SOURCE: C. Horstman, in an introduction to Yorkshire Writers, edited by C. Horstman, Swan Sonnenschein & Co., 1896, pp. v-xxxvi.

In the excerpted introduction that follows, Horstman provides a detailed rendition of Rolle's life and a comprehensive paraphrase of his works, organizing the paraphrase according to the tenets of Rolle's spiritual beliefs.

Richard Rolle, from the place of his death and burial surnamed Hampole, was born about, or shortly before, 1300¹, at Thornton (now Thornton Dale), a village 2 1/2 miles E. of Pickering, at the foot of the hills in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He died on the 29th of September 1349. His father was William Rolle², a man apparently of respectable position, being called an intimate friend of John de Dalton (iste armiger patrem suum veluti sibi familiarem grata affectione diligebat); he was perhaps a dependant of the Nevilles. Having received his primary education at home, he was at a more...