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BIOGRAPHICAL

(i) RICHARD ROLLE


     It is interesting to remember that B. Richard H. of Hampole was among the names included in the prospectus which Newman drew up for The Lives of the English Saints. He tells us in a note to the Apologia[12], that "He has included in the series a few eminent or holy persons, who, though not in the Sacred Catalogue, are recommended to our religious memory by their fame, learning, or the benefits they have conferred on posterity." Unfortunately Rolle shared the fate of the hundred and eighty-three whose lives were never written.
     Various short biographies of Richard Rolle have appeared recently appended to editions of his works, the most complete of which are those of Dr. Horstman and the Rev. H. R. Bramley. These are drawn from the Legenda or Lections, given in the special Office, which the nuns of Hampole prepared in the hope of his canonization. This did not take place because of the unsettled state of the church, due to the rise of Lollardry, although, from the note prefixed to it, the Office seems to have been used privately. The Miracula were included in it, and were arranged to be read as Lections during the octave of the Feast.
     Since the Legenda are the source of our knowledge of Rolle's life, and are largely drawn from his own writings, and more especially from the Incendium Amoris, it has seemed well to give them in full. I have translated them from the collation of the three MSS. published by the Surtees Society. They form the nine lections, to be read at Matins on the Feast Day of the saint.
     The nuns, to whom Richard ministered and with whom he died, belonged to a well-known Cistercian House at Hampole.[13] Nothing now remains of the convent, but the Rev. R. H. Benson gives the following interesting description of the place. "Hampole is still a tiny hamlet, about seven miles distant from Doncaster. There has never been a parish church there, and in Richard's time the spiritual needs of the people would no doubt be met by the convent chapel. Of the nunnery there are now no certain traces, except where a few mounds in the meadows by the stream below the hamlet mark its foundations, and beyond a few of its stones built into the school house. The few grey stone houses nestle together on the steep slope in a shallow nook in the hill, round an open space where the old village spring still runs. There is no trace of Richard's cell; but, in spit of the railway line in the valley, the place has a curious detached air, lying, as it does, a complete and self-contained whole, below the Doncaster road, fringed and shadowed by trees, and bordered with low-lying meadows rich, in early summer, with daisies and buttercups, and dotted with numerous may trees; the farthest horizon from the hamlet is not more than a mile or two away."
     

RICHARD MISYN


     The only fact we are certain of in regard to Richard Misyn is that he was the translator of the two treatises of Rolle which this volume contains. In the explicit to Book II of The Fire of Love we are told that he was then Prior of Lincoln and belonged to the Order of the Carmelites, `per fratrem Ricardum Misyn, sacre theologie bachalaureum, tunc Priorem Lyncolniensem, ordinis carmelitarum'; but in the previous explicit to Book I he is mentioned only as a hermit belonging to the order, `per fratrem Ricardum Misyn heremitam and ordinis carmelitarum Ac sacre theologie bachalaureum.'
     Rolle had died eighty-six years before, in 1349, but two of his miracles are dated and are as late as 1381 and 1383, so there is little reason to doubt that his name was very familiar to this other Richard, who also styled himself a hermit, and who, as far as we can gather, was of the same country.
     There are scanty records of a Richard Mysyn, a Carmelite and Suffragan, who is thought to be identical with Bishop Mesin or Musin of Dromore; for at that time to have a see in Ireland did not necessarily mean to reside there. This Frater Ric. Mysyn, Suffragenus, ordinis Fratrum Carmelitarium, is put first in the Register of the Corpus Christi Guild of York, under the date 1461-1462, and was admitted to the Guild by Dom. J. Burton, Rector of the Church of S. Martin in the Mickelgate, York. Bishop Musun's name also occurs in the legend round the famous cup preserved in the vestry of York Minister, and known as the Scrope Indulgence Cup. This inscription runs: `Recharde arche beschope Scrope grantes on to all tho that drinkis of this cope xl dayis to pardun. Robert Gubsun. Beschope Musin grantes in same forme afore saide xl dayis to pardun. Robert Strensall.'
     In the Carmelite records preserved in a manuscript in the British Museum, the death is noted of a Richard Mesin, Bishop of Dromore, under the year 1462, who was buried with the other Fathers of the order in their monastery at York, i.e., in the same year as Richard Mysyn was admitted a member of the Corpus Christi Guild. But at present it must remain a matter merely of conjecture if these references relate to the Richard Misyn to whom we owe our translation.
     It now only remains for me to thank all those who have helped me by their kind advice and interest. I should like here to record my especial gratitude to Miss Evelyn Underhill, who read a part of my MS., and to whose kindly aid and suggestions I am much indebted; to Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., who helped me over many difficulties in the Latin text; to Father Congreve, S.S.J.E., for his unfailing sympathy and help; and to Miss Corrie Prior who read the proofs with me. I also owe a very especial debt of gratitude to Professor H. J. C. Grierson, not only for his kindness in overlooking my preface, but also because anything I may have learnt of the beauty and inspiration of literature is due to his teaching. And there are many others I am not allowed to name, but for whose assistance I am none the less grateful.
     By a curious coincidence I find that I am writing the last words of my preface on the eve of the day set apart in the English Martyrology for the commemoration of Blessed Richard, Confessor and Eremite. May we not take it for a sign that he is still present with us in spirit, and as desirous of helping us today by his spiritual books and treatises, and--may we not add--by his prayers, as when he ministered to the nuns at Hampole, or repaired to his cell to sing psalms and hymns in honour of God.[14]
     
     
     [15

[12] Apologia, Note D., p. 334 (Longmans, 1883).

[13] See the Victoria History, Yorkshire, vol. iii. 163

[14] Note: Under November 1st (after an account of S. Boniface): "The same day in the Monastery of Hampole neere DoncAster in Yorkshire the Commemoration of Blessed Richard Confessour & Ermite, whose singular spirit of piety & devotion, is left written and manifest to the world by his owne workes yet extant. He was first a Doctor, and then leaving the world became an Eremite, and led a solitary life neere to the forsaid Monastery of Hampole; to which place he was wont often to repayre, to sing psalmes and hymnes in honour of God, as himselfe testifieth in his works. And after many spirituall bookes and treatises by him wrytten, full of great sanctity of life and venerable old age, he finally rested in our Lord, about the year of Christ, one thousand three hundred fourty and nyne: and was buryed at Hampole." - From The English Martyrologe, p. 301. By a Catholicke Priest. 1608

[15] From The York Breviary, vol ii., Appendix v. Pub. by Surtees Soc. 1882. ]

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