).
Liber de Amore Dei contra Amatores Mundi.
Incendium Amoris
Emendatio Vitae
CHAPTER VIII. EPISTLES (English)
Ego Dormio.
The Commandment
161
•
De M. 161
Lat. Ps. 165
169
•
•
Eng. Ps.
177
Magn. 192
20th Ps. 194
•
196
•
198
203
Contra Am. M.
Incend. 209
·
E. V. 230
•·
246
Ego D. 246
Command. 251
Form 256
- The Form of Living
CHAPTER IX.
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH
WORKS
Miscell. 269
PART I. Short Prose Pieces
269
The Bee
269
Desyre and Delit
271
"
Gastly Gladnesse
272
· Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit
On the Ten Commandments
PART II.
Meditations on the Passion
Additional Note (on another English Meditation on the
274
·
276
278
Passion)
•
286
·
· PART III. Lyrics
Additional Note (B. Mus. Add. MS. 37049)
287
•
306


CONTENTS
xiii
ABBREVIATED
TITLE
CHAPTER X. WORKS OF DOUBTFUL AUTHEN-
TICITY
PART I. In Latin
Compilations and Abridgements from Patristic Sources
Super Symbolum S. Athanasii
Excerpts from St. Gregory's Morals on Job
Prayer to the Name of Jesus, O Bone Jesu
(Meditatio of St. Anselm).
Novem Virtutes (with patristic texts)
Compilation from Rolle's own Works
De Excellentia Contemplationis
Thornton Prayer
Regula Heremitarum
.
Additional Note (on Rolle and schismatic influences)
PART II. In English
The Abbey of the Holy Ghost
O Bone Jesu
·
Lambeth Devotion
Dubia 312
·
312
•
312
•
312
•
313
·
314
·
317
320
320
324
·
324
333
335
· 335
343
·
343
·
344
Lyrics
CHAPTER XI.
LATIN WORKS WRONGLY AS-
CRIBED TO ROLLE
·
Spur. 345
Balliol Prayers
•
345
De Diligendo Deo
•
346
Meditationes of St. Anselm
·
347
Meditationes of William Rimington
Works Connected with the Name of Jesus
Cursus de Aeterna Sapientia (of Henry Suso)
Missa de Nomine Jesu
Scala Perfectionis (translated from Walter Hilton)
Soliloquium (of St. Bonaventura).
·
347
349
•
349
•
350
•
351
352
Speculum Peccatoris
Stimulus Amoris
De Tribulatione.
· 353
· 354
•
355
CHAPTER XII. ENGLISH PROSE WORKS WRONGLY
ASCRIBED TO ROLLE
•
Contemplations of the Dread and Love of God
Epistles of Ar. MS. 286 (St. Bonaventura and St.
Anselm)
Pater Noster
·
Remedy against the Troubles of Temptations
Spur. 357
357
• 357
•
358
• 359


xiv
CONTENTS
Rolle)
The Scale of Perfection (of Walter Hilton).
Sermons of Wyclif
Speculum of St. Edmund
Of Three Workings in Man's Soul
ABBREVIATED
Commentary on Two Commandments of the New Law
Additional Note (on modern unfounded ascriptions to
TITLE
•
361
361
·
362
364
366
368
CHAPTER XIII.
ENGLISH VERSE WRONGLY AS-
CRIBED TO ROLLE
Spur. 369
Lyrics
• 369
Pety Job
• 369
·
371
371
Stimulus Conscientiae
Seven Penitential Psalms
Speculum Vitae
A. MSS. Ascribing the Work to Rolle
B. MSS. Ascribing the Work to Grosseteste
C. MSS. Giving Hints of Other Ascriptions
D. Medieval Quotations and References
E. Evidence of Wide Circulation
F. The Interpolated Text
G. Summary.
Stim. Consc. 372
CHAPTER XIV. MEDIEVAL QUOTATIONS AND
REFERENCES
A. In Treatises and Compilations
B. In Lists and Catalogues
C. In Wills .
D. General References.
CHAPTER XV. EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
CHAPTER XVI. MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIO-
GRAPHY
Date of Birth.
Birthplace and Family
Thomas de Neville, Rolle's Patron at the University
John de Dalton, Rolle's first Patron after Becoming a
Hermit
An Early Critical Temptation
References in the Melum to Persecutions
Claims to Sanctity
Possible Sojourn in the Sorbonne
•
·
374
·
377
• 379
•
383
·
386
387
·
394
398
•
398
407
•
413
.
416
•
418
430
•
430
•
431
•
444
.
449
·
466
470
488
·
490


CONTENTS
XV
Incidents of Later Life.
Margaret de Kirkeby
Hampole
·
William Stopes
Later History of Hampole Priory
Rolle's Costume
APPENDIX. The 'Defence against the detractors of
Richard' by Thomas Basset, hermit
ADDITIONAL NOTES
ADDENDA
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE.
SELECT GENERAL INDEX
INDEX OF INITIA
INDEX OF MSS.
SCRIBES
OWNERS
501
• 502
·
511
.
518
520
·
526
·
527
538
•
539
·
541
550
·
558
563
567
567


ABBREVIATED TITLES
The titles by which Rolle's own works will be cited have been
enumerated above. The abbreviations now to be given do not include
recognized and obvious contractions. Most authorities are cited in the
following pages with the full reference at the first mention (which can be
found from the index): exceptions are here noted. A detailed list of
editions and studies of Rolle will be found in Chapter I, and of early
bibliographies, etc., in Chapter XV. The edition or manuscript quoted
from in the case of Rolle's works will be cited at the opening of the
discussion of each work. Titles of medieval Latin and French pieces
are often cited in English.
Bateson. Mary Bateson, Catalogue of the Library of Syon Monastery,
Cambridge, 1898.
Bernard. E. Bernard, Catalogi librorum MSS. Angliae et Hiberniae,
Oxford, 1697.
Brown. Carleton Brown, Register of Middle-English Religious and
Didactic Verse, Oxford, Part I 1916, Part II 1920, and Religious
Lyrics of the XIVth Century, Oxford, 1924.
Chevalier. U. Chevalier, Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen-âge,
Bio-Bibliographie, Paris, 1877-89, and Repertorium Hymnologicum,
Louvain, 1892-1912.
Clay. Rotha Mary Clay, The Hermits and Anchorites of England,
London, 1914.
Deanesly. The edition of Rolle's Incendium, infra, p. 15.
Deanesly, Lollard Bible. Margaret Deanesly, The Lollard Bible, Cam-
bridge, 1920.
D. N. B. Dictionary of National Biography.
Herbert. J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances in the British Museum,
iii, London, 1910.
Julian. J. Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, London, 1907.
Migne. Patrologia Latina.
RS.
Rolls Series.
SS. Surtees Society.
Turton. R. B. Turton, Honor and Forest of Pickering, North Riding
Record Society, New Series, London, 1897, 4 vols.
TE. Testamenta Eboracensia (v. infra, p. 384).
V. C. H., N. R. Victoria County History, Yorks, North Riding.
YAJ. Yorkshire Archaeological Journal.
YAS. Rec. Ser. Yorkshire Archaeological Society, Record Series.


INTRODUCTION
THE WRITINGS ASCRIBED TO RICHARD ROLLE
HERMIT OF HAMPOLE
HE present volume will supply lists of all the manuscripts of
THE the works of Richard Rolle, hermit of Hampole, and of
writings ascribed to him falsely or doubtfully which have come to
light during a long investigation of manuscript collections. All the
information of assistance for determining his canon that can be
derived from medieval sources will be quoted, whether in the form
of scribes' notes and colophons appended to manuscripts and early
editions of the works, or of references in early compilations and
bibliographies. The evidence will be given for disproving false
ascriptions, and the authenticity of true and doubtful works will be
discussed. The most salient features of each piece will be described,
but their structure is so informal that no summaries are attempted.
Since the bulk of Rolle's work is either unprinted or only accessible
in rare early editions, the present descriptive catalogue of the writings
may be useful for its quotations. On that account works which
have never been printed will be quoted more at length than those
easily accessible. It is hoped that the lists of manuscripts here
given may attract editors to some of the works still unedited. In
compiling them, I have been assisted by the courtesy of the editors
of The Times, The Times Literary Supplement, The Morning Post,
The Yorkshire Post, and The Spectator, all of whom have inserted
letters from me asking for news of manuscripts of Rolle.
To collect the materials for an understanding of Rolle's place in
literary and religious history may be called the primary purpose of
the present study; but since the materials have been up to now in
confusion, the principal enterprise has actually been that of deter-
mining the canon. To this purpose other considerations have when
necessary been sacrificed, for other studies can follow the determina-
tion of the canon better than they can precede it. Whatever material
brings any evidence as to the authorship of the writings has primarily
been given in that connexion, in order that the canon may so far as
possible be settled once for all. Rolle's life may especially be pointed
to as a subject of which the treatment has lost in interest and
coherence because it has been subordinated to the study of the
A


2
INTRODUCTION
canon, and the discussion is not given in a single consecutive whole.
The materials for Rolle's life serve a double purpose in the present
study where the various works give autobiographical passages,
valuable evidence is thus given supporting the authenticity of the
compositions in question. Accordingly, the autobiographical refer-
ences have all (except in the case of the Melum, which contains too
much autobiography to be so treated) been first noted in connexion
with the works in which they occur. They are later in most cases
briefly cited in the chapter on Rolle's life, where they serve their
second usefulness. That long section discusses the biographical
details to be derived from all quarters (which often require con-
siderable analysis). Some new evidence which has come to light in
the course of the present investigation is added, but it should be
pointed out that the sources for the chapter on Rolle's life have not
been searched for as extensively as have the manuscripts of his
writings. There may be new material lurking in legal documents
which will one day be brought to light.
In the chapter on Rolle's life, much space has been given to dis-
cussing conjectures, and seldom does the argument rest on an
absolutely irrefragable foundation. Though the narrative offers
perhaps more conjectures than ascertained facts, yet it is at some
few points (with the aid of Rolle's own statements, or of historical
documents) secure beyond the possibility of doubt. It has seemed
best to sketch the implications probably involved by the facts, since
such conjectures may point the way to further research-with some
hope of fruitful results. An attempt has been made to be explicit
in claiming no more certainty than exists, but to suppress working
hypotheses altogether would seem to check the lines of future
inquiry. These hypotheses may lead the future scholar astray, but
the chances are that he is more likely to turn up significant new
facts as to Rolle's life with them than without them-provided he
does not hold his clues for more than they are worth.
Since autobiographical details have a share in upholding the
authenticity of the writings, the catalogue has been preceded by
a summary of the authoritative account of Rolle's life given in the
Office prepared for his canonization. Research supports this narra-
tive in every important particular, as will be shown in detail in the
last chapter. It may be said that the lessons of the Office supply
the first part of the criterion to be used in the judgement of Rolle's
canon, and the following chapter, on the commentary on the
Canticles, a signed work, supplies the second. As is true of most of
the great mystics, Rolle's life and writings show a striking consistency,


INTRODUCTION
3
and discussion of his biography and of his mystical doctrine are
both necessary to give the impression of consistency and idiosyncrasy
in his character which is carried away by any one who has read
extensively in his works. The literary historian has generally not
read Rolle's writings, and he has therefore lost the key to Rolle's
canon. Rolle was much read during the later Middle Ages in
England, and the lists of manuscripts in the present volume will
show that the medieval scribes on the whole did not blunder in their
ascriptions. The most serious errors that have found their place in
literary history have arisen from the exaggerated attention given by
modern writers to medieval mistakes that were sporadic. When the
testimony of all the medieval scribes and authorities is seen in the
subjoined lists, it will appear that they always give a strong consensus
of opinion. The descriptions of the works will offer internal evidence
in agreement with the external evidence. Richard Rolle of Hampole
would have been a most individual writer in any age, and in the
authority-loving Middle Ages his individualism was not easily mis-
taken. The study of his canon is simplified as a result, and it may
be said that almost no uncertainties enter it. In the early part of
the work the only conjectures may be said to be those concerned
with the dating, a subject which really makes part of the narrative of
Rolle's life.
Some aspects of Rolle's character and teaching lent themselves to
use by the Lollards, and were abused by them, but these were
minor elements; the gospel of mysticism, consistently expressed in
his life and writings, is what makes his influence on literary history,
when studied from the contemporary sources. Rolle's readers quoted
him constantly, and usually his most characteristic passages. The
sensational English poem, the Prick of Conscience, is never quoted
with his name, and it will be seen that the medieval evidence for
connecting it with his authorship is negligible. Such evidence as we
find is probably due to the existence of an interpolated text coloured
by Lollardy, to which, as to an interpolated text of his English
Psalter, his name was probably attached as a safe-conduct. In the
end, his influence seems to have become one of the main currents
in what may be called 'the Counter-Reformation' directed against
Lollardy during the fifteenth century. We shall see that in spite of
some heterodox tendencies in his works his books were owned not
only by lay persons of high position, but also by ecclesiastics of high
rank (cathedral dignitaries especially) and by religious houses (for
example, by Westminster and Reading Abbeys, and even by Rievaulx
and Fountains, which we may imagine were hostile to Rolle in his


4
INTRODUCTION
lifetime). The popularity of Rolle's work at Syon and Shene
Monasteries-the great royal foundations of the fifteenth century-is
especially noteworthy, as will be later discussed in detail (infra, p. 49).
It was natural that Carthusians (who were devoted to solitude)
often owned his works, but there was a rift in Carthusian unity
on the subject of Richard Hermit, for at least one prominent English
Carthusian condemned his influence, saying that his writings 'made
men judges of themselves' (v. infra, p. 534).
Probably at the time of the Reformation 'Richard Hermit's'
influence was as great as, or greater than, that of any other medieval
English writer of devotional works. The 'cult of the Holy Name of
Jesus', in which his, though far from being the only, had probably
been the decisive influence, had permeated general popular devotion.
A 'Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus', with an office in nine lessons,
had been established in the calendars of Sarum, York, &c., with
such a pressure of popular devotion behind it that it was able to
survive the great change, and to pass over into the calendar of the
Church of England, where it still remains. Its persistence has real
meaning, for it signifies a concentration of devotion on the Saviour,
with the personal warmth more often in medieval times offered to
His Mother, or to a saint. This was a characteristic of the later
Middle Ages in England which doubtless made easy the simplification
of devotion brought about when the cults of saints were swept away
at the Reformation. Thus the Festival of the Holy Name of Jesus
perpetuates a strain in Richard the hermit's influence which links
him with English religious history up to modern times.
Rolle's influence was probably greatest at the time of the invention
of printing, and some of his works were edited in the early days of
the press. Strangely enough, all but one of the early editions of
Rolle were printed on the Continent, where his writings were utilized
in the Counter-Reformation of the sixteenth century. Several early
English editions give spurious works with his name. Strangely
enough, he was not used by the seventeenth-century English Bene-
dictines, Father Baker¹ and Father Cressy, who used other fourteenth-
century English mystics, and the continental editions gave the last
signs of Rolle's living influence on religious history visible until the
revival of interest in mysticism of the last few decades. Horstmann's
volumes brought Richard into notice at a time when mysticism was
again beginning to be popular among the readers of devotional
1 Father Baker seems to have modernized the Remedy Against Tempta-
tions which was printed by Wynkyn de Worde as Rolle's though it was not
his (J. N. Sweeney, Father Augustine Baker, London, 1861, p. 92, and infra,
p. 360).


INTRODUCTION
5
literature, and Rolle's works have since appeared in modernized
editions and been given their full significance in the history of
mysticism. Horstmann's work, however, was neither complete nor
systematic, and any one interested in the hermit was at a loss to find
satisfactory information on his life and writings. So far as possible
the raw material for the study of Rolle's life and work will be given
in the present volume, and readers can verify all conclusions for
themselves.
In the following catalogue facts of purely scholarly interest
alternate with discussions which (though necessary for the scholarly
purpose of establishing Rolle's canon, which depends on internal
evidence as much as on external) are also of possible interest to the
general reader. It is to be hoped that the materials have been
arranged so that what is interesting to the student of general religious
history can be easily separated from matters of a significance more
narrowly scholarly. For example, the first two chapters (on the
early editions and the principal manuscripts) have for the most part
no general interest, nor have the lists of manuscripts appended to
the descriptions of the works. On the other hand, the summary of
the narrative of Rolle's life in the Office (chapter III), and the follow-
ing descriptions of the writings, though directed to scholarly ends,
have conceivably some interest for the general reader who wishes to
observe Rolle's psychology and development. We have some evidence
as to the chronology of Rolle's works, and they have been described
as far as possible in chronological order. As already noted, the
autobiographical passages are generally described with the composi-
tions in which they occur, and therefore the descriptive catalogue as
here given works gradually up to the climax of Rolle's life, both for
its external events and for its internal development. The chapter on
his life may be considered as supplying notes to the chapter on the
narrative given in the Office, and to the autobiographical passages
in the works.
In conclusion, something should be said as to the meaning in
which the words 'mystic' and 'mysticism' are used in the following
pages. It should be said at once that Rolle was the simplest possible
type of mystic, and accordingly the term 'mysticism' is used in the
present work in the broadest possible meaning. He was not given
to philosophies nor to apocalypses, and his mysticism depended on
the personal and emotional element in his religion. When described
from his point of view, it may be defined as a Divine transmutation
of his inner life. It was a relation with the Divinity which was not
only an influence transforming his consciousness, but was also
directly personal. To Rolle, the Divinity was 'Jesus', who was


6
INTRODUCTION
his friend. He held a highly spiritualized and emotionalized con-
ception of friendship, and his friend out of friendly favour granted
him, while in this life, a share in celestial experience. Thus Rolle's
mysticism meant a concentration of the affections, and a resulting
experience of celestial joy. In his own words (as given in two
Latin works, v. infra, p. 341), contemplation was 'joy of the Divine
love taken in the mind with the sound of the heavenly melody'. In
an English work (v. ibid.) he calls it 'a wonderful joy of God's love'.
'That joy', he goes on, 'is in the soul, and for abundance of joy
and sweetness it ascends into the mouth, so that the heart and the
tongue accord in one, and body and soul rejoice, living in God.'
Here we have indicated both the supernatural and the sensuous
elements which generally go to make up the mystic's experience,
and we have also the emphasis on joy which specially distinguishes
Rolle and the mystics of his type. Other mystics in various ways
emphasize knowledge, but with these he has very little kinship.
His mysticism is not so much a revelation as a life, and that life
is joy.
Throughout the lists of manuscripts any information given by the
scribes as to authorship or title will be quoted. Usually more than
one work occurs in a volume, and cross-references (abbreviated,
v. supra, pp. vii sq.) will be given to other works of Rolle's which the
manuscript under consideration may contain, beyond that imme-
diately in question. First and last lines will be quoted, and will
often be significant for the style and doctrine of the author. Only
the roughest classifications will be made of texts, and those on
which no comment is made may be, roughly speaking, considered
as complete. Early references to owners are quoted (at the first
mention) since they give valuable evidence as to the kind of public
reached by Rolle's works. Lists of editions are given in a separate
chapter, and (where they exist) with each work. In the case of
several important compositions, the only portions in print are
to be found in the introduction to Horstmann's second volume,
where they are given without references. Though it is not likely
that many more manuscripts of Rolle's works will be forthcoming
than the present investigation has unearthed, probably many more
references and quotations exist than are cited here, and will in time
be brought to light. Every reference and quotation given is an
interesting indication of Rolle's influence, and many give evidence
as to his canon. Such as are at present available are described in
a separate chapter, and noted by cross-references in the lists of
manuscripts of Rolle's own works. In general no post-medieval
notes are quoted. In giving the quotations from the works I have


INTRODUCTION
7
in many cases used italics for emphasis-especially to point out the
reminiscences of his mystical experience, and the favourite ornaments
of his style (which are rarely indicated exhaustively).¹
"
*2
All manuscripts except those marked with an are described from
my own notes, made from the manuscripts. The 'long numbers'
used in the Summary Catalogue of the Bodleian Library are supplied
at the first mention of a Bodleian volume: the verso in the case
of Oxford and Continental manuscripts is noted as 'v', but in other
cases as 'b', since this discrepancy exists in the printed catalogues
of the libraries. When page references have not been supplied by
local authorities, I have not supplied them. The full details of the
location of a volume (as B. Mus. Harl. MS.', 'Bodl. Laud MS.', &c.)
are given in the lists of copies of each work, but only the shorter
titles ('Harl.', 'Laud', &c.) in the incidental references.
The cross-
references given with any manuscript containing more than one
work can be used for pointing the way to the first mention of that
volume. The quotations from manuscripts in the case of unprinted
works are collated in each case with a second copy, but the variant
readings are only recorded when the manuscript usually followed is
obviously corrupt. The manuscripts chosen for the quotations
cannot be taken as always certainly the best, since, as already
mentioned, the texts have not been worked out, and in any case
for the present purpose it has often been necessary, in choosing
texts to be used, to consider convenience. Quotations are made
with the original spelling, except that the usage of the manuscripts
in alternating initial 'u' and 'v' and vocalic 'i' and 'j' is not always
reproduced. Abbreviations are generally expanded. Rolle's versions
of Scriptural texts are retained, though they are sometimes peculiar.
In the discussion of Rolle's life the distances mentioned have been
roughly computed from the map and therefore represent the mini-
mum only.
Since, in the following pages, the establishment of Rolle's canon
has been the main enterprise, his most extravagantly individual pas.
sages have naturally been chosen for quotation. As a result, it is the
undisciplined strains in his character that have perhaps especially
been brought to the attention: he has often appeared as a self-willed,
bitter individualist, something very far from our conception of a
Christian saint. This was the impression that he made in his own
time on a few readers, as we shall see in the appendix, but it was not
1 The alliteration is generally italicized in inverse ratio to its frequency: only
when the alliteration is scanty is every alliterative syllable indicated, the most
extreme alliterative passages have no italics.
2 In two cases an* makes part of the title: v. infra, pp. 239, 241.


8
INTRODUCTION
the general impression, for he seems to have been esteemed among
a very wide circle. The truth is that in his youth sanctity and un-
regenerate bitterness were strangely mixed in Rolle, but from the first
he gave flashes of rare mystical fervour, and of profound devoutness,
and, by the end of his life, his works altogether express in a chastened
and beautiful manner an idyllic romance, as it were, of the religious
life. The later compositions, the four epistles (one in Latin, three
in English), have perhaps not been quoted here sufficiently for their
virtues to appear. They will probably rank among the classics of the
devotional literature of England.
1
Though the fierceness of Rolle's early moods may disturb the im-
pression of his holiness for some temperaments, this very wildness
probably for some readers in the scholastic age had its own attraction
of novelty and of vitality. We can use for the reader of Rolle what
was recently written for the reader of Blake: 'The buzz of powerful
words, the rocking motion of long rhythms, will keep him comatose
and inflated in imagination.' If only these moods had been ex-
pressed in English, even they might have given us something memor-
able. As it is, we have them in a bastard Latin, which bores and
repels. By the time Rolle died, he had learned a delicate English
style that makes us regret his loss the more. First, by his writing
Latin, then by his death in mid career, we seem to have suffered one of
the premature losses in English literature. In Rolle the later Middle
Ages had an English prose writer of great promise and of some
achievement. On the whole he writes like a modern, but it is his
peculiar charm that at times the Anglo-Saxon literary traditions
break through, giving his prose cadences and ornaments archaic, but
in his case, instinctive. Thus he gives the rare, perhaps unique,
example of a style truly belonging to the Middle Age of English
prose-something that inherits from the rich national literature before
the Conquest as well as from the international traditions of writing
brought over by the Normans (which now monopolize our literary
expression). Fortunately Rolle's compositions sometimes expressed
the vivacity of his temperament, and they sometimes therefore seem
to give us the veritable utterances of a medieval Englishman, speaking
with the human directness and intelligibility of a modern.
1 Alan Porter in The Spectator, June 26, 1926, p. 1086.


CHAPTER I
PRINTED EDITIONS, ETC.
A. EARLY EDITIONS.
The most detailed account of the early editions of Rolle's works,
or of works ascribed to him, will be found in A Bibliography of
Sheffield and Vicinity, Section I, to the end of 1700, by W. T. Free-
mantle, Sheffield, 1911, pp. 164 sq. Seven of the fine plates in this
volume illustrate the section on Rolle.¹
The early editions of Rolle's works are as follows:
Oxford, 1483. Explanationes notabiles deuotissimi viri Ricardi
Hampole heremite super lectiones illas beati Job que solent in exequijs
defunctorum legi qui non minus historiam quam tropologiam et anagogiam
ad studentium vtilitatem exactissime annotauit. 12º. The sermon
of St. Augustine is added 'De misericordia et pia oracione pro
defunctis'. Only eight books are known to have been printed at
Oxford before the Job, and of this only three copies and a fragment
are known to be extant: all were preserved at Cambridge (see F.
Madan, The Early Oxford Press, Oxford, 1895, pp. 3, 258). The
printer at Oxford at this time was probably Theodoric Rood of
Cologne, who by 1483 seems to have associated with him an
Englishman, Thomas Hunt (v. Madan, p. 8).
London, 1503. Hore beate Marie virginis secundum vsum Insignis
ecclesie Sarum... Hore beate marie virginis ad vsum insignis ecclesie
Sarum finiunt feliciter vna cum multis sanctorum et sanctarum
suffragiis et multis aliis diuersis orationibus nouiter superadditis: cum
quattuor euangeliis et passione domini et cum horis dulcissimi nominis
Jesu. Printed by Wynkyn de Worde (July 31). In Hore nominis
Jesu just noted, the Vespers and Compline are headed: Uespere in
1 The illustrations are: a picture of a figure lying on a tomb, perhaps
representing Rolle (B. Mus. Add. MS. 37049, v. infra, p. 307), a page of the
Oxford edition, the frontispiece and explicit of the edition of 1510, a picture
from the Contemplations of 1500-6 representing a hermit (?) outside a cell, the
printer's device from the same volume, the frontispiece of the Speculum
Spiritualium, the frontispiece of the Contemplations (as frontispiece).
B


ΙΟ
PRINTED EDITIONS
veneratione nominis Jesu edite a deuoto Ricardo de hampole... Com-
pletorium ab eodem Ricardo editum. A beautiful volume printed on
vellum and richly illuminated. The ascription to Rolle was pointed
out to me by Mr. Herbert.
The Hours of the Name of Jesus' here found are in reality the
highly popular Cursus de Aeterna Sapientia of the German mystic
Henry Suso, of which one manuscript is ascribed to Rolle (v. infra,
p. 349). The ascription in this edition of part of the work only is
curious, for the Vespers and Compline here ascribed to Richard
certainly belong to the same author as the rest: they are included in
the usual text, and they echo at several points the phraseology of
the earlier hours.
Wynkyn de Worde was unfortunate in his ascriptions to Rolle, for
the present edition is the first of three which he assigns to the hermit,
and in all cases the attributions are flagrantly erroneous. The
present one was, however, widely copied, as I have been informed by
Mr. Herbert. It reappears in de Worde's Primer of 1523, in the
Sarum Primer printed at Antwerp in 1530, and at Paris in 1532,
and in the York Hours of 1516 and 1517-18 (see SS. 132, p. xxxiii).
It would probably be found that the ascription to Rolle of the two
hours in question was to be found in many of the early editions of
the Primer besides those here noted.
E. Hoskins (Horae Beatae Mariae Virginis, or Sarum and York
Primers, London, 1901) cites a Book of Hours printed by Julian
Notary 'c. 1503' which gives exactly the same table of contents as
that printed by de Worde in July 1503. This edition therefore also
contains the Hours of the Name of Jesus, but I have not seen the
only extant copy (owned by the Duke of Devonshire). It would
seem fairly certain that the attachment of Rolle's name in any case
originated with de Worde, who, as already noted, attached it
erroneously to two other pieces. His edition, as we have seen, is
securely dated, whereas the date of Notary's is uncertain.
London, 1506. Rycharde Rolle hermyte of Hampull in his con-
templacyons of the drede and loue of god, with other dyuerse tytles as it
sheweth in his table. 4°. Below is a picture of a bearded hermit (?)
with staff, beads, and halo, and on the reverse a hermit (?) sitting out-
side a cell surrounded by demons. Fol. 2: Opus Ricardi Rolle
heremyte de Hampull, qui obiit Anno christi M.CCC. xlix. Printed by
Wynkyn de Worde, who also printed an undated edition (1500-6).
This work is wrongly ascribed to Rolle (v. infra, p. 357). Horstmann
reprints the Contemplations from this volume (ii. 72-105).


PRINTED EDITIONS
II
London, 1508. The remedy ayenst the troubles of temptacyons ..
Here after foloweth foure proufytable thynges to haue in mynde whiche
hath be taken out of be thyrde chapiter of a deuoute treatyse and
a fourme of lyuinge that the dyscrete and vertuous Richard ham-
pole wrote to a deuoute and an holy persone for grete loue... 4º. On
the back of the title-page is the same picture of a hermit (?) with staff,
beads, and halo as above. Fol. 1: Here foloweth and enseweth a
souerayne notable sentence to comfort a persone that is in temptacyon ...
Fol. 19b: Here endeth be remedy ayenst the troubles of temptacyons. A
'Meditation on saying devoutly the Psalter of our Lady' follows.
Printed by Wynkyn de Worde (Feb. 4, on vellum), and reprinted by
him (on paper) Jan. 21, 1519. Only the extracts at the beginning of
this volume are by Rolle, though one manuscript gives him the Remedy
(v. infra, p. 359). Horstmann (ii. 106-28) reprints the whole edition.
Paris, 1510. Explanationes notabiles deuotissimi viri Richardı
Hampole heremite super lectiones illas beati Job: que solent in exequijs
defunctorum legi: qui non minus hystoriam quam tropologiam et
anagogiam ad studentium vtilitatem exactissime annotauit. Fol. xxix b:
Impresse parrhisijs in sole aureo vici sancti Jacobi per Magistrum
Bertholdum Rembolt impensis ipsius et Johannis vvaterloes. Anno
domini. M.cccccx. Die vero. xvj. mensis nouembris. 4º. The sermon of
St. Augustine is added, as in the Oxford edition.
Paris, 1510. Speculum spiritualium. . . Additur insuper et opuscu-
lum Ricardi hampole de emendatione vite: ac de regula bene viuendi ...
Venale habetur Londonie apud bibliopolas in cimiterio sancti Pauli ad
signum sanctissime ac indiuidue trinitatis. After Fol. ccviii: Iste est
libellus de emendatione vite: siue de regula viuendi et distinguitur in
xij capitula. A prayer to the guardian angel precedes the end:
Explicit tractatus cuiusdam viri deuoti contemplatiui et instar heremite
solitarii nomine Ricardi hampole cuius aliqua capitula: scilicet quartum
et quintum sunt per alium dilatata et alia in parte abbreuiata. Opera
predicta in alma Parisiorum academia per Wolffgangum hopylium
sunt impressa: sumptibus et expensis honesti viri Guilhelmi bretton
ciuis London. Anno domini millesimo quingentesimo decimo. 4º. The
enlarged text of the Emendatio found here is unique. For other
books printed under the same conditions see Dibdin, ed. Ames-
Herbert, Typographical Antiquities, London, 1816, iii. 15 sq. V. infra,
p. 405, for the Speculum Spiritualium (a compilation quoting Rolle).
Antwerp, 1533. De emendatione Peccatoris, per venerabilem
Doctorem Richardum Heremitam Anglum, opus Christifidelibus quam
B 2


12
PRINTED EDITIONS
vtilissimum, nec antea vnquam excusum.
Item & alia quaedam, quae
versa pagella inuenies. Antuerpiae, Apud Martinum Caesarem. An.
M.D.XXXIII. Mense Octobri. 8°. The variant title here given to
the Emendatio Vitae is found in many manuscripts. Following this
manual are the fourth section of the Commentary on the Canticles,
commenting on the text 'Oleum effusum nomen tuum', incomplete at
the beginning, with the appropriate title: Eulogium nominis Iesu ';
chapter 15 of the Incendium Amoris (giving the account of Rolle's
first attainment of ecstasy, v. infra, p. 27), here under the title: De
Incendio Amoris; and (under the title Tractatus super his verbis,
Adolescentulae dilexerunt te nimis) the fifth section of the Canticles.
The first two pieces seem to have been (with the exception of the
Emendatio) the most popular of all Rolle's writings throughout the
Middle Ages.
They contain not only his most characteristic
doctrine, but also his most salient references to his personal history.
Both are quoted in the Office prepared for his canonization, and
(except the beginning of the Incendium) are the only part of his work
so honoured.
Cologne, 1535. D. Richardi Pampolitani¹ eremitae, scriptoris per-
quam vetusti ac eruditi, de Emendatione peccatoris opusculum, nunc
primum typis excusum, cum alijs aliquot appendicibus, quas versa
indicabit pagella. Coloniae, Apud Melchiorem Nouesianum. Anno
M.D.XXXV. 8°. A prefatory letter from the editor, the Domini-
can Johann Faber of Heilbronn (see art. Faber, Cath. Encycl.), is
dated at Cologne and addressed to the rector of the Dominican
convent of Wimpfen, where Faber had passed his early years. He
was an active propagandist against the Reformation, and the present
epistle makes clear that his edition is intended to further the Counter
Reformation.
'Sic & caeteri patres ab initio secundum successionis seriem, ad haec
vsque tempora, contra suorum temporum haereticos viriliter pugnauere.
Inter quos strenuus ac diuinus catholicae fidei athleta RICHARDUS ille
Eremita Pampolitanus memoriae succurrit vir multis titulis insignitus...
In virtutibus enim excolendis, quis eremita nostro illo RICHARDO laborauit
felicius aut eruditius? Nemo illo mouet efficacius, delectat ciuilius, nul-
lus suadet ac hortatur ardentius. Est enim in hac re vltra communem
hominum sortem summe admirabilis.'
Faber is said to have printed this volume and the next (promised
in the epistle just noted) while at the University of Cologne, which
1 This Latinization of Hampole was used by continental bibliographers
(v. infra, p. 425).


PRINTED EDITIONS
13
was at that time a centre of the Counter Reformation and of
mysticism. This university is now extinct, and I have been unable
to discover whether it ever possessed a manuscript of Rolle's works
from which Faber printed his editions. Earlier he was a cathedral
preacher at Augsburg, but no manuscript of Richard's works is
found amongst the manuscripts at Augsburg catalogued by A. Reiser
(Augsburg, 1675). He cannot have used for his second edition any
manuscript now known, since the excerpts which he prints from
Gregory's Morals as ascribed to Rolle are not otherwise extant. Nor
does the Commentary on the Athanasian Creed, which he also prints
with Rolle's name, exist in any extant manuscript ascribed to the
hermit, though it occurs among his writings in several important
collections (v. infra, pp. 33, 312). Faber's text of the works which had
been printed earlier may have been copied from the printed editions,
but against this conjecture is the fact that his Adolescentulae contains
at the end two more sentences than theirs. The existence of so many
manuscripts still of Rolle's works on the Continent (especially at
Trier and elsewhere on the Moselle) might suggest that Faber
used medieval manuscript sources found in his neighbourhood, but
it must also be remembered that Theodoric Rood, who first printed
Rolle, came also from Cologne, and might have brought back there
news and perhaps manuscripts of Richard.
The appendices' which follow the De emendatione peccatoris in
the edition of 1535 are as follows:
Nominis Iesu Encomium, De incendio amoris, De amore summo
eodemque singulari, Orationis dominicae exegesis, Symboli Apostolic
enarratio, Symboli Athanasii expositio.
The first three pieces here are identical with those printed in 1533,
with the exception already noted."
Cologne, 1536. D. Richardi Pampolitani Anglosaxonis Eremitae,
Viri in diuinis scripturis ac veteri illa solidaque Theologia eruditissimi,
in Psalterium Dauidicum, atque alia quaedam sacrae scripturae monu-
menta (quae versa indicabit pagella) compendiosa iuxtaque pia
Enarratio. Coloniae, ex officina Melchioris Nouesiani, Mense Martio,
Anno M.D. xxxvi. Fol.
1 Mémoires de l'Académie de Belgique, 46, 1891, pp. 311 sq.
Melchior von Neuss, the printer of Faber's two editions of Rolle, brought
out principally theological works: his volumes appeared from 1527 to 1550.
He was preceded and followed in his printing by members of his family. See
P. Heitz, Die Kölner Büchermarken bis Anfang des XVII. Jahrhunderts, Strasburg,
1898, p. xx.


14
PRINTED EDITIONS
Faber here addresses a prefatory letter (dated at Cologne, March 8,
1536) Vigilantissimis consulibus ac vniverso Senatorum ordini,
Imperialis ciuitatis Vuympinensis.' He again praises Richard and
laments the Reformation. The works edited by him in 1535 are
reprinted here, and there are also included the Latin Psalter, the
Commentary on the Lessons from Job used in the Service for the Dead,
the Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah, a selection from the
Morals of St. Gregory, and the Commentary on the 20th Psalm.
Paris, 1542.
D. Richardi Pampolitani Eremitae enarratio com-
pendiosa in Threnos, sive Lamentationes Jeremiae, Parisiis, Joan.
Foucherius, 1542. 8°. Known to me only through the catalogue of
the Royal Library, Paris, 1739, to which I was led by the D. N. B.
Cologne, 1622. Magna Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, ed. M. de La
Bigne, vol. xv, pp. 817-83. The works given in Faber's edition of
1535 (repeating the same headings, &c., but not the same order) are
here reprinted. Bale, Pits, Sixtus Senensis, and Antonius Possevinus
are quoted as to Rolle's works, and his date is given as 1420, perhaps
from Bale's first catalogue (v. infra, p. 425). La Bigne's collections
were made in the interests of the Counter Reformation, and under
the patronage of the University of Cologne (see art. 'de La Bigne',
Cath. Encycl.). This series was reprinted in 1654, and Rolle's
writings were reprinted in La Bigne's Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum
Patrum, Lyons, 1677, xxvi, pp. 609-732. The latter was reprinted at
Cologne in 1694.
B. MODERN EDITIONS.
EETS. Orig. Ser., 20, Hampole's English Prose Treatises, ed. Rev.
G. G. Perry, 1866. The short English pieces of the Thornton MS.,
coupled with the Office prepared for Rolle's canonization (as found
in another Lincoln MS.). A new edition with minor revisions was
brought out in 1921. Some of the short pieces were reprinted with
valuable notes in E. Mätzner's Sprachproben, Berlin, 1867, ii. 118 sq.
The Psalter by Richard Rolle of Hampole, ed. Rev. H. R. Bramley,
Oxford, 1884. V. infra, p. 170.
Yorkshire Writers, Richard Rolle of Hampole, ed. C. Horstmann,
London, 1895-6, 2 vols. This work has given the foundation for
most modern work on Rolle. It prints all the English works except
the Psalter, which was already in print, describes the Latin works.
and quotes from them often at length (but without references). The


PRINTED EDITIONS
15
texts are excellently printed, and some good hints are given on
general subjects connected with Rolle, but the method is extremely
haphazard, and the editor at times even contradicts himself. A
striking inconsistency is pointed out by M. Konrath in reviewing
the work (Herrig's Archiv, xcix. 162). Horstmann (ii. 130) says:
'R. Rolle died in 1349 an old man, and his earlier life belongs to
the 13th century', though he had said (ii, p. v, n.) 'I fix 1300 as
the most approximate date' (of his birth). This discrepancy may be
taken as fairly typical of others. The volumes are filled with material
of which the connexion with Rolle is hard to ascertain, and it will be
seen in the following pages that (outside of his Psalter) very little
English work is really his. Horstmann-on the basis of Northern
dialect, rhythmical prose, or occurrence with authentic works-con-
jectures his authorship for many pieces which we have no evidence
to connect with the hermit. An exhaustive discussion of these
conjectures will not be given here. The exact information given by
the manuscripts as to Rolle's canon will be copied, but where we
have no medieval testimony assigning to him a work, it will not
be discussed, unless there is internal evidence which suggests his
authorship. No work is included in the canon of which no manu-
script gives Rolle's name (but v. infra, p. 152); one work only is
discussed, among doubtful works, of which no copy is ascribed to
Richard (v. infra, p. 325).
EETS. Orig. Ser., 106, The Fire of Love and The Mending of Life,
translated by Richard Misyn, 1434-5, ed. Rev. R. Harvey, 1896.
The Incendium Amoris of Richard Rolle of Hampole, ed. Margaret
Deanesly, Manchester University Publications, 1915 (v. infra, p. 209).
This is the only edition of a Latin work of Rolle's brought out in
modern times.
The Pricke of Conscience (or Stimulus Conscientiae, as it is often
called in the manuscripts) was printed by the Philological Society, in
their Early English volume, 1862-4 (London, 1865, ed. R. Morris).
As I showed in 1910 in Radcliffe College Monographs, No. 15, in
a monograph on 'The Authorship of the Prick of Conscience', this
poem could not have been written by Rolle, though it was considered
to be his principal work. The conclusions there reached (mostly on
internal evidence) have been confirmed by the present investigation,
which shows the slight external evidence on which the opinion of
Rolle's authorship was founded, and suggests a motive for this attribu-
tion. Rolle's authorship of the Prick of Conscience seems impossible.


16
PRINTED EDITIONS
The Office of St. Richard Hermit, which had been first printed
from the imperfect Lincoln MS. by the EETS. (Orig. Ser., 20), was
reprinted, with a collation of the three manuscripts in English
libraries, in the York Breviary, SS. 75, ii. App. V., 1882. It has
been again reprinted, with reproductions from the manuscripts, &c.,
by Canon R. M. Woolley (S.P.C.K., 1919).¹ None of the English
editors of the Office knew the abridged copy of the work at the
University of Upsala printed by Harold Lindkvist, Skrifter utgifna
af K. Humanistiska Vetenskaps, xix. 3, Upsala, 1917 (pointed out to
me by Miss Paues).
Lindkvist, in the volume just mentioned, prints as well a text
(with notes) of Rolle's Meditations on the Passion, also found in the
Upsala library. He gives a valuable description of other Upsala
manuscripts containing works of Rolle, all of which are noted below.
The Meditations on the Passion were also printed from a Cam-
bridge MS. by Ullmann, Eng. Stud. vii. 415 sq.: verbal emendations
by Zupitza on this text are printed ibid., xii. 463.
C. MODERNIZED TEXTS.
It is a notable feature of the modern interest in mysticism² that
some of Rolle's works have been reproduced for devotional purposes,
as follows:
A Book of the Love of Jesus, ed. Rev. R. H. Benson, London, 1904,
and later. In this volume various pieces of Rolle in prose and
1 Some errors appear in the introduction to this useful work. The narrative
concerning a supernatural temptation is once quoted correctly (with the
title often given to this section of the Canticles) as from 'his own book the
Nominis Iesu Encomium' (p. 7). The piece is here given in English (from
the Thornton MS.). When exactly the same piece occurs in the Office, in
Latin, the editor notes: 'The story is related in the Incendium amoris' (p. 36,
n. 4). The Incendium in question must be of the common abridged type
in which Rolle's Oleum effusum from his Canticles (in which occurs the
narrative in question) follows along with other extracts (v. infra, p. 64). Where
the Office gives the opening of the Incendium-with the correct reference 'in
libro siquidem predicto' (sc. 'in libro suo primo de incendio amoris')-the
editor notes: 'This quotation is not from the Incendium amoris, but from
the beginning of the Melodia amoris' (p. 31, n. 1). He is writing in Lincoln,
and instead of looking up Miss Deanesly's edition of the Incendium to verify
his reference, he has turned up a Lincoln Cath. MS. of that work in which it is
given the title Melodia amoris (v. infra, p. 218).
2 The first use of Rolle in modern devotional literature which I have noted
is found in Trees Planted by the River, by Frances Bevan (London, 1894), where
Canon Perry's texts from the Thornton MS. are drawn on. This was pointed
out to me by my friend Miss Grace I. F. Creed.


PRINTED EDITIONS
17
verse are modernized from the texts given in Horstmann's edition.
Father Martindale, in his biography of Monsignor Benson (London,
1916, 1. 314), states that the study of Rolle was suggested to him
by Dr. Frere, when at the House of the Resurrection, Mirfield,
during his last days in the Church of England. Rolle must have
interested Mgr. Benson, for his novel Richard Raynal, Solitary
(London, 1906), he has in a general way founded on the life of the
Yorkshire hermit, though the period is fifteenth century. Rolle is
mentioned in passing. This book Mr. A. C. Benson considered to
be his brother's best work.'
Meditations on the Passion, by Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole,
done into modern English by the Rev. Edwin Burton, Catholic Truth
Society, London, 1906. Two meditations are here printed as Rolle's
'undoubtedly genuine works', but that from Horstmann, i. 112-21,
is not given him in any manuscript and gives no special signs of his
authorship (v. infra, p. 286).
The Form of Perfect Living, and other prose Treatises of Richard
Rolle of Hampole, modernized texts by Geraldine E. Hodgson, Litt.D.,
1910. Only the first piece here is a work of Rolle. The others are
taken from Horstmann's volumes-apparently on the supposition
that everything which they contain is by Richard. For example,
a Revelation as to Purgatory (Horstmann, i. 383) is spoken of in
Miss Hodgson's introduction as by him, though the revelation is
dated 1422 in the text, and he died in 1349.
The Mending of Life, ed. from Camb. Univ. MS. Ff. v. 40, with
introduction and notes by the Rev. D. Harford, London, 1913.
Middle-English translations of the Emendatio are classified.
The Fire of Love . . . and the Mending of Life, translated by
Richard Misyn, edited and done into modern English by Frances
M. M. Comper, with an introduction by Evelyn Underhill, London,
1914. Lists are given of many manuscripts of the Emendatio, and
a translation is added of three lessons from the Office of St. Richard
Hermit which concern Richard's life.
Richard Rolle of Hampole's Mending of Life, ed. W. H. Hulme,
Western Reserve University Bulletins, New Series, vol. xxi, No. 4,
1 Hugh: Memories of a Brother, London, 1915: 'I believe the most beautiful
book he ever wrote was Richard Raynal, Solitary, and I know he thought so
himself' (p. 164).


18
PRINTED EDITIONS
May 1918. A Middle-English translation from Worcester Cath. MS.
F. 172.
On errors in the introduction see M. Deanesly in Modern
Philology, xvii. 181.
The Stations of the Cross taken freely from the Meditations on the
Passion of the Lord by Richard Rolle, with woodcuts (opposite each
page) by Gabriel Pippet, London, 1917.
The Amending of Life, translated by Rev. H. L. Hubbard, London,
1922. From Misyn's version, but less archaic than Miss Comper's
text.1
Some Minor Works of Richard Rolle, with the Privity of the Passion
by St. Bonaventura, modernized texts by G. E. Hodgson, London,
1923. The only authentic works here are Rolle's two shorter
epistles, and some very short prose pieces from the Thornton MS.
(v. infra, pp. 269 sq.). For a general work by Miss Hodgson treating
Rolle, v. infra, p. 431 n.
An English lyric ascribed to Rolle is printed in the Oxford Book
of English Mystical Verse, ed. D. H. S. Nicholson and A. H. E. Lee
(Oxford, 1916), and in the New Golden Treasury, ed. Ernest Rhys,
'Everyman's Library', 1906. As I have pointed out in the Modern
Language Review, xiv. 320-1, the poem in question is a close
translation of a part of the Incendium Amoris, and we cannot be sure
that Rolle is the versifier (v. infra, p. 299).
Richard Rolle was not included in the earlier general works treating
English mysticism, such as Hours with the Mystics by R. A. Vaughan
(London, 1856), or in Dean Inge's Christian Mysticism (Bampton
Lectures, published London, 1899), or his Studies of English Mystics
(London, 1906). Miss Evelyn Underhill, however, in her large work
Mysticism (1st ed., London, 1911, 10th ed., 1924), uses a great many
illustrations from Rolle, as she does also in many later books.
A volume of Rolle's works in a French modernized version is
under preparation by Dom Maurice Noetinger, monk of Solesmes,
in the series Mystiques Anglais', in which he has already edited
similar versions of the Scale of Perfection of Walter Hilton and of
the Cloud of Unknowing (the former as a collaborator). Judging by
the analogy of the works already published in this series, this French
edition of Rolle will make a valuable addition to the scholarship of
•
1 In the introduction to this work (p. 32 n.) the Melum is said to have been
written for Margaret'-in other words it is confused with the Form (v. infra,
p. 256).


PRINTED EDITIONS
19
the subject, even though it is primarily intended for devotional use.
Dom Noetinger is likely (as in the other works) to add numerous patristic
references and parallels in this part of his work he has the invalu-
able assistance of his convent, so that the edition becomes in a sense
a communal affair. Here for the first time Rolle is to be treated by
those who are specialists in patristic literature. In his work on the
Cloud, Dom Noetinger has shown that one of the most striking
passages is merely a 'spirited adaptation' from Hugh of St. Victor,¹
and it is possible that equally unexpected discoveries will come to
light in connexion with Rolle; it would appear that discussion of
his persecutions is to be looked for. The edition will include the
Incendium.
An article by Dom Noetinger in the Month (Jan. 1926) on 'The
Biography of Richard Rolle' gives important new information and
valuable discussion, which will be later reviewed here in detail (infra,
pp. 490 sq.). He decides that the narrative of Rolle's life as given
in the Office is open to question as a literally accurate biography,
since the work is written primarily for edification. He points out
that Rolle's works show that he was a skilled theologian, and would
support the statement of Pits that he was a doctor of theology.
Dom Noetinger, on the authority of a note in a Paris manuscript,
would conclude that Richard is likely to have continued his studies
in Paris and been a 'socius' of the Sorbonne.
Du Péché à l'Amour divin, ou l'Amendement du Pécheur, traduit
et annoté par Léopold Denis, S.J. (Éditions de la Vie Spirituelle),
Paris (Librairie Desclée et Cie.), 1926. Pointed out to me by Dom
Noetinger. This little book contains a most excellent introduction
and notes on Rolle's mysticism and sources.
D. SCHOLARLY INVESTIGATIONS CONNECTED WITH ROLLE.
Heretofore the principal work ascribed to Rolle in the histories of
literature was the Prick of Conscience, and accordingly most of the
scholarship done on Rolle centred about this piece. Such scholarly
articles as concern the Prick alone will not be included here: they
will be found in such a standard work as the Cambridge History of
English Literature. Very little scholarship has been expended on
2
1 Blackfriars, March 1924, p. 1460, Le Nuage de L'Inconnaissance, Tours,
1925, p. 205. This is the vivacious account of the mannerisms of the devout.
'En présentant Richard Rolle aux lecteurs français, l'occasion se trouvera
de s'étendre sur ces polémiques dont l'ermite de Hampole eut personnellement
à souffrir' (Nuage, p. 10).


20
PRINTED EDITIONS
the authentic works, and of the few investigations which touch on
them some give even more attention to the Prick of Conscience.
H. Middendorff, Studien über Richard Rolle von Hampole unter
besonderer Berücksichtigung seiner Psalmen-Commentare, Magdeburg,
1888. This is an excellent piece of work. The author uses to the
best advantage all the available material, and brings out some inter-
esting points. He shows that Rolle's English Psalter is founded in
the main on Peter Lombard's catena of commentary on the Psalter
(Migne, 191), which is also used in Rolle's Latin Psalter. Many
interesting quotations are made from the Latin works as found in the
Cologne edition of 1536, but no use has been made of works in
manuscript.
A. Hahn, Quellenuntersuchungen zu Richard Rolles englischen
Schriften, Berlin, 1900. Some interesting evidence is here given as
to sources used in the English epistles. The greater part of the
dissertation traces the sources of the Prick of Conscience and of works
printed by Horstmann which the present investigation shows to have
been ascribed to Rolle on Horstmann's conjecture only.
F. Kühn, Über die Verfasserschaft der in Horstmanns Library of
Early English Writers, Band I und II-R. Rolle de Hampole-enthal-
tenen lyrischen Gedichte, Greifswald, 1900. This dissertation uses the
Prick of Conscience as a norm for Rolle's style. The author notes
Rolle's habit of repetition, and the uncertainty of determining the
authorship of many of the lyrics in Horstmann's volumes.
J. P. Schneider, The Prose Style of Richard Rolle of Hampole, with
special reference to its euphuistic tendencies, Baltimore, 1906 (Johns
Hopkins dissertation). The 'euphuistic tendencies' of Rolle had
been one of the theses sustained by Kühn in 1900, but his disserta-
tion did not investigate this point.
H. Henningsen, Über die Wortstellung in den Prosaschriften Richard
Rolles von Hampole, Erlangen, 1911 (Kiel Philological Dissertations,
vol. 17, Jan. 1912).
For a note on the sources of an English lyric ascribed to Rolle
v. supra, p. 18.
Though the edition of Rolle's English Psalter did not take account
of the sources or of many of the manuscripts, Middendorff's disserta-
tion gave important assistance for the study of this work. Two later
studies have added valuable new material to the same purpose.
Miss A. C. Paues, in the edition (1902) of her Fourteenth-Century


PRINTED EDITIONS
21
English Biblical Version, which was presented as a dissertation to
the University of Upsala, but printed at Cambridge, enumerates
thirty-three copies of the English Psalter, and separates these into
two classes—the original and the Lollard texts. A later valuable
study of the Psalter suggested by her was that by Miss Dorothy
Everett, printed in the Modern Language Review in three parts (xvii.
217 sq., 337 sq., xviii. 381 sq.).
A brief summary of the accounts of Rolle's works given in histories
of literature will be found in my Authorship of the Prick of Conscience,
Radcliffe College Monographs, 15, p. 115, n. 2.
In the Romanic Review (ix. 154-93) in an article on 'The
Mystical Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechiez' the present writer has
given a summary account of the development of medieval English
mysticism more generalized than anything in the present work. It
treats Rolle and will be constantly cited here.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
P. 16. Monsignor Benson notes (Book of the Love of Jesus, p. 222)
in connexion with Rolle's canor 'the instance of S. Francis of
Assisi, who used fancifully to accompany, on a piece of wood used
as a fiddle, the ideal music that flooded his soul'.
P. 17. Mr. Harford analyses (pp. xix-xxviii) Rolle's development
of mysticism according to the Incendium (cap. 15) taken in connexion
with the description also in that work (p. 202), quoted below
(pp. 84-5). As a possible source for the canor and dulcor he notes
(pp. xxviii-ix) Bede's account of the death of S. Chad. He identi-
fies John Cok, the copyist of Caius Coll. MS. 669*, as the 'reditu-
arius of St. Bartholomew's Hospital' (p. 11).


CHAPTER II
NOTES ON THE PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
IN the present study no attempt is made to describe the full
contents of manuscripts containing Rolle's works along with works
by other writers; and the manuscripts are not in general described
as wholes, though in every case the whole manuscript can be recon-
structed (so far as Rolle's works are concerned) by means of the
cross-references given under each of the several works which it con-
tains. A few manuscripts, however, deserve special mention.
A. Bodl. MS. 861 (Sum. Cat. No. 2728) is the largest collection
of Rolle's works anywhere found, and it contains all his Latin writings,
with three unimportant exceptions (v. Cant. Am., Mul. Fort., and
De Misericordia, infra). Strangely enough, it was not even men-
tioned by Horstmann. I wish to acknowledge much kind assistance
in its elucidation from Mr. Madan, Dr. Craster, and Mr. Gibson.
Bodl. MS. 861 is a small folio volume of 170 paper leaves, 12 by
9 in., in double columns. The watermark is an animal described
by Briquet (Les Filigranes, Geneva, 1907, No. 3552) as a cat. He
registers seventeen varieties from France and the Low Countries,
ranging in date from the last quarter of the 14th century to the first
quarter of the 15th. The whole book is written in a characteristic
and clear, though very close and much abbreviated script, appar-
ently by one hand, though with variations due to changes of
pen and ink. Gatherings: i¹, ii-x¹², xi¹º, xii³ (originally ¹²), xiii²,
xiv³, with signatures (a ¹¹², b¹¹², &c., and q', q², &c.; the sig-
natures repeated in red in quires iii and iv). Binders' marks
(+, A, B, C, &c.) remain, rudely scrawled in chalk, and at two points
(v. infra, ff. 103, 143) curious binders' notes (difficult to interpret)
have been pasted on the top of the page at the right-hand corner—
folded and continuing, as Miss Deanesly has noted (Incend. Am.,
pp. 18, 19), across the top of the verso. These may possibly hint
that the volume as we now have it is not complete, and a certain
indication of the same sort is to be found in the rubric '15 quaterna'
which appears at the bottom of f. 7º (the middle of the first quire).
1-1


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
23
The whole volume at present contains fourteen quires. We find on
f. 87 the rubric‘Anno 2º f. iiij', which is almost certainly to be taken
in connexion with the similar rubric 'Anno 30' found in the first
quire (f. 11). These two notes would seem to indicate the order in
which the work was copied, and we are given another sign that the
first quire was copied late. The end of a work coincides with the
end of a quire at ff. 50, 122, 132, 141, 166, at which points new
'blocks' may be said to begin. A series or dates given almost
certainly indicate that the whole of the first block was written between
the autumn of 1410 and the spring of 1411. Since the earlier part
of this period is called 'the third year' of the copying, the 'second
year' (in which at least the fourth quire of the second block was
written) must have been 1409-10.
Perhaps the reason why the scribe evidently did not have his
book bound in the order in which he wrote it was because he made
a late decision to form an 'Opera Omnia' of Richard Rolle. The
only materials in the volume not ascribed to Rolle are three short
Latin pieces found at the head of the fourth and fifth blocks respec-
tively (ff. 133-8, 142). Thus, all but one page of this foreign
material occurs in the fourth block, which we suppose to have been
copied early. Probably the Psalter was shifted to its position at the
beginning of the book, because that was the usual position for such
a piece in a volume of collected works, and it is found there in other
large collections of Rolle's writings (e. g. Corpus Christi Oxf. 193,
Hereford O. viii. 1, Savile). Evidently the scribe copied more than
we have in the present volume, and since it is now very thick, it
would hardly be possible ever to have bound more in it than we now
find. Perhaps the other quires went into another volume, now lost.
The rubricator has worked in an erratic fashion, sometimes for
a considerable distance inserting paragraph signs, dividing the clauses
with red strokes, &c., and then dropping out. The corrector also
worked sporadically. The influence of the cult of the Holy Name of
Jesus appears in the 'ihu' at the head of all pages, and for consider-
able portions of the book 'maria' appears at the bottom. The book
is full of small drawings, mostly with similar faces; certain designs
often recur, especially feathered bodies portrayed with tonsured
heads, monks' heads with wings, single feathers as markers, feathered
heads upside down, &c. The cross 'patée fitchée' is common, but
no heraldic devices can be identified. Some large plain initials have
been inserted in blue. Some headings and colophons are in the
same hand as the text-in black or red-and some in narrow


24
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
cramped capitals in red. The drawings use the same inks as the
text, and are doubtless due to the humorous scribe, who perhaps
multiplies feathers because his author hopes to join the angels.
On the fly-leaf: 'Liber librarii Wigoriensis, inde desumptus
Mar. 22, 1590, et illuc restituendus.' The catalogue says that this
note is in the hand of William Thornhill, prebendary of Worcester
1584-1626.
f. 1. On the extreme upper right in a minute form of the original
hand, nearly faded : 'die martis post nat./beate marie virginis [anno]
domini [14]10.' Later references make the insertions here suggested
almost certain. The Nativity of the Virgin (September 8) in 1410
fell on a Monday.
(1) Rolle's Latin Psalter begins the volume, without title or name
of author, but a marginal note against a text on the first page reads:
6 non ricardi.'
f. 7, at the bottom of the page in the original hand in red :
Ricardus hampul heremita de vita perfecta
Mitto thesaurum dulcius super aurum.
In nomine ihesu scriptum sit custoditum.
On '15 quaterna' v. supra, p. 22.
15 quaterna.
Textual notes occur fairly often on the margin: their position in
the text is in general carefully indicated.
f. 10. At the top of the page Ps. xxi. 30 is copied, with a comment
and the following: 'Non inueni istum versum in glosa ricardi nec in
borientalibus (sic) apud hampul nec in cometatu de richemund nec
in australibus in aliquo antiquo libro sed in vno nouo scripto'.
V. infra, p. 29. As a matter of fact this verse is lacking in the text
of the Psalter in Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. MS. 193, but it is found
in the Cologne edition.
f. 117. A marginal note (also in the original hand) makes another
insertion, and adds: 'Ille est secundus versus quem non inueni in
glosa Ricardi heremite nisi in nouo libro uno'. Here the insertion
is also lacking in the Corpus text and present in that of Cologne.
It is really a variant exposition for a text already expounded, and the
whole comment is re-copied at the foot of the page.
f. 11, in the same hand in red above: Anno 3º die martis post
festum angelorum'. The date (in the 'third year' of the work)
probably refers to 1410, when September 29 fell on a Monday.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
25
f. 23, a marginal note (marked for insertion in the text): 'die iouis
bricii/[anno] domini [14]10. t... 3m de/ spiritu et cetera.' The
latter half of this note is unintelligible, when inserted in the text and
in general. The first part is probably the date of writing again;
St. Brice's Day (November 13) in 1410 fell on a Thursday, and the
assignment of this series of dates to 1410 is confirmed.
f. 46, at the end of the Psalter and the beginning of the Canticles,
in the original hand, a rubric: 'In ramis palmarum die Sabbati sancti
ambrosii m cccc 11 [anno] domini feria (?) hora 3.' St. Ambrose's
Day (April 4) in 1411 fell on the Saturday before Palm Sunday.
The omission here of the 'anno' from a date otherwise certain con-
firms the conjecture that 'anno' should be supplied in other cases.
captus/die
f. 47, a curious tiny drawing of a cross on a standard, with
a diminutive clover leaf on each side. To the right, the following
note: 'die sabbati ante gor[dian]i/anno domini
iouis post/liberatus.' This is written in black ink, and rudely
scrawled in red over the first line is what appears to be 'Ioh[annels',
over the third 'filipi' and 'i[ac]obi'. This curious note is probably
meant to register some interruption in the work about the beginning
of May 1411. The scribe probably meant to say that he was
'captus' (by sickness, perhaps, or by other duty) on the Saturday
before St. Gordian's Day (May 10) and 'liberatus' on the Thursday
after he has rendered the '1411' by an 'm' over an '11'. We
have already seen him combine Arabic and Roman numerals in the
date at f. 46. He has here probably omitted the 'cccc', by a not
unusual carelessness. Probably the three names scrawled in red
over the top represent 'John', 'Philip', and 'James', and are inserted
because the festivals of these saints are near. May I is the day of
St. Philip and St. James, and the day of St. John ante Portam
Latinam is May 6, of St. John of Beverley May 7, of St. John of
Bridlington May 11. We evidently have to do with a fantastic scribe,
whom sometimes only fantastic explanations will fit. Sometimes,
however, his annotations are devout.
6
f. 49, at the end of the Psalter and Canticles, in the original hand in
red: Anno domini mocccc 11 die mercuri[i] hora 3ª post meridiem
13 die Mai.' May 13, 1411, was a Wednesday. This indisputable
date supports the earlier ones, of which the interpretation is partly
conjectural.
Half of ff. 49, 49, and both sides of f. 50 are blank.
C


26
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
(2) ff. 51-81, Rolle's Melum; with (at the top of f. 51) the title
(written later) 'Melum contemplatiuorum'. 'me' appears at the
upper right-hand corners of the pages.
f. 80 is blank, and the original hand, using the later dark ink, has
scribbled here: 'fac saltum ad dexteram '.
(3) f. 81, the same hand and ink: 'Explicit melum contemplatiuorum.
Incipit tractatus de primo versiculo canticorum per Ricardum h.'
Rolle's Commentary on the Canticles is indicated by 'Cant.' on the
upper corners of the pages.
f. 85: Explicit tractatus super primum uersiculum canticorum
et incipit tractatus super secundum versiculum.'
(4) f. 87, on the top of the page: 'Anno 2º f. iiij.' V. supra, p. 23.
f. 90: Explicit supra sirasirin, id est, cantus canticorum secundum
Ricardum heremitam. Incipit tractatus super psalmum 24m' (sic).
f. 93. Rolle's Commentary on the 20th Psalm ends: 'Amen, secun-
dum venerabilem Ricardum de hampul.'
(5) f. 93 Hic incipit secundus liber Ricardi heremite venerabilis
hampul de amore dei contra amatores mundi.' See below, f. 99º.
Rolle's Contra Amatores Mundi, corrected at some points by marginal
notes in the original hand (using darker ink).
f. 99: Amen die martis katis' (in the original hand and ink).
No satisfactory explanation for this curious inscription has been
offered.
(6) f. 99, rubric: 'De amore dei contra amatores mundi secun-
dum Ricardum heremitam. ffinis libri secundi, et tercius liber dicitur
de incendio amoris, qui sic incipit : Admirabar amplius quam enuncio
quando siquidem sentiui cor meum primitus incalescere et igne
estuare.' Here, as in the rubric at f. 93, the scribe is evidently
reproducing what he finds in the volume which he is copying, though
in his own book it is meaningless. Hereford Cath. MS. O. viii. 1 ¹
perhaps used the same original or a derivative, for a note (now
defective) on the inside of the cover in a late medieval hand (perhaps
copying from the first three leaves, which are now lost) announces
the following: 'Quoddam opus solempne venerabilis heremite
I wish to thank Miss Bull for bringing this manuscript to Oxford for
my use.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
27
Ricardi hampul continens in se 4ºr libros, quorum primus dat
regulam viuendi et continet duodecim capitula. 2us liber... de amore
Dei 3us...' Later notes indicate the Incendium and the Melum as
the third and fourth works respectively. The Hereford volume
seems to have been 'bound, horned, and nailed' in the late 15th
century, when a label was affixed to the cover ascribing the authorship
of the works to Rolle and naming the donor as 'magister Owyn lloyd,
quondam Canonicus huius [ecclesie]'. As Miss Deanesly points out
(p. 31), many books in the Cathedral library were given by Lloyd,
and he was perhaps a cleric of that name who can be traced 1466-78.
The rubric last quoted (f. 99) leads us to expect the Incendium
Amoris, but what actually follows is only the second part of the
compilation which usually follows the Incendium in the manuscripts
which contain what is known as 'the short text' (v. infra, p. 64).
The scribe perhaps waits to copy the treatise till he can lay hands on
the full text. The Hereford MS., which seems here to be following
the same original, now gives part only of the 'long text'.
At the beginning of the compilation (f. 99) one of the notes in
darker ink on the margin: Quomodo Ricardus heremita peruenit ad
uerum amorem dei.' The original hand writes in the original ink
at the end of the piece (f. 100): Explicit quomodo perueni ad
incendium amoris.' This is Rolle's conclusion to the section just
copied, which is his Incendium, chapter 15, on his development of
ecstasy. At the bottom of f. 99▾ in the dark ink and original hand
already noted (marked for insertion above):
'Nota quod ab inicio alteracionis uite et mentis usque ad apericionem
hostii, ut superos contemplaretur oculus cordis, effluxerunt tres anni
exceptis tribus mensibus. Ostio manente aperto usque ad tempus quo in
corde realiter senciabatur (sic) calor eterni amoris, annus unus plene effluxit.
Flagrante autem sensibiliter calore et inestimabiliter suaui usque ad infu-
sionem et percepcionem soni celestis et spiritualis dimidius annus et tres
menses et aliquot eldomade (sic) effluxerunt. Unde et ab inicio mutati
animi usque ad gradum suppremum in quo canor iubileus personoretur,
quatuor anni et circa tres menses effluxerunt. Hic nempe status cum
prioribus dispositiuis ad illum permanet usque in finem. Hic tamen non
modicum proficit, sed in alium statum non ascendit. Immo quasi con-
summatus quiescit, gracias Deo laudes incessanter, amen. In nocte puri-
ficacionis beate marie uirginis dictum mihi fuit in sompnis, anno domini
mº ccc° xliij° annis duodecim uiues.'
The first part gives the salient sentences from Rolle's Incendium,
1 The full text adds: 'et uideret qua uia amatum suum quereret, et ad ipsum
iugiter anhelaret' (Incendium, p. 189).
C 2


28
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
chapter 15, already mentioned. It will be constantly cited. Το
this the note as to the vision of 1343 has been added, and the
likelihood is that the whole memorandum was originally found in an
autograph manuscript. There is nothing unlikely in Rolle's copying
an abbreviated form of his famous narrative How I came to the fire
of love, and the vision here mentioned seems to have left its trace
on a bit of his English prose (v. infra, p. 273). The whole note as
quoted appears also in Durham Cath. MS. B. iv. 35 (of the fourteenth
century), f. 1121 (from which the variant readings are quoted by
Miss Deanesly, p. 188, n. 6). It must also have been copied in
a book once belonging to the brothers' library at Syon Monastery,
for a volume noted in the index and ascribed to Rolle contains:
'Idem de successu eiusdem & de alteracione vite vsque ad summum
gradum contemplacionis. Idem de visione eiusdem, de tempore
mortis sue.' Rolle's Canticles begin on the same page. Bale also
says in his Index (as 'ex domo archidiaconi Gybbes'): 'Scripsit
idem Ricardus: In nocte purificationis Marie dictum fuit in somnis,
A. D. 1343, Annis xij viues,' &c. For further discussion, v. infra, p. 273.
(7) f. 100: 'Hic continentur nouem virtutes quas dominus noster
Ihesus Christus cuidam sancto viro volenti deuote facere que deo
placent ore suo reuelauit.' In the darker ink: 'Admonicio valde
salubris de elimosina secundum R. h.' The context would make it
appear that the scribe here (by an afterthought) meant to ascribe this
little piece to‘Richard Hampole (or Hermit]' (v. infra, p. 317). This
is the only wrong ascription in the volume, but v. infra, f. 166.
f. 101. At the end of the Novem Virtutes, in the same hand and
ink, occurs the following: R. I am unable to offer any
explanation for this curious signature, which Dr. Craster (who agrees
in the reading) is also unable to interpret. It is probably a date.
(8) f. 101. The epistle which makes the first member of the
collection of tracts known as 'Judica me Deus' (v. infra, p. 93)
begins without sign.
f. 102: 'Hec Ricardus heremita dicit in libro quem habuit here-
mita de Tanfeld die veneris natali domini sancti Johannis 1409. Et
nudus pedes 40 millia ibat.' Here we have the reference to 1409,
which, considering the series of dates in 1411, and the earlier
1 I wish to express my special gratitude to the late Archdeacon Watkins for
kindness in making easy for me my use of Durham manuscripts.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
29
references to the 'third' and the 'second' years, we should expect
to find in this part of the book: the date in question (as Miss
Deanesly points out) is Dec. 27, 1409. However, it might refer to
the hermit's feat of walking, though, considering the series of other
dates given for the writing and the order of the sentence, it is more
likely to refer to the copying. If the other two doubtful dates of
writing (?) found in this quire (ff. 99, 101V) could be certainly assigned
to 1409, the present one should also be taken to indicate the time of
writing.
"
The note as to the book of the 'hermit of Tanfield' here given is
also found attached to a text of Judica A (also occurring alone) in
Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. 153, another large and valuable collection of
Rolle's Latin works. The original of this text was therefore a book
of some fame. The Tanfield in question is probably that on the
southern boundary line of the North Riding, rather than that in co.
Durham. Unfortunately, the note already quoted from f. 10 does
not give the clear indication of the scribe's home which it should:
the slip in the phrase 'in borientalibus apud hampul ' throws out the
topography. It seems clear, however, that either borealibus' or
'orientalibus' must be in question. Hampole is therefore either
north or east of the scribe, and since it lies in a lower corner of the
West Riding, with the counties of Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, and
the East Riding all not more than fifteen miles away, it is quite
impossible to localize the scribe from the confused indications which
he gives. His wanderings might suggest that he was also a hermit.
Since he mentions 'the county of Richmond' as within the range of
his search for manuscripts, he must have passed by the Yorkshire
Tanfield, but the Durham Tanfield is less likely to be in question.
Several facts may perhaps support the identification with the
former. Lord Scrope, lord of the near-by manor of Masham, in 1415
willed to Henry FitzHugh, his kinsman, an autograph of the Judica
(v. infra, p. 98): the latter was (in the right of his wife) lord of the
manor of Tanfield. Probably the copy of special authority possessed
by the hermit of Tanfield was corrected from the autograph, if it were
not that very book, but on this point v. infra, p. 107. The scribe of
the Bodl. MS. apparently took his copy between 1409-11, and
a book then in the hermitage may by 1415 have passed to the
neighbouring manor house.
In 1314 John Marmion, lord of the manor of Tanfield (from whom
Lady Fitz Hugh inherited), received permission to crenellate his
house called 'Lermitage' (V. C. H., p. 385). However, this was


30
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
apparently not the manor house of which the tower (built by Henry
Fitz Hugh) still exists, overhanging the churchyard.¹
The earlier site is now marked by an earthwork, and the ruined
foundations of a chapel and other buildings. It is possible that,
when the Marmions about the middle of the fourteenth century
transferred their manor house to the site next to the church, their
older seat sheltered a hermitage (as perhaps, if the name is a clue, it
had originally done).
It is also worth mentioning that the parish church of West
Tanfield contains a mysterious recess, which is said to be unique'.
The church doors were originally barred from within, and it has
been suggested that the cell was made for a sacristan, and not for a
confessional, as had been earlier conjectured. It has one opening into
the chancel and another towards the High Altar, and it would appear
(though too small for an anchorite) to have been possibly suitable for
a hermit, who would be able to leave it for a change. It may be
noted that the rector of this church in 1406 was one of the trustees
to whom Fitz Hugh assigned the endowment which he set aside for
the foundation of a Brigittine house (Deanesly, p. 98). He was
evidently in close touch with the church, which his manor house
adjoined.
(9) f. 102: 'Incendium amoris hic incipit, habet xxii capitula'
(rubric). On the margin: 'liber 3' (this numbering also corresponds
with that given to the same work in the Hereford MS., and it is
probably derived from a common original). The scribe has now
found his complete Incendium, which he proceeds to copy, thereby
repeating practically all that he has copied in the earlier compilation.
He is completely mixed on the number of the chapters. The rubric
gives 22', and the original hand gives in red at the bottom of the
blank verso (f. 122): 22 capitula cum cauda' (the 'cauda' is
perhaps the short paragraph-a kind of afterthought—which con-
1 See Yorks. Archaeol. Journ., xii. 287-8, H. B. McCall, Richmondshire
Churches, London, 1910, pp. 188-90.
2 A. H. Allcroft, Earthwork of England, London, 1908, pp. 447 sq. (reference
kindly supplied by the vicar of West Tanfield). The place is now called
'Magdalen Field'.
3 The North Riding of Yorkshire, J. E. Morris, London, 1904, p. 371.
The vicar kindly informs me that at a recent meeting of the Royal
Archaeological Society the suggestion was made that the chamber was used by
an anchorite. The dimensions (4 feet by 3 feet 9 inches, v. McCall) would
seem to make it impossible that a person strictly enclosed could ever have been
confined in this small space.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
31
cludes the last chapter). The full text (usually forty-two chapters and
a prologue) is here, but divided into thirty-five chapters by red roman
capitals, and into forty-four by the black cursive script.
ff. 103-103".
Here occurs the first of the bookbinder's labels
already mentioned, and perhaps the scribe's confusion as to the text
of the Incendium helps to make it cryptic. It runs as follows :
'Hic incipit liber iij qui vocatur incendium amoris, habet xxij capitula.
Admirabar amplius quam enuncio quando siquidem sentiui cor meum
primitus, et hic caret folio in fine istius quaterni, et in principio similiter
istius quaterni caret folio, et illud folio (sic) non est secundum folium in
quaterno quem clausum misi ad vos, quia est finis libri 2, scilicet,
habetis totum secundum librum, de amore dei contra amatores mundi.
In quaterno vestro clauso et (or 2)signato uerte folium caudam cum c[api]te
et ponatur in loco suo, quia quilibet quaternus habet xii folia, vester qua-
ternus xvi.'
No quire of the present book has sixteen leaves, though the
binder's marks show that nothing has been lost from the middle of
the book. Possibly the last block (now only three leaves) once con-
tained sixteen. The references to the lack of two leaves, and to the
'quire which I sent to you closed' are unintelligible; the latter may
be the same as the quire 'closed and signed' (or 'signed 2'),
which reappears in the second note (f. 143), where it seems to refer
to the quire in hand (of twenty-four leaves). Perhaps the scribe
should have written above 'vester quaternus xxiv'. Evidently in
studying this curious manuscript our task is made more difficult by
the occasional inconsistency of the scribe. Our difficulties are
increased in the present case by the faded and worn condition of the
labels, and by the fact that the scribe renders 'et' and '2' by the
same symbol.
f. 122: Amen secundum Ricardum heremitam.'
(10) ff. 123-8, Rolle's Commentary on the Apocalypse, without
title or ascription, except that a tiny 'apl' appears in the upper right-
hand corners of the pages. Since Horstmann missed Bodl. MS. 861,
he also missed this work, of which this is the only copy easily
accessible.
(11) f. 128: 'Regula viuendi distincta in duodecim capitula'
(v. Emendatio, infra, p. 230). During this piece the most astonishing
variations occur in the size of the handwriting every few sentences,
and considering the whimsical character of the scribe, he is probably


32
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
here alternately expanding and compressing his script as a tour de
force. The text ends abruptly in the last chapter but one: only one
word is to be found on f. 132, and f. 132 is entirely blank. This
ends the quire (of ten leaves) which makes up the block (III). The
ink and pen change almost as much as the handwriting. Much of
this resembles that used in some of the notes already mentioned.
(12) ff. 133-137, an anonymous commentary on the Canticles,
written in the same hand as the rest of the book. Beg.: 'Materia
huius operis sunt ffideles existentes ante aduentum Christi.' Ends:
'foris argento variata. Explicit sirasirim versus cc. 80. Maria. pre
die. scripta die mercurii a[nno] 1411 domini aurius (?) mensis (?) 5.’
(13) f. 137. The same hand has then written (almost certainly
later) a commentary on the Ten Commandments in the blank column
and a half of this page. The handwriting is minute but extra-
ordinarily clear: the lines are not kept as in the rest of the text.
The 'pre die' seems, by the ink and pen used, to belong to the
Canticles: it is more or less unintelligible anywhere. The date
itself almost certainly belongs to the Commandments (a later insertion).
The only month in 1411 when the 5th fell on a Wednesday was
August, and the 'aurius' may be a slip for 'Augusti'. Miss Parker
suggests that the last word above is 'numerus', but in 1411 the
'Golden number' was 6. It was 5 in 1412.
(14) ff. 138-41, Rolle's Commentary on the Lamentations of
Jeremiah (without title or ascription). This is the only work by Rolle
in the present quire (of nine leaves, with three at the end cut off),
which makes up the fourth block.
f. 141, on the extreme upper right-hand corner: 'sabbato die
crucis [14]10 [anno] domini.' In 1410, the Invention of the Holy
Cross (May 3) was a Saturday. This is the earliest date in the book,
except that on f. 102 (Dec. 27, 1409).
(15) f. 142, a popular section from the Meditations on the Life of
Christ (Pseudo-Bonaventura). Beg.: Circa Virginem' (for an
English translation see Horstmann, i. 158 sq.). The back of this
page contains only alphabets.
(16) f. 143, Rolle's Commentary on the Pater Noster, without
title or ascription except that 'pater' is just visible at the upper
right-hand corner. Here occurs the second bookbinder's note, which
is less worn where it is folded than the other note, and can be made
out as follows:


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
33
'Finis istius libri Iob est primum folium in quaterno uestro clauso
signato 2 (or et) incipit cum uita gloriose uirginis matris marie et habet iste
quaternus xxiiij folia, quorum secundum folium incipit oratio dominica,
alii quaterni habent xii folia.'
The note is obviously a trifle out of place, since the Job does not begin
till f. 148 and ends on the last page of this quire, but it is correct in
the main. This quire has twenty-four leaves (ff. 142-65), and the first
folio contains the extract on the Blessed Virgin from the Meditations,
the second the Pater Noster.
(17) f. 143º: 'Idem Ricardus super simbolum.' 'Credo' appears
at the upper corner of the pages. Rolle's Commentary on the Apostles'
Creed ends: 'per Ricardum hampul' (f. 146). The curious note
follows: Etas mundi 5050 minus uno, anno domini incarnacionis.
Nota quod ab inicio alteracionis uite et mentis...' A slightly shortened
form of the abridgement of Rolle's attainment of ecstasy found on
f. 99 then follows, but the reference to the vision of 1343 is lacking,
and we find the rubric: 'Amen qui anno domini 1049 apud hampvl
manacarum' (sic.). The end straggles off as if the scribe had been
interrupted: it seems likely that he intended to give the date and
place of Rolle's death as they are found in so many manuscripts.
If so, however, he carelessly wrote '1049' for 1349'. Mr. Madan
points out his interesting use of 'Nuns' Hampole' as the place-name
(on the analogy of Bishop's Stortford', 'Abbot's Langley', &c.).
Mr. Madan in the catalogue suggests that the earlier date ('Etas
mundi 5049') could by the Jewish system of reckoning be 1288.
He takes this to be an indication that Rolle was born in 1288. Such
a conjecture seems unnecessary and groundless. The scribe (as in
other instances) may be copying something in his source, or he may
be using another of the many eras on record.
(18) f. 148: Incipiunt postille Ricardi heremite super nouem
lecciones mortuorum et ista leccio sequens scribitur Job septimo
capitulo (rubric). A tiny 'iob' appears on the upper right-hand
corners of the pages.
f. 165 Expliciunt postille Ricardi heremite.' The original hand
writes in the green-yellow ink elsewhere used the verse signature
often attached to the Job (v. infra, p. 130). Another pious Latin
quatrain follows, obviously written at the same time.
(19) f. 166, the Commentary on the Athanasian Creed which is
sometimes ascribed to Rolle, though his share in its composition


34
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
must have been of the slightest (v. infra, p. 312). No sign of
authorship is given, but the scribe may for all that have considered
the work to be Richard's, since he omits the ascription in other cases
(e. g. the Melum), where he must certainly have known it.
(20) f. 167: Rolle's Commentary on the Magnificat.
It will be seen that the present volume is of unusual interest, not
only for the study of Rolle, but also for the study of medieval book-
making in general. Before the end of the book we get into close
touch with the scribe, which provokes curiosity as to his identity.
Evidently he wrote the volume for his own use, and worked at it
sporadically. His textual notes at some points show that he was
something of a scholar.
B. Longleat MS. 29, in the possession of the Marquess of Bath,
is a large 15th-century collection of English works which deserves
special mention. It is a quarto volume on vellum, which in the
time of Henry VIII belonged to John Thynne, M.P., the ancestor
of Lord Bath who built Longleat. The account in the report of
the Historical MSS. Commission (iii. 181) is very imperfect. The
book contains a miscellaneous collection of theology in Latin and
English, prose and verse, including all Richard Rolle's English
works except his English Psalter, some prose scraps found in the
Lincoln Cath. Thornton MS., and some lyrics found in Camb.
Univ. MS. Dd. v. 64. It contains, however, some of the prose
scraps of the Thornton MS., and some of the lyrics of the MS. Dd.
v. 64, and for many of these items it gives the only other copies
known. One lyric it ascribes to Rolle which is not elsewhere found
with his name. Its texts are not Northern, but it must have been
derived from manuscripts of authority because it contains rare texts
and gives the surname of Rolle's favourite disciple.
An index on the fly-leaf in the original or a contemporary hand
mentions 'a notable tretice of Ricardus heremyte to margaret
Recluse of Kyrkeby of contamplatif lyf’.
f. 28: Tractatus Ricardi heremite ad margaretam de kyrkeby
Reclusam de vita contemplatiua.' 'hampol' is written in red in
the margin. Ihu' is scrawled on the margin of many pages.
A collection of works (here without separate titles) is introduced
by the heading just quoted; they are as follows:
(1) The English epistle Form of Living, with the usual ending
(which gives the title and dedication to 'Margaret').


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
35
(2) f. 41. The English epistle Ego Dormio.
The English epistle The Commandment.
(3) f. 45.
(4) f. 48b. The prose scrap Desyre and Delit (found otherwise
only in the Thornton MS.).
(5) f. 49. The prose scrap (partly autobiographical) Gastly glad-
nesse (found otherwise only in the Thornton MS.).
(6) f. 49. 'Cantalene amoris' (rubric, with 'dei' added in black).
Lyrics then follow (v. infra, pp. 297 sq.). 'Hampoll' heads ff. 49,
49b.
'Amen' f. 56.
f. 56b:
And pre pater
'Omnipotens sempiterne deus qui dedisti famulis tuis.
noster and Auees, and than kysse pe erthe and say: Be thynke the thou
wreched kaytif how hit shalbe of þe when pu shalt be cast in a pitte undre
þe erth whan todis wormys snakys and other venymous bestes shal ete
þi eighen thy nose þi mouth thy lippes thi tonge thy hede thy hondes thy
fete and al þi body. Who shal þan be thy help, thy comfort and thy
refuyt? Than, þu wreche, shal per non be the for to comfort bot þat derward
lord iħic. Therfor þu wreched kaytif now whan tyme is of mercy and of
pite ren to pat derward lord ihū and say mercy dei ihū, space and grace
for thi mercy and pitte, dere and swete ihesu, etc. Explicit tractatus
Ricardi heremite de hampoll ad margaretam Reclusam de kyrkby de
amore dei.'
The last two pages of the Form and all of the two shorter epistles
have 'Hampole' written at the head of the right-hand page, and
'Amor Dei' at the head of the left-hand. The shorter epistles are
separated from the longer one only by thin red division lines such
as divide the chapters of the latter (these are unnumbered). This
manuscript would seem to imply that all the works included were
written for Margaret Kirkeby, but the two shorter epistles were not
written for recluses. The colophon may be derived from an auto-
graph volume in which Rolle included pieces not originally written
for Margaret, along with the Form dedicated to her.
6
We shall see that the verse prologue attached to a Laud copy
of Rolle's English Psalter states that he wrote that work at the
'prayer of a worthy recluse, Dame Margaret Kirkby'. The Vienna
MS. mentions his disciple Margaret ab ipso multum perfecte de
sancta singulari vita instructa'. As we have seen, the Form ends (in
most manuscripts) with an address to 'Margaret', and the Office of
St. Richard Hermit relates incidents connected with his favourite
disciple, Domina Margareta, olim reclusa apud Anderby', and
"
4.p.272 impora
in yks, writer
CambDD $64
81


36
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
*
states that she retired to Hampole after Rolle's death. Miss Clay
(op. cit., p. 143) has discovered valuable references in the registers
of the archbishop of York relating to the favourite disciple of Rolle.
They seem to indicate that her family name was 'Margaret la
Boteler', and that she was a nun of Hampole when she became
a recluse at Laton' in 1348. She is called 'Margaret de Kirkeby'
(the spelling of her name which is here adopted) when the arch-
bishop grants permission for her removal from Est Laton' to an
enclosure at Ainderby in 1357. These scattered pieces of evidence
support the present manuscript in the name which they give to
Margaret, but they require some discussion, which will be given.
in connexion with Rolle's life (infra, pp. 502 sq.).
C. The two manuscripts, Thornton and Dd. v. 64, already
mentioned, evidently bear some relation to the Longleat volume.¹
Both (unlike the last) are strongly Northern in their dialect, and
all their texts of Rolle's English works have been printed by Horst-
mann. The fact that the Thornton MS. was written by Robert
Thornton (A. 1440, v. D. N. B.) gives special authority to its ascrip-
tions, for he was almost certainly the country gentleman of that
name born at Oswaldkirk (near Helmesley), who spent most of his
life at East Newton, near Pickering. In other words he was born
and spent his life near Rolle's birthplace, and he belonged to the
1 Its relations to the Thornton MS. are not confined to Rolle's works.
Both contain Hilton's Mixed Life, as well as ‘A revelation respecting Purgatory,
made on St. Lawrence Day, 1422', which was printed from the Thornton copy
(then considered unique) by Horstmann, i. 383-92. In the Report the presence
of the Revelation' is entirely obscured by its appearing under the inexplicable
title: 'Verses on St. Leonard's Day, 1422.' Actually the piece follows the
prose Revelation printed by Horstmann exactly, with the advantage that it is
complete, whereas the Thornton text has lost a leaf. The anti-clerical subject-
matter of the missing page, as it is disclosed in the Longleat MS., probably
accounts for its disappearance from the Thornton. The following quotation
will show what was probably the dangerous character of this portion of the
work in the 15th century:
...bot ful horribly pay cried as al þe world had cried at onys. And þis
peyne, fadyre, had men and women of religionse and prelatis of holychirche
more pan seculer prestes or seculere wommen, bot almaner of prestes were
casten into depe pittis and har womman with ham. And ful horribly pay cried
to giddyre and hare crie was this: Wo worth pride, couetiss and lechery, and
þe wikked lustes of the world, and wo worth þe wikked willys þat wold neuer
here do penaunce whils pay lyved in this wreched world, and perfor here we
shal ful dere abye and euery Cristen man and womman be ware by us and
forsak syn and do penaunce in his lyf, and pus me pozt, my dere fadyre, I sawe
prestes be pinished in purgatory ...


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
37
class who supplied the hermit's patrons. Since Richard almost
certainly died in middle life, the interval between the dates of the
two men was probably not so great as at first appears.
The quota-
tions from the Thornton MS. will be made from Horstmann's texts.
MS. Dd. v. 64 was in York in the 17th century, but we have
no details as to its provenance. It gives rare texts, as well as unique
information regarding the two short English epistles: it states that
the Ego Dormio was written for a nun of Yedingham, and the
Commandment for a nun of Hampole. For valuable texts of Rolle's
works in the Latin part of this volume, v. infra, p. 116.
D. MS. 396 of the Public Library of Douay contains seven works
of Rolle, which present some unusual features. It is vellum, written
in a number of 15th-century hands. Rolle's works have in many
cases been corrected in medieval times, which would seem to
ensure unusually accurate texts. A distinguished origin is indicated
by the rubric on the last fly-leaf: 'Iste liber est domus ihū de
Bethleem ordinis Cartusiensis de schene. Ihu fili dei miserere mei,
quod J. london.' Si quis istum librum alienauerit, anathema sit.' The
later ownership is indicated by the note on f. 1, 'Coll. Angl. Duac.'
(the English Benedictine College at Douay).
On the verso of the fly-leaf in a black scrawl: 'Liber in quo
continentur XIX tractatus quorum primus est expositio super ora-
tionem dominicam.' Below is an old mark, 'K' (probably that of
the Benedictine library). There is a careful index in red on f. 1,
in which Rolle's works are indicated as follows:
In hoc libello continentur materie subscripte.
In primis: exposicio super orationem dominicam...
Item libellus qui vocatur incendium amoris ...
Item libellus Ricardi hampole de excellencia contemplacionis.
Item carmen prosaycum eiusdem extractum de melo.
Item libellus eiusdem de institucione vite siue de regula viuendi.
Item sermo eiusdem de nomine ihu.
ff. 1-2. Rolle's Pater Noster, without title or ascription, in a
small neat hand which does not occur elsewhere in the book
(probably later). Some insertions are carefully indicated, and two
short lines are added at the top of the work ('Ante orationem . .
Sic ergo orabitis ').
f. 7. The prayer, 'O bone Jesu', sometimes ascribed to Rolle
(v. infra, p. 314), unattributed, with other prayers.
1 Also the scribe of B. Mus. Roy. MS. 7 D xvii.


38
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
f. 70. 'Hic Incipit libellus qui vocatur Incendium amoris.' A
late (17th century) hand writes on the margin: 'Incendium diuini
amoris authore Richardo Rosso heremita de Hampoole iuxta Pontre-
fret Eboracensis diocesis.' This title is not found in this copy but
is in others (v. infra, pp. 42, 220). On the top of the page:
'Qui cruce pendebas ihū per tua vulnera Christe,
te precor ut facias habeat finem liber iste.'
f. 87. On the margin is a drawing of a flag containing a small
square flanked by four dots (apparently medieval).
This is the long text of the Incendium, but the last paragraph is
lacking, and in consequence it ends with the explicit of the short
text. The chapters are numbered as in the printed edition, except
that the last is divided into two, so that forty-three are indicated
in all.
f. 126V:
'Explicit incendium amoris compositum a Ricardo rolle (the surname
added above the line in an apparently contemporary hand) dicto heremita,
cuius corpus sepultum et nuper de loco sepulture in ecclesiam assumptum
quiescit in monasterio monialium de hampolle iuxta poumfret eboracensis
diocesis. Cuius meritis undique confluentibus populis beneficia sanitatum
tam corporis quam anime ab ipso summo gratiarum largitore Christo ihū
(qui ipsum et omnes electos suos eligit et semper ad suum amorem
assumit sicut vult) de die in diem conferuntur ad laudem et gloriam
nominis sui, cui est honor et gloria in secula seculorum. amen.' V. infra,
p. 516.
The Jesu Dulcis Memoria follows anonymously.
f. 177. Incipit tractatus Ricardi de hampull de excellencia con-
templacionis que continua est in perfectis, excepto sompno, ut idem
hic manifestat per processum.' Here we find a salient point of
Rolle's doctrine emphasized (v. infra, p. 70). Ten chapters are
indicated. This is a compilation from Rolle's works (v. infra,
p. 321).
6
f. 193. Explicit libellus Ricardi de hampulle de excellencia
contemplacionis. Incipit carmen prosaicum eiusdem Ricardi.' Beg.:
'O parvulorum pater... deus funditus finito famine felici preditus
in pascuis. Explicit carmen prosaicum Ricardi de ampull extractum
a quodam tractatu qui dicitur melum.' Extracts from Rolle's Melum
run together as a whole (text as in Corpus Christi Oxf. MS. ff. 217–
217, 219, 221-2, 222-3, passim). Since the autograph of Rolle's
Melum was (at least in the later Middle Ages) at Syon, across the
river from Shene, this might be expected to be a good text.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
39
f. 196.
'Hic est libellus Ricardi Rolle (' Rolle' added above the
line by a contemporary hand) heremite de hampoole de emenda-
cione vite siue de regula viuendi,' &c.
f. 217. The dedication is added: 'Ecce formam viuendi' found
in four other copies, of which one also belonged to Shene and
one to Syon (v. infra, p. 231), without the name (William) found
in two of them (v. infra, p. 40). Another hand (apparently con-
temporary) has made this insertion. The same hand adds: Explicit
tractatus Ricardi Rolle ('Rolle' added above by another hand as in
other cases) heremite de emendacione peccatoris. Qui obiit anno
domini Milesimo tricentesimo quadragesimo nono apud sanctimoni-
ales de hampole.'
f. 218. 'Venerabilis Ricardus de hampol composuit de nomine
ihu.' Another contemporary hand adds the section from Rolle's
commentary on the Canticles which expounds the text 'Oleum
effusum nomen tuum'. The piece ends without sign (f. 220V).
A half-legible scrawl on the back of the last fly-leaf gives :
'Fratri sacriste reverendo
Traditur liber iste cum gaudio.'
quod. (?)
...
This volume has probably been corrected from other volumes of
Rolle's works in the possession of Shene.
E. Vienna MS. 4483 (National-bibliothek), a thick, badly written
paper volume containing many works connected with the Hussites,
gives a text of Rolle's Incendium followed by a compilation otherwise
found at Prague and (partially) at Lincoln and at Brussels (v. infra,
p. 221). The Vienna text ends with a colophon giving an appro-
bation from the cardinal-bishop of Bologna, afterwards Pope
Innocent VII, which is otherwise found only (in a shortened form)
at Prague. This colophon in the Vienna MS. is followed by some
lines now scored through and almost illegible, after which (in
the same or a very similar hand) a most interesting note follows
(continuing across the bottom of the next page) giving reminiscences
of Rolle's life as derived from the account given by an English
monk, a bachelor of theology. Some words are scored through, but
legible. Similar notes are written on the margin of earlier pages:
one cites an English doctor' as informant. In the case of the
second of these, a note, similar but not identical, has been scored
out on another margin of the same page and can now be made out
with difficulty. Similarly, seven lines at the beginning of the treatise


40
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
have also been scored through and are now practically illegible.
Fortunately what we can read of what has been erased hardly seems
to give new facts, but to be general remarks of a colourless nature
(sometimes repeating what we have in the other notes). Why the
passages in question have been crossed out is hard to determine.
It is probable that all these notes have been copied from another
volume, for '&c.' appears and the note at the top of f. 135° says
that the piece 'Cum ergo singulare, &c.' has been given before, and
is superfluous here. It has not been given before, but would have
been if the volume had contained Rolle's comment on the Canticles,
of which this makes part. It usually (with the rest of the comment,
Oleum effusum, as found here) is included in the compilation
which in so many manuscripts follows the 'short text' of the
Incendium, but if the same manuscript contains the Canticles, this
and the other quotations from the Canticles usually found in the
compilation in question are omitted, in order to avoid repetition.
The note here given would seem to be derived from a volume which
gave the Canticles, but repeated in the compilation usual to the
'short text' the extracts given from the Canticles in that work. As
already noted, however, the compilation here actually found is of
another type.
We can hardly escape the conclusion that the annotator responsible
in the first place for the notes here found has received from reliable
sources (the English doctor and bachelor of theology mentioned)
certain facts as to Rolle's life, but that he has gone on to conjecture
on the strength of these facts. Thus, for example, he has evidently
been told that Rolle was not a monk or a priest, and that he wrote
English. He has then taken it for granted that the hermit was not
even in minor orders or literate, and asserts that all his works were
originally written in English (which is manifestly a gross error). In
the same way he has been told that the piece Oleum effusum was
added to one of Rolle's works by William Stopes, and he seems to
take it for granted that this (an important section of Rolle's Canticles)
was not published at all, till collected by this disciple. These
examples will make it clear that the following notes cannot be taken
as a seamless garment either of truth or of falsehood. We possess
a good deal of data by which their truth can be tested, and it may
be said that on the whole they give us more truth than falsehood.
In some cases (when not explicit themselves) they give us clues
which, with other evidence, lead us to what is probably the truth.
This is notably the case in regard to their unique mention of


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
4I
William Stopes, which elucidates for us the dedication of the
Emendatio, and possibly also the origin of the compilation so com-
monly circulating with the 'short text' of the Incendium.
At the top of the first page of the Incendium (f. 112): 'Detur
hodkōi retro frunburk et alii sexterni isti'. Dr. Gerstinger would
suggest that this is a sign of German ownership with the price
following.¹
Below this is the heading 'Intitulatur amoris incendium', and on
the margin (lower down, beside the beginning of the treatise):
'Rycharus heremita.' On the first fly-leaf of the book: 'liber
Rychardi heremite.'
f. 112. The first seven lines are so heavily scored through as to
be almost illegible. A few words can be tentatively made out, as
follows:
'[D]Ictum est supra spiritum esse h[ere]mitas vel aliquem unum ad
(five words lacking) unum secundum virum presens lib[er . .]dit probabit.
Vide bene ubi simpliciter proponit et loquitur simpliciter et absolute se in-
telligit et indicat. Eciam modum non usibus omnium heremitarum sed
sui principaliter profeccionis describit. Innuens ut si alicui placet et
conuenit (two words lacking) sequatur, et proficiat ad perfectionem vite
solet anime videntur veritati (last two words on an erasure, the preceding
and following words lacking) sed nota bene in intelligenti. Sic incipit.'
The text of the Incendium then begins, with a space left for a large
initial.
f. 134. A marginal note:
'Notandum doctor quidam de Anglia mihi dixit quod alius doctor
nomine Gwilhelmus stuops istud de nomine ihū addidit. Hic fuit valde
intimus socius huius Rychardi: vnum miliare a se morabantur. qui
Gwilhelmus creditur hunc totum librum dictasse, et transferre de lingwa
anglica in latinam. llaycus enim fuit iste Rychardus et hunc librum et
alios plures ydiomate proprio, id est, anglico descripsit. Ipse Gwilhelmus
(after doctor erased) 40ª annos doctor sacre theologie (after existens
erased) optime prefuit. Prius vocatis fratribus, eis predixit quod esset
iam ab hoc seculo transiturus, et, petens speciales (or spirituales)
oraciones, ipsis (after a word erased) flentibus obdormiuit in domino.
Subicit se eciam hic Rychardo quasi in nomine ihū plus deuoto. Ideo
sibi totum (after Richardo erased) dictamen de hoc principaliter
intitulauit, etc.'
1 I wish to thank for assistance with this manuscript Dr. Hans Gerstinger
and Dr. Emil Wallner. Dr. Wallner has gone over the readings of the notes
with the manuscript in detail. Monsignor Pelzer and Mr. Madan have kindly
gone over the photographs.
D


42
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
f. 135. At the top of the page :
'Cum ergo singulare, etc. Istud prius premisit. Superflue ergo hic
iteraret. Sed creditur iste Rychar[d]us certis (after ħ erased) temporibus,
deo se visitante, hec scripsisse. Post, forte, alius amicus suus sibi carus
(last two words on an erasure) scripta collegit et in hanc formam libelli
conscripsit ex pluribus huiusmodi (?) iteratis. Patet legenti et creditur is
qui hec collegit eciam alia capitula sequencia pro robore dictorum addi-
disse.'
A curious insertion above the penultimate line at the end seems to
give: 'videtur hic'.
On the margin, scored through:
'Exemplum hoc supra et [cetera ?] dicit ex quo videtur quod heremita
(one word lacking) non (one word lacking) sed aliquando sed certis tem-
poribus (five words lacking) scripta et post (three words lacking) ipsius
ferre ab alio (four words lacking) in (one word lacking) huius libelli
redacta. Nam (one word lacking, aliter?) non (one word lacking, iter..?)
et hec et cetera multa per totum hunc libellum, ut patet legenti. Item
(one word lacking) is qui colligit creditur et alia capitula sequencia pro
robore dictorum addidisse etc.'
This is the most tantalizing of the obliterated notes, for it may
contain some new matter. We may guess that the annotator is here
conjecturing that the author wrote occasional fragments, which were
afterwards collected by some one else: 'otherwise he would not
have repeated as he did.' This note is similar to, but not identical
with, that on the top of the same page. On the question of the
repetition of the 'Cum ergo singulare . . ., v. supra, p. 40.
f. 136. At the bottom of the page and continuing across the
bottom of f. 137:
'ffinis optimi libelli pro contemplatiuis, specialiter solitariis heremitis,
cuius copia concessa fuit per Reuerendum in Christo patrem dominum
Cosmatem cardinalem Bononiensem pro Johanne cardinali (note on mar-
gin adds: et archiepiscopo Pragensi) in curia romana. Incendium
diuini amoris vocatur, qui conscriptus est per quemdam nobilem et sanctum
virum anglicum nomine Rychardum, in solitudine campi (on an erasure)
habitantem, ipso incendio feliciter ardentem (after a word erased. The
following line and a half are heavily scored through, though partly legible)
et ad dominum consumatum deum. Tam cardinalis dictus quam Rychardus
nunc adhuc deo propicio superstites sunt (end of scored-through pas-
sage). Dominus vero cosmatus nunc anno Domini m.cccc.v. in papam
assumptus Innocencius vijus (last two words over an erasure) vocatus est.
Rychardus vero predictus in principiis sub delibancione (for delibacione?)
locorum vbi eum gracia admonuisset, siue in heremo, siue in seculo, vel in
peregrinacionibus vixit. Post, inclusus (words scored out which seem to


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
43
carnes.
be in campo) prope sanctimoniales de hampol in borealibus (partibus
scored through), id est australibus partibus anglie: obiit citra annum
domini Mm cccm lxxxm. Quatutuor (sic) diebus in ebdomada (semel in
die vtebatur pane scored through), 2ª, 4ª, 6ª, et Sabbato vtebatur pane
et aqua tantum, aliis tribus vino et paruis pisciculis vel aliis cibis preter
Cotidie vero semel tantum et citra horam vespertinam conswetus
fuit accipere cibum. Scripsit multos alios libellos, valde utiles monachis
et heremitis (tam in Latino quam scored through) in wulgari anglico.
Nunc solempni fama habetur ab vniuersis in anglia, vt singularis vite
sancte apud deum et homines. In cuius etiam inclusione post mortem eius
quedam (?) ¹ Margareta, adherens predictis sanctimonialibus et sibi tem-
pore sue vite deseruiens, ab ipso multum perfecte de sancta singulari vita
instructa, se inclusit et post x annos obijt. Vsque adhuc miraculis choruscat.
Ita retulit mihi quidam monachus Anglicus, Baccalarius sacre theologie,
etc. Item dictus Richardus scripsit regulam heremitice vite et modi
viuendi quem ipse habuit, instruens paulatim in principiis se exercitari
donec ad totum quis aswescat et quod nititur introducat sine sui destruc-
tione, etc.'
The last note (from 'vocatus ') is not certainly in the same hand
as the rest and as the other notes. The 'etc.' here, and at the end of
the notes on ff. 134-5, may mean that only a part of the notes copied
are here given. They would seem to indicate, in any case, that this
is not the first appearance of the material. The statement that Rolle
died before 1380' might indicate that this was the date when the
information was first given-as if one were to say 'I was told of this
man in 1380, and he was then already dead'. 'Citra', however,
might mean 'on this side of', and in that case we should have at
this point another gross error. The 'regulam heremitice vite et
modi viuendi' is probably the Emendatio, which was apparently
written for William Stopes.
If the reading of the last note is correct at the illegible end of the
first paragraph, we must have here a corruption of 'nunc' for 'non'
(the scribe having been misled by a 'nunc' in the following line).
John Genzenstein, third archbishop of Prague, who is in question
here, died in 1396, and since Rolle died in 1349, both of the first
two persons mentioned would be dead in 1405, when the original of
the note was apparently written.
F. Heneage MS., in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Walker Heneage
of Sutton Bingham Manor and Coker Court, near Yeovil, Somerset.
I owe my knowledge of this manuscript to Miss Joan Wake and
Mr. Jeayes (formerly Assistant-Keeper of Manuscripts in the British
1 We have here merely the usual abbreviation for 'con'.
D 2


44
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
Museum), who discovered it when
discovered it when he was cataloguing for
Mrs. Heneage the magnificent collection of the muniments of her
own and her husband's families which is preserved in the two
15th-century towers of Coker Court. The present manuscript has
been in possession of the Heneage family for many centuries.
The name appears on it of Michael Heneage, 'Keeper of Her
majestie's records in the Tower of London' (d. 1600), and it was
used (as a family Bible might be) from 1528 to the middle of the
18th century for the family records of the Heneages (entered in
the fly-leaves). It was produced as evidence in a lawsuit in 1820.
Unlike most copies of Rolle's works it is a handsome volume :
vellum, small folio, in an early 15th-century hand, with some fine
floriated borders. On the original cover (oak, covered with lamb-
skin) appears the number 'E. 10 B.', which might suggest that it
once made part of a monastic library.
f. I.
A fine floriated border in blue and gold. Hic incipiunt
duodecim Capitula secundum Ricardum de hampole.' Annotated
by the original hand.
f. 14b: Expliciunt XIJ capitula secundum Ricardum de hampole.'
No heading follows, but we now have a compilation (not otherwise
found) from Rolle's writings. The extracts here given are run
together to make a continuous treatise, and no references are given ;
two works assigned to other authors are inserted.
f. 14b. Incendium, pp. 234-5, 239, 153-4.
f. 16. Canticles, f. 27b (the short paragraph on detractors quoted
infra, p. 77).
f. 16. The Speculum Peccatoris.
"
f. 20b: Explicit speculum peccatoris a beato Augustinus (sic).'
f. 20b. A large initial, but no heading. Rolle's Oleum effusum
(v. infra, p. 67).
A sentence from f. 21 has been transferred to the beginning, and
a cross-reference given in the original hand ('ex alia parte ad tale
signum', f. 21).
f. 22b: Explicit oleum effusum.'
f. 23: 'Jeronimus in quadam epistola contra clericos' (a collection
of extracts).
f. 24. Quotations from Rolle's Melum (ff. 210-11) as to the
virtues necessary to priests, and the deficiencies of modern priests.
I
1


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
45
Rolle's Incendium, pp. 227–9.
f. 24.
f. 25.
Melum, f. 237ª.
f. 25b.
Incendium, pp. 211-14, 219–21, 154–6, 167 (two sentences
only), 175, 208 (one sentence only), 225 (one sentence), 224.
f. 28b: 'Secundum Ricardum heremitam de hampole. Benedictus
deus amen. Explicit.'
Paragraph-signs are sprinkled all through the compilation in gold
and blue. The rest of the volume is taken up with the Latin trans-
lation by Thomas Fishlawe of Walter Hilton's Scale of Perfection
(v. infra, p. 352).
It will be seen that the compiler of the present volume had as
many as four works of Rolle at his disposal. His erratic jumps from
one text and from one portion to another are, to say the least,
peculiar. They suggest the method of the author of a longer com-
pilation which exists in several copies of interesting provenance
(v. infra, p. 320).
G. Some manuscripts which contain large collections of Rolle's
works are not specially described here because they present no
features of special interest. Specially important for the Latin writings
are Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. 193 (twelve works), once belonging to
John Hanton, monk of York, generally cited by Horstmann and
sometimes used here; Castle Howard (nine works-two spurious);
Hereford, already noted (nine works-one doubtful, and two imper-
fect); Balliol 224 and Laud Misc. 528 (both containing six works);
Dublin 153, already cited, and Sloane 2275 (both containing five
works); Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. 365 (containing four works).
Rawl. A. 389 contains two Latin works and three English works, and
a first part of Dd. v. 64 (a separate volume) contains four Latin works
preceding the four English works of the second part. It will be seen
that Bodl. 861, already described (containing a compilation, fourteen
Latin works, and two doubtful ones) is by far the largest extant
collection of Rolle's works. However, a manuscript now lost, which
belonged in the 16th century to Henry Savile of Banke (co. Yorks),
was almost equally important; it contained twelve works and almost
certainly part of another, as well as the Office and Miracles of
St. Richard Hermit (v. infra, p.51). An extant Cotton MS. probably
contains or reproduces the last four items of this volume, and Corpus
Christi Oxf. 193 nearly reproduces the rest. A Shrewsbury School
MS. which contains three Latin works is notable because the hand-


46
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
writing seems to be as early in the second half of the 14th century as
that of any existing volume, and it contains the complete dedication
at the end of the Emendatio (v. infra, p. 231). The text is in an
extraordinarily clear and clean condition.¹
It is a striking fact that not a single manuscript of Rolle's works
survives from his lifetime, or from earlier than perhaps twenty years after
his death (the earliest dated copy is of 1384, v. infra, p. 236). Interest in
the writings, however, did not apparently die out at any time, since we
have in several cases evidence as to the existence of autographs into
the later Middle Ages. An autograph of his English Psalter was at
Hampole, and an autograph Psalter bequeathed to that house at the
end of the 15th century was probably in Latin. Hampole also
probably owned the autograph compilation which is quoted in the
Office. Margaret Kirkeby, who was originally a nun of Hampole
and probably returned there to end her days, perhaps possessed an
English autograph collection of his works, of which a derivative has
already been described. The lack in modern times of copies of
Rolle's writings earlier than the latter part of the 14th century
probably should be interpreted as meaning that the first copies were
worn out by the eagerness of readers. It has been noted that the
scribe of Bodl. 861 in 1411 refers to 'antiqui libri', which he uses
for corrections.
Since our earliest manuscripts were written nearly a generation
after Rolle died, it is not strange that in general few indications are
left of the signatures with which he may have sent out his auto-
graphs. The English epistle, the Form of Living, as already noted,
in a large number of copies preserves the concluding address to
'Margaret' (once appearing as 'Cecil '-certainly by substitution):
only one copy preserves a fragment of a request for prayers by
'Richard Hermit', which perhaps concluded an autograph. The
wording of the conclusion to the Form is reproduced (in Latin) in
five manuscripts of the Emendatio, and two of these address
'William', who is probably William Stopes. One manuscript of the
Latin epistle Judica (written in Rolle's extreme youth) has been noted,
which gives in the text the address 'O N[ominate]', and it is possible
that an editor examining the whole of the manuscripts would discover
a personal name in one or more. Considering its character, the work
in all probability contained one when it left Rolle's hands in the first
autograph, though he may of course later have copied it without such
I wish to thank Mr. Pickering for my knowledge of this manuscript.


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
47
a relic of its origin. It may be noted that one copy of this work has
abbreviated the text and added a general cross-reference to 'the tract
on mercenary priests' at the point where corruptions among the
parochial clergy are particularly insisted on. The scribe may here
register his discovery of Rolle's sources, or he may take this method
to relieve himself from copying anti-clerical material which he feared
might be dangerous (since he was writing in the days of the Lollards).
The Bodl. MS. has already given us interesting evidence that
Richard's works were owned and copied by persons with a scholarly
care for texts. Other manuscripts also seem to have been worked
over by scholars. For example, Sloane 2275 contains texts corrected
by one Mertth, and Dd. v. 64 (I) contains part of a glossary to that
difficult piece, the Melum, drawn up by 'doctors'. The volume
most interesting for its indications as to the scholarly care of the
owners is Emmanuel Coll. 35 (said to have been corrected from an
autograph), which is also notable for its large collection (seven works).
For its annotations by Master John Newton, almost certainly the
treasurer of York Cathedral (d. 1414), and by Sister Joanna Sewell,
nun of Syon Monastery (professed 1500), see Miss Deanesly's edition
of the Incendium.
The presence of manuscripts of Rolle's work at Vienna and Prague
is significant of the interest of Bohemians in English literature at the
time of Richard II. An approbation is granted to Rolle's Incendium
before 1396 by the archbishop of Prague.¹ In 1412-13 his Latin
Psalter was often copied in Central Europe. Rolle's manuscripts
still at Upsala probably show the link with Sweden that was made
by the foundation of Syon Monastery, for (with one exception) they
were all originally at Wadstena, the Brigittine mother-house.
Probably (though in all likelihood written in Sweden) they are
derived from volumes sent out from the great daughter-house in
England: a Wadstena MS. (C. 159, containing Hilton's Scale of
Perfection in Latin), also still at Upsala, bears a note explicitly stating
that it was sent to the great Swedish nunnery as a gift from the
English Brigittine scholar Clement Maidstone, brother of Syon. On
the other hand, Dr. Brilioth, Docent of Church History in the
University of Upsala, has pointed out to me that there was, after the
Great Schism, a very close connexion between Sweden and the Univer-
1 The prelate in question elsewhere showed his interest in the solitary life,
for his Commendacio heremi', written in connexion with the foundation of
a hermitage in 1384, still exists (Die Handschriften-Verzeichnisse der Cistercienser-
stifte, Vienna, 1891, ii. 269, Xenia Bernardina, II).


48
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
sity of Prague,' and it is possible that the Wadstena MSS. of Rolle
came through Bohemia (where Rolle was known), though not likely:
the extant volumes in Bohemia bear no relation to those in Sweden.
A manuscript at Douay is a relic of the post-Reformation English
Benedictine College there. One at least of the volumes of Rolle's
works at Paris is a reminder of the French royal captivities in England
during the Hundred Years' War, for it belonged to Jean d'Angoulême.
Miss Deanesly has conjectured that the many continental copies of
Rolle's Incendium are derived from the propaganda on behalf of that
work undertaken by one Christopher Braystones, at first a Benedictine
of St. Mary's, York, afterwards a Carthusian. He was chaplain to
Bishop Thomas Spofforth (a Northerner), and may have attended his
bishop at the Council of Constance (v. infra, p. 214).
It is interesting to note that the representative of Wadstena at
Constance bought many books there for his convent (Lindkvist,
p. 21). Fitz Hugh, who founded Syon in the very year of the Council
(and in the same year inherited one of Rolle's autographs), was
a representative from England. Rolle's works, however, had
evidently reached the Continent before this time, for a manuscript of
the Incendium Amoris in Vienna and another in Prague state that
'the treatise was approved at the request of the archbishop of
Prague by Cosimo, bishop of Bologna, afterwards Pope Innocent VII
(1404-6). The latter was papal collector in England for about ten
years before 1386 (v. Cath. Encycl.), and perhaps he took the
Incendium from England back with him to Italy. Both the copies
giving his approbation present the same text, which is a peculiar one
(v. infra, p. 221). It is possible that other manuscripts of the same
type may be lurking in the many uncatalogued Italian libraries. The
copy at Milan (like others on the Continent) is the usual 'short
text'; the long text', however, also reached the Continent (v.
MSS. at Metz, Paris, Brussels). Evidently other agencies also
carried this work abroad.
6
Among the manuscripts of Rolle's works on the Continent, it will
be seen that a large proportion were owned by Carthusian houses (one,
in the Charterhouse where lived Denis, the Ecstatic Doctor', v. ibid.).
No explanation can be suggested at present for the exceptionally
large number owned in three convents at Trier (eight manuscripts of
Rolle's works from these libraries are still extant). Two manuscripts
1 He showed me evidence of the large number of Swedes there (Mon. Univ.
Prag., Liber Decanorum, 1367–1585, I, Prague, 1830; II, Album facult. Jurid.,
1372-1448, Prague, 1834).


PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
49
originally belonged to a Charterhouse in Hainault, a region which
in the days of Queen Philippa must have been closely connected
with England. It is possible, however, that the originals of all the
copies of Rolle's works on the Continent were carried there by
travellers to Rome, or to the Council of Constance or of Bâle. It
may not be an accident that to-day so many of the continental
manuscripts of Rolle's works are to be found along what is still
a great international route through Switzerland to Italy from England:
manuscripts are found at Bâle, Metz, Trier, Brussels, and Ghent, on
or close to the line of the through express trains. It would be
natural, considering how widely Richard Rolle was read in England
during the last century and a half before the Reformation, that
whenever devout Englishmen came into contact with like-minded
foreigners they should introduce their friends to the favourite English
mystic.
Not only the manuscripts of Rolle still in Sweden, but also the
still extant catalogue of the brothers' library at Syon shows how
zealously his writings were read in that great religious house of royal
and of 'modern' foundation (one of the richest in England). The
same is shown by the reference to Rolle's English Psalter as in use
there, by the author of the Mirror of our Lady, which was compiled
to explain the liturgy to the nuns. A copy of the Psalter once
belonging to the sub-prior of St. Alban's, who was one of the compilers
of the Syon Additions to the Brigittine Rule, still exists. Miss
Deanesly has shown (pp. 78, 96) that Master John Newton, the
owner of the Emmanuel manuscript, was directly associated with
Henry Fitz Hugh, the founder of Syon, and she also notes (p. 97)
that Lord Scrope bequeathed to FitzHugh in 1415-besides the
autograph of the Judica, already noted-a copy of Rolle's Incendium,
which may also have been an autograph, and the original of Newton's
text. We have seen that Fitz Hugh' was lord of the manor of
Tanfield, where probably resided a hermit owning in 1409 a text of the
Judica of special authority. Syon Monastery possessed the autograph
of the Melum (v. infra, p. 412), and probably rivalled Hampole (the
place of his death) as a centre of Rolle's autographs, though it was
not founded till nearly three-quarters of a century after that event.
We do not know what treasures may have been contained in the
sisters' library. One copy of a work by Richard has come to light
1 Fitz Hugh's son was bishop of London, and he or other children may of
course have inherited the volumes of Rolle owned by the founder of Syon.
For Bishop Fitz Hugh's will, see SS. 116, p. 42.


50
PRINCIPAL MANUSCRIPTS
which probably belonged there (v. infra, p. 133), as did two volumes
belonging to Joanna Sewell (v. infra, p. 217). Miss Deanesly has
pointed out (p. 78) that the foundation of Syon was due to a little
group of north country personages', and perhaps others than Fitz-
Hugh, the prime mover, were students of Rolle. We may suspect
that its founders were the descendants of some of those Yorkshire
gentry who supported Rolle while living. Shene, the other great
house founded by the king at the same time across the Thames (and
as a Charterhouse dedicated to contemplation even more than the
enclosed house of Brigittines), also seems to have had northern
connexions, for at its foundation the books and church utensils were
supplied from the Yorkshire Charterhouse of Mount Grace. They
are paid for out of the Exchequer, and since there was a large
Charterhouse as near as Smithfield, it is surely significant that Shene
was stocked from the north. The nun Joanna of Syon, who was
a student of Rolle, was assisted in her studies by a monk of Shene
(v. infra, p. 216), and the name of the latter suggests a northern
origin. The Shene library is likely to have been a fine one, but no
catalogue survives. Two Shene volumes containing Rolle's works,
however, still exist (v. supra, p. 37, infra, p. 237).
1 J. H. Wylie, Henry V, Cambridge, 1914, i. 216.
2 'Greenhalgh' is a township in Lancashire.
Yorkshire and one in Northumberland. There
similar names.
Two 'Greenhows' exist in
are no other places cited of


CHAPTER III
OFFICE OF ST. RICHARD HERMIT
THE 'Office of St. Richard Hermit' was prepared at a time when
his canonization was hoped for, as appears from the following note
prefixed to two of the extant manuscripts:
'Officium de sancto Ricardo [here]mita postquam fuerit ab ecclesia
canonizatus quia interim non licet publice in ecclesia cantare de eo horas
canonicas uel solempnizare festum de ipso. Potest tantum homo euiden-
ciam habens sue eximie sanctitatis et uite eum uenerari. et in oracionibus
priuatis eius suffragia petere et se suis precibus commendare' (ed. Woolley,
p. 12).
Dom Noetinger has pointed out that 'the Office as it stands in the
three surviving MSS. is not intended for a monastic choir, but for
the secular clergy'. However, we shall see that it may have been
re-written, and the Cistercian nuns of Hampole, in whose domain
Rolle is said to have been buried at his death in 1349, were (or their
friends) in all likelihood the instigators of his sainthood.
In addition to the personal veneration which they doubtless had
for his memory, they had a practical stake in the cult that brought
pilgrims to their little house. Miracles are described at the end of
the Office which are dated 1381 and 1383, and would probably place
the composition of the work at a short time after the latter date. On
this point we cannot be sure, however, for the piece has evidently
been enlarged, and the dated miracles may have been inserted some
time after the original Office was written. It was in any case almost
certainly composed near the home of the saint in his later years,
at a time when some of his friends would be still living in the
nunnery. It will be shown later (p. 431) that Richard Rolle probably
died in middle age, and the chances are therefore that many of his
friends outlived him. It is even possible that the recluse Dame
Margaret', whose long friendship with the hermit is described in the
1 The Month, Jan. 1926, p. 1.


52
OFFICE
Office with special particularity, was living at Hampole during its
composition, and that the details relating to her were supplied by
herself (v. infra, p. 517).
Under these circumstances the Office deserves consideration as
a more or less authoritative document, in spite of the edifying purpose
insisted on by Dom Noetinger, which certainly at times directs its
emphasis (v. supra, p. 19). It will be considered in the present
study first, in order that the reader may start with Rolle the
individual and his most significant doctrine as clearly indicated as
possible. As has already been said, a vivid impression on these
points will prove the best touchstone for determining his canon. The
Office gives us most of our information on Rolle's life, and its narrative
will be paraphrased, with the Latin of the original supplied when any
argument is to be supported by the detail in question. The few
inaccuracies which can be detected will be briefly pointed out in
conclusion, but in general the discussion of the details of Rolle's life
which the Office gives will be reserved till Rolle's life is discussed as
a whole.
For printed editions v. supra, p. 16.
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. e Musaeo 193 (Sum. Cat. No. 3610), ff. 3-34, c. 1400.
Imperfect at the beginning. Canon Woolley, the latest editor, calls
this the best text. The Office of St. Richard Hermit occurs amongst
other liturgies. A hand which Dr. Craster dates 'about the middle
or the third quarter of the 15th century' notes 'iuxta Pickering'
where the Office states that Rolle was born 'in the village of Thornton,
diocese of York'. The same note is repeated at the bottom of the
page by the same hand. These notes were added well before the
end of the Middle Ages, whilst Rolle's cult was flourishing at
Hampole and much information as to his life must have been in
possession of the Hampole nuns. There seems no reason to doubt
their authority. There are sixteen or more parishes named Thornton
in the county of York' (more in the medieval diocese), but Rolle's
connexion with that near Pickering (usually known as Thornton
Dale ') is upheld by the fact that perhaps the most prominent citizen
of Pickering during Rolle's early life was one John de Dalton, who
may therefore be identified with the 'armiger' of that name described
1 A letter kindly inserted by the editor of the Yorkshire Post about Aug. 13,
1910, brought replies from many correspondents, from which the information
just given was gleaned.


OFFICE
53
·
in the Office as being Rolle's first patron. The name Richard'
Rolle', and 'Rol', can also be connected with Thornton Dale by
somewhat hypothetical evidence, but the name 'Rolle' is very
infrequent in medieval Yorkshire, and neither this name nor that of
John de Dalton can be connected with any other Thornton in York-
shire by evidence of any kind. There would on the whole appear to
be no reasonable doubt that the Thornton referred to in the Office
was, as the present manuscript states, that near Pickering.
This
II. B. Mus. Cotton Tiber. A. xv, ff. 191-4, 15th cent.
copy suffered severely in the fire of the Cotton library. As the
description in the catalogue makes clear, before the fire it
contained also the Miracula attached to the Office in MSS. I and III.
For its relations to a volume in the 16th-century Savile library,
v. infra, p. 408. Some additional matter as to Rolle's healing of his
disciple, the recluse Margaret, which in the Lincoln MS. is included
in Lectio viii, here appears following the Office. This section is
omitted in the Bodl. text. It gives a narrative of the holy friendship
between Richard and his recluse friend Margaret, which would be
certain to make evil-thinking in some quarters, and discretion has
probably suppressed it in the one case and in another thrust it outside
of the Office proper. See Apoc., Mul. Fort.
III. Lincoln Cath. 209, ff. 2-13, late 14th cent.
'Legenda de
vita sancti Ricardi de hampole, scilicet in proprio officio.' All the
works in this manuscript except the last were written by John
Wodeburgh'. See Contra Am. M., Job, 20th Ps., Mel.
IV. Upsala Univ. C. 621, ff. 103-5, c. 1400. This manuscript
was once in the possession of Wadstena, the mother-house of the
Brigittine Order, and its discovery almost certainly means that a copy
of the Office was also once at Syon. It is an abridged copy of the
first six lessons. Rolle's Incendium had ended f. 67 with: 'Explicit.
Hucusque Richardus Heremita. De vita eius (?) quere¹ circa finem
libri.' This reference applies to ff. 103-4, and to a small slip of
vellum which is inserted between ff. 104-5. There is no heading to
the Office, and the scribe's remark suggests that he copies the work
merely for its biographical information. It is perhaps for this reason
that he omits all the liturgical portions. Another manuscript of
Rolle's works at Upsala is apparently written in the same hand
(v. infra, p. 223). The copy has evidently been made for use in
Sweden-or (more probably) executed there from a book sent from
¹ Supplied from a rotograph; Lindkvist reads 'quaestio'.


54
OFFICE
England. Where the other manuscripts give the place of Rolle's
birth in uilla de Thornton Eboracensis diocesis', the present
one writes: 'nacione anglicus'; where they give as the wife of
his first patron' consors cuiusdam probi armigeri iohannis de dalton
nomine', this writes: 'consors cuiusdam nobilis', and substitutes
'nobilis' for 'armiger' in referring to Dalton throughout; where
they give Dalton's question to the young hermit 'an esset filius
Wlmi rolle', this writes: " an esset filius talis N'. Such alterations
suggest an abridgement for foreign readers, to whom personal details
were of small interest. The only additions are a rhymed couplet and
some prose prayers for the intercession 'beati ricardi confessoris',
which show that the hope of Richard's spiritual assistance was not
forgotten. In conclusion, reference is made to miracles worked by
Richard after his death in many parts of England. Since the
miracles described in the Office are all humble and mostly local, such
a reference is interesting. See E. V., Incend., Quot. ('Defensorium
contra oblatratores eiusdem Ricardi quod composuit thomas basseth
sancte memorie', v. infra, p. 529).
For the Savile copy of the Office and Miracles v. infra, p. 408.
Bodl. Laud Misc. 528 (Sum. Cat. No. 1114), early 15th cent., con-
tains on f. 2, under the list of contents (all Rolle), in a contemporary
hand: 'Oracio. De sancto Ricardo heremita. Potens pater... ciui-
bus' (Office, p. 80). On f. 2 is a large picture of one cleric praying
to another; the latter (bearded and barefoot) holds a staff and book
and wears grey over white (as Rolle did when he first became a hermit).
There is an architectural canopy over both. 'In christo sibi karissimis
Johanni Ston et Agneti consorti sue frater iohannes fratrum Minorum
in anglia Minister et seruus salutem' (f. 1). Again the Office is
apparently known to high ecclesiastics. The volume shows the
influence of the cult of the Holy Name (v. ff. 11, 97). See E. V.,
Judica, Cant., Contra Am. M., Job, Incend.
Camb. Univ. MS. Hh. iv. 13 and Magd. Coll. Oxf. MS. 71, both
15th cent., state that Rolle's Emendatio Vitae was 'editus a sancto
viro magistro Ricardo hampoll qui in ecclesia de hampoll Ebora-
censis diocesis sepultus gloriosis coruscat miraculis, ipsum fuisse
virum seraphicum, id est in dei amore ardentem, contestantibus'.
The Douay MS. (from Shene) gives similar information (v. supra,
p. 38). In the mention of Rolle's name found with the manuscripts
of his works, the epithets sanctus', 'venerabilis', 'beatus', 'saint',
'holy' are not infrequently added. The only pictorial representa-
tions given of Rolle occur as illustrations to a Northern poem


OFFICE
55
known as the 'Desert of Religion' (v. infra, p. 309), the three
manuscripts of this work (though they differ in some details) all
picture 'Richard Hermit' as surmounted by angels in the sky hold-
ing over him a scroll on which is written 'Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,
Dominus omnipotens', etc. All three were written in the first half
of the 15th century, and would seem to indicate that an effort for
Rolle's canonization was still being made at that time.
The Cistercian influence on the Office probably appears in the fact
that in more than one miracle we are told that the Mother of God
comes leading Richard Hermit, yet she appears, as we shall see, very
rarely in his own devotions.
The Office as we have it shows in the section relating to Margaret
Kirkeby signs of disarrangement both in its position and its length.
The responses also hint that some dislocation has taken place. What
has probably happened is that the accumulation of new miracles and
the growth of devotion to the cult have pushed into a separate
Miracula (to be used within the Octave) the description of miracles
which once found their place in the last two lessons of the Office.
New material has then taken their place, but it is impossible to say
what is most likely to be this material added later. As the nine
readings of the Office at present stand, they give rather the effect of
having been compressed than expanded. Three sections could
really be made of the section relating to Margaret, which is of
variable position. It is possible that the Office was originally written
in twelve lessons (hence for monastic use, as at Hampole). Evidently
the liturgical history of the cult of Richard Hermit had not been
without incident.
Lectio prima.
The saint of God, the hermit Richard, took his origin (accepit sue
propagacionis originem) in the village of Thornton near Pickering
in the diocese of York ('iuxta Pickering' appears only in the
Bodleian MS., v. supra, p. 52). In due time he was set to learn
his letters by the efforts (or the intention) of his parents (de
parentum industria). When he was older, Master Thomas de
Neville, at one time (olim) archdeacon of Durham, honourably
maintained him (ipsum honeste exibuit) in the University of Oxford,
where he was very proficient in study. He desired rather to be
imbued more fully and deeply with the theological doctrines of Holy
Scripture than with the study of physical and secular science. In
his nineteenth year (demum decimo nono uite sue anno), considering


56
OFFICE
the uncertain term of human life, and the fearful end especially
before the fleshly and the worldly, he took thought, by the inspira-
tion of God, providently concerning himself (remembering his end),
lest he should be taken in the snares of sin. Therefore, when he
had returned from Oxford to his father's house, he one day asked
his sister (whom he dearly loved) for two of her tunics (a grey and
a white) and for his father's rain-hood. At his request (but ignorant
of his purposes) she next day brought them to a neighbouring wood
(nemus uicinum). He took them and cut off the sleeves from the
grey one and the buttons from the white, and, as he could, fitted
the sleeves to the white tunic, that it might serve his purpose. He
took off his own clothing, and put his sister's white tunic next his
flesh. The grey tunic (with the sleeves cut off) he put over it, and
through the openings where the cutting had taken place exposed his
arms. He hooded himself in the aforesaid rain-hood, and thus, as
far as was then possible to him, he contrived a confused likeness
to a hermit. When his sister had understood these things, she cried
in astonishment, 'My brother is mad!' When he heard her, he
drove her away from him menacingly, and he himself fled at once
without delay, lest he should be taken by his friends and
acquaintances.
"
The response then begins: The saint has fled to solitude . . .'
Lectio secunda.
After he had taken the hermit's garb, and left his parents, he
came to a certain church, on the vigil of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mother of God. Here he set himself to pray in
a place where the wife of a certain worthy esquire (armiger) named
John de Dalton was accustomed to pray. After she entered the
church to hear vespers, the retainers (familiares) from the house of
the esquire wished to remove him from their lady's place, but she,
from humility, did not permit his prayers to be interrupted. When
vespers were over and he had arisen from prayer, the sons of the
aforesaid esquire, who were scholars and had studied in the Uni-
versity of Oxford, recognized him, and said that he was the son of
William Rolle, whom they had known in Oxford. On the day
of the aforesaid feast of the Assumption, he entered again the same
church, and, without the bidding of any one, he put on a surplice,
and sang matins and the office of Mass with the others. When,
however, the gospel had been read in the Mass, he first sought the
benediction of the priest and then entered the preacher's pulpit,


OFFICE
57
and gave a sermon to the people of marvellous edification. The
multitude of those who heard it were so moved that they could not
restrain themselves from tears, and all said that they had never
before heard a sermon of such virtue and efficacy. Nor was this
wonderful, since he was the special organ of the Holy Ghost.
The response which follows alludes to his 'calor', 'melos canorus',
and 'dulcor'. These were the attributes of his ecstasy, as he tells
us throughout his writings (v. supra, p. 27).
Lectio tercia.
After Mass, the aforesaid esquire invited him to dinner. When he
entered the manor (manerium), out of humility he placed himself
in a certain house¹ that was broken down and old (in quadam domo
abiecta et antiqua), not wishing to enter the hall. When he had
been diligently searched for and found, the esquire seated him at
the table above his own sons. He ate in silence, and rose to leave
when he had eaten. The esquire called him back, saying that this
was not customary, and by insisting forced him to seat himself
again. When dinner was finished, again he wished to go, but the
esquire, wishing to have private speech with him, kept him till those
were gone who were in the house.¹ He asked him whether he was
the son of William Rolle, and he reluctantly and with hesitation
replied: Perhaps I am', for he feared lest obstacles should be put
in the way of the purpose which he had formed in his own mind.
The esquire, it seems, loved his father with warm affection as his
retainer, or 'familiar' (patrem suum ueluti familiarem grata affeccione
dilexit). Richard, however, newly made hermit without his father's
knowledge and against his will, had assumed this state because he
loved God more than his father in the flesh.
The response describes Richard's purgation, the verse his ecstasy
to which his sorrow was turned.
Lectio iiija.
After the esquire had examined him in secret, and by perfect
evidences learned the sanctity of his purpose, with Richard's assent
he clothed him with garments suitable to a hermit, and kept him
a long time in his house, giving him a place of solitary sojourn
(ipsum in domo sua diu retinuit, dans sibi locum mansionis solitarie)
and providing him with all the necessities for food and life. Then
he began with all diligence, day and night, to study perfection of life,
and how he could advance in the contemplative life, and burn in
1 Or 'room' (v. infra, p. 459).
E


58
OFFICE
divine love. What excellent perfection in this art of loving God
ardently he finally obtained, he himself—though not to vainglory—
has narrated in the first book of his Incendium Amoris.
The response and verse touch on Richard's ecstasy.
Leccio quinta.
The opening of the Incendium describing the first coming-on of
Rolle's 'fire of love' is here quoted, and the austerities which have
led to this culmination are briefly described. The response and
verse also touch on his ecstasy.
leccio sexta.
Richard's holy exhortations and writings, by which many have been
turned to God, are briefly mentioned, and a remarkable incident is
recounted. We are told that the hermit was once sitting alone in
his cell after dinner when there came to him the lady of the house
(domina domus) and many persons with her, and found him writing
rapidly. They begged him to desist, in order to give them some
words of edification, and for two consecutive hours he proceeded to
give them excellent exhortations, while at the same time never
ceasing his writing-and all the while what he was writing was not
the same as what he was speaking. At another time the holy man
was so absorbed in prayer that it was possible to take off his ragged
cloak and mend and return it without his noticing the transaction.
The response and verse relate to his desire for death.
lectio viia.
However much this blessed hermit Richard laboured for per-
fection of life, so much the more the enemy of human kind, the
devil, tried to impede him. Hence it is told in a little book found
after his death, compiled from his writings in his own hand (ex
scriptura manus proprie huius sancti reperta post mortem in uno libello
de suis operibus compilato), that an attempt was made to overthrow
him by concupiscence, through the apparition of a certain woman.
The narrative found in the Canticles then follows, describing how
in the beginning of my conversion' a beautiful young woman
'whom I had known before and who loved me in good love not
a little' seemed to appear to him in his solitude at night (v. infra,
P. 75).
Here the response and verse relate to the incident of preaching
and writing at the same time, as described in the preceding lesson.


OFFICE
59
lec. viija.
The holy hermit Richard, out of the abundance of his charity,
was accustomed to show himself very familiar (multum familiarem)
to recluses, and to those who needed spiritual consolation and who
suffered from the vexations of evil spirits (whom God gave him
a singular grace to overcome). And it happened once that a certain
lady (quedam domina) was nearing death, in whose manor (manario)
Richard had his cell, separated by a long distance from the family
(longe a familia separatam). Here he was accustomed to live and
give himself up to contemplation. There came to the chamber
where the lady was dying a great multitude of horrible demons,
which threw her into great terror. Those who were in the room
sprinkled holy water and said prayers, but the vexation was re-
doubled. Then, by the wise and provident counsel of friends, holy
Richard was called to the chamber, whose prayers and earnest
exhortations to throw all on the mercy of God drove away the
demons, but as they fled they left traces of their passing, for in
the chaff strewn on the floor some of the straw was burnt to black
cinders, in which appeared as it were the imprint of bovine hoofs.
When the demons had lost their prey, they avenged themselves
by following Richard to his cell, where for a time they made con-
templation impossible. But he persisted in his prayers, drove them
away, and to the consolation of the friends of the lady in question was
able to announce that she was saved, and would be a coheir of heaven
after her departure from this life (for this incident v. infra, p. 465).
The narrative just given is as long as any other lesson, but there
follows here in the Lincoln MS. a further narrative even longer,
which may be abridged as follows:
After these things (post hec) the holy Richard removed himself to
other parts, without doubt by the Divine Providence, for frequent
changes of place do not necessarily proceed from levity (this apology
is pursued at some length). When thus this saint, from necessary
and very useful causes, had transferred his abode to the county of
Richmond, it chanced that the lady Margaret, at one time (olim)
recluse at 'Anderby' in the diocese of York, in the very day of Holy
Thursday was seized with a severe infirmity, so that for thirteen
successive days she was completely deprived of the power of speech,
and grievously tormented in body. A certain householder (pater-
familias) of the same town knew that the holy hermit Richard loved
her with the perfect affection of charity, so that he was accustomed
to instruct her in the art of the love of God, and direct her as to her
E 2


60
OFFICE
manner of life (in modo uiuendi sua sancta institucione dirigere). This
man quickly went on horseback to the hermit, who was then living
twelve miles from the recluse, and begged him to come in haste.
He came and found her mute, but when he had seated himself at
her window and they had eaten together, it chanced that at the end
of the dinner the recluse wished to sleep, and oppressed by slumber
her head drooped towards the window where God's saint, Richard,
was reclining, and as she was leaning a little on that same Richard,
suddenly, with a vehement onslaught, such a grave vexation took her
in her sleep that she seemed to wish to break the window of her
house, and in that strong vexation she awoke, her speech was
restored, and with great devotion she broke out into the words
'Gloria tibi Domine', and the blessed Richard completed the verse
which she had begun. Again she slept another time in the same
position and circumstances, and suffered the same vexation, and this
time holy Richard held her while she struggled, and when the
paroxysm was over and she had wakened, he promised her that
she would never again be so afflicted in his lifetime. Some years
later (transactis tamen postea quibusdam annorum curriculis) she
suffered the same distress, except that she could speak. She sum-
moned the same householder and sent him on horseback to the
house of the nuns of Hampole (which was far from her habitation),
where holy Richard in those days was leading the solitary life. She
did not doubt that he was dead, and it was found that he had left
this life the hour before this seizure came to her. Afterwards she
removed to Hampole, where the body of the hermit was buried, and
never again did she suffer that grievous torment.
The response and verse describe the first miracle, when the stone
brought for the tomb of Richard fell on the builder without harming
him.
leccio nona.
It is not unknown to men, and especially to those who seek by
devout and attentive studies to learn perfection of life, how and
by what means this blessed zealous hermit of God, Richard, reached
the state of perfect love and charity so far as is possible to mortals.
He himself in the thirteenth chapter of his Incendium Amoris says
thus (the famous description of Richard's attainment of 'calor,
canor, et dulcor', the triple ecstasy, as described in chapter 15 of his
Incendium and already quoted from Bodl. 861, then follows: v. supra,
P. 27).


OFFICE
61
The response and verse relate to the miracles.
It is evident that when the Office states that Margaret removed to
Hampole after Rolle's death the facts are being stretched a little in
order to show the miraculous benefits derived from her proximity to
the tomb. Since she did not reach Ainderby till 1357, she could
not have reached Hampole till some years after that, and since, as
we now know, she was originally a nun of Hampole, her return may
have been due merely to old age, which would render life in an
isolated anchorage difficult. The facts must also have been stretched
a little when the author says that Rolle's death occurred several years
after his first triumph over her seizure, during which she had enjoyed
entire peace. We now know that Margaret did not become a recluse
till December 1348, and the Holy Thursday in which her thirteen
days' seizure began must have been April 9, 1349, less than half
a year before Rolle's death. The zeal displayed in the Office to
describe Richard as a miracle-worker appears in the fact that every
incident of his life described in his writings which could possibly
appear miraculous is mentioned, and every quotation from his works
turns on a more or less miraculous event.
It will be noted that the hermit's surname is given by the Office.
It is given also elsewhere (v. infra, p. 432), but on the whole, he
is generally called 'Richard Hampole', 'Richard Hermit', or
'Richard the hermit'. Since there were (naturally) other medieval
hermits named Richard, the latter titles offer some uncertainty
(v. Clay, op. cit., pp. 204 sq., passim, and infra, p. 383). A' Ricardus
dictus Heremita' who is not noted by Miss Clay appears in the
account of the miracles of Simon de Montfort.¹
1 See Rishanger, Camden Soc. 1840, p. 94. This person would naturally
(from dates given to other miracles) be put in the late 13th century. The
writer of the work was a monk of Evesham (v. p. 151). The miracle concerns
a 'deacon of Werintone' (Warrington ?), which, if to be assigned to Eastern
Lancashire, might not be out of the line of Rolle's activities (v. infra, p. 501).


CHAPTER IV
CANTICLES
ROLLE'S Comment on the Canticles is a diffuse and rambling exposi-
tion of the first five half-verses of the Song of Songs. It is quoted
in the Office, and in general the external and internal evidence for
his authorship are both as strong as possible. Indirect testimony on
this question, however, need not be considered, because the author
in the comment on the second text speaks in his own name, 'Ego
Ricardus vtique solitarius heremita vocatus' (f. 147). This signature,
when coupled with the distinctive details of mysticism found in the
work, puts the authenticity of the Canticles beyond the possibility of
doubt by the most cautious critic, and it will be given first place in
the descriptive catalogue of Rolle's writings in order that it may be
used as a standard of comparison in determining the canon. Fortu-
nately it is one of the most characteristic of his works, and a complete
account of his doctrine could be given by quotations from this single
composition. It gives some hints as to incidents in his life, and
it may be said that the Office and the Canticles together give us
a court of appeal on any significant question that might arise in
studying his life and writings.
The quotations from the Canticles are made from Corpus Christi
Coll. Oxf. MS. 193, with readings supplied from Bodl. 861 when the
Corpus text (cited in foot-notes as C) is obviously corrupt. The
divisions of the exposition are not the same in all copies, but in the
Corpus MS. here used (though not in the Bodl. MS. used for correc-
tion) the beginnings and endings of the various sections, with the
texts on which they comment, are as follows:
(1) 'Osculetur me osculo oris sui' (Cant. i. 1): Beg. 'Suspirantis
anime deliciis eternorum'; ends: 'Et merito illud a te quero quia
sequitur' (Corpus Christi Oxf. MS. 193, ff. 142V-6).
6
(2) Quia meliora sunt ubera tua vino '(ibid.): Beg. 'Fidelis et
delicate depasta supernis deliciis anima'; ends: 'alta sapere quam
timere' (ff 146-7).


CANTICLES
63
(3) Fragrancia unguentis optimis' (Cant. i. 2): Beg. 'Cum laudas-
set sponsa'; ends: 'finire cupit ad Christum suspirando, clamans,
Osculetur, etc. Explicit tractatus super primum versiculum cantico-
rum et incipit tractatus super secundum versiculum' (ff. 147-9).
(4) ‘Oleum effusum nomen tuum' (ibid.): Beg. 'Expulsus de
paradiso pro transgressione diuini precepti in pomo vetito primus
parens cum tota posteritate'; ends: Ergo benedictum sit nomen
Ihesu in secula seculorum' (ff. 149-51).
In the printed editions and the form of this section found in the
compilation attached to the 'short text' of the Incendium, the opening
(partly addressed to the Mother of Jesus) is omitted, and the exposi-
tion begins at once with the Holy Name: 'Nomen Ihesu venit in
mundum et statim adoratur' (f. 149").
(5) 'Ideo adolescentule dilexerunt te nimis' (ibid.): Beg. 'Et
quia tale est nomen tuum'; ends: 'Igitur, o bone, propicius esto
nobis miseris, quia adolescentule ', etc. (ff. 151-2).
(6) 'Trahe me post te' (Cant. i. 3): Beg. 'Radix cordis nostri sit
caritas'; ends : 'Feliciter clamabit cum sponsa, Trahe', etc.
(ff. 152-3).
(7) Curremus in odore unguentorum tuorum' (ibid.): Beg. 'Ecce,
fratres, mira amatoris Christi instancia'; ends: 'Amodo igitur dum
canimus amoris canticum, Curremus, etc. Explicit super 2m versum
canticorum secundum Ricardum heremitam' (ff. 153–6).
It will be observed that the commentary is divided phrase by
phrase this is the form of division followed in some manuscripts.
Miss Deanesly (Incendium Amoris, p. 60) describes the work as
'divided into five sections' (one for each half-verse), and her
divisions are therefore not identical with the above.
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The only portions of the Canticles in print are the fourth section
(incomplete at the beginning) and the fifth. These occur joined by
the account of the conversion from the Incendium, chapter 15 (as in
MSS. VI and VIII), in the following editions: 1533, 1535, 1536, 1622,
1677. An English translation of the Encomium Nominis Jesu (to use
the convenient title for the fourth section found in early editions) is
printed by Horstmann (i. 186 sq.). A variant translation appears
anonymously as chapter IX of the anonymous fourteenth-century
compilation known as The Poor Caitiff (v. infra, p. 406): most of this
work was printed in a modernized form (Writings of John Wickliff,
Religious Tract Society, 1831).


64
CANTICLES
MANUSCRIPTS.
Miss Deanesly has pointed out (pp. 60 sq.) the large number of
manuscripts in which parts of the Comment on the Canticles accompany
what she calls the 'short text' of the Incendium Amoris, as part of
a compilation remarkably constant in its elements. This compilation
in its complete form contains the last four sections of the Canticles
(lacking the opening of the first of these), a fragment from St. Anselm
on the will ('Omnis Actio...'), and chapters 12, 15, and a paragraph
from chapter 8 ('Ex magno amoris incendio . . .') from the 'long text'
of the Incendium. The origin of this compilation will be discussed
later (pp. 210 sq.). In the discussion of the Incendium the copies
of the compilation are described once for all. It may be noted here,
therefore, that copies (not cited here) of the four last portions of the
present work will be found in nine MSS. of the Incendium, viz. : IV,
XI, XIV, XXIV, XXXI-II, XXXIV, XXXVII, XXXIX. The
peculiar fact should be noted, as pointed out by Miss Deanesly, that
'the numerous MSS. which give these passages (of the Incendium)
in connexion with all or part of the Comment on the Canticles some-
times include these Incendium passages as part of the Canticles,
sometimes the Canticles as part of the Incendium' (pp. 61-2). Large
sections of the Canticles are also inserted, with other extracts from
Rolle, in the last chapter of the Incendium in a peculiar type of text
found only in three continental copies (v. Incend., MSS. XXIX,
XXXIII, XXXVIII).
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 861.
Ascribed to Rolle. V. supra, p. 26.
II. Laud Misc. 528 (Sum. Cat. No. 1114), ff. 24-33, early
15th cent. Hic incipit oleum effusum tu... Ricardi.' The last
four sections only, attached without comment to the Contra Amatores
Mundi (which here lacks the first two chapters). See Office, E. V.,
Judica, Contra Am. M., Job, Incend.
III. Balliol Coll. 224, ff. 1-18, 15th cent. The first leaf is bound
as f. 3. Given by Bishop Gray of Ely (1454-78), earlier archdeacon
of Richmond. Perhaps the volume has lost some quires, for Rolle's
Latin Psalter is lacking, recorded by Tanner (note b). See Contra
Am. M., E. V., Incend., Spur., Job, Judica.
IV. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 142-56, late 14th cent. For
the titles, headings, and ascription to Richard, v. supra. 'Liber
fratris Johannis hanton, Monachi Ebor.' Arms at the bottom of
f. I which a 17th-century hand identifies as those of Robert Lacy,


CANTICLES
65
'founder' of Pontefract Priory. Original binding. Old library mark :
'In viij. G'. See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., 20th Ps., O. D., S. A., E. V.,
Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
V. St. John's Coll. 127, ff. 57-78, 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus
super Cantica canticorum.' The fourth and fifth sections (which
usually follow the short text of the Incendium, earlier given in this
copy), are lacking, and at the point of omission is the obscure note:
'hic capiantur capitula videlicet Oleum effusum Ideo adolescentule.
Trahe me post te & Curremus in odore unguentorum tuorum. Ista
forma capiantur capitula suprascripta.' The same two sections are
lacking in the following compilation (as is usual in manuscripts giving
the Canticles). See Contra Am. M., Incend.
OTHER MSS.
The fourth
VI. Jesus Coll. Camb. 46, ff. 95b-107, 15th cent.
and fifth sections, separated by chapter 15 of the Incendium (as in
early editions and MS. VIII infra). The whole is concluded:
'Explicit quoddam notabile de spirituali edificacione compositum
de Ricardo heremita de hampole qui obiit Anno domini mºcccxlix.'
See E. V., Incend.
VII. B. Mus. Cotton Vesp. E. i, ff. 78–99b, first half 15th cent.
Headings as above quoted, with the name 'Richard hermit'. Last
two sections lacking. At the end of the fourth (Oleum effusum) the
scribe has copied what were throughout this century in England the
two most popular devotions to the Holy Name, viz. the hymn Jesu
dulcis Memoria and the prayer to the Name beginning 'O bone Jesu'.
Rolle shows the influence of the former, and the latter is sometimes
ascribed to his authorship (v. infra, pp. 314 sq.). The present volume
in the 16th century belonged to Henry Savile of Banke, co. Yorks
(v. infra, p. 409).
VIII. B. Mus. Harl. 5235, ff. 11b-13b, 14b-16b, late 14th cent.
Only the sections also found in MS. VI. 'Explicit tractatus eiusdem
(Ricardi heremite de hampole) super oleum effusum nomen tuum'
(f. 13b). At f. 16b occurs the general attribution to Richard quoted
from MS. VI. A Burscough MS. (see J. A. Herbert, Cat. of
Romances, iii. 41). See E. V., Incend.
IX. Lambeth Palace 536, ff. 1-4, 15th cent.
breaking off in the first part of Oleum effusum.
An abridgement
X. Castle Howard MS.,¹ 15th cent. After the heading: 'Oleum
This volume was shown me by the kind arrangement of the late Dowager
Countess of Carlisle.


66
CANTICLES
effusum nomen tuum. Ricardus hampole. Sermo', the complete
compilation follows, with one peculiar insertion from the Incendium,
and the addition of the beginning of the fourth section of the
Canticles (usually omitted), as well as of the last two sections of that
work. In the course of the whole, the various texts commented on
had been used as headings, but in conclusion the scribe returns to
his first text and writes: Explicit Oleum effusum nomen tuum.'
On the top of the next page appears: Ricardus hampole super
cantica', and the second section follows, so that actually the present
manuscript gives the whole work except the first and third parts.
See E. V., Spur. (2), Incend., Contra Am. M., Job, Judica, Mul. Fort.
XI. Trin. Coll. Dublin, 153, 15th cent. The headings, divisions,
and ascription to 'Richard hermit' usual in the full texts.
Thren., Cant. Am., Judica (text of the 'hermit of Tanfield'), and
Mul. Fort.
See
XII. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. The last three
sections (incomplete at the beginning) follow without break on
a peculiar text of the Incendium (v. infra, p. 217). The second item
in the index is 'Glosa super cantica canticorum secundum . . .', but
actually the second piece is the exposition of the Old Testament
Canticles attached to the Psalter. A note on the cover (late
15th cent.) assigns the whole volume to Rolle's authorship (v. supra,
p. 26). See Lat. Ps., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Dubia,
Magn., Apoc.
XIII. Rylands Lib., Manchester, 18932, ff. 1-31, 15th cent.
A full text, except that a few leaves are lost at the beginning. The
usual titles and headings appear, but not the name of the author (as
we now have the book). See Incend., Contra Am. M., Quot.
XIV. Sotheby's, Mar. 1-2, 1921, Lot 275, now in the possession
of Sir Leicester Harmsworth,' ff. 44-78, 15th cent. 'Liber Beate
Marie Ouery in Sowthwerke.' Text as in MS. II. 'Explicit Oleum
effusum' (f. 102b). See E. V., Contra Am. M.
OLEUM EFFUSUM.
The popularity of the fourth section of the commentary the
Canticles has already been illustrated by the preceding list, where it
has appeared in all the manuscripts except two (V, XII), and appro-
priated the title in two (II, XIV) where the Canticles are combined
1 I wish to thank Sir Leicester for bringing to my notice six manuscripts
owned by him.


CANTICLES
67
with another work. The Encomium Nominis Jesu also circulated
alone, both in Latin and English, and these separate copies will now
be noted. We have no reason to suppose that the English text is
due to Rolle. It is abridged and awkward.
LATIN MSS.
I. Bodl. 16 (Sum. Cat. No. 1859), ff. 152-7, c. 1400. See E. V.,
Incend.
II. Caius Coll. Camb. 223, ff. 450 sq., late 15th cent.
E. V.
See Job,
III. B. Mus. Harl. 330, ff. 126b-9b, 15th cent. 'Hic est liber
monasterii Beate Marie Radingie ex dono willelmi Wargrave dicti
monasterii monachi. Anno domini millesimo cccclxxxxvº. pretium
libri vis et viiid' (f. 52). Explicit tractatus Ricardi hampole de
nomine ihesu, Videlicet Oleum effusum nomen tuum’(f. 129¹).
IV. Heneage MS. (v. supra, p. 44).
V. Lincoln Cath. 218, mid 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus de hoc
nomine ihesu compilatus a Ricardo heremita.' After the narrative,
which ends this section, the scribe (as in MSS. Prague and Vienna,
infra) has copied part of St. Bernard's famous Sermo in Cantica XV
(also commenting on 'Oleum effusum '), which begins: Non tantum
lux est nomen Ihesu, sed et cibus.' Nevertheless, the scribe concludes
the whole: 'Explicit tractatus de nomine Ihesu compilatus a Ricardo
heremita.' He gives peculiar titles to two of Rolle's works.
E. V., Incend., Job.
See
VI. Sotheby's, Nov. 14, 1919, Lot 187, 14th cent., now in the
possession of Sir Leicester Harmsworth. 'Tractatus Ricardi heremite
de hoc nomine Jhesus.' The Verney arms appear on the book-plate.
See Contra Am. M., E. V.
VII. Brussels (Bib. roy.) 1485, 14th cent. The Oleum effusum
follows the short text of the Incendium, after quotations from various
sources otherwise found only in a Lincoln and (enlarged) in the
Prague and Vienna copies. See Incend.
VIII. Douay 396. Ascribed to Rolle (v. supra, p. 39).
IX. Prague Univ. 814, ff. 16v sq., 14th-15th cent. The Oleum
effusum is included in a peculiar compilation attached to the short
text of the Incendium. The Prague and Vienna MSS. entitle the
whole collection 'Incendium Amoris'. See Incend.
X. Vienna 4483. V. supra, p. 39. The unique notes found in this
copy tell us that the Oleum effusum was added to the Incendium by
Richard's disciple, William Stopes. See Incend.


68
CANTICLES
ENGLISH MSS.
I. B. Mus. Harl. 1022, f. 62, late 14th cent. Printed Horstmann,
i. 186-91, beside the version in the Thornton MS., which is practically
identical. Passages in the Latin which attack the worldly are
omitted, so that the text is more evenly mystical than its original.
II. B. Mus. Stowe 38, f. 161, 15th cent. A fragment of the
beginning of the same version, copied at the end of the manuscript,
after two blank leaves. The same manuscript contains only The
Poor Caitiff (v. infra, p. 406), which inserts the English Oleum effusum
in a variant translation omitting the opening. The fragment may
therefore be the beginning of an attempt to supplement the text of
the Oleum found in the compilation.
This text probably
III. Trin. Coll. Dublin 155, early 15th cent.
varies too much from that printed to be derived from the same
original. See Ego D., Form, Dubia, Stim. Consc.
IV. Lincoln Cath. 91 (Thornton), ff. 192 sq., 1430-40 (written
by Robert Thornton not far from the scenes of Rolle's life, v. supra,
p. 36). Of the vertuz of the haly name of Ihesu: Ricardus herimita
super versiculo, Oleum effusum nomen tuum.' The narrative is
separate as 'Narracio: A tale that Rycherde hermet made'. Printed,
Horstmann. See Quot., Miscell., Dubia.
For the translation found without Rolle's name in the Poor Caitiff,
v. infra, p. 406.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
For exact references here and in similar cases, v. infra, pp. 398 sq.,
where chapters XIV-XV will treat at length the medieval references
and quotations and the early bibliographies.
The Canticles is quoted under Rolle's name several times, with
exact references to the part of the comment used, in Ashmole 751,
late 14th cent. (at length); in Ff. i. 14, 15th cent. ; and the related
compilation in Hatton 97. It is quoted under Rolle's name, without
specific reference, in a compilation existing in Rawl. C. 19 and three
other copies-all 15th cent.; in Kk. vi. 20, Trin. Coll. Dublin 159
and 432, and the Thornton and Heneage MSS., 15th cent. ; and in
the Speculum Spiritualium, existing in numerous manuscripts and in
two early printed editions. As already noted, the narrative found
in the Oleum effusum is quoted in the Office as from an autograph
compilation found after Rolle's death. Considerable portions of the
Canticles are used in a compilation from Rolle's works which also
circulated alone (infra, p. 320). 'Super aliquos versus canticorum ’


CANTICLES
69
appears in the index of the brothers' library at Syon Monastery under
Rolle's name, and was seen by Leland at St. Mary's, York. Two
copies are cited in Bale's Index, as well as a 'De nomine Iesu. li. i.
Oleum effusum nomen tuum ideo.'
The Comment on the Canticles supplies illustrations of Rolle's
characteristic style, doctrines, and autobiographical reminiscences,
and it will constantly be brought into comparison with his other
works as a touchstone of their authenticity. The passage in which
he speaks in the first person will be quoted first, with its context,
because it gives in a measure an epitome of his message, and makes
clear at the outset his intense prejudice in favour of his own manner
of life.¹
2
'Denique in quocunque gradu sit, siue monachus siue secularis, ipse.
pre aliis Christum diligit qui pre aliis in diuino amore dulcedinem presen-
tit.... Ego Ricardus vtique solitarius heremita vocatus, hoc quod noui
assero, quoniam ille ardencius Deum diligit qui igne sancti spiritus
succensus a strepitu mundi et ab omni corporali sono quantum potest
discedit. . . . Hinc igitur colligitur quod contemplacio est iubilus diuini
amoris, suscepto in mente sono celice melodie vel cantico laudis eterne.'
Cum ergo constet vitam contemplatiuam digniorem esse et magis merito-
riam quam actiua vita et omnes viros contemplatiuos solitudinem amantes
et precipue in amore diuino feruentes, liquet profecto quod non monachi
vel alii quicunque ad congregacionem collecti summi sunt aut maxime
Deum diligunt, set solitarii contemplacioni sublimati qui pro magno
eterni amoris gaudio, quod senciunt, in solitudine sedere incessanter con-
cupiscunt.... Quicquid igitur exterius egerimus, non propter hoc sancti
sumus, aut Deum probamur diligere, set proculdubio tunc anima nostra
Deum diligit, quando Christus ab eius memoria penitus non redit, quando
alia cogitanda non distrahitur nec in alio delectatur. ... Hec vtique
scribo non derogans cuiquam set scrutans veritatem, humilitatem non
relinquens. . . . Si quis forsitan verbis meis contradicere non timuerit,
primum rogo vt seipsum diligenter consideret et qualis sit solicite discu-
ciat, si igne spiritus sancti cor suum senciat inardescere et mentem suam
diuini amoris delicias canendo videat iubilare. Si quis vero in se inuenire
poterit, michi nequaquam aliquando contrarius erit. Alius autem qui se
habere putat quod non habet, quamuis etiam scolas disputancium vsque
ad nomen magistri frequentauerit, non me set ipsum reprobabit dum
in hoc quod se sapientem ostendere nititur, quod penitus ignorat. Non
I quote from the Corpus Christi Oxf. MS., transcribed for me by Mrs. A. F.
New.
3 stirpitu C.
' ignem C.
For the same definition as given in the Emendatio, v. infra, p. 341.
5 feruente C.


70
CANTICLES
enim quis sanctus est quia multas litteras didicit, set quia voluntatem suam
voluntati diuine in omnibus conformauit' (Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. MS.
193, ff. 147-147).¹
Thus, the contemplative man excels all others, and receives a fore-
taste of the joys of heaven. He seeks solitude, and not a con-
gregation. Sanctity is not measured by external acts, but by spiritual
joys, and by conformity to the Divine Will.
Rolle's mystical experience is the central fact of his life and of his
writings, and he is extremely tenacious of the phraseology and
categories which he has developed to describe it. Since these
are primarily empirical, framed to fit his experience, they serve as
indications of his authorship almost as clear as autobiographical
reminiscences. Fortunately, the essentials of his mysticism are all
given in the Canticles, though some aspects receive more special
treatment in other treatises.
In the Canticles Rolle at times describes his mystical experience
in terms as self-confident and ecstatic as he anywhere uses; his life
is supernatural, and wholly given to Divine Love, like that of the
highest order of angels:
'Hec vtique vita est angelica pocius quam humana, sic in carne viuere
et nullam delectacionem nisi diuinam in animo sentire' (f. 143). 'Per-
fectissimi, denique, de quibus supra diximus quod angelis summis propter
eminenciam et nimiam caritatis fragranciam assimilarentur, mirabiliter
in gaudio eterni amoris rapiuntur' (f. 154). Hic nimirum verus
Christi amator cum seraphyn ardet et estuat, canit et iubilat, amat et
laudat' (ibid.). 'Set vt plurimi sanctorum, qui de amore Dei gloriosa
conscripserunt, asserunt, non potest quis in carne habitans corruptibili
nisi raro in illa dulcedine affici, et non nisi raptim et momentanee tam
1 Horstmann says (ii, p. xxx) that Richard 'speaks with authority in his
own person... (Ego Ricardus solitarius heremita dictus hoc melius cognovi
quia expertus sum; or: hoc quod novi, assero)'. The passage above quoted is
the only one that has been found giving the author's name. In the Canticles
(f. 152) we find the words which Horstmann italicizes (v. infra, p. 71), but
without the 'Ricardus'.
⁹ St. Gregory is perhaps one whom Rolle has specially in mind here.
Dom Butler says that 'the transiency and momentariness of the act of con-
templation is insisted on habitually by St. Gregory' (Cuthbert Butler, O.S.B.,
Western Mysticism, London, 1922, p. 115). He specially mentions St. Gregory's
use of ""raptim", which word constantly occurs in the descriptions of con-
templation'. St. Gregory's discussions of contemplation mostly occur in his
Morals, selections from which are ascribed to Rolle in one instance (v. infra,
p. 313). Dom Butler also (p. 157) quotes a passage from the De Gratia et libero
Arbitrio of St. Bernard, in which it is said that contemplation is only enjoyed
'raro, raptimque'. Extracts from this work were included in the selection
from St. Gregory's Morals ascribed to Rolle (ibid.).


CANTICLES
71
suauiter debriari.... Qui igitur eius amorem semper quereret, semper
gaudium inueniret. Hoc verum scio, quod qui eius memoriam iugiter
retinet, et in amore eius iugiter gaudet. Ego igitur, solitarius heremita
dictus, inter amatores Christi minimus, de amore loquar vobis interim
prout dederit michi Deus, set forte timeo, quia quamquam loqui nescio,
tamen tacere non queo. Quamobrem amore coactus non alienum set quo
ipse noui loquor, quoniam non ab homine nec a carne et sanguine neque
vero a meipso habui, set a Christo et per Christum sapienciam appre-
hendi' (f. 154). Forsitan non credis verum esse quod dico, ideo expe-
rire modicum et inuenies me veracem, quia nemo illud nouit nisi qui
accipit' (f. 149). Hoc autem eternus amor in nonnullis, quamuis in
perpaucis, agere dedignatur' (f. 146). Hinc ergo, deuota mens, suaui-
tatem quesiti osculi presenciens, se totam ad diligendum Deum offerre non
desinit, et omnibus mundi vanitatibus postpositis et oblitis, ad perfectam
vite sanctitatem, Christo ductore, venit. . . . Nonnullis autem mirum vide-
tur quod audeat aliquis, etiam excellens quamuis sit inter homines, se
sanctum dicere' (f. 145). 'Hoc vtique melius cognoui, quia illud exper-
tus sum. Nam ea que michi aliquando videbantur impossibilia modo non
solum ea facillime possum, Christo annuente, assequi, verum etiam in
hiis agendis delectari ' (f. 152). 'Tunc quippe manifestum erit omni-
bus quomodo nunc Deus mirabilis est in sanctis (Ps. lxvii. 36, f. 155).
'Quippe non de ipsis, set de nobis scriptum est: Iudicabunt naciones,
dominabuntur populis' (Sap. iii. 8, f. 144).
The details of the ecstasy which has raised the mystic above
mortal condition are indicated in the Canticles, though to understand
their full meaning we must go to the Incendium Amoris (pp. 187-91).
In chapter 15 of that work, already quoted from (supra, p. 27),
Richard describes very specifically the first coming-on of his rapture.
The 'calor, canor, et dulcor', whose successive appearance after 'the
opening of the door' is described in the Incendium, also appear in
the concluding lines of the Canticles:
'O amor, quam dulcis es et suauis, et vere desiderabilis! Inebriasti
cor meum, et non sencio nisi gaudium. Videtur michi sepius ac si in celo
essem positus, cum melodia vndique conclusus. Venisti in me, et id quod
sum, dulcor, ardor et canor sum. Set hoc non ex me, set ex te, Deus
meus. Amodo igitur dum canimus amoris canticum Curremus in odore
vnguentorum tuorum' (f. 156).
The same trio appear in the conclusion of the Incendium, and in
that of some copies of the Melum.
The 'canor' seems to have been the profoundest and most
significant element of the ecstasy, and here as elsewhere it receives
special discussion (in ornamental prose):
>


72
CANTICLES
'Et quia iam debriata mens diuinis poculis pre nimietate gaudii spiri-
tualis in vocem laudis Dei prorumpere nititur, canens et iubilans in celica
melodia ad summa subleuatur. ... Et quia canticus iste eterni amoris non
raptim, non momentanee, set continue adest nobis, nulla aduersitate, nulla
prosperitate concutitur,' non raro set continue gratulamur; hinc liquido
patet quod nisi aut cibi tempus occupat (sic), aut sompnus surrepat, aut in
clamore et tumultu hominum existat, quod deuota et ignita amore anima
dilecti delicias cantat. Cogitat quidem de Deo vbicumque fuerit, et quic-
quid egerit, set remota in silencio canit. Non putet quis quod cantus
iste sit corporalis, aut humano sensui ymaginabilis; est enim sonus melli-
fluus in mente susceptus per amorem inuisibilis conditoris. Quippe est
melos angelicum captum ascendendo in contemplacionem, vnde non
mirum si gaudentes amoris canticum canimus, qui tam affluentem, tam
diu morantem increate dulcedinis suauitatem vsque ad mortem sentimus,
set et in gaudio mori non diffidimus, qui in tanto amore, dante Deo, viue-
bamus' (f. 154).
:
The description in the Incendium (chapter 15) of Rolle's first
experience of ecstasy, already quoted from, is concluded as follows:
'Puto tamen neminem illud accepturum, nisi specialiter nomen
Ihesum diligat, et eciam in tantum honoret ut ab eius memoria
numquam, excepto sompno, recedere permittat. Cui hoc facere
datum est, estimo quod et illud assequetur' (p. 190). Praise of the
Holy Name of Jesus makes always an essential part of Rolle's
mysticism, and it is not only one of the most constant elements of
his writings it even, as we shall see, penetrates into his translations.
Horstmann, in the introduction to his second volume, has put
strongly many aspects of Rolle's doctrine, but he hardly illustrates
the hermit's constant devotion to the Holy Name. Elsewhere in
a foot-note (i. 172) he mentions that 'the address to the name of
Iesus is a characteristic of the works of R. Rolle'. The medieval
readers of the hermit's writings were better informed: they quoted
him on the subject of the Holy Name more often than on any
other, as reference to the section of the present work on medieval
quotations will show; and there was no aspect of his teaching which
had a greater influence. The cult of the Holy Name of Jesus was
springing up all over Europe during the later Middle Ages, and
Rolle's devotion was widely imitated in England, where foreign
influences were also potent. His praise of the Name, therefore,
cannot be taken singly as a proof of his authorship, yet, with the
2
1 contutitur C.
2 A study is under preparation on the cult of the Holy Name in England.


CANTICLES
73
'calor, canor, and dulcor' (indicated explicitly or implicitly) it goes to
make up almost the hall-mark of his work, to be traced in practically
all of his writings. In a characteristically rhyming phrase of the Can-
ticles he says: "Tociens glorior quociens nominis tui Ihesu recordor'
(f. 155), and it is fortunate that the same treatise, of unimpeachable
authority, gives this most significant subject its most extensive and
eloquent discussion.
Reference to the lists of manuscripts already given will show that
the fourth section of the Canticles (on the text 'Oleum effusum ')
probably circulated more widely both in Latin and in English than
any other part of Rolle's works, except perhaps chapter 15 of the
Incendium on his development of ecstasy. The latter gives an account
of the genesis of the 'calor, canor, and dulcor', as the end of the
present piece gives an account of the genesis of the devotion to
the Holy Name. The two together give the essentials of Rolle's
mystical history and doctrine. They make two of the three quotations
from his work given in the Office, of which the third, the prologue
of the Incendium, merely supplements chapter 15 by going into the
origin of the 'calor' in detail. Altogether, medieval students of Rolle
will be seen to have shown discrimination in the pieces chosen by
them as favourites..
The text 'Oleum effusum nomen tuum' had inspired St. Bernard
of Clairvaux's most eloquent praise of the Holy Name (Sermo in
Cantica XV), and in all generations it was the favourite text of the
cult. Rolle believed that he owed to this devotion the miracle
of his ecstasy, and it was natural, therefore, that when he came in
the fourth section of his Canticles to expound this text, he should
give full rein to his eloquence. Parts of the Encomium Nominis Jesu
show the influence of earlier famous writings on the Holy Name—
by Peter Chrysologus (called 'Peter Ravenna' by Rolle in the open-
ing of his Oratio Dominica), St. Anselm, and St. Bernard, but
they are imitations rather than repetitions. As a whole the work is
thoroughly characteristic of Richard: his egocentric enthusiasm
blows through it as strongly as through any of his writing, and he
repeats portions in other works. Though he quotes other writers
very rarely, he is always ready to quote himself.
The following quotation will show how in this piece Rolle makes
the devotion to the Holy Name the basis of his life and of all virtue :
'Nomen Ihesu venit in mundum et statim adoratur oleum effusum,
Oleum capitur quia eterna saluatio speratur. Ihesus vero, id est saluator,
F


74
CANTICLES
vel salutare.... O nomen admirabile, O nomen delectabile!' Hoc est
nomen quod est super omne nomen (Philip. ii. 9): nomen altissimum sine
quo non speret quis salutem. Hoc nomen est suaue et iocundum, humano
cordi verum prebens solacium. Est autem nomen Ihesu in mente mea
cantus iubileus, in aure mea sonus celicus, in ore meo dulcor mellifluus,
unde non mirum si illud diligam nomen quod michi in omni angustia
prestat consolamen. Nescio orare, nescio meditari, nisi resonante Ihesu
nomine. Non sapio gaudium quod Ihesu non est mixtum. Quocumque
fuero, vbicumque sedero, quicquid egero, memoria nominis Ihesu a mente
mea non recedit. ... Et iam victus succumbo, vix viuo pre gaudio, pene
morior quia non sufficio in carne corruptibili tante maiestatis perferre tam
affluentem suauitatem. . . . Set vnde michi iste iubilus nisi qui Ihesus?
Nomen Ihesu me canere docuit, et feruore increate lucis mentem illustra-
uit. Inde suspiro, clamo, quis nunciabit dilecto quia amore Ihesu langueo ?
Defecit cor meum, et caro mea liquescit in amore desiderando Ihesum.
Cor totum in desiderio Ihesu defixum in igne amoris conuertitur, et
dulcore deitatis funditus absorbebitur. . . . Vere, Ihesu, desiderabile est
nomen tuum, amabile et confortabile. Non potest tam suaue gaudium
concipi, non potest tam dulcis cantus audiri, nec tam delectabile solacium
meditari. Igitur quicumque es qui ad amandum Deum te preparas, si
vis nec decipi nec decipere, si vis sapere et non decipere [sc. desipere], si
1 Cf. St. Anselm, Meditatio II: 'Jesu, Jesu, propter hoc nomen tuum, fac
mihi secundum hoc nomen tuum. Jesu, Jesu, obliviscere superbum provocantem,
respice miserum invocantem nomen dulce, nomen delectabile, nomen confortans
peccatorem, et beatae spei. Quid est enim Jesus, nisi Salvator?' (Migne, 158,
cc. 724 sq.). All this part of this meditation appears with a few verbal changes
as a widely circulated prayer to the Holy Name which is twice ascribed to
Rolle (v. infra, p. 314). There is no doubt as to its authenticity (see the
invaluable discussion of the true sources of the prayers and meditations ascribed
to St. Anselm by Dom Wilmart, Meditations et Prières de St. Anselme, Collection
Pax (Abbaye de Maredsous), vol. xi, Paris, 1923, p. xliv).
* Cf. St. Bernard, Sermo in Cantica XV: ‘O nomen benedictum ! . . . Quid
aeque mentem cogitantis impinguat? quid ita exercitatos reparat sensus,
virtutes roborat, vegetat mores bonos atque honestos, castas fovet affectiones ?
. . . Si scribas, non sapit mihi nisi legero ibi Jesum. Si disputes aut conferas,
non sapit mihi, nisi sonuerit ibi Jesus. Jesus mel in ore, in aure melos, in
corde jubilus... veniat in cor Jesus, et inde saliat in os. . . . Cui fons forte
siccatus lacrymarum, invocato Jesu, non continuo erupit uberior, fluxit suavior?
Cui, in periculis palpitanti et trepidanti, invocatum virtutis nomen non statim
fiduciam praestitit, depulit metum? Cui, quaeso, in dubiis aestuanti et fluctu-
anti, non subito ad invocationem clari nominis emicuit certitudo ? (Migne,
183, cc. 845-6).
3 dulore C.
4 Cf. the Jesu Dulcis Memoria:
'Nil canitur suavius,
Nil auditur jucundius,
Nil cogitatur dulcius,
Quam Jesus Dei Filius' (Migne, 184, c. 1317).


