Synopses & Reviews
'A literary study of Richard Rolle, one of the most widely read English writers of the late Middle Ages.'
Review
"...the most substantial assessment of Rolle and his importance since Hope Emily Allen's monumental Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle, Hermit of Hampole, and Materials for His Biography, published in 1927. It is a meticulous study of Rolle's works, emphasizing the Latin ones, as evidence for an emerging authorial persona that could reconcile Rolle's conflicting apologetic and didactic aims....[T]hose who stick with it will be impressed by a lively intelligence engaged on an elusive subject, who in his writings tended to speak through the veiled language of Scripture rather than directly. Watson and his publishers are to be praised for the abundance and length of the Latin quotations (with good translations) allowed into the book....Except for Hope Emily Allen, no one to date has devoted so much serious attention to Rolle's style. The reader who perseveres with Watson will arrive at a new respect for Rolle's career...." Michael P. Kuczynski, Speculum
Synopsis
This is a literary study of Richard Rolle (d. 1349), one of the most widely read English writers of the late Middle Ages. Nicholas Watson proposes a chronology of Rolleâs Latin and English writings, and offers a literary analyses of a number of his works, showing how they focus principally on the establishment of his own spiritual authority. English translations of the numerous Latin quotations are provided. The book also addresses wider issues, challenging the prevailing understanding of the relationship between medieval and renaissance attitudes to authors and authority.
Table of Contents
Preface; List of abbreviations; Introduction - contexts: three preliminary essays; Part I: 1. Interpreting Rolleâs life; 2. The structure of Rolleâs thought; Part II: 3. Active life: Judica Me as apologetic pastoral; 4. Contemplative life, âSeeing into Heavenâ: commentaries and Canticum Amoris; Part III: 5. Contemplative life, Fervor: Incendium Amoris; 6. Contemplative life, Dulcor: Super Psalmum Vicesimum, Super Canticum Canticorum, Contra Amatores Mundi; 7. Contemplative life, Canor: Melos Amoris; Part IV: 8. âMixedâlife: Super Lectiones Mortuorum and Emendatio Vitae; 9. âMixedâlife: the English works; Epilogue: Rolle as a late medieval Auctor; Excursus I: the chronology of Rolleâs writings; Excursus II: Rolleâs reading and the reliability of the Officium; Notes; Bibliography; Index.