SOURCE· Hope Emily Allen, in an introduction to Writings Ascribed to Richard Rolle, D. C. Heath and Company, 1927, pp. 1-8.

Since her standard works of 1927 and 1931, Allen has been recognized as a leading Rolle scholar. In the following excerpts from the introduction to her 1927 volume, Allen discusses her efforts to establish a canon of Rolle's writings; she was the first to argue that The Pricke of Conscience, previously considered one of his major works, had been wrongly attributed to him. She also briefly characterizes his mysticism, defending its nonconformity and "wildness. "

As is true of most of the great mystics, Rolle's life and writings show a striking consistency, 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...