CANTICLES
75
vis stare et non cadere, hoc nomen Ihesu in memoria memento iugiter
retinere.... Quicquid egeritis, et si omnia que habetis dederitis, nisi nomen
Ihesu dilexeritis frustra laboratis. Nam soli tales in Ihesu letari poterunt
qui in hac presenti vita illum amauerunt.... Non miror quippe si temptatus
ceciderit qui nomen Ihesu in memoriam perennem non ponit. Ille nimi-
rum secure eligit speciale pro Deo in solitudine persistere qui nomen
Ihesu sibi eligit speciale. Hoc enim nomen conscienciam purgat, cor
clarum et mundum preparat, terrorem nocturnum excutit, ardorem amoris
infundit, mentem vsque in celicum melos subleuat, demones infestantes
fugat. O bonum nomen! O dulce nomen! O nomen mirificum! Onomen
salutiferum ! O nomen gloriosum! et nomen desiderabile!
Ibi vtique
non possunt maligni spiritus nocere vbi perpendunt nomen Ihesu iugiter
aut mente aut ore nominari' (ff. 149-150º).
Then follows the most important autobiographical reference in
the Canticles, which seems to describe one of the landmarks in
Rolle's career. It begins as follows:
'Dum ego propositum singulare percepissem et, relicto habitu seculari,
Deo pocius quam homini deseruire decreuissem, contigit quod quadam
nocte in principio conuersionis mee michi in stratu meo quiescenti appa-
ruit quedam iuuencula valde pulcra, quam ante videram et que me in
bono amore non modicum diligebat' (f. 150º).
He proved a diabolical origin for the apparition by crossing
himself and saying: 'O Ihesu, quam preciosus est sanguis tuus'—
whereupon it vanished.
'Deinceps vero Ihesum amare quesiui, et quanto in amore eius profeci,
tanto nomen Ihesu michi dulcius et suauius sapiebat et etiam vsque hodie
non recedit a me. Ergo benedictum sit nomen Ihesu in secula seculorum '
(f. 151).
deinceps') sound
These words (with their seemingly decisive
as if the young hermit's devotion were not specially directed towards
the Saviour until the incident in question, and on this point we shall
have further evidence (infra, p. 92). It is almost certain to have
occurred before the opening of the Heavenly Door', almost three
1 In a sermon of Peter Chrysologus, the fourth-century bishop of Ravenna,
occurs the following: 'Jesu... Hoc nomen quod dedit caecis visum, auditum
surdis, claudis cursum, sermonem mutis, vitam mortuis, totamque diaboli
potestatem de obsessis corporibus virtus hujus nominis effugavit. Et si nomen
tantum est, quanta potestas?' (Migne, 52, c. 586). This passage was exceed-
ingly popular throughout the Middle Ages, and will be found often quoted (cf.
Camb. Univ. Gg. i. 6, etc.). It will be noted again that Rolle has not echoed
but imitated. He repeats, however, his Canticles in both of his Psalters
(Ps. xc. 14) and in two of his English epistles (Form, p. 35, Command., p. 70).
F 2


76
CANTICLES
years after his conversion, for the description already quoted (p. 27)
tells us that at that time he was shown by what way he might seek
his Beloved, and cleave to Him continually'. In other words, his
devotion was fastened on the Saviour at the time of the 'opening of
the door', when his thoughts were taken up to the angelic choirs,
absorbed in their 'song of love' (cf. infra, pp. 87 sq.).
We shall see as we go on to Rolle's other works that when he
says of the Holy Name in the Canticles, in the passage in question,
'Up to now it has not receded from me', he was speaking the
literal truth, as is proved by practically all his extant writings. Only
one work extant seems to have been written before the special
personal devotion to the Saviour began (v. infra, Cant. Am.).
A veiled allusion to the same temptation, also described as dissipated
by the use of the Name of Jesus, seems to exist in the early Melum
(f. 227, partly quoted by Horstmann, ii, p. viii, and in full, infra,
p. 467).
It will be noted that one or two of Richard's works do not
explicitly name the devotion to the Holy Name. However, they
express his absorption in the thought of the Saviour, and the cult is
to be interpreted broadly as he practised it, as the quotations already
given show; concentration on the thought of Jesus, the Divine
Person, seems to fulfil what he means by devotion to the Name. As
he tells his disciple Margaret of the highest degree of love: 'þe
sawle pat es in þe thyrd degre... es syngand gastly til Ihesu, and
in Ihesu, and Ihesu, noght bodyly cryand wyth mouth-of þat
maner of syngyng speke I noght, for þat sang hase bath gude & ill'
(Form of Living, p. 33). Thus he gives his own warning against
a narrow or fanatical interpretation of his own teaching,' and at the
same time he recognizes more than one sort of invocation of the
Saviour. We shall find when we come to consider the manuals
which were probably Rolle's last works (infra, pp. 244 sq.) that in the
analytical accounts of the religious life in three stages, which those
pieces contain, the devotion to the Holy Name is treated usually
under the second degree. Here it seems to be a discipline to induce
contemplation-as the mechanical use of the Holy Name would be.
In the passage just quoted, however, the devotion is described which
belongs to the third and highest degree of love, in which the actual
Name itself does not necessarily appear, and the devotion is an
instrument, not of discipline, but of ecstasy. It is evident therefore
1 Later excesses of the cult of the Holy Name will be treated in my article
already mentioned.


CANTICLES
77
that Rolle's predilection for the Holy Name of Jesus will take more
than one form of expression.
Our knowledge of Rolle's life is nearly all derived from the Office,
but it will be seen that several passages in his works corroborate details
there found. Such autobiographical reminiscences give naturally
telling evidence of the authenticity of the works in which they
occur the Canticles, which needs no such authentication, follows
the other works in sometimes echoing facts in Rolle's life. It touches
on the wanderings hinted at (also with an apology) in the Office:
'Nempe quemadmodum Caym [sc. Cain] vagus et profugus fuit pro
culpa fratriscidii super terram, ita et ego in hoc exilio incerte sedis, de
loco ad locum transeo vt eternam consequor (sic) hereditatem. Cernimus
autem quod tam electi quam reprobi corporaliter vagi et profugi nonnun-
quam fiunt. Sed in hoc differunt, quia electi quocumque corpore trans-
ferantur, in celo iugiter intencionem imponunt' (f. 143).
This passage is copied almost verbatim from the early Melum, f. 208:
see also infra, p. 121.
We learn from other works that Rolle was persecuted, and
'detractores Deo odibiles' are attacked in the Canticles:
'O quam magna est mundanorum insania, qui non solum si quem bene
agentem audierint Deum non glorificant, verum etiam falsis interpreta-
cionibus seruo Dei pertinaciter obsistunt. Set et demencia quodammodo
est in eis cum nonnunquam vel amatorem Christi affirmant esse ypocri-
tam vel omnino non recte currere ad celestem mansionem. . . . Plane
ostenditis vos miseros cum non parum videtur vobis Christum non dili-
gere, nisi etiam illum in sanctis suis studeatis impugnare' (f. 144).
This again is quoted almost verbatim from the Melum, ff. 212 sq.
The heated discussions which the Canticles gives at length to
the subject of the comparative merits of conventual and solitary life
(ff. 147, 151) make it clear that Rolle had been in collision with the
regular religious, who were jealous of his prestige among the people :
'Quis audeat diuinam benignitatem in illis abnegare quod non istos
sanctos set inter seculares conuersantes tanta caritatis sublimitate impleat
quanta illos sanctos quos in professione¹ ligat. ... Nonnullos audiui
deputacionibus me velle vincere, quia apud opinionem hominum eos
viuendo videbar superare. Set profecto eo inter homines me crescere
fecerunt, quo me diminuere putabant' (f. 151V).
The discussion here also bears a close relation to one in the Melum
(f. 240).
The mystic's life is the more difficult because the very fact that he
is a saint makes him appear a fool:
1 protessio C.


78
CANTICLES
'Cumque vero illam gloriam inuisibilem lucemque increatam tam dele-
ctabilem et iocundam prout potuit perspexerit, ad illam solam optinendam
alia queque obliuiscens ardenter concupiscit, vnde a tanto desiderio in
illam figitur, vt nonnunquam ab hominibus stultus iudicetur; hoc uero 'fit,
quia mens amore Christi rapta gestum mutat corporalem et ab omnibus
terrenis actibus ipsum segregans inter homines velud mente alienatum
reddit et madentem' (f. 145).
Words to the same effect occur in the Latin Psalter, fols. xxviiv,
xliv; English Psalter, p. 181; Contra Amatores Mundi, ff. 172, 175,
179, etc.
The mystic is still a great lover of books, and his mystical
absorption is still nourished to some degree from the mind:
'Quia nisi in diuinis doctrinis delectari satagimus, proculdubio ad
suauitatem eterne dulcedinis veraciter non suspiramus. Hoc manifestum
est quandoquidem et laicus, quam cito diuino amore te tactum sencerit,2
etiam ad audiendum et loquendum de Deo, secularibus curis postpositis,
vehementerinardescit; quanto magis nos, qui etiam, iuvante Deo,
scripturas sacras intelligere possimus, ad legendum et audiendum verbum
Dei ac aliis scribendis et docendis nos attingere debemus' (f. 146).
These words show the zeal for propaganda which existed alongside
Rolle's ecstasy, inspired his writings, and doubtless helped to make
him an object of suspicion to the ecclesiastical authorities.
Throughout his writings Rolle uses freely, to express his ecstasy,
all the resources of rhetoric-alliteration, assonance, rhyme and
rhythm, antithesis and balance. Horstmann has been inclined to
take 'cadenced prose' (ii, p. xl), 'his peculiar rhythmical prose'
(i. 104), as substantial evidence of Rolle's authorship, but the popu-
larity of such style in the Middle Ages makes it a doubtful test
of authenticity without the support of other evidence. Schneider
(op. cit.) has shown that his style shows many of the characteristics
of Euphuism, but the style of Euphues has been shown to owe much
to the usual Latin style written in the Middle Ages."
The qualities of poetical prose which Rolle developed to the
point of extravagance will be found now and then incidentally in
the patristic writers whom we know that he read. For example,
St. Gregory's Morals (v. supra, p. 70 n., and infra, p. 313) show many
instances of rhyming verb-forms, and of careful antithesis and balance,
and the constructions and general swing of the style often suggest
Rolle (as will be illustrated by a quotation to be made later, ibid.).
The Meditations and Prayers ascribed to St. Anselm (though not all
1 non C.
2 secerit C.
See Euphues, ed. M. W. Croll, London, 1916, p. lvii.


CANTICLES
79
by him), as I have shown in another place,' would seem to have
given many hints for Rolle's mysticism, as well as for his style,
and we even find here traces of alliteration. We shall see (infra,
p. 201) that Rolle was almost certainly influenced by Richard of
St. Victor, and the fondness of the older Richard for ornaments
of style and especially for 'consonances' is well known. The
style of St. Aelred (Rolle's fellow-countryman and fellow-North-
countryman), also, sometimes suggests the hermit's."
In general the Middle Ages apparently knew a whole philosophy
of style 'Gregorian', 'Isidorian', and the like, which we do not
know enough of medieval rhetoric to identify-and the brief account
given by Professor A. C. Clark in his Cursus in Medieval and Vulgar
Latin' gives glimpses of patristic rhetoric that suggest the origins of
Rolle's performances in poetical prose. Thus, we are told (p. 12),
that Cassiodorus (480-575) writes in a cursus mixtus complicated
by assonance and rhyme. Gregory of Tours (538-594) writes accentual
prose in which the metrical element is recognizable.' The letters
of Gregory the Great (A:D. 546-604) are considered to mark the full
development of the cursus mixtus, which depends on accent, with
some regard to quantity. We are told that after St. Gregory rhythm
left prose for four hundred years (p. 13), but, as we have seen,
St. Gregory was almost certainly read by Rolle, and in any case
1 In my article on the Mystical Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechiez', v.
supra, p. 21.
* Cf. the following (from a meditation not assigned by Dom Wilmart to any
author):
'Dilexit quando non dilexi, quia, et nisi non diligentem diligeres, diligentem quo-
que non efficeres. Diligo te super omnia, o dulcissime Jesu, sed nimis parum,
quia longe minus quam dignus es, dilectissime, ac proinde minus quam debeo.
Et quis hoc posset? Diligere te potest aliquis, te donante, quantum valet, sed
nunquam quantum debet' (Migne, 158, c. 772). For other passages suggestive of
Rolle compare the following: 'Dulcis Christe, bone Jesu, sicut desidero, sicut tota
mente mea peto, da mihi amorem tuum sanctum et castum, qui me repleat,
teneat, totumque possideat' (c. 892, from a piece assigned to Jean of Fécamp,
see Wilmart, p. xiv); 'Quam mira suavitas amoris tui, quo perfruuntur illi qui
nihil praeter te diligunt, nihil quaerunt, nihil etiam cogitare concupiscunt ! '
(c. 901, also Jean of Fécamp).
* See Migne, 196, pp. xxx-xxxi.?
4 Cf. Speculum Caritatis, i. 31. 'Quid enim suavius, quid gloriosius quam
mundi contemptu mundo se cernere celsiorem, ac in bonae conscientiae vertice
consistentem, totum mundum habere sub pedibus, nihil videre quod appetat,
nullum quem metuat, nullum cui invideat?' (Migne, 195, c. 534). Miss Deanesly
(pp. 56-7) notes the influence on Rolle's 'rhythm and vocabulary' of Hugh of
St. Victor's De arrha animae.
Oxford, 1910.


80
CANTICLES
rhythm had come back to prose long before Richard s time. In
fact the whole subject had been summarized in the generation
immediately preceding his by an Englishman (Johannes Anglicus,
c. 1270), to whom we owe the descriptions of the three kinds of
stylus, viz. Gregorianus, Isidorianus, and Hilarianus' (Clark, p. 16).
It may be noted that a characteristic of Rolle's prose appears in the
Isidorian style in its 'series of balanced antitheses' (ibid., p. 17).
Professor Clark assures me however that Rolle (in the Latin quota-
tions given by Horstmann) does not use the cursus, and this is what
we should expect of an inspirational writer who left the academic life in
early youth. He is likely to have derived from the medieval stylistic
traditions (whether encountered at the university or in his reading) no
more than a general sense of sanction in using ornaments in his prose.
A more popular tradition probably also influenced his beginnings
in poetical prose. It has been pointed out that the 'Talking of the
Love of God', which occurs in the Vernon MS. with Rolle's works
and is printed by Horstmann (ii. 345 sq.) as 'an imitation of R. Rolle's
manner', is merely a modernized version of two very early Middle
English alliterative rhapsodies.' They probably come from the
same generation and environment as the Ancren Riwle, and followed
Anglo-Saxon alliterative literature by less than a century (see my
article in the Romanic Review, cited supra, p. 21). These pieces
probably had a continuous circulation, and they will serve to remind
us of the rashness of Horstmann's conclusion that poetical prose can
be used as a criterion of Rolle's authorship. Too many influences
making towards that type of composition were abroad for such to
be a safe hypothesis. It will be evident, however, that he carried
poetical prose at times to a pitch of extravagance probably nowhere
else attempted, and as a result he doubtless had a great influence in
fixing the hold of poetical prose on the taste of the following genera-
Chaucer's Boethius and the Cloud of Unknowing and its
group of treatises are all written in this style, and because poetical
prose was fashionable in the next generation it is again dangerous to
take all work of this kind as Rolle's. In any case this is an age in
1 See R. J. Peebles, Bryn Mawr Coll. Monographs, No. ix, p. 86 n., and infra,
p. 292.
2 Modernized editions by Miss E. Underhill, London, 1912, and by J. McCann,
O.S.B., London, 1925. The latter includes the group of treatises found with the
Cloud in the manuscripts. Most of these were printed in Prof. E. Gardner's Cell
of Self Knowledge (London, 1913). The poetical character of the prose cannot
be studied without recourse to the manuscripts. Contemporary Flemish mystical
pieces were also written in poetical prose (v. Mém. de l'Acad. de Belgique, 46, p. 175).


CANTICLES
81
which rhythmical writing might be expected, for mysticism flourished,
with which rhythm is often associated.¹
Poetical prose is used in the Canticles perhaps as little as in any
work of Rolle's (though not less than in some others), yet here also
it appears, and it has been illustrated in the extracts already quoted.
A sentence quite in the style of his most alliterative works is the
following:
'Effectus autem in sonoris epulis celice melodie, contemplator inenar-
rabili amoris affluencia usque in domum Dei conatur conscendere' (f. 146).
The following is an extreme example of rhyme:
'Errat qui te non diligit, insanit qui te amare non querit; ligasti
mentem meam, redegisti in seruitutem, captiuum duxisti ad tuum libitum
et iam totum quod sum tibi relictum, a te protectum, tibi subiectum.
Tanto cogito, gaudeo, clamo, quia amore langueo (Cant. v. 8), mori desi-
dero, usquequo sedebo. Quando veniam ut ante faciem tuam appaream ?
(Ps. xli. 3). Interim esto nobis gaudium, amor et solacium, quia curre-
mus in odore unguentorum tuorum' (f. 155).
3
It should be noted that the Canticles gives no citations of authority
except the following, which introduces some verses: ' unde quidam
verus Christi amator pulchre dicit' (f. 148v). Devotion to the Virgin
occurs only at the head of the fourth section.
The date of the Canticles is uncertain, but it would appear likely
that it belongs to Rolle's middle period: it does not show the
preoccupation with the character of the parish clergy, which is so
1 In the 'Twelve Conclusions' of the Lollards which were fixed to the doors
of St. Paul's and of Westminster Abbey in 1395, the preamble is as follows:
'We, pore men, tresoreris of Cryst and His apostlis, denuncyn to the lordis
and the comunys of the Parlement certeyn conclusionis and treuthis for the
reformaciun of Holi Chirche of Yngeland, the qwyche han ben blynde and
leprouse many yere be mayntenaunce of the proude prelacye, born up with
flatringe of privat religion, the qwich is multiplied to a gret charge and onerous
to puple her in Yngelonde' (Lollardy and the Reformation in England, by
James Gairdner, London, 1908, i. 43). A trace of alliteration may be observed
here, as well as a sort of rhythm. For an extreme bit of rhymed prose
see Horstmann, i. 367 (Thornton MS.). An extreme example of rhythmical
alliterative prose (on Prayer) is printed also from the same Northern MS. by
Horstmann (i. 295 sq.) in an imperfect text. Bodl. MS. e Mus. 35 (Sum. Cat.
This interesting work shows
No. 3615) contains a complete text (ff. 452 sq.).
Rolle's influence in style and doctrine, and might even be a work by him, though
positive evidence (internal or external) is lacking. Beg.: 'Prayng es a gracyous
gyfte of owre lorde godd.' Another complete text is cited in Quaritch's Cata-
logue 344, MS. 10.
2 desiderio MSS.
3 amor si C.
4 They have not been identified (Beg.: 'Satis amicicie dei non est pie . . .').
V. infra, p. 539.
<p. 71


82
CANTICLES
prominent in the three prose works of the early group, nor does the
division of love into three grades appear, found in the epistles, which
seem to be Rolle's last productions. On the whole, there seems
to be considerable evidence pointing to the early portion of the
middle period for its composition; it might perhaps even be prac-
tically contemporaneous with the Job, the last work of the early
period. The frequency of exuberant passages in the first person
suggests the Melum, the work preceding the Job, and it borrows
important sections verbatim from the former. Borrowing would not
necessarily mean contemporaneous composition, for we shall see
that Rolle borrowed from the Melum in many works-and among
others, in some which are certainly late. The borrowings from the
Melum found in the Canticles, however, are in a special class, for
they do not only concern opinions but also events. Some general
passages on mysticism coincide (including exposition of the verse,
'Osculetur me osculo oris sui', which appears in the early chapters of
the Melum in a partly variant and longer text), but what is specially
notable is the repetition in the Canticles of the description from the
Melum of Rolle's nomadic life, and of his argument in regard to the
relative virtues of the life of the hermit and that of monks. Both
have already been quoted from (supra, p. 77). We shall see, when
the Melum is described, that Rolle when he wrote it was apparently
involved in a controversy with monks, which had instigated his
writing that work. Other works also echo his low opinion of the
monastic virtues (see Incendium, infra, p. 227, and Mul. Fort., infra,
p. 161): no other, however, echoes this subject so persistently and
at such length as the Canticles (see ff. 147, 151V). As we have seen,
it definitely refers to controversies with monks as if they were
recently past. The Incendium, on the other hand, refers to them as
long past. It is possible that the appearance in the Melum and the
Canticles of the same two somewhat autobiographical passages means
that these works were nearly contemporaneous.
Some possible contemporary references in the Canticles also may
hint at a comparatively early date for its composition. They are as
follows:
'Nam finis mundi appropinquat, pene paratus est tubam caniturus,
adest finis mundialis malicie, terminus terrene cupiditatis longe non mora-
tur. Iam detractores procaces linguas cogentur restringere' (f. 144). 'Ve
vobis diuitibus, qui habetis consolacionem vestram hic, in futuro autem
eternam penam sencietis! Ve vobis ! O quam miseri estis et repleti male-
dictis, qui dum infinitis demonibus seruicium exhibere cogimini, gaudetis


CANTICLES
83
vos ab hominibus diuinos appellari. Et vos, non timentes conditorem
omnium, subicitis homines in vestrum timorem. Set hec est hora vestra
et potestas tenebrarum. Ecce namque dies venit et nimirum non tarda-
bit in quo auferetur a vobis omne dominium, regale ceptrum, omnium
possessio diuiciarum, et tunc plane videbitis vosmetipsos quam miseri,
quam pauperes, quam impotentes,' etc. (f. 153").
These words might possibly suggest that the Canticles was written
before-after many years of tumult-the nation more or less settled
down after the young Edward in 1330 overthrew Mortimer, and
the last sentences might even be pointed at that tyrant (who practically
held the royal sceptre). We shall see that another prophecy of the
end of the world appears in Rolle's Judica—a work of his extreme
youth, which probably was written before 1322. We shall see that
both the Melum and the Job-the two early prose works which
follow the Judica-give warnings similar to that quoted from the
Canticles-though no actual prophecy of the end of the world.
Such passages are therefore characteristic of Rolle's early prose
works, and certainly they would be suggested by the events of his
early life. As we shall see, he lived at this time in an environment
where the political turmoil had immediate effects, of which he could
hardly have remained unconscious. Though passages like that just
quoted suggest a common type of medieval lament, in this case they
may, for all that, echo contemporary conditions.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
Chapter 15 of Rolle's Incendium Amoris (pp. 187-91), in which he
describes his experience of ecstasy, is, as we have seen, quoted in
the Office. It has already (p. 27) been quoted (abridged), and it will
be mentioned so often in the following pages that its literalness and
accuracy should be illustrated at once. It appears that whenever
in any work Richard has occasion to describe the development of
the mystic, he does so by reproducing with more or less completeness
his own experience. Several impersonal descriptions of the mystic's
progress, therefore, are of value in confirming Rolle's description
of what happened to himself; the consistency which he shows
throughout his works is thus given striking illustration in connexion
with a most important subject. The following passages may be
compared with the Incendium (chapter 15), from which the critical
sentences have been quoted above; the critical phrases will be
italicized:


84
CANTICLES
'Et nota diligenter acciones sanctorum, quomodo transmigrant a Babi-
lone in Ierusalem. Primo renunciant omnibus que possident; deinde,
solis celestibus intenti, in amorem conditoris succenduntur; tercio, cum
iam increatum dulcorem gustauerint, tanta auiditate illis angelicis choris
interesse inardescunt, quod nulla aduersitate blandimenta mollicie ab
interno aspectu queant superari; quarto, pre nimietate gaudii et magni-
tudine amoris qua implentur, sonum in se suscipiunt celestem, et diuina
armonia obumbrantur, et fugiunt in solitudine[m] ne ab illo spirituali
canore impediantur. Hii sunt viri contemplatiui et solitarii summi, nullus
eis equari potest in perfeccione et gloria' (Melum, f. 240).
Here, in a very early work, the 'calor, canor, and dulcor' are made
three successive landmarks as in the Incendium, and 'voluntary
poverty' makes another, which precedes them. The 'love of the
Creator' in which they are inflamed' is probably synonymous with
the devotion to Jesus: it is the basis of ecstasy, and the goal of the
striving soul is the joys of the angels (such as would be perceived at
the 'opening of the heavenly door' mentioned in the Incendium as
preceding the endowment of ecstasy). In another passage from the
Melum soon to be quoted (infra, p. 92), we find the 'heat, sweet-
ness, and song' again hinted at in a reference to Richard's early
development. See also the 20th. Psalm (infra, pp. 195-6).
The Incendium gives several incidental, more or less complete,
accounts of the development of ecstasy, besides the formal auto-
biographical narrative found in chapter 15. The critical portions of
these passages will be quoted entire :
'Tibi deinceps non cessaui exhibere cor tactum desiderio; sed et tu
tenuisti illud, ut non deflueret in diuersas concupiscenciarum desolaciones,
et immisisti memoriam nominis tui, fenestramque contemplacionis oculo
aperuisti. Demum tibi deuotus cucurri in canorem; sed prius incaluit
cor igne amoris, et in amorosa carmina intra me erupi' (p. 246).
Here the absorption in the Holy Name is specifically cited before
(and therefore probably as preceding) the 'opening of the heavenly
door'. Only the 'dulcor' is lacking from the usual series, and this
seems always to have been the adjunct of the other two attributes of
ecstasy. We read in the Incendium: 'Hec duo (canor and fervor)
non in ocio percipiuntur, sed in summa deuocione, ex quibus tercium,
scilicet, dulcedo inestimabilis adest. Feruor enim et canor mira-
bilem in anima causant dulcorem; et eciam ob nimiam dulcedinem
illa causari possunt' (p. 185).
'Cum ergo homo ad Christum perfecte conuersus cuncta transitoria
despexerit, et se in solo Conditoris desiderio immobiliter, ut mortalibus


CANTICLES
85
pro corrupcione carnis permittitur, fixerit: tunc nimirum uires uiriliter
exercens, primo quasi aperto celo supernos ciues oculo intellectuali con
spicit; et postea calorem suauissimum, quasi ignem ardentem sentit.
Deinde mira suauitate imbuitur, et deinceps in canore iubilo gloriatur.
Hec est ergo perfecta caritas, quam nemo nouit nisi qui accipit, et qui
accipit nunquam amittit, dulciter uiuit, secure morietur' (p. 202).
It will be seen that here 'conversion' begins the process, and some-
thing like absorption in Jesus (though not in those terms) follows
and precedes the 'opening of the heavenly door', and the endow-
ment of 'heat, sweetness, and song'. The 'opening of the heavenly
door' leads to the vision-'oculo intellectuali'-of the heavenly
citizens.
'Hec enim est uita perfectorum: omnem curam secularium negocio-
rum abicere... in solo Conditoris amore inardescere, post amaros gemitus
et immensa spiritualium operum exercicia superne contemplacionis dulce-
dinem sentire: et sic, ut de priuilegiatis loquar: pro gaudio diuine
dileccionis in cantum spiritualem uel in celicum sonum contemplando
suscipi.... Sic nimirum talem suauitatem habebit (uir Dei) in mente
qualem habent angeli in celo, licet non tantam. Hoc quippe modo efficia-
tur quis perfectus et non indigebit igne purgari post hanc uitam, quam
ardenter in carne existentem ignis exurit Spiritus Sancti' (p. 208).
Here the stages described agree very well with those in the passage
last quoted, except that the 'opening of the heavenly door' is not
mentioned. A hint of it is however given in the reference to the
song of angels.
'Aiebant igitur amantes qui gloriosa carmina dictabant amoris, quod
qui ad amandum eminenter eligitur in primis diligenter curat et affectat,
ut eius cor ab amato suo nunquam recedat, ut sit illi memoria Ihesu
quasi musica in conuiuii[s], et in eius ore indulcoretur super mel et fauum.
... Iam tunc ueniunt in animam eius affecciones dulces, et meditaciones
mirabiles soli Deo fauentes. Que ruminate, et in hac mente cum inten-
cione extense, ipsam ineffabiliter afficiunt. . . ut amator Dei nihil querat
in mundo, nisi ut possit in solitudine existere, et ibi solis Conditoris sui
desideriis uacare. Postea uero fortiter et bene exercitatus, orando ac
meditando summe quieti deditus, . . . uehementer proficit in uirtute amoris
eterni, ascenditque superius affectus eius, in quod oculo mentali introitus
aperitur, in speculacione misteriorum celescium. Incipit quoque ardor
quem antea non sentiuit animus eius adurere... ut eciam ipsa anima
celica suauitate delinita... uerumptamen libenter sustinet aduersa que
contingunt, quia in gaudio eterni amoris suauiter requiescit, neque iubila-
cionem ipsam quam in Ihesu iocundata accepit, auferre poterunt omnia
que occurrunt' (pp. 248-9).
The 'canor' is not specifically mentioned here, but it is implied by the


86
CANTICLES
'iubilacio' (which might be called 'a noisy form of joy'). The
devotion to the Holy Name, as usual, precedes the endowment
of ecstasy, and the 'love of the Creator', found in the two passages
already cited, is here used interchangeably to describe the absorption
'in Ihesu'.
The Ego Dormio and the Form of Living, two English epistles
written near the end of Rolle's life, give much the same description
of the mystic's development as we find in the Latin works. The
passages in question will be quoted from later (infra, pp. 249, 341),
but they may be briefly summarized here.
& swetnes
...
...
• ..
In the Ego Dormio, in the degree that 'es called contemplatife
lyfe, pat lufes to be anely'; the 'gastly egh es taken up in til þe blysse
of heuen... & kyndelde with fyre of Cristes lufe... feland lufe, ioy
pan. [pi] prayers turnes in til ioyful sange
þan es
Thesu al pi desyre' (pp. 58-9). Here is the triple endowment of ecstasy
preceded by something very like 'the opening of the heavenly door'.
The devotion to the Holy Name is not mentioned, but the love
which first kindles the heart is centred on the Second Person of the
Trinity, and when the ecstasy is complete, 'Jesus' absorbs all the
emotion of the mystic.
In the Form of Living we are given a lengthy description of the
mystic's development, in which many stages are hinted at-as,
forsaking of the world and its lusts, retirement into solitude, purgation
through prayer, meditations, and tears. When temptations are
slackening 'he gars þam geder til þam þair hert & fest anely in hym ;
and opens til þe egh of þair sawls þe zates of heuen . . . and þan þe
fire of lufe verrali ligges in pair hert . . . & sithen forward þai er
contemplatife men' (p.49). Here is the devotion to Jesus preceding
the opening of the heavenly door', and the fire of love following.
Except for a few words more, the passage just quoted from concludes
the Form, and it will be seen that 'sweetness' and 'song' are not
included they appear, however, constantly in other parts of this
work. If they had been found in the conclusion, that work would
have resembled the Canticles, Incendium, and some texts of the
Melum in ending on the three attributes of ecstasy. As it is, it will
be seen that the conclusion of the Form comes very near to those of
the works just cited.
It will be seen that the preceding passages give a fairly consistent
account of mystical development: most of them mention heat,
sweetness, and song', and precede this endowment (first) by the
devotion to the Holy Name (expressed implicitly if not explicitly),


CANTICLES
87
and (second) by the 'opening of the heavenly door'. We seem
thus to be given evidence that the temptation which initiated the
hermit into the devotion to the Holy Name preceded the opening of
the door and the endowment of ecstasy. However, it is probable
that the absorption in Jesus (begun almost accidentally) was not
consciously adopted as the pivot of Rolle's life till after the 'opening
of the door', when it was probably given a kind of celestial sanction.
We shall see, as we go on to describe all Rolle's works, that the
elements of the mystical life as thus constituted reappear continually.
It is, however, notable that the opening of the heavenly door',
which is so conspicuous a feature of the mystic's progress as Rolle
described it, never receives more than the bare mention given in the
passages just quoted, where he is careful to make clear that this sight
is given 'oculo intellectuali', to 'pe egh of pair sawls' or the 'gastly
egh'. As we have seen, Rolle was not the apocalyptic type of
mystic, in the ordinary sense of the word: he believed that he was
initiated in part into celestial experience while in this life, but not
into the fullness of celestial knowledge. As he says in the Form of
Living just quoted: Noman hase perfite syght of heuen whils pai er
lifand bodili here.' In his three Latin treatises he amplifies this
subject, as will be later described (infra, p. 199), and he even gives
the specific opinion that supernatural experience in this life (such as
he himself enjoys) is superior to visions of the supernatural world-
'sicut de multis legimus' (Incendium, p. 254). Thus it is evident
that we need not look in Rolle's writings for revelations of heavenly
mysteries, in spite of the emphasis which he seems to put on the
opening of the heavenly door' as a landmark in the mystic's progress.
It will be noted, however, that the passages in which he mentions
1 Rolle's superior analytical power (on occasion) is evident in this discussion.
It is in sympathy with the best modern analyses of mysticism, whether under-
taken from the side of devotion or of religious psychology. For example,
R. P. de Guibert, S.J., of Rome, discusses in the Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique
(VII, Jan. 1926, pp. 3 sq.) the word 'Mystique' according to the definitions of
psychologists and theologians, and the best students do not see in ecstasy the
whole of mysticism. M. E. Boutroux, for example, regards ecstasy 'comme le
phénomène essentiel, le point culminant, de la mystique', but 'pas tout le
mysticisme' (ibid., p. 11). In his own words: 'Le mysticisme est essentielle-
ment une vie, un mouvement, un développement d'un caractère et d'une
direction déterminée' (ibid.). Father de Guibert seems to give his fullest
approval to the spiritual writers who go further, and declare that 'l'extase n'est
pas le phénomène essentiel et caractéristique des états mystiques, elle n'en
est qu'une conséquence (nécessaire pour les uns, accidentelle pour les autres),
à un certain stade du progrès de ces états' (p. 12).


88
CANTICLES
'the opening of the door' sometimes go on to refer to the sight of
the 'heavenly citizens', and here we are given a hint which may
connect the revelation in question with the usual subject of Rolle's
writings. He believed that he lived on earth the life of the heavenly
citizens, and probably the line which his own life was to follow was
part of what was revealed to him at this time.
In other words, when Rolle tells us that at the opening of the
heavenly door he was enabled to 'gaze on those above with the eye
of the heart, and see in what way he might seek his Beloved', from
our knowledge of his writings as a whole we can amplify the meaning
of these words. He constantly tells us that he knows the character
of the celestial life, and that it is Love; and with equal frequency he
tells us that the way to attain to Divine Love, with all its privileges
and transformations, is by fastening the heart on the Divine Person,
Jesus. The highest order of angels (seraphim, whose attribute is fire)
are described by him at length, and we are told that to these con-
templative men (burning in the 'fire of love') are to be compared.'
Thus the remarkable consistency which Rolle shows throughout
his writings is not violated when we find one landmark of the mystic's
development, as he describes it, never apparently recurring in the
confessions of his own experience which run through all his writings:
probably what seems to be an apocalyptic element in his account of
his own development really goes no farther into the supernatural
than does what he believes to be the miracle of his daily life: the
heavens were not opened to him at the time in question to reveal
any mysteries which did not concern his life on earth. What Richard
Rolle believed, as we have seen, and what we shall see that he came
to believe early, was that the highest life on earth was almost
identical with the life in heaven. He tells us explicitly what was the
relation of the two in a passage from the Incendium already quoted:
it was 'talis' but not 'tantus' (v. supra, p. 85, infra, p. 207). Such
a statement implies a glimpse into the mysteries of heaven, but it is
not a true apocalypse. It came from the very heart of Rolle's doctrine,
as everywhere described, and probably it was made possible by what he
calls the opening of the heavenly door'. Perhaps the hint for this
experience came from those passages of St. Gregory and St. Aelred (and
other writers) in which the soul is said to aspire to 'join the choir of
the angels' (v. infra, pp. 313 et n.). Angel choirs' are ecstatically
dwelt on in Rolle's early Judica, which seems, therefore, to hint at the
suggestion that induced the 'opening of the door' (v. infra, pp. 99, 109).
1 See Cant., f. 154' (partly quoted, supra, p. 70); Ego Dormio, pp. 50-1.


CHAPTER V
EARLY WORKS
IN four of Rolle's works he calls himself 'juvenis', and these can
therefore be treated together with the certainty that they were pro-
duced in the same period. The first two will be discussed at
disproportionate length, since they are to some extent uncharacteristic,
and their connexion with Rolle needs explanation. The order here
followed is conjectural, except that we know that the Melum preceded
the Job. In the case of the other works, the evidence seems con-
clusive which makes the basis of the order followed.
In all four early works the author mentions that he is a hermit,
and all must therefore have been written after he 'took his singular
purpose' at eighteen (as we are told by the Office). As we shall see
(p. 143), he may have called himself ' juvenis' in his early thirties, so
that the present group may be spread over ten years or more. It is
possible that other works were contemporaneous (v. infra, Threnos,
Apocalypse, De Misericordia, and p. 314).
CANTICUM AMORIS
The Canticum Amoris is an ecstatic Latin poem to the Virgin.
The signature follows:
'Virgo decora pari sine, viuens pure dilexi. Squalentis heremi cupiens
et in aruis haberi. Per citharam sonui celicam, subiectus amori. Virgo
quam cecini, animam sublima ricardi.'
Beg.:
'Zelo tui langueo, virgo speciosa,
Sistens in suspirio mens est amarosa' (sic)
(Rawl. MS. C. 397, f. 77).¹
Ends:
'Amans intus ardeo, vincens vilia.
Zelo tui langueo, virgo regia.'
1 This MS. has not been collated with MS. II.
G


90
EARLY WORKS
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. Rawl. C. 397 (Sum. Cat. No. 12251), ff. 77–8, early
15th cent. A quotation from the Incendium with Rolle's name
follows immediately. See Magn., Judica, Quot.
II. Trin. Coll. Dublin 153, early 15th cent. 'Incipit canticum
amoris de beata uirgine per Ricardum.' See Thren., Cant., Judica,
Mul. Fort.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
Syon Monastery probably owned the poem (perhaps in an auto-
graph copy). In the library of Leicester Abbey an anonymous
'Cantus amoris de beata virgine' may be the present piece. It
escaped the early bibliographers, but was noted by Horstmann.
The present work is written in thirty-eight four-lined stanzas,
rhyming aaaa, as did the two religious poems entitled 'Philomena'
and the hymn Jesu Dulcis Memoria, all of which were probably
favourites with Rolle (v. infra, pp. 100, 420). The structure of the
lines in the present poem differs from that found in any of the three
just cited: it is divided into half-lines of three stresses, rhyming
medially in couplets. Alliteration is constant, and the vocabulary
extensive and fantastic. The poem is an elaborate love-poem to
the Virgin, after the manner of worldly love-poems; her physical
charms are specially emphasized, and from beginning to end the
work is crude and extravagant.
The author refers to his youth:
'Iuuenem ingenue amor alligauit,
Et astantem strenue sibi separauit. . .'
'Hinc geror, iuuenculus, in languente vita...' (f. 77, C. 2).
A rhymed signature is attached to both copies of the present poem,
but some account should be given of the internal evidence for Rolle's
authorship, in order to show the continuity of his works. This is
the only composition in which his devotion is concentrated on the
Virgin; and, in general, the absence from his compositions of the cult
of the Mother of God is almost as striking for a medieval writer as
1 We may wonder whether it was in any degree the indirect effect of Rolle's
own practice (which after his adolescence we may describe as reverent but
aloof) that her cult languished in Yorkshire in the period of his later life and
immediately following his death. In 1343 we learn that 'the services of
B.V.M. have been much disused in some of our churches' (J. Raine, Historians
of the Church of York and its Archbishops, RS. 71, iii. 256-7). Archbishop


CANTICUM AMORIS
91
the absence, which in his case we also find generally, of citations of
authority.
In spite of the (for Rolle) unusual direction of devotion in the
Canticum, the piece gives many signs of his authorship. The style
resembles that found in the Melum (and from time to time, as we
have seen, in other Latin prose works). Not only is the vocabulary
used here to express his devotion to the Virgin like that which else-
where he uses to express his devotion to the Son, but the ecstatic
affection which he voices is conceived with the same concomitants
as we find throughout his writings-though the object is not the
same addressed elsewhere. The phrase 'Amans intus ardeo' has
already been quoted, and the following lines will show that some-
thing very like 'heat, sweetness, and song' accompany the devotion
expressed in this early work:
'Tibi, cara, canticum emitto mansuetus,
Melos mulcet musicum, terror est deletus.
Concino quod carmine remanerem letus,
Pro tua dulcedine, qua fruar concretus' (f. 77º, c. 1).
We see here also the 'melos' which often gives the title for the
Melum, and is frequently used throughout the other works.
Rolle tells us in the Incendium (p. 185) and in the Form of Living
(p. 45) that he always takes up the sitting position during contempla-
tion, and it is probably in justification of his own habit that in the
Melum (f. 235) and the 20th Psalm (fol. cxxx) he gives an allegorical
discussion bringing out the superiority of this position: he tells us
in the discussion on this point in the Melum (f. 236, v. infra, p. 123)
that he is accused by his enemies of sitting so much because of
gluttony and drunkenness. Hostile opinion does not influence him
to a change of habit, and in most of his works he gives a hint of the
attitude which he has chosen by referring to the contemplative (by
implication himself) regularly as 'the sitter'. See, for example,
Incendium, p. 191; Melum, f. 220: 'Cito a celica symphonia
subtrahit sedentem'; f. 244: 'Hec sustinet sedentem'; Canticles,
f. 143: 'O mira laboris exercitacio, quam precipue sedentes ascen-
dunt'; Judica, f. 16: 'Christus seruos querit feruentes et deserit
torpentes. Non vult coactum sed voluntarium . . . sedentem non
discurrentem amore suo inebriat et mira consolacione letificat.'
Thoresby ten years later built a Lady Chapel in the Minster because there was
not aliquis locus congruus' where daily Mass of Our Lady could be said
(J. Raine, Fasti Eboracenses, London, 1863, p. 485). This was surely late for
any cathedral to lack a Lady Chapel.
G 2


92
EARLY WORKS
With the passages just quoted the following from the early poem
to the Virgin should be compared :
'Gene peramabiles solantur sedentem' (f. 77, c. 2).
'Vento est velocior virtus virginalis,
Sedenti similior requies regalis' (f. 77, c. 1).
'Sufficit quod sedeam, cernens quo surrexi' (ibid.).
Evidently as early as the writing of this poem Richard had taken
up the sitting position for his contemplation, of which he says at the
end of his life in the Form: 'I haue lufed for to sytt: for na
penance, ne for na fantasy, þat I wild men spak of me . . . bot anly
for I knew I loued god mare & langer lasted with-in pe comforth of
lufe pan gangand, or standand, or kneleand' (p. 45).
The direction of Rolle's devotion towards the Virgin in the present
work is unique in our experience of his writings, and the early Melum
gives us a hint in explanation. A passage there (ff. 234 sq.) would
suggest that he passed through a period of special devotion to the
Virgin, which served as initiation into the devotion to the 'Highest'.
The critical lines are as follows:
•
Amicam autem adamaui in quam angeli omnipotentis anhelant aspi-
cere, et mirificam Mariam misericordie matrem mulcebam mihi mollicie
melliflua, nec despexit dileccionem quam detuli, at pocius procurauit a
piissimo ut animus ornaretur ad amicabiles amplexus intimi amoris.
Illam utique habui adiutricem que orauit amatorem eternum ne abicerer ab
eleccione amantissima, alioquin non amassem altissimum ardenter nec
suscepissem suauitatem sonantis cithare neque caperer ad concentum
canorum,'
A few more sentences are quoted by Horstmann, ii, p. xviii, n. 1.
It will be noted that 'heat, sweetness, and song' and the emotional
absorption in the Saviour which Rolle means by the devotion to the
Holy Name are all implied in this passage. It should probably be
taken in connexion with the conclusion to the narrative of deliverance
from temptation recounted in the Canticles, already quoted (p. 75):
'Deinceps vero Ihesum amare quesiui, et quanto in amore eius profeci,
tanto nomen Ihesu michi dulcius et suauius sapiebat, et eciam usque hodie
non recedit a me' (f. 151).
Up to the time of the incident here described, it is likely that
Richard offered his devotion to the Virgin, but he believed that he
owed his miraculous deliverance in this temptation to the invocation
of Jesus, and it would appear that this circumstance may have been
responsible for diverting his devotion from the Mother to the Son.
We do not find in the Judica, also a very early work, any mention of


CANTICUM AMORIS
93
the former. She does not appear in the account in the Incendium of
the first development of ecstasy, during the first four years after his
conversion, and when the 'heavenly door was opened', three
years (less three or four months) after his conversion, the Son
was already the direct object of his devotion. Evidently Rolle's
absorption in the Son began very early, and the present poem, which
precedes that concentration, must have been written very soon after
his conversion at the age of eighteen. This conjecture is borne out
by the extremely crude character of the piece. If it were not for the
'heremi' of the signature, it might precede the conversion.
JUDICA ME DEUS
The Latin prose work found in many manuscripts under the title
Judica me Deus is really a collection of four loosely connected tracts,
of which the last three together make up a manual for parish priests.
The quotations from Judica are made from Laud Misc. MS. 528,
collated with Burney 356, and (for Judica A) with Bodl. 861.
Judica A.
Beg.: 'Iudica me Deus et discerne causam meam de g[ente non
sancta (Ps. xlii. 1). A Deo qui scruta-¹]tur cor et renes volo iudicari'
(Laud Misc. MS. 528, f. 13).
Ends: ut deliciis eternis merearis assistere, spreta mundi
insania, insanabili conscienciaque. Labor durus videtur vitam
interrumpere' (f. 16).
Judica B 1.
Beg.: 'Cupienti mihi peticioni vestre satisfacere, occurrit ex una
parte inuidencium malicia, ex alia, caritas diuina' (f. 16v).
Ends: 'Nam proculdubio si delectacionem in sacra scriptura
niteris querere, etiam in diuino amore rapieris iubilare' (f. 17).
Judica B 2.
Beg. Istis iam dictis ad utilitatem vestram, videndum est
consequenter de multis casibus in confessionibus contingendis,
qualiter sit penitencia iniungenda' (f. 17º).
Ends: 'Hii et huiusmodi ad superiores debent mitti' (f. 21º).
Judica B 3.
Beg. In die iudicii resurgent omnes incorrupti et sine
diminucione membrorum' (f. 21).
1 Supplied from Bodl. MS. 861 where Laud MS. is worn at the corners.


94
EARLY WORKS
Ends: 'Sic ergo in operibus vestris Christi laudem et gloriam
querite, ut post hanc vitam ad regnum Christi valeatis peruenire'
(f. 23).
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Ashmole 751 (Sum. Cat. No. 8193), ff. 31-34, late 14th cent.
Judica B 3 only, but in the collection of extracts from Rolle's works,
which begin this manuscript, two long quotations occur from Judica A,
with which Rolle's name and the title of the work are given. See
Quot., Stur., Magn., Job.
II. Bodl. 861. Judica A only (ascribed to Rolle), according to
'the book of the hermit of Tanfield' (v. supra, p. 29). The text
is exceptionally correct, but much abridged, and it omits some
important passages which seem, by their resemblance to other
passages of Rolle's works, to be genuine. The same omissions (in
at least the two cases specially important) are to be found in the
Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. (No. XVII, infra, also corrected from 'the
book of the hermit of Tanfield '), as I am informed by Mr. de Burgh
of the Dublin library. Both passages are contained in all of the
manuscripts of the full text which I have examined. The first is
a short significant personal reference (v. infra, p. 464). The second
is a considerable passage, more mystical (in the manner of Rolle's
other works) than any other part of the Judica (v. infra, pp. 99 sq., 107);
it is difficult to see how its authenticity can be denied or, if it were
in existence at the time the copy was made, its omission explained.
It is quoted in two instances with Rolle's name. These two passages
were omitted from the text in Emmanuel Coll. MS. 35, also containing
only Judica A, but they have been added by the corrector (here also
Newton ?). It is possible that the epistle when first written did not
contain these parts, which were added after Rolle had written the
later sections of the treatise, perhaps when he combined the tracts
into one work. We shall see that the general circulation of the
tracts together-ill-combined as they are-would establish their
early connexion, but the circumstances of the origin of the two
parts, Judica A and B respectively, are such that they would
probably have been written at different times. Lord Scrope's auto-
1 MS. IX is quoted for the first passage by Horstmann (ii, p. xvi, n.), and I
have examined these sections in MSS. VIII, X, XI-XIV (inclus.). Part of
the second passage is quoted with Rolle's name in a Rylands MS. and in
Ashmole MS. 751 ('Solus namque amor separat').


JUDICA ME DEUS
95
graph was a small quire' (v. infra, p. 98), which seems to suggest
that it contained only Judica A, as do the copies taken from the
book of his neighbour, the hermit of Tanfield. This autograph may
have been one made before Judica B was attached to the work.
III. Douce 107 (Sum. Cat. No. 21681), ff. 14-19, 15th cent.
'Incipit sermo eiusdem Ricardi hampol.' Judica A only (complete).
See E. V.
IV. Laud Misc. 111 (Sum. Cat. No. 1550), ff. 178V-87, early
15th cent. 'Explicit capitulum de iudicio dei.' Judica A, B 1, B 3
only, as in MS. IX. Judica B 3 (as in MS. IX) begins with the text
'Attende, quod ait Crisostomus', thus cutting off a few sentences.
Horstmann (ii, p. xxxvi) cites MS. Mm. vi. 17 (IX) as 'the oldest
MS.', and therefore takes the present form of the text as the original.
But there are several copies of earlier date, and the evidence of
other texts shows that the version here given is incomplete. See E. V.
V. Laud Misc. 528, ff. 12V-23, early 15th cent. '... eiusdem
beati Ricardi, qui intitulatur Judica me deus'. A list of headings
follows, covering the whole collection. Towards the end of Judica B 1
in this copy we find the direct address: Tu ergo, O N[ominate],
agere coneris secundum preceptum' (f. 17). Expliciunt confes-
siones Ricardi heremite' (the same title is given in the original table
of contents). On the outer margin of f. 17 there is an interesting
drawing, difficult to interpret. A bearded man is seated, holding
something which appears to be a vessel of some sort (a begging
bowl?). He seems to wear a cope, which is fastened at the throat
with a morse in the shape of a cross botonée. Something on the
breast between this and the bowl (?) may possibly be a kind of cross.
The head is nimbed. This picture bears no relation to either of the
two figures in the picture on the first page of the book (v. supra,
p. 54). The text opposite which it is drawn instructs a priest how
to conduct confession. See Office, E. V., Cant., Contra Am. M., Job,
Incend.
VI. Rawl. C. 397, ff. 1-7, early 15th cent. 'Incipit forma siue
regula de modo confitendi extracta per beatum Ricardum heremitam
ex verbis sanctorum patrum.' Judica B (1-3) only. 'Explicit regula
bona confitendi.' See Magn., Cant. Am., Quot.
VII. Balliol Coll. 224, ff. 877-98, 15th cent. The full text,
except that Judica B 2 diverges at the end and Judica B 3 does the
same, cutting off all the exempla and more. A new section is added:
'Studium cuiuslibet religiosi debet esse, scilicet, ut viuat in obedi-


96
EARLY WORKS
encia ... in ordine suo conuersionis, etc. Explicit.'
This occurs
also separately in B. Mus. Roy. MS. 5. C. iii. (f. 287b), as noted
in the catalogue of the Royal MSS. The present passage inculcates
monastic obedience, which was a virtue in which Rolle was un-
interested (v. infra, p. 124). Its appearance here is probably due
to a scribe who was a monk. See Cant., Contra Am. M., E. V.,
Incend., Spur., Job.
VIII. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 251-55, early 15th cent.
Judica B 3 is lacking, but may have been present in the prototype
(v. infra, p. 409). See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., O. D.,
S. A., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
IX. Univ. Mm. vi. 17, ff. 59b-70, 15th cent. 'Incipit capitulum
de Judicio dei secundum hampol.' Judica A, B1, and B 3 only, the
last incomplete at the beginning as in MS. IV, supra. The similarity
of title of these two copies may also be noted. See Dubia, Spur.
X. Emmanuel Coll. 35, ff. 19b-22b, 15th cent. (before 1414).
'Hampole super hunc psalmum/Judica me Deus. . . . Explicit
fructuosus tractatus Ricardi hampole heremite.' Judica A only.
See Cant., Incend., Mul. Fort., O. D., Contra Am. M., Mel., and
supra, MS. II, and p. 49.
XI. St. John's Coll. 23, ff. 161-78, 15th cent. 'Liber dompni
petri de Norwico.' Given by Thos., Earl of Southampton, from
the books of Wm. Crawshaw, 1635. This handsome volume (Rolle
only) at the Reformation belonged to Ely Priory. In original index :
'Tractatus eiusdem (Ricardi heremite) de iuste iudicando.' 'Incipit
alter tractatus venerabilis Rycardi heremite de ampullis de iuste
iudicando et recte discernendo.' Some of the passages attacking
bad priests in Judica B are omitted here, and the references appear:
'Melius in tractatu dicitur de mercenariis sacerdotibus', 'De ista
materia vide bene in dicto tractatu de mercenariis sacerdotibus'
(f. 169b). In both cases an 'etc.' precedes. See Incend., Mel.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
XII. Burney 356, ff. 65-78, early 15th cent. 'Hic incipit libellus
Ricardi de hampole venerabili (sic) heremite qui intitulatur Judica
me deus, de meditacionibus et de modo viuendi ad imitandum
vestigia christi, qui in sex capitulis diuiditur.' The subjects of
chapters follow, more or less strained to conform to the usual ortho-
dox model for a parish priest's compendium: 'Primo, de articulis


JUDICA ME DEUS
97
fidei, Secundo, de preceptis decalogi', etc. The true course of
Rolle's argument in the first part of the work (here, as usual,
rambling and subjective) is more closely rendered in the headings
of MS. V, as follows: 'De meditacionibus sacris, De perfeccione
viuendi ad imitandum christum', etc. The two sets of headings
more or less agree for the latter part of the work, probably because
a very systematic and conventional model (the Pars Oculi, v. infra,
p. 101) is here drawn on by the author. Two extra exempla are
interpolated in this copy between the last two exempla of Judica B 3,
both concerned with visions of hell, and quite uncharacteristic of
Rolle. One is derived from 'Beda in gestis anglorum', one from
'Liber purgatorii beati patricii'. See E. V.
XIII. Burney 359, ff. 1-19, early 15th cent. 'Explicit iudica me.'
XIV. Roy. 8 F. vii, ff. 16-24b, 15th cent. 'Incipit libellus
Ricardi de hampolis heremite qui intitulatur iudica me deus.'
Heading and subjects as in MS. XII, without the chapter-divisions.
'Explicit Judica me deus'.
XV. Add. 21202, ff. 87-99, 15th cent. Judica A only (complete).
Identified by Dr. G. R. Owst. 'Dominus Willelmus Woddrest pos-
sessor huius libri' (f. 99b).
OTHER MSS.
XVI. Castle Howard MS., 15th cent. Judica A is headed 'Ham-
pole'. Only Judica B 1 follows, and this is misplaced, and inserted
before the end of Judica A. The scribe has added notes at the
bottom of the page at both ends to point out the disarrangement.
See E. V., Spur. (2), Incend., Contra Am. M., Cant., Job, Mul. Fort.
XVII. Trin. Coll. Dublin 153, 15th cent. Incipit de iudicio
tractatus quasi (?) Ricardi heremite (?) de h. h. (?) de T.' Judica A
only. In conclusion: hec Ricardus heremita dicit in quodam
libello quem habuit heremita de Tanfeld' (cf. Bodl. MS. 861).
Thren., Cant. Am., Cant., Mul. Fort.
6
See
XVIII. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 543, ff. 64-8v, 14th cent. Explicit
epistola Ricardi heremite de hampole.' Judica A only. Old stamp:
'Bib. reg.' See Job, E. V.
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES.
The Judica is quoted from by name and ascribed to Rolle in
MSS. Ashmole 751 and Ff. i. 14. Two extracts from Judica A
(f. 16) occur with his name in Rylands MS. 18932. The first


98
EARLY WORKS
exemplum in Judica B 3 is quoted as Rolle's in the Lincoln Cath.
Thornton MS. in English.
Syon Monastery catalogue cites (with Rolle's name) two copies of
the work, and the index registers another. Leicester Abbey probably
owned the Judica ascribed (as in the case of most of Rolle's writings
here) to John hampole'. Lord Scrope of Masham, as already
noted, in a will made in 1415 bequeathed to Henry Fitz Hugh,
founder of Syon Monastery, 'unum Quaternum, parvum, in quo
continetur expositio super Judica me Deus, quod Richardus Here-
mita composuit et scripsit, pro Remembrancia'. Leland saw among
Rolle's works at St. Mary's, York, 'Super Psalmum Judica me Deus',
and Bale cites in his Index ('ex Ayloto Holte, Buriensi '), ' De non
iudicando proximo' (with the proper incipit) under Rolle's name.
JUDICA A.
Judica A is written to a friend on the occasion when the author
has been criticized for a change of cell. He gives his reasons for
his move, and calls on the judgement of God over the heads of men.
He is a young hermit, not bound to any fixed abode. The opening
which discusses these matters will be quoted in the chapter on
Rolle's life (pp. 460 sq.).
After the personal matters discussed at the beginning of the work
are left behind, general exhortations against worldliness follow of
a very conventional nature. Probably, however, they are meant to
be specialized to some extent for the needs of a clerical person. We
shall see that Judica B is written for a friend who is a parish priest,
and probably Judica A is written for the same friend, whose status
may be indicated by the following sentences:
Tu autem qui castitatem Deo promiseras, si vis eciam esse perfectus,
audi Dominum dicentem: Nisi quis, inquit, renunciauerit omnibus que
possidet, non potest meus esse discipulus (Luc. xiv. 33). Denique hic
omnibus renunciat, qui voluntatem habendi temporalia pro Christo relin-
quit, alioquin non discipulus Christi¹ sed ypocrita verius dicitur, scilicet,
sub paupertate corporali terrena cupiens inuenitur. Nemo te seducat:
non potes Christum vere diligere dum terrenis diuiciis habundare cupis, sed
Christum perfecte diligis cum preter Christum nichil concupiscis' (f. 15).
These sentences make clear that the friend has made the vow of
chastity, and the exhortation to poverty also suggests that he is an
ecclesiastic, for Rolle has an almost Franciscan strictness in demand-
1 In the Melum Rolle seems to use this phrase as limited to the clergy
(v. infra, p. 475).


JUDICA ME DEUS
99
ing poverty and freedom from worldly concerns from those who
have dedicated themselves to the service of the Church, whether as
priests or as monks (v. infra, pp. 119, 124, 267). The following
imply that the friend addressed here is a priest:
'Ideoque labora fortiter ut sis mundus in corde, castus in corpore, in
cibo et potu moderatus, non sompnolentus, oracioni intentus, bona medita-
cione assiduus, caritate feruidus, in seruicio Christi deuotus, non necgli-
genter transcurrens, sed diligenter ordinem tenens, et non solum in
diligencia sed in reuerencia et timore, non inflatus, non iracundus, in
omnibus humilis.... (Omnis enim talis indigne ad altare accedit qui
aliquo mortali peccato se maculatum sentit. Ve; qui nondum Deo recon-
ciliatus officium reconciliacionis exercet)'¹ (f. 15″).
The commonplace exhortations which follow are perhaps specially
directed against the rich; nevertheless, the author shows his esoteric
standards when he speaks of the mediocriter boni, qui nec valde
mali sunt nec perfeccioni inherent' (f. 15). He is boldly uncom-
promising Solus namque amor separat bonos a malis. . . . Sed
forte dicit quis: fidem habeo, baptizatus, unum Deum adoro,
simulacra non veneror, quomodo ergo dampnari potero? Non sis
deceptus, quicumque es' (f. 13v). Mirabilis est dulcedo celestis',
he says later, 'qui non conceditur inherenti rebus terrenis' (ff. 15,
16). On this joy he speaks in his own person, in a passage which
seems to show that he hopes to persuade the friend addressed-
priest though he probably is-to become also a hermit:
...
'Quamobrem si vos delectat heremus, ut in solitudine habitetis vel
saltem singulare propositum teneatis iugiter, scitote quoniam in principio
durum laborem habebitis, sed paulatim in amorem Christi crescentes,
ineffabile gaudium inuenietis. . . . Tantum namque gaudium sencio sub
heremitice habitacionis voluntate ut nec volo nec possum id narrare. . . .
Benedictum sit illud nomen heremiticum et illud singulare propositum, in
quo amare disco, iubilare consuesco, saluacionem securus expecto, nullum in
ecclesia ordinem reprehendo, sed solitudinem maxime diligo et laudo' (f.16).
The following suggests the opening of the door' (v. supra, pp. 27,
87).
'O dulce et delicatum gaudium, amare Dei filium. . . . O inestimabilis
electorum gloria, qui, Christo capite ducente, supernas sedes conscendunt,
atque per Christum, cum Christo, et in Christo congratulantes, diuinam
maiestatem sine fine uident. O admirabilis saluatoris felicitas, qua³ inter
angelicos choros merita sorciuntur, et amoris canticum canere non ces-
santes beatam uitam contemplantur' (f. 13).
1 The last two sentences belong to the sections missing in Bodl. 861.
Om. Bodl. MS., but cf. supra, p. 94, n.
3 qui L.


100
EARLY WORKS
With the last quotation should be compared the following, from
other works:
'O quam suaue est gaudium ab omni istius seculi solacio prorsus
destitui, et interius diuine lucis deliciis in mente penetrari! O quam
dulce et delectabile est canticum eterni amoris canere et, celica preso-
nante melodia, contemplando iubilare' (Canticles, f. 143″).
'O quam dulce et delectabile est, immo delectabilius quam excogitare
possumus, consolatorium canticum eterni amoris canere et, celica reso-
nante cythara, contemplando iubilare' (Melum, f. 210V).
O quam delectabile gaudium et delicatum solacium amare Dei filium:
o quam suaue et iocundum' (Contra Amatores Mundi, f. 177).
'For .i. wate na bettere wele. than in my thoght to fele, the life of his
lufynge. of all it is the best .ihū. in hert to fest. and 3erne nane othere
thynge' (English Psalter, p. 215).
'Nihil enim iocundius quam Ihesum canere: nihil delectabilius quam
ipsum audire' (Incendium, p. 216). Dulciorem uoluptatem non cognosco,
quam in corde meo canere tibi, Ihesu, quem diligo, canticum laudis tue.
... Omnium optimum estimo esse Ihesum in corde figere, et aliud nequa-
quam desiderare' (ibid., pp. 275-6).
The set of parallel quotations just made will show that already in
the Judica Rolle had caught the style and sentiments which he was to
use in the most characteristic of his works. The authenticity of the
passage will be upheld, though it is one that is missing in the two
Tanfield MSS. The alliteration and rhyme appearing in other
quotations just made from the Judica will also suggest the later works.
It should be noted that the phrase 'singulare propositum', twice
found, is that used in the Canticles and elsewhere also in the same
context (v. infra, p. 326).
Reminiscences can be pointed out in the group of passages just
quoted to lines from the hymn Jesu Dulcis Memoria (often known as
the Jubilus de Nomine Jesu):
'Bonum mihi diligere
Jesum, nil ultra quaerere..
O beatum incendium,
Amare Dei Filium' (Migne, 184, c. 1318).
In a former article (already cited, supra, p. 21), I have
pointed out that this hymn holds in germ such mysticism as
Richard's. It is very likely that it influenced his early develop-
ment, and strengthened the devotion to the 'Holy Name of Jesus',
to which it was dedicated. Its influence on the Judica would
suggest that by this time he had begun that devotion-a conjecture
to which we are also led by the fact that his devotion here is con-
centrated on the Son, to the total exclusion of the Mother. Though
no explicit exhortations to the cult appear in this work, as in so


JUDICA ME DEUS
ΙΟΙ
many others, stray signs seem to show that he is already practising
the worship of the Holy Name; as in other works, he addresses
'bone Jesu', and the following resembles other exhortations to
absorption in the Name later to be quoted: Nullum tempus in quo
non bona intencione intensi sumus esse non debet, quoniam aut de
Deo cogitemus aut loquamur de illo, vel aliquid utile [scribere seu
orare, et precipue Ihesus],' qui tocius cordis est amor, in tota mente
sempiterna memoria retineatur' (Judica B, ff. 16-17).
JUDICA B 1.
Rolle says of this work in the opening section, which is addressed
to a friend who is a parish priest:
'Verumtamen que vestro statui profutura iam videro, compilare studui.
... Immo etsi vobis et aliis legentibus dignum videatur, sciatis quia de ver-
bis precedencium patrum illud extraxi,et ad utilitatem legencium in quodam
breui compendio redegi, ut quod ego nondum in publico predicando cogor
dicere, saltem vobis ostendam scribendo, qui necessitatem habetis salu-
briter predicare' (f. 16).
He is a youthful hermit, of uncertain position, who already has
met evil-thinking:
'Vobis habenda est discrecio non modica, ne dum circumquaque hunc
libellum indifferenter ostenditis, iuuentutem meam inuidorum dentibus
acerbiter corrodendam exponatis. Nonnulli nempe, cum heremiticam
vitam considerant, me et heremitam non esse impudenter affirmare non
formidant' (ibid.).
After a warning against judging others, exactly in the tone of
Judica A, a general discussion follows of the virtues required in the
clergy, and contemporary priests are bitterly arraigned. This section
is taken almost verbatim from the Pars Oculi, Part II (B. Mus. Roy.
MS. 8. C. ii, ff. 82 sq., passim), usually ascribed to William of Pagula.
The Pars Oculi (in its complete form consisting of the Oculi
Dextrum, Sinistrum, et Cilium) is a manual for the use of the parish
clergy which had an immense circulation in England during the later
Middle Ages, if we may judge by the number of extant manuscripts.
Mr. H. W. C. Davis 2 points out that the author's references to the
pretensions of the orders suggest that he belonged to the ranks of the
secular clergy. 'The bibliographer Bale gives his name as William
de Pagula, says that he was vicar of Winkfield (co. Berks), and dates
him c. 1350. The internal evidence of the work points to a slightly
1 Restored from Bodl. MS. where Laud MS. is worn, except at 'Ihesus',
which is added from the Emmanuel MS. Bodl. MS. inserts (by correction)
'nominis Ihesu' after 'memoria' in the next line.
2 In an article on the Canon Law in England' (Zeitschrift der Savigny-
Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abteilung iii, Weimar, 1913, p. 349).


102
EARLY WORKS
earlier date.... His work therefore belongs to the period 1301-1341.'
We shall see reason for dating the Judica before 1322.
Richard was at
The references quoted from MS. XI may apply to the ultimate
source of both the Judica and the Pars. As far as the relative dates
of Richard Rolle and William de Pagula are concerned, however,
they would not in themselves offer any obstacle to William's author-
ship of a piece which is quoted in a juvenile work of Richard's. The
sections in common are of the sort of which the whole Pars Oculi is
made up, as a complete and authoritative manual, and the Judica is
confessedly an amateurish compilation made by a man very young.
Rolle almost certainly died in his prime, so that in 1349 William of
Pagula may have been a generation older than he.
Oxford probably before 1319, and William was beneficed near
enough to Oxford to be in touch with the University. His surname
is said to be derived from Paull in Holderness (N. & Q., 8th Series,
VIII. 203), and he may therefore be a fellow-Yorkshireman. If he is
the author of the manual, therefore, nothing known concerning him
is an obstacle to the theory that Rolle borrowed from his manual for
the Judica. We cannot, however, be sure of the origin of the
Pars. There has been some confusion between William and an
earlier bishop of Meaux of similar name (see D. N. B., William de
Pagula) it has also been noted in the Catalogue of the Royal MSS.
in the British Museum that the incipit given by Boston of Bury for
William's work belongs only to the third book. Tanner adds to the
confusion about this writer by quoting (p. 570) an ‘antiqua nota' in
Lambeth MS. 124, which cannot be traced.¹ William's name does
not occur in any manuscript accessible, but the Catalogue of Syon
Monastery gives it with the work. The early date of composition
necessary if this is the source of Rolle's Judica is upheld by the
many 14th-century manuscripts, and particularly by Bodl. Rawl. MS.
C. 84 (early 14th cent.). The confusion as to the authorship,
therefore, does not greatly concern the present investigation.
Since a great part of Judica B 1 merely copies the Pars Ocult, the
traces of Rolle's peculiar style and doctrine are naturally very few.
This is in any case a very short section, which is doubtless intended
as an introduction to the manual (Judica B) as a whole.
The following suggest Rolle's other works:
'Si amoris diuini dulcedinem sentire cupitis, oportet profecto ut totum
cor vestrum ad querendum Christum prebeatis. . . . Unde et sciendum est
1 I wish to thank the Rev. C. Jenkins, librarian of Lambeth Palace, for
assistance in connexion with this note.


JUDICA ME DEUS
103
quod amor Christi cum magno labore, magnaque spirituali exercitacione,
videlicet per iuges oraciones et deuotas meditaciones menti fideli adquiri-
tur, et in magno gaudio, cum quis amorem eius habuerit, possidetur.
Distat ergo inter amorem Dei et amorem [mundi; nam in principio amor]¹
mundi ad modum suum dulcessit, sed in fine amarissimus est. Amor
vero Christi in inicio pro penitencia nos cogit amarescere, sed paulatim
in nobis crescens mirabili leticia nos facit habundare' (ff. 16-17).
A touch of mysticism also appears in the conclusion (v. supra, p. 93).
These passages, together with the author's description of himself
as a hermit, give internal evidence of Rolle's authorship: though
they do not refer to the details of mysticism as Rolle later knew it,
they give his general conception of the love of God as a joyful
personal experience.
JUDICA B 2.
This section is a systematic manual for the use of the parish priest
in confession, and it follows word for word, with some abridgements,
what we also find in the Pars Oculi (Part I, ff. 52b sq.). One
expansion occurs, which is very characteristic of Rolle. The subject
of preaching in Lent is shortly disposed of in the Pars: Verum-
ptamen si sacerdos pro breuitate temporis et multitudine penitencium
non possit huiusmodi cuilibet singulariter proponere, tunc in principio
XLe debet publice ea predicare' (f. 53). Rolle adds to this (given
in the second person) the following:
'...et facere eis sermonem in generali de vera contricione et confessione
et satisfaccione et quod debent ieiunare in munda vita, quia aliter forsitan
non proderit eis multum vel nichil suum ieiunium, ut in sequentibus
patebit. Quod utile est ad predicandum: et illud ewangelium: Ductus
est Ihesus in desertum (Mat. iv. 1); et hanc epistolam: Si linguis
hominum loquar et angelorum (1 Cor. xiii. 1). Et debetis exponere eis
ewangelium et epistolas prout uobis Deus dederit scienciam et noticiam
celestium secretorum. Sed reuertamur iterum ad primum propositum'
(f. 18).
The last words prove that Richard is here digressing from his
source. The whole interpolation shows his hand: he is eager to
preach on texts urging love and solitude even to simple parishioners,
he seeks celestial secrets in the Scriptures, and, as in all his later,
more original manuals, he insists on the heart's being the only
guarantee of virtue. He says of shrift in his English Psalter: 'If we
1 Restored from Burney MS. 356 where MS. Laud is worn at the corner.
Part of the first word is just legible and seems to be 'proximi', showing that
Laud was corrupt at this point.


104
EARLY WORKS
shrife vs clene with sorow of hert, we sall lepe out of the deuels
chekis' (p. 241), and the emphasis in this sentence can be under-
stood by quoting from the English manuals, as :
'Bot if a man do penance, it es a signe þat he lufes god: bot par-
fore lufes he hym noght.... Na thyng þat I do with-owten, proues pat I
lufe god. Wharfore luf es in will, verrally, noght in warke bot als a signe
of lufe' (Form of Living, p. 38); 'And for-þi seke mare to lufe hym, þan
to do any penance' (Commandment, p. 64).
To Richard, from his earliest days, the outward sacrament evidently
meant little when the emotion of the heart was lacking.
On the possibility of Richard's writing Lenten sermons—as to
which the interpolation here seems to hint that he felt an interest,
v. infra, p. 422.
JUDICA B 3.
This is a sermon on the Last Judgement, addressed to 'fratres'.
No explanation is given for the sudden change of tone which it
brings, but we realize that it is added as a model sermon to assist
the priest in his preaching, when we find that it is taken practically
verbatim from the section of the Pars Oculi which is headed: 'Nunc
videndum est de hiis que presbyter debet predicare subditis suis'
(f. 87). The opening of Rolle's piece will be found in the middle
of a sentence of the Pars. He has throughout abridged considerably
the material which he has chosen, but he has also made the two
following additions, which are both highly characteristic: 'Qui hic
Deum ardencius diligunt, ibi Deo propiores et maiori gloria et lumine
perfusos eternaliter erunt' (f. 21): Debemus et hic laudes eterni
amoris canticum personantes, ut eternaliter mereamur iubilare'
(f. 22). Analogues for the latter sentence have already been quoted—
with the former may be compared: 'Quanto enim quis caritate
plenior fuerit, tanto in celesti regno honorabilior et sublimior erit'
(Contra Amatores Mundi, f. 179); 'Qui enim amplius amat,
superior in regno constituitur' (Incendium, p. 214); 'Quanto vero
quis in amore Christi in hoc praesenti seculo iucundior & feruentior
fuerit, tanto in resurrectione imo & sine fine gloriosior & sublimior
erit' (Commentary on the Apostles' Creed, fol. 35). It is a sign that
Rolle is borrowing that Judica B 3 contains several patristic citations
(derived from the Pars).
1
1 Here Burney MS. adds: 'in mentibus nostris suauiter canere ut ibi in
gaudio Dei nostri amoris'. This suggests Rolle, though additions found
earlier in this copy do not.


JUDICA ME DEUS
105
Three exempla follow the sermon on the Last Judgement with the
same inconsequence with which the sermon followed the directions
for confession: probably they are also introduced for the parish
priest to use in his sermons. It is perhaps significant of some
continuity being intended by Rolle to run through the whole of the
Judica that just as the Last Judgement has been chosen as the
subject of the model sermon, so all three exempla here given bring
back the subject to the 'judgement of God', with which Judica A
had begun. All relate how some one who died with every promise
of salvation according to the judgement of men turned out to be
damned one is lost because in spite of the rites of the Church he
did not feel contrition; one for keeping what had come to him by
fraud, though at the same time making much of his good acts; one
for doing good for the sake of the appearance before men. Each is
quoted from an authority, with a moral following, and in the case of
the first the moral is that the heart should be poured out like water-
which links it with Judica B 2, where that exact admonition is given.
Probably Judica A and B circulate together because they were
both written for the same friend: they do not easily coalesce. It
will be seen that those manuscripts that entitle this work 'De Judicio
Dei' have seized upon the only thread of connexion that can be
made between the parts of this work—and even so, Judica B 2 hardly
comes into the group. Such a subject is one which we see from
other works would be very congenial to Rolle. Even the material
details of the Last Judgement, such as are recounted in Judica B 3,
were not repellent to this preacher of love, as the following from the
Canticles will show: 'Sancti igitur non solum reprobis in iudicio non
compaciuntur, set et diffinitiue sentencie eterne damnacionis illorum
delectantur, set eciam cum viderint superbos et elatos, qui in hac
vita magnos et gloriosos se fuisse gratulabantur, diris infernalium
exactorum instrumentis circumquaque opprimi, nulli dubium quin
vehementer merentur letari' (f. 144). The question of the judge-
With this should be compared the following, from a recent review on
" Revolutionary New England': 'He (Jonathan Edwards) actually depicted
himself and his fellow-ministers as "Saints" sitting by the side of Christ as
assessors at the Last Judgement, sentencing their own people and exulting at
their torments in hell. "How joyfully will they (the Saints) sing to God and
the Lamb when they behold this", is Edwards's conclusion to passages which,
in lurid horror, can have few parallels in theological literature' (Times Literary
Supplement, June 26, 1924). Rolle also believed that the saints' would be
judges (v. infra, pp. 119, 155).
H


106
EARLY WORKS
...
ment of God in the case of individuals was a subject of very special
interest to him, for it touched his own life. He says: Certes, mi
hert, whethir it lufe my god or noght, wate na man bot god. . . . For
I had it bot foly to deme a mans hert, þat nane knawes bot god'
(Form, pp. 39, 37). Similar sentiments are repeated often and
probably mean in part that he sought in them protection from
criticism of his own way of life, which was often unconventional.
'Occultum quippe est iudicium Dei' (Incendium, p. 153, cf. Ego
Dormio, p. 54; Job, fol. cix; English Psalter, p. 26-the exposition
of the psalm Judica me deus-pp. 34, 45, 257; Emendatio, fol. IIV).
'Igitur nosmetipsos sollicite consideremus ne alios temere iudice-
mus' he says in the Canticles (f. 151), and in the same work he
prophesies the discomfiture of the hypocrite in words for which his
exempla quoted in the Judica would furnish the exact illustration:
'Vanus autem in mente et coopertus similitudine sanctitatis aperte
monstrabitur ypocrita' (f. 144); Set quoniam nulla bona nec
magna opera sine amore Dei prodesse poterunt, proculdubio qui
caritatem veram non habent, quicquid habuerint dampnati erunt.
Hinc miro et occulto iudicio agitur ut nonnunquam nichil exterius
operans coram Deo in futuro sublimiter coronetur' (f. 146). Rolle
seems to have been a man of great loyalty of mind—if such a phrase
can be used to describe the consistency with which he repeated the
same sentiments from the beginning to the end of his works. His
present bliss never in any way diminished his joyful longing for the
fuller measure which he was to receive, and evidently one of the
special satisfactions to which he looked forward in the future state
was the disclosure of the secret judgement of God, by which all
sorts of positions and values, as the world saw them, were to be
reversed: 'Pauperes vero seculi, diuites sunt celi', etc., he says in the
Canticles (f. 144). This and other works depict the future bliss of
the saints with confident rapture, and through his persecutions the
expectation of the 'judgement of God' would seem to have been his
comfort.
The opening of Judica A as far as it discusses personal matters
will be quoted in connexion with Rolle's life (infra, p. 460), but it
should be noted now that most of the manuscripts continue here with
a prophecy of the end of the world, as follows:
'Nescitis enim que geruntur in mente, quamquam cernitis hominem
ambulantem in carne; unde nec laudes secularium cupio, nec illorum
maliciam pertimesco. Veniet dies, ecce prope est, veniet, inquam, dies
et non tardabit, in qua nos omnes non solum [de] factis et dictis, sed etiam


JUDICA ME DEUS
107
de cogitacionibus ante tribunal Christi reddemus racionem. O quam
felix, qui tunc stare poterit ad videndum Christum!' (f. 13).
The last two sentences are omitted in the two Tanfield MSS., along
with a good deal more, some of which is quoted supra, p. 99, and
will be seen to suggest Rolle strongly. The following, which
reinforces the reference to the end of the world, is also omitted in
the Bodl. MS., at least:
'Tot passibus ad infernum properat, quot malis actibus obedire non
formidat; et quidem properat in istis temporibus, in quibus deueniunt
fines temporum. Maxime superbi regnant, ypocrite president, homicide
dominantur, fornicatores sublimantur, auari diuicias et dignitates adqui-
runt, iracund[i] et inuidi se preponunt, ut vix unus inuenitur qui dolum non
sequitur...' (f. 13º).
Such laments were common in medieval works, but that does not
prove that they did not sometimes bear a special meaning. We
know that Rolle in his early life lived in a particularly troubled
world, and it is therefore not likely to be altogether without con-
temporary significance that references like those just quoted are (so
far as I have observed) found in his early prose works, in the
Canticles, and nowhere else, unless some such references may be
embedded in the Psalters. The fact that the two laments quoted
from the Judica are not found in the two manuscripts of special
authority does not, as we have seen, make it any the less probable that
they are genuine, since other passages here omitted seem to be
genuine. If we are to imagine that the material here omitted was
added at the time Judica A and B were combined, that cannot date
their composition much later, for Judica B is also a work of extreme
youth, and reminiscences which it gives of Judica A would suggest
a close connexion.
The Judica is one of the least characteristic of Rolle's works, yet
its authenticity, which is supported by strong external evidence, has
been illustrated by internal evidence almost equally strong. Both
in Judica A and in Judica B 1 the author declares himself a hermit;
and the motive for writing both of these compositions can be con-
nected with what we know of the life of Richard Hermit. Judica A
is written on the occasion when the author has caused scandal by
changing his cell, and it would seem that the Incendium (chapter 15),
in a critical passage to be quoted, refers to the incident in question.
1 A similar passage is however to be found in the Apocalypse, perhaps also
early (v. infra, p. 155).
H 2


108
EARLY WORKS
Evidence that Richard's changes of cell brought him criticism may
also be drawn from the Office (p. 39), where an apology is given
on the subject.
The motive for writing Judica B (in all its parts) is not personal,
but the general desire to improve the efficiency of the pastoral office
Here we have a motive which lies outside mysticism, yet we have
other evidence that it was one which Rolle felt strongly in his early
years. The two other prose works belonging to the present group of
early works both attack the vices of the parish clergy at length, in
strong language. Richard's first patron-who maintained' him at
Oxford - - was Thomas de Neville (son of the lord of Raby, and
afterwards archdeacon of Durham), a pluralist whose high family
connexions brought him a fortune from his ecclesiastical career:
perhaps Rolle's connexion with Neville gave him a special indignation
on the subject of the neglect of the pastoral office. The other
writings-except the Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah-
do not linger on this question, but in most of Rolle's works, in spite
of their mysticism, there is a good deal of preaching on simple,
practical subjects-love of riches and of dress, marriage, and the
like-which could reach an ordinary parochial audience (the treatise
Contra Amatores Mundi should specially be noted in this connexion).
The fact that (as the Office tells us) Richard's first act as a hermit
was to preach in a parish church, and that his sermon at this time
was of the utmost eloquence, may give us a hint that at the time of
his 'conversion' he even felt drawn to preach himself to the people,
as well as to contemplate in solitude. Judica B, as we have seen,
tells us that he is writing for the use of his friend in preaching,
because he himself 'is not yet allowed to preach'. At this time,
evidently, he still hoped to fulfil the offices both of the preacher and
of the mystic, but by the time of the Melum he has found out that
they are incompatible (v. infra, p. 149). The same work tells us
that he is forbidden to preach by ecclesiastical authority, and thus
the interest which inspired the Judica B was checked from developing
further, both from within and from without. We are given good
reason for the isolation of this work among Rolle's writings.
In the mystical passages quoted from the Judica, the song of
love' is the only attribute of ecstasy echoed. This was a common-
place in England long before Rolle's time, and here it refers to
1 Middendorff (pp. 14-16) quotes a selection of the passages against the
clergy found in the edition of 1536.
2 Romanic Review, loc. cit., p. 161.


JUDICA ME DEUS
109
life after death. We have already seen that something very like
'heat, sweetness, and song' accompany his love for the Virgin in his
juvenile Canticum Amoris, where certainly they did not represent
sensuous experience. Rolle himself tells us in the Incendium :
'Porro, ut potui in scripturis perscrutari, inueni et cognoui quidem
quod summus amor Christi in tribus consistit: in feruore, in canore,
et in dulcore' (p. 184). Thus we have a confession from him that
the form of ecstasy which he later felt sensuously he first learned
academically. The Canticum Amoris evidently represents the period
when traditional images of the mystic were working on his sub-
consciousness, though the final direction of his devotion was not yet
given. By the time of the Judica he has 'found Jesus', and
entered mystic joy, but it is still inchoate and inarticulate. A quota-
tion made above (p. 99) suggests the period of the opening of the
door', between two and three years after his conversion, described in
chapter 15 of the Incendium: the hermit yearns for 'angels' song',
but the operation of suggestion has not been completed, and the
traditional images of the mystic become incarnate. The contrast
with the explicit assertiveness of the mystical passages in the Melum,
the work next to be considered, is extreme.
In considering the dates of Rolle's early life, we are given anchorage
by the Office, which states that he returned from Oxford at the
age of eighteen, and by the account of his early development given
in chapter 15 of the Incendium, which tells us that he reached the
'opening of the door', which apparently gave the final direction
to his love, three years, less three or four months, after his con-
version. It was almost another year before he felt 'heat', which
came to him when he was sitting in 'quadam capella'. Nine
months and some weeks later he was sitting 'in eadem capella'
when he heard for the first time 'canor'. In his summing-up
(p. 190) he tell us that thus his progress from conversion to his
complete mystic joy took 'quattuor annos et circa tres menses'.
The Office, which says that he returned from Oxford at eighteen, does
not specifically date his running away as a hermit further than to
set it many weeks after the end of term (v. infra, p. 448). The
Incendium opens chapter 15 by dating his conversion 'Cum infeliciter
florerem et iuuentus uigilantis adolescencie iam aduenisset' (p. 187).¹
1 These words would imply that he used 'juventus' and 'adolescentia '
interchangeably, which was not the usual custom. Other passages in which he
uses 'juvenis' would also suggest the same age as if he had used 'adolescens'
(v. infra, p. 125, and supra, p. 90). Dom Noetinger (Month, p. 3) interprets


110
EARLY WORKS
Rolle was a writer of idiosyncrasy, and we must seek to understand
his meaning without much reference to usage. The passage in
question cannot be taken as giving any precise information as to the
age described, but the use of 'adolescentia 'at least suggests that the
upper limits of age sometimes indicated by 'juventus' cannot be in
question. Rolle apparently means to say that he became a hermit
when a man distinctly young, which might apply to his age at
eighteen or even a little later (if he did not become a hermit at
once on his return home). We can in any case take it that he was
no younger than eighteen when he began mystical experience.
This, he tells us, was consummated four years and three months
after his conversion, which therefore must have been when he was at
least twenty-two or three. A period of vague joys came about
the time of the 'opening of the door' a year and a half earlier, that
is, when he was at least between twenty and twenty-one.
This stage
lasted at least a year, and it was in this interval when we believe that
the Judica was written. In other words, we seem to have good
evidence that it was written when he was twenty, or a year or two
later. We must allow a margin, in case his conversion be dated
after eighteen, and because the Judica may have been written just
before the actual opening of the door' (then near).
Since Rolle received the endowment of 'calor' and of 'canor'
when sitting in the same chapel, it is likely that he was living in the
same place and certain that he was in the same neighbourhood
during approximately the last year of his initiation. This is not
likely, however, to be the scene of his first experience as a hermit,
for in chapter 15 of the Incendium, after discussing his conversion
and before describing his growth of joy, he goes on:
'Solebam profecto quietem querere, quamuis de uno loco ad alium
transire. Cellas namque deserere ex racionabili causa malum non est
heremitis, et iterum ad easdem, si congruum uideatur, redire... Mali
uero malum loquuntur ... Hoc cognoui quod quanto magis contra me
uerbis detractoriis homines insanierunt, tanto amplius in profectu spirituali
succreui. Nam eos pessimos detractores habui, quos prius amicos fidos
putaui. Denique non cessaui ab hiis que utilia erant anime mee propter
uerba illorum, immo exercui studium et semper inueni Deum fauentem.
Recolui quod scriptum est: Maledicent illi et tu benedices, etc. (Ps.
the former as 'the prime of manhood' (thirty to forty), the latter as fifteen to
thirty. This usage is registered in Lewis and Short's dictionary, but no scholar
experienced in medieval Latin with whom I have spoken would agree thus to
fix the limits. Probably juventus' should be interpreted according to the
context, and might be anything between fifteen and forty (v. infra, p. 539).
"


JUDICA ME DEUS
III
cviii. 28). Et per processus temporum datus est mihi profectus spiritu-
alium gaudiorum. Ab inicio,' etc. (p. 188).
The account of the growth of joy then follows (v. supra, p. 27).
This passage would hint that Rolle changed his cell and incurred
criticism for so doing early in his hermit's life. The position in the
narrative would put the incident before the completion (at least)
of his mystical development, and the remark that the complaints
of his detractors were not able to check his growth in spiritual joys
would hint that it came midway in the process. Since the Judica
seems to refer to a first change of cell (or at least to the first change
of cell which had occasioned hostile comment), it is likely that
the one implied in chapter 15 of the Incendium is that for which
Judica A gives the contemporaneous apology. This conjecture
receives confirmation from the character of the mystical references
in the Judica, which have been seen to be such as would suit the
early change of cell apparently implied in the Incendium.
When we discuss the details of Rolle's life, it will be seen that
1322 was a momentous date in the world in which he was then
living. His first patron as a hermit (John Dalton) was (according
to an identification almost certain) in the early months of that year
involved in the rebellion of Thomas of Lancaster, imprisoned, heavily
fined, and deprived permanently of all the important offices which
he had held for many years. Most of the neighbouring gentry were
also punished, and some were executed. In the opening of the
Judica (to be quoted infra, p. 460) Rolle says in explanation of
his change of cell: 'They were changed towards me (quantum ad
me) who were accustomed to minister to me.' This probably refers
to the Daltons, who, as the Office tells us, promised him support
immediately on his taking up the hermit's life. In the early Melum
Rolle is eloquent on the unfeeling neglect which he has suffered
from patrons, who supplied him with mouldy bread and insufficient
covering and feasted while he was deprived of the necessities of
life (v. infra, p. 121). It is likely that these were the Daltons, for
it will later be shown that there is historical evidence that John
Dalton was high-handed and grasping, and in more than one instance
was guilty of exploiting the poor for mercenary ends. It is not
likely that he would treat the young hermit generously. Every-
thing considered, it is highly probable that the Melum in the
passage in question is reverting with explicit details to events which
are the occasion of writing the Judica, but which (since the author is
young and diffident) are there referred to in general terms. The


112
EARLY WORKS
reference in the Judica as to the change 'quantum ad me' would
imply that it was personal matters that had separated him from
his patrons. There is no indication that external events had any
share in the change, yet if the piece had been written after 1322
it would hardly seem likely that it should not have echoed the
tremendous happenings which shook all Rolle's world in the spring
of that year, and especially the family of his first patron.
The Melum, as we shall see (infra, pp. 123-4), seems to be
occasioned by a feud with monkish adversaries: this bitter, far-
reaching quarrel has apparently not broken out at the time when the
Judica is written, for (though such references recur in several later
works than the Melum) here there is no mention of monks or of their
pretensions. In the Melum the whole impression given is one of
tumult in the outside world, not only affecting the young hermit himself
(though his affairs are most troublous). The Judica, as we have seen,
prophesies the end of the world, and later it goes on to castigate
the worldly, with lamentations over modern degeneracy. There is,
however, nothing pointed or personal about these passages, though
the motive in writing the work is personal. If Rolle's patrons had
at this time suffered the worldly rebuff which they did in 1322, we
can imagine that he would have triumphantly brought forward the
fact in the Melum he more than once gives us to understand that
his enemies have met ignominy at the very time when they were perse-
cuting him (v. infra, pp. 123, 484 sq.). Since no hint is given in
the Judica of divine rebukes (as it were) delivered on his behalf, we can
most plausibly conclude that the general disorders of the time are in
question, but that the special events which tore Rolle's world in 1322,
from March on, had not yet come to pass.
In the preceding discussion three considerations have entered, not
all of equal validity. There is, first, the age at which Rolle felt his
period of vague mystic joy, which is certain, as drawn from his own
account. There is, second, the assignment to this period of the
mystical references of the Judica, which is as near certain as anything
not explicitly stated by Rolle can be. There is, third, the hypothesis
that the silence as to external disasters shown by the Judica indicates
that these disasters had not taken place, whic is only a hypothesis,
but (considering the analogy of the Melum) a very likely one. If
all three considerations could be accepted as absolutely reliable
we should have the Judica dated as before 1322, and in the twenty-
first year of Rolle's life, or, since in all dates in question a margin
of some months enters, a year or two later. Rolle's birth would


JUDICA ME DEUS
113
then be fixed at c. 1300, that is, possibly a year or two before 1300,
but hardly later. We shall see, in discussing the ages of Rolle's
contemporaries, that the margin on the other side of 1300 possible
for his date of birth must be a narrow one. Evidence to the same
purpose seems also to lie in the fact that after the Judica Rolle
signed himself as a youth in two long, very dissimilar works probably
written c. 1326-30.
MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
The Melum Contemplativorum is an exuberant treatise in poetical
prose describing the author's mysticism.
The quotations from the Melum are made from Corpus Christi
Oxf. MS. 193 (cited as C) collated with Sloane MS. 2275.
Beg.: Amor utique audacem efficit animum, quem arripit ab ymis,
dum eterni auctoris incendium amicam inflammat' (f. 206).
Ends: Amorem et odium utrumque ostendi, et puer nunc pro-
pero ad finem felicem, nam pene perfudi gressus grauantes, ut calcans
contagium in cantico consummer. Caritatem carissimam cunctis
commendo. Amen' (f. 251V).
The title given to the treatise in the present study is that used by
Horstmann and found in a slight majority of the manuscripts. It
will be seen below, however, that the title Melos (in various forms)
has as good manuscript authority as the one here used. 'Melos
amoris' is often used by Rolle in the treatise and in other writings
to describe his mystic joy, and 'melum' is less common.
following quotations, however, show (as Horstmann pointed out)
that the author used as principal title that of the Book of the glory
and perfection of the saints:
The
'Ad pretacta plenius explananda propero ut, inspirante spiritu qui pre-
bet potenciam, de gloria et perfeccione sanctorum precellencium postillas
proferam que piis placeant' (Melum, f. 209). 'Sed quaerite de hac materia
in libello de vita eremitarum, etiam & in libro de perfectione & gloria
sanctorum, quia ibi inuenietis de eminentia sanctitatis' (Job, fol. xcix").
Possibly the fact that the title Book of the glory and perfection of
the saints is never found in the manuscripts, though they are fairly
consistent in giving the titles Melos and Melum, means that the
author circulated those titles as headings, though using the other
in the text. Probably he sometimes made several autographs for
different disciples (v. infra, p. 169), and it would be like him


114
EARLY WORKS
to repeat his title with slight variations. The autograph in the
possession of Syon Monastery seems to have been entitled 'Melos
contemplacionis' (a title not found in any extant copy).
It will be seen in the subjoined list of manuscripts that the
numbering of the chapters of the Melum varies, though within narrow
limits. New chapters are often marked by scriptural texts or
a change of subject, and the reference to the work as 'postils', above
quoted, should be taken in connexion with the following: Reuolue
et recole postillam precedentem' (f. 238); 'In precedente capitulo
dixerat dilectus quod amicam suam duceret in solitudinem' (f. 242).
The author evidently wrote his work in chapters.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 861. No ascription (v. supra, p. 26).
•
II. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 206-51, early 15th cent. 'Ex-
plicit melum contemplatiuorum ardencium in amore dei. R. H.'
Fifty-seven chapters. See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps.,
O. D., S. A., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Judica.
III. Lincoln Coll. 89, ff. 1-25, 15th cent. Chapters 4-56 only,
with theological annotations (hardly legible).
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
IV. Emmanuel Coll. 35, ff. 194-238b, 15th cent. (before 1414).
'Hampole in libro qui vocatur Melum amoris.' Extracts only,
partly corrected (by John Newton?) and with the chapter-numbers
supplied. The extra last chapter noted below (v. MS. V) is included.
The marginal note occurs 'De penuria quam interdum passus est
iste (?) sanctus Ricardus' (f. 211b). See Cant., Incend., Judica, Mul.
Fort., O. D., Contra Am. M.
'Incipit tractatus
V. St. John's Coll. 23, ff. 41-161, 15th cent.
venerabilis Ricardi heremite de Ampullis qui uocatur Melos contempla-
tiuorum.' In the initial a hermit (?) with grey beard sits in a sort of
tub, with a book and large beads. He wears a russet cowl, grey
under-tunic, and white vest. A short extra chapter follows the usual
ending (here numbered as chapter 52). This is made up of sentences
from chapters 2-5 of the Incendium, and it is found separate
(anonymously) between two works ascribed to Rolle in the Castle
Howard MS. (v. infra, p. 217). It refers to the 'calor, dulcor, et
canor', and with it the Melum ends with a conclusion similar to


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
115
those of the Incendium and the Canticles, both of which mention the
three elements of ecstasy in their last paragraph. See Incend., Judica.
OTHER MSS.
...
VI. B. Mus. Sloane 2275, ff. 1-52, 14th-15th cent. 'Incipit melos
amoris deuotissimi Ricardi heremite. . . . Explicit melos Amoris.'
The usual text, divided into fifty-eight chapters. A corrector, 'Mertth',
has worked on this manuscript. See Contra Am. M., Incend., Job,
E. V., Stim. Consc.
VII. Douay 396. Extracts ascribed to Rolle (v. supra, p. 38).
VIII. Trin. Coll. Dublin 159, ff. I sq., 15th cent. 'Incipit
tractatus beati Ricardi heremite qui dicitur Melos amoris.' The extra
chapter follows at the end here as in MS. V. See Quot.
IX. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. A second hand has
written in the margin: Hic incipit iiiir. . . de melis angelicis, et
faciatis bonum spacium' (v. supra, p. 27). The usual text, divided
into fifty-eight chapters. See Lat. Ps., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend.,
Cant., Magn., Apoc.
X. Lincoln Cath. 209 (II), ff. I sq., late 14th cent. Defective
at the beginning. Explicit melos amoris.' A medieval table of
contents gives: 'Ricardi melos amoris.' The handwriting in this
work is not the same as that in the first part (John Wodeburgh's).
See Office, Contra Am. M., Job, 20th Ps.
XI. Trier (Stadtbibl.) 685, ff. 147-147, 15th cent. 'Liber domus
sancti Albani iuxta treuerim ordinis Cartus.' 'Rich. hampol quod
pre omnibus optimum est amare deum. .. A fragment of the
Melum, f. 234, which extols the state of contemplative men. Written
at the Charterhouse of Ruremonde, where lived 'the Ecstatic Doctor'
Denis. See Incend., Contra Am. M., Spur.
Incipit Melum
Ricardus heremita.'
XII. Upsala Univ. C. 1, ff. 34-80, late 14th cent.
contemplatiuorum ardencium in amorem dei.
'Liber monasterii sancte marie uirginis in Wazsteno' (f. 229).
Forty-nine chapters marked, with a marginal note before chapter 43:
'hic deficiunt 8 (?) capitula.' The usual end. See Incend.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. MS. 194 and Harl. MS. 2439 give with
Rolle's name a part of the passage from the Melum as to his love for
the Virgin (already quoted). A compilation in the Heneage MS., to
which Rolle's name is attached, gives extracts from the Melum (anti-


116
EARLY WORKS
clerical). Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. 277 (Lollard) quotes 'Ricardus
hampule in libro vocato Melum co viio contra pastores' (a violent
attack on the clergy). Selections from the Melum make part of the
last section of the compilation on the Name of Jesus from Rolle's
writings in MS. Kk. vi. 20.
The academic consideration to which Rolle's extravagant Melum
finally attained is attested by the existence of part of a glossary in
Dd. v. 64 (II), early 15th cent. (ff. 84-5), headed as follows: 'Hic
incipiunt uerba difficilia per diuersos doctores exposita que continen-
tur in libro qui vocatur melum R. heremite.' Everything after the
letter D is torn out in the complete manuscript the Melum itself
doubtless followed. This is now bound with the important Northern
MS. from which Horstmann printed the English epistles. In the
17th century it was in York. See E. V., O. D., Incend., Form,
Command., Ego D., Miscell., and infra, p. 407.
The brothers' library at Syon Monastery owned the autograph of
this work. A'Melum' by 'John hampole' is cited as at Leicester
Abbey. In 1440 Robert Alne, an official of York Chapter, willed to
the library of Cambridge University a 'Melos' with Rolle's name,
which had belonged to Master Thomas de Hebbeden, a Yorkshire-
man at the episcopal court of Durham. A list of books in the
University Library at Cambridge notes with Rolle's name 'Melum
contemplatiuorum' as given by Alne. A volume once at the London
Charterhouse contained extracts from Rolle's 'melos Amoris'; which
Boston of Bury (c.1410) cites as at Bury. The same work is probably
the 'De glorificatione sanctorum' which he notes without assigning
to a library. Leland saw in the Carmelites' library, London,
'Carmen Rhythmicum nomine Melum'. Bale and Pits repeat
Boston's second title, without connecting it with any extant work:
the work was probably not seen from the time of Leland till that
of Horstmann-who quoted from it largely, and gave it its true
importance in Rolle's bibliography.
The Melum Contemplativorum is the most individual of Richard
Rolle's writings, both in subject-matter and in style, and his author-
ship could be proved from almost every page. His reference to it in
the Job (v. supra, p. 113) would in any case put his authorship beyond
doubt, for the Job is concluded by a rhymed signature similar to that
attached to the Canticum Amoris. It has been seen that the manu-
script testimony for his authorship is very strong, and the autobio-
graphical references to be discussed agree with what we know of his


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
II7
life from the Office and from other works. Though his authorship of
the Melum need not be proved, yet evidence should be given of the
consistency of this work with the style and subject-matter of Rolle
in the Commentary on the Canticles.
The author clearly states his message, profession, age, and purpose in
writing, in the opening chapter; and he hints at a conflict with monks:
'Amor utique audacem efficit animum,' quem arripit ab ymis, dum
eterni auctoris incendium amicam inflammat, et suscipit in sublimitatem
supra sophiam secularem, ut non senciat nisi sanctitatem. Urget igitur
amoris habundancia et audeo aperire eloquium ad informacionem aliorum,
ostendens altitudinem amancium ardentissime iusticiamque iubilancium
iocunde in Ihesu, ac caritatem canencium in conformitate celica, necnon
et claritudinem conscienciarum capacium increati caloris et delectacionis
indeficientis. Quatinus quisque comperiens quomodo conditor iuuencu-
lum in germen gesserit iudicii non dicat deinceps quia non dignatur Deus
indulcorare homines in hoc mundo nec magnificare modernos in melli-
phona multitudine, sicut solebat sanctos qui antiquitus ambulabant....
Siquidem superuenit spiritus spirans a patre pietatis et subito submisit ut
in solitudinem me separarem a solacio seculari. Deinde mentem tam
mirifice mutauit a merore in melos, quod metuo 2 monstrare munus et
multiplicare magnificenciam, ne multiloquium me minuerit. Attamen
inter hec alii in habitu obedienciariorum michi apparuerunt in argumentis
quod ardencius amant quam aliquis inter eos non assumptus, et maioris
meriti coram magestate mittunt munificenciam. Quippe non cognoue-
runt qualiter cucurri et a contenciosa conticui collocucione, contineri
cupiens in hoc quod creator michi copulauit. . . . Liquide loquor, non timeo
temptantes, nam tales in turbine trucidabuntur. Silere non scio, sic
caritas me cogit, ut cuncti cognoscant quod capax consisto cantabilis
clamoris, et sonum suscipio celicum insignem, dum discedere dilexi a
diuitum dolore et sancte subsistere solitarie sedendo, canens et calidus,
ac iubilans iugiter' (f. 206).
In the long treatise which follows the lines just quoted, the author
returns again and again to the subject of his life of contemplation as
a hermit, and the miraculous joy which it brings him. He expresses
the same meaning over and over with changes of diction and of
imagery, and he would seem to have rifled for his purposes the
whole medieval Latin vocabulary, as well as all the resources of
1 Cf. Jesu Dulcis Memoria:
'Cum digne loqui nequeam
De te, tamen non sileam;
Amor facit ut audeam,
Cum de te solum gaudeam.'
And supra, p. 71, infra, p. 199.
2 nemo C.
3 meminerit C.
✦ subsisterem C. subsissem S.


118
EARLY WORKS
poetical ornament. It is the most important and individual of
Richard's compositions, but extraordinarily monotonous. Though
its eccentricities (which have been illustrated) were never fully
reproduced, even by Rolle, it was probably none the less influential
in its time. One is inclined to believe that it is the most extreme
example of 'polyphonic prose' ever attempted:¹ no modern example
can hope to approach it for boldness, for it was composed in Latin
(which offered unique opportunities for rhyme and assonance) in the
fourteenth century, when in England the native instinct for alliteration
was again stirring and gave a new motive for barbarously sacking the
rich vocabulary at the disposal of the medieval neo-Latinist. Its
mystical subject-matter gave the congruous material for such a style,
for ecstasy often shows an affinity for rhythm. The later Middle
Ages, as we have seen, knew a whole philosophy of rhetoric, of which
we are only beginning to catch glimpses, and the place in it which
belongs to a rhythmical piece like the Melum is of interest at the
present time, when some of the tendencies which it represents are
again current.
Though in this early work Rolle makes no explicit analysis of his
ecstasy into three attributes, as in some others, one or all are usually
implicit in the descriptions of mystical joy which make up the
greater part of the treatise. The devotion to the Holy Name of
Jesus is also not often explicitly mentioned, but the iubilans in
Ihesu' appears in the first chapter already quoted, and other implicit
expressions of the cult are common. Some direct mentions of the
devotion also occur, as:
'Nonnulli, quia nequeunt in iubilo gestari et nodantur nequaquam
· nominis in nexu, quod fixos inflammat in fide factoris, non credunt quod
capior ad carmen canorum, aut scriberem constanter in modo mirabili de
cantu caritatis' (f. 222). 'Inter omnes habundans amore in dono
dulcissimo, auctorem aspexi, nudatus nequaquam a nomine quod noui,
Thesum in iubilo scilicet suaui senciens, sublatus celitus in summa' (f. 230).
1 The modern experiment in free verse is brilliantly discussed in Professor
J. L. Lowes's Convention and Revolt in English Poetry (Boston, 1919), where he
quotes Miss Amy Lowell as follows, concerning 'polyphonic prose': ""Poly-
phonic" means-many-voiced-and the form is so called because it makes use of
all the "voices" of poetry, viz. metre, vers libre, assonance, alliteration, rhyme
and return. It employs every form of rhythm, even prose rhythm at times, but
usually holds no particular one for long. . . . The rhymes may come at the ends
of the cadences, or may appear in close juxtaposition to each other, or may be
only distantly related' (p. 287). This would be an adequate description of the
style of Richard Rolle's Melum.


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
119
The following passage gives all the idiosyncrasies of Rolle's
mysticism:
'Deus docuisti me¹ a iuuentute mea, et usque nunc pronunciabo
mirabilia tua (Ps. lxx. 17).... Eciam inter epulas quas cupidi curabant
utique habundat amor auctoris, et dulcor non deest... dum vigilo non
vaco a voce vitali, si legerem, si scripserem, si ambulem, si agerem,
continuo canorem concentu cupitum. Si comedam, si bibam, non cadit
a corde nomen notandum-solum in quo saluari me sencio securum. Non
obliuiscar illius qui animum assumpsit, ut ardens anhelem ipsi adesse.
Sine Thesu non iubilo, qui genitum me gessit a gemitu et gelu ut germiner
ingenuus in ius ierarchie, et cum sedeo inter suspirantes ad seculare
solium, dum non garriunt ut clangentes, michi in secreto, quod non sciunt,
ac si essem in requie restauratus, resultat organum angelicum, et sonat—
sed subtilissime-celica symphonia. Sed siquidem, dum sisto in solitudine,
suauissimam sencio psalterii solucionem : illud autem inter homines non
habeo, nisi propter impletum amoris, et quando eciam tunc ardore affluo,
amoto strepitu circumstancium et turpitudine stultorum. Unde et dissolui
desidero ut ducar ad dilectum, nam contemplatiua suauitas desiderium
mortis mandat in mentibus' (ff. 209, 209▼).
In the Melum Rolle does not rely on assertion and autobiography
alone to carry home his meaning: over and over again he brings texts
from Scripture into the discourse, and the following will illustrate
the use which he makes of such :
'Principes populorum congregati sunt cum Deo Abraham; quoniam
dii fortes terre vehementer eleuati sunt (Ps. xlvi. 10). Hactenus egimus
de viris sanctis precellentibus quantum ad ipsorum perfeccionem, quod
sobrie, caste et pie viuunt. . . . Similiter et quantum ad illorum gloriam,
quia omnibus mundi diuiciis renunciantes voluntariam paupertatem ele-
gerunt, Christum sequentes, qui eos tanto amplius inebriat sui amoris
dulcedine, quanto nichil terrenum nichilque carnale videntur effectare....
Iam ergo, quia ad finem libri festinamus, de gloria sanctorum et miseria
malorum, que in iudicio percepturi sunt, ac de fine seculi, prout possumus,
edisseremus. Denique supradictum est: Principes, etc. ... Propheta
predixit sicut preuidit; principes (non accipitur hic pro regibus et prelatis,
sed pro viris sanctissimis populorum) appellantur quia quamuis in hac
vita despecti sint et humiles, in superno nimirum regno declarantur
excellenciores, et si in hoc mundo in magna humiliacione positi et
impremente paupertate potestatem inter homines et honorem non per-
cipiunt, in futuro tamen iudicio venerabiliter populis principabunt. Hii
utique congregabuntur cum Deo Abraham, id est, cum Christo iudicante'
(ff. 248, 249).
1
om. C.
2 in C.
³ perfecione C.


120
EARLY WORKS
The limit of Rolle's assurance is only reached with such a passage
as the following:
'Solitudinem qui suscipit stabilis persistat, desolatus non doleat. . . .
Hoc itaque est optimum quod accipit homo dum in hac vita viuere valet;
excelsum utique ambiguum non habet, nam taliter translatus, temporale
transcendens, tutissime transibit. Non erit quod erret qui sic adamauit;
deitas nam debriat dulcedine dilectum, deducens ingenuum ut iubilet in
Ihesu, et currat continue celicas ad sedes' (ff. 241–241′).
As in the Judica he insists on being judged directly by God, so in
the Melum he insists that he is taught directly by God: 'Didici quod
doceo a Deo dignante' (f. 218); ' Diuinitus didici quod dico' (f. 224).
Thus he claims not only sainthood but direct inspiration as well.
We shall see in later works (infra, p. 138), however, that though he
claims freedom from error, he does not claim freedom from tempta-
tion or from venial sin.
The Book of the glory and perfection of the saints seems to have
been the first work in which Richard disclosed the inmost sanctity of
his mysticism, and never again did he make his confessions on so
ambitious a scale. Perhaps as a result, the Melum seems to have
been the treasury to which he returned in writing other works. Two
sections of the Melum which are important for Rolle's personal
history are repeated in the Canticles, as already noted (supra, p. 82).
Another section is repeated (in a slightly abridged form) in the same
work, beginning with the lines already quoted (supra, p. 100) in con-
nexion with the Judica: 'O quam dulce et delectabile est', Melum,
f. 210; O quam suaue est gaudium', Canticles, f. 143. This
section in its latter portion is also repeated in the last chapter of the
Emendatio Vitae ('Laboriosa est contemplatio, sed dulcis, desiderabilis
et suauis', fol. 18; cf. Melum, f. 211: Est utique contemplacio
labor, sed dulcis, desiderabilis et suauis'; Canticles, f. 143: 'Labor,
utique est contemplacio, sed dulcis, desiderabilis et suauis..."). It will
be later shown (p. 202) that the Emendatio almost certainly shows
a later development than the Canticles and the Melum, and the fact
that it borrows from the latter would seem to show that Rolle was
borrowing from that early treatise even in his later years. Probably
the editor of the Melum will find all Richard's writings borrowing
from that work: no systematic attempt has been made to trace such
borrowings here, though incidentally some have been noted, as, one
in the Contra Amatores Mundi (infra, p. 125). What is especially
interesting is to find one of Rolle's English lyrics paraphrasing the
Melum (v. infra, p. 289).


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
121
There are many important and obscure autobiographical passages
in the Melum, most of them curiously smothered in rhetoric, so that
the meaning is sometimes uncertain. Some will be discussed in
connexion with Rolle's life, but a few (so far as possible without the
rhetoric) should be quoted here, since the Melum gives us our most
explicit information on some incidents which are echoed in other
works.
The passage already quoted from the Canticles in which Rolle
describes himself as 'a wanderer like Cain', as already noted, is also
found in the Melum (f. 208). In the Judica it would appear that he
had just made his first change of cell, but by the time that he writes
the Melum he has evidently considerable experience as a nomad:
'In hoc exilio incerte sedis fio, de loco ad locum transeo' (f. 208).
He has lived with the rich and met unkindness from his patrons :
'Denique, inter diuites demorans, panni putridi me pene deprimebant,
et nudus nocebar quasi per morsum muscarum; cutis quippe sine
coopertorio confortabili calcabatur, pellis mea in puluere induta squalorem
scaturizabat, sed et estu affligebar inter obumbratos ab omnibus que
optabant, ac frigore frendebam, dum opimis utebantur ornamentis, et in
superfluitatibus salierunt' (f. 210).2
The diversity of his experience has made evil thinking, against
which he here makes his defence:
'Comparui communiter inter carnales, et familiaris fueram cum diuite
domorum. Iocum cum iuuenculis raro gerebam, loquebar cum feminis
de fide factoris, ludens nonnumquam sed laudans latenter, ridens cum
reliquis, ut eis videbatur. Quamobrem curabant comprehendere currentem,
et lubricum et lapsum iudicauerunt, putantes quod pro puellis persisterem
cum prauis, cum a nonnullis nimirum eram absconsus, qui de amore
auctoris audire amabant. Sed sciant simpliciter quod sanctus subsisto.
Similiter et singuli qui male senserunt protinus peniteant ne puniantur.
Errabant utique inique opinantes, non fallit me femina, nec pereo puellis,
neque glorior in gula.... Nam hec est intencio qua sic peregebam, ut
omnes addiscerent auctorem amare, vanaque relinquerent et recia ruine,
plus Deo quam homini desiderent seruire, ac sapere celestia, contemnere
terrena.... Profecto plerisque et hoc predicaui ut amico mundano non
macularentur. ... Hec si non creditis, querite quid dixi, interrogare
potestis qui me audierunt, si docui dampnabile[m] iniuriam aut Deo, vel
cogitaui corrumpere fragilem facturam. Christus, quem cupio, hoc con-
testetur, et contra me consurgere faciat fideles, sed et ipse conquasset
caput captiui, et cunctos corroboret me premere procellis, si ab adole-
¹ utabantur C.
3
2 As already noted (p. 111), this probably refers to Rolle's life with the Daltons.
3 corroborent C.
I


122
EARLY WORKS
scencia mea ipsum non amaui. Nimirum non nego plurima non prospera
in me peruenisse, ac temptamenta inter tales tollerasse; turbatus, tribu-
latus, et turbidus' primitus permansi. Tamen hoc teneo, ut sistas securus:
fugito feminas, qui Christum amare voluntarie vouisti. . . . Non accipe
exemplum ex hoc quod narraui, nescisti namque quid dedit michi Deus :
eiecit me in ignem et exuri non permisit, inter procellas protexit me
potenter, animum impleuit gracia tam grandi, ut gratenter graderer² in
gradu glorioso.... Nam digne despexi dulcedinem terrenam, cum diuina
delectacio michi dulcior erat, et mentem repleuit munimento mirando, ut
nec lira leticie quam lubrici laudabant michi liberet, sed et cantum
carnalium concito calcaui, ad Christum conuertens quod cantabatur, ut
currerem constanter ad brauium beatum, et ardens apparerem in oculis
amati integro amore. Etenim audiui in infimo orbe quod impii errantes
immunde amabant, et cantilenas quidem de feminis fecerunt, ficte fundati,
florentes ut fenum. Hoc reputaui rursum ruinam, nam quales cum
canerent, pectus paraui ut hec non attenderem hac intencione qua ipsi
in canticum impure clamabant. Iostquam profecto incendium amoris
mentem a maculis mortalibus nndauit, ac dulcis dileccio diuinitus
descendit, inimicus inuidens a fodbus fugatur, et tanto aduersarius
debilior existit, quanto succrescens solacio celesti reprobis et retibus ruine
resisto' (ff. 237, 237°).
This passage would seem to describe not only the general
character of Rolle's life during a considerable period, but to hint at
special events. His friends have apparently had to hide him from
his enemies (eram absconsus'); he has been exhorting, if not
preaching to the people ('plerisque et hoc predicaui '), and he takes
this opportunity of denying false reports on that subject. His
literary efforts, in part at least, have been imitations of the worldly
love-songs which have shocked him ('ad Christum conuertens quod
cantabatur'). The temptations which he has suffered have relaxed
since he received the 'fire of love' (the first endowment of his
ecstasy). This came, as we know from the Incendium (chapter 15),
about three years and a half after his conversion; since the Office
places the latter in his nineteenth year, this would put some of the
experience just described before he was twenty-two. In other words,
he is writing of what occurred at about the time of his writing the
Judica.
After Rolle's ecstasy came and lightened his burdens, his enemies
continued none the less suspicious:
'Insurrexerunt in me iniqui ambulantem in eterno amore, et tribulantes
temptauerunt, ut non tenear nisi trutannus, et deicerer a domibus in
quibus diligebar' (f. 234).
1 turpidus C.
2 gradere C.


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
123
'Hic arguo contra aliquos procaciter errantes, qui forte ex inuidia
indigne dicebant. Asserebant etenim, sophistice loquentes, quod pro
sumpto cibario sustinui sedere, et potibus deputantes quod piissimus
prestauit, ac populis ut placeam plerique pauentes publice predicabant
penitenciam me pati; quod solummodo subegi subsidio celesti. Per
ventrem repletum habere estimabant sessionem; in nocte suscepi silenter
et vigilans in gaudio, carpsi clamorem¹ cordis constanter in impetu amoris,
in canticum prorumpens, in laude canora liquide letabar' (ff. 236, 236).
'Porro prepotens... pacienciam michi pocius prebuit procedenti a
peruersitate... nam misit in me imperator eternus melos mirificum cum
calore consolatorio, et quamuis penis pungerer et intollerabili tormentarer
turbine, tamen huiusmodi illectus habundancia et sublatus solacio inces-
sabili, semper sicut sanus subsistebam eciam etsi infirmarer, in tantum
tonuit amor interius affluens quod lectus michi non libuit, nec iacebam
aliquando in gemitu.... Ergo errauerunt qui inuidebant et, opinantes
inique, indigna arbitrantur; aiebant enim quod cibatus sepe sine sub-
sidio celico subsistere potui, et sompn' m accipere sufficiens cum cenassem
semper sedendo. Sed reuera quia ligiosos se referebant, et propter
obedienciam quam optulerunt alcioris eis qui preponebantur, si propter
cibum sedebam et pre ebrietate alienabar ab animo, cur illi sedes suscipere
non contendebant, ac iubilarent in Ihesu, et mutarent merorem noctis
nebulose in meridiem melodie suauissime dum amatores mundi hostilibus
armis obscurabantur? Etenim hii qui³ parabolam de me proposuerunt
non minus quam ego comederunt et biberunt' (f. 236º).
2
We have here in the taunt directed against hostile monks what
seems to be an important contemporary allusion: monks (see italics)
seem to be the persecutors of the young hermit referred to in this
passage, and they are almost certainly those either of Rievaulx or of
Byland, for in October 1322 (a date which suits Rolle's early man-
hood) the Scots ('hostilibus armis') overcame King Edward II and
his army ('amatores mundi') on the ground between Rievaulx and
Byland, and sacked both abbeys. This was in the immediate
neighbourhood of Rolle's home at this time. Many other Yorkshire
religious houses were sacked during the Scotch wars of the first half
of the fourteenth century, but no others, apparently, had the mis-
fortune of having at the time of the sack a pitched battle fought in
their immediate neighbourhood. The reference would therefore
seem to point explicitly to one of the two houses just mentioned.
The question of the identity of Rolle's persecutors is a complicated
one, which will be left till his life is discussed as a whole: the fact is
however clear that in general they belonged to the clergy. As he
says in the Melum, 'Hii qui preferuntur maxime me odiunt' (f. 242);
1 clamoris C.
2
senasse C.
8
⁹ qui hii C.
I 2


124
EARLY WORKS
'Odium et inuidiam tantam non inueni nec habui inter omnes
mortales, sicut sustinui ab hiis qui se dicebant discipuli Ihesu
Christi' (f. 239). As we have seen, his first endeavour as a hermit
was to attempt to reform the pastoral office, and the elaborate
discussions of the virtues and vices of priests found in the Melum
(ff. 210 sq., 241 sq.) will certainly not have led to his popularity with
the secular clergy. He especially condemns those who enter the
Church' per potenciam principum, vel per preces magnatum, vel per
munera, vel per humanum fauorem, pocius quam per sinceram
conuersacionem et eleccionem' (f. 210). A passage has already been
noted in the Canticles (supra, p. 82, and see also infra, p. 328) in
which Rolle denies any great sanctity to the monastic virtue of
obedience; this lengthy discussion appears in almost identical form
in the earlier Melum (f. 240), and is probably an echo of the feud
with monks already testified to by a reference quoted from the
first chapter (supra, p. 117), and by the passage which we have
connected with Rievaulx or Byland. As we have seen, this feud is
not hinted at in the Judica, which is so earnest in condemning evils
among the secular clergy.
It is evident that the Melum is intended to give a complete
exposition of the 'glory and perfection of the saints', not without
prejudice to other members of the Church. The complete purpose
of the work is succinctly stated by the author:
'Quapropter iste liber factus est de eminentibus amatoribus Dei, ut
dum legitur presumentes et superbientes confundantur, qui frustra alciora
iam arguunt se arripuisse, qui adhuc minora nesciunt inuenire. Accedo
igitur ad assumptum, et patebit propositum. Nimirum hoc quod noui
nuncio, nam omnis melodia mundialis, omnis corporalis musica instru-
mentis organicis machinata, quamcumque actiuis viris et secularibus
negociis implicatis placuerint, sanctis profecto contemplatiuis desiderabilia
non erunt. Immo hoc audeo annectere, quia feruore fruentes dulciflue
dileccionis fremitum fugiunt, et canoro capti iubilo eciam psallencium
solempnia audiunt inuite; utpote qui iam sonum suscipiunt² celicum
clamori corporali ulterius non concordant.... Hinc liquet summus gradus
amoris Dei, nam pre magno ardore et dul[c]ore diuinitus dato sanctissimus
amator in canticum confluit, et iam, quasi in celo positus, undique ineffabili
armonia et laude ludiflua cum tactu tumulo septum se sentit, et hoc utique,
quod non audet aliquis sane mentis abnegare, in solitudine contingit, non
in congregacione. Unde et antiquitus solebant plerique perfecciores a
monasteriis exire in aliquem locum solitudinis, ut liberius canore vacarent
contemplacioni. Iam nulli exeunt, omnes amant solacium hominum, et
2 susceperat C.
1
om. C.


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
125
ideo sine dubio visitacione carent angelorum. Ita placet eis sonus
exterior, et solempnia corporis, quod parum vel nichil curant de sono
spirituali aut de solempnitate mentis' (ff. 240, 240).
A portion of this passage reappears in the Contra Amatores
Mundi, f. 174. As quoted, it occurs in the midst of the discussion
of the monastic life already mentioned: the last part is important in
making clear Rolle's indifference to liturgy; the first seems to give
us the explicit statement that the Melum was primarily written to
confute Rolle's enemies by proving that his spiritual gifts were
superior to theirs. The context would imply that these enemies
were clerics, and, when taken in connexion with other passages
(v. infra, pp. 482 sq.), that they were monks.
The Melum must have been written at an early age, since the Job,
a long and laborious work of a very different sort, is to follow while
Rolle still can sign himself a youth. In the Melum he seems almost
to labour the point of his age, for he returns to it frequently, as in
the following:
'Quam impetuosus, quam violens sit vis amoris, nemo nouit nisi qui
amauit. Hanc nimirum expertus est amator eternus, et ego, iuuenculus,
non modicum iam experior, qui pre amoris magnitudine assiduis horis
ferme consummor' (f. 207).
In the Commentary on the Canticles (Section 5) he expatiates on
the advantages of youth in commenting on the text 'Adolescentule
dilexerunt te nimis', and in the present work also he seems to turn
his youth to advantage: 'Iuuentus est genus quo in iubilum gerimur,
nam habilis est hec etas ad ardenter amandum' (f. 228); ' Equidem
hee sancciuntur adolescentule que uruntur amore, que nimis diligunt
deuotissime' (f. 232). We shall see (p. 129) that in the Melum
Rolle speaks of himself as 'puer' as well as 'juvenculus', and (at least
by implication) 'adolescens'. It is more than ever evident that
when he calls himself 'juvenis', in all the present group of works,
an early age is in question, and not merely the prime of life'
(v. supra, p. 109 n).
The following passage has been pointed out by Horstmann (ii,
p. v, n.) as giving an indication of the date of the Melum :
'Incassum quippe cupiunt carnalitatis colloquium, peribunt enim in
penis peruersorum. Reginas que reprobe regebantur vermes rodent
visibiles: virginum vero virtuositas virescet in eternum. Reges a regnis
ruent, quia sanguis sceleribus sarcinatus duces et diuites inaniter decepit.
Tyrocinia¹ tyrannorum tradentur in exterminacionem, et strate in sterqui-
1 tyrocina C.


126
EARLY WORKS
linio stragule cum sericis, et qui subtilia texerunt, putrescent, perdita
pulcritudine quemadmodum non putata. Prorsus impurum, quamuis
pulcrum visui¹ virorum, evanescet vehementer dampno deformitatis, et
omnes obfuscati hostium obprobriis per iustum iudicantem dampnati
dolebunt' (f. 208′).
Horstmann (who quotes only the second and third sentences of
this passage) introduces them as follows: 'In his earliest work, the
Melum, in which he calls himself juvenculus, puer, pusillus, he (Rolle)
prophesies a bad end for the King and Queen. . . . Now the Queen's
infamous adultery with Mortimer, to which, it seems, allusion is
made, commenced in 1325 and was known in England in 1326.'
Horstmann then proceeds to conjecture 1326 as the date of the
composition of the work, and (as deduced therefrom) 1300 as the
approximate date of Rolle's birth.
With the passage just quoted the following passages, which follow
it in sequence, should also be compared:
'In tonitruo tonante terminabuntur regna regum qui nunc resident
reprehensibiles, et racione non reguntur: reuera et omnes reprobi redi-
gentur usque ad reliquias quas rex propter resistenciam reprobauit.' Castra
quoque carnalium concucientur ad casum', etc. (f. 211).
'Quandoquidem et principes, quamuis precipua pulcritudine pollere
putabantur et florere fortitudine que eos inficiebat, peremptis potestatibus
suis, penas perpetuas pacientur, et erubescent amplius quam alii cum
omnipotens opera omnium coram intuentibus palam apperuerit, quia
infelices sine fundamento fidei fuerunt, et nunc, pauperibus (quos sperne-
bant) in pulcherimam patriam promotis, illi utique sine subsidio ab
altitudine honorum repente ruentes ad obprobrium omnium abducuntur;
a castris ad chaos cadunt, et pro veste purpurea induta erit caro eorum
putredine, et pro deliciis, in quibus degebant, in sordibus pulueris per-
noctabunt' (f. 212).
'Non metuit mors magnitudinem mundanorum, nec pulcritudini parcit
aut potencie. Omnes autem absumit ab hoc orbe, et percutit sine pietate
peruersos, regesque rapit ut non regnent iterum in sua regione, ac fortis-
simos in furore fugauit a desideriis in quibus degerunt, nec pepercit
puellis pulcherimis, que optime se in ornamentis amori hominum amabiles
optulerunt' (ff. 246º-247).
Enough has in every case been given to show that all the four
sections quoted come from the midst of universal warnings of
a familiar kind, in which the excessive alliteration has introduced
a perhaps specially vague and uncertain meaning. At the same time,
1 visu C.
4
om. C.
2 probauit C.
5 deguerunt C.
3 qui eos inficebat C.


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
127
it would appear that not quite all of the sentences are merely
commonplace. The prominence given to 'evil queens' is not usual,
and the phrase concerning death's taking 'kings so that they should
not rule again' is remarkably applicable to the death of Edward II
in prison, September 1327, while he was not ruling. This, it will
be noted, occurs towards the end of the work, and the references to
evil queens, beautiful princes, and reprehensible kings occur towards
the beginning: probably they refer indirectly to Queen Isabella, who
landed from France in September 1326 (some time after her con-
nexion with Mortimer was known), and to Edward II, who was not
deposed till January 1327. He was, according to the chroniclers,
'elegans forma, viribus praestans' (RS., 43, ii. 280, 286). The first
passages quoted might imply that they were written while he was
ruling; the last that he was dead.
We have seen, and will see illustrated further, that all through the
Melum general exhortations, of which the monotony and vagueness
are intensified by the alliteration, alternate with extremely personal
passages, in which the autobiographical element is certain, but often
not to be interpreted from our present knowledge of Rolle's life.
There would be, therefore, nothing uncharacteristic of Rolle in his
inserting topical references in the midst of generalities. As it
happens, the events apparently hinted at in the passages quoted
touched Rolle's world so nearly that it would be inevitable that he
should be conscious of them and very natural that he should give
them passing expression.
Professor Tout has remarked that when Queen Isabella and
Mortimer landed they were shrewd enough to pose as the champions
of the outraged contrariants [of the Lancaster rebellion], and the
avenger of the wrongs of the Martyr of Pontefract';' and it is note-
worthy that Henry of Lancaster, brother of the martyr and cousin of
the king, joined the queen at once, and gave the signal for a general
rising. The John de Dalton who was almost certainly Rolle's first
patron was the principal retainer of Earl Thomas at Pickering, and on
the fall of the latter lost his positions and (for a time) his lands and
almost lost his life. On more than one occasion Dalton received
a direct personal favour from Edward II (the last being given in the
summer of 1326). Earl Henry apparently did not recover Pickering
1 The Captivity and Death of Edward of Carnarvon, Bulletin of the John
Rylands Library, No. 1, 1920, p. 8.
2 Ibid., p. 10. For the authorities for the following summary v. infra,
PP. 449 sq., and Turton, passim.


128
EARLY WORKS
Castle, his inheritance, until the accession of Edward III, and his
support of Isabella was probably the preliminary to his reinstatement.
This would have been a matter of interest to the neighbourhood of
Pickering, and especially to the circle of Rolle's first patron. Queen
Isabella spent most of 1327 at York, and Prince Edward was married
to Philippa of Hainault there. Richard the hermit had before the
time of the writing of the Melum almost certainly quarrelled with his
patron Dalton, but we shall see that it is very likely that he was
living in the neighbourhood of Pickering for some time after his
quarrel (v. infra, p. 480). In referring therefore to the queen, prince,
or king, he would be mentioning persons actually known to his
friends, and possibly even to himself. Edward II was not above
taking an interest in hermits, for on his visit to Pickering in 1323 he
made a direct grant to William, hermit of Dalby near Pickering
(a hermit evidently of a practical habit of life, v. infra, p. 464). In
1315 he had sent Lambert le Fleming of Ypres with four other hermits
to reside at Knaresborough, and in 1318 he gave a large sum of money
to six hermits in Knaresborough Forest, of whom Brother Lambert
was the head. Evidently no royal favour was granted to Richard
Rolle, if (as is not impossible) the young hermit who was at one time
under the patronage of Dalton (apparently a favourite of Edward II)
were at any time brought to his attention, or later to that of his son.
We must disabuse our minds of any notion of remoteness or
rusticity in Rolle's environment at this time. The Scotch wars
brought king, court, and parliament as well as army to Yorkshire
during these years, whence it has been called the capital of England.²
The fact that Pickering Castle belonged to Earl Thomas gave it
social importance. The countess lived there for long periods during
his possession, and when in 1322 it fell to the king, he seems to have
kept it till his fall in 1327. Earl Henry who then acquired it was,
1 V. C. H. Yorks. iii. 91. Here is an important distributing centre for York-
shire in Rolle's youth of all influences from the Low Countries. At least in
later life when he journeyed from Hampole to Layton he must have passed
near to Knaresborough. The king's interest in these Flemings may have made
him, for England, an important agent in the history of fourteenth-century
mysticism, of which Flanders and the Rhineland were at this time great centres.
Though he was not the munificent patron of the movement which (in the days
of a general popularity of mysticism) Henry V was to be (who founded two
great houses dedicated to contemplation), at least it is evident that he did not
always turn a deaf ear to the obscure pioneers.
2 Raine, Fasti, p. 366. The Exchequer went to York six times (see Essays
presented to Thomas Frederick Tout, Manchester, 1925, pp. 291 sq.).
...


MELUM CONTEMPLATIVORUM
129
as we have seen, a prime supporter of Queen Isabella, and he was
the first keeper of Edward II on his capture. In 1334 Edward III
was at Pickering. Whoever was the owner evidently used the castle
as a centre of hospitality because of the hunting in Pickering Forest,
and from legal records derived from his rolls of office we know that
Dalton as constable of the castle and keeper of the forest sent game
from Pickering for his master far and wide, to bishops, abbots, and
lords all over Yorkshire, as far south as Ely, and to the parliaments
that sat at York. The young hermit who lived for a time under his
protection will have been brought into personal contact with the
great world. Passages quoted refer to Rolle's presence at 'the feasts
of the great', and the allusions quoted above (p. 126) are likely to have
had contemporary meaning. In the opinion of the present writer
they seem to indicate that the Melum was written c. 1326-7.
The selection of extracts that has been given from the Melum
makes an infinitesimal proportion of the highly mystical writing in
this piece, and not all of the autobiography has been quoted. Practi-
cally all the mystical passages and all the autobiography were quoted
from the Judica, and the contrast between the two works is striking,
though they obviously belong to the same author. We see in the
Judica the beginnings of what bursts forth into abundance in the
Melum in the former the young hermit diffidently, in passing,
confesses to mystic joy, which is beyond his power or will to describe;
in the latter he announces himself as a saint, and 'sainthood' is
the prime subject of nearly sixty chapters. Rolle tells us in the
Incendium (p. 190) that when he first heard the 'canor' he concealed
it from his companions, lest he should be honoured overmuch, but in
the Melum reticence is thrown to the winds, and we are therefore led
to conjecture that a considerable time must have elapsed since he first
experienced his mystic sensations. It was perhaps because he seems
confident that his life is soon ending that he is here exhilarated
beyond any thought of worldly prudence: Horstmann has pointed
out (ii, p. xxv) the 'presentiment of an early death' that is expressed
in the concluding lines of the Melum : Puer nunc propero ad finem
felicem.' It is perhaps on this account that Rolle wrote this audacious
work, which he evidently hoped would prove his sanctity, and thus
stop the mouths of his persecutors. Naturally, the effect seems to
have been the exact opposite of what he expected in his next work
he gives us expositions of penitence, only now and then shot through
with ecstasy. We can imagine the period of trial that has probably
intervened.


130
EARLY WORKS
JOB
Beg.: [Parce mihi], etc. Exprimitur autem in his verbis humanae
conditionis instabilitas, quae non habet in hac miserabili valle
manentem mansionem' (edit. 1536, fol. lxxxix).¹
Ends: [sed sempiternus horror], scilicet in visione daemonum,
monstrorum, serpentium, & draconum, & in sensu ignis [inhabitans]
in aeternum' (fol. cxii).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The Job was the first of Rolle's works to be printed, and one of
the first books to be printed at the Oxford Press. This fact would
seem to show that Richard had attained a solid academic reputation by
the end of the fifteenth century. The Oxford edition came out about
1483, and the Job was later printed at Paris in 1510, and at Cologne
in 1536. No edition, so far as I know, is accessible in America.
The present work is a close commentary on the nine readings from
the Book of Job which occur in the Office of the Dead. In half of
the manuscripts perfect at both ends (that is, in eighteen) the signa-
ture follows:
'Talentum traditum timens subfodere fimum,
Sic pueris pabulum hoc semen sparsit opimum.
Dilexit hereinum, sonuit sibi cantus amorum.
Quem geris in iubilum, tu, Christe, corona Ricardum.'
(Corpus Christi Oxf. MS. 193, f. 136.)
In one manuscript this signature follows the Emendatio (v. infra,
p. 235). Two manuscripts of the present work entitle it 'Versus
Ricardi heremite quos composuit in fine tractatus sui', and there
seems no reason to doubt that they speak the truth. The analogy
of the similar signature attached to the Canticum Amoris would help
to support the authenticity of the present verses. The Job on the
strength of it may be considered a signed work.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Ashmole 751, ff. 51-61, late 14th cent. Incipiunt postille
venerabilis Ricardi heremite super nouem lecciones mortuorum.'
In the edition of 1536, from which the quotations from this and other works
will be made in the following pages, all texts from Scripture appear in square
brackets. These are retained here, though abbreviations used in this edition
are expanded. Corpus Christi Oxf. MS. is sometimes collated.
2 Bodl. MS. 315, etc.; sit C (and a majority of the MSS.).


JOB
131
The last few sentences are missing, and the text ends with 'etc.'
See Quot., Spur., Magn., Judica.
II. Bodl. 52 (Sum. Cat. No. 1969), ff. 1–59, c. 1420-3, written by
J. Maynsforth, Fellow of Merton 1425. Index: 'In primis Ricardus
hampole super lecciones exequiarium.' Colophon: 'Deo gratias quod
Maynffreth. Explicit tractatus Ricardi heremite de hampole super
lecciones exequiarum. Versus eiusdem quos composuit in fine eiusdem
tractatus....
III. Bodl. 315 (Sum. Cat. No. 2712), ff. 1-28, early 15th cent. On
the back of the fly-leaf is written in the original hand: 'Istum librum
dedit decano et Capitulo Ecclesie Cathedralis beati Petri Exoniensis
magister Johannes Steuenys quondam eiusdem Ecclesie Canonicus
cathenandum in eorum communi libraria post obitum magistri Rogeri
Keys. Et quicumque illum sine licencia... anathematizetur eo facto.
Qui quidem liber continet Job secundum compilacionem Ricardi
hampole heremite.' 'Versus Ricardi heremite quos composuit in
fine tractatus sui... Explicit tractatus Ricardi heremite de hampool
super Job.' A fine folio volume, with illuminated first leaf (the Job).
IV. Bodl. 525 (Sum. Cat. No. 2207), ff. 1-86, early 15th cent.
'Incipiunt postille Ricardi super nouem lecciones mortuorum.'
V. supra, p. 33.
V. Bodl. 861. Ascribed to Rolle, with verses.
VI. Hatton 86 (Sum. Cat. No. 4078), ff. 1-63, second half 14th
cent. 'Incipiunt postille Ricardi heremite super nouem lectiones mor-
tuorum.' Dr. Craster points out in the new catalogue that this manu-
script seems to be by the same scribe as Sum. Cat. No. 4061, and it
may, like that, have belonged to the Austin Priory of St. Thomas,
near Stafford. Verses present.
VII. Laud Lat. 94 (Sum. Cat. No. 1131), ff. 108-32, 15th cent.
The last few sentences are lacking, and the following sermons bound
in without break.
VIII. Laud Misc. 528, ff. 42-77, early 15th cent. 'Explicit
iste tractatus quem composuit venerabilis Ricardus heremita de
hampolle super exposicionem ix leccionum mortuorum.' Verses
present. See Office, E. V., Judica, Cant., Contra Am. M., Incend.
IX. e Musaeo 130 (Sum. Cat. No. 3514), ff. 139 sq., late 15th
cent. Incipiunt postille sancti Ricardi heremite de hampull super
9 lecciones mortuorum.' Breaks off in the 18th part.
X. Rawl. D. 1229 (Sum. Cat. No. 13961), ff. 9-95, 15th cent.
'Expliciunt lecciones de seruicio mortuorum secundum exposicionem
Ricardi heremite de hampole', etc.


132
EARLY WORKS
XI. Balliol Coll. 224, ff. 61-87, 15th cent. Verses present. A
late index, headed 'R. Hampole'. Idem tractatus qui incipit Parce
mihi Deus.' See Cant., Contra Am. M., E. V., Incend., Spur., Judica.
XII. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 111-36, early 15th cent.
'Incipiunt postille eiusdem heremite super nouem lecciones mortuo-
rum.' After the verses: 'Expliciunt postille Ricardi heremite super
nouem lecciones mortuorum.' See Lat. Ps., Thren., Cant., 20th Ps.,
O. D., S. A., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
XIII. Magd. Coll. 6, ff. 71–133, 14th-15th cent. Original index:
'Item exposicio deuoti Ricardi de hampole super ix leccionibus de
exequiis mortuorum.... Expliciunt lecciones de seruicio mortuorum
secundum exposicionem Ricardi heremite de hampol. Respice illas
bene et sapiens eris.'
XIV. Magd. Coll. 71, ff. 98-135, 15th cent. Verses present. See
E. V., De M.
XV. New Coll. 93, ff. 249-78, 15th cent. 'Explicit tractatus
Ricardi de hampole heremite super nouem lecciones mortuorum.'
XVI. St. John's Coll. 147, ff. 1-123, 15th cent. Contemporary
note: Iste liber constat Monasterio Westmonasterii . . . In hoc
volumine continentur omnia subscripta, Videlicet in primis Moralitas
hampole super Parce mihi domine' (the rest are saints' lives).
'Moralitas venerabilis Ricardi heremite de hampole super lectiones
sancti Job que leguntur in vigiliis mortuorum.' Verses present. On
f. 264: Iste liber pertinet Willelmo Graunt et Willelmo Grove
Monachis Westmonasterii.' William Grant sang his first Mass in
1469, and was refectorer in 1500. The joint-owner was perhaps
William Grene, who sang his first Mass in 1492, and was living in
1525 (The MSS. of Westminster Abbey, J. A. Robinson and M. R.
James, Cambridge, 1909, p. 25).
XVII. St. John's Coll. 195, ff. 122-67, 15th cent. Explicit
tractatus Ricardi heremite de hampole super nouem leccionibus
mortuorum.' See Lat. Ps.
XVIII. Univ. Coll. 45, ff. 65 sq., 15th cent. Breaks off near the end.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
XIX. Univ. Dd. iv. 54, ff. 155 sq., late 15th cent.
XX. Univ. Ff. v. 36, ff. 1–52b, early 15th cent.
See E. V.
See E. V.
Verses follow.


JOB
133
XXI. Univ. Ii. i. 26, ff. 263-362, 15th cent. 'Incipiunt postille
Ricardi heremite de hampole super ix lecciones mortuorum.' Verses
follow.
XXII. Caius Coll. 223, ff. 295–339, late 15th cent. 'Parce mihi
domine, exposicio. Wade.' See E. V., Ol. effus.
XXIII. Corpus Christi Coll. 365, ff. 114-45, 15th cent. (after
1445). Explicit expositio R. heremite super nouem lectiones
mortuorum.' From Dover Priory. See Lat. Ps., 20th Ps., Contra
Am. M.
XXIV. Peterhouse 218, ff. 106b-39b, 15th cent. See E. V. and
Spur.
XXV. Trin. Coll. 14, ff. 106b-33, late 14th cent. 'Incipit ex-
positio super ix lectiones que leguntur in obsequiis mortuorum per
ricardum hampole heremitam edita. . . . Expliciunt postille Ricardi
heremite super ix lectiones mortuorum.' Verses follow. See Lat.
Ps., E. V.
XXVI. Trin. Coll. 792, 15th cent. At end, perhaps in the original
hand: 'Ex dono Johannis Steyke et pro quibus tenetur.' Similar
notes are found in Syon Monastery MSS. (v. infra, p. 233). This
volume is not noted in the catalogue of the brothers' library, but it
may have belonged to the sisters'. The gift of John Dryden, Fellow,
in 1663.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
XXVII. Harl. 1035, ff. 85b-136b, first half 15th cent. Explicit
exposicio ix leccionum mortuorum.'
Incipit Exposicio
XXVIII. Roy. 7 E. ii, ff. 75-102, 15th cent.
super Job, videlicet, de illis ix lectionibus que leguntur in obsequiis
mortuorum secundum Ricardum hampole heremitam.' 'Liber aule
regie et collegii de Brasenose. Ex dono Reuerendi patris Domini
Willelmi Smith, fundatoris eiusdem.' Verses follow.
XXIX. Roy. 8 A. vii, ff. 51-116, 15th cent. Verses follow.
E. V.
See
XXX. Sloane 2275, ff. 109b-40, 14th-15th cent. 'Explicit
tractatus Sancti Ricardi heremite de hampole super nouem lecionibus
mortuorum.' See Mel., Contra Am. M., Incend., E. V., Stim. Consc.
"
XXXI. Add. 11304, ff. 1-69, 14th cent. Explicit tractatus
beati Ricardi de Hampole heremite super ix lecciones mortuorum.'


134
EARLY WORKS
Verses follow (added later). 'Guilo. Nicolson librum hunc dono
dedit Joh. Aglionby Armiger... 1699.' See Stim. Consc.
OTHER MSS.
XXXII. Lambeth Palace 357, ff. 1-29b, 14th cent. 'Incipit
tractatus Ricardi heremite super ix lecciones mortuorum.'
XXXIII. Castle Howard MS., 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus
super omnes lecciones in obsequiis mortuorum editus a Ricardo de
hampole heremita.' See E. V., Spur.(2), Contra Am. M., Cant.,
Incend., Judica, Mul. Fort.
XXXIV. Wyggeston Hospital, Leicester, MS. 12,¹ second half 14th
cent. The verses conclude the work and book, with Ricardus
heremita' preceding, and the colophon following: Expliciunt
lecciones de seruicio mortuorum secundum exposicionem Ricardi
heremite de Hampol. Respice illas bene.'
XXXV. Wyggeston MS. 15, early 15th cent. Incipit exposicio
eiusdem (Ricardi Hampole) super illo Job parce michi domine.'
Verses follow. The first page of this manuscript contains an English
version of the Nine Virtues much like that in Rawl. MS. C. 285, as
printed by Horstmann (v. infra, p. 317). See E. V., Contra Am. M³
XXXVI. Lincoln Cath. 209, late 14th cent. Original index :
'Item libellus seu tractatus eiusdem (i. e. ‘sancti Ricardi de ham-
pole') super lecciones defunctorum.' 'Explicit Speculum meroris
Ricardi heremite de hampole super nouem lecciones mortuorum com-
positum.' After the signature follow verses giving the scribe's name
as 'John Wodeburgh'. See Office, Contra Am. M., 20th Ps., Mel..
XXXVII. Lincoln Cath. 218, mid 15th cent. Ends near the end.
See E. V., Incend., Ol. effus.
1 I owe my knowledge of the Leicester MSS. to Mr. Geoffrey Reach. The
volumes were examined and described in 1903 by Mr. Madan, and his descrip-
tions were kindly communicated to me by Dr. Lowe, Director of the Leicester
Public Library. These books are supposed to have formed part of the Priests'
Library in the old Wyggeston Chantry House in Leicester, which was founded
by William Wyggeston in 1512-13'. The whole collection (six early printed
books and ten manuscripts) is deposited in the Public Library. The manuscripts
are all Latin theological works of a commonplace sort, except No. 6, which con-
tains English sermons on the Sunday Gospels and Epistles, and 'a treatise on
the Church and its members' (English).
"
2 This volume contains three Latin works by 'frater Johannes Hanneton,
humilis cordilatus'. They are: a 'Regula communis (?) perfecte viuendi',
beg. Omnibus in Christo Ihesu pie viuere volentibus'; ' Compendium
Amoris', beg.: Nuper adueniente tempore sacro'; and 'Meditationes', beg.:
'Cum iam in tantum libri multiplicentur'. The last two are referred to in the
conclusion to the first, and they give the author's name.


JOB
135
XXXVIII. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 543, ff. 1-41, 14th cent.
'Explicit expositio leccionum de exequiis mortuorum secundum
Ricardum heremitam de hampole.' See E. V., Judica.
15700, ff. 70-94, 14th cent.
Oudin says that this book
XXXIX. Paris, Bib. nat., lat.
Old mark: Bibliothèque de Sorbonne.'
6
belonged to Cardinal Richelieu. 'Explicit tractatus Ricardi heremite
de Hampole super nouem leccionibus mortuorum.' An English
script. See E. V., Incend., Contra Am. M.
XL. MS. 278 in Quaritch's catalogue, Dec. 1912, 15th cent. No
other work. 'Explanationes notabiles deuotissimi viri Ricardi
Hampole heremite super lectiones illas beati Job que solent in
exequijs defunctorum legi, qui non minus historiam quam tropologiam
et anagogiam ad studentium vtilitatem exactissime annotauit' (as
in editions of Oxford and Paris, supra). Probably by a French.
scribe.' Probably now Huntington MS. 504 (Henry E. Huntington
Library, San Marino, California).
1
6
6
XLI. Sotheby's, March 1-2, 1921, Lot 309, ff. 17b sq., late
14th cent., now in the possession of Sir Leicester Harmsworth.
'Liber Tobias (?) Samsoni.' Explicit tractatus sancti Ricardi here-
mite de hampole super nouem leccionibus mortuorum.' See E. V.,
Incend.
XLII. See infra, p. 144.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
The Job is cited several times (with exact references) under Rolle's
name in MS. Ff. i. 14 (and the related Hatton MS.) and in Trin.
Coll. Dublin MS. 277 (a Lollard composition). Three sections of
the long compilation from Rolle in MS. Kk. vi. 20 on the Name of
Jesus are condensed from the Job. An extract is quoted and given
to Rolle in Trin. Coll. Camb. MS. 333 (also Lollard). The same
anti-clerical passage is quoted by Bale in both Catalogues. The
Trin. MS.—and several others—contains a Lollard tract which says
(erroneously) that 'a nobil hooly man Richerde E[r]myte drewe oon
Englice the... lessouns of dirige'. In Peterhouse MS. 203 (early
15th cent.) a contemporary scribbling mentions among other books:
'Hampole super Parce mihi.' A Savile MS. contained a copy of this
work with Rolle's name. Syon Monastery had four copies of this
work, all with Rolle's name. The index refers to two more, and
appears to apply to all the entries the heading of MS. M. 5 (noting
1 My thanks are due to Mr. Dring for showing me this book.


136
EARLY WORKS
'10 verses' as appended to the commentary).
What these verses
were is doubtful: the verse signature, it would seem, could hardly
Leicester Abbey probably owned this
be mentioned in these terms.
work ascribed to 'John hampole'.
The Job is bequeathed (ascribed to Rolle) in the following wills:
William Gate, parson in York (1431); Robert Semer, sub-treasurer
of York Minster (1432); Canon William Duffield of York (1452);
Thomas Pynchebek of York (1479). Boston of Bury notes as at
Bury' De officio mortuorum' under Rolle's name, and Leland finds
the same at St. Mary's, York. Bale in his Index twice cites 'In
lectiones funerales'.
Rolle's authorship of the Job is reinforced by a significant passage
in which he speaks in the first person:
'Propter quod nec ego timeo haereticos aut inuidos qui forsitan insur-
gent contra me dicentes: Aut me in expositione errasse aut sacra verba
congruenter non tractasse, non acceptantes me, quia modernus sum. Sed
profecto qui bonos modernos reprobat, hesternos non laudat. Non enim
est deus nunc minoris bonitatis, quam fuit in primitiua ecclesia, qui adhuc
electos suos ad amorem aeternitatis desiderandum praeparat, quia & quos
vult coelestis scientia, sapientiaque diuina inspirat. Verum sciatis quod
episcopus non sum, nec praelatus, nec rector ecclesiarum: tamen solicitus
sum pro ecclesia dei, si possem aliquo bono modo quicquam facere, vel
scribere quo ecclesia Christi augmentum capiat in diuina dilectione. Sum
vtique solitarius intentione, & eremitae propositum arripui, atque mutata
tunica soli deo vacare concupiui. Quamobrem forsitan, quia pauper sum,
& non reputatus inter magistratus mundi, paruipendetis verba quae loquor
vobis, sed si me contemnitis quod parum reputo, hoc vnum sciatis, quod
nunquam deus, nec papae, nec episcopo, nec alicui alij, cuiuscunque status
fuerit, singulari virgine excepta, de gloria aeterni amoris in hac vita illam
praerogatiuam tribuit, quam vero solitario denegauit. Vnde qui arguere
contendunt, communem vitam plus valere quam eremiticam, nisi conside-
rarent instantiam exterioris operis, non affluentiam internae contempla-
tionis, nimirum desipere probantur. Quia dum austeriori poenitentiae
eremita se subijcit, atque cum hoc in canorum iubilum Christo annuente
surgit: quis audeat aliquem hic proponere, quamuis mortuos suscitauerit,
& maxima opera fecerit, quem deus in tanto amoris sui mysterio dignatur
collocare. Sed quaerite de hac materia in libello de vita eremitarum,
etiam & in libro de perfectione & gloria sanctorum, quia ibi inuenietis de
eminentia sanctitatis. Redeo ergo ad propositum ...' (fol. xcix").
As already noted, the last sentence here refers to the Melum : the
Libellus de vita eremitarum cannot be identified with certainty, but
v. infra, p. 325.


JOB
137
"
When Rolle in the passage just quoted refers the reader to other
works for discussion of the eminence of sanctity', he gives us a hint
as to the cause for the great contrast shown by the Job in comparison
with the Melum just described. Sanctity is not the primary subject
of the exposition, though actually the author's preoccupation with
this matter is such that it slips in from time to time: the primary
purpose of the Job is to inspire penitence, and to this end it devotes
itself for the most part to the whole cycle of sin-from original sin
to death, the Last Judgement, and future punishment and reward.
For this subject the texts found in the Dirige supply a natural starting-
point.
One can hardly (knowing the priority of the Melum) escape the
conclusion that the nature of the Job as thus constituted is due in
part at least to reaction from the irresponsible subjectivity of the
earlier work. Its reception amongst friends and enemies alike was
probably a surprise to the young author; probably it demoralized
some readers and scandalized others. His life had not ended, and
it must have become clear even to him that the Church would put an
end to his efforts altogether if he continued to write in this vein;
perhaps the natural wisdom as to the human heart which he shows
in his later works began to awaken at this time, and taught him also
that he was in danger of defeating his own ends and of substituting
one self-indulgence for another if he described too emotionally the
romance of the mystic. However this may be, it might seem that
after writing the Melum to prove himself a saint, he wrote the Job as
an almost complementary piece to prove that he understood the
needs of the sinner. Here the penitent soul takes the leading part
given in most of Rolle's works to the sanctified soul. In giving the
disciplinary side of religion Rolle to some degree uses the student's
method, which he must have learned when a student at Oxford (and
perhaps later at Paris). He argues many points to a careful con-
clusion, and the unity of the texts expounded allows him to give here
a more coherent survey of theology than is found in most of his later
scriptural commentaries, which take texts as they come. Citations
of authority are, however, practically lacking,' and the Mother of
God is hardly mentioned.
Some of the most scholastic portions of the Job discuss the subject
of perfectionism, as to which his Melum may have seemed to hint
that Rolle was sympathetic. In the present exposition he takes the
1 Some given in the edition of 1536 do not appear in Corpus Christi Oxf.
MS. 193 (cf. fols. xcviii, cx).
K


138
EARLY WORKS
opportunity of showing his complete opinion on this point, as
follows:
'[Peccaui] quia vt ait Salomon: Non est homo super terram qui viuat
& non peccet (Eccl. vii. 21). Et Ioannes euangelista: si diceremus quia
peccatum non habemus, nosmetipsos seducimus, & veritas in nobis non
est (1 Joan. i. 8). Refellitur ergo opinio quorundam errantium, qui susti-
nere nituntur hominem in hac mortali vita posse viuere & non peccare,
sed hanc praerogatiuam numquam habuit creatura beata virgine excepta '
(fol. xcii).
'Non peccaui. Hic oritur quaestio. Superius dixit: Peccaui. Nam &
sancti apostoli hoc de se díxerunt, quomodo ergo facit se contrarium sibi,
quia hic dicit, non peccaui? Haec quaestio soluitur, si occulta spiritua-
lium virorum cogitentur. Dixit, peccaui, quia nemo est, qui tam sancte
viuat in hoc mundo, quod non peccet venialiter. . . . Sed quia inconue-
niens est in sanctis scripturis contrarietatem relinquere, circa concordan-
tiam curamus studere, sic ergo intellige: Non peccaui, id est, peccato
mortali non consensi. Verum ipse peccator proprie dicitur, qui vult pec-
care, & cum facultatem peccandi habuerit, se libenter & intrepide ad
peccandum reddit. Et ideo cum vir iustus in innocentia sua, absque
libidine, absque peccandi voluntate, a primaeua aetate permanserit, auda-
cter dicit: Non peccaui, scilicet mortaliter, & tamen se fatetur peccatorem,
id est, fragilem, infirmum, & ad malum pronum nisi gratia Christi fulcia-
tur' (fol. cvi sq.).
Hints of the same doctrines appear in other works: cf. Canticles,
f. 145:
'Nonnullis autem mirum videtur quod audeat aliquis eciam excellens
quamuis sit inter homines se sanctum dicere, cum apostoli dicebant se
peccata habere. Sed hoc cito soluitur si veritas pensetur. ...'
Rolle says of himself even in the Emendatio (which must have
been one of his latest works): 'Valde miser mihi videor. Nam saepe
caro mea affligitur et tentatur' (fol. 13). Thus in Rolle's later
writings he admits that his sainthood does not give him immunity
from temptation, and the teaching of the Job on this point described,
therefore, his permanent position.
The texts used in this work offered suitable opportunity for Rolle
to express the mood of the mystic struggling with temptation:
'[Cur non tollis peccatum meum... Ecce nunc in puluere dormio]:
Expulsis vitijs, succensa mente igne amoris, quaero cur peccatum non
tollis, vt liber fiam ad volandum in dulcedinem contemplationis. [Ecce
nunc] dedisti cupitum, non negasti desiderium, quia mirabiliter etiam in
hoc praesenti, coelica suauitate velut somno post laborem me sentio
refectum' (fol. xciii).
1 Cf. also both Psalters, Ps. xii. 2, and Incendium, p. 202.


JOB
139
In a moment he goes on:
'Respondet seruus dei: [Non subsistam], id est, non inuenies me cum
damnatis & miseris subsistentem, qui in igne deiecti in miserijs non
subsistent, sed integro & ardenti amore te amplectens, cum sanctis tuis
subsistam' (fol. xciiiv).
Here he claims for the mystic a saint's place at the same moment
that he acknowledges the power of sin over him.
Thus, though Rolle in the Job seems to show special eagerness to
present an orthodox set of theological doctrines, his opinion on the
question of his own sainthood is not hidden, when occasion brings it
forward. The following will illustrate this point further :
'Aliquando etiam visitat deus electum suum internam,' scilicet, &
supernam consolationem infundendo, vt solatium diuinitus inspiratum
mentem a malis cogitatibus excipiat, & oblectamentum carnale immun-
dumque quodlibet expellat. Porro plaerunque in nonnullis electis quam-
uis perpaucis in tantum suauitas dilectionis Christi superaffluit, quod ab
omnibus desiderijs terrenis, & appetitu carnalitatis ipsos continue defendit.
Et sic profecto dum spiritus a malitia auersus, omni quoque bono con-
uersus, aeterno amore rapitur salubriter, & sancte per diuinam visita.
tionem custoditur. Quamobrem electa anima Christum laudans &
glorificans, laetanter prorumpat in canticum, dicens: Ecce ad te venio
quia visitatio tua custodiuit spiritum meum.'
This is the conclusion to the third lesson, and the fourth lesson
then begins:
'[Responde mihi.] Quid signat hoc, quia vir poenitens hic primo a deo
quaerit responsionem antequam proposuerit quaestionem, sed hoc cito
soluitur, si intellectus habeatur' (fol. xcviii).
Thus the mysticism found in the Job passes abruptly into theology,
and we see that neither subject incapacitated him for the other.
He even fits his mystic's doctrine of love to a general scheme of
theology, after the fashion of the more intellectual mystics, as follows:
'[Posuisti in neruo pedem meum]... id est, amorem meum, quo feror
quocunque feror, vel ad coelum, vel ad infernum. Amor enim noster, pes
noster est, qui si fixus sit in coelestibus gaudijs perfruendis, ad deum
profecto nos suscipit, & ad aeternas polorum mansiones nos perducit.
Verum si amor cordis nostri interna delectatione, & carnali moilitie inuolui
permittitur, absque dubio per latam viam ad caliginem infernalis amari-
tudinis, & ad carcerem captiuorum nos ducere non desinit' (fol. c).
1 per internam Edit.
Cf. Hugh of St. Victor: Unus fons dilectionis intus saliens duos rivos
effundit. Alter est amor mundi, cupiditas: alter est amor Dei, charitas' (Migne,
176, c. 15).
K 2


140
EARLY WORKS
Again we find the early Job anticipating a later work: the following
passage from the Incendium echoes the same doctrine:
'Non enim potest esse anima racionalis sine amore, quamdiu in uia est.
Unde et amor eius est pes eius, quo post hanc peregrinacionem ad Deum
uel ad diabolum defertur' (p. 210).
It will already have been evident that the Job gives hints of the
usual sensuous concomitants of Rolle's mysticism. A curious refer-
ence to the fire of love' is the following:
•
[Et sicut caseum me coagulasti.] Caseus ex lacte conficitur, sed ante-
quam confici potest, lac per ignem coagulatur, virum ergo iustum deus sicut
caseum coagulauit, quia fidelem & deuotam animam prius per ignem
spiritus sancti in se colligit, & deinde sibi per veram charitatem coniungit.
Et nota quod lac semel coagulatum numquam iterum ad pristinum statum
redire potest, sic qui vere aeterno amore incenditur ad amorem temporalem
numquam relabetur. Alioquin quicquid egerit, amator verus non fuit'
(fol. xcviiv).
'Sweetness' is also mentioned: 'Quatenus dum terrena contemnens,
coelestia desiderans, ad amandum Christum, vehementer afficitur,
spiritualis oculus in dulcoribus morari mereatur' (fol. cviv). The
'song of love' appears described in alliterative and ecstatic language
that reminds us of the Melum:
'Ideo vmbra mortis hanc temporalem mortem vocamus, in qua si per-
fectus vir ambulat, mala non formidat nam diuino solatio in corde ipsius
infuso, secure viuit, & gaudens moritur, quia non nisi in aeterno amore
laetari conabatur. Et merito quidem cum excellenti gloria suscipitur ad
sedes coelicas qui in terra positus perfecte contempsit diuitias mundanas.
Nam inter epulas diuitum dilecti dei aeternae dilectionis delitias con-
cinunt, & postposita carnali gloria, oblitaque immunditia, in sonoram
coeli citharam interius liquefiunt' (fol. cˇ).
Elsewhere rhyme reappears: 'Qui enim ardentius amat, amplius
festinat, velocius currit, citius & foelicius peruenit' (ibid.).
The Job contains no explicit exhortations to the devotion to the
Holy Name of Jesus, but it gives signs that its author was practising
this devotion at this time. The address 'O bone Jesu' is found
very often, and such a passage as the following refers to Rolle's
concentration on the thought of the Saviour, though for the moment
the name of Jesus is not mentioned: 'Inde est, quod non ponderat
deus opus hominis, sed voluntatem eius, qua intentione, quo desiderio,
quo feruore in diuinum amorem assurgere nititur, & memoriam
Christi incessanter meditatur' (fol. cviv). Since the devotion to the
Name of Jesus might involve something deeper than the mere


JOB
141
reiteration of that word, the influence of the cult appears in the fore-
going lines. They refer to a concentration on the 'thought of Jesus',
though under another title.
Various echoes are given us in the Job of Rolle's experience, but
owing to the generally dramatic character of the exposition, it is
often hard to draw the line between what is autobiography and what
is interpretation of the texts. We may suspect, however, that the
young hermit often describes the situation of his forlorn and tor-
mented hero in terms that he feels are suitable to his own state.
The following seem to be personal references:
'Cupio respirare, assurgere attento, & deijcit me grauedo carnis meae,
praecipi[t]at me sensualitas mea, agilem quoque effici non sinit conditionis
infirmitas, donec interior natura in gaudio mirabili & sonora suauitate
absorbeatur, ac destructa inimica mors, menti mirifice aeterna lux obscura
inuadat vsquequaque & terminum tenebrarum tradat in tranquillis. Inte-
rim vtique consistunt aduersum me castra fortium, & praelium aduersus
me exurgit, atque qui me dum seculum amassem, laudabant; iam aduer-
sum me eremum amantem iurant' (fol. xciii). Et quamuis castus sim
corpore, mundus corde, mitis mente, tamen [quasi putredo consumendus
sum] a detractoribus, scilicet, qui nituntur scandalum ponere, & me quasi
putredinem consumere, dum mihi quasi libidinoso & iniusto non cessant
derogare' (fol. ci).
In general the unmistakably personal passages are comparatively
few, as also are those using alliteration and rhyme.
In the following exposition texts which would have applied to
what we know to have been Rolle's own situation are interpreted in
the person of the penitent soul:
'O deus ne elongeris a me, sed respicias¹ in auxilium meum, vide,
quoniam iniqui daemones scilicet & inuidi homines insurrexerunt super
me, & in synagoga potentium quaesierunt animam meam. Sed da
imperium puero tuo, & saluum fac filium ancillae tuae (Ps. lxxxv. 16), vt
ego quem [manus tuae fecerunt & plasmauerunt] ad tuam voluntatem in
tuis praeceptis iugiter valeam viuere, & in solo tui amoris desiderio inces-
santer feruere. Hic intendit poenitens argumentari cum deo, & probare,
quod deberet adesse 2 sibi in tentationibus, & in angustijs tanquam diceret:
O domine, non sum factus a dijs alienis, sed cum nihil fueram, per te ali-
quid esse incoepi, quia [manus tuae fecerunt me, & plasmauerunt me']
(fol. xcviv).
Evidently in such an exposition there would be a double entente,
and the personal application is probably latent in many passages of
the Job, and has perhaps given the texts their interest for Richard,
¹ respiciens Edit.
2 dederet abesse Edit.


142
EARLY WORKS
even when he does not specifically apply them to his own case.
Even though the Job makes clear that he has passed into mystic joy,
in this work the memory of past penitence and of present temptation
appears specially fresh, to give eloquence to the exposition.
The interest in the improvement of the parish clergy which we
have seen instigating Rolle's Judica reappears at length in the Job,
as it did in the Melum. The following selected sentences will illus-
trate this point: 'Vae presbyteris qui tanto zelo & clamore decimas
& ea quae ad altare pertinent exigunt, & de animabus parochianorum
tam parum curant . . .' (fol. cviiv, cf. also fol. c). It is not strange
that this passage was seized on by a Lollard scribe, and quoted by
John Bale (infra, pp. 401, 425). A passage suggested by the Pars
Oculi (a thoroughly orthodox manual) was equally violent :
'Qui prae alijs in vitae sanctitate & morum honestate excellere tenen-
tur, iam terrenis desiderijs inuoluti, & prauis actibus mancipati, in omni-
bus scandalum efficiuntur. Aut enim sacerdotes comessationibus, &
ebrietatibus, & impudicitijs atque illicitis lucris deseruiunt: aut ociositati
& somnolentiae dediti, a diuino seruitio per torporem deficiunt, & negli-
gentes & vagabundi fiunt' (fol. civˇ).
With this should be compared the following, which appears both
in the Judica (f. 17) and the Pars (f. 82b): 'Sed multi sunt sacerdotes
hiis diebus qui nec sciunt legem domini nec adiscunt, sed vacantes,
ocio, commessacionibus et ebrietatibus student', etc. (Pars). In the
signed passage quoted (supra, p. 136), Richard's feud with monks
probably instigated his slighting reference to the pretensions of those
who followed the 'common life'.
In the discussion of the abuses of the pastoral office, just cited, we
find included (without reference) echoes of St. Gregory's popular
passage expounding the text 'Obscuratum est aurum, mutatus est
color optimus,' etc. (Regula Pastoralis, 11. vii), as also in Rolle's
Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah (fol. cxxviii). Perhaps
we have evidence that Rolle had been reading the Meditations of
St. Anselm in the following: 'Me respiciat cum oculo, cum quo
Petrum negantem se respexit' (fol. xci), which suggests: 'Intuere
quam piis oculis... tertio negantem respexerit Petrum' (Migne 158,
c. 790). The address 'O bone Jesu', which, as we have seen, is
found both in the Judica and the Job, is also frequent in the Medita-
tions.
The author calls himself a youth: 'O sancti seniores orate pro me
iuuene, vt non errem in hac expositione' (fol. xcvv). The greater
maturity of the Job would suggest that it followed the Melum by


JOB
143
a considerable interval: as Horstmann pointed out (ii, p. xix), Rolle
in his Commentary on the Apostles' Creed (fol. 39) mentions Christ's
age at the Resurrection as 'aetas iuuenilis', and probably he used
the same latitude in his own case, and the Job may have been com-
posed in his early thirties. We have seen (p. 125) that he is inclined
to sentimentalize youth, and this would probably make him claim it
as long as possible, but we have also seen (supra, pp. 109 n., 125)
that 'juvenis' to him is definitely a young man'.
Two references suggest that the Job, like the two prose works
already described, was written in the troublous years during which
Edward II finally lost his throne, only to be succeeded by the high-
handed rule of Mortimer and Queen Isabella. The opening perhaps
hints at contemporary disorders:
'[Parce mihi domine, nihil enim sunt dies mei.] Exprimitur autem in
his verbis humanae conditionis instabilitas, quae non habet in hac mise-
rabili valle manentem mansionem, sed peribit potestas a principibus
peruersis, & ferientur proculdubio in profundissimas flammas infernorum,
ludusque omnium hominum lasciuorum cito labitur in lamentationem,
denique & dominia diuitum, cum tabernaculis tyrannorum intra breue
tempus terminabuntur. Hoc itaque annuncio vobis qui in transitoria
dulcedine delectamini, & in istis terrenis diuitijs abundare anhelatis, quod
de gaudio vestro dolorem habebitis, videntes quod euanescunt vniuersa
quae sub sole adquisistis' (fol. lxxxix).
These words sound as if the young hermit were trying to use the
worldly troubles of the time as an incentive to repentance for the
worldly, but it is not possible to fix them to any special year, though
(when taken in connexion with the passage already quoted from the
earlier Melum), it is not likely that they were written before the
queen had deposed her husband (1327), or after her son had deposed
Mortimer and restored a legitimate government (1330). The follow-
ing passage may reinforce them by hinting at the same events: the
' tyrants' mentioned here, in the opening of the Job above quoted,
and in a passage quoted from the Melum (f. 208), may conceivably
allude to Mortimer and the queen.
'Est igitur honor deo, tyrannos deijcere, & magnos mundi principes,
qui se quasi deos reputant, & reuerentiam vt dij exigunt, quemadmodum
Pharaonem & exercitum eius demersit in mare, expugnando a suis gaudijs
deuincere & vincendo conquassare' (fol. xcix).
Such a passage is the more likely to have topical meaning because,
as we have seen, Rolle, at least during his early years as a hermit,
must have had the material to have given abundant and striking
no!


144
EARLY WORKS
historical indications of a period marked by striking calamities, both
in the natural world and in the political. However, the ascetic view
of mundane affairs which inspired him may be understood by the
following from the Job: Quamuis multi fame corporali mortui sunt,
tamen multo plures superbia diuitiarum seipsos occidunt' (fol. cvv).
Since this was his point of view, it was inevitable that few contem-
porary allusions are to be found in his writings, and the process of
dating them becomes at best uncertain.¹
The fact that a work like the Job should have followed the Melum
will prove that Rolle remained a student, however ardent a mystic he
became. The theological element appears in most of his works,
though usually almost overwhelmed by the mystical: in the present
piece the usual proportions of the two have been reversed. We find
here the most extreme expression which he anywhere gives of his
theology (except in his Latin Psalter, which is perhaps contem-
poraneous), just as in a still earlier work, the Melum, we find the
most extreme expression of his mysticism. It is evident that Rolle
reached almost his full development early. We have seen that
passages from the early works are quoted verbatim in late works, and
in general the later writings will be found to repeat with superior
analysis and restraint what we already find in the last two composi-
tions of his youth.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
MS. XLII. B. Mus. Harl. 275, ff. 67-90, 15th cent. Verses
follow. 'Expliciunt lecciones de seruicio mortuorum secundum
exposicionem Ricardi heremite de hampool.' F. 148b: marriage
banns in the diocese of London, 1451. See E. V., Incend.
A passage 'Reges a suis regnis precipitat', etc., Corpus Christi Oxf. MS.
193, f. 120, refers to the life after death.


CHAPTER VI
SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES (LATIN AND
ENGLISH)
He is
ROLLE'S Commentaries on Holy Writ are numerous.
constantly, as we shall see, preaching the value of study of the
Scriptures, and in his attacks on the clergy he specially blames them
for their ignorance of the sacred writings. His own commentaries,
therefore, have behind them a very conscious desire to increase
interest in the Bible, and perhaps his efforts were an influence making
towards the special absorption in study of the Holy Scriptures charac-
teristic of the Lollards in the next generation. His interest, however,
unlike theirs, was in the mystical,' rather than the literal meaning. \
To interpret this, much study of the Bible was necessary, and Rolle had
a knowledge of Scripture that would have pleased the Lollards.
He quotes it constantly intact and in solution, though, with charac-
teristic dislike for a display of authorities, he usually omits references.
Rolle's commentaries show the ideas and style which we find in
his other works. As a matter of fact probably the most earnest
propaganda which he undertook in the interests of the life of love
and solitude to which he was dedicated lay in composing his laborious
commentaries, in which he showed the very word of God as rein-
forcing his message. His propaganda penetrated even into the
expositions on the Psalter, in which he was using a standard text-
book, and this phenomenon perhaps gives us our strongest proof of
his single-mindedness. The self-confidence involved in calling the
whole Scriptures to his assistance is worthy of a man who does not
hesitate to call himself a saint, and we cannot be surprised that
Rolle's commentaries (in early life, at least) brought him persecution. -
Outward interference, however, does not check his enterprise, for his
understanding of the Bible is one of the points where (as we shall see) |
he believes himself directly inspired. Though in the Job he may
show some signs of dejection and even nervousness lest he should
not express the right shade of meaning, he never really loses faith in
1 Cf. infra, p. 148, for a possible contributory cause of this emphasis.


