Richard Rolle

Richard Rolle, also known as Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole, was born in Yorkshire in 1300 to a poor farming family. He was an English hermit, a writer, and a mystic and was a part of the golden age of English mysticism. At the age of 18, the Archdeacon of Durham sponsored his study at the University of Oxford, but Rolle withdrew before earning a degree to pursue a spiritual life as a hermit. 

Rolle is best-known for Incendium Amoris or The Fire of Love, a devotional guidebook composed around 1343 and widely read during the Middle Ages. The book describes the process of attaining closeness and intimacy with God; Rolle also documents his own mystical experiences. Other spiritual manuals Rolle composed include De emendatio vitae (The Mending of Life).

Rolle, Walter Hilton, and Margery Kempe were three important figures associated with the beginnings of Christian mysticism in England. Rolle’s numerous writings include commentaries, treatises, epistles, and letters written in both Latin and English. His writings were widely read in England in the 15th century and include scriptural commentaries, theological writings, and numerous poems. Rolle spent his final year as a spiritual director for nuns and died in 1349.