of Hampole Richard Rolle

Born in Yorkshire around 1300, Richard Rolle left Oxford without taking a degree and chose a life of prayer and solitude instead. He later became associated with Hampole in South Yorkshire, which is why he is often called Richard Rolle of Hampole or de Hampole.

Rolle wrote devotional and mystical works in both Latin and English, and his writing was widely read in late medieval England. Readers have long been drawn to the vivid, personal way he describes religious experience, especially the longing for closeness to God.

He died in 1349, probably at or near Hampole. Though he lived as a hermit, his influence reached far beyond his own lifetime, and he is still remembered as one of the most important English spiritual writers of the Middle Ages.