which he describes as being of three kinds: a physical warmth in his body, a sense of wonderful sweetness, and a heavenly music that accompanied him as he chanted the Psalms. The book was widely read in the Middle Ages, and described the four purgative stages that one had to go through to become closer to God: described as open door, heat, song, and sweetness. His last work was probably the English The Form of Living, written in autumn 1348 at the earliest. It is addressed to Margaret Kirkby, who entered her enclosure as a recluse on 12 December 1348, and is a vernacular guide for her life as an anchorite. His works are often classified into commentaries, treatises and epistles. As such, the commentaries are: Commentary on the Readings in the Office of the Dead taken from Job. This commentary on nine readings from the Book of Job which form part of the readings for the office of the dead was used extensively by York clergy in the fifteenth century. Surviving in forty-two manuscripts, it was the first of Rolle's works to be printed, in Oxford in 1483. Commentary on the Canticles, a commentary on the first two and a half verses of the Song of Songs. It survives in thirty manuscripts. Two Commentaries on the Psalter. One is in Latin, and may belong to the very early period after Rolle left Oxford. The second is an English commentary with translation of the Latin Psalms into English, which was designed to help Margaret Kirkby to understand the doctrines behind the Psalms she was to chant in her anchorage. For nearly 200 years this commentary remained the only authorised translation of the Bible into English; it did not need diocesan permission for its use. It exists in about 20 manuscripts. Treatise on Psalm 20, in Latin Super Threnos, a commentary on the Lamentations of Jeremiah Commentary on the Apocalypse, on the first six chapters of the Book of Revelation Other commentaries on the Lord's Prayer, the Magnificat and the Apostles' Creed An English explication of the Ten Commandments Super Mulierem Fortem, a comment on Proverbs 31:10 Other works include: Two English Meditations on the Passion Judica me Deus, probably his first work, written around 1330. This survives in four versions, and is an apologia for his hermit lifestyle, making use of the pastoral manual of a fellow Yorkshireman, William of