146
SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
himself, and his courage and integrity of purpose are always impres-
sive. They give his commentaries as it were a living spirit, for all
the disjointed structure which such compositions must show; by
attaching the texts to the experience of the author, he gives us often
poignant glimpses of the use which he made of the Scriptures to
express his own moods. The human interest, therefore, of Rolle's
commentaries is often considerable, and in his hands what is perhaps
the most out-of-date of all medieval forms of literature still often
retains vitality. Some historical interest they also have, in showing
how the orthodoxy of medieval times was 'compassed about with
a cloud of witnesses'. It was upheld, as it were, by a thrust and
counter-thrust of literal, moral, allegorical, and anagogical interpreta-
tions which may remind us of the thrust and counter-thrust of the
contemporary Gothic arches. The scholastic age in more than one
direction achieved a unique power of interconnecting the elements
with which it was concerned, whether material, intellectual, or
spiritual, into a fabric at once compact and delicately wrought.
Rolle, in expounding his gospel of mysticism, showed himself the
child of his age in the careful synthesis which he developed of the lot of
the mystic, his initiation, experience, character, prestige, and reward.
It will be seen that Rolle's commentaries, though similar in spirit,
differ greatly in method. A work like the Canticles, built about two
and a half verses of Scripture, stands at the one extreme, and the
Psalters, in which he never strays far from the texts commented on,
at the other. Expositions like the Job or the Twentieth Psalm are
intermediate. Two of Richard's works already treated, the Com
mentary on the Canticles and the Commentary on the Lessons from
Job, illustrate the type of work which is to be treated in the present
chapter, and in the Melum also many sections (in the words of the
author, 'postils') devote themselves to the exposition of texts as
closely as the Canticles, though the texts are not chosen consecutively.
Since Rolle's authorship of the three works just mentioned is beyond
doubt the Melum, which is the only one not signed, being referred
to in the Job, which is signed-it follows that the precedent is solidly
established for Rolle's composition of commentaries. A few quota-
tions will be given, however, to show how this type of writing is, as
it were, promised in Rolle's other works, and expresses a vital part
of his activity.
In the Judica me Deus, which is probably Richard's first prose
composition, in the section (B 1) given to advice to a parish priest,
occurs the following: 'Scire enim debent sacerdotes sacras scripturas,


ENGLISH AND LATIN
147
que necesse sunt ad illorum officium' (Judica B, f. 17). Here the
young hermit is transcribing the orthodox manual Pars Oculi. In
the similar account of the virtues of good pastors in the Melum
Richard writes: 'Sciant ergo scripturas qui ut eas predicent prefe-
runtur' (f. 210). In the Commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah
occurs a great deal of complaint of contemporary clergy, similar to
that found in the three early prose works, and here he writes:
'Pastores & rectores ... errantes in amore seculi, pabulum spirituale
non inueniunt in scripturis dei' (fol. cxxiv); '[Paruuli], id est, fideles in
ecclesia & laici [petierunt panem] praedicationis & verbi dei [& non erat
qui frangeret eis], id est, qui scripturas exponeret vt ipsi intelligant, sic
lamijs crudeliores sunt ecclesiarum rectores. [Qui vescebantur voluptuose
interierunt in vijs] fame verbi dei [qui nutriebantur in croceis], id est,
donis spiritus sancti, relictis illis [amplexati sunt stercora], id est, cor-
porales delectationes' (fol. cxxviii). 'Sacerdotes reprobat, qui doctri-
nam dei vel sacramenta, non nisi cum pecunia ministrant, non pure pro deo
[& ligna nostra], id est, scripturam & dona dei, quibus ignis in corde
nutritur amoris [precio comparauimus] conqueruntur Christiani de auaris
sacerdotibus, qui etiam ipsum deum pro precio vendunt' (fol. cxxix).
Though Richard thus believes that a knowledge of the Scriptures
is of the first importance, he is extremely cautious about how that
knowledge is to be supplied, for it is the hidden meanings which he
wishes to propagate. In discussing in the Melum the office of the
preacher he says: 'Sed errant nunc undique, miseros mittentes qui
ignorant oracula clause scripture et integrum non habent altissimo
amorem, ac prohibent precipuos proferre sermonem.... Cur pocius non
eligunt quos Deus inspirat et mittit in mundo ut multi meliorentur ?'
(ff. 241-42). Earlier in the same work we find the following:
'Nimirum misterium mitto modernis. Etenim antiqui sublimia scie-
bant: archanum absconditur ab omnibus auaris; uix unus hoc accipit
dum est in hoc mundo. Claudit enim conditor ianuam scripture ut
lateant legentes que liquide lucescunt, sed amicis hanc aperit ardenter
qui amant, ut aliis ostenderent quod hii intellexerunt' (f. 237');
and still earlier :
'Auctorem amaui qui animam ardore Olimpi impleuit, ut proferam
precipue sermones amoris, scripturam scrutans que latet carnales '
(f. 233).
He writes in the Commentary on the Apocalypse:
'Vult enim Deus scripturas suas clausas esse, ne inimicis pateat locus
adeundi in thesaurum Domini, qui gloriarentur in vanitate sua, non in Deo,
ut vilipenderent diuina verba sapientis. Ergo egit dando scripturas in se


148
SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
misticum sensum continentes, ut mali excludantur et sui deuoti, et illi
penitus dediti, exerceri possint et, si inueniant, reddant laudes Deo; si
non inueniunt, imputent sue [im]pietati,' quia aut non recte querunt pre-
sumendo aut non perseuerant in querendo. Nullus enim qui perfecte
querit et perseueranter ab inuencione fraudabitur, nec tamen omnibus
sanctis datum est inuenire, quia nec omnibus inspiratum est querere.
Diuersa enim carismata electis tribuuntur' (f. 123).
He says in the English Psalter: 'Her may we see that nan sould
be swa hardy to translate or expound haly writ bot if he felid the
haly gast in him, that is makere of haly writ, for soen sall he erre
that is noght led with him' (p. 61).
It is evident from the quotations given that Rolle believed that
the understanding of Scripture was a direct gift of inspiration, as was
his gift of mystical joy, and that he enjoyed the former as well as the
latter. They also make it probable that he had attempted to propa-
gate his understanding of Scripture by means of preaching, and been
forbidden by ecclesiastical authority to continue (cf. also infra,
pp. 471, 474 sq., 487). The English Psalter will suggest the method
which he sometimes followed in his expositions: 'Wickid men torne
30w til god... He has bent his bow, that is, he manaunce 30w with
haly writt, and redid it, thurgh haly men expownynge whaim ze dispise,
and haly lare alswa' (p. 27). Probably the authorities objected to
Rolle's preaching his interpretations because he turned all to the
glorification of his own manner of life and the prejudice of other
ranks in the Church. The wordis of oure lord ere chast withouten
corupcioun, he says (p. 44) in the English Psalter (here reminding
us of the style of the Authorized Version)'... ymange spechis nan is
swa swet til the thoght as godis word.' If we may judge from the
character of his commentaries, he found the Holy Scriptures specially
sweet to the thought because the hero of the expositions is practically
always the contemplative, whose life and future destiny-like those
of the Saviour and of the Mother of God-are found cryptically
described in the ancient writings."
Already in the Melum, an early work, Richard lays claim to
a supernatural understanding of Scripture, which he seems to be
prevented from imparting as a preacher. Evidence is there given
almost strong enough to prove that by this time he has definitely
I turned to the exposition as the form by which he is to send out the
interpretations to which he feels himself inspired. The discussion
of the preacher already quoted from culminates as follows:
1 MSS. pietati.
2 Here to some degree-he resembles Joachim of Flora (v. infra, p. 333).


ENGLISH AND LATIN
149
1
'Multo nimirum plures sunt qui sciunt verbum Dei predicare quam qui
senciunt in seipsis sonum eterne laudis et archanum angelice armonie,
et ista duo raro aut nunquam simul in eodem inueniuntur. Nam qui
officium suscipit predicacionis circuit per villas, ciuitates et castella. Qui
autem amore contemplacionis perfecte rapitur, solus sedendo quiescere
iugiter delectatur. Itaque bonum est bonum predicatorem esse pro
salute animarum, discurrere, monere, fatigari, sed melius est, securius,
suauius, contemplatorem esse, eternam suauitatem presentire, delicias
canere eterni amoris et in laudem rapi conditoris per infusionem canoris
iubilei. Si quis autem utrumque potuerit adipisci, tanto laudabilior esset,
sed hoc non continget nisi prius efficeretur contemplator quam predicator,
et proculdubio cum diuine caritatis dulcedo mentem absorbuerit, caro
deficit, et ulterius iam ad exteriores labores sustinendos fortis non erit.
Doceat, exortetur, suadeat omnes ad caritatem, ut viuant in concordia et
castitate, et in mansuetudine et in paciencia. Studeat quoque, si habeat
intellectum scripturarum et videat spiritum sanctum se inflammantem, hec
et alia plura scribere, que in publico non potest predicare. Sed nemo qui
salutem suam amat, nisi sit doctus a Deo et indicia cognoscit interne
inspiracionis, tractare presumat de sacris scripturis, alioquin errabit
nocens sibi et aliis' (f. 242).
Evidently the claims of mysticism as much as outside pressure
now forced the young hermit to seek a quiet mode of expression;
and even his interest is apparently withdrawn from preaching-to
judge from the testimony of the later works. On the other hand,
the quotations just made would make us look for Richard to write
expositions of Scripture even if we did not know that he did so. The
fact that his commentaries were owned by many high ecclesiastics
would seem to show that the Church in the end approved his Scriptural
interpretations-when presented to the literate.
1 bono C.
2 Cf. Incendium, p. 206.
6
• indica C.
The following passage on the Scriptures in the early Melum may be of
enough interest to quote: Siquidem plures sunt qui voluntatem peccandi
perfecte non dimittentes multa, que in sanctis libris scribuntur, vera esse
non putant, et tamen plerique presumentes autumant se in tremenda dis-
cussione non iudicandos sed alios iudicaturos constitui. Alii sunt qui, etsi verba
sacre scripture seruare negligunt, tamen se saluandos audacter dicunt. Primum
genus hominum manifeste probantur errare, eo quod absurdissimum sit, immo
dementissimum, opinari aliquid erroris in sancta scriptura, precipue in scriptis
prophetarum, aut in euangelio aut in epistolis canonicis, scilicet, apostolorum.
... Unde qui sacre scripture derogat, hereticus est. Porro si loquamur de aliis
sanctis qui expositores fuerunt, quis nisi insane mentis diceret quod aliquis ad
celum per mendacia veniret ? Sed anime eorum ad celestia gaudia perducuntur,
ut patet. Nam ubi ipsorum corpora humata fuerunt, miracula fiunt, que nunc
eciam ab optimis viuis fieri non possunt; ergo vera scripserunt. Preterea nun-
quid non scribo pro tua saluacione ? Tam districtum iudicium tu sencies quam


150
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
PART I: MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL
COMMENTARIES
SUPER THRENOS
Beg. '[Quomodo sedet sola ciuitas plena populo.] Et factum est
postquam in captiuitatem.... Aleph doctrina interpraetatur. Vera
autem doctrina est, qua deus cognoscitur' (edit. 1536, fol. cxxiii).
Ends: '[iratus es contra nos vehementer], si non poenitemus'
(fol. cxxix).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The Comment on the Lamentations of Jeremiah was printed in the
edition of Cologne of 1536, and at Paris separately in 1542.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 861. Unattributed. V. supra, p. 32.
II. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 135-42, early 15th cent.
'Incipiunt postille eiusdem (Ricardi heremite) super Trenos siue
lamentaciones Jeremie.' 'Explicit postilla Ricardi heremite super
trenos.' See Lat. Ps., Job, Cant., 20th Ps., O. D., S. A., E. V.,
Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
OTHER MS.
III. Trin. Coll. Dublin 153, 15th cent. 'Exposicio trenorum
Jeronimi per sanctum Ricardum heremitam de hampull.' See Cant.
Am., Cant., Judica, Mul. Fort.
QUOTATIONS And References.
A compilation in Trin. Coll. Dublin 277 quotes with Rolle's
name this commentary, which also Boston found ascribed to Rolle
at Bury. 'Super Threnos' was found with Rolle's name by Leland
at St. Mary's, York. Bale does not cite the work in his Index, and,
curiously enough, he omits it in the list which he gives from
ego. Corpus meum castigo, et in seruitutem redigo, ne aliis predicans, ego repro-
bus efficiar (1 Cor. ix. 27). Si ergo timeo, quare non timeres et tu (presertim cum
Deo equalis sit cura de omnibus), aut quid proderit michi si homines dampnentur ?
Nunquid ego dampno malos, vel pocius eorum malicia (sic)? Scribimus igitur,
non ut dampnentur, sed ut conuertantur et viuant et saluentur. Proponuntur eis
terrores inferni, stricta iudicia Dei, ut ea caueant ut non (om. C) in illis cadant'
(ff. 249, 250). There soon follows the indictment of hypocritical clergy later to
be quoted (p. 267). This passage is inconsistent with another in which Rolle
seems to declare that evil men may work miracles after death (v. infra, p. 488).


SUPER THRENOS
151
'Bostonus'.
Leland) in his Catalogus of 1557.
It is, however, included (with the title given by
The Comment on the Lamentations of Jeremiah is a fairly close and
concise exposition after the usual medieval type. Nevertheless, the
author introduces enough mysticism (sometimes expressed in alliter-
ative language) to bring the work into close relations with the other
writings of 'Richard Hermit'.
The texts chosen for comment in the present piece would have
had a striking present-day application during the latter years of the
reign of Edward II and the early years of Edward III, when Rolle
was a young man. Other indications might also go to show that the
present commentary was a work of his youth. The possibility that
it may belong with the early works has put it first among the
commentaries, out of the alphabetical order generally followed. The
desire to refrain from admitting any conjectures in the arrangement
of the catalogue has, however, kept it from being formally included
in the group just treated.
The following may imply that the author is still young, and it
certainly shows his prejudice for a life of solitude:
'Magnum enim est iuuenibus seculum relinquere, a feruenti concu-
piscentia abstinere. Hic talis [Sedebit solitarius], id est, singularis cum
Deo est, quia omnes alios excellit, vel non immiscetur negotijs & deside-
rijs mundi [& tacebit] a vanis loquelis & cogitationibus, diuino amore
contentus [quia leuauit se super se], id est, vltra vires corruptae naturae
per contemplationem exeundo ad superna' (fol. cxxviiv).
The persecution and temptation by ecclesiastics, which Rolle is
undergoing at the time of writing the Melum and Job, seem to be
echoed here in a passage which also hints at the hermit's life of the
author:
'[Velociores fuerunt persequutores nostri], id est, immundi spiritus ad
lacerandum & deuorandum [aquilis coeli], id est, quam sancti praedica-
tores ad eripiendum, qui etiam eremitis, quorum sensus clausi sunt, ne
mors intret, melliflua mundi proponunt [quia super montes], id est, in
contemplatione positos [persecuti sunt nos]; vel qui ad ecclesiae regimina
extolluntur, acrius ad persequendum eos incitant [in deserto insidiati sunt
nobis], monachis & eremitis, quanto enim nos ad culmina virtutum pro-
motos considerant, tanto ardentius infestant' (fol. cxxix).
The present commentary gives many bitter attacks on the clergy, and
in so doing shows connexion with the three early prose works already
treated (see fols. cxxiiii, cxxviii-cxxix, and supra, pp. 101, 124, 142).


152
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
Though the present work seems to be early, it has not been
written before the author has attained some knowledge of ecstasy,
with its sensuous concomitants, and some facility in alliterative prose :
•
'Anima sola sedet, quae suauitate amoris Christi caret. .. Plorat
quippe non in omnibus, sed in his qui mortui sunt mundo, in viris con-
templatiuis, amore Christi ardentibus & mellifluis deuotione delicatissima
factis' (fol. cxxiii sq.)... 'a choro sanctorum, canentium dei laudes in
iubilo deficiunt, qui canticum amoris Christi non assumunt' (fol. cxxix").
He has also apparently begun the familiar use of the Name of Jesus:
'[Mandauit dominus aduersum Iacob], id est, contra animam olim
vitia supplantantem, nunc solo nomine gloriantem' (fol. cxxv; cf. fols.
cxxvii, cxxviii).
The following exposition may have had contemporary significance:
'[Non crediderunt reges terrae, & vniversi habitatores orbis, quod
ingrederetur hostis & inimicus per portas Ierusalem] quia auersa est a
domino, deo suo, cuius enim muniebatur beneficio, recessit praesidium, &
sic facti sunt praeda inimicorum' (fol. cxxviiiˇ).
If this be taken as a topical allusion, we have another hint that
the work is likely to be early. Edward II's Scotch wars might be in
question. The Battle of Byland, one specially ignominous episode
of that period, in which the king lost his baggage and was nearly
captured himself, seems to be hinted at in the early Melum, where
Rolle appears to be in conflict with the monks who suffered so much
from this disaster (v. supra, p. 123, and infra, pp. 484, 487).
SUPER APOCALYPSIM (usque ad cap. vi)
The quotations from this work are made from Bodl. MS. 861
(cited as B) collated with the Hereford MS.
Beg.: Apocalipsis Ihesu Christi, quam dedit illi Deus (Apoc. i. 1).
Beatus Iohannes in exilium missus cogitauit diuersos status ecclesie
multa pro nomine Christi passuros, ut ergo deuocius transitoria
queque despicerent' (f. 123).
Ends: sicut diabolus sedet in anima peccatrice, habebat arcum
(Apoc. vi. 2), id est, sanctam scripturam' (f. 128).
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. 861. Unattributed. V. supra, p. 31.
The
II. B. Mus. Cotton Tiber. A. xv, ff. 181-9, 15th cent.
edges of the pages are defaced by fire. In Smith's catalogue of 1696,
made before the fire, this item is entered as Comment. Ricardi


SUPER APOCALYPSIM
153
Hampole Heremitae in Apocalypsim D. Joannis'—which gives
some presumption that this copy was originally ascribed to Rolle.
See Mul. Fort., Office.
III. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. See Lat. Ps.,
E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Cant., Mel., Magn.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
Syon Monastery evidently contained a copy of the present work
giving the name of the author, for—after the Incendium—MS. M. 96
contained: 'Idem (Ricardus Hampole) super apocalipsim vsque ad
vim capitulum' (the limit of the present commentary). In this manu-
script were only these two pieces. An anonymous copy of this
work was evidently contained in the important collection of Rolle's
works in the 16th-century Savile library. Leland evidently saw in
the library of St. Mary's, York, a copy of the present work ascribed
to Rolle, for he cites among the works of Richard found there
'Super Apocalypsim'. His mention is copied by most of the later
bibliographers.
Horstmann's failure to include the present work in his collection
means that it has never been described, and accordingly it will be
illustrated by quotations at some length. It is one of the most
characteristic of Rolle's commentaries, and no exhaustive account
can be given of the passages which suggest his authorship. Enough
will be quoted to show that the exposition constantly echoes
Richard's individual experience, doctrine, and style.
The author praises a life of solitude, in alliterative language:
'Locus enim solitarius aptus est in quo cecreta celestia reuelentur.
Magnam quippe utilitatem affert solitudo pro Deo pure suscepta, et qui
vitam solitariam perfecte sectantur, ab immensis periculis se erutos gaude-
bunt, et si in primis quidem grauibus temptamentis vexentur, postea sine
dubio ineffabili suauitate iubilabunt' (f. 123V).¹
Some hints are given of Rolle's external difficulties:
'Quisquis namque turbam et domos diuitum frequentare audet, crebra
vulnera suscipiet, quia si perfectus est, per detraccionem lacerabitur ab
inuidis; si adhuc tener et immaturus aut non firmatus, decidet in lubricum
voluptatis' (f. 123).
'Ostendens aduersa calumpniarum, improperiorum et magnarum tribu-
lacionum, non solum ab extraneis, sed eciam a falsis fratribus, quorum
persecucio eo est magis periculosa quo occulta. Et quod manifeste
faciunt per inuidiam, fingunt se facere per zelum. Inuident enim hiis
1 The Hereford MS. has some leaves misplaced at this point.
L


154
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
qui per graciam Dei in ipsis operantem in conuersacione clari hominibus
innotescunt, unde inuidia tabescentes, calu[m]pnias querunt, mendacia
confingunt, falsa crimina inponunt, ut vel omnino deleantur vel saltem
infamentur. Hos peruerse mentis ideo permittit Deus longe lateque
discurrere et maliuolas linguas ac venenosas relaxare ut pacienciam
electorum excerceatur, et gloriosius coronentur, et si quid in eis culpe con-
tractum fuerit, lima expietur aduersancium linguarum' (f. 123).¹
'Recte angelo Smirnie ista proferuntur, id est, illis quorum canticum et
iocunditas Christus est, quia nimirum quo suauius ac clarius inmisso in
eis sono celico Christo vel meditando et laudando et orando canunt, eo
contra eos crudeliores aduersarii et plures insurgunt, ut de excellencia sua
nulla elacione tangantur' (f. 125).
'Caritas enim est que nos caros facit et amabiles reddit Deo et angelis
et hominibus, quamuis non omnes qui amore Dei ardent ab omni
homine amentur, quia inuidi et malicia pleni de bonitate proximorum
tabescunt, et infamare student. Mirabile esset, si aliquis iuste ac sancte
viueret et inimicos atque aduersarios homines non inueniret' (f. 127V).
The internal elements of Rolle's life are suggested-the 'heat,
sweetness, and song', and the ecstatic use of the Holy Name:
'Vel pocius oculi Christi sunt viri summi et contemplatiui, pre aliis
membris corporis Christi lucidi et in alto positi ad decorem tocius faciei,
qui sunt velut flamma ignis, scilicet, ardentes interius quia igne eterni
amoris mirabiliter succensi sunt, et totum cor suum quasi in igne conuer-
sum est, unde se per contemplacionem ad superna rapiunt, et diuino
gaudio natura eorum transmutata in dulcedine[m] mellis² in spiritu lique-
fiunt. In quibus flamma illa amor est, per quam ita melliflui facti sunt,
quod et orando iubilant' (f. 124).
'Smirnia, id est, canora delectacio, quia et nomen meum cum suauis-
sima laudis exultacione intra se retinere non desinunt, deliciasque eterni
amoris cantacione ineffabili in auribus meis canunt' (ibid.).
The celestial quality of the mystic ecstasy is insisted on, for it is
a 'prelibation' of the joys of heaven :
'Introibo ad illum (Apoc. iii. 20), id est, in secreta cordis ipsius parabo
michi mansionem, interna eum aspiracione tangendo, ut me in eo esse
cognoscat et senciat, dum non solum ipsum amoris mei igne succendam,
sed eciam suauitatem vite eterne faciam pregustare' (f. 126).³
In the apocalyptic vision of heaven the mystic ecstasy is consum-
mated: we have seen that (to use Richard's own phrase) 'the glory and
perfection of the saints' make the subject of most of his writings, and
1 The last part of this quotation ('Inuident . . .') has not been read with the
Hereford MS., nor have the two following passages.
2 Hereford MS. adds: celestis melodie'.
3 This section is misplaced in the Hereford MS.


SUPER APOCALYPSIM
155
the present commentary naturally offers opportunity to make clear
their reward in heaven as well as on earth:
'Et vidi, id est, intellexi, in dextera sedentis super thronum (Apoc. v. 1),
id est, in filio Dei viui Ihesu Christi (sic), qui sedet regnando et quiescendo et
delectando in sanctis qui sunt thronus eius, quia per eos iudicat de aliis et
mores minorum fidelium informat. Ipsi enim in tranquillitate ac sereni-
tate consciencie positi et firmati, dum in diuino amore ardendo iubilant,
Christum profecto in cordibus suis suauiter portant' (f. 127).
No vagueness is allowed as to the high criterion by which men are
to be judged worthy of the highest seats in heaven :
'Non tamen omnes qui carnem mortificant vel predicant digne cum
Christo iudicaturi sunt, sed qui excellenter et perfecte mundo renunciant
et solis diuinis laudibus vacant, semper parati in spiritu agnum imitari,
qui vix concupiscencias senciunt vel raro, in quibus pene exting[u]untur.
Potest et cithara que delectabilem reddit melodiam sanctorum solacium
designare, qui, quia in mente sunt nitidi et diuina contemplacione eleuati
ac firmi, missam celicam suauitatem cum ineffabili iubilo suscipiunt, et
igne diuini amoris vehementer inardescunt' (f. 127V).
The Commentary on the Apocalypse is evidently one of Rolle's most
characteristic writings. It may perhaps be conjectured that this also
is an early work. The references to persecutions (by 'false
brothers', i. e. clerics (?), actuated by envy) suggest those found in the
early group. The following passage (though natural in expounding
the texts at hand) perhaps also hints at a relation to Rolle's early
compositions :
'Tempus enim prope est, quod libenter pati debemus, et cuncta con-
tempnere que vana sunt, quia tempus prope est in quo finientur miserie et
tribulaciones, omnesque dolores ab electis euacuabuntur atque eterna
gloria apparebit' (f. 123).¹
SUPER ORATIONEM DOMINICAM
Beg. [Pater noster . . .] Haec oratio priuilegiata est in duobus,
scilicet in dignitate et etiam in foecunditate' (edit. 1535, fol. 29).
Ends: ineffringibilia & inuiolabilia esse confirmata in veritate '
(fol. 31).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The Comment on the Lord's Prayer was printed in the editions of
Cologne of 1535 and 1536, and by La Bigne in 1622, 1677, &c.
1 This has not been collated with the Hereford MS.
L 2


156
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
29-32, early 15th cent.
I. Bodl. 48 (Sum. Cat. No. 1885), ff.
'Hic incipit exposicio oracionis dominice.' See E. V., S. A.
II. Bodl. 549 (Sum. Cat. No. 2298), ff. 98-100, early 15th cent.
'Hic incipit quedam exposicio notabilis oracionis dominice.'
S. A.
III. Bodl. 861. Unattributed. V. supra, p. 32.
See
IV. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 160-1, early 15th cent.
'Incipit tractatus eiusdem (Ricardi heremite) super oracione domi-
nica.' See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., S. A., E. V.,
Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
V. Univ. Dd. iv. 50, ff. 108-9, 16th cent. See Stim. Consc.
(lat.), S. A.
VI. Univ. Dd. v. 64(1), f. 16b, early 15th cent. 'Exposicio
oracionis dominice secundum ricardum hampole.' Imperfect at the
end. See E. V., Incend., Mel., Form, Command., Ego D., Miscell.
VII. Emmanuel Coll. 35, ff. 60-3, 15th cent. (before 1414).
'Exposicio oracionis dominice secundum R. h. heremitam.'
Cant., Judica, Mul. Fort., Incend., Contra Am. M., Mel.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
See
VIII. Harl. 2361, ff. 59b-61, 15th cent. 'Exposicio oracionis
dominice secundum Ricardum heremitam.' Above is written: 'de
hampole'. 'Dominus Johnson est possessor huius libri.... Ex
dono Magistri Johannis Odlyne. 1503.' See S. A.
IX. Harl. 2406, ff. 12-15, 15th cent. 'Explicit secundum
Ricardum.' 'Iste liber pertinet domine matilde stuerd' (f. 11b).
See S. A., E. V. (angl.).
OTHER MSS.
X. Douay 396. Unattributed.
V. supra, p. 37.
XI. Shrewsbury School 25, ff. 164-164, 14th cent. See Lat. Ps.,
E. V., and supra, p. 45.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
'Super Orationem Dominicam' by Rolle was seen by Leland at
St. Mary's, York, and cited by the later bibliographers.


SUPER ORATIONEM DOMINICAM
157
Rolle's Commentary on the Lord's Prayer is short, sometimes
scholastic, and generally unmystical, but, like the following exposition
(with which it generally occurs in the manuscripts), it gives hints of
the 'glory and perfection of the saints' sufficient to uphold the
strong external evidence for Rolle's authorship:
'In coelis, id est, secretis sanctis & spiritualibus viris, qui sunt habita-
cula dei, & eorum conuersatio in coelis est: vt ad spiritualitatem, in qua
habitat, festinare discamus, & coelestia ab eo petamus. . . . In nobis in eo
quiescentibus sanctificatur ipse, dum nos in ipso sanctificamur. ... In
beatis angelis & in animabus sanctis est plena conformitas diuinae
voluntatis' (fols. 29, 30).
Alliteration will be noted here in the first sentence quoted.
:
SUPER SYMBOLUM APOSTOLORUM
Beg. Decimo die post ascensionem domini, discipulis prae
timore Iudaeorum in vnum congregatis' (edit. 1535, fol. 31V).
Ends: Item Christum ardenter amantibus.
tenuerit illam scilicet, sapientiam, vitam haereditabit' (fol. 41).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
Ecci. 4.
Qui
The Comment on the Apostles' Creed was printed in the editions of
Cologne 1535 and 1536, and by La Bigne in 1622, 1677, &c.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 48, ff. 32-45, early 15th cent. 'Explicit exposicio
symboli per Ricardum heremitam.' See E. V., O. D.
Hic incipit exposicio
See O. D.
V. supra, p. 33.
II. Bodl. 549, ff. 100V-12, early 15th cent.
Simboli Apostolorum.' A Carthusian book.
III. Bodl. 861. Ascribed to Rolle.
IV. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff.
'Explicit exposicio simboli per Ricardum heremitam.' See Lat. Ps.,
Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., O. D., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend.,
Mel., Judica.
CAMBRIDGE MS.
161-5, early 15th cent.
V. Univ. Dd. iv. 50, ff. 109-11b, 16th cent. Imperfect at the
end. See Stim. Consc. (lat.), O. D.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
VI. Harl. 2361, ff. 61-8, 15th cent. See O. D.


158
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
VII. Harl. 2406, ff. 15-31, 15th cent. 'Glosa Ricardi de
Hampul heremite in oracione Dominica et simbalo venerabili.'
See O. D., E. V. (angl.).
In every manuscript of the Comment on the Apostles' Creed, that on
the Lord's Prayer immediately precedes.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
In the index to the compilation in B. Mus. Roy. MS. 8 C. xv
the second meditation of the fourth part appears as follows: 'Quod
opus incarnacionis filii dei attribuitur spiritui sancto. Ricardus
heremita super simbolum' (f. 2). For the passage quoted v. infra.
'Super Symbolum' by Rolle was seen by Leland at St. Mary's, York,
and the later bibliographers note a comment on the 'Symbolum
Apostolorum'.
The Commentary on the Apostles' Creed is more scholastic and less
mystical than most of Rolle's writings. It cites a considerable
number of authorities, with exact references, and explains many
points of theology. Traces of what we may suppose to be the
influence of the hermit's early University training are not absent
from the other works, and are perhaps specially notable in the Latin
Psalter and the Job. They are always alternated with passages
expressing extreme mysticism, of Rolle's most individual type. The
present commentary is short, and, in spite of being generally
uncharacteristic, it gives hints of mysticism sufficient to show that
Rolle in this work also was true to type. The 'ardent lovers of
God' have already appeared in the concluding lines above quoted,
and they enter the commentary at several points:
'Quanto vero quis in amore Christi in hoc praesenti seculo iucundior
& feruentior fuerit, tanto in resurrectione imo & sine fine gloriosior &
sublimior erit' (fol. 35). 'Natus est Christus in mense Decembri tempore
hyemis, ad ostendendum quod veniebat calefacere frigidos, vt amore
aeternitatis ardeant, & ipsum solum pro eis natum tota cordis dilectione
iugiter concupiscant' (fol. 33).
Alliteration and rhyme appear in the last quotation.
A discussion of the Trinity ('Tres personae sunt vnum in essentia',
etc., fol. 37) shows considerable resemblance to one on the same
subject in the Incendium Amoris ('Et quemadmodum Deum
nostrum, Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum, unam essenciam
non tres essencias dicimus', etc., p. 163, cf. infra, p. 229).


SUPER MULIEREM FORTEM
159
SUPER MULIEREM FORTEM
The quotations from the present work are made from Trin. Coll.
Dublin MS. 153 (cited as T), collated with St. John's Coll. Oxf. MS.
77.
Beg.: 'Mulierem fortem, etc. (Prov. xxxi. 10). Quanto aurum
argento est preciosius, tanto' contemplatiua vita quam actiua subtilior
estimatur.'
Ends: incessanter amorem Christi querens, nullis prosperis vel
aduersis a recta vite via variatur.'
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. St. John's Coll. Oxf. 77, ff. 94-6, 15th cent. Contemporary
table of contents: Item Exposicio Ricardi hampol super id prouer-
bium ultimum, mulierem fortem.' 'Explicit Mulierem fortem.
Expositum per Ricardum hampol.' See Spur.
II. Emmanuel Coll. Camb. 35, ff. 23-5, 15th cent. (before
1414). 'hampole de Actiua vita et contemplatiua.' See Cant.,
Incend., Judica, O. D., Contra Am. M., Mel.
III. B. Mus. Cotton Tiber. A. xv, ff. 190-190h, 15th cent.
Explicit tractatus Ricardi Heremite.' Much damaged by fire.
Smith's catalogue (printed before the fire) calls this piece: 'Tractatus
Ricardi Heremitae de vita activa et contemplativa.' See Apoc., Office.
IV. Castle Howard MS., 15th cent. 'Hampole. De vita
actiua et contemplatiua.' See E. V., Spur. (2), Contra Am. M.,
Cant., Incend., Job, Judica.
V. Trin. Coll. Dublin 153, 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus de
vita actiua et contemplatiua per Ricardum h. de hampole.' See
Thren., Cant. Am., Cant., Judica.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
This piece does not seem to have been cited or quoted in
medieval times, and no intelligible reference to it is given by the
early bibliographers. Bale in his Index notes among the works of
Rolle as 'Ex domo Ricardi Grafton' a 'Super Mulierem fortem',
but he gives the incipit: Nemo ambigit humanę diuineque sapientie',
which is not that of the present work. It is possible that he saw
a copy to which some extra material had been added at the beginning.
Pits in giving the same mention has probably followed Bale (who
repeats the reference in his larger Catalogue). An anonymous copy
1 tantum T


160
MISCELLANEOUS SCRIPTURAL COMMENTARIES
of this work was probably present in the important collection
of Rolle's works in the 16th-cent. Savile library, under the title
'Tractatus de vita activa et contemplativa' (as given in all extant
copies except one).
This work might be called a sermon rather than a commentary,
for the text from Proverbs with which it opens makes the basis of the
whole discourse. It is, however, convenient to treat it in the present
group. The method of the piece is very like that of the Comment on
the Canticles, yet it might be called a short treatise, and four of the
five manuscripts give it the eminently suitable title 'De vita activa et
contemplativa', as if it were. All give Rolle's name.
In this work Richard does not speak in his own person, but the
following may be said to hint that the author is a hermit: Contem-
placio ergo non adquiritur nisi, relicto tumultu seculari, totum cor
ad amandum Deum prebeatur, ut magis delectetur Deum desiderando
in solitudine quam in clamore cantancium sedere.' The last clause
will be seen to show alliteration.
The following passage gives the general lines of the exposition, and
will be seen to be highly typical of Rolle:
'Iam sic fidelis anima, eterni ignis calore inflammata, supernisque
ardoribus circumsepta, prorsus ad vanas huius mundi delicias non respicit,
solacia quoque secularia nec admittit, unde ad locum tabernaculi admir-
abilis usque ad domum Dei (Ps. xli. 5), amoris Christi canticum cane[n]s,
ascendit; et merito temporalia queque transcendens, ad celestia subleuari
innituntur (sic), ut in voce exultacionis et laudis ac in sono epulantis (Ps.
xli. 5), id est, in canoro iubilo transiens delectetur. Sic vero cum Dei
domum conscenderit, miris deliciis epulisque inexcogitabilibus donabitur
affluere, ut iam deinceps nil preter Christum et ea que ad eternam gloriam
pertinent sciat affectare. Hoc denique modo contemplacionem adquirimus,
ut in nobis mulierem fortem in oculis Saluatoris nostri veraciter ostenda-
mus, quia dum cor nostrum in amore Ihesu Christi ardere non desinit, ab
omni terrena et carnali concupiscencia penitus refrigescit. Liquefacti¹
ergo eterni amoris dulcifluo ardore ad celestia speculanda medullitus
exurimur, et, subductis quibuscumque vanitatibus, in gaudio diuini dulcoris
suauiter absorbemur: gaudentes canimus, canendo amamus, amando
ardemus, ardendo requiescimus, et eterne glorie sedem securius expectamus.
Iam in caritate proficimur, quia increate et vere lucis dulcedini, vocibus
nostris organicis superne melodie consonantibus, que quondam dissone
fuerant, affluenter iocundamur.'
It will be noted that this passage mentions Rolle's three attributes
of ecstasy, and refers to the concentration on 'nil preter Christum',
1 liquefacta T; St. John's 'Inquesiui igitur'.


SUPER MULIEREM FORTEM
161
which is the essential of the devotion to the Holy Name. Some
rhyme and alliteration appear. The text from the Psalms which is
inserted is a favourite with Rolle (v. infra, p. 321). Reminiscences
of phrases found in other works are also to be noted (v. supra,
p. 70, infra, p. 195).
A hint of the opposition which Rolle encountered in his own life
may be found in the discussion of false contemplation with which the
piece opens, in the course of which he castigates the pretensions of
the regular clergy, as in other works (v. supra, p. 124, infra, p. 328):
'Non modicum quippe miror de nonnullis qui sic sua merita aliis pre-
ferunt, dum nihil aliud nisi de obediencia quam superioribus exhibent se
bonos, immo meliores, ostendere contendunt.'
PART II: COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE
PSALTER
DE DEI MISERICORDIA
The quotations from this work are made from Magd. Coll. Oxf.
MS. 71; they have not been collated with MS. II.
Beg. Misericordias domini in eternum cantabo (Ps. lxxxviii. 2).
Misericordiam Domini in eternum cantare et ipsam iugiter inuocare
maximum est peccatori remedium' (f. 78).
Ends: Que in hac parte ultima a septem condicionibus com-
mendatur, ut quia sepcies in die cadit iustus, sepcies in die laudem
dicat Domino, ut per eius misericordiam ad vitam perueniant (sic)
eternam, quam nobis, etc.' (f. 97).
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Magd. Coll. Oxf. 71, ff. 78-97, 15th cent. 'Explicit liber
iste compilatus per Ricardum hampule heremitam Quem benedicat
Christus Marie filius. Amen. Norton.' See E. V., Job.
II. Trin. Coll. Dublin 321, ff. 16b-76b, 15th cent. 'Explicit
tractatus quidam valde utilis super psalterium compilatus per
Ricardum hampole heremitam dei dulcissimi amatorem.'
MS. Hh. iv. 13 (15th cent.) probably once contained the present
work ascribed to Rolle, for in the contemporary table of contents
scribbled on the fly-leaf occurs: 'hampoll de misericordia deuotissima'.
This manuscript is doubtless related to Magd. MS. 71 (supra), for
the Emendatio Vitae begins in both works with the same note as to
the miracles at Hampole. See E. V.


162
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
The present work is ascribed to Rolle in both of the manuscripts
known, and an ascription apparently occurred in a copy now lost. It
exhibits none of the peculiarities of his other works, but is a compo-
sition of the usual medieval type, which could be safely ascribed to
almost any writer of the Middle Ages: its ascription to Rolle is only
at first sight surprising, because most of his works could not be
ascribed to any other writer. Traces of his authorship do appear,
and the easiest explanation for their not supporting the ascription
more strongly is that the piece was written early (perhaps, if he
went to Paris, in the Sorbonne, where the many books needed would
have been at hand). The precedent of his other writings would show
that Richard's least characteristic productions were his earliest-and
this is of course natural in the case of a mystic, who was experiencing
a vividly progressive spiritual development. All the evidence that
we have goes to show that Rolle at the beginning of his religious life
shared the usual religious enthusiasms of his time: he gave an
absorbing devotion to the Virgin, and showed great zeal on the
subject of reforming parish priests. Apparently it was only with the
attainment of his ecstasy that mysticism began to dominate his
writings. However, the De Dei Misericordia shows no sign disprov-
ing the ascription to Rolle, and the passages supporting his author-
ship, though not very characteristic, nevertheless forbid our cancelling
the attribution of the colophons.
The Misericordia is little more than a fabric of quotations, but in
general structure it is an allegory ('parabola '). A man was ill, an
exile and wanderer. He meets a king of merciful countenance, who
tells him that he also has known the exile's disease, but is now cured,
and has in his garden the herbs which cured him. The exile is
sinful man, the king is David, and the garden is the Psalter (ortum
octo viridariis distinctum, quasi psalterium in septem [n]octurna (sic)
et vesperarum et horarum psalmos egregie diuisum').
'Si peccator [herbas]... per contricionem et confessionem, per ora-
cionem vel contemplacionem colligere voluerit, et suis ulceribus applicare
voluerit, perfecte sanabitur, et ad gremium ecclesie reductus, suffragiorum-
que ipsius particeps effectus, angelorum etiam custodie simul et consorcio
sociatus, coronam regni perpetui necnon et diadema speciei de manu domini
gratanter accipiet, et perhenniter possidebit.... In hoc igitur tractatu, qui
intitulatur De Dei Misericordia, auctoritates que sunt de misericordia...
in unam seriem et tractatum recolligam et in octo partes in processu
distinguam, quem processum si quis voluerit deuote legere, et in verbis
eius dulciter meditari, misericordiam Dei consequi poterit et a cunctis
piaculis expurgari.'


DE DEI MISERICORDIA
163
Many scholastic arrangements occur in the succeeding sections,'
and patristic quotations and exempla abound—usually with explicit
references to their source. Among the writers quoted are Vincent
of Beauvais (often), St. Anselm, St. Augustine (many works),
Bartholomaeus (De Proprietatibus Rerum), St. Bernard, Aristotle
(History of Animals), St. Ambrose, Ovid, Seneca, Vegetius. Several
illustrations are given from the History of Animals as in Rolle's Bee,
and occasionally in other works (v. infra, p. 270). It may be noted,
as possible evidence for an early date, that Rolle also quotes exempla
in the Judica, and uses scholastic arrangements often in the Job.
The allegory and the abundant use of authorities in the present
work will be seen at once to distinguish it from Rolle's other writings.
On the other hand, the love of the Psalter here shown is highly
characteristic of Richard, and such a study of its text as the present
work entails might have preceded his commentaries. Though love
makes the subject of most of his writings, we have a lyric on mercy
which has a good chance of being authentic, and the following will
show the place of mercy in some of his other works: 'Laudamus
ergo & praedicamus ineffabilem divinae maiestatis clementiam &
magnitudinem (20th Psalm, fol. cxxx). Et ego laudo, magnifico,
praedico, benignitatem tuam & multitudinem tuae misericordiae'
(Job, fol. civ). Lo he has sett foure vers of an end of mercy, that
it be mykil in oure thoght' (English Psalter, p. 406). In the
lyric on mercy (infra, p. 297) some of Rolle's phrases usually applied
to love appear applied to mercy, and the following quotations
will show that the phrases just quoted are elsewhere in his works used
for love, and for the Saviour (the object of his love): 'O amor
gloriosus... te laudo, te predico, per quem saluus fio' (Contra
Amatores Mundi, f. 180º); 'Quicquid praeter te voluero despicabile
est, quasi diceret : nihil praeter te volui super terram, nec in terra;
te amaui, te desideraui, te concupiui, te praedicaui. Vnde in te &
ex te ita sum affectus' (Latin Psalter, Ps. lxxii. 24, fol. xlv);
'Now i will noght bot the. the i luf. the i desire. the i couaite. the
i preche' (English Psalter, ibid., p. 262). The resemblance of the
phrases used for mercy and for love may come from the fact that
Rolle gives us as his excuse for revealing his ecstasy: Non igitur ex
arrogancia aut ex superbia loquimur, sed misericordiam Dei ac
1 The following will give some idea of the scheme: 'Sed quia non sufficit
scire a quo petenda est misericordia, nisi sciat peccator quando eam petere debet,
et quo loco debet eam querere, et qualem et quantam misericordiam debet appe-
tere, et qualiter et quomodo debeat ad eam peruenire' (Virid. III).


164
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
bonitatem eius in nobis attestamur' (Canticles, f. 145). Thus when
Richard says that he 'praises the mercy of God', this may be to him
almost another way of saying that he 'praises love', since to him his
love for the Saviour was the crowning act of the mercy of God.
The following from the Canticles hints that a sudden realization of
the mercy of God' may have played a part in Rolle's early spiritual
development: 'Cum per graciam suam ab omnibus que me preme-
bant incepit me extrahere, statim misericordiam eius intelligens,
etiam meipsum curaui emendare' (f. 153). The other incidents of
Rolle's early life as a hermit suggest that it was his habit to find
turning-points in his experience, and the words just quoted may
signalize one of these-of which the literary memorial is the present
work and the poem on the same subject. He was on the whole so
consistent and literal himself throughout his works, that apparently
we must be equally so in interpreting them.
A passing reference to 'contemplation' has already been given
(p. 162), and Rolle's usual high expectations of future bliss may be
noted in the reference in the same passage to the 'consorcium' of
the angels, as well as to their custodia'. The fondness which Rolle
shows for the simile of the nightingale, especially in his youth
(v. infra, pp. 419 sq.), as well as the 'song of love', appear in the
passage: 'Philomena, que de nocte cantat, in die pro cibo suo
laborat. Sic reuera qui in die presentis vite misericordiam Dei per
humilitatem querunt, canticum leticie in nocte future vite iocundissime
decantabunt' (Virid. III). We find also: 'Ignis enim diuini amoris
liquefacit cor, id est, animam vere penitentis, ut digne suscipiat Dei
misericordiam in medio templi, id est, in discrecione anime' (Virid.
III). Contemplation' makes a special heading at the end of the
work, but with the following impersonal treatment :
'Sexto, Dei misericordia est contemplatiuorum spirituale fastigium.
Ideo dicit textus: In conspectu angelorum psallam tibi, Deus meus:
adorabo ad templum sanctum tuum, et confitebor nomini tuo super miseri-
cordia tua et veritate tua (Ps. cxxxvii. 2). Ecce quod misericordia Dei
et veritas ducunt hominem ad contemplacionis fastigium, quia ad ange-
lorum consorcium ad Dei templum, et ad nomen Dei, quod est in secula
benedictum. Qui enim veritatem eius meditatur, peccata vitabit: qui in
misericordia eius dilectatur (sic), merita cumulabit, peccata deuincans (sic);
leuis erit a sarcina delictorum, sed cumulans merita, fiet agilis ad
ascensum per variarum pennas virtutum' (Virid. VIII).
A possible hint of the devotion to the Holy Name is as follows:
‘Ihesus, id est salus, post triduum confessionis et satisfac[c]ionis


DE DEI MISERICORDIA
165
inuenitur in templo anime penitentis' (Virid. III). The 'anima
penitens' (here and earlier quoted) is a phrase frequently used in the
Job.
The most mystical passages found in the Misericordia have been
quoted, and will be seen to make a poor showing. They would not
prevent our giving up Rolle's authorship, if external evidence were
at hand giving the piece to another writer. In this connexion it may
be noted that the library of the Austin Friars at York contained in
the late fourteenth century 'Tractatus Waldeby. Misericordias
domini.' The title here given suggests the first line of the De Dei
Misericordia. If at any time a copy of the present work should
turn up ascribed to John Waldeby, the late fourteenth-century
Provincial of the Austin Friars, Rolle's authorship should be
abandoned in favour of his. His commentaries on the Lord's
Prayer, &c., show the orthodox style of theological writing found in
the present work (v. infra, p. 372). Though Richard Rolle pursued
this style in parts of his other writings (notably perhaps in the Job),
his pronounced idiosyncrasies were elsewhere evident as well.
LATIN PSALTER
Beg. Magna spiritualis iucunditatis suauitas illabitur mentibus
cantica psalmorum deuote canentium' (edit. 1536, fol. i).
Ends: 'In ore autem potest esse canora exultatio in dei laudibus,
dum mens iubilat & feruet, sed illa non est nisi ex iubilatione quae
in anima est. Et quia haec omnia spiritualiter velit intelligi, sub-
iungit [omnis spiritus... laudet dominum]... qui non nisi spiritualiter
laudandus est' (fol. lxxxiii).
An epilogue follows, taken from the commentary of Peter Lombard
(Migne, 191, c. 55 sq.), where it is used as a prologue. Beg.: 'Iste
liber docet obseruantiam decem mandatorum.'
Commentaries then follow on the six canticles from the Old
Testament: [Confitebor tibi domine], id est, laudem tibi dicam...
constat ex populo suo' (fol. lxxxviiiv).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
Rolle's Latin Psalter has been printed once: in the Cologne
edition of 1536. Copies of this work are fairly common in England,
but, so far as I know, there is no copy in America.
1 See the catalogue, ed. M. R. James, Fasciculus J. W. Clark dicatus,
Cambridge, 1909.


166
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 861. Marginal notes refer to Richard's authorship.
V. supra, p. 24.
II. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 1-111, early 15th cent. 'Hic
explicit exposicio psalterii secundum Ricardum heremitam de
hampull.' See Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., O. D., S. A., E. V.,
Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
III. Magd. Coll. 115, ff. 164-7, 15th cent. Only the ex-
position of the six canticles which conclude Rolle's exposition of the
Psalter. 'Exposicio Ricardi hampoll super sex cantica... Hec.
Ricardus hampoll.' The book is a collection of expositions of
Scripture, and that preceding the present work is by 'Richard
Ullerston', 'doctor in Theol. Cathed.', Oxford, 1415.
IV. St. John's Coll. 195, ff. 1-118, 15th cent. 'Explicit textus
psalterii cum glosa secundum venerabilis memorie virum Ricardum
heremitam de hampole' (f. 112V). See Job.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
V. Corpus Christi Coll. 365, ff. 1-114, after 1445. 'Incipit
hampol super psalterium.' 'Explicit textus psalterii cum glosa
secundum venerabilis memorie virum Ricardum heremitam.' The
colophon after the canticles gives the work as 'secundum Ricardum
Ampule heremitam'. See Job, 20th Ps., Contra Am. M.
VI. Trin. Coll. 14, ff. 1-106b, late 14th cent. 'Explicit
Psalterium glosatum secundum venerabilis memorie virum Ricardum
Hampole.' The colophon after the canticles gives the work as
'secundum ricardum hampole solitarie viuentem'. See Job, E. V.
LONDON MSS.
VII. B. Mus. Roy. 2 D. xxviii, ff. 1-148, 15th cent. The gift of
Henry Parker, Lord Morley, to the Princess Mary some time after
the birth of Edward VI. He adds a prefatory letter in which he
says And surely I do thynke that he that expounde thys psalter
that to avoyde pryde he neither wolde wryte hys name nor yett tell
in hys boke what tyme he wrote it which I do greately meruell at.'
The scribe apparently adds his initials at f. 148: finis, quod J. P.'
V. infra, p. 175.
VIII. Lambeth Palace 352, ff. 84-203, 14th cent. 'Pertinet
liber iste Magistro Johanni May rectori ecclesie omnium sanctorum


LATIN PSALTER
167
maioris London. ex dono domini Roberti Nortone capellani in
Abbathia de Mallynge in com. Kancie, etc.' 'Item hampole super
psalterium'; 'pretium huius libri xxs' (notes on last fly-leaf).
OTHER MSS. (British Isles).
IX.
Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent.
cover ascribes the work to Rolle (v. supra, p. 26).
Am. M., Incend., Cant., Mel., Magn., Apoc.
The note on the
See E. V., Contra
X. Kingston MS. 475*. Burned in the fire of the Earl of Kingston's
house in Nottinghamshire. 'Richd. Hampole. Glossa in Psalterium
David.' See Sir T. Phillipps, Catalogus MSS. Magn. Brit., Middle
Hill, 1850.
XI. Shrewsbury School 25, ff. 82-164, 14th cent.
E. V., and supra, p. 45.
CONTINENTAL MSS.
See O. D.,
XII. Cracow Univ. 1628*, ff. 148-262. 'Explicit Glosa Psalterij
brevis et utilis secundum Rijchardum Hampel Heremitam, sub. a. d.
1413, etc.' Referred to elsewhere in an index as 'Postilla super
Psalterium Richardi'. Dr. Birkenmajer kindly informs me that the
colophon as above quoted is complete (having the 'etc.' in the
original).
XIII. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 431, ff. 1-116, 14th cent. 'Explicit
textus psalterii cum glosa secundum Ricardum de hampole solitarie
viuentem.' On the back of the last fly-leaf: 'Iste liber constat
iohanni Comiti Engolismi.' Pierre Champion, in his Librairie
de Charles d'Orléans (Paris, 1910, p. 123) notes this as one of the
books which Jean d'Angoulême probably brought home from his
captivity in England (1412-45).
XIV. Prague Cath. 331*.
'Finitur glossa psalterii brevis et
utilis secundum Richardum Hampul heremitam a. d. 1413 in festo
S. Gregorii.'
XV. Prague Cath. 332*, 15th cent. Defective at the beginning.
'Et est finis huius glose psalmorum brevis et utilis Richardi Hampul
Anglici heremite.'
XVI. Prague Cath. 333*. 'Explicit glosa brevis et utilis. Sub.
a. d. 1412 finita est glosa psalterii edita per reverendum fratrem
heremitam Richardum Hampul in die Mathei apostoli et ewange-
liste.'
XVII. Prague Univ. 681, ff. 202-13, 15th cent. Only the
epilogue after the Psalter, and the exposition of the canticles. A


168
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
fragment from St. Augustine on the Psalms follows, as found in other
Prague MSS. infra. The scribe asks for his reward in Bohemian.
XVIII. Prague Univ. 872, 14th-15th cent. On the fine original
cover (calf over board): Psalterium cum Richardi glosa.'
Richardi
XIX. Prague Univ. 1882, 1412. On the old cover:
super Psalterium.' 'Explicit glosa breuis et utilis sub anno domini
m°ccccxii edita per reuerendum fratrem heremitam Richardum
hampul. Finita est in vigilia (sic) Sancti Francisci monachi monacho-
rum.'
XX. Schlägl Premonstratensians (Austria), 105*, ff. 1-96. 'Et
sic est finis. Finit glosa psalterij previs et utilis secundum Richardum
hampul heremitam Symonis Anno 1438° sabbato et vigilia andree,
etc.' A later item is signed by a scribe 'Wolfgang' 'capellanus in
budweis (Bohemia) altaris sancte Barbare. Anno 1438.' In connexion
with the reference here to 'Symon' Monsignor Pelzer points out to
me the MS. Mar. F. 152 (early 15th cent.) in the library of St. Mary
at Danzig. After the end of the last work there, we read 'scripsit in
heremo Carm dominus Symon heremita reclusus'; see the catalogue
by O. Günther, Danzig, 1921. Reference is there made to Magd.
Coll. Oxf. MS. 43, where exactly the same colophon is given
(according to the catalogue), except that the name is transcribed
thus in heremo Carmentorinus Symon heremita reclusus'. It
may be noted that the Danzig MS. contains an account of an
academic disputation in the University of Prague, 1379-96, in the
time of John, the archbishop of Prague. This is the prelate who
gave an approbation to Rolle's Incendium (v. supra, p. 42). If the
same Symon is the scribe of the Danzig and Prague MSS., it is likely
that he had at least connexions with Prague.
An approbation granted to Rolle's Incendium by a prelate who
died in 1396 (v. supra, p. 47) proves that the hermit's popularity in
Bohemia was in full swing before the end of the fourteenth century.
It will be noted that four manuscripts of the Latin Psalter (three
at Prague, and one at Cracow-probably written in the area of the
same cultural influence) are dated 1412-13. It would appear that at
that period (just before the condemnation of Huss, when Hussite
influence must have been at its height) the work of Richard Rolle
was energetically propagated in Bohemia. If so many manuscripts
copied at this time still exist, the likelihood is that many more have
been lost. As it is, nearly one-half of the manuscripts of this work


LATIN PSALTER
169
are preserved on the Continent, and of these all but one are to be
found in central Europe. In nearly one-third of all the manuscripts,
the Job follows.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
A Lollard English tract on translating the Scriptures attributed by
Miss Deanesly to Purvey refers to Rolle's English Psalter when giving
an exposition of his on a certain text: actually the author is here
quoting the Latin Psalter. An English tract on Maidenhood also
refers to the English Psalter, but in a puzzling and probably defective
copy. Two Savile MSS. contained copies of the Psalter with Rolle's
name. The 15th-cent. catalogue of St. Mary's College, Winchester,
includes 'Ricardus Hampole supra Psalterium'. Thomas Beelby,
'persona' of York, bequeaths: 'Magistro Willelmo Duffeld, domino
meo, j Psalterium de tractatu Ricardi Hampole.' Duffield is a canon
of York whose own will (of 1452) bequeaths Rolle's Job and Psalter
(the latter probably the volume above noted). St. Mary's Church, Scar-
borough, in 1434 possesses unum psalterium Ricardi de Hampole'.
All these references are ambiguous, for they might refer either to the
Latin or the English Psalter. It is the more likely, however, that
they refer to the Latin Psalter, since no mention 'Anglice' is given.
Another ambiguous reference is that in the will of Edward Cheyne
of Bedford (1415) to 'a Psalter glossed by Richard the Hermit'.
"
Robert Est of York in 1467 wills Domui Sanctimonialium de
Hampaule, Psalterium glosatum, de propria scriptura Beati Ricardi,
heremita, ibidem jacentis', and Bramley in quoting this reference is
puzzled because the Laud MS. (early 15th cent.) tells us that the
autograph of the English text is then at Hampole. The manuscript
of Est may have been the Latin autograph, or Rolle may have made
more than one copy of either work.
Boston of Bury refers to Rolle's Psalters, but does not place them.
Leland saw Rolle's Latin Psalter at St. Mary's, York, at Oxford,
and at Wells. Tanner cites a copy in a Balliol MS. (v. supra, p. 64).
ENGLISH PSALTER
Beg.: 'Grete haboundance of gastly comfort and ioy in god comes
in the hertes of thaim at says or synges deuotly the psalmes in
louynge of ihū crist' (ed. Bramley, p. 3).
Ends in the whilke instrumentis of musyke gastly melody is
bitakynd, that mare is persayfid with pure thoght than with eryn of
body. forthi ilke a spirit loue the lord' (p. 493).
M


170 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
Commentaries then follow, in some manuscripts, on the six
canticles of the Old Testament, the Magnificat, Te Deum, Benedictus,
Nunc Dimittis, 'Song of the Three Children', and Athanasian Creed.
Only the first seven of these are printed with Rolle's Psalter, as
belonging to the original work, and the whole twelve, in the interpo-
lated version, will be found in Select English Works of John Wiclif,
ed. T. Arnold, Oxford, 1871, iii. 3-82. Miss A. C. Paues, in her
discussion of Rolle's Psalter (pp. lii-liii), notes that in general the
interpolated copies of the work give the twelve additions, but they
are all found in some copies which are not interpolated. She
believes that the whole set is in general characteristic of late copies.
She enumerates (p. liii, n. 1) the number of canticles commented
on in the various manuscripts, and they vary greatly. The details
which she gives on this point are amplified by Miss Everett, who
gives a thorough account of the original seven Cantica, of the inter-
polated form of the same, and of the later five Cantica (which are
possibly' the work of the same man who interpolated the earlier
ones). This is not repeated here (see Mod. Lang. Rev., xvii, pp.
223 sq.).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The only printed edition of Rolle's English Psalter unfortunately
uses only twelve manuscripts (two more were noted), and makes no
attempt to trace the sources. Parallel quotations are given to
illustrate differences of dialect. Middendorff was later able to show
that the English work derived a great part of its material from the
catena on the Psalter of Peter Lombard (Migne, 191).
Miss Paues in 1902 added many manuscripts of Rolle's English
Psalter, and discriminated between the original and the Lollard texts.
Forshall and Madden (Wycliffite Versions of the Holy Bible, Oxford,
1850, 1, p. v) had quoted from the Laud prologue, but denied the
heretical influence in the extant copies. It is desirable that an
edition of the Lollard version should be brought out.
In the following lists the classification into original and interpolated
copies is entirely derived from Miss Everett (elaborating the work of
Miss Paues). The relations between the different classes will be seen
to be often a complicated one: to some extent the groups overlap
(see op. cit. xviii, p. 385). It is also difficult to classify strictly the
relation of the various interpolators to Lollardy, as reference to Miss
Everett's valuable quotations will show (v. ibid., pp. 381 sq.). The
most extreme Lollard doctrine found is of a moderate variety, or


ENGLISH PSALTER
171
represents an early date (about 1381, v. p. 390). On the other
hand, much of the material added has no heretical colouring what-
ever, and this specially applies to the shorter interpolations (v. p. 387).
We shall find the same phenomenon in connexion with the Prick of
Conscience: an interpolator has been active in one type of text who
seems to show sympathy with Lollardy, yet for the most part writes
in the manner of ordinary piety (v. infra, p. 391).
MANUSCRIPTS.-ORIGINAL VERSION (GROUP I).
OXFORD MSS.
Incipit psalterium
I. Bodl. 467 (Sum. Cat. No. 2487), 15th cent.
Ricardi heremite.' 'Iste est liber domini hugonis Eyton Supprioris
monasterii sancti Albani Anglorum prothomartiris.' Eyton was one
of those set to frame for Syon Monastery local additions to the
Brigittine Rule (see Deanesley, p. 122).
II. Bodl. 953 (Sum. Cat. No. 3089), a fine folio manuscript,
'written early in the fifteenth century for Thomas IV, tenth Lord
Berkeley.... He died in 1416. His family arms and obits appear.
'Liber domini thome seignour de berkeley' is worked into the
handsome illumination which runs around the first page. Fine
illuminated initials.
4127
III. Hatton 12 (Sum. Cat. No. 3693), late 14th cent. See Ten
Com.
IV. Laud Misc. 448 (Sum. Cat. No. 1413), 15th cent.
V. Tanner I (Sum. Cat. No. 9821), early 15th cent. Imperfect
at the end.
VI.
Magd. Coll. 52, early 15th cent. Imperfect at the end.
VII. Univ. Coll. 56, early 15th cent. Bramley quotes a con-
temporary French note giving obits of 1413 and adding: 'Rich.
Rolle Heremyte autremen dit Rich. Hampool le quel mouruste lan
de grace mcccxlixe & giste a hampoole' (the use of Richard's
surname is noteworthy); also a Kalendar, in which a birth of 1422
is entered.
VIII. Univ. Coll. 64, 15th cent. The Northern text edited by
Bramley.
CAMBRIDGE MSS. (COLLEGES).
IX. Corpus Christi 387, 15th cent. 'Iste liber constat dompno
Johanni Colman Abbati Monasterii de Lesnes' ('an Augustinian
priory near Woolwich, otherwise called Westwood').
M 2


172
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
X. Sidney Sussex 89*, 14th-15th cent. Bramley quotes notes
which seem to show a Lincolnshire origin, as well as one referring to
a thaumaturgic use of a psalm mentioned (p. 405) in the commentary:
'Sollun Richard Hermet ascun croit', etc. This comment is derived
from the Lombard, and is also used in the Latin Psalter of Richard.
LONDON MSS.
XI. B. Mus. Ar. 158, 14th-15th cent. Imperfect at the end. A
page of this manuscript is reproduced by Sir F. G. Kenyon in his
Facsimiles of Biblical Manuscripts in the British Museum, London,
1900 (Pl. xxiii), and in a picture postcard recently printed by the
Museum.
beginning.
B. Mus. Harl. 1806, 14th cent. Slightly imperfect at the
OTHER MSS.
XIII. Aberdeen Univ. MS.*
XIV. Eton Coll. 10*, 15th cent. This Northern MS. was used
by Miss Everett for her quotations from the original text.
XV. Newcastle Cath. MS.*, early 15th cent. Discovered by
Dr. J. T. Fowler of Durham (see N. & Q., 5th Ser. i. 41), and brought
to the attention of Bramley, but too late for much use in his edition.
He calls it nearer to the original dialect than any other. It begins
far on in the work and shows many gaps.
XVI. Cheltenham, Phillipps 8884* (formerly the manuscript of
Dr. Adam Clarke, sold at Sotheby's, 17 May, 1897, Lot 623), early
15th cent. Bramley quotes the description from Dr. Clarke's sale-
catalogue. Imperfect at the beginning. See Ten Com.
XVII. Sotheby, Oct. 21, 1920, Lot 137 (MS. Ingilby, Ripley
Castle, Yorks). This fine Northern copy was bought by Messrs.
Maggs of Conduit Street, and kindly shown me by them. Another
hand inserts at the beginning and end other Northern pieces. See
Command., Spur. Now Huntington MS. 148.
"
XVIII. Worcester Cath. F. 158. Explicit Psalterium.'
XIX. Vatican Reg. 320. Hic incipit psalterium Ricardi here-
mite.... Explicit psalterium Dauíd.' No Cantica. A cursory exami-
nation has shown no Wyclifite interpolations in this copy.
Perhaps Queen Christina brought it from Sweden, where, as we have
seen, other manuscripts of Rolle are found. This manuscript has
been described by K. Christ (Herrig's Archiv, 136, pp. 35 sq.), as was


ENGLISH PSALTER
173
pointed out to me by Miss Paues. He dates it 15th cent. (perhaps
the first half), and notes the name 'John Chester' with the date
'1524'. The dialect is mixed, with Northern forms.
INTERPOLATED VERSIONS (GROUP IIa: LOLLARD).
XX. Bodl. 288 (Sum. Cat. No. 2438), mid 15th cent. The
group is illustrated from this copy by Miss Everett.
XXI. Bodl. Tanner 16 (Sum. Cat. No. 9836), early 15th cent.
Imperfect at the end.
XXII. Univ. Coll. Oxf. 74, 15th cent. Imperfect at both ends.
XXIII. Trin. Coll. Camb. 171, early 15th cent. A large elaborate
manuscript, with illuminated initials.
XXIV. B. Mus. Roy. 18 D. i, first half 15th cent. 'Here
begynneð þe prologe vppon pe sauter þat Richard heremyte of
Hampole translatid into englysche aftir þe sentence of doctours and
resun'. Pss. i-lxxix. 13 only. A large elaborate manuscript.
XXV. Lincoln Cath. 92, late 15th cent. A gift in modern times
from William Brooke, Esq. In 1875 it was collated by Henry
Bradshaw.
XXVI. Bodl. Laud Misc. 321 (Sum. Cat. No. 1195), early 15th
cent. Imperfect at the end. Miss Everett notes that some of the
interpolations found in this group appear here in the margins of the
first few psalms, and in the text in Pss. vii-ix. Otherwise the original
version is given.
XXVII. Lambeth Palace 34, early 15th cent. Pss. i-lxxxix only.
A large handsome folio with some decorations, somewhat like the
Trinity and Royal copies. Miss Everett notes (xvii, p. 222) that
the interpolations peculiar to this group are found as far as Ps. lxxxiv.
From there to the end she says that the text differs from any that
she has seen.
INTERPOLATED VERSIONS (GROUP IIb: not interpolated after
Ps. xvii).
XXVIII. Bodl. Laud Misc. 286 (Sum. Cat. No. 1151), early 15th
cent. Bramley has printed from this manuscript the metrical
prologue giving unique and valuable information. Though in this
copy at least the dialect of this piece is not consistently Northern,
the writer was evidently in close touch with Hampole. He begins
by a general explanation of the Psalter and some paraphrase of
Rolle's own prose prologue, but he goes on to tell that:


174
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
'Therfore a worthy holy man, cald Rychard Hampole,
Whom the lord, that all thing can, leryd lely on his scole,
Glosed the sauter that sues here, in englysch tong sykerly,
At a worthy recluse prayer, cald dame Merget kyrkby.
This same sauter, in all degre, is the self in sothnes
That lyzt at hampole in surte, at Richard own berynes,
That he wrote with his hondes, to dame Merget kyrkby:
And thar it lyzt in cheyn bondes, in the same nonery.'
The writer goes on to explain the way to Hampole, and the
miracles taking place there :
'That thei bene soth and nothing fabul, at Hampole 3e may hit
knowe.
The Psalter contains no error
'ne deseyt ne heresy,
Bot euery word is sad as stone, and sothly sayd, ful sykerly.
Whos wol it write, I rede hym rygth, wryte on warly lyne be lyne,
And make no more then here is dygth, or ellys I rede hym hit ne ryne.
Copyed has this Sauter ben, of yuel men of lollardry:
And afturward hit has bene sene, ympyd in with eresy.
They seyden then to leude foles, that it shuld be all enter,
A blessyd boke of hur scoles, of Rychard Hampole the Sauter.
Thus thei seyd, to make theim leue, on her scole thoro sotelte,
To bryng hem in, so hem to greue, ageyn the feyth in grete fole,
And slaundird foule this holy man, with her wykkyd waryed wyles:
Hur fantom hath made mony a fon, thoro the fend that fele begiles.'
As we have seen, the Roy. MS. above attaches Rolle's name to
a Lollard text.
Miss Everett has discovered that, in spite of the effusive prologue,
Laud 286 contains an interpolated text as far as Ps. xvii. 53. She
states that the hand changes at this point, but that which begins
here would seem to me to be one which has already appeared
earlier. The two come together abruptly on f. 5º, c. 2. The inter-
polations do not appear to contain Lollard matter: they merely
make the text more clear and more diffuse. It is possible that the
scribe did not have access to the Hampole autograph till he had
reached Ps. xvii: he must then have written the prologue later.
Miss Everett points out the superior text which would seem to
establish Group I as the original (op. cit. xvii, p. 223).
XXIX. Bodl. 877 (Sum. Cat. No. 3085), first half 15th cent.
Miss Everett notes that this copy 'is unlike the MSS.' of the original
version throughout (ibid.).


ENGLISH PSALTER
175
XXX. Merton Coll. Oxf. 94, 15th cent. Fragments of the first
psalms are bound into the covers.
XXXI. B. Mus. Roy. 18 B. xxi, mid 16th cent. Only Pss. i-viii.
4 without the prologue. This volume was said by Warton' to have
been a present to the Princess Mary from Henry Parker, Lord Morley
(who also gave her Roy. 2 D. xxviii, a copy of Rolle's Latin
Psalter). There is at present no evidence showing that the English
volume was a gift from Parker to the princess. Some old tooling on
one side of the binding gives the words 'I am Thyn, o Lorde', and
on the other 'Therfor Save Me'. This is set in newer binding, with
the arms of George II and the date 1757.
INTERPOLATED MSS. (GROUP II c).
"
XXXII. B. Mus. Roy. 18 C. xxvi, 15th cent. Pss. lxxxix-cxvii
only. Miss Everett states (op. cit. xvii, p. 220) that this 'differs
from any other manuscript I have seen'. The commentary (from
which she quotes) is exceedingly enlarged. The end seems to have
been broken off abruptly. This copy takes up the Psalter where
Lambeth MS. 34 breaks off, and Miss Everett considers that it may
even be the continuation of Lambeth MS. 34' (p. 386). The
comments in the two she calls 'similar in style'. Both volumes are
large and expensive books, already full size, and it may be that the
cost prevented the completion of the interpolated text on the scale
here begun. Interpolated copies like Bodl. 288 and Trin. Coll.
Camb. 171 discontinue the interpolations after Ps. lxxxiv (Everett,
xviii, p. 385), and it may be that they do so because otherwise there
would be no chance of getting the whole Psalter into one volume.
Only the MSS. Lambeth and Roy. 18 C. xxvi (if taken together as
one volume) continue the lengthy interpolations to the end. Both
are written in two columns, of fifty-two lines each, with the same
type of decoration and handwriting.
MISCELLANEOUS MSS.
Three manuscripts cited by Miss Paues were not seen by Miss
Everett, and she was therefore not able to assign them to their proper
classes. They are as follows:
XXXIII. Phillipps 3849* (no longer at Cheltenham). Miss Paues
notes as interpolated.
XXXIV. Wrest Park 6 (sold Sotheby's, June 21, 1922, Lot 639),
late 14th cent. 'Hic incipit prologus super psalterium.' End
1 Hist. Eng. Poetry, London, 1871, iii. 86.


176 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
imperfect. A fine hand and fine margins and initials. A page is
reproduced in the sale catalogue. Interpolated.¹
XXXV. Trin. Coll. Dublin 71, 15th cent. Slightly imperfect at
the end. Miss Paues notes that this is a copy founded on the inter-
polated version, from which the controversial matter has been removed.
The classification of the following fragments is uncertain.
XXXVI. Bodl. Douce 258 (Sum. Cat. No. 21832), 15th cent.
A few psalms only (not consecutive) which are noted at the back
of the book, without the Latin. An English translation follows
of the Athanasian Creed and of parts of the New Testament.
Probably uninterpolated.
XXXVII. Worcester Cath. F. 166, 17th cent. Much abbreviated.
Probably uninterpolated.
XXXVIII. B. Mus. Add. 40769. This recent acquisition to the
Museum (imperfect at both ends) is apparently uninterpolated.
The following manuscripts contain Rolle's prologue only-
a mystically rhetorical piece which thus shows its popularity:
Worcester Cath. F. 172, late 15th cent., f. 166: 'here bigynneth
a prolog vpon the psautier. Grete habundaunce', etc. 'Here endith
oo prolog of the Psautier and bigynnep anothe on the same booke, and
next that suen five prologes.' The second Wyclifite version follows,
according to Miss Deanesly (Mod. Phil. xvii. 182). See E. V. (angl.).
Quaritch MS.* (Catalogue 344, May 1916, No. 64), c. 1430. 'Here
suen foure ful notable prologis on þe sauter. þe firste and pe secunde
ben ierounys... is Richard hampollis wip pe fourpe' (f. 40b). • here
bigynnep pe fourpe prolog on pe salmes of pe sauter pat richard
hampol made' (f. 46b). An English Psalter follows without com-
mentary (probably Wyclifite). Now Huntington MS. 501.
B. Mus. Add. MS. 10046 and Trin. Coll. Dublin A. 1. 10 also
contain the prologue of Rolle's English Psalter attached to a text of
the Wyclifite version, as pointed out by Forshall and Madden, 1,
p. xliv. They print the prologue (ibid., pp. 39-40).
1 This volume breaks off with a sentence characteristic of this interpolator :
'But in þat biholdynge schule feipful men of þe comoun religioun of Crist for his
lickenesse lijk to hym in louynge pe comoun profite more pan his owne.' The
'common profit' was a favourite phrase of fourteenth-century Socialism, both
in England and in France (see M. E. Temple, Romanic Review, vi. 87). The
interpolator of this type of manuscript more than once uses this phrase (cf.
Everett, xviii, p. 391), and he shows by this means the influence of something
broader than Lollardy.


ENGLISH PSALTER
177
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
The author of the Mirror of Our Lady, written for the nuns of
Syon Monastery (probably mid 15th cent.), refers his readers for
authorized English texts of the psalms to those of 'Richard Hampole's
drawing'. This important proof of the orthodox position which
Rolle's Psalter enjoyed in the 15th century has been noted by Miss
Paues, Cardinal Gasquet, and others. A text once belonging to
Eyton, who played an important part in the beginnings of Syon, still
exists (v. supra, p. 171). The Syon brothers probably had a copy.
The Lollards' interest in Rolle's Psalter appears in a tract ascribed
to Purvey, where Richard's translation of the Psalter is noted as
a precedent to further the cause of translating the Scriptures into
English. His translation is mentioned in another tract (on Maiden-
hood). Several references to Rolle's work on the Psalter are not
phrased clearly enough to show whether the English or Latin work
is in question (v. supra, p. 169). Boston of Bury cites both the
Latin and English Psalters of Rolle, as do Bale and later biblio-
graphers.
PSALTERS
Richard the hermit's two expositions of the Psalter are discussed
together, in order to make clear their mutual relation. Though the
English Psalter has been in print for a generation, the Latin Psalter,
accessible only in the edition of 1536 and in manuscripts, has been
hardly known, and it has not had justice done to its importance.
Middendorff, in the valuable dissertation in which he proved the
dependence of the English Psalter on the catena of Peter the Lombard,
quoted here and there from the Latin work, and showed (p. 7) that
Ten Brink was wrong in doubting its attribution to Rolle. Horst-
mann (perhaps misled by the identity of the opening lines of the two
works) was guilty of the error of stating that the English Psalter was
'substantially a translation' of the Latin (ii, p. xli). The following
discussion will show that the two Psalters are important, on the
whole independent, works of their author: they always agree in the
point of view which they present, and at times they agree verbally.
We shall find that in the group next to be considered whole passages
are sometimes repeated, and repetitions of phrases, sentences, and
subjects are the very stuff of all of Rolle's writings, and perhaps the
inevitable effect of a life like his dedicated to concentration on a few
topics. Under these circumstances we need not consider that
because parts of the two Psalters coincide, the author had at any


178
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
time the intention of producing identical expositions. With the
change of language there came a change of public, and the audience
to which he addressed his vernacular version would naturally require
a different choice among the four-fold interpretations which the
medieval mind recognized as possible in Scriptural commentary, from
that required by the Latin version. If, as seems likely, the two
Psalters were written at different periods of Rolle's life, some varia-
tion would naturally follow from this fact. Rolle shows in all his
writings only too much fluency of thought and language, and though
his single-mindedness might prompt him sometimes to repeat himself,
he would never do this from poverty of material. Though he
persists in certain moods and expressions from the beginning to the
end, yet his vitality was too high to allow him ever to fall into
a routine without spirit. His refusal to be bound to one cell, despite
his unchanging purpose, is significant of his character. In much the
same way we can hardly imagine that he could be bound to repeat
his own words, however often he might express the same truth in
other ways. It is therefore thoroughly characteristic of Rolle that
his two Psalters, though similar, are not identical, and that though
both are founded in the main on an academic source they are none
the less among his most individual productions.
The dependence of the English Psalter on the catena of Peter the
Lombard, which was discovered by Middendorff, was discussed in
my paper on the 'Authorship of the Prick of Conscience' (pp. 146–52),
and it was shown that Rolle had selected and altered his material so
that his work was consistently infused with his own personality.
What was proved to be true of the English Psalter has also been
shown by an exhaustive examination to be true of the Latin Psalter.
Both Rolle's Psalters sometimes quote the expositions collected by
the Lombard exactly-often not at the same points-and sometimes
they both adapt hints found there, or interpolate, so as to introduce
expositions thoroughly typical of Rolle at his most subjective
moments. His whole mystical doctrine could be expounded from
his Psalters. Abundant quotations from both works will be given.
Miss Dorothy Everett proves (op. cit. xvii. pp. 337 sq.) that the
English Psalter shows relations with the earlier metrical version
known as the Surtees Psalter. She makes the interesting suggestion
that the relation was not a direct one, but through the use of
a common source. She conjectures that both may have used
a 'partially modernised form of the O.E. Glosses'. Rolle's use of
this source would have influenced his translation of the texts, but not


PSALTERS
179
the commentary in which his ideas find expression. These glosses
may have suggested to Rolle the use of English in the first place¹.
In the Latin Psalter the author gives a direct reference to himself
as a hermit, in the English Psalter at the same point his profession
is hinted at. Both passages are in general highly characteristic, but
they have been influenced by sentences in the source (which will be
quoted). In general, in the quotations now to be given, Rolle
derives nothing significant from his source, unless specific mention is
made of the relation.
Ps. liv. 7: [Ecce elongaui] quia
longe a peccatoribus salus [fugiens]
ab his qui gratiam meam in vanum
recipiunt, quia ad fructum bonae
vitae non perducunt [& mansi in
solitudine], id est, in his qui pro me
solitudinem appetunt. Sed ne
videar statum meum superexaltare,
quia solitarius sum qui hanc breuem
expositionem compilaui, solitudi-
nem mentis magis debetis intelli-
gere quam corporis. Solitudinem
mentis voco, qua homo deserit
tumultuosam cupiditatem, & vanita-
tem istius mundi, & turbam malarum
ac vanarum cogitationum, cum
omnibus secularibus negotijs per-
fecte relinquit, & se leuat in con-
templationem dei & coelestium
gaudiorum: vt quamuis inter ho-
mines moretur, longe tamen a vita
eorum distet. Hanc solitudinem
magis laudo, quam si quis in
eremum fugeret, & ibi cum radici.
bus & aqua viuere posset' (fol.
xxix).2
'Ecce elongaui fugiens: & mansi
in solitudine. Lo i lenghid fleand,
and i wonyd in anly stede. Lo i
lenghid fra ill men fleand thaire
life, that i ware not like thaim: and
i wonyd in anly stede of thoght,
whare nane is with me bot god,
whare is rest in godis luf, & na man
lettis. In anly stede aman may
fynde his vertu, and take tent til
hym self, for anly stede is abile for
praiynge, for gretynge, for thynk-
ynge, for studiynge, and for spek-
ynge til his frende, and forebren-
nand lufynge and wistynge of godis
pryuete' (p. 195).
'Fugiens se elongat, qui a turba
desideriorum terrenorum in altam
Dei contemplationem se sublevat.
Sequitur, et mansi in solitudine,
[Aug.] mentis, ubi nullus est cum
eo nisi Deus, ubi quies. Manet
enim in solitudine, qui perseverat
in remota mentis intentione' (Peter
Lombard, Migne, 191, c. 509).
Both Psalters constantly echo the mysticism of the author's life,
and the elements that make up his joy are all indicated. In the
Latin Psalter we have the three attributes given together explicitly,
as follows:
Ps. lxxv. 10: [... reliquiae cogitationis diem festum agent tibi.]. . .
¹ Rolle's numbering of texts agrees with the Surtees Psalter and with Peter
Lombard, but not (as Mr. Herbert points out to me) with the Vulgate.
'On the possible significance of the rationalization of solitude here found,
v. infra, p. 460.


180
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
In hoc festo sunt cibaria delicata diuini amoris, potus aeternae suauitatis,
ignis spiritus sancti & melos benesonantis cymbali & soni superni' (fol.
xliii).
Ps. lxxx. 3: [... in insigni die], id est, in nobili [solennitatis vestrae],
id est, quando spiritus vincit & caro succumbit. Haec est enim dies
valde solennis, & deo & animabus nostris, quando cogitatio nostra, quae
apud deum est, in sonorum & dulce quid conuertitur, & cor de amore
Christi feruente in canoro iubilo laudes deo offerunt, & merito sic agendum
est' (fols. xlvii-xlviii).
We are explicitly told in both Psalters that the 'fire' is more than
a metaphor:
Ps. xxxviii. 4: [Concaluit cor
meum intra me], zelo animarum, vt
darem cibaria conseruis [& in
meditatione mea] quae est de
aeterno amore & vita coelesti [ex-
ardescet ignis], id est, feruor per-
fectae dilectionis, vt vere non
imaginarie sentirem ignem sancti
spiritus, aestuantem cor meum'
(fol. xxii).
'That is, my hert verraly hetid
with the fire of cristes luf, say that
my thoght was hally takyn til the
ioy of god and in my thynkynge,
that is, in meditacioun of crist and
of heuen, bren sall fire of perfite luf,
sa that i fele the brennynge in my
hert' (p. 143).
Both Psalters insist that the mystic joy is an actual foretaste of
Heaven:
Ps. cxxv. I: '[In conuertendo]. Ego ita de virtute in virtutem ascen-
dens ad tantum profectum perueni, & tantam consecutus sum gratiam,
quod praelibaui dulcedinem aeternae suauitatis, & vidi & attendi me
talem qualis eram (Roy. MS. ero) post hanc vitam' (fol. lxxivˇ).
Ps. xxxii. 3: '. . . wele syngis til him with goed werkis in heghynge of
voice, that is, in a wondirfull ioiynge that heghis 3oure voice til god, when
3oure thoght is taken in til the myrth of heuen: as it may be in erth
lifand' (p. 114).
6
Ps. lxvii. 27: ... In myddys of wenchis taburnysters, that is, of fayre
saules, that has temyd thaire fleyss, and driyd it of the humor of syn,
and ere zonge and new in thi luf, & for clennes and deuocioun louys god
in melody of heuen, that is light in thaire hert, till whaim aungels ere gret
specials' (p. 235).
Ps. xxvi. 11: [immolaui in taber-
naculo eius... hostiam vocifera-
tionis], id est, iubilationis & laudis
inexplicabilis [cantabo] voce sonora
canendo mente in tono caelico,
scilicet e coelo in me emisso non
forato sensu hominis. . . . Ergo cum
tam suauiter sim inebriatus amore
'...i offird in his tabernakile,
that is in haly kyrke, the hoste of
heghynge of voice: that is, of gastly
criynge & louynge in wondirful ioy.
that ioy is & criynge when a haly
saule is fild with cristis luf, that
makis the thoght to rise in til soun
of heuen, or the soun of heuen


PSALTERS
181
tuo. [Exaudi domine, etc.]' (fol.
xivv).
Ps. xxxix. 4: '[Et immisit in os
meum canticum nouum], id est,
misit me praedicare nouitatem vitae,
quae est [carmen deo nostro], id est,
ad magnam dei laudem pertinet.
In os cordis amatorum dei, immisit
Christus canticum nouum, id est,
canorum iubilum, vt canant intra
se delitias aeterni amoris, quod est
carmen delectabile deo nostro, in
quo laudes illi ineffabiliter per-
soluuntur, & non habent illud nisi
qui sunt purgati animi. Non enim
possunt homines accipere illud
quando volunt: sed solus deus dat,
cui vult, imo non cognoscit nisi qui
accipit' (fol. xxii).
lightis thar in and than that man
may loue god in heghynge of voice.
All the clerkis in erth may noght
ymagyn it, ne wit what it is, bot he
that has it, and in that i sall synge
in dilatabilte of contemplacyon, thus
is sayd in the glose' (p. 96).
'When he had taken me fra syn
& fra all bisynes of erth, and stabild
me in luf and vertus, thain he sent
in til the mouth of my hert and of
my body alswa a new sange, that is
the melody of the tone of heuen,
that nane may synge bot his der-
lyngs, for it is ympyn, that is, verray
louynge, til oure god: fore god anly
wate it, and nane may be heghid
thar of for louynge of men, for men
may not knaw how it is' (p. 146).
The praise of the Name of Jesus is one of the most striking
characteristics of both Psalters, and it is in practically all cases an
addition of Rolle's, for the commentary of Peter Lombard was
compiled too early to show the influence of the cult of the Holy
Name. The countless special references to this subject in the two
Psalters range from a word or two to several sentences. The follow-
ing are characteristic quotations:
Ps. ix. 10: [... qui nouerunt
nomen tuum], id est, dulcedinem
nominis tui Iesu amando & cogi-
tando experti sunt' (fol. vˇ).
Ps. lxviii. 35: '[Laudabo nomen
dei mei cum cantico], id est, cum
canora iubilatione, in qua perfecta
& speciosa laus consistit, & quae
non nisi a deuota & sancta anima
procedit' (fol. xxxvii).
'All that has knawn thi name,
that is at say, thai at haf felid the
suetnes in thaire saule of ihū, and
knawis it be prouynge: noght that
knawis it be sight o boke and tell-
ynge of mouth' (p. 32).
'Lo what he dos that is helid,
he louys the name of ihū with sange,
noght formed in notes of men, bot
in sown of heuen, that he rasaifes
in his hert that perfitly lufis this
name ihu, in the whilke sange is faire
louynge and perfite, that nowre is
bot in a ful deuote gaste' (p. 244).


182
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
Ps. cxviii. 55: '[Memor fui nocte
... nominis tui] Iesu [domine] hoc
cogitando in eo delectatus sum, vt
non sapiam quicquam nisi nomine
Iesu condiatur: omni enim ore
indulcabitur in quo retinetur, id est,
dulcifluum reddit palatum cordis &
oris dilectoris sui & mentem cogi-
tantis se in canorum iubilum leuat,
vt sit ibi quasi musica in conuiuio
vini' (fol. lxx).
'Aswhasay, noght anly in day,
bot alswa in nyght thi name ihū is
delitabil in my thoght, that is, in
ilke tyme i gif tent til thi louynge'
(p. 418).
Reminiscences of Rolle's external experience also occur in both
Psalters, though naturally, considering the length of the works, and
the sources to be considered, they have not been worked out
exhaustively. The following original passages, however, will show
that Rolle in these compositions probably pursued his usual course
of inserting personal references:
Ps. lxxxvii. 8: '[Longe fecisti],
id est, recedere permisisti [notos
meos], id est, amicos, a quibus me
amari aestimabam [a me], id est,
a intentione mea, & quos maxime
diligebam, aduersati sunt mihi, nam
[posuerunt me abhominationem
sibi], id est, abominabantur me,
quia non placui eis in omnibus'
(fol. liv: cf. infra, p. 480).
'That is, my frends of whom
J wende J had bene loved, thou
suffered them to depart fra me, that
is, fra my will, and myne Intent, &
thai had me als wlatyng, for Jagayn
saide them in ther werkes, & in
thair words' (pp. 316-17).
This subject is reinforced by another original passage in the
English Psalter: My fas, that was bifore my fleysly frendis . . . and
that louyd me when i oysid seculere life with thaim, agayns me
sware that it is ypocrisy that i fare with' (p. 353).
In the Latin Psalter occurs the following reminiscence (apparently)
of Rolle's early persecutions by clerics, as described in the Melum:
Ps. xvi. 12: '[Proijcientes me], id est, dignum proijci acclamantes,
quasi inordinate viuentem [nunc circumdederunt me], id est, detractoribus
meis inseruiunt toto tempore, quo conuersationem meam laudari cogno-
uerunt: & hoc ideo faciunt, quia [oculos suos] interiores [statuerunt
declinare in terram], id est, in istas transitorias & terrenas vanitates
adquirendas, quia enim vident & audiunt alios a populo laudari inuidia
torquentur & detrahere non cessant. Et dicuntur haec verba de his qui
habitum religionis falso portant & saepe inter homines videntur, quia
nimis pestiferam linguam malitiose relaxant... loquitur hic sanctus mundi


PSALTERS
183
contemptor & dei perfectus amator, qui a malis iniurijs & obprobrijs
laceratur' (fol. ix).
Examples can be given from both Psalters of Rolle's 'ecstatic
diction', rhyme, and alliteration, as follows:
Ps. xli. Iste psalmus est deuotae animae, patriam desyderantis, &
miserias huius vitae deplorantis . . . & quasi amore langueo, & dico prae
nimio desyderio [quando veniam ... & apparebo ante faciem dei], id est,
assistam viuificae visioni, tam diu desideratae. Iste non consentit cum
illis, qui hic semper in voluptatibus vellent viuere, & de claustro corporis
timent exire' (fol. xxiiiˇ).
Ps. lxx. 8: Te enim cogito cum cantico suscepto in mente mea sono
coelico' (fol. xxxviii).
Ps. lxxxiii. I: 'Haec sunt verba contemplantis & amore ardentis
animae, quae solum Christum sapiens, & prae nimio amoris ardore pene
moriens ac deficiens ait: Nunciate dilecto, quia amore langueo. Nam &
in languore meo [Cor meum] mellitum amoris dulcedine [& caro mea], id
est, exterior homo consentiens & condelectans suauitati internae [exulta-
uerunt in deum viuum], id est, in tanta exultatione bonae conscientiae
captus sum vt dissolui cuperem & esse cum Christo' (fol. xlix).
Ps. xxxvii. 8: 'I am mekid ful mykill in meknes of forthynkynge'
(p. 139).
Ps. xxxviii. 3: 'I suffird reproues of thaim, and i stillid fra shewynge
of goed, for i sagh that thai dispised that i sayd, and swa my sorow, that
i suffird spekand, is newid in my silence: that men will not here godis
word with delite & ioy, as thai sould' (p. 142).
Ps. xxxviii. 7: 'In lykynynge til thi lastandnes all this life is noght'
(p. 143).
Ps. xliii. 21: 'Oure dedly life is shadow of ded, bot verray ded is
dampnacioun with the deuel' (p. 162).
6
Ps. xlv. 4: The haboundant grace of the haly gast gladis in gastly ioy
the cite of god, that is, a goed cristen mannys saule, for the heghest
halighid his tabernakil, halykirke' (p. 168).
Ps. lvi. 11: 'Ihū, be thou my ioy, all melody and swetnes, and lere me
forto synge the sange of thi louynge.
Ps. lvi. 12: 'I synge in selkouth soun the lust & likynge of thi
Zouynge' (p. 204).
Two rhymed couplets have been noted: ... men that ere slane,
and noght feghtis na flitis agayn' (p. 162), and 'In ilke stede is
he at drede' (p. 269).
The following little stanza was pointed out by Horstmann: 'I wate
na bettere wele, than in my thoght to fele, the life of his lufynge, of
all it is the best, ihū in hert to fest, and zerne nane othere thynge'
(p. 215: cf. supra, p. 100).


184 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
The last lines are a close translation of the Incendium (pp. 275-6);
some of the other sentences quoted strongly suggest Rolle's English
lyrics and two bits which he has left of English alliterative prose.
According to the dating to be hazarded (infra, p. 186), the treatise,
lyrics and prose bits were all written at about the same period with
the English Psalter. At this time he was evidently attempting to
reproduce in English the richly poetical style that he early developed
for the Melum in Latin. This was near the end of his life, and if he
had not been cut off in his prime he might have developed something
further along these lines, which would have been personal, interest-
ing, and perhaps beautiful.
Middendorff has noted (p. 45) that some sentences from Rolle's
Psalter have passed over into the Prayer Book. Though in general
his English style seems to be in this work in an experimental state,
some passages can be chosen from his English Psalter by which the
rare quality of his English prose could be illustrated. In this dis-
jointed commentary Rolle sometimes achieved prose that suggests
the English of the Authorized Version of the Bible:
'I sall slepe, that is with all softnes, pryue fra all the noys of the warld;
i sall dye, and sythen i sall rest in the bed of endles blis and in the setil of
heuen... thou has festid my hert: noght in many fald thyngs of the
warld thai perisch that sekis many thyngs, and syngularite is halden in
halymen, for thai sett all thaire hert to luf anly a god' (pp. 17-18).
'A thynge is myn askynge, that is god. ill men askis many thynges,
i bot ane and that i sall seke in all my myght all the dayes of my life,
that is, als lange als i life, that i won in godis hous, in erth and in heuen '
(pp. 95-6).
'Thi name ihū thai sall hafe in thoght, ilkan in thaire tyme, til the
warldis ende, when all generacioun sall cesse' (p. 167).
'Thou put agayn thi crist, when thou him sett to be done on the cross,
and swa thou gaf him til despyte, & delayd him fra ioy awhile' (p. 325).
No definite indications of date have been noted in the Latin
Psalter, but, considering its length, perhaps some have escaped notice
and will be detected if an intensive study is ever made of that work.
The general likelihood is, however, that it was composed early in
Rolle's career, though (it is evident) not before his mystic joy was
complete. As we have seen, from the time of the Melum he felt
himself inspired to interpret Scripture, and a very laborious enterprise
such as commenting on the whole Psalter might very well have been
begun at that time, or before, and been carried on during several
years, perhaps while he was bringing out other works. The work


PSALTERS
185
shows some signs of connexion with the Job-which was apparently
written soon after the Melum: the Job and Latin Psalter often
circulate together, and he declares himself a hermit in each in the
same language. The reference to persecution by ecclesiastics already
quoted from the Psalter would seem to refer to recent happenings,
and to be connected with events touched on in the Melum. Such
scholastic passages as the following might put the commentary in
a period not far from Rolle's student days, and again show connexion
with the theological Job:
"
'Cum posse malum non sit posse, sed magis non posse: quia eo es
impotentior quo in malitia potentior, cum tale posse ducat ad non posse,
imo a domino esse: ideo ille solus omnipotens est qui hoc non potest,
quia omnia potest quae posse est aliquid posse' (Latin Psalter, fol. xxviii,
not derived from the Lombard). Creare enim est aliquid de nihilo
facere, quod est contra Aristotelem & eius sequaces, qui non potuerunt
credere, quod deus mundum de nihilo creauit, & ideo posuerunt mundum
aeternum, dicentes, de nihilo nihil fit' (ibid., fol. lxxxii, enlarged from the
Lombard, c. 1285).
If Rolle went to Paris, it is possible that he collected materials and
began his Latin Psalter there.
The date of the English Psalter has been discussed by Midden-
dorff. He showed that some of the indications of date pointed out
by Bramley (p. xv) were of no significance, since they were found in
the source. A passage not derived from the Lombard is the follow-
ing, which he calls (p. 20) Die bezeichnendste und nach meiner
Ansicht für die Zeitbestimmung wichtigste Aeusserung':
Ps. cvi. 40: ... the wreth of god is first helte on princys, for thai ere wers
than other. and swa ryses strife and werre itwix landis. and god suffirs
all to erre out of the way of rightwisnes. that ilkan sla other' (p. 386).
This he takes in connexion with the following (also original):
Ps. civ. 28: ... swilke ere oure pryncys now, that ledis thaire lif in
filth of syn' (p. 370).
He takes these two passages as referring to the renewal of the war
with Scotland, 1329, the adultery of Mortimer and Isabella, and the
murder of Edward II. They incline him to date the Psalter c. 1330.
Middendorff did not know the Job in detail or the Melum at all,
and, if he had, he might have hesitated to date the English Psalter
so early. As we have seen, the Melum and the Job are likely to
have been written 1326-30: in other words, the four early works
were probably all written in the decade 1320-30 (roughly speaking).
It is almost certain that the Latin Psalter would precede the English
N


186 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
•
Psalter, and this, as we have seen, was a very laborious piece. It
would appear that the war hinted at in the passage cited by Midden-
dorff must be that which was declared against France in 1337 (which
continued to the end of Rolle's life) rather than the earlier Scotch
wars. This conjecture may receive some support from the following
passage (also not derived from Peter Lombard):
Ps. xxi. 30: ... proud princes wene that thaire myght may wyn
kyngdomes, bot thai ere desaifid: for all is in his hand' (p. 82).
This sounds like a reference to Edward III's aggressive French war.
It would be rash to date the English Psalter on the evidence at
hand, but such as we have would point to a date after 1337. This
would suit excellently what we know of the dates of other works.
It is likely that when once Rolle began to write English, he wrote
little more Latin, and as a matter of fact the only Latin work which
gives evidence of being written late is the Emendatio, which bears
a close relation to the three English epistles (also all late). A special
reason exists for this work being written in Latin, for we now know
that it was addressed to a doctor of theology (v. supra, p. 41). We
have almost certain evidence that Rolle was writing English in 1343,
which seems to be the date of an English prose scrap (v. infra,
p. 273), and the Form, the longest of the English epistles, was almost
certainly written in 1348-9, the last year of his life. The Ego Dormio
had almost certainly been written a short time earlier. Probably the
Latin Psalter, the miscellaneous commentaries, and the earlier
treatise (Contra Amatores Mundi, which we know to belong far on
in his life) were written in the decade 1330-40 (or thereabouts), and
the English Psalter may have been begun in the last years of that
period. The Incendium is likely to have been written about 1343
(v. infra, p. 229). In general, the years 1340-9 were probably taken
up with completing the English Psalter and with writing the Incen-
dium and the English epistles, lyrics, and short pieces, and the
Emendatio.
This rough chronology fits whatever hints of date are forthcoming
from any work, and it receives possible confirmation from another
quarter. It has already been noted that, in spite of basic connexion,
the three prose works of the early group are separated from each
other by tremendous differences, and a gulf as great separates the
Emendatio and three English epistles from everything that has gone
before. It is as if Rolle had paused for years between the writing of
the Judica, the Job, and the Melum respectively, and again before


PSALTERS
187
the epistles at the end of his life. The years between his becoming
a hermit at eighteen and his death (aged probably about fifty) would
not suggest that he made long pauses in literary composition, since
he has a large production to fit into a comparatively short period.
His zeal for propaganda is at all times so great that long pauses are
not likely in his case. What seems probable is that the development
between the Judica and the Melum (naturally great because of his
youth) has been accelerated by the completion of mystic joy and the
persecutions described in the Melum: the rapid development evident
during the period when he was writing the Melum and the Job is
very likely to have been accelerated by the vast systematic labour of
working over the commentary of the Lombard on the Psalter (for
one cause), and of founding on that his own Latin exposition. A few
years later there was a similar task of only less magnitude-the com-
position of the English Psalter, which demanded not only the study
of patristic sources for the commentary (now probably familiar), but
(as Miss Everett has shown) of vernacular glosses for the translation.'
If the English Psalter were written during the first years of Rolle's
last decade (roughly speaking), we should have an explanation for
the great development which he seems to show between the writing
of the still inchoate and egoistic works of the middle period, and the
chastened, orderly compositions of the last period. All four of the
manuals show the same virtues, and it is probable that all were
written later than the English Psalter. We have almost certain
evidence that Rolle was writing English in 1343 (v. infra, p. 273),
and perhaps the English Psalter was still in progress at this time.
In two respects this work opened a new period in Rolle's produc-
tion, which was to be the last it was written in English, and for
a friend. There seems no reason to doubt the authority of the verse
prologue attached to a Laud copy, which states that he
'Glosed the sauter that sues here, in englysch tong sykerly,
At a worthy recluse prayer, cald dame Merget kyrkby'.
The unexpected fact discovered by Miss Clay is, however, that
1 Middendorff is eloquent on the labour involved in the composition of Rolle's
Psalters. He states that the Latin Psalter goes to the Church Fathers indepen-
dently of Peter Lombard more than the English Psalter, and he goes on to say:
Wenn man aber bedenkt, welch' grosse Arbeit es ist, die Folianten der
Kirchenväter zu durchlesen, um einen eigenen Commentar danach zu schreiben,
welche Mühe es gekostet haben mag, den englischen Commentar aus den
lateinischen Quellen zu übersetzen, undi hm dazu noch hier und da Eigenes
beizufügen, so wird man den erstaunlichen Fleiss des Einsiedlers von Hampole
bewundern müssen' (p. 45).
N 2


188
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
Margaret Kirkeby was apparently a nun of Hampole till 1348, when
she was enclosed at Layton (v. infra, p. 502). The prologue in calling
her a recluse gave a title not acquired till after the completion of
the Psalter, just as the Office gave titles prematurely to her and to
Neville. Both works were written years after the event, and evidently
mixed up the periods in the lives of the persons involved. If the
Psalter was written for Margaret, it must have been composed
when she was in all probability still a nun at Hampole, and before
she was enclosed. We shall see that the Form of Living, written on
her enclosure, mentions her youth. Rolle, therefore, cannot have
known her for many years before 1348, and evidently we cannot put
back too far Rolle's composition of the Psalter, which was written
for her. The Office seems to place Richard's friendship with Margaret
in the middle and latter portions of his life: he seems to meet her
after his removal to Richmondshire, and to be still in connexion with
her at the time of his death at Hampole. If the Psalter were written
for her, the date here suggested for its composition would fit the
earliest possible dates for their friendship. She may have known
him in religious or in secular life for perhaps ten years before she
became a recluse in 1348, but hardly longer. She seems to have
outlived him by many years, perhaps, as some slight evidence might
indicate, till the end of the century (v. infra, p. 507).
"
The list of interpolated copies already given will have shown the
truth of the allegation made by the early fifteenth-century prologue
as to the Lollards' use of the English Psalter of Rolle. Miss Everett
has lately shown that the interpolated versions are to be in general
subdivided into three classes, and she admits that 'it is impossible
to make a definite statement of the number of revisers responsible for
them' (Mod. Lang. Rev. xviii. 386). She hazards' a list of three
revisers, two of whom are only concerned with the latter part of the
text. The work of the first two gave rise to two types of text.
is very unlikely that the same man was responsible for the longer and
the shorter continuations. The methods used in the two are entirely
different. It is not improbable, however, that the writer of the longer
continuation was the same as reviser 1, i.e. that one man made an
interpolated Psalter with comments which grew in length as he pro-
ceeded, and that a second writer made an alternative shorter version
of Pss. lxxxiv-cl' (ibid.). As I have suggested, the motive for the
shortening of the later commentary may be economy of space.
'It
It is evident that Rolle's English Psalter must have circulated
widely among orthodox and heretics, or we should not have had the


PSALTERS
189
variety of texts for each party which we find. It was a work which
appealed to gentry of no special asceticism, and this is perhaps the
work of Rolle's which received most handsome copies. Such are
Lord Berkeley's (Bodl. MS. 953), the Trin. Coll. Camb., Roy.
18 C. xxvi, Lambeth, and Wrest Park. The first of these contains
the original text, the others Lollard versions. We may wonder
whether any one of the latter belonged to Lord Cobham, perhaps
the richest and most important of the heretics, or to John of Gaunt,
the royal Lollard sympathizer. Such books bear testimony to the
riches, and probably the social importance of the Lollards' friends at
the time when these texts were copied. They also testify to the zeal
and literary industry to be found in the movement.
It would be decidedly interesting if we could find out who and
where were the interpolators of Rolle's English Psalter. We are told
in the vivid narrative of the Lollards affixed to the chronicle of
Knyghton, canon of Leicester, of one Lollard scribe, William Smith
(so named from his calling), who (having been crossed in love) went
many years bare-foot, practised other austerities, taught himself
'abcedarium' in middle life, and set himself to copy books. In
1392 'libros etiam solemnes quos in materna lingua de evangelio,
et de epistolis et aliis episcopis et doctoribus conscripserat, et ut
fatebatur per annos octo studiose conscribere laboraverat archiepi-
scopo coactus tradidit' (RS. 92, ii. 181, 313). Such a person might
presume to nothing more ambitious than the copying of the texts
before him, but it is worth pointing out in view of the active copying
of Lollard books that went on at Leicester that Rolle's name was
known there, since one of the miracles at Hampole was experienced
by a woman from Leicester, who had been told by a returned pilgrim
of the hope of healing at the tomb of the hermit.
The continuator of Knyghton speaks of half of the population as
Lollard, and certainly Leicester was a great centre of Lollardy. The
North, on the other hand, is generally considered to have been
comparatively free from heresy, though of course not entirely so.
Gairdner notes (i. 183) that irregular preaching was denounced in
the North c. 1405, several years before Archbishop Arundel had
denounced it in the South: he had been archbishop of York (1388-
96) before being elevated to Canterbury, and he may have begun
his campaign against the heretics while still at York. Gairdner
describes at length the career of Richard Wiche, a heretic of long
standing who was burned in 1440: he had recanted in the diocese
of Durham in 1405 (ibid.). A Lollard who preached in the North


190 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
early enough to be a contemporary of the interpolator of Rolle's
Psalter was William Thorpe. In his 'Examination' before Arch-
bishop Arundel in 1407 the archbishop says: 'William! I know well,
that thou hast, this twenty winter and more (i. e. from before 1387),
travelled about busily, in the North country and in other divers
countries of England, sowing about false doctrine.' He also charges
Thorpe Lo, Sirs, this is the manner and business of this losell and
such others, to pick out such sharp sentences of Holy Scripture and
of Doctors to maintain their sect and lore against the ordinance of
Holy Church. And therefore, losell! is it, that thou covetest to
have again the Psalter that I made to be taken from thee at Canter-
bury, to record sharp verses against us! But thou shalt never have
that Psalter, nor none other book, till that I know that thy heart and
thy mouth accord fully to be governed by Holy Church' (p. 128).
This is an obscure reference. The Psalter was the volume of the
Scriptures which every person, lay or clerical, could possess, and we
can hardly imagine on what grounds it could be taken from Thorpe,
who after all had received a priest's education. One may wonder
whether he might not have been the interpolator of the heretical
version of Rolle's Psalter, and the volume taken from him a copy of
that text, in which the interpretations were in general directed against
the clergy. This suggestion was made to Miss Everett, and she
writes: After a cursory comparison of Thorpe's confession of faith
and the views expressed in the Lollard Psalter, I can find nothing
which makes it impossible. Some of the views expressed in both
are identical; in no case do they appear contradictory' (xviii,
p. 387, n.). She notes, as confirming the conjecture, that Bale in
his Index ascribes to Thorpe 'glosses on the Psalter'.
It is so easy to change the dialect of prose works and the English
Psalter of Rolle circulated so widely that it would be difficult to
state positively from the language where the interpolated version was
prepared. Some support for placing it in the North may come from
the fact that the Catechism compiled in 1357 by the monk Gaytring
at the direction of Archbishop Thoresby of York was interpolated
with rank Lollard doctrine and circulated with the archbishop's
heading at one end and his pardon at the other (EETS. Orig. Ser.,
118). Thus we have another Northern work treated exactly as
1 A. W. Pollard, Fifteenth-Century Prose and Verse, English Garner, 1903,
p. 107. No English manuscript is known, but Vienna MS. 3936 contains
'Guillelmus Thorpe, Colloquium, in quo de Wiclef et ejus discipulis nonnulla
reperiuntur' (ff. 1-22). For a Latin translation by Bale see H. B. Workman,
John Wyclif, Oxford, 1926, i, 51, n. 4.


PSALTERS
191
Rolle's work was treated. It may be noted that Gaytring's Catechism
is mentioned in the tract on translating the Scriptures (ascribed to
Purvey), which also mentions Rolle's work in English (v. infra,
p. 401). When the heretical form of his Psalter is edited it should
be brought into relation with the heretical Catechism, to see if they
give evidence of a common origin, and the interpolations of both
should be compared with the account of Thorpe's opinions given in
his examination. Moreover, the interpolated version of the Northern
English poem Prick of Conscience (v. infra, p. 391) should also be
brought into the comparison, for that also may be the work of the
Northern heretical interpolator or interpolators elsewhere active. We
can be sure that William Thorpe need not be dismissed on the ground
of language from a possible identification with that person, or with
one of that group, for he evidently wrote in a Northern dialect.
Tindale, in printing the Examination in 1530, says in the preface
that he has corrected and put [it] forth in the English that now is
used in England, for our Southern men.... And I intend, hereafter,
with the help of God to put it forth in his own old English, which
shall well serve, I doubt not, both for the Northern men and the faithful
brethren of Scotland' (ed. Pollard, p. 100). Thorpe's Northern con-
nexions are illustrated by his friendship with 'David Gotray, of Pakring
(Pickering?), Monk of Bylande, and a Master of Divinity' (p. 119).
"
In regard to the date of the interpolated version of Rolle's Psalter,
it will have been noted that no copy cited goes back to the fourteenth
century. All may have been written after the Constitutions of
Oxford of 1408, when a premium, as it were, was put on the name
of a writer like Rolle, who was well known to precede Wyclif.
decree was there set forth that
The
'nullus libellus sive tractatus per Johannem Wycliff, aut alium quem-
cunque tempore suo, aut citra noviter compositus, sive inposterum com-
ponendus, amodo legatur in scholis, aulis, hospitiis, seu aliis locis
quibuscunque infra nostram provinciam antedictam, sive secundum ipsum
doceatur, nisi per universitatem Oxonii aut Cantabrigiae ... primitus
examinetur '.
It was also decreed that
'nemo deinceps aliquem textum sacrae scripturae auctoritate sua in
linguam Anglicanam, vel aliam transferat, per viam libri, libelli, aut
tractatus, nec legatur aliquis hujus modi liber, libellus, aut tractatus
jam noviter tempore dicti Johannis Wycliff, sive citra, compositus, aut
imposterum componendus'.'
1 D. Wilkins, Concilia, London, 1737, iii. 317. A committee appointed by
one of the Universities is also allowed to examine.


192
COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
These decrees were probably foreshadowed years before 1408.
Rolle's name was made a cloak for dangerous material in the Prick
of Conscience before 1400, and the Lollard version of Rolle's Psalter
may have been contemporaneous.
SUPER MAGNIFICAT
The present work is described here because the English exposition
of the same texts circulates with the English Psalter, and it will be
convenient to describe the two expositions together. No copy of
the Latin Magnificat occurs with the Latin Psalter. The quota-
tions have been made from Rawl. MS. C. 397, collated with
the Hereford MS. Bramley's edition of the English comment is
quoted.
Beg. Istum psalmum benedicte virginis' (f. 1).
:
Ends: Ad hunc enim finem locutus est spiritus sanctus prophetis
et apostolis, ut cunctis vanitatibus despectis ad eternam gloriam
pertingamus, ad quam nos perducat Ihesus Christus. Amen' (f. IV).
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. Ashmole 751, ff. 29-31, late 14th cent. 'Item Ricardus
heremita super Psalmum Magnificat. . . . Explicit canticum marie
virginis secundum venerabilem R.h. Amen.' See Quot., Spur.,
Judica, Job.
II. Bodl. 861. Unattributed. V. supra, p. 34.
·
III. Bodl. Rawl. C. 397, ff. 1-1, early 15th cent. Incipit
canticum beate marie virginis super Psalmum Magnificat per beatum
Ricardum heremitam de hampule extractum et compositus (sic)...
Explicit canticum marie virginis.' See Judica, Cant. Am., Quot.
IV. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. See Lat. Ps.,
E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Cant., Mel., Apoc.
The present work was first mentioned by Horstmann, who cites
two Oxford manuscripts.
Rolle's two commentaries on the Magnificat differ in fundamental
purpose. The English piece interprets the texts in the person of the
Virgin Mary, and thus gives what is perhaps to be designated as the
'historical' interpretation. The Latin, on the other hand, makes
the piece into a drama of the individual soul, and thus gives what
should perhaps be called the 'moral' interpretation.


SUPER MAGNIFICAT
193
Though the two works differ essentially, nevertheless a parallel can
be quoted which gives strong evidence of Rolle's authorship of both
works :
'Istum psalmum benedicte virginis
dicimus canticum: tamen in persona
veri amatoris Christi non incongrue
illum pro magna parte possumus ex-
ponere. Illa igitur anima Deum mag-
nificat, quam peruersa cogitacio non
aggrauat, quam immunda delectacio
non maculat, quam nullus peccati
consensus deuastat, sed ad seipsam
conuersa, immo et supra se quandoque
eleuata, in Deo Ihesu suo exultat et
iubilat, ut veraciter secundum versum
canere posset. . . . Ille vero spiritus in
Deo salutari suo exultat, cui pre amoris
magnitudine nichil transitorium placere
potest, cui omnis carnalis concupi-
scencia, omnia vana mundi gaudia
vilescunt; quem nulla diuiciarum copia
extollit, nec ulla inopia vel aduersitas
minuit, sed pro Christo languens, in
Christum siciens, semper ad illam e-
terne claritatis visionem terrena queque
contempnendo suspirat' (f. 1).
'Bot thof the soules of holy
men worthely worship god, &
wondurfully be ioyand in ihesu,
this blessid mayden, before all
in pryuelege of brennand luf,
sho louyd god, and in synguler
ioy shae was glad in cryst; the
songis of louyng er swettest in
hur mouth, and the notis of luf
er delitabylest; in the melody
that sho shewys, that gost now
ioyes in god, the whilk is verely
kyndild with the fyre of the holy
gost, til the whilke for mykelnes
of crystys luf no passand thing
payes, all fleschly luf and erthly
couetyse is vile and loth, bot all
his ioy and coumfort is in crist,
of whom he hopis life and heel
endles' (pp. 523-4).
Though the present piece perhaps gives more commonplace
material than is usual in Rolle's works, it shows the traces of his
idiosyncrasies. Rhyme has already been noted and alliteration also
appears:
'Illi dicendo dolebunt et dolendo dicent illud' (f. 1º);
and also the veneration of the Holy Name:
'Digne dicitur nomen Ihesu sanctum, sine quo salus in terra non
speratur, per quod angelica ruina restauratur,¹ per quod humanum genus
saluatur, per quod et eternaliter sanctificatur' (f. 1).
On the whole the present commentary bears the usual close rela-
tion to Richard's other works: it pursues the same method of
exposition used in the two Psalters and their canticles, and it might
be as appropriately attached to the Latin Psalter as is the English
Magnificat to the English Psalter.
1 The phrase 'restore the ruin of the angels' was a favourite with Rolle: cf.
Cant., f. 154.


194 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
SUPER PSALMUM XXm
The Comment on the 20th Psalm was printed in the Cologne
edition of 1536.
:
Beg. Cum Christus qui est veritas, dicat: Sine me nihil potestis
facere' (edit. 1536, fol. cxxx).
6
Ends: Et hoc in praesenti per gratiam, & in futuro per gloriam,
vt ipsum amemus, ipsum laudemus, & in ipso gloriemur in saecula
saeculorum. Amen' (fol. cxxxivv).
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. 861. Ascribed to Rolle. V. supra, p. 26.
II. Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. 193, ff. 156-60, early 15th cent.
'Incipit tractatus super psalmum 20m... Explicit tractatus Ricardi
heremite super psalmum 20m.' See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant.,
O. D., S. A., E. V., Contra Am. M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
III. Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. 365, ff. 145-52b, 15th cent.
'Glosa psalmi vicesimi. Ricardi hampol super psalmum vicesimum.
See Lat. Ps., Job, Contra Am. M.
IV. Lincoln Cath. 209, late 14th cent. Original index: 'Item
tractatus eiusdem (sancti Ricardi) super Psalmum Domine in uirtute
tua letabitur rex.' 'Explicit tractus utilis super psalmum vicesimum
ricardi heremite de Hampole.' See Office, Contra Am. M., Job, Mel.
V. Upsala Univ. C. 621, ff. 55-63, c. 1400. See E. V., Incend.,
Quot. (Basset's Defence), Office.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
MSS. Ashmole 751, Ff. i. 14 (and the related Hatton MS.) quote
from this work by name, with an attribution to Rolle. It is quoted
with other works of Rolle in Roy. MS. 5 A. vi (v. infra, p. 399). It
is drawn from in the compilation from Rolle's works which passes as
a separate work by him under the title De Dulcedine et Excellentia
Contemplationis (see Dubia).
The present work was noted by Boston of Bury and by Bale in
his Index (three times, twice with incipit as above).
The present commentary more nearly approaches the type of the
Commentary on the Canticles than any other exposition of Richard's.
However, it does not go so far as the Canticles in approximating to the
mystical sermon, in which a very small body of text makes the basis
for a very large amount of discussion.
The author in the present work does not specifically name his
profession, but the following passage may be said to point to his


SUPER PSALMUM xxm
195
hermit's life as plainly as if he did; it also exemplifies the peculiarities
of mystical psychology, doctrine, and style which we recognize from
analogy with other works as belonging to 'Richard Hermit':
'[Magna est gloria eius in salutari dei.] Tunc quippe Christi gloria in
fideli anima magna est, quando aeternis electa, nulla mundi gloria mulceri
potest. Cui prae amoris magnitudine omnia temporalia vertuntur in
taedium, cui omnis terrena delectatio apparet nocumentum: ita scilicet,
vt tanta sit gloria eius in Christo, vt nullam vtique valeat consolationem
inuenire in hoc mundo. Cui solitudo non immerito congruit, qui nihil
terrenum, nihilque humanum sapit. Talis nimirum manet in solitudine,
quia longe distat ab hominibus coelesti conuersatione. Nec potest com-
misceri societatibus saecularium, quia solummodo delectat in gaudio
angelorum. Hic a tumultu solus sedens, sed in Christo glorians, ardet &
amat, gaudet & iubilat, charitate vulneratus, amore liquefactus, canticum
amoris canit dilecto, repletus dulcore suauissimo. Iam non dicit orationes
suas, sed in sublimitate mentis positus, & amore supernorum raptus, mira
suauitate supra rapitur, & deo decantare spirituali organo in mirum modum
subleuatur. Non intelligas illum sonum emitti per instrumentum cor-
porale, quia vigor spiritualis carnem superans, illud canere candor causat
conscientiae bonae & purgatae. Huiusmodi anima tanto gaudio vndique
suffulta, non sentit iniurias, gaudet ad opprobria, ridet ad maledicta, quia
quam sola conditoris memoria delectat, nulla mundi molestia seu miseria
ab amore perturbat' (fol. cxxxii, partly repeated from other works,
v. supra, p. 70, infra, p. 206).
The present work does not mention 'the Holy Name of Jesus',
but the following gives the devotion in its essentials :
'Quia enim charitas non quaerit quae sua sunt, sed Iesum Christum, in
Iesu salutari dei electa anima non solum in futuro, sed etiam in praesenti
iubilat, dum deum vere & perfecte amat' (fol. cxxxv).
A notable passage of the present work is that in which an allegori-
cal discussion is given of 'sitting', 'standing', and 'walking'. We
know from other works (v. supra, pp. 91 sq.) that it was Rolle's custom
to sit during his contemplation, and it is characteristic that he
justifies this habit by, as it were, a 'philosophy of posture', ending
with a characteristically empirical test of sanctity:
'In hoc autem ardens & perfectus amor Christi verissime cognoscitur,
si per totum diei noctisque spacium sedere delectetur. Diuinus nanque
amor illum compellit quiescere, vt totus homo supernae dulcedinis repleatur
iubilatione' (fol. cxxxiii).
A similar discussion has occurred in the Melum (f. 236). In the
present one (fol. cxxxiii) 'heat, sweetness, and song' appear as suc-
cessive landmarks in the mystic's progress.
The present commentary differs too much in scope from the ex-


196 COMMENTARIES CONNECTED WITH THE PSALTER
6
positions of the same texts given in the two Psalters to allow of much
comparison. However, the Latin Psalter agrees with the present
piece in interpreting the psalm of the individual soul, that is,
'morally', whereas the English Psalter agrees with the Psalter of
Peter Lombard in interpreting it of Christ-thus giving an alle-
gorical' interpretation. This variation in commenting on the same
texts exactly resembles that which runs through Rolle's Psalters,
though there—as in the various expositions of Ps. xx-the point of
view of the author does not change.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
In conclusion reference should be made to commentaries in
English on Pss. xc-xci, which were cited by Miss Paues (op. cit.,
pp. liv sq.): she notes MSS. Dd. i. 1, Hh. i. 11, and Harl. 2397,
and says that the commentary might well have been written by
Richard Rolle, or one of his school of thought.' 'Certain passages
strike an almost personal note, and seem to be the outcome of
experience rather than reflection.' Quotations are then given in
which the author says that 'after þat tyme þat I was turnyd unto the
in wil & in werk, my gostly enemyes mor scharpli pursewid me porw
dyuerse temptaciouns... pis scharp word is bakbiting, skornyng &
euyl speking of froward men ageyn zonge men neweli turnid to God'.
These words naturally make Miss Paues remark that we are reminded
of the early trials and persecutions of the Hermit of Hampole' (p.lv).
In spite of the passages just quoted, in general the two English
commentaries contain nothing that suggests Rolle. The mystical
reminiscences found are infrequent and of a colourless sort common
in the generation after Rolle, as in the following: 'ffor qwhi for to
syngge to be in goode werkis and in goode thouhtis and in brennyng
love is his lyff and his comfort, his merthe and his solas' (MS. Hh.
i. 11, Ps. xci. 1). It is probable that the author is Walter Hilton,¹
under whose name in the index to the catalogue of the brothers'
library at Syon Monastery occurs the following entry: 'Idem super
Psalmum qui inhabitat in anglica.... Idem super Psalmum Bonum
est confiteri domino.' The volume in question has evidently been
lost or worn out, for the number now represents another title. We
are given indirect evidence connecting Hilton with the present works
in the fact that the Harl. MS. already mentioned (c. 1400) contains
these two pieces in a volume otherwise containing only Hilton's
Scala Perfectionis and Mixed Life: this book belonged to the
1 The commentaries would seem in that case to show Hilton as a young
writer imitating Rolle's personal references. We shall see that they may have
been personally known to each other (v. infra, pp. 410, 519).
"


ADDITIONAL NOTE
197
Minoresses of London. Also, Lambeth MS. 472 (not known to
Miss Paues) gives the two commentaries in a volume containing
otherwise only the two works just cited, Hilton's translation from
'Louis de Fontibus' (v. infra, p. 342), and an anonymous commentary
on Benedictus similar to those on Pss. xc-xci.
The commentaries on Pss. xc-xci begin and end as follows:
Beg. Qui habitat, etc. (Ps. xc. 1). . . Alle men þat wil leuyn
cristenliche in pis werd alle shal suffre persecucioun as pe apostle
seyth' (MS. Hh. i. 11).
Ends: ffor qwho so louith me I schal loue hym and I schal
schewe me self to hym.'
Beg. Bonum confiteri domino, etc. (Ps. xci. 1). . . Noman may
liue in pis liff þat he ne schal synne sumtyme.'
Ends: but he is good in alle goode and sowereyn goodnesse,
Quiche is blissed withowtyn ende. Amen.'
The commentary on Benedictus in Lambeth MS. 472 begins and
ends as follows:
Beg.
Benedictus, etc. (Luc. i. 68). The hooli man zacarias fader
of seynt Jhon for as moche as he trowed not to the angil gabriel.'
Ends: 'pat blissid lif and steede of pees in þe whiche we schal
drede reste (sic) withoute endynge.'
The Lambeth MS. is one of those made for a common profit'
(i. e. passed from one owner to another till worn out), cf. MSS.
Douce 25, Ff. vi. 31, Harl. 2336, and supra, p. 176 n. It was 'made
of the goods' of John Kilbroin for this purpose. A contemporary
note (signed 'Mordan') asks that it be delivered to 'Richard Colop
parchemanere of London' 'after my decease'. Another note is
signed 'per me dominum Johannem Graunt', 1497.
A fine folio copy of Rolle's English Psalter (MS. XXXIX) is in
the possession of the Marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield House, as was
pointed out to me by Miss Helen Sandison. The text closely resem-
bles that of the Eton MS., the handwriting that of Ar. 158. Magni-
ficat is lacking.
A note in the Hatfield copy refers to a mention in Strype's Life
and Acts of Matthew Parker (Oxford, 1821, ii. 515) of 'an old
Psalter done out of Latin into English, which Weaver saith he saw in
the Earl of Exeter's library, translated by one Richard, an heremite.'
J. Weaver (Funerall Monuments, London, 1631, pp. 151 sq.) gives
extracts from this volume: the Psalter quoted is Rolle's, but other
Scriptural texts are included (suggesting a Wyclifite origin). Strype
rightly decides that it cannot be a manuscript lent by Cecil to Parker
(which was illuminated).


CHAPTER VII
TREATISES (LATIN)
AMONG Rolle's early works we have already considered one
treatise, the Melum, and the three pieces next to be discussed follow
closely the type of the earlier treatise: though less exuberant in style
and subject, and shorter, they also all dilate on the 'glory and
perfection of the saints', with frequent lapses into poetical prose.
All are divided into chapters, which, though some variations in the
manuscripts occur, agree in all nearly enough to make it seem likely
that Rolle wrote the treatises in chapters.
The treatises which form the present group go very explicitly into
the details of Rolle's mysticism, and at times they show an exactness
of phraseology and of self-consciousness lacking in the earlier works,
as if he had spent the years of his mysticism partly in analysis.
This phenomenon may find some explanation in the following
extracts from the first of the treatises here discussed, the Liber de
amore Dei contra amatores mundi, in which the author shows that he
has entertained and dismissed various scruples which might prevent
his laying bare the mystic's secrets:
'De eterna igitur dileccione tractare ad confusionem et despeccionem
amoris temporalis, compellor et delector' (Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. MS.
193, f. 172). 'Morimur igitur in gaudio, qui in amore viuimus, et eo
ipso nobis mors desiderabilior est, quo eterne vite dulcedinem veraciter
presentimus. Sed caueat sibi lector, quia hec verba communiter in persona
omnium non dicuntur qui Christiano nomine censentur, sed in illorum
persona qui sic sine ficcione sine et presumpcione de se senciunt, qualiter
in hoc volumine scripta legunt. Nam in plerisque opusculis meis sic
soleo facere, ne quidem aliis alta scribens de me ipso videar desperare'
(f. 174). Nemo hominum hoc donum nouit, nisi qui accipit. Pauci ergo
sunt [uel]¹ nulli qui illud referunt, quia forsitan illud nescierunt. Si autem
h[ab]uerint, sed aliis predicare nec verbo nec exemplo voluerint, estimo
hoc ab eis ideo fieri quia putabant tam gloriosum munus omnibus com-
1 Supplied from Sloane MS. 2275, with which the Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf.
MS. 193 has been collated for the quotations from the Contra Amatores Mundi.


TREATISES
199
muniter non debere conferri, unde apostolus ait: Raptus in celum audiui
archana Dei, qui (sic) non licet homini loqui (2 Cor. xii. 4); sed vere
necesse fuit ut apostolo multa reuelarentur, per quem et per cuius doctrinam
ecclesia contra hereticos et scismaticos stabiliter fundaretur, que pluribus
sanctis, forsitan et nobis, necessario non est reuelari. Cum iam ecclesia,
Deo consedente et agente,contra venenatam doctrinam undique sit inuicta,
siue igitur sic siue aliter ad laudem Dei et profectum Christianorum illud
verbo et exemplo conor ostendere, quomodo et sine modo eius amore mihi
donauit Christus iubilare. Sed quid si iam tacere cogitarem, subito venit
in me ut cogar narrare. Urgenti igitur caritati quis resistere audeat, aut
pulsanti Deo quis assurgere contradicat?¹ Amantes itaque in aliis
amorem predicare studuimus, nam et nobis hoc valde utile est, quia
tanto ardencius et suauius in amore rapimur, quanto libencius hoc quod
capere poterimus aliis predicamus' (f. 174). Sed admoneo pium lectorem
ne me aut arrogantem aut superfluum ² iudicet, ubi ardua et incognita me
loquentem videt. Non enim prope me loquor, sed propter gloriam Dei
et electorum utilitatem. Nam et ipsi, si eternum regem veraciter cupiunt
diligere, hec et maiora forsitan post modicum audebunt enarrare. Igitur,
quamuis lector in se hec omnia non senciat, nec diffidat' (f. 177).
6
The treatise in which these passages occur contains at least one
discussion of the esoteric details of mysticism: this is the discussion
of whether celestial things may be 'seen' while in this life (f. 176),
which is a rare subject with Rolle. The discussion is briefly echoed
in the Emendatio Vitae, chapter 12, which elsewhere repeats large
portions of the Contra Amatores Mundi (f. 180v), as well as the
section, already mentioned as also found in the Melum and the
Canticles (v. supra, p. 120). It also bears a close relation to
the careful account of 'raptus' given in the Incendium (pp. 254–6).
We shall see (infra, p. 201) that Rolle seems to have been reading
Richard of St. Victor at about this period, and it may be that he
derived his interest in 'raptus' from the Benjamin Major (where it
is a principal subject).
The Incendium gives more explicit descriptions of the esoteric
details of mysticism than any other composition; chapter 15,
perhaps the most popular of all Rolle's writing, gives the careful
analysis of his ecstasy so often quoted, with an account of 'how he
came to the fire of love'. He tells us there that he concealed his
miraculous sensations from those who were with him when he first
experienced them, lest he should be honoured overmuch. The
Incendium, however, goes so far as to attempt to analyse the 'canor',
1
Urgenti igitur caritati, resistere audeat ait pulsanti Deo quis assurgere con.
tradicatur C.
? superbum C.


200
TREATISES
the most esoteric element of the mystic joy (pp. 232 sq.); and Rolle
seems to have been led to this disclosure because of outside
pressure:
'Quoniam autem in ecclesia cantores et cantatrices ordinantur in
gradibus suis constituti ad laudandum Deum... mihi quidem occurrerunt
aliqui interrogantes cur sicut ceteri nollem hoc agere, cum sepe me
cernerent missarum solempniis interesse.... Proinde cogitaui quidem
quodammodo aliqualem ostendere responsionem, et redarguentibus omnino
non disperire.... Hinc ergo inuenit animus meus audaciam ut aliquantulum
aperirem musicam meam que accensit ex incendio amoris, et in qua iubilo
coram Ihesum, et pneumata resono suauissimi concentus' (pp. 232–3).
Hints are given us in the Melum (already quoted, supra, p. 125) that
Richard avoids liturgical song (f. 240–1), cf. 20th Psalm, fol. cxxxii,
and Contra Amatores Mundi, f. 174; in the latter work he tells us
that the 'amator Christi''oblitis aliis rebus, amorem Christi canere
siue in ecclesia siue in villa aut alibi cogitare non desinit, hinc
sollummodo intentus. Nonnulli, ridentes,' putant quod insanit,
dicentes illum irreuerenciam Deo facere et statuta ecclesie non
obseruare' (f. 172). It is possible that the reference just quoted
also refers to the criticism described in the Incendium as above
noted, for no similar passages are found in other works. The
Incendium ends the attempt to describe the 'canor' with the con-
fession that it cannot be done, but with the wish ardently expressed
that a friend might be found to do it for the mystic (p. 243). In
the following chapter, the desire for a friend to share both the
ecstasy and the writing is again passionately put forward (p. 245),
and the mood voiced here is taken up in the chapter on friendship,
which soon follows (p. 257). The only similar reference which has
been noted again occurs in the Contra Amatores Mundi, where the
hermit breaks out into the words: 'Heu mihi misero qualicumque
solitario, ita fit in meis temporibus quod nec unum inuenio qui cupit
mecum currere ac sedendo et tacendo eterni amoris delicias desi-
derare' (f. 175). Thus it will be seen that the two treatises quoted
from both show a special desire to disclose the secrets of the mystic,
and a desire for a friend, and both refer to misunderstanding of the
'canor' by others, which had evidently stimulated the hermit to
expose the real nature of his mysticism. Thus one work would
support the authenticity of the other-if the authorship of either
most individual mystical treatise could ever be in doubt. The two
1 videntes C.


TREATISES
201
works evidently belong to the same period, but for several reasons
the Contra Amatores Mundi seems to be the earlier (v. infra, p. 209).
The Emendatio Vitae, the third and probably the last member of
the present group, does not give any peculiarly thorough and
intimate analysis of mysticism, as do the two just described, but it
presents its own form of precise analysis. It was by a great deal the
most popular of Rolle's compositions, and it seems to a modern
reader to give the most succinct and eloquent account of his message,
though not the most interesting, since autobiography is almost
entirely absent. As we have seen, it uses large sections from the
other works: and the whole conclusion of the Contra Amatores
Mundi appears as the conclusion to the penultimate chapter-a fact
which has made confusion in some manuscripts. It would appear
by its comparatively concise style and good arrangement to be the
most mature Latin piece of Rolle's which we possess, and this con-
jecture receives support from its connexion with the English epistles,
next to be considered, which are otherwise the most mature of
Rolle's works; the Form seems securely dated in the last year of his
life (1348-9). All the epistles must, it would appear, be later than
any treatise except possibly the Emendatio, for that is the only other
work which uses the classification of love into three grades, which
appears at length in all three English epistles. The Ego Dormio,
in which the three grades appear without their titles, seems to be
the first work which uses them.
It seems fairly certain that Rolle classified love in three grades,
entitled respectively inseparable', 'insuperable', and ‘singular',
late in life, since these terms do not appear in any works except the
four in question, and yet the characteristics and even much of the
language which later attach themselves to the three stages appear
over and over again. Richard probably took the titles from the
tract De IV Gradibus Violentae Charitatis of Richard of St. Victor
(Migne, 196, cc. 1207 sq.). Here the four grades are entitled 'in-
superable', 'inseparable', 'singular', and 'insatiable', and described
in terms that suggest Rolle. Three unnamed grades of love described
in terms reminiscent of Rolle are to be found in the De Profectu
Religiosorum of St. Bonaventura (II, cap. xxv), as was pointed out
by Hahn (op. cit., pp. 7-8). Hahn notes that the titles 'insepara-
bilis' and 'insuperabilis' are to be found in another work of
St. Bonaventura's as quoted from a 'doctor Cantuariensis', but here
they are applied to the 'fourth' and 'fifth' grades of love in a
¹ He cites 'c. xv '-being misled by a misprint in Peltier's edition.


202
TREATISES
description of six grades. Richard of St. Victor, in the twelfth
century, gave the start for much description of this sort, but probably
Rolle went to him (the fountain head) for the classification in question.'
It may be that Rolle split off from the Victorine on the number
of the grades under the influence of St. Gregory (whom we believe
to have influenced his whole conception of mysticism). St. Gregory
thus classifies contemplation: Primus ergo gradus est ut (mens) se
ad se colligat, secundus ut videat qualis est collecta, tertius ut super
semetipsam surgat, ac se contemplationi auctoris invisibilis intendendo
subjiciat. Sed se ad se nullatenus colligit, nisi prius didicerit
terrenarum atque coelestium imaginum phantasmata ab oculis mentis
compescere' (Hom. in Ezech. II. v, Migne, 76, c. 989). This is
quoted by St. Bonaventura (Pharetra IV. xxviii), who may have
derived from it the classification already quoted.
The following quotations from the early Melum and from the
description of the third and highest grade of love in the Emendatio
will show that from his youth Rolle was given to the sort of
description of love which later he separates into rigid divisions :
'Ubique, continue, usquequaque,
semper et ex toto Christus diligatur,
ut videlicet amor noster in Deum
sit flagrans, vehemens, estuans,
ardens, violentus, impetuosus, in-
uincibilis, inseparabilis, singularis,
totum hominem ad se trahens,
totum in seipso triumphans, totum
in eiusseruitutem redigens' (Melum,
f. 243).
'In hoc (3rd) statu vel gradu
amoris est amor. . . flagrans,
aestuans, vehemens illum in se
ligans, impetuosus miro modo om-
nem modum excedens, ad solum
amatum se extendens. . . . O amor
amoenus. . . inextinguibilis, qui
totam animam in tuam seruitutem
redigis, & aliud praeter te cogitare
non sinis.... O amor inseparabilis,
o amor singularis.... Ergo vere
amas deum & nihil aliud, nec
teipsum nisi propter deum' (Emen-
datio, fols. 15-16).
The passage in the Emendatio here quoted from is found also in the
Canticles (f. 151) and (slightly altered) in the conclusion to the
Contra Amatores Mundi (f. 180). Neither work divides love into
three grades. Much more of these three works than is here quoted
echoes the Melum. If Rolle had adopted the classification of love
into three grades at the time he wrote the Melum, Canticles, and
Contra Amatores Mundi, it is very strange-and totally unlike his
usual habit of repeating favourite passages-that he did not introduce
1 Cf. Father Denis's Du Péché (supra, p. 19), pp. 109 sq.


TREATISES
203
it when he came so near. In a passage already quoted from the
Melum (p. 84) he indicates four degrees of love, which was a usual
classification. The Melum, however, gives an entirely different
arrangement from that now under discussion, for Rolle there assigns
each of his newly gained attributes of joy to a separate grade, whereas
in the present classification they apparently all belong to the third
and highest (the cult of the Name, which makes the initiation to them,
being-in its lower form-assigned to the second).
It is possible that the development by Rolle of the classification
of love in three grades was due to the natural codification that came
with time. On the other hand, it seems likely that the form of the
works in which he used it had something to do with its origin. The
epistles (three in English and one in Latin) are manuals, each
directed to a special friend, and in all there would exist the same
motive for developing useful didactic formulae. All four works
review the religious life from the beginning, and a more systematic,
magisterial method is pursued than in the other works. We
apparently see Rolle at the period of writing these epistles finding
the friends for whom he yearned in the first two treatises of the
present group, and shaping his message for their needs. Both
treatises and epistles seem to show that whatever loneliness the
hermit might feel at times (at least in the earlier period of the
treatises) he has come full circle from the tumult and uncertainty in
which he ended his first 'period. He feels secure enough of his
position to give exuberant expression to his mysticism, both to the
general public of the spiritually minded, and to special friends. His
earliest extant prose work has been an epistle, and so is his latest.
"
CONTRA AMATORES MUNDI
Beg. Quoniam mundanorum insania gaudium eterni amoris
cordibus electorum illabi non putat' (Corpus Christi Oxf. MS. 193,
f. 171).
Ends: Illabere mihi in tua dulcedine. Te mecum et meis
commendo sine fine' (f. 18ov).
The work is divided in many manuscripts into six chapters, in
some into seven (by the division of the first). For the manuscripts
used v. supra, p. 198.
1 Cf. St. Bernard, De Diligendo Deo, Migne, 182, c. 998, and Richard of St.
Victor, loc. cit.
0 2


204
TREATISES
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. 769 (Sum. Cat. No. 2551), ff. 61-77, second half
15th cent. 'Explicit tractatus de contemptu mundi secundum
Ricardum Hampole venerabilem heremitam.'
II. Bodl. 861. Ascribed to Rolle. V. supra, p. 26.
III. Laud. Misc. 528, ff. 33-41, early 15th cent. Text as in
MS. XVIII (v. supra, p. 64). See Office, E. V., Judica, Cant.,
Job, Incend.
IV. Balliol Coll. 224, ff. 18V-31, 15th cent. See Cant., E. V.,
Incend., Spur., Job, Judica.
V. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 171-80v, early 15th cent. 'Hic
incipit liber de amore dei contra amatores mundi.' See Lat. Ps.,
Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., O. D., S. A., E. V., Incend., Mel., Judica.
VI. St. John's Coll. 127, ff. 1–24, 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus de
amore dei contra amatores. ... Explicit tractatus contra amatores
mundi.' This is confused in Coxe's catalogue with chapter 6 of
the Emendatio, which is entitled De Contemptu Mundi, as is the
present work in MS. I, etc. See Incend., Cant.
CAMBRIDGE Colleges.
VII. Corpus Christi 365, ff. 152b sq., late 15th cent. 'Incipit
liber de amore dei contra amatores mundi. R. hampole.' See Lat.
Ps., Job, 20th Ps.
VIII. Emmanuel 35, ff. 164-92, 15th cent. (before 1414).
Defective at the beginning. See Cant., Judica, Incend., Mul. Fort.,
O. D., Mel.
OTHER MSS.
IX. B. Mus. Sloane 2275, ff. 52b-61b, 14th-15th cent. An
annotator adds: 'Explicit Ricardus de contemptu mundi. Quod
Mertth et corrigitur.' See Mel., Incend., Job, E. V., Stim. Consc.
X. Castle Howard MS., 15th cent. 'Ricardus heremita de amore
dei et contemptu mundi.' See E. V., Spur. (2), Cant., Incend.,
Job, Judica, Mul. Fort.
XI. Durham Cath. B. iv. 35, ff. 92-112h, 14th cent. 'Ex-
plicit liber de Amore dei contra amatores mundi secundum Ricardum
venerabilem heremitam de Hampole. Amen quod J. h.' Early
Durham ownership is shown by a note relating to Elvet and Auck-
land in 1539. See Incend., Spur., and supra, p. 28.


CONTRA AMATORES MUNDI
205
B
XII. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. Hic incipit
secundus liber Ricardi heremite venerabilis hampole de amore dei
contra amatores mundi.' See supra, p. 26, Lat. Ps., E. V., Incend.,
Cant., Mel., Magn., Apoc.
XIII. Wyggeston Hospital Leicester 15, early 15th cent. Ex-
plicit liber de amore dei contra amatores mundi secundum Ricardum
venerabilem heremitam.' The contemporary index cites the work as
'Alius liber de amore dei'. See E. V., Job.
XIV. Lincoln Cath. 209, ff. 13b sq., late 14th cent. Original
index: Item libellus eiusdem sancti Ricardi de amore dei contra
amatores mundi.' See Office, Job, 20th Ps., Mel.
XV. Rylands Lib. Manchester 18932, 15th cent. 'Incipit
tractatus Ricardi hampole heremite de amore dei contra amatores
mundi.' See Cant., Incend., Quot.
XVI. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 15700, ff. 94-110, 14th cent. Explicit
liber Ricardi heremite de contemptu mundi.' See E. V., Incend., Job.
XVII. Sotheby's, Nov. 14, 1919, Lot 87, now in the possession
of Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 14th cent. 'Incipit tractatus Ricardi
heremite de Ampoll' de amore dei contra amatores mundi.' 'Ex-
plicit tractatus Ricardi heremite de Ampole de amore dei contra
amatores mundi.' See Ol. effus., E. V.
XVIII. Sotheby's, Mar. 1-2, 1921, Lot 275 (now Harmsworth),
ff. 78-102b, 15th cent. See MS. III, E. V., Cant.
XIX. Trier (Stadtbibl.) 685, ff. 115-36, 15th cent. 'Explicit
libellus de amore dei contra amatores mundi. Rich. heremita.' See
Incend., Spur., Mel.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
The compilation of 'Robertus Wasselyn, capellanus', in MS. Ff. i.
14, and the related one in Hatton quote this treatise many times,
always with the same title, and usually with the chapter reference.
The Contra Amatores Mundi is quoted as Rolle's in Jesus Coll.
Camb. 59, in the 'Incendium diuini amoris' of John Walsingham
in Trin. Coll. Dublin 159, and in the Thornton and Quaritch MSS.
Extracts are included in the compilation from Rolle's works which
circulates under his name as De Excellentia Contemplationis (v. Dubia,
p. 322). A narrative told by Rolle in the Contra Amatores Mundi
(f. 177, quoted from infra, p. 466) as to the death-bed of 'matrona
quedam in mundo magna' is probably repeated in the Office.


206
TREATISES
Syon Monastery catalogue cites in the index under Rolle's name
four copies of this work, of which only one is now found in the
catalogue; one not indicated there is included (M. 94). Leicester
Abbey probably owned this work ascribed to 'John hampole'.
A 'Liber de amore... Ricardi Heremite' left to Corpus Christi
Coll., Cambridge, by Markaunt in 1439 is proved by the first words
of the second leaf to be the present work. Boston of Bury cites as
at Bury under Rolle's name: 'De timore Domini et contemptu
mundi', which is probably the present work, though that exact title
is not found in extant manuscripts. Bale registers in his Index two
copies of 'Contra Amatores Mundi' (with incipit as above).
Rolle's authorship of the present treatise can hardly be doubted
after the quotations made from it in the introduction to the present
chapter, and the discussion there of the close relationship to other
works of Rolle which it was shown to bear. The manuscripts also
will have given strong evidence for Rolle's authorship. However,
since it is not accessible in print, quotations will be made to show
its strong consistency with Rolle's usual style and manner.
He speaks in this work also in the first person, in a passage full of
his usual phrases, images, and ornaments of style :
'Tracta namque mens superno dulcore cursum scandere non desinit;
penetrare nititur spissitudinem nubium, supra stellatum celum se eleuare
non veretur. Sedem querit inter choros angelorum, dulcissimum suum
anhelat intueri, unde et quanto in aula regia sponso suo se pro-
pius alleuat, tanto necesse est ut in igne eterni amoris suauius
inardescat. Ibi, inquam, succenditur et exuritur, splendore Christi
illuminatur; perfusa, itaque, sancta mens ardore diuine caritatis in ignem
quasi tota conuertitur, et ardens et lucens vino veri dulcoris absorbetur,
debriataque ab ubertate domus Dei nec mundane felicitatis leticiam nec
perturbantis vite mortalium tristiciam amodo gustabit.... Huic igitur
solitudo congruit, ut solitarius sedens degustet canticum, quod in clamore
et in strepitu corporali positus nec canere nec ascultare se posse cognoscet.
Canorus nimirum iubilus quietis silencium querit in Christianis, ut tanto
mens nostra ardencius ac iocundius in melos rapiatur, quanto in secreci-
oribus locis assueti sumus ab hominibus et a contradicentibus linguarum
(sic) separati. Quoniam heremita vocor, et intencione utique degener non
ex isto, laudo quidem bonitatem Dei mei, qui me de mundo transtulit, et
usque ad cantabiles eterni amoris delicias clemens subleuauit.... Ibi
profecto didici diuinas laudes exultando canere, et in feruore mellifluo
canendo iubilare, sed undique intus et extra inuisibili melodia cognoui me
refici, et in amoris gaudio suauissime immorari. Mirabar quippe quod
aliquis mortalium aliquando ad tantam gloriam caperetur, sed iam sciui


CONTRA AMATORES MUNDI
207
per experimentum quod vera dileccio apud Deum. Alii autem, qui illud
donum nesciunt, nec illud ideo ab aliis percipi putant,' et sane paucissimi
sunt qui illud habuerunt. Quoniam quidem inter mortales nullus in alciori
vita, nec ita alta, quia hec altissima qua ad Deum graditur' (ff. 172, 172′).
This is one of the works in which the three attributes of ecstasy
are distinctly mentioned:
'Manet autem mecum, non transit a me, feruor mellifluus, canor
celicus, dulcor diuinus. Aperiendo tibi, o bone Ihesu, os meum, attraho
spiritum. Tantum quoque gaudium de te sencio, quantum exprimere non
sufficio; dulcifluum asculto canticum, et canens ascendo usque in domum
Dei... hunc desidero, suspiro, et amore langueo, quia non video faciem
Dei mei: verumptamen tale gaudium opto in celo, quale in carne sedens
gusto et sencio, nec volo ut alia gaudia mihi dentur, sed ut aliter mihi dentur,
videlicet clare et perspicue² videndo Deum meum in decore suo' (f. 177).
The sentences just quoted will be seen to be full of rhyme, and else-
where alliteration appears :
'Eget attamen diues sepius pluribus possessionibus, cum pauper plenus
paucis nonnumquam habundabit.... Nam veri amatores eterne diuini-
tatis suauia senciunt solacia, dum mundi dilectores deliciis dampnosis
depascantur' (f. 178).
The devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus does not appear explicitly
in this work, but in the quotation above (f. 177) and elsewhere the
address is made 'O bone Jesu', and the discourse is of concentration
on the thought of the Saviour. 'Sapientia' is invoked, ff. 171, 173.3
The Contra Amatores Mundi contains a number of commonplace
passages exhorting the worldly. The frivolous dress of women is con-
demned. A long esoteric discussion can be summarized as follows:
'Sed alii sunt qui aliter dicunt, videlicet quod viderunt clare celestia.
Asserant qui hoc nouerunt. Ego idem non expertus sum, nec puto ex-
periri dum in carne sum.... Potest itaque deuotus amator in amore canere
et iubilare, quasi raptus supra terrena in se deficere et in Deum pergere.'
... Deus tamen potest reuelare cuicumque voluerit, etiam peccatori,
secreta et facere eum videre mira ad utilitatem suam et aliorum, sed ideo
talem sancciorem non dixerim, cum plurimi etiam sanctorum apostolorum
in hac vita huiusmodi non viderunt' (f. 176).
The present work was written at a period well on in Rolle's life, for
he refers to his writings as 'pleraque' (v. supra, p. 198). As we shall
1 The Sloane scribe here writes on the margin 'ergo raptus erat Ricardus
deuotus' (f. 53").
2 prospicue C.
3 As by Suso (cf. infra, p. 349).
• Cf. f. 172: 'Caro in se deficit dum spiritus in Deum pergit, plene se
subiciens diuine voluntati.'


208
TREATISES
see, a great diversity of experience seems to lie behind him when he
writes the Incendium, with which this work may seem to be related.
We shall see in describing the Incendium that in that book ecclesi-
astical opposition seems to be echoed only from the past, but the
difficulties with those on whom the hermit has been materially
dependent seem fresh, and references to them recur. The Contra
Amatores Mundi appears specifically directed against the worldly,
and some passages would seem to suggest that the author's theme is
given special bitterness because he has recently had hostile encounters
(with patrons?). The sentences in the first chapter of the work,
following those already quoted on his 'singing' at church or in town,
continue as follows:
‘... nonnulli ridentes ¹ putant quod insanit, dicentes illum irreuerenciam
Deo facere, et statuta ecclesie non obseruare. Sed ille profecto Christo
in omnibus et ecclesie reuerenciam obtulisse probabitur, quando isti
presumptores nequam tanquam irreuerentes quia incaute iudicantes
punientur. Illum Christus amore suo medullitus rapuit, et multociens
quasi a sensu corporali alienatus incedit. Illos adhuc forte in malicia sua
sinit viuere ; illum vero supra cuncta temporalia dignatus est subleuare.
Quomodo igitur audent illum arguere, quem ut patronum deberent pocius
honorare? Sed verum est quod apostolus ait: Diligentibus Deum omnia
cooperantur in bonum (Rom. viii. 28). Nam eo ipso in diuino amore
suauius iubilat, quo videt eum populus, nec laudat. Illi vero miseri tanto
se deterius viciis subiciunt, quanto contra sanctum Dei inutilibus verbis
contendunt. Quem nimirum apud Deum intercessorem habere pro eis
poterant, malicia sua excecati sponte relinquunt. Denique inter ob-
probria, inter irris[i]ones et scandala, inter reprehensiones et odia audacter
canit cum psalmista: De vultu tuo, o bone Ihesu, iudicium meum prodeat:
oculi tui videant equitates. Probasti cor meum et visitasti nocte; igne me
examinasti, et non est inuenta in me iniquitas (Ps. xvi. 2-3), quia raptus
a terrenis dulcore eterni amoris ad Christum per semitas perfecte iusticie
properat. Dicant quicquid volunt, securus non errat. Iam linguis
detractorum amputatis, electus Christi seipsum studeat dirigere' (f. 172).
The last sentence in most copies begins the second chapter.
When later in this work Richard laments his lack of a friend, he
expresses his discontent in words that suggest special disillusionment:
'Melius est mihi mori quam viuere, qui inter multos morans nec uni
scio prodesse, et que putabam esse lucrata timeo ne euaniant, quia
in mundana re et non in Deo gaudent. Ecce, o Domine, relictus sum
solus; qui videbant me foras fugiebant a me. Obliuioni datus sum,
tanquam mortuus a corde, sed et factus sum tanquam vas perditum,
quoniam audiui vituperacionem multorum commorancium in circuitu
2 malici C.
3 om. C.
• qui C.
1 videntes C.


CONTRA AMATORES MUNDI
209
(Ps. xxx. 12-14). In circuitu meo non mecum sunt amatores terreni, quia
etsi eis te vitam predico, tamen eos amantes mortem doleo. Stulti quoque
despiciebant me, et cum recessissem¹ ab eis detrahebant mihi' (f. 175º).
These passages sound as if they echoed grievances just past,
which do not seem to be connected with the clergy, but with
'amatores terreni'. Probably the Contra Amatores Mundi was
written when the author was emerging from quarrels with patrons.
We seem to have these quarrels hinted at from a greater distance in
the Incendium: the discussion as to the irreverence at Mass and the
desire for a friend also both appear in that work in what seems a more
developed form. It is therefore likely that the Contra Amatores
Mundi preceded the Incendium: it may be noted that the signature
already quoted from the former resembles those in the Job and the
Psalter, of which we know one, and suspect the other, to be early.
Beg.
INCENDIUM AMORIS
Admirabar magis quam enuncio quando siquidem sentiui
cor meum primitus incalescere' (Deanesly, p. 145).
Ends: 'et ministrabit in aula celesti summo imperatori, in secula
seculorum. Amen' (p. 278). The 'short text' ends earlier: 'talem
canorem ab ingenio humano; in quibus si perseuerauero saluus ero'
(ibid.).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The only part of the Incendium Amoris in print before modern
times was chapter 15 (on Rolle's first attainment of ecstasy). This
appeared with portions of the Canticles (as in some manuscripts) in
the editions of 1533, 1535, 1536, 1622, 1677. Misyn's very awkward
Middle English translation was printed by the EETS. Orig. Ser.,
106, in 1896 (v. supra, p. 17, for a modernized edition). Miss
Deanesly's critical edition of the Incendium Amoris is based on
Emmanuel Coll. Camb. MS. 35. I supplied her with the list of the
manuscripts of the treatise, but it will be noted that I have since
been able to add a considerable number. These are mostly in
continental libraries, where some were perhaps carried by the
influence of Pope Innocent VII (and perhaps circulated by the
Hussites), others were carried by the Brigittines. Some also may
offer interesting confirmation of the conjecture made by Miss
Deanesly (Eng. Hist. Rev. xxix. 99-101) that the Incendium
1 et recessisse C.


210
TREATISES
travelled to the Council of Constance with the monk Braystones,
whose devotion to the work led to his procuring for it a long series
of indulgences. One type of text is found only on the Continent,
in Flanders and on the Moselle, on the direct route, be it noted,
from England to the great councils of the fifteenth century. Seven
copies of the Incendium are still to be found along this route,
representing three types of text. Somewhere on the Continent the
prologue of the Incendium became attached to the De Triplici Via
of St. Bonaventura, but the three late copies of the latter extant,
which make this addition, are so widely distributed that no clue is
given as to where the borrowing arose (v. infra, p. 226).
The division of the manuscripts of the present work into 'short
texts' and 'long texts' pointed out by Miss Deanesly (pp. 60 sq.) has
been mentioned in connexion with the manuscripts of the Canticles
(9. v.). There is a strange intermixture of the texts of the Canticles
and of the Incendium, and a compilation drawn from both works
very frequently accompanies the short text of the treatise. We have
seen that in volumes containing the full text of the Canticles which
also give the short text of the Incendium, the compilation follows
without the extracts from the Canticles (which would thus be
a repetition). The half-compilation thus found is sometimes given
its own title: 'Quomodo perueni ad incendium amoris' (v. MSS.
Bodl. 861, Balliol, and infra, p. 222). The whole compilation alone is
sometimes given its own title 'Oleum effusum' (v. MSS. Emmanuel
Coll. Camb. 35, Castle Howard). When the whole compilation
follows the short text, the two units together are sometimes included
under the title Incendium Amoris (v. MSS. Laud Misc. 202 and
Milan): other texts of heterogeneous composition assuming the title
'Incendium Amoris' are MSS. B. Mus. Add. 24661, Lincoln Cath. 188,
Prague Univ. 814, and Vienna 4483. Similar irresponsible use of
the equally popular title 'Oleum effusum' is found in MSS. Laud
Misc. 528 and Sotheby (Mar. 1-2, 1921), where parts of the
Canticles merge in the Contra Amatores Mundi.
The persistence of the combination of extracts from the Canticles
and Incendium, which make up the compilation in question, gives rise
to curiosity as to its origin. Miss Deanesly concludes (p. 62) that it
must be due to 'some very early copyist', 'possibly . . . one of the
Hampole nuns' (p. 89). She proves that the original form of the
Incendium could not have been the short text, for that version in
most copies writes an 'etc.' at three out of the thirty-nine abridge-
ments made, and 'item' occurs elsewhere (see pp. 84, 221-3). In


INCENDIUM AMORIS
211
other words, the original form of the work was the long text, from
which both the short text and the accompanying compilation were
compiled. Miss Deanesly believes that the earliest copyists of
Rolle found the epistle of Anselm in close connexion with his
work-perhaps copied by himself for reference' (p. 58).
The extract from St. Anselm (which was identified by Horstmann)
is the only part of the compilation not derived from Rolle, but it
discusses the importance of the will in a way very congenial to him:
'Omnis actio laudabilis, sive reprehensibilis, ex voluntate habet
lauden vel reprehensionem,' etc. (Migne, 159, c. 167); his works at
many points may show its influence (v. supra, pp. 70, 104). It is
possible that it was first connected with the compilation because Rolle
had himself copied it, and it is barely possible that the short text and
the accompanying compilation were also due to Rolle. We have seen
(supra, p. 58) that an autograph compilation from his works was found
after his death and used in composing the Office. As a matter of fact,
all three quotations from Rolle used in the Office-the opening of the
Incendium, chapter 15 of that work on the growth of ecstasy, and the
narrative as to a supernatural temptation recounted in the Canticles
(the latter quoted from the autograph)-occur in the combined short
text and compilation: it might therefore at first sight appear that we
have here Rolle's own compilation used in the Office. Against this
hypothesis is the fact that the first quotation is given in the Office as
from the 'Incendium, Book I, chapter 1', and though some copies
of the long text are divided into two books, that division is not
found in any short text. There is, however, in any case a discrepancy
in the references given to the quotations from the Incendium in the
Office: chapter 15 is cited as 'Book I, chapter 13', a numbering
which, so far as I know, is never found in an extant manuscript.
This reference, however, also seems to point to a long text of the
treatise as the source: chapter 15 does not occur in the body of the
short text, but in the compilation at the end. Altogether, therefore,
there are difficulties in conjecturing the identity of the autograph
collection mentioned in the Office with that which circulates with the
short text, even though the actual quotations in the Office can all be
referred to the short text and its attendant compilation.
A note as to a supernatural intimation to Rolle in 1343 as to the
date of his death follows in two manuscripts an abridged account of
his development of ecstasy as described in the Incendium (v. supra,
p. 27), and should be mentioned in this connexion. In both copies
the note follows the end of Contra Amatores Mundi, but Bodl. 861


212
TREATISES
"
seems by marks of insertion to attach it to the phrase 'Quomodo
Ricardus heremita peruenit ad uerum amorem dei' on the margin
above, opposite 'Omnis actio'. The phrase Quomodo perueni', etc.,
reappears in the explicit as the title of the half-compilation' of
the usual type here found. The note as to 1343 probably origi
nated in an autograph, and the evidence at hand might suggest that
it was originally copied at the head of the 'Omnis actio'. As we
have seen, the archetype of Bodl. 861 probably contained the short
text of the Incendium (v. supra, p. 27), and if in that case the note
originated in a copy of the short text, with accompanying compilation,
these must then have been known to Rolle, if not actually put
together by him. In this case, the first person of the title 'perueni'
(though repeated from the text) might also be due to an autograph.
However, since the Durham MS. attaches the note only to Contra
Amatores Mundi (also adjacent in the Bodl. MS.), it may have origi-
nated in an autograph copy of that work.
It is more likely that the short text and the accompanying com-
pilation might be due to William Stopes. The Vienna manuscript does
not contain the usual compilation following the short text, but, in its
place, some elements of that text combined with other pieces (as
in the Prague Univ. MS. and-partially-in a Lincoln and a
Brussels MS.). On the other hand the notes would seem to have
been derived from another volume, and perhaps the remarks which
they contain as to William Stopes were in the first instance connected
with the usual compilation, which begins with the Oleum effusum.
It is perhaps an indication that the note as to Stopes originated in
such a connexion that here it is attached to the latter piece, though
in the manuscript in hand this does not open the compilation
(v. infra, p. 218). The Vienna notes give manifest falsehoods
(such as the statement that he translated the Oleum effusum from
English to Latin), but on the other hand the preservation of the
name 'William' at the end of two copies of the Emendatio would
support the supposition that Rolle had an intimate disciple of that
name at the end of his life, who might easily have become his
literary executor. Various workings over of Richard's compositions
exist, and may be due to William (v. infra, pp. 304, 323), but none
has so good a claim to be his as the present compilation.
It will be noted that there are altogether three compilations from
Rolle's works which follow the Incendium at one time or another.
The commonest is that of which the origin has just been discussed:
sometimes, as we have seen, either half of this circulates alone with


INCENDIUM AMORIS
213
the treatise. A second compilation is attached to the Incendium in
MSS. Lincoln and Brussels (partially), and in MSS. Prague Univ.
and Vienna: this combines fragments from other sources with the
Oleum effusum. A third compilation is attached to the Incendium in
a manuscript once belonging to Joanna Sewell, nun of Syon (which
also preserves the dedication of the Emendatio to William, though
without the name). This, in four volumes (two of which seem to be
derived from Syon and one from Shene), appears (enlarged) as a
separate work by Rolle (v. infra, De Excellentia Contemplationis).
The character of this piece would suggest an authoritative origin.
A fourth type of the Incendium inserts in the last chapter of the long
text a compilation from other works of Rolle. This is found only
in three manuscripts, all once belonging to continental Carthusian
houses, that is, at Enghien (Hainault), at Rethel near Sierck (on the
Moselle above Trier), and at Trier (v. infra, MSS. XXIX, XXXIII,
XXXVIII-the last written in the Charterhouse of the Ecstatic
Doctor').
The chapter division used in the Incendium is fairly constant,
except that the prologue is sometimes counted as a chapter, and
sometimes not. The division into two books found in the Office
reappears in various continental copies, in MS. X, and in Misyn's
translation it was known to Newton, who notes at chapter 31 'prin-
cipium libri 2i'.
:
For nine MSS. below giving the cross-reference' Cant.', v. supra,
p. 64.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
Short text. See E. V.,
I. Bodl. 16, ff. 105-52, late 14th cent. Short text.
Ol. effus.
II. Bodl. 66 (Sum. Cat. No. 2075), ff. 1-79, first half 15th cent.
'R. Ampolle. Explicit liber de incendio amoris.' Long text. The
chapter-headings found with Newton's name in the Emmanuel MS.
are here given in a tabula at the end (as there), whereas in Dd. v. 64
and in Misyn's translation they head the chapters. A late 15th-cent.
hand writes: 'Richard Rolle hermyte off hampole; ihc.maria' (f. ivv).
III. Bodl. 861. Ascribed to Rolle. V. supra, pp. 27, 31.
IV.
Bodl. Laud Misc. 202, ff. 42-90, 15th cent. After the short
text and complete compilation: Explicit liber qui dicitur Incen-
dium Amoris.' Twenty-seven chapters marked. See E. V., Cant.


