Richard Rolle was a reclusive eccentric and a mystic, who lived as a hermit in fourteenth-century Yorkshire. There’s virtually no evidence of anyone reading him during his lifetime, and he seems to have died in relative obscurity during the Black Death. Yet a few centuries later, he had become the most widely circulated medieval writer who wrote in English, renowned for his teachings about experiencing the fire of love and the music of angels, and celebrated as a major spiritual authority.

Rolle is still commemorated in the Church of England on 20^th January, but is little known today. This lecture therefore offers an introduction to Rolle. It aims to understand his enormous medieval popularity by contextualising him in three major spiritual traditions: the eremitic, the affective, and the contemplative, paying particular attention to his claims about his spiritual experiences of the supernatural heat and angelic song—claims which later inspired Margery Kempe and other laypeople, yet which also became controversial. It explores how Rolle’s texts project a striking personality—at times warm, intimate, zealous, and self-aggrandising—and how he paradoxically balances his belief in the elite status of mystics with his yearning to stir the hearts of all towards the love of God.  We will also consider what Rolle offers readers today, and some possible starting points for getting into his work.

About the tutor

Tim Glover researches late-medieval spirituality and religious literature in Latin and English. He is especially interested in the literary forms of spiritual texts and their material survival in medieval manuscripts, and he recently completed a new book reappraising the Yorkshire hermit and mystic Richard Rolle. He is currently a research fellow at the University of Bergen, Norway, and his next project explores how mystical teachings were popularised among laypeople through the unlikely medium of Latin reference books. He previously held research fellowships at Emmanuel College and Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, and he completed undergraduate and graduate degrees at Oxford, as well as spending a year studying medieval Latin in Los Angeles. He has published articles in Review of English Studies, Speculum, The Journal of Medieval Latin, and Mediaeval Studies. He recently discovered the original draft of Rolle’s most popular work, The Amending of Life, and has a new edition and translation forthcoming.

About the English Mystics Series

The Christian mystical tradition is vibrant and international. It brings a wide range of voices to our attention and shares insights about God (and our relationship with God) from their positions – often on the margins. Many of the key voices and texts from this tradition come from relatively far away – Francis of Assisi and his followers from Italy, Meister Eckhart from Germany, or Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross from Spain. But England also has a vibrant and rich mystical tradition. Many scholars have identified five “English mystics” all from the 14th century. In this series we will consider three of these figures and then two later mystics from England.

Each session will consist of an introductory lecture by an expert on the English mystic in question. After a short break we will then have a Q&A session with the speaker.

This series is jointly organised by Sarum College and the Church Times, and a list of discounted books from Church House Bookshop will be made available relevant to each webinar. The webinars will be recorded and made available to view after the live webinar for 30 days.

Schedule and speakers

26th January — Margery Kempe with Hetta Howes

23rd February — Richard Rolle with Tim Glover

30th March — The Cloud of Unknowing with Becky Field

27th April — William Blake with Mark Vernon

25th May — Evelyn Underhill with Jane Shaw