6 - 1349–1412: culture and history

Summary

The death of Richard Rolle, probably on 29 September 1349, marks the beginning of a new period in the practice of the contemplative life in England. A recluse latterly resident at Hampole in the south of Yorkshire, he would be noted in the district for his miracles and would be the focus of a local cult, playing a traditional and respected part not greatly changed, perhaps, since the seventh century. On the other hand, he was among the first European contemplatives to combine the description of his religious experiences, previously a literary genre characteristic of female enthusiasts like Mechtild of Magdeburg, with a grasp of mystical theology which enabled him to direct the spiritual life of nuns and recluses. His English successors Walter Hilton and the author of the Cloud of Unknowing would direct their readers in the contemplative art with the authority of personal experience, correcting in the process the undisciplined religious emotion which they associated with Rolle. He was the pioneer of an art which would cease to be the exclusive practice of monks and recluses and would by stages enter the mainstream of lay religious practice, a process far from complete by 1412.