214
TREATISES
V. Bodl. Laud Misc. 528, ff. 78-97, early 15th cent. 'Hic
incipit Incendium amoris Sancti (inserted above the line) Ricardi
heremite de hampule.' Short text. See Office, E. V., Judica, Cant.,
Contra Am. M., Job.
"
VI. Bodl. Rawl. A. 389 (Sum. Cat. No. 11272), ff. 32-72, early
15th cent. Explicit liber de incendio amoris.' Long text. See
E. V., Ego D., Command., Form.
VII. Balliol Coll. 224, ff. 39-56, 15th cent. Short text, with
the Canticles preceding, and the half-compilation (with its own title)
following. See supra, p. 210, and Cant., Contra Am. M., E. V.,
Spur., Job, Juaica.
VIII. Corpus Christi Coll. 193, ff. 180-206, early 15th cent.
Long text. See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Fs., O. D., S. A.,
E. V., Contra Am. M., Mel., Judica.
IX. St. John's Coll. 127, ff. 25-56, 15th cent. 'Explicit tra-
ctatus vocatus incendium amoris.' Short text, without the usual
additions. Those from the long text of the Incendium (with the
Omnis actio) follow the Canticles later. See Contra Am. M.,
Cant.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
X. Univ. Dd. v. 64 (II), ff. 1-84, late 14th cent. Incipit liber
primus de incendio amoris secundum beatum Ricardum heremitam
de hampule. For the chapter-headings, division into two books,
and the valuable Northern texts in a second part of this book,
v. supra, pp. 37, 213. See E. V., O. D., Mel., Form, Command.,
Ego D., Miscell.
XI. Univ. Mm. v. 37, ff. 1-60b, c. 1400. After the short text:
'Explicit Incendium Amoris.' The complete compilation follows.
A rubric note on the fly-leaf gives indulgences procured for the
Incendium by Christopher Braystones, originally monk of St. Mary's,
York, and chaplain to Bishop Spofforth of Hereford, later Carthusian
monk of Beauvale.¹ Miss Deanesly shows (p. 52) that the indulgences
may be dated 1452-7. See Cant., E. V., and supra, p. 210.
XII. Caius Coll. 140, ff. 17-47, 15th cent. 'Explicit Incendium
amoris sancti Ricardi de hampole.' Long text.
See Form (lat.),
Ego D. (lat.), E. V.
1 Lincoln Cath. MS. B. 6. 6 contains the Meditations on the Life of Christ
(Pseudo-Bonaventura) with the same rubric giving the indulgences procured by
Braystones as appears in MS. Mm. v. 37. He gave the latter to Beauvale.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
215
"
XIII. Caius Coll. 332, ff. 128-44, 15th cent. Explicit tractatus
qui dicitur Incendium amoris.' Short text.
XIV. Emmanuel Coll. 35, ff. 16-19, 25-59, 63-99, 15th cent.
(before 1414). The compilation (complete) occurs as a separate
work: Explicit oleum effusum secundum hampoll' (f. 19). After
the Judica and Mulierem Fortem, part of the long text of the
Incendium follows, with the chapter-numbers and headings given in
the margins. At the end, over the index, appears: 'tabula huius
libri additur per magistrum Johannem de Neutone'. Through a
reference supplied by Professor L. A. Hibbard of Wellesley College
I was able to conjecture (see Athenaeum, Aug. 23, 1913) that Newton
was probably John Newton, the treasurer of York (d. 1414). Miss
Deanesly (who makes this the basis of her edition) has followed
Newton through an important ecclesiastical career (see her Incend.,
pp. 63-80). She discovered that he was Vicar-General of Archbishop
Arundel at York 1390-6, and the registers of that period are in his
name and written, she finds (p. 14), in a hand 'very similar' to that
in which the tabula is written in Emmanuel MS. 35. The identifica-
tion is thus confirmed (v. infra, p. 414).
After Rolle's short commentary, the Lord's Prayer, the short text
of the Incendium follows complete, headed: 'Liber qui vocatur
Incendium amoris secundum Ricardum hampoll.' At the bottom
of the last page (f. 99) occurs the note: Hic correctus per librum
quem sanctus Ricardus de hampole propria manu scripsit.' It is
written in the hand in which the tabula has been noted, and the
same hand has elaborately corrected the text of the whole preceding
work, by inserting and altering both by marginal notes and by
the insertion of small leaves, and of cross-references both to the
sections of the Incendium found in the compilation Oleum effusum,
with which the book had opened, and to the portion of the long text
copied later. Such references appear as 'require 6 capitulum a
sinistra parte ad tale signum', etc. The complete long text is
restored, and we have therefore authority for believing that this
was the version found in Rolle's autograph (or at least in one
autograph copy). We have also probably sufficient reason to believe
that the person who made the extremely careful and laborious.
construction of the text was the 'Master John Newton' whose name
is given with the tabula. As Miss Deanesly points out, the evidence
of his will, and of others in which he receives legacies of books, would
go to show that he was not only a great book-lover, but also fond of


216
TREATISES
compiling tabulae to assist in their use, and gifted with an unusually
'scholarly care for texts'.
The full interest of this book was not evident till Miss Deanesly
discovered the marks of a later owner, a nun of Syon, Joanna Sewell,
professed in 1500. This religious woman has left her monogram on
various pages, as well as that of her friend, the Carthusian James
Greenhalgh of Shene, who had given her a black-letter Scale of
Perfection still in existence, on which (and on MS. XX, infra)¹ may
also be seen his monogram as well as her own (see Deanesly,
pp. 79-83). Thus Emmanuel 35 is not only a proof of Rolle's solid
reputation among high ecclesiastical and academic persons at York
half a century after his death, but also another sign of his popularity
at Syon Monastery over a hundred years later. See Cant., Judica,
Mul. Fort., O. D., Contra Am. M., Mel.
XV. St. John's Coll. 23, ff. 1-41, 15th cent.
incendio amoris venerabilis Ricardi heremite de
Incipit tractatus de
ampullis.' Original
index gives title 'De incendio amoris dei'. Short text. In the
illuminated initial a bearded hermit (?) sits in a tub outside a cell,
writing 'In dei nomine'. He wears a russet garb, with white under-
vest. See Mel., Judica.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
XVI. Harl. 106, ff. 182b-6, 15th cent.
in libro de incendio amoris.' Extracts only.
Stim. Consc. (lat.).
'Ricardus de Hampole
See Form (lat.), E. V.,
'Explicit incendium
Miss Deanesly calls this
See Job, E. V.
XVII. Harl. 275, ff. 12b-46, 15th cent.
amoris secundum Ricardum heremitam.'
an exceptionally good copy of the long text.
XVIII. Roy. 5 C. iii, ff. 305 sq., 15th cent.
amoris sancti Ricardi heremite de hampole' (f. 317—the book is
misbound, and the explicit occurs in the middle). Long text. See
infra, p. 426.
'Explicit incendium
XIX. Sloane 2275, ff. 73-108b, 14-15th cent.
dium amoris Sancti Ricardi heremite de hampole.'
Mel., Contra Am. M., Job, E. V., Stim. Consc.
'Explicit incen-
Long text. See
XX. Add. 24661, ff. 14b-61, early 15th cent. 'Sequitur de
eodem (Ricardo Hampole) Incendium amoris et de excellencia
1 Trin. Coll. Camb. 354 contains a page of his writing (dated 1499). Corpus
Christi Camb. MS. 137 is also marked with the combined monogram and would
seem to have belonged to Joanna Sewell.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
217
"
After an
amoris dei seu amatorum dei siue de uita contemplatiua.'
'incomplete and independent version of the long text' the ever-
popular chapter 15 follows (f. 60), headed: Quomodo Ricardus
Hampole peruenit ad incendium amoris' (the title sometimes given to
the half-compilation, v. supra, p. 210). After this follows: Explicit
Incendium amoris secundum Ricardum hampole.' The text which
is given of the Incendium in this manuscript is mixed in the last part
with extracts from other works of Rolle, and the same selection of
extracts from Rolle's works as is here included in the Incendium,
ff. 49b-58b, appears enlarged in other manuscripts as a separate work,
De Excellentia Contemplationis (v. infra, p. 320). Miss Deanesly
discovered that this manuscript contains (f. 18b) J. G. S.', the com-
bined monogram of Joanna Sewell, nun of Syon, and of James
Greenhalgh, Carthusian of Shene, which had occurred often on the
Emmanuel MS. See E. V., Dubia.
OTHER MSS. (BRITISH ISLES).
"
XXI. Castle Howard MS., 15th cent. The usual compilation from
the Canticles and the Incendium here occurs without the short text
of the latter under the separate title 'Oleum effusum nomen tuum '
(as in the original form of Newton's manuscript). A unique peculi-
arity, however, is the addition of the first section of Oleum effusum,
and the insertion into the end of chapter 15 of the Incendium of
part of the prologue and part of chapter 1 of that work (Deanesly,
pp. 146-9). A separate piece (without title or author) earlier copied
('Amantibus autem eterne hereditatis abundanciam... culmen clari-
tatis facie factoris fruentes sine fine ') is made up of fragments of the
Incendium (pp. 152-9, passim). It is the same which in some manu-
scripts makes an extra (last) chapter to the Melum (v. supra, p. 114).
See E. V., Spur. (2), Contra Am. M., Cant., Job, Judica, Mul. Fort.
"
XXII. Durham Cath. B. iv. 35, ff. 33-91b, 14th cent. Explicit
Incendium amoris Ricardi heremite.' Long text. See Contra Am. M.,
Spur., and supra, p. 28.
XXIII. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent. Miss Deanesly
notes (p. 33) that this is the first nineteen chapters only of
the long text. It runs without break into Rolle's Canticles. See
Lat. Ps., E. V., Contra Am. M., Cant., Mel., Magn., Apoc.
XXIV. Lincoln Cath. 188, early 15th cent. The fourth and fifth
sections of the Canticles occur attached to 'the greater part of the
long text of the Incendium', though the compilation 'ends, curiously
P


218
TREATISES
enough, with the explicit of the short text' (Deanesly, p. 29). Both
long and short texts of the Incendium must have been at the scribe's
disposal, for he includes the 'Omnis Actio': much of the Emendatio
is also here. The whole combined text is concluded: Explicit
Incendium amoris secundum Ricardum Hampull.'
XXV. Lincoln Cath. 218, mid 15th cent. The title 'Melodia
Amoris' is given in a 16th-cent. hand, evidently copied from the
index of the same date on the fly-leaf. The librarian tells me that
the latter is in the hand of Dean Honeywood. Seventeen chapters
are indicated in the work, but the usual form of the short text is
given until chapter 32. A good many pages have been lost the
catch-word at the end of the quire at f. 116 is to be found in
chapter 32 (p. 237), but what opens the next page of this copy belongs
to the last chapter of the work. There then follows a short paragraph:
'Anima exuta... Deum offensum aduertit omnipotentis', after
which: Explicit tractatus compilatus a Ricardo heremita qui vocatur
incendium Amoris cuius anime propicietur deus.' A piece follows
which I have identified (Mod. Lang. Rev., xviii, pp. 1 sq.) as made
up of two fragments of the Ancren Riwle as found in English in the
Chastising of God's Children and the Poor Caitiff (v. infra, p. 406).
It begins: 'Quandoque tribularis memento'... and treats of tempta-
tions. (It is also in part inserted in one text of Rolle's Emendatio,
v. infra, p. 230.) St. Paul is then quoted, after which the Oleum
effusum follows, with a section of St. Bernard's Sermo in Cantica XV
following. V. infra, MSS. XXVIII, XXXVI, and XLII. This
volume contains many interesting little illustrations, mostly of clerics
in brightly coloured garbs (blue, green, red, etc.), which, we may
conjecture, can never have represented real monastic costume. The
book has been examined by Mr. Coulton, and his notes are inserted.
He dates the costumes c. 1400. It may be noted that a perhaps
unusual prominence is given to friars (?) in white (see the openings of
Emendatio and Incendium). This may point to Carmelite ownership.
See Ol. effus., E. V., Job.
'Incipit
XXVI. Rylands Lib. Manchester 18932, 15th cent.
prologus Ricardi de hampole heremite de incendio amoris.' Short
text with compilation. See Cant., Contra Am. M., Quot.
"
XXVII. Sotheby's, Mar. 1, 1921, Lot 309 (now Harmsworth),
late 14th cent. Explicit incendium amoris Sancti Ricardi heremite
de hampole.' Long text. See E. V., Job.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
219
OTHER MSS. (Continental).
יך
XXVIII. Brussels (Bib. roy.) 1485 (4929), ff. 1-59, 14th cent
'Incendium amoris Richardi heremite. d. m. (the last three
words are probably a library mark, v. infra). 'Liber domus Capelle
b. marie iuxta angiam' (Enghien in Hainault, a Carthusian house).
'Istud prescriptum opus composuit Richardus heremita' (f. 59).
A corrector has made annotations, probably from the long text of
the Incendium in the same library (v. infra). He begins to note the
chapters (as in the latter), but does not continue, though at f. 36
(in the proper place) he notes: 28 liber'. A short text, without
the usual compilation, but with some elements of the Prague type of
compilation (as also found in the Lincoln MS. supra, No. XXV).
After the ending usual to the short text (f. 58), the corrector writes:
'Quod sequitur usque ad finem non habetur in extractum (?).'
"
XXIX. Brussels (Bib. roy.) 2103 (4987), ff. 1-105, 14th cent.
'Liber domus Capelle b. marie iuxta angiam' (v. supra). 'Incendium
amoris ricardi hampoil heremite. d. m. 16' ('d. m. 1' is at the top of
f. 1). Incipit prologus Richardi heremite in incendium amoris.'
Explicit prefacio istius libri. Tytulus incendium amoris sorciatur'
(f. 4). At the proper place: 'Explicit primus liber incendii amoris
secundum Richardum heremitam' (f. 62, original hand). After the
usual ending of the long text: 'Explicit Incendium amoris secundum
Ricardum hampol heremitam.' Elaborate insertions from Rolle's
Canticles and Emendatio (and perhaps other works) are made in the
last paragraph (that which follows the ending of the short text): no
sign is given that the text has been enlarged at this point. The
same text is in MSS. XXXIII, XXXVIII below.
XXX. Douay 396. Ascribed to Rolle (v. supra, p. 38).
XXXI. Ghent (Bib. de la ville) 291, ff. 48-72, 15th cent. 'Codex
monasterii sancti Mathie apostoli '-the Benedictine convent of
St. Mathias and St. Euchère outside the walls of Trier, where it was
'côté B. 29 (162)'. Cited in the index with twenty-eight headings
adapted from the first sentences of the chapters. Incipit prologus
libri sequentis Magistri Richardi de Anglia heremite in librum qui
dicitur Incendium amoris.' Short text, with usual compilation (here
as part of the same work, which is not divided into chapters). A
beautifully written volume, with fine initials. See E. V., Cant.
XXXII. Madrid (Escorial) b. iii. 5*, ff. 74-131, 15th cent.
'Incipit liber qui dicitur incendium amoris.' Short text, with com-
P 2


220
TREATISES
pilation, as is clear from information kindly supplied by R.P. Guillermo
Antolin. See E. V.
XXXIII. Metz (Bib. de la ville) 361, ff. 1-84, late 15th cent.
'Iste liber pertinet ad domum Sancti Sixti in Rutila (Rethel) ordinis
Cartusiensis prope Sirch' (Sierck, on the Moselle). The tops of the
pages are cut off. ... Richard hampol heremita in anglia. Liber
primus. Et capitula huius tractatus habeas in fine huius tractatus',
etc. (f. 1). Incipit Liber secundus de Incendio amoris secundum
Richard hampoil', etc. (f. 52). The chapters are all marked and
summaries (not Newton's or those at Ghent) put as headings. An
extra chapter-division is given at f. 66, and another at the usual last
paragraph of the long text, where large insertions are made (with no
sign of their origin) as in MS. XXIX, supra. 'Explicit Incendium
amoris secundum Ricardum hampoil heremitam' (f. 84). The
headings already given to the chapters are then repeated in a table
of contents, in which the last chapter (containing the interpolations)
is summarized (as chapter 14 of Bk. II, f. 85) as follows: 'Pueri
ignari et lusibus dediti amorem monstra[n]t. Sed adolescentule. Et
de virtute contemplationis ac diuersis speciebus amoris. Expliciunt
capitula.'
XXXIV. Milan, Ambrosian Lib. G. 43 inf. E, ff. 1 sq.¹, dated (at
Venice) 1452. The heading is defective, but what is legible seems
to reproduce the explicit, which runs as follows:
'Deo gratias. Ad honorem dei eterni amen. Explicit Liber iste qui
intitulatur Incendium diuini amoris. Qui liber utilis ualde Est omnibus
cupientibus seruire domino deo nostro et maxime claustralibus. Quem
composuit uir quidam uenerabilis nomine Ricardus parisiensis qui fuit
sacerdos secularis et magister in sacra theologia. Et notandum est quod
rubrica posita in libri principio debet isti concordari. Scriptus est liber
iste et expletus anno ab incarnatione domini nostri Jesu cristi milesimo
quadri[n]gentesimo quinquagesimo secundo de mense ianuarij in ciuitate
uenetiarum quam deus et dominus noster ad sui nominis honorem et
gloriam per misericordiam suam pacifice conseruare dignetur amen ', etc.
(f. 64).
No explanation is given for the titles here bestowed on Rolle
(v. infra, p. 497). The work included in the title just given is the
short text (ending f. 40), followed (without sign of change) by the
compilation.
XXXV. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 15700, ff. 40-70, 14th cent. Explicit
1 I wish to thank Professor Caroline Bourland for assistance in regard to this
manuscript.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
221
incendium amoris beati Ricardi heremite de hampole.' Long text.
See E. V., Job, Contra Am. M.
XXXVI. Prague Univ. 814, ff. 1-19, 14th-15th cent. 'Incendium
Amoris.' Short text. The same additions as in Lincoln MS. 218
and Brussels 1485, with the further addition of some miracles of the
Holy Name from saints' lives and extracts on the Holy Name from
the Horologium Sapientiae of Suso (also found in the Vienna MS.).
Both Vienna and Prague MSS. conclude the whole series of extracts
above cited as follows:
'Explicit pulcher libellus qui Incendium amoris nuncupatur, per
quemdam nobilem et sanctum virum Anglicum heremitam compositus
reuelacione diuini spiritus, qui multum valet pro uiris contemplatiuis.
Cuius copia concessa fuit per Reuerendissimum in Christo patrem dominum
Cosmatem Cardinalem dignissimum Bononiensem pro Johanne Cardinali
in Curia Romana' (Prague MS., f. 19).
It is evident from the wording of the colophons that both the extant
copies were written on the Continent. On the significance of the
approbation by the bishop of Bologna (afterwards Pope Innocent VII)
for John, archbishop of Prague, v. supra, pp. 47-8.
XXXVII. Trier (Stadtbibl.) 296 (1969), ff. 76–130, 15th cent.
'Codex monasterii beate Marie ad martyres extra muros Treueren.
super litus moselle' (Benedictine). Explicit liber qui dicitur in-
cendium amoris richardi de anglia heremite' (f. 130). Short text,
with compilation.
XXXVIII. Trier 685 (247), ff. 57-113, 15th cent. 'Liber
domus sancti Albani iuxta treuerim' (Carthusian). 'Incendium
amoris Rich. hampoil. liber primus.' 'Incipit liber secundus de
incendio amoris secundum rich. hampol' (f. 90). 'Explicit Incen-
dium amoris secundum rich. hampoil heremitam' (f. 113). The
table of contents found at Metz follows the Contra Amatores Mundi,
and the Incendium here is the same interpolated type of the long text
as we find at Brussels and at Metz. A hand which may be that
writing the present work writes a note (f. 56) signed 'William Brede',
Carthusian in 'Ruremunde' (in the province of Limburg in the Low
Countries), where also lived the mystical writer 'Denis the Car-
thusian'. Brede says that he writes 'manu antiqua et tremula'.
See Contra Am. M., Mel., Spur.
XXXIX. Trier 775 (1348), ff. 57-100, 15th cent. 'Codex sancti
mathie apostoli' (Benedictine). 'De contemplacione de[i] richardi de
Anglia.' 'Incipit prologus libri sequentis magistri Richardi heremite


222
TREATISES
de Anglia in librum qui dicitur Incendium amoris.' 'Explicit liber
qui dicitur Incendium Amoris richardi de Anglia, etc.' (sic), f. 100.
The usual short text, with compilation. The earlier part of the work
has been annotated by some one who has at hand the long text,
from which he has supplied chapter-numbers and the division into two
books, and from which he has (at the beginning) noted omissions.
The original hand has numbered the last four sections of the com-
pilation as 'cam xxiiij', and so on, thus making the combined short
text and compilation twenty-seven chapters. Evidently written
abroad. See E. V.
XL. Upsala Univ. C. 1, ff. 1–34, late 14th cent. 'Incipit Incen-
dium amoris Tractatus.' The complete long text, divided into fifty
chapters. See Mel.
XLI. Upsala Univ. C. 621, ff. 63-7, c. 1400. 'Incipiunt
extracta de libro qui dicitur incendium amoris.' Most of the numbers
of the chapters quoted from are entered on the margins. Thomas
Basset's Defence against the Detractors of Richard (v. infra, p. 527)
follows immediately, and probably these extracts were in Basset's
possession also, for some of the quotations that he gives from the
Incendium in his Defence appear prominently here. This was a
Wadstena manuscript, and the phraseology of the piece from the
Office of St. Richard, given later in the book, would seem to show
that it was written in Sweden (v. supra, p. 54). The hand is appar-
ently that also writing MS. C. 17 (infra). On the last fly-leaf (f. 117)
is a fragment from the Incendium (p. 265). See E. V., 20th Ps., Office.
XLII. Vienna (National-bibliothek) 4483, ff. 112-36V, 15th cent.
Short text. For the compilation found in this work see MSS. Lincoln
218 and Prague, for the explicit see MS. Prague, and for the
marginalia concerning Rolle's life and works v. supra, p. 39.
FRAGMENTARY TEXTS.
I. Jesus Coll. Camb. 46, ff. 100b-3b, 15th cent. Chapter 15 only,
between Oleum effusum and Adolescentulae (as in the early editions
and Harl. 5235). See E. V., Cant.
II. B. Mus. Ar. 507, f. 49b, early 15th cent. Chapter 15 only,
headed Ricardus heremita' (printed Horstmann, i. 441). See
Ego D., Form, Miscell. (p. 274).
III. B. Mus. Harl. 5235, ff. 13b-14b, late 14th cent. Chapter 15
only. Explicit quomodo perueni ad incendium amoris' (for the
same title v. supra, p. 210). See supra, MS. I, Cant., E. V.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
223
IV. B. Mus. Roy. 17 B. xvii, ff. 99 sq., late 14th cent. A fragment
from chapter 33 (' Vigilate & intelligite, viri . . .'), printed Horstmann,
ii. 65 sq. Unattributed. See E. V.
V. Hereford Cath. O. i. 10, ff. 1 sq. A 16th-cent. hand has
written extracts from Rolle on the first three pages, which were blank.
They are 'Nihil enim tam suaue... ostendat', 'Vox languentis...
quia iugiter amantibus te nociua', and the last chapter of the E. V.
The first extract is from chapters 7-10 of the Incendium, the second
is the first part of chapter 26 (here headed 'capitulum xii '). Both
extracts are derived from the short text, where the first is usually
chapter 4, the second chapter 13. A variant of the usual short text
has apparently been used.
'Richardus Here-
VI. Upsala Univ. C. 17, ff. 35-6, 15th cent.
mita. De vera amicitia' (chapter 39 of the Incendium). Written in
the same hand as C. 621, and therefore almost certainly in Sweden.
See Dubia (De Excell. Contempl.).
INCENDIUM AMORIS IN ENGLISH
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. 236, 15th cent. Colophon as below.
Printed by the Rev. R. Harvey (EETS. Orig. Ser., 106) along with
Misyn's translation of the Emendatio (which here follows). Mr. Harvey
shows that this cannot be an autograph, both because the Emendatio
(dated 1433) follows the Incendium (dated 1434), and because of the
contaminated dialect. Dr. John Dee, the Elizabethan astrologer,
owned an English text of the Incendium, which Dr. James identifies
with this copy. It is one of the prettiest manuscripts of Rolle's
works. Written in a very clear hand, it has been beautifully kept,
and there are charming coloured initials and borders to the opening
of each work. See E. V. (angl.).
II. B. Mus. Add. 37790, ff. 18b-95, mid 15th cent. 'Explicit
liber de Incendio Amoris Ricardi hampole heremite translatus in
Anglicum instanciis domine margarete heslyngton recluse per
fratrem Ricardum misyn sacre theologie bachalaureum, tunc priorem
lyncolniensem, ordinis carmelitarum, Anno domini mºccccxxxvto in
festo translacionis sancti martini Episcopi, quod est iiij nonas Julij,
per dictum fratrem Ricardum Misyn scriptum et correctum.' Misyn's
translation of the Emendario precedes, with the date 1434, but it
seems very unlikely that this could be Misyn's autograph, for the
Revelations of Juliana of Norwich (ff. 97-115) refer to her as 'yet


224
TREATISES
alive, 1413', and it is obvious that the same scribe could not have
written both 1413 and 1434-5 as an actual record of the date when
he was writing. See E. V. (angl.), Form, Ego D.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
The Incendium is quoted from by title with exact reference, in the
Office, in Rawl. C. 397, and Exeter Coll. 7. Extracts are included
(under Rolle's name) in the compilation known as De Excellentia
Contemplationis, and in that found in the Heneage MS. (at great
length). Quotations with Rolle's name and the title Incendium are
given in a compendium in Roy. 8 C. xv, but v. infra, p. 402. Rawl.
MSS. A. 372, C. 19, etc., MSS. Ff. i. 14 (and the related Hatton MS.),
Kk. vi. 20, and Trin. Coll. Dublin 159, all quote from the work
under Rolle's name but without the title, as do those two very
popular compilations, the Speculum Christiani and the Speculum
Spiritualium. Thomas Basset (c. 1400), in his Defence, quotes from
the Incendium with Richard's name, but without the title.
A verse paraphrase in English of parts of chapters 40-1 of the
Incendium is found among the lyrics ascribed to Rolle in MSS. Dd.
v. 64 and Longleat, and again anonymously in a Lambeth copy
(v. infra, p. 299). Several lines from the wonderfully popular
chapter 15 of the Incendium are put into English verse and combined
with lines from the lyrics of Rolle's epistles in B. Mus. Add.
MS. 37049 (v. infra, p. 308).
Five copies 'De incendio amoris' are cited under Rolle's name in
the index to the catalogue of Syon Monastery: one is missing from
the catalogue but another has been added. A note as to Rolle's
growth of ecstasy as described in the Incendium (chapter 15) was
given on a manuscript now lost. Leicester Abbey owned 'Speculum
Johannis hampole de Incendio amoris', and Lord Scrope of Masham
in 1415 left to the founder of Syon Monastery 'Incendium Amoris,
quem Richardus Heremita composuit' (perhaps an autograph).
Boston of Bury cites the work as at Bury; Leland saw at St. Mary's,
York 'De Amore, sive Incendio Amoris', and at the London Car-
melites' 'Richardus Hampoole de incendio amoris.' Bale registers
the work in his Index under Rolle's name as 'De amore diuino'
(twice) and as 'De incendio amoris': the first lines in these cases
make the identification certain, but the absence of a first line prevents
us from surely identifying another copy in the 'Melodia amoris'
cited (for an Incendium given this title by a late note see above,
MS. XXV). The 'Commendacio vitae heremiticae' twice cited in


INCENDIUM AMORIS
225
Bale's Index is proved by the first lines to be chapter 13 of the
Incendium.
Enough highly characteristic quotations have already been made
from the Incendium Amoris to show that there can be no doubt as
to Rolle's authorship, and the description of the manuscripts has
shown that they give overwhelming testimony to the same effect.
Since the treatise is in print, no confirmatory quotations need be
given. References will be given, however, by which the consistency
of this work with those already considered may be tested.
Though Richard in the Incendium does not speak in the first
person as a hermit, as Miss Deanesly remarks, the main purpose'
of the treatise is 'the vindication of the life of the hermit or solitary'
(p. 46): the pre-eminence of the hermit is specially dwelt on in chapters
13-15 (pp. 179-91), and that of the contemplative life in chapter 20
(pp. 203-4). Incidental references to the same subjects constantly
occur, and at p. 179 a woman is quoted as saying to the author 'Non
pertinet ad statum tuum, scilicet heremiticum. . . '.
Cf. also p. 220,
quoted infra, p. 227.
As we have seen, the Incendium is the work which gives the most
extended and explicit references to the details of Rolle's ecstasy
which he gives anywhere. 'The 'calor, canor, and dulcor' are
discussed, pp. 159, 185, 189 sq., 256, 278. The short text, like
the Canticles, ends with a reference to the three attributes of ecstasy
and to the Holy Name, and the long text adds afterwards only
a colourless short paragraph. The conclusion of the short text
runs as follows:
'O bone Ihesu ligasti cor meum in cogitacione nominis tui, et illud iam
non canere non ualeo! ideo miserere mei perficiendo quod preparasti !
Rapitur uerus amator tuus sollicitus in iubilum canori cogitatus, ut im-
possibile sit talem dulcedinem esse a diabolo, talem feruorem ab aliquo
creato, talem canorem ab ingenio humano . . .' (p. 278).
Other references to the devotion to the Holy Name are frequent
(cf. pp. 180, 190, 192, 216, 246, 248).
A trifling correspondence between the Incendium and the Office
is given in Rolle's statement that he can do two things at once
(cf. Incendium, p. 253, Office, p. 32). In the same passage of the
Incendium we are given a hint that Rolle may sometimes write
himself and sometimes dictate: 'Unde et cogitaciones eorum mellite
sunt in suo ministerio, quia eciam studendo et meditando in scri-
pturis, ac eciam in scribendo uel dictando cogitant suum amatum '


226
TREATISES
(p. 253). We are told that William Stopes took Richard's dictation
in at least one instance (v. supra, p. 41). He was a friend of Rolle's
later years; but it may be that he was acting as amanuensis to
Richard as early as the time of the writing of the Incendium.
The Incendium Amoris contains every sort of discussion which
Rolle anywhere gives us, except such directions for the pastoral office
as we find in the early works. We have here alliterative passages
and outbursts of ecstasy as exuberant as those of the Melum, mixed
with commonplace exhortations addressed to the worldly, careful
arguments in theology, scriptural interpretations (turned to the glory
of the contemplative), occasional bits of autobiography. The
chapters in which he describes the growth of his ecstasy, the criticism
which he met because of his behaviour at Mass, and the exact nature
of his 'canor', have already been noted as among the most important
passages in Rolle's writings. It would appear that this must be one
of his most carefully thought out compositions. In his prologue he
addresses it non philosophis, non mundi sapientibus, non magnis
theologicis infinitis quescionibus implicatis, sed rudibus et indoctis,
magis Deum diligere quam multa scire conantibus' (p. 147). He
seems to intend it to be a complete treatise on the spiritual wisdom
to be learned by inspiration, as compared to that to be learned from
books over and over he deprecates the theology of book-learning.
There was a pugnacious strain in Rolle's character, and just as we
may feel that an undercurrent of attack on contemporary monks runs
through the Melum, and on the worldly rich through the Contra
Amatores Mundi, so an undercurrent of attack on the learned (in this
case a mild one) may seem to run through the Incendium. The
mood in which Rolle wrote this work, as expressed in the prologue
(as just quoted), must have been a popular one with the public, for
that prologue (beginning with the sentence quoted) became attached,
in manuscripts at Paris, Munich, and Florence, to the De Triplici Via
of St. Bonaventura, to which the title was then given of 'Incendium
Amoris' (v. infra, p. 397). It is a sign of the careful construction of
Rolle's Incendium that the title is methodically supplied at the end
of the prologue.
:
The autobiographical passages in the Incendium hint that the
author has in his time suffered persecutions, unkindness, and slander.
'Multi namque qui mecum loquebantur, similes fuerunt scorpionibus...
a quorum labiis iniquis et linguis dolosis liberabit Deus animam meam'
(p. 170). Comedi ergo et bibi de hiis que meliora uidebantur; non quia
delicias amaui sed ut natura sustentaretur in seruicio Dei et in iubilo


INCENDIUM AMORIS
227
Ihesu Christi, conformans me illis cum quibus morabar bono modo propter
Christum, et ne sanctitatem fingerem ubi nulla est, et ne homines me
nimis laudarent ubi minus essem laudabilis. Recessi eciam a plerisque
non quia me communiter et duriori modo pauerunt, sed quia non con-
cordauimus in moribus, uel propter aliam racionabilem causam.
Verumtamen erubescent cum me uiderint qui dixerunt me nullicubi uelle
morari, nisi ubi delicate possem pasci' (p. 175).
...
He gives the reproaches which he received from four women: 'cum
quibus sustentacionem per aliquod tempus accepi corporale[m]'
(p. 179). The feeling account which he gives of the sufferings of
the 'holy poor' at the hands of the rich is evidently derived from his
own experience: 'Inueni enim quosdam diuites qui sanctis pauperi-
bus, ut ipsi putabant, dantes uictum, noluerunt dare uestitum uel alia
necessaria, ...
.. Et cuncta que danda essent alicuius precii sibi est
[for et] filiis suis reseruant' (p. 197). He speaks later in his own
person: Ego enim in solitudinem fugi quia cum hominibus con-
cordare non potui, me nempe a gaudio sepe impediebant ; et quia
non feci quemadmodum ipsi fecerunt, et errorem et indignacionem
mihi imposuerunt' (p. 220). When he has discussed at some length
how he has been misunderstood on the subject of his song', he
concludes: 'Uidete et intelligite, uiri, et nolite falli, quia ostendi
uobis ad honorem omnipotentis Dei et ad commodum nostrum: cur
fugiebam cantantes in ecclesiis et qua racione meipsum eis immiscere
non amaui, ac ludentes in organis non audire adoptari [for adoptaui]'
(p. 239). Thus we see that the boldness of self-assertion which he
showed in the Melum is still active, though now there is apparently
no question of formal ecclesiastical persecution, and the worst which
he meets is slander.
The passages just quoted all seem to point to a period well on in
Rolle's life, and an indication of the same sort is given by the fact
that the old argument as to the comparative virtues of the solitary
and the monastic lives, which was such a burning one in the Melum,
the Job, and the Canticles, is disposed of as follows:
'Extiterunt aliqui, et adhuc forte superstites sunt, qui communem uitam
uite solitarie omnino preponunt, dicentes nos debere ad congregacionem
currere si ad summam perfeccionem cupimus peruenire. Contra quos
non est multum disputandum, eo quod illam solam uitam laudibus efferunt
quam uel tenere cupiunt uel saltem ad modicum cognouerunt. Solitariam
uero uitam idcirco non laudant quia ignorant' (p. 179).
This sounds as if Rolle at the time of writing was out of touch
with monks, and quoted their opinion on the pre-eminence of their
mode of life as from past days.


228
TREATISES
Though the Incendium seems to have been written many years
after Rolle began to write, it is likely to have been begun before
1343, that is, more than six years before his death. As we have
seen (supra, p. 27), a note of good authority seems to show that in
1343 he had a supernatural intimation that he would live twelve
years more, and we shall see that this circumstance has apparently
left its mark on a bit of his English prose (infra, p. 273). Desire for
death was with him, as with most mystics, a strong emotion, which
was frequently expressed (v. infra, p. 289). Horstmann has noted
(ii, p. xxv) that in the Melum he seems to expect an early release:
'Puer nunc propero ad finem felicem' (f. 251). It was part of the
customary procedure of the mystic to make ardent inquiry as to the
date when he was to be freed from his mortal state, but in no work
does Rolle keep returning to this question so vehemently as in
the Incendium. 'O mors ubi moraris ?' he begins a long invocation
to death:
'... Ecce enim amore langueo, mori desidero, ad te inardesco' (p. 192).
'Deus meus... nonne languorem qui me ligat subleuabis in lucem, ut
opportune habeam quod concupisco? Laboremque quoque quo luo quod
deliqui, mutabis in mellicum mansionem, ut . . . uideam in uenustate sui
decoris dilectum quem desidero, . . . quia ad ipsum langueo' (p. 244).
So he takes up the same theme in phrases almost reproducing the
lyrics of his English epistles. The next chapter laments his lack of
a friend, and the same inquiry reappears at length:
...
'Quamdiu dilacionem pacior? quando uenies ad me...? Interea
quis modulabitur¹ finem erumpne mee, ac terminum in tranquilitate? Immo
et quis mihi annunciabit gaudii mei plenitudinem, ac cantici consuma-
cionem, ut ex his eciam acciperem consolacionem et iubilarem cum
iocunditate, eo quod agnoscerem quam prope sit illa perfeccio et finis
infelicitatis mee?' (pp. 245–6).
It would seem unlikely that these passages (parts of which only
have been quoted) would occur if Rolle had at the time of writing
received what he believed to be a revelation on the date of his death,
but it may be that the mood of ardent inquiry here expressed made
the climax of emotion which brought a pathological answer as to the
event so ardently wished for. It is likely that the dream as to the
date of his death came at a time when he was preoccupied with
longing for death, and the passages in question may have been
written soon before the night in February 1343, when he received
1 Cf. infra, p. 303, n.


INCENDIUM AMORIS
229
his information in sleep. However, near the end of the Incendium
he writes:
....ego pre amore mori langueo ... Sic deficit in dolore uita mea et anni
mei in gemitibus (Ps. xxx. 11) quia differor a dilecto, et differtur mortis
desiderium et moratur medicina miserorum; et clamoribus consurgo et
aio: Heu mihi quia incolatus meus prolongatus est (Ps. cxix. 5). Amor
est quod cruciat, amor quod delectat. Cruciat: quia non cito tribuitur
quod multum amatur; delectatur: quia et spe reficit, et inestimabilem
consolacionem in ipsis ardoribus infundit' (p. 257).
These words may again be the typical lament of the mystic, to
whom every moment on earth was in a sense a disappointment. On
the other hand, considering the note as to Rolle's revelation and the
more explicit reference in another piece, we may have here also an
echo of the definite postponement which Rolle has suffered in 1343.
In any case, the Incendium must have been written at approximately
that period. We have seen that the autobiographical passages cer-
tainly put it late, yet the lack of any mention of the three grades of
love would forbid us to put it at the very end of Rolle's life.
The Incendium contains two strangely intrusive passages which in
all likelihood echo incidents in his early life. One is an attack on
the class to which his first patron apparently belonged (v. infra, p. 455);
the other is the scholastic argument on the Trinity already mentioned
(p. 158). It is possible that the latter reflects a burning question of
his undergraduate days at Oxford. In 1314 the Masters of Theology
condemned the errors (among others) that 'God the Father could
produce a creature before the Word, could produce all creatures
without the Son', etc. This suggests part of Rolle's argument in
the present work, when (after a bitter attack because 'hereticorum
et superborum est semper nouas opiniones gignere ') he goes on:
'Horum errores abicientes dicimus: Filius siquidem Dei coeternus
Patri omnino credendus est et intelligendus, quia nisi ipsum Pater ab
eterno gigneret, in se profecto plenus Deus non fuisset...' (p. 161).
1 Anthony à Wood, Hist. and Antiq. of the Univ. of Oxford, 1792, i. 385 sq. It
is possible that this was connected with the heresies of the schismatic Francis-
can Peter John Olivi, for one of his heretical points is that 'l'essence divine
engendre et est engendrée'. His errors were 'posed' at the Council of Vienne,
in 1311, and a commission was appointed to consider them, but the papal con-
demnation following their report did not come till Feb. 1326 (l'abbé Feret, La
Faculté de théologie de Paris, Paris, 1896, iii. 117 sq.). We shall see that Rolle
may have been at Paris at the later date. V. infra, pp. 490 sq.


230
TREATISES
EMENDATIO VITAE
Beg.: 'Ne tardes conuerti ad dominum, & ne differas de die in
diem' (edit. 1535, fol. 1).
Ends in splendore maiestatis suae ipsum videre, et cum
ineffabili iubilatione & melodia ipsum aeternaliter laudare. Cui sit
honor & gratiarum actio in secula seculorum, Amen' (fol. 19).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The Emendatio Vitae was printed at the end of the Speculum
Spiritualium in Paris in 1510, with unique alterations. The fourth
and fifth chapters are enlarged (as is announced in the colophon) and
the new material added is probably compiled from various sources.
The only section identified is that which immediately precedes
Rolle's own chapter 5 (on Temptation): this is a section translated
into Latin from the Ancren Riwle, being the first of two extracts from
that work which occur (in English) in the Poor Caitiff, and Chastising of
God's Children, and (in Latin) attached to Rolle's Incendium in copies
at Lincoln, Prague, etc. (v. supra, pp. 218, 221). The origin of the
piece is evident in the following: 'Unde si heremita vel anachorita
non senciat temptationes', etc., which may suggest that the enlarged
text of the Emendatio in which it occurs is made by a person leading
a solitary life.
The usual text was printed at Antwerp in 1533, and at Cologne in
1535 and 1536. It was reprinted in 1618, 1677, etc., by La Bigne.
Misyn's Middle English translation (1434-5) was printed by the
EETS. in 1896 (Orig. Ser., 106). For four modernized editions
in English and one in French v. supra, pp. 17-19.
It will be seen in the subjoined list of manuscripts that several
other titles occur commonly with this work instead of, or accompany-
ing, the one here used. Such are 'Regula vivendi', 'Emendatio
peccatoris', 'Duodecim capitula'. The frequency with which the
variant titles occur seems to point to their early origin, and, consider-
ing the vagaries of Rolle's arrangements, it may be that more than
one originated with him. On the other hand, headings and colo-
phons unusually elaborate for Rolle are found in a large number of
copies, and it is possible that both they and the titles are due to
William Stopes, the learned doctor to whom the original copy was
apparently sent.


EMENDATIO VITAE
231
The division of this work into twelve chapters certainly originated
with the author, and probably their titles as well.
Both are
constant and significant. Moreover, the tenth chapter, ‘De puritate
mentis', begins: Per hos nouem gradus praetactos ad puritatem
mentis ascenditur' (fol. 12b, Misyn, p. 121).
As already noted, the conclusion of two manuscripts dedicates
this work to 'William', in a colophon reproducing in Latin the
conclusion of the Form, and the Vienna MS. would seem to support
this dedication and identify 'William' with William Stopes. The
fact that he was learned would account for this manual being
written in Latin.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS. (BODLEIAN).
"
I. Bodl. 16, ff. 49-78, c. 1400. Incipit tractatus Ricardi here-
mite in cimiterio sanctimonialium de hampole humati de emendatione
peccatoris et habet xii capitula.... Ecce, Willelme, formam viuendi
paucis verbis descripsi, quam si sequi uolueris proculdubio ad
magnam perfectionem attingeris, et cum bene tibi fuerit, memento
mei qui ut bene tibi fiat te ut potui excitaui. Explicit.' For this
conclusion v. supra, p. 41, and MSS. LIII, LVIII, LXVII, LXXVI,
infra. The text at points has been corrected. See Incend., Ol.
effus.
II. Bodl. 43 (Sum. Cat. No. 27662), ff. 185-214, late 14th cent.
'De Emendacione vite secundum Ricardum. Incipit quidam liber
intitulatus de emendacione vite secundum Ricardum heremitam. Hic
libellus de emendacione vite siue de regula viuendi. Et distinguitur
in xii capitula.' 'Ecce finis operis Ricardi. Explicit regula viuendi
secundum Ricardum heremitam.' 'Ricardus Heremita' heads the
pages. The multiplication of titles is characteristic of this work.
III. Bodl. 48, ff. 1-23, early 15th cent. 'Hic incipit libellus
de emendacione [vite] siue regula viuendi et distinguitur in xii capi-
tulis.' 'Explicit libellus Ricardi heremite de emendacione peccatoris.
Qui obijt Anno domini millesimo ccco xlix° apud sanctimoniales de
hampolle.' What are here given will be henceforth referred to as
'usual heading' or 'ending' or 'usual details' (title-one or both
of those above-name of author, date, and place of death). See
O. D., S. A.
IV. Bodl. 54 (Sum. Cat. No. 1975), ff. 24-45, late 14th cent.
Usual details.


232
TREATISES
V. Bodl. 61 (Sum. Cat. No. 2023), ff. 106-25, early 15th cent.
Usual title. Explicit iste tractatus quod Ricardus hampolde.'
VI. Bodl. 122 (Sum. Cat. No. 1985), ff. 55-69, late 14th cent.
Usual details with iuxta Dancastriam' added to the mention of
Hampole (as it frequently is, though the instances will not be cited).
"
VII. Bodl. 456 (Sum. Cat. No. 2412), ff. 1-26, between 1466
and 1469. Usual heading. Expliciunt duodeccim Capitula de
Emendacione vite secundum venerabilem virum Ricardum de
Hampole heremitam qui in festo sancti Michaelis Archangeli Anno
domini Millesimo cccmo xlixo migrauit ad dominum.' On the fly-
leaf, in the original hand: 'Iste liber constat Domino Ricardo
Wydeuill. comiti le Ryviers Et dominus (sic) de Wymyngton.' The
catalogue says: this was probably the first earl, who died in 1469,
and who presumedly bought Wymington after 1466. The Wood-
ville or Wydville arms. . . are with the inscription.' For the same
exact date of Rolle's death see MS. LXVI, and infra, p. 419.
VIII. Bodl. 861. Unattributed, v. supra, p. 31.
IX. Douce 107, ff. 1-14, 15th cent. 'Hic incipiunt duodena
capitula Ricardi heremite de hampol.' 'Explicit regula viuendi
secundum Ricardum heremitam de Hampole.' At the bottom of
f. 1: 'Mellifluus tractatus iste si intime respiciatur.' A late pencil
note on the first page gives the curious information that the author
is 'Thomas of Geytrington (alias Richard Rolle)': the correct date
and place of Rolle's death follow. Horstmann states (ii, p. xl, n. 2)
that a fragment of a Latin translation of the Form (beg.: 'in spirituali
canone (sic) voce prorumpens') is to be found in this volume (f. 11):
the incipit in question he has picked out of the middle of the last
chapter of the Emendatio, because it begins the fragment of that
work found in Laud Misc. MS. III. The latter he has taken to be
a fragment of the Form in Latin, instead of a fragment of the
Emendatio. See Judica.
X. Hatton 26 (Sum. Cat. No. 4061), ff. 167-83, late 14th cent.
From the house of St. Thomas Martyr (Austin Canons) near Stafford.
XI. Laud Misc. 111, ff. 177-8, early 15th cent. A fragment
with usual title and author (v. MS. IX). See Judica.
XII. Laud Misc. 202, ff. 1-16, 15th cent. Usual heading.
'Explicit libellus quem scripsit heremita Richardus apud hampol
tumulatus.' See Incend.
XIII. Laud Misc. 497 (Sum. Cat. No. 1584), ff. 272-85, 15th


EMENDATIO VITAE
233
cent.
Incipit tractatus Ricardi heremite qui vocatur vehiculum
vite.' This title (added by corrector) was used for the work by
Boston of Bury (compare MSS. XXXIX and LX). Usual heading
follows. Ends in chapter 12.
XIV. Laud Misc. 524 (Sum. Cat. No. 1049), ff. 1-7, 15th cent.
Begins in chapter 2. See Form.
XV. Laud Misc. 528, ff. 3-11, early 15th cent. 'Hic incipit
tractatus secundum sanctum Ricardum heremitam de hampul in
cimiterio sanctimonialium de hampule humatum. Qui obiit anno
domini millesimo tricentesimo quadragesimo nono. Qui tractatus
est de emendacione peccatoris et habet duodecim capitula.' The
reference to Rolle here as 'sanctus' should be taken in connexion
with the fact that a prayer from his Office appears on the first page,
and on the next we find the picture (supra, p. 54) which may represent
a devotee praying to him. See Office, Judica, Cant., Contra Am.
M., Job, Incend.
XVI.
Rawl. A. 389, ff. 1-11, early 15th cent. Usual details.
See Incend., Ego D., Command., Form.
XVII. Rawl. C. 269 (Sum. Cat. No. 12129), ff. 3-19, late
15th cent. Title on fly-leaf, with date 1460 (on erasure); usual
details. Owners: R. Chelmynton 1454'; 'Simon Forman 1600'.
From Christ Church, Canterbury. Forman is perhaps the Elizabethan
astrologer (v. D.N.B.). Dr. John Dee, a similar person, owned
another of Rolle's works (v. supra, p. 223).
OXFORD MSS. (COLLEGES).
XVIII. Balliol 224, ff. 31-9, 15th cent. Title and author only
in late index: 'Tractatus eiusdem (R. Hampole) qui incipit Ne
tardas.' Seen at Balliol by Leland (v. infra, p. 421).
Contra. Am. M., Incend., Spur., Job, Judica.
See Cant.,
XIX. Brasenose 15, ff. 1-18, 15th cent. Usual details. On
f. 1: Ex Dono m. Johannis Steyke et pro quibus tenetur.'
identifies the volume as MS. M. 44 in the library of Syon Monastery:
the contents agree, as well as the donor, and the first word of the
second leaf (as I am informed by Dr. Craster). Steyke was a priest
who died 1513 (Bateson, p. xxvi, n.). V. supra, p. 133.
XX. Corpus Christi 155, ff. 212-37, 15th cent. Usual heading.
'Liber beate marie de Rieualle ex procuracione domini Willelmi
Spenser Abbatis eiusdem.' This provenance is interesting since the
Q


234
TREATISES
monks of Rievaulx may have been Rolle's persecutors (v. supra,
p. 123).
See Dubia.
XXI. Corpus Christi 193, ff. 165-71, early 15th cent. 'Incipit
libellus eiusdem (Ricardi heremite) de emendacione peccatoris.'
See Lat. Ps., Job, Thren., Cant., 20th Ps., O. D., S. A., Contra Am.
M., Incend., Mel., Judica.
XXII. Magd. 71, ff. 1-15, 15th cent. 'Incipit libellus de
emendacione vite et de regula viuendi editus a sancto viro magistro
Ricardo hampoll qui in ecclesia de hampoll Eboracensis diocesis
sepultus gloriosis coruscat miraculis ipsum fuisse virum seraphicum,
id est in dei amore ardentem, contestantibus. Et continet iste
libellus duodecim capitula.' The reference to Rolle as 'magister'
should be noted (v. infra, p. 497). For the same heading see MS.
XXX, infra. See De M., Job.
XXIII. Merton 16, ff. 1-27, 14th-15th cent.
and ending, with Richard's name and place of death.
Usual heading
XXIV. Merton 67, ff. 212-17, 15th cent. Usual heading and
title at end. A medieval index gives: 'Speculum siue libellus de
emendacione vite christiane secundum Ricardum de Hampole here-
mitam.'
XXV. Merton 68, ff. 88-99, 15th cent. Usual heading.
'Expliciunt xii capitula Ricardi heremite de modo viuendi in vita
contemplatiua.' See Stim. Consc. (lat.).
CAMBRIDGE MSS. (UNIVERSITY).
XXVI. Dd. iv. 54, ff. 47-63, late 15th cent. Usual heading.
'Expliciunt xii capitula secundum Ricardum de hampole.' See Job.
XXVII. Dd. v. 64 (I), ff. 1-16, late 14th cent. Usual heading.
See O. D., Incend., Mel., Form, Command., Ego D.
See
XXVIII. Ff. v. 36, ff. 52b–68, 15th cent. 'Richard hermit' at
both ends, with title, date and place of death in conclusion.
Job.
XXIX. Gg. i. 32, ff. 171-80b, 15th cent. Usual heading. On
margin (f. 171): 'Ric.'
XXX. Hh. iv. 13, ff. 141b-56, 15th cent.
viuendi' (index adds: 'est optimus libellus ').
See De M.
XXXI. Mm. v. 37, ff. 94b-124, c. 1400.
book of Christopher Braystones (v. supra, p. 214).
'Hampoll de Regula
V. MS. XXII supra.
Usual details. The
See Incend., Cant.


EMENDATIO VITAE
235
CAMBRIDGE MSS. (COLLEGES).
The usual head-
XXXII. Caius 140, ff. 118b-26, 15th cent.
ing as a conclusion. See Incend., Form (lat.), Ego D. (lat.).
XXXIII. Caius 216, ff. 1-22, early 15th cent.
See Spur.
XXXIV. Caius 353, ff. 128-45b, 15th cent.
with title at both ends: 'de emendacione peccatoris.'
Usual details.
Usual details,
XXXV. Jesus 46, ff. 74-95b, 15th cent. See Cant., Incend.
XXXVI. Peterhouse 218, ff. 141-51, 15th cent. 'Hic incipit
tractatus Ricardi heremite de hampole qui vocatur regula viuendi
perutilis et necessarius cuilibet saluacionem cupienti.' Usual
heading above. See Job, Spur.
XXXVII. Trin. 14, ff. 133-41, late 14th cent.
Usual heading,
with the name 'Ricardus heremita'. See Lat. Ps., Job.
XXXVIII. Trin. 17, ff. 85-93b, 15th cent. 'Duodecim capitula
Ricardi hampole heremite.' Usual heading follows. After a colo-
phon at the end repeating the titles and Rolle's name, follows the
verse signature usually attached to the Job. A 16th-cent. owner,
William Forrest of Christ Church, Oxford, chaplain to Queen Mary,
adds verses praising the works found here of hampole and of hughe'
(of St. Victor).
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
XXXIX. Burney 356, ff. 56-65, early 15th cent. Hic est
libellus vehiculum uite uocandus de emendacione uite siue de regula
uiuendi et distinguitur in duodecim capitula.' 'Explicit liber duodecim
capitula vocatus a sancto Ricardo venerabili heremita de hampole
editus.' For the title 'vehiculum uite' see MSS. XIII and LX.
See Judica.
Usual heading.
'Liber sancte
XL. Cotton Faust. A. v., ff. 12-23b, 15th cent.
'Explicit tractatus Ricardi hampoyle heremite.'
Marie de Fontibus ex dono Willelmi de Coutton quondam monachi
de Fontibus.' V. infra, p. 348, n.
XLI. Egerton 671, ff. 1-26, 15th cent. Title and author's
name given at end. Begins in first chapter.
Excell. Contempl.).
See Dubia (De
XLII. Harl. 106, ff. 41-7b, 15th cent. Usual heading, and
above: 'Hampol de emendacione vite.'
heremite.' See Form (lat.), Incend.
'Explicit tractatus Ricardi
Q 2


236
TREATISES
XLIII. Harl. 275, ff. 1-12, 15th cent.
'Explicit regula viuendi
que dicitur duodecim capitula secundum Ricardum heremitam de
See Job, Incend.
hampole.'
XLIV.
Harl. 2439, ff. 1-31, 14th cent.
scribe is 'Corf' (v. infra, p. 401). See Mel.
Usual heading. The
'Explicit... secundum
XLV. Harl. 5235, ff. 1-11b, 14th cent.
Richardum h. de hampole.' See Cant., Incend.
XLVI. Harl. 5398, ff. 4-20, 15th cent. 'Incipit tractatus
utilis de modo viuendi et Regula in appetendo perfeccionem et
distinguitur in 12 capitula, que composuit Ricardus heremita vir
mirabilis contemplacionis.' 'Explicit materia utilis de contempla-
cione.' The scribe ('Stoyle') often writes 'Jhc'.
Usual heading.
XLVII. Roy. 8 A. vii, ff. 22b-45, 15th cent.
'Explicit libellus de Regula Viuendi editus a deuoto quodam here-
mita.' See Job.
XLVIII. Roy. 12 E. xvi, ff. 54-8, 15th cent. The first three
chapters only, anonymously.
XLIX. Roy. 13 E. ix, ff. 95-101, c. 1400. Usual heading. At
the top of all pages: 'Libellus de emendacione vite Ricardi here-
mite.' Explicit libellus de regula viuendi.'
L. Roy. 17 B. xvii, ff. 76-96b, late 14th cent. 'Explicit
secundum R. h' (later hand extends as Hampole). See Incend.
LI. Sloane 2275, ff. 140-50, 14th-15th cent.
Usual heading
and ending (with 'sanctus Ricardus '). See Mel., Contra Am. M.,
Incend., Job, Stim. Consc.
LII. Add. 16170, ff. 28b-48b, early 15th cent. Usual details
(at the beginning). The volume belonged to Chipping Campden
parish church, co. Glouc. (see f. 200).
LIII. Add. 24661, ff. 1-14, 15th cent. 'Explicit tractatus
Ricardi hampole de emendacione uite 12 capitula.' The concluding
exhortation quoted from MS. I occurs here without the name.
Once the property of Joanna Sewell, nun of Syon. See Incend. and
Dubia (De Excell. Contempl.).
LIV. Add. 34763, ff. 19-44b, 1384. Explicit libellus Ricardi
heremite de Hampole continens xii capitula de emendacione vite.
Qui obiit anno domini millesimo cccxlix apud Hampole. Scriptus
vi die Aprilis anno domini millesimo ccclxxxmojiiito, etc.' Phillipps
MS. 11928. The earliest dated manuscript containing a work of


EMENDATIO VITAE
237
Rolle. A gift in 1527 from 'dominus Johannes knyght, Rector de
plumstyd, Norwic, dioc.'.
'Hic libellus de
LV. Add. 34807, ff. 121-31, 15th cent.
modo viuendi distinguitur in xii capitula.' See Spur.
OTHER MSS. (BRITISH ISLES).
LVI. Lambeth Palace 500, ff. 20b-51b, 15th cent.
Usual details.
LVII. Castle Howard MS., ff. 1 sq., 15th cent. Full details.
See Spur. (2), Contra Am. M., Cant., Incend., Job, Judica, Mul.
Fort.
LVIII. Trin. Coll. Dublin 281, ff. 40 sq., 15th cent. Usual
details, and at the end the conclusion quoted from MS. I (without
the name). The index states: 'Est domus Jhū de Bethleem
ordinis cartusiensis de shene quod w. mede.' Mede was also the
scribe of Cotton MS. Vesp. D. ix, where he signs an account of the
life and works of Magister Adam Cartusiensis' (ff. 167-8). For
Bodl. MS. 117 (Sum. Cat. No. 1979), written by him, see the new
catalogue (which places him in the late 15th century). The Dublin
volume contains writings against the Lollards.
LIX. Heneage MS. Ascribed to Rolle.
LX. Hereford Cath. O. i. 10, 16th cent.
copied with other extracts from Rolle in the
book. See Incend.
V. supra, p. 44.
The last chapter only,
front of a 12th-cent.
The first article
LXI. Hereford Cath. O. viii. 1, late 14th cent.
in a collection and ascribed to Rolle in the index. See supra, p. 26,
Lat. Ps., Contra Am. M., Incend., Cant., Mel., Magn., Apoc.
LXII. Kingston 942*. Burned with the other manuscripts of
the Earl of Kingston at his house in Nottinghamshire. 'Richardus
Heremita De Emendatione Vitae.' See Sir Thomas Phillipps's Cat.
MSS. Magn. Brit.
LXIII. Wyggeston Hospital Leicester 15, early 15th cent.
rubric of the usual type is cut off at the top. The contemporary
index cites as: 'xii capitula Ricardi hampul heremite.' See Job,
Contra Am. M.
LXIV. Lincoln Cath. 188, early 15th cent. A text probably
imperfect, in the midst of other quotations from Rolle, the whole
concluded with the title of the Incendium. See Cant., Incend.
LXV. Lincoln Cath. 218, ff. I sq., mid 15th cent. 'Incipit
tractatus vocatus vehiculum vite.' Cf. infra, p. 418, and MSS. XIII


238
TREATISES
and XXXIX. Ends in the last chapter, but fourteen are marked,
and the order is disturbed. See Incend., Ol. effus., Job.
LXVI. Salisbury Cath. 56*, ff. 261b-9b, 15th cent. The usual
details, as I know from the very kind and thorough notes sent me by
the Rev. Christopher Wordsworth.
LXVII. Shrewsbury School 25, ff. 164-72, 14th cent. The
usual heading, and the dedication 'Ecce Willelme' (v. supra,
MS. I). The work gives two titles to the contemporary table of
contents: 'Item liber de emendacione vite. Item de vita contem-
platiua qui habet 3 partes.' Tanner cites the second title here
(chapter 12 of the usual text) as ascribed to Wyclif (v. infra, p. 428);
this chapter occurs alone in MS. LX, supra. See Lat. Ps., O. D.
LXVIII. Sotheby's, Nov. 14, 1919, Lot 187, now in the possession
of Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 14th cent. 'Tractatus Ricardi here-
mite de emendacione Vite siue Regula viuendi.' See Contra Am.
M., Ol. effus.
LXIX. Sotheby's, Mar. 1-2, 1921, Lot 275, now in the possession
of Sir Leicester Harmsworth, ff. 14b-42, 15th cent. Libellus Ricardi
heremite de hampole de emendacione peccatoris siue de modo
viuendi et vocatur libellus iste Regula perfeccionis qui continet in se
xii capitula.' See Cant., Contra Am. M.
LXX. Sotheby's, Mar. 1-2, 1921, Lot 309, ff. 1-17, late 14th
Usual details at end. See Job, Incend.
cent.
LXXI. Stonyhurst Coll. MS.* (near Blackburn), 14th cent. Usual
details, with an ascription to 'Richardus heremita', as I am kindly
informed by the Librarian.
LXXII. Dr. Williams's Library MS. (Gordon Square, London),
ff. 1-15, 15th cent. Usual details.
LXXIII. York Cath. 5, 16th cent. Usual heading. 'Expliciunt
xii capitula de emendacione vite secundum venerabilem Ricardum
de Hanpule heremitam qui in festo sancti michelis Archangeli anno
domini millesimo cccºxlix migrauit ad deum.' For the same exact
date see MS. VII, and infra, p. 419. On the last fly-leaf: 'liber
domini Johannis Appiltoun. liber magistri Wencemyth (?) Rectoris
de mydeltoun super Waldam . . . liber domini Roberti Nod persone
ex dono Magistri Thome Wencelagh quondam persone' etc. 'Liber
Domini Roberti Carthom Capellani cantaris (sic) corporis Christi de
beuerlaco.'


EMENDATIO VITAE
239
CONTINENTAL MSS.
LXXIV. Bâle (Öffentliche Bibliothek der Universität) A. iv. 24,
ff. 59-67, 15th cent. 'Liber Ecclesie Sancti leonardi basel. ordinis
canonicorum regularium.' Breaks off in the eleventh chapter.
LXXV. Bâle A. vi. 29, 15th cent. 'Iste liber pertinet ad
fratres Carthusienses in Basilea minori, datus eisdem propter deum
a bono (?) domino Anthonio Ruschman quondam decano in Ryng-
feldia' (Ryngfeld, near Bâle). Usual details.
LXXVI. Douay 396. The dedication (without the name) is
added by a second (but contemporary) hand. V. supra, pp. 39, 231.
LXXVII. Ghent 291, ff. 36-48, 15th cent. Usual heading.
Explicit libellus quem scripsit Magister Richardus de Anglia here-
mita aput hampol tumulatus.' See Incend.
LXXVIII. Madrid (Escorial) b. iii. 5*, ff. 131 sq., 15th cent.
Usual heading. Explicit libellus quem scripsit heremita Ricardus
apud hampol tumulatus.' See Incend.
LXXIX. Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale vii. F. 35, ff. 1-16, late
14th cent. 'Incipit liber beati Riccardi heremite anglici Duodecim
capitulorum in quibus docetur anima deuota qualiter peruenire possit
ad amorem dei.' 'Explicit libellus beati Ricardi heremite anglici.'
LXXX. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 543, ff. 50-60, 15th cent. Part
of the last chapter at the beginning. Usual heading. See Job, Judica.
LXXXI. Prague Cath. 293*, ff. 232-9, 15th cent. 'Hic
incipiunt xii capitula exposicione Richardi heremite de Hampole. '
The work evidently breaks off before the end, but the last words ('et
sic in oracione cor . . .') cannot be found in the printed text. The
same volume contains works of Wyclif, and a prologue by
a Bohemian, 1451.
LXXXII. Stockholm, Roy. Lib.* A. 68,' ff. 427-35, 15th cent.
No sign of title or authorship, but the work was identified by the
Keeper of MSS., Dr. O. Wieselgren, and kindly shown me by him.
I owe my knowledge of it to Dr. Grape, the librarian of the Univer-
sity Library of Upsala.
LXXXIII. Trier (Stadtbibl.) 683 (245), ff. 228-41, 1451.
' Ad Carthusienses prope treuerim.' 'Scriptum anno 1451 in pro-
festo francisci (?) beati confessoris. Explicit tractatus de emendacione
vite siue de regula viuendi magistri Richardi heremite de Anglia
apud hampol tumulatus.' Apparently the whole book is written by
*
1 The is part of the title.


240
TREATISES
Brother Lambert Trurnicht de Unna, Carthusian, who began it as
a novice in 1447 (f. 197) and wrote parts as late as 1453 (f. 265).
"
LXXXIV. Trier 690 (252), ff. 89-108, 15th cent. Iste liber
spectat ad domum sancti Albani iuxta Treuerim ordinis Carthusi
ensis.' Incipit Liber Richardi de amplo heremite xii continens
capitula de peccatoris emendacione.' 'Liber explicit anno 1463 in
crastino Bartholomei in Reijnhusen' (Reinhausen in Bavaria ?).
Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 omitted. A diffuse prologue is added, giving
general exhortations, beg.: O lector, qui tractatum desideras
sequentem legere.'
LXXXV. Trier 774 (1347), ff. 71-88, 15th cent. 'Codex
monasterii beate marie ad martyres prope tre. ordinis sancti Bene-
dicti.' 'Explicit liber Richardi de Amplo heremita.' The same
prologue as in the preceding volume. A table is given of nine
chapter-headings, which are not the usual ones ('Capitulum primum
de non differencia ad deum conuersio[nis]', etc.).
LXXXVI. Trier 775, ff. 124-38, 15th cent. Usual heading.
'Explicit libellus quem scripsit heremita Richardus apud hampol
tumulatus.' See Incend.
Usual
LXXXVII. Upsala Univ. C. 621, ff. 36-63, c. 1400.
heading. Explicit tractus Ricardi Heremite valde vtilis de regula
viuendi.' See 20th Ps., Incend., Office, Quot. (Thos. Basset).
LXXXVIII. Upsala Univ. C. 631, ff. 203-12, 15th cent.
Usual heading. See Dubia (De Excell. Contempl.).
LXXXIX-XC. See infra, p. 245.
EMENDATIO VITAE IN ENGLISH
OXFORD MSS.
I. Bodl. Digby 18 (Sum. Cat. No. 1619), ff. 7-37, 15th cent.
'Expliciunt duodecim capitula Ricardi hampole heremite.'
Spur., Form.
See
II. Bodl. Douce 322, ff. 78-94, 15th cent. 'Here bene the
xij Chapitres whyche Richard hampole the Eremyte made howe that
a man shulde lyue in contemplacioun and in meditacion and in
other vertuos lyuyng. And after lyfe to come to the lyfe euerlastyng
and dwelle with god in the blys of heuene' (also in original index
on fly-leaf). After a coat of arms, usual details follow (in Latin).
'These booke... ys of pe zifte of William Baron Esquyer to remayne
for euyr to pe place and nonrye of detforde and specially to the vse


EMENDATIO VITAE
241
of dame pernelle Wrattisley sister of þe same place by licence of her
abbas pe whiche pernelle is nece to be forseyde gentylman William
Baron' (fly-leaf). As in Harl. MS. 1706 the scribe has used a book
of John Lucas (perhaps a Cambridgeshire hermit, v. infra, p. 424,
n. 2). In the first initial is 'IHC'. See Spur.
The
III. Corpus Christi Coll. 236, ff. 45-56, 15th cent.
translation by the Lincoln Carmelite, Richard Misyn, as printed.
For two modernized texts v. supra, pp. 17-18. See Incend.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
IV. Univ. Ff. v. 30, ff. 141–60b, late 14th cent. 'Heere biginneth
pe xii chapitres of Richard heremite of hampool.' 'Liber Johannis
Wales.' Formerly More MS. 821.
V. Univ. Ff. v. 40, ff. 14b-32b, 15th cent.
edition v. supra, p. 17. See Command., Form.
For a modernized
VI. Caius Coll. 669 *,1 ff. 75-147, 15th cent. 'Here bygynnep þe
twelue chapyters of Ricardus hampole turnyd into englysch.' In the
index: Also pe xii chapiterys of Richard hampoie pat is clepyd Ne
tardas conuerti ad deum yn englysch.' John Cok is the scribe, and
the famous scribe John Shirley seems to have been the owner, for
his device appears at the beginning. See Form.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
Heading and usual
VII. Harl. 1706, ff. 67-80b, 15th cent.
details as in MS. II (to which it is otherwise related). A Worsley
book (so a note pencilled on the fly-leaf of MS. II). See Spur.
VIII. Harl. 2406, ff. 36-57, 15th cent. The volume of ' Domina
Matilda stuerd'. See O. D., S. A.
IX. Lansd. 455, ff. 41-8b, early 15th cent. Usual heading (in
English). 'Here enden þe twelue chapitles of hampol.' See Form.
X. Add. 37790, ff. 1-18, 15th cent. Thus Endis the xii chapetyrs
off Richarde hampole in to englys translate be ffrere Richarde misyn
to infformacion off Crystyn saulis Anno domini millesimo ccccmo
xxxiiii.' See Incend. (angl.), Form, Ego D.
OTHER MSS.
XI. Trin. Coll. Dublin 432, 15th cent.
chapitres of Ricardus heremyte of hampole.'
'here enden the xii
See Quot.
XII. Gurney MS. (Keswick Hall, Norwich, formerly Dr. Macro's),
'Heer begynnyth a tretise pat seynt rycharde
ff. 1-24, 15th cent.
1 The is part of the title.


242
TREATISES
of hampole made how synful men schuld amend her lyfis. And it
conteynyth xii chaptres.' 'Here endith pe twelue chapetris of seint
Richarde of Hampole.' See Ego D., Command.
XIII. Longleat 32, ff. 39b-81b, early 15th cent. 'Here begynnyp
a tretice pat Richard Rolle heremyte of hampole made how synful
men schuld amende here lijf and it hap xii chapitres.' The use of
Rolle's surname should be noted. See Command., Form.
'This
XIV. Worcester Cath. F. 172, ff. 17-32b, mid 15th cent.
is the libel of Richard hermyte of hampol of the Amendement of
mannes lif other ellis of the Rule of good livyng And it is departed
in xii chapitres.' 'Explicit Ricardus de Ampull.' For an edition
v. supra, p. 17. See Eng. Ps.
XV. Edinburgh Univ. 93*, ff. 38 sq., 15th cent.
'Here sueth
XII chapitours of perfeccioun of Richard hampolle.' This manu-
script must have been a compendium of religious information for the
use (probably) of a lay person. The ten commandments, seven
gifts of the Holy Spirit, and many similar codified religious topics
are here discussed. Laing MS. 140. In the possession of Thomas
Audley, 1668, and of Joseph Ames, 1760 (the latter a noted
antiquary).
The preceding manuscripts are grouped as follows:
Version I: MSS. I, II, IV, VII, XI. Beg.: 'Tarye not for to
turne pee to god ne drawe not on longe fro day to day: for sodeynly
he taketh wrecches in sharpnesse of deth . . .' (MS. IV, f. 141).
Version II: MSS. III, X. Beg.: 'Tary pou not to oure lorde to
be turnyd, ne put it not fro day to day: for oft-tymes cruelte of deed
rauischis wrechis...' (EETS. Orig. Ser., 106, p. 105).
Version III: MSS. V, VIII. Beg.: 'Tarye pou nouth for to
turne to god and delay noth fro day to day, for þe vnmerciful dep
rauesschep sodanly wrecches. . .' (MS. V, f. 14b).
Version IV MS. VI. Beg.: Tarye no3t to be conuertyd to pe
lorde, ne delay not to amende fro day to day for dep wipouten mercy
sodeinly stelip away synneful . . .' (f. 75).
Version V: MS. IX. Beg.: 'Ne tarie pou nouzt to be conuertid
to be lord, and deferre pou nozt fro dai into dai, for pe unmekenesse
of dep sodeynli rauyschip wrechid men. . .' (f. 41).
•
Version VI: MSS. XII, XIII. Beg.: Ne lette pou noth to
turne azen to thine lorde god for to make no delaye fro day to day.


EMENDATIO VITAE
243
And seye, I schal turne to morwe, for dethe comyth sodeynly . . .'
(MS. XII, f. 1).
Version VII: MS. XIV. Beg.: Tarie the noght man to be
conuerted vnto thi lord god nother delay the noght from day to day,
ffor sodanly he ravisshith wrecchis with greuous deth . . .' (f. 17).
MS. XV has not been examined.
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES.
The Emendatio is quoted from, as 'in tractatu de xii capitulis,
capitulo iio', in a compilation with a general acknowledgement to
'Ricardus heremita' in Camb. Univ. MS. Ff. i. 14. In the popular
compilation Speculum Spiritualium a quotation is concluded: Huc
usque prefatus Ricardus Hanpole in quodam tractatu qui est de
emendatione vite xii continens capitula.' Quotations from the
Emendatio with Rolle's name, but without the title of the work, are
given in Rawl. MS. C. 19 (and similar manuscripts), in Rawl. MS.
C. 285, Jesus Coll. Oxf. MS. 39 (in a treatise entitled Disce Mori in
an English translation), in MSS. Dd. v. 55, and Kk. vi. 20. Large
sections of the work in an English form are found, with no name of
author, in the popular compilation known as the Poor Caitiff.
Quotations from the Emendatio play a prominent part in the com-
pilation known as De Excellentia Contemplationis, which passes as a
separate work by Rolle. Others are inserted in the Incendium in
three continental copies.
It was doubtless the present work which, under the title '12 capitula
Hampol', was given to the Carthusian house of Witham by John
Blacman, sometime confessor of Henry VI. It was also probably
the work found in the library of Leicester Abbey, as 'Libellus qui
dicitur xii capitula Ricardi heremite hampole.' Another copy in the
same library was probably the 'de conuersione peccatorum' ascribed
to John hampole'. Thirteen copies appear with Rolle's name
(under one or other of the many titles of the work) in the index to
the brothers' library at Syon Monastery, and we have seen that one
of these still exists (supra, MS. XIX).
'Dominus Joh. Newton', a rector in co. Durham, Master of
Sherburn Hospital, bequeathed in 1427: 'unum librum de duodecim
capitulis Ricardi Ermet', and Nicholas Holme, the legatee, in his
turn bequeathed the book (or a duplicate) in 1458.
Boston of Bury recorded at Bury Vehiculum vitae sive xii
capitula' under Rolle's name (v. supra, MS. XIII, etc.). Leland saw
at St. Mary's, York, with Rolle's name, ' De emendatione Peccatoris


244
TREATISES
alias Vitae', and at Balliol College 'libellus cui titulus ab exordio Ne
tardas'. Bale registered in his Index 'Vehiculum vitae, Emenda-
tionem peccatoris', as well as two more copies under the latter title
(all with the incipit as above).
The chapter-headings of the Emendatio (with one exception,
doubtless due to scribal error) make the 'twelve degrees of perfect
living' in the Northern poem known as the 'Desert of Religion'.
This work is largely derived from the Speculum Vitae, and a picture
of Rolle makes one of its illustrations in the three extant copies
(v. infra, p. 309).
The quotations made from this work, the relation which it has
been shown to bear to others, and the testimony of the manuscripts
will already have illustrated its authenticity. Since Misyn's Middle
English translation is in print in an easily accessible edition, in
general few confirmatory quotations need be given.
The author does not speak in his own person as a hermit, but the
following may be said to betray him:
'Cum enim constet vitam contemplatiuam digniorem esse ac magis
meritoriam quam actiuam vitam, & omnes contemplatiuos instinctu dei
amantes solitudinem & propter contemplationis dulcedinem in amore sunt
praecipue feruentes: liquet vtique quod solitarij dono contemplationis
summi sunt & ad perfectionem maximi' (fol. 18b; Misyn, p. 130).
Almost the identical words have already been quoted from the
Canticles (f. 147, v. supra, p. 69, and cf. Melum, f. 240).
The heat, sweetness, and song' are often implied, as, for example,
in the following passages (the opening of the chapter on contempla-
tion), in which alliteration, devotion to the Holy Name, and rhyme
often appear also:
'Dulce lumen & delectabile, quod es conditor meus incircumscriptus,
illustra faciem meam, & aciem oculorum meorum interiorum claritate
increata, & mentem meam: vt medullitus ab immundicijs mundata ac
mirificata muneribus, agiliter euolet in altitudinem: amoenissimi amoris
tui sapore succende, quatinus sedeam & quiescam, & in te Iesu iubilans
superna quoque suauitate quasi raptus incedens, inuisibilium quoque
speculatione stabilitus, nunquam nisi diuinitus delecter. O amor aeterne,
inflamma animum meum ad amandum deum. . . . O bone Iesu, quis mihi
det vt sentiam te in me. . . . Veni in cor meum . . . vt . . . te solum con-
templans, exultem & iubilem in deo Iesu meo. Amodo, dulcissime domine,
non discedas a me iugiter manens mecum in tua dulcedine. . . . Veni,
dulcedo desideratissima . . . animae languenti pro te & ad te dulcifluo
ardore illabere, calore tuo penetrabilia cordis mei incende, & intima


EMENDATIO VITAE
245
quoque luce tua illuminando, mellifluo amoris iubilo cuncta pro raptu
mentis & corporis depasce. In his & in huiusmodi meditationibus vt
quandoque ad medullam amoris ascendas... te iugiter exerceas' (fols. 13,
13b; Misyn, pp. 122 sq.).
As has already been noted, the present work shows a strong
connexion with the three characteristic English works next to be
considered. Like them it is a manual and an epistle, and like them
it describes love in three grades, here called, as in two of the English
works, 'insuperable, inseparable, and singular' (see fols. 14 sq.;
Misyn, pp. 123 sq.). It should be pointed out that the devotion
to the Holy Name of Jesus seems to be a prominent characteristic
of the second degree:
•
Amor inseparabilis est, quando iam vehementi dilectione succensa
mens, atque Christo inseparabili cogitatione adhaerens, nullo quidem
momento ipsum a memoria recedere permittit, sed ... maxime hoc nomen
Iesu tantum honorat & diligit, quod in ipsius mente iugiter recumbit'
(fol. 14; Misyn, p. 123).
Chapter 4 of the Emendatio (on the 'Setting of Man's Life') runs
parallel at many points to the Form of Living (pp. 121 sq.), where
also a systematic discussion is given as to what 'files' a man, and
what makes him clean'. The only autobiographical reference in
the Emendatio (apart from general description of Rolle's mystical
experiences) is that in which he refers to the temptations which he
still feels (quoted supra, p. 138).
ADDITIONAL NOTE
MS. LXXXIX. Paris, Bib. nat., lat. 15700, 14th cent. Usual
details. See Incend., Job, Contra Am. M.
MS. XC. Quaritch MS. (shown to me by Mr. Dring), ff. 1 sq.,
14th-15th cent. Usual details. Fly-leaf: Rado de Brocklebank/
Dd. / Chrus Bird' (modern hand). ... Gardner in Artibus magister
et vicarius de lynton, 1582' (f. 1). See Quot. and infra, p. 538.


CHAPTER VIII
ENGLISH EPISTLES
IN a passage already quoted (p. 149) from the Melum, Rolle
explains that the mystic whose spiritual ardours prevent preaching
may undertake another kind of labour: 'Doceat, exortetur, suadeat
omnes ad caritatem ut viuant in concordia et castitate, et in mansue-
tudine et in paciencia.' The Office refers to Richard's 'sanctis
exhortacionibus quibus quam plurimos conuersit ad deum' (p. 32),
and gives an instance when his patroness the 'domina domus et
multe alie persone cum ea' sought him after dinner for spiritual advice
(ibid.); it also tells us that he 'ex abundancia caritatis sue solitus
erat se multum familiarem exhibere reclusis et hiis qui spirituali
indigebant consolacione' (p. 37). Since Richard, in spite of his
absorption in mysticism, thus continued to minister to others, it was
natural that he should write some works specially dedicated to
disciples.
The three English epistles are all written to women, and when
Rolle discusses friendship in the Incendium he admits friendship
with women as possible, though dangerous (p. 263). It seems likely
that Rolle's women friends were the means of bringing him to write
English. His English Psalter seems to have been written for the
same woman for whom he wrote his Form of Living, and the Psalter
was probably founded on older English glosses (v. supra, p. 178).
From these he may have first taken the idea of using English for
literary purposes.
Beg.
EGO DORMIO
(Ego dormio, etc.) pou pat lyste lufe, herken & here of
luf' (Horstmann, i. 50).
Ends And I pi lufe sal syng thorow syght of þi schynyng, in
heuen with-owten endyng. Amen' (p. 61).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The present work was printed by Horstmann from MSS. Dd. v. 64
and Rawl. A. 389, with a missing leaf in the latter supplied from the


EGO DORMIO
247
Vernon MS. (i. 49-61). It is here given the title used by Horst-
mann (derived from the opening text).
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS. (BODLEIAN).
I. Rawl. A. 389, ff. 77-81, 95-9, early 15th cent. The work
is copied twice. The first text (Northern) is printed by Horstmann,
the second (Southern) joins the Form of Living without sign of
division, and the ending perhaps applies to the whole: 'Explicit
quoddam notabile Ricardi Rolle heremite.' Horstmann states that
the Vernon text is derived from the second Rawlinson, and this
seems likely, for both Vernon and its derivative Simeon (B. Mus. Add.
MS. 22283) also append the present epistle to the Form, without
sign of division, and both conclude with the colophon given here-
except that the surname Rolle is omitted. Its use should be noted.
See E. V., Incend., Command., Form.
II. Vernon (Sum. Cat. No. 3938) ff. 369-70, late 14th cent.
See supra, and Command., Form, Stim. Consc.
CAMBRIDGE MSS.
III. Univ. Dd. v. 64 (III), ff. 22-9, late 14th cent. Printed
by Horstmann. Explicit tractatus Ricardi heremite de Hampole
scriptus cuidam moniali de 3edyngham.' See supra, p. 37, E. V.,
O. D., Incend., Mel., Form, Miscell., Command.
IV. Magd. Coll. Pepysian 2125, 15th cent.
gradus amoris secundum Ricardum de Hampol.'
end. See Form, Command.
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
V. Ar. 507, ff. 40-1,
by Horstmann, i. 415-16.
'Hic incipiunt tres
Imperfect at the
about 1400. An abridged text printed
See Form, Incend., Miscell.
MS.), ff. 150b-1b, late 14th cent. Cf.
VI. Add. 22283 (Simeon
MS. I. See Command., Form, Stim. Consc.
Incipit tractatus
VII. Add. 37790, ff. 132-5b, mid 15th cent.
de Diligendo Deo.' Ego Dormio is preceded (as if part of the same
work) by the first part of chapter 7 of the Form (beginning 'Amore
langueo', and continuing to 'pe diuersite of lufe makes pe diuersite
of halynes & of mede', p. 29). A few new sentences connect the sec-
tion from the Form with the Ego Dormio without break: 'And tille


248
ENGLISH EPISTLES
loue god entierly schalle pu come thorowe grete trauayle and prayinge
and thynkynge, hauande meditacions that are in loue and louynge of
god. Thare ar thre degrees of loue, as is writtene nowe here aftyre.'
It is unlikely that this arrangement, occurring, as far as I know, only
in this manuscript, should have been due to Rolle. See Form,
Incend. (angl.), E. V. (angl.).
OTHER MSS.
VIII. Trin. Coll. Dublin 155, early 15th cent. A text of many
variations. In the first lyric (Horstmann, i. 57), a new, more diffuse
text, beginning 'Ihesu, grete loue meued pe' and divided into two
'cantus', is substituted for the usual one. Where, farther on (p. 59),
the motto of the piece is repeated ('I slepe and my hert wakes. Wha
sall tyll my lemman say [pat] for hys lufe me langes ay?') this copy
adds a new lyric, beginning
'Ihesu, for þe mourne I may
As turtel þat longep bope ny3t and day.'
The last part of the concluding lyric also varies considerably. The
diffuse variations of this manuscript do not commend themselves
as being authoritative. The complete texts of the lyrics have been
printed (Brit. Mag. ix, pp. 499 sq.). See Form, Dubia, Ol. effus.
(angl.), Stim. Consc.
Her beginnyth a tretis
IX. Gurney MS., ff. 24-8, 15th cent.
which tellith of þe nyne ordris of angel, and how men suld be set in
heuen as he ("seint Richarde of Hampole") wrot to an ankeresse.'
This piece was written to a nun, not to an anchoress.
(angl.), Command.
X. Longleat 29. V. supra, p. 35.
See E. V.
XI. Paris, Bib. de Ste. Geneviève 3390, ff. 95-108, 14th cent.
'Explicit Ricardus hampole.' A note says that this manuscript was
sent from the library of Aberdeen in Scotland to King James VI, and
after his death it fell into the hands of various private persons, from
whom it was rescued by Canon de la Haye and sent to Ste. Geneviève's
in 1689. See Form.
XII. Westminster School MS., c. 1420. This (the last article) is
without title or ascription. See Form, Spur.¹
1 I wish to thank Mr. Lawrence Tanner for bringing this manuscript to my
attention.


EGO DORMIO
249
EGO DORMIO IN LATIN.
Caius Coll. Camb. 140, ff. 115b-18b, 15th cent.
Form (lat.), E. V.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
See Incend.,
Several quotations from the Ego Dormio (in Latin) are ascribed to
Rolle in Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. 159, and said (in error) to have been
written to a solitary. Fragments both of prose and verse from the
Ego Dormio occur anonymously in the heterogeneous volume B. Mus.
Add. MS. 37049. The motto 'Ego Dormio' appears prominently
there in illustrations. V. infra, pp. 307 sq.
The present work, like all Rolle's manuals, gives a complete
account of mysticism, as he understands it, but without intrusion
of himself. The audacious self-confidence found in the Latin works >
in general is lacking in the Emendatio and in the English epistles.
The author seems modest and not assertive. From the point of
view of the Church these works are all 'safer': at the same time they
are unmistakably marked with the signs of Rolle's authorship.
The author in the Ego Dormio does not speak in his own person
as a hermit, but a passage like the following shows his preference for
the life of solitude, as well as the sensuous concomitants of the mystical
life as Richard experienced it:
'And pan enters pow in to be thirde degre of lufe . . . þis degre es
called contemplatife lyfe, pat lufes to be anely, with-owten ryngyng or dyn,
or syngyng or criyng. At þe begynnyng, when þou comes þartil, þi gastly
egh es taken vp in til þe blysse of heuen, & þar lyghtned with grace &
kyndelde with fyre of Cristes lufe, sa þat þou sal verraly fele þe bernyng
of lufe in þi hert, euer mare & mare; liftand þi thoght to god and feland
lufe, ioy & swetnes so mykel, þat na sekenes, anguys ne schame ne penance
may greue þe, bot al þi lyf sal turne in tyl ioy; & pan for heghnesse of þi
hert þi prayers turnes in til ioyful sange, and þi thoghtes to melody. Pan
es Ihesu al pi desyre, al þi delyte, al þi ioy, al þi solace, al þi comforth; al
I wate pat on hym euer be þi sang, In hym all þi rest' (pp. 58-9).
The devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus is explicitly urged
(p. 55) at length, with the strong assertion: Na thyng pays god swa
mykel als verray lufe of þis nam Ihesu.' It should be noted that
here, as in the Emendatio, this subject is discussed under the second
degree of love.
Alliteration and rhyme occasionally appear in the Ego Dormio:
'pou pat lyste lufe, herken & here of luf. . . . Mykel lufe he schewes pat
neuer is irk to lufe, bot ay, standand, sittand, gangand or wirkand, es ay
his lufe thynkand, and oft-syth parof es dremande' (p. 50).
R


250
ENGLISH EPISTLES
A unique incident is the appearance of ten lines of alliterative
unrhymed verse :
'Al perisches & passes pat we with eghe see,
It wanes in to wrechednes, þe welth of pis worlde..
Delites and drewryse stynk sal ful sone ..
...
Bot he may syng of solace þat lufed Ihesu Criste,
Pe wretchesse fra wele falles in to hell' (p. 53).
With these lines may be compared the opening lines from the
Job: Exprimitur autem in his verbis humanae conditionis instabilitas,
quae non habet in hac miserabili valle manentem mansionem', etc.
(v. supra, p. 143; cf. also Melum, f. 209). The lines quoted from the
Ego Dormio, like the alliterative piece Gastly Gladnesse (infra, p. 273),
reproduce in English the extreme alliterative style used throughout
the Melum, and often in other Latin works.
The Ego Dormio also contains two lyrics, written in irregular
rhyme; both recommended in the text for use in private devotions.
These lyrics will be discussed with others ascribed to Rolle, infra,
pp. 290 sq. It will be seen that they directly paraphrase the Incendium
at one point, and in their longing for death they constantly echo the
mood expressed in that work. One incorporates part of a lyric older
than Rolle's time.
One manuscript states that the present work was written to 'a
certain nun of Yedingham'. In Rolle's early years at least he
is almost certain to have known personally the neighbourhood of this
small nunnery (v. infra, p. 458). However, the woman in question
may have embraced a religious life after the writing of this work. She
is addressed as 'my dere syster in Criste' (p. 50), with special affec-
tion and intimacy, but nothing implies that she is a nun. The following
might suggest that she was a secular lady of wealth, though, in view
of the rich raiment sometimes worn by nuns (v. infra, p. 255), it is
not possible to be sure on this point : ' Pow will noght couayte pan to
be riche, to haue many mantels & fayre, many kyrtels & drewryse....
Pe wil thynk twa mantels or ane Inogh; pow þat hase fyue or
sex, gyf som til Criste' (p. 56); she is also urged to give up the love
of kindred as well as of wealth and all worldly concerns (pp. 52, 54).
The following would seem to suggest that the author intended to
advise her to a definite change in her life, such as entering a religious
house or (if she was a nun) reforming her monastic life:
'Til þe I write pis specialy, for I hope mare godenes in þe pan in a nother,
and þat þou wil gyf þi thoght to fulfil in dede þat þou seys es maste prophet-
abel for þi sawle, and þat lyf gif þe til in pe whilk pow may halyest offer


EGO DORMIO
251
þi hert to Ihesu Criste, & leste be in bisynes of þis worlde' (p. 51); ‘Gyf
þien entent til vnderstand þis wrytyng: and if pþou haue sett al þi desyre
til lufe god, here pies thre degrees of lufe, sa þat þou may rise fra ane til
another, to pou be in þe heest. For I wil noght layne fra þe þat I hope
may turne þe til halynes' (p. 52).
The three degrees of love, as here given, appear, in the two lower
stages, described in a more elementary manner than elsewhere, which
may indicate that a worldly person is addressed. The titles for the
three degrees are absent, and are not implied in the descriptions,
which is likely to indicate that they had not yet been evolved.
Probably, therefore, the present work sees Rolle using the three
degrees of love for the first time (as founded, perhaps, on St. Gregory,
without as yet the influence of Richard of St. Victor, v. supra, p. 202).
What other evidence we have may also date the Ego Dormio con-
siderably before the end of Rolle's life. The little piece Gastly
Gladnesse, which is the only other work in English poetical prose
except the piece here inserted, can be dated 1343, and we have seen
that the lyrics echo the Incendium, which is also probably to be dated
at about the same time.
THE COMMANDMENT
Beg.: 'pe comawndement of god es pat we lufe oure lorde'
(Horstmann, i. 6).
Ends to se hym in endles ioy þat þai haue lufed. Amen'
(p. 71).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The present work was printed from MSS. Dd. v. 64 and Rawl. A.
389 by Horstmann (i. 61-71). His title (from the opening) is
used here.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS. (BODLEIAN).
I. Rawl. A. 389, ff. 81-5, early 15th cent. 'Richard hermit.'
At the end follows the beginning of chapter 9 of the Form (on
the Holy Name of Jesus, which is the subject with which the
Commandment ends); the scribe thus shows his enthusiasm for that
devotion, v. infra, MS. XII. Printed by Horstmann. See E. V.,
Incend., Ego D., Form.
R 2


252
ENGLISH EPISTLES
II. Vernon MS., ff. 334-334, late 14th cent. 'Her is a tretis
þat techep to loue god with al pin herte.' See Form, Ego D.,
Stim. Consc.
CAMBRIDGE MSS. (UNIVERSITY).
III. Dd. v. 55, ff. 81-2, 15th cent. Northern. Defective at the
beginning. See Quot.
IV. Dd. v. 64 (III), ff. 29–34, late 14th cent. 'Explicit tractatus
Ricardi Hampole scriptus cuidam sorori de Hampole.' Printed by
Horstmann. See E. V., O. D., Incend., Mel., Form, Ego D., Miscell.
V. Ff. v. 40, ff. 88b-92, 15th cent. 'De Diuinis mandatis tra-
ctatus.' See E. V. (angl.), Form.
VI. Ii. vi. 40, ff. 198-207b, 15th cent. In pis tretis we are tauzt
how we schul loue god on al wise.' See Spur.
CAMBRIDGE Colleges.
VII. Magd. Pepysian 2125, 15th cent. 'A good rule for men pat
desirep to lyue perfit lif.' A fragment (p. 70) is copied later, before
the Form. See Form, Ego D.
VIII. Trin. 374, ff. 2-5, 15th cent. Explicit breuis tractatus
perfeccio uite uocitatus.'
IX. Trin. 1053, ff. 1-8, 15th cent. Northern forms. See Form.
OTHER MSS.
X. B. Mus. Add. 22283, ff. 147-147b, late 14th cent. 'Here is
a tretis pat techep to loue god wip al pin herte.' Abridged. See
Form, Ego D., Stim. Consc.
XI. Gurney, ff. 28 sq., 15th cent. Her begynnyth a noble tretis
of loue.' This copy contains an introductory passage not in the other
manuscripts, as follows:
'Riht as þe werkys of men þat ben chosyn to pe blisse be dyuerse rizt
so þe same men han diuerse meditacions. But neuerþelesse þei cum al to
on ende, þat is to sey to be lif þat euer sal laste. And pedir þei ben brouzt
and lede be dyuerse ways and be oo charite pe whyche is more in one pan
in a noper.... Sum goon be pe louest pathe. Sum be þe heizest pathe...
pe heiest pathe 3oup to hym þat louyth god moste And was ordeynyd þer
befor þe begyninynge of þis worlde, not for he werchith more pan opir men,
not for he zeue many þing for þe loue of god, ne for he suffryth many
iniuries paciently, But for he loueth more, whych loue makith god to
dwell in hym and he in god, but no man may by hys owne myth sett hym
selfe in ony of þese pathis þat goith to heuyn, but hym behouyth to take


THE COMMANDMENT
253
þat pathe mekely þat god hath chosyn him to... ffor þat is hid in a
mannys trewe loue þat he hath in his hert, þat no man may knowe but god
alone, ffor þer is no pinge þat man may doo outward to brynge hym to so
heyz a pathe as trew loue of god. . . . And oþir þer ben þat þei reck not
of. As men pat ben repreuyd of god þei deme hem and disdeyne to loke
up on hem. And if þei myzte see her herts clerly as god doth And knowe
þe pruyts (fruyts?) perof withoutyn doute, if þei hade pe grace of god
withine hem, Thei wolde worschip hem with all her myth euynly as þei
sulde do to be holy angel of heuyn.'
The omission of this introduction from all other copies of the
Commandment would seem to prove that it did not make part of the
original epistle. The appearance of a stray' sall' might show that
it had a Northern prototype, but it is not likely that it was found
in many copies, for a large proportion of the manuscripts extant use
titles seemingly influenced by the usual opening. The subject of love
of God, on the other hand, is considerably delayed in the Gurney
version. The style is dragging and insipid, and the diffuseness is of
a vague quality unlike the exuberant insistence of Rolle's diffuseness.
It has some interest as a specimen of his influence. See E. V.
(angl.), Ego D.
XII. Longleat 29. V. supra, p. 35.
'Here begynnep a
"
XIII. Longleat 32, ff. 23-9, 15th cent.
tretice hwo god comaundep us for to loue him in alwise.' Explicit
tractatus nobilissimus.' Here (as in MS. I) the chapter from the
Form on the Holy Name of Jesus has been appended to the present
epistle. See E. V. (angl.).
XIV. Sotheby's, Oct. 21, 1920, Lot 137 (Ingilby MS., bought by
Messrs. Maggs of Conduit Street). After Rolle's Psalter this fine
Northern manuscript gives anonymous English tracts in a different
hand (the first the Commandment). See Eng. Ps., Spur. Hunting-
ton MS. 148.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
6
Horstmann (i. 130-1) prints from two manuscripts (Rawl. C. 285
and Dd. v. 55) a quotation on the Passion headed in both Ricardus
heremita', which in part is the Commandment, p. 69 ('I wate na
thyng', etc.). The popularity of this section of the epistle is also
attested by its appearance in English rhyme in B. Mus. Add.
MS. 37049.
The Commandment shows unmistakable evidence of Rolle's author-
ship, but it discusses holiness with fewer references to the more


254
ENGLISH EPISTLES
esoteric details of mysticism than are usual in his works. Evidently
it is directed to a person who is beginning the spiritual life: though
the three stages of love are described (briefly, pp. 62-3), and named
'insuperabel', 'inseparabel', and 'singuler', in general the counsel
given concerns the purgative life rather than the ecstatic.
The solitary life is not mentioned, though it is hinted at in the
following:
If þe lyste speke: forbere it at þe begynning for goddes lufe: For
when pi hert feles delyte in Criste, pe wil not liste to speke ne iangell bot
of Criste. If pow may not dreghe to syt by þi nane: vse pe stalworthly
in hys lufe, & he sal sa stabyly sett þe, þat al þe solace of þis worlde sal
noght remove þe, for þe will noght list þarof' (p. 64).
The 'canor', the most esoteric element of Rolle's mysticism, is
not mentioned or implied, but the calor' and 'dulcor' frequently
appear, as in the following passage:
'grete delyte and swetnes sal pou fele, if pou halde þi thoght in mynde
of þe pyne þat Cryst sufferd for þe. . . . For al þat he sees in gode will to
luf hym, he helpes þam agaynes all þar enmys, and rayses þar thoght
abouen all erthly thyng, swa þat þai may haue sauoure & solace in þe
swetnes of heuen. Purches pe þe welle of gretyng, & cees noght till pou
haue hym. For in þe hert whare teres sprynges, þar wil þe fyre of þe haly
gaste be kyndelde: and sythen pe fyre of lufe, þat sal byrn in þi hert, wil
bryn til noght al þe rust of syn, & purge þi sawle of al fylth, als clene as þe
golde pat es proued in pe fournes' (p. 69).
The Commandment ends with an eloquent exhortation to the
devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, which echoes one on the same
subject in the Form of Living (p. 35), as well as references in the
Psalters (Ps. xc. 14, Latin Psalter, fol. liv, English Psalter, p. 333,
and v. supra, p. 75, n.). The devotion is not explicitly mentioned
in the definition of the second degree of love (as it is in the other
cases), but it is implied. The definition is as follows:
'pi lufe es Inseparabel: when al pi thoghtes & þi willes er gederd
to-geder & festend haly in Ihesu Criste, swa þat þou may na tyme forgete
hym, bot ay pou thynkes on hym. And for-pi it es called Inseparabel:
for it may noght be departed fra þe thoght of Ihesu Criste' (p. 63).
A great deal of the counsel given in this work may be said to
imply the devotion to the Holy Name: higher raptures are not
insisted on, but the author says of the Name of Jesus:
'thynk it in þi hert, nyght & day, as pi speciall, & þi dere tresowre.
Lufe it mare pan þi lyfe, rute it in þi mynde.... Wha sa lofes it verraly,
es full of goddes grace & vertues; in gastly comforth in þis lyfe, & when


THE COMMANDMENT
255
þai dye pai er taken vp in til þe orders of awngels, to se hym in endles ioy
þat þai haue lufed' (p. 70).
Quotations already made will have shown that Rolle's usual
alliteration appears from time to time in the present work.
This piece is said to have been 'scriptus cuidam sorori de Ham-
pole' by the same manuscript which gives the information that the
Ego Dormio was written for a nun of Yedingham (the excellent
Northern Dd. v. 64, from which Horstmann prints both works).
There is no reason to doubt that the present work was written for
a sister of Hampole: it is in any case certain that it was written for
a nun, from the following passages:
'If you haue delyte in þe name of religion: loke þat þou haue mare
delyte in þe dede þat falles til religion. Thyne abett says þat þou hase
forsaken þe world, þat þou ert gyuen till goddes seruys, þat þou delytes þe
noght in erthly thyng: lok þan þat it be in þi hert, als it semes in men
syght-For na thyng may make þe religious bot vertues & clennes of sawle
in charite. If þi body be cled wyth-owten as pine order wille, loke þat þi
sawle be noght naked with-in-þat þine order forbedes' (p. 68).
It is evident that the sister addressed belonged to a house of lax
discipline:
'pe sterne led pe thre keynges in til Bedlem: þar þai fand Criste
swedeld in clowtes sympely, as a pore barne. Parby vnderstand: whils
pou ert in pryde & vanyte, pou fyndes hym noght. How may pou for
schame, þat es bot seruand, with many clathes & riche folow pi spowse &
pi lorde, pat yhede in a kyrtel: and pou trayles als mykel behynd þe, as al
þat he had on? For-pi I rede pat pou parte with hym, ar þou and he
mete: þat he reprove pe noght of outrage; for he wil þat þow haue pat
þou hase mister of, & na mare' (pp. 65-6).
It may be noted that in 1320 Archbishop Melton in his visitation of
Hampole warned the prioress to correct those nuns who used new-
fangled clothes, contrary to the accustomed use of the order . . .
"whatever might be their condition or state of dignity": He
mentions 'new-fashioned narrow-cut tunics and rochets' (V. C. H.,
Yorks, iii. 164).
"1
Though Rolle probably did not know the nunnery till years later,
a tradition of worldliness and of keeping up the dignity of rank even
in religion may have persisted till his time. Miss Power has taken
Margaret Fairfax, prioress in 1397 of Nunmonkton, a house also in
the West Riding, as one of the examples of worldly prioresses;
they clearly regarded themselves as the great ladies they were by
1 Eileen Power, Mediaeval English Nunneries, Cambridge, 1922, p. 329, n.
She corrects the V. C. H., which had given the date erroneously as 1314.
6


256
ENGLISH EPISTLES
birth, and behaved like all the other great ladies of the neighbour-
hood. Margaret Fairfax used divers furs, including even the costly
grey fur (gris)... she wore silken veils', held feasts in her room with
a man-friend and played tables with him (p. 77). Miss Power
remarks that probably the grey fur which Margaret Fairfax was
wearing in 1397 was "the cloak of black cloth furred with gray"
which her brother left her four years earlier', and she cites other
instances in which nuns are bequeathed rich secular clothing:
a Hampole nun is left a cloak lined with blue'; 'indeed the
constant legacies of clothes to nuns go far to explain where it was
that they obtained those cheerful secular garments, against which
their bishops waged war in vain' (p. 329). The material on this
subject is so abundant that Miss Power gives a whole appendix to
the 'Gay Clothes' of nuns, in the course of which she remarks :
These Northern houses were continually in need of admonition,
sometimes their slashed tunics, sometimes their barred girdles,
sometimes their shoes being condemned' (p. 587).
These facts are useful when we attempt to understand the
conditions which Richard Rolle had to meet in his effort to
spiritualize the Yorkshire nuns. They warn us not to discard only
on the ground of hints given of worldly life the tradition that his
epistles were all addressed to dedicated women.
As we have seen, Margaret Kirkeby was a nun of Hampole
before she became a recluse, and she may therefore be the person to
whom the Commandment is addressed. This is not likely, however,
since the Form was written for her. Each of Rolle's epistles gives
a complete compendium of mystical piety, and it is natural to
suppose that each was directed to a different person. The Long-
leat MS., which connects all with Margaret Kirkeby, is likely to
have been derived from an autograph collection not all of his own
composition.
FORM OF LIVING
Beg. In ilk a synful man or woman, þat es bunden in dedly
syn, er thre wrechednes, pe wylk brynges þam to be dede of hell'
(Horstmann, i. 3).
Ends for hym pai soght, & hym pai couayted, and hym pai
lufed, in al þar myght.' In MS. Dd. v. 64 (and most others) a con-
clusion then follows: Loo, Margarete (sometimes 'Margery'),
I haue schortly sayde pe pe forme of lyuyng (v. infra), and how pou


FORM OF LIVING
257
may com til perfection, and to lufe hym þat þou hase taken þe til. It
it do pe gude, and profit til þe, thank god, & pray for me. pe grace
of Ihesu Criste be with pe, & kepe pe. Amen' (p. 49).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
This work was printed by Horstmann (i. 3-49), from MSS. Dd. v.
64 and Rawl. C. 285, with the beginning and collations from Harl.
A modernized edition was brought out by Miss Hodgson
MS. 1022.
(v. supra, p. 17).
The present work was called by Horstmann 'The Form of Perfect
Living', after the title given it in the Vernon manuscript, but 'Form
of Living' is the title given by the author in the conclusion already
quoted and in the following passage:
'And if pou will do als I lere pe in þis schort forme of lyuyng, I hope,
thorou þe grace of god, þat if men halde pe gude, pou sall be wele better'
(p. 18).
MS. Dd. v. 64, from which Horstmann prints the text, and which
shows signs of superior authority in connexion with the other
two epistles, calls this work 'Forma uiuendi' in heading and colo-
phon; and this title is also found in other manuscripts.
Some manuscripts divide the work into two books, at the end of
chapter 6 (p. 29). Such a division was probably intended by Rolle,
for at this point occurs the following:
'Now hase pow herd how pou may dispose þi lyfe, and rewle it to
goddes will. Bot I vate wele þat þou desyres to here some special poynt
of pe luf of Ihesu Criste, & of contemplatyf lyfe, þe whilk pou hase taken
þe till at mens syght. Als I haue grace & konnyng, I will lere pe.'
The remainder of the work takes up the contemplative life.
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS. (BODLEIAN).
Ashmole 1524 (Sum. Cat. No. 8180), ff. 139 sq., early 16th
cent. 'Ricardus heremita exhibente gracia conditoris composuit
istum librum ad salutem animarum.' Addressed to 'Margaret'.
Some N. forms.
II. Bodl. 110 (Sum. Cat. No. 1963), ff. 134-54, early 15th
cent. In index on fly-leaf: 'Materia deuotissima contemplationis in
anglicis.' 'Hunc librum libere contulit Willelmus Cleue nuper
Rector ecclesie de Clyveden kantiensis domino Willelmo Camyl


258
ENGLISH EPISTLES
huius Cantarie capellano et successoribus suis perpetuis. hic deuocius
deo efficiatur.' Below in another hand of the same date: 'pro modo.
R. Kent.'
III. Bodl. 938 (Sum. Cat. No. 3054), ff. 209 sq., first half 15th
cent. 'Here bigynnep a tretys whiche is clepid pe pricke of loue
after Richard Hampol heremyte, treting of iii degrees of loue.' The
title Prick of love' should be noted. Lyrics absent. N. forms.
IV. Digby 18 (Sum. Cat. No. 1619), ff. 68-93, 15th cent.
Ends (without Margaret'): 'I haue schortli seid a fourme of
lyuynge and how men may come to perfectioun and loue god þat han
take hem perto: if it do pee good panke god and preie for richard
heremite pat...' the manuscript breaks off. It might seem that we
have here a fragment of Rolle's original signature, but, if so, it must
be descended from a copy which Rolle made for another friend than
the original recipient. See E. V. (angl.), Spur.
V. Laud Misc. 210 (Sum. Cat. No. 1292), ff. 1-19, 15th cent.
'Explicit tractatus qui vocatur forma viuendi compositus a Ricardo
heremita de hampole qui obijt ibidem Anno domini m°cccxlixº,
etc.' Addressed to 'Margaret'.
VI. Laud Misc. 524, ff. 53-53, 15th cent. A fragment begin-
ning with chapter 7 of Horstmann's text (beginning: 'Amore langueo').
See E. V.
VII. Rawl. A. 389, ff. 85-95, early 15th cent.
Incend., Ego D., Command.
See E. V.,
VIII. Rawl. C. 285 (Sum. Cat. No. 12143), ff. 40-57, 15th
cent. Addressed to 'Cecil', which must certainly be a substitution.
Northern. Printed by Horstmann. A little farther on in the MS.
the section in the Form on the Name of Jesus, with additions from
other works of Rolle, follows, as printed Horstmann, i. 106. See Quot.
IX. Vernon MS., ff. 334-69, late 14th cent. 'Her bigynnep þe
fourme of perfyt liuyng þe wzuche holi Richard þe hermit of hampulle
wrot to a recluse þat was clepet margarete.' See Command., Ego D.,
Stim. Consc.
OXFORD COLleges.
X. Univ. 97, ff. 266v sq., 15th cent.
'Heere bigynneth a trete
þat Richard hermyte maade to a good ankeresse þat he louede.'
CAMBRIDGE MSS. (UNIVERSITY).
XI. Dd. v. 64 (III), ff. 1-22b, late 14th cent. 'Incipit forma


FORM OF LIVING
259
uiuendi scripta a beato Ricardo heremita ad Margaretam anachoritam,
suam dilectam discipulam.' This text contains the little tract on the
Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost as chapter II (v. infra, p. 274), thus
making the whole twelve chapters. Printed by Horstmann. See
E. V., O. D., Incend., Mel., Ego D., Command., Miscell.
XII. Ff. v. 40, ff. 98-114, 15th cent. Chapter 9 follows later.
The address to 'Margaret' is made to the indefinite 'N'. See
E. V. (angl.), Command.
XIII. Ff. v. 45, ff. 1-2b, early 15th cent. A fragment only. A
sign of the taste of the time for rhythmical, alliterative, and rhymed
prose appears in the rubric heading the piece here:
'God that is gracious and grounde of al goodenes 3if vs my3t and
strengpe so to lerne this processe þat it may profite vs in virtue to oure
soulis encres and bryng vs alle to pat joie pat neuere shal cees.'
XIV. Hh. i. 12, ff.
only.
104b sq., 15th cent.
Chapters 10, 3, 4, 6,
XV. Ii. iv. 9, ff. 190-7b, 15th cent. 'Here endith the
informacion of Richard the Ermyte þat he wrote to an Ankyr
translate oute of Northowrn tunge into Sutherne that it schulde the
bettir be understondyn of men that be of the Selbe countre.'
XVI. Ii. vi. 55, ff. 1–9, 15th cent.
See Quot.
CAMBRIDGE Colleges.
6
Imperfect at the beginning.
XVII. Caius 669*, ff. 148b-209, 15th cent. The original index
gives: Also anoper tretis of Richard hampole pat is clepyd Amore
langueo, þat he made to a recluse.' 'Here endep pe tretys of Richarde
hermyte of hampole þat ys clepid Amore langueo.'¹ For texts using
the title 'Amore langueo' see MSS. XXIII, XXXV. See E. V. (angl.).
XVIII. Magd. Pepysian 2125, 15th cent. 'Epistola supra
hortatis (?) relinquere vana huius mundi et adherere celestibus.'
Chapter I only. This is repeated some time later with the heading:
'Incipit tractatus Ricardi hampol heremite de conuersione ad deum
et eius amore.' At the end: 'Quere residuum superioris istius
tractatus in quinto folio subsequenti. Et incipit sic: ffor pou hast
forsake pe ioye and pe solas of þis worlde, etc.' At the end of the
piece (copied later, according to the reference here given): 'Richard
of hampol made pis rewle of lyuyng.' It is perhaps significant of the
1 Dr. James quotes a heading mentioning Richard of Hampole 'knt.' The
librarian assures me that the 'knt.' is absent.


260
ENGLISH EPISTLES
origin of this volume that prayers recommended by 'John, hermit of
Warwyk', follow. See Ego D., Command., and infra, p. 317.
XIX. Trin. 322, ff. 127b-48b, 14th-15th cent. Addressed to
Margaret. The volume contains Lollard works, including the series
of Wyclif's sermons ascribed to Rolle in one copy (v. infra, p. 361).
LONDON MSS. (BRITISH MUSEUM).
XX. Ar. 507, ff. 36-8, 43b-8, c. 1400. Extracts (abridged),
which were printed by Horstmann (i. 412-15, 416-20). See Ego D.,
Incend., Miscell.
XXI. Harl. 1022, ff. 47-61b, late 14th cent. Northern. The
first part and variants of the rest were printed by Horstmann. See
Ol. effus. (angl.).
XXII. Lansd. 455, ff. 34-41, early 15th cent. Concluding
paragraph omitted, and the words added: 'Ardeat in nobis diuini
feruor amoris.' See E. V. (angl.).
XXIII. Add. 22283, ff. 147b-50b, late 14th cent. Heading with
Rolle's name as in the Vernon MS. Chapter 7 (chapters are not here
divided) is headed: 'Secundus pars libri de amore langueo.' See
Command., Ego D., Stim. Conse.
XXIV. Add. 37790, ff. 130b sq., first half 15th cent. Two
extracts only, viz. 'De triplici genere amoris spiritualis' (parts of
chapters 8, 9, 10) and the first part of chapter 7, headed: 'Incipit
tractatus de Diligendo Deo.' Ego Dormio follows as if part of the
same piece. N. forms. See Incend. (angl.), E. V. (angl.), Ego D.
OTHER MSS.
XXV. Trin. Coll. Dublin 154, c. 1400. Chapters 9-10 headed :
'Of dyuyne loue taken fourthe of a treatyss by pe sayd dewoute
fader Richard Rolle hermyte mayd to a certan recluse.' Rolle's
surname should be noted. The Remedy against the Troubles of
Temptations had preceded, embodying in the beginning a quotation
from the Form which usually heads that work as 'Four Profitable
Things'. Here (as in Wynkyn de Worde's edition) Rolle's author-
ship of the Remedy is stated. See Spur.
XXVI. Trin. Coll. Dublin 155, early 15th cent. All the chapters
(except No. 11) printed by Horstmann are present, but in a haphazard
order, with the text sometimes enlarged. Special prominence is


FORM OF LIVING
261
given to the 'Amore Langueo' beginning the seventh chapter (and
in some copies second book), because it here begins the whole text.
See Ego D., Dubia, Ol. effus. (angl.), Stim. Consc.
The
XXVII. Edinburgh Univ. 107, ff. 179 sq., 14th cent.
last portion of the Form, from the ninth chapter to the end, described
in the catalogue as 'Five Meditations', and identified as pp. 35-49
of Horstmann's edition. Laing MS. 50, from Lord Alva's collection.
XXVIII. Hereford Cath. P. i. 9, ff. 141 sq., 15th cent. 'In-
formacio sancti Ricardi de hampull scripta margarete incluse de
hampull.' The reference to Margaret as a 'recluse of Hampole'
will be discussed, infra, p. 506. Original index: 'Vita inclusarum,
anglice.' The conclusion is addressed to 'M', and continues beyond
the usual end, as follows: '... preye for me. þe grace of almighti
ihesu verei god and man þat is verrei loue and confort of his
louers be wip þe and kepe pe fro al euyl and bringe pe to pi spouse
þat þou hast take pe to be wiche is euere lyuynge god wipoute ende.
Amen.' This must have been a Franciscan volume. 'Jhc, Maria,
ffranciscus' appears several times, and the preceding works are the
Meditations on the Life of Christ, and the Miracles and Life of St.
Francis.
XXIX. Longleat 29. V. supra, p. 34.
XXX. Longleat 32, ff. 29-29b, 15th cent. Chapter 9 (on the
Holy Name of Jesus) only. See Command., E. V. (angl.).
XXXI. Chetham Coll. Manchester 6690, 15th cent. 'pis
teching made Rychard hermyte and sent it to an Ankres pat was
cleped Margarete.' N. forms. Lacks the penultimate chapter, but
the address to 'Margaret' follows.
XXXII. Paris, Bib. de Ste. Geneviève 3390, ff. 58-95, 14th
1 Two English pieces (so far as I know unique) follow and complete the
manuscript. The first begins: Man þat wilnep for to profite in þe wey of per-
feccion and souerenly to plese god he most studie bisily for to haue pese maneres
in his herte þat folewep hereafter.' Nine points are indicated. The piece ends:
.... for non oper loue ne for sinne he be neuere departid fro pe. Amen.' At
the beginning a note on the bottom of the page with an index finger pointing up
(in the same or a contemporary hand) announces: 'hic incipit doctrina ffratris
henrici Chambernoun magistri in via perfectionis.' It is uncertain whether this
applies also to the final piece which begins: 'ffor encheson þat loue mai al do
wipoute eny misdo' (f. 151). It ends Loueliche lord and spouse ihesu
crist writ in mi herte so þat I may rede pi loue toward me and pi sorwe for me
and be minde of ham euere be dwelling freschliche in myn herte. Amen'
(f. 153). It is full of invocations to Love, etc.


262
ENGLISH EPISTLES
'Here bygynnep a drawing of contemplacion maad bi Richard
hermite of hampole to an ancresse.' See Ego D.
XXXIII. Sotheby's, Oct. 21, 1920, Lot 47 (Ingilby MS. from
Ripley Castle), ff. 5b-15b, 15th cent. The name given in the
conclusion is 'Margery'. N. forms. Bought by Quaritch, and
shown me by the kindness of Mr. Dring.
XXXIV. Sotheby's, Jan. 17, 1921, Lot 629 (now in the possession
of Sir Leicester Harmsworth), ff. 131b-46, dated 1465. Amherst
MS. 135 in the catalogue of the manuscripts of Lord Amherst of
Hackney. Hic incipit liber Ricardi hampole quem fecit vni
anachorite.' In the catalogues the Form is described as 'a Treatise
written for a Hermit'. The Prick of Conscience precedes (anony-
mously, but with the title). Formerly belonging to G. L. Way.
XXXV. Sotheby's, Mar. 20, 1923, Lot 327 (from Powis Castle,
Welshpool), Pt. II, ff. 1-17b, 14th cent. 'Incipit liber nuncupatus
Amore langueo.' The complete text, with 'Margaret' omitted from
the conclusion. For the same title v. supra, MS. XVII. The
Benjamin Minor follows after an interval. Huntington MS. 127.
XXXVI. Westminster School, ff. 205 sq., c. 1420. No title or
ascription. Addressed to Margaret. See Spur., Ego D.
XXXVII-VIII. See infra, p. 268.
FORM OF LIVING IN LATIN.
Caius Coll. Camb. 140, ff. 108-15b, 15th cent. 'Explicit Ricardus
heremita de modo viuendi ad m inclusam.' See Incend., Ego D.
(lat.), E. V.
B. Mus. Harl. 106, f. 1, 15th cent. A fragment only of another
translation from the first part (beg. 'Diabolus mille'). See E. V.,
Incend., Stim. Consc. (lat.).
For Horstmann's erroneous references to two supposed copies of
a Latin text v. supra, p. 232.
FORM OF LIVING IN ENGLISH VERSE.
B. Mus. Cotton Tiber. E. vii, ff. 85b-90, c. 1400. Printed by
Horstmann, ii. 283-92. Only the first six chapters, which are some-
times called the first book. Northern. Horstmann calls William of
Nassington the translator, but he has no reason for this opinion other
than the fact that this manuscript begins with the Speculum Vitae,
which in two of its more than thirty existing manuscripts is ascribed
to Nassington (v. infra, p. 371). Horstmann's conclusions are


FORM OF LIVING
263
doubtless influenced by the fact that he dates the present manuscript
as the oldest, and probably original, MS. of the "Mirror"... of
about 1350' (ii. 274). H. L. D. Ward (Catalogue of Romances in
the British Museum, ii. 740) dates it at 'about A.D. 1400'.
REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS.
This work was contained in Syon Monastery MS. M. 118 (a new
volume) as 'Hampole ad Reclusam de vita perfeccionis cum aliis.'
In the Remedy against the Troubles of Temptations, both in the
editions of Wynkyn de Worde and in the manuscripts, the treatise is
prefaced by an abridged extract 'taken out of þe thyrde chapiter of
a deuoute treatyse & a fourme of lyuinge that the dyscrete & vertuous
Richard hampole wrote to a deuoute & an holy persone for grete
loue.'
Interesting testimony to the excellent English style found in Rolle's
Form comes from a quotation from this epistle made in the very
popular compendium, the Speculum Spiritualium:
'Nonnulla preterea ad discretam abstinentiam pertinentia que prefatus
Richardus hanpol scribendo direxit ad reclusam nomine margaretam
reseruo pro finali huius tractatus capitulo. Et hoc ideo quia vt mihi vide-
tur melius sonant eadem in lingua materna sicut idem richardus protulit
quam si in linguam latinam transferentur' (fol. xxxviiˇ).
Other sections are quoted from the Form, e. g. the account of the
devil coming to a recluse as an angel of light (fol. xxxviii, Form,
p. 12), etc. A compilation perhaps even more popular than the one
just noted was that known (from its preface) as the 'Poor Caitiff'.
This English compendium gave anonymous currency (among other
quotations from Rolle's works) to some of the most characteristic
sections of the Form of Living. A fragment of the Form is also
found among the anonymous scraps from Rolle in Add. MS. 37049
(v. infra, p. 308).
In the present work Rolle gives a most comprehensive and character-
istic account of his mysticism, with continual reminiscences of his
other works, both English and Latin. He runs over the whole course
of mystical experience, even to the heights of ecstasy, though without
personal application. His authorship could be proved many times.
The author does not state his own manner of life, but his prejudice
in favour of solitude appears clearly:
'pe state þat þou ert in, þat es solitude, es maste abyll of all othyr til
reuelacion of þe haly gaste' (p. 11). Sere men in erth has sere gyftes &


264
ENGLISH EPISTLES
graces of god: bot pe special gift of pas pat ledes solitary lyf, es for to lufe
Ihesu Criste.... Forpi, þe diuersite of lufe, makes þe diuersite of halynes
& of mede. In heuen, þe awngels þat er byrnandest in lufe, er nerrest
god. Also men & women þat maste has of goddes lufe, whether pai do
penance or nane: þai sall be in þe heghest degre in heuen' (p. 29).
The sensuous concomitants of Rolle's mysticism are constantly
implied, as in the following, from the description of the third degree
of love, which is 'heest, & maste ferly to wyn':
'Singuler lufe es: when all comforth & solace es closed owt of pi hert,
bot of Ihesu Cryste al-ane. Other ioy lyst it noght. For pe swetnes of
hym in þis degre es swa comfortand, & lastand in his lufe, sa byrnand &
gladand, þat he or scho pat es in þis degre, mai als wele fele pe fyre of
lufe byrnand in paire saule, als pou may fele þi fynger byrn, if þou putt it
in þe fyre. Bot þat fire, if it be hate, es swa delitabell & wondyrful, þat I
kan noght tell it. Pan þi sawle es Ihesu lufand, Ihesu thynkand, Ihesu
desirand, anly in þe couayties of hym anedande, til hym syngand, of hym
byrnand, in hym restand. Pan pe sange of louyng & of lufe es commen.
Pan þi thoght turnes in til sange & in til melody' (p. 32).
The Form of Living is full of the higher devotion to the Name of
Jesus, which it attaches to the third degree of love, but it also urges
'crying with the mouth', which is usually included in the second
(v. supra, p. 76). Here, as in the Commandment, the Name is not
explicitly mentioned with the second degree, but it is implied in the
following:
'Inseparabel es þi lufe: when al þi hert, & pi thoght, & pi myght, es
swa haly, swa enterely, and swa perfytely festend, sett, & stabeld in Ihesu
Cryste: þat þi thoght comes neuer of hym, neuer departyd fra hym,
outaken slepynge' (p. 31).
The repetition of the Name is, later, urged strongly in a separate
chapter (p. 35), beginning :
'If þou wil be wele with god, & haue grace to rewle pi lyf, & com til þe
ioy of luf: pis name Ihesu fest it swa fast in þi hert, þat it com neuer owt
of þi thoght.'
Some alliteration and rhyme have already appeared in the quota-
tions given. Two English lyrics are inserted (and introduced by the
text), which will be discussed with the other lyrics ascribed to Rolle,
infra, pp. 288 sq. Both are very short, and the longer one expresses
the ardent inquiry as to the hour of death which we associate with the
years before 1343. As we shall see, the Form as a whole must have
been written 1348-9, but it is evident that the lyric in question is at
least in part an old piece here inserted, for the first lines (longing for


FORM OF LIVING
265
death) are borrowed from the second lyric of the Ego Dormio (p. 60).
This, as we have seen, must have been the earliest of the epistles.
Even if Rolle after 1343 no longer mingled with his own devotions
the traditional question of the mystic as to the hour of death, he
would naturally expect his disciples to continue to do so.
It is probably because Rolle in the Form is peculiarly in loco magi-
stri that he includes many categories, lists of sins, etc.
He imagines
his disciple asking him five questions'-'hard questyons to lere, til
a febyll man & a fleschly als I am' (p. 35). Hahn has shown (op.
cit., p. 8) that this section is derived largely from the Compendium
Theologicae Veritatis (iv, c. 23), and most of it comes ultimately from
the De Vita Contemplativa ascribed to St. Prosper of Aquitaine.
Borrowings also occur in this section from St. Bernard's De Diligendo
Deo, and from St. Bonaventura's De Triplici Via. In spite of this
use in the Form of patristic material, Rolle gives only four specific
quotations from church fathers (pp. 7, 44, 45). One exemplum is
quoted from his reading (p. 12).
As already mentioned, we know from other sources that Rolle had
a disciple named Margaret, and there seems no reason to doubt that
he wrote the present work for her (v. supra, p. 35). The connexion
becomes clearer from the following passages, showing that the Form
of Living was written for a woman recluse:
'For þat þou has forsakyn þe solace & pe ioy of his world, & taken þe
to solitary lyf.... I trowe treuly þat þe comforth of Ihesu Criste, & þe
swetnes of his loue, with þe fire of þe haly gast, þat purges all syn, sall be
in þe... so pat in a few 3ers þou sall haue mare delyte, to be by þi nane,
& speke till þi luf & to pi spows Ihesu Crist, þat hegh es in heuen, þan if
þou war lady here of a thowsand worldes' (p. 10). 'Men þat comes til þe,
þai luf þe for þai se þi grete abstinens, & for pai se þe enclosed' (p. 27).
In
1 The same five questions appear in a Wyclifite tract (Arnold, iii. 183).
this short piece (written in response to an inquiry) 'God's law' is a prominent
subject. The piece exists also in Latin.
2 Cf. p. 37: 'We sall afforce vs at cleth vs in lufe als þe yren or þe cole dose
in þe fyre; als þe ayer dose in þe son; als þe woll dose in þe hewe ', etc., with
the following: 'Sic affici, deificari est. Quomodo stilla aquae modica, multo
infuso vino, deficere a se tota videtur, dum et saporem vini induit, et colorem ;
et quomodo ferrum ignitum et candens, igni simillimum fit,' etc. (Migne, 182,
c. 991, cap. x). The germ of both passages is doubtless to be found in St.
Augustine's De Civitate Dei, xi, cap. x, 2. Cf. also Richard of St. Victor, Migne,
196, cc. 179 sq. (Benjamin Major, v. xi), and Rolle's Cant., f. 156.
Cf. p. 42: 'pan pou comes in til swilk rest & pees in sawle, & quiete...
als þou war in sylence & slepe, & sette in Noe schyppe, þat na thyng may lette
pe.' This is literally translated from St. Bonaventura's description of the sixth
grade of love in the work in question.
S


266
ENGLISH EPISTLES
Throughout the course of the work it is evident that the author knows
the recluse very well.
Some passages of the epistle may confirm the hypothesis that it
was prepared for Margaret Kirkeby at the opening of her life as
a recluse (1348-9). The reference to her taking up the solitary life,
already quoted, hints that she has only just done so, since Richard
tells her what he hopes will be her joy 'in a few years'.
the discourse is directed to the future, as:
6
Much of
'if pou will do be gode cownsel, & folow haly lare, als I hope þat þou
will' (p. 9). At þe begynnyng, turne pe enterely to pi lorde Ihesu Criste'
(p. 18). I wyll þat þou be ay clymbande till Ihesu-warde, & ekand þi luf
& þi seruys in hym' (p. 20). 'Bot swilk a grace may þou noght haue in
þe fyrst day' (p. 26). 'For þe tyme pou ert 3ong, I rede þat þou ete &
drynk, better & war, als it comes.... And afterwarde ... þou mai take
til mare abstinence' (p. 27). Ful mykel grace haue þai pat es in pis
degre of lufe. And me thynk, pou þat hase noght els at do bot forto lufe
god, may com þartill if any may gete it' (p. 32).
Though the Form makes clear that the woman he addresses has
become a recluse, we are given no hint that she has been a nun. A
passage like the following might imply that she was then turning her
back on the world for the first time :
'At þe begynnyng, turne þe enterely to pi lorde Ihesu Criste. Pat
turnyng till Ihesu es noght els, bot turnyng fra all þe couaytyse & pe
likyng & pe occupacions & bisynes of worldly thynges & of fleschly lust
and vayne luf: swa þat þi thoght, þat was ay donward, modeland in þe
erth, whils pou was in þe worlde, now be ay vpwarde als fire, sekand þe
heghest place in heuen' (p. 18).
The analogy of the Commandment shows the worldly life that was
led in convents, and (if the dedication to a Hampole nun found in
one copy is correct) probably at Hampole. Rolle in the Form
warns Margaret against the worldliness to be found in cloisters, as
follows:
Pan es it schame
sawle, als pou ert
'I knawe þat þi lyfe es gyuen to þe seruyce of god.
til þe, bot if pou be als gode, or better, with-in in þi
semand at þe syght of men. Turne for-pi þi thoghtes perfitely till god,
als it semes þat þou hase done þi body. For I will not þat þou wene pat
all er hali þat hase þe abet of halynes, & er noght ocupyed with pe worlde'
(p. 16).
As we have seen, his writings are full of condemnation of the
worldliness of clerics, whether secular or regular. Only the solitary
life offered full opportunities, in his opinion, for devout living. In


FORM OF LIVING
267
Margaret's case, therefore, he might consider that her real entrance
into the religious life took place when she retreated into solitude.
The following quotations from the Melum will illustrate his attitude
towards the life of many in monasteries :
'Miror quippe de nonnullis qui videri uolunt se mundum reliquisse et
tamen ad diuinum amorem desiderandum modico vel nullo conamine
mentis assurgunt et in ocio agitati ad omnem ventum temptacionis cedunt,
et hii assimilantur arundini vento agitate in deserto (Matt. xi. 7). Quia
dum religionis habitum assumunt, oues exterius apparentes, et interius
feruore fortis dileccionis non affecti, quid aliud recte dicantur quam
arundo, que in oculis intuencium solidum apparet et intus omnino vacuum
inuenitur ? Summa igitur insania est parentes et propria relinquere,
honorem mundi et diuicias fugere, habitum mutare, monasterium vel
solitudinem ingredi, pauperem fieri et non totum cor omnesque mentis
affecciones [et] animi cogitaciones ad Deum dirigere et in eius solo
desiderio estuans eius amorem et beneplacenciam infatigabiliter exorare.
Si delectaciones terrenas deseris, celestes quare non cupis? Cur tepide
uiuis in monasterio et non pocius sic vixisses in seculo?... Melius esset
tibi in mundo remansisse frigidus, quam intrasse religionem et non habere
feruorem dileccionis' (f. 244).
'Mille cadent (Ps. xc. 7), id est, magna multitudo presumencium indigne,
qui frustra estimant se accepturos potestatem iudicandi in ultima discus-
sione. Inuenient se prorsus proiectos¹ ab ipsa excellencia sanctorum
quam per vanam gloriam sibi vsurpare credebant. Huiusmodi sunt
multi iam et precipue in hiis diebus in habitu 2 religioso constituti qui, vt
in conuersacione sua liquet (quod dolendum est), sine causa illam sibi
auctoritatem assumunt: Ecce nos reliquimus omnia (Matt. xix. 27)...
Plures ad voluptates, commessaciones, ebrietates, et ad immundas canti-
lenas sectandas se subiciunt, nimirum aperte videtur quod seipsos non
abnegant' (f. 250).
It will have been noted that one manuscript calls Margaret Kirkeby
' recluse of Hampole' (supra, MS. XXVII), and it might be suggested
that she was enclosed at Hampole first, and later changed to Layton,
as still later (1356-7) she was to change to Ainderby (apparently to
return at last to Hampole). In that case the Form would have been
written on her enclosure at Hampole, whenever that took place.
This hypothesis is difficult because nothing is said in the episcopal
document which allows her removal to Layton about her ever having
been enclosed before: she is called 'nun of Hampole'. On the
other hand the Vienna MS. says that she was enclosed at Hampole
during the last ten years of her life, and this may be the origin of the
2 habitum C.
¹ proiecti C.
S 2


268
ENGLISH EPISTLES
title, v. infra, p. 506. Moreover, in any case, it would not appear
possible to put forward the composition of the Form more than
a year or two, since the author died in 1349. The Form, Emendatio,
Ego Dormio, and Commandment are the only works in which Rolle
expounds the three stages of love, and they must therefore all have
come near the end of his life. The Form seems the finest and most
mature work that he ever wrote, and it is plausible to put it last-
just before he was cut off.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
MS. XXXVII. Trin. Coll. Camb. 1053, ff. 101b-117b, 15th cent.
Beg. [M]y fulle dere and wel loued frende in god, fore als mekile
as þat þou has foresakene alle be solace and ioye of pis wikked
warlde and takene þe fully vnto solitarie life' (chap. 2). No address
to 'Margaret' but in its place: 'Lo now my deere freende in Jhesu
criste.' Signed: 'amen par charite quod Jone Roulle (?)', who also
signs the Commandment earlier as 'J. R. (?)'. Here we find an
adaptation of the Form similar to those of the Ancren Riwle found
in most of its manuscripts.
MS. XXXVIII. Huntington 502 (formerly Phillipps 11929)*, 15th
cent., a fragment (Horstmann, pp. 14-24).


CHAPTER IX
MISCELLANEOUS PIECES (ENGLISH)
PART I: SHORT ENGLISH PROSE PIECES
FIVE separate pieces of English prose are given to Rolle by good
internal and external evidence.
THE BEE
Beg. The bee has thre kyndis' (Horstmann, i. 193).
Ends: 'pay are so chargede wyth othyre affeccyons and othire
vanytes' (p. 194).
This is printed by Horstmann from the Thornton MS.
MANUSCRIPTS.
I.
Durham, Cosin Lib. V. i. 12, f. 65, 15th cent. 'De natura
apice (sic)'. Not Northern. Beg.: 'The Be hath pre kyndes.'
Ends: thay arn so chargid wt oper affectyons and veyne thowghtis.'
A clear text, on a single page of a small vellum folio volume other-
wise (except for a few lines of verse) all Latin.
II. Lincoln Cath. Thornton MS., f. 194, early 15th cent. 'Moralia
Richardi heremite de natura apis, vnde quasi apis argumentosa.'
See Ol. effus. (angl.), Quot., Miscell., Dubia.
B. Mus. Harl. MS. 268, second half 14th cent., contains a collection
of Religious Tales, Fables, and Similitudes from various sources'.
The present piece is to be found here (f. 40b) in an abbreviated
Latin form, as is pointed out by J. A. Herbert, Catalogue of Romances
(iii, pp. xii, 571). The bee only is treated, and the sentences
specially characteristic of Rolle are lacking.
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES.
No specific reference to the present work has come to light in
manuscripts, but it is just possible that it is hinted at in the following
lines of the Office


270
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
'Labor dulcissimus apis eligitur.
instructor optimus mellita [loquitur.
docet] dulcissima fauus exprimitur' (p. 13).
With this may be compared the following:
'The bee has thre kyndis. Ane es pat scho es neuer ydill.... Thus
ryghtwyse men þat lufes god are neuer in ydyllnes: ffor owthyre pay ere in
trauayle, prayand or thynkande or redande or othere gude doande, or
withtakand ydill mene' (p. 193).
Horstmann cites Pliny and Aristotle as sources for this piece,
and the author himself twice cites Aristotle, who is not mentioned
in the Harl. Latin text, which might otherwise seem to be the
immediate source. The relation may be the other way round. In
any case, the Thornton ascription need not be questioned. Holiness
true and false, love of God and of the world, make the subject of
this piece, as of most of Rolle's productions:
'thay are so heuy in erthely frenchype þat þay may noghte flee in till þe
lufe of Ihesu Criste, in þe wylke pay moghte wele for-gaa þe lufe of all
creaturs lyfande in erthe... thay flye fra erthe to heuene and rystes
thayme thare in thoghte, and are fedde in delite of goddes lufe, and has
thoghte of na lufe of þe worlde' (p. 194).
The style sounds exactly like Rolle's, and offers some coincidences
with his other English works: his fondness for rhyming participles,
conspicuous in his epistles, and probably derived from the habit of
writing Latin, appears here also: 'pay ere in trauayle, prayand or
thynkande or redande or othere gude doande, or withtakand ydill
mene.' 'Some are pat kan noghte flyghe fra pis lande bot in þe
waye late theyre herte ryste.' The clause 'delyttes paym in sere
lufes of mene and womene, als pay come & gaa, nowe ane & nowe
a-nothire' echoes the Form: Kepers of comers and gangars' arely
& late, nyght & day' (p. 33, cf. also p. 45).
In the sentences quoted Rolle's aggressive reforming zeal should
be pointed out, which contrasted strongly with the temper of the
mystics of the next generation. To him an essential work of
'righteous men' is 'withtakand ydill mene and schewand thaym
worthy to be put fra pe ryste of heuene ffor pay will noghte trauayle
here'.
1 The phrase 'comers and goers' was probably a common colloquial one, for
in 1919 I heard it in common use in the same sense by a Norfolk village woman.
Rolle's English prose probably owes much of its strength to the use of similar
colloquial phrases.


THE BEE
271
In the last sentences the piece leaves the bee and passes to
a second interpretation from the Bestiaries, this time of the stork.
These birds signify those who are clad in the mere 'habit of
holiness', as to whom Rolle constantly gives warnings in his epistles: '
'pay... fastes and wakes and semes haly to mens syghte, bot thay
may noghte flye to lufe and contemplacyone of god, þay are so
chargede wyth othyre affeccyons and othire vanytes.'
Aristotle's History of Animals used in the Bee is one of the many
authorities quoted in the De Dei Misericordia ascribed to Rolle
(supra, p. 163). An account of the basilisk and the weasel occurs
in his English Psalter (p. 333) in the style of the Bestiaries. Peter
Lombard gives only the germ of this passage.
DESYRE AND DELIT
This short piece of prose was printed by Horstmann (i. 197) from
the Thornton MS., where it is headed 'Idem (Richard the hermit
of Hampole) de dilectacione in deo.' It has since been found in
Longleat MS. 29, in the collection of prose and verse there said
to have been written by Rolle for Margaret Kirkeby (v. supra, p. 34).
Horstmann notes that the Thornton text is very incorrect'; the
Longleat copy will therefore be quoted in full:
'Desyre and delit in ihesu criste þat hath no thynge of worldis thoght
is wondreful, pure and fast, and þan is aman circumcised gostly when al
other bisynesse and effectuous thoghtes ben shorne away out of his soule
þat he may haue reste in goddis loue, withouten taryynge of oþer þynge.
The delite is wondreful when hit is so hegh that no poght may reche
thare to to brynge hit doune; hit is pure when hit is blyndet with no
thynge þat is contrarie per to, and hit is faste when hit is certeyn and
stabile, delitynge bi hit self. Thre þynges make þe delite in god hegh:
on is rest regnynge of flesshly lust in compleccion. Anoper, destruynge or
repressynge of il styrrynge and of temptacion in will. pe prid is kepynge
of heighynge of þe hert in lightnynge of pe holygost, þat he hold his hert
vp fro al erthly thoght þat he set non obstakle at þe conymynge (sic) of
criste in to hym. Euery man þat coueiteth endles hele, be he bisi nyght
and day to fulfil þis lare, or ellis to cristes loue may he nat wyn, ffor hit
is heigh, and al þat hit dwelleth in, hit lifteth aboue layry lustis and vile
couaitise, and aboue al affectuouse thoghtys of any bodily thynge. Two
þynges maketh our delite pure: on is, turnynge of pe sensualite to pe
skylle, ffor when any is turned to delit of his fyve wittis, alson vnclen-
nesse entreth into his soule. Another is þat þe skyl mekely be vsed in
1 Cf. pp. 8, 16, 18, 27, 68; also Apoc., ff. 125, 126.


272
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
gostly þynges, as in meditacion and orisoun, and lokynge in holy bokes.
fforpi þe delit þat noght hath of vnordynat styrrynge, and myche hath of
heynesse in crist, and in whiche pe sensualite is al turned to þe skyl and
þe skyl al set and vset to god, maketh amanes soule in reste and siker-
nesse, and euer to dwelle in good hoop, and to be payed of al goddis
sondis, withouten gruchynge and heuynesse of thoght.'
The Gastly Gladnesse then follows, divided off by a thin red line.
This text has lost the Northern dialect of the Thornton copy, but
the variant readings which it gives are sometimes superior. For
example 'desyre', as the first word, is to be preferred to the 'gernyng'
of the Thornton text, for the sake of the alliteration: the omission
of the 'haly' from the first sentence is doubtless original, as is the
use of the alliterative 'shorne' for 'drawene'. On the other hand,
tagillynge' in the Thornton text is preferable to the 'taryynge' here
given, since the analogies from Rolle to be quoted below probably
outweigh the use of tariing' in the Northern treatise Gratia Dei
(Horstmann, i. 142). The Longleat MS. is also careless at 'rest
regnynge' (Thornton, 'restreynynge'). It seems to degenerate as it
proceeds.
"
Though the mysticism in this piece is not so explicit as usual, the
general conceptions and phraseology suggest other works. Reste
in goddis loue, withouten tagillynge of oper þynge' suggests 'delytes
of all thynge; þat mane may be tagyld with in thoghte or dede'
(Seven Gifts, p. 196); 'takked with any syn wilfully' (Rawl. MS.
'taglede', Form, p. 34); 'thaire affecciouns ere ay takild with sum
luf that draghis thaim fra godis luf' (Psalter, p. 512). The uncommon
phrase 'layry lustis' is found in the Psalter (v. Gloss.), and 'il
styrrynge' is common there (pp. 86, 96, 166, 170, etc.).
The Thornton text ends with an 'etc.'; and it is possible that the
scribe only copied a part of the treatise before him. The Thornton
MS. gives other evidence of having had access to lost works of Rolle
(v. infra, p. 403).
GASTLY GLADNESSE
Some alliterative sentences, printed by Horstmann (i. 81) from
MS. Dd. v. 64 (which ascribes them to Rolle), make up what may be
called a prose lyric-complete, and characteristically ecstatic in
style and subject-matter. They are inserted in the midst of metrical
lyrics which are their close kindred in everything except literary
form, and the kinship is indicated by the explicit which follows the


GASTLY GLADNESSE
273
prose, and which seems to make a joint attribution to Rolle of the
prose and verse immediately preceding it as 'cantica diuini amoris '
(v. infra, p. 301). A second copy, not known to Horstmann, is
given in Longleat MS. 29 (v. supra, p. 35), in a collection of prose
and verse said to have been composed by Rolle for the anchoress
Margaret Kirkeby.
The Longleat text will be quoted entire :
'Gostly gladnesse in ihesu and ioy in hert with swetnesse in soule of
the sauour of heuyn in hoop is helth in to hele, and my lyf lendeth in
loue and lightsomnes vmlappeth my thoght. I dred nat þat me may
wirch wo, so myche I wot of wele. Hit ware no wonder if dethe ware
dere þat I myght se hym þat I seke, bot now hit lengthes fro me, and me
behoueth to lyve here til he wil me lese. List and lere of þis lare, and pe
shal nat myslike; loue maketh me to mell, and ioy maketh me Jangle.
Loke pou lede pi liff in lightsomnes and heuynesse hold hit away. Sory.
nesse let nat sit with the, bot in gladnes in god euer more make pou þi
glee.'
:
Though this text has lost the Northern forms of MS. Dd. v. 64,
it will be seen to agree with that text very closely in the first
sentence the substitution of 'hele' for 'heie' gives a more explicit
climax to 'helth', and is preferable.
The present piece seems to give us a clue as to date. As we have
seen, Bale, two extant manuscripts, and apparently one which was
formerly at Syon Monastery give a note by Rolle: 'In nocte purifica-
cionis beate marie uirginis dictum mihi fuit in sompnis, anno
domini m°cccxliiiº, annis (sic) duodecim uiues, amen' (v. supra,
p. 28). This should probably be taken in connexion with the
following from the Gastly Gladnesse: 'Hit ware no wonder if dethe
ware dere þat I myght se hym þat I seke, bot now hit lengthes fro me,
and me behoueth to lyve here til he wil me lese.' This sentence would
seem to indicate that the present piece was written after 1343, for
a reference to the vision of February 2 of that year is probably
implied. It would be likely that Gastly Gladnesse was written soon
after the revelation, for the 'now' seems to indicate that the date
appointed for his death has been recently revealed.
As we have seen, the three English prose epistles and the Emen-
datio are separated from all Rolle's other works by their division of
love into three grades, and they would appear to have been written
last of all the writings. In any case the Form, which was written
1 Miss Deanesly is in error in reading here uisitacionis' in Bodl. 861 (see
Incend., p. 189, n. 6).


274
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
when Margaret Kirkeby was enclosed, must have been written 1 348-9.
The likelihood is, therefore, that most of these pieces were written
after Rolle had put off his expectation of death, and we might look
for some reference to his vision on that subject if he treated
his longing to be released. However, all four works are written
impersonally, and it is therefore not strange that in general the
author's longing for death is not discussed. But in the English
epistles longing for death makes the subject of much of the lyrics,
and here, as we have seen (p. 264), Rolle is probably reviving for
disciples old devotions of his own.
Whatever the effect on later works of the revelation in question,
the fact remains that Rolle had a vision as to his death which is
probably reflected in Gastly Gladnesse (and v. supra, p. 228). Con-
sidering the intensity of Rolle's nature, we should not be surprised
to find that his insistent voicing of the mystic's desire for death had
brought about psychopathic results, just as did his absorption in
'angels' song' (v. supra, p. 88) and in the traditional mystic's 'heat,
sweetness, and song' (v. supra, p. 109).
SEVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Beg. 'Pe seuene gyftes of þe haly gaste þat ere gyfene to men
and wymmene þat er ordaynede to pe Ioye of heuene' (Horstmann,
i. 196).
Ends: þat we kane knawe, and flese it als venyme' (p. 197).
This short piece of English prose is printed by Horstmann from
all three manuscripts known from MS. Dd. v. 64 (i. 45-6), where
it is given as chapter II of the Form of Living; from B. Mus. Ar.
MS. 507 (i. 136), where it occurs anonymously between the anonymous
Northern tract Gratia Dei (v. infra, p. 286) and an abridged form of
chapter 12 of the Form of Living (here also anonymous, as are the
other portions of the epistles present); from the Thornton MS. (i.
196-7), where it is headed 'Idem (Richerde the hermyte off Ham-
pull) de septem donis spiritus sancti'.
Most of the copies of the Form of Living have been examined to
see if the present piece is included, but in no case has it been found.
We must therefore conclude that it was probably written separately,
and was inserted into the text of the epistle in MS. Dd. v. 64 by the
whim of the scribe (probably to bring the work up to twelve chapters,
which was the form of the Emendatio).
•


SEVEN GIFTS
275
This little piece has the general sound of Rolle's prose, and
several specific coincidences as well. The sentence 'With thire
seuene gyftes þe haly gaste teches sere men serely' (p. 196) recalls
a series of similar passages both in the English works and the
Latin:
"
'Sere men in erth has sere gyftes & graces of god' (Form, p. 29); ' sere
men takes seer grace of oure lorde Ihesu Christe' (Ego Dormio, p. 58);
So be sere wayes passis men fro this worlde til god' (English Psalter,
p. 458); 'gifand grace and vertu til ilkan eftere the mesure of his gift,
gifand sum on a manere, sum on other, sum less, sum mare' (ibid.,
p. 301).¹
For all Rolle's stiffness in insisting on the pre-eminence of his own
manner of life, he always recognized a complete hierarchy of virtues,
and the present group of passages is one of his most characteristic.
The definition of contemplation here, which is quoted from St.
Augustine, is identical with that quoted (in Latin) in the Emendatio
as the patristic definition which Rolle prefers to all others and gives
just before giving his own (on which it has had its influence: v. infra,
P. 341).
The reminiscence in Desyre and Delit of tagyld' in the present
piece and in the Psalter ('takild') has already been noted (supra,
p. 272). For wele ne for waa' here found is one of Rolle's favourite
expressions (see Psalter, pp. 90, 113-14, 118, etc.). 'Ill eggyng' is
also common (Psalter, pp. 71, 122, 193, 207). The Commentary on
the Pater Noster and the Psalter (pp. 29, 44, 58) frequently mention
the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost (in spite of Rolle's usual indifference
to categories). A sentence in the Seven Gifts very evocative of
Rolle is the following: Pete es pat a man be mylde; and gaynesay
noghte haly writte whene it smyttes his synnes.' Apparently he used
the exposition of Scripture as a direct personal weapon against the
sinner, and as such his expositions were sometimes repudiated by his
contemporaries. As already noted, we read in the Psalter: 'He
manaunce 30w with haly writt, and redid it, thurgh haly men
expownynge, whaim ze dispise, and haly lare alswa' (p. 27). Mystics
of this stern temper were not common in England in the next
generation, and such passages are to some extent useful as tests of
authenticity.
The last quotation is a type of countless others in Latin and in English: cf.
Cant., f. 154; Contra Am. M., f. 176', etc.


276
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
ENGLISH COMMENTARY ON THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
Beg. Here er þe ten comaundementis fe whilk god hym self
bitoke til moyses in þe mounte of synai writen in thwo tabuls of
stone, pe whilk thwo tabils bitokens pe holde lawe and pe newe'
(Hatton MS. 12, f. 209). The shorter Thornton copy lacks this
section and begins farther on: 'The fyrste comandement es ... In
this comandement es forboden all mawmetryse' (Horstmann, i. 195).
Ends: 'he hetis noght til þam þat wele byginnes, bot til þem þat
duellis til þeir liues ende pe blisse of heuen, til þe whilk blisse god
vs bringe' (Hatton MS., f. 211V). The Thornton MS. ends earlier :
'His neghtebour hym awe to lufe als hym-selfe, pat es till þe same
gude þat he lufes hym-selfe to, nathynge till ill; and þat he lufe his
neghtbour saule mare pane his body or any gude3 of þe worlde etc.
Explicit' (p. 196).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
The Thornton copy was printed by Horstmann. He did not
know the Hatton MS.
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Bodl. Hatton 12, ff. 209-11, late 14th cent. The Com-
mentary on the Ten Commandments follows the first six canticles and
Magnificat (as printed by Bramley), at the end of a Northern copy
of Rolle's English Psalter: Et sic explicit psalterium dauid. In-
cipiunt decem precepta.' A later hand has written on the inside of
the back cover: 'Ricardus de hamppole heremita.' See Eng. Ps.
II. Lincoln Cath. Thornton MS., f. 194, 1430–40. 'A notabill
Tretys off the ten Comandementys: Drawene by Richerde the
hermyte off Hampull.' A text much shorter than I. See Oleum
effus. (angl.), Miscell., Quot., Dubia.
A copy of the present commentary may have been affixed to the
copy of Rolle's English Psalter once in the possession of Dr. Adam
Clarke and afterwards MS. 8884 in the library of Sir Thomas
Phillipps. We are told that 'The last two leaves contain a gloss upon
various virtues and vices connected with the Commandments. The
last leaf is imperfect' (Bramley, p. xxiv). This manuscript was
apparently sold at Sotheby's on May 17, 1897, Lot 623.


ON THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
277
This short English commentary on the Ten Commandments
gives passing reference to the more conventional of Rolle's favourite
sentiments sufficient to support the ascription to him which is found
in the Thornton MS., and, by implication, in the Hatton. 'Lip-
prayer' is condemned as in other works: 'With mouthe es it (God's
name) tane in vayne with . . . prayere when we honour god with
oure lyppys and oure hertys erre ferre fra hym' (p. 195). Compare
Ego Dormio: What gude hopes pou may come parof (of prayer), if
pou lat þi tonge blaber on þe boke, & pi hert ren abowte in sere
stedes in te worlde?' (p. 55). In the following quotation 'ill-
stirring' is used for 'temptation', as often in Rolle's English Psalter
and elsewhere (v. supra, p. 272):
'With werke ypocrittes takes goddes nam in vayne: ffor they feyne gud
ded with-owttene, and þey erre with-owttene charyte and vertue and force
of sawle to stande agayne all ill styrrynges' (p. 195).
In the following we have practically the three degrees of love formu-
lated by Rolle in his later years, but in the elementary form found
in the Ego Dormio (where the titles do not appear):
'The thirde commandement . . . may be takyne in thre maneres:
Firste generally þat we sesse of all vyces. Sithen speciali, þat we cesse
of alle bodili werkis þat lettys deuocyone to god in prayenge and thynk-
ynge. The thyrde es specyall, als in contemplatyfe mene pat departis
þayme fra all werldly thynges swa þat þey hally gyfe payme till god. The
fyrste manere es nedfull vs to do. The tothire we awe to do. The thirde
es perfeccyone' (ibid.).
Like Rolle is also: 'He lufes god þat kepis thire commandementes
for lufe' (p. 196).
The Hatton copy of this work, as we have seen, is attached to
Rolle's Psalter, but it is doubtful whether this arrangement emanated
from Richard. It is all the more doubtful because the Hatton text
is considerably expanded, after a colourless fashion. The new
material added may be Rolle's, but there is nothing distinctive
to prove that it is. However, the 'etc.' at the end of the Thornton
copy should be noted, and the sound of the English in the Hatton
passages perhaps suggests Rolle's style, as in the following: And
alle wichecrafts here er forbodon þat men of mysbileue traistes opon
or hopes help in withouten god alle myghty' (f. 210). And þei pat
worships þe noght has short life and shames dede, for it es noght
worthi þat þei lange here be þat worships pe noght, of wham þei be'
(f. 210v).
6


278
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
PART II: MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
Text A. (MS. I).
Beg.: 'Swete lord Ihesu Cryst, I thanke þe and zelde pe graces of
þat swete prayere and of þat holy orysoun þat þou madest beforn þe
holy passyoun for vs on pe mownt of Olyuete' (Horstmann, i. 83).
6
Ends: penne was pere warde set of armede knyztes, to kepe pe
monument tyl þe thrydde day, etc. Amen. Ihesu' (p. 91).
Text B. (MSS. II, III, IV).
Beg.: Lord þat madist me of nouzt, I biseche pee to zeue me
grace to serue þe wip al myn herte. . . . Swete Ihesu, I panke pee
wip al myn herte & kunnynge of pat swete preier & of pat holy
orisoun' (pp. 92, 93).
Ends: 'graunte me, swete ladi, to haue & to holde pis passioun in
mynde as hertili & as studiousli in al my lijf, as pou, ladi, & Ioon,
hadde it in mynde whanne pe peple weren goon & ze abiden bi
pe rode foot. Amen. Pater noster. Et ne nos in. Adoramus te
Christe. Quia per sanctam crucem.
Domine Ihesu Christe' (p. 103).
PRINTED EDITIONS.
Three of the four copies of Rolle's Meditations on the Passion
have been printed, as will be noted below. Two modernized versions
have been already cited (supra, pp. 17-18).
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. Camb. Univ. Ll. i. 8, ff. 201 sq., late 14th cent. 'Explicit
quedam Meditacio Ricardi Heremite de Hampole de passione
domini: Qui obiit anno domini mºcccºxlºviiiº. etc.' The scribe is
untrustworthy, for in the early part of this manuscript he ascribes
the Speculum Vitae to Rolle, and there gives the date of Rolle's
death as 1384. This text (A) was printed in J. Ullmann's study of
the Speculum Vitae (Eng. Stud., vii. 415 sq.), and by Horstmann
(i. 83 sq.). More MS. 215 (see Bernard's Catalogus for the manu-
scripts of Bishop More of Norwich). See Spur.
II. Camb. Univ. Add. 3042, 15th cent. Here bigynnep deuoute
meditaciouns of pe passioun of Crist whiche weren compilid of
Richard Rolle hermyte of Hampol, þat diede in pe zeer of oure
lord Mo.CCC. & xlix zeer.' This text (B) is almost entirely rewritten,


MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
279
and much new material added. The rhymes and Northern forms
found in the former copy are lost. Formerly MS. 6 in the parish
library of Brent Eley, Suffolk; described while there in the Brit.
Mag., iv, pp. 261 sq. On one page is written 'Johanna, unfortu-
nata Westmerlandiae Cowntes.' Printed by Horstmann, i. 92-103.
cent.
III. Bodl. e Musaeo 232 (Sum. Cat. No. 3657), ff. I sq., 15th
'Here begynneth a deuout meditacion vp pe passioun
of crist Imade by Richard Rolle heremyt of hampoll.' Text B.
Later in the book appears a translation of the Mirror of St. Edmund
by Nicholas Bellew, and the name appears in the hand of the
scribe: 'Jon Flemmyn' (v. infra, pp. 381 sq.). Given by Alexander
Fetherston, vicar of Wolverton (co. Bucks) and prebendary of
Lichfield, 1680.
IV. Upsala Univ. C. 494, ff. I sq., early 15th cent. Text B.
This manuscript is described by Lindkvist (op. cit.) at length, and
the Meditations (which he first identified) printed. A valuable
analysis is given of the dialect (E. Midland), with constant reference
to that of the two manuscripts printed by Horstmann (both of which
are collated for the text). There are some Northern forms, which
either come from a Northern original, or are peculiar to the
N.E. Midland. 'Broadly speaking, the dialect... bears a marked
resemblance to that of Osbern Bokenham's Lives of Saints' (pp. 28-9).
Horstmann had called the two manuscripts known to him 'Southern'
(with Northern forms present in the first, see his vol. ii, p. xl), but
Lindkvist says that MS. II is really (like MS. IV) Midland, though
'with a slight Southern colouring'. As to the language of A
(MS. I), it presents a strange mixture of Southern, Midland, and
Northern forms and words' (p. 30). Lindkvist gives here the most
valuable study of Rolle's language that has yet been made. It
is a pity that he did not know the Bodl. MS. in order to bring that
also into his discussion. Unfortunately the Upsala manuscript is
imperfect at the beginning.
"
In the 16th century it was in the possession of English persons,
for a 16th-cent. hand has added English notes dividing the work
into meditations for each day in the week. It is a small pretty
volume, such as would be written for lay persons of wealth. It is
the only manuscript at Upsala containing an English work, and
it did not come from the Brigittines at Wadstena (as did Rolle's
other manuscripts there). It is first recorded in a special catalogue
printed in 1706 of a hundred rare books collected in 1705 by J. G.


280
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
Sparwenfeldt, who was sent by the King of Sweden in 1688 to collect
manuscripts. He does not seem to have visited England. The
name of Christian Raue (professor of Oriental languages at Frankfurt,
for several years librarian at Magdalen College, Oxford, and professor
at Upsala, 1650-9) is on the manuscript.
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES.
B. Mus. Royal MS. 8. C. xv, end of 14th cent., contains 'Liber
meditacionum de vita domini nostri Ihesu Christi et venerabilis
matris eius', which quotes many times from 'hampul in suo tractatu
de passione' (ff. 7, 7b, 8, 151, 165b, 166). The text used must have
been the longer one (B), but its exact character is hard to determine,
since the quotations are embedded in the compilation, and the
references are only given in a general table at the beginning. It
may even have been fuller than any extant. The quotations are
made in Latin, with no sign that they are translated from English
(v. infra, p. 284). It is of course just possible that Rolle himself
circulated a Latin variant of his meditations.
In 1468 in the inventory of Elizabeth Sywardby, widow, deceased
(co. Yorks), is noted 'de alio libro de Meditatione Passionis Domini,
compilato per Ricardum Rolle, iiijd.' There is no indication that
the book in question is English, though three books in her possession
earlier noted are described as 'in lingua Anglica', or 'in lingua
materna'. The appearance of the name 'Rolle' should be noted,
as well as the fact that it occurs in two extant copies of the Meditations.
It will be seen that every time the present work is copied in
a manuscript, or mentioned in contemporary documents, Rolle's
name is attached: the external evidence for his authorship, therefore,
is as strong as possible. Nevertheless, his connexion with the
Meditations cannot be dismissed simply. The confusion of the texts
has already been illustrated: two separate versions appear, both
differing and agreeing for considerable portions, and of these one
(found in a single copy) gives alliteration and rhyme not found
in the second, and the other (found in three copies and quoted
in a compilation) gives among other additions a long series of similes
not found in the first, as follows:
'Panne was pi bodi lijk to heuene. . . . And zit, lord swete Ihesu, þi bodi
is lijk a nett.... 3it, swete Ihesu, þi body is lijk a dufhous.... More zit,
swete Ihesu, þi bodi is lijk a book writen wip reed enke. . . . Swete Ihesu,


MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
281
zit þi bodi is lijk to a mede ful of swete flouris' (pp. 96-7, quoted in the
Roy. MS., f. 165º).
At times both versions follow a regular structure: gratitude is
expressed to 'Swete Ihesu' for some incident of the Passion, a
few words of prayer follow (generally penitential and founded on the
incident in question), after which some Latin prayers are indicated.
This parallel structure is followed more regularly in the second text
than in the first, where, especially at the beginning, the incidents of
the narrative are barely mentioned: toward the end, this text is fuller
than the second, though the structure is more broken. It is possible
that the original text of the present series of Meditations went over the
complete narrative of the Passion, with an English and some Latin
prayers attached to each incident. The appearance of an 'etc.' at the
end of the first version (which continues the narrative, in a compressed
form, considerably beyond the second) might suggest that the texts
that we have are abridged.
In view of Richard's habit in other works, the relation of the two
forms of his Meditations need not necessarily mean that both are
descended from a common original, from which two scribes have
made different selections in copying. Richard was in the habit,
as we have seen, of repeating himself in different works, sometimes
verbatim, sometimes with small variations, and sometimes with new
material interwoven with old (the discussion of the grades of love, found
in the Melum, the Canticles, the Contra Amatores Mundi, and the Emen-
datio, is a case in point, v. supra, p. 202). The rewriting in the case of
the Meditations is so thorough that it is not likely to be a working over
by an ordinary scribe, such as is often met with in medieval manuscripts.
There is nothing in the material found in one version and not in the
other which seems less likely to have come from Rolle's pen than
what is common to both. In connexion with the fantastic series of
similes applied to Christ in B, comparison may be made to a simile
quoted from the Job (supra, p. 140), where the soul touched with
the fire of love is compared to cheese.
Both texts of the Meditations, however, are singularly barren of
passages unmistakably characteristic of Rolle, and yet, almost in this
very fact, we may see what the other works have led us to expect.
Mystic raptures do not appear here, because the prevailing mood is
strongly penitential. Richard, in the four manuals just described
(three of them also in English), concerns himself in part with lower
stages of spirituality than have been his concern in most of his
works, and for persons beginning the religious life he always tells us
T


282
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH FIECES
that a penitential period is necessary: 'pluribus annis die nocteque
nichil aliud videbantur agere nisi vigiliis, ieiuniis, leccionibus et
oracionibus celestibus meditacionibus inseruire', he says in the
Canticles (f. 154); but in the Judica A, the work of his early youth,
he already considers that he himself is at least passing beyond this
stage. He tells his friend: 'Scitote quoniam in principio durum
laborem habebitis, sed paulatim in amorem Christi crescentes, inef-
fabile gaudium inuenietis' (f. 16); he thereupon goes on to mention
the joy which he has attained. In most of his works he asserts that
his life is 'jubilus', and he says in the Incendium:
'Cumque doctores nostri asserant perfectos debere lacrimari, et quo
perfecciores sunt, eo in fletibus sunt uberiores, tam pro miseriis uie quam
pro dilacione patrie. Mihi quidem langor mirabilis in diuino amore
affluit; et compunccio fletuum corporalium pro interne suauitatis magni-
tudine cessauit' (p. 270).
The Contra Amatores Mundi gives a long discussion to the same
purpose, and acknowledges: 'Considerabam sane quod nisi prius
flerem quam amauissem, ad illud canorum solacium non peruenissem'
(f. 175). Nevertheless, 'Flere autem et gemere sunt iam nouiter
conuersorum et incipiencium ac proficiencium, sed iubilare et canere
non est nisi perfectorum' (ibid., and also Emendatio, fol. 18).
In the manuals Rolle specially urges meditation on the Passion.
Thus in the Emendatio:
'Est autem meditatio bona de passione Christi & morte, & saepe recor-
dari quantas poenas et miserias sponte suscepit pro salute nostra, in
ambulando & praedicando, famem simul frigus & calorem, improperia &
maledicta sustinendo. . . . Aestimo, quod haec meditatio vtilior sit omni-
bus alijs, his qui nouiter ad Christum conuertuntur' (fol. 10º);
in the Ego Dormio:
'For-pi in pis (second) degre of lufe pou sal be fulfilde with pe grace of
þe haly gaste þat þou sal noght haue na sorow ne grutchyng bot for gastly
thyng, als for þi synnes & other mennes, & after þe lufe of Ihesu Criste, &
in thynkyng of his passyon. And I wil þat þou haue it mykel in mynde,
for it wyll kyndel þi hert to sett at noght al þe gudes of þis worlde, & þe
ioy parof, & to desyre byrnandly be lyght of heuen, with aungels and
halowes' (pp. 54-5);
in the Commandment:
'I wate na thyng þat swa inwardly sal take þi hert to couayte goddes
lufe and to desyre þe ioy of heuen & to despyse þe vanitees of þis worlde,
as stedfast thynkyng of þe myscheues & greuous woundes & of þe dede of
Ihesu Criste' (p. 69).


MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
283
In the Form of Living, which is written to a recluse evidently far
advanced in spirituality, no special subjects of meditation are
mentioned (cf. pp. 30, 41, 48). In the early Melum Rolle writes
of himself:
3
'O pie Ihesu, quam penaliter percuciebaris! Pectus meum pietas tue
passionis penetrauit, et sagittauit me sanguis quem sudasti.¹ Memoria
misericordie tue mentis mee medullas migrauit ; et funditus feror a
febribus funeris vulnerum tuorum virtute, amplius non vacillans cum
viciosis' (f. 228).
It is evident from these quotations that Richard might have
written meditations on the Passion, since he approved of that form of
devotion so highly; and not improbable that if he did so, he would
have written for novices, emphasizing a mood of penitence rather
than of ecstasy. This is what has apparently happened: the medita-
tions we have ascribed to him seek at every point to move the reader
to tears, and the joys of the mystic are hardly hinted at. The
following somewhat colourless passages come as close as anything
found in the Meditations to what we have been accustomed to find in
Rolle's other works:
'Quikne me, lord Ihesu Crist, & gyf me grace þat I may fele som of þe
sauowre of gostely swetnesse' (Version A, p. 87); 'Lord, I wele in my
thougt þe rode foot take in my armys... gret comforte it schal to me be
with lykande thou3t. . . . Come þanne at þi wylle, heuenelyche leche, and
lyzten me sone os þou my nede knowyst; a sparkle of þi passyoun, of loue
and of reuthe, kyndele in myn herte to quycnen it with, so þat al brennyng
in loue ouur al thynge, al þe world I may forgete, and bape me in þi blood.
Dan schal I blesse þe tyme þat I fele me so styred to be of þi grace, þat al
wordely wele and fleschely lykyng ageyn þe thou3t of þi deth lykyth me
nouzt' (ibid., p. 90).
Both passages recur in the second version with slight variations
(pp. 100, 103). Perhaps the most mystical passage found in the new
material added in the second version is the following:
'Now, swete Ihesu, graunte me grace to touche pee wip criynge merci
for my synnes, wiþ desiris to gostly contemplacioun, wip amendinge of my
lijf and contynuaunce in goodnes, in stodie to fulfille pin heestis, & delicat
abidinge in mynde of thi passioun ' (p. 97).
The same is found in Latin in the compilation in Roy. 8 C. xv
(f. 166).
The first text gives two colourless references to the Holy Name. The
first is :
'... þe stynke of my schame, the sorwe of my soule, þe fylthe of my
1 fudasti C.
2 migraui C.
3 o C.
T 2


284
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
mouthe, 3yf I lykke þere-onne it fylyth þi name: so may I no manere þe
swetnesse of the taste' (p. 87);
this passage, and what precedes and follows, are full of alliteration
and of rhyme, both of which are lost in the compressed rewriting
found in the second version (p. 100). Again we find :
'Blessyd is þat ilke man, gloriows lorde swete Ihesu, þat ony thyng in
hys lyue may soffren for þi sake of bodyly peyne or any worldys schame,
or ony fleschely lustys gostely or bodyli for þe loue of þi name holly for-
sake, or may in any poynt folewe be here wyth pe schadowe of þi cros, þat
is scharpe lyuynge' (p. 89, omitted in the similar passage in the second
text, p. 101).
It might appear that in both these cases the 'Name' was introduced
for the sake of the rhyme with 'shame'-this being a kind of orna-
ment frequent in the first text: however, both versions continually
address 'swete Ihesu', and may therefore be said already to show
the devotion to the Holy Name in action in its lower form of 'crying
with the mouth'.
The only other characteristic of the Meditations which strongly
suggests Rolle is the ornamental style, especially characteristic of the
first version. Whatever the complicated relation between the two
versions may be, it is certain that some of the variations in the
second version are due to corrupt text, for that is the only plausible
explanation for the loss of the alliteration and rhyme. The puzzling
nature of this relation may be understood, however, when it is
observed that the second text sometimes uses alliteration not found
in the first. For example, where the first text gives :
'it is tokenyng of my deth, and fylthe of my synne, þat slayn hath my
sowle & stoke is pere-Inne, and stoppyth al þe sauoure, þat I may nouzt
the fele' (p. 87),
the second is equally though differently alliterative, suppressing the
rhyme :
'my synnes ben so manye and so wickid þat þei han schit out deuocioun
& han stoppid al þe sauour of swetnes fro my soule' (p. 100).
Though, on the whole, alliteration is much more frequent and
extensive in the first version than the second, it occurs often enough
also in the latter to rule out the possibility of that text (which
seems to be the one used for the Latin compilation) having been
originally written in Latin. Evidence to the same effect may be
found in the rhyming phrase 'to loue pee swete Ihesu, moost needful,
moost meedful, & moost spedeful', which occurs (p. 94) in the new
material of the second text.


MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
285
Rolle's Meditations on the Passion seem to betray a fondness on
his part for the Stimulus Amoris, for he echoes it here (pp. 86, 99;
cf. Stim. Am., Pt. I, chapter 4) in a considerable passage on the
Blessed Virgin, carefully translated. The older work (in Part I,
which treats of the Passion) has probably influenced his in matters of
style: both use the interrogative and apostrophes freely, and some
other direct reminiscences occur, as in the author's emotional refer-
ences to his stony heart, his desire to share the wounds of Christ, etc.
Some of the elements which the two works have in common are
probably derived from the meditations and prayers ascribed to
St. Anselm, and here (though the unknown author of the Stimulus
was probably influenced by those works) Rolle in part took his
influence at first hand, for reminiscences occur in his Meditations not
derived from the Stimulus, along with others which are. The interro-
gative, and the emotional references to the hard heart and the desire
to share in the wounds are both found here (Migne, 158, cc. 808,
903); and Meditatio XVIII heads many paragraphs with 'Gratias
tibi ago', which is probably the source of Rolle's continual 'Swete
Ihesu I thanke pe'. Altogether the purpose of Rolle's work is
exactly that described in a Meditatio of St. Anselm's as follows:
Fac, precor, Domine, me gustare per amorem quod gusto per cogni-
tionem; sentiam per affectum quod gusto per intellectum ' (c. 769).
In the first version occurs a stanza of alliterative verse: 'Gloryouse
lord so doolfully dyzte, so rewfully streynyd up-ryzt on pe rode. . .'
(p. 86), which (in a slightly variant form) makes part of an alliterative
lyric occurring among lyrics ascribed to Rolle and printed by Horst-
mann under his name (p. 72). Rolle's authorship will be discussed
infra, p. 295.
It will be seen from the facts reviewed that Rolle's authorship of
the Meditations cannot be proved decisively by internal evidence, as
is the case with almost every other work ascribed to him by good
manuscript authority. It may be, however, that if we had the original
text or texts, Rolle's characteristics would appear as clearly as in
other works. We have already seen that the discovery of a new
manuscript has revealed more Northern forms in the second version.
At the same time there is nothing in the Meditations positively unlike
Rolle, and they supply in English what he urges in his English
epistles; the Meditations may have directly followed the recommenda-
tion, or vice versa. Further confirmation of his authorship may lie in
the use of the Holy Name of Jesus, and in the frequent occurrence
of alliteration and rhyme.


286
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
ADDITIONAL NOTE
Another English Meditation on the Passion, said by Horstmann to
be certainly a work of Rich. Rolle' (i. 112), should be mentioned
here. It begins 'Now open þi hert wyde to thynke on pase paynes
þat Cryst for þe thoolede' (ibid.), and passes into a description of
the 'Three Arrows of Doomsday'. Two modernized versions have
been printed under Rolle's name (v. supra, pp. 17-18, Burton, and
Hodgson, Minor Works). Horstmann prints the work from two
manuscripts, in both of which occur genuine works of Rolle; neither
ascribed the Meditation to him, and in general there seems no reason
to do so. It is more colourless than the Meditations which bear his
name, in spite of Horstmann's dictum that it is written in his best
style, in his peculiar rhythmical prose' (i. 104). The rhythmical
prose is not more pronounced than is found in many works of
the time (v. supra, pp. 78 sq.).
"
In the Ingilby MS. containing Rolle's English Psalter (v. supra,
p. 172) the Meditation just cited makes part of the Holy Book Gratia
Dei' along with the tracts entitled 'Grace', 'Prayer', and 'Daily
Work', printed by Horstmann from two very disjointed and confused
texts (i. 132-56, 300-21). These, he says, 'can safely be ascribed to
R. Rolle' (i. 104). One text occurs in the Thornton MS., the other
in Ar. 507 (from which comes also one text of the Meditation just
cited, to which there is a cross-reference in the tract, p. 149). The
three tracts and the Meditation make a continuous whole¹ in the
Ingilby MS., and probably this was the original arrangement.
The opening of the Ingilby text is that printed from the Thornton
MS., p. 305 (beginning 'Gracia dei... Grace pe appostille settis
be-fore as ledare'). As I have shown, there was a 'Liber Gracia
Dei... in Anglico' left in a Northern will (1449), and the fact that
in the Ingilby text of that title a large section is to be traced to the
Ancren Riwle, and other sections to the Abbey of the Holy Ghost and
the Mirror of St. Edmund does not mean that the 'Gratia Dei' did
not have its own identity, though evidently its author was not notable
for originality. The Meditation in question may be one of the original
parts of his work, or he may have borrowed it. There is a good deal
1 M. Konrath in reviewing Horstmann conjectured that they made part of the
same work (Angl., 96, p. 282).
2 Now Huntington MS. 148.
3 Mod. Lang. Rev., xviii. 6. I regret that in this article (on 'Some Fourteenth-
Century Borrowings from Ancren Riwle') I have given the wrong name to the
testator in the will in question. The date given, however, is correct.


MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION
287
of unevenness in the work, and some parts of the sections printed by
Horstmann as separate tracts seem by their successfully colloquial
style almost to suggest Rolle. It is possible that scraps of lost works
of his have been drawn on; the sections on Grace, Prayer, and Daily
Work suggest him more than the Meditation, though there is nothing
in the latter that makes his authorship impossible. In spite of
the reminiscences of his style in the section on Daily Work, however,
the following would probably make his authorship impossible:
'God when he comes to his lufars: he gifs þaim to taste how swete he
is; & are þai mai fulli fele: he fra þaim wendis, & als an Egle he spredis
his wengis & aboue þaim risis als if he said: "som dele mai ze fele: how
swete I am; bot if ze wil fele pis swetenes to be full: flies vp after me, &
lift zoure hertis vp to me þar I am sittand on mi fader right hand: & pare
sal ze be fulfillid in ioie of me". God comes til his lufars: til comforte
þaim; he partis fra þaim: for pai suld þe mare meke þaim, & þat þai suld
noght ouer-mikil pride þaim of þe gladdyng þat þai haf of his come; for
if þi spouse ware ai with þe: pou wold late ouer-wele of pe selfe & despice
oper; &, if he ware ai with þe: pou wold rete it to kynde & noght to
grace' (p. 147; lacking in the Thornton MS., but present in the Ingilby).
As we have seen (supra, pp. 70 sq.), Richard Rolle declared that
mystic joy was perpetual, though most mystical writers felt it to
be intermittent. The passage quoted shows, therefore, an essential
divergence from his experience. It will also have shown the superior
style of the piece, which would suggest that it was written by one of
the leaders among fourteenth-century mystics.
PART III: ENGLISH LYRICS
The question of the authenticity of the English lyrics ascribed to
the hermit of Hampole is one of the most complicated and interesting
involved in the study of his canon. The different works in question
will therefore be discussed more in detail than other compositions.
Just as in beginning the general study of Rolle's canon it was
necessary, in order to provide a criterion, to describe at some length
the Canticles and the Office, of which the authenticity did not need
to be proved, so in beginning the study of the English lyrics it will
be necessary to consider first some lyrics of which the authenticity
may be taken for granted. These are the four lyrics occurring in the
English epistles. Though, as we shall see, Rolle probably adapted
to his own purposes part of one of these, yet it seems practically
certain that he attached them to the epistles much in their present


288
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
form, and himself composed most of their lines. This follows from
the fact that they occur generally unchanged in the manuscripts, and
are provided with introductions which make integral parts of the text.
The four lyrics will be considered one by one, and the introduc-
tions quoted:
(1) The first lyric occurs in chapter 7 of the Form of Living, as
follows:
'And when pou ert at þi mete: loue ay god in þi thoght, at ilk a morsel,'
& say þus in þi hert: Loued be pou keyng,' etc. (p. 30).
Eight lines of irregular verse follow, built on two rhymes only,
written with no more sense of poetic form than a child might have,
whose idea of poetry was to bring in a rhyme wherever he could, and
follow some sort of rhythm. We can hardly deny that such verse-
form would be characteristic of Rolle. In his Latin prose--especially
in the Melum, the most extreme example—he shows in a different
medium the same tendency to take his effect wherever he can get it,
shifting from one rhythm to another, and from alliterative to plain
prose, with no apparent purpose in his style except that of getting
somehow the greatest amount of ornament. The formlessness,
therefore, of the lyrics which are interspersed in the epistles may
almost be called indicative of his authorship.
Evidence of a more positive kind appears in the substance of the
first lyric, short as it is. We get hints of the devotion to the thought
of Jesus in the line 'Ihesu all my ioyng', and of the 'canor' in the
conclusion pou gyf me grace to syng, þe sang of þi louyng'.
The present lyric also occurs in the anonymous Lay Folks Mass-
Book, which, therefore, Horstmann seeks to ascribe to Rolle (ii, p. xlii).
This conjecture seems unwarranted, since no other signs appear of
his authorship. The likelihood is that the author of the Mass-Book
is here simply quoting a popular prayer.3
1 Cf. Incendium: 'ad mensam eius memoriam habere poterimus eciam in
ipsis gustibus cibi et potus' (p. 267); Emendatio: Dum comedis aut bibis,
memoria dei tui qui te pascit a mente nunquam recedat' (fol. 6º).
2EETS. Orig. Ser., 71; Horstmann, ii. 1-8.
The lines introducing the lyric (at the Elevation) would bear out this
opinion:
'Swiik prayere pen pou make
als lykes best þe to take;-
sondry men prayes sere,
Ilk mon on his best manere.
Short prayere shulde be, with-outen drede,
and per-with pater noster & po crede.


ENGLISH LYRICS
289
Horstmann's ascription to Rolle of the Mass-Book resembles
earlier cases of wrong attribution to the hermit. A work not his is
given to him because the reader recognizes signs of his influence.
(2) In chapter 8 of the Form of Living, the second lyric is intro-
duced as follows (in the account of the third and highest degree of
love):
'And ymang other affeccions & sanges, pou may in þi langyng syng
þis in þi hert til þi lorde Ihesu, when pou couaytes hys comyng, & pi gang-
yng: When will how com to comforth me, and bryng me owt of care, &
gyf me pe pat I may se, hauand euer-mare?' (p. 34).
This short lyric is characterized by the irregular verse-form,
alliteration, and ecstatic theme and language which we expect from
Rolle. It can hardly be written in stanzas. Longing for death was
always, as we have seen, a dominant mood of the mystic, and it gave
a stanza to the hymn Jesu Dulcis Memoria, as follows:
'Desidero te millies,
Mi Jesu; quando venies?
Me laetum quando facies?
Me de te quando saties?' (stanza 23).
Considering the other reminiscences of the Jesu Dulcis Memoria in
Richard's works (v. supra, p. 100), it is probable that we have here the
source of the opening of the present lyric, and to some extent of its
metre.
Short as the piece is, it abounds in reminiscences of the other
works, both English and Latin. The following paraphrase from the
Melum occurs :
'I stand in still mowrnyng of al
lufelyest of lare ... es lufe langyng,
It drawes me til my day: Pe band
of swete byrnyng, for it haldes me
ay Fra place & fra plaiyng, til
þat I get may Pe syght of my
'En solus suspiro, in caumate
consummor dulcissimi amoris, et
ligat latibulum capax caloris dilec-
cio stringens, dum trahit me torri-
dum igne suaui ad diem dilectam
uis liquidi languoris, nam tenet me
If þou of ane be vn-puruayde,
I set here ane pat may be sayde;
pof I merk hit here in lettir,
þou may chaunge hit for a bettir' (p. 6).
These words show the liberal attitude of the time towards all material obser-
vances, which Rolle himself had done much to build up. Following the lyric
in the Form he gives permission for another to be used if more suitable (p. 30);
and the same elasticity in his directions for devotion appears in his chapter
on Meditation in the Emendatio.


290
ENGLISH PIECES
MISCELLANEOUS
swetyng, Pat wendes neuer away'
(p. 34).
This extract illustrates the
alliteration of the lyric.
taliter quemadmodum inclusus a
ludo lasciuo donec leticia in lumen
leuatus lucrer cum lucidis uisionem
uiuificam melliflui mei uitalis vera-
citer et nunquam vacilla[n]t[is]'¹
(f. 248).
formlessness of metre and the irregular
The first couplet of this lyric (slightly variant) is introduced into
a Northern Meditation on the Passion in B. Mus. Roy. MS. 17 C. xvii,
early 15th cent. (f. 90): this is derived from Ego Dormio (v. infra).
(3) The third lyric occurs in Ego Dormio:
'or thynk on hym principaly, þat þi thoght be ay hauand hym in
mynde. And thynk oft on his passyon (Meditatio de passione Cristi): My
keyng þat water grette, and blode swette...Pou be my lufyng, þat I þi
lufe may syng.—If þou wil thynk þis ilk day, þou sal fynde swetnes pat
sal draw þi hert vp, þat sal gar þe fal in gretyng, & in grete langyng til
Ihesu' (pp. 56-8).
This alliterative lyric is many times longer than those already
described, and it more than once changes its length of line and
system of rhyme. It falls into two parts, one of which is a realistic
meditation on the Passion, and the other an ecstatic 'love-longing'.
In the first part is inserted a verse-translation of part of the
Oratio II ascribed to St. Anselm (Migne, 158, c. 861), which exists
in manuscripts of before Rolle's day (see Carleton Brown, Register,
Nos. 301, 2606, and Fourteenth-Century Lyrics, No. 1).²
This part also contains a translation of the sentences Respice in
Faciem Christi which follow in the Oratio the Candet nudatum
pectus just cited: here, however, Rolle does not utilize the English
verse-paraphrase which was current in his day (Brown, Lyrics, No. 2),
but he makes his own translation. As Professor Brown notes
(Lyrics, p. 242), "the "Respice" passage, with only a few verbal
changes', is inserted in Rolle's Incendium (p. 221).
Finally, the present lyric paraphrases some lines from the Incendium,
as follows:
'Dryuen he was to dole...
'Ipse uero Christus quasi nostro
god of mageste was dyand on þe amore languet, dum tanto ardore ut
1 vacillat MSS.
2 Professor Brown assigns the Latin original (Candet nudatum pectus) to St.
Augustine, whose name is sometimes attached to many of the Meditations and
Prayers otherwise given to St. Anselm. On this subject see my article on
'The Mystical Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechies', p. 183, n. 65. Wilmart (p. xiv)
assigns the piece to Jean of Fécamp.


