Lollard Book Production and Richard Rolle’s English Psalter and Canticles

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter explores the inclusion of several lollard canticles at the end of six manuscripts that contain the original, unrevised English Psalter and Canticles by the English mystic Richard Rolle. From what is known so far of Rolle’s English Psalter (c.1340), he concluded the 150 Psalms with a series of six OT canticles and the Magnificat. When the lollards interpolated the Rolle original to create the revised versions, they added an additional five NT canticles to Rolle’s seven. All of the manuscripts of the Rolle original include all or some of Rolle’s original seven canticles; however, six of these manuscripts add the five lollard NT ones. This chapter argues that the canticles were clearly seen as part of the complete text of Rolle’s English Psalter, and that the lollards were responsible for bringing this text into circulation and making it popular, especially in the south of England at the end of the fourteenth century. The lollards, through their interpolated version of the Rolle text, revitalized interest in Rolle’s English Psalter. This instance has implications for our knowledge about the influence of the lollards on the production and dissemination of orthodox vernacular manuscripts.KeywordsCanticlesLollardyHeterodoxMiddle EnglishPsalterRichard RolleScribeWycliffite Bible