A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature/Rolle, Richard

Rolle, Richard (1290?-1349). -- Hermit and poet, b. at Thornton, Yorkshire, was at Oxf. Impressed by the uncertainty and the snares of life he decided to become a hermit, a resolution which he carried out with somewhat romantic circumstances. He wrote various religious treatises in Latin and English, turned the Psalms into English verse, and composed a poem -- The Pricke of Conscience -- in 7 books, in which is shown the attitude of protest which was rising against certain Papal pretensions and doctrines.