ENGLISH LYRICS
291
rude. Bot suth þan es it sayde
þat lufe ledes pe ryng; þat hym
sa law hase layde, bot lufe it
was na thyng. Ihesu, receyue
my hert, & to pi lufe me bryng:
al my desyre pou ert, bot I
couete pi comyng. Pow make me
clene of synne... kyndel me
fire with-in, þat I pi lufe may
wyn, and se þi face Ihesu in ioy
þat neuer sal blyn.... Pe I
couete, pis worlde noght, & for
it I fle; pou ert þat I haue soght:
þi face when may I see?' (pp.
57-8).
nos adquireret ad crucem festinauit :
sed uerum dicitur quia amor preit
in tripudio, et coream ducit. Quod
Christum ita demissum posuit, nihil
nisi amor fuit. Ueni Saluator meus
animam meam consolari! stabilem me
fac in dileccione, ut amare nunquam
desistam!... Reminiscere miseri-
cordie tue, dulcissime Ihesu, ut lucens
sit uita mea uirtute repleta. . . . Ex
quo enim sancto amore mens mea in-
censa est, positus sum in langore ui-
denti maiestatem tuam... despicio
dignitatem terre, nec curo de ullo
honore.... Quando amare inceperam,
amor tuus cor meum suscepit, et nihil
me concupiscere permisit, preter amo-
rem; deinde tu Deus de dulci lumine
animam meam inardescere fecisti, ex
quo per te et in te mori potero, et tri-
sticiam non sentire' (p. 276).
The relation here between Rolle's prose and verse is about such
as we have seen between two of his prose works (v. supra, pp. 82, 202).
He repeats his substance exactly, and sometimes his words. The
passage here quoted from the Incendium bears comparison with the
second lyric in the Form, just discussed, as well as with others later
to be considered: the present lyric, like the former, is full of
reminiscences of Rolle's Latin works. As usual the name 'Jesus'
and the fire of love' are both conspicuous.
6
(4) The fourth lyric of the epistles occurs at the end of Ego
Dormio (p. 60):
'Now I wryte a sang of lufe, þat þou sal delyte in when pow ert lufand
Ihesu Criste.--My sange es in syhtyng, my lyfe es in langynge, til Ipe se
my keyng, so fayre in þi schynyng....
This lyric is a trifle longer than the last mentioned, alliterative, of
variable metre, and entirely given up to 'love-longing'. It declares
in words reminiscent of many prose passages: 'I wil na thyng bot
anely þe, þat all my will ware.' It repeats exactly the opening lines
of the third lyric, and abounds in reminiscences both of the other
lyrics and of the prose works. It continually uses the name of
'Jesus', sometimes with phrases similar to those found in other
works, as in the following instance:


292
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
'Ihesu my dere & my drewry,...
Ihesu my myrth & melody, when
will pow com my keyng? Ihesu
my hele & my hony, my whart &
my comfortyng' (p. 60).
'O amor meus! O mel meum !
O cithara mea! O psalterium
meum et canticum tota die!...
quando uenies ad me ut assumas
tecum suscipientem tibi spiritum
meum?' (Incendium, p. 245).
Lines suggesting this devotion are found in works older than
Rolle's time, as follows:
'Ihesu min hali loue min sikere swetnesse (?). Ihesu min heorte. Mi
sel, mi saule hele. Ihesu swete, ihesu mi leof, mi lif, mi leome. Min
halwi, Min huniter, þu al þet ic hopie. Ihesu mi weole mi wunne. ...
Ontend me wip þe blase of þi leitinde loue, let me beo mi (þi ?) leofmon
and her to loue þe, louie pe louende louerd, wa [is me] pet ic am swa
fremede wip pe... hwine con ich þe woze wip swete luue, uor alle þinge
swetest, alre pinge leoflucest and luue wurdest' (On Ureisun of Oure
Louerde, EETS. Orig. Ser., 34, pp. 183 sq.).
'Ihesu swete ihesu mi druð mi derling mi drihtin mi healend, mi huni-
ter mi halewei. Swetter is munegunge of pe þen mildeu o muže. Hwa
ne mei luue pi luueli leor? Hwat herte is swa hard þat ne mei to-melte i
þe munegunge of þe? ... Nu mi derewurde druð, mi luue, mi lif, mi leof,
mi luueleuest, mi heorte haliwei, mi sawle swetnesse. Pu art lufsum on
leor, þu art al schene, al engles lif is ti neb to bihalden.... A ihesu mi
swete ihesu leue pat te luue of þe beo al mi likinge' (pe Wohunge of Ure
Lauerd, ibid., pp. 269–71).
The sentence last quoted is repeated as a refrain throughout the
piece-in all, ten times; it ends the whole. Both rhapsodies are
full of emotional meditation on the Passion, and many more lines
suggesting Rolle could be quoted. Enough has probably been given,
however, to show that these pieces, which occur in manuscripts of
the first half of the thirteenth century, and are probably much older,
already give many of the characteristics of Rolle's mystical devotions.
Like the latter, they also probably show the influence of the hymn
Jesu Dulcis Memoria (v. supra, p. 100, and Romanic Review, ix,
pp. 186 sq.).¹
The special characteristic of the present lyric might be called, in
mystical language, its 'languor', and though the Carthusian Richard
of Mount Grace at the end of the next century said that this was not
a special characteristic of Rolle (v. infra, p. 416), many examples
could be brought from his Latin writings. The following almost
reproduce the opening lines of the lyric, already quoted:
1 Cf. my 'Origin of the Ancren Riwle' (Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Am.,
xxxiii. 536).


ENGLISH LYRICS
293
'Ideo enim amore langueo, quia quem diligo in suo decore cernere tota
mente concupisco' (Incendium, p. 216).
'Ego deficio pre dileccione et in sanctis suspiriis totum tempus meum
expendo' (ibid., p. 258).
We shall find the first lines of the present lyric used in several
others ascribed to Rolle. A repetition in other lyrics ascribed to
him makes it also important to note some parallels from the prose
works to the couplet
'My setell ordayne for me & sett þou me par-in: for pen mon we neuer
twyn' (p. 61).
It has already been noted (supra, pp. 71, 119 sq., etc.) that Rolle is
very confident of his place in heaven, and he is very precise on
this point to his disciples:
'for pis trauel pou sal coin till reste pat lastes ay, & syt in a setel of ioy,
with aungels' (Form of Living, p. 41).
'For if pow stabil þi lufe, & be byrnande whils pou lyfes here: with-
owten dowte, þi settel es ordaynde ful heghe in heuen, & ioyful before
goddes face, amang his haly aungels' (Ego Dormio, p. 51).
The progress of the sanctified soul towards this appointed place is
described in a variety of alliterative Latin phrases:
'Ac degent cum dilecto quem desiderabant, sanctissime suscepte in
sedes securas' (Melum, f. 232▾).
'Suscepte sunt ad seraphyn cum ab hiis secedunt. Siquidem suspirant
incessanter vt subleuantur in sedes quas sciunt sempiternas' (ibid.,
f. 236).
'Sic libere languens, in laude delector, adherens amplexibus osculis
anhelo, ut semper suspensus in celicum sonorum euolem agiliter in aulam
amati... et fugi falsidicos figmentum refrenans uolans uelociter in cytha-
ram sublimem, ut fruar in fine festo futuro vultus in uisu perpetui splen-
doris assistens cum celicis in sede supprema' (ibid., f. 248▾; cf. also
Incendium, pp. 182, 184, 253, 258, etc.).
As usual, in the present study, in making quotations to illustrate
parallels for one idea, parallels are provided for others: the 'languor'
in the last quotation may be noted, the expectation that the mystic
will sit with the seraphim (v. supra, p. 88), and parallels to the
following lines in the present lyric:
'me langes to þi hall, to se þe þan al.'
'til I pe se my keyng, so fayre in þi schynyng?
'til I it hafe in syght, his face sa fayre & bryght.
Thus the usual close relation exists between the lyrics of Rolle's
epistles and his other works. In some of the Latin treatises-


294
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
•
notably perhaps in the Incendium and the Emendatio-we find
apostrophes inserted to Love, the Divine Lover, etc., and an ecstatic
meditation in prose has been quoted from the Emendatio (supra,
p. 245) which is offered by Rolle as a type of what such a piece
should be. In other words, we have analogies in Rolle's Latin works
for the introduction of the lyrics in the epistles.
The only attributions to Rolle of English lyrics other than those
which occur in his epistles are given in MS. Dd. v. 64, III, (late 14th
cent.), and Longleat MS. 29 (15th cent.), already described (supra,
pp. 34 sq.). The latter includes lyrics in the collection dedicated to
Margaret Kirkeby, and the former opens its series with a heading in
which Rolle's name does not appear, but concludes with his name.
Another lyric follows, which is concluded also with his name. It is
uncertain just how many pieces are intended to be attributed to him
in this volume. The first five are run together as prose.
'Hic incipiunt cantus compassionis Christi & consolacionis
eterni (!)'. The first two poems are 'complaints of Christ', to which
this title probably refers. Rolle inserts a prose piece of the same
type in his Melum (ff. 228–9).
I.
'Vnkynde man, gif kepe til me...
In erth mi grace, in heuen my blysse.'
As Hahn has shown (p. 41), this is a translation of the first half of
the lyric popularly ascribed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux, though
probably by Philip de Grèves (see Hauréau, Les Poèmes attribués à
St. Bernard, Paris, 1890, p. 76). Horstmann points out that another
text is found in the Vernon MS., and during the course of the
present investigation another was found in MS. Ii. i. 2, f. 126b
(15th cent.), where the first fourteen lines (the limit of the translation)
are copied parallel with the original, with the heading: 'He pleynep
him of oure vnkyndenes porouz pe moup of seynt bernard. . . .' The
sixteen concluding lines of the poem, which seem to be original,
complete 'the complaint of Christ' in a conventional manner, with-
out any special sign of Rolle's authorship. The fifteen rhymed
couplets are regular in structure, and not alliterative. Rolle's
connexion with the lyric seems doubtful, though possible. Professor
Brown cites another copy in Harl. MS. 4012.
II.
'Lo lemman swete, now may pou se...
And I aske pe noght elles.'
This lyric of twelve lines is also spoken in the person of Christ.
The line
'pat I pi lufe sa dere haue boght'


ENGLISH LYRICS
295
reproduces one in the previous lyric, and both are probably due to
the same author. The lines are regularly rhymed (aabccbddeffe),
without alliteration. The address to the soul as 'lemman swete
might suggest Rolle, but this mode of address was old before his
time, as I have shown in my article on 'The Mystical Lyrics of the
Manuel des Pechiez' (pp. 161 sq.). Rolle's authorship seems doubtful,
though possible.
"
III. My trewest tresowre sa trayturly was taken...
Pat pou be beryd in my brest, & bryng me to blysse.'
This lyric on the Passion is entirely made up of apostrophes
addressed to Christ in alliterative four-line stanzas (rhyming abab)
that take occasionally a Northern licence as to length of line. The
occurrence of the fifth stanza in Rolle's Meditation on the Passion
(v. supra, p. 285), the ecstatic style and sentiment of many of the lines,
and the alliteration of the whole give us some ground for believing
that Rolle may be the author. However, the diction at no point
echoes his usual phrases, and the whole lyric reaches a height of
poetic beauty nowhere else attained in any lyric ascribed to Rolle.
His use of the present poem is not sure proof of his authorship: we
have already seen him appropriating the older Candet nudatum pectus
(supra, p. 290), and it is probable that he would use in his own
devotions more than one lyric not of his own composition. The MS.
attribution is too indefinite at this point to go very far as an argument
for Rolle's authorship, for it is uncertain how far back the colophon
naming Rolle is meant to apply. In any case, his use of some of its
lines shows that it was a favourite with him.
IV. 'Ihesu, als þow me made & boght,
þou be my lufe & all my thoght...
Pat I haue done ill, Ihesu forgyf þow me:
And suffer me neuer to spill, Ihesu for þi pyte. Amen.'
This is a penitential lyric made up of two quatrains (the first
rhyming aaaa, the second abab, both of lines of four stresses),
followed by a quatrain (aaaa, lines of six stresses). Each stanza
begins with the word 'Ihesu'. The structure of this poem, more
than that of any other in the series, suggests the irregular arrange-
ment of rhyme and of number of stresses in the lyrics of Rolle's
epistles the repetition of Jesus' also suggests his authorship. The
penitential character of the lyric would make it appear that, if it were
written by him, it was intended for the use of some follower low in
the ranks of the religious life.


296
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
V. 'On foure maners may a man wyt if he be owte of dedely syn.
De ferth, if he haue sorow for hys synnes þat he hase done.'
...
This is a prose scrap giving a category much on the lines of several
which Rolle gives in his manuals as an assistance to beginners in the
religious life (see the English epistles and Emendatio, passim). I do
not recognize it as derived from any of his extant works, but it is
such as would be possible to any medieval Christian, and it might
have been quoted from Rolle's conversation or copied by him in
a commonplace-book. The fact that it breaks into the series of
'cantica' shows how indefinite are the limits of the series of lyrics.
VI. 'When Adam delf & Eue span, spir, if pou wil spede,
Whare was þan þe pride of man, þat now merres his mede?…….
With I&E, syker pou be, pare es nane, I þe hete,
Of al þi kyth, wald slepe pe with, a nyght vnder schete.'
This is the only lyric in the present series which it would appear
impossible to ascribe to Rolle. It gives not a hint of mysticism, and
its careful six-line stanzas show considerable metrical facility.
Neither style nor sentiments give any hint of Rolle's authorship. Only
the alliteration suggests his school.
It might at first sight appear that the opening lines of this poem
bear so close a resemblance to the text of John Ball's famous sermon
on Blackheath that the poem must therefore belong to the period
of the Peasants' Revolt. This does not, however, necessarily follow.
Ball may have caught up for his text and adapted a folk-saying long
current (perhaps derived from the German),' or he may even
(especially since he is said to have spent some time at York) have
met this Northern poem and taken a hint from it for his rhyme. The
first lines of the lyric-and indeed the whole-give no sign of the
Socialism of the late fourteenth century: the refrain 'With I and E'
occurs in several poems of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.'
The present poem contains nothing to show its date, being made up
of commonplaces of ascetic theology as old as the Debate of the Body
and Soul and the Poema Morale. Its appearance here shakes our
confidence in the scribe's authority, if he did intend to include the
whole series in the ascription to Rolle.
1 It is quoted in Edinburgh Univ. MS. 114* (15th cent., formerly owned by
the Canons Regular at Nuys) as follows:
'Waer was do dey edelman
Do Adam groeff end Eva span?' (f. 324).
I quote the Catalogue of MSS.
2 See W. Heuser, Angl., xxvii. 282 sq. For Ball's life see D. N. B.


ENGLISH LYRICS
297
A second text of this poem, with two extra stanzas on Doomsday,
is printed by Horstmann, i. 367-8, from the Thornton MS.
VII. 'All synnes sal þou hate, thorow castyng of skylle,
And 3herne to gang in þe gate pat es with-owten ille...
Owre setels heuen ar with-in-me lyst sytt in myne.
Lufe Criste & hate syn, & sa purches pe pine.'
This spirited little poem (mostly treating the Day of Judgement),
with its vigorous diction and direct discourse, suggests Rolle's style,
though it presents what would be only the most elementary form of
his message, such as he was in the habit of occasionally directing to
the worldly. It is written in four-line stanzas rhyming on one rhyme
medially and another rhyme finally (as do the stanzas in Rolle's
Canticum Amoris): the lines are, however, shorter than in the Latin
poem (in which the half-lines have three stresses). Though the
number of syllables is irregular, apparently each half-line here is
intended to have two stresses. Alliteration is apparent.
The line
'Tumbyl noght fra þe state þat þou hase tane pe tille'
suggests the Form of Living: 'I wyll þat þou be ay clymbande till
Ihesu-warde . . . noght as foles doos: þai begyn in þe heyest degre,
& coms downe till þe lawest' (p. 20). The reference to the 'settles
in the last couplet suggests the conclusion to the second lyric of Ego
Dormio, and the passages of Rolle's prose works quoted in that
connexion.
A second text of No. VII is found in the Longleat MS. (ff. 52-3),
where also it is ascribed to Rolle.
VIII. Mercy es maste in my mynde, for mercy es pat I mast
prayse...
Mercy es bath al & som, par-in I trayst & after pray.'
We have here four stanzas, each made up of six lines, of which the
first four rhyme medially (on one rhyme) and finally (on another
rhyme), and the last two rhyme (medially and finally) as a couplet.
Alliteration is present.
This lyric departs from the subject of most of the others ascribed
to Rolle, and extols 'mercy' instead of 'love'.
In this it runs very
near to the prose work on mercy (v. supra, p. 161), which is given to
Rolle in both manuscripts. As the quotations given in connexion
with the latter work show, Rolle's thoughts sometimes dwelt on the
'mercy of God', in spite of the mystical absorption in love which
U


298
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
was generally his.
as the prose work.
The present poem may express the same mood
Like the latter it gives hints of the author's usual
striving for direct personal relations with 'Jesus', and for 'singing'
in heaven :
'God of al, lorde & keyng, I pray þe Ihesu, be my frende,
Sa þat I may þi mercy syng in þi blys with-owten ende.'
No hints of ecstatic psychology are given, but a touch of romantic
phraseology is retained:
'To pi mercy es my hert noynt, for þer-in al my likyng lyse.'
The phraseology of the more mystical lyrics is also suggested in he
lines:
'Mercy es al my socoure, til lede me to pe land of lyght,
And bring me til þe rial toure, whare I mai se mi god sa bryght.'
With these compare the following bits from the second lyric of Ego
Dormio:
'So fayre in þi fayrehede:
in til þi lyght me lede...
Ihesu... my sokoure:
when may I se þi towre?' (p. 60).
We see here much the same phenomenon that we have observed
with Rolle's early Latin poem to the Virgin : as the ecstatic addresses
to Jesus are there applied to His Mother, so some of the praises of
love are here applied to mercy. This poem is perhaps written for
the use of a novice. The above parallels occur among details easily
imitated and on the whole commonplace, and the poem needs more
external evidence to make Rolle's authorship certain. However, it
is evident that his authorship can be justified on internal evidence,
though the metrical regularity of the piece is perhaps an obstacle.
IX. 'Ihesu god son, lord of mageste,
Send wil to my hert anly to couayte pe...
On hym þat þe boght, hafe al þi thoght, & lede þe in his lare;
Gyf al þi hert til Crist þi qwert, & lufe hym euer-mare.'
This lyric is entirely given up to Rolle's favourite subject of
ecstatic love for 'Jesus', expressed with alliteration and in his
favourite phrases, with many lines both on 'love-longing' and the
Passion repeated exactly from the two lyrics of Ego Dormio. Though
the whole-unlike any lyric of the epistles-is written in monorhymed
quatrains,' the lines sometimes halt a little in the manner we usually
1 Stanza II rhymes aabb.


ENGLISH LYRICS
299
expect from Rolle. All the following lyrics use the same form,
which partly follows the structure of verse in the Canticum Amoris.
The Latin poem and English lyrics are all¹ written in quatrains (aaaa);
but in the former the half-lines are uniform (bbcc), whereas in the
present lyric they vary in length throughout the stanza, and the medial-
rhyme system is quite irregular.
In Lambeth 853 (mid 15th cent.), the present poem occurs
anonymously, inserted into the text of No. X (see EETS. Orig. Ser.,
24, pp. 22-31); in the Longleat MS. it occurs ascribed to Rolle in
the same arrangement, but preceded by an 'Amen', and another
'Amen' follows it before the last part of No. X (according to the
text printed by Horstmann) continues. Thus the Longleat MS.
makes three lyrics of what the Lambeth copy makes one, and the
Cambridge (by different arrangement) two.
X. 'Luf es lyf þat lastes ay, þar it in Criste es feste...
Ihesu, gyf vs grace, as pou wel may, to luf þe with-owten endyng.'
As I have pointed out in another place (v. supra, p. 18), the first
sixty lines of this poem are a close translation of scattered sentences
from chapters 40-1 of the Incendium. Hints from the same
chapters and chapter 42 seem to have been used at times in the
remaining 36 lines. As has already been noted, the other two copies
of this lyric insert No. IX at line 68.
:
We have already seen Rolle in the first lyric of the Ego Dormio
translating a few lines from the Melum and the Incendium (chapter
42), and such incidental use of his Latin as occurs in the latter part
of No. X and in IX we are prepared to expect. The English style
of the present lyric suggests Rolle as the author of the whole we
have alliteration, forceful homely diction, and such familiar phrases as
'pe settel of lufe' (p. 76), '3hernyng', 'louing', 'couaytyng' as
substantives (applied to the Saviour), 'ylk a dele' (1. 27, cf. Ego
Dormio, p. 61), 'bygge & balde' (l. 51, cf. ibid.), 'wele ne wa',
'qwart', 'twyn', and the constant repetition of the name 'Iesus' in
the last lines. If the English poet here was not Rolle, he was
a person who, on internal evidence, would be as likely to write any
of the lyrics as Rolle himself. The quatrains here, as in Rolle's
signed Latin poem and most of the present lyrics, are rhymed aaaa,
but the number of syllables in the line is irregular, the stresses vary,
and the half-lines sometimes rhyme bbbb, sometimes bbcc.
1 But v. supra, p. 298, n.
U 2


300
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
wete a ins
XI. 'Heyle Ihesu, my creatowre, of sorowyng medicyne...
Als thurgh pi grace art my 3hernyng, In til þi lyght me lede.'
Every line of the first stanza of this poem begins 'Heyle Ihesu',
and the first line of every stanza begins either 'Ihesu' or 'Heyle
Ihesu'. The subject of the whole is ecstatic love, with special
reference to the Passion. Thus it is a devotion to the Holy Name
of Jesus', such as Rolle is always recommending. It is full of
reminiscences of the lyrics of the epistles-one of which appears in
the last line, above quoted (cf. supra, p. 298)-and of the lyrics of the
present series. Like most of the latter it is made up of monorhymed
quatrains, with an irregular number of syllables and stresses in the
line and rhyming of the half-lines (not always consistently carried out).
Alliteration is evident. This poem seems certainly to have been
written by the author of the two previous ones, and if he is not Rolle
he is a follower of the hermit saturated in his thought and phrase-
ology. No other copy of this poem is known.
•
XII. All vanitese forsake, if pou his lufe will fele...
Swa þat þow hafe þi keyng in ioy with-owten endyng.'
This again is an exhortation to ecstatic love of Jesus, with
some discussion of the 'love of the world' which in the Latin works
of Rolle so often accompanies his discussion of the 'love of God'.
Alliteration occurs, as well as reminiscences of the lyrics of the Ego
Dormio-among them the ever-popular line
'Wyth lufe wounde me with-in, & til þi lyght me lede'.
The Latin works and the ecstatic lyrics of the present series are also
echoed. In quatrains (aaaa), with the stresses somewhat irregularly
distributed; the half-lines of each stanza rhyming (bbbb). This lyric
certainly seems to have been written by the author of the three
previous ones.
It is among the poems ascribed to Rolle in the Longleat MS.,
but there it follows No. XIV of MS. Dd. v. 64 without a break. It is
found (anonymous, as are all the lyrics there) in the Thornton MS.
in the same arrangement, of which the scribe of Dd. v. 64 is aware,
for he copies at the end of No. XIV the first line of the present lyric,
with the addition 'ut supra' (v. p. 82); so the original arrangement
is probably that of the Thornton MS. (Horstmann, i. 370-2).
XIII. This is the short piece of alliterative prose discussed supra,
p. 272 (Gastly Gladnesse). It is also found in the Longleat MS. in
the group ascribed to Rolle, though not there in juxtaposition with


ENGLISH LYRICS
301
6
the lyrics. Rolle's authorship seems certain, and doubly so because
it is at the end of this piece that the colophon occurs: Expliciunt
cantica diuini amoris secundum Ricardum Hampole.' It is on the
basis of this that his authorship is assumed for others of the series.
The 'cantica' should be noted at the end of the present piece, which
is strictly prose, though its rhythm and alliteration have evidently
seemed to justify to the scribe its inclusion with the lyrics. In the
same way the Melum is called 'Carmen prosaicum' or 'Carmen
Rhythmicum' (v. supra, pp. 38, 116).
XIV. 'Thy ioy be ilk a dele to serue þi god to pay:
For al pis worldes wele, pou sees wytes a-way...
Ioy in pi brest es bredde when pou ert hym lufand:
pi sawle pan hase he fedde in swete lufe brennand.'
The four lines just quoted will show the strongly ecstatic character
of the present lyric, and its consistency with those which have gone
before, and with Rolle's works as a whole. Like the other ecstatic
poems of the present series, it echoes lines from the lyrics of the
epistles, uses alliteration, and is made up of quatrains rhyming aaaa
with a more or less irregular number of syllables. The half-lines
(of three stresses) rhyme bbbb. This poem seems to be all of a piece
with the four lyrics immediately preceding, and appears to be the
work of the same author. The scribe's attribution is precise ('Item
secundum eundem Ricardum'). The present poem exists in the
Longleat MS. (ascribed to Rolle) and in the Thornton MS. anony-
mously (v. supra, p. 300).
The attribution to Rolle in the colophon of Dd. v. 64 (attached to
the prose poem, No. XIII) could plausibly be taken as applying
to lyrics IX, X, XI, and XII; No. XIV (thoroughly congruous with the
four just cited) is specifically given to Rolle. These five lyrics really
make up one homogeneous unit, and it may be that the scribe
intended to include only these in the attribution to Rolle. All
(except No. XI) are included in the ascription to Rolle in the Longleat
MS., which also includes No. VII. This is the only one of the earlier
lyrics written (though in shorter lines) in the stanza-form used in the
last five, and though it does not specifically treat the ecstasy of love,
it gives hints of Rolle's authorship. The ascription in two manu-
scripts need not be questioned.
It has seemed to give a better chance for clear treatment of a very
difficult subject for the whole series of lyrics to be treated together,
but if the method had been followed here, which is used in the rest


302
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
of the present work, the six lyrics just grouped together would have
been put in the canon, the other five under Dubia, and No. VI among
the Spuria. At the same time it must be noted that, in spite of
constant reminiscences of thought and phrase, none of the six lyrics
entirely reproduce the type found in the epistles. In spite of a certain
degree of irregularity of verse-form, the former are more conven-
tionally constructed than the latter: however, in Rolle's juvenile
Latin poem we have an analogy to support the ascription to him of
quatrains of this general type. It may be noted that the lyrics of the
epistles all rhyme now and then medially and finally on a single
rhyme, which gives them a suggestion of the verse-form found in the
other poems. It is possible that the contrast in metrical arrangement
between the two groups is due to the fact that the lyrics of the
epistles, being intended for use in informal devotions, are thought of
as more informal pieces than the supposedly literary lyrics.
It should be noted that the Thornton MS. contains a unique text
of a lyric (anonymous, as are all the lyrics in this manuscript),
of which Horstmann says: 'Some of the stanzas occur in the poems
on pp. 57, 60, 80 [i. e. in Rolle's epistles]; R. Rolle's authorship is
beyond doubt' (i. 364). The relations to Rolle's other lyrics have all
been carefully traced by Professor Patterson in his Middle English
Penitential Lyric: the poem is really made up of two poems, the
first a penitential lyric, and the second one of 'love-longing'.
stanzas derived from Rolle are found in the latter. It may be noted
that they are somewhat regularized in metre, and not after a fashion
characteristic of Rolle, and what are half-lines in Rolle's lyrics are
here made into whole lines. It is almost certain that the present
lyric is due to a disciple.
The
The only item given to Rolle by the Longleat MS. which does
not appear elsewhere ascribed to him is the enlarged text of the
old lyric
'Ihesu swet, nowe wil I synge...'
(printed by Horstmann, beside texts from two other manuscripts,
ii. 9 sq.).
The nucleus of this poem was two lyrics appearing in
Harl. MS. 2253 (c. 1310). One of these is headed 'Dulcis lesu
memoria' (thus giving an accurate hint of the influence behind the lyric),
and Horstmann notes that it has just 50 stanzas, so it was probably
meant to form a rosary' (ii. 11, n. 1). His conjecture was justified,
for in the Longleat copy (which he did not know) the first part of the
1 F. A. Patterson, New York, 1911, p. 190.


ENGLISH LYRICS
303
poem has been sub-divided for liturgical uses, and it is very likely
that in all its versions this poem was largely used in private devotions.
I have already' pointed out that-like the Jesu Dulcis Memoria, on
which it was founded-this lyric held in germ the English mysticism
of the fourteenth century: it would be very probable that it was
known to Rolle, and used in his own devotions, and, if it were
so used, he would be very likely to add some stanzas of his own and
copy the whole for a disciple. Horstmann points out truly that some
of the stanzas of the Vernon copy (ll. 276-87, 320-4) suggest
Rolle, but the authority of the Longleat MS., in confirming this
suggestion by ascribing the whole lyric to Rolle, is weakened by the
fact that 11. 276-87 are only added in the Longleat copy after the
ascription has been made. The insertions there made by later
correction in the same hand are so extensive and systematic that
it would seem likely that the omissions they corrected were not due
to carelessness in copying but to a defective archetype, and that the
scribe later procured the additions from a second copy. Under the
circumstances we cannot trust his authority very far, for, in any case,
he is wrong in ascribing the whole poem to Richard. His ascription
at least suggests that Rolle knew and loved the poem, since it was
probably found in an autograph manuscript. The additions to the
Vernon text might be included in Rolle's Dubia.
The fact that a number of lyrics have been assigned to Rolle's
Dubia brings on a further discussion. It has already been mentioned
(p. 200) that in the Incendium and the Contra Amatores Mundi Rolle
bewails his lack of a friend, and in the former he tells us something
of his motives in wishing one, as follows:
2
'Quis ergo mihi modularetur carmina cantuum meorum, et gaudia
affectuum cum ardoribus amoris, et amorose adolescencie mee uscionem, ut
saltem ex canticis caritatis sodalis subtiliter indagarem substanciam meam
et mensuram modulacionum, in quibus prestabilis putarer, mihi inno-
tesceret, si forte ab infelicitate exemptum me inuenirem, et quod per me
predicare non presumo, quia nondum reperi quod exopto, in solaciis socii
mei requiescerem cum dulcore. Siquidem si clamorem illum canorem ab
extrinsecis auribus omnino absconditum arbitrer (quod et uere esse audeo
annunciare), utinam et illius modulaminis inueniam auctorem hominem,
qui etsi non dictis, tamen scriptis mihi gloriam meam decantaret, et pneu-
mata que nexus in nomine nobilissimo coram amato meo edere non
erubui, canendo ac pneumatizando depromeret. . . . Diligerem denique
1 In my article on 'The Mystical Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechiez' (pp. 159 sq.).
2 Cf. St. Augustine, Confessions, II, ii: 'Quis mihi modularetur aerumnam
meam.'


304
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
illum sicut cor meum nec esset aliquid quod ab ipso occultare intenderem,
quia canorem quod cupio intelligere mihi exprimeret, et iubilum iocundi-
tatis mee clarius enodaret. In hac equidem apercione exultarem amplius,
aut certe uberius emularem ; quoniam mihi ostenderetur incendium amoris
et sonora iubilacio euidenter effulgeret' (pp. 243-4).
These words would suggest that Rolle, at the time of writing the
Incendium, tried deliberately to get his friends to co-operate with him
in expressing the 'canor'. If his plan of delegating his expression
took form, we should probably have such results as we find in extant
lyrics ascribed to his 'school'. Besides the lyrics already accepted
among Rolle's Dubia, such a devotion to Jesus as the 'Alya Cantica'
(EETS. Orig. Ser., 15, p. 139) is likely to be the expression of his
message from one of his more talented and cultivated followers : such
rhyming of his prose and new combinations of his lyrics as we shall
find in B. Mus. Add. MS. 37049 (infra, p. 306) must certainly
emanate from a crude disciple. We know by name two of Rolle's
followers-Margaret Kirkeby and William Stopes-and we know
that the latter concerned himself with Rolle's works. We have,
however, no clue to connect either of these persons with lyrics.
When it has been pointed out that Richard in his writings gives us
warrant for supposing that he encouraged his followers to write poetical
versions of his message, it should, in conclusion, be considered how
far his own writing of lyrics is prefigured in his prose works. This is
one of the most difficult questions to be met in the present study, for
it involves an understanding of the inmost experience of his mysticism,
and this was something which he never succeeded in expressing,
though he struggled with it in early works and in late. It has been
taken for granted by Horstmann that Rolle expressed his 'canor' in
his lyrics he says of its first appearance, 'What can it mean but the
awakening of his poetical powers?' (ii, p. vii, n.); His first attempts
had been private, the outcome of the canor modulated into song'
(ibid., p. xvii). If this is the case, it would appear that the few lyrics
that we have just discussed cannot be all which Richard wrote;
lyrical composition would naturally under these circumstances have
played a very important part in his life, for the 'canor' was the most
significant element of his mysticism, and if he were able to express it
in poetry, we can hardly imagine that he would cease doing so. Less
inspired forms of composition would surely have given way before the
flow of his metrical utterance.
At several points Richard evidently found it hard to reconcile
to his contemporaries his theory and his practice, and here is appar-


ENGLISH LYRICS
305
6
ently one of them. He mentions in the Melum his 'suauissimam
psalterii solucionem' (v. supra, p. 119), and at the other end of his
life he gives in the Form as a sign of the 'third degree' of love: 'pan
pi thoght turnes in til sang & in til melody. Pan þe behoues syng þe
psalmes, þat þou before sayde' (p. 32). Almost certainly he talked
of this singing from his earliest days of ecstasy as he wrote of it,
and almost certainly he was challenged to reproduce it. Hence we
probably have the series of passages insisting that his 'canor' is
not corporal', 'noght formed in notes of men, bot in sown of
heuen' (v. supra, pp. 72, 181). We see by the Contra Amatores Mundi
and the Incendium that matters in the end reached a crisis, and the
disapproval which was felt at his 'singing anywhere, in church or in
town', and at his not joining in the Mass (v. supra, p. 200), in the end
drove him to attempt to explain what his song signified. So we have
the struggle to analyse it running through several chapters of the
Incendium, but ending with the confession that it cannot be done,
unless by a friend. In the course of the discussion, however, he
throws some light on the subject. The worldly can know his song
part, though only in part:
in
'Mundi quippe amatores scire possunt uerba uel carmina nostrarum
cancionum, non autem cantica nostrorum carminum; quia uerba legunt,
sed notam et tonum ac suauitatem odarum addiscere non possunt' (p. 278).
'Dissonat autem multum ab omnibus que humana et exteriori uoce for-
mantur, corporalibus auribus audienda' (p. 239).
When he gives up the effort to describe it, he concludes:
'Hic deficio pre insipiencia et hebetudine ingenii. . . . Sed uobis enar-
rare nec potui nec potero, quia ipsum sensum meum superare non ignoro,
nisi forte dicere uelim quod clamor iste canor est' (p. 243).
But however chaotic its form, its origin is the highest :
'Est enim angelica suauitas quam in animam accipit et eadem oda,
etsi non eisdem uerbis laudes Deo resonabitur. Qualis angelorum, talis
est iscius concentus, etsi non tantus' (p. 237).
Since we have the specific invitation (already quoted) to others to
express the 'canor', and we have also explicitly stated Rolle's dis-
satisfaction with his own attempts to express it, it might be suggested
that all of the lyrics ascribed to him are really due to disciples. This
is improbable, for, as we have seen, we have lyrics introduced into his
epistles which are so reminiscent of other works, both Latin and
English, that we can hardly deny that they are due to the same
author. Their flavour seems to taste of Rolle's style. And in


306
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
general there is no conclusive reason why-granted that Rolle wrote
the lyrics of the epistles-he should not have also written the six lyrics
ascribed to him in other manuscripts, as already discussed.
When thus we decide that Rolle did write a certain number
of lyrics, however, the quotations already made from the Incendium
would warn us that almost certainly he did not consider them satis-
factory expressions of the canor modulated into song'-to use
Horstmann's phrase. We have seen that one loosely paraphrases
the youthful Melum (which was used in early works and late), but
otherwise the Latin passages which they use come from the Incendium.
It is possible that this means that they were composed about the time
when that treatise was written, and represent a short experiment
undertaken in connexion with the discussion as to expressing the
'canor' already quoted. At all events, we have no evidence from
any quarter that would make us expect from Richard a large body of
lyrical verse. In spite of his analytical references to 'uerba uel
carmina nostrarum cancionum' (which can be expressed), and the
'cantica nostrorum carminum' (which are inexpressible), it is evident
that the 'canor' came to no expression which satisfied the author.
The form of expression in which he takes pride, and which he
continues at all ages, is evidently prose, and the significant effect of
the 'canor' on his literary production is probably the rhythm, rhyme,
alliteration, and general poetical contamination characteristic both
of the Latin prose (especially) and also of the English. Evidently
Richard Rolle was a person in whom the instinct for poetical expres-
sion along modern lines was weak, though there persisted in him
strongly a less formal instinct for poetical expression along the lines
of the primitive Teuton. Here, where he was himself satisfied, he
seems to have met disappointment from without, for in the Melum,
that strange tumult of alliterative phrases, he tells us: 'They do not
credit that I am captive to sonorous song, or write constantly, in
miraculous mode, of the chant of charity' (f. 222, v. supra, p. 118).
His 'miraculous mode' of writing probably, even in his own time,
seemed to many not initiated into ecstasy as nothing more than
a childish excursion into barbarism.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
In conclusion, the B. Mus. Add. MS. 37049 (first half 15th cent.)
will be noted for its quotation of English scraps from Rolle in prose
and verse.
Some pieces will be noted because they illustrate Rolle's


ENGLISH LYRICS
307
influence. His name does not appear, nor do the titles of the works
which are used, and often the scribe seems to have combined
or rewritten his borrowings. He is probably a Carthusian, for he
copies a piece on the foundation of that Order (f. 22); he writes in
a strongly Northern dialect. The whole volume (written on paper) is
filled with pictures of the crudest and most lurid sort: extremes
of sensationalism (Death with a spear attacking the dying; Christ,
dripping with blood, citing the number of His wounds) alternate with
crude representations of a mystical sort, such as will be noted as
possible signs of Rolle's influence. This volume probably gives
a good example of the influence which he exerted on the cruder
aspirants to mysticism in the next century. It may be grouped with
the religious diary of Richard Methley of the Northern Carthusian
house of Mount Grace (v. infra, p. 416), who may even have been
a monk of the same house as the scribe.
ff. 23b-4 a piece significant for the history of the cult of the Holy
Name, in the form of verses on the use of 'Jhesus Nazarenus' on the
forehead, beginning with the famous vision on the subject by St. Ed-
mund of Canterbury. A man is also mentioned on whose heart was
written: 'Amor meus Inc.'
f. 24 a picture of Christ showing His wounds, with a cleric
praying below. Among other scraps is the following, which suggests
Rolle's influence.
'Ihesu my luf, my ioy, my reste,
þi perfite luf close in my breste
þat I pe luf & neuer reste,
And make me luf þe of al pinge best
And wounde my hert in þi luf fre,
þat I may reyne in ioy euermore with pe.'
"
f. 30b a bearded man in flowing robes lies on a tomb, with
a rolled scroll in one hand, and in the other a scroll unfurled,
on which is written Ego Dormio et cor meum vigilat', and 'I slepe
and my hert wakes to pe, Swete Ihesu, pe sone of Mary fre'. Above
are the Virgin and Child in a rayed medallion set with stars. It
1 See the Life of St. Edmund, by W. Wallace, London, 1893, pp. 545 sq.
2 A woodcut of this picture was in 1910 in the possession of W. T. Free-
mantle, Esq., of Barbot Hall, Rotherham, who kindly sent me a rubbing. He
used it to supply an illustration in his volume (v. supra, p. 9). The block was
given him by a friend who had discovered the manuscript, apparently abroad,


308
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
is probable that this picture is meant to represent Rolle, parts
of whose epistle beginning with Ego Dormio' (the motto here given)
are reproduced on the opposite page. The drapery does not suggest
sculpture, or we might conjecture that we have here a representation
of Richard's tomb at Hampole.
f. 31 the description from the Ego Dormio of the three grades
of love.
f. 35b: a fragment from the Commandment (p. 69) on thought of
the Passion, followed by a fragment from the Form of Living (p. 48)
on the two parts of contemplative life'.
f. 36b a rude drawing shows a bloody heart pierced by the motto
'Est amor meus', with a cleric below and a crucifix above, from
which grow flowers marked 'luf'. Under this picture is a lyric which
derives most of its lines from that in Ego Dormio (p. 57). It has an
introduction on the Holy Name, which echoes many passages in
Rolle, as follows:
'pe luf of god who so will lere
In his hert þe name of Ihesu he bere,
For it puts oute pe fende and makes hym flee...' (v. supra, p. 75).
f. 37 another crucifix, below which are devils reading a scroll
containing 'sanctus, sanctus, sanctus' and the motto 'ihc est amor
meus', which is growing out of a bloody heart. Beneath is a bearded
man seated, in monkish dress, with 'IHC' in red letters on his breast
and his hand on his heart. He holds a book on his lap, in which is
to be deciphered ‘Ego... [Dormio?]'. This picture resembles one
later (and elsewhere) given of Rolle, and probably it is intended
to depict him. At the side is copied a lyric which is mostly
derived from the two lyrics of Ego Dormio (pp. 57, 60), but with an
introduction as follows:
'Whils I satte in a chapel in my prayere
A heuenly sounde to me drewe nere
For pe sange of sanges I felt in me
And my poght turned into luf dyte
Of þe heuenly and sweete armony
þe whilk I toke in mynde delitabylly:
perfore I sytt and syng of luf langyng....
and Mr. Freemantle believed that the cut had been reproduced in a foreign
periodical. The Museum purchased the volume May 13, 1905, from Rosenthal
of Munich.


ENGLISH LYRICS
309
Here we evidently have a rhyming paraphrase of the first sentence
of Rolle's description of his birth of ecstasy in chapter 15 of the
Incendium.
A second lyric appears on the same page. This begins with
a rhymed paraphrase of Rolle's exhortation to thought of the Passion
in the Commandment (which had been quoted in the original prose on
f. 35b). It runs as follows:
'I knaw no pinge þat so inwardly þi luf to god wyl brynge
As of cristes passion and dethe deuoute pinkinge. . . .'
This piece ends with the same rhymed paraphrase on the Name
of Jesus as opens the lyric at f. 36b (on the opposite page).
ff. 46-67: the Desert of Religion. This Northern poem exists
in three manuscripts, and it has been printed, with notes on the
sources and dialect, in Herrig's Archiv, cxxvi. 58 sq., 360 sq.
I pointed out (ibid., cxxvii. 388), following a note by Sir Frederic
Madden, that it is mostly taken from the Speculum Vitae of William
of Nassington (v. infra, p. 371), adapted to the allegory of a forest.
Some sections are taken from the Prick of Conscience, and the
'twelve degrees of perfect living' are the chapter-titles of Rolle's
Emendatio Vitae (except that 'Penance' is substituted for 'Patience'
-doubtless by a scribal error). Rolle also appears in connexion
with the piece because he is portrayed (with his name) in the series
of illustrations of the solitary life which accompany all three manu-
scripts. These are all reproduced in the text given by Hübner in the
Archiv.
The representation of Rolle in the Desert of Religion here (f. 52 b)
much resembles that given earlier (f. 37), where the grouping about
the picture of the lyrics (one paraphrasing a bit of autobiography) as
well as the resemblance to the present portrait serve to identify the
subject. The name 'Richard Hampole' is attached to the illustration
in the Desert of Religion in the present manuscript. This picture
shows a bearded man with a downcast countenance and 'IHC' in
red letters on his breast, his hand on his heart, and a book in his
hand, sitting under a canopy. The appearance of the Sacred
Monogram is doubtless an indication of Rolle's devotion to the Holy
Name, and it may be that his hand on his heart is reminiscent of the
opening lines of the Incendium (p. 145), where he tells us of the 'fire
of love' which he feels: 'sepius pectus meum si forte esset feruor ex
aliqua exteriori causa palpitaui'. The canopy probably means a
claim to sainthood, but the canopy in the picture in Laud Misc.


310
MISCELLANEOUS ENGLISH PIECES
MS. 528 is not the same. Either picture may give a rude representa-
tion of the shrine at the burial-place of the hermit, for many of
Rolle's readers must have known it, and the Laud volume gives
a prayer from the Office (v. supra, p. 54).
Both the other copies of the Desert of Religion (the Cotton MS. Faust.
B. vi, from which Rolle's portrait has been several times reprinted,¹
and Stowe MS. 39-in which Rolle's name is omitted) represent their
subject as sitting (his favourite position, v. supra, p. 91), with a book.
In the Stowe MS. he is writing, and the general character of this
picture is entirely unlike the others. All show the Sacred Monogram
on his breast, and the Cotton MS., like the present one, shows him
['Richarde heremite'] with his hand there. The verses used to
surround the picture in the two other manuscripts had been:
'A solitari here, hermite life i lede, For ihū loue so dere, all flescli lufe
i flede; þat gastili comforthe dere, þat in my breste brede, aught me a
thowsand zeere in heuenly strenghe haue stedd' (Cotton MS.).
This verse, though closely rendering Rolle's life, was not derived
from any of his known writings, but the scribe of the present manu-
script substitutes some lines from the lyric which concludes the Ego
Dormio (p. 60) in a slightly variant text, as follows:
'I syt & synge of luf-langyng, þat in my breste is bred, Ihū, my kynge
and my ioyinge, when wor I to pe ledde?'
Above the canopy in Add. 37049 is printed the curious 'Armonia
Odas Canora', and six angels at the top hold a scroll inscribed
'Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus deus omnipotens', as do three
in the other manuscripts. Thus, all these pictures seem to com-
memorate Rolle's sainthood. All three pictures of Rolle show different
likenesses, and none, therefore, can safely be regarded as a portrait, as
Horstmann conjectured of the picture in the Cotton MS. (ii, p. xxxiv).
The same face as is given to Rolle in the present manuscript appears
on others of the rude portraits which it contains. The two portraits
(ff. 37, 52b) which agree in attitude, etc., show different faces.
f. 67: 'IHC' is written in large letters, and the motto runs
around it: In nomine Ihesu omne genu flectatur (Phil. ii. 10).
Omnium optimum estimo esse ihesum in corde figere et aliud nequa-
quam desiderare. bonum mihi diligere ihesum, nil ultra querere.'
This is the Incendium (p. 276), of which an exact translation into
English is given in the English Psalter (v. supra, p. 100). The
See Radcliffe Monog. 15. This picture is reproduced in colour in Miss
Comper's Fire of Love.


ENGLISH LYRICS
311
latter is quoted as an isolated tag in the Thornton MS. (v. infra,
p. 403), much as the present scrap is quoted here. It is evident
that the scribe of Add. 37049 is devoted to Rolle's catch-words, both
in prose and verse.
We have seen, in discussing the lyrics ascribed to Rolle in two
manuscripts, that they are full of repetitions, both from each other
and from the lyrics embedded in the epistles, and also that they
sometimes paraphrase Rolle's prose works (in one case to the extent
of many stanzas). Some of Rolle's English works are also found in
rhymed versions. It is evident that there was a tremendous personal
use of his writings, both prose and verse, and that probably a good
deal of rhyming was done by his followers to speed the circulation
of some of his prose pieces. Probably the rhymed paraphrases and
the new combinations of lyrics which we find in Add. 37049 were
due to the enthusiastic scribe of this book; however, since we have
decided that lyrics paraphrasing Rolle's prose works (v. supra,
pp. 289-91) may have been his own composition, or due to an
intimate disciple, we cannot be absolutely certain of the origin of
all of the altered lines found here.


CHAPTER X
DOUBTFUL ASCRIPTIONS
PART I: LATIN WORKS
COMPILATIONS AND ABRIDGEMENTS FROM PATRISTIC
SOURCES
SUPER SYMBOLUM S. ATHANASII
SYMBOLI Athanasii Expositio clarissima per D. Richardum Pampo-
litanum Eremitam (ex edit. 1535). Also in the editions of 1536,
1622, and 1677. Though no manuscripts ascribe this work to
Richard, it is found among his works in Bodl. MS. 861 and Here-
ford Cath. MS. O. viii. 1, two important collections of his works which
are apparently related.
Beg. '[Quicunque vult, etc.]. Hic beatus Athanasius liberum
arbitrium posuit' (fol. 42).
Ends: nullus a fide catholica te remouere possit, nullo schismate
vel haeresi. Et si ista non credideris, saluus esse non poteris'
(fol. 47).
Waterland (History of the Athanasian Creed, London, 1724, p. 39)
first pointed out that this work was identical (barring 'several
Additions, and Insertions') with one ascribed to the eleventh-century
St. Bruno Herbipolensis, printed under his name by La Bigne (ed.
1622) in vol. xviii, pp. 345-8, and earlier (vol. xv) under Rolle's.
In Horstmann's list (ii, p. xxxviii) it appears among Rolle's authentic
writings (but his citation of MS. Corpus Christi Oxf. 193 is incorrect).
The fullest account of the commentary is found in A Critical Disser-
tation on the Athanasian Creed, by G. D. W. Ommaney, Oxford, 1897,
pp. 250 sq. He shows that it is a combination of older com-
mentaries in the version ascribed to Rolle the first words are
transposed, and some notes omitted: nothing is added. He con-
cludes that 'Hampole's Commentary, though not an original work,
is still attributable to him as his recension and abridgement' (p. 252).
The alterations found in this version are minute, but it is very
possible that Rolle used and copied the commentary, for traces of
its influence may possibly be seen in his discussions of the Trinity
in two works (v. supra, p. 229).


EXCERPTS FROM ST. GREGORY
313
EXCERPTS FROM ST. GREGORY'S MORALS
In aliquot capita Iob Enarratio Compendiosa Ex Libro Moralium
Beati Gregorij desumpta, per D. Richardum Pampolitanum eremitam
(fol. cxiiv sq.; ex edit. 1536). No manuscript has been found.
"
Beg. [Parce mihi domine, etc.] Sunt nonnulli iustorum, qui
sic coelestia appetunt, vt tamen a terrenorum spe non frangantur.'
Ends: 'supplicia horroris euadamus' (fol. cxxiiv).
Rolle's only possible connexion with this, as with the preceding
piece, was as a scribe. It may represent a collection copied by him,
perhaps for reference in composing his own commentary on Job.
No borrowings from it have been noted in the latter, but a detailed
comparison has not been made. The extracts chosen from
St. Gregory's Morals are those which concern the nine lessons
in the Office of the Dead, which are the text of Rolle's commentary.
Some selections from St. Bernard (in libro de libero arbitrio',
Migne, 182, c. 1009) are inserted. The excerpts as a whole contain
much more or less mystical material, which would be congenial
to Rolle. A sentence like the following will suggest his style: 'Dum
enim mens nostra amore dulcedinis Christi accenditur, omne desi-
derium praesentis vitae leuigatur' (fol. cxiv). There is nothing
included out of sympathy with his own works. His commentary on
Job is of a character to suggest that at the time of writing it he might
be in a mood to follow patristic precedent more faithfully than usual,
and probably to consult patristic authority. If he made the present
compilation, it means that he worked over St. Gregory's text carefully,
since the abridgement is drastic and systematic.
Perhaps he derived from this study his knowledge of the conception
of contemplation as always transient, which he was to repudiate
(v. supra, p. 70, n.). A passage here included expresses the opinion
of St. Gregory on this point, as follows:
'Ecce enim electorum mens terrena desideria subijcit, cuncta quae videt
praeterire transcendit, ab exteriorum delectatione suspenditur, & quae sint
bona inuisibilia rimatur. Haec agens plerumque in dulcedinem contem-
plationis rapitur: iam de intimis aliquid quasi per caliginem conspicit, &
ardenti desiderio interesse angelorum mysterijs conatur, gustu incircum-
scripti luminis pascitur, & vltra se erecta ad seipsam relabi dedignatur.
Sed quia corpus quod corrumpitur, aggrauat animam, inhaerere diu luci
non valet, quam raptim videt' (fol. cxiii).¹
1 For another passage from St. Gregory which expresses a conception of con-
templation which may have influenced Rolle, compare the following: 'Con-
templativa vero vita est charitatem quidem Dei proximi tota mente retinere, sed
X


314
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
Here we find the 'raptim' which Rolle criticizes when applied to
contemplation (v. supra, p. 70,n.), and the same is also found in the
De libero Arbitrio of St. Bernard which is also used here. In the
passage just quoted we also find stylistic characteristics that probably
influenced Rolle. Evidently both in thought and style St. Gregory
was a formative influence for Richard, and if he made the present
compilation, he probably did so in youth.
It is just possible that Bale was referring to the present work in his
Index under Rolle's name: 'Moralia in Job, li. i. Nicolaus Brigan in
collectionibus.' However, this may refer to the Commentary on Job.
PRAYER TO THE NAME OF JESUS (MEDITATIO
OF ST. ANSELM)
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. B. Mus. Cotton Vesp. E. i, ff. 96b-7, first half 15th cent.
In the middle of Rolle's Commentary on the Canticles, the hymn
Jesu Dulcis Memoria is inserted, headed: 'Unde quidam verus
amator ihesu dulciter dicit. Nota oratio de nomine ihesu . . .
secundum beatum Bernardum.' After the end of the hymn, the
present prayer follows without sign, and after it the text of the
Canticles is resumed, without comment. The words 'Unde quidam
verus amator. . .' are repeated from the text of the Canticles a little
earlier, where they introduce verses (v. supra, p. 81, n. 4). See Cant.
II. B. Mus. Harl. 2445, ff. 20b-2b, 15th cent. Hanc bonam
oracionem sequentem composuit Ricardus de hampul heremita.'
Beg. O bone Jhesu, O dulcissime Jhesu, O piissime Jhesu, O
mitissime Jhesu, O Jhesu fili beatissime, purissime necnon et
mitissime uirginis Marie.'
Ends: 'et in te gloriari, inter omnes qui diligunt nomen tuum
sanctissimum, quod est Jhesus. Amen.'
ab exteriore actione quiescere, soli desiderio conditoris inhaerere, ut nil jam
agere libeat, sed, calcatis curis omnibus, ad videndam faciem sui Creatoris
animus inardescat; ita ut jam noverit carnis corruptibilis pondus cum moerore
portare, totisque desideriis appetere illis hymnidicis angelorum choris interesse,
admisceri coelestibus civibus, de aeterna in conspectu Dei incorruptione gau-
dere' (Hom. in Ezech. II. ii (Ezech. xl. 8): Migne, 76, c. 953). Though Dom
Butler states that St. Gregory's mystical symbol is light, in a passage like that
just quoted (with its reference to 'joining the hymning choirs of angels')-
as also in a passage from St. Aelred (Migne, 195, c. 790), quoted in my 'Mystical
Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechiez', p. 189-Rolle could have found the hint for his
'angel song'. Dom Butler mentions him as a mystic who employs the symbol
of music (op. cit., p. 33).


PRAYER TO THE NAME OF JESUS
315
An English translation of this prayer is also ascribed to Rolle, as
follows:
Bodl. Rawl. C. 209 (Sum. Cat. No. 12071), ff. 21-2, 15th
cent. A deuowte meditacion of Richarde hampole.' This tiny
manuscript is a primer (for children?) beginning with the alphabet,
and continuing with the Lord's Prayer, Creed, etc. The section
from the Encomium Nominis Jesu (Oleum effusum) usually found in
the Poor Caitiff (v. infra, p. 406) follows (completing the volume),
headed: 'This is the name of ihesu.'
Beg.: 'Good ihesu, o swete ihesu, o ihesu the son of mari, ful of
merci and of pite.'
Ends: 'ioye in the and al þat louith thi name, the which is ihesus.
Amen.'
The very numerous manuscripts of this prayer which are anonymous
are not cited. It was in the possession of many famous persons and
religious houses, present in most Books of Hours used in England
during the later Middle Ages, and reference to Hoskins (op. cit.) will
show that it was also found in most early printed Hours, including the
edition by Wynkyn de Worde in 1494, which is used as the basis of
his descriptions (p. 112). Both Latin and English versions occur,
and many late copies (including de Worde's) ascribe the prayer to
St. Bernardine of Siena, the strong champion of the Observant
Franciscans, and preacher of the Holy Name of Jesus. It occurs in
an Orarium of 1560, reprinted by the Parker Society, 1851 (p. 202),
and a note there quoted from the Hortulus Animae says of it: 'Oratio
quam sanctus Bernardinus, confessor ordinis Minorum, quotidie
dicitur orasse'; his picture accompanies the text in York Hours
(Wordsworth in SS. 132, p. 83). It is ascribed to St. Bernardine
in Camb. Caius MS. 718, late 15th cent. (ff. 38b-42), as 'Oratio
beati bernardini ad dulcissimum nomen ihesus multum deuota'
(Dr. James's catalogue here reads 'Bernard '-an error elsewhere
made). In spite of the amazing frequency of the prayer in English
Books of Hours, it occurs in similar French collections very rarely:
see P. Lacombe, Livres d'Heures imprimés au xve et au xvie siècle,
Paris, 1907, pp. 109, 328;1 of the three English Books of Hours
included among the very numerous French examples, one has the
1 A French poem on the Holy Name occurs in French Books of Hours with
the frequency with which the present prayer occurs in English (v. infra, p. 539).
Beg. Jesus soit en ma teste et mon entendement. . .' (ibid., p. 9).
X 2


316
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
prayer: 'O Bone Jesu, bothe englyshe and laten' (p. 340). In
Flemish Books of Hours it is if anything more common than in
English, and here (both in Latin and in Flemish) it is often ascribed
to St. Bernardine (for examples see Dr. M. R. James's Catalogue of
the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan, MS. 81, Mr. S. C. Cockerell's
Catalogue of the Burlington Fine Arts Exhibition of Illuminated MSS.,
1908, MSS. 229, 240, Hortulus Animae, reproduced by A. Oosthoek,
Utrecht, and M. Nijhoff, The Hague, 1907, p. 832). In Brussels MS.
775, f. 13, it is ascribed to St. Vincent Ferrer, a famous Dominican
. 'lover of the Holy Name' of the 14th century. In the end it
reached the Roman Use, and was printed (anonymously) in Officium
Beate Marie Virginis, Venice, in officina Francisci Marcolini, 1545,
ff. 173-5 (with an indulgence), and in Officium B. Mariae Virginis,
nuper reformatum et Pij V. Pont. Max. iussu editum, Rome, 1571,
pp. 204 sq., and elsewhere (Venice, 1619, 1644, etc.). Modern
editions also are probably common. Besides the Parker Society
publication in 1851 (Private Prayers put forth by authority during
the reign of Queen Elizabeth, pp. 202, 493) it is also found in
English in Three Primers put forth in the Reign of Henry VIII,
ed. E. Burton, Oxford, 1834, pp. 166, 368. It evidently took some
time after the Reformation to wean Englishmen from the use of this
prayer. A significant sign of its popularity is the fact that (in
an abridged form) it was set to music (probably more than once).
The words and music (composer anonymous) are found in B. Mus.
Harl. MS. 1709, 16th cent. (ff. 53b-4b), which is said to have
belonged to Henry VII's chapel. Many other manuscripts of music
of the 16th and 17th centuries in the British Museum seem to contain
the same piece (see A. Hughes-Hughes, Catalogue of MS. Music).'
It is evident that Rolle's name in the present instance is attached
to a devotional piece famous during the later Middle Ages not only
in England, in which country it enjoyed amazing popularity. Actually
the prayer is merely the latter part of the second Meditation of St.
Anselm (Migne, 158, cc. 724-5). The principal alteration is the
addition of the apostrophes to Jesus at the beginning, and occasionally
elsewhere. Sbaralea, in his Supplement to Wadding's Scriptores
1 An abridged text was set to music as a motet for nineteen voices and edited
from a Scone Abbey MS. (c. 1546) by J. A. Fuller-Maitland (Year Book Press,
London, 1926). This received an interesting review in The Times (Oct. 30,
1926, and see my letter, ibid., Nov. 16), when the text was quoted as 'not taken
from any known liturgical source... a devotional prayer of intense fervour
which the musical treatment is evidently designed to heighten'.


PRAYER TO THE NAME OF JESUS
317
Trium Ordinum S. Francisci (Rome, 1806, p. 133), gives St. Ber-
nardine a 'Contemplatio quaedam italice: incip. O bon.', from one
manuscript, but no other copy of Italian origin has been found, giving
St. Bernardine's name.' The attachment to this prayer of the names
both of Rolle and of St. Bernardine may mean no more than their
devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus: in neither case is the authority
of manuscripts strong enough to confirm the attribution, and at all
events the ascription to either can mean no more than a minor
revision, for the piece as a whole is adapted from an authentic
composition by St. Anselm. The state of the manuscripts would
indicate that the prayer reached England from Flanders-or vice
versa. The Friars Minor of the Observance owed their strength at
this period to St. Bernardine, and they were very strong in the Low
Countries. However, since the ascription to St. Bernardine is not
well supported, and since Rolle may have made other adaptations
from earlier works, the present piece has been put among those
works with which Richard may have had some connexion.³
NOVEM VIRTUTES (with patristic texts)
Bodl. MS. 861. 'Admonicio valde salubris de elimosina secun-
dum R. h.' This ascription would seem to point explicitly to
Rolle, since it occurs between two of his works, both ascribed to
'Richard Hermit'. It is written in a different ink from that of the
text, but in the same hand, and the ink here found occurs elsewhere
throughout the book (v. supra, p. 28).
Beg. Hic continentur nouem virtutes quas Dominus noster
Ihesus Christus cuidam sancto viro volenti deuote facere. . . . Da
pauperibus meis vnum denarium.'
Ends: quod a Deo iubetur est optimum.'
Bale in his Index cites under Rolle's name two copies of 'Virtutes
diuinitus reuelatas' with the incipit: 'Da pauperibus meis vnum de.'
Three versions of the Nine Virtues in English have been printed
by Horstmann (i. 110 sq., ii. 455 sq.), two in verse and one in prose
1 I have to thank Miss Helen J. Robins for inquiries at Siena on this score.
2 See S. Dirks, Histoire littéraire et bibliographique des Frères Mineurs de
[Observance de St. François (Antwerp, 1885). They were also strong in Eng-
land, as will be shown in my article on the cult of the Holy Name.
The first half of the prayer occurs in Magd. Coll. Camb. Pepys MS. 2125,
with the following interesting heading: 'Et idem heremita (John hermyte de
Warwyk) notificauit istam precem inter profundos doctores et illi receperunt
istam precem dicere in magna reuerencia.' The Form precedes.


318
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
(with variants). Another English version in prose, which brings out
the antitheses of the piece better than any other, is found in MS.
Ff. vi. 33 (15th cent.), etc., and printed in the Reliquiae Antiquae of
Wright and Halliwell, London, 1841, i. 245 sq. The bare text in
Latin exists in the 15th cent. Roy. MSS. 7 D. xvii, ff. 269 sq. ; 8 C. i,
ff. 164 sq. (both under the title Novem Responsiones). The date of
the revelation is given in 8 C. i as 1315, which is doubtless an error
for 1345; the latter date is given in Ff. vi. 33; in another English
metrical version, extant in Dd. i. 1 (ff. 298b-300b), late 14th cent.;
and in another English prose version (interspersed with Latin quo-
tations which are not those of the Bodl. MS.), extant in Dd. xiv.
26 (111), f. 43b, 14th cent. Another English prose version (undated)
is in Chetham Coll. Manchester MS. 6690, 14th cent. ('A sely soule
asked of god...'). The Latin version ascribed to Rolle in Bodl.
MS. 861 is also in Bodl. 48 (Sum. Cat. No. 1885), ff. 23-9, early
15th cent. (see E. V., O. D., S. A.), where it comes between two of
his works, though without his name (which is, however, given to the
accompanying works); in Add. 34807, ff. 89-93b, late 15th cent.,
where the Speculum Peccatoris precedes, here ascribed to Rolle; in
Caius Coll. MS. 140, ff. 84 sq.; in Harl. MS. 206, ff. 116b-19, mid
15th cent.; and in Upsala Univ. MSS. C. 159 (sent out to Wadstena
by Clement Maidstone, brother of Syon Monastery) and C. 631
(also from Wadstena). It is possible that this is a Brigittine com-
pilation. The collection of texts here grouped about the Nine Virtues
give a colourless amplification to the original: somewhat uncommon
authorities cited are 'St. Lucia', John Beleth, and Pope Celestine
the Fifth.
In Ar. 288, in a mid 14th cent. insertion (ff. 122–3), a French text
(with the nine points disarranged) is headed as follows: 'Ci comen-
sount (?) les IX paroles que mestre anners erceues[ke] de Coloynne
dyst en vn sermoun.' MS. 750 of the Bib. Mazarine, dated at
Venice 1448, is said to contain (ff. 32-4) what is apparently a Latin
form of the piece, headed as follows: 'Hec infrascripta revelata
fuerunt per os Domini nostri Jesu Cristi beato Alberto episcopo,
celebranti in communione jugiterque petenti.' The same is in
Danzig (St. Mary) MS. Mar. F. 16 (another copy is in MS. Q. 27).
A similar heading must have been in the manuscript of the Nine
Virtues from which Sir Symonds D'Ewes took (as he says) the
information which he noted on another copy of the work in Harl.
MS. 206. The following manuscripts apparently contain the French
text of the Ar. MS., if we can judge from the similarity of the


NOVEM VIRTUTES
319
headings, as quoted in the official catalogues: Bibl. nat., fonds
français, MS. 2198, 15th cent., f. 37 (where the author is called
'maistre Aubert, arcevesque de Coloigne '); Bibl. de l'Arsenal, MS.
2109, ff. 1967-8, 15th cent. ('maistre Hebert de Coulongne, evesque
et maistre en theologie '); Épinal MS. 189, late 15th cent.' ('maistre
Aulbers, arsevesque de Cologne'); Bibl. nat., fonds français, MS.
17115, f. 195, 13th cent. ('les Ix poins' of 'maistres Aubers,
archevesque de Coloigne').
If the last-cited manuscript has been correctly dated, the Novem
Virtutes must have been composed before Rolle's time. It was
popular during the 14th and 15th centuries all over Europe, and
whether it really had any connexion with Albertus Magnus (who was
never archbishop of Cologne) or not, it was circulated widely in
Germany and the Low Countries, and under his name. It was one
of a group of similar works which were all connected with Albertus.³
The group of pieces here in question were all framed to denounce
formalism of all sorts. To some degree they were doubtless influential
in preparing the way for a change of religion, in England as well as
on the Continent. In their reaction against formalism they made
connexion with one of the influences emanating from Rolle.
1 See Bulletin de la Société des anciens textes français, 1876, p. 67.
2 See W. Dolch, Die Verbreitung oberländischer Mystikerwerke im Niederländi-
schen, Leipzig dissertation, 1909, p. 13, where manuscripts are cited and a
synopsis of the piece is given; 'Predigten u. Sprüche Deutscher Mystiker',
Haupt's Zeitschrift für Deut. Alterthum, 8, p. 217.
·
3 Die acht Punkte und die Gruppe der Meisterexempel', and various altered
forms of the Neun Punkte' are found. Sometimes Albert's name appears, and
sometimes not. The many variations which are found in the manuscripts of the
Novem Virtutes in England probably all find their origin in the various conti-
nental texts. It may be noted that Horstmann prints an English Nine Points'
from Harl. MS. 1706 entirely different from the Novem Virtutes (ii. 375–7), and
an unnumbered series of similar maxims from Harl. MS. 1704 (i. 111 sq.). The
'six maisters' printed by him (ii. 389 sq.) is probably connected with the similar
piece circulating in Germany among the scraps attached to the name of Albert
of Cologne (see Dolch, p. 13, W. Wackernagel, Altdeutsche Predigten und
Gebete, Bâle, 1876, p. 351 n.). In spite of the general identification with Alber-
tus Magnus of the Albert of Cologne', whose name is popularly attached to
this piece, it might be worth while to investigate whether Albert Suerbeer of
Cologne, archbishop of Armagh 1240, of Prussia 1246, and of Riga 1253-73, might
be in question. This is the person who is cited as Albert of Cologne' by
Chevalier (Répertoire Biographique). I am informed by Mr. Flower, of the
British Museum, that a version of the work exists in Irish: if this were the
Albert who received the revelation, the '1345' of the manuscripts might be a
corruption of '1245', when the person in question was archbishop of Armagh.
The later circulation in Germany would also be explained.


320
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
The Noven Virtutes could originally have had nothing to do with
Rolle, though he may have known it in his early years, and added to
it a compilation. The very colourless character of the texts, how-
ever, in the version ascribed to him would make his authorship
improbable. On the other hand, the spirit of the original would be
in one sense congenial to him: it attacks, quite in his own manner,
outward holiness and the value of material observances: 'Give to
a poor man a penny in thy life of thine own goods for my love,
and it shall please me better than as if thou gavest a hill of gold after
thy death. Suffer a hard and a sharp word of thy fellow-christian
for my love, and it pleaseth me better than as if thou shouldst beat
thyself with as many sticks as might grow in all the woods of the
world. . . . When thou prayest to me, desire and ask of me thyself in
steadfast faith and therein keep thee with all thy might, and it shall
please me better than if my blessed Mother and all the saints of
heaven besought me for thee' (MS. Ff. vi. 33, modernized). In
spite of such practical devoutness, however, the piece is entirely
unmystical. In the text ascribed to Rolle (and in several other
versions) one point' is as follows: 'Ne instiges nec excites proximum
tuum ad malum, sed omnia in meliora, et hoc mihi plus placet quam
si semel in die ascenderes in celum' (Bodl. MS. 861, f. 101;
B. Mus. Add. MS. 34807, f. 92b). Evidently the writer of this text
classed the mystic rapture as one of the impractical and insincere
elements of religion. Here, however, he might not necessarily have
offended Rolle, who, as we have seen (supra, p. 87), set small store
by some of the physical transports of the mystics. To Rolle
mysticism was a Divine transmutation of the inner life of the indi-
vidual, and such a conception of devotion was not attacked in the
Nine Virtues. It is, altogether, not impossible that this piece was
known to him and that he fitted to it the present series of texts,
though the latter supposition is improbable.
COMPILATION FROM ROLLE'S OWN WORKS
DE EXCELLENTIA CONTEMPLATIONIS
MANUSCRIPTS.
I. B. Mus. Egerton 671, ff. 27-47, 15th cent. The compilation
is here divided into nine chapters, carefully numbered. The first
page is torn out and half of the last, but a fragment of the rubric at


DE EXCELLENTIA CONTEMPLATIONIS
321
the end remains: '. . . atus de excellencia et dulcedine . . . e uite',
which proves that it once contained the title given by the Upsala MSS.
(see below). The E. V. (with Rolle's name) immediately precedes.
See E. V.
"
II. B. Mus. Add. 24661, ff. 49b-58b, 15th cent. A colophon
(f. 14b) runs: Explicit tractatus Ricardi hampole de emendacione
uite 12 capitula. Sequitur de eodem Incendium amoris et de
excellencia amoris dei seu amatorum dei, siue de uita contemplatiua.'
Miss Deanesly (p. 1) calls the work that follows an 'incomplete and
independent version' of the Incendium (that is, not the usual 'short
text'). The treatise is constantly abridged and sometimes transposed.
Though paragraph-divisions are frequent throughout the manuscript,
none is given to the junction-point of the end of the treatise (a few
sentences short of the usual ending) and the beginning of the com-
pilation (which thus makes part of the whole). After the conclusion
of the latter (abridged), two further extracts from the Incendium
follow, of which one is part of chapter 8 (p. 165) and one is the
ever-popular chapter 15 on the conversion. Both had been omitted
from their usual places, and the latter is headed here (as elsewhere):
'Quomodo Ricardus hampole peruenit ad incendium amoris' (f. 60).
The colophon then concludes the whole: Explicit Incendium
amoris secundum Ricardum hampole.' This is a book in which
Miss Deanesly has discovered the joint monogram of Joanna Sewell
nun of Syon, and James Greenhalgh, monk of Shene (v. supra, p. 216).
The dedication (without the name) is affixed to the Emendatio
(v. supra, p. 231), as in only four other copies (of which two emanate
from Shene). See E. V.
III. Douay 396. Ascribed to Rolle (v. supra, p. 38).
IV. Upsala Univ. C. 17, ff. 167-82, 15th cent. 'Richardus
Heremita, De dulcedine et excellencia contemplatiue uite.' See
Incend.
V. Upsala Univ. C. 631, ff. 1-13, 15th cent. 'Hic incipit liber
de dulcedine et excellencia contemplatiue uite, Ricardus Heremita'
(a 'late hand' has written Hampoli' above, with a reference to
Cave). See E. V.
Beg. 'O dulce lumen Deus, illumina oculos meos interiores
claritate increata' (Upsala MS. C. 631).
Ends: 'psalmista mysterium vite contemplatiue expresse potest


322
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
dicere: Transibo in locum tabernaculi admirabilis usque ad
domum dei in voce exultacionis et confessionis: sonus epulantis'
(Ps. xli. 5).
This work was evidently seen by Leland in the library of the
London Carmelites, for he notes as occurring there: 'De Excellentia
Contemplationis.' Bale in his Index cites two copies of: 'De
dulcedine vite contemplatiue. li. i. O dulce lumen deus, illumina',
and he includes in his catalogue of 1557 'De excellentia contempla-
tionis' as well (probably from Leland). The later bibliographers
note the work, and Tanner adds the reference Worsley MS. 9'.
It seems unlikely that this could be either of the extant manu-
scripts in the Museum. A note on Egerton 671 states that it was
MS. CCXV in the collection of Dr. Adam Clarke, and Add. 24661
belonged to Archbishop Tenison's Library.
The form of the De Excellentia Contemplationis makes it appear
to be an independent treatise, and apparently the scribes and early
bibliographers took it as such. It is, however, an elaborately formed
compilation of a puzzling sort. The greater part of the piece has
been traced back to its sources, and extracts have been discovered
from the Emendatio Vitae (a quotation from the 11th chapter of
which makes the incipit), the Canticles, the 20th Psalm, and the
Contra Amatores Mundi. All of the material chosen is highly
mystical. The compiler passes erratically back and forth from one
work to another, and frequently changes the order of the sentences
in what he quotes. Sometimes he abridges slightly and sometimes
he expands slightly (especially at transition-points between the
quotations).
The general character of the present compilation would make easy
the presumption that it was due to Rolle himself. As we have seen
(supra, p. 58), we know that he made one compilation from his own
works, and he may have made another. The way in which the extracts
are here dovetailed together, with slight alterations which do not alter
the style, suggests strongly the way in which he repeats himself in
portions of most of his works (see especially supra, p. 291). The many
transpositions and frequent changes of source (often with a later
return to the same work) would seem to imply a peculiarly erratic
and laborious compiler: but if the compiler were the author we can
imagine that he may have strung together such a compilation mostly
from memory.
Ben Jonson has left it on record in his Note Book'
1 Discoveries, ed. I. Gollancz, Temple Classics, London, p. 28.


DE EXCELLENTIA CONTEMPLATIONIS
323
that until he was over forty he knew by heart all his compositions,
and such a phenomenon would be even more likely in the case of
a writer like Rolle. Richard's memory must have been sharpened
by lack of books, and his writings express his mystical experience;
they are therefore in all probability impressed on his consciousness
more deeply than any merely literary productions could ever be.
We perhaps have here one reason for the repetitions in his works :
his memory only too readily supplied him with fragments of old
compositions.
If we conclude that the present compilation is perhaps due to
Rolle himself, we must take into account the abridged text of the
Incendium to which it is attached in Add. 24661. It may be argued
that this text represents an amalgamation of the treatise and the
compilation; it omits large sections which are authentic quotations
from Rolle, suitable to combine with the rest, and it is therefore less
probable that it represents the original form of the work, from which
the latter was later abstracted. In any case the existence of the
manuscript in which the heterogeneous compilation in question is
tacked on to a compilation from the Incendium, as if part of the
same work, makes it somewhat more difficult to decide the origin of
the former.
It is possible that one or both forms of the compilation were put
together at Syon Monastery, if Rolle were not himself the author.
The Add. MS. has been shown by Miss Deanesly to have belonged
to a nun of Syon, and the two Upsala MSS. were probably copied
from books sent out from Syon to Wadstena, the Brigittine Mother
House. The Douay MS. belonged to Shene, hence only the Egerton
copy cannot be connected with one or the other of the great con-
templative houses on the Thames. Syon was evidently a great
centre for the circulation of the piece, but this of course does not
mean necessarily that it originated there. As we have seen, this
house was probably in direct succession from personal friends and
patrons of Rolle, and if we suppose that this work had an authorita-
tive origin of some sort, our supposition is confirmed by finding it at
Syon. The Syon copy, in which it is attached to the Incendium,
contains the Emendatio with a truncated form of the dedication to
William, and if Rolle is not the creator of the strange abridgement
and compilation here found, a possible alternative would be his
intimate disciple, William Stopes.


324
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
THORNTON PRAYER
Lincoln Cath. Thornton MS., f. 194, early 15th cent. 'A prayere
þat þe same Richerd hermet made, þat es beried at Hampulle.' See
Ol. effus. (angl.), Miscell., Quot.
This Latin prayer of a few sentences is printed by Horstmann, i.
192, n. I.
Beg.: 'Deus noster refugium, O creator noster & virtus nostra
aduersus eos qui nos persecunttur.'
Ends: 'perueniamus ab omnibus peccatis mundati & absoluti.'
An anonymous text of this prayer occurs in Corpus Christi Coll.
Oxf. MS. 155 (f. 204), 15th cent. It here directly precedes the
Speculum Peccatoris, heading a page after a blank space. Rolle's
Emendatio follows the Speculum (both pieces are anonymous). This
manuscript belonged to Rievaulx Abbey, which was in the neighbour-
hood of Rolle's birthplace, and was perhaps a centre of persecution
directed against him in his early years (v. supra, p. 123, and infra,
pp. 476 sq.).
The most that can be said of Richard Rolle's claim to the author-
ship of this short and colourless prayer is that it was written in time
of persecution, and such times were frequent in Richard's life, and
often echoed in his writings. The mercy of God is specially dwelt
on. A priori we should be inclined to trust the authority of the
Thornton MS., for it gives signs of being based on unusually full
collections of his works. The occurrence of the prayer in the
Rievaulx MS. near a work of Rolle's is noteworthy, but of uncertain
value as confirmation of the ascription to him.
It should be noted in connexion with the ascription to Rolle of
prayers that many passages of his authentic works could be detached
and used as such, and at least two extant manuscripts (Kk. vi. 20,
and Ashburnham) make collections of such extracts (v. infra,
pp. 400, 404). The Thornton prayer may prove to be embedded in
one of Rolle's works.
REGULA HEREMITARUM
Camb. Univ. MS. Mm. vi. 17, ff. 70b-6b, 15th cent. Incipit
Regula Heremitarum.' Part of Rolle's Judica with his name imme-
diately precedes. See Judica, Spur.


REGULA HEREMITARUM
325
This work (though anonymous in the manuscript) was ascribed to
Rolle by Horstmann (ii, p. xxxvii), as 'probably identical with (or
part of) his libellus de vita eremitarum, mentioned in Job' (v. supra,
p. 113).
:
Beg. Heremita dicitur quis (sic) ab hereo, quod est manere
quasi herens mite, vel pocius ab heremo, in quo semotus a turbis
viuere debet solus.'
Ends: 'in desideriis nempe est omnis ociosus.'
The Regula Heremitarum is the only work included in the present
chapter which is not given to Rolle by authority of at least one copy.
The reference already quoted from the Job, which Horstmann has
connected with this piece, seems to justify its inclusion in the category
of doubtful works, even in default of manuscript authority. One of
Rolle's works precedes it in the unique manuscript, but that juxta-
position is no safe indication of common authorship. Moreover, the
scribe later gives the hermit a work manifestly not his (v. infra,
p. 355); the authority of this volume is therefore not of the best. As
regards the reference in Job, it must be admitted that the Regula
does not discuss the 'eminence of sanctity' which the Job would lead
us to expect in the 'De Vita Heremitarum'. The quotations to be
given from the Regula Heremitarum, however, will show reminiscences
of Rolle which forbid our rejecting absolutely the possibility of his
authorship. If it were to be decided that the 'De Vita Heremitarum'
was not to be identified with Rolle's piece on hermits, these reminis-
cences could easily be explained on the ground that Rolle saw this
work in his youth, and was influenced by it in shaping his ideas of
the hermit's life. An edition is under preparation by R. P. Livarius
Oliger, O.F.M., Professor of History in the College of St. Anthony at
Rome.
Miss Dorothy Ellis, of Newnham College, has pointed out to me
that the Regula Heremitarum incorporates nearly the whole of
St. Aelred's De Vita Eremitica. From this source it takes not only
practical arrangements, such as the injunctions to manual labour,
advice to seek as spiritual director an old man in a neighbouring
church or monastery, exhortations not to send letters, or to use
indiscreet abstinence, etc. ; but also various general spiritual counsels
which are thoroughly in sympathy with the non-mystical part
of Rolle's teaching. Such are the following: 'Nihil ditius bona
voluntate, ut ait quidam sanctus: hanc prebe' (f. 76, Aelred,


326
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
Migne, 32, c. 1465). The 'saint' is probably St. Anselm, for whose
insistence on 'good will' and similar passages in Rolle v. supra
(p. 211). Cum solus est, tunc enim cum Christo est, qui non
dignatur in turbis esse' (f. 72, Aelred, c. 1454); Utilius est enim
sepius orare breuiter quam semel nimis prolixe, nisi orationem pro-
longauerit devocio inspirata. Caueant etiam ne de numero psalmo-
rum aliquam sibi legem imponat, sed quamdiu delectant' (f. 73b;
cf. Aelred, c. 1456). These sentiments would serve to commend to
Richard Rolle the work in which they occurred, and his own works
may be brought in comparison:
'When saynt Ione was in þe yle of Pathmos, þan god schewed hym his
pryuytees' (Form of Living, p. 11). 'Take na tent þat þou say many
[psalms], bot þat þou say pam wele, with al þe deuocion þat þow may,
liftand vp þi thoght til heuen. Better it es to say seuen psalmes wyth
desyre of Crystes lufe, hauand þi hert of þi praying, þan seuen hundreth
thowsand, suffrand þi thoght passe in vanitees of bodyli thynges' (Ego
Dormio, p. 55).'
A considerable part of the text of the Regula is not found in the
work of St. Aelred, including two passages which suggest Rolle more
strongly than any other part of the work. The first occurs in the
opening of the piece, as follows:
'Iunior enim fui et enim senui, et non vidi iustum derelictum (Ps. xxxvi.
25). Heremitarum vitam commendans beatus Maximinus in sermone de
omnibus sanctis ex ipsa serie verborum ostendit qualis eorum conuersacio
debeat esse: ait enim, anachoretarum singulare propositum, id est, here-
mitarum, martirio non priuatur, qui per singula heremi loca in speluncis
et exiguis cellarum tigurriis, modico contenti pabulo absque deliciis demo-
rantes, plurimis virtutum effulsere signis. Itaque cum premittitur in pre-
conio anachoritarum singulare propositum, clare patet quod heremitarum
mentes in celestibus debent iugiter versari, non autem in fimo luxurie,
vel in vanitate cupiditatis' (f. 70b).
The notable element in this extract is the phrase 'singulare pro-
positum', which is that used in most critical passages by Richard
Rolle for his own assumption of the hermit's life. See for example
the narrative in the Canticles (f. 150) already so many times men-
tioned, in which he describes the supernatural temptation which led
to his beginning the devotion to the Holy Name (quoted supra,
p. 75). The same phrase appears in the Incendium :
'Docti enim sunt quidam diuinitus pro Christo solitudinem appetere,
1 This was, of course, a common sentiment, reiterated by many writers, from
St. Paul down (cf. The Mirror of St. Edmund, Horstmann, i. 234).


REGULA HEREMITARUM
327
...
singulare propositum tenere. Recte itaque heremite singulare proposi-
tum habent, in caritate Dei et proximi uiuunt' (p. 180).
We have proof that Richard had adopted this phrase very early
in his career, for it is found in the Judica A (f. 16, quoted supra,
p. 99).
In the treatise of St. Aelred the phrase 'singulare propositum'
does not occur, though we have 'bonum propositum tuum' (c. 1458).
It seems likely that the Regula borrowed the phrase from the sermon
by 'St. Maximinus' already cited, which has not been traced; no
other use of it has been noted. Another slight trace of connexion
of the present passage with Richard in his early period is the meta-
phorical use of the fantastic 'fimum', which occurs in the rhymed
signature attached to his Job:
'Talentum traditum timens subfodere fimum' (v. supra, p. 130).
The other passage in the Regula suggesting Rolle is the following:
'Soli Deo debet heremita obedienciam facere, quia ipse est abbas, prior
et propositus claustri cordis sui. Episcopo tamen in cuius diocesi habitat,
vel patrono loci, si fuerit prelatus vel sacerdos bone discrecionis, debet
notificare vitam suam. Et si aliqua viderint in eo emendanda, libenter
obediat consiliis eorum propter Christum, qui dicit doctoribus (Lucas 10):
Qui vos audit me audit. Vel aliter cum consensu episcopi eligatur in
vicino monasterio vel ecclesia presbiter aliquis senex sapiens, maturus
moribus et bone opinionis, cui de confessione et anime edificacione here-
mita raro loquatur' (f. 73).
The last sentence is taken from St. Aelred, who, however, has
nothing corresponding to the first part.
Though what follows somewhat tones down the effect and if viewed
as using technical phrases can, as we shall see, be reconciled with
orthodoxy, nevertheless, the opening here: 'Soli Deo debet heremita
obedienciam facere', seems to offer an expression of individualism
unusual in medieval writings. It is one which can, however, be
easily duplicated from Rolle. He writes in the Canticles:
'Constat itaque quia magis oportet obedire Deo quam hominibus. Et
si multum laudabile sit etiam hominibus pro Deo obedire, tamen illa
obediencia precipue in eternum laudabilis permanet, que Deo in omnibus
per suauem et ardentem caritatem obedire suadet. Frustra namque quis
in alia religione vel obediencia se Deum amare existimat, dum in eterno
amore ad Deum peruenire non festinat' (f. 147).
These words occur in a discussion of the comparative virtues of the
conventual and the solitary life, in which Rolle denies spiritual
superiority to the member of a religious community qua se, and in


328
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
a similar and often identical discussion in his early Melum he repeats
the same sentiments:
'Ecce enim iuuenis, zelo iusticie animatus, insurgit contra senem, here-
mita contra episcopum et contra omnes taliter opinantes, qui in quantum-
cumque exterioribus actibus supereminenciam¹ affirmant esse sanctitatis.
Emulamini carismata meliora: labor corporis ad modicum valet, pietas
autem ad omnia. Sed ait: Melior est obediencia quam uictime. Et
vere hoc pro me est quod nichil Deo acceptabilius quam ipsi obedire in
omnibus. Qui enim Deo est obediencior, eciam coram Deo est et maior,
sed non sequitur iste est obedientissimus [homini, ergo obedientissimus]
est Deo. Deo enim solo amore obedimus, ergo qui ardenciore amore in
Deo infigitur, Deo obedientissimus probatur. Potest autem quis homini
obediens apparere, et tamen Deo omnino contrarius esse.
Monachi ergo
vel alii in habitu religionis constituti sancti non sunt in quantum [superi-
oribus obediunt, sed in quantum]" feruore sancte dileccionis soli Deo ser-
uire contendunt' (f. 240).
The long quotation just made shows that Richard Rolle made an
article of faith of the obligation of obedience to God alone, and it
shows that he does not accept even the bishop's right to interpret
this point, as it is suggested in the Regula that the hermit should do.
This passage in the Melum may perhaps give us a hint that Richard
in his early years came into collision with his bishop on this subject.
The Melum shows that he had already been obliged to revise his
first purpose on the subject of preaching, which the strain of the
contemplative life did not allow (v. supra, p. 149), and in the same
way when he first became a hermit he may have thought that he
could reconcile obedience directly to God with obedience to his
bishop, and he may later have been tempted by the intensity of his
own spiritual impulses to refuse all human obedience whatsoever.
Therefore the partial discrepancy of the Regula and the Melum at
this point may mean no more than the passage of time, and (very
possibly) some critical experience in which he came into collision
with his bishop. Both passages quoted from his works come from
discussions directed against his brethren of the cloister, who seem
to have been his special persecutors (v. supra, p. 123). Resemblances
remain in the two passages of a sort to make it possible that Richard
Rolle either composed the Regula or knew it in his early youth.
The usual medieval view-point is expressed by John Peckham, the
late thirteenth-century Franciscan who was archbishop of Canterbury:
1 supereminencia C.
2 So Sl., Corpus Christi Oxf., St. John's Camb. MSS.
4 om. C.
5 om. C.
• de C.


REGULA HEREMITARUM
329
"
Perfectius est obedire Deo, et homini propter Deum, quam soli
Deo-dico in communi statu hominum.' Richard Rolle from a very
early stage in his career refused to consider himself as 'in communi
statu hominum'. All through the Melum he gives triumphant and
exuberant expression to his faith that he has reached the ' eminence
of sanctity', and the burden of his discourse is: 'Didici quod doceo
a Deo dignante' (f. 218).
་
The question of the origin of the Regula Heremitarum is compli-
cated by the existence of another rule of hermits incorporating much
of the same substance: this piece exists both in Latin and English,
and in the three extant copies of the English version is ascribed to
Pope Celestine. The passage mentioning the' singulare propositum'
is not found in this rule, which may make it the more likely that it
was Rolle who joined this phrase (which was characteristic of him)
to the characteristic passage on obedience, which is here found.'
The Latin version of this rule is being edited by Father Oliger.
The manuscripts of this work are as follows.
LATIN VERSION.
Bodl. Rawl. C. 72 (Sum. Cat. No. 11937), ff. 166-9, 15th cent.
The resemblance of this text to that ascribed to Pope Celestine in
the Bristol MS. was pointed out by Miss Clay (p. 87). The rule
here found has no title or ascription to an author. It begins with an
introduction: 'Quia licet status heremitarum regula careat canonica,
nichilominus tamen omnibus qui viam vere paupertatis pro Christo
Ihesu elegerunt.' The main text begins: Ingredienti statum here-
mitarum primo oportet perfecte mundum cum omnibus blandimentis
eius contempnere, propriam voluntatem pro amore Dei et zelo
proximi abnegare.' The end is torn off, but apparently only half a
page is missing. Many headings are given, but there is no number-
ing of chapters. The passage on obedience runs as follows:
'De obedientia quam debet Deo et hominibus. Soli Deo debet here-
mita obedientiam facere, quia ipse est abbas, prior, et propositus sui
claustri, id est, cordis sui,' etc. (f. 166).
All that is in the Cambridge Regula, up to the point where St. Aelred
Tractatus Tres de Paupertate, Brit. Soc. Francisc. Stud. ii, 1910, p. 39.
2 Father Oliger points out to me that 'propositum' sometimes means simply
'rule', as in the Bull of confirmation of the rule of the Third Order of the
Italian Humiliati, 1201 (Tiraboschi, Vetera Humiliatorum Monumenta, ii,
Mediolani, 1767, p. 128), and in the title of the oldest rule of the Third Order
of St. Francis (Archiv. Francis. Histor., 14, 1921, p. 114).
Y


330
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
is quoted, is to be found here in a slightly expanded form, and the
next heading follows:
'De voto suo faciendo. Omnipotenti Deo faciat votum paupertatis et
caritatis cum Dei adiutorio. Votum huiusmodi non debet fieri per pre-
ceptum alicuius hominis sui status, sed soli Deo, cui seruire regnare est,
faciat votum suum' (f. 167).
Exact directions are given for all the details of the hermit's daily
life.
ENGLISH VERSION.
I. B. Mus. Sloane 1584, ff. 89-95b, early 16th cent. On f. 12
the scribe writes: 'Scriptum per me Johannem Gysborn, Canonicum
de Couerham' (North Riding, Yorkshire, a Premonstratensian house
especially befriended by the Scropes, v. infra, p. 513). Premonstra-
tensian documents occur, as well as personal documents connected
with Gysborn and dated at various dates in the reign of Henry
VIII. The work in question begins with an introduction:
'P[eter] off Rome that hyght Celestyn mad this maner off lyff
ffor lyffyng off hermetts þat lyffs alone with owttyne certan Rewle
gyvyne off holy kyrke, ffor that skylle shewys he att his begynnyng
and says, Thosse all patt be so that the state off hermetts be
with owtene Rewle maid off holy kyrke, neuer the lesse ytt
ys... It is an abridged form of the work, and the first lines, and
the details of shrift, hours, etc., differ from those found in the other
manuscripts. The passage on obedience appears in a somewhat
softened form, as follows: And therfore ylke A hermeytt owght
ffyrst to be buxum to god allmyghty and to his commaundementys
(f. 90b). Either the translator has altered his text, or he had before
him a manuscript which gave 'primo' instead of 'soli'.
II. B. Mus. Add. 34193, ff. 131 sq., late 15th cent. This text is
prefaced by an elaborate table of contents, giving the headings of the
seventeen chapters into which the work is here divided. The head-
ing to the whole is: Here begynnys þe Reule of heremyts made
and compiled of the blessed pope Celestine pe v, the wylke pope
Celestine whas an heremyte or he whas pope.' The work begins:
'Yt behovys hermyts to dyspise and forsake þe worlde with all his
mylde spech' (as in the Latin text supra, p. 329). The chapter on
obedience is translated literally: 'An hermite also owes to make his
obedience all only to allmyght god' (f. 132). Whereas the Sloane
text orders shrift four times a year, this orders it every week, but in


REGULA HEREMITARUM
331
the matter of the Pater Nosters, etc., said by lay hermits in lieu of
hours the Sloane text is more exacting than the Add. Some
Northern forms ('kyrk', 'mykell ') may be noted.
III. Bristol Reference Library No. 6*, ff. 137-40, written in
1502 at the Hospital of St. Mark, Bristol. I learned of this copy
through a reference in Miss Clay's Hermits and Anchorites (p. 87).
It is described in the catalogue of the library by N. Matthews,
Bristol, 1899: Thyes are the notalle rewles of the lyfe heremiticalle
as they folow here after made be Pope celestyne whych was an
heremyte and chosyn for hys holynes out of wyldernes to be Pope.'
The ascription to Pope Celestine V is perhaps due to an un-
scrupulous scribe who wished to increase the circulation of his work.
No trace of this rule of hermits can be found on the Continent
ascribed to Celestine V, and the whole character of the piece is such
that it could hardly be connected with him. As we have seen, it is
composed for the use of hermits living in solitude as individuals,
without communal life, and Pope Celestine, before he became pope,
was the head of a regularly constituted order of hermits, with an
organization approved by the Papal See. As the Bull of his
canonization puts it, 'Congregationem monasticam sub B. Benedicti
regula, superadditis ei Statutis arctissimis, ordinavit' (Acta Sanctorum,
May, iv, p. 434). The Celestine Order thus founded spread to
France, Saxony, Bohemia, and the Netherlands.¹ The French
houses (which numbered twenty-one out of the total of one hundred
and fifty) came into prominence at the end of the 14th century,
because Philippe de Mézières became a Celestine, and Gerson
retired for four years to their house at Lyons (where his brother was
prior). It is perhaps because of the fame of the Order in France at
this time, that when Henry V founded the great Brigittine house at
Syon and the great Carthusian house at Shene, he also intended to
found, in the neighbourhood of his other two foundations, a Celestine
house (enclosed, as were Syon and Shene, and hence also dedicated
to contemplation). He went so far as to enter into negotiations with
the French Order. The plan fell through, but it may have served to
bring the Celestines before the English public.³
Father Oliger has been kind enough to examine in rotographs the
1 See M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen, Paderborn, 1907, i.
279 sq., Hélyot, Histoire des Ordres Religieux et Militaires, Paris, 1792, vi.
180 sq., vii. 43 sq.
A. L. Masson, Jean Gerson, Lyons, 1894, p. 312.
J. H. Wylie, Henry V, i. 229-31.
Y 2


332
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
Bodl. Latin text of the rule in question, and he reports in a private
letter that it
'is perfectly orthodox, without any trace of schismatic tendency. If
one or two facts suggest the contrary, the context leaves no doubt about
the real meaning.... "Facere obedientiam soli Deo" cannot be trans-
lated "to obey only God," but means "to make the vow of obedience
only to God", and not to any man, which is quite natural in this case,
since the hermit has no immediate regular Superior. Only in a general
way he is bound to obey the bishop of the diocese, but not by virtue of
Vow. This is precisely what is said in the Bodl. rule when, immediately
after these words, obedience to the bishop is enjoined.'
In spite of this opinion from so distinguished a specialist, I have
ventured to point out above that if the work were known to Rolle
the passages quoted from the Melum on his own conception of
obedience would suggest that he was likely to take from the Regula
a literal meaning rather than the orthodox, quasi-technical meaning
pointed out by Father Oliger, even though the latter is the interpreta-
tion of the usual orthodox-minded churchman. Rolle was formally
orthodox, but, as we have seen, the natural trend of his mind was
not altogether orthodox, and it may be that if in early youth he saw
the rule in question, by a perhaps instinctive misreading he took
from it a sanction for his individualistic way of life.'
The ascription to Pope Celestine in the English versions of the
rule had suggested that it might be due to the branch of the stricter
Franciscans who (because of his approval when pope) took their
name from him and were finally, after many persecutions, merged in
the Spirituals. These were hermits (subject only to the bishop), of
whom their leader Angelo da Clareno said in 1317:
'Quia nec dicebamus nos fratrum minorum regulam observare, nec
dicimus, sed pauperes heremitas viventes, sicut concesserat et voluerat
dominus Celestinus papa. ... Nec confessiones audiebamus nec audimus,
nec auctoritate nobis concessa nec modo aliquo, nisi forte hoc episcopus,
cui obedimus, preciperet.'2
Father Oliger's examination would seem to dispose of the possi-
bility of a connexion of this rule with the fraticelli. He not only
1 Cf. also Piers Plowman:
'y-habited as an hermyte, an ordre by hym-selue,
Religioun sanz reule and resonable obedience.'
(B text, Passus xiii. 285-6.)
2 F. Ehrle, Die Spiritualen, Archiv für Litt. u. Kirch, Gesch. des Mittelalt., i,
Berlin, 1885, p. 522. A letter to the Pope is quoted.


REGULA HEREMITARUM
333
shows the piece not to be schismatic (as already noted), but also not
to be even indirectly Franciscan, since the rule of St. Francis is
hardly alluded to. He also believes that it must have been written
either in England or France: 'There is not one particular Italian
expression in the whole text.' On the other hand he points out such
forms as 'heremitagium', 'potagium', and perhaps 'temporalitates'
as well as references to a 'regnum', all of which suggest a French
or English origin. Evidently this piece is of uncertain derivation,
but the testimony of two of the three manuscripts of the English
text seems to indicate that it circulated in the North of England
and thus to increase the likelihood that it was known to Richard
Rolle.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
E. Gebhart in his brilliant L'Italie Mystique (1st edition, Paris,
1890) describes the heresies (and kindred movements) of the thirteenth
century. He quotes Angelo da Clareno, leader of the hermits of
St. Celestine', as announcing: Nous obéirions à Dieu plutôt qu'aux
hommes' (10th ed., no place or date, p. 189). Hermits abound in
connexion with the movements which he describes (p. 227), and
many of them are illuminating for Rolle's early development. His
rationalization of his wandering (which does not proceed from
instability of mind) might suggest some of the apologies of the
orthodox Franciscans (v. Peckham, op. cit., p. 24): 'Quidam quie-
scunt corde et corpore, sicut professores sancti vite monastice et
ecclesiarum rectores aliqui. Alii quiescunt corde sed non corpore.'
Rolle's hatred of riches is almost Franciscan (in the literal manner
of the Spirituals, v. supra, p. 99). His elevation in the next life of
the contemplative above all others, and his ardent faith in the mystic
meaning of Scripture, may suggest the prophecies of Joachim of Flora,
which had so deeply stirred the Spiritual Franciscans (see Gebhart,
passim). As Miss Evelyn Underhill has said in her Jacopone da
Todi, Richard Rolle is a mystic whose temperament has much in
common with that of Jacopone' (the poet of the Spirituals). We
may note that Bodl. MS. 57, Sum. Cat. No. 2204 (see new catalogue),
containing French versions of some of Jacopone's poems, was
written in England during the last years of the poet's life (that is,
about 1300).
It is possible that Rolle when at Oxford (or Paris?) came in
1 London, 1919, p. 124.


334
DOUBTFUL LATIN ASCRIPTIONS
contact with obscure influences from other continental heresies.
We are told that also the Waldensians 'were never weary of repeat-
ing that it is better to obey God than man'. The importance of
the subject of obedience at this time may be judged by the fact that
the pope felt it necessary to reassert its pre-eminence above poverty
and chastity in 1317 in connexion with the troubles of the Spiritual
Franciscans. At the Council of Vienne (1311) also, the errors were
condemned of the German Beguines and Beghards. They asserted
that man may become perfect in this life, that
'illi, qui sunt in illo gradu perfectionis & spiritu libertatis, non sunt
humanae subjecti obedientiae... quod homo ita potest finalem beatitu-
dinem secundum omnem gradum perfectionis in praesenti assequi, sicut
eam in vita beata obtinebit '(J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum ... Col-
lectio, Venice, 1782, vol. xxv, p. 410).
Some operation of the 'Time Spirit' possibly gave Rolle some remote
spiritual kinship with these heretics. Similarly they show some
remote relation to the highly orthodox author of the Cloud of Unknow-
ing, for like him they speak of 'descending to meditate on the
Passion' (ibid., cf. Cloud, ed. Underhill, p. 91, et sq.). As we have
seen (supra, p. 137), Rolle felt it necessary to guard (somewhat lamely)
against implications of 'perfectionism', but he is likely for all that to
have been subject to influences from the heretical sects of the time—
and this probably through Franciscan influence in part at least, since
the Spirituals of that Order were in touch with heretical movements.
We have no record of any 'fraticelli' in England, but their fame
must have reached such centres as Oxford, and Rolle may have been
at Paris (v. infra, p. 490).
We have record of various heretical English hermits who were
also friars. It has been suggested by Horstmann (ii, p. xxiv) that
the 'friar Henry de Staunton hermit', whose preaching was forbidden
by Archbishop Melton in 1334, was a follower of Rolle. We cannot
be certain that this Yorkshire schismatic hermit was a Franciscan.
In 1336
' venit Londonias quidam haereticus nomine frater Ranulphus, in habitu
heremitico; qui prius fuerat de ordine fratrum Minorum et apostatavit.
Hic multa contra fidem catholicam et sacramenta ecclesiae superstitiose ac
pertinaciter proponebat coram magistris Theologiae', etc. (RS. 76, i. 365).
1 Gebhardt, p. 33, and compare also Rufus M. Jones, Studies in Mystical
Religion, London, 1909, p. 139.
2. René de Nantes, Histoire des Spirituels, Couvin, Belgium, 1909, p. 402.


REGULA HEREMITARUM
335
He was imprisoned, but died before trial. In 1360 a hermit disputed
in St. Paul's that the sacraments of the Church were not those of
Christ, but we are not told that he was a friar.¹
It will be seen in the 'Defence against the Detractors of Richard'
by the hermit Thomas Basset, appended (infra, p. 534), that a
learned Carthusian had said that Richard's influence had 'destroyed
as many men as it had saved': that it 'made men judges of them-
selves', and taught them the superstition of the material fire of love.
Some disturbing influence therefore (in some opinions, at least) did
emanate from Rolle, and this we can hardly wonder at, considering
the tendency of works like the Melum. Hints of excesses caused by
his influence are given in the present work (v. infra, pp. 352, 361,
368, and cf. p. 538). However, the whole question of applying to
contemporary life references in contemporary treatises has to be
approached with caution, because of the medieval habit of quoting
verbatim from earlier authors. Dom Noetinger has shown (as
already noted, p. 19) that the vivacious passage in the Cloud of
Unknowing as to the vagaries of contemporary aspirants to the con-
templative life is really founded on Hugh of St. Victor, and therefore
of doubtful value as evidence for contemporary conditions. Some
first-hand meaning it probably did have, but we cannot say how much.
The same must be said of the long and spirited account of schismatics
in the treatise The Chastising of God's Children (v. supra, p. 218).
I have under preparation a note showing that this is in large part
literally translated from a sermon of Tauler, where he is treating the
continental sect of the Free Spirit. How much, therefore, the
passage tells us of English conditions is doubtful, and in any case
the delicately sarcastic phrases mean nothing for English style, since
all are translated from the German.
PART II. ENGLISH WORKS
THE ABBEY OF THE HOLY GHOST
Lambeth Palace MS. 432, ff. 37b-68, 15th cent. 'Here begyn-
neth Richard hampspull (?) of the abbay of the holy goest full
nessessarys.' At the end of the Abbey the title is given: Abbathia
Spiritus Sancti.' After the Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost
(here divided into sections, each with its own explicit): Explicit
1 Foxe, Martyrs, London, 1877, ii. 782.


336
DOUBTFUL ENGLISH ASCRIPTIONS
the abbay of the holy goest. quod ffuller.' The scribe, Richard
Fuller, signs his name several times throughout the book.
It has not been thought necessary to cite here the very numerous
manuscripts of the Abbey which do not ascribe it to Rolle. They
have not been examined. The copy in the possession of Dr. W. W.
Greg should, however, be noted (No. 153 in the catalogue of the
Huth library, written c. 1400). In this text the Charter is put first,
then the Abbey (in a much abbreviated form), then the narrative
which follows the Charter in the treatise of that name (Horstmann, i.
340 sq.). The same version of the work (though less abbreviated) is
found in the early printed editions: thus Dr. Greg's copy proves that
it existed much earlier. The first edition was brought out by Wynkyn
de Worde in 1496 (reproduced Camb. Univ. facsimiles 1907); he
reprinted the text in 1531. Both editions are anonymous, but the
early bibliographers (Bale, Pits, etc.) name as author John Alcock,
the late 15th-century bishop of Ely. The dates make this impossible.
The Abbey of the Holy Ghost was printed by Horstmann (i. 321-
37) with the Charter (ibid., 337-62); the former from the Thornton
MS., where it occurs anonymously (as in all other copies except the
Lambeth). It does not contain the Charter. He states (p. 321)
that this is the only Northern MS. known, though 'a few [including
the Lambeth MS.] show, in their readings, the use of a northern MS.'
Abbey.
Beg. A dere brethir and systirs, I see þat many walde be in
religyone bot pay may noghte' (Horstmann, i. 321).
Ends: and ze sall be delyuerde thurgh þe mercy of oure lord
Ihesu Criste there, blyssede mot he be with-owttene ende. Amen.'
Charter.
:
Beg. Here is þe book pat spekip on a place pat is I-clepid pe
abbeye of pe holy gost. . . . Wetip ze pat ben now here, & pei pat
schulen comen after zou.'
Ends: Almihti God for his deore merci zif vs grace forte kepe
feire and clene pis abbey of pe holygost... þat for loue of monnes
soule dizede on pe Roode-Tre. A.M.E.N.'
The Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost follows the Abbey in
the manuscript ascribing the work to Rolle, but not in the Thornton
MS., which is the only pure Northern text; its general character
forbids our assigning it to the same author as the Abbey. No French
or other original is known, and the author has perhaps expanded
www


ABBEY OF THE HOLY GHOST
337
a hint as to a 'tyrant' and his four daughters found in the
last paragraphs of the Abbey. This author is a commonplace
person, without mystical interests. The ascription to Rolle of the
Charter will not even be considered here, for no possible evidence
supports it.
The ascription to Rolle of a single copy of the Abbey of the Holy
Ghost (not Northern) would mean little, if it were not evident that
the work must have emanated from his school. It is perhaps not
likely that he was the author of a piece which became so generally
detached from his name and which appeared anonymously in the
Thornton MS., usually well-informed on his canon. However, it is
not quite impossible, considering the carelessness for authorship
manifested in the Middle Ages. At first sight it would appear that
the work could not possibly be Rolle's because of its character: it is
in the form of allegory, which he uses only in the Misericordia;
and the allegory is founded on the conventual life, of which he was
generally critical. These uncongenial elements, however, are found
in the French original from which the work is translated: its prime
purpose, in spite of them, is to stimulate the religion of the heart,
outside of all observances and institutions, and this was a purpose
very dear to Rolle. The translator has reinforced the spiritual
character of his message by interpolating a good deal of mysticism,
and on the whole the work emerges from his hands as a protest
against formalism, and an incentive to mysticism-a very good
example of the type of religious literature which was the product in
England, in the late fourteenth century, of Rolle's teaching (as at
least a strong influence). It must have been originally written for
women, since the personages are all women, and the original French
text was perhaps composed for lay women of high position. Several
copies still extant were owned by royalty. By the irony of fate, the
allegory, which was probably composed to comfort the worldly with
the assurance of the holiness possible in lay estate, was in the end
utilized by the contemplatives at the other extreme of the Church,
who lived a life more strict than that of the cloister.
Horstmann says of the attribution to Rolle in the Lambeth copy:
'As no other MS. ascribes it to him, a direct proof of his authorship
is wanting; yet, as we find references to the treatise in other works
of his, his authorship is very probable. A Latin treatise, Abbacia
de S. Spiritu, exists in several MSS.' (p. 321). My own investiga-
tions have brought no Latin original to light, nor have I found any


338
DOUBTFUL ENGLISH ASCRIPTIONS
references in Rolle's writings which can be construed as connected
with the Abbey of the Holy Ghost. On the other hand, several
copies, representing three texts, exist of a French 'Sainte Abbaye'
prior to Rolle's time.
What appears to be the original French text begins: 'La sainte
abbaie et la religion doit estre fondee esperituelment en la con-
science' (B. Mus. Add. MS. 39843, c. 1300). This exquisite manu-
script belonged to Marie de Bourbon, daughter of Charles V of
France, who in 1408 became a nun: it had previously belonged to
her uncle, Jean, Duc de Berry. It was shown to me first by
Mr. Henry Yates Thompson, from whom it passed to the Museum.
The text which is found here also appears in Add. MSS. 20697
(a 14th-cent. fragment, which once belonged to the confessor of the
widow of Philippe de Valois) and 29986 (ff. 149b sq., late 14th cent.:
'Cy commence le liure du cloistre de lame que hue de saint victor
fist'). Paul Meyer noted the first two of these copies, and added
a Brussels MS., also once belonging to Jean de Berry, which also
gives the attribution to Hugh of St. Victor. This attribution, he
pointed out (n. 2), doubtless comes by confusion with the De Claustro
Animae often ascribed to the Victorine, but more probably by Hugh
de Fouilloi. He is here dealing with the text of the Abbaye du Saint
Esprit in the B. Mus. Roy. MS. 16 E. xii (mid 14th cent., of Paris
or thereabouts), in which the cataloguer of the Royal MSS. finds the
initials 'H.R.'-' of Henry VII or Henry VIII (?)'. It begins:
'Mout de gent voudroient entrer en religion et ne pueent', and
P. Meyer calls this text 'à peu près semblable dans le fond, mais
assez différente dans la rédaction', in comparison with the group just
cited. The cataloguer of the Royal MSS. notes that this text is
closer to the English translation than the other. It is in all
probability its source, as already mentioned. The early origin
of this version is proved by P. Meyer's discovery of a copy at Metz,
written in the late 13th or early 14th cent. (Bulletin, 1886, p. 49).
The two versions just discussed do not vary greatly in length, but
a text founded on the latter, with elaborate interpolations, is found
in Douce MS. 365, a volume written in 1465 for Marguerite of York,
Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV of England. The
scribe is the famous David Aubert, copyist and 'grossoyeur' of the
Duke of Burgundy. The Douce version begins with the same
1 Bulletin de la Société des anciens textes français, 1912, p. 52. He notes the
group of works with similar titles, which have never been studied.
2 See Paulin Paris, Les MSS. françois de la Bibliothèque du Roi, Paris, 1836,


ABBEY OF THE HOLY GHOST
339
words as the Roy. MS., and gives an enlarged form of the epilogue
found in the English text ('Now I pray 30w all in charite of god. . .),
which is absent from the other two French versions; showing here
and at other points that it is founded on a copy of the second
version closer to that used, by the English translator than the
Roy. MS.
The relation of the English Abbey to the first two versions of the
French text will now be illustrated.
be cited also:
Iubilation ... est vne tres grant
ioie qui est meue en lame (Douce
MS. larmes) par grace apres oroi-
son; ferueur desperit, qui ne puet
estre du tout monstree, ne du tout
celee; si comme il auient aucune
foiz a genz esperitueus apres oroi-
son, que il sont si lie et si ioiant, si
feruent et si ardant que li cors ua
chantant et murmurant une chan-
con par la ou il uont et aucune foix
la langue ne se puet tenir que ele
ne chante' (Roy. MS., f. 135. The
Douce MS. gives the same in a
superior text, f. 11V).
'Iubilacion est vne granz ioie qui
est conceue en lame apres oroison
par ferueur desperit, qui ne puet
estre du tout monstree ne du tout
celee, si comme il auient aus genz
esperituels' (Add. 39843, f. 3).
'Quant cœur est espris et esleuez
en oroison il ne puet riens dire, tant
a penser a ce quil sent et uoit et
ot, quil ne puet riens dire et parole
li faut, si se repose por miex crier,
si se test pour miex parler' (Roy.
f. 137, Douce, f. 13).
'Li cuers en meditacion se repose
pour mielz crier et cest pour mielz
paller' (Add. MS. 39843, f. 4).
The Douce text will sometimes
'Iubylacione es a grete Ioye pat
es consayuede in teris thorow bryn-
nande luffe of spirite, pat may
noghte be in all schewede no in
alle hyde; als it fallis somtyme of
tho þat god hertly lufes: pere efter
þat þay hafe bene in prayere and in
orysone, þay are so lyghte & so
lykande in god, þat whare so þay go
þer hertes synges murnynge songes
of lufe-longynge to paire lefe, pat
þay gerne with armys of lufe semly-
ly to falde, and with gastely mourn-
ynge of his gudnes swetly to kysse;
and it vmwhile so depely pat
wordis þam wanttis; for luf-long-
ynge so ferforthe rauesches thorow
hertis þat somtyme pay ne wote
noghte whate pay do' (pp. 328-9).
'ffor pe holy thoghtes in medita-
cione cryes in goddis eris. Ofte it
falles þat þe herte es so ouer-tane
and so raueschede in holy medita-
cyone þat it wote noghte what it
dose, heris nor sayse, or seys, so
depely es pe herte festenede in god
and in his werkes þat wordis hym
wanttis; and pe stillere þat he es in
slyke meditacione the luddere he
cryes in goddis eris' (p. 331).
i. 106. The note at the beginning here ascribes the work to Gerson, an ascrip-
tion which (at most) can only refer to the interpolated material.


340
DOUBTFUL ENGLISH ASCRIPTIONS
The English text twice introduces a direct address to 'Jesus':
once, 'A Ihesu mercy' (p. 321), where the Douce MS. has 'Haa,
beau sire dieu' (f. 1), and the other texts have no equivalent; once
'A Ihesu' (p. 326), where Douce has 'doulce fille' (f. 11), and the
other texts again no equivalent.
It may be noted that alliteration is occasionally found in the
English Abbey, and the following parallel quotations show its use in
passages almost wholly derived from the French:
'Auloge de contemplacion et de
saint beguinaige¹ cest ialousie et
amor de perfection. Si est mainte
foiz auenu en religion que auant que
lauloge de matines sonast, que
maintes persones auoient ploure
maintes larmes deuant deu de do-
leur et de contriction quant a soi,
de pitie, et de compassion quant a
leur prochien, damour et de deuo-
cion quant a deu, car li auloges
damour les auoit esueilliez. He!
beneoîte soit lame que amour
esueille, car ele nest pereceuse, ne
endormie' (Add. 39843, f. 4b. Both
Roy. and Douce here give the
same text).
'And þer es orloges in relegione,
of contemplacione. And this es of
this holy relegyone þat es fundede
of pe haly gaste, and þis es lelosy,
and this es sauoyre of perfeccione.
& ofte it falles in relegione, before
þat þe orloge falles or any belles
rynges, goddes gostely seruandes
are lange wakenede be-fore, and
hase wepede by-fore god, and hase
waschene pame with paire teris....
A, dere breper and systers, sely ar
tho sawles þat þe lufe of god and
longyng till him wakyns, and slo-
mers noghte no slepis noghte in
slowthe of fleschly lustes' (pp.
334-5).
These quotations show that a certain amount of the mystical
material found in the English version has been carried over from
the French source, and that part of this was not found in the original
French text, but was added in the redaction represented by the Roy.
MS. At the same time it must be pointed out that neither French
text contains all the mystical material given by the English, and
quotations will now be made of two passages entirely due to the
English translator.
'(God) so enflawmes pam with pe blysse of his lufe þat þay taste some-
delle & fele how swete he es, how gud he es, how luffande he es-bot noghte
alle fully. I wote wele pat none may fele it fully bot if his herte solde
bryste for lykynge of Ioye' (p. 333).
Contemplacione es a deuote rysynge of herte with byrnynge lufe to god
to do wele, and in his delites Ioyes his saule, and somdele ressayues of
that swetnes pat goddis chosene childir sall hafe in heuene' (pp. 324-5).
1 Since béguinages are not found in England, the use of this phrase (if
original) disposes of the possibility of an Anglo-Norman origin.


ABBEY OF THE HOLY GHOST
341
The definition here given of contemplation may be compared with
those given by Rolle:
'Hinc igitur colligitur quod contemplacio est iubilus diuini amoris, su-
scepto in mente sono celice melodie vel cantico laudis eterne' (Canticles,
f. 147).
'Si quaeratur quid sit contemplatio, difficile est diffinire. Dicunt
quidam quod vita contemplatiua nihil aliud est, quam rerum latentium
futurarumque notitia, siue vacatio ab omnibus occupationibus mundi, siue
diuinarum studium literarum (Julianus Pomerius, De Vita Contemplativa,
i. xiii). Alij dicunt, quod contemplatio est perspicatia in sapientiae
spectacula, cum admiratione suspensa (Richard of St. Victor, Benjamin
Major, i. iv). Alij dicunt, quod contemplatio est libera & perspicax
animi intuitus ad vires perspicandas circumquaque diffusus (ibid.).³
Alii dicunt, & bene, quod contemplatio est supernorum iubilus. Alii
dicunt, & optime, quod contemplatio est per subleuantis mentis iubilum
mors carnalium affectionum (St. Austin', v. infra). Mihi videtur quod
contemplatio sit iubilus diuini oris, suscepta in mente suauitate laudis
angelicae' (Emendatio, fol. 16).
'In þis gyfte (Wisdom) schynes contemplacyone, þat es, saynt Austyne
says, a gastely dede of fleschely affeccyones thurghe pe Ioy of a raysede
thoghte' (Seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost, p. 197).
'pan may I say þat contemplacion es a wonderful ioy of goddes luf, þe
whilk ioy es louyng of god, þat may noght be talde, & þat wonderful
louyng es in þe saule; and for abundance of ioy & swettenes it ascendes
in til þe mouth: swa þat þe hert & þe tonge acordes in ane, and body &
sawle ioyes in god lyuand' (Form, p. 48).
It will be seen that the definition of contemplation inserted into
the Abbey of the Holy Ghost bears some relation to those quoted
from Rolle. It emphasizes the joy, rather than the revelation, in
the experience, and gives the joy a celestial character. Moreover, it
stresses the 'rising of heart' (like 'subleuantis mentis iubilum ') which
recalls the definition specially approved by Rolle in the Emendatio,
and quoted by him in the Seven Gifts: something of the same idea
is implied in the Form, which speaks of 'the wonderful louying in þe
1 Migne, 59, C. 429.
2 Though Richard of St. Victor cites this definition with his own just quoted,
he has probably derived it from his master Hugh, in whose works it will be
found (with slight variations) twice, as is kindly pointed out to me by Dom
Noetinger (see Migne, 175, c. 117; 176, c. 879). Dom Noetinger also points
out that it is used by 'Master Hildebrand' (c. 1150), who has probably taken it
from the Victorines (see Migne, 181, c. 1698). The source of the last
two definitions quoted by Rolle cannot be traced, though he believed that the
last one (his favourite) was derived from St. Augustine.


342
DOUBTFUL ENGLISH ASCRIPTIONS
saule', which 'ascendes in til þe mouth'. Traces of alliteration
appear, and of the metaphor of the 'fire of love'.
The quotations made will have shown, introduced at several points
into the English version of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost, original
matter which suggests that it emanated from the contemporary school
of English mystics. The characteristics of the mysticism shown in
the new material are, however, common to a group, and good manu-
script authority would serve to establish the authorship of any one
of several fourteenth-century mystics, beginning with Rolle, who first
expressed in English the type of devotion here exemplified. The
personality of the later mystics was very different from his, and their
interests were far wider, but the individual characteristics of fourteenth-
century English mystics do not appear in this piece it is typical
of the whole movement. It is, however, evidently not the work of
a mere copyist: the swing of the style and the effectiveness of the
diction would suggest that it is to be assigned to one of the leaders.
As we have already seen, Rolle's English Psalter may be called
a translation from the Latin, elaborately interpolated with mystical
passages after the manner used in the present work. But Richard
was not the only mystic of his time who made translations: 'Dionise
Hid Divinity' is a 'paraphrase of the Mystical Theology of
Dionysius', 'apparently by the same hand' as the Cloud of
Unknowing (Gardner, Cell of Self-Knowledge, p. xxiv); and Walter
Hilton translated into English not only the religious classic Stimulus
Amoris (MSS. Hh. i. 12, Harl. 2254, etc.) but also one and probably
two treatises of contemporaries. In many manuscripts, in eight
chapters is the 'tretes necessarye for men þat zeuen hem unto per-
feccion, whiche was foundyn in maister Lowys de Fontibus boke at
Cambrigge, and torned into Englisshe be maister Water Hilton,
chanon of Thorgortone' (MSS. B. Mus. Add. 10053, Lambeth 472,
Paris, Bibl. nat., anglais 41, etc.); the note just quoted appears
1 'Mentis subleuatio' was recognized by Richard of St. Victor as one of the
highest elements of contemplation (Benjamin Major), and he, more perhaps
than any other writer on mysticism, seems to have influenced the 14th-century
English mystics, from Rolle on. The author of the Cloud of Unknowing, pro-
bably writing a decade or so after Rolle's death (since he appears to attack the
earlier stages of Lollardy), bears indirect testimony to the widespread effort to
achieve the mentis subleuatio' in his sarcastic reference to how these young
presumptuous ghostly disciples misunderstand this other word up. For if it so
be, that they either read, or hear read or spoken, how that men should lift up
their hearts unto God, as fast they stare in the stars as if they would be above
the moon, and hearken when they shall hear any angel sing out of heaven' (ed.
E. Underhill, p. 254).


ABBEY OF THE HOLY GHOST
343
authentic, and the manuscripts which credit Hilton with the author-
ship are almost certainly in error (Roy. MS. 17 C. xviii, etc.).
Another work ascribed to Hilton in the manuscripts (Bodl. MS. 43,
strongly Northern, as is the anonymous Bodl. MS. 131) is called in
Harl. MS. 2409: A deuoute matier be pe drawyng of M. Waltere
hylton.' It is likely that (as here stated) he was the 'drawer' rather
than the author of this piece also, for it exists in a Latin text in
MS. Ii. vi. 30 as 'Tractatus compositus a fratre Willelmo Flete de
Remediis contra temptaciones' ('Quamuis sicut ait apostolus, sine
fide impossible est . . .'). Flete is probably the Augustinian hermit
(a graduate of Cambridge) who was one of the principal disciples of
St. Catharine of Siena.¹
Thus we have abundant evidence that the mystics after Rolle
were as zealous as he to teach mysticism by translations as well as
by original works, and others may have introduced mystical passages
into their translations: we know that one other translator did so
(v. infra, p. 365). It would therefore be rash to conclude that
Rolle was the translator of a widely distributed piece which is given
to him in only one copy.
O BONE JESU (in English), v. supra, p. 315.
LAMBETH DEVOTION
Lambeth Palace MS. 546, ff. 53b-5, late 15th cent. The whole
of this devotion will be quoted. There is a prologue (apparently by
the scribe) beginning
and ending
'If thou wylt be good and holy
Thes viii rules kepe thou truly',
'Thes be the viii rules. Doo well, Greue not, Suffyr, fflee, Wake,
Wepe, Pray, and Loue.'
The rubric follows: Thys ys hampul doctryne and her folowyth hys
prayer.' After the prayer, an epilogue follows: 'Good Syster, of
your charyte I you pray, remember the scrybeler when that ye may,
with on aue maria or els thys swete word Ihesu....' On f. 20b is
1 He was appointed by her to continue her work in Siena (Gardner, Cell of
Self-Knowledge, p. xviii). Some slight support for his authorship of the Latin
text, as stated in the Camb. MS., may be found in the fact that in the Harl. MS.
of the English version the piece immediately following takes up the revelations
of St. Catharine of Siena.


344
DOUBTFUL ENGLISH ASCRIPTIONS
the signature Master John Warde', and on f. 56 'Sister E. W. (?)'.
A Renaissance hand has written on f. 52 'Robart Davemport Your
pore bedeman miserrimo peccatori. Jhesus mercy, Lady helpe.'
"
The prayer is as follows:
Swete ihesu cryst, for thy blody wounds kepe me fro synne and fendys
ylle and to lyue aftyr thes viii rulys geue me grace and hartely wyll.
Swete ihesu cryste, for thy holy wounds geue me grace to doo well in all
my dedys doyng. Swete ihesu cryst, for thy blody wounds geue me grace
nother to greue god ne man in all my lyuyng. Swete ihesu cryst, for thy
blody wounds geue me grace to suffer all wrongs and dysesys wyth true
pacyens withoute grucchyng. Swete ihesu cryst, for thy blody wounds
geue me grace to flee alle ylle company and alle synnes in thoght, dede
and spekyng. Swete ihesu cryste, for thy blody wounds geue me grace
to wake well in perfyte occupacyons of holynes to the plesyng. Swete ihesu
cryst, for thy blody wounds geue me grace to wepe for thy paynes, and all
mennys wyckydnes, true compassyon hauyng. Swete ihesu cryst, for thy
blody wounds geue me grace to pray with deuocion hartely to the gode,
holy prayers seyng. Swete ihesu cryst, for thy blody wounds geue me
grace to loue in thes iii degrees of loue ouer all thyng. In the fyrst degre
that ys insuperable, that with no euyl temptacyon I be ouercome. In the
ijde degre that ys inseparable, that whyl I wake y neuer forgete the. In
the iiide degre that ys synguler, that makyth thy seruants to tast of thy
loue whych saynts and angels haue aboue. Amen.'
It would seem that this little devotion may be by Rolle, but is
perhaps more likely to be due to an imitator. A scribe who recognized
the three degrees of love as preached by the hermit of Hampole
probably ascribed to this writer the prayer in which they occurred.
The rhymes with which all the phrases end, and the frequent use of
'sweet Jesus' may also have suggested his authorship.
LYRICS
For English lyrics of which the connexion with Rolle is possible,
though doubtful, v. supra, p. 302.


CHAPTER XI
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
NONE of the following ascriptions is supported by serious manu-
script authority.
BALLIOL PRAYERS
Balliol Coll. Oxf. MS. 224, 15th cent., a large collection of
Richard Rolle's works, contains on ff. 56-7 a prayer to God and
one to the Mother of God, which seem to be ascribed to Rolle in the
later index as 'Tractatus eiusdem qui incipit Domine Deus meus'.
See Cant., Contra Am. M., E. V., Incend., Job, Judica.
I. Beg. Domine Deus meus, quomodo ausus sum te alloqui.'
Ends: 'Aperiantur vulnera, iungantur intima, et sim unus cum
Christo. Amen.'
II. Beg. O domina glorie, o regina leticie, o fons pietatis.'
Ends: 'O ffelix et beata domina, misericordia mea, totam animam
meam et corpus meum commendo et totam vitam meam et mortem
et resurreccionem meam, et tu sis benedicta in eternum et ultra, cum
Ihesu Christo filio tuo benedicto, qui cum Deo', etc.
Leland in his Commentarii cites among Rolle's works 'Domine
Deus meus', and his Collectanea shows that the Balliol MS. was the
source of this entry, for he there gives the contents of this volume,
and quotes the mention of the present work in the index, as already
quoted. Bale (probably following Leland) apparently takes this
work as a commentary on Ps. vii. 1 (Domine Deus meus in te speravi)
-against persecutors, which would have been very congenial to
Rolle for he notes among Rolle's writings in his Catalogus of
1557: 'In Psalmum, Domine Deus meus'; and Pits cites: 'In
psalmum, Domine Deus meus, Librum vnum MS. Oxonij in Collegio
Balliolensi, Magdalenensi.' Tanner makes the reference of Pits
more explicit: 'In psalmum, Domine Deus meus lib. i. MS. Oxon.
in colleg. Magdal. 115, et Baliol L. 22' (note b: v. note q-twice).
Actually the Balliol prayers have no connexion with the psalm
cited, but the latter makes the subject of an exposition in Magd. Coll.
Z


346
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
Oxf. MS. 115 (f. 177), of which Pits and Tanner have caught only
a glimpse, or they would not have identified that item with the
Balliol piece. The Magd. MS. is a collection of materials for the
exposition of Scripture; it contains Rolle's Cantica from his Latin
Psalter, but the document in question treats the exposition of the
Psalter.¹
The first of these prayers is Pt. II, cap. 18 of the Stimulus Amoris,
a work certainly a favourite with Rolle, and sometimes ascribed to
him (v. infra, p. 354). The Balliol text is much abridged, but
not at the beginning and ending. This chapter of the Stimulus
is derived from St. Bonaventura's De Instructione Sacerdotis ... ad
celebrandum Missam, where it makes the 'Oratio' (Opera Omnia,
ed. Peltier, Paris, 1864, xii. 290-1). The second prayer in the
Balliol text is only a colourless fragment, and unidentified.
The prayers are followed in the Balliol MS. (ff. 57-62) by the
'Merita visionis corporis Christi', and 'tabulae' of the Seven Virtues,
the Seven Sins, etc. These are noted by Tanner tentatively in the
long note at the end of his account of Rolle, probably because
he assigns everything else in the volume to Richard-and, in
general, rightfully.
DE DILIGENDO DEO
Peterhouse Camb. MS. 263, ff. 1-15, 15th cent. The ascription
only occurs in the following early correction to the index on the
fly-leaf, which had given the piece to St. Bernard: 'neque sic sed
Ricardi hampole.' This piece is printed by Migne (40, cc. 847 sq.)
among the spurious works of St. Augustine.
Beg. Vigili cura, mente sollicita, summo conatu.'
Ends: ut pro eis unigen[i]tum suum daret. Amen.'
An editorial note in Migne points out that this work borrows from
St. Anselm, St. Bernard, Hugh of St. Victor, etc., and can certainly
not be by St. Augustine. Nothing about it suggests Rolle, and the
1 It has the following interesting beginning: 'Memorandum est de diccionibus
rasis contra primam scripturam in psalterio antiqui antiphonarii cathenati retro
magnum altare et correctis in domo capitulari [Ecclesie Cathedralis] Sarum per
venerabilem dominum Decanum et magistrum in theologia succentorem ac
viginti vicarios seniores ecclesie predicte per multos libros in dicta ecclesia
antiquitus (Magd. MS. per idem) correctos, die veneris proximo post festum
ascensionis domini Anno domini m° cccc xi. Nocturnus Beatus Vir. In primis,
in psalmo, Domine Deus meus in te speraui.' For the same piece see Bodl. MS.
32 (Sum Cat. No. 1881), f. 72, from which the text of the heading just quoted
has been corrected. For another incident at Salisbury in 1411, v. infra, p. 350.


PRAYERS
347
ascription to him is not such as to suggest authority. It is evidently
one of the many foundlings of the Middle Ages, of general European
distribution, and ascribed to many writers, several of whom would
have a better claim to its authorship than the Yorkshire hermit.
MEDITATIONES OF ST. ANSELM
"
Durham Cath. MS. B. iv. 35, ff. 113-113, 14th cent. Incipiunt
meditaciones Ricardi heremite de hampole.' See Incend., Contra
Am. M., and supra, p. 28.
Beg.: 'Euigila, anima mea, euigila. Exure spiritum tuum.'
Ends: et hic iusticiam et ibi beatitudinem.'
This is part of the first meditation of St. Anselm. See Migne,
158, cc. 709-11. For a recension of part of the second also ascribed
to Rolle, v. supra, p. 316.
MEDITATIONES OF WILLIAM RIMINGTON
Oxf. Ashmole MS. 751, ff. 24-9b, late 14th cent.
Item venerabilis
Ricardus heremita de 3ci (for tristi? )' statu hominis' (f. 24), ‘Medi-
tacio diuine laudis et spei venie secundum Ricardum heremitam'
(f. 28). See Quot., Magn., Judica, Job, 20th Ps.
etc.
Beg. Memento, miser homo, quod cinis es.'
:
Ends: 'sed a culpis omnibus emunderis. Memento, miser homo',
Beg. Memor fui Dei et delectatus sum.'
Ends: 'si pro sua superbia resiliens, pro venia exoraret', etc.
The Ashmole manuscript gives to Rolle the first two of a series of
three meditations which occur in MSS. Bodl. 801,2 Hh. iv. 3 (More
475), and Trin. Coll. Dublin 321 (all 15th cent.), with a rhymed
prologue giving the title as 'Stimulus Peccatoris' and the name of
the author as 'W. Ritmica villa'. The Camb. MS. gives the name of
the author in a colophon as William Rymtoun', the Dublin MS.
as Magister William Remington'; Jesus Coll. Camb. MS. 41
(15th cent.) gives the three meditations (ff. 145-56b), and the second
is introduced as by 'dicto magistro Willelmo monacho et doctore',
of whom, however, no other mention is found. William Rimington,
monk of Sawley, has left works against the Lollards in Bodl. MS. 158,
"
1 Kindly suggested by the Clarendon Press Reader.
2 This volume was given to the Charterhouse of Witham by John Blacman
(v. infra, p. 407). These Meditations occur in B. Mus. MSS. Harl. 3363 and 3820;
Add. 20029 contains the first meditation only.
Z 2


348
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
"
and a Sermo magistri Willelmi de Rymyngton, monachi de
Salley, cancellarii Oxon., in synodo Eborac. anno Christi 1373'
is found in the Univ. of Paris MS. 790.' Bale in his Index
gives the Meditations to Guilhelmus Rymston', with a double
incipit (both of the work and the prologue). Since the prologue
gives the name of the author, it is curious that he also gives
the meditations with the prologue (and double incipit) to Rolle
(p. 352). He cites them among Rolle's works also once as 'Medi-
tationem ex scripturis' with the incipit of the prologue, and once as
'Meditatio diuini amoris post carmina incipit “ Memento miser homo
quod cinis es" (p. 349). Still another copy is perhaps the 'Medita-
tionem diuini amoris. li. iij.' (without incipit) which he cites as Rolle's
(p. 350). It is perhaps by confusion with Rimington that he calls Rolle
'Richardus Remyngton, de Hampole, heremita' (v. infra, p. 422).
The heading to the prologue states that the Meditations are
written for an anchorite monk', and compiled principally from
St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Bernard. No quotation from
Rolle has been noted, but the same portion of the Stimulus Amoris
as is used in his Meditations on the Passion is drawn on here (v. supra,
p. 285), which may have suggested his authorship.
Syon Monastery must have contained the same two meditations as
are given to Rolle in MS. M. 34, as 'Remyston monachus & doctor
cuidam anachorite de meditacione scilicet Memento homo quod
miser es.... Meditacio diuini amoris desideratissima per eundem.' The
next item in this manuscript is Duodecim capitula eiusdem de regula
viuendi', and this is certainly Rolle's Emendatio Vitae ascribed to
Rimington (for it is cited among the copies of that work in the index).
Horstmann cited the Ashmole Meditations, which are given to
Rolle, among the works which have been ascribed to him, but are
more or less doubtful' (ii, p. xxxviii).
¹ This volume (dated 1373) was owned in 1622 by T. Allen (see appendix to
Catal. Cod. MSS. Bibl, Bodl. IX, Digby, ed. Macray, p. 251). Its present loca-
tion was pointed out to me by Dr. Craster. Rimington's tomb is still extant in
the ruins of Sawley Abbey (see J. E. Morris, West Riding of Yorkshire, London,
1923, 2nd edit., p. 441, and Salley Abbey in Craven, by J. Harland, London,
1853, pp. 68, 83). A document in which 'Frater Willelmus de Rymyngton,
monachus de Salley,' appears as Chancellor of the University is printed by Mr.
Salter (Munim. Civ. Oxon.', Oxf. Hist. Soc., 71, p. 149).—Cotton Faustina A. v.
also belonged to T. Allen (fly-leaf: 'Tho. Allen ex dono m. Henrici Savelli
1589'), v. supra, p. 235, infra, p. 408.


CURSUS DE AETERNA SAPIENTIA
349
WORKS CONNECTED WITH THE NAME OF JESUS
CURSUS DE AETERNA SAPIENTIA
Camb. Univ. MS. Kk. vi. 20, ff. 1-7b, 15th cent. 'Hic incipiunt
matutine in veneracione nominis Ihesu edite a beato Ricardo de
hampole.' See Quot., Spur.
For an ascription of the service for Vespers and Compline in this
work to Rolle in Wynkyn de Worde's Primer of 1503, repeated in
many later Primers, both of Sarum and York, v. supra, p. 9.
Beg. Salutem mentis et corporis.'
Ends: 'eterna sapientia benedicat et custodiat corda et corpora
nostra.'
This work was composed about 1340 by the German Dominican
mystic Henry Suso, and printed among his works (D. Henrici
Susonis... Opera, ed. Laurence Surius, Cologne, 1588, pp. 628 sq.).
It is referred to in his Horologium Sapientiae (a work popular in
England, also mystically personifying 'Sapientia', v. infra, p. 423),
which it often follows in the manuscripts (see G. Thiriot, Œuvres
Mystiques du Bienheureux Henri Suso, Paris, 1899, i, p. xxiv, and
Histoire littéraire de la France, 24, p. 357). Like other devotions to
the Holy Name (v. supra, p. 317), it was very popular in the Low
Countries, where it is usually present in the Books of Hours of
the fifteenth century (see W. Dolch, op. cit., p. 73). It was translated
into the vernacular by Gerald Groote between 1380-4. It will be
found in most of the manuscript Hours of Dutch origin in English
libraries, and in many of the Hours printed in England in the early
days of the press (see Hoskins, op. cit., and Julian's Dict. Hymnol.,
under the hymn Jesu Dulcis Memoria). It was early printed in
an English translation as 'Jesus Matins' [etc.].
It is evident that the Cursus could have no connexion with Rolle,
though it was associated with the mystical movement in England
which he had done so much to build up. The manuscript ascribing
it to him contains a collection of works concerning the Holy Name
of Jesus, all of which it gives to Richard. Suso was devoted to the
cult even more extravagantly than Rolle (see Thiriot, i. 26, 239;
ii. 322). It was therefore natural that the Cursus, which shows his
devotion, should be sometimes ascribed to ne greatest English 'lover
of the Name'. This piece was cited with Rolle's works by Bale
in his Index as 'Officium nominis Iesu' (with incipit as above).


350
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
MISSA DE NOMINE JESU
Camb. Univ. MS. Kk. vi. 20, ff. 7b-10b, 15th cent. 'Incipit missa
de eodem (viz. nomine Ihesu) et ab eodem (Ricardo de Hampole)
ut creditur edita.' A note follows giving indulgences granted by
Robert [Hallam], bishop of Sarum, in castro suo Shirbourn',
July 19, 1411, to all saying or hearing 'in viª feria prescriptam
missam de nomine ihesu'. See Spur., Quot.
Beg. In nomine Ihesu omne genu flectatur... Oratio: Deus,
qui gloriosissimum nomen ihesu.'
Ends: ad iubilacionem in Ihesu saluatore nostro dulcissimo, tota
mentis intencione promoueant per eundem.'
This mass was printed (ex. edit. 1526) in the Burntisland edition of
the Sarum Missal (ed. F. H. Dickinson, 1861-83), for the festival on
Aug. 7. A note (c. 845) states that it appears among the votive
masses in the editions of 1492 and 1494. Numberless manuscripts
exist, many of which give the note as to the indulgences granted by
Robert Hallam, bishop of Sarum, in 1411. Indulgences from other
prelates are added in some copies: for example, in Hh. i. 11
(ff. 9-12), from Pope Boniface IV' and Cornelius, archbishop
of Tuam' (in Ireland, 1411 (?), a Franciscan); 'John, bishop of Elphin'
(in Ireland, 1405-17); and 'John, bishop of Llandaff' (in Wales,
1408-70, when three successive bishops were named John). Hh. vi. 15
(f. 9), Stowe 13 (f. 115), and Rawl. C. 142 (f. 261 and cover) all add
the name of 'Pope Boniface' to that of the bishop of Sarum ; Bishop
Robert's indulgence occurs preceded by that of Pope Boniface IV'
in Harl. 5444. The mass occurs with the indulgence of Pope Boni-
face IV in a later hand in the manuscript (14th cent.) of the
Hereford Missal (ed. W. G. Henderson, 1874, pp. 453 sq.).
Probably the ascription to Rolle of the present liturgical work
means only the general connexion with the hermit of all works
treating the Holy Name, which is exemplified in the ascription to him.
in the present manuscript of Suso's well-known Cursus. As we have
seen (supra, p. 125), Rolle showed a general indifference to liturgy
that would seem to forbid our ascribing to him a work like the
present. No traces of his style appear. Moreover, some further
evidence may weaken the possibility of his authorship. This mass
is probably of general European distribution, and though any
connexion with Pope Boniface IV (A. D. 607-15) is of course
impossible, it is perhaps earlier than Rolle's time. Victor Le Clerc


MISSA DE NOMINE JESU
351
notes in the Histoire littéraire (on the authority of a Douay manu-
script) that un pape Boniface, qu'on ne désigne autrement, passe
pour avoir institué la messe du "Nom de Jésus ", qui vaut trois
mille ans d'indulgences; mais le missel romain dit que c'est Boni-
face VI' (T. 24, p. 351). Though nothing is here quoted to identify
the mass in question, it is probable from the connexion with 'Pope
Boniface' that it is the same which also passed current with his
indulgence in England; but it may have come from England, since
the copy in question is probably that cited in the catalogue as
in Douay MS. 843, which came from an English religious house in
Douay. However, the Mass of the Holy Name of Jesus', substan-
tially as found in Kk. vi. 20, in other English manuscripts, and in the
early Sarum Missal, appears in the Roman Missal printed at Venice
in 1508, and reprinted at Venice in 1509, 1543, 1558 (two editions),
and 1561, and at Paris in 1515, 1530, and 1540. For a modern reprint
(together with texts of other 'Masses of the Holy Name') and biblio-
graphy, see the collation of early editions of the Missale Romanum, by
Dr. R. Lippe, Henry Bradshaw Society, 33, London, 1907, pp. 334 sq.
In the Roman form of the mass an indulgence is added from 'Pope
Boniface VI' (A. D. 896). It is therefore probably that referred to by
Le Clerc. Nothing is available as to its origin or as to the origin of the
tradition of an indulgence granted by a 'Pope Boniface' of uncertain
identity. The latter is probably a fiction: Boniface was perhaps a
pope's name that was often seized upon for fictitious ascriptions; for
example, Vienna MS. 480 (13th cent.) contains (according to the cata-
logue) 'Bulla ludicra, Bonifacio IV tributa, de vini laudibus'. His name
is again made use of in the cult of the Holy Name, for Brussels MS. 845
(15th cent.) contains a 'Prière au saint nom de Jésus, prière indul-
genciée par Boniface IV'. The scattered facts just enumerated con-
cerning the 'Mass of the Holy Name' will be sufficient to prove that,
though its author is uncertain, there is very little likelihood that he
was Richard Rolle, and no certainty that he was an Englishman. It
will be shown in my article on the cult of the Holy Name, however,
that the growth of the cult in English liturgy shows distinct Yorkshire
influence.
SCALA PERFECTIONIS: Chapters 9 and 4, Book II
St. John's Coll. Oxf. MS. 77 ff. 97-100, 15th cent. Con-
temporary table of contents: 'Tractatus Ricardi hampol. Quomodo
spirituales temptaciones prosunt peccatrici anime. Item De cautelis


352
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (Latin)
diaboli contra timidam conscienciam per eundem Ricardum Hampol.'
'Incipit bonum notabile secundum Ricardum hampol heremitam'
(f. 97). Aliud notabile dictum per eundem Ricardum' (f. 98).
'Expliciunt duo notabilia dicta secundum Ricardum hampole'
(f. 100). See Mul. Fort., Contra Am. M., Incend., Cant.
Beg. 'Sicut tenebre eius ita et lumen eius' (Ps. cxxxviii. 12).
Ends: non potest in sensacione aliter reformari.'
Beg. Paue tu qui timide es conscientie.'
:
Ends: 'in uno tempore, in alio promouebit.'
Horstmann remarks that 'these 2 pieces are more probably by
W. Hilton' (ii, p. xxxviii). They are a Latin translation from the
Scale of Perfection of Walter Hilton according to the version made
by the Carmelite, Master Thomas Fishlawe (see the text of that
work in Harl. MS. 6576, ff. 181–3, 159-63). For an ascription to
Rolle of one (perhaps two) manuscripts of the original English
treatise, v. infra, p. 361. Hilton's authorship is supported by the
testimony of numerous copies (both of the original and of Fishlawe's
translation), by quotations with his name in the Speculum Spiritu
alium (v. infra, p. 405), and by the edition by Wynkyn de Worde in
1494.
6
In the Thornton MS. what is in some manuscripts of the Scale
chapter 44 of Book I (see Scale of Perfection, ed. E. Underhill,
London, 1923, pp. xliv sq., 103 sq.) occurs separately, as printed by
Perry and by Horstmann. The latter entitles it: An Epistle on
salvation by loue of the name of Iesus' (i. 293). He declares (n.) :
'The authorship of this piece is doubtless' (i.e. he assigns it to
Rolle), but in his Addenda (ibid., p. 443) he notes that it is found
in the Vernon text of the Scale, and says: 'The author of the epistle
is more probably W. Hilton.' Nevertheless, Miss Hodgson prints
it as Rolle's (Minor Works, pp. 56 sq.). It is a rationalization of
the devotion to the Holy Name probably directed against fanatical
followers of Rolle.
SOLILOQUIUM
Castle Howard MS. (last article), 15th cent. 'Ricardus de Ham-
pole.... See E. V., Spur., Mel., Incend., Contra Am. M., Cant.,
Job, Judica, Mul. Fort.
"
Beg. Flecto genua mea ad patrem.'
Ends (imperf.): 'veniemus et mansionem [apud eum faciemus,
Joh. xiv. 23].'


SOLILOQUIUM
353
This is the prologue and first section, and part of the second
section, of the Soliloquium de Quatuor mentalibus Exercitiis of
St. Bonaventura (S. Bonaventurae Opera Omnia, Quaracchi, 1898,
viii. 28-31).
SPECULUM PECCATORIS
I. Camb. Peterhouse MS. 218, ff. 151-4b, 15th cent. 'Explicit
hic speculum peccatoris secundum sanctum Ricardum heremitam de
Hampole.' The small value of the attribution may be seen from
the fact that a second copy of the work in the same hand occurs
farther on (ff. 190b-4) ascribed to St. Augustine. See Job, E. V.
II. B. Mus. Add. MS. 34807, ff. 82b-8b, late 15th cent. 'Ex-
plicit speculum peccatoris secundum Ricardum hampole.' See E. V.
III. Castle Howard MS. (second article), 15th cent. 'Incipit
speculum peccatoris compilatum a Ricardo heremita de h.' See
E. V., Mel., Incend., Contra Am. M., Cant., Job, Judica, Mul. Fort.,
Spur.
IV. Trier (Stadtbibl.) MS. 685, ff. 140-4, 15th cent. In a later
index: 'Speculum peccatorum eiusdem (Richardi hampol).' 'Specu-
lum peccatoris secundum R. h.' (f. 140). From the Carthusians of
Trier. See Incend., Contra Am. M., Mel.
V. Trier MS. 689, ff. 197-201, 15th cent.
"
'Codex monasterii
Sancti Mathie Apostoli Sanctique Eucharii primi Treverorum archi-
episcopi' (Benedictine). Incipit specula (sic) peccatorum magistri
Richardi de hampol heremite de anglia' (the name added, perhaps
later, above the line).
Beg. Quoniam, carissime, dum in via vite huius fugientis sumus,
dies nostri sicut umbra pretereunt.' (Add. MS.).
Ends: quomodo recte intelligas, quomodo nouissima tua pru-
denter prouideas.'
Bale in his Index gives the Speculum (with incipit as above) to Rolle.
This very popular work occurs in all the libraries of Europe,
ascribed to a large number of patristic writers, as for example, to
St. Augustine, St. Anselm, St. Bernard, St. Gregory, St. Basil. It is
printed by Migne (40, cc. 983 sq.) among the spurious works of
St. Augustine, where it is noted that it quotes from Hugh of
St. Victor and other writers later than St. Augustine's time. The
authorship is called uncertain, and Hauréau comes to the same
conclusion (Not. et Extr., Paris, 1893, ii. 346).


354
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
It is very unlikely that Rolle should be the author of a work of
such immense and general European distribution, especially since it
is given to him in only five manuscripts and to several other authors
in many more. There are no internal signs of his authorship.
It is a severely ascetic work entirely without mysticism, dwelling on
the gloomy side of religion to the total exclusion of the joy. Horst-
mann (ii. 436, n. 1) suggests that an existing abridgement is perhaps
due to Rolle, but no such text gives his name. The attachment of
Rolle's name to the piece doubtless means no more than that it
often occurs with his works (v. infra, p. 355), and he had become an
outstanding figure in literary history, on whom foundlings like the
Speculum Peccatoris were naturally fathered.
STIMULUS AMORIS
I. Caius Coll. Camb. MS. 216, ff. 25 sq., early 15th cent.
'Iste liber intitulatur stimulus amoris, quem composuit Ricardus
hampol heremita.' See E. V.
6
Beg. Currite gentes undique.'
:
Ends: omnis spiritus.'
II. B. Mus. Harl. MS. 3820, ff. 169b-171, 15th cent. Original
table of contents: Meditacio de sancta maria excerpta de quodam
libro Ricardi hampol, fo. 169.' Below: 'liber magistri hugonis
ffraunce.' The ascription to Rolle does not appear with the work
itself. Iste liber est reclusarii de schene ex dono magistri hugonis
ffraunce.' A compilation begins the volume with a quotation, De
hoc nomine ihesu Ricardus heremita de hampull... The donor
was apparently a fellow of Eton in 1469, and the donor of books to
Queen's College, Oxford, and to Syon and Shene Monasteries (see
Bateson, pp. 188-95). This volume contains (ff. 34-55) Rimington's
Meditations (v. supra, p. 347). See Quot. (infra, p. 399).
"
Beg. Stabat iuxta crucem.'
Ends: non recedam.'
This manuscript contains only an extract (that which is used in
Rolle's Meditations on the Passion, v. supra, p. 285).
An abridged form of the Stimulus, Pt. II, cap. 18, may be ascribed
to Rolle in one manuscript (v. supra, p. 346). In B. Mus. Add.
MS. 20029 an early index on the fly-leaf notes: 'Stimulus amoris
Ricardi hampole.' This ascription is not found in the work itself.
Bale in his Index ascribed to Rolle another extract from the Stimulus
Amoris (Super Salue Regina...). V. infra, p. 422. A manuscript


STIMULUS AMORIS
355
formerly in the Savile library gave the puzzling item: 'Stimulus
amoris de passione domini sive de emendatione peccatoris per
Richard Hampole.' V. infra, p. 410.
This very popular and widely distributed mystical work commonly
circulated during the Middle Ages under the name of St. Bona-
ventura, but his authorship is now discarded (see Quaracchi edit.,
x. 23). It occurs ascribed to many authors, and the number of
manuscripts and ascriptions will be discussed later (p. 395). The
existence of a thirteenth-century copy disposes conclusively of any
claim that Rolle might have to the authorship. It was one of those
medieval works of sensational popularity which seem to have been
written by obscure persons whose names were soon lost, after which
the names were everywhere attached of the most popular local writers.
Rolle incorporated in his Meditations the extract found in the
Harl. MS., which may account for the ascription to him of this
section, or of the whole work. Another ground for confusion may
come from the fact that his Form is once entitled the 'Prick of Love'
(v. supra, p. 258).
DE TRIBULATIONE
Camb. Univ. MS. Mm. vi. 17, ff. 125b sq., 15th cent. 'Hampul
de tribulacione.' See Judica, Dubia.
Horstmann (ii. 389, n. 3) states that the attribution to Rolle is also
found in the copy of this work in Corpus Christi Coll. Oxf. 193, but
this is an error. The fact however that everything in this volume
is by Rolle except two pieces might (other things being equal)
suggest his authorship also for these. But they are the present work
and the Speculum Peccatoris, neither of which can (on general grounds)
be Rolle's.
:
Beg. Anima tribulata et temptata.'
Ends: oportet nos intrare in regnum celorum. Quod nobis con-
cedat qui sine fine viuit et regnat.'
This work, which is generally called De XII utilitatibus tribu-
lationis, is a very popular and widely distributed medieval piece,
which has been printed among the writings of Peter of Blois, arch-
deacon of Bath (Migne, 207, cc. 989 sq.). Horstmann prints two
Middle English translations (ii. 45 sq., 389 sq.), and a French text
exists in B. Mus. Add. 39843 (c. 1300), Roy. 16 E. xii (mid 14th
cent.), Lansd. 300,¹ and Add. 28549 (both late 15th cent.), etc.
1 See Bull. Soc. anc. textes fr., 1912, p. 51.


356
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (LATIN)
Horstmann mentions (ii. 45) 'A southern transcription (but with
many northern forms remaining)' of the translation which he is there
printing; and concludes that it is, no doubt, a work of R. Rolle
(cf. neuer þe later etc.)'. The presence of Northern forms can
hardly be a valid reason for ascribing to Rolle a translation which
there is no manuscript authority for connecting with him. It shows
some traces of his influence ('loue & lyking', pp. 50, 54; 'brennandly',
p. 57), but nothing on which to found an attribution.
It is even more impossible that Rolle should have been the author
of the original Latin text given to him in the Camb. MS. It was
written before his time, since a French version goes back to the early
fourteenth century (v. supra). Hauréau has shown that it is found
all over Europe, and he concludes that it is not the work of Peter,
the famous archdeacon, but probably of a writer of a century later,
perhaps of the same name (op. cit., iv. 125–8).
This work was probably found in the very important volume of
Rolle's works in the Savile library (a close relative of the Corpus
Christi Coll. Oxf. MS. 193, in which it occurs also).


CHAPTER XII
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
CONTEMPLATIONS OF THE DREAD AND
LOVE OF GOD
Beg. In the begynnynge and endynge of all good werkes.'
Ends: these fewe wordes in helpynge of thy soule.'
Printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1506 (and in an undated,
probably earlier, edition) as 'opus Ricardi heremyte de Hampull, qui
obiit Anno christi MCCCXLIX'. Reprinted by Horstmann (ii. 72-
105). None of the numerous manuscripts gives Rolle's name, and
Horstmann has proved the impossibility of his authorship by pointing
out (ii, p. xlii, n. 2) that it quotes (pp. 74 sq.), as from ""ful holy men
of ryght late tyme", the 3 degrees of love found in R. Rolle's Form
of living, and the 3 degrees found in Ego Dormio, in nearly the same
words. So, by the "ful holy men of ryght late tyme ", R. Rolle is
meant.'
Horstmann (ii. 72) notes that in MS. Ii. vi. 40 this work is called
'XII chapiters', and remarks in a foot-note (ibid.) that this title is
'given to several treatises of R. Rolle'. Manuscripts of the Emen-
datio with this title were certainly common, and may have been the
reason for attributing the Contemplations, to which it was also
attached, to Rolle. Moreover, MS. Ee. ii. 12 (a 16th-cent. scrap-
book, formerly More MS. 390) contains a table of contents of the
Contemplations headed 'Incendium Amoris' (f. 17b), and Bale cites
among Rolle's works in his second Catalogus a work of the same
incipit as this with the title 'Regula bene viuendi' (which suggests
the Emendatio). Curiously enough, in his Index he supplies the
incipit of the Contemplations only for the uncertain 'De divino
amore', which he cites from Boston of Bury. In both cases the
incipit is given in Latin.
EPISTLES OF AR. MS. 286 (St. Bonaventura and St. Anselm)
B. Mus. Ar. MS. 286, ff. 82-92, 92-9b, 15th cent. 'Here
bygynnep a pistle maad of Richard hampul as somme men supposen,
but whoever made it myche deuout pinge is perinne. . . . Here endip


358
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
þe first pistle and here bygynnep pe ij pistle of þe same autour....
Here endip pe ij pistle maad of Ricardus hampul eþer somme oper
deuout man in whiche pistle ben many deuout þingis and excellent
and profitable. pe latyn book by which y translatide was ful fals in
þe lettre and poyntinge also and perfore I had pe more trauel to come
to be open and trewe sentence.'
(1) Beg.: 'Tot. d. his derworpe broper in Crist, his euenbroper in
pe lord desirip pis pat t. d. do awey now be elde man, þat is viciouse
conuersacioun.'
Ends: 'pu schalt haue glorie wip hym in tyme to commynge, which
pinge he graunte þat lyuep and regnep into worldes of worldes. amen.'
(2) Beg.: A priuy word to me is to pee: pu lord of vertues, kyng
of kyngis and lord of lordis.'
Ends: 'vndefoulable fairnesse and sad rewme dwellinge into
worldis of worldes. amen.'
The first of these epistles is a translation of the Epistola continens
Viginti Quinque Memorialia of St. Bonaventura (Quaracchi edit., viii.
491-8); the second is a translation of the Meditatio XIII, usually
ascribed to St. Anselm (Migne, 158, cc. 773 sq.). Both translations
closely follow their originals.
PATER NOSTER
Westminster School MS., ff. I sq., c. 1420. 'here bigynnep pe
pater noster of Richard Ermyte' (rubric). R. Cloos, 1472' appears
at the end of the volume. See Form, Ego D.
Beg. To his dere sister in god goddis hondemayden and his
spouse. ... Dere sister pou wost wel þe more a man hap vndir-
stondyng of riztwisnesse.'
Ends: Now may pou see how sorewfully we fayle in alle pese
þingis bope anentis pe soule and anentis pe lyf. And zit ouer alle
oper pen is per oon þat wondirfully greuep þat noon may wyterly
vndirstonde if he be in charite, ffor alle pe werkis þat he doip he
may do hem poruz pride. fforpi seip Job þat was so hooly pat he
hadde drede of alle his werkis. Now god for his mercy graunte vs
pis drede here in þis lyf so we mowe haue sikernesse withouten drede
in euerlastyng blysse. Amen.'
This is the only manuscript in the possession of Westminster
1 This is assigned by Dom Wilmart to Ekhart of Schoenau (op. cit.,
p. xvii).


PATER NOSTER
359
6
School. Its provenance is unknown. In the catalogue of the library
an index is given said to have been supplied in mid-Victorian times.
Here it is stated that this, the first piece, is written to Elizabeth
Kirkby, prioress of Hampole'. 'Elizabeth' was the name of the
servant of that recluse of Hampole who may have been Rolle's
disciple, Margaret Kirkeby (v. infra, p. 507). No name, however,
appears on the manuscript, so that the statement can hardly be
explained as a confused reference to the serving-woman who was
'Elizabeth of Hampole'. It is probably a confused reference to
Margaret, to whom the Form, which follows later, is directed.
The indexer has given the first eleven pieces to Richard, but the
last two only are his. The others include the Benjamin Minor,
Poor Caitiff, several tracts usually ascribed to Wyclif, several anony-
mous pieces printed by Horstmann, etc. The whole manuscript is
English.
The ascription to Rolle of the exposition of the Pater Noster can
be decisively rejected, for it is a long diffuse piece treating, without
a sign of his manner, subjects near enough to those which he usually
chose; so that if he were the author he would surely have been
tempted into some of his characteristic effusions. The following
quotation will illustrate this statement :
'Charite is pat oon weizte þat on þe day of doom liep in þe weize þat
schal weizen oure mede þat we schulen haue. A solis ortu usque ad
occasum, laudabile nomen domini (Ps. cxii. 3). Pe vndirstondynge of pese
wordis is þat men fro þe bigynnynge of þis lijf vnto þe eendynge schal
preise pe name of god þat is his goodnes. . . . Now hast pou seen þat þe
name of god is goodnes. . . . And þou may vndirstonde on anoþer maner
þat þe name of god is Jhesu Crist.'
All through this piece the full 'Jesus Christ' is always given, which
would seem to indicate that the author did not know the familiar
form of address of the devotees of the Holy Name. There are in
general no signs of mysticism, though, as the quotations already
given show, the author is devout after a sincere manner that would
be congenial to Rolle.
REMEDY AGAINST THE TROUBLES OF
TEMPTATIONS
Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. 154, c. 1400: 'Here after folowes a
deuoute counseyl and tretace made by pe holy fader Richarde Rolle
hermyte of hampul, marvelous comforthable and necessary to all


360
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
suche that have takyn upon thayme gostly lyffe. Whiche mater is
called pe remedys againe pe trowbylls of gostly temptatyouns.' After
an index, the treatise is preceded by a quotation on time from Rolle's
Form of Living, given with his name. This quotation is apparently
considered to be the first chapter of the treatise, indicated as
follows: 'The first chapiture of tyme, and howe we moune
straytly gyue accompte as we spende it.' After the Remedy comes the
conclusion: Thus endyth thys treatyce of pe forsayd deuoute
fader.' Two chapters from the Form of Living follow with Rolle's
name.
Beg.: 'Oure mercyfull lord god cryst . . .'
Ends: hayth bought all true crysten people to be and regne
with hym in his euerlastynge ioyes of hewyn withowtyn end.'
Printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1508 and again in 1519, and
reprinted from his text by Horstmann (ii. 106-23). The excerpt
from the Form of Living precedes, ascribed to its source (as quoted
above, p. 11). The editor seems to have regarded Rolle as the
author of the whole treatise, but he gives no such explicit ascription
as occurs in the Dublin MS. In the edition of 1519 de Worde
binds the Contemplations in the same volume, and the latter work
he gives explicitly to the hermit. The Remedy occurs in two
manuscripts noted by Horstmann, and both preface the treatise by
the excerpt from Rolle, ascribed to its author, though he is not
credited with the authorship of the tract. The edition is said by
Horstmann to differ greatly from the manuscripts. No Northern
text is known. The occurrence of the quotation from Rolle with
the treatise in so many manuscripts gives an easy explanation for
the attribution to his authorship.
The Remedy appears to have been written in a Southern dialect
later than Rolle's time: though it treats contemplation, not a trace
appears of his characteristic manner, even though it seems to show
his influence by treating some of his characteristic subjects. There
is an exhortation to the 'remembraunce of this name Ihesu' (p. 121),
and there is considerable alliteration, especially in the first page.
However, the whole personality, as it were, of the piece is unlike
Rolle, and this difference appears in the more subjective elements of
the style. Whereas Rolle's English prose is remarkably varied, with
a pleasing interchange of sentences of different lengths that gives
vitality to the whole style, the Remedy is almost entirely written in
long and very stiff sentences, which are only too congruous with the
systematic reasoning of the subject-matter. The following sentences


REMEDY
361
would seem to show that the author was not a solitary, nor in
sympathy with the solitary life:
'And for as moche as many men can not nor wyll not in tyme of temp-
tacion se or perceyue it but haue a dredefulnes and a sorynes in themselfe
by sterynge of theyr compleccyon/therfore to all suche men thre thynges
be nedefull & necessarye. The fyrst is that they be not moche alone....
The seconde whyle and colour that the fende maketh to withdrawe good-
nes is this, whan a man or a woman by deuout sterynges of thoughtes haue
felynges of contemplacyon and medytacyon as perauenture some solytarye
persones hath: and he maketh them to thynke that to holde & kepe that
medytacyons is to theyr moost proufyte to thentent they sholde leue theyr
dyuyne seruyce that they be bounde to/and . . .' (pp. 116-17).
The last words suggest the passages in the Melum and the
Incendium in which Rolle tells how external song' in religious
services interfered with the 'canor', and how he therefore, at the
risk of appearing irreverent, as far as possible avoided it (v. supra,
pp. 124, 200). It is possible that they may refer to his experience or
to that of his followers, and in any case it is evident that he himself
could not have written them, since in his case his 'canor' was so
all-absorbing. The Remedy could not be ascribed to Rolle without
violating consistency at vital points.
THE SCALE OF PERFECTION
Bodl. Laud Misc. MS. 602, ff. I sq., early 15th cent. 'Here
begynnep þe vij partie of þys boke maad of Rycharde hampole
heremyte to an Ankeresse.' 'Robert Hedrington his bookes. 1577.'
At the end: 'Raynes. ihesus est amor meus' (in a medieval
hand).
Miss Clay (p. 177, n. 1) notes a manuscript in private hands which
gives the same ascription.
For the ascription to Rolle of two chapters of the Scale in Fish-
lawe's Latin translation, v. supra, p. 351.
Beg. Gostly syster in ihesu Crist.'
:
Ends (imperfectly, in last paragraph): 'pis is pe voice of ihesu.'
SERMONS OF WYCLIF
Sotheby's (Nov. 6, 1899, Lot 268*) sold a manuscript containing
'Exposicio super Dominica per Ric. heremitam: We take als bileve
yt epistelis of apostelis er gospelis of criste, for he spac yem alle in
А а


362
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
yaim... howre in whilke yai sal be deed.' This volume is pointed
out by F. Liebermann in Herrig's Archiv, civ. 361, to which I was
directed by Miss Paues. It had belonged to Sir A. T. C. Constable,
and originally to Sir W. Aston, afterwards first Lord Aston (temp.
Jas. I).
The work evidently given to Rolle in this copy is the series of
Sunday sermons which are proved by quotations made from them by
Thomas Walden with his name to have been written by Wyclif (see
edit. Arnold, ii, p. v, printed pp. 221 sq.).
SPECULUM OF ST. EDMUND
6
Camb. Univ. MS. Ii. vi. 40, ff. 207b sq., 15th cent. Her byginnip
a deuout meditacioun of Ricardus Hampol.' See Command.
Beg. First pou schalt pinke how pis world is passing & nat
duryng.'
Ends: ziue vs grace to loue him and drede as we feble wrechis
and frele auztyn for to do.'
This is a translation of part of the highly popular Speculum of
St. Edmund of Canterbury, and it was printed by Dr. H. W. Robbins
(Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Am. xl. 240-51). Horstmann prints two
other English translations (i. 219, 240). He speaks of the present
copy as a 'partial translation in a very corrupted text' (p. 219): as
if, that is, it gave the same translation as the two manuscripts from
which he prints (one of them the Thornton). As a matter of fact,
all three certainly represent different translations (as was pointed
out by Konrath, in his review of Horstmann, Herrig's Archiv, xcvi.
390). Horstmann says that 'The Speculum is the great storehouse
from which R. Rolle derived some of his favourite subjects and
ideas; and though the translator's name is not given in either MS.
[printed by him], it is highly probable that R. Rolle himself is the
translator; at least, its northern origin is beyond doubt. The text
in MS. Ii. vi. 40 is ascribed to R. Rolle.'
The only other copy of the present translation noted is in
Longleat MS. 32, 15th cent. (ff. 29b-39b), where it is introduced,
as 'a tretice of contemplacion', between Rolle's Commandment and
an English version of his Emendatio, and probably the ascription to
him in Ii. vi. 40 (where again it is preceded by the Commandment)
is due to the scribe's having found it thus copied beside his works.
Our experience of his translations is such that we can hardly believe
him to be the translator in the present case. Though Horstmann


SPECULUM OF ST. EDMUND
363
has exaggerated the influence of the Speculum on Rolle, there are in
that work pious exhortations to sincerity of devotion, against the
mere 'habit of holiness', etc., which would be sympathetic to him
and would naturally start him on interpolations of his own doctrine,
such as we find in his expositions of the Psalter which are
founded on the Lombard. The Thornton text gives a long interpo-
lation, but nothing in it suggests Rolle, and Dr. Robbins prints
in italics long interpolated passages in the Camb. text, but they give
no reminiscences of the hermit. Possibly Horstmann's idea of his
indebtedness to the Speculum is partly derived from the Prick of
Conscience (which he accepted as Richard's). That poem has
perhaps some points of contact with the Speculum, which inculcates
knaweynge of pi-selfe . . . what pou erte, what pou was, and what
pou sall be' (Thornton text, p. 220). My earlier article on the
Prick of Conscience will have shown how these words would sum-
marize much of that work, but they do not describe Rolle's usual
subjects. As a matter of fact, the style of the Speculum probably
influenced him more than the substance. Dr. Robbins' has recently
pointed out the many passages of rhyme and rhythm in the French
form of the Speculum, which he therefore plausibly decides to have
probably been the original. Here may be an influence in the forma-
tion of Rolle's style, but this fact would hardly strengthen the case
for his translating the work in a version so uncharacteristic.
Though there are no traces of Rolle's doctrine in the English
Speculum in any of the extant translations, the Thornton (Northern)
text follows his tradition in style, for (like the French text) it intro-
duces traces of rhythm and alliteration, and this principally in the
interpolated passage (cf. pp. 229-32, passim, and p. 234: hippynge,
homerynge of medles momellynge', also interpolated, v. n. 4). The
text in li. vi. 40 may seem to show a solitary trace of romantic
phraseology in the phrase 'A my lord god, my Jhesu, my likynge'
(cf. p. 221, last two lines), but the characteristic style of Richard
is almost destroyed in the same passage in the Longleat MS., which
reads: A my lord, my god, my Jhesu, my kinge' (f. 32). The
Longleat text is here at least as likely as the Cambridge to represent
the original, which reads: Domine Iesu Christe' (La Bigne, Magna
Biblioth. xiii, c. 357).
¹ Saint Edmund's' Merure de Seinte Eglise, University of Minnesota Dissert.,
1923.
A a 2


364
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
OF THREE WORKINGS IN MAN'S SOUL
Trin. Coll. Camb. MS. 1401, ff. 73b-8, 15th cent. Oft thre
wyrkyngs in mans saule, Richard hermyte.' This manuscript was
'no doubt written for a Carthusian'. It contains Carthusian material,
and a list of the writings of 'Johannes Rusbroke'. See Quot.
Horstmann prints (i. 82) the first few sentences of this work from
Dd. v. 64, directly after Rolle's epistles and lyrics, which it follows
in the manuscript. The following leaves are torn out, and we have
no information that Rolle's name was ever attached. Though he
does not mention the Trin. MS., Horstmann (ii, p. xl) cites this
among the works bearing Rolle's name.
Magd. Coll. Camb. Pepysian MS. 2125, 15th cent., contains an
anonymous text. See Form, Ego D.
B. Mus. Sloane MS. 1009, 15th cent., contains (ff. 25b sq.) an
abridged form of this work, which is anonymous.
6
Beg. A grett clerke pat men calles Richard of Saynt Victoures
settes in a boke þat he made of contemplacioun.'
Ends: apperyde pe awngell gabriel in a body, knelande syde-
lynges by hyre, sayande pise wordes. Aue gracia etc.'
This work was evidently written by a person interested in the
contemplative life, but the writer appears to belong to the later
mystics, such as the followers of Walter Hilton, who are less ardent
and less colloquial in expression than Rolle. The Northern dialect
found in the copy giving the hermit's name is common in religious
treatises (v. supra, pp. 286, 343), but the type here suggests the
second half of the fourteenth century. The adjective 'souereign'
(quoted below) is a favourite with the later mystics (cf. Hilton,
Angels' Song, Horstmann, i. 176, 178; Mixed Life, ibid., p. 275; and
supra, p. 197); so also is 'busily', here common (cf. ibid., passim).
The piece is an epistle, as Horstmann notes, but no evidence
is given to whom it is addressed. The reference to Richard of
St. Victor (Benjamin Major, i, cap. 3) with which it opens is soon
left behind, but the subject derived from it-the 'Three Workings',
'Thought, Thinking, and Contemplation '-makes the text of the
following discourse. The joys of contemplation are constantly touched
on, but in somewhat set terms:
'And in tyme to cum þu schall fynde swylke frutfuil swetnes in itt þe
qwhylke no tong may tell' (f. 74b); þis swete gyfte of þe grace of godd
is noght geuyn to be perfore bot of þe free gyfte of godde, qwhen and howe


OF THREE WORKINGS IN MAN'S SOUL
365
he wyll do and take it away as hym selfe lyste. . . . And yf þu be visytt
any seldum tyme with þe souereyn sweteness, gyffe perfore grett louyng to
godde' (ibid.); 'Yf þu haue noght zitt þis hegh swetnes of god, þen
lyghtly pin enmy wyll make a suggestyon vn to þe, and say þat pow
trauels in vayne' (f. 75b).
What is really a second part of the work begins as follows:
And yf þu wyll vse þe in thynkyng, I wyll tell þe a maner of thynkyng
qwylke bu hase prayed me of before tyme. And it is bothe thynkynge and
prayer, and it is of pe ioyes of owre blyssed lady saynt mary. And howe
þu schall thynke qwhen pu sayes þi fifty Aues. Ffyrst þu schall ymagyn
in þi saule a fayre chawmbyr and in þat chawmbyr þu schall see sitting at
a wyndowe redande on a boke owre lady saynte mary. And þu schall sett
þi selfe in sum cornere of þis chawmbyr, besyly behaldand hyre' (f. 76).
This meditation is pursued to the end of the piece: the Virgin is
reading the prophecies on the birth of the Messiah:1
'And behalde þer wyth how pale sche is, and no blode ne rude in hir
vysage. And pis þe skill qwhy: ffor sekyrly wate tyme þat a man saule
is full rauyschyde in desyre of anythyng, þen all þe blode of hym is
gedyrde in tyll a place of hym þat þe saule moste regnes, and þat is in þe
harte' (f. 76b).
A work with the same inapit as this is the anonymous translation
of Richard of St. Victor's Benjamin Minor, printed by Horstmann,
i. 162 sq.
Professor Edmund Gardner, in editing the Benjamin
Minor, has already pointed out that 'the beautiful passage with
which the version closes, so typical of the burning love of Christ,
shown in devotion to the name of Jesus, which glows through all the
writings of the school of the Hermit of Hampole, is an addition of
the translator' (Cell of Self-Knowledge, p. xvi). Many other mystical
sentences and some alliteration have also been added (cf. pp. 164,
166), and much speculation and allegory (amongst other material)
omitted in other words, the work as it stands is an excellent
example of what the English fourteenth-century mystics received
from Richard of St. Victor, though his whole work is not here.2
The Benjamin Minor pursues a method of translation similar to
1 A Meditation on this scene ascribed elsewhere to St. Anselm is inserted in
St. Aelred's De Vita Inclusarum (Migne, 32, cc. 1465 sq.). Dom Wilmart
believes St. Aelred to be the author (op. cit., p. xv).
2 The Benjamin Minor is found anonymously in the Northern Thornton MS.,
in all the other numerous copies, and in the edition of Pepwell of 1521. The
last was reprinted by Professor Gardner, who in doing so expressed his
opinion that the work appears to me undoubtedly from the same hand as that
of the Divine Cloud' (p. xxv, n.). This was also the opinion of Horstmann (ii,
6


366
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
that used in the Abbey of the Holy Ghost. It is a much more
interesting piece than the present one, which appears to be a some-
what dilute work of mysticism, written, it would appear, either by
a 'second-hand mystic' or by an original mystic in an off-moment.
What is signified by the coincidence of its first sentence with that of
the Benjamin is hard to determine, but it would seem to make
Rolle's authorship even more unlikely than it would otherwise be,
by grouping the piece with the later mystics, for with them the
Benjamin has usually been connected.
COMMENTARY ON TWO COMMANDMENTS OF THE
NEW LAW
Trin. Coll. Dublin MS. 155, early 15th cent. 'Diliges dominum
deur tuum (Math. xxiiº two—sic, for 37?). þe first comaundmentes
after seynt richard.' See Ego D. (where the text especially of the
lyrics varies considerably, and a new lyric is introduced), Form
(extracts only, sometimes enlarged), Ol. effus. (angl.), Stim. Consc.
It will be seen that the scribe is erratic. He does not give Rolle's
name except as above. This manuscript was described and partly
printed in Brit. Mag. ix. 499 sq.
An anonymous copy occurs in the Ingilby MS., formerly at Ripley
Castle, Yorkshire, sold at Sotheby's Oct. 21-2, 1920, Lot 137. After
Northern texts of the Gratia Dei (v. supra, p. 286) in another hand
(and perhaps originally another volume), and of Rolle's English
Psalter and his Commandment, the present work follows, and after it
the Pistel of St. Machary, the treatise Against Boasting and Pride,
p. xli, n. 2). The question cannot be settled until all the works of the authors
in question are investigated in the manuscripts, but it should be pointed out that
the Benjamin displays some small verbal coincidences with Angels' Song, such
as repetition of 'God and ghostly things', 'sweetness of love in the affection
and light of knowing in the reason', 'fleshly, kindly and worldly delights'.
These phrases are to be sure all commonplaces, and perhaps solely derived from
Richard of St. Victor, who has influenced the Angels' Song strongly. Since,
however, we have no manuscript evidence as to the authorship of the Benjamin,
and noticeable reminiscences of the latter do exist in the English style of Angels'
Song, it would appear that the identity of the translator should not be settled too
easily. Angels' Song is given to Hilton by Pepwell, and it gives (Horstmann,
i, p. 179) some reminiscences of the Scale of Perfection (p. 63), but the Cloud
also gives reminiscences at the same point (p. 238). Angels' Song appears
likely to be by Hilton, however, for (like his Scale and Mixed Life) it tries to
moderate extremes which have come into mystical practice by the somewhat
unguarded expressions of his mystical contemporaries (including those found in
the Cloud). V. infra, p. 368.
1 Now Huntington MS. 148.


COMMENTARY ON TWO COMMANDMENTS
367
printed from Rawl. C. 285 by Horstmann (i. 122), and Sayings
from Fathers, which resembles a similar collection printed by Horst-
mann (i. 125) from the Rawl. MS. (following the treatise just noted).
All the works in the Ingilby MS. are anonymous. See Eng. Ps.,
Command.
Beg.: 'pou shalt loue pi lord god with al þi hert, with al þy soule,
with al pi pout. To loue god with al pi hert is nouzt elles but þat þi
hert be nouzt louyng ne worschipyng no þing þat may be so muche
as hym' (from a copy made at Dublin by Miss Deanesly).
Ends: 'pes byn þe werkes of mercy þat makes loue bytwene god
and man and bytwene man and man to come to ioye and rest: ever-
more to wone wip hym þat ys kyng of ioye and pees, world wiþouten
end. amen.'
This work is a simple, earnest exposition. In the comment on
the Second Commandment a lengthy account is introduced of the
Seven Works of Mercy. A few Northern forms occur. There are
no passages in Rolle's manner. The commentary seems to show in
some ways his influence, but in ethical earnestness, and not in
mysticism. It follows him in urging the contrition of the heart
and conformity to the Divine Will, and it speaks as strongly as he
on the necessity of teaching the people. However, these are common-
places, and probably its agreement with him at these points means
in part that it is derived from a later generation, on which his
influence had had its effect.
The present work has affiliations with the more moderate composi-
tions connected with the Lollard movement. It often refers to
'God's Law' (v. infra, p. 393); quotations may illustrate its character:
'Whan a mannes conscience is rewlet and levyng to þe lawe of god þat
is holy writte, pan ordeyres it a man to be blisse of hevene. And whan
a mannes conscience or his conseyle is nou3t grounded in holy writte and
acordyng to goddis lawe, it is noo drede it ordeynes a man to be dampned
in helle withouten ende.' 'pus man schal be saved or dampned by hys
conscience, for mannes conscience is but þe ryztfu knowyng of hys hert,
and zif it be unresonable rewled, it is no conscience but erroure, and per-
fore man schuld be weel ware þat hys conscience were rewled by goddis
lawze, and þat he lyfe with al his conyng þer after.' 'And it is certeyne
þat muchel of pe synne of þe world is for defaute of feith, þat mene trowep
nouzt trewly as goddis lawe techep hem.' God wole rewarde pe for pi
gode wille, for þat is pe princypal þing þat god taketh hede too.' 'Goddis
lawe byddis pe teche pe unconynge frely for charite to know pe lawe of
god, and to flee synne, for god þat zefes alle wysdome and conyng frely to
alle men, wole pat alle men frely teche it oper pat byn of lasse conyng.'


368
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH PROSE)
'But specyaly all pristes pat have taken þe governynge of puple byn
holden trewly to teche men goddys lawe.'
Though no signs of heresy or of special Lollard bitterness appear,
passages like those just quoted show the writer emphasizing points
always stressed by the Wyclifites, suggesting a development later
than the time of Rolle. The language suggests the same date.
Probably the ascription to him is due to the work being copied in
Northern manuscripts beside his works.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
Miss G. E. Hodgson in her recently printed Sanity of Mysticism
(v. infra, p. 431, n.) refers to Our Daily Work as Rolle's, but it has
been shown above (p. 286) that this attribution rests on an un-
founded conjecture of Horstmann's. She also prints (Appendix I) The
Oneness of God with Man's Soul (more generally known as Angels'
Song), which she is inclined to believe is Rolle's, though she quotes
Professor Edmund Gardner and Horstmann, both of whom ascribe
it to Hilton (to whom it is given in the edition of 1521, v. supra,
p. 366, n.). Miss Evelyn Underhill cites it as an 'unquestionably
authentic' work of Hilton (Scale, p. xxiii), and comparison with
Hilton's other works supports this strong assertion. On the other
hand, decided differences separate it from Rolle's works, and it
appears to represent at some points a reaction against his teaching.
The following parallel quotations will illustrate this point:
The holy soul has great comfort
' in psalmys, & ympnes, & an-
tympnes of haly kyrke... in þe
same toune & notes þat haly kyrke
vses' (Horstmann, i. 181).
'Mundi quippe amatores scire
possunt uerba uel carmina nostra-
rum cancionum, non autem cantica
nostrorum carminum; quia uerba
legunt, sed notam et tonam ac
suauitatem odarum addiscere non
possunt' (Incendium, p. 278).
The whole paragraph of Angels' Song which is here quoted from appears
to urge the friend to whom this epistle is directed against fanatically
following Rolle's teaching as to the devotion to the Holy Name, and
the next one appears to give warning against fanatically following the
author of the Cloud of Unknowing in his directions as to a 'naked
intent' towards holy things (Cloud, p. 93). This rationalizing is
typical of Hilton, as is the conclusion of the piece: it suffys to me
forto lyfe in trouthe principaly, & nouzt in felynge' (p. 182). Horst-
mann justly pronounced these words totally unlike Richard (i. 173).


CHAPTER XIII
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
LYRICS (v. supra, p. 296)
PETY JOB
Cited in the con-
I. Bodl. Douce MS. 322, ff. 10 sq., 15th cent.
temporary index as 'The IX lessons of Diryge in balade'. 'Here
begynneth the nyne lessons of the Dirige whych Job made in hys
tribulacioun lying on the Donghyll, and ben declared more opynly to
lewde mennes vndirstandyng by a solempne worthy and discrete
clerke Rychard hampole and ys cleped pety Job and ys full profitable
to stere synners to compunction.' See E. V. (angl.).
II. Trin. Coll. Camb. MS. 6or, ff. 38 sq., 15th cent. Same
heading.
III. B. Mus. Harl. MS. 1706, ff. 1ob sq., 15th cent. Same head-
ing. Like the Douce MS. this copy purports to be copied from
'John Lucas' book' (v. infra, p. 424). Printed by Horstmann.
See E. V. (angl.).
On the probable ascription of this work to Rolle by Bale, v. infra,
P. 423.
:
Beg. 'Lyeff lorde, my soule thou spare' (Horstmann, ii. 381).
Ends: So that I may euer with the dwelle,
6
Thorough parce michi domine' (p. 389).
The Pety Job was printed from the Harl. MS. by Horstmann and
by Kail (EETS. Orig. Ser., 124, pp. 120-43) from the Douce.
Horstmann states (ii. 380) that it is made on R. Rolle's Parvum
Iob sive lectiones mortuorum, by a later, East-Midland poet, perhaps
Richard Maidestone'; but in his list of Rolle's works (ibid., p. xliii)
he speaks more accurately: 'it is made on the verses of Job
commented in R. Rolle's Postillae super 9 lectiones mortuorum.' ¹
1 Selected portions of Job went commonly under the title' Parvum Job', but
these were generally a bare summary of incidents (Les traductions de la Bible en
vers français au moyen áge, par Jean Bonnard, Paris, 1884, p. 7).


370
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
Actually it bears no relation whatever to Rolle's Job, except that it
comments on the same texts. Dr. Kail states that the piece belongs
neither to Rolle's time 'nor to his dialect', and he supports his
statement by a few observations as to the latter (p. xxiii). No
Northern manuscripts exist. Professor Brown cites two anonymous
copies.
The three manuscripts of the Pety Job with Rolle's name all give
the same elaborate heading, and are probably therefore derived from
the same original. The manuscript authority for his authorship is
therefore less than at first appears. The ascription may be explained
as a confusion with his Latin commentary on the same portions of
Scripture, which is often described in terms that would apply equally
well to the Pety Job.
Dr. Kail might have added that the Pety Job did not belong to
Rolle's manner any more than to his time or dialect. It is a very
beautiful lyrical commentary, of a sustained poetical and metrical
power quite beyond what Rolle has shown in any other work; and,
though very devout, it is quite unmystical. It seems to speak in
a detached way of those sanctified in this life (among whom Rolle
ranged himself):
'And though I dyede thane as doth a seynt' (p. 386).
The Pety Job from beginning to end preserves the tone of proud, and
even bitter submissiveness found in the original texts.
2
Metrical expositions of the Dirige of very much the same verse-
form and manner as the present one were very popular in France in
the beginning of the fifteenth century, and that by Pierre Nesson,¹
a poet conspicuous in the higher circles of his time, exists in many
manuscripts. Reference to catalogues of French libraries will show
that elaborate rubrics such as we find attached to the Pety Job were
also popular in France during the same period, and these 'gossipy
rubrics' were used in England by such a scribe as John Shirley. It
is probably to such a world as Shirley lived in-in which French
fashions were current-that we must refer the Pety Job, which by its
subject and its rubric seems to follow French fashions. It seems to
be a product of the same environment as other poems (one of them
with the same refrain) copied next to the Pety Job in the manuscripts,
and printed by Kail. These works resemble each other in dialect,
style, metre, and cadence, and they probably all emanate from the
same source.
1 Roman. xxxiii. 540.
Cf. Angl. xxvii. 387, 393.


SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS
371
SEVEN PENITENTIAL PSALMS
Bodl. Digby MS. 18, ff. 38-64, 15th cent. 'Here bigynnep pe
prologe of pe seuene salmys in englysche by Richard hampole here-
myte.' Rolle's E. V. (angl.) had preceded, with his name.
also Form.
See
A copy of this work ascribed to Rolle evidently existed in the 16th-
century Savile library, where MS. 203 is described as follows:
'Septem psalmi paenitentiales quos Richardus de Hampol in Angli-
cum sermonem transtulit in versu.' The note ascribing the work to
Rolle in Longleat MS. 30 is of no significance, for it is written in
a modern (17th century?) hand. Professor Brown cites in all twenty
copies of this work (Nos. 1215, 2421, vol. ii. 'Afterword').
Beg.
To goddis worschipe pat dere us bouzte.'
Ends: Graunte us oo god and persones pre.'
An extra stanza in another manuscript gives Richard Maidstone,
Carmelite, as author of this poem: this is usually taken as part of the
original piece, and Maidstone is credited with the work by Professor
Brown. No Northern manuscript is known to exist, and it seems
impossible that the poem could have had a Northern origin. It
contains no mysticism, nor anything connecting it with Rolle, and
the metrical form is better than we find in poems more credibly
ascribed to him. The ascription is probably due to some one who
connected with Rolle all English expositions of the Psalms.
SPECULUM VITAE
Camb. Univ. MS. Ll. i. 8, ff. 1 sq., late 14th cent. 'Explicit quidam
tractatus super pater noster secundum Ricardum Hampolem qui
obiit Anno domini millesimo cccmo octogesimo quarto. Reynoldus
cognomen scriptoris possidet omen.' The Meditations on the Passion
follow (in the same hand), also ascribed to Rolle, and here the date
of his death is given as 1348. More MS. 215.
See Miscell.
Beg.:
Ends:
'Almy3ty god in trinite,
In whom is only persones three.'
'To be whyche blysse he vs alle brynge
þat on pe croys for vs wolde hynge.'
Rolle's authorship of the present poem was urged by J. Ullmann
in an article (Eng. Stud. vii. 415 sq.) in which he made elaborate
comparisons between the style of this work and that of the Prick of
Conscience, then universally given to Rolle. In my article The


372
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH Verse)
Authorship of the Prick of Conscience (pp. 163-70), I suggested that
since Ullmann seemed to have shown a distinct similarity existing
between the style of the two works, they might have been written by
the same author; since Rolle could not be the author of the Prick,
Ullmann's investigation proved nothing for Rolle's authorship of the
Speculum, but it might prove something for the authorship of both
works by William of Nassington, to whom the Speculum was given
in two copies (as translated from the Latin of Freere Johan...
of Waldby'). However, in an article Speculum Vitae: Addendum
(Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Am. xxxii. 133–62), I showed that
Ullmann had borrowed most of his classifications of style from
dissertations on the style of Old French writers, which invalidated
them as tests of authorship in the present case.¹ An examination of
all the manuscripts of the Speculum Vitae did not elucidate the
problem of its origin, for of the thirty-one examined, the only ones
giving information as to the authorship were the two giving the name
of William of Nassington, and the present manuscript giving Rolle's
name. Three copies state that the Speculum was examined by the
University of Cambridge in 1384, and proved free from heresy.
The Speculum Vitae is a Northern poem, in dialect and manner
strongly suggesting the Prick of Conscience, though compounded of
somewhat less sensational materials (perhaps due to the fact that it is
founded on La Somme le Roy by Frère Lorenz). It gives no hint of
Rolle, and is on a large scale-a work alien to his writings. William
of Nassington, on the other hand, is a person to whom it could be
plausibly attributed. He was, apparently, a resident of York (an
advocate at the archiepiscopal court), and another work is ascribed
to him sufficiently like the Speculum in style and sentiment. The
manuscript evidence for his authorship is stronger than for Rolle's,
not only because it occurs in two copies against Rolle's one, but also
because it occurs in the text, whereas the attribution to Rolle is given
in a verse tag by a scribe who, by his transposition as to the date of
Rolle's death, proves himself to be careless.
STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
Beg.:
'The myght of pe fadyr almyghty
þe wytt of pe sone alle wytty.'
(Lambeth MS. 260, f. 101.)
1 See my article under preparation on the literary affiliations of the Prick of
Conscience.


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
373
Ends:
'vnto whylk place he vs bryng,
at for owre hele on pe rode wald hynge' (f. 130b).
It has been shown by the exhaustive Register of Middle-English
religious and didactic verse brought out by Professor Carleton Brown
that the Prick of Conscience was incomparably the most popular work
falling within the limits of his investigation: he cites ninety-nine
copies and four fragments (under four incipits, Nos. 314, 723, 2206-7);
the nearest rival, Piers Plowman, only exists in forty-seven copies.
Five manuscripts and one fragment of the Prick of Conscience have
come to light since Professor Brown's volume was printed, and
doubtless others still lurk in private libraries. The immense number
of copies available will not all be cited in the present work, since
Professor Brown includes them in the Register; only those will be
described which present significant features, such as indications of
authorship, variations of title, etc. In the rare cases where the poem
has occurred in the same manuscript with authentic works of Rolle,
a cross-reference, Stim. Consc.', has been given, but the copies in
question have not been especially noted here, since they throw no
special light on the problem of the authorship. Brief mention will be
given of those copies of the poem not mentioned in the Register,
most of which have been pointed out to me by Mr. Herbert of the
British Museum. Altogether, ninety-six manuscripts of the English
poem the Prick have been examined for the purposes of the present
study, that is, all except thirteen of the extant copies.' The volumes
seen have been examined solely for the light they throw on the
origin of the poem, and it should be noted that at least half are
imperfect at both ends. No attention has in general been given to
the text. In the case of the copies not seen, the available informa-
tion does not hint that they offer any aid in the solution of the origin
of the poem. Three are imperfect at both ends, and three others
are certainly anonymous. The five copies of the translation into Latin
have also been examined (v. infra, p. 376).
1 The manuscripts of the Stimulus which have not been examined are as
follows: Brown, Register, No. 723, MS. 3 (Holkham Hall, which, as I was kindly
assured by Mr. Napier, the librarian, contains no ascription); No. 2206, MSS.
16 (2 leaves only), 57 (imperfect at both ends), 68, 71, 73–7 (MS. 77, 13 leaves
only), 81 (Garrett MS. at Princeton University, formerly the Yates MS. men-
tioned by Dr. Morris in his edition, as I was told by Mr. Henry Yates Thomp-
Mr. Clemons, librarian at Princeton, kindly confirmed its anonymous
character); No. 2207, MS. 9 ; the Peterborough MS. below. See Addenda.
son.


374
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
ADDITIONAL MSS.
I. Peterborough Publ. Lib. MS.* This volume was brought to
my attention by Mr. C. J. Robson, who informs me that it is
anonymous. He is editing it.
V. infra, p. 386, n. 4.
V. infra, p. 377-
II. Sotheby's, Oct. 27, 1919, Lot 2698.
III. Sotheby's, Jan. 30, 1920, Lot 116.
IV. Sotheby's, Dec. 21, 1920, Lot 515. Fragment of nine
leaves only, beginning with the first of Bk. III, 15th cent. From
the library of J. O. Halliwell.
V. Sotheby's, Nov. 14, 1922, Lot 376, ff. 12-247, 15th cent.
'Here begynnes pe langer pryck of conscience.' 'Explicit liber qui
dicitur Stimulus consciencie.' 'Iste liber constat Ricardo Gardner.'
The date 1534 and a name of 'Skeibey' (Skeeby, near Richmond ?),
co. Yorks, appear on the last page: the arms on the cover are those
of 'William Blakiston Bowes, Arm. de Streattlam Castle in Com.
Dunelmensi'. The title here given doubtless distinguishes the poem
from 'Stimulus consciencie minor' (Register, No. 156), a much less
important and popular work.
VI. Sotheby's, April 15, 1924, Lot 378. V. infra, p. 394.
A. MSS. ASCRIBING THE WORK TO ROLLE.
I. Bodl. Ashmole 60 (Sum. Cat. No. 6922), c. 1400. This date
was given to Professor Craigie by the Bodleian authorities in 1916,
but the catalogue had given 'xiv century', and Dr. Furnivall, in
quoting from the volume (v. infra, p. 391), dates his quotation About
1350:-If we may take this to be the date of the fourteenth-century
MS. of Hampole's Pricke of Conscience, Ashmole 60, to which Mr.
Black draws attention in his Catalogue of the Ashmole MSS. col.
105.' Internal evidence, as we shall see, would make an earlier date
than the last quarter of the 14th century improbable. However,
this manuscript is certainly as early as any extant copy bearing
Rolle's name, if it is not the earliest. It is a small folio, vellum.
The beginning of the work comes on f. 8: 'Incipit Stimulus con-
sciencie a Ricardo heremita de hampole compositus gracie dei subdito
terminatur' (rubric). The end of the text is imperfect, and possibly
the meaning of the last words of the heading would be clear if we
had the original conclusion. This copy is not Northern, and large
insertions have been made both in prose and in verse. This type of
the poem is perhaps that in which the ascription to Rolle originated,
for some of the material inserted is almost Lollard, and Rolle's


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
375
name was perhaps added to give it safe-conduct. The text of
Ashmole 60 will be discussed later.
II. Caius Coll. Camb. 386, 15th cent. 'Hic incipit stimulus
consciencie compilatus per Ricardum heremitam' (rubric). 'Expli-
cit stimulus consciencie.' Not Northern. Cited as evidence for
Rolle's authorship by Pits and Oudin.
III. Lambeth Palace 260, ff. 101 sq., first quarter 15th cent.
The date was given by Sir George Warner after examination of the
watermarks. Explicit tractus qui vocatur stimulus consciencie
interioris per sanctum Ricardum heremitam de Hampole' (f. 130).
This is the only Northern MS. in which the Prick is ascribed to
Rolle: the Northern Homilies begin the volume. It was noted in
the bibliography of Wharton.
IV. Gurney MS. (in the possession of the Gurney family of Keswick
Hall, Keswick, Norwich), c. 1400 ('probably before 1400, but not
very long before'). The date was given by Dr. M. R. James, when
the late Mr. J. H. Gurney was kind enough to send the volume to
Cambridge for my purposes. This and the Ashmole copy are the
only ones bearing Rolle's name which can be dated before 1400, and
neither is Northern. The ascription is in a rhyming colophon
(in red):
'Here endip as ze may see
Stimulus consciencie
Aftir Richard þe holy ermyte
that soply pus gan þis book endyte' (f. 153).
This volume was purchased by Hudson Gurney, Esq., at the sale
of the manuscripts of Dr. Macro, and it was described in the
catalogue of the manuscripts of the latter as follows: Quarto MS.
No. 18. Stimulus Conscientiae (Hampole). In old English verse
wrote on Vellum about ye time of Henry ye 6th. This probably
belonged to the nunnery of Hampole in Yorkshire." This entry
suggests that when Ritson said that Dr. Munro' owned a copy
of the Prick which was left after the death of Hampole and
his brother to the Society of Friars Minor at York' (v. Radcliffe
Monog. 15, p. 169), he was amplifying the description of the present
volume in the catalogue of the library of Dr. Macro. Sir F. Madden,
in the manuscript notes in his copy of Ritson, now in the Harvard
library, identifies the mysterious volume cited by Ritson as 'Dr.
Munro's' with that 'penes Hudson Gurney' (which was originally
1 'Collectanea Hunteriana, Catalogue of the Library of Cox Macro, D.D.,
1766', B. Mus. Add. MS. 25473.


376
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
'Dr. Macro's'). It should, however, be noted that Dr. Thomas
Monro, a well-known connoisseur of art of the early 19th
century (v. D. N.B.), possessed manuscripts, for No. 8007 of the
Chetham Coll. Library, Manchester, is said to have been purchased
at his sale. An inquiry was put in Notes and Queries (3rd Ser., ii.
386) in regard to the fate of Dr. Munro's' manuscript mentioned by
Ritson, but no reply seems to have been forthcoming.
V. Merton Coll. Oxf. 68, ft. 74 sq., 15th cent. 'Hampole
heads the first page. 'Explicit tractatus qui vocatur Stimulus
consciencie secundum hampole' (f. 88v). This is not the English
poem, but the Latin translation from it which exists in five manu-
scripts. It was noted by Bale in his Index. Three other copies
refer to the work as 'tractatus qui vocatur Stimulus conscientie qui
ab anglico translatus est in latinum' (Magd. Coll. Camb. 14, 15th
cent.; Dd. iv. 50, 16th cent. ; and Pembroke Coll. Camb. 273, 14th
cent.). This text also exists in Bodl. 159 (Sum. Cat. No. 2009). It
is much shortened and systematized. Richard Methley of Mount
Grace could not have been the translator, as was conjectured by Dr.
James in describing the Magd. MS. His reason for so doing, as he
stated in reply to an inquiry, was because he found Methley in
a Pembroke MS. translating English into Latin (v. infra, p. 417).
However, the work in question is dated 1491', and the existence
of the Pembroke 14th-cent. copy of the Latin Prick disposes of
Methley's authorship.
The 15th-cent. scrap-book B. Mus. Harl. 106 contains a Latin
extract E Tractatu qui intitulatur Stimulus Consciencie' (f. 138b).
Beg.: 'Timenda est mors . . .'.
There is a very slight possibility that an ascription to Rolle may
have occurred in St. John's Coll. Camb. 137, early 15th cent. Α
note on the manuscript states: 'An old catalogue gives this "6. 27.
Richardi Hampole Stimulus conscientiae metris Anglicis, cum prae-
fatione Richardi Spink qui librum donavit". "A. 6. 27" is within the
The preface and name of donor have disappeared. Also
first leaf of MS.' This information is not explicit evidence for Rolle's
name having once appeared in the volume, for cataloguers of all
periods have been so certain of his authorship that they include
a reference to it very often when it is absent from the manuscript.
A volume in the library of Henry Savile (1568-1617) of Banke, co.
Yorks, apparently (though not certainly) contained a copy of the
Prick with Rolle's name (v. infra, p. 385). There is a discrepancy at


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
377
this point between the two catalogues of the library. This may, of
course, be one of the copies here cited.
B. MSS. ASCRIBING THE WORK TO GROSSETESTE.
"
I. Bodl. Digby 14 (Sum. Cat. No. 1615), early 15th cent. Hic
incipit quidam tractatus magistri Roberti Grosthed episcopi quondam
lincolniensis doctorisque egregii in theologia et vocatur Stimulus
consciencie.' Not Northern.
II. Bodl. Laud Misc. 486, late 14th cent. Bernard MS. G. 21
(Sum. Cat. No. 1186). Explicit tractatus venerabilis lincolniensis
qui dicitur stimulus consciencie' (f. 122). Not Northern.
"
III. Sotheby's, Jan. 30, 1920, Lot 116, now in the possession of
Sir Leicester Harmsworth, c. 1430-50. Hic incipit quidam tractatus
Roberti '[Grost]hed episcopi lincolniensis, qui nominatur Stimulus
Conscientie.' Not Northern. Once belonging to T. C. Neale. I owe
my knowledge of this copy to the kindness of Mr. J. A. Herbert, from
whose notes the above description is taken. Sir Frederic Madden, in
the notes to his Ritson already mentioned, cites a manuscript of the
Prick as in the possession of 'T. C. Neale, Springfield, Essex'.
All three manuscripts above noted seem to present the usual text.
Tanner notes the two volumes of the Prick in the Bodleian which
give the work to Grosseteste (art. Hampole, note q; art. Grosseteste,
p. 350 n.); and speaks of Laud MS. K. 65 as giving the same.
ascription. He is followed at this point by Warton (Hist. Eng.
Poetry, ii. 240). Laud MS. K. 65 is now Laud Misc. 601 (Sum. Cat.
No. 1491), a copy complete at both ends which does not give any
sign of ever having contained an ascription. Perhaps the Neale MS.
was the third copy in question, and a wrong reference was given by
Tanner and repeated by Warton.
Bishop Grosseteste was the author of a French poem, the Château
d'Amour, which in many respects was the prototype of such a piece
as the Prick of Conscience. Both provided a compendium of theology
for the laity, and, in spite of the difference in language, many of the
same tricks of style appear in the two works. The Prick, more-
over, was not the only work of its sort to which the name of the bishop
was attached; both of the manuscripts collated for the edition of
Handlynge Synne, the English translation of the Manuel des Pechiez,
1 This will be illustrated in my article on the literary affiliations of the Prick
of Conscience.
B b


378
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
ascribe the authorship of the French original to Grosseteste,
and his name is also attached to a copy of French verses on the.
Nine Daughters of the Devil, much in the same manner. We know
that he was extremely active in stimulating greater efficiency in the
parish clergy, and it is possible that his name is connected with
so many works of a popular religious character because he was
associated in the popular mind with providing more religious instruc-
tion for the people.¹
3
In the case of the Prick of Conscience there was probably a special
reason for attaching Grosseteste's name: as the Catalogue of the Royal
MSS. in the British Museum points out (ii. 245), the Prick of
Conscience bases Book IV (on Purgatory) on a prose treatise 'De
Poenis Purgatorii' often ascribed to Grosseteste. This attribution
the cataloguer terms 'improbable', but it was frequent, and is found
in the Latin texts in B. Mus. Harl. 3673 and Add. 33957 (both
15th cent.). The late 13th-cent. French text in B. Mus. Ar. 288
(ff. 84-91b) is anonymous. Without a line-by-line comparison it
is not possible to determine positively whether the Latin or the
French text is the original, or which is that used in the English
poem. So large a part of the Prick of Conscience is founded on the
De Poenis that it is not strange that Grosseteste's name should
be attached to the poem, if it were to the treatise. The English does
not always follow the order of its source, but in one order or another
most of the treatise is to be found in the poem, generally in a
much expanded form. Parts of Book III (ll. 2386 sq., 2656 sq.) and
much of Book IV are founded on the treatise (Ar. MS., ff. 84 sq.).
Not only the general subject-matter is the same in the two works, but
the Latin quotations are also often repeated. The indebtedness,
however, does not end here: though the treatise announces the Pains
of Purgatory as its principal subject, the last four books (IV-VII)
give general references to the Judgement Day and to Hell and
1 See my articles Rom. Rev. viii. 447-8, and Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Am.
xxxii. 133 sq.
The relation is also noted by Miss R. G. J. Murray in her edition of the
Château d'Amour (Paris, 1918, p. 84 n.).
3 The following parallel quotations illustrate the close relation between the
three texts:
Harl. 3673.
'In anglico ydiomate
dicitur: Si spes
Ar. 288.
Prick of Conscience.
non
'Len dit en engleis:
if hope ne were: herte
to broste' (f. 88b).
'And men says, warn
hope ware it suld brest'
(Bk. VI, I. 7266, p. 196).
esset, cor creparet' (f.
167).


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
379
Heaven. These are the subjects of the last three books of the poem
(V-VII), and each of these has taken (and immensely enlarged) some-
thing from the treatise (cf. Ar. 288, f. 87b with pp. 134-5, 143; f. 88b
with pp. 196-7; f. 88 with pp. 188, 192; ff. 89-91b with pp. 213-32).
C. MSS. GIVING HINTS OF OTHER ASCRIPTIONS.
None of the copies here cited appear, on a cursory examination, to
present any peculiarities of text.
6
The following
I. B. Mus. Cotton App. vii, ff. 3 sq., 15th cent.
notes appear: Thomas Asheburne ex Ordine fratrum B. Mariae de
Monte Carmel (?) Conventus Northampton (?) Scripsit anno 1384
De Contemptu Mundi (Hujus tractatus non meminit Balaeus, vid.
p. 404)' (fly-leaf). Scriptus a fratre Tho: de Ascheburne ordinis.
fratrum beate Marie genitricis dei de mo[nte] Carm. conuentus
Northhamptoniensis Anno 1384 congestus ex Inno[centio] de con-
temptu mundi' (f. 3). The latter note is the earlier by about fifty
years, and probably belongs to the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
tury. These dates and that of the manuscript were kindly given by
Mr. Herbert. The last leaf of the Prick is lacking in this copy.
Some Northern forms persist in this text.
E. Guest, in discussing the Cotton App. MS. (History of English
Rhythms, London, 1882, p. 693), conjectures that there were two
forms of the Prick, and that Ashburne was the author of one. Later
research proves that there are many versions of the poem, but
the differences are minor ones, due to variations in dialect and
corruptions of text. There is no reason to believe that there were
ever two fundamentally different recensions of the work.
A friar, Thomas Ashburne, was a prominent controversialist at the
end of the fourteenth century: 'claruit 1382' (Pits, art. Ashburne).
He appeared at the London synod of 1382, debated the temporal
power of the pope, and wrote treatises against the Lollards. He
was, however, an Augustinian,' whom Bale and Pits derive from
Staffordshire, Tanner from Derbyshire. Ashbourn, from which
Thomas may have taken his name, as a matter of fact lies in Derby-
shire on the borders of Staffordshire. It cannot be more than about
forty or fifty miles from Hampole. Bale quotes Walsingham on
Ashburne's interfering to save his monastery from being burnt by
a mob (Catalogus, edit. 1557, p. 494).
Tanner refers to an English poem ascribed to a 'Thomas Ashburn,
¹ Mr. Herbert suggests that the Augustinian may have become a Carmelite.
B b 2


380
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
Carmelite,' in Cotton MS. Vitell. F. xiii, and raises the query
whether this is really the Augustinian. Sir Frederic Madden, in
the note on the present manuscript (in which he identifies it as the
Prick), points out that Tanner has apparently given a wrong reference,
since Vitell. F. xiii has no connexion with Ashburne. Apparently
no explicit reference to a Carmelite Ashburne occurs outside the
notes above quoted, but about 1383 one 'Thomas Assheburne,
scholar of the charity' of a great personage (unnamed), taught in
the college of St. Benedict at Cambridge' (as we learn from the
household accounts of the anonymous patron), and in 1392 Richard,
Earl of Arundel (brother of Thomas Arundel, the archbishop),
remembered in his will his confessor Frere Thomas Asshebourne'.?
Neither of these references is tied to the Augustinian, and either or
hoth may refer to the Carmelite. Miss Mary Bateson in her article
on Ashburne (D. N. B.) conjectures that the Cambridge scholar
became the Carmelite, and wrote English verse. Since no sign of
Ashburne's name
occurs in Vitell. F. xiii, with which Tanner
connected it, and she recognizes that the poem ascribed to him
in Cotton App. vii is the Prick, she conjectures his authorship for
the short poem which precedes the latter (the Four Daughters of
God). However, the notes as to Ashburne occur only in the text of
the Prick, and the reference to 'Innocent, De Contemptu Mundi”,³
applies to this and not to the preceding poem. It would appear that
Ashburne's claim to authorship rests on the Prick or nowhere.
Since the last page of Cotton MS. App. vii is missing, we might
conjecture that the attribution to Ashburne was copied from there,
and rested on information of real value. However, the manuscript is
not consistently Northern, and the dates of his life seem to place the
composition of the poem a generation too late, though of this we
cannot be sure all that we know of its date is that more than two
dozen copies go back to the late fourteenth century, and a date about
the middle of the century would fit better than a later one. But the
poem is one which might have been written in early life by a man
:
1 Cf. Camb. Antiq. Soc. Commun., 9, p. 401.
2 See Testamenta Vetusta, ed. N. H. Nicolas, London, 1826, i. 129. It might
be worth inquiring whether the mysterious magnate, who was the patron of a
Thomas Ashburn about 1383, might be one of the Arundels—either the earl,
who in 1392 had a Thomas Ashburn as confessor, or his brother the archbishop.
3 This work is a principal source of the Prick (see R. Köhler, Jahrbuch für
Roman. und Engl. Lit. vi. 196-212).
Bodl. Rawl. Poet. 175 has been cited as a copy that goes back to c. 1350
(see Mod. Lang. Notes, 1905, p. 210). Dr. Craster and Mr. Madan kindly


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
381
of prodigious energy and some literary resources, and we cannot be
certain that the present copy (which contains Northern forms) is not
copied from a pure Northern original. Ashburne, the Carmelite, may
have been a Northerner by birth, though his life in religion was
passed in Northampton. Moreover, the exact locality in which the
Prick of Conscience was written must be a matter of conjecture. It
has so long been taken for granted that it was written by Rolle,
whose Yorkshire origin was known, that its Yorkshire character has
never been questioned, and it has perhaps been taken as one of the
principal sources of the Yorkshire dialect of its time. But the poem
exists in many dialects, and I pointed out in my earlier article (p. 137,
n., v. infra, p. 396, n.) that even the Northern version printed differs in
dialect from Rolle's works in some important particulars.
original text was almost certainly Northern, but Ashburne may have
derived his name from Ashbourn in Derbyshire, and at this date
it would be difficult to be certain that the speech of Derbyshire was
entirely different from that of Southern Yorkshire not many miles
away. Altogether, Ashburne's claim to the authorship of the Prick
cannot be absolutely denied, though there is little to support it.
Mr. J. A. Herbert has pointed out to me an indenture in B. Mus.
Wolley Charter vi. 38 between Sir Thomas Russell, rood prest' of
'Assheburne', co. Derby, and John Knyvetone of Morcaston, gentle-
man, 'patrone of the same servyce and chantre', and Sir 'Herre'
Hudson, vicar of Ascheburne', witnessing the delivery by the said
vicar to the said Sir Thomas of certain mass-books, chalices, vest-
ments, and other goods for the same chantry, 15 Jan., 1516. Among
the articles cited is 'A boke of pe pater noster' (which might be the
Speculum Vitae) and ‘A boke namyd stimulus consciencie'. It may
be thought barely possible that we have in a mark of ownership by
Thomas, priest of Ashbourn, the origin of the note as to 'Thomas
Ashburn', but in that case the explicit details as to 1384, Northampton,
etc., are strange.
II. Trin. Coll. Dublin 156, 15th cent., contains the Prick of
Conscience, with notes in what appears to be a 17th- or 18th-cent.
hand: Johannes Fleming hunc librum composuit' (f. 3); 'Johannes
Fleming composuit hunc librum' (in Bk. IV). The hand is very
similar to that in which appears at the beginning the name 'Miles
Symner, 1652'. The first page, and part of the second are defaced
examined this volume and assure me that 'circa 1350 is probably too early, and
the MS. should be assigned to the second half of the 14th century'.


382
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
by gall-stain, but this injury can hardly have covered the source
of the reference to Fleming, since it is referred to in a note on the
fly-leaf in what seems the same hand as that of the other notes (or
a contemporary one). What the source may be, must remain
uncertain. It may be noted that 'Jon Flemmyn' signs his name to
Ms. e Musaeo 232 (Sum. Cat. No. 3657), of which he is apparently
the scribe (v. supra, p. 279). The Trin. MS. has been long in
Ireland, for scribblings occur concerned with Dublin in the reign
of Henry VIII. It is not Northern. The epilogue is omitted. This
copy was probably the source of Tanner's reference to John Fleming
as 'poeta antiquus Anglus' who wrote 'Anglice Poemata varia in
bibl. coll. SS. Trin. Dublin, 3°4'.
III. Greg MS. (in the possession of Dr. W. W. Greg, formerly
Phillipps 8343), 15th cent. A late note on the fly-leaf entitles the
work: A Religious Poem callid Thomas of Arundel's Legend in
English Verse'. The first leaf is lacking, and a possible explanation
of the note quoted is that the first page contained a note as to
a licence granted for reading the work by Thomas Arundel, archbishop
of Canterbury, according to the Constitutions of Oxford instituted by
him in 1408 (v. supra, p. 191). Such a licence is appended to
Nicholas Love's paraphrase of the Meditations on the Life of Christ,
and a note as to a formal examination at Cambridge appears on three
copies of the Speculum Vitae (q. v.). The present volume had lost
its first leaf before it came into the possession of Sir Thomas Phillipps,
for the imperfection is noted in his catalogue, as well as in that of
Heber, its previous owner. Earlier it had belonged to Beauclerk.
Sir Thomas Phillipps enters this volume in his catalogue with the
cryptic Credo hanc esse Paraphrasim per Thomam, comitem
de Arundel.' For a possible remote connexion of the Prick with
Archbishop Arundel, see above, p. 380, n. 2.
IV. Bodl. Rawl. C. 35 (Sum. Cat. No. 11901), 15th cent. A note is
pasted on the fly-leaf: 'Yr Book is complete tis wrote in the stile &
maner of [Occ]leve Chaucers Scholar tho' in my Coppy 'tis said to be
"Mr. Thorntone one of the Grooms of the Princes Chamber" which
I understand of Hen. 5.' This is signed in pencil 'E. Umfreville'.
'Edw. Umfreville' owned the text of the poem in Bodl. Douce
157 (Sum. Cat. No. 21731), second half 14th cent. In the latter
volume he adds notes in which he states that Rolle is author of
the work, and gives details of his other pieces which 'Dr. Rawlinson
hath'. No word of 'Thornton' appears. Possibly the mention.


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
383
quoted refers to a copy (now lost) written by Robert Thornton.
Thornton was, as we have seen, in all probability a country gentle-
man (holder of several manors). As such he may at some time have
been in some position at court (v. supra, p. 36).
D. QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES.
The Prick of Conscience seems once to be referred to as written by
Rolle, as follows:
'In moral mateer ful notable was Goweer
And so was stroode in his philosophye,
In parfight lyvyng which passith poysye
Richard hermyte contemplatyff of sentence
Drowh in ynglyssh the prykke of conscience'
(Lydgate's Fall of Princes, B. Mus. Harl. MS. 1766, f. 262).
These lines occur in the final epilogue addressed to the Duke of
Gloucester attached to some copies of the poem. Since the Fall,
according to Professor Schick (EETS. Extra Ser., 60, p. cxii),' was
not written till 1430-8, they must be dated in the E. Midlands nearly
a century after the composition in the North of the Prick of Con-
science. They can therefore bear no special authority. Probably
Lydgate had seen or heard of one of the copies of the poem which
were circulating from about 1400, in which it was ascribed to
Richard, but it may be noted that the work is ascribed to' Richard
hermyte', an ambiguous title (v. supra, p. 61). The qualifica-
tion 'contemplatyff of sentence', however, seems to clinch the
identification.
Various medieval references to the Prick of Conscience occur, in all
of which it appears anonymously, as follows.
NORTHERN WILLS.
North Country Wills (SS. 116). These are Northern wills registered
at Somerset House and Lambeth Palace. Agnes Stapilton, widow
of Sir Brian Stapilton of Carlton, in 1448 leaves Monialibus de
Arthyngton... librum meum vocatum Prik of Conscience' (p. 48). The
Stapiltons probably were in a position to have known that the work
was Rolle's if it had been, for in 1394 a Sir Brian Stapilton bequeathed
an alabaster image of Our Lady qui fust al ankerer de Hampoll
(v. Testamenta Eboracensia, i. 199, and infra, p. 506).
1 Miss Hammond (Angl. xxxviii. 136) dates the prologue 1431-2, ' a date not
far from the 1430 long ago conjectured by Professor Schick'.


384
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
Testamenta Eboracensia, i-iii (SS. 4, 30, 45). These are wills
registered at York. In 1399 Thomas Roos of Ingmanthorpe leaves
'domino Willielmo de Helagh . . . librum Stimuli Conscienciae'
(i. 252). In 1446 Dominus William Revetour of York, chaplain, leaves
'Aliciae Bolton, seniori, j librum de Oracione Dominica et Stimulus
Conscientiae in Anglia (sic)' (ii. 117). Revetour disposed of a large
collection of books. We may suspect that the 'De Oracione Dominica'
here bound with the Stimulus was the Speculum Vitae.
Will of Lord Scrope of Masham, 1415 (Rymer's Foedera, London,
1709, ix): 'Item lego Sorori meae Matildi, Minorissae Londoniae
...unum Librum in Anglicis, qui vocatur Stimulus conscientiae,
coopertum in albo Corrio' (p. 277). Lord Scrope was in an excep-
tional position to have known of Richard's authorship of the Prick of
Conscience, and, as we have seen, he bequeathed two authentic works
of Rolle, both carefully ascribed to their author, of which one at least
is an autograph (v. supra, p. 98). His silence, therefore, in regard to
Rolle's authorship of the Prick of Conscience is notable, when he is so
specific in regard to the other works.
It may be also taken as possibly significant that Robert Thornton,
the scribe of the Thornton MS. (c. 1440), includes (f. 276b), without
indication of authorship, a piece of the Prick of Conscience (see
Horstmann, i. 185). He is careful to affix Rolle's name to the short
prose pieces which he includes (both English and Latin). It may be
argued that he omits Richard's name from an authentic lyric and a
rhyme-tag (v. supra, p. 300, infra, p. 403), and that the extract from the
Prick is not much more than a hundred lines. However, the lyric
and tag are rare, insignificant pieces, of which the connexion with
Rolle might easily be forgotten (especially since the former occurs in
a series in which the other pieces are not by him). The Prick of
Conscience, on the other hand, was, as we have seen, the most popular
English theological poem of its time, and if Rolle were the author
we should expect its authorship to be known to his fellow North-
countrymen who were interested in his work, even in the next
century.
WILLS, ETC., From other Counties.
Newstead, 1396-7. The prior of Newstead brought action against
John Ravensfield for the detention 'unius libri vocati Stymylus
Conscientiae' (Records of the Borough of Nottingham, London, 1882,
i. 335).
Great Yarmouth, 1434. In the will of Robert Cupper, Burgess :


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
385
'I give to Robert, my son . . . a certain book called Stimulus
Consciencie, and which book is now in the custody of Agnes, wife of
William Paston of Paston, until the said Robert comes to years
of discretion' (Norf. and Norw. Archaeol. Soc., 4, p. 326).
An important collection of manuscripts was owned by Henry
Savile of Banke, Yorks (1568-1617), many of which came from the
monastic houses of Yorkshire, especially Byland, Rievaulx, and
Fountains-the first two neighbours to Rolle in early life (see J. P.
Gilson, Trans. Bibliog. Soc., 9, p. 137). Two catalogues of this
library exist, not always in agreement. A puzzling discrepancy
occurs in the case of MS. 42 (p. 163), where the first catalogue cites
'Stimulus conscientiae per Richardum heremitam de Hampole
Eboracensem in Anglicis rhythmis cum indice alphabetico', and the
second: Stimulus Amoris in Englishe verse per R. Hampole.'
Some of the other items in this volume agree in the two catalogues,
and others present an approximate agreement. The famous Stimulus
Amoris, so long ascribed to Bonaventura, was evidently a favourite
with Richard Rolle, and it is ascribed to him (v. supra, p. 354):
this however is not 'in English verse'. Neither (except in one copy,
supra, p. 262) is Rolle's Form of Living in verse, which is called the
'Prick of Love' in one copy (supra, p. 258). However, a poem in
the MSS. Vernon and Simeon is entitled the 'Spur of Love' (EETS.
Orig. Ser., 98, p. 268); in both it directly follows the Prick of
Conscience. It is possible that the Savile MS. contained this poem,
following a text of the Prick, that one or both were ascribed to
Rolle, and that a careless cataloguer jumbled the two. But v. infra,
p. 410, for a Stimulus Amoris (not in verse) ascribed to Rolle, also
in the Savile library. The 'Spur of Love' cannot have been written
by Richard: it is a colourless piece of the type of the Prick of
Conscience and Mirror of Life. Horstmann (i. 219) refers to it as
a metrical translation of the Mirror of St. Edmund. It may be
noted that the description of the Simeon MS. in the B. Mus. Cat. of
Additions 1854-60 (London, 1875), p. 624, ascribes the poem in
question to 'Richard Hampole'; but this is probably because it
follows the Prick of Conscience, which is catalogued as by Rolle (in
accordance with the then generally accepted attribution). Both
poems are anonymous in the manuscript.
Savile MS. 237 (p. 205) is noted as containing an anonymous
'Stimulus conscientiae versus in Anglicis metris'. The Strong MS. of
the Prick (v. infra, p. 386, n. 2) contains at the end a fifteenth-century
scribbling evidently giving the contents of a manuscript. Stemulus


386
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
conciencie' is noted, but it is uncertain whether the 'in latyn' pre-
ceding refers to this work or an earlier one.
Foxe notes in his Book of Martyrs (iv. 235) that ‘Richard Colins
of Ginge was accused before the bishop of Lincoln of having certain
English books, among which was a book called the "Prick of
Conscience" (c. 1521). Colins and his family were leading heretics
of co. Berks.
One of the most interesting memorials which have come down to us
of the popularity of a medieval literary production is the window'
in All Saints' Church, North St., York, which illustrates the Fifteen
Signs before the Day of Judgement by pictures bearing as legends
couplets from the Prick of Conscience. The title of the work does
not appear, nor does the name of the author. Praying figures are
pictured at the base of the window, from which it is sometimes
called 'the Bede window': probably it was a votive gift in the
fifteenth century.
For a sale of the work, as anonymous, by one priest to another in
1516, v. supra, p. 381.
E. EVIDENCE OF WIDE CIRCULATION.
Nine manuscripts, unattributed, present variant titles.
Two 15th-century manuscripts add the title 'Flower of Conscience'
to the usual one. The new title is that described in the epilogue,
but in each case the title 'Prick of Conscience' is added alone
at the end of the whole. One 15th-century manuscript adds the
title Key of Knowing' to the usual one. Two 14th-century copies
and two of the 15th make a complete substitution of the title Key
of Knowing' for the usual one. Two manuscripts (15th cent.)
1 See An Old York Church, All Hallows in North Street, ed. P. J. Shaw, York,
1908, p. 33, and Yorks. Archaeol. Journ. xxiii. 313 sq. The window is repro-
duced in Miss Clay's Hermits and Anchorites, p. 176.
2 B. Mus. Add. 11305 and the Strong MS. (formerly Phillipps 2734, now in
the possession of the Bishop of Oxford). I owe my knowledge of the latter
manuscript to the late Professor Napier.
3 St. John's Coll. Camb. 80. The variant title is that described in the epi-
logue, but both follow in the colophon.
B. Mus. Add. 24203, written' per fratrem Johannem de Bageby commona-
chum monasterii beate Marie de fontibus'. It was apparently that described in
print in 1816 by W. Walter as 'Clauis Scientie or Bretagne's Skyll-key of Know-
ing by John de Wageby, Monk of Fountains Abbey' (see Radcliffe Monog., 15,
p. 125 sq.). Bodl. Digby 87 and B. Mus. Harl. 2394 (imperfect at the beginning)
give an epilogue almost identical with Bageby's, and the title Key of Knowing'.
A copy of the Prick of Conscience (14th-15th cent.) sold at Sotheby's in the


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
387
present a much abbreviated text and (as a heading) the title
'Speculum huius vite '1
Thus, nine manuscripts can be cited, in which scribes have
tampered with the title of the work, and given at various times three
other titles. Other evidence of the enormous circulation to which
the poem must have attained comes from the immense variations in
the text, as was discovered when thirty-one copies of the poem were
examined with a view to establishing the text. As was described in
my earlier paper (p. 123), no copy was found to be the source of any
other, and the groups into which all were divided were badly con-
fused. The scattering attributions of authorship already cited may
also be said to point to a large circulation over a wide area. Evidently
the manuscripts that survive are but a small proportion of those that
were copied.
F. THE INTERPOLATED TEXT.
It has been noted among the medieval references to the Prick of
Conscience that a book of that title was one of the suspected volumes
in the possession (c. 1521) of a notorious Lollard of Berkshire: the
B. Mus. Harl. MS. 1731, moreover, a fifteenth-century copy of the
usual type, contains the following note: 'Memorandum quod
quinto die Julii Anno Domini mlo ccccmo lxxiiio Ricardus Reder
de Petyrsfeld deliberauit commissario diocesis Wintonie iii libros
Tercii libri, 2 fo. And also how merciful' (fly-leaf, cf. f. 2).
The present volume is thus identified as the third book in question,
and since the Prick begins imperfectly in this copy, it must have lost
its first leaves before 1473, when its pagination was evidently the
same as at present. Thus we have two 2 instances in which an
owner of the Prick of Conscience was deprived of his copy apparently
because of a suspicion of Lollardy. Since one type of the Prick of
Conscience did contain Lollardist material, possibly the suspicions of
. .
Leighton Sale, Oct. 27, 1919, Lot 2698, and now in the possession of Sir
Leicester Harmsworth, gives both in the colophon and in the concluding passage
of the poem itself the title Keye of Knowyng'. It is anonymous, but imper-
fect at the beginning.
1 Bodl. Add. 268 (Sum. Cat. No. 29387) and Trin. Coll. Dublin 155 (imper-
fect at the end).
2 In connexion with my conjecture that William of Nassington may have been
the author of the Prick (v. supra, p. 372), it should be noted that the present
volume contains after the colophon in rubric Willelmus'. The colophon is
partly erased, but the words erased seem to be merely 'Stimulus consciencie
nominatus'. The name that follows is probably the scribe's.


388
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
the Church had been raised on the work in general. The action
of the ecclesiastical authorities, however, may have been due merely
to the suspicion felt in the fifteenth century towards all religious
books in the vernacular until they had been examined. This is the
usual text, and we know that even English books such as the Canter-
bury Tales were noted in the fifteenth-century heresy trials (Deanesly,
Lollard Bible, p. 363); as also that these trials continued through
the second half of the century (ibid. et sq.). Probably Reder, the
early owner of this book, was accused of heresy.
The Ashmole MS. already cited, in which the Prick (interpolated)
is ascribed to Rolle, gives no sign of provenance, though its dialect
would place it in the Midlands. However, the Rylands Lib.
Manchester MS. R. 16586, which contains the interpolated text
complete, belonged in the time of Queen Elizabeth to 'Hugo
Chettock Tailor of St. Albans, and Bayly in the same town', and
the Bodl. MS. e Musaeo 76 (Sum. Cat. No. 3679), which contains
most of the interpolations, has on the fly-leaf a copy of an Essex
deed. Two, therefore, of the interpolated copies of the Prick came
from the Home Counties, that is, from the same general region
as Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, which Foxe believed to be full
of Lollard heresy. Petersfield, where we hear of an orthodox Prick
being a subject for persecution, is in the South, perhaps forty miles
from Ginge, the Berkshire village where a heretic was said to have
been prosecuted for owning the poem.
MANUSCRIPTS.
"
I. The Rylands MS. of the Prick of Conscience, already cited,
belonged to Sir Philip Mainwaring (1589-1661), secretary to the
Earl of Strafford; it is best known as the 'Corser MS.' It came to
Manchester from the Ashburnham collection, and was sold with the
Ashburnham Appendix' MSS. at Sotheby's May 1, 1899, Lot 165
(v. infra, p. 404). It is not included in the catalogue of the Ash-
burnham MSS. (1864), but appears in that of the Corser collection
(Sotheby, July 28, 1868, Lot 697). When in the possession of
Mr. Corser, it was examined by Dr. Furnivall, who took full notes
of its peculiarities. These he lent to Professor Bülbring, who used
them to bring the text into the classification which he and Dr. Andreae
together made of thirty-one copies (see Eng. Stud. xxiii). Bülbring
notes that the same text occurs in Ashmole 60 (which he also
classifies), and he discusses (pp. 27-8) the question which was the
original, but without reaching a conclusion. It should be noted that


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
389
the Rylands MS. is assigned to the fourteenth century, and is
therefore presumably earlier than the Ashmole, which is dated
'c. 1400'. It is complete at both ends, and no title or name of
author appears. It is perhaps significant of the circles in which this
type of the Prick was read that the English exposition of the Pater
Noster ascribed to Wyclif follows, and completes the volume.
II. Bodl. e Musaeo 76 (Sum. Cat. No. 3679), 15th cent., con-
tains only the Prick of Conscience, and gives no name of author.
The colophon gives the title: 'Here endith the pryk of conscience.'
Of the interpolations characteristic of the other two texts of this
group, this omits the first, but the scribe evidently had before him
a manuscript containing this also, for in its place (after 1. 192) he
inserts an 'etc.' with the Latin text which introduces the interpola-
tion here in the Rylands MS. (and once did that in the Ashmole,
v. infra): 'Qui bona egerunt ibunt in vitam eternam, etc.' He
then continues with 1. 193 of the usual text. The second interpola-
tion is considerably shortened, but the Lollardist passage to be
quoted appears, as well as much of the Latin prose. The eighth
book made in this type of text is not indicated in the index in the
prologue, but appears in the index in the epilogue.
III. Ashmole 60 opens imperfectly. The binding follows the
original order, but the first interpolation (which we have noted as
indicated, though lacking, in the other Bodl. copy) is here inserted.
as by an afterthought, and written on some pages which have been
bound in front of the opening of the poem. The note already
quoted opens the work (f. 8), and after 1. 192 of the prologue the
marginal note is given: 'Qui bona egerunt ibunt in vitam eternam.
Qui vero mala in ignem eternum. Quere istum versum In þis vers
þat is here writen and said In principio libri per istud signum'
(f. 10). The cross here indicated does not appear at the beginning
of the volume, nor do the Latin and English lines noted. A leaf has
evidently been lost, for Bülbring notes (p. 24) that the line of verse
quoted begins the first interpolation in the Corser (alias Rylands) MS.,
and that the first lines on f. 1 of the present copy are 11. 63 sq. of the
addition to the prologue in question. The Rylands MS., therefore,
gives the only complete text of this first insertion. Bülbring notes
that in that manuscript four hundred and forty-two English verses
and at least as much Latin prose are added at this point, and he
identifies fifty-six verses of the former as borrowed from the Cursor


390
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
Mundi. What has apparently started the interpolator on his enter-
prise is the passage in the original Prick beginning:
'Many has lykyng trofels to here,
And vanités wille blethly lere' (ll. 183-4).
This suggests the very popular motif in introductions in which
romances are put in contrast to edifying works (many examples of
which in French and in English are given in my paper on the
Speculum Vitae, pp. 140-1). Lines from the prologue of the Cursor
Mundi are then inserted, in which a long catalogue is given of
popular romances which distract the attention from works of instruc-
tion. The interpolator continues the same subject in the Latin: 'Non
reprehendo eos qui gesta imperatorum, regum et aliorum virorum
nobilium scribunt et legunt . . .' (Ashmole MS., f. 5). This addition
is not without its anti-clerical outburst, as follows:
'I leue þat false cristene men now
Ben worse pan eny hepene or eny jeow.
They lyuen in blynd ypocrisie
As iudas disciplis wytterlie.
3if lerid and lewid pus cursid be,
ffor defaute of kunnynge, as we may see,
Dowble curs panne haue þei
That leden hem þe wronge wey
Whanne hemsilf arn alle blynde
And can nouzt þe rizte way fynde,
And it may noman it forbede
That pe blynde pe blynde wole lede,
ffor 3if þei wenten hem alane,
fforsope bei weren lesse to blame.
Sip þei willen lede a compayny,
The more shal ben her vilany
Nout to lyuen in goddis seruyse
But for here falce coueitise,
Ne zit for loue of cristene men
Goddis lawe hem to ken' (Ashmole MS., ff. 1-2).
In this passage the Northern rhyme 'alane: blame' may be noted,
and another appears soon—
'And suffre perfore penaunce hard
As þei diden sumtyme for þe warld' (f. 2).
Such examples would indicate that the interpolated text originated
in the North, though none of the extant copies is Northern. A
Northern origin would also be suggested by the use of the Cursor
Mundi. It is hard to determine why the first interpolation appears


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
391
in the present copy only by later insertion, and in another copy is
only indicated. It would seem to be due to the same hand as the
later interpolations (both English and Latin): all show (where they
are not copying a source) the same intrusion of the first person, and
sententiousness; the English verses expressing anti-clerical bitterness,
however, may be derived from another source (for a manuscript
in which they occur alone and-abridged-in another order, see
infra, p. 393).
The second interpolation is thus characterized in the description
of Ashmole 60 in the catalogue: There is a large addition of 32
pages (ff. 88-104) of sermonizing Latin prose, chiefly consisting of
quotations from the Scriptures and the Fathers and interspersed with
English metre. . . . It contains a remarkable invective against bad
clergymen.' This interpolation is said by Bülbring to contain five
hundred and seventy English verses, and the Latin prose goes at
length into a 'pain of Hell', of which the writer finds nothing in
English. He thereupon quotes concerning it from Bede, and trans-
lates. He is not primarily a Lollard propagandist; the greater part
of his additions concern general theological matters, but with special
emphasis on clerical abuses and 'God's Law'. The text printed by
Dr. Furnivall from Ashmole 60 runs as follows:
'Gif lorel lordis þis vnderstode
And pise bischopis þat kunnen litil goode,
And pise vnkunnynge abbotis and priouris,
And many othere rekles doctours,
And al-so pise falce Erchedekene þat aboute pe cuntre wake
And maynteynen falce preestis in euery halke,'
And also officialis and denes in her chapitre and constory
That meyntenen falce preestis in her lecchery :
Wherfore pise chief herdis of holichirche,
Shulden take hede how synfully þei wirche,
And how þat her sugetis vnder hem taken mede
Of falce pardones and preestis for her mysdede;
And for a litil moneye þei geuen hem leeue
In lordis courtis þanne to bileue,
1 Cf. The Complaint of the Ploughman:
'How wrongfully they werch and walke;
O high God! nothing they tell, ne how,
But in God's word tilleth many a balke ;
In hernes hold hem and in halke.'
(Wright, Political Poems, RS., 14. i. 318.)
This poem is rank Lollardy, attacking the use of images (p. 331).
2 MS. persones.


392
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
And bicomen pere lordis stywardis,
And so leeuen þe office of goode herdis;
And so pe charge þat þei taken of her bischop
Thanne þei de yueren it vnto a lewid Iop
That ne can neiper reule his flok ne hymsilf wel,
And so he bryngeþ his folde in gret perel ...
And pus bei ben lorne al-so sket,
Bischop, personne, preest, and sheep;
And so þei wenden alle foure to helle,
Eueremore per-Inne for to dwelle
For her falce kepyng and gouernaile,
That þei laten so þe fend her flockis assaile.
And al pis comep thurgh pise falce personnes,
That seruen lordis in dyuerce tounnes,
And laten her chirche and her charge stonde
In a ful leccherous foolis honde,
And hymsilf serue lordis in kechene and in halle
And bicomen clerkis of a-counte and Mareschalle' (f. 97).¹
It might be argued that the foregoing passage and the earlier
attack on the clergy are not necessarily Lollard, since complaints of
abuses among the clergy have been frequent in all ages, even among
the orthodox (as examples from Rolle's authentic works have shown).
Certainly no doctrinal heresies appear in the interpolated Prick, and
long before the time of the Lollards every abuse here condemned
had been attacked by orthodox churchmen, as, for example, in the
following, from the notable Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II:
'And erchebishop and bishop, that ouhte for to enquere
Off alle men of holi churche of what lif theih were,
Summe beth foles hemself, and leden a sory lif...
And thise ersedeknes that ben set to visite holi churche,
Everich fondeth hu he may shrewedelichest worche;
He wole take mede of that on and that other,
And late the parsoun have a wyf, and the prest another at wille.
Coveytise shal stoppen here mouth, and maken hem al stille....
And whan this newe parsoun is institut in his churche,
He bithenketh him hu he may shrewedelichest worche ..
And whan he hath i-gadered markes and poundes,
He priketh out of toune wid haukes and wid houndes
Into a straunge contré, and halt a wenche in cracche ...
¹ Ballads from Manuscripts, vol. i, Ballad Soc., London, 1868–72, ed. F. J.
Furnivall, p. 63. These are the first lines where the interpolations occur as a
separate poem (v. supra, p. 391).


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
393
He taketh al that he may, and maketh the churche pore,
And leveth thare behinde a theef and a hore ...
For thouh the bishop hit wite, that hit bename kouth,
He may wid a litel silver stoppen his mouth.'¹
This attack will be seen to be comparatively simple and concrete,
but by the last quarter of the century the Lollards had developed
a jargon, as it were, in which they phrased the immemorial com-
plaints against the clergy, and some of their jargon appears in the
Prick. In the graphic account of the Lollards printed as Book V of
the chronicle of Knyghton, canon of Leicester, we read: 'Talem
enim habebant terminum in omnibus suis dictis semper praetendendo
legem dei, Goddis lawe.' The extant Wyclifite tracts abundantly
bear out this assertion, and Gairdner speaks of the contrast between
'God's Law and Man's Law' as making the whole basis of Lollardy.
It will be noted that 'Goddis lawe' appears in the extract given from
the first insertion. Here also appears 'false cristene men', and in
the second insertion we have 'pise vnkunnynge abbotis', 'rekles
doctours', 'falce Erchedekene', 'falce preestis', 'falce kepyng',
'falce persounnes', 'ful leccherous foolis'. 'Calling names' was
one of the special methods of the Wyclifite line of attack, and they
dealt specially in adjectives of vituperation.
The influence of the Lollards here evident may serve to date the
interpolations as not earlier than the last quarter of the fourteenth
century. We cannot be sure that the ascription to Rolle is due to
the author of the interpolations, for it may have been added by
a scribe who recognized that the hermit's name would be a convenient
protection for a text in which some Lollard matter was found. The
interpolator, as already noted, is very discursive, and it is possible
that the last page of the Ashmole copy (now missing) gave a colophon
which would explain the puzzling rubric at the beginning.
A third alteration made in the manuscripts of the present group
implies no use of new material. An eighth book, of the World after
the Judgement Day, is made by transferring ll. 6348-401 to 1. 9472
(where the epilogue ends). This eighth book is indicated in the
indexes at both ends of the poem in the Ashmole and Rylands MSS.,
but only in the conclusion in the MS. e Musaeo.
Professor Brown notes in his Register the occurrence of the English
verse interpolations of the present group (joined and abridged) as
1 Thos. Wright, Political Songs, Camden Soc., 6, pp. 325-7.
2 RS., 92. ii. 186.
Lollardy and the Reformation in England, i. 191.
C C


394
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VErse)
a separate poem in Bodl. e Mus. 198 (Sum. Cat. No. 3712), latter
half 14th cent. (see vol. ii. 'Afterword' and 'Further Addenda ').
He refers to it as 'a treatise in reproof of worldliness in the clergy,
and against the reading of romances-126 lines', and notes its identity
with the interpolations in the Ashmole MS. He believes it to have
originated as a separate poem (p. vii).
A manuscript of the Prick sold at Sotheby's April 15, 1924,
Lot 378, anonymous, and defective at the end, contained long
Latin prose insertions, some of which were identical with those
found in Bk. VI in the Ashmole MS. A complete examination
of the text was not made, but from notes kindly sent me by the
present owner, Mr. Allan Bright of Barton Court, Colwall, Malvern,
I gather that the usual interpolation found in manuscripts of this
type is present--perhaps enlarged, since there are more than forty-five
pages of Latin prose mixed with English verse.
G. SUMMARY.
As already noted, it is a strange fact that most of the popular
religious works of the Middle Ages in all countries appear ascribed
to many authors, and the authorship of most is in the end uncertain.
It would appear that medieval works popular with the multitude
were often written by persons belonging to the multitude. The
Imitation of Christ, the Meditations on the Life of Christ, Stimulus
Amoris, Jesu Dulcis Memoria and other hymns, are cases in point.
The researches of the Quaracchi editors of St. Bonaventura have
brought to light interesting facts on this question, for their author
was one upon whom a great many popular religious works of uncertain
origin were fathered. For the religious poem Philomena, for example,
they cite seventeen anonymous copies, two which give the name of
St. Bernard, one giving that of Alan de Insulis, two that of Peckham,
four that of St. Bonaventura. The editors therefore conclude as to
the authorship: 'Hinc auctoritate codicum nihil certi constare
potest' (op. cit. x. 20). Peckham's authorship is supported' by the
latest editors of his works. In the case of the Stimulus Amoris (also
a favourite of Rolle) the Quaracchi editors give facts even more
illuminating. They can cite two hundred and twenty-one manuscripts
in which the work is practically complete, and one hundred and
forty-seven fragments; the oldest ascribes it to 'a Cistercian abbot',
ninety give the name of St. Bonaventura, thirty-two that of St. Ber-
1 Brit. Soc. Francis. Stud., op. cit., 1910, p. 7.


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
395
nard; Henry de Baume and Fr. James of Milan have four each. In
the face of these facts the conclusion of the editors as to the author
is: Et quis ille sit, nondum exploratum est' (ibid., p. 23). As we
have already seen, in England one complete copy and one fragment
give the name of Richard Rolle, and probably in every country a
copy or two might be found in which the Stimulus Amoris was given
to a local celebrity.
In comparison with the statistics just given, the Stimulus Con-
scientiae may be said to have preserved its anonymous character well.
Out of a hundred and fourteen copies (perfect and imperfect, English
and Latin) only eight certainly gave an ascription of authorship,
though a hundred and thirty of the three hundred and sixty-eight
copies of the Stimulus Amoris contained the name of one author or
another. We are told that only one copy of the Stimulus Amoris
goes back to the thirteenth century, and eight to the fourteenth, and
the absence of early copies giving Bonaventura's name is probably
a vital factor in its rejection, despite the large number of manuscripts
in which it appears. As we have seen, two of the five copies of the
Stimulus Conscientiae giving Rolle's name can probably be dated
a few years before 1400, i.e. within fifty years after Rolle's death, and
one of the three copies giving Grosseteste's name belongs to the
same period. About two dozen anonymous copies probably go back
a few decades earlier. We have to assist us in determining the
authorship of the English poem the evidence of the dialect, and the
fact that no copy in the Northern dialect which Rolle used gives his
name earlier than the first quarter of the fifteenth century goes far to
neutralize the evidence for his authorship to be drawn from the mere
number of copies giving his name. It is also significant that the
poem occurs very rarely with his authentic works, though the latter
usually circulate together. We also have to take into account the
fact that a copy certainly as early as any bearing the name of
the hermit is interpolated with material of such a nature as to give the
scribe a motive for attaching the name of an orthodox pre-Wyclifian
writer. The fact is also highly significant that the work is anonymous
in wills, etc. The value of the external evidence for Rolle's author-
ship of the Prick of Conscience will be seen on the whole to be
negligible, when the circulation of the work is considered. In the
end, the essential factor is the internal evidence. When the
Quaracchi editors of Bonaventura reject the authority of ninety
copies of the Stimulus Amoris which give the work to their author,
they remark: 'Ipsa sua indole et orationis forma se manifestat
СС 2


396
FALSE ASCRIPTIONS (ENGLISH VERSE)
alienum a Bonaventura, licet auctor multa e scriptis illius vel illi
tributis acceperit' (ibid.). It is even more reasonable to reject the
authority (out of more than a hundred) of five copies of the Stimulus
Conscientiae which ascribe that work to Rolle, and all the more since
special causes diminish the significance of even these ascriptions.
The internal evidence against Richard Rolle's authorship of the
Prick of Conscience is, for any one who knows his authentic writings,
overwhelming. We have seen that his mysticism has left at least
hints in all his undoubted works, and in most of them appears as the
principal subject. As was pointed out in my monograph on the
authorship of the poem, the most significant evidence of his pre-
possession with mysticism is given by the constant use of his favourite
mystical doctrines in his English Psalter, which is on the whole
a translation. Since writing the monograph I have gone over all
Rolle's writings and manuscripts, but nothing has come to light to
invalidate any of the conclusions there offered. It is a striking proof
of the consistency of his works that an article written from materials
drawn from only about a quarter of his writings is valid for all. The
Prick is an immense poem covering very nearly the whole theology
of the time, but it nowhere gives a trace of mysticism; it is composed
for persons aspiring to only a rudimentary knowledge of spiritual
things, whereas Rolle, through most at least of his writing, wrote for
the aspirants to religious study, if not to contemplation. The
methods which the poem uses, the abundant use of patristic
authorities, and the systematic construction, are not found in any of
Rolle's authentic pieces. The dialect, as I have shown in my earlier
study,' though Northern, is apparently not at all points that of his
Psalter and mystical English pieces, and the verse-forms of the lyrics
ascribed to him are at the very opposite pole from the jingling
couplets of the Prick. It gives no examples of the 'ecstatic' style
which we find both in his English and his Latin, at all ages. Rolle's
personality, as it appears through practically all his writings, is such
as would not easily be quenched, especially not in a long work. No
personality is to be discerned in the Prick; it is exactly such a poem
as would be compiled by an obscure clerk whose name was not of
enough importance to be remembered.
Many of the popular anonymous pieces of the Middle Ages were
1 See p. 137 n.
Some important divergences occur, as, for example, the
frequent use of 'gar' in all Rolle's English works and its entire absence in the
Prick; the use of 'nevertheless' always in the Prick except once, when 'never-
thelatter' is used. The latter is always used in the other works.


STIMULUS CONSCIENTIAE
397
founded on authentic works of famous writers, whose names in time
circulated as the authors of the derivative works. Thus the ascription
to Bonaventura of the Stimulus Amoris can be explained, and the
corresponding ascription in the case of the Prick is that in which
the work is given to Grosseteste, partly from the fact that sections of
the poem are founded on a work ascribed to him. The ascription
to Rolle could not have arisen in this way, since no writings anywhere
ascribed to him bear the slightest relation to the Prick of Conscience.
Neither, as we have seen, does the poem circulate often enough with
his authentic works to give a presumption of his authorship. Fortu-
nately, the Ashmole MS., which gives his name to a text interpolated
by a Lollard sympathizer, exists to give a plausible explanation for
what would otherwise be an enigma.
Another possible explanation for the ascription of the Prick to
Rolle's authorship should also be noted. The Quaracchi editors
describe all the numerous manuscripts of the authentic work of
St. Bonaventura (usually known as De Triplici Via) to which Rolle's
prologue to the Incendium was attached in three late copies
(op. cit. viii. 1 sq.). This work was in these copies entitled ' Incen-
dium Amoris', but in many more 'Stimulus Conscientiae'. The
former title has passed into the editions. Here may be a cause for
the attribution to Rolle of the poem: a title which alternated with
one well known to belong to his treatise was also connected with
him. The title 'Stimulus Conscientiae' has good reason to be
attached to St. Bonaventura's work, for the phrase is used there
(see my monograph on the authorship of the Prick of Conscience,
p. 129 n.).
It will be seen that the present investigation has strengthened the
case against Rolle's authorship of the Prick in more ways than one.
It has shown the slight manuscript authority for its support; the
great contrast in the manuscript evidence for his authentic writings,
most of which are ascribed to him in the great majority of the
copies; the great number of laborious compositions which are to be
crowded into a short life, as it is, without the Prick of Conscience, of
close on ten thousand lines; by illustrating with every work the
extraordinary consistency and persistence of his mysticism, from the
beginning to the end of his life, through several types of composition.
When all the evidence is presented, Rolle's authorship of the Prick
seems more than ever impossible.
1 Probably four (v. MSS. 167, 171, 174, 196).


CHAPTER XIV
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
A. Rolle is quoted in medieval treatises and compilations as
follows:
MANUSCRIPTS.
OXFORD MSS.
Ashmole 751, ff. 5-13, late 14th cent.: 'Item Ricardus venera-
bilis heremita super id, Osculetur me osculo oris sui . . . Et infra dicit
Idem Ricardus . . . Item super id, Meliora sunt ubera tua vino?
This continues as a series of highly mystical extracts from the Cant.,
with the exact reference in each case and often Richard's name.
'De hoc nomine Ihesu' heads f. 10, which quotes from Ol. effus.;
f. 13: 'Item Idem Ricardus super id Psalmi, Domine in uirtute
tua... (20th Ps., from which two quotations also follow, f. 61, after
the full text of the Job); f. 14: 'Item Idem Ricardus super id, Judica
me Deus et discerne c. m.' (Judica A). See Spur., Magn., Judica B 3,
Job.
Hatton 97 (Sum. Cat. No. 4070), ff. 68-72, early 15th cent.:
'Ricardus heremita in incendium amoris capº 28...hec Ricardus
ibidem. Item in tercia leccione mortuorum super hiis uerbis: Memento
queso... In psalmo Domine in uirtute tua et cetera super uersum
fructum eorum. ... Hec ibidem in psalmo. Item iob... Item in libro
de amore dei contra amatores mundi capitulo vjº. . . . Item in primo uersu
canticorum super Osculetur... Hec supradictus compilator intitulauit
per beatum Ricardum heremitam et sunt sparsim collecta de eadem
materia.'
This compilation, with the conclusion, makes part of one found in
Ff. i. 14, infra, which seems to have belonged to 'Robertus Wasselyn
capellanus', who was probably the 'compilator' here mentioned.
The quotations are more ascetic than mystical.
Rawl. A. 372 (Sum. Cat. No. 11255), f. 94, 15th cent. 'Qualiter
deus amandus est. Ricardus heremita . . . Idem' (Incend., pp. 209,
201).


QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
399
Rawl. C. 19 (Sum. Cat. No. 11886), ff. 96-103, early 15th cent.
In a compilation beginning: 'Duo sunt necessaria ad salutem':
'de hoc nomine ihesu Ricardus heremita de hampull sic scribens
ait . . . (Cant., f. 150); Idem Ricardus: Nomen autem ihesus . . .'
(ibid., ff. 149-50V); f. 101: a quotation as to the three grades of
love (E. V., fol. 14); f. 103: 'Secundum Ricardum heremitam de
hampull...' (Incend., p. 175). This compilation occurs also in
Univ. Coll. 60, 15th cent., ff. 370-4 (signed 'Hugone halle'),
B. Mus. Harl. 3820, ff. 1-6 (in part-a volume once belonging to
'the recluse of Shene '), and Roy. 5 A. vi, ff. 13b-30b (dated 1446,
scribe John Celstan). In the last, at least, a quotation is given
from Rolle's 20th Ps. ('De quo per psalmistam dicitur: Domine in
uirtute tua...). The quotation which concludes all copies of the
compilation (Incend., p. 154) is headed here: 'Idem Ricardus dicit '
(f. 30).
Rawl. C. 285, f. 39, 15th cent. 'Ricardus heremita.... This
quotation is printed by Horstmann (i. 130) from the present MS.
and also from Dd. v. 55. He quotes from the E. V. (cap. 6) as the
source, but later (p. 443) says that it is derived from the Form.
Actually it is a free translation of the sentence in the E. V. which he
quoted, followed by a few sentences from the Command. (p. 69).
Horstmann also quotes (p. 106) from MS. Rawl. a piece on the
Name of Jesus derived (in general) from the Form and Ol. effus.
See Form.
Rawl. C. 397, f. 78, early 15th cent. After Rolle's Cant. Am.:
'Ricardus heremita de languenti dei amore et de condicione et
proprietate philomene et assimilat se predicte aui propter amo-
rem eius languentem et habetur in incendio amoris Capitulo
quadragesimo secundo.' After the quotation in question Peck-
ham's Philomena follows (v. infra, p. 420). See Magn., Judica B,
Cant. Am.
Exeter Coll. 7, f. 162, 15th cent. 'Dicit enim Ricardus hampolle
in libro de incendio amoris capº 22.'
Jesus Coll. 39, f. 295, 15th cent. In an English treatise entitled
Disce Mori: 'Richard hampol writep in pis mater of loue and
seith...' (the 'three grades of love' from the E. V., here translated).
This treatise is also found in Laud Misc. 99, where the sister
addressed is called 'Alice'.


400
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
CAMBRIDGE MSS
Ff. i. 14, ff. 109-25, 15th cent. A compilation containing a great
many quotations from Rolle, carefully referred to their sources. The
scribe is 'Robertus Wasselyn capellanus'. The first section is the
same as is found in the Hatton MS., with the addition of many exact
references to Job and of two quotations from the E. V. ('in tractatu
de xii capitulis capitulo iio'). The rest of the piece quotes many
times Rolle's Job, Incend., Cant., 12 Capitula', Contra Am. M.
(once in 'co vii et ultimo '), 20th Ps., 'Item in tractatu super
psalmum Iudica me deus'. Since the exact method of reference
illustrated by the quotations from the Hatton MS. continues through-
out the whole compilation in Ff. i. 14, it is probable that the former
is derived from the latter. In both manuscripts a quotation from
'Bonauentura' (the Meditations on the Life of Christ) precedes the
quotations from Rolle, and gives the title 'Bonauentura de libro
de vita Christi'. Ff. i. 14 concludes the whole: Explicit Bona-
uentura de superbia et elacione mentis et de multis aliis notabilibus
ut patet in principio huius tractatus', conflicting with the express
citations of Rolle already quoted. His name also often occurs with
the citations, as 'Hampule', 'beatus Ricardus heremita', etc. Deeds
from Yorkshire occur on the cover of this volume.
Ii. vi. 55, f. 24, 15th cent. In a treatise on Maidenhood,
beginning: 'Suster in crist we greten zou,' occurs the following:
'richard hermyte þat expowned pe sauter on englissh seip pus in þe
same. Noli emulari on þis verse non confundentur in tempore malo,
etc.' 'Noli emulari' occurs in vv. 1, 7 of the same psalm from which
the text here comes (Ps. xxxvi. 20). Some corruption must occur in
the treatise: perhaps an omission of some lines; or the quotation
that follows comes from an interpolated version of Rolle's Psalter.
6
Kk. vi. 20, ff. 11-27, 15th cent. 'Orationes iste que sequuntur
excerpte sunt de diuersis tractatibus quos composuit beatus Ricardus
heremita ad honorem nominis ihesu.' The same volume ascribes to
Rolle the Mass of the Holy Name and the Cursus de Aeterna Sapientia
(sometimes called the Matins [etc.] of the Holy Name'). The
extracts are authentic, though no titles of works are given; quotations
have been traced from the following: E. V. (cap. 11), Cant. (f. 155),
Incend. (capp. 17 and 12), Cant. (f. 149), Job (fols. lxxxix sq., xciiiˇ, xciv▾,
xcv sq., xcviiiv), Mel. (ff. 234, 233, 248, 210). The conclusion to
the whole is: Explicit de Ricardo h.' See Spur. (2).
"


IN MEDIEVAL TREATISES AND COMPILATIONS 401
Corpus Christi Coll. 194, f. 4, 15th cent. 'Beatus Ricardus here-
mita': the section from the Mel. regarding Rolle's initiation into love
of the Saviour through love of His Mother (supra, p. 92). The
scribe is 'Corf'. The same is in B. Mus. Harl. 2439. See E. V.
Jesus Coll. 59, ff. 6b-7, 15th cent. Quisquis namque in eterno
amore apparens. Hoc Ricardus heremita.' (Contra Am. M.,
ff. 175-7). From Durham.
...
Trin. Coll. 333, f. 25b, 15th cent. 'Hampoll.' An anti-clerical
passage from Job (v. supra, p. 142, 'Vae presbiteris...'); ff. 26 sq.:
a controversial treatise on vernacular Bibles, which is ascribed by
Miss Deanesly to Purvey, and printed by her from this copy (Lollard
Bible, pp. 291, 437 sq.). I quote the following from her text:
'Also a nobil hooly man, Richerde E[r]myte, drewe oon Englice the
sauter, with a glose of longe proces and lessouns of dirige and many
other tretis, by wiche many Engliche men hau ben gretli edified.... But
wel touchith this holi man Richad Hampol suche men expownyng this
tixte: Ne auferas de ore meo verbum veritatis usquequaque (Ps. cxviii. 43),
ther he seith thus: Ther ben not fewe but many wolen sustene a worde
of falsenes for God, not willing to beleue to konynge and better than thei
ben' (pp. 442-3).
Rolle's Job was not written in English, as here stated. His Latin
Psalter is here being translated: 'Nonnulli pro deo volunt sustinere
verbum falsitatis, alijs credere nolentes, quamuis melius literatis '
(fol. lxix). As Miss Everett notes,' Usher refers to an exposition
by Rolle of the text in question, in which he is said to urge the need
for vernacular Bibles. As she points out, no such mention is to be
found in the English Psalter, and she suggests that it was found in
an interpolated text, though she has not seen it in any that she has
examined. She shows that Wharton, who had quoted Usher on this
point, later notes that the passage is not to be found in Rolle's
English Psalter. No reference to vernacular Scriptures has been
noted in his Latin Psalter. It seems likely that Usher may have
derived his reference from the tract already quoted, which as a whole
treats the subject of vernacular Scriptures, though the text in question
does not touch on that point. The tract was widely circulated, and
Miss Deanesly notes the early editions as well as the manuscripts.
In a mangled version it is to be found in Foxe.
Trin. Coll. 1401, ff. 99b-100, 15th cent. 'Richardus Hampole de
contricione.' A Lollard extract possibly derived from an interpolated
1 Mod. Lang. Rev. xvii. 337.


402
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
Psalter, though it has not been traced (v. supra, p. 173).
begins: 'I say þat no man is assoyled of any prest to þe hele of his
saule bot he be fyrst assoylled off god. And god assoyles no man
bot hym þat is sorowfull for his synnes.' See Spur. (p. 364).
OTHER MSS.
B. Mus. Roy. 8 C. xv, ff. 1 sq., late 14th cent. 'Liber meditaci-
onum de uita domini et saluatoris nostri Ihesu Christi et venerabilis
matris eius virginis marie' (f. 269). An elaborate table of contents
at the beginning gives the sources of this devotional work seriatim.
Rolle is cited as follows: 'Ricardus heremita super simbolum' (f. 2);
'de laude nominis Ihesu. Ricardus hampul libro de incendio
amoris' (f. 3-the section in question is actually an invocation of
Jesus and the Holy Name from the Cant., and a short text of the
Incend. has evidently been used, to which the piece in question is
usually attached); 'Ricardus hampul in suo tractatu de passione
domini' (f. 7); 'Item hampul in suis meditacionibus de passione'
(f. 7b). The latter work, 'de passione', is many times cited. St. Bridget
is often quoted in this compilation. It contains twenty-five sets of
meditations (fifteen each). This work was perhaps intended for use
in daily meditations. It is full of invocations, and certain parts
seem to be assigned in marginal notes to certain days of the week.
Trin. Coll. Dublin 159 (II), ff. 1-37b, 15th cent. A compilation
which quotes Rolle often, with such headings as 'ait hampol',
'inquit hampul', 'Hampul'. The quotations are as follows: ff. 2 sq.
(Incend., pp. 260, 271); ff. 6b-7 (Ego Dormio, p. 55, in Latin; Cant.
ff. 150 sq.); f. 7b (Incend., p. 190); f. 12 (ibid., p. 149); f. 15
('Hampul' on fleeing the praises of men, unidentified); f. 17b
(Contra Am. M., f. 173b); f. 20b (Incend., p. 183); f. 23 (Ego D.,
p. 55, in Latin-'inquit hampul ad quandam solitariam '); ff. 30 sq.
(Incend., pp. 172, 254); f. 37b (Cant., ff. 1517, 154). Some of Rolle's
most characteristic passages are here (including several on the Holy
Name). The compilation is headed 'Jesus', begins: 'Iuxta sancti
Johannis vocem: Diligamus deum', is ascribed in a rhyme at the
end to John Walsingham, and entitled 'Incendium diuini amoris'.
See Mel.
Trin. Coll. Dublin 277, f. 542, 15th cent. 'Ricardus heremita de
Pastoribus': 'Ricardus Hanpule in libro vocato melum co viiº
contra pastores.... Item Ricardus heremita in quarta leccione
mortuorum super clausulam sequentem, scilicet, Posuisti in neruo
pedem meum'. Several other quotations directed against the clergy


IN MEDIEVAL TREATISES AND COMPILATIONS 403
from the Job follow, with exact references. 'Richard Hampole' is
also quoted 'super ieremiam (sic) Lamentationes'.¹
Trin. Coll. Dublin 432, 15th cent. Among quotations from
Fathers, 'hec Ricardus heremita' (an invocation to Jesus from the
Cant., f. 155). See E. V. (angl.).
Lincoln Cath. Thornton MS., 15th cent. See Horstmann, i. 192 sq.,
for full texts of the following. Horstmann's texts are quoted here.
f. 189. An anonymous tag at the end of the Privity of the Passion
(p. 218):
'Of all thynge it is the best
Ihesu in herte fast to fest
And lufe hym ower all thynge'
(cf. Rolle's Eng. Ps., p. 215).
f. 194 (p. 192): 'De in-perfecta contricione. Rycharde hermyte
reherces a dredfull tale of vn-perfitte contrecyone pat a haly mane
Cesarius tellys in Ensample' (from Judica B 3, as is pointed out by
Horstmann, i. 443). Ibid. (p. 193): 'All-swa he reherces anothyre
tale of verraye contrecyone þat þe same clerke Cesarius says.' This
tale is not found in any extant work of Rolle's, but it occurs also
anonymously in English in Ashmole 751, f. 45 (a volume which
contains Latin works by Rolle, including part of the Judica).
(p. 194): 'De vita cuiusdam puelle incluse proptter amorem Christi.
Alswa Heraclides þe clerke telles ... Richard herymyte reherces pis
tale in Ensampill.' This tale also is not found in Rolle's extant
works. Ibid. Richardus herymyta. Meliora sunt vbera tua vino'
(Cant. f. 146, in the original Latin).
Richardus. O quam delectabile' (Contra Am. M., f. 177).
Ibid. Item inferius idem
:
The two tales here ascribed to Rolle, which are not to be found
in his extant work, may be derived from lost writings, or from copies
of the Judica in which extra tales are added to the three already
given (as in one copy, supra, p. 97). As we have seen, Robert
Thornton's authority is not lightly to be set aside in the case of his
ascriptions to Rolle. See Ol. effus. (angl.), Miscell., Dubia.
Rylands Lib., Manchester, 18932, 15th cent. Among quotations
from Fathers: Ricardus hampole heremita' (Judica A, f. 115). See
Cant., Incend., Contra Am. M.
Upsala Univ. C. 621, c. 1400. In a Defence against the Detractors
of Richard, which will be printed in the appendix, Thomas Basset
1 This citation had escaped me: I owe the knowledge of it to Mr. de
Burgh.


404
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
(hermit) quotes from the Incend. and Contra Am. M. See E. V.,
Incend., Office.
Sotheby's, May 1, 1899*, Lot 14 (Ashburnham App. MSS.),
ff. 118-25, 15th cent. Quae sequuntur excerpta sunt de libro
Ricardi heremite qui dicitur melos Amoris.' Beg. 'O Deus piissime
penetrasti pectus pingendum profunda purificans petis pusillos...
'Liber iste pertinet domuj Salutacionis Matris dei prope Londonias
iuxta Smyffeld, quem dominus Wilhelmus Rolbst attulit secum ad
domum de Witham per licenciam Reverendi patris dompni Willelmi
Tynbyth prioris tunc existentis... Cartusienses ibi....'
dates Tynbigh 1499-1529.
Dugdale
The sale just noted was that at which the Rylands copy of the
Prick of Conscience was sold (Lot 165). Lot 174 (containing the
Meditations on the Life of Christ translated by Nicholas Love) also
contains A pistyll on the luf of god' (No. 3, ff. 235-69). At the
foot of the page is written in an ancient, but more recent hand, "hic
liber secundum quosdam ascribitur Roberto Rooll heremite de
hanpoll deuotissimo" (Sale Catalogue). No clue is given as to the
character of this piece.
Three quotations from Rolle's works occur in the Office prepared
for his canonization (v. supra, p. 58).
Rolle was quoted in three compilations which exist in innumerable
manuscripts, and are probably the most popular works of their kind
circulating in England during the last century of the Middle Ages.
I. Speculum Christiani. The manuscripts and texts of this work
are discussed in the Catalogue of the Royal MSS. of the British
Museum, i. 252-3, where an attribution to 'Iohannes Morys Wallicus'
is mentioned as having probably occurred in a copy now lost. It is
noted that the colophon in an Oxford MS. names 'John Watton', pro-
bably only as the scribe, or possibly by an error for 'Ioh. Wallensis'.
The Speculum is a theological compendium, avowedly composed to
fulfil Archbishop Peckham's directions as to teaching the people, and
in most copies English verse and prose are intermingled with the
Latin. It exists in several early printed editions, of which the
earliest was by Machlinia, London, c. 1485. A quotation made
by this work from Rolle appears in this edition as follows: 'Ricardus
1 Others were brought out at Paris in 1500, 1502, 1513, and 1521 (see F. A¸
Gasquet, The Bibliography of some Devotional books printed by the Earliest English
Printers, Trans. Bibliog. Soc., 7, p. 183).


IN MEDIEVAL TREATISES AND COMPILATIONS 405
de hampole.
Ille deuote orat qui non habet cor vacabundum'
(Tab. viii', between the discussion of the Sacrament and that of
tribulation). This quotation is from the Incend., p. 225.
Dr. G. R. Owst (Preaching in Medieval England, Cambridge,
1926, p. 291) follows Horstmann in stating that English passages
of the Speculum Christiani are derived from the Form of Living.
There is a general resemblance between the description of 'what files
a man and what makes him clean' in the two works, but the
connexion seems to me to suggest a common source rather than
a direct borrowing (see Speculum, B. Mus. Add. MS. 22121-a
volume from the Carthusian library at Shene-ff. 53 sq., 'Tab. v',
and compare Horstmann, pp. 21 sq.). Rolle uses much the same
material as is found at this point in the Form also in the Emendatio
(v. supra, p. 245). He will almost certainly not himself have created
the elaborate classifications found in the passages in question, and
they must therefore come from some patristic source which may also
have been drawn upon for the Speculum Christiani.
II. Speculum Spiritualium. This is a mystical, not a popular
compilation (as was the preceding work), and the only English which
it contains is the quotation already cited from Rolle. The author
states in his preface that he withholds his name, and that he wishes
to provide a compendium for those who cannot afford many books:
it is composed with the contemplative specially in view, but the active
will also find it useful. The work is on the whole an excellent
example of the English mysticism of the late Middle Ages, which Rolle
did so much to build up: it treats the Holy Name at length. A copy
in the catalogue of Syon Monastery is said to be 'ex compilacione
dompni henrici Domus Cartusiensis de Bethleem monachi' (p. 107),¹
and the three copies in the original index appear under his name, but
also under that of 'Adam monachus Cartusiensis', under whose
name alone the copy added later is given. This Adam is apparently
the person of that name of whom we hear from several quarters, but
what his writings were or when he lived has never been worked out.²
1 A fine copy in York Cath. MS. XVI. T. 9 belonged to the Charterhouse of
Mount Grace, as did also another (Bk. ii only) in Harl. 237 (v. infra, p. 409).
The work is quoted in the Syon Mirror of Our Lady (EETS., Extra Ser., 19, p. 28).
2 A Latin scrap on Mary Magdalene in Harl. 1706 (f. 54º) is given with the
name (in large capitals): 'hec magister Adam cartusiensis doctor'. A manu-
script containing works ascribed to 'Adam the Carthusian' has been presented
to Charterhouse School by Mr. E. H. Dring. The Shene scribe, W. Mede
(v. supra, p. 237), gives a description, biography, and bibliography of 'Magister


406
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
The Speculum Spiritualium was printed in Paris, 1510, at the
expense of W. Bretton, a London citizen, to be sold in St. Paul's
Churchyard, London (v. supra, p. 11). An enlarged text of Rolle's
E. V. was included, as well as miscellaneous pieces in English and
Latin. Freemantle cites a second edition (of the same date). It is
an extremely systematic work, with many references indicated to the
writings of Rolle, Hilton, etc. The specific works quoted are not
generally noted, and the quotations usually appear 'secundum
Richardum Hampol', 'hec prefatus Ricardus', 'hec Ricardus', etc.
However, we find once: Hucusque prefatus Ricardus Hanpole in
quodam tractatu qui est de emendatione vite xij. continens capitula'
(fol. xxxviiv). Actually most of the highly mystical passages in the
E. V. are cited, at one time or another. The very interesting citation
from the Form in English has been noted (supra, p. 263). Two
highly characteristic passages on the Holy Name, and the narrative
as to the supernatural temptation are also quoted, with Rolle's name,
from the Encomium Nominis Jesu.
III. The Poor Caitiff. As I have elsewhere pointed out (Mod.
Lang. Rev. xviii. 3-4), this highly popular English work seems to be a
compilation of the late fourteenth century (v. supra, p. 63). A tradition
states that the author was a Friar Minor, who 'compiled this book in
his defense'; he calls himself merely a poor caitif', and seeks
to provide a practical compendium of piety, without special bias.
Though he borrows one chapter from the Ancren Riwle and many
passages from Rolle, he does not refer to authorities, and his
quotations from the latter, therefore, give no evidence as to the
authenticity of the works used. However, by this means some of
the most characteristic passages in Rolle's Latin works reached a very
wide public in an English translation. The English Form is quoted
as to the three grades of love, the Name of Jesus, meekness, and the
contemplative life, but the other quotations are from the Latin E. V.
and Ol. effus. The chapter on Patience is taken bodily from the
E. V. (cap. 6), with the conclusion: All this sentence saith a saint
in his book.' The chapters on the Name of Jesus' and 'the Love
of Jesus' are entirely Rolle. All these borrowings occur in the latter
half of the work.
Compilations almost or entirely made up of quotations from Rolle's
works, and usually attached to his Incend., have already been discussed
(p. 212; and see Dubia, p. 320). A collection of extracts from
Adam Cartusiensis' in B Mus. Cotton MS. Vesp. D. ix, ff. 167-8, but none of
the works here cited is mentioned.


IN MEDIEVAL TREATISES AND COMPILATIONS
407
Rolle's works occurs with his name in the Heneage MS. (v. supra,
P. 43).
B. Rolle's works are cited in various early lists as follows:
Cambridge, 1439. Thomas Markaunt gave many books to Corpus
Christi College, of which he was a fellow, and among them was
'Liber de amore cum aliis tractatibus Ricardi Heremite. 2nd fo.
mori pocius descatur. Penult. fo. cipiam in uidō (?).' (Price, 'vjs viijd',
Camb. Antiq. Soc. 8º, 32, p. 79.) The 'liber de amore
Contra Am. M.¹
"
was the
Cambridge, c. 1440. In a list of books in the Univ. Lib. (Camb.
Antiq. Soc., Antiq. Commun. 2, p. 248): Melum contemplatiuorum
per Ricardum Hampoll, ex dono eiusdem, cuius 2m fo. incipit
caligine, et in penultimo ventores.' The donor, Robert Alne, died
1440, and the bequest in question appears in his will (v. infra, p. 415).
He was an official of York Chapter, and he inherited his copy of the
Melum from a Yorkshireman who was an official at the episcopal
court of Durham. Both were 'Magister', and it is interesting to find
the audacious Melum propagated by men of this type. Perhaps from
one of them emanated the glossary drawn up by 'doctors' (v. supra,
p. 116).
John Blacman, c.1457. MS. 23, among books given by Blacman to
Witham, was '12 capitula Hampol'. He was successively fellow of
Merton; fellow and cantor of Eton; B.D. and warden of King's
Hall, Cambridge; Carthusian of Witham. He was at some time
confessor to Henry VI, of whom he wrote a memoir (see the edition
by M. R. James, Cambridge, 1919, p. 59, reprinted from the edition
of 1510).
6
Dr. John Dee, d. 1608. In the catalogue of the books of the
famous Elizabethan astrologer, Ricardi Hampole liber, qui dicitur
Incendium Amoris, Anglice, pergamento. fo' (Camden Soc., 19, p. 75).
Dr. James in his new edition of Dee's catalogue (Supplement to
Bibliog. Soc. Trans., 1, 1921, p. 24) identifies this as Corpus Christi
Coll. Oxf. MS. 236.
Leicester Abbey, 1492. Bodl. Laud Misc. 623 (Sum. Cat. No. 1415)
contains Registrum Librorum Monasterii Beate Marie de Pratis
Leycestrie renouatum tempore fratris W. Charyte, tunc precentoris '.
See J. Nichols's History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester,
1 mori pocius delectatur, f. 172.


408
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
London, 1815, Vol. I, Pt. II, 101-8, where, however, the catalogue is
only described. The work is very systematically drawn up, with the
works classified. Walter Hilton and 'Johannes hampol' are among
the authors of 'Specula' noted at the beginning (f. 2), and the
full reference later given to the volume of the works of the latter
shows that Rolle is in question :
'Speculum Johannis hampole de incendio amoris. 2º fo. claritatis.
Item Melum eiusdem. Idem super versum Judica me deus. Idem de
amore dei et contra amatores mundi. Cantus amoris de beata virgine.
Item de conuersione peccatorum. Tractatus valde utilis Johannis ham-
pole super leccionibus de dirige' (f. 31▾).
These works are all easily identified as works of Rolle; this must
have been an important volume. Earlier on the same page Rolle
appears with his full name correctly given: Libellus qui dicitur xij
capitula Ricardi heremiti (sic) hampole.'
Henry Savile of Banke (Yorks), 1568-1617 (see J. P. Gilson,
op. cit.). This library contained many volumes from the Yorkshire
monastic houses (especially Byland, Rievaulx, and Fountains); two
catalogues exist, not always in agreement. Intelligible references to
Rolle's works occur as follows:
MS. 56.
'Expositio psalterii secundum Richardum de Hampoll.
Item postillae ejusdem super novem lectiones mortuorum.
Postillae super Threnos Hieremiae.
Postillae super 1 et 2. versiculum in Cantica Canticorum.
Tractatus in ps. xx.
Tractatus super orationem dominicam.
Expositio simboli.
Libellus de emendatione peccatoris.
Liber de amore dei contra amatores mundi.
Melos contemplativorum ardentium in amore dei.
Modus confessionis audiendi (sic; probably Judica B 2).
De novissimis providendis (possibly Judica B 3).
De utilitate tribulationis (probably the well-known work of that title,
in one copy ascribed to Rolle, v. supra, p. 355).
Expositio in apocolypsim.
Tractatus de vita activa et contemplativa (probably Mul. Fort.,
v. supra, p. 160).
Officium de sancto Richardo heremita.
Miracula ejusdem. perg. fol.'
Mr. Gilson remarks: The last four articles (Hampole) might
possibly represent Cotton MS. Tiberius A. xv, ff. 181-end (much


IN VARIOUS EARLY LISTS
409
burnt), but the identification is very doubtful' (p. 166). Since the
earlier items in the two books did not coincide (the Cotton MS.
containing no other theology), it follows that they cannot have been
the same, though the Cotton MS. may be related to the Savile.
However, as now bound, the works that precede Rolle's works in the
former are in a different hand, and it is possible that this was
a composite volume, and that the last four works (all Rolle) as they
now stand were a detached portion of the Savile MS. It should also
be noted that the Savile volume must bear a close relation to Corpus
Christi Oxf. 193, one of the largest extant collections of Rolle's
works (v. supra, p. 45); the contents of the latter book exactly
coincide with those of MS. Savile down to the last four items (which
are reproduced in the Cotton MS.), except that the Corpus volume
contains Rolle's Incendium and the anonymous Speculum Peccatoris,
and does not contain the Judica B 3 (apparently present in the
Savile). The whole of Savile MS. 56 (with the exception of De
utilitate tribulationis) is almost certainly taken up with Rolle, and
it must have been an extraordinarily important manuscript for the
study of his writings. It gives apparently only one text less than
Bodl. 861, and the Office and Miracula besides. We may hope that
it may be hidden in some country-house library and may some day
be found.
MS. 117.
'Tractatus valde utilis super psalterium per Richardum de Hampole
heremitam' (p. 180).
MS. 130.
'Tractatus Richardi heremitae super primum versiculum Canticorum.'
As Mr. Gilson points out (p. 183), Savile MS. 130 is now B. Mus.
Cotton MS. Vesp. E. i (v. supra, p. 65).
MS. 179 (in the second catalogue).
'Extracta quaedam et scripta de tractatu Richardi Hampole. paper. fol.'
Mr. Gilson (p. 195) identifies this as B. Mus. Harl. 237, a volume
from the Charterhouse of Mount Grace, co. Yorks, which later
belonged to Sir Symonds D'Ewes. Actually the quotation from
Rolle is the section from the Form which is incorporated (in English)
in the Speculum Spiritualium (v. supra, p. 263).
MS. 203.
'Septem psalmi paenitentiales quos Richardus de Hampol in Anglicum
sermonem transtulit. in versu. papyro. 8°' (p. 200).
D d


410
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
For an example of this erroneous ascription in an extant manuscript,
v. supra, p. 371.
MS. 206.
'Litera missa a magistro Waltero Hilton ad dominam sacerdotissam
quandam ordinis sancti Gilberti in qua ordo et regula vivendi est descripta
quam Ricardus de Hampull rogatu ejusdem dominae a Latino in Anglicum
idioma transtulit. papyro. 4°' (p. 201).
The second catalogue describes this item as 'Walter Hilton's letter
in Latin and English to a lady of an order'. We have no clue as to
the identity of this highly puzzling and tantalizing piece. The
heading seems to say that it was an exposition sent by Hilton
of a rule of life which had been translated by Hampole from Latin into
English: the lady to whom Hilton sent the exposition was the same
for whom Hampole made the translation. Thus it is implied that one
of Richard's disciples lived to become a disciple of Hilton's. There
is nothing impossible in such a supposition. Though Rolle died in
1349 and Hilton in 1395-6, as many manuscripts state, we shall see
that Rolle must have died in middle life. Hilton may have lived to
a good old age, and in early years known Margaret Kirkeby and
other friends of Richard, as well as Richard himself. We have
already seen that Margaret Kirkeby did not go to Ainderby till 1357,
and that she probably went to Hampole still later, when in extreme
old age. She, however, cannot be the nun in question here, who is
a Gilbertine. Watton Priory was a double Gilbertine house in
Yorkshire (East Riding) to which the latter may have belonged.
However, Lincolnshire, the home of the Gilbertines, was not far from
Hampole. Thurgarton (co. Notts), Hilton's own home, was also
near.
MS. 260.
'Stimulus amoris de passione domini sive de emendatione peccatoris
per Richard Hampole in parchment, written. 4°' (p. 208).
One of the volumes described only in the second catalogue. It
is hard to understand how 'Stimulus amoris de passione domini ' can
be a title for Rolle's Emendatio, which the second part of the phrase
would fit the Form actually appears once as 'the Prick of Love'
(supra, p. 258). Stimulus amoris de passione domini' is a title
which would fit perfectly the famous Stimulus Amoris, often ascribed
to Bonaventura, and sometimes to Rolle, with whom it was a favourite
work (v. supra, p. 285). Perhaps the heading above quoted has
omitted something and is derived from a text in which the latter is


IN VARIOUS EARLY LISTS
411
followed by Rolle's E. V. In a manuscript which ascribes the
Stimulus to Richard the E. V. follows after an interval (v. supra,
p. 354). For 'Stimulus Amoris in Englishe verse by R. Hampole'
also in the Savile library (according to one catalogue), v. MS. 42,
supra, p. 385.
St. Mary's Church, Scarborough, 1434 (Archaeol., 51, p. 66). The
inventory cites: 'unum psalterium Ricardi de Hampole'.
Syon Monastery, 1504-26. The late catalogue of the brothers'
library at Syon was edited by Miss Mary Bateson (Cambridge, 1898),
and it offers abundant evidence of the interest in Rolle at that house.
Since he wrote several of his works for women, the library of the
sisters would probably have shown at least as many of his writings as
the brothers'; unfortunately, no catalogue of the former has survived.
In the original index the following works are registered under
'Hampole heremita' (p. 226): 'de Regula viuendi siue de emenda-
cione vite', thirteen copies, of which three are lost and replaced by new
books in the catalogue; 'Idem super aliquos versus canticorum', one
copy, lost (it gave the work in two pieces); 'Idem in libro de amore
dei contra amatores mundi', four copies, of which two are lost;
'Idem de successu eiusdem & de alteracione vite vsque ad summum
gradum contemplacionis', one copy, lost; 'Idem super lecciones mor-
tuorum cum 10 versibus eiusdem', six copies, of which two are
gone; 'Idem de visione eiusdem, de tempore mortis sue', one copy;
'Idem in epistola contra sibi detrahentes', three copies (one lost);
'Idem de incendio amoris', five copies (one lost); 'Idem in tractatu
qui dicitur Melos contemplacionis', one copy; 'Idem in cantico
amoris de beata virgine metrice', one copy; ' Idem super apochalipsim
vsque ad vim capitulum', one copy.
As we have seen, the list of Rolle's works can be amplified when
we go through the catalogue (compiled about 1504 and corrected
about 1526). Seven manuscripts containing Rolle's works were lost
by the latter date, and two were added, viz., M. 113 and 118. M. 113
contained Richardus hampole de conuersione ad deum, et Incendio
amoris cum aliis'. The first item here is evidently another copy
of the E. V. (in which conversion' makes the first chapter): the
donor strangely enough is 'Anna de Suecia', which would seem
to indicate a Swedish sister. M. 118 contained 'Hampole ad Reclusam
de vita perfeccionis cum aliis', with the incipit of the second folio:
1 Miss Bateson notes that the references to MS. ' M. 96' appear in the index
as 'M. 97'. In the same way 'M. 94' is wrongly indicated as 'M.
95'.
D d 2


412
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
'some he'. This is the Form (p. 5: 'Somme he takes with
errour ').
Various matters of interest come to light when we go over the
catalogue. The single copy of the Melum was a great treasure:
'Melos contemplacionis Ricardi hampole & dicitur manu propria
hunc scripsisse librum' (M. 27). The 'Canticum amoris de gloriosa
virgine per eundem metrificatum' follows in the same book, 'cum
nominibus in marginibus eiusdem'. We cannot be sure whether the
second work was also in Rolle's hand, and the accompaniment of
' names' is curious and probably refers to an enumeration of names
of the Blessed Virgin : however, it cannot be connected with any
existing manuscript.
MS. M. 86 (like M. 118) may have contained unrecorded works of
Rolle; one item is 'Hampole de conuersione peccatoris cum aliis' (cor-
rectly noted among the copies of the E. V. in the index). An unattri-
buted work of Rolle's probably occurs in M. 102 as 'Tractatus de
nomine Ihesu, scilicet oleum effusum' (the E. V. with Rolle's name
had opened the volume). The only English Biblical text noted
in the catalogue is F. 48: 'Psalterium glosatum & expositum in
Anglice.' The first words on the second leaf are 'seynt Austyn’,
which probably identify the text as Rolle's Eng. Ps., where those
words occur in the commentary to Ps. i. 1. It was natural that
the brothers' library should have contained a copy of this work (v.
infra, p. 417).
In view of the enthusiasm manifested at Syon for Rolle's works, it
is remarkable that no large collection is cited in the present library.
No volume explicitly noted contains more than three of his works, and
most contain only one or two. There is no mention of Rolle's
surname, or of his Office, or of Basset's Defence, though the copies of
those works now in Sweden were probably copied from texts sent
out from Syon. Other works of Rolle also now in Sweden are not
noted in the brothers' library at Syon, and were probably copied
from volumes in the sisters', or from books already worn out or lost.
Since no part of the catalogue is earlier than the 16th century, it
cannot be said to give us certain information on what was in the
library during the early years of the house. In the days of the
founders the collection of Rolle's works in the brothers' library may
have been even larger and more interesting than it is shown to be in
the extant catalogue. For the sisters' library, v. supra, p. 49. We
know that the sister Joanna Sewell alone possessed at least two
volumes of Rolle's writings.


IN VARIOUS EARLY LISTS
413
St. Mary's College, Winchester, late temp. Hen. V (see Archaeol.
Journ. xv. 67). Among the Psalteria Glosata in the catalogue
of this house: Item Ricardus Hampole super Psalterium, 2º folio in
textu semper prosperabunt, ex dono magistri Johannis Morys, primi
custodis istius Collegii, et domini Nicholai North, quondam socii
Collegii supradicti.' ¹
1
Peterhouse Camb. 203, early 15th cent., contains a list of books
scribbled on the margin of the last page but one, in which is found:
'Hampole super parce mihi.' Prices are affixed to some items, but
where the books are does not appear.
C. Rolle's works are mentioned in various medieval wills, as
follows:
"
Lincoln, 1391 (Early Lincoln Wills, ed. A. Gibbons, Lincoln,
1888, p. 80). William de Thorp, knt., leaves to Henry Hammond,
his chaplain, that book which Richard Heremit composed'. He is
to be buried in Ely Cathedral and has connexions with Cambridge.
The will is also printed in London Wills, ed. R. R. Sharpe, 1890,
Pt. II. 326.
Bedford, 1415 (Beds. Hist. Rec. Soc., 2, p. 33). Edward Cheyne
leaves to his son certain heirlooms (to be entailed), among which is
'a Psalter glossed by Richard the Hermit'.
2
East Hendred, Berkshire, 1417 (East Hendred, A Berkshire Parish,
by A. L. Humphreys, London, 1923, p. 334). Richard Southworth,
Rector of East Hendred, bequeaths 'to my dearest master Henry
Kays, a book of mine of Richard the Hermit, being in his keeping '.
Oxford, 1457 (Munimenta Academica, ii. 666, RS., 50). John
Seggefyld, M.A., fellow of Lincoln, leaves 'Magistro Johanni Chylde
unum librum vocatum "Hampole". Seggefyld was probably a
North-countryman, since reference is made to tenements belonging to
his father in Kingston-upon-Hull.
NORTH COUNTRY WILLS.
Lord Scrope of Masham, 1415 (v. supra, p. 384). This will is
significant for the interest in the solitary life which it shows on the
part of a nobleman of Rolle's home country two generations after
Rolle's death. Lord Scrope's brother is archdeacon of Richmond
1 This reference was kindly pointed out to me by Professor Laura Hibbard,
of Wellesley College.
2 Kindly pointed out by Mr. Humphreys.


414
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
(p. 276), and his sister (to whom he leaves an anonymous copy of
the Prick of Conscience) is a Minoress of London. He asks prayers
for the soul of 'Dominus Robertus Thornton' (p. 274), perhaps
a relative of the scribe of the Thornton MS. He leaves several
legacies to nunneries, including one to Hampole (which is, however,
smaller than the other bequests, ibid.). Money is also left to the
'former servant of the anchorite of Hampole' (p. 275, and v. infra,
p. 507). Very many anchorites and hermits are remembered by
name. A large legacy of books goes to the abbess of Syon Monas-
tery, only just founded (ibid.). There is also a general bequest to
'every anchorite and hermit in London or York and the suburbs',
and to 'every anchorite and anchoress that can be found easily
within three months of my death' (p. 276). The Carthusian houses
are also remembered. Lord Scrope had evidently come under the
influences so strongly stimulated by Richard Rolle. He was perhaps
brought up among persons whose interest in the hermit and his
writings was a hereditary tradition, reaching back to those who had
supported him in life. Slight confirmation of this conjecture comes
from the fact that Lord Scrope possessed one of Rolle's autographs
(v. supra, p. 98, and infra, pp. 506 sq.).
Wills and Inventories from Northern Counties (SS., 2).
1427. Will of Dominus Johannes Newton, rector of Houghton,
co. Durham, master of Sherburn Hospital (1409), 'originally of the
diocese of Lichfield': 'Item lego domino Nicholao Hulme unum
librum de duodecim capitulis Ricardi Ermet' (p. 77). For Hulme's
will, bequeathing this book in his turn thirty years later, see below,
p. 415. It might be thought that we have here another candidate
for the tabula supplied to the Emmanuel MS. by 'Magister John
Newton', if it were not that Miss Deanesly has found that the hand
there annotating appears to be the same that appears in the York
episcopal registers. The York treasurer also shows elsewhere his
fondness for tabulae (v. supra, p. 215); he is 'magister', a learned
title which the master of Sherburn Hospital does not here at least
receive.
Testamenta Eboracensia (v. supra, p. 384).
1414. Master John Newton, the treasurer of York Minster,
already mentioned, bequeaths (with many other works) to York
chapter: Libros Johannis Howeden, Ricardi Heremitae, domini
Walteri Hilton canonici, Willielmi Rymyngton et Hugonis de Insti-
tucione Noviciorum, in uno volumine' (i. 366).


IN MEDIEVAL WILLS
415
1440. Master Robert Alne, 'persona in choro ecclesiae cathe-
dralis Ebor. ac Curiae Eboracensis Examinatoris generalis', bequeaths
to the Univ. Lib. of Cambridge (with other works): 'Ricardum de
Hampull vocatum Melos' (ii. 78). V. supra, p. 407, for a mention
of this book in an early catalogue of the Univ. Lib.
1458. Nicholas Holme, canon of Ripon, who died in the
monastery of St. Mary's, York, bequeaths to Nicholas Blakwell
'unum librum in quo continentur xij capitula Ricardi Hampole'
(ibid., p. 219).
1431. William Gate, chaplain and 'persona in ecclesia Ebor.',
bequeaths 'Domino Ricardo Drax. . . j librum de papiro vocatum
Lectiones Mortuorum secundum Ricardum heremitam' (iii. 58 n.).
1446. Thomas Beelby, 'persona in ecclesia Ebor.', bequeaths
'Magistro Willelmo Duffeld, domino meo, j Psalterium de tractatu
Ricardi Hampole' (ibid., p. 59 n.).
6
1432. Robert Semer, sub-treasurer of York, bequeaths Domino.
Roberto Helperby, vicario, librum meum de Placebo et Dirige,
secundum Ricardum heremitam, cum aliis libris ejusdem contentis
in eadem' (ibid., p. 91).
1452. In the inventory of the goods of William Duffield, canon.
residentiary of York, Southwell, and Beverley, De xiij. iiij d. de
pret. Psalterii glosati, nuper domini Thomae Belby' (v. supra);
'De viij. de pret. libri Ricardi Hampole de Expositione Novem
Lectionum Mortuorum' (ibid., p. 133).
1467. Robert Est of York (probably 'a chantry priest in the
minster at the altar of St. Christopher ') bequeaths 'Domui sancti-
monialium de Hampaule Psalterium glosatum, de propria scriptura
Beati Ricardi, heremitae, ibidem jacentis' (ibid., p. 160). V. supra,
p. 169.
1468. In the inventory of the goods of Elizabeth Sywardby,
widow (of Sewerby, near Bridlington, daughter of Sir Henry Vavasour
of Haslewood): 'De alio libro de Meditatione Passionis Domini,
compilato per Ricardum Rolle, iiijd.' (ibid., p. 163). This volume
was one of those kept in the chapel. The name Rolle should be
noted (which is also found in two extant copies of the Meditations).
1479. Thomas Pynchebek, 'persona in eccl. Ebor.', bequeaths
'Librum Ricardi de Hanpole cum Novem Lectionibus et Dirige'
(ibid., p. 199 n).


416
QUOTATIONS AND REFERENCES
It will be seen that the great majority of Rolle's works above
noted belonged to the clergy. This may be considered a triumph
for their intrinsic interest, since many of them contain passages con-
demning the abuses of the contemporary clergy. It will be noted that
no work is given to Rolle erroneously (except some doubtful items in
the Savile library), and it is a significant contrast that the mentions
of the Prick of Conscience in wills, already given, are all anonymous.
D. Some general references to Rolle's works found in medieval
sources will now be cited.
Notes on a Vienna MS. above quoted refer to Rolle's works, but
erroneously imply that all were originally written in English; the E. V.
seems to be specially noted (v. supra, pp. 40 sq.).
Thomas Basset, hermit, in the Defence against the Detractors of
Richard (c. 1400), makes the following general reference:
'Ecce occurrit predictus ille venerabilis Ricardus sic dicens. . . . Et cum
(for tum) hunc virum gloriosum iuste, vt michi videtur, in exemplum prius
profero, quia sicut archus refulgens inter nebulas glorie, sic et ipse velud
homo seraphicus in abyssum diuine claritudinis absorptus inter ipsos
resplenduit, qui gloriosa carmina ediderunt de eterna dileccione' (Upsala
MS. C. 621, f. 69′).
The influence in general of Rolle's works is discussed in this most
interesting epistle. Since the unique copy belonged to Wadstena,
the Mother House of the Brigittine order, it was almost certainly
sent there from Syon Monastery, along with other volumes of
English origin. It will be printed in the Appendix.
Richard Methley, a Carthusian of Mount Grace, co. Yorks (b. 1451,
professed 1476), has left a curious series of autobiographical and
mystical tracts in Trin. Coll. Camb. MS. 1160. They are often
dated (1483-7), and seem to be a kind of diary. They are dominated
by the influence of Rolle in its more romantic aspects, and the
Carthusian is evidently trying to induce his master's ecstatic ex-
perience, with all its 'canor, calor, dulcor', and absorption in the
Holy Name. Rolle's name, however, appears only once, and
Methley seems to attempt to show his own originality. In the
piece called 'Refectorium Salutis' occurs the following :
'Nam vita mea consistit in amore, languore, dulcore, feruore, canore;
rarius tamen in sensibili feruore, quia dilectus michi promisit quod
frequentius in languore; sicut et ille alius Ricardus (dictus de hampol)
frequentius in calore, de quo non legi quod tam frequens fuit in languore'
(f. 56).


SOME GENERAL REFERENCES
417
Methley's translations into Latin of the English Cloud of Unknowing
and Mirror of Simple Souls are to be found in Pembroke Coll.
Camb. MS. 221, dated 1491.¹ The colophon to the Mirror entitles
the translator 'dominus Richardus ffurth alias de Methley domus
assumptionis eiusdem beate virginis Marie ordinis cartusiensis '
(f. 107). Furth' is probably the monk's family name, 'Methley
his surname in religion drawn from his family home (Methley, between
Pontefract and Rothwell, in the West Riding?).
In the Myroure of oure Ladye (EETS. Extra Ser., 19), written to
explain the church service to the nuns of Syon (1421-50), we find
the following: 'Of psalmes I haue drawen but fewe, for ye may
haue them of Rycharde hampoule's drawynge and out of Englysshe
bibles if ye
haue lysence therto' (p. 3). This reference puts Rolle's
English Psalter into a position of special orthodoxy, since the author
of the Mirror, in giving it, states (p. 71) that it is forbidden to trans-
late Scripture without the consent of the diocesan bishop.
already noted, a copy of the English Psalter is still in existence, once
belonging to one of the compilers of the local additions to the
Brigittine Rule in use at Syon (v. supra, pp. 171 and 412).
As
The quotation has already been given (supra, p. 401) from the
treatise on vernacular Scriptures ascribed to Purvey, in which a
general reference is given to Rolle's English works (for propagandist
purposes).
The Contemplations of the Dread and Love of God have already been
described (supra, p. 357). Horstmann pointed out that they quote
as from 'ful holy men of ryght late tyme' the three degrees of love
found in Rolle.
ADDITIONAL NOTE
Quaritch MS., 14th-15th cent. After the E. V., 'De beata
maria virgo' (sic): from the Mel., as in two copies supra, p. 401.
Later citations end: Ricardus heremita. Qui, pro Christo, pauper
fieri in mundo, despici et confundi renuit, profecto cognoscas quod
suauitatem eterni amoris non gustabit. Nemo numquam in amore
dei gaudere potuit qui prius uana istius mundi solacia non reliquit '
(Contra Am. M., S f. 57, cf. C f. 176). See E. V., Mel., and infra,
P. 537.
1 The former is said to be undertaken because difficillime maxime modernis
diebus, refrigescente caritate, non dicam solum multorum sed pre nimietate
malorum fere omnium Christianorum, difficillime, inquam, intelliguntur libri con-
templatiuorum super splendidioribus theoriis theodoctorum' (f. 1). This piece
is dedicated 'o frater mi Thurstine', who has requested its execution.


CHAPTER XV
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
THE lists of Rolle's works given by the early bibliographers will
not be given entire. To a large extent they repeat each other, and
in so far as their information coincides with that given by manu-
scripts now extant, it can easily be checked by reference to the
preceding lists: where it is not supported by any manuscript found
in the course of the present investigation, the ascriptions in question
will be fully discussed here, but only in relation to the originator of
the ascription. The bibliographies will therefore be treated in
chronological order. At some points the connexion between the
information given by the bibliographies and that given by the extant
manuscripts is not immediately apparent, but such cases have already
been discussed when the manuscripts were enumerated. The
descriptions of the works can, if necessary, be resorted to for references
to the early bibliographers which are not found in this place.
Boston of Bury (c. 1410).
·
All of the works of Rolle noted by Boston, of which the location is
mentioned, are cited from his own library of Bury (which he numbers
as 82). His whole account of Rolle (quoted from the preface to
Tanner, q. v. infra) is as follows: 'Ricardus, heremita de Ampole,
floruit circa A. C. et scripsit Incendium amoris, lib. i. 82.
Melos amoris, lib. i. 82. De amore divino. 82. De timore Domini
et contemptu mundi. 82. Vehiculum vitae sive xii capitula. 82.
Super lectiones De officio mortuorum. 82. Super Psalmum, Domine,
in virtute. 82. Super Psalterium . . . in Latin. et Angl. Super
Lamentationes Jeremiae. Super quartum librum Sententiarum: Pr.
Secundum quosdam. De glorificatione sanctorum' (Tanner, p. xxxviii).
Since the last four items are given without references to a library,
Boston is here perhaps quoting from memory.
In this list the work on the Sentences (one of those given without
a reference) is unknown, and Rolle's authorship of such a work must
appear unlikely. Some peculiarities of title appear (v. Contra Am. M.


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
419
and E. V.): the title 'De amore divino' does not occur in any
extant manuscript, though it would be appropriate to many of Rolle's
works. Bale in his Index twice applies it to the Incendium (and v.
supra, p. 357).
John Leland (d. 1552): Commentarii, Oxford, 1709, pp. 348-9, 'De
Richardo Hampolo'.
Collectanea, Oxford, 1715.
Leland gives a short estimate of Richard's work (mostly an excuse
for its bad Latin), which was copied by most of his successors.
Richard appears as 'eremita ejus sectae quam vocant Augustinianam',
an error which was also consistently copied, though it could be
refuted by many passages in the writings. It is evident that Leland
has no more than glanced at them, for he makes no reference to their
mysticism. The only fact which he gives as to his author's life
is the date and place of death: 'anno Domini 1349, in festo
S. Michaelis, ut scriptum erat in codice Mariano. Sepultus est
honorifice in Hampolensi monasterio virginibus sacro.' He admits
that of Richard's writings he records 'non omnes, scripsit enim
quamplures, sed . . . illos, quos ego novi extare Eboraci, in biblio-
theca Mariana'. He then notes (without incipit) ten works, all of
which can be easily verified as authentic by reference to extant
manuscripts. He follows this by the following entry :
'Londini in Bibliotheca Carmelitana:
De Excellentia Contemplationis (v. supra, Dubia).
Carmen Rhythmicum nomine Meli (v. supra, Mel.).
Philomela, carmen rhythmicum.'
This entry is derived from one given in Leland's Collectanea
(iv. 54), where the titles appear exactly as above, with no name of
an author. Immediately preceding them (also found in the Car-
melites' library) is 'Richardus Hampoole de incendio amoris',
which was probably not carried over into the bibliography because
the Incendium had previously been noted from York. It is probable
that this ascription of the Incendium to Rolle was conjectured by
Leland to apply also to the three works which immediately followed
it in the manuscript. In that case his attribution of the Philomela
to Richard would mean nothing; there are reasons, however, which
suggest that Rolle might have written a poem of this title.
The third work here may be one of two well-known Latin poems,
of which the better known (beginning 'Philomena, praevia temporis


420
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
amoeni') is often ascribed to St. Bonaventura and printed under
his name (v. supra, p. 394), though it is probably the work of
John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1279). The other of
the same title (beginning Ave, verbum, ens in principio') was
probably written by John Hoveden, chaplain to Queen Eleanor
(mother of Edward I), to whom an Anglo-Norman poem Philomela
is also ascribed (Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. MS. 471).¹
The popularity of the nightingale as a symbol for the mystic lover
of Christ, which was thus notable in England during the generation
preceding Rolle's birth, certainly affected his youthful imagination.
He says in his early work, the Melum: Fio ut philomena, que,
continens continue ad mortem in melos, diligit dulcissime' (f. 248),
and in the late Incendium: 'In principio enim conuersionis mee, et
propositi singularis, cogitaui me uelle assimilari auicule, que pre
amore languet amati sui.... Fertur enim philomena tota nocte cantui
et melo indulgere' (p. 277). In the Form of Living (p. 33) he writes
of 'singuler' love: 'pe sawle pat es in þe thyrd degre, es als byrnand
fyre, and as pe nyghttyngale, pat lufes sang & melody, & fayles for
mykel lufe.' Such passages probably mean that Rolle had come
under the influence of the 'nightingale group', and Horstmann has
described his poem to the Virgin, which is probably his earliest
work, as an imitation of Bonaventura's (or Peckham's) famous
"Cantus philomenae", and in the same metre, but with frequent
alliteration' (ii, p. xviii). This description probably exaggerates
the degree of influence, but the metre in the two poems is the same
to some degree (v. supra, p. 90), and Rolle has in his prose echoed
the older works (especially Hoveden's); though with his own strongly
subjective accent.³
1 See D. N. B., Hoveden and Peckham.
2 Rawl. MS. C. 397, one of the two extant manuscripts of the Canticum
Amoris, appends to that work Rolle's reference (just quoted) in the Incendium
as to his early wish to emulate the nightingale (here given at length, and with
the exact reference to the chapter and work, and at each end the name of
'Richard hermit', v. supra, p. 399). The 'Cantus Philomenae' of Peckham then
follows anonymously.
3 Such lines as the following might have given hints for his type of devotion
and of style:
'Totum, quidquid habeo vel sum, tibi dedo ...
O praedulcis parvule, puer sine pari.'
(Bonaventura, edit. Quaracchi, viii. 670.)
On the whole, however, this poem shows no relation to Rolle. The following
extracts from the Yorkshire prebendary Hoveden's poem (selected and not


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
421
On the whole, the fondness for the symbol of the nightingale, which
Rolle shows in his writings, forbids us to say categorically that Leland
did not see an authentic poem on that subject, now lost. The
omission of an incipit in his reference does not allow us to identify it
positively with any one of the extant poems on the same subject.
Leland adds to the works of Rolle found in St. Mary's, York, and
the Carmelites' library, London, only the following: 'Scripsit etiam
libellum, cui titulus Ab Exordio ne tardas, & alterum hac inscriptione
Domine Deus meus.' Leland's Collectanea (iv. 63), proves that he
had before him here Balliol Coll. MS. 224. At present the book is
misbound, and it gives (ff. 31-97) the text of the Emendatio Vitae
without any sign of beginning or ending. The piece entitled
Domine Deus meus does not follow till f. 56, but the table of contents
(added in a later hand) is the same which is copied in the Collectanea,
and here the two works mentioned by Leland occur together.
Probably the Balliol MS. has been seriously altered in modern times:
a reference by Tanner (note b) seems to imply that it once contained
Rolle's Latin Psalter.
In the Collectanea (iv. 58, 156) 'Hampole super Psalterium' is
noted at 'Oxoniae in bibliotheca publica', and 'Richardus Hampole
super Psalterium' at Wells (with the incipit of the Latin version
given).
very characteristic) will show that this was probably Richard's early favourite,
from which he took the image of the nightingale :
'Ihesu, iuge melos angelicum,
Quis dolebit te canens canticum ?...
Quem amoris eius inebriat,
Nectar dulce nouit quod sapiat,
Tam ardenter eo se saciat,
Quod seipsum oblitus nesciat.
Tot amoris sentit incendia,
Dulces flammas et desideria,
Quod tormentum habet ut lilia,
Et exoptat ut fiat hostia....
Christi dulcor sic mentem saciet
Quod a carne dissolui siciet...
Sola ihesu rememoracio
Fit dolorum alleuiacio' (Cotton MS. Nero C. ix, f. 201).
'Melos meret, uel meror mulceat' (f. 200).
The 'calor, canor, and dulcor' could all be developed from these lines, as well
as the cult of the Holy Name (in the broader sense).


422
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
John Bale: Catalogus, Ipswich, 1548.
Index (c. 1548-51), ed. R. L. Poole and M. Bateson
(Anecdota Oxoniensia, 1902).
Catalogus, Bâle, 1557-9.
Bale in his Index (pp. 348-52) ascribes to Rolle a long series of
works found in various collections, most of which can be identified.
Many of his attributions are correct, but many are incorrect, and
have been discussed in connexion with extant manuscripts which
give the same. There remain to be noted here references to works
which are unknown or, if known, do not now exist in manuscripts
giving Rolle's name. In no case where Bale gives to Rolle a known
piece not anywhere found with his name does its character confirm
Bale's attribution. He cites his author as 'Ricardus Hampole',
'Ricardus Remyngton (v. supra, p. 348) de Hampole heremita'
(twice), 'Ricardus de Hampole', 'Ricardus Heremita', 'Ricardus
Hampole, heremita vir eruditus'. He notes (probably from the
manuscripts): Obijt A. D. 1349, apud moniales de Hampole iuxta
Doncaster' (repeated without the 'iuxta Doncaster'). No other
information is given as to Rolle's life.
The works given by Bale to Rolle not heretofore noted are as
follows:
(1) 'Super Salue regina,
li. I. "Ad salutandam virginem
gloriosam principio".
Ex domo Ricardi Grafton.
This title and incipit coincide with the Stimulus Amoris (Pt. III,
cap. 19), other parts of which are ascribed to Rolle in manuscripts
still extant (v. supra, p. 354).
(2) 'De spiritualibus ascentioni.
bus,
li. i. "Beatus vir cuius est auxi-
lium abs".
This is the incipit (after the prologue) and a frequent title of
St. Bonaventura's De Gradibus
edit., v. 296 sq.).
(3) 'De poenitentia,
(4) Sermones quadragesimales,
ascensionis in Deum (Quaracchi
li. i. "Poenitemini vt deleantur
peccata ".
li. i. "Puluis es et in puluerem
reuertes (p. 350).
993
These two works I have been unable to identify. It may be noted
that in Rolle's early work on the duties of a parish priest (Judica B)
he is enough interested in the subject of Lenten sermons to add to


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
423
his source on this question (v. supra, p. 104). It is not impossible
that he wrote a set now lost, in which may perhaps have occurred
the exempla quoted from Rolle in the Thornton MS. which cannot
now be traced (v. supra, p. 403).
(5) Orilogium sapientię,
li. i. "Quoniam ita res habet quod
mors".
As the editors of the Index point out (perhaps following Tanner),
this is a translation into English from Suso's well-known work
(o. supra, p. 349). They cite a Cambridge manuscript, and refer to
Horstmann (ii, p. xliii), who notes that this is merely chapter 5 of an
English version of the Orologium, which he has printed in Anglia, x.
323 sq. The translator has added a preface, in which traces of
Rolle's influence may be seen in the use of rhythm and of the
metaphor of the 'fire of love'; but he is evidently writing long after
Rolle's day, for he apologizes for adding another English translation
to the 'multitude of bokes & tretees drawne in englische' (p. 326).
li. i. "Quia mortis passagium ex
hac".
(6) 'De arte moriendi,
(7) De bello spirituali,
(8) Meditationem ex Augustino,
Atque alia plura.'
li. i. "Frater aut soror, qui de-
syderas ".
li. i. "Augustinus sanctus doctor
in declaratione" (pp. 350 sq.).
Horstmann has printed (ii. 377-80, 406-36) English works with
the three preceding titles and incipits. He notes for each a large
number of manuscripts still extant, but none giving any information
as to authorship. It is probable that Bale is here referring to these
English pieces in the case of the first and third, Horstmann notes
manuscripts of Latin originals, but in both cases the incipit mentioned
by Bale reproduces the English incipit rather than the Latin. The
incipit which Bale gives for the 'Paruum Iobum' (immediately pre-
ceding the Orologium) was Latin, though it hardly seems possible
that anything can be meant except the English lyric Pety Job'
(v. supra, p. 369), of which the first line exactly translates Bale's Latin
incipit. Probably Bale both here, in the case of the Orologium, and
in the other three cases just cited, was referring to English pieces,
though his entries gave no hint of the fact. In Harl. 1706 and
Douce 322 there occur in English, in the same order in which
they appear in the Index-though other pieces intervene-the five
pieces just mentioned, viz. Pety Job, the Orologium (chapters 5 sq.),


424
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
and the three pieces now under consideration.' Both manuscripts
were written in the fifteenth century, and both quote as their authority
for some 'balades' 'the book of John lucas'. The presence in
order, in two extant English manuscripts, of five Latin titles and
incipits noted by Bale would make it likely that he saw all five in
one book, whether one of these two or another like them. His
reference is simply: 'Ex Nordouicensi et Londinensi Bibliothecis.'
Though Bale may possibly have seen a manuscript resembling the
two now extant, but with Rolle's name attached to the pieces in
question, it is very unlikely that this ascription was correct.
We
have already seen that the ascription to Rolle of the Pety Job was
erroneous (supra, p. 370), and obviously that of the Orologium; the
ascription of the three following pieces appears no less impossible.
Not a characteristic of Rolle appears in any of the three, unless it be
the rhythmical prose' of the third, which appears to be the ground
of Horstmann's remark that 'the translation . . . is possibly by
R. Rolle' (ii. 377). It has already been shown that rhythmical
prose was both older and younger than Rolle, and quite insufficient
evidence alone for his authorship (v. supra, p. 78). All three pieces
are made up of ascetic commonplaces which might be fathered on
almost any medieval writer, though less probably on a mystic than
on any other. The boke of the craft of dying' (De arte moriendi)
probably belongs to the fifteenth century, for, as Miss F. M. M. Comper
has pointed out, in editing a modernized version of the text, it makes
one of a group of works immensely popular in the fifteenth century
all over Europe. Horstmann refers to 'the tretyse of gostly batayle'
(De Bello spirituali) as 'made up from a chapter... of the Pore
Caitif... and other ill-connected ingredients' (ii. 420), but since,
¹ Horstmann (ii. 377, n. 1) states that Harl. 1706 is a copy of Douce 322,
and a note in the latter volume mentions that Harl. 1706 was formerly
H. Worsley's book'. It belonged in the latter years of the reign of Henry VII
to Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Scrope, and successively Lady Beaumont
and Lady Oxford (her signature appears in the book with both surnames). For
the Douce MS. v. supra, p. 240.
2 One John Lucas was a hermit in Royston Cave, in Bassingbourne, Cambs.,
in 1398, and a person of the same name was hermit on Whittlesford Bridge,
Cambs., in 1401 (Clay, p. 206). We have seen that the hermit of Tanfield'
possessed a copy of Rolle's Judica which was copied in at least two instances
(v. supra, p. 29). John Lucas may also have been a hermit possessing a book
which was widely copied.
3 London, 1917, p. 49.
On the relations of the group to art see E. Mâle, L'Art religieux de la fin du
moyen âge en France, Paris, 1908, pp. 415 sq.


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
425
as we have seen (supra, p. 406), the Poor Caitiff is itself a compila-
tion, there is no reason why the loan may not be the other way. In
any case, all three works appear to have been written in a Southern
dialect considerably later than Rolle's time, and even if any manu-
script gave his name it would be very difficult to accept his authorship
on grounds of language no less than of subject-matter.
In his Catalogus of 1557 Bale adds the surname 'Rolle' to his
account of Richard as repeated from his earlier Catalogus. The
only additions which he makes to what he has collected in his Index
regarding Rolle's canon are copied from Leland, along with (in part)
Leland's general remarks on the hermit's writings. He omits all
reference to the hermit's belonging to the order of St. Augustine.
The Catalogus of 1548 dismisses Rolle shortly, but states that he is
said to have been a doctor of theology before he became a hermit,
and to have been venerated as a saint after his death. His date is
given as 1430. Both works quote from the Job the anti-clerical
passage 'Vae presbiteris', etc. (v. supra, p. 142).
John Pits: De Illustribus Angliae Scriptoribus, Paris, 1619.
6
Pits rejects (p. 465) the strange cognomen 'Pampolitanus' which
had been foisted on Rolle by continental bibliographers. He states
(without giving his authority) that Rolle was doctor', and wrote.
some of his works before he became a hermit (v. supra, p. 19, and
infra, p. 490). Pits seems to some extent to have worked over with
extant collections of manuscripts the bibliographies of Richard given
by Leland and Bale, for he repeats the attributions given by them,
with a considerable number of manuscript references added. He
adds five items, as follows:
(1) In Symbolum S. Ambrosij. Librum vnum.'
This work is unknown to me.
(2) 'De mysterijs rerum quae sunt in Ecclesia. Librum vnum.'
This work cannot be identified with any piece now extant, and it
might appear unlikely that Rolle should have written a work on this
subject. Bale's Index (pp. 357-8) gives works of similar title to
a medieval English Richard, as follows: 'Ricardus abbas ordinis
Premonstratensis, scripsit De canone missę... Carmen de mysterijs
sacrorum.'
(3) 'De reparatione lapsi. Librum vnum. MS. Oxonij in Collegio
Mertonensi.'
No clue is given as to the character of the work which Pits had
E e


426
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
before him here, but the mention a little farther on of a manuscript
at 'St. Benedict's, Cambridge' (still existing at Corpus Christi College),
makes one wonder if he is here referring to the work 'De lapsi
reparacione et redempcione hominis' in Corpus Christi Coll. Camb.
63. Oudin cites Merton MS. 242 as the work in question, but this
volume contains no work with this title. The piece in the Corpus MS.
is otherwise called 'Electuarium', and Dr. James in his catalogue
ascribes it to 'Radulphus de Londonia' and cites another copy.
(4) 'Scalam mundi. Libr. j. MS. Cantabrigiae in Collegio S. Bene-
dicti.'
There is a work of this title in Corpus Christi Coll. Camb. 194,
but it is a chronicle having no possible relation to Rolle, and giving
no sign that it was ever associated with him. It is preceded, how-
ever, by a quotation from Rolle with his name (v. supra, p. 401), and
Pits has almost certainly derived his attribution from this fact.
(5) 'Formulam componendi sermonem. Libr. j. MS. in Biblio-
theca Lumleiana.'
This is probably the Forma Praedicandi, beginning 'Predicatio est
thematis assumptio', which is found in Roy. 5 C. iii, ff. 317-17,
15th cent., where it directly follows Rolle's Incendium, the explicit of
which has given his name. This is a manuscript still marked
'Lumley'. No sign of authorship appears with the Forma, and it is
perhaps a reference to Pits which prompted Casley in his Catalogue
of the Royal MSS. (1734) to say of this item: 'Dicitur esse ejusdem
Ricardi.' The same work follows the Incendium also in Sloane 2275,
and the identity of the explicit of the latter in the two manuscripts
makes it probable that one is a copy of the other. The Forma
occurs between Rolle's Job and his Incendium in a manuscript sold
at Sotheby's Mar. 1, 1921 (Lot 309), and now in the possession of
Sir R. L. Harmsworth. The colourless academic character of this
short piece makes it difficult to believe that its circulation with
Rolle's works could imply common authorship. In Univ. Coll. Oxf.
336, f. 237, and Bodl. 630 (Sum. Cat. No. 1953), early 15th cent.,
the Forma occurs alone; the latter was MS. 64 in the brothers'
library at Syon (given by Joanna Buklonde, widow of a London
fishmonger).
Henry Wharton, Appendix to William Cave's Scriptorum Ecclesiae
Historia, Geneva, 1694.
Wharton takes up Rolle's works (Secl. Wick. 24 A), though without


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
427
contributing new material. He adds some manuscript references,
however.
C. Oudin, Commentarius de Scriptoribus Ecclesiae Antiquis, Leipzig,
1722.
Oudin has evidently used to good purpose the catalogues of
manuscripts in English libraries printed at the end of the seventeenth
century, for he cites (iii. 927) manuscripts for many of the works.
He also cites copies in the French Royal library, and in that of the
Sorbonne, all now in the Bibliothèque Nationale. He corrects
Rolle's date from the colophon of the Sorbonne MS. He adds one
attribution: Commendatio castitatis.' Beg.: 'Cum enim secundum
beatum Hieronymum.' This piece he found in the Sorbonne MS.
containing other works of Rolle's. It is probably the Speculum B. M.
Virginis, beginning: 'Quoniam, ut ait Hieronymus . . .', which is
sometimes ascribed to St. Bonaventura, but almost certainly belongs
to Conrad of Saxony (see Quarrachi edit., viii, p. cxi, x. 27).
Thomas Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, London, 1748.
Bishop Tanner (pp. 374 sq.) quotes entire Leland's account of
Rolle, which he supports by lists of manuscripts of each item in
question. The value of his work is often reduced by the fact that
he has evidently included many pieces only on the authority of earlier
bibliographers, but he often refutes the attribution which he is per-
petuating by citing manuscripts which can still be traced and which
give no sign of connexion with Richard. When he cites volumes in
collections such as the Worsley or Lumley, which have since been
dispersed, it is not probable that he found there ascriptions to an
author, since these are not present in the still accessible manuscripts
which he uses. He brings to light for the first time important
material such as the Laud prologue to the English Psalter, the refer-
ences to Rolle's works in the catalogue of Syon Monastery, Est's
legacy of the autograph of the Psalter, Rolle's Office, etc. Tanner,
more than any other bibliographer, shows a beginning of critical
method by noting where the same work as is given to Rolle appears
with names of other authors as well. He gives no more evidence
than the others, however, of ever having read the works that he is
treating. It is a sign of his superior scholarship that he adds no
attributions positively, but he throws together, in a long note at the
end of his account, references to manuscripts which he seems to
suggest may contain the works signified by the titles noted by the
E e 2


428
EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
early bibliographers which are difficult to identify. He does not
assert Rolle's authorship for these pieces, but as it were gathers
together the raw material for the investigation of the identity of the
works in question. His own method is thorough and painstaking.
The value of his bibliography has been much under-estimated by
Horstmann, who condemns him beyond the other bibliographers for
baseless attributions (ii. 367); as a matter of fact, many of Tanner's
ascriptions condemned by Horstmann (passim) are copied from
Bale.
Joseph Ritson, Bibliographica Poetica, London, 1802.
Ritson in his account of Rolle (pp. 33-7) adds nothing new.
A word should be said in regard to works of Rolle which appear
in the early bibliographies under the name of Wyclif. In Bale's
Index (p. 265), under the name of the latter, appear the following:
'Commentarios in psalterium,
De dilectione,
habundantiam
li. i. "Magnam
consolacionis diuine ...".
li. i. "In quolibet homine pecca-
tore "."
The first item here is probably a Wyclifite Psalter to which Rolle's
prologue is attached, as in extant copies (v. supra, p. 176). The
second is the Form of Living; this work exists in a Latin translation
(supra, p. 262). However, Bale almost certainly sometimes cites.
Latin incipits for English works, and it is possible that he has done
so in this case.
In
Tanner notes that a piece beginning Contemplatio vel vita con-
templativa habet tres partes' is given both to Rolle and to Wyclif.
It is chapter 12 of Rolle's Emendatio, which in Hereford Cath. MS.
O. i. 1o appears alone, following extracts from the Incendium.
Shrewsbury School MS. it is given its own title in the index.
Richard's name is included in a large number of continental
bibliographies of early date, which derive their facts from the con-
tinental editions of his works, generally with some reference to Bale's
earlier Catalogus (since, like that, they put him in the fifteenth
century). Leland's guess that he belonged to the hermits of
St. Augustine, which was followed by many later bibliographers,
ensured his inclusion in the bibliographies of that Order. None of
the continental descriptions of his work add to our knowledge of his
canon.


EARLY BIBLIOGRAPHIES
429
In conclusion, Thomas Fuller may be quoted. He says of Rolle
in his History of the Worthies of England (London, 1811, ii. 498):
'He wrot many Books of Piety, which I prefer before his Propheticall
Predictions, as but a degree above Almanack Prognostications. He
threatened the Sins of the Nation with future Famine, Plague, Inunda-
tions, War, and such generall Calamities, from which no Land is long
free, but subject to them in some proportion. Besides, his Predictions,
if hitting, were heeded; if missing, not marked. However... let him
pass for a Saint. ... If Hampole's Doctrine was of Men, why was he
generally reputed a Saint; if from God, why did they not obey him, seeing
he spake much against the vitiousness and covetousness of the Clergy of
that Age.'
Evidently Fuller has read a little in Rolle's commentaries in the
Cologne edition, though not enough to note that the ancient hermit
uses at times a style somewhat akin to his own.
6
Richard Ermite' is also included in the English Martyrologe, by
'a Catholicke Priest' (John Wilson, S.J.), St. Omer, 1608, 2nd edit.
(enlarged), 1640 (and 1672). A' Counter-poyze', the Fierie Tryall of
Gods Saints and the Detestable Ends of Popish Traytors, was printed at
London, 1611 and 1612. In Wilson's first edition the' commemora-
tion' of Rolle is arbitrarily set at Nov. 1, in the later his 'deposition'
(a phrase often substituted here for 'commemoration') at Jan. 20.
This date may represent a tradition as to his translation, which
might have been celebrated rather than his death (on St. Michael's
Day, when local cults would be difficult); Wilson cites Sixtus Senen-
sis and 'MS. in Coll. Angl. Duacens.'. Conjecture may be mixed
with genuine tradition and authentic information in his account of
'Blessed Richard Confessour & Ermite, whose singular spirit of piety
& deuotion, is left written and manifest to the world by his own workes
yet extant. He was first a Doctor, and then leauing the world became an
Eremite, and led a solitary life¹ neere to the forsaid Monastery of Ham-
pole: to which place he was wont often to repayre, to sing psalmes and
hymnes in honour of God, as himselfe testifieth in his workes. And after
many spirituall bookes and treatises by him wrytten, full of great sanctity
of life and venerable old age, he finally rested in our Lord, about the
yeare of Christ, one thousand three hundred fourty and nyne and was
buryed at Hampole' (edit. 1608, p. 301).
1 The enlarged edition adds 'in a wood' (cf. the information given by the
Vienna MS. that Rolle lived 'in solitudine campi ', supra, pp. 42-3, infra, p. 511).


CHAPTER XVI
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
DATE OF BIRTH
INNUMERABLE manuscripts fix Rolle's death at 1349, and this
is the only absolutely sure date that we have in tracing his life.
The extraordinary frequency of notes and colophons giving this
information probably arises from the agitation occasioned by Lollardy;
our extant copies of Rolle's works all belong to the Lollard period,
when it was probably safe, where possible, to fix the date of a religious
author before the rise of heresy. However, though a motive of policy
thus probably dictated the abundant testimony as to the date of
Rolle's death, there is no reason on that account to doubt its accuracy.
To be sure, the valuable marginal notes in the Vienna MS. (appar-
ently written in Bohemia) state that he died 'citra 1380', but this
need not conflict with the usual date, and the notes contain some
signal errors (v. supra, p. 43). The only other scribe who gives
a variant date assigns the death in one place to 1348, and in another
place to 1384 (the latter, no doubt, by an inadvertent transposition,
v. supra, p. 371). Bale in his Catalogus of 1548, for some reason that
has never come to light, dates Richard at 1430—which is manifestly
impossible and it is his authority which is probably the basis for
the dates given by some continental bibliographers and editors.
Leland, however, had correctly given the full dáte (as given in some
extant manuscripts), 'anno Domini 1349 in festo S. Michaelis'. Bale
in his Index and in his Catalogus of 1557 has amended his error. All
the later English bibliographers agree in the date 1349.
The date of Rolle's birth, unfortunately, is a matter of conjecture,
though we are given clues which must keep us from going far wrong.
What seems in any case to be clear is that Richard could not have
lived to old age. His disciple Margaret lived till past 1357, and
probably much later (v. infra, p. 508). Archdeacon Neville, who
had maintained him at Oxford-whence he returned by the age
of eighteen-outlived him by thirteen years; and Neville could not
have lived to extreme old age (v. infra, p. 445). The John de Dalton


DATE OF BIRTH
431
who was almost certainly Rolle's first patron was active in 1334,
though the father of sons who were Rolle's contemporaries, and
almost certainly he was still alive in 1341 (v. infra, p. 450). A person
said to have been Dalton's elder brother was active till his death in
1350 (infra, p. 451). As Horstmann points out (ii, p. v n.), Rolle's
writings make no reference to his own old age, though the early ones
are full of references to his youth. Moreover, in his writings he gives
indications that point to about 1300 (or slightly earlier) as the
approximate year of his birth (v. supra, p. 113). This date would
fit the relative dates of his contemporaries, Archdeacon Neville,
John Dalton, and Margaret Kirkeby.
BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
Our only information as to the place of Rolle's 'origin' comes
from the Office, which, as we have seen, gives it as 'in uilla de
Thornton Eboracensis diocesis' (the Bodl. MS. adds 'iuxta Picker-
ing' in a hand of c. 1450-75). The lateness of the hand in which
this reference to Pickering occurs, and its omission from the other
manuscripts, seemed to throw doubt on its validity. Horstmann
(ii, pp. v-vi) accepted the identification with Thornton Dale (near
Pickering), though without investigating the question, but strangely
enough he accepted Bramley's suggestion (p. vi n.) that the estate
of Dalton where Rolle met him was near Topcliffe, though this conjec-
ture arose merely from the fact that a Dalton was near-and Yorkshire
contains other townships of that name. Bramley's conjecture was
further developed: it was suggested that Rolle may have been born
at Thornton-le-Street, in the general neighbourhood of Topcliffe and
Dalton (EETS. Orig. Ser., 20, p. vi n., Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit.,
ii. 44).¹ Mr. William Brown, to whom Mr. G. G. Coulton was kind
enough to refer me, pointed out that the existence of a Dalton near
1 While this book has been at press a volume by Miss G. E. Hodgson has
come out, entitled The Sanity of Mysticism, A Study of Richard Rolle (for two
volumes of modernized texts of Middle-English treatises partly drawn from
Rolle's writings brought out earlier by Miss Hodgson, v. supra, pp. 17-18). In
her last work Miss Hodgson devotes a long chapter to 'The Scenes of Rolle's
Birth and Early Life', in which she gives many details from Mr. Turton's
records of Pickering—especially incidents of the forest eyre of 1334, etc. It
is her declared intention, in so doing, to trace Rolle's 'response to his wild
environment' (p. 39). In the course of turning over Mr. Turton's records
she has come upon John de Dalton of Pickering, but she refuses to identify
him with Rolle's patron of the same name. Following Horstmann, etc., she
accepts Thornton Dale as his birthplace, but believes that, when he left home,
his stopping-place is generally thought to have been Topcliffe' (p. 80, cf. also


432
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
Thornton and Topcliffe was of no significance in the present case,
since no one of the name of Dalton was resident there in Rolle's
early years.¹ Since that time Miss Clay (p. 134 n.) has pointed out
that the name John de Dalton (in two generations) is found at
Kirkby Misperton near Pickering, c. 1371, and my later researches
show that these persons must belong to the family of Rolle's first
patron. The name of the hermit can also probably be connected
with the village of Thornton Dale.
Richard's surname, which is given in the Office, is also supplied by
eight manuscripts, one early edition, and one will. Unfortunately,
Mr. Turton, in editing the Pickering records, has omitted many lists
of names (ii, p. xxxiii), among which the name of Rolle's family might
be expected to occur. Horstmann says that 'the name, probably
Norman, is not found in Northern registers of the time' (ii, p. v, n. 2),
and Mr. William Brown (who had edited more Yorkshire documents
than any one else) when he first wrote to me said that he had never
met 'Rolle' in the county. It does not occur in Kirkby's Inquest
(1284-8, SS., 49). The North Riding is not represented in the
existing records of the lay subsidy of a ninth granted in 1297 (YAS.
Rec. Ser., 16), but we have the complete documents of the North
Riding for the fifteenth granted in the spring of 1300-1 (YAS. Rec.
Ser., 21). This subsidy was contributed to even by some of the very
poor (having no more than half-a-crown's worth of property all told),
and the editor (Mr. William Brown) says that 'the number of persons
in the humbler ranks of life mentioned in this roll makes the return
almost as full as a poll-tax' (p. xv). Here our only mention of
a name resembling Rolle's is of one 'Hugo Rol', who contributed
xvijd at Slingsby (perhaps a dozen miles to the south-west of
pp. 57, 107). She therefore writes: 'Whatever sympathy one may come to
feel with John de Dalton, as one follows through The Coucher Book his
chequered career... it still does not seem possible that he could have been
the "Squire" near Topcliffe, the friend of William and patron of William's
son, Richard Rolle. There was a small place called Dalton quite close to
Topcliffe: its squire and Rolle's may have been another man of the same
name' (p. 28). 'Rolle's father was, we know, on friendly terms with John de
Dalton, the Squire living near Topcliffe' (p. 65). V. supra, p. 368, for an 'Addi-
tional Note' added while the present volume was at press.
1 He later found a 'Ranulph de Dalton' in Dalton in 1314-15 (v. Cal. ing.
p. m., v. 322).
2 The manuscripts are: Bodl. 66; e Mus. 232; Rawl. A. 389; Univ. Coll.
Oxf. 56; Camb. Univ. Add. 3042; Trin. Coll. Dublin 154; Longleat 32; Douay
396. See also supra, pp. 10, 415. Two manuscripts and the will connect the
name with the same work (the English Meditations on the Passion).


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
433
Pickering. Hugo Rol alienated his messuage in Slingsby in mort-
main to the prior and convent of Malton in 1316 (Pat. Rolls, May 17,
1316). This does not look as if he had descendants. There are no
lay subsidy records for the reign of Edward II, but in that for
I Edward III (1327), though no Rolle appears in the return for
Thornton Dale, there is a gap where has been a name beginning
with 'W' (Turton, iv. 140). In the subsidy roll of 1333 Thornton
is complete, and here the only 'William' is simply designated as 'the
son of Robert' (ibid., p. 156). This is not conclusive proof that
a William Rolle did not figure in the earlier return, however; for
Horstmann has pointed out (ii, p. xxv, n. 1) that Rolle's parents seem
to have been dead by the time he wrote the Job (that is, when
he was probably about thirty, which, if he were born about 1300,
would fall between the dates of the two subsidies). The Job contains
the following: '[Quasi putredo consumendus sum.. .] hanc condi-
tionem omnes homines habent. Non enim haec necesse est exponere,
quae omnes iam in visu parentum didecere (sic): ossa viderunt
mortuorum, vsque ad putredinem consumpta cognoscunt corpora
parentum' (fol. cv).
Whether Hugo Rol was nearly connected with the hermit or not,
there is at least a strong chance that he also took his origin' from
Thornton Dale. The principal landowners in Slingsby were the
de Wyvilles, lords of Slingsby Castle, and they at the time of Kirkby's
Inquest owned land in Thornton Dale. Their claim to this land was
opposed by the abbot of Rievaulx, and an action was brought on this
subject in 1278-9.2 The abbot made the claim that the land in
question was part of the 'waste below Pickering' granted to Rievaulx
by Henry II. A document of c. 11603 is cited in this connexion,
which gives the boundaries of this waste in Thornton Dale (pp. 135 sq.).
One of the jury whose names are appended is 'Ricardus Rolle-
villain'. There can be little doubt that this name indicates a
'Richard Rolle, villein,' living in Thornton Dale nearly a hundred and
fifty years before the birth of the hermit Richard. The extreme rarity
of the name Rolle' in medieval Yorkshire would make it likely
that this person was the ancestor both of Hugo Rol (who may have
"
1 The Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II complains because the king
takes money from such poor persons (Camden Soc., 6, p. 337). Mr. Brown in
editing the subsidy, however, notes that in practice the very poor were
sometimes passed over (p. xv).
YAS. Rec. Ser., 21, p. 46 n., SS., 83, pp. 402-3.
This date was supplied by Professor Hamilton Thompson from the com-
parison of dates of other related charters (cf. ibid., pp. 51, 185-8).


434
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
followed the Wyvilles to Slingsby, when the suit went against them
and they lost their land in Thornton) and of the hermit Richard
Rolle, whom good medieval evidence associates with this village.
Some objections to this interpretation of the evidence in question
should be noted. The Rievaulx Chartulary gives the name clearly
as 'Ric. Rolleuilain' (B. Mus. Cotton Jul. D. i, f. 129b), but in
the copy of the same charter given in the Lancaster Coucher Book
the same name is given as 'Ricardus filius Rollemylans'. This
difficult form can be discarded, for the editor points out the great
carelessness of the scribe evident throughout the volume (ii, pp. xxx,
xxxiii). In any case this scribe could not have had access to the
original charter as the Rievaulx scribe must have had.
It might appear that the name found in the Rievaulx Chartulary was
a surname. As Professor Hamilton Thompson points out to me, a
'Stephanus Manievilain' also witnesses the document in question, and
a family of this surname survived in Thornton Dale to the fourteenth
century (v. Rievaulx Chartulary, passim). Moreover, in the same
chartulary (p. 51) is mentioned a dean of York whose surname
is Botevilein or Butevilein'. Such analogies may bring some
uncertainty to the interpretation of 'Rollevillain' in the document in
question, but the fact that this form (though analogous to the others)
is never registered elsewhere as a surname would seem to make the
interpretation here proposed not unlikely.
Professor Hamilton Thompson points out that a villein probably
could not witness a charter, which might make it difficult to interpret
'Rollevillain' in the present case as a sign of social condition rather
than a name. However, the charter relating to Thornton is a sort
of 'perambulation', where testimony is given as to boundaries. For
such a purpose, villeins who had worked on the land all their lives
would be the most suitable witnesses. Altogether, whatever the
significance of the strange 'Rollevillain', the Richard Rolle connected
with Thornton c. 1300 is likely to be the modern representative of the
'Ricardus Rollevillain' in the same village a hundred and fifty years
earlier, and Hugo Rol, whom we find c. 1300 in the village of the
1 Turton, iv. 120-1. This might be interpreted as a corruption of ‘filius
Rolle villani' or 'Rollemylans' might be a personal name. Both explanations
are difficult.
Bardsley (English Surnames, 2nd edit., London, 1875) cites among sur-
names which originated in nicknames 'Beauvileyns' and 'Mangevileyns', both
of which are obsolete (p. 507). Lower (English Surnames, 4th edit., London,
1875) notes that 'Butvillaine' became in some cases 'Butwilliam', 'Boutevilein',
'Butvelin', and 'Butlin' (ii. 35). Neither volume notes 'Rollevillain'.


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
435
former owners of the very piece of land in question c. 1160, may well
have belonged to the same family. Perhaps the omission of Rolle's
father from the records of 1284 and 1301 means that at those dates
he was as poor as the poorest villein.
Though, as we have seen, we find no record of the hermit's father,
William Rolle, in Thornton Dale, Mr. William Brown pointed out to
me the following entries in the unpublished portion of the lay subsidy
of 1327:
P. R. O. Ex. Lay Subsidies 211. 1 Edward III.
I
6
(m. 11) Ayhescoh' et Leming' (Aiskew and Leeming near Bedale).
De Willelmo Roule ijs.
(m. 13) Jafford (Yafforth, two miles west of Northallerton).
De Willelmo Rolle ixd.
The same names reappear in the lay subsidy of 1333, as follows:
P. R. O. Ex. Lay Subsidies
(m. 2d) Aykescogh.
211
7a
6 Edward III.
De Willelmo Roule vis.
(m. 6d) Jafford.
De Willelmo Rolle ij".
It is very possible that one of the persons appearing in the records
just quoted was the father of Richard Rolle, or (if the reference from
the Job already quoted be considered valid evidence for his father's
death before this time) it may be his brother. As a matter of fact
the Office does not explicitly tell us that Rolle was born at Thornton:
it says that he received the origin of his propagation' there, and
a similar phrase ('originem duxit') used by Leland in connexion
with the village of Wycliffe and the reformer of the same name,
is interpreted as meaning only that Wyclif's family took their origin
there, since elsewhere Leland says that he was born' at a village
that has been identified as Hipswell, near Richmond.' It hardly
seems possible that Rolle's family could have been many years
out of Thornton at the time when he became a hermit-certainly not
long enough for him to have been born elsewhere-for, as we shall
see, in that case it would be unlikely that his father should be so well
known as he seems to have been to the John Dalton who was almost
certainly a chief official of Pickering c. 1306-22. It is however
possible that they moved from Thornton to Richmondshire in
Rolle's boyhood, and that when he became a hermit he started from
1 See D. N. B., art. Wycliffe, EETS., Orig. Ser., 54.


436
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
the new family home for the region of the old, which he would thus
have known well to be suitable for a hermit. It has been said that
until the Enclosures Act it was even in modern times 'one of the
most extensive stretches of uninhabited country in England'.' In
Rolle's time not only the high moors to the north of Pickering
but also the marshes to the south must have surrounded it with
lonely places. It is a strong argument in favour of the conjecture
that when he ran away from home at eighteen (or thereabouts) he
started from Richmondshire, that only thus (it would seem) he would
effectually be 'fleeing from friends and acquaintances' as the Office
tells us that he was. Pickering, the home of John de Dalton, lay
thirty or forty miles to the east of the district of Aiskew and Yafforth,
but both places where we know that Dalton owned land were not
more than four or five miles from Thornton Dale, and it would seem
that Rolle's father (if living in that village) could readily find him in
the neighbourhood of either and defeat his purpose. Moreover, it
may be that when after many tribulations Richard went to Richmond-
shire, he was returning to the neighbourhood of his family there. It
is perhaps noteworthy that both of the villages in question must be
about twelve or fifteen miles from East Layton, where his disciple
Margaret was enclosed when he lived twelve miles from her cell,
and Aiskew cannot be more than five miles from Ainderby where she
was later transferred, and Yafforth no more than two. Perhaps
Rolle's movements and Margaret's depended on old Rolle family
friends.
ments.
Yafforth is likely to have been the home of Rolle's family if either
entry in the subsidy of 1327 refers to his father. Since the record of
a name in this subsidy (being a tax on personalty) meant that the
holder kept an actual establishment in the village in question, two
separate persons are likely to be indicated by the entries, for persons
of the narrow means implied are not likely to have kept two establish-
The 'William Rolle' at Yafforth spelt his name exactly as
did Richard's father, and as the hermit's is uniformly spelt. 'William
Roule' spelt his in a way that may indicate another origin of higher
social condition (as would agree with his larger fortune). In view of
the extreme rarity of names anything like this in medieval Yorkshire
it is likely that the Roule in Aiskew of 1327 belonged to the same
family as the 'Robert de Roule' who was living in 1295, having
1 G. Home, Evolution of an English Town (Pickering), London, 1905,
p. 266.


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
437
1
married a granddaughter of the Eskelby family of Exelby, parish of
Burneston, only about two miles south of Aiskew. The history of
Exelby and that of Leeming ... are very closely interwoven ' (V.C.H.,
N.R. ii. 358). It is possible that Robert Roule came from Lincoln-
shire. As we have seen, no Rolles or Roules appear in 1301 in
Aiskew or Yafforth (for which the lay subsidy rolls of that date are
complete); the blood of one or both families, however, seems to have
continued in the neighbourhood after the time in question. In 1381
one 'Robert Rolle of Gillyng' (ten or fifteen miles to the north) was
sued for cutting down trees at Aske near Richmond. In 1517 one
'William Roolle of Hakford' (not more than three miles from Aiskew
and five from Yafforth) appears in legal documents. What is very
tantalizing is that one 'Richard, son of Nicholas Rolle' is a plaintiff
in a plea of trespass in 1349 in a Coram Rege Roll, and though the
case is clearly marked co. Lincs.' it is a strange coincidence that the
case immediately preceding concerns the hamlet of Yafforth, co. Yorks.
We may wonder whether some error has crept in at this point, in view
of the fact that a William Rolle lived at Yafforth just before 1349, and
we know that one branch at least of this very rare family alternated
the name William with the name Richard. If both the two names
were to be connected with the Rolles of Yafforth, we should be given
fair evidence for believing that this was the family of the hermit.
Some general information as to persons named Rolle should be
given in order to test the comparative value of the evidence just
1 This person is identified with the 'Robert de Rowelle' in whose inquest
post mortem of 1303 we read that his lands are confiscated by reason of the
felony of his son John, an outlaw in co. Lincs. (YAJ. x. 273). The Richmond-
shire family of Rollos, who had also had their lands confiscated, are here cited
as probably being of the same stock, but we shall see that the Rollos' con-
fiscation took place much earlier and that there is no reason to connect the
two families (v. infra, p. 440). In 1268 three priests surnamed 'de Role' were
ordained by the archbishop of York from the diocese of Lincoln 'de gratia':
'Rog. de Role, Ivo de eadem... Will. de Role' (SS., 109, p. 193).—The
spelling Roule', 'Rowelle' may suggest a derivation from 'Rothwell' (co.
Yorks, near Leeds, and co. Lincs.). The name spelt in this way seems to have
persisted near Thirsk (v. infra, p. 439), and 'Rowell' may be seen to-day
among the names on the war memorial of the Great War in the churchyard of
Ainderby Steeple. Miss Joan Wake points out to me that the village
of Rothwell in Northants is locally pronounced' Rowell '.
6
2 Cited in Plantagenet Harrison's Extracts from the De Banco Rolls, vol.
v, P. R. O.
3 YAJ. xii. 252.
Cited by Plantagenet Harrison, Extracts from the Coram Rege Rolls, vol. xv
(P. R. O.), Roll 85, Trin. 22 Edward III, m. 70.


438
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
presented. It is said (Lower, i. 163) that this surname is derived
from the personal name 'Raoul' (Ralph), which would naturally give
a wider range of origin than a place-name. As a matter of fact, as
late as the time of Dunbar we find 'Roull' for Ralph.' The only
Rolles who reach the heraldic records are those of Oxfordshire and of
Devon, who, however, do not appear till the beginning of the seventeenth
century. Their early history is not recorded, but it is a sign of the
confused spelling of this surname that (late as the records in this case
are) we find the forms Rowles, Roll, Rolle, and Rolles, all applied to
the same family. The founder of the Oxfordshire family (c. 1600)
was Richard Rowles, and 'Richard' was passed on to his descendants
(Harl. Soc., 5, p. 328). In the index of early persons in the library of
the Society of Genealogists in London, the spellings are even more
various (though no 'Rollevillain' appears). Not a single Yorkshire
or Northern person of the name is cited. Most of the entries concern
the extreme South, but there is also a Norfolk family. From the
British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books we learn that persons
named 'Rolle' have written in France, Germany, and Poland, as well
as in England.
A fairly exhaustive examination of the accessible Yorkshire records
adds no persons named Rolle from the North Riding to those already
cited, and from the rest of Yorkshire only the following:
EAST RIDING.
Henry Roll (or Rolle) was master of a ship, sailing from Hull
1391-2 (Early Yorkshire Woollen Trade, YAS. Rec. Ser., 64, passim).
In c. 1182 William de Rule, parson of Cotyngham and of 'Rule',
built at his own expense the refectory of Meaux Abbey; he was
apparently the son of a father of the same name (RS., 43, i. 217, 233).
This name may be derived from the parish of Rowley, about eight
miles from Hull, and the same village probably gave the name
to William de Roulee of Hull, whose inquest post mortem of 1294
still exists.3
C
1 Lament for the Death of the Makkaris, quoted by H. Harrison, Surnames of the
United Kingdom, London, 1918, ii. In 1650' Roule' alternates with Rawling'
(v. p. 439, n. 2).
2 See Harl. Soc., 5, p. 328; 8, p. 30; 9, p. 290; 17, p. 214.
We have also William de Roulay (or Reulay), to whom a York scribe
bequeathed twelve arrows and a bow in 1391 (TE. i. 145). The Coucher Book
of Selby Abbey, c. 1263, gives as a witness William de Roleya (YAS. Rec.
Ser., 13, p. 253). These names would of course all give 'Rowley' in modern
times. Adam de Roule is a Scot, arrested by John de Dalton Dec. 28, 1320
(Close Rolls).


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
439
WEST RIDING.
In 1309 Alice Rolle of West Bretton (perhaps fifteen miles from
Hampole) is accused of theft (YAS. Rec. Ser., 36, p. 212). This is
perhaps the 'Alice le Roller' who was fined 2d. at Wakefield in 1313
(ibid., 57, p. 4). In 1560 Richard Rolles bought and in 1576 sold
the rectory and other property at 'Waddisworth', which is probably
Wadworth, south of Doncaster, again near Hampole.¹ Robert
Rouel brought a suit of 'mort d'ancestre' in 1325 concerning land
in 'Blusseburn' (sic, probably Glusburn between Skipton and Keighley,
since the other party to the suit lived in Cononley, which is near)
(P. R. O. Assize Roll 1119, 18 Edward II, m. 2). Here the Christian
name and the spelling of the surname may suggest a connexion
with the family at Aiskew (which cannot be more than forty miles
distant).
An examination of the volumes of the Yorkshire Parish Register
Society shows the rarity of the name Rolle in post-medieval York.
shire. It is only found in the following instances: a Martha Role
is cited from Wath-upon-Dearne (about ten miles from Hampole)
(vol. 14, p. 255); numerous persons named Rowell, Rouel, Rouill,
Rowil, Rowill, from Thirsk, about ten miles from Yafforth and
Aiskew (vol. 42).
The facts just enumerated show the rarity of the name Rolle in
medieval Yorkshire, and suggest that the evidence connecting this
name with Thornton Dale is not to be lightly discarded. No other
place can offer a better claim to being the family home of the
hermit, nor is any other person so likely to have belonged to his
family as the William Rolle of Yafforth. The persistence of the
names Richard and William Rolle in Yorkshire in the sixteenth
century suggests that the family of the hermit did not die out.²
1 YAS. Rec. Ser., 2, p. 242; 5, p. 106. No other parish in Yorkshire of a
similar name has a church, and this town is elsewhere cited under a spelling
giving the medial 's' (see SS., 49, p. 532).
2 In 1310 Richard Rolle was one of many (headed by the abbot of Bury St.
Edmunds) who were accused of impounding cattle in Suffolk (Pat. Rolls, June
16, 1310): at this early period it is singular to find the hermit's name thus
exactly repeated. Richard Rolle is one of those to whom a cellar and a loft
in Sussex were bequeathed in 1500 (Cat. Ancient Deeds, iii. 35). In 1650 a
reader in a chapel-of-ease in Lancashire (Ulverston) is Sir Richard Roule (or
Rawling) (V. C. H. Lancs. viii. 369, et n.). The index of early persons in the
library of the Society of Genealogists in London cites six other persons of
names similar to Richard Rolle', as well as dozens named William (by far
the commonest Christian name found with this surname).


440
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
The continuity of Christian names found with the Rolle surname
might suggest a common origin for the family, and in this connexion
it is worth noting that a great Yorkshire twelfth- and thirteenth-
century family bore a surname which (judging from the variation of
spelling actually found) might be corrupted into 'Rolle'. We find,
during its entire life in the county (four generations), only Richards
and Williams in the great Norman family of de Rollos, who acquired
by marriage soon after the Conquest eight manors in Richmondshire
and thirteen knight's fees in Yorkshire. Their estates lay in part
immediately adjacent to the part of Richmondshire where we find
the name Rolle in the fourteenth century, but they seem to have
held nothing near Pickering. The first of the name was William,
whose son Richard lost the estates under Stephen for taking the part
of the Empress, but recovered them under Henry II. His heir was
also Richard, whose son William finally lost them for good under
John. It is uncertain whether it is the first William or his great-
grandson of the same name who is referred to as 'William de
Roulous, a stranger', who held some of the Richmondshire lands of
the Rollos.' It must be the second Richard who is referred to as
'Richard Rolous' in 1184.2 It is hard to tell whether this family
ever actually lived in Yorkshire; the writer in the Victoria County
History (N.R., i. 129) believes that they returned to Normandy in
the reign of King John, when their English lands were forfeited. In
1207 one Robert Cotele (grandson of the second Richard) sought
to regain them, but it is found that William left no lawful heirs.
3
At this time, English surnames had hardly become established.
We can find a Richard in Sandal near Hampole in the thirteenth
century who is at various times known by three surnames—his
father's (Butler), his mother's (Savile, which is generally given to all
her children), and his own patronymic (son of Hugh). As late as
1329 we find a father and son appearing in a Yorkshire fine with
1 YAS. Rec. Ser., 12, p. 266. The descent of the Rollos and their estates is
given by P. Harrison, History of Yorkshire (Gilling West), London, 1879, p. 74.
R. Gale, Richmond, London, 1722, pp. 21, 23.
There is confusion about
3 V. C. H., ibid., pp. 61, 164, 233, Harrison, p. 74.
this family, for in the Red Book of the Exchequer 'Ricardus de Roules' as late
as 1211-12 is said to hold six and a half knight's fees in the Honour of Richmond
(RS., 99, p. 587). A nephew Arnold appears as a benefactor to Easby Abbey
with Richard de Rollos (Harrison, p. 61). Perhaps the ' Radulphus de Rolliaco'
or 'Radulphus de Rolli', who was an early benefactor of Holy Trinity Priory
at York, belonged to this family (Dugdale, Monasticon, iv. 682-3).
YAS. Rec. Ser., 30, p. 404; cf. pp. 401, 446.


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
441
different surnames,' according to the property which they held, and
surnames are still taken from offices.2 In several of the noblest
families of Yorkshire the patronymics which were to be their surnames
were first assumed at this period, and in some noble families of the
realm in the late thirteenth century the patronymic still changed
with every generation. Under these circumstances the persistence
in Yorkshire during a long period of the Christian names William
and Richard with the surname Rolle (with slight variations) is note-
worthy, and might suggest that somehow the later humble persons
named William or Richard Rolle may have derived their singularly
stable surnames from the great Yorkshire family de Rollos, possibly by
illegitimate descent, or because they had been serfs of the Rollos.
A family who had suffered a confiscation of estates every other
generation might find it hard to provide for their younger sons, and
it might even be that the Rolles of humble position belonged to the
legitimate line. Any conjecture, however, must be adjusted to the
fact that an ancestor of 'Rolles' probably lived in Thornton Dale
c. 1160 under the name 'Richard Rollevillain'. This person would
be a contemporary of the two great lords Richard de Rollos.
1 YAS. Rec. Ser., 42, p. xix. The Sir Robert de Dalton, who was probably
brother of Rolle's patron, once seems to appear as 'Robert de Bispham' (from
his estate. V. C. H., Lancs. vi. 101, n. 1).
2 In 1339 the 'Bedern Butler of Beverley' (a rich corrody), terms himself
'Johannes le Boteller' (SS., 108, p. 130). Long before this time the continuity
of the title 'Butler' with the Sandal family (v. supra) would seem to indicate a
surname.
3 The first of the lords of Ravensworth to take the name Fitz Hugh was Rolle's
contemporary (d. 1356). See V. C. H., N.R. i. 89. Who was the first of the
lords of Sprotborough (founders of Hampole) to take the surname Fitzwilliam is
hard to determine, for they were all (during the fourteenth century) called
William. The lords of Middleham (from whom Thomas Neville's father inherited)
never had a surname (YAJ. xxv. 276).
The Richard FitzJohn who is said to have been overlord of Skelbroke, near
Hampole, was the son of John Fitz Peter or FitzPiers, alias FitzGeoffrey, Chief
Justice of England (T. D. Whitaker, Craven, 3rd edit., London, 1878, p. 312).
V. infra, p. 510.
The Lincolnshire Roules already cited may come from the same source, for
Professor Hamilton Thompson informs me that Richard de Rulos' owned
'property in S. Lincolnshire in the twelfth century, and an effigy of a knight in
the church at St. James Deeping is traditionally (though not very probably)
supposed to be his'. We may have the same family here, but in a twelfth-cen-
tury charter in the possession of Mr. Stopford Sackville, of Drayton House,
Northants (photograph No. 99 in the series made from Drayton charters for the
Northamptonshire Record Society), his name is 'de Rodlos'. His daughter
Adelina grants this charter (wife of Baldwin Wake). In Kingsley's Hereward
the Wake he appears as the husband of Hereward's granddaughter.
F f


442
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
As we have seen, part, if not all, of the hermit's early life is likely
to have been spent in Thornton Dale. It is therefore of interest to
know that in 1335, when the inquest was held on the estate of
William Latimer, lord of the manor of Thornton, it was found that
' in the manor there is a chief messuage worth in garden produce and
herbage 13s 4d', arable lands and meadows, a water-mill, a fulling-
mill, a common oven. The land is held by 'tenants-at-will, free-
holders, bondmen, and cottars' (Turton, ii. 273). 'Thorntondale
wood' is mentioned (1335, ibid. iv. 42), which (if the Rolles were
living in Thornton at the time) may have been the 'nemus uicinum'
where Rolle met his sister. We are also told that at Thornton every
year the abbot of Whitby delivered three thousand red herrings to the
master of the hospital of St. Peter's at York.¹ The lords of the
manor held a court in Thornton, a market, and (twice a year) a fair.
The modern village of Thornton is sometimes called 'the prettiest
village in Yorkshire'. A very rapid stream, flowing over stones,
runs alongside the village street (and in medieval times probably
turned the water-mill and fulling-mill already mentioned). At the
lower end, the hall flanks it on one side and a picturesque range of
almshouses on the other. The stream comes curving down into the
village-again past picturesque buildings, with bridges leading to
some houses-from the high wooded moors which closely overhang
the settlement at the back. The appearance of the stream and
moors can hardly have changed since Rolle's time, and a short
distance up the course of the stream, on the moor, is a very primitive
small church.
It would be of interest if we could know to which of the classes
of tenants in Thornton William Rolle belonged during his residence
there. It has been taken for granted that he was, according to the
Cambridge History of English Literature (ii. 44), 'a man of some
substance'; to use Horstmann's words, 'apparently of respectable
position, being called an intimate friend of John de Dalton (iste
1 G. Young, Hist. of Whitby and Streonashalh Abbeys, Whitby, 1817, i. 333.
This custom began in 1225.
YAS. Rec. Ser., 39, p. 170, SS., 49, p. 147; in the records 'Alan of Thorn-
ton' and his descendants constantly reappear (Turton, passim, etc.). Mrs. Richard
Hill, whose husband's family have been lords of the manor of Thornton since
the seventeenth century, and Miss Ethel Priestman, whose family have been
there very long, have both been kind enough to write to me about any possible
records of the family of Rolle in Thornton. None seem to be forthcoming,
though Miss Priestman tells me that the late Joshua Rowntree, whose mother
was a Priestman, and who was a keen antiquary, had all the family deeds
searched for the purpose.


BIRTHPLACE AND FAMILY
443
armiger patrem suum veluti sibi familiarem grata affectione diligebat)'
(ii, p. v). In the last edition of the Office these words led the editor
to suppose the Rolles to have 'belonged to the squire class' (p. 5);
here this sentence appears without the 'sibi' (as 'patrem suum
ueluti familiarem '). These words do not seem unequivocally to
bear the meaning assigned to them. Familiaris' is the usual term
for members of the household of the great, from the king's household
down.' John Dalton, whom we suppose to have been Rolle's first
patron, was 'familiaris' of Earl Thomas (v. infra, p. 455); Rolle's father
may have borne the same relation to Dalton. The phrase is used
earlier in the Office in the technical meaning; we are told that
'familiares de domo armigeri' appeared in church with Dalton's
wife. However, it is also used somewhat in the sense of 'friend',
heretofore ascribed to it in this passage, when we are told that
Richard was accustomed to be 'multum familiaris' to recluses. It
it perhaps more likely that in the instance under discussion it bears
the usual almost technical meaning of a 'member of the household'.
We have seen that though Dalton has a special affection for the
father he does not recognize the son, which would seem to imply an
official connexion (possibly a past one, if the Rolles had moved to
Yafforth). We are told that Richard was sent to learn his letters
'de industria parentum', which might suggest narrow means, and
working people; though an idiom, 'de industria', is in question,
the meaning here is probably nearly literal-' by the efforts' (or the
intention) of his parents'. We have seen that neither the William
Rolle nor the William Roule of 1327 contributed much to the
subsidy-he of Yafforth, who was much the poorer, contributed ixd,
and Hugo Rol in Slingsby in 1301 contributed xvijd and owned
a messuage there. These would be the kind of small householders
who (as we shall see) must have been employed in large numbers by
John Dalton (for the first quarter of the fourteenth century probably
the largest employer of labour in the neighbourhood of Pickering).
These would be people who might by the effort of their industry
set a promising son to learning. We find a century before this time
the case of a Yorkshire serf whose son is Magister' (Chronicles of
Meaux, ii. 34), and there would certainly be nothing improbable,
therefore, in a small freeholder or tenant sending his son to school,
(
1 See for the king's household T. F. Tout, Chapters in the Administrative
History of Mediaeval England, Manchester, 1920, ii, passim.
This translation (suggested by Mr. Herbert) is also given by Miss Comper
(p. xlv).
F f 2


444
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
even supposing that he may have been descended from villeins a
century earlier, and still very poor through his early years, as it is
possible that William Rolle may have been.
We have no clue as to where Richard Rolle was sent for his first
schooling. Schools were at this time flourishing at York and Beverley,
but there were doubtless others springing up here and there in the
county: unlicensed competitive schools at Kelk and Dalton near
Beverley were censured in 1304-6.¹
THOMAS DE NEVILLE, ROLLE'S PATRON AT THE
UNIVERSITY
It is possible that Richard was brought to the notice of Thomas
de Neville through his schoolmaster or some patron of his family.
He gives the signs of such precocity as is likely to have made an
immediate impression at school. Since, however, Neville belonged
to a great family holding estates all over the North, he may have
heard of the boy through his kinsfolk and a visit to a country estate
rather than through ecclesiastical connexions. As a matter of fact,
his family were lords of Snape and Well, about fifteen miles from
Yafforth and half that distance from Aiskew (V. C. H., N.R. i. 351).
As we have seen, the age of Thomas Neville, who maintained
Rolle at Oxford, is one of the determining factors for Rolle's own
age, since he lived till 1362, thirteen years after Rolle's death,
though obviously he must have been the senior of his protégé. His
will is in print (TE. i. 74). Thomas was so highly born that all
sorts of privileges were possible in his career, and we know that his
twin nephews, his namesake Thomas, and Alexander (afterwards
archbishop of York), were (in 1351) by papal dispensation beneficed
at fifteen, and allowed to become pluralists at nineteen (Papal
Petitions, i. 214). We may therefore suppose that Rolle's patron
began his professional career in his early teens, and was perhaps
only a few years older than the boy whom he assisted at Oxford.
Dr. Rashdall has reminded us that it may be laid down as a general
principle in all spheres of medieval life that rich and noble persons
enjoyed in practice exceptional privileges'. Robert de Sorbonne,
he says, 'tells us that many magnates were licensed without any
Examination at all' (p. 457). Twenty was recorded as the minimum
age for mastership, and the full course in the Arts was seven years.
Thirteen was therefore the normal age for admission, but at Paris
1 A. F. Leach, Yorks Schools, YAS. Rec. Ser., 27, pp. xlii-iv.
2 Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1895, i. 461.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: THOMAS DE NEVILLE
445
the regulation is made that 'determining bachelors' must be at least
fourteen, which 'distinctly implies that some went up much earlier
than this'. Many would naturally be older (ii. 604). We are told
that the system of teaching was exactly the same in Oxford as in
Paris (ii. 460), and therefore Neville may have been a master by
twenty, and able to give effectual support to a boy of thirteen just
coming up. Rolle, as we have seen, probably called himself 'juvenis '
in 1326-7, and for some years later, and is likely to have been born
at about the turn of the century or a little earlier. Neville was
probably born somewhere in the nineties, for the relative ages of his
family would seem to forbid his having lived to a great age. Though
his grandfather died in 1271 (at a very early age), his grandmother
lived till 1320. He was the fifth son of his father (Ralph, first lord
of Raby), who did not die till 1331, and his older brother, the second
son (Ralph, second lord of Raby), outlived him by five years, dying
in 1367. At most, therefore, when he died in 1362 he is not likely
to have been more than about seventy, for even so his brother (who
must have been three years older at the very least) would have lived
till almost eighty, which was in the Middle Ages very old. As late
as 1360 the latter attended the king to France. As a matter of fact,
his birth is conjecturally put in the D. N. B. as 1291, which, if
accurate, would put that of Thomas after 1294. Both dates are
more likely to be too early than too late.
We should like to know many details of the career of Thomas
Neville, for through them we might learn interesting facts concern-
ing Rolle.
Unfortunately our data as to Neville are confused and
fragmentary. There was at least one other cleric of the time
with his name besides his nephew, whose career runs into his
in a puzzling way towards the end of his life: there was also at
least one prominent layman of the same name who appears in the
records of the same time. In view of the other clerics of the name
1 Daniel Rowland, Family of Nevill, London, 1830, Table I.
2 De Nova Villa, H. J. Swallow, Newcastle, 1885, p. 14.
We find the institution as rector of Gisburne in Craven in 1318 of Mr.
Tho. de Nevill', but he was son of Sir John (Whitaker, Craven, p. 46). He was
recommended by the pope to the archdeaconry of Bedford in 1319 (Papal Letters,
ii. 193). The Thomas de Neville who was rector of Elsdon, dioc. Durham, and of
Ainderby, co. Yorks, in 1313, when he tried to become archdeacon at Lichfield
(Reg. Palat. Dunelm., i. 365, RS., 62), was also older than Archdeacon Thomas,
for he was supported by Walter Langton, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield
(Winchester Reg. Sandale, Hants Rec. Soc., 318), which suggests that this is
the Thomas de Neville who in 1301 was appointed an attorney for this bishop
(Pat. Rolls, Sept. 27, 1301), and who as 'Thomas de Neville clerk' was granted


446
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
at the same period, we cannot assign to Rolle's patron with certainty
any benefices which cannot be connected directly or indirectly with
the Thomas de Neville, archdeacon of Durham, whom we know to
have been the son of Ralph, first lord of Raby. Even so, the
records show that Thomas used his high connexions to build up
a fortune in the ecclesiastical world. On January 4, 1332–3, 'Master
Thomas de Neville, king's clerk', had provision of a canonry of
York with expectation of a prebend: he was then rector of Stanhope,
diocese of Durham (which he is to resign), and had a canonry and
prebend in the church of Chester-le-Street (Cal. Papal Letters, ii. 385).
The benefices here cited are all mentioned when he had provision
of a canonry of Beverley, with expectation of a prebend, in July
1333; it is then noted that he is the son of 'Ralph de Nevile,
knight' (ibid., p. 376). The archdeaconry of Durham was granted
to 'Master Thomas de Nevill, king's clerk', March 31, 1334,' and on
February 22, 1335, 'Master Thomas de Nevill, king's clerk ', received
the prebend of Swerdes in Ireland, which was confirmed to him
August 25, 1340, out of regard for his brother, and on March 22,
1337, February 8, and April 18, 1340, he was allowed to bring crops
from his prebend, in spite of the general prohibition, again at the
request of his brother, lord of Raby (Pat. Rolls). He was enfeoffed
with land in 1345, again at the request of his brother (Reg. Pal.
Dunelm. iv. 340), and in 1340 he was allowed to choose a confessor
even in cases reserved by the canon law (ibid. iii. 309). The same
year he became master of the hospital of Sherburn (ibid., p. 275),
and in 1341 he was one of the special commissioners appointed to
appropriate a church to Balliol College (ibid., p. 397). Other bene-
indemnity for money held for Bishop Walter (ibid., Nov. 15, 1307). The same
person is probably the Thomas de Neville who was one of the many in Knapton,
co. Yorks, etc., who were accused in the Patent Rolls (c. 1310) of assaults, break-
ing into a chest of books, etc.; 'Henry de Lichfield' and Bishop Walter were
also offenders. In 1311 the king sent two writs to the bishop of Durham, order-
ing his clerk, Thomas de Neville, parson of Elsdon, to appear to reply to Henry
de Lichfield for a debt (Reg. Palat. Dunelm. ii. 838, etc.). We seem altogether
to have evidence to connect the Neville of Elsdon with the attorney of 1301.
This may be also the Thomas de Neville who was rector of Sheriff Hutton in
1274 (Charter Rolls, March 30, 1310). Many references to Thomas de Neville
in the rolls at this period may indicate either a layman or a cleric, but there was
a conspicuous layman of the name, for we read in the Patent Rolls (Oct. 30,
1333) that exemption for life was granted at York for Thomas de Neville from
being put on juries, assizes, made mayor, sheriff, coroner, etc. Most of my
information in this note I owe to Professor Hamilton Thompson.
1 Pat. Rolls. Le Neve seems to imply that a foreigner held on to the arch-
deaconry for some years (Fasti, iii. 303). He gives no references.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: THOMAS DE NEVILLE
447
fices are on record as having been given to him after this time, but
enough have been cited to show the character of his career.¹
It will be seen that none of the documents cited for Rolle's patron
are dated before 1333, which would again confirm our conjecture
that he could not have been born many years before the turn of the
century. He is probably the 'Thomas de Neville, clerk,' who on
March 3, 1318, is enfeoffed with land in co. Warwick (Pat. Rolls).
At this time Rolle was perhaps still under his patronage at Oxford.
He is probably the 'Master Thomas de Neville, Professor of Civil
Law,' who in 1327 was appointed by the archbishop of York on
a commission to make an inquisition about a claim to the rectory of
Fishlake,' and who in 1328 was one of those deputed to make a new
taxation of the property of Guisbro' Priory after the Scotch invasion
(SS., 89, p. 399). These appointments would suggest that Neville
was a lawyer of some learning and eminence, and that his high birth,
though he used it to advance his fortune, had not made him take his
academic honours entirely as sinecures.3
As we have seen, it is very likely that his dependence on a worldly
ecclesiastic had something to do in bringing about Richard's early
and violent revolt against the world, and in instigating the attack on
worldly clergymen with which he opened his literary career. It is
1 May 21, 1355, 'Master Thomas de Nevill' is cited with three others (all
Cherletons), as regents of the University of Oxford at the time of the great
Town and Gown riot of St. Scholastica's Day, 1354 (Pat. Rolls). The person
in question here must be the archdeacon's nephew, who at the time of the riot
was twenty-two years of age, and therefore probably a regent. We are told
that all masters should be regents (that is, should actually lecture) for two years
after gaining their degrees (Rashdall, i. 403, ii. 460).
2 YAJ. xvii. 415.
'The three titles, Master, Doctor, Professor, were in the
Middle Ages absolutely synonymous' (Rashdall, i. 21).
3 The year before his death (1361) he bought (as 'archdeacon of Durham')
for 200 marks land in Masham, with remainder to John Boteler of Layburn,
some clerics, the heirs of the original owners, and those of John (YAS. Rec.
Ser., 52, p. 81). Boteler was one of the executors of his will (TE. i. 74), and
was perhaps known to Thomas because Layburn immediately adjoined the great
Neville castle of Middleham. The list of Archdeacon Thomas's benefices given
by the editor of his will includes some which really belonged to his nephew
Thomas, as was pointed out to me by Professor Hamilton Thompson. Such are
the prebend of Bole in York, and the rectory of Thorpe Basset (E.R.). See
Cal. Papal Petitions (i. 214, 374-6), and Torre's list at York (institution, Feb. 20,
1354-5). Until Professor Hamilton Thompson discovered that the rector of
Thorpe Basset was the nephew, I had thought that this benefice might have been
the means of bringing Rolle to the knowledge of Neville, for we are told that
the church of Thornton Dale was affiliated to the church of Thorpe Basset
(V. C. H., N.R. ii. 497).


448
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
also perhaps likely that Archdeacon Neville took an active part in
the effort made to force the young hermit into more conventional
ways. Richard tells us that those who had been his best friends in
secular life were afterwards his worst persecutors (v. supra, pp. 110,
141, 182), and Neville was (for one) probably in question. It could
hardly have been pleasing to the archdeacon when his one-time
protégé condemned vigorously hirdes of haly kirke... that sekis
noght bot riches and honurs' (English Psalter, p. 283); Nunc ubi
invenitur vel unus pastor qui quaerat salutem animarum?' (Latin
Psalter, fol. xlv).
We do not know when Richard was sent to the university, but
it seems that he must at some time have been under academic
discipline for a considerable period, for, though his method is
never scholastic for long, his expositions show learning. The Job,
which was early, the Latin Psalter and the short commentaries the
Pater Noster and the Apostles' Creed (the last three of uncertain
date) are especially notable for their occasional careful reasoning on
theological subjects. His learning has lately been emphasized by
Dom Noetinger (v. supra, p. 19), who believes that Rolle's university
training was continued at Paris some time before he became a hermit
(v. infra, p. 490). It seems possible that he was at Oxford as long
as four years, for a very uncharacteristic theological argument in his
Incendium may be an echo of a controversy in the schools in 1314
(v. supra, p. 229). It would be likely that he went up as early as
this, for, as we have seen, thirteen was the normal age for admission,
and he was born about 1300. A successful academic career seems
to be implied in the Incendium (cap. 15), which says that when he
became a hermit he was flourishing unhappily' (that is, in the
worldly sense). An objective reference to the 'scolas disputancium',
and to those who had attained there 'nomen magistri', already
quoted from the Canticles (supra, p. 69), would seem to imply that
Rolle himself did not attain this honour, in spite of the learning
which Dom Noetinger would take as implying that he had.
It may be noted that the Office tells us that Rolle preached his
first sermon as a hermit at the time of the feast of the Assumption
(August 15), which would fall during the summer vacation of the
university. We have therefore no reason to believe that he broke
1 'A date about July 5 or 6 was recognized as the date for the Cessatio,
and October 10 as the date for the Resumpcio magistrorum regencium' (before
1350) (C. E. Mallett, History of the University of Oxford, London, 1924, i.
151 n.).


ROLLE'S PATRONS:
449
THOMAS DE NEVILLE
off his university career abruptly. Apparently what happened was
that he did not return to Oxford at the beginning of a new academic
year.
JOHN DE DALTON, ROLLE's first PATRON AFTER
BECOMING A HERMIT
The name John de Dalton is not an uncommon one in the
medieval records of Yorkshire (county of the 'dales '), where parishes
named Dalton were naturally frequent. Therefore we may say that
the identification of the 'servant of the earl of Lancaster', who was
a person of such authority about Pickering in the first quarter of
the fourteenth century, with the 'armiger' who was Rolle's patron
cannot be absolutely final. It rests only on circumstantial evidence,
and therefore can never be beyond error. However, it may
reasonably be accepted: a careful examination of contemporary
records shows no other person of the name who fits the case, and
the keeper does fit it excellently. The records give us data as to
his life and character, and echoes of both seem to occur in Rolle's
writings.'
The first episode of Rolle's life was his connexion with Thomas
Neville, a learned cleric, younger son of the highest aristocracy
of the North, who used his family influence to accumulate riches
and honours; the next seems to have brought him into con-
tact with the 'hangers-on' of families like the Nevilles, with
what may be called the nouveaux riches of that day, whose love
of worldly goods was even more active than the archdeacon's.
The first patron of Richard the hermit, John de Dalton, the
follower of Thomas, earl of Lancaster, was constable of Pickering
Castle, bailiff of the liberty of Pickering, and keeper of Pickering
Forest from at least 1306 (Turton, iii, pp. xii-xiii, 94; iv, p. xxxii, etc.).
He took part in the rebellion of his master, and on the execution of
the latter, March 22, 1322, he was deposed from his offices, and
his estates were confiscated. On April 5 Henry de Percy was
1 There are John Daltons mentioned during the late thirteenth and early four-
teenth centuries in the wapentake of Gilling West (see the history by P. Harri-
son, pp. 122, 130, 160, and cf. Lay Subsidy 1300-1, pp. 24, 112). But these
belong to a family 'Dalton of Dalton in Broghtonlithe', etc., settled in Richmond-
shire, where Rolle evidently did not spend the early years of his hermit's life,
since his removal there in his middle period is spoken of as something of an
event. John, filius Roberti de Daltona,' in 1297 was one of the 'Taxatores
Noni Denarii de Libertate Capituli Beverlacensis Forinseca' (YAS. Rec. Ser., 16,
p. 156). Since the keeper John does not appear at Pickering till 1306, this may
refer to him; probably, however, his father's name was Richard (v. infra, p. 451).
"


450
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
ordered to deliver 'John de Dalton, late servant of Thomas, earl of
Lancaster,' from the prison where Henry detained him. This was
done at the request of Eleanor, mother of Henry (under whose
husband Dalton had besieged Gaveston in Scarboro'), and of Henry
himself, who (with his mother) mainprised that he would appear
before the king to answer. The new constable of Pickering was
ordered to deliver to Dalton his lands, and his goods and chattels to
Eleanor and Henry. On June 13 he was pardoned, 'at the request
of Eleanor Percy, the king's kinswoman', and on payment of a fine
of 100 marks. Henry Percy was bidden to restore his lands and goods,
and the escheator and new constable of Pickering Castle were ordered
not to harass him (Fine Rolls).
There still exists the 'informal warrant for a writ under the great
seal' in which Edward II ordered that Henry de Percy be asked
'qil certifie le Rey si il eit arestut Johan de Dalton e si il soit
arestuz le qele larest e et set par cause de son prospre fait ou pur sa
aerdaunce as autres e si pur son prospre fet adonkes pur qele fet ', etc.¹
Dalton had a speedy release, but many other followers of Lancaster
lost their lives, and restitution of property was in many cases delayed
till the accession of Edward III (Parl. Rolls, ii. 420–2).
In 1323 land in Kirkby Misperton and Knapton (East Riding,
near Scampston) was settled on Dalton, with remainder to his sons,
John, Thomas, and Nicholas. In 1324 he bought the manor
and other property in Kirkby Misperton.' The Daltons' title
to some of this was challenged in a series of lawsuits 1341-6:
in the first (1341) on the one side is 'John de Dalton, senior',
whom we may take to be the ex-keeper (since, as we shall see,
he was active in 1334). In 1346 the omission of the 'senior'
probably means that his son is in question, and that he himself
is dead.'
The Daltons, in spite of this litigation, held their estates in Kirkby
Misperton at least till the time of Queen Elizabeth, when they
appear in heraldic visitations of Yorkshire. We are there told that
the John de Dalton who was the first of the name at Kirkby
1 The Baronial Opposition to Edward II, J. Conway Davies, Cambridge, 1918,
p. 581.
2 P. R. O., Feet of Fines, Yorks, 16 Ed. II, No. 74.
ii. 445 n.
Noted V. C. H.,
3 P. R. O., Feet of Fines, Yorks, 17 Ed. II, Nos. 63, 93 (V.C.H., ibid.).
N.R.
4 See P. R. O. De Banco Rolls, 14 Ed. III, Michaelmas, m. 483; 18 Ed. III,
Easter, m. 305; 19 Ed. III, Michaelmas, m. 333. References from the index
of Plantagenet Harrison (P. R. O.).


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
451
Misperton was the second son of Sir Richard Dalton of Bispham in
Lancashire, and that his elder brother was Sir Robert Dalton of
Bispham.'
Sir Robert Dalton of Lancashire was a person whose name appears
in the records even more frequently than does that of 'John Dalton
of Pickering' (to use the title often applied to the keeper in the
documents). He is brought into prominence especially because his
son (Sir John) abducted an heiress in 1347 under peculiarly
outrageous circumstances, a notorious escapade which involved the
whole Dalton family: the fugitive couple came to Lancashire, and
then went on to Yorkshire. Both father and son were important
soldiers, who received annuities from the Exchequer (Pat. Rolls,
Nov. 4, 1339), and Sir Robert was at one time constable of the
Tower of London (ibid., July 2, 1345); he died in 1350 (V. C. H.,
ibid.).
Though we cannot be sure that the two Daltons were elder and
younger brothers, some relationship is likely, as Professor Tout has
pointed out to me. Since Robert seems to have been a landed pro-
prietor from youth, he was probably heir of his house. Sir Robert
was (like John) also a servant of the earl of Lancaster, and he also
had his property confiscated on the fall of the latter. When (more
than a year after the fine and release of John Dalton) he also paid
a hundred marks and was released, one of his mainpernors was
'Thomas le Taillour of Pickeryng' (Fine Rolls, Aug. 17, 1323).
Another (John de Bulmere', also of Yorkshire) is probably the
local squire of that name who appears often in the Pickering records
(Turton, iv. 130, 213, etc.); only the third comes from Dalton's
own county, though he is here designated as 'Robert de Dalton,
knight, of the county of Lancaster'. He must have had a close
relation with Pickering of some sort, and his son's flight to Yorkshire
suggests friends there, if not relatives. It may also be noted that he
1 Visitations of Yorkshire, 1563-4 (Harl. Soc., 16, and SS., 133) and 1558 (SS.,
122), Roger Dalton then holding the estate. There is some difficulty about the
pedigree, because the heir of the first John Dalton of Kirkby is given as Peter,
and, as we have seen, he was John. As a matter of fact, the first John is in
SS., 133, put in tempore Richardi Secundi' (p. 6). In this form of the pedigree
the Yorkshire family only is given, and the others, which add the Lancashire,
have probably put the connexion two generations too late (being doubtless
misled by three generations of Johns into choosing the wrong one as the
Yorkshire progenitor).
2 On the whole affair see V. C. H., Lancs. vi. 101 n.
This was evidently one of the great scandals of the day.
References abound.


452
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
held a position similar to John Dalton's, for he is probably the
Robert de Dalton who was keeper of the woods and chases of the
king in Blackburnshire (Pat. Rolls, April 7, 1326). The identity of
his son's name with the keeper's may also indicate the same family.
Mr. William Brown pointed out to me that Horstmann and
earlier writers were wrong in translating 'armiger' as applied to
Dalton in the narrative of the Office as 'Sir': it was 'esquire'. In
general in the records he appears as the 'familiaris' or 'servant' of
the earl of Lancaster, or as 'John Dalton of Pickering' (whereas
Robert Dalton is generally 'Sir', or 'knight'). However, it is
probably he who heads the 'milites' (i. e. 'knights') after two
'domini' among the witnesses to a charter of 1321 in the
chartulary of Whitby.' If so, he may have been knighted at the
very end of his period of power, but his title does not appear in
the records forthcoming from his later years.
6
Thus, Dalton's Lancashire extraction would imply that he began
life as a penniless younger son, though of good family (qualified to
become an armiger'). Rolle's words in the Incendium (cap. 15)
as to his first patrons would apply well to the Daltons: Mansi
tamen inter eos qui in mundanis floruerunt' (p. 187). Such
a reference would seem to imply newly won riches, and it is evident
that the money with which Dalton set himself up as a country
squire on his fall from power must have come from the spoils of
office. This supposition is supported by an Ancient Petition'
(c. 1323-7) which has already suggested to Mr. Turton that Dalton
came to Pickering as a stranger from Lancashire (iv, p. xxxii). It
gives interesting evidence as to his character and conditions around
Pickering, and some confirmation of his identification as Rolle's
patron. I quote Mr. Turton's translation at length. It begins by
recounting that Pickering Castle, Honour, and Forest had been part
of the crown lands, till given by Henry III, first to Simon de Montfort,
and later to his own son Edmund :
'All this time and even before it, from time immemorial, Ralph de
Bolbeck and his ancestors were stewards of the forest and foresters in
fee. . . . After the decease of Earl Edmund he was succeeded by Thomas,
late Earl of Lancaster, in whose time many strange things were done by
the bailiffs, foresters, and verderers in prejudice of the rights of the
Crown, such as purprestures and enclosures, contrary to the assizes of the
Forest, to the great destruction of the game, and to the injury of the King
1 SS., 72, p. 650. The charter concerns the nunnery of Wykeham, which
was near to his manor of Foulbridge.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
453
and those of his subjects who are commoners there. Moreover, the
bailiffs, foresters, and verderers have committed forfeitures whenever
they could against the King, often rebelling against him, and making
others who are the King's tenants rebel, to wit, first, when they besieged
Scarborough Castle with three hundred men clad in green jackets, who
were arrayed and led by John de Dalton, then bailiff of Pickering, and kept
up the siege until the then Earl of Cornwall [Gaveston], who was there
by the King's order, surrendered himself into the hands of the great men
who were there. Afterwards, by their violence and imprisonment, they
made the King's liege subjects go, at their own cost, with the Earl of
Lancaster's people, into the West country. . . . Afterwards they [the sub-
jects] have many times been arrayed by the bailiffs, foresters, and verderers
to go with force of arms against their liege Lord at York at the time of
several Parliaments, at Pontefract when the King was opposed on his
own land, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, when the Earl of Lancaster rode against
the King, and at the siege of the Castle of Tickhill, but against the
enemies of Scotland they would not array, or allow to be arrayed, one
man. Moreover, those that claim to be foresters have felled oaks without
number in the time of the Earl of Lancaster, made arrays and indicted
and ruined the people of the country by their power, so that the latter are
beggared, while the former are rich in lands, tenements, and fine manors,
though, when they came into the country, they had nothing but their
bows and arrows and the clothes they walked in' (Turton, iii. 242 sq.).
There can be no doubt that this petition directly attacked Dalton.
His is the only name mentioned, and, from at least 1306 to 1322
(we do not know positively when he came into power), that is, for all
except possibly the first eight years of Earl Thomas's possession,
John Dalton was the person responsible for the castle, honour, and
forest of Pickering, in connexion with which, in the time of Earl
Thomas', all the abuses here mentioned have occurred. He was
therefore responsible, indirectly if not directly, for them all, and we
see probably why he was not reinstated after his pardon. The whole
country was in a turmoil by reason of misrule, famine, and pestilence,
the North had suffered specially because of the invasions of the
Scots during twelve continuous years,' and Pickering (which had
bought its safety when the Scots nearly captured the king at Byland
or Rievaulx in 1322, and sacked those abbeys, Turton, i. 3-4) had
suffered in particular because of the rebellion in which its lord, Earl
Thomas, had been executed, and its principal men imprisoned and
fined. During the troublous years John Dalton had evidently shown
violence, avarice, and lack of public spirit, and the hatred which he
had accumulated was probably the greater because he was a stranger,
1 Chronicles of Meaux, ii. 332.


454
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
and evidently of lower birth than keepers of Pickering Forest had
usually been. Henry de Percy, one of the greatest landowners in
Yorkshire, received the succession after Dalton (though he did not
keep it),' and a later nobleman who held Dalton's office was Henry
Fitz Hugh, lord of Ravensworth, the founder of Syon Monastery,
constable of England at the coronation of Henry V, chamberlain of
the king's household, treasurer of England, etc.?
The extant records would prove that there was some truth in the
charges implied against Dalton in the petition. As Mr. Turton
remarks he' does not appear to have been a model administrator...
there are numerous charges against him. . . of wasting wood, and
giving presents to men who were not entitled to it, of hunting game
and taking does and hinds' (iv, p. xxxiii). The petition was in all
likelihood drawn up after he had made the purchases of land in
1323-4 already mentioned. At his fall he had lost Foulbridge
(a manor given to him by the earl), as well as his lucrative offices,
and paid a large fine, but he evidently did not sell his home in
Pickering to provide funds for his new property. He appears as one
of the largest taxpayers in the 'soke of Pickering' on the lay subsidy
rolls of 1327 and 1333. Only six contributors appear for the 'soke':
perhaps it lay at the south-west of the town, by the Costa', as the
hospital of St. Nicholas, the largest contributor from the soke, is
said to have done (V. C. H., N.R. ii. 462). The means by which
he had amassed his estate can to some extent be judged by suits
that were brought against him at Pickering at the assizes of 1324 (at
which the confiscation of his property was also reviewed, v. infra,
PP. 459, 461). At that time he, with others, all 'quondam ministri
Thome Comitis Lancastrie de Libertate de Pykeryng', is accused of
taking John Crowel and imprisoning him at Pickering, and later at
Clitheroe and at Lancaster. Dalton, it is said, obliged him
'se teneri predicto Comiti in ducentas Libras soluendas eidem Comiti
si contigisset ipsum leuare contra predictum Comitem vel ipsum implacitare
causa imprisonamenti predicti, et causa imprisonamenti predicti procurata
fuit per predictum Johannem, eo quod idem Johannes Cruel noluit per-
mittere quod predictus Johannes de Daltoun faceret maliciam suam in patria
sicut solebat, etc.'
1 Probably on account of his youth, see Turton, ii, p. xxiv.
2 J. H. Wylie, Henry V, i. 15, n. 2,; ii. 70.
Turton, iv. 145, 160. He contributes vs both times.
4 P. R. O. Assize Roll 1117, m. 1. Here and later I quote from a copy
made by Miss Powell. This is evidently one of the cases of taking natives of
Pickering against their will to the West country, mentioned in the Petition.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
455
Dalton was on this occasion apparently summoned to York, where
he produced a general pardon given him by the king to cover all his
offences up to 1319-within which period the deed in question fell.
The pardon is granted 'Johanni de Daltoun familiari dilecti con-
sanguinei et fidelis nostri Thome Comitis Lancastrie'. At the same
assizes of Pickering Dalton is also sued by his neighbours (in the
soke of Pickering) the hospital of St. Nicholas, who say that in 1310
he took ten of their sheep to his house without payment; he made
them receive one Emma, daughter of John, son of Hugh, of Picker-
ing, as a permanent inmate without payment 'potestate balliue sue';
he made them exchange a good meadow for a bad one, in consequence
of which their animals died the following winter. He urges that all
the acts in question were done by their will, in return for favours
received, and he is acquitted of the first two charges, but on the
third is sent to prison, from which he is released on payment of half
a mark to the king.' We do not know the outcome of the complaint
made in 1322 by one Nicholas au Pount de Pikering' that in 1319-20
'Johan de Dalton, jadys Baillif le Count de Lancastre a Pikering',
' a la meson le dit Johan en preson luy detient', 'par colour de son
office' (on the excuse of deficits in his dues to the earl), but in truth
'pur covatise de sa tere', 'par quei qe mesme cesti Johan l'avantdit
Nicholas fist bailler sa terre, avaunt q'il pout de sa gard & de sa
presoun aler' (Parl. Rolls, i. 399 sq., Turton, iii. 240).
It has already been remarked that Richard Rolle castigated the
rich and avaricious with special bitterness, even for a medieval
ascetic. A more particular reference to Dalton may lie in the
following passage:
'Quippe inter cunctos qui mundi uiciis alligantur, de nullis, ut arbitror,
tam parua spes est habenda saluacionis, quemadmodum de istis quos
uulgus terre perpetratores appellant. Cum enim omnem fortitudinem ac
iuuentutem suam in alienis possessionibus adipiscendis per fas et per
nefas effundunt, postea in senectute sua quasi secure quiescunt, retinentes
que illicite habuerunt. Sed quia consciencia timida est, nequicia dat
testimonium condempnacioni. Quando solum ab iniustis exaccionibus
cessantes, alienis bonis tamquam sua propria essent uti non formident'
(Incendium, p. 231).
This strangely intrusive passage (unparalleled in Rolle) would very
well suit the old age of John Dalton, who appears to have 'come
1 Ibid., m. 10, par. II. At the same assizes he appears as surety for the two
tax-collectors of Thornton Dale, who are convicted of fraud (ibid., m. 4, par. 3).
Apparently he often stood by old associates in this way, for he appears frequently
as surety in the records printed by Turton.


456
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
into the country''with nothing but his bows and arrows and the
clothes he walked in, and become 'rich in lands, tenements, and
fine manors'. Miss Deanesly points out that the strange word
'perpetratores' (the 'terre' should be added, as Mr. Herbert points
out) is translated by Misyn in the fifteenth century as 'purchesurs'
(the full phrase is 'fals purchesurs '-Misyn, p. 68). She interprets
this as 'probably those who bought to sell for exorbitant profits,
offending against the medieval doctrine of the just price' (p. 43).
'Purchaser', however (as Miss Comper notes, p. 254), in the Oxford
Dictionary is given the meaning, 'One who acquires or aims at
acquiring possessions; one who "feathers his nest ",' and 'to
purchase' is described as 'to acquire (property, especially land)
otherwise than by inheritance or descent'. These meanings perfectly
suit the present case, if the passage in question is applied to John
Dalton, and Mr. Herbert points out to me that 'purchasers' in
medieval Latin is 'perquisitores', of which 'perpetratores' may con-
ceivably be a corruption. It is nowhere recorded. 'Land-grabbing',
according to the Ancient Petition, was a means used by John Dalton
and his dependents to build up their fortunes. Another is referred
to in the Incendium (ibid.), as follows:
'Potentes autem et diuites seculares qui in alienis possessionibus
adquirendis insaciabiliter estuabant, atque ex illorum diuiciis et bonis in
terrenam magnitudinem potenciamque mundanam succreuerunt, ementes
paruo precio quod secundum transitoriam substanciam erat magni ualoris,
aut in officiis regiis seu magnatum constituti, donaria plurima sine merito
et remuneracione acceperunt, ut deliciis et uoluptatibus ac honoribus
potirentur, non me sed beatum Iob audiant. Ducunt, inquit, in bonis dies
suos, et in puncto ad infernum descendunt' (Job xxi. 13).
It is worthy of note in connexion with Dalton's career that his
predecessors, the 'sheriffs and bailiffs of the forest of Pickering',
between 1243-57 extorted nearly a hundred pounds in bribes from
Malton Priory alone (see V. C. H., Yorks, iii. 253).
In July 1326 King Edward II sent a writ from the Tower granting
Dalton two oaks from Pickering Forest of the king's gift (Turton, ii.
131, iv. 129). Some political overture was probably involved, for it
was only about two months later that Isabella and Mortimer landed
from France and received the assistance of Henry of Lancaster.
Dalton evidently did not seriously implicate himself with the old
king, for (at the worst moment of Edward's captivity) August 5, 1327,
he was granted a 'general pardon', on condition of his serving
against the Scots (Pat. Rolls).


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
457
It was probable that the petition already quoted had some influence
in leading up to the great forest eyre held in Pickering in 1334, when
the misdemeanours against forest law of the whole district during
a generation were brought to justice, and the highest nobles (such as
Henry Percy) and ecclesiastics (such as the abbot of Rievaulx) were
found guilty, along with dozens of lesser persons (v. Turton, passim).
This great occasion in a sense brought at last to an end a significant
epoch in the history of Pickering, that is, the period when under the
rule of Earl Thomas, even more than other parts of England, it was
a hotbed of misrule, political intrigue, and suffering of far-reaching
consequences. John Dalton, as a protagonist in the drama, attended
the eyre with his rolls of office, and his evidence (as well as that of
his clerk for fifteen years, Roger Long) gives picturesque illustration
of the lighter side of the politics of the time. An elaborate
organization of foresters, verderers, regarders, and agisters supplied
the earl with resources with which (we may guess) to encourage
political projects. Mr. Turton (ii, p. xviii) has already wondered
what was the effect of the venison sent by Dalton for Lancaster to
the parliament sitting at York in 1314. Fourteen harts (and much
else) were sent for several years to the abbot of St. Mary's, York,
there were also gifts to the bishop of Ely and other ecclesiastics.
Dalton accounts for one hundred and thirty-four harts and one
hundred and fifty-eight hinds, bucks, and does, 'not counting five
hinds which Henry Percy took by his leave and three hinds, three
calves, two fallow-deer, and two roedeer which he took himself, and
gave away as he pleased'; 'when he was hunting game in the
forest his gazehounds took two calves and two roedeer and he was
not able to rescue them alive; on this point he throws himself on the
Earl's mercy' (Turton, ii. 121, 124). Some of the oaks,' which he
is accused of taking, he says were old, and he sold them to buy new
trees one hundred and ten oaks were used by the earl when residing
at the castle. In the end, Dalton was convicted of taking twenty
oaks, and of carrying to 'Kirkby Misperton beyond the forest
boundaries contrary to the assize of the Forest eight cartloads of wood
which he claimed as livery wood appurtenant to his freehold in
Pickering for housebote and haybote' (ibid., p. 137). Here we
evidently have to do with an offence after 1323, when he bought his
property in Kirkby Misperton. Hints of another property perhaps
appear in the fact that (as tenant) he is fined for unagisted pigs in
fence-month in Blansby Park (ibid. iii. 52, cf. iv. 46). We probably
1 The forest is oak and ash (Turton, i, p. xxxvii).
G g


458
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
have to do, however, with land which could be operated from his
freehold in Pickering, already mentioned, for Blansby Park (two miles
beyond Pickering Castle) must have been near enough for animals to
be driven to and from Pickering for grazing.
The question of John Dalton's establishments becomes of interest
to the present study because when at church near a 'manerium'¹ in
his occupation he first met the young hermit Richard Rolle. It
would be of interest to know where this was, and also where he later
took the young man under his protection. Evidently Dalton (unless
the confiscation of his property was continued from another assize
roll now lost, which is improbable) at the time of his fall only
kept establishments in his manor of Foulbridge and his freehold
in Pickering (the latter two and a half miles from Thornton Dale,
the former perhaps four or five). After that time he lost Foulbridge,
but bought Kirkby Misperton. Since almost certainly he met
Richard before 1322, the meeting must have taken place either at
Foulbridge or in Pickering. As we have seen, it is possible (perhaps
likely) that Rolle's family were at this time living just over the line
into Richmondshire, having moved from Thornton Dale. In that
case it is probable that the young man (coming from a really safe
distance from his father) chose the important parish church of
Pickering (now famous for its frescoes) in which to preach his first
sermon as a hermit. He would there doubtless find the 'multitude'
of listeners which the Office tells us that he had, and this phrase
must probably be taken as rhetorical if, on the other hand, he
appeared at any church likely to be attended by the Daltons when
in residence at Foulbridge. This manor was in the parish of
Brompton (which lay entirely in Pickering Forest), but residents at
Foulbridge are not likely to have gone to the distant parish church
of Brompton (that in which Wordsworth was married). A chapel of
ease (built in the twelfth century and so rebuilt as to be practically
destroyed in 1835) lay so near as Snainton (v. V. C. H.). The
manor of Foulbridge (about one mile east of the priory of Yeding-
ham where late in life Rolle had a friend among the nuns) was an
old preceptory of the Templars. In 1338 it is called 'una placea
destructa' (SS., 49, p. 141 n.), and in 1327 'the demesne lands were
said to have lain fallow since the Conquest' (V. C. H., N.R. ii. 427).
The place is now very isolated, lying in the broad vale of Pickering'
with the great ridge of the moors running in the distance on one side,
1 V. Ducange, 'Habitatio cum certa agri portione'.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
459
and that of the wolds (E.R.) on the other. This locality must in
Rolle's day have been very marshy.
The 'domus' abiecta et antiqua' in which Rolle hid when he first
entered the 'manerium' of the Daltons might suggest the broken
religious establishment at Foulbridge, which (considering that the
estate was not cultivated) was doubtless imperfectly adapted for use
as a private house. If the family of the owner were ever in residence,
it was likely to be in the summer season (August 14-15) in which
Rolle met them (when their sons also were home from the university).
The property of Dalton's which was confiscated at Foulbridge in
1322 suggests a residence, though not a farming establishment: it
consisted of 'equos, boues, Iumenta de equicio cum eorum exitu,
carrectas carcatas de diuersis pannis, Jocalibus, Lectis, vasis argenteis,
ciphis argenti et aliis diuersis bonis et catallis' (Assize Roll 1117,
m. 1, par. 1, reference from V.C.H.). It is possible that it was
through residence at Foulbridge that Dalton came to the personal
attention of the Dowager Lady Percy, through whose intercession he
made his speedy escape from the penalties of the rebellion. She
apparently lived at the Percy dower-house in the adjoining manor of
Seamer (V.C.H., pp. 484, 488). Foulbridge would probably be an
attractive summer residence for sportsmen. For the same reasons
the district might be attractive to a hermit, and if Rolle were starting
from Thornton Dale, in no direction could he have hoped to find
solitude and escape from his father nearer than in this.
Whether Rolle preached his first sermon at Pickering or at Snain-
ton, and met the Daltons at Pickering or at Foulbridge, it seems
likely that when he settled under their protection it was at Pickering.
From what we know of Dalton's character it is likely that he did not
expect to give the young hermit sustenance for nothing. Probably
Dalton hoped to attach to himself an eloquent young preacher-for
who knows what half-political purpose? We know that in Rolle's
early days the reform of the parish clergy was an absorbing interest
with him, and it may be that he gained Dalton's support on the
strength of this, and that Dalton hoped to use him as a lever of
some sort. If these were his motives, we must imagine that he
would carry the young man with him to Pickering, where his duties
1 'Domus' here and later in the Office is translated by Miss Comper as
'room', a meaning supported by medieval usage, as I am informed by Miss
B. H. Putnam, on the authority of Mr. Charles Johnson.
Dalton may have been in feud with Rolle's enemies at Rievaulx (v. Turton,
iii. 94).
Gg 2


460
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
would keep him most of the year, and other reasons may also suggest
this as the scene of Rolle's life with the Daltons. The Office
explicitly tells us that Dalton gave Richard a cell in his house ('ipsum
in domo sua diu retinuit, dans sibi locum mansionis solitarie '): it is
probably (from the sequence of the narrative) Dalton's wife who so
easily takes a large company into the hermit's cell after dinner.
The public position of his cell as thus arranged is probably why, as
Rolle tells us in Judica B 1, 'some do not fear to assert impudently
that I am not a hermit' (v. supra, p. 101), and it is perhaps in
justification of his own recent practice that when announcing himself
as a hermit in the Latin Psalter (which I believe to be early) he
explains: Solitudinem mentis magis debetis intelligere quam cor-
poris,... Quamuis inter homines moretur, longe tamen a vita eorum
distet' (supra, p. 179). The important passage as to his first change
of cell which opens Judica A gives further information as to its
character, which can be best connected with a cell in Dalton's house
in Pickering. It will be quoted in full, as follows:
'Judica me Deus, et discerne causam meam de g[ente non sancta (Ps.
xlii. 1). A Deo qui scruta]tur cor et renes volo iudicari, non ab homine
qui solummodo videt¹ea que exterius apparent. Quoniam qui de alienis
cordibus iudicare presumit, indubitanter sciat quod in errorem cadit, et
qui per motum corporis instabilitatem pronunciat mentis, absque dubio
graue pondus super se posuisce cognoscat. Quamobrem ut ab inuidentibus
et maliciosis de me incaute cogitantibus ac loquentibus clemencia Christi
me liberet, necesse michi superuenit clamare cum propheta: Domine,
libera animam meam a labiis iniquis et a lingua dolosa (Ps. cxix. 2): quo-
niam tu, Domine, probasti me, et cognouisti me: tu cognouisti sessionem
meam et resurreccionem meam (Ps. cxxxviii. 1-2): et tu solus intellexisti
cogitaciones meas (ibid., 3). Ideo de vultu tuo iudicium meum prodeat,
oculi tui, O bone Ihesu, videant equitates (Ps. xvi. 2). Si heremita dicerer,
cuius nomine indigne vocor, non erit nec merito esse poterit scandalum audi-
entibus si corporalem habitacionem mutarem aliquando, vel ab una cella
ad aliam transirem, cum non plus sim obligatus in uno heremo quam in
alio moram meam stabilire. Unde non inutile arbitrandum est si in
iuuentute mea plura loca viderim, ut de melioribus statui meo con-
veniencius unum eligere possem. Nam vos scitis et a me sepius audistis
me ibi velle morari, et certe de hoc mentitus sum nequaquam, quia statim,³
ut Deus scit et vos cognouistis, mutati fuerunt quantum ad me qui michi
ministrare assueuerunt. Propter quod michi grauius fuit: Moram meam,
ut putabam antequam ibi venirem, habere non potui propter colligentes
3 om. L.
2 transire L.
1 vident L.
Bodl. MS; also MSS. VIII-XIV (inclusive), XVI, at least. cognoscitis, et
qui mutati fuerunt michi monstrare hoc assueuerunt L.


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
461
2
fructus, quorum causa ita locum abhorrui ut in illo numquam a festo
Pentecostes usque ad festum sancti Martini manere cogitaui. Et quid
proderit michi in hyeme locum tenere et in estate propter incommoda
compelli recedere? Melius puto ibi sedere in hieme¹ ubi eciam quiete
valeam in estate esse. Verumtamen non dico totum quare recessi, nec
alicui viuenti indicare volo. Porro, ut michi videbatur, paruum vel nichil
de me curauit. Adquirat ergo sibi alium quem amplius amare disposuit.
In omnibus enim dictis et promissis meis condiciones subintelligo
generales huiuscemodi, videlicet: si vixero, si potero, si hoc melius pro
me visum fuerit michi, et super omnia si Deus sic voluerit. Si condiciones
ergo sint mutate, in quo culpandus sum si non persistem in ea qua prius
vellem³ voluntate persistere ? Numquid non in frustra vellem si quod
volo me non posse habere cognoscerem. Optimum est tales voluntates
penitus dimittere, quarum effectum facultas nostra non sufficit perimplere.
(Ad ea que imperauit michi in littera sua non respondeo, quia) iuste
judicantis sentenciam gaudens expecto. Quicquid de me dicant uel
faciant non nocent cor meum, quia etsi hic modicum pro Christo sustineam,
spero tamen eternam in celo percipere leticiam, illud verbum recolens pro-
pheticum: Paciencia pauperum non peribit in finem (Ps. ix. 19). Hec scribo
vobis, ut non iudicetis quemquam priusquam iudicauerit eum Christus.
Nescitis enim que geruntur in mente, quamquam cernitis hominem
ambulantem in carne ; unde nec laudes secularium cupio, nec illorum mali-
ciam pertimesco. Veniet dies', etc. ( Judica A, f. 13, v. supra, pp. 98, 106).
4
This passage would suggest that the cell which the young hermit
was leaving was near a store-house, which, from Pentecost (some time
between May 10 and June 13) to Martinmas (November 11), was
humming with activity 'propter colligentes fructus'. This phrase
can in all likelihood be safely taken in a general sense as referring
to the whole process of gathering in the fruits of the earth. It would
include not only the hay harvest and the corn harvest, but perhaps
also the killing of animals to provide bacon and salt beef for the winter
(which was so important a part of the medieval domestic routine).
Altogether, the season of activity for these operations would have fallen
in the period when Rolle says that his cell is too noisy for comfort.
As we have seen, the demesne lands were fallow at Foulbridge
(which we have good reason to suppose was Dalton's only other
home at this time), and the goods confiscated in 1322 would suggest
that no agricultural operations were carried on there: it was perhaps
a summer home and a hunting-box. On the other hand, at the same
time stores of all sorts belonging to Dalton were confiscated at
3 om. L.
1 heremo L.
2 om. L.
4 om. L.
"This important sentence is omitted in the two copies derived from Tanfield.
• This interpretation was pointed out to me by Dr. Frere, the bishop of Truro.


462
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
Pickering in the castle, the church (to which they were probably
removed in the hope of claiming sanctuary), and his house. It was
asserted in 1324 that in 1322 there was taken property of Dalton in
these three places as follows:
'Triginta quarteria frumenti, viginti quarteria mixtilionis, viginti quarteria
brasei ordeitei, triginta quarteria brasei auenatei, sexaginta et decem
quarteria auene, decem carcosia bouum, viginti et quatuor bacones, septem
milia alleccia, vnam copulam fructus, decem lagenas mellis, quadraginta
petras ferri, vasa enea et lignea et vtensilia domus, sex quarteria fabarum
et pisarum, etc.'¹
It is likely that Dalton brought to his house at Pickering the
products of all his lands (owned and perhaps also leased or
trespassed on), and there had them prepared for use. As we have
seen, it is here that 'Nicholas au Pount' was imprisoned in 1319
(apparently, that is, after Rolle came under Dalton's protection).
A prisoner would imply a large establishment, and there is no reason
why a resident hermit could not be kept somewhere on the premises
also. As we have seen, the visit of the lady of the house with
a large company to the hermit after dinner probably took place
when Rolle was living with the Daltons, and though (by what the
author of the Office evidently intends shall be taken as a miracle)
the hermit did not stop his writing while he talked to the visitors,
the strain of such interruptions must have been considerable,
especially at the time when the young man was passing through
the penitential period which (probably not long before he left the
Daltons) passed into the ecstatic.
A passage quoted from the Judica (supra, p. 99) would suggest that
at the time of writing his thoughts were ardently fixed on the
'angelic choirs' and their 'song of love'-images that usually
accompany his references to the 'opening of the door' (v. supra,
pp. 87 sq.). These passages may have been added later, but we
have seen that they are not likely to be much later (v. supra, p. 107).
Probably they date the Judica at about the period of the opening
of the door', three or four months less than three years after Rolle
became a hermit. He met the Daltons in the middle of August
(presumably at once after his conversion), and he will therefore have
seen the 'opening of the door', two years and nine months later, at
exactly the season (May-June) when the discomforts of his cell became
intolerable to him. This would in any case be the most likely time for
1 Assize Roll 1117, m. 1ª, par. 4. Cf. also m. 6ª, par. 1.
at York.
The case is resumed


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
463
him to change his abode, since he tells us that it is comfortable in
winter. Hints from two sides, therefore, may be said to coincide
in indicating the early summer as the approximate date of the Judica.
Probably at the time of writing it he had experienced the discomforts
of the cell he was leaving two summers through, and part of another
(from August on, the first year).
As we have seen, it is likely to have been with the Daltons that
(as we are told in the early Melum) Rolle was given mouldy bread
and suffered from hunger, heat, and cold, while his patrons enjoyed
every comfort (v. supra, p. 121). Such treatment would be expected
from Dalton, who, as we have seen, had a bad record for exploiting
the poor. It was probably what Rolle had in mind in the opening
of Judica A just quoted, when he said: 'they were changed towards
me who were accustomed to minister to me', but this change is likely
to have taken place partly because of actions on his side. As we
have seen, he found more and more that he had to withdraw from
preaching and from public life for the sake of his contemplation
(v. supra, p. 149), and Dalton (who had been drawn to him because
of a sermon) was doubtless disappointed. Moreover, now that we
know that Dalton evidently might be described in modern phrase as
a 'grafter' and a 'land-grabber', we see that exhortations to give up
some of his property may have had something to do with the final
break between the hermit and his patron.
The passage as to 'perpetratores' in the Incendium goes on:
'Forsitan si totaliter aliena redderent, pauca sibi remanerent; sed quia
superbi sunt, mendicare erubescunt, uel pocius ab honore pristino cadere
non sustinent. Unde et dicunt se fodere non ualere' (Luc. xvi. 3)
(p. 231).
With this may be compared the following from Rolle's English
Psalter, which, like all his expositions, seems often to echo actual
experience :
'My hope is in god, but ye men that lufes this werld willes nought
hope but in wickednes, that is, in goods of this life, that are wickedlie
gotten, or wickedlie holden, but make restitution... it is a harmefull
winninge to win cattell & tine rightowsnes, whiles ye halde other mens
goods, the divill haldes you : & if riches habounde in grete plentie right-
wislie, wills nought sett to your herts to lufe theym, & to hope in them: he
dames not men that haves riches, for thei maye winne heven with thaym,
but theim he damnes that setts ther herte in them, to halde them' (p. 217).
It is significant that this passage is literally translated from the
Lombard (c. 568), but the phrase 'make restitution' is added.


464
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
In the passage quoted from the Judica (after saying that he will
not tell the whole reason for his move) the young hermit goes on:
'Moreover, as it seemed to me, he cared little or nothing about me;
let him take to himself another.' This (in spite of the change of
number from 'they who ministered to me' to 'he cared little')
probably refers to the same event. Here Dalton (the head of the
family) is probably in question, who has lost interest in the young
Richard, whom he had taken under his protection with the co-opera-
tion of his wife and sons. A rival is perhaps hinted at. Here we
may note that the hermit William de Dalby, hermit of Dalby, was
brought to the attention of the king on his visit to Pickering in
August 1323. Edward II at this time, volentes dilecto nobis in
Christo... gratiam facere specialem', confirmed the pasturage which
this person had been enjoying in the forest for two cows and their
issue, and granted the same privileges for a third (Turton, ii. 256).
In other words he confirmed and amplified a benefit which this
hermit had been receiving under Earl Thomas, when the favour
must have passed through the hands of John de Dalton. Evidently
we have to do with a very practical sort of hermit, probably very
different from Richard Rolle and more to the taste of the competent
executive Dalton.
"
In the opening of the Judica already quoted, reference is made to
a letter: 'Ad ea que imperauit michi in littera sua non respondeo.'
This is one of those passages which are missing in the text of the
work found in the two copies derived from Tanfield, but, as we
have seen, other portions omitted there must certainly be genuine,
and there is no reason why this may not be. It is difficult to imagine
a reason for its interpolation. At the same time, it is not altogether
clear the change of number from 'they who ministered to me' to
'his letter' again makes it not absolutely certain that it was the
patron who wrote the letter, though the reference in the singular just
quoted makes it likely, and the reference in the plural could easily
apply to the patron's family. On the other hand, some person in
ecclesiastical authority may have written it-or perhaps Neville,
a highly placed ecclesiastic to whom Rolle was under obligation. It
will be noted that the young hermit explains with some care the
nature of the purpose which he had in taking this cell it is as if in
coming there he had definitely made a prediction as to his remaining,
which he fears might have been interpreted by some people as a vow.
It was suggested by Horstmann (ii, p. xvii n.) that Judica B,
addressed to a young priest, might have been written for one of the


ROLLE'S PATRONS: JOHN DE DALTON
465
young Daltons who had studied with him at Oxford'. What evidence
we have goes against this conjecture. No son of Dalton's can
positively be traced, except the John who succeeded to his landed
estate, but he had (as we have seen) three sons, of whom one was
Thomas, and about this time a Thomas Dalton appears at Oxford
as a lawyer, who might be John's son. The ex-keeper may have
sent one or more of his sons to Oxford for a legal training. Daltons
appear as prominent lawyers during the next two generations.
Horstmann has said that it was probably Lady Dalton (" domina
quaedam in cuius manerio idem Ricardus cellam habuit longe
a familia separatam ubi ipse solitarius sedere consuevit et contempla-
tioni vacare"), at whose death he drove away a troop of horrible
demons, as the Vita relates (Lect. 8); and we may suppose that it
was this same lady ("matrona quaedam in mundo magna quae me
una cum marito suo per annos nonnullos sustentaverat ") whose
aspect in death produced in him that great horror described in
"Contra Amatores Mundi"' (ii, p. xv). If the two incidents in ques-
tion are the same, we have testimony as to the crude misunder-
standing of Rolle's meaning by the author of the Office. A sensitive
account of his horror at the sight of death, both at the time and
afterwards, is turned into a sensational narrative of demons only.
However, Rolle mentions: 'antea plura noccium fantasmata ap-
paruerunt' (f. 177), and it is likely that the same incident is in
question, which was probably embroidered by reminiscences from
onlookers. In any case it is not likely that the death of Dalton's
wife is referred to, for the Office mentions 'quedam domina', which
would not seem to belong in the sequence of the narrative of Rolle's
life with the Daltons, as had the episode as to 'domina domus'.
If the same incident is echoed from the Contra Amatores Mundi,
the 'matrona... in mundo magna' may be noted, which is probably
too magnificent a title for the wife of the keeper. It is such as
would fit the Lady Eleanor Percy, or one of the Scropes or Nevilles.
Moreover, Richard tells us that in this case he had his cell far
distant from the family, whereas his cell with the Daltons is in their
house. It is of course possible that he patched up his quarrel with
1 In a concord between the town and the university in 1348 one of the wit-
nesses is 'Thomas de Dalton in iure ciuili doctor' (H. E. Salter, Mediaeval
Archives of the University of Oxford, Oxf. Hist. Soc., 70, p. 146). In the same
year he appears elsewhere as a 'procurator' of the university (RS., 50, p. 167).
'Magister Johannes de Dalton bacc. in decret.' is the vicar-general of the arch-
deacon of Richmond in 1390 (YAJ. xxv. 190).


466
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
them and took a new, more quiet, cell under their patronage, but it
is hardly likely. What is probable is that here we find a reference
to another period in Rolle's life when he lived for a considerable
time with one patron.
AN EARLY CRITICAL TEMPTATION
In Rolle's account of his change of cell in the Judica he follows
his complaint as to its discomfort in summer by the remark: 'Verum-
tamen non dico totum quare recessi, nec alicui viuenti indicare volo.
Porro, ut michi videbatur, paruum vel nichil de me curauit', etc. It
might be that the private reason which he is concealing here was
some painful association with his cell, which he wished to keep
secret. At first sight this might be supposed to be the memory of
the death-bed just discussed, for he tells us of that in the Contra
Amatores Mundi:
'Et cum spiritus eius, me presente, transiret, inhorruerunt pili carnis
mee (Job iv. 15), non ¹obstante quod cum² antea plura noccium fantasmata
apparuerunt, continue in eternitatis amore iubilans, talia penitus non
recolui reputanda. Verum tantus horror cor meum et carnem circumuoluit
quod cellam meam intrare michi apparuit horridum, quod prius erat
oblectamentum ' (ff. 177, 177).
The fact that this incident does not seem to belong to Rolle's
life with the Daltons is not the only argument against the hypothesis
that this is the secret reason which he had for changing his cell.
The horror seems in time to have left Rolle naturally: 'Quousque
cadauer illud terre datum fuerit, horror a me non recessit, et postea
paulatim euanuit funditus' (ibid.). It is not likely, therefore, that he
was obliged to change his cell to escape it. The sequel of this
narrative, however, shows that he was troubled by the significance
of the incident as much as by the incident itself.
'Attamen inter hec non abstulit a me amoris sui iubilum, sed permisit
me exterius sentire horrorem. Hinc, utique considerabam diligenter
quomodo poteram alium a timore nocturno defendere,³ qui meipsum eciam
in die ab horrore nesciui conseruare. Huius rei causam ignoro, nisi ut
forte ut meipsum cognoscerem, qui non me potuisse putabam terreri.
Unde pensandum est nobis, quod dum mortales simus miseri sumus, et
dum peccare possumus vel venialiter, ab omni timore libertatem non
habemus. Non loquor quin Deum timeamus, qui virtus est et consolacio,
sed de aliis timoribus, qui penales sunt' (ibid).
1 omnino C.
2 om. C.
3 descendere C.
4 om. C.


AN EARLY CRITICAL TEMPTATION
467
This passage would show that Rolle was in the habit of freeing his
friends from quasi-supernatural visitations, and it suggests that when
he had such himself he would be tempted to conceal the fact.
It seems to me possible that the secret reason which made Rolle
wish to change his cell was the temptation by the apparition of the
young woman who loved him in good love not a little' (v. supra,
P. 75). The 'good love' would seem to indicate a friend of his
religious life. This incident was told years later in the Canticles, but
probably it is hinted at in the Melum, not many years after the
event, as follows:
'Porro dum pergere in pace putabam, inopinate impulit inimicus et
irruit in animum (adhuc non in affluencia amoris occupatum), vt euerte-
retur, ac inde autuma[n]s auferre omne quod unquam (MS. nunquam)'
operatus sum ad honorem omnipotentis arguebat me vt aut illectus in
leticia libidinosa abirem in errorem et assumerem michi amicam in mundo
amantissimam et non parcerem persistere a[d] peccandum dum [h]alitus
esset in ore et donec putresceret prorsus caro in cadauer collata, aut pro-
misit quod sine pietate peius me pungeret vndique obsistens et vsque-
quaque aduersarius existens dum in presenti potuero pernoctare. Et elegi
extimplo felicius fore afflictum cum dilectis Dei et deinceps deduci a
desolacione quam demones dabunt, quam gaudere cum gentibus qui modi-
cum molliter morantur in mundo et postea, ad patibulum porrecti, non
gloriabuntur, sed in ensibus quos operabantur et euaginauerunt iugulati
iugiter gemebunt, cum coram iudice iudicabuntur. Et cum hoc vtique
exploraui, vt intimam et intemeratam acciperem intelligenciam et non in-
cassum concupiscerem amorem auctoris. Neque irriderent me inimici
eterni: vniuersi qui illum sustinent, non confundentur (Ps. xxiv. 3). Sed
siquidem scitote quod tanta seueritas inseuit, quod nisi sanguinem salua-
toris michi in subsidium semper sumpsissem, et mortem amaram medulli-
tus meminissem in mente, illam continue cogitans sine contradiccione,
ceciderim subito in scelus, nec subsistissem vsque ad sanacionem, quia
princeps putredinis, qui pectus pulsauit in pulcritudine parente, putauit
me premisse. Nimirum hoc volui (nam in nomine nectabar) quod nocu-
mentum nudauit, et spernens spurciciam spiritus, spiratus constanter
cucurri ad carmen canoris, a plebe procedens perhenne palacium protinus
penetraui. Deinde deuocio diuinitus dulcessit, et mox mundialis malicia
migrabat, nec profecit predator vt prenderet pregnantem, quia oppidum
obtinui quod caros conseruat, senciens similiter solacium suaue. Et cum
temperatus essem inter temptantes, non terruit me turbo qui trucidat tur-
batos, nec temporis torret tenebrosa tempestas, cum taliter transcenderam
terminum tyrannorum. O dulcis Domine, qui diligis deuotos, quantum
tibi teneor, qui teipsum tradidisti vt me tuearis a tantis tormentis et
1 vmquam S.
2 vaginauerunt C.
optimi C.


468
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
seruum susciperes, dimisso dolore ad dulcissimum diligendum. Proinde
percepi quod pertinax pugnator profuit parum, nam dum institi insidiis
immundi inimici, et Ihesum memoriter ad mentem inmisi, non obliuiscens
ardorem amoris quem Christus ostendit patibulo suspensus, concito con-
tabuit callidus captiuator, et hamo absconso seipsum apprehendit '
(f. 227-227).
This cryptic narrative can, with the aid of the evidence given by
other works, be interpreted as giving a rough outline of the whole
critical period of Rolle's early development. He would seem to say
here that when he thought himself well established in his religious
life ('dum pergere in pace putabam'), though he had not yet been
initiated into mystic joy ('animum adhuc non in affluencia amoris
occupatum '), he had a time when he was tempted by the devil to
forgo his religious purpose and take an earthly love ('arguebat me
vt aut illectus in leticia libidinosa abirem in errorem et assumerem
michi amicam in mundo amantissimam '). However, he held to his
religious resolution ('elegi ... fore afflictum cum dilectis Dei'), and
evidently he thought long and seriously on the subject ('hoc vtique
exploraui, vt intimam et intemeratam acciperem intelligenciam et non
incassum concupiscerem amorem auctoris '). It is perhaps the sub-
conscious effect of this prolonged conflict that the adversary tempted
him, appearing in an apparition of beauty ('in pulcritudine parente');
and he would have fallen if he had not called on the blood of the
Saviour (nisi sanguinem saluatoris michi in subsidium semper
sumpsissem . . . ceciderim subito in scelus'). Here we have the
devil in the form of the fair young woman, dissipated by the words
'Jesus, how precious is thy blood', as we are told in the Canticles.
He goes on to say that he was 'bound in the Name' (the devotion
which we believe him to have begun in connexion with the temptation
in question), he 'ran constantly towards the song of the "canor";
detaching himself from the populace, he penetrated the eternal
palace. Then his devotion was divinely sweetened, and soon the
worldly malice departed.' These strange sentences would seem to
tell us that he then (already devoted to the Name) began the
development of joy which culminated in the 'canor': the reference
to penetrating the eternal palace' is probably equivalent to the
'opening of the door of heaven' which we have seen making an
integral part of the growth of mysticism in other descriptions (v.
supra, pp. 87 sq.). The divine 'sweetness' is then mentioned. It
may even be (considering what we are told in other works) that
the 'detachment from the populace' is a dark reference to his change


AN EARLY CRITICAL TEMPTATION
469
of cell discussed in the Judica. The end of the worldly malice'
may signify a cessation of persecution, which may have come about
the time of the completion of ecstasy (v. also infra, p. 477). It is
also possible that the following sentence, mentioning the turbo qui
trucidat turbatos' and the 'temporis . . . tenebrosa tempestas' which
Rolle was fortunate enough to escape, is a rhetorical reference to the
troubles of 1322, in which Rolle's former friends and present enemies
suffered so much. At the very end, the 'fire of love' is mentioned
(as following on the use of the Name), and with this (as we are also
told in another passage of the Melum, supra, p. 122) the adversary
lost his power over the young hermit.
The passage just discussed is probably a veiled narrative linking
up what Rolle was to tell in later life more plainly in the Canticles
(as occurring in the beginning of my conversion'), with that told in
the Incendium (where his mystical development during his first four
years as a hermit is carefully described in chapter 15). The context
shows that the diabolical temptation as to the young woman came
some time before his attainment of the 'fire of love', at a time when
it was the woman in question who was, in all likelihood, a conscious
temptation, which was even tempting him to give up for her sake his
religious career. In fact the apparition apparently came after he
thought that he had put away the thought of her. The significance of the
episode of the temptation is increased by the passage just quoted, and
we have in the incident just such a circumstance as would make him
wish to change his cell. He would not wish, however, to disclose
this motive, partly because the diabolical persecution would have
seemed to cast a reflection on his spiritual proficiency (judging from
his thoughts when morbidness overtook him after the death of his
patroness): partly he would be silent because he would be unwilling
to throw on the woman in question the suspicion of his affection.
The situation may however have been guessed by those around him,
and been a cause contributing to the Daltons' change towards him,
and also responsible for some of his later persecution. Some support
is lent to this conjecture by the fact that it puts the change of cell at
the point in Rolle's mystical development which is indicated in
Judica A. As we have seen, this work seems to have been written
after both the diversion of devotion from the Mother to the Son
and the beginning of joy, but before any sensuous endowment of
mysticism. The temptation in question instigated Rolle's devotion
to 'Jesus', and we have already been led to think that at the 'opening
of the door (probably soon after, while the temptation and escape


470
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
were still fresh) that devotion was given a celestial sanction (v. supra,
p. 87). The passage just quoted would suggest that the temptation
occurred far on in Rolle's penitential period, for (though ecstasy had
not been gained) he had reached some sort of confidence ('I thought
I was going in peace'). As mystic joy developed, it can be imagined
that the young man would be more eager than ever to leave his noisy
public cell, with its memories of a critical temptation. Perhaps he
feared its recrudescence, since the woman in question is likely to
have belonged to Dalton's household, or, in any case, to have
belonged to his circle. There is, of course, always the possibility
that under Rolle's influence she took up a religious life, but there
seems no chance that she could have been Margaret de Kirkeby, who
must have been very young at this time.
REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS
Our knowledge of the personalities of Rolle's life is mostly derived
from the Office, which concentrates curiously on his early years, as
if associates of that period had assisted in its composition. The later
years cannot be discussed with anything like the same fullness of
detail. However, we have some cloudy images of the happenings
of that tumultuous period between the writing of the Judica and
of the Melum, when crises in Rolle's inner life coincided with tumult
in the world around him. The Melum probably contains much
more autobiographical matter than will ever be elucidated, for the
alliteration offers an instrument for darkening counsel. Bold as the
work is, the young hermit has often succeeded in completely hiding
his meaning in a strange welter of phrases, and some of the passages
now to be quoted may appear in part meaningless. Any passage of
possible autobiographical significance in the Melum will be quoted,
for the work is hardly likely to be printed as a whole, and though the
interpretation of some sections may not at present be clear, later
research may be able—once these sentences are in print-to discover
their significance.
The following passage will show that the young hermit has-
apparently after a considerable period of silence-only just received
a new impulse of courage which forces him to write this work :
'Quamobrem correpto corde vt curetur, calor continuus castificet
canentem, et clausus in carne capiar et canendo ad claram coronam.
Interim ereptus a retibus ruine, protinus ad populos proferar placatus per
precem pacatam pacis preceptor spinis pungendo principes peruersos,


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS
471
quorum peccata perpetuo patebunt inter punitos. Positus in presenti
paciens pressuras, pro pane perhenni puto quod potero ad plenum pertin
gere pascum paradisi et in publicum procedere, probatus postillator,
scrutinii' scripture masticans medullam, vt degam delicate dulcoribus
diuinis. Qui latui libenter, tamen non liber a linguis, occulte ludendo in
laude letabundus, propter inuidiam impii errantis in abditis aiebam, et
hactenus exterius uix semel ad alios erumpere audens. Nunc Christus
quesitus, quem carissime cupiui, quem amans inueni, veniens vt viuam in
a[n]im[um] assumtum, dum mens moderata in melos moretur, clanculo
compellit vt scribam clamando quod concito carnales cadunt in chaos, et
cupidi incassum querunt conscendere culminis caminum; dilatari deside
rant diuiciis ditati, de quibus decepti digne a Deo dure delebuntur. Pu-
sillus, profecto plangendum non petens, potenciam percepi vt porter ad
polum pietatis propagine, impuris proiectis in puteum penalem, fetentes
vt in fulgure funeris feruentis. Denique et Deus dedit michi donum quo
ducar a dampno deliciis delibutus... letor leuissime in laudibus lique-
scens, vt loquar luculenter leuiter laborans et dictem deuocius quam
ceteri solebant more mirando, diuisus diuinitus ab hiis que decipiunt, dolo
ne deprehendar. Audacter introeo in ostium apertum, hauriens ab altis
sonum celestem. Vtique non omnes hoc habuerunt, hinc et operibus altis
obstupescunt, nam inaudita veraciter viderunt, dum vixi visibiliter ver-
nans virtute' (f. 221").
Like most passages which will be quoted from the Melum, this
extract hints at Rolle's whole mystical history, but it also adds some
new statements to the usual resonant commonplaces of his ecstasy. It
distinctly says that he has been interpreting Scripture, that he 'exterius
uix semel' dared to address others. Later (infra, p. 486) he tells us
that his enemies have tried 'ut me mergerent in multiloquio et
deprehenderent in documento indisciplinato'. As we have seen
above, his commentary on Jeremiah and his Latin Psalter both give
signs of belonging to his early years, and it may be that they were at
least begun at this time. We know that at this time he had already
written the Canticum, Judica, and a work on hermits.
Now he says
that he is forced to write, apparently in order to prophesy immediate
disasters impending ('concito carnales cadunt in chaos'). This
motive would fit the date (1326-7) which seems to be indicated for
the composition of the Melum. If, as seems possible, he had recently
been a student at the Sorbonne, some of his literary labours in ques-
tion here (perhaps part of his Latin Psalter) may have been composed
there. We have also (as in other passages later to be quoted) a hint
that the young hermit has enjoyed some unexpected escape from
danger ('diuisus diuinitus ab hiis que decipiunt, dolo ne deprehendar').
1 strictum C.


472
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
His joyous confidence that he has found a new miraculous style
of writing ('more mirando') is also expressed, as in a passage earlier
quoted from the Melum (supra, p. 118).
Already from the opening of the Melum (quoted supra, p. 117) it
was evident that with the writing of this work a new epoch of self-
confidence was beginning. The first words, though commonplaces of
mystical phrase, evidently in this case are to be taken literally:
'Amor utique audacem efficit animum quem arripit ab ymis.' In the
same first chapter his flight to solitude is touched on:
'Siquidem superuenit spiritus spirans a patre pietatis, et subito submisit
vt in solitudinem me separarem a solacio seculari. Deinde mentem tam
mirifice mutauit a merore in melos quod metuo¹ monstrare munus et
multiplicare magnificenciam, ne multiloquium me minuerit' (f. 206).
As we have seen, he is already a hermit in the Judica, but no such
explicit reference to his flight to solitude occurs, and in Judica B we
are told that some 'impudently' deny that he is a hermit. In
the account of his growth of ecstasy in the Incendium, we have seen
that the 'calor' and the 'canor' (at an interval of nine months from
one another) first came to him when he was sitting in the same
chapel, and this might (though not necessarily) indicate that he was
during that period living in the same cell. As we have seen, we
believe him to have left the Daltons midway in the development of
his ecstasy. No name of a later patron has come down to us, though
(as we have seen, supra, p. 465) an incident is recounted which
almost certainly shows him at one time to have lived under the
protection of another family for some years. It is altogether likely
that he found assistance from other patrons after leaving the Daltons.
The chapel in which his ecstasy was consummated might be a chapel
of ease or a private chapel. Chapels in the houses of the great were
common at this period, as is shown by the licences granted and
recorded in the bishops' registers."
The description of love in four stages already quoted from the
Melum (supra, p. 84) is almost certainly reminiscent of Rolle's own
life. We have seen that it arranges the steps in the mystic's experi-
ence according to what had been Richard's, and the following
1
nemo C.
2 meminerit C.
3 SS., 49, p. 146 (a chapel in the parish of Brompton, 1300), V. C. H., N.R.
ii. 488 (in the dower-house of the Percys at Seamer, where Mass is to be said
for the Lady Eleanor), ibid. i. 97 (of the FitzHughs at Ravensworthı), etc.—
The chapel in question might be that of the Sorbonne (v. infra, p. 494 n.).


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 473
quotation suggests that it also gives us valuable testimony on the
subject now under discussion. The chapter begins as follows:
'Ecce elongaui fugiens; et mansi in solitudine (Ps. liv. 8). Solita-
rius iam' sisto securus salute sufficit solacium quod sencio ex summis,
nam suauitas sonora sustentat sedentem, vt lugubris non laberer dire
desolacioni, nec ad ocium inducerer aut cure carnali, sic ardoris opulencia
alligat amantem. Et nota diligenter acciones sanctorum, quomodo trans-
migrant a Babilone in Ierusalem. Primo... Quarto, pre nimietate gaudii
et magnitudine amoris qua implentur, sonum in se suscipiunt celestem, a
diuina armonia obumbrantur, et fugiunt in solitudinem,2 ne ab illo spirituali
canore impediantur' (f. 240).
Enthusiastic praise of contemplative men follows, succeeded by an
argument as to their superiority to monks (v. supra, p. 124, and
infra, p. 480). The next chapter begins: 'Ducam eam in solitu-
dinem et loquar ad cor eius.'
We have already seen that Rolle usually derives even his more
impersonal descriptions of mysticism from his own experience
(v. supra, pp. 83 sq.), and there is every probability that he is here
echoing what has happened to himself. The four stages directly
follow references to his own solitude. In the ordinary course, we
should expect him to make the retreat into solitude coincident with
the conversion from worldly concerns which makes the first stage.
The fact that he does not do so would suggest a reminiscence of
special circumstances in his own life. What has probably happened
is that his early years as a hermit were passed so closely in associa-
tion with patrons that his real flight to solitude came later, when he
sought refuge in an isolated cell. The abode to which he moved
after his removal from (as we suppose) the midst of Dalton's establish-
ment was doubtless more quiet than that, but it was probably still not
thoroughly solitary. For some years he apparently lived among
people in the country districts of Yorkshire, and perhaps in Paris (v.
infra, pp. 477, 490). He could not have fled to complete solitude at
once even on receiving the 'canor', for the Melum seems to review a
long period when he was struggling to enjoy it in adverse circumstances.
There seems to lie behind him, when he wrote that book, not only
the whole development of his mystic joy (partially complete when he
wrote the Judica), but also a considerable lapse of time during which
he tested the conditions which his mysticism, as it were, brought into
being. He knows now, not only the fullness of mystical sensation,
but also its practical consequences for his daily life. The latter
2 solitudine C.
1
non C.
Hh


474
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
realization will have taken time, as he describes it, no less than
the former. Altogether, therefore, the flight to solitude in Richard's
case probably came under pressure of the 'canor', as soon as he
realized the full potentialities of his life and could arrange a change
in his manner of living.
In the Judica Rolle has exulted in the beginning of joy (beyond his
power to describe) which he feels 'sub heremitice habitacionis volun-
tate', in 'illud nomen heremiticum et illud singulare propositum'
(supra, p. 99). Now, at least five years later (as we believe), with
his mystical joy complete and overflowing :
'Sentitur suauitas dulcoris diuini, amoris eterni ardet ex igne, mollicie
melliflua in mente mulcetur, et cor vt sit capax hanc in se amplecti tota-
liter se stringit vt incomprehensibilem continue comprehendat, et magis
ac magis se semper dilatat' (f. 237).
Under the pressure of this experience it would not be strange
if the young man should seek a deeper solitude, and some vivid
passages in the Melum would suggest that he had done so recently.
He speaks as if he had sought solitude for the sake of the 'canor' (as
hinted in the passage already quoted): 'Igitur abducor ab hiis qui
ignorant organum orando, et sessio silencii me segregat a surdis qui
citharam non audiunt altissimi amoris' (f. 223). In the discussion
already quoted (supra, p. 149) as to the duties of the preacher and
the difficulty of combining them with contemplation, he touches on
his own case as follows:
'Hec qui intelligit que pagina panguntur infirmum me agnoscens, et
mortuum mundo, coram causantibus aliqualiter excuset. Racionem nam
reddidi, et intime attendis cur interius me tenui, non visitans villanos, fugi-
endo a ¹festis psallencium cum sono.2 Huic heremus non horret ardenter
amanti, solus suscipiet quo coniunctus carebit' (f. 241).
This indicates a very different manner of life from the chatting in
manor-houses elsewhere echoed in the Melum-probably from his
first days as a hermit (v. supra, p. 121).
Here again we find a prominence given to his writing that would
suggest that he was now undertaking the commentaries already
mentioned, and was on this account also desirous of solitude. The
difficulty which he would now find in living in such a cell as he
describes in the Judica appears from the following:
'Reuera recte relinquerem tantorum tumultus turgencium, et heremum
apte affectarem ad inhabitandum, presertim cum penales michi sint
1
om. C.
2
que sonoro C.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 475
uociferantes, et crucior quasi per incomodum quando clamor clangencium
me tangit tediosum. Insuper et exuta vetustate virtutibus uiuere uolui
in solitudine sustinere apud memetipsum deliberaui, et nunc quidem ita
me diuina benignitas' disposuit quod etiam si uoluero, secularibus me2
nequeo iungere, ne occupacio auditus corporalis in nimia me precipitet
perturbacione' (f. 208).
3
This passage follows that in which Richard describes himself
as a 'wanderer like Cain' (supra, p. 77), and the indications there
given as to his nomadic existence are reinforced by the following
more explicit statements:
'In presenti non pocior potencia, nec habeo quid accipiam si esuriero
nisi quando alii erogant indigenti, et non datur michi cum voluero, sed in
voluntate virorum uescor, profecto non puduit michi propulsari a potestate
inter pauperes, fame affligi cum florentes ut fenum facerent festiuitatem,
ac siti sine compassione carnalium cruciabar, nec quidem aquam habui ad
hauriendum dum breuiter benedicti vsque ad balbuciem bibebant' (f. 235).
Another passage complains of the ignominious position of a hermit,
with references that again hint that he must have written before this
time what bulked large in his own opinion, at least:
'Attamen hoc comperi quod uirorum uolumina moderne manencium
minime cum multis magnificantur, qui putant quod spiritus in istis non
assistat, quemadmodum affuit antiquos inspirans. Et racionem reddere
aliam non habent quam quia ipsi uacuos se uident a flatu felici, eciam sic
omnes esse suspicantur. Pro religione quam se iactitant intrasse, plerique
profecto decipientes audent arguere quod omnes excellunt in meritis
magnificis alios in orbe. Solitarii siquidem despecti ducuntur in omnium
obprobrium iam abierunt ubi alii in aulis honorifice assistunt et ad
mensam magnatum precedere ponuntur, illi ad ostium mendici morantur
et hiis de micis mittunt multi magnates et reputant vt reprobos quod
plane penitebunt. Verum non timemus torqueri et despici inter tyrannos,
nam spes nostra ponitur in patria perhenni. Tanto acceptabiliores cum
angelis et almis apparebimus ante auctorem, quanto inter homines minus
acceptamur. Odium et inuidiam tantam non inueni nec habui inter omnes
mortales sicut sustinui ab hiis qui se dicebant discipulos Ihesu Christi'
(f. 239).
It is evident that Rolle's life is now very different from what his
beginning promised, when Dalton invited him to dinner and seated
him at table above his own sons. We can get a notion of what
his life was now from a custom recorded at the Reformation for
Jervaulx Abbey. 'Among the alms distributed were bread and white
3 uigere C.
1 benignitatis C.
2 om. C.
4
om. C.
discipuli C.
Hh 2


476
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
and red herrings, given to poor hermits and boys (pauperibus hermitis
et pueris)' (V.C.H., Yorks, iii. 141). This was the burial-place
of Henry Fitz Hugh, lord of Ravensworth and founder of Syon
Monastery (v. infra, p. 505 n.). The abbot was one of those who
transferred Margaret Kirkeby to Ainderby in 1356-7. It is very
possible (if the alms were given to hermits here in Rolle's day) that
he was at times one of the recipients.
The opening of the Melum has already been cited for giving hints
of the new self-confidence and the new solitude which seem to
be landmarks in Rolle's life at the time when he wrote this work.
A similar hint of great significance directly follows the reference to
his retreat into solitude already quoted, which proceeds:
'Subito submisit vt in solitudinem me separarem a solacio seculari.
Deinde mentem tam mirifice mutauit a merore in melos quod metuo
monstrare munus et multiplicare magnificenciam ne multiloquium me
minuerit. Attamen inter hec alii in habitu obedienciariorum michi
apparuerunt in argumentis quod ardencius amant quam aliquis inter eos
non assumptus, et maioris meriti coram magestate mittunt munificenciam.
Quippe non cognouerunt qualiter cucurri, et a contenciosa conticui collo-
cucione, contineri cupiens in hoc quod creator michi copulauit' (f. 206▾).
As we have seen, this prominent statement in the opening of the
Melum is followed by others in which we seem to be told explicitly
that the work is written in consequence of the feud with monks here
recorded (v. supra, p. 124). This quarrel has been hinted at in the
extract given in the last paragraph, and a very important quotation
made earlier (p. 123) seems to give us clear testimony that the monks
in question were those either of Rievaulx or of Byland. Both
monasteries lay adjacent to the wild stretch of elevated moorland
north of Pickering, formerly known as Blackamore, which is still one
of the wildests spots in England. 'Leland, writing about 1534-43,
tells us that the Circuite of the Paroch of Pykering goith up to the
very Browes of Blakmore "... Camden informs us that "further in
among Blackamore hills we find nothing remarkable but winding
streams and rapid brooks ".'1 To the north are the Cleveland
hills; 'a country scored so deep by long, narrow, winding valleys is
scarcely to be found elsewhere in England . . . [in] this rugged
district. . . a man may even now lose his way and perish on the
moorside if he be not very wary on a winter's night'. To the west
were the Hambleton hills which, near Rievaulx, are still
66
1 Morris, North Riding, pp. 68-9.
an
2 A. H. Norway, Highways and Byways in Yorkshire, London, 1899, p. 112.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 477
intricate network of deep hollows, fringed with woods, and musical
with running streams'. The wild and isolated character of some
of this country to the present day is attested by the superstitions
lingering there among the people till the last generation, as recorded
by Canon Atkinson.2
It is evident that the neighbourhood of Byland or of Rievaulx
would be a district most tempting to a young hermit wishing for
solitude. After his quarrel with Dalton it is possible that he came in
this direction, and that his irregular mode of life there brought him
to the attention of the monks in question. As we have seen, there
is no hint of animosity against monks in the Judica, nor even
of arguments conceivably directed against them: only with the
Melum do we find this preoccupation (echoed in later works, though
generally from a distance). It is therefore probably a new quarrel,
quite distinct from that in regard to his change of cell discussed in
the Judica. Disaster befell the abbeys of Rievaulx and Byland seven
months after Lancaster's execution, and if Richard left the Daltons
any time before the rebellion (March, 1322), his contact with
the monks would have had time to reach the point of friction
before the battle in which they suffered indignity (October, 1322).
It is possible from the several references to disasters that have
befallen Rolle's enemies that their misfortunes lightened the pressure
of persecution on him, and thus gave him what he doubtless con-
sidered a miraculous deliverance. If he went to Paris some time
before writing the Melum, his quarrel was probably resumed on
his return, though possibly from a distance (if he went to Richmond-
shire). The power of the abbot and convent of Rievaulx (or Byland)
must have reached far, in Yorkshire, and their animosity in the
present case would be probably the more permanent if they had
known the young hermit in question from infancy.
Even though the miseries of his enemies did not have any direct
effect on Rolle's fortunes, they must surely (considering how closely
they followed on his persecutions) have seemed to some degree
divine rebukes delivered on his behalf. Dalton's misfortunes in the
spring of 1322 have already been described. What was suffered
in the autumn of the same year by the two religious houses may
be understood by a quotation from the chronicle of their neighbours,
the monks of Meaux :
1 Ibid., p. 102.
Forty Years in a Moorland Parish, London. (801.


478
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
'Scotti vero, praedicta monasteria Ryevallis et Bellalandae violenter
ingressi, religiosos omnes indumentis suis, remota pietate, usque ad carnem
exuerunt, et omnem ipsorum monasteriorum supellectilem, vestesque
divino servitio consecratas, calices, libros et universa sacrorum altarium
ornamenta, secum portaverunt' (RS., 43, ii. 346).
Such events must have made a great commotion, even after the many
years of Scottish raids suffered by the north. Many other religious
houses had been raided, but never were the circumstances so
sensational as in the case of these two great neighbours. Not only
the physical danger of the occasion in question must have struck
terror to the hearts of the monks, but also, we may believe, the
material loss. These Yorkshire Cistercian houses held great
manorial estates which they cultivated themselves as sheep-farmers
and horse-breeders, and they were famous for the store which they
set on their material possessions, as illustrated by the unending
litigation in which they were involved.¹
It seems to have been this attachment to worldly concerns which
especially made Rolle doubt the spirituality of contemporary monks,
and a similar entanglement in worldly interests disgusted him (as we
have seen, supra, pp. 142, 147) with the secular clergy. It is likely
to have made a deep impression on his mind that in his early days
as a hermit the secular clergy of Yorkshire also suffered a striking
rebuff in the material fortunes on which they set such importance.
At the battle of Myton in September 1319 (ironically called the
'chapter of Myton') the archbishop of York coming to battle in state
with his pastoral staff was ignominiously defeated by the Scots, and
hundreds of clerics were left as corpses in the Swale (Raine, Fasti,
P. 403).
Altogether, in the very years (1319-22) when we conjecture the
young Richard to have begun his hermit's life with attacks on the
secular clergy and soon to have incurred persecution by the regular
clergy (whom he then attacked likewise), both these important
classes in Yorkshire society had suffered sensational calamities in
worldly affairs. These must have done much to lower their prestige
among the people. The young hermit who had denounced both
seculars and regulars for their pursuit of worldly fortune would
1 See J. S. Fletcher, The Cistercians in Yorkshire, London, 1919, pp. 114 sq.
and passim. Cf. the Poem on the Evil Times of Edward II:
'Religioun was first founded duresce for to drie;
And nu is the moste del i-went to eise and glotonie...
I wot non eysiere lyf than is religioun' (p. 330).


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 479
doubtless therefore have found it all the easier to drive home his
message. He tells us that his clerical adversaries feared his popu-
larity among the people (v. supra, pp. 77, 123, and infra, pp. 485-7),
and we see that events probably assisted to increase that popularity.
By the time that Rolle wrote the Melum (apparently directed against
monkish enemies about 1326-7) he probably also drew support from
a general hostility against monks that was stirring throughout England.
It is a striking fact that the 'year 1327 marked the culmination of
a period of secret discontent and conspiracy on the part of the
townsmen under monastic control'.¹ Revolts occurred at St. Albans
during the first three months of the year, when just on the eve of the
outbreak the earl of Lancaster (lord of Pickering) came to the town
with a powerful retinue; also at the beginning of the year at Bury
St. Edmunds (where the parish priests and friars joined against the
regulars); in May at Abingdon; in the same year at Dunstable,
Faversham, Winchelsea. Pickering, in the neighbourhood of which
Rolle was, or had recently been, living (as we believe) at this time,
must have been au courant of so widespread a movement. As
a principal seat of a royal earl it must have been visited by persons
from all over England. The local patrons of the young hermit
Richard are likely to have taken courage from learning of these
events, and to have been more than ever ready at least to condone
his animosity against monks.
It is perhaps rash to decide whether Rolle's quarrel was with the
monks of Rievaulx or of Byland, but the abbot of Rievaulx was the
principal landlord in Thornton Dale (Turton, iv. 140), and the per-
ambulation of c. 1160, to which Ricardus Rollevillain was a witness
(since it marked the boundaries of land which was given to Rievaulx),
would indicate that this person was in the service of the monks or
lived on their estates. Rolle's family may have continued in that
situation, and (as a promising boy) he himself may even have come
in early years to the notice of the abbot or some monastic official
(it may be noted that 'obedientiaries' are mentioned as his opponents
at the opening of the Melum). It is possible that an introduction.
from Rievaulx was the beginning of Richard's connexion with
Neville. Though none of these conjectures are established, they
are worth noting in view of the fact that Rolle more than once tells
1 See Amer. Hist. Rev. vi, N. M. Trenholme, The Risings in the English Monastic
Towns in 1327, p. 669.
• The revolt did not break out till the day after his departure (by the collusion of
the abbot and burgesses, who kept him in the dark as to the danger), ibid., p. 652.


480
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
us that those were his fiercest persecutors who had in secular life
been his best friends (v. supra, pp. 110, 141, 182). We know that an
abbot and convent were perhaps Rolle's worst enemies, and that
almost certainly they were either the abbot and convent of Byland
or those of Rievaulx. Since the latter were the principal landlords
in Rolle's family home (and possibly the masters of his family), we
have some reason to believe that these are likely to have been
among the persecutors who were also early friends. Also, whereas
Byland lay at the foot of the moors, Rievaulx lay in a narrow valley
thrust into their midst, in a neighbourhood, that is, presumably more
attractive to a hermit.
Parts of the Melum earlier quoted show that the persecution of
Rolle in the end reached such lengths that his friends had had to
hide him (v. supra, p. 122). It is possible that to do so they sent
him to Paris, where one report places him in 1320-6 (v. infra, p. 494),
or into Richmondshire, from which the Melum would then have been
written c. 1326-7. The district about Rievaulx and Byland, in
which we imagine him to have been living for some time in the
period 1320-6, is in any case a considerable distance on the way
from Pickering to Richmondshire. But whether he actually wrote
the Melum near his old home or in Richmondshire, it is likely that
the stormy period echoed in that work was mostly passed before he
made his change of abode. This follows from the fact that a passage
already briefly cited (p. 328) indicates that he has received direct
reproaches from his bishop. The chapter beginning 'Ecce elongaui
fugiens', already noted (p.473), continues with the classification of the
four stages of love (evidently founded on his own experience), which
passes into a discussion of the relative values of obedience and soli-
tude, evidently directed against his monkish adversaries. The con-
cluding section of this discussion, in which he contrasts his heavenly
song with their liturgical song, has already been quoted (pp. 124 sq.).
He continues:
'Parum vel nichil curant de sono spirituali aut de solempnitate mentis.
Siquidem et (quod peius est) in ociositate indurantur in tantum quod in
deuocionem nequeant assurgere nec putant se posse maiorem graciam
inuenire. Erubescite deinceps et tacete: confundimini enim in argumen-
tis vestris, ostendentes uosmetipsos amantissimos ¹ Dei penitus non cogno-
scere, et altum diuinum amoris archanum funditus ignorare. Quid agitis
cum omnibus uestris litteris quas a primeua etate didicistis? Quid pro-
sunt uobis dum nescitis quid loquimini? Omnes uos consolatores onerosi
2 primeno C.
1 om. C.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 481
estis (Job xvi. 2). Sciencia inflat, caritas autem edificat (1 Cor. viii. 1).
Ecce enim iuuenis, zelo iusticie animatus, insurgit contra senem, heremita
contra episcopum. . . . Qui enim Deo est obediencior, eciam coram Deo est
et maior, sed non sequitur iste est obedientissimus [homini, ergo obedien-
tissimus]¹ est Deo. Deo enim solo amore obedimus, ergo qui ardenciore
amore in Deo infigitur, Deo obedientissimus probatur' (f. 240, v. supra,
P. 328).
This passage would seem (from the context) to indicate that Rolle's
conflict with the bishop was involved in that with his monkish
enemies probably his irregular life was reported by the monks to
the bishop. Such an incident, however, was almost certain not to
have occurred in Richmondshire, which was 'virtually extra-
diocesan'. In the whole of Richmondshire the authority of the
archdeacon was paramount. An agreement drawn up in 1331
between the archbishop of York and the archdeacon of Richmond-
shire confirms their relative responsibilities, and jurisdiction over
hermits ('omnium anacoretarum et herimitarum dispositiones') is
explicitly allowed to the archdeacon. A controversy on the division
of power is mentioned (RS., 71, iii. 248), and this might have arisen
from the archbishop overstepping his authority in the case of Rolle
and exercising discipline over him even though in the county of
Richmond. Such a supposition is not, however, very likely.
Generally speaking, the interference of the archbishop in the present
case would mean that Rolle had not yet gone into Richmondshire.
However, no records as to a formal action taken against Rolle
have come to light. There is perhaps some slight uncertainty where
they would occur. At this time jurisdiction similar to that held by
the archdeacon of Richmond was held by the bishop, prior, and
convent of Durham over Howdenshire and Allertonshire (Hamilton
Thompson, loc. cit.). Allertonshire is perhaps near enough to
Rievaulx to have been possibly in question. However, Louis
Beaumont, the bishop of Durham 1316-38, could not have been the
learned bishop in question here, for his illiteracy was notorious
1 om. C.
2 A. Hamilton Thompson, Archaeol. Journ. lxxi. 101, and YAJ. xxv. 129 sq.
('The Registers of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, 1361-1442').
3 The archiepiscopal registers at York were searched for all hermits and
anchorites by Miss R. M. Clay, when she discovered the important mentions
of Margaret Kirkeby later to be discussed. Canon Raine, during a long life
in touch with the registers, found no material as to Rolle, though he noted the
prohibition of a friar, Henry de Staunton, hermit, from preaching, 1334 (Fasti,
p. 421). This person, Horstmann suggests, may have been a follower of Rolle
(ii, p. xxiv).


482
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
(v. D.N.B.). In any case, any records regarding this district would
be found in the registers at Durham, but these are lost for the period
in question.¹
The registers exist for the episcopate of Archbishop Melton
(1317-40), which falls within this period at York, but the fact that
they apparently do not give any information on the incident does not
necessarily mean that no formal action as to Rolle was taken during
this period. As Canon Raine points out (Fasti, p. 422 n.), the
documents regarding ecclesiastical actions were copied into the
registers from separate slips, and some of these were often lost. We
can only say that Archbishop Melton might be considered a likely
person for the tirade already quoted to be directed to. He must
have been advanced in years compared to Rolle, for his first benefice
dates from 1299 (D. N. B.). Though of humble birth, he had
already risen to be controller of the Wardrobe and keeper of the
Privy Purse when he was appointed to the see by the king in 1317.2
His education is unknown. He was of conspicuous purity and
integrity, but he must have been an extreme example of the worldly
cleric attacked by Rolle, for he was a great pluralist, with benefices
in every part of England at one time or another. At his death
(though he rose from nothing), he left many manors. In other
words, he made a fortune in the Church.
The passages in the Melum that hint at Rolle's persecutions
suggest that they came from more than one quarter. Three sources
have been noted, viz.: Dalton (probably the adversary of the Judica
and heard of afterwards only from a distance), monks either of
Rievaulx or of Byland (more probably the former), and a bishop.
We have been told that grave scandals have been brought against
the young hermit, that he has been publicly preached against, and
that his friends have had to hide him (v. supra, pp. 121 sq.). Other
passages also seem to touch on the same matters.
After an indictment of worldliness of Rolle's usual type, a chapter
ends as follows:
'Hec intellexi dum essem etate aptus amori, et spiritu spirante spurci-
ciam spernebam; ac postquam perceperam propositum, hoc placens
porro perseuero, penitudine proiecta,³ pure et pacifice pergens ad polum
vt puer a principe predestinatus, quem pellere non potest penitus peruersus
a prece polente per preceps vt putat. Temperandus tetendi tempus ter-
1 RS., 62, iii, p. cxxxviii.
2 Raine, Fasti, pp. 397 sq.; T. F. Tout, Chapters, etc., ii. 283.
3
proiecto C.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 483
renum vt terminer tutissime sine tormento, fugiens a feminis ne fallerer in
fictis, corde conscendi maxima montana. Quippe sic carnem modo
maceraui, et caput contunditur dolore deducto, quod consistere non queo,
ita grauatur, nisi corroborer cibario sanante; quamobrem iam quamquam
iubilem ingenter ¹ et currem comprobabilis [for comparabilis ?] celestibus
et summis eciam in sono superno suaui. Attamen ab aliquibus aspicior
abiectis, et dicunt derogantes deliciis deducor que diuites delectant, vnde
et debellant, dictum differentes, quod indignus sum Deo' (ff. 230, 230V).
The following chapter contains important echoes of Rolle's external
experiences, mixed with descriptions of his inner life of the type
found in infinite abundance in all his works. The latter will be
omitted and the former quoted. The chapter begins:
2
'Conditor carissime, quem cupio constanter, tui desiderium in me descen-
debat, vt dulciter diligerem te sine dolore, quemadmodum cucurri capere
consolamen creantis caloris, non cantici carnalis. Ita cum recessero a
lingua loquaci et labii labore, non caream corona in illa claritate cui con-
formari continue cupiui. Iustus es, o Ihesu, qui iudicas gentiles, gerens
iusticiam, in te iubilaui et amor arripuit animam herentem epulis eternis,
nam nisi pro necesse vtor hiis escis, cum nouerim naturam persistere non
posse si non sustinetur. Ergo cum habeam vnde excuser, cesset seueritas
insipientum, fabulantur frustra sine frenis frendentes, quia non fallor ut
infames fingebant, ac pocius puta quia praui perdurant vsque puniantur
piissimum precari, vt liberet animam meam a labiis iniquis et a lingua
dolosa (Ps. cxix. 2). Clementissime creator, qui inspicis archana et vni-
uersa attendis que hic operamur, tu cognoscis cautissime quomodo calcaui
carnem calentem et caput callidum captiuatoris quod captus in cantum
caritatiuum, non cogitaui clanculo corrumpere quemquam, quamuis com-
parui inter carnales. . . . Quapropter, quamuis miser manens cum magnis,
tamen multi de me menciebantur, quod ignosco vtique vsque ad iudicium
generale quia vindictam non volo donec videro veritatem si Deus, quem
diligo, debitoribus donauerit, reuera non repetam redarguciones, sed ero
amicus eis in euum, oblitis obprobriis atque iniuriis quas erogauerunt....
O miser sine modo, non metuis mensuram que tibi mecietur? Cur es sic
captiuus? Non tremis pro tormentis quibus traderis tu iniq[u]us et impius?
Hic iudicas iustum, qui postea probatus ex tuo ore teipsum condempnabit.
Denique tu deuias, tu funeris fundator,dum Dei dilectis detrahis indigne, ar-
guens alios, quos intime ignoras, et putans quod peccant quando preparantur
ad paciendum propter puritatem, nam sancti sepius inter seculares eciam
solitarii sedebant, ideo tu dicis quod de domino dicebatur: Quare cum
peccatoribus et publicanis manducat magister uester? (Matt. ix. 11). Et
iterum uocabant veritatem uiuentem, que angelos alit in sola visione, uini
potatorem. Exinde infelix, excidis ab alto, vnde te ab ymo erigis elatus,
non putes quia pereo quia michi maledicis, et predicas quod in penis peren-
3 oblitus C.
1 ingentem C.
3
2 conformare C.


484
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
dinabo: en ego assumor extra terrena, temporale non tangens, teneor
tranquillus ac vror interius, affluens amore, in latitudine leuatus, laudi-
fluus in luce experiensque ardorem increati caloris ; gaudium gusto in quo
nunquam gloriaberis, quia omnibus obsistis qui optime operantur....
Inuidebant autem eo quod in magnis muneribus munitus¹ mirabilis mane-
bam, et seipsos mordebant morsibus malignis quia magnifica maiestas me
mirificauit in mente per musicum in melle melodis. Dum tales transcen-
deram intemperatos, et fama fructifera floruit fulgendo, tempestuosi et
territi tormentabantur, ac sese trucidantes vt titubem, temptabant arden-
tes aufferre quod interim habebam, quos non conspexi, nam callidus
quassatur in opere quod agit, et ictum accipit quem aliis ostendit' (ff. 230°-
231).
Here again we have a single opponent attacked, this time one who
has evidently upbraided the young hermit for his lay associations,
and preached against him publicly. It would hardly seem likely
that the bishop would find time to give a public pronouncement
against a nobody like Richard, even though he may have condemned
him. The antagonist in question was evidently a cleric, but we have
no positive evidence who he is. However, the change of number to
the plural, very shortly before the subject is changed, might suggest
that he was the abbot (or at any rate the spokesman) of the persecut-
ing monastery. They' were envious of Rolle, and this charge (often
repeated) probably refers to the monks whose claims of spirituality
he is bent on combating in the Melum. Whenever Rolle refers
to his enemies as 'envious', clerics (regular or secular) are probably
in question, who (in Richard's opinion) claimed a spirituality which
had really passed from them to him. They therefore resented his
endowment of mystical joy, such as long since ceased to visit any
among their numbers. The whole passage probably hangs together:
the persecuting abbot (?) and his jealous monks are doubtless in
question. This conjecture is supported by the last sentence, which
hints that the adversaries have suffered rebuffs: tempestuosi et
territi tormentabantur . . . callidus quassatur in opere quod agit', etc.
It is hard to determine whether 'callidus' here is Rolle's own special
adversary, addressed immediately before, or the general human
adversary. It is clear, however, that on the whole the persons and
incidents involved here are probably the same as those involved in
the passage quoted above (p. 123), which we associate with Rievaulx
or Byland. There also we are told that the young hermit has been
preached against ('Populis ut placeam plerique pauentes, publice
1 munitis C.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS
485
predicabant penitenciam me pati'). In other words, that passage
(more clearly even than this one) implies that the persecutors are
monks, have preached against Richard, and have suffered disaster.
A third passage in the Melum probably reiterates the same argu-
ments, applied to the same circumstances. Other subjects also
intervene.
...
'Siue forte iam frendent falsi fideles et in factis firmatis effundunt¹
furorem, inuidia vruntur quia lucide loquor, torquere temptantes non
tangunt tranquillum, fruor tam fortiter feruore factoris. Putant quod
non potui pure predicare, nec sapere vt ceteri qui sancte subsistebant, sed
sciant simpliciter quod auctorem amaui, qui animam ardore Olimpi
impleuit vt proferam precipue sermones amoris, scripturam scrutans
que latet carnales. Quid arguis, o impie, quem approbat auctor? Non
poteris tu perfide destruere in dolo quem Deus dedicauit. Tota die
iniusticiam cogitat lingua tua, sicut nouacula acuta facis dolum. Diligis ma-
liciam super benignitate[m], iniquitatem magis quam loqui equitatem (Ps.
li. 4-5). Vt quid erras, inuide? Frustra furis, infelix, tabescens in tenebris,
quia trinitas me temperauit et dedit michi quod te doceo: non enim accepi
illud a seculari solacio, nec sanguis sustulit me, sed saporem sumpsi cele-
stium per sapienciam sempiternam. . . . O miser sine miticia, adhuc beata
bonitas benefacientibus benedicit, et magnifica maiestas mirabiles facit
in mundo. Non minus mirificat multos, quamuis perpauci bublicentur ad
populum, quam pueros suos quos in primordiis preparauit ad pacem....
Hoc attamen excipitur in istis terminacionibus temporum quod exterius
ita omnino non operantur vt antiquitus agebant, et nimirum nec est
necesse nunc vt miracula monstrentur, cum per totum orbem terrarum
multiplicata maneant memoriter, sed exemplum electi operis indigetur.
Ostendi in oculis omnium vt luceat lux luminarium inter leues. ... Non
propter hoc iam non sunt sancti quia signa eos non seq[u]untur, immo
pocius putandum est pro tanto eos perfecciores esse quia non procedunt
ad potentes nec honorificantur inter homines vt presideant in prelacia.
Ergo pro eo quod non capiuntur ad dignitatem inter ditatos (que non est
desideranda) amplius vruntur eterno amore et habundancius consurgunt
in contemplacionem suauissime, sencientes celicum sonum, cythara
supernorum se non celante. Quod vtique optimum est sic amare in
abscondito altissimum, et acceptabile amplius amatori eterno assidue
interius ardere incomparabiliterque capiet canticum caritatis quam aliquis
in externis nodatus negociis. ... Siquidem sancti non ideo in supernas
sedes sublimius sustolluntur, quia mira ostendebant in terris, nam et
nonnulli mali huiusmodi optinuerunt, sed veritas hoc uoluit quod amans
ardencius alcius assumatur, honorabilius assideat inter angelos, et in
deliciis deitatis delicacius depascatur. Porro pauper solus scincerus in
simplicitate adhuc ordinem amoris pertingere poterit, quia nec habet
5
1 offendunt C. 2 furor C.. 3 om. C. ♦ ascendi S. 5 sublimatus C.


486
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
aliquid inter homines nec ad habendum arripitur. Diues denique quam-
uis sit dignus, diuinis deditus, et princeps populi ab imperatore predesti-
netur, eo quod in diuersa distrahitur, nec ad unum omnino se extendit,
ita alte non ascendet in amplexibus amoris sed reuera uix raptim ad
requiem rapietur' (ff. 233-233).
A new chapter begins:
'Deus meus, o Ihesu, iudex iustissime, te deprecor deuocione quam
michi dedisti, non me¹ delinquas inter detractores, ne dentibus dilacerer
dolorosis.... Singularis sum ego donec transeam. nam multi meditati
sunt maliciam vt me mergerent in multiloquio et deprehenderent in
docume[n]to indisciplinato.... Ergo non deberet eciam deuotissimus
dicere Dignior denique sum ante Deum quam plures qui inter populos
pernoctant, presertim cum non potuit preuidere pectus progredientis,
quanta caritate concaleat. Nescit nimirum si alius amplius ardorem
habeat eterni amoris (cuius memoria non magnificatur in hoc mundo)
quam sanctus, cuius inter Christianos commemoracio celebratur, et de eo
fit festiuitas, quia feliciter finiuit. Nempe siue natalicia nominentur nobi-
lium, siue taceantur (uelut totaliter terre traditi), siquidem scitote quod
inter angelicos ordines excellencius ac reuerencius residet, qui in² pre-
senti positus penuria habet habundancius ardorem amoris auctoris et pre-
stancius prelibat dulcedinem diuinitatis. Quoniam hoc absque ambiguitate
condiciones considerando comprehendi quod mortales merita magnificorum
et mirabilium nesciunt diiudicare, quia diuisiones graciarum sunt idem quod
spiritus diuidens singulis prout vult, nam vnicuique nostrum data est gracia
secundum mensuram donacionis Christi (Ephes. iv. 7); alii autem sic, alii
quidem sic. Ego vtique in hac habitacione altitudinem inter homines non
elegi, sed vtinam hoc haberem quod anhelaui, non honorem humanum,
non laudem labilem, non miraculorum magnificenciam, non prelacie
principatum, sed Deo seruire desideraui amore deitatis, Christum concu-
piui, et ad hoc auidissime animum extendi incessanter, aspirans in aucto-
rem, vt ardentissime amorem altissimi amplexarer. Hoc vtique optimum
esse opinatus sum. . . . Sciui solicite subinde, propter iubilum qui ingeritur
et canorem quem carpsi, quod sanctitas non sistit in cilicio et cinere, nec
in aliquo quod exterius operamus, sed in gustu gaudii amoris eterni, in con-
temptu corporalium. . . . Quamobrem cogitaui in claustro cordis constans
esse in caritate, et despicabilius deduci inter diuites, ne ad dignitatem
deportarer. Amicam autem', etc. (ff. 233-4).
The reference to his early love for the Mother of God already
quoted (p. 92) then follows, but his persecutions soon reappear :
'Inuidi vndique obsistebant aduersum me, qui si lapsus ligarer in
lacum lat[r]arentur, et synagoga superborum ceciderunt a sapiencia, cum
me cernerent adhuc subsistentem vtique et impii obturauerunt aurem ne
2 om. C.
1 ne C.


REFERENCES IN THE MELUM TO PERSECUTIONS 487
audirent quod ego acceptabilis essem inter homines, et irruerunt ipsi in
ignomeniam, qui me oderunt. Inter hec et qui obnubilati erant operibus
obscuris aperuerunt auditum ad obprobrium meum, et confusionem meam
cupierunt quia non cucurri quemadmodum qui adhuc carnalitati coherent.
Insurrexerunt in me iniqui ambulantem in eterno amore, et tribulantes
temptauerunt vt non tenear nisi trutannus, et deicerer a domibus in qui-
bus diligebar. Itaque in hiis non florui, sed fuscus fueram, et sole
decoloratus, estu scilicet improperii,' quia horridum me habebant omnes
insensati.... Quoniam, o conditor, te concupiui, non discedens a dulce-
dine quam dedisti, sed et dilexi eos qui me despexerunt ac derisores?
cum detractoribus non diuulgaui ad da[m]pnum, necnon et amaui eos qui
me arguerunt et ostenderunt odia vt ab omnibus abhominarer. . . . Quippe
confortatus in caritatiuo calore transiui per ignem et aquam, et eduxisti me
in refrigerium, ut audacter effectus altissimi amore requiescens referam
refeccionem' (f. 234).
In this passage we are not definitely told that the adversaries are
monks, but probably they are, and the same as those addressed
in the former passages quoted: they are described as 'inuidi',
'synagoga superborum', they seem to be jealous of the hermit's
popularity among the people, and they have met some striking
disaster (irruerunt ipsi in ignomeniam qui me oderunt'). The
young hermit is apparently studying Scripture (' que latet carnales '),
and his enemies are watching to take him in some indiscreet speech
or writing ('ut me mergerent in multiloquio et deprehenderent in
documento indisciplinato'). Jealousy of Rolle's popularity among
the people, envy of his mystic joys, and authority to check his
preaching or writing, would suggest that his opponents in question
here were clerics rather than laymen. The identity of the charges
brought against the clerical adversaries here with those brought
against the monks (of Rievaulx or Byland) in other quotations would
suggest that the whole group concerns the same persons and incidents.
The Melum would seem to have been instigated by a quarrel with
monks, and that quarrel gives the background for most of the personal
passages. In the last quotation, as in that preceding, one special
enemy is singled out, but this again is probably the abbot (or
spokesman). The bishop does not apparently reappear in this work
after the mention already quoted. Neither have we any reason to
connect these special passages on persecution with lay persecutors
such as Dalton (even though some details might apply to him). He
(and perhaps Neville) may however be included in the general
chorus of detractors which Richard indicates as the accompaniment
3 tetractoribus C.
1 sed imperii C. 2 derisiores C; derisionem S.


488
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
of his life at this time. The last passage quoted would imply that
the monks who hated him had instigated his expulsion from the
houses of later patrons. The reiterated charge that he loved the
houses of the rich would indicate the usual source of his support.
CLAIMS TO SANCTITY
In the passage just quoted a new subject has been touched on,
which probably bore directly on Rolle's life at this time. The young
hermit announces to the single adversary ('miser sine miticia'):
'magnifica maiestas mirabiles facit in mundo', and soon after he
proceeds with a discussion of saints and miracles, in which he con-
cludes that not all are saints whom miracles follow,' for even some
who were bad have worked miracles. Those who have loved most
will receive the highest place in heaven, but among these will never
be included a rich man, who is predestined by his riches to be
diverted hither and thither (v. supra, pp. 485-6). In the Job (apparently
his next work) he tells us 'Et non obstat quod multa corpora
sanctorum transferuntur et in auro et argento ponuntur: omnia tum
putredini dicunt [Pater meus es tu, etc.]' (fol. xcvii).
This discussion should be taken in connexion with the two follow-
ing passages in Richard's Latin Psalter, which would seem to indicate
that his detractors alleged his failure to produce miracles as ground
for refusing to believe his claim to sanctity (according to his own
new, passionately held conception of sainthood).
Ps. lxxxvii. 10-11. '[Clamaui] desiderio & canore in corde concepto
[tota die] vsque ad noctem mortis [expandi ad te] id est, leuaui a vana
gloria ad honorem tuum [manus meas] id est, opera mea, quamuis detra-
ctores mei aliter aestiment. Et ne quis opponeret dicens: Si sancti sunt,
quare non miraculis ostendunt vitam suam? subdit, o deus; [Nunquid
mortuis] scilicet corde, id est, coram non intelligentibus [facies mirabilia]
scilicet signa' (fol. lii).
Ps. cvii. 12. [Nonne tu deus... qui repulisti nos: . . . & non exibis
deus in virtutibus nostris] id est, non apparebis manifeste, ostendens
nostras virtutes per miracula: Sed magis latens in nobis, permittis nos
tribulari et opprobria multa pati, & dicunt nos sanctos non esse, & ideo
indignos imitatione, quia non facimus miracula ; & tu scis, domine deus,
quod totum desiderium, amor ac studium nostrum tu es' (fol. lxivˇ).
The date of writing of the Latin Psalter is not certain, but
I suspect it to be early (v. supra, pp. 184 sq.). The incidents here
1 Cf. also Incend., p. 153. For a passage which contradicts this v. supra, p. 149n.


CLAIMS TO SANCTITY
489
hinted at might refer to almost any period of Richard's life, for,
from the Melum on, he announces himself as a saint in practically
all his writings (except his last works, the four epistles). Thus
through most of his mature life he lays himself open to retort from
the literal-minded. However, in no work does he make so determined
and exuberant an attempt to prove himself a saint as in the Melum,
which takes from that purpose the title given to it in the text.
Thomas of Lancaster was executed March 1322, and by the
following October Archbishop Melton was issuing a mandate for-
bidding the people to worship at his tomb (Raine, Fasti, p. 406).
Edward III, in 1327, authorized the collection of alms for a chapel
on the site of Thomas's execution, and he had then already made his
first application for the canonization of the earl, in which the arch-
bishop joined (art. Lancaster, D. N. B.). At the same time Higden
tells us: 'De cujus viri meritis an inter sanctos sit annumerandus
crebra in vulgo disceptatio est' (RS., 41, viii. 312 sq.):¹ some believe
that because Thomas was a man of impure life, no miracles at his
tomb can make him a saint. This discussion (which is continued
somewhat at length) also occurs in other chronicles of the time (see
the Yorkshire Chronicle of Meaux, ii. 344). It is resumed (RS.,
41, viii. 324) in connexion with the attempt to canonize Edward II.
It is possible that some reference to these circumstances is to be
seen in the passage from the Melum last quoted-when taken in
connexion with the extracts given from the Latin Psalter. The
subject of saints and miracles was probably, in the regions affected by
the Lancaster rebellion, a burning one at the time the Melum was
written, and if (as the chroniclers from all over England state) there
was much discussion in these years of whether evil men could be
numbered among the saints, the hermit Richard (who had violent
preconceptions on the subject of saints) was probably one of the most
uncompromising adherents of the stricter view. It will be noted that
his argument already quoted might (though not necessarily) be framed
to cover Earl Thomas's case. Richard admits that evil men may
work miracles, but not that they are therefore saints: no rich man in
any case, however virtuous, can attain to sainthood. Whether there
is or is not contemporary allusion in this passage, it is at least
1 Trevisa thus translates Higden's explanation for the rise of the cult : 'Lik-
ynge and wille þat wyves have to wende aboute make tydinges springe and sprede
hugeliche of suche worschippynge' (ibid., p. 327). The alliteration characteris-
tic of the time should be noted.
2 So he denies that visions necessarily make saints (v. supra, p. 207).
I i


490
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
probable, from the references in the Psalter, that Rolle at this period
was attacked for his failure to produce miracles when he professed to
be a saint, and the Melum would suggest that the charge came from
the spokesman of the hostile monks (perhaps the abbot).
POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
M. l'abbé Feret,' as I noted in my article on the Prick of Conscience
(p. 117 n.), takes up Rolle among the 'Sorbonnistes anglais' because
the note Vixit in Sorbona 1326' is found in the compilation on
the history of the Sorbonne in Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris,
MS. 1022 (iii, f. 122). Dom Noetinger, monk of Solesmes, who,
as already noted (supra, p. 19), is preparing a French modernized
version of Rolle's works, has recently discovered another reference to
Rolle in the companion compilation on the Sorbonne in MS. 1021
of the same library. This note runs as follows:
'Richardus de Hampole, cujus mentio inter socios Sorbonae in libro
Prioris circa annum 1326, videtur jam ad sodalitium admissus ante annum
1320... diciturque obiisse anno 1349 apud sanctimoniales de Hampolo
juxta Dancastre in comitatu eboracenci. Moritur autem eremita cum
opinione sanctitatis ' (f. 79, in art. 2, 'Provisorum et magistrorum omnium,
tam sociorum quam hospitum, quotquot a primordiis domus Sorbonicae
reperiri potuerunt nomina").
Also mentioned as occurring in MS. 1228, to be cited.
Dom Noetinger writes to me that he has been struck by the
'sound theological science and accuracy' which do not seem to him
to agree with Rolle's leaving Oxford at eighteen, and having no
further scholastic training. He points out that Pits has already
called Rolle a doctor-and, as he might have added, Bale in his first
catalogue. Dom Noetinger writes in a private letter: If it is true
that he was docteur de Sorbonne, then everything is clear. There is
a (wilful) gap in the Legend. Rolle left Oxford at eighteen, but went
to Paris and took his degree. It is after his coming back home, that,
sick of the world, he determined to become a hermit.' Dom Noetinger
later developed the point in his article in the Month, where he urges
1 La Faculté de Théologie de Paris et ses Docteurs les plus célèbres, iii. 247-50.
My attention was called to this reference by my friend Miss M. E. Temple.
2 I owe it to Dom Noetinger that I have corrected my slip in identifying
Rolle's 'nineteenth year' with 'nineteen years of age', found in my monograph
on the Prick of Conscience (p. 117), and perhaps derived from Bramley (p. 5) and
the Camb. Hist. Eng. Lit. (ii. 44).


POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
491
that Rolle's doctoral dignity would explain both his learning and
some improbabilities in the Office. Dom Noetinger feels that Richard
gained his patronage too easily, according to the narrative of the Office,
if he was a mere boy when he became a hermit, as that work implies.
His career, however, becomes plausible if we suppose that he had
been a fellow at the Sorbonne, and become a doctor at Paris before
he entered on his hermit's vocation.
Dom Noetinger quotes M. Léopold Delisle as giving the opinion
that the Arsenal MSS. in question are authentic and important
sources of information (v. Month, loc. cit., p. 6), and M. Louis Batiffol
(Administrateur de la Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal) writes to me as
follows of the collection on the history of the Sorbonne (in four
volumes), to which MSS. 1021-2 belong: 'Il me paraît que les
notices contenues dans ces manuscrits sont precises et consci-
encieuses.' The books come from the library of the Sorbonne, and
were given by S. M. N. Ladvocat, the librarian there (1742-65),
whose own monograph on his house makes it a matter of regret that
he did not write its complete history: perhaps the manuscripts in
question (compiled by Sorbonists of the preceding century) were
acquired to assist him in his monograph. Such is the conclusion of
M. Gréard, rector of the University of Paris, in whose work on the
Sorbonne they are used as a principal source,' as they are in a work
on the same subject by M. Franklin, librarian of the Bibliothèque
Mazarine. M. Franklin, in his preface, especially points out the list
of the Sorbonists from earliest times, which he prints in an appendix
from Bib. de l'Arsenal MS.-in-folio 133 (ff. 336 sq.): this list he
calls 'un document précieux pour l'histoire littéraire du moyen âge'
(p. viii). It gives the names and dates of the 'Provisores' of the
Sorbonne, after which follows in each case a list of names, headed :
'Hujus tempore fuerunt Sorbonae socii hospitesve qui sequuntur '
(p. 222). In the time of the 5th provisor (1315-20) only ten names
are given, among which the seventh is Richardus de Hampolo'
(p. 224). Nothing indicates whether he is a 'socius' or a 'hospes'.
M. Franklin does not describe or date the manuscript which he is
using, but it seems to be that which is now designated as MS. 1228,
a miscellany on the history of the Sorbonne (17th-18th cent. ?) ³
1 Nos Adieux à la Vieille Sorbonne, by Oct. Gréard, Paris, 1893, pp. viii-ix,
n. 1, where the Arsenal MSS. are described, and their compilers named.
Alfred Franklin, La Sorbonne, 2nd edit., Paris, 1875.
3
This date (given in the catalogue) does not agree with Héméré's owner-
ship.
I i2


492
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
6
bearing on the cover the name of Héméré (librarian, 1638-46),
whose manuscript history of his house is used by all writers treating
the subject. Gréard states that Héméré gives 'un grand nombre
de renseignements précieux; ... alors que l'auteur . . . avait entre
les mains toutes les pièces, il le declare, on dirait le plus souvent qu'il
travaille de souvenir' (pp. ix-x). It may be that MS. 1228 (made up
of sheets of all sizes) was a collection made by Héméré as a source
for his history, and that the list already cited was copied from
a medieval document, for which he neglected to give the reference.
The library of the Sorbonne has suffered serious losses of medieval
documents since his time (v. Gréard, p. ix n.). The house must have
kept in close touch with its archives, for we are told that until almost
modern times it had no constitution. C'est la tradition qui servait
de base aux délibérations de la Maison' (Gréard, p. x). Héméré,
perhaps more than other librarians, will have known his archives,
since he wrote the elaborate history already cited: also, he was (with
another) appointed to catalogue the library of Cardinal Richelieu-
a task which he did not live to execute (Franklin, p. 157). In this
library (which after his death was turned over to the Sorbonne) Rolle
will have been brought to his attention, for a volume of Richard's
works was included (v. supra, p. 135). Probably the acquisition of
this book started the Sorbonist seventeenth-century compilers on the
study of Rolle, whom they were including among Sorbonist writers:
information derived from Pits as to his life and works is to be found
in all the Arsenal MSS. in question. However, they may have
followed, in their claim on him, a genuine tradition, supported by
honest use of documents. Most, at least, of the material concerning
Rolle found in the compilation in four volumes is also present in the
volume assigned to Héméré's ownership (v. Noetinger, p. 7). It
is uncertain which gives the original form, but all are contem-
poraneous, and date from approximately the period when the library
of the Sorbonne acquired Richelieu's copy of some of Rolle's works.
Up to now all hypotheses as to Rolle's life and writings have been
vitiated by the fact that all his writings had never been read, even by
the scholars who had studied him. Middendorff, as we have seen,
knew no works in manuscript. Horstmann's remarks showed that
he had not read both Psalters. Now that the works have been read,
it will be seen that Dom Noetinger's whole conjecture cannot be
accepted. In even the two earliest of Rolle's compositions he already
calls himself a hermit, and they are so crude (compared to the later
ones) that they must have been written in extreme youth. If (as Dom


POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
493
Noetinger believes) he did not become a hermit till after a return
from Paris, some time later than 1326, all the writings whatsoever
must have been written between his return and 1349. The Judica
(written after he became a hermit) seems to have been composed
before 1322. The objections raised by Dom Noetinger as to the
probability of Rolle beginning his hermit's life under the circumstances
described in the Office if he was then a mere boy, do not seem to me
valid for the Middle Ages, however reasonable for our own more
regularized times. The whim of high-handed medieval persons like
Dalton might, one would think, allow unconventional behaviour in
parish churches near their property: it is evident that Rolle interested
Dalton's wife from the first moment when she saw him praying in
her seat. Moreover, we are never definitely told that Rolle had
a recognized position as counsellor to Hampole Priory (v. Month,
p. 4): we are merely told that he lived near, and had at least one
friend among the nuns. The motives therefore for believing that
Rolle is likely to have been 'doctor', in view of his privileges
described in the Office, are in my opinion not so strong as Dom
Noetinger would believe them to be. The note which he quotes,
however, is of great importance. It is supported by others, and the
whole question of Rolle's possible sojourn in the Sorbonne must be
gone into in detail.
6
The note which Dom Noetinger quotes is more significant than
those quoted by Feret and Franklin, for it cites a medieval source
for the information given, which must be searched for. The 'liber
prioris' is said to be much the most important source for the history
of the Sorbonne' (Gréard, p. xii), and though it is not extant as
a consecutive record till later than Rolle's time, fragmentary docu-
ments relating to the earlier period still exist in Bib. nat. lat. MS.
16574, Paris (Gréard, ibid. n). I am kindly informed by M. Omont,
Conservateur du Département des MSS. de la Bibliothèque nationale
that no mention of Rolle is to be found in this volume. It may be,
however, that the seventeenth-century compiler, to whom the note
quoted by Dom Noetinger is due, copied it from an authentic
medieval document now lost. But we do not know how much he
amplified the original note. It would seem that the original informa-
tion may have been merely what is given in the notes quoted by
Feret and Franklin, viz. that Rolle 'lived in the Sorbonne in 1326',
and that he was in the Sorbonne, for some time at least, in the period
1315-20.
For several reasons the tradition that Rolle was once a resident at


494
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
the Sorbonne deserves consideration. It is supported, as we have
seen, by several entries in compilations of recognized value. More-
over, the dates in question would up to a certain point fit curiously
the chronology of his life already conjectured in this work. We have
seen (supra, pp. 112, 462) that the Judica was almost certainly written
before 1322, in about the twenty-first year of his life, and probably
in the early summer, and that the early part of the Melum (so far as
we know, his next work) was probably written towards the end of
1326 (v. supra, p. 127). So far as the dates go, therefore, Rolle
might have been in Paris in the latter part of 1320, and also in the
early part of 1326. It would seem practically impossible, however,
that he should have been continuously in Paris from 1320 to 1326.
The Melum recapitulates a long period of wandering, apparently in
England, where he is at home in manor-houses, and comes into
collision with monks, and under condemnation by a bishop and
perhaps other clerics: some of this experience is echoed from his
life before he wrote the Judica, but at least the whole episode of his
quarrel with regulars seems to have taken place after the writing of
that work. If Rolle lived in the Sorbonne, therefore, he is likely to
have gone there twice, once in 1320, and again six years later.
There is nothing, in the two entries which seem to represent the
original material, to make such an assumption impossible.
The conjecture that Rolle made two journeys abroad could fit
what we know of his life. At the time of writing the Judica he is in
a mood for study, especially in order to assist in the pastoral office.
His mysticism is still undeveloped, and there is nothing in his inner
life to inhibit him from undertaking residence in a community of
scholars he has just been living in the midst of a manorial
establishment. At this time, therefore, if a patron had offered to
take or send him to continue his education in Paris, we can imagine
that he would have accepted gladly, and we are told that the
secondary purpose of the Sorbonne was his favourite 'évangélisation
des paroisses' (Feret, ii. 12). If he went, it will have been there
that his ecstasy was consummated, since we believe 'fire' to have
come less than a year after he wrote the Judica. About nine months
later he heard 'canor', in the same chapel¹ in which he had received
'heat'. If therefore he went to Paris after writing the Judica, he
would be likely to have stayed there at least through the completion
of his ecstasy, that is, about a year and a half. We have already seen
from the Melum (supra, pp. 473-4) that the coming of the 'canor'
1 The Sorbonne first had a separate chapel building in 1322 (Gréard, p. 78).


POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
495
ultimately drove him into the wilderness, and the state of mind
revealed in the Melum was very different from that manifested in
the Judica: complete solitude was what he craved now. His move-
ments were not entirely under his control however; his life and
opinions had involved him in serious difficulties with the ecclesiastical
authorities, and he had had to flee and his friends had had to hide him
(v. supra, p. 122). At this juncture it would not be impossible that
he might again go abroad, to seek the refuge of the Sorbonne, where
(as a poor scholar) he perhaps had been received some years earlier.
Now, however, life in community would be difficult to him from the
outset, and at the earliest possible moment we can believe that he
would return home. We have seen that the cataclysmic Melum was
written in a mood of savage and desperate exultation in which he
expected to die soon: it might have been written just after some
precipitate action on his part, that brought a great change into his
life. Such may have been a return from Paris, in spite of the dangers
at home, and his expectation of dying may mean a determination to
be a martyr, if such were the price of return without compromise.
Rolle's commentaries probably played a practical and important
part in his life. In spite of their partisan tendency, which would
have been unpopular in some quarters, their solid theological merits
gave his friends new weapons with which to defend him against his
accusers, and the elaborate, learned, and spiritual Latin Psalter
(which was probably early), especially, must have done much to
strengthen his position in the Church. The tremendous interest in
commenting Scripture which we see developed in Rolle between the
time of composing the Judica and the Melum (v. supra, pp. 145 sq.)
is a further important reason for taking seriously the tradition that
Rolle was a student at the Sorbonne. In his juvenile years at
Oxford we can hardly see how he could have gained either the
training or the materials for the elaborate commentaries which seem
to be a dominating interest in his years twenty-five to thirty-five (or
thereabouts). Study of the Scriptures was a post-graduate course
(Deanesly, Lollard Bible, pp. 162-3). The interest in the pastoral
charge which dominated the Judica might have sent him to the
Sorbonne; once there, however, the daily or twice-daily study of
Scriptural commentary (Gréard, p. 48) will doubtless have introduced
him to a new interest. He may have found here the source of his
expositions on the Psalter-the catena of commentary by Peter the
Lombard (whose Sentences-as well as the Scriptures-were the
daily study of the house).


496
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
The Office speaks of Rolle's special desire for theological study,
and implies that he scorned other subjects-which actually, at
Oxford, dominated the field. The Sorbonne was founded for theo-
logical study above all (as much as possible divorced from dialectic);
and to provide free instruction for secular clerks in a hostel such as
the monastic orders provided for their members (Gréard, pp. 20, 52).
Gréard calls it the 'chef-lieu de l'enseignement théologique' (p. 87),
and in the end it gave the title to the theological faculty of the whole
University of Paris. The library was a most important feature of the
establishment, and a catalogue of 1338 fortunately allows us to
appreciate its magnitude at near the period of Rolle's possible sojourn
in Paris. The poverty and the equality of the society of the Sor-
bonne were notorious: the fellows are usually termed in legacies
'pauperes magistri de Sorbona' (Delisle, passim), and the poor
scholars, who as guests received their keep and free instruction here
for months or for years (Gréard, p. 29), associated on equal terms
with the fellows, except that they did not have a vote in the affairs of
the house (ibid., p. 34). Young secular clerks were sent here by
their bishops from all over Europe (Gréard, p. 68); beneficiaries
derived their support either from the house, or from their local
patrons. Here were many of the conditions which Rolle craved
throughout his life: freedom from worldly entanglements, security
as to necessities, a simple (but a dignified) manner of living, freedom
and materials for study. The only thing lacking from his point of
view will have been solitude, with its opportunities for contemplation,
but we have seen that when he wrote the Latin Psalter, though he
called himself a hermit, he rationalized the hermit's solitude by
saying that solitude of mind' may be meant (v. supra, p. 179).
This passage has made us suspect (for one reason) that the Latin
Psalter was an early work, and that he echoed in it the early period
of his hermit's life, when, first with the Daltons, and later perhaps at
the Sorbonne, he cherished his solitude even while living among men.
After Rolle had attained 'song' he interpreted 'solitude' more
literally, and since his entire ecstasy appears well established in the
Latin Psalter, it is unlikely that he wrote the whole work in Paris. He
probably at least collected his materials there, and his residence
among scholars may explain some very scholastic passages (v. supra,
p. 185). He certainly brought his interest in commenting Scripture
home with him, for in the Melum he not only hints that he has
published Scriptural commentaries (v. supra, pp. 474-5, 487), but
1 See L. Delisle, Le Cabinet des MSS., Paris, 1874, ii.


POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
497
suggests that his gift for interpretation is divinely given, though now
it is suspect (v. supra, p. 147). The Job, which we know was later
than the Melum, proves that Rolle's interest in Scriptural commentary
continued its theological character may again be the result of his
life in the Sorbonne. His commentaries, romantic (like all his work),
but addressed to the learned, and thus less perversive than preaching,
took the fancy of many academic and ecclesiastical persons, and
probably in the end afforded him a bridge by which he passed from the
dangers of his early irresponsible propaganda to the safer and quieter
period when he wrote the balanced compositions of his middle and
later years. It is likely that he owed this service to the Sorbonne,
though in default of original medieval evidence his residence at
Paris cannot be proved.
What Rolle tells us of his early vicissitudes, both spiritual and
temporal, would seem to make it impossible that he could ever have
been admitted 'socius' of the Sorbonne. Candidates were subjected
to rigorous 'enquête' (as to character and doctrine) as well as
'examen' (as to learning), and, once accepted, they were fellows all
their lives (Gréard, p. 30). Such an honour can hardly have come
to the impetuous Richard, who (as we know positively) came under
severe ecclesiastical displeasure in his early years and led a wanderer's
life always. In the same way it is very unlikely that Richard ever
became master (or doctor). The Milan MS. calls Rolle 'Ricardus
parisiensis sacerdos secularis et magister in sacra theologia' (v. supra,
p. 220), but it is probably guessing (as may be also those manuscripts
which call him 'magister'). At the other extreme, the Vienna MS.,
which says that he is 'laycus', and that his Latin works are trans-
lated from English, must also be in error (v. supra, p. 41). Rolle
was far from being a rustic ignoramus, as we have seen, but he seems
to speak objectively of those who have attained the title of master
(v. Canticles, quoted supra, p. 69). Moreover, he left Oxford too
early to have attained more than the baccalaureate (a rank usual to
those who were received in the Sorbonne, v. Gréard, p. 31). By the
time that he would have gone to Paris, he was midway in his develop-
ment of mysticism. Those who were admitted were expected to
study to be masters, according to the statutes (pp. 596–7) printed by
Feret (ii, App. I), also from Arsenal MS. 1021 (for which he accepts,
p. 4 n., the statement of the compiler that they are derived 'ex
veteribus membranis '-assigning them to a date before 1321). As
we have seen, at the time of writing the Judica Rolle might under-
take to subject himself to the disciplined study necessary for the


498
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
doctorate, but it can hardly be believed that he would be able to
fulfil his intentions.
As a matter of fact, the Sorbonne provided that those who after
seven years did not show proficiency to complete the course (of ten
years) must leave (Feret, ii. 12). Rolle is likely to have been one
of those who fell by the wayside, but in a community such as this,
preoccupation with mysticism is likely to have been recognized as
conferring certain privileges of irregularity. Rolle's commentaries
will in any case have shown his scholastic proficiency in his own
line. It may be noted that the supposition that he remained 1320-6
gives him about the term of residence to be expected from one who
fell out of the race for a degree. However, we have seen that
evidence drawn from his writings makes so long a stay practically
impossible. In the list printed by Franklin, fellows and guests are
cited together without distinction, and from this document at least
we are given no reason for believing that Rolle was a fellow. As
a guest it would be likely that he might come and go.
In concluding the present discussion one point should be noted,
which to some extent diminishes the value of the three entries
relating to Rolle in the compilations on the history of the Sorbonne.
He is designated as 'Richardus de Hampole', a name which we can
be certain he never used in his early life, and which was probably
never applied to him till after his death at Hampole had made his
connexion with that place famous. This title must, it would appear,
be due to the seventeenth-century compilers (perhaps deriving it
from the Sorbonne MS.). Any contemporary records are likely to
have noted him as 'Richard' or 'Richard Rolle '.
In this connexion an entry should be pointed out in the earliest
extant list of students of the University of Paris, printed by Denifle
and Chatelain in the Chartularium of the university (Paris, 1891, ii.
670). Among the students cited in this 'Fragmentum Computi
receptarum bursarum ab Universitate Paris., suppositis, quorum
nomina afferuntur, impositarum' we find in the 'Vicus Sarbone',
'Ricardus filius Rodulfi cum discipulo suo, 15 solid. solv.' The date
of the document is put between September 15, 1329, and March 7,
1336, but it is not certain that anything positively forbids a date
a few years earlier. The entry seems to designate some one not in
direct connexion with the Sorbonne, since the 'bursales' as well as
the 'non bursales' of that house are cited immediately before. The
fact that the person in question lives in Vicus Sarbone', however,
might suggest some sort of connexion (perhaps old familiarity). We


POSSIBLE SOJOURN IN THE SORBONNE
499
are told that the poor students supported by the house lived in the
whole surrounding neighbourhood, as did even some of the fellows
(Gréard, pp. 29, n. 4, 30). It is not impossible that the entry in
question represents a crude foreign latinization of 'Richard son of
Rolle (Raoul)'. In that case Richard (at his stay in the Sorbonne
c. 1326) must have lived outside the house with a disciple, and
perhaps at the charge of a secular patron (for example, the 'great
lady' who, with her husband, supported him for some years).
One further fact may be noted as suggesting that Northern
Englishmen may have been welcomed at the Sorbonne in the years
suggested for Rolle's stay there. In the list in which Rolle is
cited, in the period 1315-20, the second name is 'Alanus de
Pemuech', and this is probably the Alanus Anglicus', alias Alan
de Penrith', who was prior in 1318 (Delisle, p. 143). We are told
that the priors (the active heads) were chosen yearly from the
youngest fellows (Franklin, p. 19). Alan may therefore have been
not far from Rolle's age. A warm friend of boyhood days might
have done much to smooth the way of the erratic Richard if he did
live for a time in the Sorbonne, and-to indulge in conjectures-he
might have crossed to France with Alan, and, for all we know,
earlier have known him in Oxford. The fact that in the Middle
Ages students lived in 'nations' will have thrown fellow-countrymen
in close association. Northerners at first ranked as a 'nation' at
Oxford (Rashdall, ii. 368, 371, etc.).
In conclusion, one objection to the foregoing discussion may be
forestalled. It may be argued that since the date of the Melum is
only very conjecturally put at 1326, it is not this outpouring of
egotism but the theological Job which directly followed Richard's
return from Paris. This supposition seems to me on general grounds
less plausible than that just discussed. After Rolle's ecstasy was
complete we cannot believe that he would willingly have lived in
a community, however like-minded: but the Melum may give us a
reason for his being obliged to do so, since it tells us that he has
been in hiding. The persecution (inspired by monks) which made
him a fugitive might not be so bitter and official that the society of
the Sorbonne would have withdrawn their patronage, and, as a matter
of fact, he might have found in this community sympathy for his
feud. Gréard quotes Héméré as saying of the founder: 'Les moines
n'avaient pas d'adversaire plus actif que Robert' (p. 27); we are
told that he founded his college because the study of theology in the
university was in danger of deteriorating under monastic influence.


500
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
A Sorbonist contemporary with Héméré is said by Gréard to give
'le fond de la pensée de Robert' as follows:
'Le goût de la théologie ne pouvait que dépérir dans l'ombre des
cloîtres, s'il n'était stimulé du dehors par une libre émulation. Aussi bien
la règle commune des vœux risquait d'éteindre les plus nobles ardeurs :
tous les hommes ne sont pas nés pour se soumettre à la volonté d'un seul
et Dieu n'a pas promis son paradis à ceux-là seulement qui revêtaient la
bure.... Que moines et séculiers travaillassent chacun de leur côté, et
l'on verrait à qui devaient appartenir la maîtrise des lettres et la direction
des esprits' (ibid., p. 20).
A society conceived in this spirit might be very likely to receive
a talented young man fleeing from monastic enemies (who have
argued that theirs is the holiest manner of life): and if earlier also
he had lived under the patronage of the Sorbonne he might in the
first place have imbibed from there some at least of his prejudice
against conventuals.
After the Melum was written, we can hardly imagine any responsible
religious institution immediately giving Rolle support. The Job,
evidently written after some time had passed, and partly in reaction
from the Melum, will have proved his talents as an eloquent and
very energetic expositor, who, addressing himself to the learned, in
tempered language, was a publicist to be tolerated by the Church,
and perhaps encouraged. In that work the benefits he derived from
the Sorbonne will have been manifest, as it may have been in the
Latin Psalter, which, for all we know, was almost contemporaneous
with the Melum. Rolle in these formative years was a curious wild
mixture of strong impulses, and his scholar-prophet instinct to inter-
pret Scripture is as clearly visible in the tumultuous Melum as in the
theological Job. At the moment of writing the Melum, however, the
careful labour of exposition could have no ultimately quieting effect
on his nerves, because he has evidently been so oppressed and
goaded by a long experience at once of opposition and of gregarious-
The violence of that work may be due not only to the feud
with his monastic enemies, but also to the (now) uncongenial life in
a community, to which he was driven by his necessity for flight. In
other words, we may see the influence of his recent stay with the
society of the Sorbonne in the very fury of the anti-social tendencies
there expressed. These, however, are only conjectures.
ness.


INCIDENTS OF LATER LIFE
501
INCIDENTS OF LATER LIFE
The Office, after describing Rolle's life with the Daltons, tells us
that ('post hec') Richard removed from his early home 'ad alias
partes' (p. 39), and thereupon gives an extended apology for his
change of abode, which, considering the discussions on the subject
found in his Judica, Melum, Canticles, and Incendium, may be derived
from them, and not indicate any tradition of his persecutions on this
score. It goes on: 'Cum itaque sanctus iste ex causis necessariis
et multum utilibus se ad morandum in Comitatu Richmundie trans-
tulisset', etc. Thus we are not explicitly told whether he went to
Richmondshire straight from the protection of Dalton, but, as we
have seen (supra, p. 481), it is probable that he did not, and the
reference to 'alias partes' before the reference to Richmondshire
may indicate the same. The removal some time to Richmondshire,
his connexion with Margaret Kirkeby, and his death at Hampole
may be said to be the only primary facts which we have concerning
his later life.
The statement that Rolle removed to Richmondshire cannot be
said to localize him very narrowly, for a large area is in question.
The archdeaconry of that name included 'the old district of Rich-
mondshire, now included in the North and a portion of the West
Riding, together with Lancashire, N. of the Ribble, and those
southern deaneries of Westmorland and Cumberland which had not
been united with the diocese of Carlisle, when it was formed in the
twelfth century'.¹ It is therefore, strictly speaking, possible that
Rolle wandered for a time in England outside of Yorkshire, though
we have no proof that he did so. It is clear, however, that there is
more uncertainty about his movements than is usually recognized.
Horstmann, for example, says that he never-'excepting the years of
his studentship-left the precincts of Yorkshire' (ii, p. xxxix): 'His
remove into Richmondshire seems to have taken place in the earlier
half of the third decade of his age. He stayed there for a considerable
time' (p. xxxi); 'At last-presumably in the beginning of the fourties
[sic] of his age-he removed to Hampole, and there stayed during
the remainder of his life' (p. xxxiii). These statements would make
it appear that Rolle's movements were more final than was the case.
It is certain that he moved back and forth from Richmondshire to
Hampole, and (since he almost certainly wrote one of his English
¹ A. Hamilton Thompson, Archaeol. Journ. Ixxi, 100 sq.


502
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
epistles for a nun of Yedingham, v. supra, p. 247) he probably also
returned at times to his old home in the neighbourhood of Pickering.
The Vienna MS. doubtless describes Rolle's early life accurately
when it says: 'In principiis sub delibacione (?) locorum vbi eum
gracia admonuisset, siue in heremo, siue in seculo, vel in peregrina-
cionibus vixit' (supra, p. 42). Probably he kept up the same
wandering to the end.
MARGARET DE KIRKEBY
We can speak positively in denying that when Rolle went to
Hampole he left Richmondshire for ever, because of the unexpected
records discovered by Miss Clay in regard to Margaret Kirkeby. It
had been taken for granted from the terms by which she is desig-
nated in the Office ('olim' recluse at Ainderby) that it was when she
was enclosed at Ainderby that Richard lived twelve miles from
her cell (as the Office relates). Two records in Bishop Zouche's
register, however, discovered by Miss Clay, show that she did not
reach Ainderby till some years after Rolle's death. On December
12, 1348 (ten months before Rolle died), the archbishop issued
a commission to the abbot of Eggleston to enclose 'Margaretam la
Boteler sororem domus monialium de Hampole . . . que salubri
ducta proposito anachorita effici plurimum concupiscit ac vitam
ducere solitariam ut eo liberius et quietius piis oracionibus et vigi-
liis dedita conditori omnium valeat famulari'. She was to be enclosed
'in quadam domo Capelle de Estelaton' Archidiaconatus Riche-
m[undie] dicte nostre diocesis contigua, in qua pro suo perpetuo se
disposuit moraturam'' (Reg. Zouche, f. 72). In Bishop Thoresby's
register we learn that on January 16, 1356-7, he gave letters to the
abbots of Jervaulx and Eggleston 'pro parte dilecte filie deuote
mulieris Margarete de Kirkeby anachorite apud Laton' nostre
diocesis iam recluse'. Where she is she 'cannot see the sacrament
of the altar or hear, and permission is granted for her to be trans-
ferred 'vsque locum vicinum ecclesie parochialis de Aynderby...
inibi ponendam et more pristino includendam'. She is absolved
from her vow to remain perpetually at 'Laton', as her place of
former enclosure is spelled here (Reg. Thoresby, f. 287).
There seems to me no doubt that both these records refer to the
same person, who was Richard Rolle's disciple. Miss Clay diffidently
¹ I quote from transcripts made for me with the greatest generosity by the
late Mr. William Brown.


MARGARET DE KIRKEBY
503
suggested: 'Possibly she was Margaret la Boteler of Kirkby' (p. 143
n.), but she first appeared to take the two entries as concerned with
two persons, and (after noting the removal to Ainderby of 'Margaret
de Kirkeby', who was obviously the disciple of the hermit mentioned
in the Laud prologue, the Office, etc.) remarked: 'There was some
connexion between the East Layton cell and Hampole, for in 1348
Margaret la Boteler, nun of Hampole, was enclosed there' (ibid.).
Her later conjecture gives the more plausible explanation. We are
told in the Office that Margaret, the recluse of Ainderby, removed to
Hampole after the death of the hermit who had directed her spiritual
life; the records show that less than ten years before a recluse
Margaret was removed from Layton to Ainderby, a recluse of the
same name had been enclosed at Layton who had earlier been a
nun of Hampole. It is extremely unlikely that a connexion with.
Hampole (a very small nunnery) should exist in the case of two
women named Margaret who at practically the same date were
enclosed in remote Layton. We can surely identify them as one
and the same. The Vienna MS. speaks of Margaret as 'adherens
predictis sanctimonialibus' (supra, p. 43). The variation in her
name in the episcopal registers ought to offer no difficulty, for 'la
Boteler' was probably her family name, and 'Kirkeby' the name of
her family parish. Thus, even sons of great families exchanged
their family names for place names when they entered the Church :
a Percy became Bishop Alnwick, a Bruce became Dean Pickering.¹
The records discovered by Miss Clay, as already discussed, change
the outline of Rolle's life at several points. Margaret Kirkeby could
not have become a recluse till his very last year, and the Form,
written when she became one, must therefore be dated in 1348-9,
for the register seems to be explicit in indicating this as her first
enclosure. The cell from which his cell was distant twelve miles
must have been that at East Layton, and not at Ainderby. In fact
Ainderby (and Yafforth, perhaps the home of Rolle's family) must
have been near the circumference of a circle drawn from Layton
as a centre at a distance of twelve miles. Since East Layton cannot
be more than three miles from the border of co. Durham, that circle
must include a large area in Durham, where therefore Rolle may
have lived. It is also evident that Rolle returned to Richmondshire
after having known Hampole. He would almost certainly have met
Margaret first when she was a nun of Hampole, and the incident
¹ Leach, YAS. Rec. Ser., 27, p. xxxii. Bishop Rotherham's family name
was Scot (Historic Notices of Rotherham, by John Guest, Worksop, 1879, p. 88).


504
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
recounted in the Office (when he healed her on one April 9) must
have occurred on a pilgrimage which he took to her neighbourhood
in the last spring of his life-unless, indeed, it was when on a visit
to Hampole that he died in the autumn, and he had then no settled
home, or had one near 'Laton'.
We have no sure clue as to what led the disciple of Richard Rolle
to take up her enclosure so far from the religious house of which she
was a member. We have no medieval evidence as to a chapel at
East Layton except what is given in the record just quoted, but
'East Layton chapelry is mentioned in 1619' (V. C. H., N.R. i. 134).
The place is only a township, which lies partly in the parish of
Melsonby and partly in that of Stanwick. This whole region was
originally held by the Rollos; later, the FitzAlans were lords of the
manor of Melsonby, and during the thirteenth and part of the
fourteenth centuries lived in the manor-house there (V. C. H., N.R.
i. 105). In 1306 the manor passed to the Stapletons (ibid., p. 106),
and in 1373 when their heir died (who had married a Fitzwilliam),
a daughter inherited who had married a Metham, also of the neigh-
bourhood of Hampole (YAJ. viii. 115, and v. infra, p. 512). During
the latter years of Margaret's enclosure at Layton, therefore, the lords
of Melsonby may have had a connexion with Hampole. In the part
of East Layton which lay in the parish of Stanwick, FitzHughs,
Scropes, and Nevilles had territorial connexions (V. C. H., N.R. i.
127, 131). We know that Rolle was in direct contact with the Nevilles
in his earlier years at least, the interest in his works in the early
fifteenth century on the part of the then Scropes and FitzHughs
(and at the great religious house founded by Henry FitzHugh) has
already suggested a tradition from ancestors who were his patrons in
life. Possession of a personal relic of the 'ankerer de Hampole 'gives a
possible sign of connexion also with the Stapletons, some of whom
were at Melsonby (infra, p. 506-7). It is probable that since Margaret
was being enclosed under Rolle's influence the owners or patrons of her
place of enclosure were patrons also of his. None of the great families
mentioned as holding land in East Layton in the parish of Stanwick
lived on these lands, but the Laytons, sub-tenants, did live there, and
the heads of the family in Rolle's time were famous soldiers.¹
1 P. Harrison, Gilling West, pp. 525 sq. Sir Thomas de Laton chiualer'
was one of the lords of the townships of East and West Laton 9 Ed. II, and
still alive 12 Ed. III. His son, Sir John, fought in the Scotch and French wars.
Here was a channel by which Rolle's works might travel to Hainault, for
example (v. supra, p. 219).


MARGARET DE KIRKEBY
505
The parish church of Stanwick is full of monuments of the
Pigott family, lords of manors adjacent to East Layton. They were
also lords of Melmerby, near Coverham, where Sir Ralph Pigott
in 1328 founded a chapel to be served by a hermit appointed
by Coverham Abbey (the burial-place both of Nevilles and of
Scropes of Masham, v. infra, p. 513). Thus, altogether, though we
have no certain clue as to why Rolle's disciple took up her enclosure
so far from her convent, the personnel of the neighbourhood to which
she went gives us opportunity to conjecture all sorts of personal con-
nexions which might have brought her here: many of the surrounding
gentry we might suspect on other grounds to have been patrons of
Rolle. Perhaps Margaret came here to be near her master.
It may be noted that when Margaret was transferred in 1356-7
the commission was issued to the abbot of Jervaulx as well as to the
abbot of Eggleston. The first commission had, it would seem,
naturally addressed the abbot of Eggleston, as the nearest monastic
neighbour (no more than six or seven miles distant): Jervaulx
Abbey, however, was more than twice as far away, and perhaps the
abbot of this house was enlisted in the service of Margaret at the
request of the FitzHughs of Ravensworth, her neighbours, two miles
across the valley from Layton (from which their castle must have
been a conspicuous landmark). Whether she knew them before she
came to Layton or not, she is sure to have known them afterwards,
as would (almost certainly) Rolle. This great family were reckoned
founders of Jervaulx, and Henry Fitz Hugh, the founder of Syon,
was buried there.' His uncle Hugh FitzHugh had married a niece
of Thomas Neville (V. C. H., N.R. i. 89), his mother had been
a Scrope of Masham.
name.
It has been suggested to me that Margaret might have taken up
her enclosure in distant Layton because she came originally from
Kirkby Ravensworth, from which she would then have derived her
No la Botelers are recorded in this parish, and we shall see
a more likely origin for her family. However, it seems to me
possible that she had the patronage both of the great family at
Ravensworth, and (in the end at least) of their near relations, the
Scropes of Masham. Not only did she migrate in 1356-7 to a
A headless fragment is said to be part of FitzHugh's tomb, lying before what
was once the high altar in the midst of the red gravel level, which is now all that
marks the nave of Jervaulx. Its position is extraordinarily impressive, in the
carefully excavated foundations of this great house, which now lies in a pasture
among old trees.
K k


506
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
manor of the Scropes: some other evidence also seems to connect
her with this family. The Office states that she retired to Hampole
after Rolle's death, and the Vienna MS. tells us that after that event
she entered the enclosure at Hampole in which he had lived, where
she died ten years later. Since we now know that she was originally
a nun of Hampole, it might be likely that she would retire there in
the end, either because of old age, or because it was hoped that she,
the favourite disciple of the hermit, would be a nucleus for his cult.
When she went, it is certain that she would continue to fulfil her
vow of enclosure, for, as a matter of fact, hers is one of the very few
cases recorded by Miss Clay (pp. 141-4) where a recluse was allowed
even to leave one place of enclosure for another. When Syon
Monastery was founded, 'several solitaries left their dwellings and
entered the community' (ibid., p. 144), but this was doubtless, as
Miss Deanesly points out (p. 124), because Syon was an enclosed
house, of which a nun could sign herself 'reclusa'. Hampole was
a Cistercian house (apparently of easy discipline, v. supra, pp. 255 sq.),
where therefore almost certainly no nun who had been enclosed
would be allowed to resume her place in the ordinary conventual
life. Margaret Kirkeby, therefore, when she returned to Hampole is
likely to have been enclosed there, whether in a cell in which
Richard Rolle, her spiritual father, had formerly lived (though we
may feel sure without strict enclosure) or in another. She probably
ended her days as the recluse of Hampole'. Miss Clay (p. 256)
has brought to light three wills which mention such a person, and
two other legacies may be cited in the same connexion. Of these
five legacies, three (all large) occur in the wills of prominent members
of the Scrope family.
In 1382 Geoffrey le Scrope, rector of Great Bowden, leaves
'Anachoritae de Hampole xx', and to the anchoresses of Kirkby
Wiske and Doncaster, thirteen and six shillings, respectively.¹ His
will included legacies to 'Lord Henry' his brother (grandfather of
Lord Scrope of Masham who owned Rolle's autograph), and Henry
Lord Fitz Hugh' (his brother-in-law). In 1394 Sir Brian Stapleton
(of the same family as we find at Layton) left to his niece 'Aniste
de Medilton, j basyn rounde d'argent, ove un image de nostre Dame
de alabauster, qui fust al ankerer de Hampoll' (TE. i. 199).
was a connexion both of the Fitzwilliams and of the Methams (then
1 Market Harborough Records, ed. J. E. Stocks and W. B. Bragg, London,
1890, p. 50.


MARGARET DE KIRKEBY
507
lords of Melsonby).' 'Monssire Richard le Scrop' is the 'surveyour'
of his executors (probably the head of the elder branch of the
Scropes of Bolton). In 1401 Master Peter Dalton, canon and
treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral, left xs each to the anchorites' of
Hampole, Kirkby Wiske, etc. (Early Lincoln Wills, p. 97): ancho-
resses are probably meant. In 1415 Henry, third Lord Scrope of
Masham (owner of one of Rolle's autographs), included in his will
a legacy to 'Elizabethae quondam servienti Anchoritae de Hampole'
(Rymer, p. 275). It is therefore likely that it was the same person
appearing in 1405 in the will of his father, Sir Stephen le Scrope,
second Lord Scrope of Masham, as follows: 'Elizabethae de Han-
pole xxs' (TE. iii. 32). It is noteworthy that (separated only by a
legacy to another recluse) the same sum is left to the recluse of
Kirkby Wiske. The latter is probably also the 'Anachorita de Kurke-
bisk' to whom Lord Henry left xiis in 1415.
The dated miracles in the Office of Richard Rolle would suggest
that his cult began to flourish around 1381-3, and it might be con-
jectured that Margaret Kirkeby (having moved to Ainderby in
1356-7) was enclosed at Hampole about the time of the miracles.
In any case we cannot think that episcopal authority would allow
her to move again soon after 1356-7. All the records above cited
could (so far as the dates go) belong to the same person, except
perhaps that relating to the bequest by Stapleton in 1394. However,
the article in question may have been given away in the lifetime of
the recluse: its appearance here does not prove that she was dead.
Moreover, the phrase 'ankerer' may imply a man, and refer to Rolle.
Confusion with 'ankeres' is easy, and too much should not be built
on the masculine form in the present instance. But it would seem
to be easy for a country gentleman making his will fifty years after
Richard Rolle's death to refer to him as an 'anchorite' (vowed to
enclosure as well as to solitude) rather than as a hermit (vowed
to solitude but not enclosure). The annotator in the Vienna MS.
has possibly in the same way confused the two types of the solitary
life. It is possible, therefore, that the treasure here in question had
been really a possession of Rolle himself.
If the record of 1394 is withdrawn from the series, the sequence
of dates and the continuity in the patronage would suggest that they
all refer to the same person, and that she was an object of special
1 YAJ. viii, 223. In 1376 he seems to hold land in Skelbroke near Hampole
(ibid. xii. 70), which we suspect to have been Margaret's family home (v. infra,
p. 509).
K k 2


508
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
interest to the Scropes. In this case we would seem to have evidence
that she died between 1401 (when she appears in Dalton's will) and
1405 (when her servant is probably remembered in that of Stephen
Scrope). If she were Margaret Kirkeby, there is nothing impossible
in her thus outliving Richard Rolle by fifty years. She would then
probably have lived twenty years at Hampole, instead of the ten
mentioned by the Vienna MS. As we have seen, Rolle died in early
middle life, and he says in the Form (written in his last year) that
the Margaret whom he addresses there is young.
The consistency with which the recluse of Hampole is mentioned
with the recluse of Kirkby Wiske would perhaps mean that they
were somehow associated. If Margaret were the recluse of Hampole
in question, this might be explained by the fact that she had been
earlier enclosed at Ainderby, five or six miles from Kirkby Wiske.
This whole district must have been a centre of piety in the first part
of the fourteenth century, for 'the early years of Edward III's long
reign were marked by very extensive church building in this district.
Masham and Well afford parallel instances of churches almost
entirely reconstructed between 1330 and 1350.' Kirkby Wiske
was entirely built over in the second quarter of the fourteenth
century. The fine (and similar) chancels of Patrick Brompton,
Kirkby Wiske, and Ainderby were all built about 1320-5 (ibid.).
Perhaps the religious enthusiasm which made possible the great
building activity in central Richmondshire at this period overflowed
also into generosity to hermits and anchoresses like Richard Rolle
and Margaret Kirkeby. It is likely that Rolle had friends here
during his hermit's life, and, as we have seen, he may have spent
part of his youth at Yafforth, in the same district.
We have seen that some possibly topical allusions might place the
composition of Rolle's English Psalter about ten years before his
death, and such would be a likely date in any case, for it was a long
work, and the awkwardness of its English suggests that it was the
first written of all his English pieces. We are told that he wrote it
for Margaret Kirkeby, and if she were young at her enclosure in
1348, he can hardly have known her then more than ten years.
We are told that the age of profession was sixteen, but much
younger children were received as novices and prepared for the veil'.
As a matter of fact, a girl was admitted to Hampole at eight in the
early fourteenth century (Power, op. cit., pp. 25–6).
"
1 McCall, op. cit., pp. 64, 110, 113. The Scropes were lords of Masham, the
Nevilles of Well.


MARGARET DE
509
KIRKEBY
It is perhaps more likely than not that Margaret came from the
neighbourhood of Hampole. We are told that many of the names
of the surrounding gentry appear in the lists of prioresses and nuns
available,' and among the local great people none could have been
nearer neighbours than the le Botelers who lived at Skelbroke, a
mile and a half to the north, a township which is actually in the
parish of South Kirkby. A daughter of this le Boteler family might
therefore be designated in religion by the name of Kirkeby. This
family founded a chantry in the chapel at Skelbroke,' where arms
(bearing covered cups, as was common with 'Botelers ') are still to be
seen over the porch. In 1336 Agnes, widow of Edmund le Botiller,
and John his son, alienated in mortmain lands in Skelbroke and
other places for the endowment. No later heirs of the name are
mentioned, but some children may have been in religion. Nuns
could receive legacies of money (Power, p. 326), but they do not
usually at least claim their inheritance in land. If perchance, there-
fore, Margaret la Boteler de Kirkeby, nun of Hampole, were a
daughter (or sister) of the John le Boteler of Skelbroke, her name
would be likely to drop out of the legal records of the family.
We have record in a neighbouring parish at this time of a Margaret
who was daughter to a John le Boteler. In 1332 a man so named,
with Agnes his wife, bought land in Kirk Sandal and Bentley (both
near Doncaster, two or three miles from Hampole), with remainder
to Isobel and Margaret, daughters of John. In 1334 the wife of
John le Boteler of Skelbroke was Joan, but it is probable that they
were then newly married." The two records as to John le Boteler
in the same neighbourhood, however, probably refer to two persons,
for he of Skelbroke died in 1346, and 'John Boteler de Sandal iuxta
Doncastre' is recorded in 1349. Therefore we cannot prove that
1 J. Hunter, South Yorkshire, London, 1828, i. 357.
6
2 See Yorks Chantry Surveys, SS., 91, i. 174; Hunter, ii. 459.
3 'Where a number of estates tail are given in succession to named children,
generally the whole of the family is mentioned, with the possible exception of
priests, monks, nuns, and the like' (YAS. Rec. Ser., 42, p. xii). Cf. Power,
p. 34.
Ibid., p. 44. The phraseology suggests that they 'were the issue of a pre-
vious marriage' (p. xvi).
5 Ibid., pp. xiii, 71, 74 (where the manor of Skelbroke is conveyed to Agnes,
1337). Joan is probably the daughter of Nicholas de Sutton, and the fact that
he (with his wife) and Agnes le Botiller of Skelbroke both settle property on
John and Joan on the same day suggests a marriage settlement.
• YAJ. xii, p. 71, Coram Rege Roll, 354, m. 5′ (P. R. O.). 'John le Botiler
of Sandale' also appears in 1330 (Placita de Banco, P. R. O., 2 Ed. III, E. mm. I,
135, v. Index, pp. 752, 823).


510
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
the Boteler of Skelbroke had a daughter Margaret, though he may
have had. The family is likely, however, to have had a connexion
with Hampole. In 1313 'Archbishop Greenfield granted the convent
licence to receive a young girl, Agnes de Langthwayt, as a boarder, at
the instance "nobilis viri Ade de Everyngham "' (Power, p. 579).¹
This is very likely to have been Agnes who was widow of Edmund
le Boteler in 1334-6. When the chantry is founded at Skelbroke,
prayers are to be said 'for the souls of Edmund le Boteler, the said
Agnes, William de Langethwait, William le Boteler, their ancestors,
and the faithful departed'.2 In 1302 William de Langewath'
(probably the father of Agnes) was lord of the near-by manor of Lang-
thwait (wapentake of Strafforth), and when the chantry was endowed
at Skelbroke this manor was in the possession of Agnes le Boteler.³
Since there is a chance that Richard Rolle's favourite disciple may
have belonged to the Botelers of Skelbroke, an error that is current
regarding that family should be corrected. It is stated that Edmund
le Boteler of Skelbroke was the great Edmund le Boteler of Ireland
(styled earl of Carrick), warden of Ireland, who was the son of one
of the greatest heiresses of England (V. C. H., Lancs. i. 350 n.).
This is certainly a mistake, for Edmund le Boteler of Skelbroke
(a local landed gentleman) was alive in 1327, and his great name-
sake died in 1321 (see D. N. B.). Moreover, the family at Skel-
broke can be traced for a considerable distance before Edmund.³
The confusion has arisen because Edmund Boteler of Ireland was
the nephew and his mother was one of the co-heiresses of Richard
Fitz John, a very rich and great person (allied to the Glanvilles and
other of the highest families of the realm). Edmund le Boteler of
Skelbroke at about the time of the death of the latter is recorded as
1 A great landowner, overlord of the prioress of Hampole (v. Hunter, SS. 49,
passim). He also held land in Kirkby Misperton (V. C. H., N.R. ii. 446). In
the Index to the Placita de Banco (p. 796) he is erroneously cited as of Layton
(for Laxton).
2 William le Boteler must have been uncle of John (YAJ. x. 352).
3 List Inquis. ad Quod Damnum, London, 1904, p. 344.
Hunter, South Yorkshire, ii. 457. After Lancaster's rebellion (later than the
death of his namesake), his goods were confiscated, but for this injury he got
redress (Assize Roll 1117, m. 9, P. R. O.).
5 He was the son of Robert (YAJ. xii. 71, and Placit. Abbrev. Ric. I-Ed. II,
1811, p. 323), who was the grandson of Simon, etc. (YAJ. viii. 5 sq., where
some relatives are said to have been in Ireland at the Conquest).
Chartulary of St. John of Pontefract, passim (YAS. Rec. Ser., 25
Hugh Pincerna' of Armthorpe and Skelbroke, and Hunter, i. 87.
"
See also the
and 30), for
Perhaps this
is the stock of the Sandal family of Butler, most of whom took their mother's
surname and became Savile (see YAS. Rec. Ser., 30, pp. 399 sq., 23, p. 51).


MARGARET DE KIRKEBY
511
holding his land in Skelbroke of 'Richard FitzJohn' (YAS. Rec.
Ser., 31, p. 86). The juxtaposition of the two names has led to the
error.¹
HAMPOLE
Just as we have no names of patrons (unless it be-very tentatively-
the Scropes and FitzHughs) to connect with Rolle's life in Richmond-
shire, so we also have none to connect with his life in the neighbour-
hood of Hampole. It is hard to imagine that episcopal authority
would allow him to reside in any very close contact with the nunnery,
being, as he almost certainly was, still not an old man at the time of
his death. Some lay patrons are therefore likely. The Vienna MS.
says that he lived 'in solitudine campi', and the English Martyrologe
(2nd edit.) that he 'led a solitary life in a wood near to the Monastery
of Hampole, to which place he was wont often to repaire and sing
Psalmes', etc. (p. 17). It lies just off the Great North Road, which
runs near also to Yafforth and Layton. It is a strange coincidence
that, about fifty years before his birth, another 'Richard the hermit'
held land at Cudworth (about ten miles to the west). No evidence
proves that this landed hermitage was perpetuated, but it may have
been. As Hunter points out, there were at the Reformation two
endowments near Hampole which were then (or had been earlier)
granted to solitaries. Both were in the parish of Sprotborough:
one was a hermitage actually very near Conisborough, the other
was the hospital of St. Edmund, by the bridge near Doncaster.³
Here, in the late thirteenth century at least, were anchoresses, and it
was perhaps the 'house of anchorites near Doncaster' where a nun
took refuge during the Scotch raids in 1310 (Raine, Fasti, p. 380).
The neighbourhood of Hampole was apparently something of a centre
for the solitary life, and it may be this fact which brought Richard
Rolle here.
1 It may be noted that Butler is said to be one of the commonest names in
the Middle Ages, occurring on nearly every roll (Bardsley, p. 397). At the
time of Kirkby's Inquest (1284-5) one John le Boteler was lord of Stainton,
about ten miles south of Hampole, and his mother's name had been Margaret
(SS., 49, p. 3).
2 Clay, p. 256, and YAS. Rec. Ser., 39, p. 58.
See Clay, pp. 93-4; Archaeol., 42, pp. 398 sq. (where a roll of the hospital
in the possession of the owners of Sprotborough Hall is printed); SS., 91, pp.
155-6; Hunter, i. 336, 348, and B. Mus. Add. MS. 24493, f. 19 (where Hunter
suggests that since Robin Hood is associated in Rolle's time with the famous
'Robin Hood's Well' near Skelbroke, in the vicinity of Hampole, Richard may
have been the author of the ballads !).


512
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
The founders of the hospital and hermitage at Sprotborough were
the Fitzwilliams, lords of Sprotborough. The surname fluctuated in
the early history of this illustrious family (deriving from the marshal
of the Conqueror), and it was the head of the Fitzwilliams of his
time, the Sir William surnamed Clairfait, who was also the founder
of Hampole. Many grants were made to the nunnery by this family,
as is shown by a confirmation given to the Hampole nuns in 1331,
which is one of the sources for the Fitzwilliam pedigree. We learn
from this and other sources that various Fitzwilliams were buried in
the nuns' church (Hunter, i. 334), and altogether the relation between
the nuns and the founder's family seems to have been continuous.
The house was granted to the Fitzwilliams at its surrender. It is
conceivable, therefore, that records concerning Richard Rolle might
be some time brought to light either among the muniments of the
Fitzwilliams at Milton, or among those originally at Sprotborough
Hall (which was separated from the elder line of the Fitzwilliam
property generations ago). Dugdale (following Burton) cites for the
history of Hampole Metham's Register, an old Book of Evidences
belonging to the family of Metham, then in the possession of alderman
Constable of York' (p. 486). This has now unfortunately been lost
to sight. The Methams lived for three or four hundred years at
Marr, adjacent to Hampole (of which the church was granted to the
nunnery): the mother of the Fitzwilliam who granted the charter
in 1331 was a Metham (Hunter, i. 336), and the then head of the
Methams was a witness. From 1373 they were lords of Melsonby
(which included part of East Layton). The Metham book therefore
might be of great interest for the history of Hampole.
We cannot be sure how long or how intimate was Richard Rolle's
connexion with the house of Hampole; the fact that the nunnery
evidently wished to profit by his sainthood might lead to its claiming
him after his death to a perhaps unwarrantable degree. His con-
nexion was probably never in any way official, but it may have been
long standing: the discovery that Margaret, his favourite disciple, was
originally a nun of Hampole increases its significance. In any case
it is of interest to discover the character of the house which was to
some degree the custodian of his fame.
The great monasteries of Yorkshire (with one of which Rolle was
probably in early days in deadly feud), were most of them Cistercian.
1 J. Foster, Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire, London, 1874, i.
2 Hunter, i. 337; Dugdale, Monasticon, v. 487.
The Yorkshire Post kindly inserted an inquiry for me on this subject.


HAMPOLE
513
With these great landed proprietors, we can imagine that he would
always have been at enmity, since they were in general absorbed in
material affairs. In this connexion we may note that at Hampole
(as at other Cistercian nunneries of Yorkshire) the confessor was a
Franciscan (V. C. H., Yorks, iii. 163). We can imagine that there
would be some spiritual kinship between Rolle and a good Fran-
ciscan, and some indications may even go to show that he came in
early days under Franciscan influence, perhaps of an even schismatic
sort (v. supra, pp. 333 sq.). It is perhaps significant that it was
the abbot of Eggleston, a Premonstratensian house at all times
borne down with poverty',' who enclosed Margaret, Rolle's disciple
(and was therefore by implication friendly to Rolle). Other Pre-
monstratensian houses in this district were closely associated with
the Scropes: Easby was the burial-place of the Scropes of Bolton,
and (besides Thomas Neville's father) two generations of the Scropes
of Masham of Rolle's day were buried at Coverham. There was
a hermitage in the patronage of this abbey, founded in Rolle's time
by a Pigott who was also lord of manors near Layton. Perhaps
the extant manuscript on the life of hermits written at Coverham
might have been written for the Melmerby hermit (v. supra, p. 330).
In the extant ruins there are several fine designs of the sacred
monogram carved in stone (dated 1508), which might imply at least
the indirect effect of Rolle's influence. In 1330 the abbot was
'Galfridus de Scropp', whom (from his name) we may suppose to
have been son of the Justice Geoffrey le Scrope (founder of the
Scropes of Masham, lords of the manor of Coverham), who was
buried in Coverham Abbey 1340 (see D. N. B.).
As has already been quoted (p. 255), Miss Power in her Medieval
English Nunneries has remarked that the Yorkshire nunneries were
in constant need of correction over their fine clothes, but this was
only one sign of their demoralized condition as a whole. She
devotes an appendix (pp. 597-602) to the Moral State of the
Yorkshire nunneries in the First Half of the Fourteenth Century'
(in other words, in the very years of Richard Rolle's ministry).
'There were no more quarrelsome nunneries in the kingdom, witness
1 Raine, Fasti, p. 420 n. In 1330 it is said that before the Scotch wars they
had 7 marks a year and now have nothing: in 1348 the archbishop had to come
to their relief (Archaeol. Journ. lxxi. 120).
2 Harrison, Gilling West, p. 519, cf. p. 490, and supra, p. 505; Morris, North
Riding, pp. 120 sq.; YAJ. xxv. 278-9.
3 Camden Soc., 3rd ser., 10, p. 128.


514
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
their election fights, and none in which discipline was more lax'
(p. 597). For these conditions she suggests some valid reasons:
'They (the nunneries) were most of them both small and poor and, what
is of greater significance, they lay in the border country, exposed to the
forays of the Scots, and continually disturbed by English armies or
raiders, riding north to take revenge. Life was not easy for nuns who
might at any moment have to flee before a raid, and whose lands were
constantly being ravaged; they grew more and more miserably poor, and
as usual poverty seemed to go hand in hand with laxity' (ibid.).
Hampole did not lie on the direct battle line of the Scotch wars
but, like other religious houses which escaped invasion, it received
fugitive nuns from nunneries that were sacked: three were sent
there by Archbishop Melton after the troublous events of 1322
(Power, pp. 427-8). Long before this time, however, it was in
difficulties of various sorts. In 1267, 1308, and 1312 (like many
sister houses) it was forbidden to receive more nuns, whom it could
not sustain (Power, pp. 213-14). In 1302 'no nun except the
hostillaria was to eat or drink in the guest-house, save with worthy
people' (ibid., p. 401 n.). In 1311 eating in private rooms was con-
demned (p. 320 n.). In 1320 the nuns were forbidden to permit
male children over five to be in the house, 'as the Archbishop finds
has been the practice' (p. 579, cf. p. 329 n). A nun was guilty of
unchastity in 1324 (for which the penance by the man in question
had not been done in 1326), and another was similarly guilty in 1358
(V. C. H.). It was not perhaps astonishing that the convent was
brought into temptation to worldliness of all sorts, for they must
have been somewhat burdened with material affairs. The three
churches in their gift (all in the near neighbourhood) were served
by their chaplains: no vicarages were established. There is a long
list of lands in their possession at one time or another, and they had
a steward (Sir W. Percy, brother of the Earl of Northumberland) at
the Reformation (Power, p. 146), and a 'custos' in 1268, 1280,
1308 (ibid., p. 230 n.). At the end of the thirteenth century they
are cited in an Italian list of English religious houses which produce
wool, as supplying from six sacks (ibid., p. 111 n.). Their relations
with lay-folk were also sometimes incidental. In 1415 there is
1 One of these at the end of the Middle Ages, Robert Parkin, was a writer of
a 'Ritual' and of a verse life of Christ (v. Hunter, i. 354). The manuscript of
the latter was later in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, but was sold at
Sotheby's March 21, 1895 (Lot 756), and its whereabouts is now unknown.
The portions quoted in the Sale Catalogue give no signs of Rolle's influence.
They strongly suggest the Renaissance and date the works 1542-54.


HAMPOLE
515
bequeathed to a chaplain a garment which is at Hampole (TE. i. 383),
and in 1250 a charter is spoken of as 'in safe custody with the holy
men (!) of Hampol' They received a pension from Sawley Abbey."
In 1411 the inner guest-house' is mentioned; that for secular guests
was perhaps near the lower gate', where the hostillaria is to give
their linen to the porter (V. C. H.).
The nuns of Hampole in all probability venerated their saint with
some degree at least of sincerity and understanding. The new
matter added in the Office (perhaps inspired by them) is somewhat
childish, and the selections made from Richard's own writings are
evidently chosen for their bearing on his fame as a miracle worker;
nevertheless, they also give a complete and well-proportioned view
of his message. What may be called the landmarks of his mystical
writing are all included. At the same time, the motive behind the
effort to canonize Rolle must have been unconsciously commercial.
The facts enumerated by the Victoria County History are illuminating
at this point. In 1312 the house at the visitation of the archbishop
(as it had been in 1267) was in great poverty and debt, and in 1353
(four years after the death of the hermit of Hampole) Archbishop
Thoresby appointed a commission to inquire into the state of the
nunnery, which 'through unwise rule and other causes' was in such
a condition of financial collapse that dispersion was threatened. The
correction and reformation and, if necessary, deposition of the prioress
was urged. This was the period after the Black Death, and other
religious houses were obliged to receive the same commission.³
Archbishop Thoresby perhaps had a personal interest in the house,
for his will contains a legacy of cs to a nun there (TE. i. 90). His
efforts may have assisted the reconstitution of its fortunes.
We do not know at what date the 'paterfamilias Rogerus nomine'
' in uilla uicina domui sanctimonialium de Hampole' had visions of
'beatus Ricardus heremita' (led by the Blessed Virgin). For nine
nights the hermit 'de multis secretis eum aperte edocuit et in amorem
dei et conceptum sancte deuocionis accendit. Statuit igitur in corde
suo quod deinceps uoluit eundem sanctum gratis obsequiis uenerari.
Credebat autem quod in hoc ei specialiter complacere posset si
labore suo et iumentorum suorum adueheret lapides pro tumuli sui
construccione in Ecclesia sanctimonialium de Hampole. ubi nunc
1 J. H. Aveling, History of Roche Abbey, London and Worksop, 1870, p. 125.
We are reminded of the injunction upon the sisters of the Ancren Riwle not to
receive valuables for safe keeping (Camden Soc., 57, p. 418).
2 Whitaker, Craven, p. 68; Dugdale, p. 488.
3 Archaeol. Journ. lxxi. 123.


516
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
sanctum ipsius corpus reconditur' (Office, p. 82) This appears to
be the genesis of the cult. The first miracle recounted occurred
when Roger 'ad portam cimiterii de Hampole' was miraculously
saved when about to be crushed by the stones which he was bringing
for the tomb. One stone which fell on him was put at the gate as
a memorial, the other at the tomb. Evidently that which he built
was in the nuns' cemetery, and we have seen (supra, pp. 231 sq., etc.)
that several manuscripts refer in colophons to Richard's burial 'in
the cemetery'. It is not uncommon for 'ecclesia' (which is first
mentioned as the place of the tomb)' thus to include the whole
monastic enclosure. Later, however, 'aput Morehows eciam Ebora-
censis diocesis quidam uocatus thomas Belle', who had been long
ill, heard at night a voice saying, 'Thoma iube fieri candelam de
cera ad pondus dimidie libre. quam statui facias coram ymagine
beate uirginis in choro ecclesie sanctimonialium de Hampole. ubi
sanctus heremita Ricardus translatus iacebit' (p. 85). Evidently,
therefore, the relics of the saint were translated, as his fame grew,
and the translation evidently took place before 1393, when a legacy
refers to the 'haly corsand' as before the high altar (v. infra, p. 522).
The analogy of the boy saint, William of Norwich, may be
remembered in this connexion. He was buried in the monks'
cemetery at the cathedral, then (in response to a direction super-
naturally delivered in a dream) moved to the chapter-house, later
to the side of the founder's tomb at the high altar, and (when the
crowd of worshippers made this position inconvenient) finally removed
to a chapel of his own. Richard Rolle also reached in the end the
final resting-place of a successful saint (infra, p. 523). We cannot,
however, be absolutely certain that he was buried in the precincts of
the nunnery in the first place. Many colophons imply that he was,
but, as we have seen, the nuns of Hampole had every reason for
wishing to stretch their claim to a share in him as far as possible,
and the Douay MS. states that his body was 'sepultum et nuper de
loco sepulture in ecclesiam assumptum quiescit in monasterio
monialium de hampolle' (v. supra, p. 38). This may imply that he
was not originally buried in the nuns' precincts. He died in the
midst of the plague, which may have brought about temporary burial
arrangements. The Douay volume, as written by the Carthusians at
Shene, would have better claim to authority than most unsupported
1 See G. G. Coulton, Mod. Lang. Rev. xv. 99.
2 William of Norwich, by Thomas of Monmouth, ed. M. R. James, Cambridge,
1896, pp. xi-xii. On the possible date of the translation, v. supra, p. 429.


HAMPOLE
517
manuscripts, for there was always the chance that they had learned
authentic facts about Rolle from their Brigittine friends across the
river.
It has been supposed that Richard Rolle died of plague, since he
died in the midst of the epidemic. This is likely, though not of
course certain. At the date of his death (September 30, 1349) the
plague was on the wane in Yorkshire as a whole, but still violent in
the Doncaster district, which had the highest percentage of deaths
but one in the diocese, so far as the records can be made out from
ecclesiastical¹ sources. It is perhaps hardly to be reconciled with
the raging of the plague that Margaret Kirkeby in September 1349
should be able to send a 'paterfamilias' from Layton in the extreme
north of the North Riding to Hampole in the extreme south of the
West Riding ('qui locus multum a sua habitacione distabat ubi
sanctus ricardus illis diebus solitariam uitam egit', Office, p. 41).
Possibly, therefore, this incident is a fiction, which grew up from
the desire to make Richard's connexion with Margaret as explicitly
miraculous as possible. We have already seen that the cold facts of
the episcopal register show that not years but months elapsed between
the enclosure of the disciple and the death of the master. In the
frightful emotions of the year 1349 we can imagine that memories
were deeply disturbed, and that in years to come imagination had
more than ever free play over incidents of this period. The whole
episode as to the sending the 'paterfamilias' south may therefore be
due to later hearsay. The visit of Richard himself to Margaret in
the last spring of his life seems more likely to have happened. It is
perhaps hard to see the motive for fabricating the incidents where
she goes to sleep with her head on his shoulder, which were sure to
make evil-thinking, and the specific reference to his cell as twelve
miles from hers sounds veracious. If this part of the narrative,
however, is derived from the reminiscences of Margaret Kirkeby as
an old recluse at Hampole, this also may be a fiction, though the
reference to Richard's cell is likely to be roughly correct. The Office
elsewhere tells us that he spent time in Richmondshire, and the fact
that his disciple was (almost certainly under his influence) enclosed
there probably means that he had friends in the district.
If perchance the visit of Rolle to Margaret's place of enclosure
were a fiction, one obstacle would be removed to believing the
Vienna MS., which says that Richard himself was finally enclosed
¹ A. Hamilton Thompson, Archaeol. Journ. Ixxi. 112.


518
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
(v. supra, p. 42). It seems unlikely that Richard Rolle could ever
have confined himself to a cell, but it is of course not impossible:
perhaps he entered an enclosure loosely interpreted (as had been his
early hermit's solitude). He may in any case during his later years
have greatly reduced his wanderings, and it is very possible that
Margaret was afterwards enclosed in a cell in which he had lived and
from which he had occasionally come forth. It is possible that his
health was changed in his later years, so that he craved even more
quiet than in earlier days, and it is also possible that by this time he
no longer ate whatever was set before him,' whether simple or rich, as
in his earlier years (v. Incend., p. 175, supra, p. 227). Years of mystical
joy are likely to have changed his physique profoundly. The scanty
diet, therefore, which the Vienna MS. says that he lived on in his last
years (v. supra, p. 43), may have been accurately reported. Altogether,
fact and misapprehension seem to be strangely mixed in the notes
found in this volume, as would be likely in the case of memoranda
derived from what was reported by Englishmen to a Bohemian, at
least a generation after Rolle's death. As we have seen, it would
appear that as we have them they are copied from another volume.
WILLIAM STOPES
The occasional accurate explicitness of the Vienna notes is illus-
trated by their mention of William Stopes, the disciple whose
existence is otherwise testified to by the colophons of the Emendatio
in a few copies (and those mostly of specially interesting provenance).
It is unfortunate that no record appears of this person from any other
source. We are told that he was a doctor of theology for forty years,
and the phrases 'optime prefuit' and 'prius vocatis fratribus' (in the
account of his death) would suggest that he was the head of
a religious house. Apparently he was a sort of literary executor to
Rolle, for though he certainly did not (as the Vienna MS. says)
translate Rolle's Latin works from English (for the alliteration in the
Latin and other stylistic graces forbid that), he probably took down
some of Rolle's works from dictation (as he is said to have done the
Oleum effusum), and propagated Rolle's influence (since he com-
mended himself to the hermit when dying 'quasi in nomine Ihesu
plus deuoto'). He is probably the person referred to in the second
1 One austerity, on which his practice is likely to have been always stiff, is
early rising. He says in the English Psalter: 'It is shame if the sunn beme
fynd men ydil in thaire bed' (p. 432).


WILLIAM STOPES
519
note: 'alius (in contrast to iste Ricardus), amicus suus sibi carus
scripta collegit et in hanc formam libelli conscripsit ex pluribus huius-
modi iteratis. Patet legenti et creditur is qui hec collegit eciam
alia capitula sequencia pro robore dictorum addidisse' (v. supra,
pp. 41 sq.). As already noted, the person in question here may
have compiled the 'short text' of the Incendium, with its accompanying
compilation.
It is evident that William Stopes played an important part in the
tradition of Richard Rolle's writings. It seems almost certain that
he was a friend of later life, for, as we have seen, the Emendatio,
dedicated to him, must be one of Rolle's last productions. It is
such a piece as would be more likely to be addressed to a young
man beginning his religious life than to an old one: it begins, as we
have seen, with 'conversion'. If, as the Vienna note says, Stopes
were a doctor of theology for forty years, he is likely to have outlived
Rolle by a considerable period, and his interest is likely to have been
a powerful agency in keeping Richard's works alive. He may even
be the author of the Office, though no evidence supports this conjec-
ture except the fact that he himself-important as he evidently is in
Rolle's career—is not mentioned there. The three quotations from
Rolle used in the Office all take prominent positions in the compila-
tion possibly made by Stopes (v. supra, pp. 64 sq., 210 sq.). The
Emendatio contains with extraordinary frequency elaborate colo-
phons stating that Rolle was buried at Hampole, as if that work
were propagated by some one interested in Rolle's cult there, and the
elaborateness of the headings suggests that they are due to a learned
person like Stopes. He may have been a monk, a friar, or a canon.
It has been shown that the manuscripts of the Office are not
arranged for a monastic community (v. supra, p. 51), but friars (the
confessors of Hampole, v. supra, p. 513) or Augustinian canons
would use the nine lessons found in this liturgy, or it may have been
rewritten (v. supra, p. 55). Walter Hilton, of course, was an Augus-
tinian canon of Thurgarton in Nottinghamshire, near Southwell,
which was only about thirty miles south of Hampole. We have had
a confused hint that Rolle and Hilton may have been known to each
other (v. supra, p. 410), and it is therefore even possible that personal
intercourse accounts for the signs of Rolle's influence (in the form
both of action and reaction) manifested in Hilton's work. Rolle
must have had learned followers, or he would not have written the
series of learned works that he did; among these Stopes certainly
and Hilton possibly were counted, but there are sure to have been


520
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
others, and the Office may be due to some one quite unknown to us,
who had at heart both the fame of Richard and the prosperity of
Hampole.
LATER HISTORY OF HAMPOLE PRIORY
After 1353 we have no more reports of the poverty of Hampole.
Soon building operations had begun (at least restorations), for in
December 1400 the Papacy gave (as to other houses) the indulgence
of the Portiuncula for the conservation and repair of the church to
penitents for visits and alms 'from the first to the second vespers of
the Annunciation and following day, and the Exaltation of Holy
Cross, for the church of St. Mary the Virgin, of the Cistercian priory
of Hampull, in the diocese of York' (Papal Letters relating to
England, v. 375). From the year 1411 we have explicit evidence as
to a state of affairs at Hampole which would suggest that it had
grown prosperous but at the same time worldly. The archbishop's
registers have been drawn on in this connexion by the Victoria
County History and by Miss Power, but the full impression to be
gained from the documents has hardly been conveyed. On July 3,
1411, Archbishop Bowett writes to the convent that
'Clamore tamen valido famaque publica ad nos ascendentibus nostris
auribus nouiter est deductum quod quamplura dissidia lites (or lices)
iurgia & contenciones inter moniales dicte domus emergebant & indies
emergunt, necnon crimina & excessus enorma (sic) per moniales dicte
domus notorie citra visitacionem nostram predictam sunt commissa &
notorie perpetrata, & peiora committi inibi verisimiliter formidamus, nisi
visitacionis nostre officio celerius occurratur...' (Register, f. 99▾).¹
The archbishop thereupon set a day in August for his visit. The
articles of his visitation closely fill four pages of his folio register
(ff. 101-2). The prioress was apparently harsh and unpopular, as
well as slack about her financial duties, and the house was full of
strife (v. Power, pp. 339, 477, etc.). Certain definite penalties had
evidently been inflicted on certain persons (f. 102), but neither sins,
penalties, nor persons are here specified. The articles of the visitation
were to be read quarterly to the convent in lingua materna'
(ibid.). On the whole, the impression given is that the crisis arose
because the convent had too much mixed with the world, both
at home and abroad. Visits, letters, and messages to relatives were
1 I quote transcripts from the register very kindly made for me by the Rev. F.
Harrison. I wish also to thank the Rev. A. Raine, vicar of Dringhouses, York,
for assistance with the York MSS.


LATER HISTORY OF HAMPOLE PRIORY
521
complained of (f. 101), corrodies and other alienations were not to
be multiplied:
'Item iniungimus quod discursus secularium a confabulacionibus in
claustro refectorio & infirmaria non sint in qua non fiant commessaciones,
nec sit ibi nimis frequens aliquorum excessus, nisi eorum qui necessario
venire debeant' (f. 101).
Some injunctions suggest that the guest-house was well patronized
(Power, p. 83 n.), and an influx is condemned, not only of guests,
but of 'secular servants and corrodiarii, who attracted to themselves
other secular persons from the country, by whom the house was
burdened' (ibid., p. 413 n.). No males in any capacity were to
spend the night within the inner doors of the house, or to be retained
as servants by individual nuns (V. C. H., Yorks, iii. 164-5). At this
time, the significant item appears: 'portions allowed the nuns were
to be augmented according to the means of the house, with the
consent of the majority, and wiser part of the convent' (ibid.). This
visitation makes us wonder whether it was for the spiritual benefit of
Hampole that the tomb of the hermit had become a place of pilgrim-
age. As we shall see, however (p. 523), at the Reformation we hear
nothing but good of this house.
In spite of the failure to grant Richard Hermit the formal canoniza-
tion sought for, the little house of Hampole treated his sainthood
as a fait accompli-that method which had with time brought so
many local saints into the calendar. They are humble folk who
figure in the miracles of the Office. A child is brought to life after
being buried in a haystack, choked by an apple, bitten by a snake,
or drowned in a pond, village men and women enjoy all sorts of
miraculous restorations, and though the miracles are granted to
persons coming from as far distant as Durham and Leicester, no
indication is ever given that any pilgrim was of notable rank. The
reference to the Hampole miracles in the Douay MS. which was
written at Shene, and the fact that the original of the Upsala MS. of
the Office was apparently sent to Sweden by Syon, will prove, however,
that Rolle's miracles were accepted in high quarters.
Not only the subjects of Rolle's miracles, but the instigators
both of the beginning of his veneration and of his translation appear
to have been humble men, who probably could not read or under-
stand his writings. We know that by the end of the fourteenth and
the beginning of the fifteenth centuries Rolle's works were in the
possession of persons of education and position, both lay and clerical,
such as the Minister of the Friars Minor, Lord Scrope of Masham,
L1


522
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
Henry Fitz Hugh, lord of Ravensworth, John Newton, treasurer of
York Cathedral, but (except Lord Scrope, who left a small legacy
among others to other nunneries) none of these readers of Rolle's
writings left in his will an offering to Richard's tomb, or a legacy to
Hampole. Among the Northern wills printed, the little nunnery
received several legacies, but no more, apparently, than other small
houses which had not harboured a saint. In 1446 the countess of
Cambridge (who for many years kept royal state at Conisborough
Castle near by) bequeathed xxº. to Hampole (TE. ii. 121, cf. p. 119 n.).
Archbishop Thoresby in 1373, and Sir Thomas Harrington of
Hornby Castle (co. Lancs.) in 1459, made testamentary mention
of a nun of Hampole (i. 90, ii. 252). In 1415 Isabella de Wyleby
(from co. Notts) left (in a will made at Raby) to the prioress and
convent of Hampole xls., and money and other articles to a nun
there. Her will also mentions a garment 'which is at Hampole'
(i. 383). A clergyman remembers the convent and each nun (i. 82);
the date should apparently be 1366, and not 1346, as written. Three
persons designated as 'Dominus' and 'miles' remember Hampole
in their wills (i. 296, 349, ii. 138), and we are reminded of the
'religious woman of the nunnery of Hampole, the which had a
brother, a squire of Yorkshire, wounded to the death in the battle of
Shrewsbury,' concerning whose vision in regard to the prayers that
would save him from purgatory there is an account in MS. Ii. vi. 43
(15th cent.).¹
Three legacies to the tomb of Saint Richard Hermit have come to
light. The first is that of John of Croxton, chandler of York, in
1393, who by a naïve loyalty to his craft provided in his will (the first
in English in the York records) for the use of a great quantity of wax.
He bequeathed to 'the Nunes of Hampull ij torches, ayther ix fote
lang ather hegh auter in the wirschip of the haly corsand, and an
ymage of iiij pund of wax & xxiiijlb. of wax to the segirstane to the
fyndyng of the hegh auter' (TE., i. 186). His will breaks off
abruptly with: 'also a leg. of di. lb. to Ampull, etc.' This is evidently
the period when Richard was lying in the choir (v. supra, p. 516). The
will remembered many anchoresses (including the 'Ankres of Wisk'
though not the anchoress of Hampole).
1 This manuscript is full of prayers to the Holy Name of Jesus-including
'O bone Jesu', which is ascribed to Rolle, v. supra, p. 314. The composition
of this manuscript, which, though not Northern, may be copied from a Hampole
book, makes one wonder whether Hampole were not perhaps as devoted to the
cult of the Holy Name as was its saint.


LATER HISTORY OF HAMPOLE PRIORY
523
The other legacies to Rolle's tomb indicate that his cult was
flourishing at Hampole on the eve of the Reformation. In 1506
Richard Marreys, citizen and vintner of London (born at Kyrkeby
in the Countie of York '), bequeathed 'To the nonry of Hampoll, to
thentent that the nones cawse a masse to be song for my soule afore
the ymage of Seynt Richard ther, and that they also pray for my soule
and doo a dirige for the same, vjs. viijd.' (SS., 116, p. 270). In 1508
Robert Royden of Leverington, gent. (who is to be buried at Cam-
bridge, though he left many legacies in Yorkshire), bequeathed 'To
the priores and nunes of Hamepoll xs. To the church reparacons
and monastery of the same place, and the chapell of Seynt Richard xs.'
(ibid., p. 271). The first of these legacies implies that there was
a statue of Rolle at Hampole; the second, that his remains now
rested in a chapel of their own. Evidently his cult went on gaining
in strength and fame up to the very time of the Reformation, and if
that change had not taken place he might finally have been given
a place in the calendar. This was all the more likely since at the same
time his writings and favourite doctrines were growing in popularity.
Sir Brian Hastings of Fenwick, on 13 April, 1537, wrote on behalf
of one pore house of Nunes called Hampole, whiche are neare
neighburs unto me and of good name, fame and rule, and so reputed
and taken amonges all the Cuntrey aboute me'. The king has said
that they are to remain and have more religious women assigned
unto them', but they now ask for confirmation. He uses the oppor-
tunity of this letter to Cromwell to ask for favours for himself.
Earlier, Sir John Neville had asked for Hampole (if dissolved) for
his son-in-law Clifton, the king's ward, whose ancestors, he says,
were the founders. He has heard that Sir John Wentworth has it.
In the itinerary of the commissioners of 1536 it is said to be 'of the
furst fundacon off master Crescey, Jentyllmanne, now Clyfford &
Markam ther fundeers'. It was in the end (1540) given to the
Fitzwilliam family, who were truly the founders (ibid.). It had
been dissolved, 19 November, 1539 (ibid., p. 74). It is evident that
there was a good deal of juggling with history at this time, since it
was considered an advantage to be descended from a founder, at the
time when the spoils were to be divided. There was, however, no
scandal put on the nuns, for in the Public Record Office is a list of
the thirteen nuns who surrendered, headed: 'al of good conuersa-
cion' (V.C.H., Yorks, iii. 165).
1 YAS. Rec. Ser., 48, pp. 16, 27, 37, 118.
L 12


524
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
In 1573 there was only one nun of Hampole left to be paid
her pension (YAJ. xix. 102). The dispersal of the nuns was
evidently the ruin of the place, for there are now not a half-dozen
houses there, and no church. In the Middle Ages at one period,
three 'merchants of Hampole' are mentioned (Hunter, i. 358). The
nunnery brought distinguished visitors as well as trade: for example,
Bishop Cobham of Worcester, when on his way to York to pay
a visit to his friend Archbishop Melton, in 1318, dated a letter here.¹
The indulgence of the Portiuncula gave to the house of Hampole
another new source of income than the cult of St. Richard, but we
have no evidence that new buildings were begun. There are now
no remains of the priory standing, though some of the sculptured
stones have been built into the chapel and cottages on the site. In
1910, however, Mr. Kitson, the postmaster, who lived in one of the
latter, showed me, lying on the ground in his hen-yard, the stones
making up a fine late Norman doorway, which he had recently found
in situ, walled over in his barn, and was carefully preserving for the
squire, Mr. Thellusson. He told me that an ancient structure was
evidently utilized for his barn, for the lower part of the walls were
six feet thick, the upper, which were thinner, were apparently a more
recent addition, as if the structure had been built up after having
fallen into partial ruin. In his belief parts of the small manor-house
across the road, known as 'The Priory', were also very old.
In 1925 the Norman doorway had completely disappeared, without
leaving a sign, but its discovery shows that some of the original
Norman buildings of the priory must have survived to the Reforma-
tion. In the church at South Kirkby is a tomb with arms of Henry,
Lord Fitz Hugh, and Alice his wife (of the fifteenth century, son of
the founder of Syon), which is said to have come from Hampole
Priory. Hunter, however, in recording this tradition, points out that
the lady's brother was lord of a manor in the parish of South Kirkby
(ii. 451). Perhaps a canvass of the neighbouring churches might
reveal other relics of Hampole, and a systematic excavation on the
site would certainly be productive. Stone is abundant in this
district, and there was not the motive for carrying the stones of
Hampole far away which existed in the case of a religious house in
the fenland (like Sempringham, for example, of which hardly a stone
is left of the buildings which fell into disuse). At Hampole the
fragments now lying in cottage gardens could perhaps be pieced
1 E. H. Pearce, Thomas de Cobham, London, 1923, p. 164.


LATER HISTORY OF HAMPOLE PRIORY
525
Some
together to give interesting bits of medieval Hampole.
excavations lately begun on this site are thus described by Mr. A.
Blackmore of Hamphall Stubbs :
'Mr. Thellusson's agent has now made some excavations at the back
of a cottage in Hampole village, where there were indications of archae
ological remains. He has laid bare a portion of a strongly built wall with
what may be a pointed doorway or large window (they have not yet got
quite deep enough definitely to judge), also a small lancet window, splayed
inwards, the whole being of good Early English workmanship, the stone
being well worked and finely jointed. Also some stone steps have been
partly uncovered. Numerous pieces of coloured plaster were found,
which may be the remains of frescoes or wall paintings.'
Unfortunately the excavations thus begun were stopped, and the
work was filled up, because of an accident to a village woman.
Thorough excavations will be difficult, because the priory evidently
lay across what is now the street the remains now evident are
all to be found on the edges of this area. A cottage behind the
manor-house shows, built into its gable, a fine tomb slab with a cross.
Behind where the excavations have been made, the ground slopes.
down to a small stream, and it is easy to imagine the group that the
monastic buildings must have made above. Lately interest in Rolle
seems to be reviving locally, and a cell is even shown near Hamphall
Stubbs where he is said to have had his hermitage! The future of
the whole district is, however, in doubt. It is still charming rural
country about Hampole, rolling, with rich woods and fertile fields,
but the collieries have ruined villages very near, and approach on
every side. Sprotborough, which had been protected by lying in
a hollow out of sight of the devastation, is about to lose its ancient
character, since Sprotborough Hall, which has been continuously
held by descendants of the founders of Hampole, is now (from its
proximity to the collieries) less desirable as a residence, and has been
sold. In The Times for August 20, 1926, it is stated that a town-
planning scheme has just been completed by the Doncaster corpora-
tion, which was begun four years ago. 'Doncaster has 5,000,000
tons of coal beneath its surrounding coalfield, and the regional survey
was undertaken in order that when Doncaster becomes a great coal
centre it shall not repeat the mistakes made by the older large cities.'
Hampole lies not far outside the limits of this survey, and let us hope
that Doncaster will some day count the excavation of Hampole
Priory among its enterprises.


526
MATERIALS FOR ROLLE'S BIOGRAPHY
ROLLE'S COSTUME
The frontispiece in the Laud MS. already described (supra, p. 54)
shows a man in an ecclesiastical costume similar to that which the
young Richard Rolle attempted to fashion from the grey and white
kirtles supplied by his sister (v. supra, p. 56). When John Dalton,
as the Office tells us, fitted out the young man with a more orthodox
set of hermit's clothing, it is likely that this was also grey and white.
Grey, at least, seems to have been the distinguishing feature of his
costume in later life, for in one of the miracles recounted in his
Office (p. 84) we are told that a woman who lay ill saw sanctum
heremitam Ricardum in habitu heremite griseo ad eam uenientem'.
Such was perhaps a common dress for hermits, for we read of
a vision of the end of the thirteenth century in a French manuscript
that Pope Celestine V appeared 'avec sa robe grise, sa robe d'ermite,
qu'il avait imposée violemment aux moines du Mont Cassin' In
MS. Dd. i. 1 the Lamentation of St. Mary ends with an extra stanza
beginning:
'This ryme mad an hermyte...
barfot he wente in grey habyte
he werid no cloth þat was of lyn' (f. 29b).²
However, there was evidently not a consistent tradition concerning
the dress of hermits, for Rolle is represented in various garbs. As
we have seen, in one manuscript of his works (formerly belonging to
Norwich Cathedral) a hermit (?) is depicted with russet garb, grey
under-tunic, and white under-vest (v. supra, pp. 114, 216), and of
the three representations named Richard Hampole in the Desert of
Religion (v. supra, p. 309) the Stowe MS. shows him wearing a
bright green cassock, with a dark blue cap and white under-tunic;
in the Add. MS. he is all in white, with a dark cap; and in the
Cotton MS. he is all in white. All the pictures which may conceiv
ably be intended to represent him show a man bearded, as do the
black-and-white cuts in the early editions (v. supra, pp. 9-10) and
the mysterious drawing on an inner page of the Laud volume
(v. supra, p. 95).
1 Histoire littéraire de la France, 30, p. 394.
2 Horstmann assigns this reference to Rolle (ii. 274 n.). For the bare feet
v. supra, pp. 28, 54.
'Moreover, the details vary in the initials in question.


APPENDIX
THE DEFENCE AGAINST THE DETRACTORS OF
RICHARD', BY THOMAS BASSET, HERMIT
As
S already noted, the unique manuscript of this work is to be
found at Upsala, which would indicate that one was once at
Syon Monastery. The copy of Rolle's Office found in the same book
seems to have been written in Sweden (v. supra, p. 53): the whole
volume appears to be in one hand, apparently the same as that of
Upsala MS. C. 17, containing other works of Rolle (as well as a
piece entitled 'Magister Johannes Berton. Confutatio Lollardorum ').
The Upsala MS. C. 621, which contains the unique copy of the
Defence, contains also extracts from Rolle's Incendium Amoris, among
which are to be found several quoted in Basset's work. Probably,
therefore, they are also derived from a volume in his possession-
perhaps from the poor autograph compilation (set down from what
he has heard or read) which he describes as being the main part of
his library. His epistle is eloquent on his poverty and obscurity,
but gives no details by which he can be traced.
A hermit of the same name is recorded by Miss Clay as having
lived in a hermitage at St. Stephen's Gate, Norwich. His will is
included among the L'Estrange copies of wills owned by Mr. Walter
Rye, who has kindly sent me a transcript. It was proved May 3,
1435, and bequeathed several small sums of money, an image of
St. Anthony, and some furniture: two hospitals (one of lepers),
a woman friend, and a parish church, are remembered, and there are
legacies 'duabus paruiculis neptibus meis', and 'Eleni [sic] nepti
mee'. The testator calls himself 'Thomas Bassett heremita de
parochia Sancti Stephani in Norwico'. He is to be buried in the
churchyard of St. Stephen's. Citizens of Norwich (both men and
women) are made his executors (v. Reg. Swiflete, p. 169).
Nothing in this will suggests a connexion with the hermit Thomas
Basset who writes the epistle here printed. The Norwich man is
possessed of some small property, and is perhaps a widower. He


528
APPENDIX
has no books, and nothing suggests that he is learned. The apologist
for Rolle calls himself poor and obscure, but obviously he has some
learning. The fact that a learned Carthusian (probably eminent)
has engaged him in controversy would indicate that he had some
sort of position.
The date of the Upsala MS. is put at c. 1400, and the hermit
Thomas is there cited as 'sancte memorie'. It is difficult therefore
on grounds of date to identify him with a person who lived till 1435,
since 1420 would seem to be the further limit indicated by the
date of handwriting of the Upsala manuscript. The identification
should, however, be tentatively suggested, since palaeographical
evidence is notoriously uncertain, and, in any case, a date in the
first quarter of the fifteenth century is on other grounds indicated
for the volume in question. We have seen that it would appear to
have been copied in Sweden from a copy sent out from Syon, but
Syon was not founded till 1415. It may be argued that the original
may have been taken to Sweden by FitzHugh, on the journey in
1406 when he visited Wadstena and promised to establish a Brigittine
house (Deanesly, p. 97), or it may have been sent over by the
Brigittine settlement which may have been a forerunner of Syon about
1409 (ibid., p. 100). These suppositions are, however, less plausible
than the conjecture that it was sent from Syon Monastery, in which
case it cannot be dated before c. 1420.
The great mystic Julian was enclosed at Norwich from the time
of her revelations in 1373, at least, till her death in 1413. Norwich,
therefore, might have provided a congenial home for mysticism.
We have seen that Norwich Cathedral owned an important volume
of Rolle's works (v. supra, p. 96). It may also be noted as a possible
source of infiltration of his influence into this neighbourhood that
the Yorkshire Stapletons in the fourteenth century inherited the
manor of Ingham (about twenty miles from Norwich): Sir Miles
Stapleton of Ingham (d. 1414) was one of the executors of his
relative Sir Brian who owned the personal relic of the 'ankerer of
Hampole', already cited (Norf. and Norwich Archaeol. Soc., 4, pp. 321,
322 n., v. supra, p. 506).
Basset's Defence has been prepared for the press by Mr. J. A.
Herbert, from a transcript made from photographs by Mr. Bernard
Schofield.


THOMAS BASSET'S 529
"
DEFENCE
Incipit defensorium contra oblectratorens (for obla-
tratores) eiusdem Ricardi quod composuit Thomas
Basseth sancte memorie.
(Upsala Univ. MS. C. 621, ff. 67 sq.)
Paternitati vestre (eo quod sacerdotalis dignitatis insigniti titulo)
et venerande Cartusie, cui pro innumeris beneficiis multiplici caritatis
vinculo astringor. Professor facti estis, notifico ego talis qualis
quod videre meo verus ille religiosus, quem ex parte nostis, secundum
influenciam increate bonitatis, que solet secreta sapiencie sue a
sapientibus et prudentibus abscondere et ea paruulis reuelare, verbum
illud quod Dominus super terram abbreuiauit ex magna parte secun-
dum modum viatorum percepit. Quem eciam, tamquam virens
virgultum in celesti viridario plantatum, a morsu bestialium sua solita
pietate paterna protexit, et vsque in arborem proceram non foliis
verborum sed virtutum fructu oneratam, nec (vt estimo) deinceps
vento vane loquacie vel malicie turbine funditus prosternendam miro
modo sublimauit. Et quia non decet tantam paternitatem, presertim
contra scripture decretum, iudicium temerarium in tam simplicem et
innocentem proferre vel cornibus arrogancie, sicut hactenus incepistis,
ventilare, consultum videretur deinceps talia non agere, ymmo pocius
de preteritis excessibus veniam postulare, si forsan quoquo modo
posset reperiri in conceptibus vestris flexibilitas humilitatis. Mirum
vobis videbatur, quomodo tanta simplicitas quam subito de tam
arduis et subtilibus, sicut apparebat in cedula illa vobis per ipsum
directa et michi per vos ostensa, luculenter et audacter disser[er]et.
Nec mirum, quia non est[is] dedignati discrete et mature ad veritatis
lineam illam examinare, nec intelligere quod eterno doctori, qui
linguas infancium facit disertas, cordis (altered from cordibus) sui
auribus secrete voluntatis sue occulta susurria spirare placuisset.
Sed vere pater pietatis, qui secundum diuicias glorie sue abiecta
mundi elegit vt forcia queque confunderet, mirando modo operatur in
pueris probitatis, qui etatem moribus transcendunt, vt verificetur illud
scripture: Ego confundam sapienciam sapiencium et prudenciam pru-
dencium reprobabo (1 Cor. i. 19), et humiles exaltabo. Et iterum
protestatur veritas in libris reuelacionum celestium, dicens: Venite
ad me, ydeote et simplices, et ego dabo vobis os et sapienciam, cui
linguosi non poterunt repugnare (cf. Luc. xxi. 15).


530
APPENDIX
Ceterum quia homo es, frater et amice, nosti philosophum dixisse
quod amicicia vel pares facit vel pares inuenit. Propterea neque in
spiritu ire vel contumelie, sed in spiritu humilis libertatis et veritatis,
quoad hoc quod et me et meum modum viuendi licet detractorie
dampnasti Respondeo, frater, admodum est michi mirum, quomodo
hoc sana consciencia facere posses, nisi forsan caritas, quam te putas
habere, vel rueret vel grauiter claudicaret, presertim cum constat
conuersacionem meam vsque modo vel ad vnum diem tibi penitus
fore ignotam. Verumptamen cum non sis iudex constitutus super
me, pro minimo est michi iudicari a te. Sufficit enim michi ab eo
tantum et iudicari et laudari a quo spero remunerari. Quod si ipsius
amabilibus oculis placere me conti[n]gat, cuius non sum dignus vocari
creatura, tanto michi in hac parte quantum in me est plus placeo,
quanto tibi et tui similibus displiceo. Sed quia scriptura suadet
proprias iniurias dissimulari, iniurias autem Dei non vsque ad auditum,
quoad hoc quod videbaris affirmare in nostra penultima collacione,
videlicet quod ardor diuini amoris, licet a purgatis cordibus, in
presenti realiter non sentitur, nec te esse obligatum ad aliquid tale
credendum: Ego vero, licet fuerim simplex et indoctus et omnino
indignus de tam profunda materia disputare, que eciam naturam
excedit, respondeo tamen pro modulo meo, zelo Dei stimulatus, et
dico: Licet a nullo mortalium poterit hec materia pene quasi in-
cognita ad plenum declarari, potest tamen tripliciter persuaderi, vide-
licet racione, auctoritate, exemplo. Et primo quantum ad racionem...
[Summary of omitted passages.
We know by reason and experience that as the sun gives light and heat
to the body, so God, the Sun of righteousness, is the source of light and
heat for the soul; and reason demands that when the intellect has been
completely purged ('non solum a formis et ymaginibus sensibilium, verum
eciam ab omni absoluto'), and the affection, detached from all creatures
(so far as can be), has long ('per multorum temporum curricula ') yearned
insatiably for its true object, God should then freely grant illumination to
the intellect ('supersplendentibus diuine claritatis fulgoribus illustretur')
and the fire of eternal love to the affection ('eterni amoris incendiis,
quantum mortalibus fas est, sensibiliter inflammetur ').
Moreover, since God and Nature do nothing in vain, and the rational
soul is capable, through its cognitive and motive powers, of receiving
uncreated truth and heat; it follows that if the soul be directed ardently
and immediately to God, it will become fit to receive Him, and He of His
infinite condescension will come to it. (This is supported by a quotation
from St. Augustine, De Spiritu et Anima, cap. 7.)
Finally, since created truth is nothing in respect of uncreated truth,


THOMAS BASSET'S
531
DEFENCE'
which in its simplest, noblest essence can enter the secret substance of
the inner man; it follows that since the soul is more subtle than the
body, it is more sensitive to good or evil, and what is perceived through
the bodily senses may be called vanity rather than verity in respect of the
truth which the purified soul possesses through the mental senses.]
... In tantum enim habundat ardor caritatis obiectiue affectum con-
cremando in quorundam viatorum mentibus purgatissimis, quod
eciam inexcogitabili modo redundat ad realem inflammacionem
ipsius cordis corporalis. Inde venerabilis ille Ricardus heremita sic
inquit: Feruorem voco quando mens eterno amore veraciter incen-
ditur, et cor eodem amore ardere non estimatiue sed realiter sentitur
(Incendium Amoris, p. 185). Deuociores ergo in degustacione diuine
dulcedinis a tempore quo inceperunt habiles experiri amoris electu-
arium non fuerunt, quam adhuc inter homines piissimi conditoris
dono licet occulti existunt. Numquam enim ecclesiam suam deso-
latam relinquit veritas, que per semetipsam ait: Ecce ego vobiscum
sum omnibus diebus vsque ad consummacionem (Matt. xxviii. 20).
Per multiplicem eciam scripture sacre auctoritatem reale diuini amoris
sentimentum probari potest. Et vt de multis pauca eliciam, addu-
catur sponsa ignito amore inflammata in canticis dicens: Anima mea
liquefacta est; vt dilectus locutus est (Cant. v. 6). Cum enim preter
naturam visibilium spiritalis liquefaccio in resoluentem liquescere
faciat resolutum, quis digne sufficiat cogitare, quantis eterne caritatis
incendiis beata mens illa in dilectum absorpta fuit, que a se penitus
velud deficiens in amorosis dilecti amplexibus ruere potuit, eius
tamen manente substancia, licet mirabiliter transformata? Predicte
eciam sponse quasi iocunde alludunt duo illi ewangelici discipuli,
dicentes: Nonne cor nostrum ardens erat in nobis, de Ihesu, dum
loqueretur nobis in via? (Luc. xxiv. 32). Idem eciam psalmista clare
preaffirmare videtur, dicens ad Deum : Ignitum eloquium tuum vehe-
menter (Ps. cxviii. 140), vt eciam ipsum corpus vrat, prout dicit doctor
super Psalterium. Hanc amantissimam et inenarrabiliter iocundam
inter sponsum et sponsam collacionem (MS. collocionem), si quis semel
experimentaliter gustu pertingeret, numquam deinceps sine dubio ad
predictorum contrariam affirmacionem aperiret os suum per diffi-
denciam, neque ganiret per stultam loquacitatem; sed pocius fateretur
cum prudentissima illa orientali regina, dicens: Maior est gloria tua,
o dilecte mi, quam rumor quem audiui et decima pars non est nunciata
michi (cf. 3 Reg. x. 7). Quod eciam realis ardor diuine caritatis,
inestimabilem secum importans dulcoris diuini exuberanciam, qui-
busdam viatoribus eciam in presenti realiter infundatur, viuis ac


532
APPENDIX
multiplicibus exemplis probari potest; et vt de multis, gracia exempli,
pauca proferam, ecce occurrit predictus ille venerabilis Ricardus sic
dicens: Priusquam, inquit, infunderetur in me calor ille consolatorius
et in omni deuocione dulcifluus, non putaui talem ardorem aliquibus
euenire in hoc exilio: nam ita inflammat animam ac si ignis iste
elementarius ibi arderet (Incendium Amoris, p. 145). Et cum (for tum)
hunc virum gloriosum iuste, vt michi videtur, in exemplum prius
profero, quia sicut archus refulgens inter nebulas glorie, sic et ipse
velud homo seraphicus in abyssum diuine claritudinis absorptus inter
ipsos resplenduit, qui gloriosa carmina ediderunt de eterna dileccione.
Videamus eciam quid deuotissimus ille discipulus in horologio
sapiencie de hac materia dicat: Contigit, inquit, frequenter quod cor
suum pre amoris vehemencia sensibiliter feruere inciperet, et motu
ac pulsu vehementissimo amoris vim proderet, et per alta suspiria
ardorem ignite caritatis aperiret. Et cum hoc denique manifeste
fatetur, verus ille amator Christi in stimulo amoris dicens: Ada-
mantina, inquit, quondam erat anima mea, et eius intima nimium
solidata; sed nunc amore liquescit, nunc extra se exit, proprium
locum relinquit, absorbetur a Deo et obliuiscitur sui. Et iterum in
eodem ait: Si quis in summo mentem suam Deo applicare posset,
vt penitus oblitus omnium preter ipsum toto anime conamine in
ipsum tenderet ibique quiesceret, non statim a tanto bono resiliens;
tunc credo quod absorptus dulcedine consumaretur in statu, tunc
inter consolaciones et tribulaciones, honores et vituperia, blandimenta
et obprobria, insensibilis pertransiret, nichil senciens preter Deum,
solum suum affectans honorem, hic (cancelled?) comprehensor dici
posset pocius quam viator. Hec ille.
Predictam ergo materiam supernaturalem et propter spiritalis
dilicionis carenciam, protdolor! quasi incognitam tripliciter vtramque
persuasi videlicet, racione, auctoritate, exemplo, vt superius patet.
Nam scriptum est: Triplex funiculus de difficili rumpitur (Eccles. iv.
12). Et licet quidam contemplatiue vite ignari (prout dicit predictus
venerabilis Ricardus) in quadam dulcedine falsa et ficta fallantur per
demonium meridianum, quia putant se summos cum inferiores sint
(Incendium Amoris, p. 186): Veraciter tamen intelligas, amice, quod
anima, in qua prefata dona sancti Spiritus realiter concurrunt, imper-
forabilis manet sagittis inimici; quia non sompniat vel putat aliquid
tale, sed veracissime et actualiter Spiritum Dei in se manere sentit,
et propterea non estimatiue sed veraciter cognoscit; et quanto verius
hoc agnoscit, tanto profundiori humilitate desiderantissimo (sic, for
desideratissimo?) dilecto se substernens in eius amoris amplexibus


THOMAS BASSET'S DEFENCE'
533
amabilius ruit. Et quia dyabolus numquam potest dare quod non
habet, sequitur quod in illa supernaturali et sensibili diuine caritatis.
combustione non potest esse aliqua decepcio, sed pocius, quantum
ad viatores et mortales pertinet, omnium virtutum consumata per-
feccio. Scriptum est enim: Qui diligit Deum non experietur quic-
quam mali (cf. Eccles. viii. 5). Quod eciam clare affirmat Saluator
in libris celestibus ad sponsam suam beatam Byrgittam, sic dicendo:
Tunc autem non dubites Spiritum Dei bonum tecum esse, cum tu
nichil aliud desideraueris nisi Deum, et ab eo totum inflammaris.
Hoc ego solus possum facere; et impossibile erit dyabolo appro-
pinquare tibi. Amice, parcat tibi Deus eo quod coegisti meam
simplicitatem et ebetudinem de tam ineffabili et profunda materia
quasi balbuciendo diss[er]ere; presertim cum ditissimi et eloquen-
tissimi inter omnes orientales aureas et fulgentissimas sentencias
celestis sophie in hanc sacratissimam materiam, tamquam in celestis
thesauri gazophilacium, quasi nobiles vestentes in croceis habundanter
proiecerunt. Ego vero inter tot diuites quid possum conferre, cum
ad instar paupercule vidue prophetice non habeam nisi parum olei
quo ungar et quantum potest continere pugillus farine in lechito (sic,
for lecytho)? Noueris pro certo quod ego non habeo libros commen-
tariorum, nisi tantum paucula veritatis verba, que antea vel legi
vel audiui; que diligenti admodum reuolucione trita, et in lechito
memorie collocata [sunt]. Et quia aliam omnino librariam non
habeo, nisi tantum psalterium Dauid, queso, pensata penuria mea,
ne indigneris si ad presens cum vidua paupercula saltem offeram duo
minuta.
Verumptamen quoad hoc quod dixisti, te non esse obligatum ad
credendum si huiusmodi spiritualia sentimenta essent annon, respon-
deo: Amice, eciam si hoc verum sit, non tamen obligatus es ad
spernendum; ymmo quia spreuisti, forsan obligacior es quam putas,
eo quod dona celestia que Pater pietatis electis inspirauit, quos
spectaculum mundo, angelis et hominibus posuit, humiliter sequi
noluisti, verum eciam in contumeliam Creatoris, a quo omne donum
perfectum descendit, audacter contraire non timens, tanto te statuisti
debitorem in tolleranda pena, quanto plures simplices resilierunt a
laude Creatoris et a spirituali profectu ex tua indiscreta ammonicione
et doctrina. Sunt enim quidam, quod dolendum est, qui maioribus in-
uident, minores contempnunt; et cum constet eos a spiritualibus donis
vacuos existere, audacter tamen donis Dei in aliis virtuosis simplicibus
non metuunt derogare. Isti quantum in ipsis est Spiritum sanctum
persequ[u]ntur per apostolum dicentem, Spiritum nolite extinguere


534
APPENDIX
(1 Thess. v. 19). Tales gaudent quando alii suas adinuenciones
imitantur, et illorum discipulatum assumunt; et quia gloriosi in
oculis suis sunt, valde contristantur, et dehonestatos se estimant, si
ab aliquo in dictis, in factis vel conceptibus resistenciam habeant ;
et quia aliquid preter Deum indebite diligunt, frequenter in semet-
ipsis turbidi et auari existunt. Istorum eciam solet esse consuetudo
proprias opi[n]iones et phantasticas ymaginaciones pertinaciter pre-
ferre, et alios, qui eis acquiescere nolunt, quantumcumque sint
virtuosi vel vituperare vel contempnere non metuunt.
Sed quia
feruencius appetunt preesse quam prodesse, et virtuosi apparere quam
existere occulto Dei iudicio, magna quandoque in exterioribus agunt
et miram famam et opinionem penes homines assumunt. Semper
tamen timendum est eis, quod scriptum est: Qui facit regnare
ypocritam propter peccata populi (Job xxxiv. 30). Verumptamen
incredibile tibi non foret, si vel minima amoris Christi sintilla tactus
esses, quod Christus, qui verus amator est et vere amari desiderat, et
nil est quam (sic, for quod) tam de nobis quam amari appetit, eciam
ineffabilia Spiritus sancti carismata electis amatoribus suis in presenti
largiretur. Quod si tibi difficile videatur vt Christus tantum optaret
nupciali veste nos indui, iam regnando in celis, cogita, obsecro, quo-
modo ex nimio amore facta sunt vestimenta eius quasi calcancium
in torculari (Is. lxiii. 2), quando in cruce congregabat dispersiones
Israel; et forsan facile videbitur. Tantoque de iure frigida mens
nostra ardencius in Conditoris desiderium se erigeret, quanto con-
spicit quod electos suos in hoc infimo emispereo laborantes mellifluis
donis dignatur inuisere, et effugatis viciorum tenebris secreta et
incognita gaudia illos supra visibilia sustollendo facit penetrare.
Cuius admiranda bonitas in hoc singularitas (sic, for singulariter)
apparet, quod frequenter tantam graciam infundit cordibus humilium,
vt eciam fidem et estimacionem excedit superborum. Sed scriptum
est: Ante gloriam humiliabitur spiritus, et ante ruinam exaltatur
cor (Prov. xviii. 12, combined with xvi. 18). Preterea quoad hoc
quod dixisti de prefato venerabili Ricardo, cuius memoria in bene-
diccione est, videlicet, quod fuit materia quasi ruine et decepcionis,
quia, vt tibi videbatur, fecit homines iudices sui, et quod tu non
nosti tot homines in libris eius profecisse, quot in eis miserabiliter
decepti sunt; respondeo tibi ad primum: Amice, acquiesce sano
consilio, et quandocumque talis pestifera cogitacio obtenebrat mentem
tuam, memento quomodo fecit vidua ad quam Helias propheta
mittebatur in Sarapta, et colligens tibi duo ligna festinanter erige
vnum in transuersum. Nam ecclesia canit: Crux pellit omne crimen,


THOMAS BASSET'S
535
DEFENCE'
fugiunt eam tenebre.¹ Quod si contempseris, tunc scias indubitanter
quod tu ipse es vera materia ruine et decepcionis tam tui ipsius quam
omnium tue supersticiose pertinacie in hac parte adherencium.
Cessa ergo, frater, obsecro, a blasfemia tua. Nimis enim crudelis
est, qui seipsum suffocare non metuit. Alioquin non putes te
euadere impunem. Ymmo satis est tibi formidandum, ne venerandus
Ricardus lugeat super te. Mirandum enim est quomodo adeo
timorem Dei ad tergum proiecisti, et quomodo non pudeat te ita
alienum a virtute ostendere, vt os tuum in ipsius detraccionem aperire
non timeas; quem non solum Christus, prout pietas fidelium sperat,
ad eterne glorie tronum sustulit, verum eciam dum adhuc in terra
viueret tam exemplis quam scriptis ad inflammacionem ecclesie sue
seraphice miraculose illustrauit. Sed infirmis oculis odiosa est lux,
que sanis est amabilis. Et psalmista ait: Supercecidit ignis, et non
viderunt solem (Ps. lvii. 9).
Quoad secundum, videlicet, quod videre tuo facit homines iudices.
sui, respondeo: Nullus practicus vel theoricus hoc sapere potest,
presertim cum in libris suis, vbi loquitur de spiritualibus sentimentis,
et reali gustu clare protestetur, dicens: Ista verba in illorum persona
dicta sunt, qui Spiritu sancto pleni taliter sine ficcione et presumpcione
de se senciunt, qualiter in hoc volumine scripta legunt (Contra
Amatores Mundi, f. 174). Qui ergo sine ficcione et presumpcione
Spiritum Dei in se sentit veraciter et humiliter, Spiritum Dei habere
se cognoscit. Nec ideo quia cognoscit dicendus est iudex sui; sed
pocius est affirmandum quod veritas cognita cogit ipsum acquiescere
veritati. Quod si quisquam veritatem agnosceret, et ei acquiescere
nollet, tunc pocius inimicus veritatis quam amicus dici deberet.
Libri ergo venerabilis Ricardi, si fuerit in homine Spiritus Dei, non
faciunt eum iudicem sui, sed cum Spiritus Dei veritas est, necessario
compellitur consentire veritati, alioquin nichil sibi et libris Ricardi.
Et quia scriptum est, Vbi Spiritus Domini, ibi libertas (2 Cor. iii. 17),
et per consequens vera humilitas, nam quanto quis Spiritu sancto
fuerit plenior, tanto est in vera humilitate profundior, arguendus
vtique non esset, si ad gloriam Dei et fraternam vtilitatem se Spiritum
Dei habere affirmaret. Quod plane diuinus Paulus denunciat, dicens :
An experimentum eius queritis, qui in me loquitur Christus (2 Cor.
xiii. 3)? et iterum: Viuo autem, iam non ego; viuit vero in me
Christus (Gal. ii. 20). Et iterum quoad tercium, videlicet, ad hoc
quod dixisti te non nouisse in scriptis suis tot proficientes quot
1 From the hymn beg. 'Cultor Dei, memento' (Chevalier, Rep. Hymn, 4053,
from Prudentius), as the Bishop of Truro points out.


536
APPENDIX
deceptos, respondeo: Qui imprudenter et male contra magistrum
excederet, verisimile esset quod in peius penes discipulum erraret.
Et quia probasti te in prescriptis acta magistri penitus non agnoscere,
verecundum tibi forsan non esset vt quoad profectus vel defectus
discipulorum humiliter te agnosceres ignorare. Amice, videtur michi
in verbis tuis apparere quasi aliquod monstrum. Nam superius
videbaris in verbis tuis spiritualis magistri profectus non credere, et
hic pretendis te de suis proficientibus discipulis iudicare. Sed liquet
plane quod ille qui non credit, a multo forciori non intelligit. Nam
scriptum est: Nisi crederitis, non intel[li]gitis. Sequitur ergo quod
sentenciam diffinitiuam proferre, et non intelligere, non est verum
iudicium; sed pocius nominandum est ridiculum. Verumptamen
quia tu homo magne literature es, discute, queso, diligenter in con-
sciencia propria quomodo ista stant in figura. Preterea, cum de
proficientibus discipulis [iudices], quantum ad eorum realia senti-
menta sibi diuinitus inspirata, scriptum est: Nemo scit nisi qui
accipit (Apoc. ii. 17). Nec quisquam veraciter iudicat de hoc quod
ignorat. Mirum est quomodo consciencia tua tam absolute de eis
permisit iudicare, ad quorum vel extrema virtutis, vt patet manifeste
in propriis verbis, vsquemodo non potuisti pertingere. An excessit
a memoria tua quod apostolus dicit: Animalis homo non percipit ea,
que sunt Spiritus (1 Cor. ii. 14)? Sed vere proficientibus idem plane
testatur, quia: Spiritualis omnia iudicat; et ipse a nemine iudicatur
(1 Cor. ii. 15). Cessa ergo de cetero inniti baculo tuo arundineo,
sciens pro certo quod si inflaturam illam, quam de literali sciencia
concepisti, deserere nolueris, ad illorum virtutes, quos iam quasi
deuorare non metuis, viuens in mortali carne numquam attingere
valebis. Scriptum est, Sciencia inflat, caritas autem edificat (1 Cor.
viii. 1).
Ceterum quoad discipulos illos quos, vt dixisti, nosti deceptos,
mirabile est, quomodo hoc nosti. Nam ex quo plane liquet quod
proficiencium discipulorum virtutes quanta (sic, for quantum ?) ad
prefata practice non habeas, frustra vtique discretum et maturum iudi-
cium deceptorum defectus vel decepcionis examinando habere te
putas. Semper enim in spiritualibus practica precedit veram theori-
cam. Sed vide caute, ne forsan ipse decipiaris. Nam predictus
Ricardus dicit: Vicium quo quisque cespitat eciam alium habere
putat. Et actus presumptuosi quod si quis eius vitam non imitatur,
estimat eum deuiare et decipi. Et hoc ideo in eo fit, quia humilitatem
dereliquit. Hec ille (Incendium Amoris, p. 170). Et licet quibus-
dam indoctis videatur quod libri ipsius, vbi loquitur de arduis et


THOMAS BASSET'S
537
DEFENCE'
incognitis, prebeant intuentibus materiam elacionis, ego vero estimo
quod non regnat tanta elacio in mortali homine, si scripta illius
intelligeret, et ea intencione pura imitari vellet conscienciam propriam
distincte inuestigando; quod non solum in elatam sui ipsius estima-
cionem inaniter non erigeret, verum eciam in profundum sui ipsius
contemptum virtuose inclinarent; quia, sicut scriptum est, Vox
Domini in virtute (Ps. xxviii. 4). Quod si quisquam (quod absit)
intencione aliqua distorta ea sequi proponeret, vel ad suum carnalem
intellectum violenter retorqueret, non propterea sacra verba essent
reprehensibilia, sed ipse pocius dignus vituperio iuste corruit, quia
bonis male vsus fuit. Hinc scriptum est, Spiritus sanctus discipline
effugiet fictum, et subtrahet se a cogitacionibus que sunt sine in-
tellectu (Sap. i. 5). Finaliter et conclusiue, quoad hoc quod michi
affirmasti, videlicet, ego ipse, qui ista tibi notifico, non habui illud
bonum, quod vel dixi vel putabam me habere: Certe, frater et
amice, tu verum concepisti de me, qui sum purgamentum huius
mundi omnium peripsima vsque adhuc. Idcirco in caritate non ficta
ego inprecor tibi illud scripture, Benediccio Domini super caput iusti
(Prov. x. 6), eo quod iuste improperasti michi. Et quia Deus dedit
tibi oculos apertos in me, ideo fateor tibi, coram Christo non mencior,
triplicem veritatem de me. Primo, quod in consciencia non ficta
nullum bonum est in me; secundo, quod ego simpliciter numquam
feci aliquod bonum; tercio et vltimo, quod ego nullum mereor
habere bonum. Pereat ergo deinceps dies in qua natus sum; et
moriatur anima mea morte iustorum; presertim cum vas eleccionis
clare protestetur, dicens: Qui se putat aliquid esse, cum nichil sit,
ipse se seducit (Gal. vi. 3). Amice, Deus nouit quomodo tu capias
verba ista, quia ego non sum ausus iudicare quemquam, nisi de puris
manifestis et hoc solo animo compaciendi. Parcas tamen michi eo
quod tam rudi et inculto stilo tibi scripserim, cum sis vir magnus in
literatura et eloquens. Sed nosti me virum esse simplicem et quasi
ydeotam. Nouit tamen Christus si non caritas sua vrgeat me et ista
et isto modo eciam manu propria tibi scribere; que si tibi pro-
fecerint, gaudeo. Alioquin scias quia volui profecisse, et pax tecum.
Amen.
Explicit epistola Thome basseth heremite (f. 72º).
M m


538
ADDITIONAL NOTES
A 14th-15th cent. Quaritch MS. (v. supra, p. 245) ends a series
of quotations with one from 'Ricardus heremita' and the following:
'Numquam de uerbis faciam questionem de qua facultate sumantur,
dummodo edificentur ad salutem. Nam nec de herbis queritur, qua
terra uel cuius ortolani cura uel cultura adoleuerint, dummodo uim
habeant sanatiuam. Nam et de fabularum gentilium mortalitate
quandoque per doctorem forma erudicionis elicetur, quoniam fas est
eciam ab hoste doceri hec petrus blesensis. Pro Ricardo dicto
heremita contra eos qui dicunt quod dictus Ricardus non sua dicta
per doctores fundat.' Peter of Blois is here evidently being quoted
against 'detractors of Richard'. See E. V., Quot.
In the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Lincoln Cathedral Chapter
Library by R. M. Woolley (Oxford, 1927), the following is quoted
from the end of MS. 60: 'Scriptus per manus Peter Caderwalt
nacionis Alma nice]... Treuer. Londini in Anglia.' A note follow-
ing states that the volume was given to Syon Monastery, August 8,
1478, by Master Edward Lupton. Here we may have the source
by which Rolle's manuscripts reached Trier: Caderwalt may have
taken them home after a stay in England-a supposition which is
the more plausible in that he may have had a connexion with Syon
Monastery.
Canon Woolley notes as in the possession of the chapter a series
of transcripts from Rolle's MSS. made by the 'late Revd. F. Proctor of
Witton Vicarage, and given to the Library in 1891. All of Rolle's
works in Lincoln MS. 209 have been transcribed, and the Melum
(one of the works copied from that source) is also copied from St.
John's Coll. Camb. MS. 23. Texts in Camb. Univ. Dd. v. 64 are
also copied, and in some cases used for collation with Lincoln texts.


539
ADDENDA
p. 13. Dr. Goswin Frenken informs me that the Stadtbibliothek at
Cologne possesses a copy of Faber's edition of Rolle's works of
1536 printed by Arnold Birckmann. Birckmann succeeded his
brother Franz in the book business at Cologne about 1532. The
latter for the first years of his career had his printing done by
others (among whom were Hopyl and Rembolt, both of whom
printed Rolle in 1510). He did business also in St. Paul's
Churchyard, London (Heitz, pp. xxii-xxiii).
p. 81, n. 4. To identify these verses would give a valuable clue to
Rolle's early influences. They run as follows: 'Satis amicicie
Dei non est pie / quod affuit delicie amoris in die / Set obscuram
seriem noctis agonie / vertit in meridiem clare melodie / Quicquid
fatagacio aggrauat diei / tollit exultacio noctis requiei / De dulcore
fruitur virginis et Dei / mens in laudem rapitur cantus iubilei/quem
depascit caritas es sine dolore / Mori iam desideras diues in
dulcore / Nam stabit dilectio mortis cum amore / moritur cum
gaudio qui viuit cum amore' (Bodl. MS. 861, f. 85). Remini-
scences of the phrases of this poem recur in Rolle's works: cf.
Incend., p. 267 ('Noctem uertit in diem '), and a lyric founded on
Rolle's Latin, supra, p. 299. Father Oliger writes to me of the
verses: If they were not in rhymes, I would say they are trans-
lated from some Italian Laude, say of Jacopone. Even the Latin
words seem to suggest it. I looked through Jacopone, but did
not find the correspondent verses, though here and there similar
ideas, especially in Laude XC and XCI.' V. supra, p. 333.
p. 109, n. Mr. Coulton sends me from Dr. E. F. Jacob a reference
to a valuable article on 'Puer, iuvenis, senex', by A. Hofmeister
in Papsttum und Kaisertum (presented to P. Kehr), Munich, 1926,
pp. 287 sq.
p. 115. MS. VI. The scribe signs the 'Melos': 'quod m.’
P. 315, n. I. Father Oliger has printed this poem (Arch. Franc.
Hist., v, 1912, p. 148).
p. 373. From details kindly supplied by Capt. R. B. Haselden
I learn that the Huntington Library possesses four copies of the
Prick viz. Brown 2206, MSS. 68 (the first lines, however, would
classify it with 2207), 73-4; also a copy of the type 2207 (slightly
imperfect at the end) which was Item 376 in the Grove Sale,
M m 2


540
ADDENDA
Anderson Catalogue 1917, Dec. 12, and seems to be a sixth copy
not cited by Professor Brown.
p. 437. There was a medieval writer William de Rothwell or de
Rowell who wrote commentaries on the Epistles and on the
Sentences (see Bale, Index). The latter work exists with his name
in Copenhagen Roy. Lib. MS. Gl. kgl. S. 1363 (14th-15th cent.).
P. 445, n. In SS. 139 (Fasti Dunelmenses), Thomas Neville of
Elsdon is separate from the archdeacon.
p. 502. The Rev. J. Gregory, vicar of Stanwick, sends me from the
Rev. J. V. Bullard, rector of Melsonby, the information that 'the
burial fees at Ainderby were 1/1, the penny being for the ancress,
and at Bedale 1/2, 2d. for the ancress '.
p. 515. In the chartulary of Monk Bretton Priory (YAS. Rec. Ser.
66, 213) there is an undated confirmation of a gift to 'God, the
blessed Mary and the canons (sic) of Hampole'.


INDEXES
The index of incipits has been supplied by Mr. J. A. Herbert.
In the following indexes all titles in foreign languages are standardized in
spelling. In the many cases throughout the work where a series of cross-
references is given on any particular subject, only the key-reference is given
here in some cases, therefore, the most important pages are not indicated here,
but will be found by following the cross-references indicated in the text. The
spurious works are covered by the general index, the doubtful ones (marked by
a question mark) by the index for Rolle. No cross-references are given from
one to the other of these indexes unless the subject in question receives references
in the one index significant for the other (which, for economy of space, have
not been repeated). The index is not complete as to books and periodicals
cited: all works used more than once are included (at least at the first mention),
but some once cited, and most well-known periodicals are omitted. 'Magister'
is abbreviated as 'm.' and 'Dominus' as 'd.'.
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
Abbey of the Holy Ghost, 286, 335-43,
366.
Adolescentulae (= 5th sect. Cant.), 12-
13, 63, 65, 220, 222.
and St. Aelred, 79, 88, 325-7, 329.
Aggressiveness of, 270, 275.
Alliteration of, 7-8, 72-81, 90, 99-100,
118, 127, 140-1, 152-62, 183, 193-5,
207, 244-306, 340, 360, 467-87, 518
(often passim); v. prose (ornamental),
and gen. index.
Amanuensis of (?), 226.
De Amore, 407; De Amore Dei, 205;
De Amore Dei contra Amatores
Mundi, passim; v. Contra Am. M.,
and cf. 224 (Incend.).
De Amore Divino (= Incend.), 224,
418-19.
Amore langueo (= Form), 259.
De amore summo eodemque singulari
(= 5th sect. Cant.), 13.
Analytical power of, 87.
on Angel choirs, 76, 88, 539.
and St. Anselm, 73-4, 78-9, 142, 285,
290, 326, 347, 358.
Apocalypse, 31, 89, 107, 147-8, 152-5,
271.
Apologist for, v. gen. index, Basset.
Apostles' Creed, v. Super Symbolum
Apostolicum.
Aristotle's History of Animals used by,
270-1.
and St. Augustine, 228 n., 265, 290,
303, 341.
Autobiography of, 2, 12, 35, 75-7, 82-
3, 129, 141, 146, 182, 200-1, 208,
226-7, 245, 273, and v. Mel., Job.
Authorities, use of, 73, 81, 104, 145,
158, 163, 265, 396.
Baccalaureate of (?), 497.
Baker, Augustine, ignorant of, 4.
and Bâle, 49, 239.
The Bee, 269-71.
and St. Bernard, 73-4, 265, 294,313-14.
and Bestiaries, 271.
and Bible, Authorized Version of, 148,
184.
Birthplace of, 55, 431-9.
and a Bishop, 480-2, 484.
Blood of Saviour invoked by, 75,
467 sq.
and Bohemia, 47-8, 168; v. MSS.
index (Prague and Vienna).
and St. Bonaventura, 210, 265, 355,
397.
Brigittines, v. Syon Monastery, Wad-
stena.
Burial-place of, 516, 519.
and Byland Abbey, v. Rievaulx.


542
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
•
Caesarius cited by, 403.
Called anchorite' (?), 504, 507;
Augustinian hermit, 419, 425, 428;
'Hampole', 61, 498; Hermit',
61; Johannes hampol', 408;
'juvenis', 89, 142-3, 538; 'laicus',
497; magister' (?), 19, 219-21,
234, 239, 425, 429, 447, 490-3,
497-8; Pampolitanus', 12, 425;
'Remyngton', 422; 'Robert Rooll',
404; saint', 54-5, 233; a youth,
90, 101, 117, 125, 129, 142, 151 (?),
460, 471, 481-2; v. hermit.
'Calor, canor, et dulcor', 27, 57, 60,
71-4, 84-92, 108-10, 114, 117-19,
123, 140, 152, 154, 160, 179-81,
195, 207, 225, 244, 249, 254, 264,
283, 416, 421, 467-8, 494; 'calor',
58, 291, 469-70, 531 sq. (often
passim); 'canor', 71-2, 129, 195,
199–200, 226, 288, 303-6, 314, 361,
468, 473-4, 494-5; dulcor', 84.
and Candet nudatum pectus, 295.
Canon of, 1, 3, 6, 15, 52, 62, 287, 302;
•
causes of confusion, 15, 80, 289,
317, 344, 348, 355-7, 360, 368, 371,
376, 393, 397, 424, 426.
'Cantica' of, 301, 305-6.
Super Cantica Canticorum (= O.T.
Canticles attached to Psalter), 66,
166.
Canticles, Comment on the, 2, 40, 62-
83, 88, 92, 100, 107, 115, 117, 120-1,
124-5, 193, 199, 202, 210-11, 213,
225, 227, 244, 265, 275, 281, 322,
326, 448, 468-9, 497, 501; method
of, 146, 160, 194; quoted, 62–3, 69-
83, 100, 105-6, 164, 282, 327, 341;
v. Ol. effus.
Canticum Amoris, 22, 76, 89-93, 109,
116, 130, 297-9, 302, 420, 471.
Cantilenae Amoris (= lyrics), 35.
on Caritas', 85, 104, 106, 113, 140,
149, 154, 160.
Carmen prosaicum, or rhythmicum
(= Mel.), 301; 'carmina', 301, 305-
6, 532.
Carthusian, detractor of, 529 sq.; v.
MSS.
his Cell, 41-3, 429, 460-6, 472-5,
503-6, 511, 517-18, 525; change of,
98, 107-12, 121, 178, 460-70, 477,
501-2; with Dalton, 460-1, 496.
Chapel where ecstasy completed,
472.
Character of, 3, 7-8, 73, 106, 120, 129,
137, 139, 145-7, 178, 187, 198, 208,
226, 249, 270, 275, 332, 367, 396;
development of, 144, 162, 186-7,
328; v. Rolle index, passim.
Church, relations with usefulness to,
149, 495, 500; v. bishop, ecclesias-
tical proceedings, persecutions.
and Church of England, 4; calendar
of, 4; Prayer Book, 184.
'Clamor' of, 123, 303, 305.
and Clergy abuses of, 47, 81, 108,
135, 147, 150-1, 266-7, 402-3. 447-
8, 475, 478, 480-1, 487 (and v. Mel.);
quarrel with, 147-8, 151, 182-5,
494; v. bishop, Church, monks,
popularity.
Commandment, The, 75, 104, 251-6,
264, 266, 268, 282, 308-9, 362.
Commendatio vitae eremiticae (= In-
cend., cap. 13), 224-5.
in Community, 494-5, 498, 500.
Compendium theologicae Veritatis used
by, 265.
Compilations from, 44-5, 320-3, 398,
400 (and v. Incend.).
Complaints of Christ', 294.
Confessions (= Judica), 95.
Consistency of, 3, 83, 88, 91, 106, 196,
206, 304-5, 396-7.
on Contemplation, 69–72, 76–8, 83–92,
100, 119-20, 124, 136-8, 149-55,
160-4, 183, 195, 225, 244, 249, 257,
271, 283, 321, 333, 396, 485, 496;
continuous, 70-2, 119, 123, 160, 287,
466, 470; defined, 6, 69, 275, 341-2;
is labour, 120; v. contemplative men,
ecstasy.
'Contemplation', titles containing, v.
MSS. of epistles, passim.
De Contemplatione Dei (= Incend.),
221, and cf. titles MSS., Eng.
epistles, passim, and 236.
Contemplationis, De Excellentia (?),
213, 320-3.
on Contemplative men: happy death
of, 85, 120, 140, 198: pre-eminence
of, 69-72, 84, 115, 120, 124-5, 146,
207, 244, 277, 485-6; in Scriptural
commentaries, 148; v heaven, joy,
Judgement Day, seraphim.
De Contemptu mundi (= Contra Am.
M.), 204.
Continental editions of, 4, 11-14, 135,
428.
and Continental heresies, 333-5.
Contra Amatores Mundi, 78, 108, 120,
125, 186, 198-212, 221, 226, 275,
281, 303, 305, 322; quoted, 100,
104, 163, 198-200, 203, 206-9, 282,
417, 465-6, 535.
on Contrition, 103-5, 367, 403.
on Conversion, 84-6, 230, 242-3, 266-
7, 519.
De Conversione ad Deum et ejus amore
(= Form), 259.
Courage of, 129, 139, 146, 455, 463,495.


INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
543
Criticism of, 106.
6
Cult of, 38, 43, 51-61, 173-4, 429,
507, 512, 515-16, 519-23; chapel
of. 523; deposition' of, 429; shrine
of, 310; statue of, 523; translation
of, 516; v. miracles of.
and Dalton, John, v. gen. index.
Date, v. hermit; of birth of, 33, 112-
13, 125-9, 430-1; of death of, 430;
revelation as to, 211-12, 228-9, 273-
4; of works of, 3, 109-13, 125-9,
143, 151-2, 184-8, 266, 273-4, 508
(and v. periods).
Death, desire for, 81, 119, 129, 198,
228-9, 250, 264-5, 273-4, 495; his
horror at, 465-6.
Death of, 102, 184, 504, 506, 515, 517
(v. date); of parents of, 433, 435.
Desyre and Delit, 271-2, 275.
'Detractors' of, 44, 77, 110-12, 141,
153, 538; v. persecutions.
Devil, the, temptation by, 75, 122,
467-70, 484.
Devils exorcized by, 59-60, 465-7;
feared by, 466-7.
Dialect of, 15, 259, 279, 285, 370, 381,
396.
Disciples of, 78, 99, 101, 104, 122,
203, 246, 250, 255-6, 304-5, 410,
464-5, 481, 493, 499 (?), 501-2;
learned, 149, 500, 519-20; v. school,
and gen. index, Margaret Kirkeby
and Wm Stopes.
Diversion from Virgin to Saviour of
devotion, 87, 92-3, 109, 469.
De Divinis mandatis tractatus (= Com-
mand.), 252.
on Dress of women, 108, 207.
Du Péché à l'Amour Divin (= E. V.),
19.
'dulcor', v. calor'.
Duodecim capitula (= E. V.), 44, 230,
348; cf. 274.
in co. Durham (?), 503.
Early life of, 55-8, 75-6, 82-3, 92-3,
107-13, 121-4, 127-9, 137, 141-4,
148-9, 151-2, 155, 164, 182, 430-9,
442-5, 447-9, 458-500; not solitary,
460-1, 470-4; v. Incend., cap. 15.
Early works of, 82-3, 89-144 (cf. 108,
113, 136), 151-5, 161-5, 198, 314,
325-33, 421-2, 471, 474-5, 487,
492-3, 495-500.
Ecclesiastical approbation to Incend.,
42-3, 221.
Ecclesiastical proceedings against, 78,
108, 129, 137, 148, 208, 227, 464,
480-2, 495, 497.
Ecstasy of, 57-8; 108-12, 466-8,472-4,
494-6; consequences, 162, 473-4,
494-5; under difficulties, 119, 123,
473-5; known by experience only,
69, 71, 85, 125, 181, 198; literary
sources of, 109; v. calor, canor, et
dulcor', contemplation, joy, sugges-
tion, Incend. (cap. 15).
and St. Edmund, 362-3.
Education of, 55-6, 443-5, 448, 490-
500.
and Edward II, 128.
Edwards, Jonathan, compared to, 105.
Ego Dormio, 86, 88, 106, 186, 201,
246-51, 255, 268, 275, 277, 282, 293,
326; lyrics from, 265, 290-3, 297-
300, 301.
on the Elect, diverse gifts of, 148,
252-3, 263-4, 275, 486.
De emendatione Peccatoris (= E. V.),
11-12, 230.
Emendatio Vitae, 43, 46, 54, 106, 120,
130, 186, 199, 201-2, 230-45, 249,
268, 273, 281, 289, 294, 296, 322-3,
348, 357, 428, 518-19; quoted, 138,
230, 244-5, 282, 288, 341.
Enclosure of (?), 42-3, 506-7,517-18.
Encomium Nominis Jesu (= Ol effus.),
13, 16, 63, 67, 73-6; v. Ol. effus.
on End of the World, v. prophecies.
English prose, v style, and vernacular.
English Psalter, 14-15, 46, 49, 75, 78,
106-7, 138, 146, 169-93, 196-7, 246,
254, 271, 277, 342, 396, 427-8, 492,
508; quoted, 100, 103-4, 148, 163,
169, 179-86, 272, 275, 448, 463, 518.
Epistles of, 46, 203; v. Judica, E. V.,
and Chap. VIII.
Epistola (= Judica), 97.
Eulogium nominis Jesu (= Ol. effus.),
12.
and Euphuism, 20, 78.
Exhortations of, 58, 246; v. preaching,
propaganda.
Extravagances of, 8, 80, 90, 306.
Exuberance of, 8, 73, 178, 203, 329,
489.
on False brothers', 153, 155.
Family of, 55-7, 431-44, 479–80; v
Wm. Rolle, Rolle, in gen. index.
Family home of; v. Thornton Dale,
and Yafforth.
on Famine, 144.
on Fasting, 103, 266, 271.
at Feasts, 119, 122, 129, 140, 474-5.
Flight from family of, 56-7, 436; v.
hiding.
Foolish appearance of, 77-8, 200, 208.
Form of Living, 46, 75, 87, 91, 188,
231, 245, 254, 256-68, 283, 288-90,
355, 428; addressed to Margaret,


544
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
34-6, 46, 246, 256, 265-7, 359; to
Cecil, 258; date of, 186, 201, 273-
4, 503; quoted, 76, 86, 92, 104, 106,
263-6, 270, 272, 275, 288-9, 293,
297, 305, 326, 341.
Forma sive regula de modo confitendi
(= Judica B 1-3), 95.
Forma vivendi (= Form), 257.
and Formalism, 319, 337;
difference to external acts.
Four Profitable Things (from the Form),
359-60.
v. in-
and Franciscans, 54, 261, 513, 539.
Friends, desire for, 200, 203, 303-5.
Gastly Gladnesse, 250-1, 272-4.
Gilbertine nun, disciple of (?), 410.
De Gloria et perfectione sanctorum
(= Mel.), 113, 116.
on 'God's house', 160, 184, 206-7,
321-2.
and St. Gregory, 78, 88, 142, 202, 251,
313-14; excerpts from Morals, 89,
313-14.
Habits of concentration, 58, 177,
225; dictation (?), 225, 518; diet,
483, 518; early rising, 518; memory,
323; prayer at meat, 288; sitting in
contemplation, 195, 309-10; use of
Scriptures, 146.
Hainault, link with, 49, 504.
Hall-marks of his work, 15, 72-3, 78.
and Hampole Priory, 43, 60-1, 173-4,
255-6, 267, 429, 493, 498, 501, 503-4,
506-7, 511-12; v. burial-place of,
cult of.
Hardships of, 121–3, 227, 460-3, 474-6,
483, 488.
Heaven, mystic's foretaste of, 69–72,
78, 81, 85-8, 100, 117-19, 124, 138,
149, 154-5, 157, 160, 180-1, 183, 195,
206-7, 244, 249, 270, 305, 341, 473;
mystic's seat in, 104-6, 140, 160,
184, 255, 264, 293, 485-6; v. con-
templative men.
Heraclides cited by (?), 403.
and Heresy, v. Continental heresies,
lollardy.
a Hermit, 75, 99, 101, 117, 119, 141,
151, 153, 160, 179, 195, 225, 227,
244, 249, 254, 263, 289, 328, 460,
465, 472-6, 481; date of becoming,
55-6, 109-110, 462, 490-3; signature
as, 69, 71, 89, 130, 136, 179, 206.
a Hermit, A treatise written for, 262.
in Hiding, 482, 495, 499.
and Hilton, 351-2, 368, 519.
and John Hoveden, 420.
on Hypocrisy, 98, 103, 105-6, 150,
255, 266, 270-1, 277, 363.
on Idleness, 84, 101, 142, 270.
De Incendio Amoris (= Incend., cap.
15), 12-13.
Incendium, 19, 27, 47-9, 64, 71, 82,
84-8, 91, 100, 106, 115, 138, 149,
168, 184, 186, 199-200, 208-29, 246,
250-1, 290, 294, 299, 305-6, 323,
448, 488, 501, 518-19, 527, 539;
compilations attached to, 210-13,
519; quoted, 84-5, 100, 104, 109,
140, 158, 200, 282, 288, 290-3,
303-4, 309-10, 326, 455-6, 463,
531-2, 536; short text of, 64, 210-
12; cap. 15, 12-13, 27-8, 60, 63-4,
71-3. 83-8, 93, 107, 109-11, 122,
129, 199, 209, 211, 222, 448, 452,
469, 472; rhymed, 308-9; Tabulae
to, 213, 215, 219-20; v. compilations.
Indifference to dignities, 291, 448,
485-6; to external acts, 69-70, 104,
106, 136, 140, 155, 227, 255, 271,
277, 328, 337, 485-6 (v. hypocrisy,
purgation); to liturgy, 350, 361, 480;
to penance, 104, 264; to sacraments,
99, 103-6; to worldly events, 144.
Individualism of, 327-9, 332.
Individuality of, 3, 7-8, 62, 70, 110,
162, 178, 195, 396.
Indulgences for Incend., 214.
Influence of, 4, 80-1, 90, 118, 145,
196, 253, 289, 307-11, 319, 337, 356,
360, 365, 367, 398-407, 414, 416–
17, 423, 513, 518, 523; heterodox,
335, 531-9; v. Jesus, Holy Name of
Information (= Form), 259.
Inspiration of, 71, 120, 145, 147-9,
226, 328-9; poetical, 303-6;
perfectionism, sanctity.
V.
De Institutione vite (= E. V.), 37.
Interruptions to, 58, 462.
Irreverence, accused of, 208, 305, 361.
and Jacopone da Todi, 333, 540.
Jeremiah, Comment on the Lamenta-
tions of, v. Thren.
and Jesu Dulcis Memoria, 65, 74, 90,
100, 117, 289, 292, 302-3.
Jesus, devotion to Holy Name of, 4, 41,
72-7, 84-92, 100-1, 109, 118-19,
140-1, 152-4, 160-4, 181-4, 195,
203-7, 225, 244-64, 284-317, 340-
68, 398-421, 468, 513 (often passim);
v. Jesu Dulcis Memoria.
and Joachim of Flora, 148, 333.
Job, 82-3, 106, 129-46, 165, 169, 227,
281, 313-4, 325, 369-70; auto-
biography in, 136, 141-2, 151; date
of, 82, 89, 125, 142-4, 185-7, 209,
499-500; learning of, 137-9, 158,
163, 165, 185, 448, 497, 499-500;
purpose of, 129, 137; quoted, 113,


INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
545
136-44, 163, 250, 433, 488; signa-
ture to, 116, 146, 209, 235.
on Joy of the mystic, 6, 69-70, 91,
103, 109, 117 sq., 129, 179 sq., 193,
195, 198, 200, 206-7, 244-54, 264-
93 (cf. 282), 341, 466-74, 483-6
(often passim); v. 'talis... tantus'.
'Judgement', titles containing, v.
MSS. Judica.
on Judgement of God', 105-6, 460-1.
on the Judgement Day, 104-5, 297 (?);
mystic's place thereat, 71, 104-6,
119, 155.
Judica, 28-9, 46, 49, 83, 88, 93-113,
120-2, 124, 129, 142, 163, 186-7,
327, 409, 462-4, 469-74, 477, 482,
495, 497; addressee of, 98-9, 101,
103, 105, 464-5; change of cell
described in, 98, 107-8, III, 121,
460-1, 469, 501; date of, 108-12,
474, 493-4; quoted, 91, 93, 98-104,
106-7, 146-7, 282, 460–1, 466.
Lambeth Devotion (?), 343-4.
in Lancashire (?), 61.
'Languor' in, 282, 289, 291-3.
Last works of, 8, 76, 86, 144, 184,
186-7, 203, 244-56, 263-77, 281-2,
497, 519.
Later life of, 184, 203, 466, 470, 501-8,
511-12, 516-19.
Latin Psalter, 23-4, 47, 64, 75, 78,
107, 138, 165-9, 172, 177-87, 192-3,
196, 209, 254, 460, 471, 489-90,
492, 495-6, 500; quoted, 163, 165,
179-85, 448, 488; theology of, 144,
158, 185, 448, 496.
Latinity of, 8, 306, 419.
Learning of, 78, 144, 157, 490-500; on
learning, 69-70, 226; v. Mel., Job,
Latin Psalter, scholastic influence.
Super lectiones Job in exequijs defunc-
torum, v. Job.
and Leicester, 189.
Lenten sermons of (?), 104.
Life desired by, 496.
Life of, v. autobiography, early life of,
Office, later life of.
Literal-minded, attacked by, 304-5,
489.
Literary history, position in, 8, 354.
Liturgy, v. indifference.
and Lollardy, 142, 145, 170-7, 187-92,
197, 374-5, 387-97, 430.
Lombard, Peter, use of, 20, 145, 172,
177 sq., 181, 185, 187, 196, 271, 363,
463, 495.
Loneliness of, 200, 203.
Lord's Prayer, v. Oratio Dominica.
Lost works of (?), 113, 272, 280-1,
287, 325, 403, 410, 423.
on Love: compels to speak, 71, 117,
199; defined, 299; diversity of,
267; gives seat in heaven, 104, 264,
485-6; grades of, highest, 69, 124;
grades of, four, 203, 472-3, 480;
three, 76, 82, 201-3, 245, 247, 251,
254, 258, 260, 264, 268, 277, 308,
344, 357, 399, 406; second grade,
76, 249; third, 86, 249; relation of
grades to calor, canor', etc., 203;
invoked, 202, 244; known only to
God, 106; more than learning, 69;
preached, 121, 147, 485; special to
solitaries, 264; test of, 195; theology
of, 139-40; writers on cited by, 70,
81, 85, 109, 282, 303; v. contempla-
tion, ecstasy, joy, mysticism.
'Love', titles containing, 252-3, and
cf. MSS. Eng. epistles.
and 'Love-longing', 289-91, 298, 302,
310.
Lyrics, English, 17-18, 20, 34, 120,
163, 184, 228, 287-311, 370, 540;
of epistles, 250, 264-5, 287-94, 302,
308, 310; variants of, 248.
Magnificat, Super, 192-4.
Manuals, v. Judica, and last works.
MSS. of: autograph, 35, 46, 49, 94-5,
113-14,174,211-12, 215-16,256,258,
303, 414-15; Carthusian, 4, 48-50,
157, 214, 307-11, 347, 364-5, 404-5,
407, 409 (v. Bâle, Hainault, Shene,
Trier); not early, 46; handsome,
44, 54, 131, 189, 219, 223, 279;
signatures to, 46; transcripts from,
538; v. chap. II, III-XIV, passim,
readers, Syon Monastery, and MSS.
index.
and Martyrdom (?), 495.
on Mary the Virgin, 55, 63, 81, 89-93,
100, 109, 115, 138, 162, 192, 285,
298, 401, 417, 469, 486.
Meditatio de passione Christi (= Eng.
lyric), 290.
Meditations on the Passion, 278-87, 432.
Meditations advised by, 85, 245, 282-3,
289, 294; elasticity of, 289.
Melodia Amoris (= Incend.), 16, 218,
224 (?).
Melos, v. Melum.
Melum contemplativorum, 27, 83, 108-
9, 113-29, 136-7, 144, 146, 185-7,
195, 198-203, 227, 246, 294, 301,
332, 335, 361, 495, 500-1, 538-9;
anti-clerical, 44, 116, 119, 123-4,
142, 151, 182, 267, 477, 479-88,
490; autobiography in, 2, 82, III-
12, 119, 121-4, 152, 228, 463, 467-
88, 499; autograph of, 49, 114;
conclusion to, 71, 86, 114-15; date


546
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
of, 89, 125-9, 143, 185-6, 474, 494,
497, 499, 500; effect of, 129, 137,
500; glossary to, 47, 116, 407;
purpose of, 82, 112, 124-5, 137, 226,
476, 489, 500; quoted. 84, 92, 100,
117-26, 147-9, 202, 267, 283, 289-
90, 293, 305, 328-9, 420, 467-76,
480-7; repetitions from, 77, 82, 120,
124-5, 199, 202, 244, 281, 299, 306;
Scriptural commentary in, 82, 119,
146-9, 184, 471, 487, 495-7, 500;
style of, 91, 117-18, 140, 184, 226,
250; titles of, 113-14.
on Mercy, 297 sq., 324.
Miracles of, 38, 43, 51-61, 507, 515-16,
521; demanded by enemies, 488-
90; v. cult.
on Miracles, 136, 488-90.
Misericordia, De Dei, 22, 89, 161-5,
337.
Modernism of, 117, 136, 475, 485.
Modo vivendi, De (= Form), 262.
on Monks interest in liturgy of, 480-
I; quarrel with, 77, 82, 112, 117,
123-5, 142, 328, 337, 476-88, 494,
499-500; spiritual position of, 69,
117, 123-5, 136, 161, 267, 328, 480-
1, 484; v. persecutions.
Morbidness of, 466, 469.
Mulierem Fortem, Super, 22, 82, 159-
61.
Mystic, the, v. contemplative men.
Mysticism of, 5-6, 21, 70, 79, 83-8,
100, 103, 108, 144-6, 162, 203, 256,
263, 292, 298, 304, 320, 323, 341-3,
396-7, 473, 494.
Mysticism in England after, v. religious
literature of medieval England after,
and gen. index ('mysticism ').
and Neville, Archdeacon, v.
index.
gen.
and Nightingale' poems, 90, 164,
419-21.
pe nyne ordris of angel, &c., A tretis
which tellith of (= Ego D.), 248.
De nomine Jesu (= Ol. effus.), 39, 67;
Nominis Jesu Encomium, v. En-
comium, Ol. effus.
Non-mystical part of his teaching, 108,
325-6.
and Norfolk, 527-8.
Novem lectiones mortuorum, v. Job.
Novem Virtutes (?), 134, 317-20.
on Nuns, 250, 255-6, 265-7.
O bone Jesu (?), 37, 65, 74, 314-17,
522.
on Obedience, 96, 123-4, 161, 327-8,
480-I.
"
and Obedientiaries', 476, 479.
Office of, 2, 51-61, 287, 427, 521; bio-
graphy in, 2, 77, 108, 122, 188, 205,
225, 246, 431-2, 435-6, 443, 448, 452,
458-60, 465, 470, 491, 496, 501-4,
506-7, 515-17, 526; character of,
52, 470, 515; compilation used by,
211, 519; copied in Sweden, 527-
8; dates in, 109, 507; disarrange-
ment in, 55; discrepancies in, 61,
491, 493, 517; liturgical form of, 55,
519; origin of, 51-2, 55, 470, 519-
20; at Syon Monastery, 53-4, 521,
527; writings of noted in, 58, 269-
70 (?), 501; quoted in, 12, 73, 211,
519.
and Older English devotions, 80, 290,
292, 295, 303.
Oleum effusum (= 4th sect. Cant.), 40,
65-9, 210, 212-13, 215, 217, 222,
315, 518; v. Encomium.
'Opening of the Heavenly Door', 27,
75-6, 84-8, 93, 109-10, 462, 468.
Oratio Dominica, 37, 73, 155-7, 165,
275, 448.
in Oxford, 55-6, 102, 109, 137, 229,
333-4, 444-9, 490, 495-9.
Parce mihi Domine (= Job), 132.
in Paris, v. Sorbonne.
and Pars Oculi, 97, 101-4, 142, 147.
on the Passion, 253, 282-3, 290-2, 295,
298, 300, 309.
and Pastoral office, 81-2, 93, 98-105,
108, 124, 142, 145-7, 151-2, 162,
494-5; v. preaching.
Fater Noster, v. Oratio Dominica.
on Patience, 406.
Patrons of, 59, 121-2, 208-9, 449,
460-6, 472-3, 479-80, 494-5, 499,
504-8 (?), 511 sq., 517; magnates,
413-14, 444, 452, 465, 483 ; rich, 55-
7, 121, 153, 227, 452, 475, 483, 488;
v. quarrels and gen. index, Dalton,
Neville.
and John Peckham, 333, 420.
Penance, v. indifference.
Penitential period of, 58, 99, 122, 129,
142, 281-3, 462, 467-8, 483; v.
temptations.
Perfectio vitae (= Command.), 252.
Perfectionism of, 120, 137, 334 (v.
sanctity); on the 'perfect', 70-1,
85, 99, 140, 282; on 'perfection',
113, 119, 227-8, 244, 277.
Periods of writings of, 81 sq., 89, 187,
203, 249, 273-4.
Persecutions of, 19, 91, 98, 101, 106–
8, 121-5, 129, 145, 149, 153-4, 200,
324, 460-1, 469–90, 494–501; cessa-
tion of, 469, 471; by former friends,
448, 480; by 'invidi', 123, 136, 141,


INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
547
154-5, 182, 471, 475, 484-6; place
of, 480-2; three sources of, 482; v.
clergy, detractors, ecclesiastical pro-
ceedings, monks, quarrels.
his Persecutors: disasters to, 112,
469, 477-8, 484-5, 487; letter of,
461, 464.
Personal relic of (?), 507.
Physical changes in, 473-5, 494-5,
518; physical weakness of, 123,
474-5, 483.
at Pickering (?), 458-62.
Pictures of, 309 sq., 526.
Pliny used by, 270.
Poetical inspiration of, v. inspiration.
on the [holy] Poor, 106, 126; v.
poverty.
Popularity of, personal, 479; of works
of, 3-4, 7-8, 46, 49, 58, 311; with
clergy, etc., 3, 130, 149, 407, 416,
497, 521-2; international, 39 sq.,
47-9, 168-9, 209-10, 213, 219-22,
239-40, 538.
Popular writings of (most), 12, 73,
201.
'Postils' of, 114.
Poverty of, 136, 227, 435, 475; urged
by, 84, 98-9, 140, 144, 207, 417,
485-6.
Preached against, 482-5.
Preaching of, 101, 108, 121-2, 147-9,
328, 459, 463, 485; v. pastoral
office.
Prick of Love, The (= Form), 410.
Promise of (early), 55, 130, 144, 444,
448, 459.
Propaganda of, 78, 145, 148, 187; v.
exhortations, preaching.
Prophecies of, 83, 106-7, 155, 429,
471.
Prose of, ornamental, 7-8, 15, 71, 78-
81, 99-100, 118, 183-4, 286, 292,
301, 306, 344, 363, 424, 429, 518;
v. alliteration, style.
St. Prosper of Aquitaine (De Vita Con-
templativa) used by, 265.
Psalter, English, v. English Psalter;
Latin, v. Latin Psalter.
Psalter, love of, 146, 163, 371; favour-
ite psalms, 161.
Psalterium, Tractatus super (= De M.),
161.
on Purgation, 76, 85-6, 99, 103-4,
136-7, 141-2, 165, 179, 254, 266,
281-3, 295, 483; v. penance, peni-
tential period.
Quarrels with Dalton, 111-12, 459-
64, 469, 477, 482, 487 (v. gen. index);
with lay patrons, 208-9, 226-7;
with Neville, 108, 447-8, 464, 487
(v. gen. index); v. clergy, monks,
persecutions, Rievaulx.
Quoddam notabile de spirituali aedifica-
tione, 65.
Quomodo perveni ad incendium amoris,
27-8,210-12, 217; v. Incend., cap. 15.
'Raptus' in, 70, 78, 87-8, 199, 207-8,
225, 244; v. ecstasy.
Readers of, 72-3; v. popularity, and
gen. index, Basset, Methley, New-
ton, Sewell, and MSS. index,
owners.
Regula bona confitendi (= Judica B 1-
3). 95.
Regula Heremitarum (?), 324-33.
Regula vivendi (
E. V.), 31, 230;
titles containing 'regula', 43, 252,
259, 357.
-
Religious literature of medieval Eng-
land after, 3-4, 8, 80-1, 128, 252-3,
270, 275, 303, 337, 342-3, 349, 356-
7, 360-1, 364-8, 404-7, 423-5; v.
gen. index, French influences, Ger-
man, Low Countries.
and Respice in Faciem Christi, 290.
Reticence of, 99, 129, 198–9, 476.
on the Rich, 108, 117, 455-6, 463,
486, 488; v. patrons, poverty.
and Richard of St. Victor, 79, 199,
251, 265, 341-2, 364-5.
in Richmondshire, 435 sq., 458, 477,
480-1, 501-4, 508, 517.
and Rievaulx (?), 123-4, 324, 459,
476-7, 479-80, 482, 484, 487.
and Rising of the heart', 341-2.
Romanticism of, 7-8, 137, 298, 363,
416, 497.
on Sacraments, v. indifference.
on Sanctity, 70, 195, 227, 251, 325;
v. indifference to external acts, per-
fectionism; claimed by, 71, 117, 120-
I, 129, 139, 329, 370, 471, 488-90.
Scandals attached to, 121-3, 154,
226-7, 469, 482-7.
Scholastic influence on, 80, 146, 157-
8, 163, 185, 448, 495-7.
School of, 196, 296, 302, 304, 311, 337,
342, 361, 365; v. influence.
Scribes of works of, 3, 6, 24-34, 311;
v. MSS. index.
Scriptural expositions of, 78, 103, 119,
137-8, 141-2, 144-196, 226, 275,
333, 47, 474, 485, 495-500.
and Secular poems, 90; songs, 122,
267.
Self-analysis of, 198 sq., 305-6; con-
fidence of, 70, 145, 227, 249, 470-6.
Super quartum librumSententiarum(?),
418.


548
INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
Seraphim, mystic likened to, 70, 88;
taken to, 293.
'Sermones amoris' of, 485.
Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 272,
274-5, 341.
and Shene Charterhouse, 4, 37-9, 50,
213, 237, 323, 354, 516-17; MSS. of,
37-9, 50.
and Sincerity, 124, 320, 359, 363,
367; v. hypocrisy.
Single-mindedness of, 145, 178, 184.
Supra sirasirin (= Cant.), 26.
Social connexions of, 127-9, 143-4,
442-4, 456-7, 475-6; v. patrons,
feasts.
on Solitaries, 69, 71, 82, 84, 136, 151,
206-7, 244, 483; low position of,
475.
on Solitude, 85, 103, 108, 120, 124,
149, 263-4, 472-6, 495-6; v. hermit.
and Song of love', 99-100, 104, 108-
9; v. calor, canor', etc.
in Sorbonne (?), 19, 229, 333-4, 477,
480, 490-500; commentaries initi-
ated in, 162, 185, 448, 471, 495-7;
date of stay, 494-5; ecstasy com-
pleted in, 494-5; hospes ', 498;
influences in, 495-7, 500; magister',
19, 497-8; 'socius', 497; two stays,
494.
'Speculum', titles containing, 134,
234, 408; cf. 353, 362, 371.
and Stimulus Amoris, 285, 354-5.
Style of, English, 8, 183-4, 253, 263,
270, 272, 305, 360; v. Mel., allitera-
tion, prose, ornamental; Latin, 8,
118 (v. latinity); allegory in, 337;
apostrophes in, 99-100, 202, 244,
291-4, 363; categories in, 70, 163,
265, 275, 296; diffuseness of, 62, 117,
253; exempla in, 105, 163, 265;
fantastic similes in, 280-1; obscurity
of, 121, 126-7, 470; opportunism of,
117-18, 288, 306; participles (rhym-
ing) in, 249, 264, 270; prayers in,
324; repetitions in, 20, 73, 144, 177-
8, 281, 311, 322-3; examples of, 75,
117, 120, 161, 254, 289-93, 299-
301 (v. Mel.); Teutonic, 8, 118, 306.
and Suggestion', 88, 108-9, 228, 274.
Surname of, 53, 56-7, 61, 432-41.
Symbolum Apostolicum, Super, 104,
143, 157-8, 448.
Symbolum S. Athanasii, Super (?),
•
33-4, 312.
and Syon Monastery, 4, 47-50, 216,
323, 416-17, 427, 517, 521, 527-8,
538; MSS. of, 50, 233, 411-12.
'Talis... tantus', 88, 180, v. joy.
Temptations of, 122, 138, 141-2, 153,
155, 482-3, 486-7; by enemies, 117,
122, 151, 487; by young woman,
v. Devil.
Ten Commandments (angl.), 276–7.
Theology of, v. learning, scholastic
influence, Latin Psalter.
and Thornton Dale, 52-5, 431-6, 439,
441-2, 447, 458-9, 479-80.
Thornton Prayer (?), 324.
Three workings in man's soul (?), 364-6.
Threnos, Super, 89, 108, 142, 147,
150-2, 471.
De Timore Domini et contemptu mundi
(= Contra Am. M. ?), 206.
Tomb of, 308, 515-16.
Topical references of, 82-3, 106-7,
112, 123, 125-9, 143-4, 152, 185-6,
455; . persecutors (disasters to).
Translations by, 72, 177-87, 342, 363,
396; his English translated into
Latin, 249, 262, 270 (?), 280 (?),
402, 416 (cf. 263); his Latin into
English, 68, 223-4, 240-3, 399, 401,
406, 518.
Tres gradus amoris (= Ego D.), 247-
and Trier, v, 48, 538; v. MSS. index
(Ghent and Trier).
on the Trinity, 312, 485.
20th Psalm, 84, 91, 146, 163, 194–6,
200, 322.
Upsala, v. Wadstena.
Vehiculum vitae (= E. V.), 233.
De Vera Amicitia (= Incend., cap. 39),
223.
Vernacular, use of, 8, 178-9, 184, 186-
7, 246, 285, 401, 417.
Verse-forms of, 90, 288, 290, 295, 297-
302, 396.
Verses quoted by, 81, 540.
Violence of, 8, 129, 137, 495, 500.
on Visions, 87-8, 199, 207, 320, 489.
Visions of, to one Roger, 515.
'Vita contemplativa ', titles containing,
34, 159-60, 238.
Vita Eremitarum, Libellus de (unidenti-
fied), 136.
Vita inclusarum (= Form), 261.
Vita perfectionis (= Form), 263.
Vocabulary of, English: 270, 272, 275,
293, 299, 306; 'comers and goers',
270; il eggyng', 275; il stir-
rynge', 272; 'layry lustis', 272;
settles', 293, 299; 'tagyld', 275;
'wele ne for waa', 275, 299; Latin,
91, 118, 306: 'anima penitens',
165 (cf. 139, 141); 'colligentes
fructus', 460-1; 'discipuli Christi',
98; 'fimum', 327; 'in Deum
pergere', 207; 'invidi', 155, 484 (v.
persecutions); 'jubilatio', 85-6,
1


INDEX FOR RICHARD ROLLE
549
165, 180, 304; 'jubilus', 282, 341
(v. joy); 'melos', 57, 72, 91, 113,
117, 206, 421; 'O bone Jesu', 101,
140, 142; perpetratores terrae',
456; 'propositum', 103, 124, 136,
329, 482; Sapientia', 207, 485;
6
singulare propositum', 326-7, 420;
v. latinity.
and Vulgate, 7, 179.
and Wadstena, 16, 47-9, 53-4, 527-8;
v. MSS. index (Upsala).
Wanderings of, 59, 82, 121, 333, 460,
475, 494, 497, 501-4, 518.
on the Will, 140, 326, 367.
Women friends of, 34-5, 37, 121-2,
225, 227, 246, 250-1, 255-6, 265–7,
410, 465-70; v. gen. index, Margaret
Kirkeby.
Writings of: informality of, 1, 62, 97 ;
miraculous, 306, 471-2; for novices,
281-3; suspicion of, 7-8, 471, 534-
5, 538; tradition of, 49-50, 519;
unread by scholars, 427, 492; v.
early works, last works, lost works,
periods, style.
in Yafforth (?), 435-7, 439, 443-4,
503.
and Yedingham, 247, 250, 458, 502.


SELECT GENERAL INDEX
Adam Cartusiensis, 405.
St. Aelred, 365; v. Rolle index.
Ainderby (co. Yorks.), 35-6, 437, 502-
3, 508, 540.
Aiskew (co. Yorks.), 435-7, 439, 444.
Alan de Penrith, 499.
St. Albans, 388, 479.
Albert [Albertus Magnus or Albert
Suerbeer?], 318-19.
Albert of Cologne, 319.
Alcock, John, 336.
Allen, H. E., Authorship of the Prick
of Conscience' (Radcliffe Coll. Mon.
15), 15, 21, 178, 363, 372, 375, 387,
396-7, 490; 'The Manuel des Pechiez
and the Scholastic Prologue' (Ro-
manic Rev. viii. 447-8), 378; Mysti-
cal Lyrics of the Manuel des Pechiez'
(Romanic Rev. ix. 154-93), 21, 79–
80, 100, 108, 290, 295, 303, 314;
'Some Fourteenth-Century Borrow-
ings from Ancren Riwle' (Mod. Lang.
Rev. xviii. 1 sq.), 218, 286, 406;
'Origin of the Ancren Riwle' (Pub.
Mod. Lang. Assoc. of Am. xxxiii),
292; 'Speculum Vitae: Addendum
(ibid. xxxii), 372, 378, 390.
Allertonshire, 481.
Alliteration, 78-81, 259, 340, 360, 363,
365, 489; v. prose (ornamental, and
Rolle index.
Alya Cantica, 304.
Anchoresses (or anchorites), 30, 414,
481, 506-7, 511; v. Margaret Kirke-
by, Margaret Heslington, Hampole.
Ancren Riwle, 80, 218, 268, 286, 292,
406.
Andreae, P., 388.
Anonymous authorship, 337, 347, 354-
5, 394-7.
St. Anselm, 316, 346-8, 353, 365; v.
Rolle index.
Arnold, T., 170.
Arundel, Archbishop, 189-90, 382.
Arundel, Richard, Earl of, 380.
Ashbourn (co. Derby), 379.
Ashburne, Thos., 379 sq.
Aubert, David, scribe, 338.
Augsburg, 13.
St. Augustine, 9, 11, 290, 346, 348, 353;
on Psalms, 168; v. Rolle index.
Augustinian canons, 519 (and v. MSS.
index, owners); hermits (friars), 165
(and v. Rolle,' Called ').
Bale, John, 14, 28, 422 sq., et passim.
Ball, John, 296.
Balliol Prayers, 345-6.
Basset, Thos., hermit, 335, 403-4, 416,
527-37; books owned by, 533;
humility of, 537; identity of, 527-8.
Bateson, M., xii, 380, 411 sq., 422, et
passim.
Batiffol, L., 491.
Beaumont, Bishop Louis, 481-2.
Bedford wills, 413.
Béguines and Beghards, 334; bégui-
nages, 340.
Belgique, Mémoires de l'Académie de,
13, 80.
Belle, Thos., of Moorhouse (co. Yorks.),
516.
Bellew, Nicholas, 279.
Benedictus (angl.), 197.
Benjamin Minor (angl.), 262, 359,
365-6.
Benson, R. H., 16-17.
Berkshire, 101-2, 388; wills of, 413.
Bernard, St., 67, 70, 203, 294, 346,
348, 353, 394.
Bernardine of Siena, St., 315-17.
Berton, m. Joh., 527.
Birckmann, A., 539.
Bispham (co. Lancs.), 441, 45г.
Blackburnshire, 452.
Blackfriars, 19.
Blansby Park (near Pickering), 457-8.
Boasting and Pride, against, 366.
Bokenham, Osbern, 279.
Bonaventura, St., 201-2, 346, 353, 355,
357-8, 385, 394-7, 400, 420, 422.
Boniface, Pope (IV?), 350-1.
Bookbinders' notes, 22, 31, 33-4.
Boston of Bury, 418–19, et passim.
le Boteler, families of, 441, 509-11.
'Botevilein' (or 'Butevileine'), 434.
Boutroux, E., 87.
Bramley, H. R., 14, 431, et passim.
Bretton, West (co. Yorks.), 439.
Bretton, W., London citizen, 11.
Brigan, Nicolaus, 314.
Brigit, St., 533.
Brilioth, Dr., 47.
Brompton (co. Yorks.), 458, 472.
Brown, Carleton, v-vi, xii, 290, 294,
370-1, 373, 393, 540.
Brown, W., 431 sq., 452.
Bruno Herbipolensis, St., 312.
Buckinghamshire, 388.


SELECT GENERAL INDEX
551
Bülbring, K., 388-9, 391.
Burton, Edwin, 17, 286.
Butler, v. le Boteler.
Butler, Cuthbert, 70, 314.
Byland Abbey, 123, 385; battle of,
152, 453, 476-8.
Cambridge University, 372; library of,
407.
Cambridge, Countess of, 522.
Catharine of Siena, St., 343.
Celestine V, pope, 329-32, 526.
Celestines, 331-2.
Chambernoun, fr. Henricus, m., 261.
Chapels, private, 472.
Chastising of God's children, 335.
Château d'Amour, v. Grosseteste.
Chaucer, 80, 388.
Chevalier, xii, etc.
The Church and its members (angl.),
134.
Cistercians, 51, 55, 478, 506, 512-13.
Clareno, Angelo da, 332-3.
Clark, A. C., 79 sq.
Clergy, abuses of, 36, 44, 390-3, 478;
v. Rolle index.
Cloud of Unknowing, 18-19, 80, 334-5,
342, 365-6, 368.
Cobham, Bishop, 524.
Colins, Richard, Lollard, 386-7.
Cologne, 12-14; University of, ibid.
'Common profit', The, 176, 197.
Comper, F. M. M., 17, 424,443, 456,459.
Completorium nominis Jesu, 10.
Cononley (co. Yorks.), 439.
Constance, 48-9.
Contemplation, 50, 70, 123, 313, 331,
340-2, 360; v. Rolle index.
Contemplations of the Dread and Love
of God, 357.
Contrition, Lollard fragment on, 401.
Cotele, Robert, 440.
Counter-Reformation (16th century),
4, 12-14; 15th century, 3, 36, 430.
Coverham Abbey, 330, 505.
Cressy, Father, 4.
Croll, M. W., 78.
Crowel, John, 454.
Croxton, John of, 522.
Cudworth (co. Yorks.), 511.
Cursor Mundi, 389-90.
'Cursus', 79-80.
Cursus de Aeterna Sapientia, 349.
Daily Work, Our, 286-7, 368.
Dalby, Wm. of, hermit, 128.
Dalton (co. Yorks.), 52-3, 431-2, 449.
Dalton family, 449-52; John, 52-3,
56-7, 11-12, 127-9, 430-2, 435,
438, 441-3, 449-66, 470, 472-3, 475,
477, 482, 487, 493, 501, 526; lands
of, 458; meeting with Rolle, 458-9,
462; origin of, 449-56; rank of, 452,
454; sons of, 156, 450, 459, 464-5,
475; wife of, 56, 460, 462, 465, 493;
John, jr., 450-1, 465; Nicholas, 450;
Peter, 451, 507-8; Sir Robert, 431,
441, 451-2; Thomas, 450, 465.
Davies, J. Conway, 450.
Davis, H. W. C., 101.
Deanesly, M., vi, xii, 15, 18, 176, 388,
401, et passim.
Death, 424; v. Rolle index.
Denis the Carthusian, 48, 221.
Denis, L., 19.
Derbyshire, 29, 379, 381.
Delisle, L., 491, 496.
Desert of Religion, 54-5, 526.
Devonshire, 438.
Devotions, Daily, meditations for, 279,
303, 402.
D'Ewes, Sir S., 318, 409.
De Diligendo Deo, 346-7.
Dionise Hid Divinity, 342.
Dirige, 370.
Disce Mori (angl.), 399.
Dissolution of Monasteries, 523.
Dolch, W., 3
"
319.
Domus', 459.
Doncaster, 232, 511, 517, 525.
Douay, 37-9, 351, 429.
Drawings in manuscripts, 23-4, 38, 54,
95, 114, 216, 218, 307-10.
Easby Abbey, 440, 513.
Ecstasy, 87; v. contemplation, mysti-
cism, and Rolle index.
Edmund, St., of Canterbury, 307; v.
Mirror.
Education of the poor, 443-4.
Edward I, 420; Edward II, 127-9,
"
143, 151-2, 185, 450, 456, 464, 489
(v. Rolle index); Edward III, 128,
151, 186, 489; Edward IV, 338.
Eggleston Abbey, 502, 505, 513.
Eight rules', 343.
Ekhart of Schoenau, 358.
Eleanor, Queen, 420.
Elizabeth of Hampole, 359.
Ellis, Dorothy, 325.
Elsdon (dioc. Durham), 445, 540.
Episcopal registers (York), 481-2, 502,
520-1.
Epistles of Ar. MS. 286: 357–8.
Eton College, 172, 354, 407.
Everett, D., 21, 170, 172-8, 187-8, 190,
401.
Everingham, Adam de, 510.
Evesham, monk of, 61.
Exelby (co. Yorks.), 437.
External acts, 320, 358; v. Rolle
index ('indifference').


552
SELECT GENERAL INDEX
Faber, J., 12 sq., 539.
'Familiaris', 443, 452.
Feret, l'abbé, 229, 490.
'Fire of love', 342, 530; v. Rolle
index (calor, canor', etc.),
Fishlake (co. Yorks.), 447.
Fishlawe, Thos., Carmelite, 45, 352.
FitzAlan family, 504.
Fitz Hugh family, 441, 472, 504-6;
Bishop, 49; Henry, 29-30, 48-50,
98, 454, 476, 504-5, 522, 528.
FitzJohn, Richard, 441, 510.
Fitzwilliam family, 441, 504, 506, 512,
523.
Fleming, John, 381 sq.
Flemish, v. Low Countries.
Fletcher, J. S., 478.
Flete, Wm., 343.
Flower of Conscience (= Stim. Consc.),
386.
Fontibus, de, v. Louis.
Forshall and Madden, 170.
Foucher, J., 14.
Foulbridge (co. Yorks.), 452, 454, 458-
9, 461.
Fountains Abbey, 235, 385-6.
Four Daughters of God, 380.
Foxe, John, 335, 386, 388, 401.
Franciscans, 54, 134, 229, 315-17,
332-5, 406, 513, 519, 539.
Franklin, A., 491.
Freemantle, W. T., 9, 307.
French influences, 337-40, 370, 372,
377-8; wars, 186 sq.
Frere, W. H., 17, 461, 535.
Fuller, T., 429.
Furnivall, Dr., 388, 391 sq.
Furth, Richard, 417.
Gairdner, J., 81, 189, 393.
Gardner, E., 80, 342, 365, 368.
Gasquet, F. A., 177, 404.
Gaytring, monk, 190-1.
Gebhart, E., 333-4.
Genealogists of London, Society of,
438-9.
German influences, 296, 319, 335.
Gerson, J., 331. 339.
Geytrington, Thos. of, 232.
Gilling (co. Yorks.), 437.
Gilson, J. P., 385, 408.
Ginge (co. Berks.), 388.
Glosses, O.E., 178.
Gloucester, Duke of, 383.
Glusburn (co. Yorks.), 439.
'God's law', 265, 367-8, 391.
Gower, John, 383.
Gratia Dei (angl.), 272, 274, 286-7, 366.
Gréard, O., 491.
Greenhalgh, James, of Shene, 50, 216–
17, 321.
Gregory, St., 353; v. Rolle index.
Groote, Gerald, 349.
Grosseteste, 377-8, 395, 397.
de Guibert, R. P., 87.
Guisbro' Priory, 447.
Hackford (co. Yorks.), 437.
Hahn, A., 20, 265, 294.
Hallam, Bishop of Sarum, 350.
Hamilton Thompson, A., 433-4, 441,
446, 481.
Hammond, E., 383.
Hampole, 29, 33, 379, 410, 441, 501,
509-25, 540;'ankerer of', 507; re-
cluse of, 267-8, 506–8; v. Rolle index.
Handlynge Synne, 377.
Hanneton, J., Franciscan, 134.
Harford, D., 17, 539.
Harrison, Plantagenet, 437, 440.
Harvey, R., 15, etc.
Hastings, Sir Brian, 523.
Hauréau, B., 294, 353, 356.
Heilbronn, 12.
Heitz, P., 13, 539.
Héméré, C., 492.
Hendred, East (co. Berks.), 413.
Henningsen, H., 20.
Henricus Cartusiensis of Shene, 405.
Henry V, 128, 331; Henry VI, 407 ;
Henry VII, chapel of, 316.
Herbert, J. A., v-vi, xii, 10, 373, et
passim.
Hereford Missal, 350.
Heresy, 36, 188-92, 229, 332-5, 372,
388, 392, 430; v. Lollards, and Rolle
index.
Hermits, 28-9, 324-35, 475-6; bare
feet of, 526; dress of, 526; Flemish,
128; heretical, 333-5; at Bassing-
bourne, 424; at Cudworth, 511; at
Dalby, 128; at Knaresborough, 128;
at Melmerby, 505, 513; at Norwich,
527; at Royston, 424; at Whittles-
ford, 424; in Piers Plowman, 332 ;
v. Basset, Lucas, Richard, Warwyk,
and Rolle index.
Heslington, Margaret, recluse, 223.
Heuser, W., 296.
Higden, R., 489.
Hilton, W., 364, 366, 406, 408, 410,
414; Angels' Song, 364, 366, 368;
Commentaries on Pss. xc-xci (?),
196; Mixed Life, 36, 197, 364, 366;
Scale of Perfection, 18, 197, 216, 361,
366; Scale in Latin, 45, 47, 351-2;
translations by, 197, 342-3.
Hipswell (co Yorks.), 435.
Historical MSS. Commission report,
34 sq.
Hodgson, G. E., 17-18, 286, 352, 368,
43I.


SELECT GENERAL INDEX
553
Hopyl, W., 11, 539.
Horologium sapientiae, 532, and v.
Suso.
Horstmann, C., 4-6, 14-15, et passim.
Hoskins, E., 10, 315, 349.
Hours, Books of, 9-10, 315-16, 349.
Hours of the Name of Jesus, 9-10.
Hoveden, John, 414, 420.
Howdenshire, 481.
Hugh of St. Victor, 139, 335, 338, 341,
346, 353.
Hull (co. Yorks.), 413.
Hulme, W. H., 17.
Hunter, J., 509, etc.
Hussites, 39, 168.
Imitation of Christ, 394.
Incendium divini amoris, 402; cf. 38.
Indulgences, 350-1.
'De industria', 443.
Inge, Dean, 18.
'Innocent, De Contemptu Mundi',
380.
Innocent VII, pope, 39, 48, 209, 221.
Introductions, motifs in, 390.
Isabella, Queen, 126-7, 143, 185, 456.
Jean, duc de Berry, 338.
Jean of Fécamp, 79, 290.
Jervaulx Abbey, 475-6, 502, 505.
Jesu Dulcis Memoria, 38, 314, 349, 394.
Jesus, Holy Name of, 4, 65, 72-7, 221,
307-10, 349, 359-60, 365, 405-6,
522; cult of, 4, 349-51; fanatical
devotion to, 76, 352, 368; scribes'
devotion to, 23, 34, 54, 67, 236, 241,
251,343,361; v. Jesu Dulcis Memoria,
'O Bone Jesu' (in Rolle index).
Jesus Matins, 349.
Jones, Rufus M., 334.
Jonson, Ben, 322.
Jubilus de Nomine Jesu (= Jesu Dulcis
Memoria), 100.
Judgement Day, 297, 386 (15 Signs
before).
Julian, J., xii, etc.
Julian of Norwich, 223, 528.
Julianus Pomerius, 341.
'Juvenis', 109, 143, 539.
Key of Knowing (= Stim. Consc.),
386.
Kingsley, Hereward the Wake, 441.
Kirkby, Elizabeth, 359.
Kirkby's Inquest, 432.
Kirkby (co. Yorks.): Misperton, 450,
457-8, 510; Ravensworth, 472, 505;
South K., 509, 524; Wiske, recluse
of, 506-8.
Kirkeby, Margaret, 34 sq., 43, 51-3,
59-61, 174, 187-8, 256-63, 265-8,
271-4, 304, 359, 410, 430-1, 436,
470, 476, 481, 501-13, 517.
Knaresborough Forest, 128.
Knyghton of Leicester, continuator to,
189, 393.
Köhler, R.. 380.
Konrath, M., 15, 286, 362.
Kühn, F., 20.
de La Bigne, M., 14, etc.
Lacombe, P., 315.
Ladvocat, S. M. N., 491.
Lambert le Fleming, 128.
Lamentation of St. Mary, 526.
Lancaster: Coucher Book, 432, 434;
Henry of, 127-9, 456, 479; Thos. of,
111-12, 127-9, 449-57, 464, 469,
477, 510; sanctity of, 489.
Langthwait, Agnes de, Wm. de, 510.
Latimer, Wm., 442.
Layburn (co. Yorks.), 447.
Lay Folks Mass-Book, 288.
Layton (co. Yorks.), 36, 267, 436,
502-5, 512-13, 517.
Layton family, 504.
Le Clerc, V., 350-1.
Leach, A. F., 444.
Leeming (co. Yorks.), 435-7.
Leland, J., 419 sq., etc.
Liebermann, F., 362.
N n
Lincolnshire, 29, 437; wills, 413,
507.
Lindkvist, H., 16, 279.
Lollards, 81, 342, 367; attacks on,
237, 347, 379, 527; jargon of, 393;
writings of, 265, 401; v. 'God's
Law', North, Wyclif, and Rolle
index.
London Wills, 413.
Long, Roger, 457.
Louis de Fontibus, 197, 342.
Love, highest path to Heaven, 252-3;
invoked, 261; v. Rolle index.
Lover of Christ, nightingale as symbol
of, 420.
Love, Nicholas, 382, 404.
Low Countries, influence of, 128, 317,
319, 349.
Lower, English Surnames, 434.
Lowes, J. L., 118.
Lucas, John, 424.
Lydgate, J., 383.
St. Machary, Pistel of, 366.
Madan, F., 9, 22, 41, etc.
Madden, Sir F., 309, 375, 380.
Magnates, privileges of, 444, 446; v.
Rolle index (patrons).
Malton Priory, 433, 456.
'Manievilain', 434.
Marreys, R., 523.


554
SELECT GENERAL INDEX
Mary the Virgin, 4, 90-1, 345, 365;
v. Rolle index.
Mätzner, E., 14.
McCall, H. B., 30, 508.
McCann, Justin, 80.
Maidstone, Richard, 369, 371.
Maidstone, Clement, of Syon, 47, 318.
Mâle, E., 424.
Manuel des Pechiez, 377; v. H. E.
Allen.
Marguerite of York, 338.
Marmion family, 29-30.
Masham (co. Yorks.), 508; v. Scrope.
Maximinus, St., 327.
Meaux Abbey, 438, 453, 477, 489.
Medilton, Aniste de, 506.
Meditations, v. St. Anselm, Rimington,
devotions, and Rolle index.
Meditations on the Life of Christ, 32-3,
214, 261, 394, 400, 404.
Meditations on the Passion, 286–7, 290 ;
v. Rolle index.
Meditation on saying devoutly the
Psalter of our Lady, 11.
Meditation (Speculum of St. Edmund),
362-3.
Melmerby (co. Yorks.), 513.
Melsonby (co. Yorks.), 504-5, 512.
Melton, Archbishop, 255, 334, 482,
489, 524.
'Mentis subleuatio', 342.
De mercenariis sacerdotibus, 47, 96, 102.
Metham family, 504, 506, 512.
Methley, Richard, of Mount Grace,
292, 307, 376, 416-17.
Meyer, P., 338.
Middendorff, H., 20, 108, 170, 178,
6
184-7, 492.
Middle English literature, v. French
influences, German, Low Countries,
and Rolle index (passim, and cf.
Religious literature after ').
Middleham (co. Yorks.), 441, 447-
Mirror of St. Edmund, 286, 326, 362-3.
Mirror of Our Lady (for Syon), 405,
417.
Mirror of Life, v. Speculum Vitae.
Mirror of Simple Souls, 417.
Misyn, R., 15, 17-18, 223-4, 241-2.
Monks, 478-9, 499-500, 512-13; v.
Rolle index.
Montfort, Simon de, cult of, 61.
Month, The, 19.
Morris, J. E., 30, 348.
Morris, R., 15 et passim.
Mortimer, Roger, 83, 126-7, 143, 185,
456.
Mount Grace, Charterhouse of, 50, 307,
405; v. Methley.
Music, Tudor, 316.
Myton, battle of, 478.
Mysticism, 5-6, 87; English, 21, 292,
342-3, 349, 364-5, 405; Flemish
80, 128; French, 340; and rhythm,
81; v. contemplation, and Rolle
index.
Mysticism, Middle English; v. Cloud
of Unknowing, Mirror of Simple
Souls, Hilton, rhapsodies, Speculum
Spiritualium, and Rolle index
('mysticism' and passim).
Nassington, Wm. of, 262, 309, 372,
387.
'Nations' (of students), 499.
Nesson, P., 370.
von Neuss, 12-13.
Neville family, 441, 444-5, 504-5, 508,
513; Sir John, 445, 523; Thos.,
archdeacon, 55, 108, 430-1, 444-9,
479, 505 (v. Rolle index, quarrels);
Thos., jr., 445, 447-
Newstead, prior of, 384.
Newton, m. J., 47, 49, 94, 114, 213,
215-16, 414.
Nicholas au Pount of Pickering, 455,
462.
Nightingale, v. lover of Christ.
Nine Daughters of the Devil (French
poem), 378.
Nine lessons of Dirige in ballad (= Pety
Job), 369.
Noetinger, Dom, 18-19, 335, 341,
490-3.
Nomine Jesu, Missa de, 350-1.
Norfolk, Rolles of, 438; wills of, 385;
v. Rolle index.
North dialect of, 356, 363-4 (v. Rolle
index, dialect); disaster to, 453, 478,
514; Lollards in, 189-91; 'nation'
of, 499; nuns of, 255-6; v. York-
shire.
Northerners, 50, 499.
Notary, Julian, 10.
Nottingham, 29, 384, 519.
Nuns: age of profession, 508; finery
of, 255-6; inheritances of, 509; v.
Rolle index.
Obedience debated, 334; v. Rolle
index.
Oliger, Father, vi, 325, 329, 331 sq.,
540.
Olivi, Peter John, 229.
St. Omer, 429.
On Ureisun of Oure Louerde, v. rhap-
sodies.
Omont, H., 493.
The Oneness of God with Man's Soul,
v. Hilton, Angels' Song.
Oudin, C., 375, 427.
Owst, G. R., 97, 405.


SELECT GENERAL INDEX
555
Oxford, constitutions of, 382; press,9;
Queen's College, 354; riot of 1354:
447; wills, 413.
Oxfordshire, Rolles of, 438.
Pagula, William of, 101-2.
Parkin, Robert, 514.
Pars Oculi, v. Rolle index.
Paston, Agnes, 385.
Pater Noster (angl.), 358-9.
Pater Noster (= Sp. V. ?), 381, 384.
Patterson, F. A., 302.
Paues, A. C., v, 16, 20-1, 170, 173,
175-6, 196-7.
Paull (co. Yorks.), 102.
Peckham, John, 328, 394, 404.
Peebles, R. J., 80.
Percy family, 503; Eleanor, 450, 459,
465, 472; Henry, 449-50, 454, 457-
Perfectionism, 334; v. Rolle index.
Perry, G. G., 14, 16.
Peter Chrysologus, of Ravenna, 73-5.
Peter of Blois, 355, 538.
Pety Job, 369-70.
Philomena (or Philomela), 394, 419-20.
Pickering, 52, 127-9, 431-3, 436, 449,
451-5, 457-62, 464, 476, 479-80,
502; forest, 129, 452-3, 456-7; St.
Nicholas, hospital of, 454-5; soke
of. 454.
Piers Plowman, 332, 373.
Pigott family, 505, 513.
Pits, J., 19, 375, 425-6, 490.
Plague, The, 516-17.
De Poenis Purgatorii, 378–9.
Poole, R. L., 422 sq.
Poor Caitiff, 63, 68, 218, 315, 359,
424-5.
Popular religious works, 394-7; v.
vernacular.
Possevinus, Antonius, 14.
Power, Eileen, 255, 508-9, 513-14.
Prague, Genzenstein, J., archbishop
of, 43, 47, 168, 221.
Prayer (alliterative English treatise on),
81.
Premonstratensians, 513.
Prick of Conscience, 15, 19-20, 309,
363, 371-97, 416; dialect of, 381;
interpolated, 171, 191-2, 374, 387-
95, 397; MSS. of, 115, 247, 262,
373-83, 386-9, 540; sources of,
378-80; variations of, 386-94.
Prose, ornamental, 78-81, 424 ; Anglo-
French, 363; Anglo-Saxon, 8, 80;
Early English, 80; Flemish, 80;
Middle English, 81, 259, 424; v.
Rolle index.
Psalms xc-xci, English commentaries
on, 196-7.
Purvey, J., 401, 417.
Quaracchi edition of St. Bonaventura,
353, 355, 358, 394-7.
Raine, Canon J., 90-1.
'Raoul',
438.
Rashdall, H., 444 sq.
Ravensfield, John, 384.
Ravensworth, v. Fitz Hugh.
Rebellion of 1322, v. Lancaster, Thos. of.
Recluses; v. Hampole, Heslington,
Kirkeby, anchoresses, and Rolle
index (enclosure of?).
Reformation, influences on, 4, 319.
Refrain With I and E', 296.
Reinhausen, 240.
Reliquiae Antiquae, 318.
Rembolt, B., II, 539.
Remedy against the troubles of tempta-
tions, 4, 359-61.
Revelation respecting Purgatory, 17, 36.
Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique, 87.
Rhapsodies, Early English, 80, 292.
Ricardus filius Rodulfi', 498-9.
Ricardus Premonstratensis, 425.
'Richard Hermit', 61, 51I.
Richard of St. Victor, 364-5; v. Rolle
index.
Richelieu, 492.
Richmondshire, 501, 508; archdeacon
of, 413, 481; v. Rolle index.
Rievaulx Abbey, 385, 433, 453, 457;
v. Rolle index.
Rimington, Wm., 347-8, 414.
Rishanger, 61.
Ritson, J., 375, 428.
Robbins, H. W.,
Rol, Hugo, 432-4.
362-3.
434.
'Rollemylans', 'Ricardus filius',
Rolle, family of, 432-41; William,
56-7, 432-7, 441-4.
Rolle, Roule, Rowell, etc., persons
so-named, 432-41.
Rollevillain, Ricardus, 433-4, 441, 479.
Rollos, family of, 437, 440-1, 504.
Romances, 390.
Romanic Review; v. Allen, H. E.
Rood, Theodoric, 9, 13, 539.
Rothwell [or Rowell], Wm. de, 540.
Roule, family of, 435-8, 441.
Rowell, family of, 437.
Rowley, family of, 438.
Royden, Robert, 523.
Rubrics, gossipy', 370.
Rulos, Richard de, 441.
'Rusbroke, Johannes', 364.
Russell, Sir Thos., of Ashbourn, 381.
Rymer's Foedera, 384.
Saints, cults of, 4, 489; v. Rolle index.
Salvation by love of the name of Jesus,
An epistle on, 352.
Nn 2


556
SELECT GENERAL INDEX
Sandal (co. Yorks.), 440, 509-10.
Sapientia', 207.
Sarum, 346; calendars, 4; primers,
10: Missal, 350-1.
Savile family, 440, 510; Henry, 348,
385, 408-11.
Sawley Abbey, 348, 515.
Sayings from Fathers, 367.
Schneider, J. P., 20, 78.
Scone Abbey, 316.
Scotch wars, 123, 128, 152, 185-6,
453, 477-8, 511-14.
Scrope family, 465. 504-8, 513; Scrope
of Masham, Lord, 29, 94-5, 384.
Seamer (co. Yorks.), 459, 472.
Sermons (of Wyclif), 260, 361-2.
Seven Penitential Psalms, 371.
Seven Works of Mercy, 367.
Sewell, Joanna, of Syon, 50, 321.
Shene, Charterhouse of, 128, 331, 354,
405; v. Greenhalgh, Henricus, and
Rolle index.
Sherburn, castle of, 350.
Shirley, John, scribe, 370.
Shrewsbury, battle of, 522.
Sixtus Senensis, 14, 429.
Skeeby (co. Yorks.), 374.
Skelbroke (co. Yorks.), 509-II.
Slingsby (co. Yorks.), 432.
Smith, Wm., Lollard, 189.
Snape (co. Yorks.), 444.
Socialism (14th century), 176, 296.
Soliloquium (of St. Bonaventura),
352-3.
Solitaries, 511; v. anchoresses, hermits,
Rolle index.
La Somme le Roy, 372.
Sorbonne, chapel of, 472; Northern
English connexions of, 499; preju-
dice of, against monks, 499-500; v.
Rolle index.
Speculum Christiani, 404-5.
Speculum huius vitae (= Stim. Consc.),
387.
Speculum Peccatoris, 44, 318, 324, 353-
5, 409.
Speculum Spiritualium, 352, 405-6.
Speculum Vitae, 262, 309, 371-2, 381-2,
384-5. 390.
Spofforth, Bishop, 214.
Sprotborough (co. Yorks.), 511-12,
525.
Stainton (co. Yorks.), 511.
Stanwick (co. Yorks.), 504-5.
Stapleton, family of, 504, 528; Agnes,
383; Sir Brian, 383, 506, 528; Sir
Miles, 528.
Staunton, Henry de, friar and hermit,
334. 481.
Stimulus Amoris, 342, 348, 354-5, 385,
394-7, 532; v. Rolle index.
Stimulus Conscientiae, v. Prick of Con-
science.
Stopes, Wm., 40-1, 212, 226, 230-1,
304, 323, 518-20.
Strode, 383.
Sunday Gospels and Epistles (angl.),
134.
Surius, L., 349.
Surnames, fluctuations of, 440-1; in
religion, 503.
Surtees Psalter, 178-9.
Suso, Henry, 10, 207, 221, 349.
Sutton, Nicholas de, 509.
Syon Monastery, 128, 331, 354, 414,
426-7, 476, 505-6; v. Rolle index.
A Talking of the Love of God, 80.
Tanfield (co. Yorks.), chamber in
church, 30; rector of, 30.
Tanfield hermit (co. Yorks. ?), 28-30,
94-5, 424, 461.
Tanner, Thos., 64, 418, 427-8, et
passim.
Tauler, John, 335.
Temple, M. E., vi, 176, 490.
Testamenta Eboracensia, xii; v. York-
shire wills.
Thellusson family, 524-5.
Theological study, 495-6, 499–500.
Thoresby, Archbishop, 90-1, 190, 515,
522.
Thornton (co. Yorks.), 52-3. 431.
Thornton Dale, 455; v. Rolle index.
Thorpe, Wm., Lollard, 190-1.
Thorpe Basset (co. Yorks.), 447.
Thurstin, 417.
Topcliffe (co. Yorks.), 431.
Tout, T. F., 127-8, 443, 451.
Translations by medieval English
mystics, 342-3; v. French influences,
German, Low Countries, and Rolle
index.
Trevisa, 489.
Tribulatione, De, 355-6.
Turton, R. B., xii, et passim.
Two Commandments of the New Law,
Commentary on, 366-8.
Ullerston, d. Richard, 166.
Ullmann, J., 16, 278, 371-2.
Underhill, E., vi, 17-18, 80, 333, 352,
368.
University regulations, 444-5, 448,
495, 497; v. Rolle index (Sorbonne).
Vaughan, R. A., 18.
Vavasour, Sir H., 415.
Vernacular religious literature, 377-8,
388.
Vernacular Scriptures, 401.
Vespere in veneratione nominis Jesu, 9.


SELECT GENERAL INDEX
557
Vienne, Council of, 334.
Villeins, powers of, 434.
Vincent Ferrer, St., 316.
Vocabulary: 'purchesurs', 456; 'soue-
reign', 364; 'armiger', 452; 'per-
quisitores', 456; stimulus con-
scientiae', 397.
"
Wackernagel, W., 319.
Wadworth (co. Yorks.), 439.
Wageby, John de, 386.
Waldeby, John, 165, 372.
Walden, Thos., 362.
Waldensians, 334.
Wallensis, Joh., 404.
Wallicus, Joh. Morys, 404.
Walsingham, John, 402; Thos., 379.
Walter, W., 386.
Warton, Thos., 175, 377.
Warwyk, John, hermit of, 260, 317.
Watton, John, 404.
Well (co. Yorks.), 444, 508.
Werintone (Warrington ?), 61.
Wharton, H., 375, 401, 426-7.
Whitaker, T. D., 441.
Wiche, Richard, Lollard, 189.
William of Norwich, St., 516.
Wilmart, Dom, 74, 358, 365.
Wilson, John, S.J., 429, 511.
Wimpfen, 12.
Witham, Charterhouse of, 347, 404.
pe Wohunge of Ure Lauerd, 292.
Woolley, R. M., 16, 52 sq., 538.
de Worde, Wynkyn, 9-10.
Wright, T., 318, 391, 393.
Wyclif, J., 63, 170, 176, 191, 239, 359,
389, 428, 435; v. Lollards, sermons,
and Rolle index (Lollardy).
Wyleby, Isabella de, 522.
Wylie, J. H., 50, 331, 454.
Wyville family, 433.
Xenia Bernardina, 47.
York: All Saints, North St, 386; St.
Mary's Abbey, 419; Breviary, 16;
Hours, 10; as national centre, 128;
v. North.
Yorkshire: Cistercian houses of, 512-
13; influence, 351; lay subsidies,
432-3, 435; medieval schools of,
444; nunneries of, 513-14; Parish
Register Society, 439; wills, 383-4,
413-16.
Yorkshire Post, 1, 52, 512.
Ypres, 128.
Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für
Rechtsgeschichte, 101.
Zupitza, 16.


INDEX OF INITIA
A Deo qui scrutatur cor. Judica A, 93, 460.
A dere brethir and systirs, I see þat many walde be in religyone. Abbey of the
Holy Ghost, 336.
A grett clerke þat men calles Richard of Saynt Victoures. Of Three Workings
in Man's Soul, 364.
A priuy word to me is to pee. Transl. of St. Anselm, Medit. XIII, 358.
A sely soule asked of god. Transl. of Novem Virtutes, 318.
A solitari here, hermite life i lede. Verses on Rolle's portrait, 310.
Ad salutandam virginem. R. Rolle (?), Super Salue regina [Stim. Amor. iii.
19?], 422.
Admirabar amplius quam
Al perisches & passes.
All synnes sal pou hate.
enuncio. Incend., 31, 209.
Verses in Ego D., 250.
Lyric by R. Rolle, 297.
All vanitese forsake. Lyric by R. Rolle, 300.
Alle men þat wil leuyn cristenliche. W. Hilton (?), Comment. on Ps. xc, 197.
Almyзty god in trinite,/ In whom is only persones three. Speculum Vitae (Spur.),
371.
Amantibus autem eterne hereditatis. Extr. from Incend., 217.
Amor utique audacem. Mel., 113, 117.
Anima exuta. Addition to Incend., 218.
Anima tribulata et temptata. De Tribulatione (Spur.), 355-
Apocalipsis Ihesu Christi ... Beatus Iohannes in exilium. Apoc., 152.
Attende, quod ait Crisostomus. Judica B 3, 95.
Augustinus sanctus doctor in declaratione.
Augustino, 423.
R. Rolle (?), Meditationem ex
Ave, verbum, ens in principio. J. Hoveden, Philomela, 420.
Beatus Iohannes in exilium. Apoc., 152.
Beatus vir cuius est auxilium abs. R. Rolle (?), De spiritualibus ascentionibus
[St. Bonaventura, De Gradibus ascensionis in Deum], 422.
Benedictus... The hooli man zacarias. W. Hilton (?), Comment, on Benedictus,
197.
Bonum confiteri... Noman may liue. W. Hilton (?), Comment. on Ps. xci, 197.
Ci comensount (?) les IX paroles. Transl. of Novem Virtutes, 318.
Contemplatio vel vita contemplativa habet tres partes. E. V., ch. 12, 428.
Cum Christus qui est veritas.
20th Ps., 194.
Cum enim secundum beatum Hieronymum. Commendatio castitatis [Speculum
B. M. V.], 427.
Cum ergo singulare.
Extr. from Cant., 40, 42.
Cum laudasset sponsa. Cant. (3), 63.
Cupienti mihi peticioni.
Curremus in odore...
Currite gentes undique.
Judica B 1, 93.
Ecce, fratres, mira. Cant. (7), 63.
Stim. Amor., 354.
Da pauperibus meis vnum denarium. Novem Virtutes, 317.
Decimo die post ascensionem.
S. A., 157.
Dere sister pou wost wel. Pater Noster, 358.
Desyre and delit in ihesu criste. Desyre and Delit, 271.
Deus noster refugium, O creator noster.
Thornton prayer, 324.


INDEX OF INITIA
559
Diabolus mille. Transl. of Form (fragm.), 262.
Domine Deus meus, quomodo ausus sum.
Ecce, fratres, mira amatoris. Cant. (7), 63.
Balliol prayers (I), 345.
Ego dormio... Þou þat lyste lufe. Ego D., 246.
Et factum est postquam. Thren., 150.
Et quia tale est nomen tuum. Cant. (5), 63.
Euigila, anima mea. Extr. from St. Anselm, Medit. I, 347.
Ex magno amoris incendio. Extr. from Incend., 64.
Exprimitur autem in his verbis. Job, 130, 143.
Expulsus de paradiso. Cant. (4), 63.
Speculum of St. Edmund, 362.
Soliloquium, 352.
Fidelis et delicate depasta. Cant. (2), 62.
First pou schalt pinke how his world is passing.
Flecto genua mea ad patrem. St. Bonaventura,
For encheson þat loue mai al do. Doctrina Fr. Henrici Chambernoun (?), 261.
Fragrancia unguentis... Cum laudasset sponsa. Cant. (3, 63.
Frater aut soror, qui desyderas. R. Rolle (?), De bello spirituali, 423.
Give to a poor man a penny. Transl. of Novem Virtutes, 320.
Gloryouse lord so doolfully dyзte. Verses in Medit. on the Passion, 285.
Good ihesu, o swete ihesu. Prayer (from St. Anselm, Medit. II), 315.
Good Syster, of your charyte I you pray. Lambeth Devotion (epilogue), 343.
Gostly gladnesse in ihesu. Gastly Gladnesse, 273.
Gostly syster in ihesu Crist. W. Hilton, Scale of Perfection, 361.
Gracia dei... Grace pe appostille settis. Gratia Dei', 286.
Grete haboundance of gastly comfort. Eng. Ps., 169.
Haec oratio priuilegiata est in duobus. O. D., 155.
Here er þe ten comaundementis.
276.
Eng. Comment. on the Ten Commandments,
Here is þe book þat spekip. Charter of the Abbey of the Holy Ghost, 336.
Heremita dicitur quis (sic) ab hereo. Regula Heremitarum, 325.
Heyle Ihesu, my creatowre. Lyric by R. Rolle, 300.
Hic beatus Athanasius liberum. Super Symbolum S. Athanasii, 312.
Hic continentur nouem virtutes... Da pauperibus. Novem Virtutes, 317.
I knaw no pinge pat so inwardly. Lyric, 309.
I say þat no man is assoyled of any prest. Lollard extract, 402.
I slepe and my hert wakes to be. Couplet, 307.
I syt & synge of luf-langyng. Verses on Rolle's portrait, 310.
I wate na thyng. Extr. from Command., 253, 282.
Ideo adolescentule . . . Et quia tale. Cant. (5), 63.
Jesu dulcis memoria. Hymn, 65.
Jesus soit en ma teste. Poem on the Holy Name, 315.
If thou wylt be good and holy. Lambeth Devotion (prologue), 343.
Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 295.
Lyric by R. Rolle, 298.
Verses, 307.
Ihesu, als pow me made & boght.
Ihesu god son, lord of mageste.
Ihesu my luf, my ioy, my reste.
Ihesu swet, nowe wil I synge.
In die iudicii resurgent. Judica B 3, 93.
In ilk a synful man. Form, 256.
Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 302.
In nomine Ihesu omne genu... Or. Deus qui gloriosissimum. Missa de Nomine
Iesu, 350.
In nomine Ihesu... Omnium optimum estimo. Extr. from Incend., 310.
In quolibet homine peccatore.
De dilectione (transl. of Form?), 428.
In the begynnynge and endynge of all good werkes. Contemplations of the
Dread and Love of God, 357.


560
INDEX OF INITIA
Ingredienti statum heremitarum. Regula Heremitarum, 329.
Istis iam dictis ad utilitatem. Judica B 2, 93.
Istum psalmum benedicte virginis. Magn., 192-3.
Judica me Deus... A Deo qui scrutatur cor. Judica A, 93, 460.
Iuxta sancti Johannis vocem. Compilation entitled 'Incendium diuini amoris',
402.
La sainte abbaie et la religion doit estre.
Samte Abbaye, 338.
Lo lemman swete, now may pou se. Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 294.
Lord þat madist me of nou3t. Medit. on the Passion (B), 278.
Loued be pou keyng. Lyric in Form, 288.
Luf es lyf þat lastes ay. Lyric by R. Rolle, 299.
Lyeff lorde, my soule thou spare. Pety Job, 369.
Magna spiritualis iucunditatis. Lat. Ps., 165.
Magnam habundantiam consolacionis diuine. J. Wyclif (?), Commentarios in
psalterium, 428.
Man þat wilnep for to profite. Doctrina Fr. Henrici Chambernoun, 261.
Memento, miser homo, quod cinis es. W. Rimington, Meditationes, 347-
Memorandum est de diccionibus rasis. On the exposition of the Psalter, 346.
Mercy es maste in my mynde. Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 297.
Misericordias domini... Misericordiam Domini in eternum cantare. De M., 161.
Mout de gent voudroient entrer en religion. Abbaye du Saint Esprit, 338.
Mulierem fortem. . Quanto aurum argento. Mul. Fort., 159.
[M]y fulle dere and wel loued frende in god. Form, ch. 2, 268.
My keyng þat water grette. Lyric in Ego D., 290.
My sange es in syhtyng. Lyric in Ego D., 291.
My trewest tresowre sa trayturly. Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 295.
Transl. of E. V., 242.
Transl. of E. V., 242.
Ne lette pou noth to turne azen to thine lorde.
Ne tardes conuerti ad dominum. E. V., 230.
Ne tarie pou nouzt to be conuertid to be lord.
Nihil enim tam suaue. Extr. from Incend., 223.
Noman may liue in þis liff. W. Hilton (?), Comment. on Ps. xci, 197.
Nomen Ihesu venit in mundum. Cant. (4), 63.
Now I pray 30w all in charite of god. Abbey of the Holy Ghost (epilogue), 339.
Now open þi hert wyde. Medit. on the Passion, 286.
O bone Ihesu, O dulcissime Ihesu.
65, 314.
O Deus piissime penetrasti pectus.
Prayer (from St. Anselm, Medit. II), 37,
Excerpts from Mel., 404.
O domina glorie, o regina leticie. Balliol prayers (II), 345.
O dulce lumen Deus, illumina oculos meos. De Excellentia Contemplationis, 321.
O parvulorum pater . . . deus funditus finito. Carmen prosaicum, 38.
Oleum effusum. . . Expulsus de paradiso. Cant. (4), 63.
Omnis actio laudabilis. St. Anselm on the will, 64, 211.
Omnium optimum estimo esse ihesum. Extr. from Incend., 310.
On foure maners may a man wyt if he be owte of dedely syn. Short piece
ascribed to Rolle, 296.
Osculetur me osculo... Suspirantis anime deliciis eternorum. Cant. (1), 62.
Oure mercyfull lord god cryst. Remedy against the Troubles of Temptations, 360,
Parce mihi... Exprimitur autem. Job, 130, 143.
Parce mihi.
Sunt nonnulli iustorum. Excerpts from St. Gregory's Morals, 313.
Pater noster... Haec oratio priuilegiata. O. D., 155.
Paternitati vestre . . . et venerande Cartusie... Professor facti estis. T. Basset,
Defence against the Detractors of Richard, 529.


INDEX OF INITIA
561
Paue tu qui timide es conscientie. Extr. from Fishlawe's transl. of W. Hilton,
Scale of Perfection, 352.
P[eter] off Rome that hyght Celestyn. Regula Heremitarum, 330.
Philomena, praevia temporis amoeni. J. Peckham (?) or St. Bonaventura (?),
Philomena, 419.
Poenitemini vt deleantur peccata. R. Rolle (?), De poenitentia, 422.
Prayng es a gracyous gyfte. Treatise on prayer, 81.
Predicatio est thematis assumptio. Forma Praedicandi, 426.
Puluis es et in puluerem reuertes. R. Rolle (?), Sermones quadragesimales, 422.
Quandoque tribularis memento.
Transl. from Ancren Riwle, 218.
Quanto aurum argento. Mul. Fort., 159.
Qui habitat... Alle men þat wil leuyn. W. Hilton (?), Comment. on Ps. xc, 197.
Qui, pro Christo, pauper fieri. Extr. from Contra Am. M., 417.
Quia licet status heremitarum. Regula Heremitarum (introd.), 329.
Quia meliora sunt ubera ... Fidelis et delicate. Cant. (2), 62.
Quia mortis passagium ex hac. R. Rolle (?), De arte moriendi, 423.
Quicunque vult... Hic beatus Athanasius. Super Symbolum S. Athanasii, 312.
Quomodo sedet... Et factum est. Thren., 150.
Quoniam, carissime, dum in via vite huius.
Speculum Peccatoris, 353.
Quoniam ita res habet quod mors. R. Rolle (?), Orilogium sapientig [transl.
from H. Suso?], 423.
Quoniam mundanorum insania. Contra Am. M., 203.
Quoniam, ut ait Hieronymus.
Radix cordis nostri.
Speculum B. M. V., 427.
Cant. (6), 63.
Riht as þe werkys of men. Command. (introd.), 252.
Salutem mentis et corporis. H. Suso, Cursus de Aeterna Sapientia, 349.
Sicut tenebre eius ita et lumen. Extr. from Fishlawe's transl. of W Hilton,
Scale of Perfection, 352.
Stabat iuxta crucem.
Extr. from Stim. Amor., 354.
Studium cuiuslibet religiosi. Judica B 3 (addition), 95.
Sunt nonnulli iustorum. Excerpts from St. Gregory's Morals, 313.
Suspirantis anime deliciis eternorum. Cant. (1), 62.
Suster in crist we greten zou. Treatise on Maidenhood, 400.
Swete ihesu cryst, for thy blody wounds. Lambeth Devotion, 344.
Swete lord Ihesu Cryst, I thanke þe. Medit. on the Passion (A), 278.
Talentum traditum timens. Job (signature), 130.
Tarye not for to turne pee to god.
Tarye not to be conuertyd to be lorde.
Tarye the noght man to be conuerted vnto thi lord god. Transl. of E. V., 242-3.
Tarye pou nouth for to turne to god.
Tarye pou nouth to oure lorde to be turnyd.
The bee has thre kyndis. The Bee, 269.
Pe comawndement of god es þat we lufe oure lorde. Command., 251.
The hooli man zacarias. W. Hilton (?), Comment. on Benedictus, 197.
pe luf of god who so will lere. Lyric, 308.
The myght of pe fadyr almyghty /þe wytt of pe sone alle wytty. Stim. Consc.,
372.
pe seuene gyftes of þe haly gaste. Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 274.
Pou shalt loue pi lord god with al pi hert.
the New Law, 367.
Comment. on Two Commandments of
pou þat lyste lufe, herken. Ego D., 246.
Thy ioy be ilk a dele. Lyric by R. Rolle, 301.
To goddis worschipe þat dere us bouzte. Seven Penitential Psalms, 371.
To his dere sister in god. . . Dere sister pou wost wel. Pater Noster, 358.
To t. d. his derworpe broper in Crist, his euenbroper. Transl. of St. Bona-
ventura, Epistola continens XXV Memorialia, 358.
Trahe me post te . Radix cordis nostri. Cant. (6), 63.


562
INDEX OF INITIA
Vigili cura, mente sollicita.
De diligendo Deo, 346.
Virgo decora pari sine. Cant. Am. (signature), 89.
Vnkynde man, gif kepe til me. Lyric by R. Rolle (?), 294.
Vox languentis Extr. from Incend., 223.
We, pore men, tresoreris of Cryst. Twelve Conclusions' of the Lollards, 81.
We take als bileve y' epistelis. Sermons of Wyclif, 361.
When Adam delf & Eue span, spir, if þou wil spede. Lyric, 296.
When will pow com to comforth me. Lyric in Form, 289.
Whils I satte in a chapel. Lyric on portrait of Rolle (?), 308.
Yt behovys hermyts to dyspise. Regula Heremitarum, 330.
Zelo tui langueo. Cant. Am., 89.


INDEX OF MSS.
As mentioned earlier, the cross-references given throughout the book are
intended to be utilized in connexion with the indexes: key-references only are
given here in the case of volumes containing several works, which have not
been specially commented upon. In regard to the cross-reference' Cant.' given
in nine cases, v. supra, p. 64. Manuscripts which have changed ownership
appear usually several times, i. e. under the names of their successive owners.
All manuscripts which have been mentioned are included, whether containing
works of Rolle or not. The asterisks indicating that I have not seen a volume
are omitted.
OXFORD BODLEIAN MSS.
PAGES
Ashmole 60
374, 388-97
OXFORD BODLEIAN MSS.
Douce 157
PAGES
382
751
94
258
176
1524
257
322
240, 424
Bodl. 16
67
365
338 sq.
32
346
Hatton 12
171
43
231, 343
26
232
48
156, 318
86
131
52
131
97
398
54
231
Laud Lat. 94
131
57
333
Misc. 99
399
61
232
III
95
66
ΙΙΟ
213, 432
202
210, 213
257
210
258
117
237
268, 321
173
122
232
448
171
131
343
486
377
158
347
497
232
159
376
524
233
288
173, 175
528
45, 54, 210, 309-
315
130-1
456
232
10, 526; quoted,
Judica
467
171
601
377
525
131
602
361
549
156
623
407
630
426
e Musaeo 35
81
769
204
76
388-9, 393
801
347
130
131
861
22-34, 45, 47, 107, 210-
12, 273. 312, 409; col-
lated, Cant., Judica A;
quoted, Apoc., and 320
193
52
198
394
232
382
Rawl. A. 372
398
877
938
953
174
389
45, 214, 246-7
258
C. 19
399
171, 189
35
382
Digby 14
18
87
Douce 25
107
377
72
329
240
84
102
386
142
350
197
209
315
95
269
233


564
INDEX OF MSS.
OXFORD BODLEIAN MSS.
Rawl. C. 285
397
PAGES
134, 258, 272. 367
89-90, 420; quoted,
Cant. Am., Magn.
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MSS.
PAGES
Ff. v. 36
132
v. 40
241
v. 45
259
D. 1229
131
vi. 31
197
Poet. 175
380
vi. 33
318, 320
Tanner I
16
171
Gg. i. 6
75
173
i. 32
Vernon MS.
247, 257, 294, 303,
385
Hh. i. II
i. 12
Add. 268
387
iv. 3
iv. 13
234
196-7, 350
259, 342
347
54, 234
vi. 15
350
OXFORD COLLEGE MSS.
Ii. i. 2
294
i. 26
133
Balliol 224
45, 64, 210, 345-6, 421
iv. 9
259
Brasenose 15
233
vi. 30
343
Corpus Christi 155
233
vi. 40
252, 357, 362
193
23-4, 38, 45, 64,
vi. 43
522
312, 355-6, 409;
vi. 55
259
quoted, Cant.,Mel.,
Kk. vi. 20
324, 349-51
Contra Am. M.;
collated, Job
Ll. i. 8
Mm. v. 37
278, 371
214
236
223
vi. 17
96
Exeter 7
399
Add. 3042
278
Jesus 39
399
St. John's 77
159; collated, Mul.
Fort.
CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE MSS.
127
65
Caius 140
214, 318
147, 195
132
216
235
Lincoln 89
114
223
67
Magd. 6
132
43
168
332
215
353
235
52
171
71
54, 161; quoted, De M.
386
375
669*
241
115
166, 345-6
Merton 16, 67-8
718
315
234
94
175
Corpus Christi 63
426
216
137
New 93
132
194
426
Univ. 45
132
365
45, 133
56
171
387
171
60
64
74
97
336
399
Emmanuel 35
47, 96, 209-10,
171
215-16, 414
173
258
Jesus 41
347
46
65
426
59
401
St. John's 23
96, 538
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MSS.
80
386
137
376
-
v. 55
Dd. i. I
iv. 50
iv. 54
196, 318, 526
Magd. 14
376
156, 376
Pepysian 2125
252
132
Pembroke 273
376
252
Peterhouse 203
413
v. 64
34, 36-7, 45, 47, 116,
255-7, 272, 274, 294-
301, 364, 538
218
263
133
346
Sidney Sussex 89
172
xiv. 26
318
Trinity 14
133
Ee. ii. 12
357
17
235
Ff. i. 14
400
171
173, 175, 189
260
v. 30
241
322


INDEX OF MSS.
565
CAMBRIDGE COLLEGE MSS.
PAGES
BRITISH MUSEUM MSS.
PAGES
Trinity 333
401
Roy. 2 D. xxviii.
166
354
216
5 A. vi.
399
374
252
5 C. iii.
96, 426
601
369
7 D. xvii.
37, 318
792
1053
1160
1401
133
252, 268
416-17
364
7 E. ii, 8 A. vii.
133
8 C. i.
8 C. ii.
318
101-4
8 C. xv.
402
8 F. vii.
97
12 E. xvi, 13 E. ix.
236
BRITISH MUSEUM MSS.
16 E. xii.
338, 355
Arundel 158
17 B. xvii.
223
172, 197
286
17 B. xxi.
175
357
288
318, 378-9
17 C. xvii.
290
17 C. xviii.
507
222
343
18 C. xxvi.
Burney 356
96; collated, Judica
175, 189
18 D. i.
173
359
97
Cotton Faust. A. v.
Sloane 1009
364
235
B. vi.
54-5, 310, 526
1584
330
Julian D. i.
2275
434
Nero C. ix.
45, 47, 115, 426, 539;
collated, Mel., Contra
421
Tiber. A. xv.
Am. M.
45, 53, 408-9
E. vii.
262
Stowe 13
350
Vesp. D. ix.
38
68
237
E. i.
39
65
54-5, 310, 526
Vitell. F. xiii.
Add. 10046
380
176
App. vii.
379-80
10053
342
Egerton 671
11304
133
235
Harl. 106
216, 376
11305
386
206
318
16170
236
20029
347, 354
237
405
268
20697
269
338
21202
275
216
97
22121
330
67
405
1022
22283
68
252
24203
386
1035
133
24661
210, 216, 322
1704
319
1706
28549
355
241, 405, 424
29986
1709
316
338
1731
387
33957
378
1806
34193
330
172
34763
236
2254
342
2336
34807
237, 318, 320
197
2361
37049
156
54-5, 306-11, 526
37790
2394
386
223
39843
2397
196
338 sq., 355
2406
40769
176
156
2439
236
2445
314
OTHER MSS. (BRITISH
ISLES)
3363
347
Aberdeen Univ. MS.
172
3673
378
Amherst (of Hackney) 135
262
3820
347, 354, 399
Ashburnham App. MSS.
388, 404
4012
294
Bright MS. (Malvern)
394
5235
65
5398
236
5444
350
6576
352
Bristol Reference Library 6
Burlington Fine Arts Club Exhibi-
tion, 1908, MSS. 229, 240
Castle Howard MS. 45,65-6, 114,
331
316
Lansd. 300
355
210
455
241
Corser MS.
328


566
INDEX OF MSS.
OTHER MSS. (BRITISH ISLES) PAGES
OTHER MSS. (BRITISH ISLES) PAGES
Dublin Trin. Coll. A. 1. 10, 71 176
Longleat 30
153
29, 45, 66, 94;
quoted, Mul.
Fort.
32
Manchester Chetham Coll. 6590 261
Rylands Lib. R. 16586 388-93
371
242, 362-3
154
260
18932
66
155
68
Newcastle Cath. MS.
172
156
381
Peterborough Publ. Lib. MS.
373-4
159
115
Phillipps 2734
386
277
402
3849
175
281
237
8343
382
321
347
8884
172
432
241
Quaritch Cat. 344, MS. 10
81
Durham Cath. B. iv. 35
Cosin Lib. V. i. 12
204, 212
Dec. 1912, MS. 278
135
269
MS. (spring of 1927)
245
Edinburgh Univ. 93
107
114
242
Salisbury Cath. 56
238
261
Shrewsbury School 25
156
296
Sotheby's, July 28, 1868, Lot 697
388
Eton Coll. 10
172, 197
Mar. 21, 1895, Lot 756
514
Exeter's (Earl of) MS.
197
May 17, 1897, Lot 623
172
Greg MSS.
Gurney MSS.
Harmsworth MSS.
Hatfield MS.
Heneage MS.
Hereford Cath, O. viii. I
336, 382
241, 375
66, 135, 262,
377, 387, 426
197
43-5, 67
Nov. 6, 1899, Lot 268
Oct. 27, 1919, Lot 2698
Nov. 14, 1919, Lot 87
Lot 187
Jan. 30, 1920, Lot 116
May 1, 1899, Lots 14, 165,
174
404
361
374
205
67
374
262
26-7, 45, 66,
312; colla-
Oct. 21, 1920, Lot 47
ted, Apoc.,
Magn.
Dec. 21, 1920, Lot 515
Lot 137 172, 286, 366
374
P. i. 9
261
Jan. 17, 1921, Lot 629
262
Holkham Hall MS.
373
Mar. 1-2, 1921, Lot 275
66
Huth 153
336
Lot 309
135, 210, 426
Ingilby MSS. (Ripley
Castle)
172, 262, 286, 366
June 21, 1922, Lot 639
Nov. 14, 1922, Lot 376
175
374
Kingston 475
167
Mar. 20, 1923, Lot 327
262
942
237
Apr. 15, 1924, Lot 378
374
Lambeth Palace 34
173, 175, 189
Stonyhurst Coll, MS.
238
124
102
Strong MS.
386
260
372, 375
Westminster School MS.
262
352
166
Dr. Williams's Library MS.
238
357
134
432
335
F. 166
472
197, 342
F. 172
500
237
536
65
Worcester Cath. F. 158
Wrest Park 6
Wyggeston Hospital, Leicester 6,
172
176
242
175, 189
546
343-4
12, 15
134
843
299
York Cath. 5
238
538
xvi. T. 9
405
Lincoln Cath. 60
91
(Thornton)
92
188
209
218
B. 6. 6
Longleat 29
34-7, 68, 81, 269-
77, 297-301, 311,
324, 336, 352, 362-
5, 384, 403, 423
173
210, 217
53, 538
OTHER MSS. (CONTINENTAL)
Bâle (Öffentliche Bibliothek der
Universität) A. iv. 24, A. vi.
Brussels (Bib. roy.) 775
29
67
214
34-6, 256, 271-3, 294,
297, 299-303.
845
1485
2103
239
316
351
67
219


INDEX OF MSS.
567
S. 1363
OTHER MSS. (CONTINENTAL) PAGES
Copenhagen Roy. Lib. Gl. kgl.
Prague Cath. 293
331-3
OTHER MSS. (CONTINENTAL) PAGES
239
540
167
Cracow Univ. 1628
167
Univ. 681
167
Danzig (St. Mary) Mar. F. 16
318
814
67, 210
Mar. F. 152
168
872, 1882
168
Mar. Q. 27
318
Schlägl Premonstratensians
Douay 396 (Bib. de la ville)
37-9, 48,
(Austria) 105
168
54, 516-
17, 521
Stockholm, Roy. Lib.* A. 68
Trier (Stadtbibl.) 296
239
221
843
351
683
239
Épinal 189
Ghent (Bib. de la ville) 291
Madrid (Escorial) b. iii. 5
Metz (Bib. de la ville) 361
MS.
Milan, Ambrosian Lib. G. 43
inf. E.
Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale vii.
319
685
115
219
689
353
219
690, 774-5
240
220
Upsala Univ. C. I
115
338
C. 17
223
C. 159
47, 318
210, 220, 497
C. 494
279
C. 621
53, 527-8
F. 35
239
C. 631
240, 318
Paris, Bib. de l'Arsenal 1021-2,
1228 (MS.-in-folio 133?) 490-2,
Vatican Reg. 320
172
Vienna (National-Bibliothek) 480 351
497
2109
319
3936
4483
190
39-43, 210, 222, 416,
Bib. de Ste. Geneviève 3390
429, 430, 502-3, 506,
261
511, 517-19
Bib. Mazarine 750
318
Bib. nat. angl. 41
342
AMERICAN MSS.
fr. 2198
319
17115
lat. 431
319
Anderson Cat. 1917, Dec. 12,
167
Grove Sale, 376
539
lat 543
97
Huntington MSS.
135, 172, 268,
lat. 15700
lat. 16574
Univ. of, 790
205, 245, 427
366, 539
493
348
Morgan MS.
316
Princeton Univ. MS.
373
Scribes Bageby, John de, 386; of Bodl. 861 (fantastic, but scholarly), 22-
34; a Bohemian, 168; Brede, Wm., Carthusian of Ruremunde, 221; a Northern
Carthusian, 307-11; Cok, J., of St. Bartholomew's, 241, 539; Corf, 246;
Fleming, John, 381-2; Fuller, Richard, 336; Gysborn, John, canon of Cover-
ham, 330; J. h.', 204; Kent, R., 258; Lambert Trurnicht de Unna, Carthu-
sian, 240; London, J., of Shene, 37; Maynsforth, J., of Merton Coll., 131;
Mede, W., of Shene, 405; Mertth, 204, 539; a monk, 96; Norton, 161; 'J.P.',
166; Raynes, 361; Reynoldus, 371; Roulle (?), J., 268; Stoyle, 236; Symon
heremita, 168; Thornton, Robert, 36-7, 382-4, 403, 414; Wade, 133; Wasselyn,
R., chaplain, 398; Wodeburgh, J., 53; Wolfgang, chaplain in Budweis, 168;
v. gen. index, drawings, and Jesus, Holy Name of.
Owners of MSS. of Rolle (corporate): Bâle, canons regular and Carthusians
of, 239; Beauvale, Charterhouse of, 214; Brasenose Coll., 133; Brent Eley
parish church, 279; Bury St. Edmunds Abbey, 418; Camb. Univ. Lib., 415;
Carmelites of London, 419; Chipping Campden parish church, 236; Christ
Church, Canterbury, 233; Corpus Christi Coll., Camb., 407; 'Deptford' nunnery
(for 'dame pernelle Wrattisley, sister'), 240-1; Dover Priory, 133; Ely Priory,
96; Enghien, Charterhouse of, 219; Exeter Cath., 131; Fountains Abbey (by
Wm. Coutton, monk), 235; Leicester Abbey, 407-8, Wyggeston chantry,
Leicester, 134; London, Charterhouse of, 404; Norwich Cath., 96; Reading
Abbey, 67; Rievaulx Abbey (by Abbot Spenser), 233; Scarborough, St. Mary's
Church, 411; Shene, Charterhouse of, 50; Sierck, Charterhouse of, 220;
Sorbonne, 135, 492; Southwark, St. Mary Overy, 66; Stafford, Austin canons


568
INDEX OF MSS.
of, 131 (?), 232; Syon Monastery, 411-12; Trier, Benedictines of, 219, 221, 240,
353; Carthusians of, 115, 239-40; Wadstena Monastery, v. Upsala MSS.;
Wells Cath., 421; Westminster Abbey (by brothers Grant and Grene), 132;
Winchester, St. Mary's Coll., 413; Witham, Charterhouse of, 404; Worcester
Cath., 24; York, St. Mary's Abbey, 419; v. also supra, gen. index (Methley),
scribes, and infra, owners (individual).
Owners of MSS. of Rolle (individual): Aglionby, J., Esq. (1699), 134;
Allen, T. (1622), 348; Alva, Lord, 261; Ames, Joseph (1760), 242; Appiltoun,
d. John. 238; Aston, Sir W. (temp. Jas. I), 362; Audley, Thos. (1668), 242;
Baron, Wm., Esq., 240; Berkeley, Thos., Lord, 171; Braystones, C., Carthu-
sian monk, 210, 214; Brocklebank, R., 245; Burscough, R., 65; Camyl, d.
W., chantry priest, 257-8; Carthom, d. Robert, chantry priest of Beverley,
238; Chelmynton, R. (1454), 233; Chester, John (1524), 173; Christina,
Queen, 172; Clarke, Dr. Adam, 172, 322; Cleue, W., rector of 'Clyveden ', co.
Kent, 257; Cloos, R. (1472), 358; Colman, J., Abbot of Lesnes, 171; Constable,
Sir A. T. C., 362; Crawshaw, W. (1635), 96; Dryden, John (1663), 133; Est,
R., chantry priest (?), 415, 427; Eyton, d. H., sub-prior of St. Albans, 171;
Fetherston, Alexander, prebendary of Lichfield (1680), 279; Forman, Simon
(1600), 233; Forrest, Wm., of Christ Church, Oxf.. royal chaplain, 235;
France, m. Hugo, fellow of Eton (1469), 354; Frunburk (?), 41; Gardner,
vicar of Lynton (1582), 245; Gray, Bishop of Ely, 64; Grafton, Richard (16th
cent.), 159; Gybbes, Archdeacon (16th cent.), 28; Hanton, John, monk of
York, 64; Hedrington, Robert (1577), 361; Holt, Aylot, of Bury (16th cent.),
98; Jean d'Angoulême, 167; Johnson, d., 156; Keys, m. Roger, 131; Knyght,
d. John, rector of Plumstead (1527), 237; Lacy, Robert, founder' of Ponte.
fract Priory, 65; Laing, David, 242, 261; lloyd, m. Owyn, canon of Hereford,
27; Lucas, John, 424; Macro, Dr., 241, 375–6; Mary, Princess (afterwards
Queen), 166; May, J., rector of All Saints the Great, London, 166; Friars
Minor (John, Minister of), 54; More, Bishop of Norwich, 241, 278, 347, 357;
Newton, m. John, 215-16, 414; Nicolson, Wm. (1699), 134; Nod, m. Robert,
238; Norton, Robert, chaplain in Malling Abbey, 167; Odlyne, m. John (1503),
156; Parker, Henry, Lord Morley, 166; Raue, Prof. C.. 280; Richelieu,
Cardinal, 492; Rivers, Earl, Richard Woodville, 232; Rolbst, d. Wm.,
Carthusian, 404; Ruschman, d. Anthony, dean', near Bâle, 239; Samson,
Tobias (?), 135; Savile, H., 385, 408-11; Scrope, Elizabeth (Lady Beaumont
and Lady Oxford), 424; Scrope of Masham, Lord, 29, 414; Shirley, J.,
scribe, 241; Smith, d. Wm., of Brasenose, 133; Southampton, Thos., Earl of,
96; Sparwenfeldt, J. G., 280; Stevens, J., canon of Exeter, 131; Steyke.
m. John, priest, 133; Ston, John and Agnes, 54; Stuerd, Domina Matilda, 156;
Tenison, Archbishop, 322; Verney family, 67; Wales, John, 241; Wencelagh,
m. Thos., parson (rector of Middleton ?), 238; Woodrest, d. Wm., 97;
Worsley, H., 322, 424, 427; for other owners v. 407, 413–17, passim.
•
Owners of MSS. (not Rolle): Bolton, Alice, Sr., 384; Chettock, H., of St.
Albans, 388; Colop, Richard, 'parchemanere' of London, 197; Cupper, R.,
burgess of Yarmouth, 384; Graunt, d. John, 197; Gurney, Hudson, 375;
Helagh, d. Wm. de, 384; Hudson, Sir Herre, 381; Kilbroin, John, 197;
Knyvetone. John, 381; Lumley, 426-7; Macro, Dr., 375-6; Mainwaring,
Sir Philip, 388; Mordan, 197; Munro, Dr.. 375-6; Neale, T. C., 377; Reder,
Richard. 387; Revetour, d. Wm., 384; Roos, Thos., of Ingmanthorpe, 384;
Spink, Richard, 376; Symner, Miles, 381; Umfreville, E., 382.






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