Walter Hilton facts for kids

Walter Hilton (born around 1340–1345, died March 24, 1396) was an English Augustinian priest and mystic. He wrote many books and letters about how to live a good spiritual life. His ideas became very popular and important in England and Wales during the 1400s. Today, he is honored as a saint by the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Walter Hilton's Life Story

Walter Hilton was born sometime between 1340 and 1345. A writer from the 1500s said that Hilton came from the same area of England as he did, Lancashire.

Hilton likely studied at the University of Cambridge between 1360 and 1382. He earned a degree in civil law. He also studied canon law, which is the law of the church. This shows he was a very educated person for his time.

In the early 1380s, Hilton decided to leave his regular life and become a "solitary." This meant he lived alone to focus on spiritual matters. He wrote about this decision in a Latin letter called On the Image of Sin.

Later, around 1384, Hilton wrote another letter to his friend Adam Horsley. In this letter, he said he was thinking about joining a religious community, but he wasn't sure yet. Since his friend Horsley joined a monastery in 1386, it's thought that Hilton also joined a religious group around that time. He became an Augustinian Canon Regular at Thurgarton Priory in Nottinghamshire.

Between 1386 and 1390, Hilton wrote several important works. These include a letter about reading, prayer, and meditation. He also wrote a short book called Of Angels' Song, which discussed some spiritual ideas of another writer, Richard Rolle. Another important work from this time was The Epistle on the Mixed Life. This book gave advice to religious people who also had jobs and families. It told them they could mix their active life with spiritual contemplation. This book is similar to the first part of his most famous work, The Scale of Perfection, so they were probably written around the same time.

In his last years, from about 1390 to 1396, Hilton continued to write. He wrote a letter to someone who wanted to leave the world and a short piece about religious doubts. He also translated a Latin book into English called Eight Chapters on Perfection. During this time, he finished the second part of his major work, The Scale of Perfection. Many records say that Walter Hilton died on March 24, 1396, at Thurgarton Priory.

Walter Hilton's Writings

Walter Hilton's most famous work is The Scale of Perfection. This book was written in two parts.

The Scale of Perfection: Book One

The first part of The Scale of Perfection was written for a woman who had recently become an anchoress. An anchoress was a religious woman who lived alone in a small room attached to a church, dedicating her life to prayer. This book has 93 chapters and helps the reader get rid of "the foul image of sin" in their soul. Hilton explained that sin twists the good parts of our mind, reason, and will. He taught how to fix this through meditations on the seven deadly sins.

The Scale of Perfection: Book Two

The second part of The Scale of Perfection seems to be written for a wider and perhaps more experienced audience. It talks about how the soul can be made new through faith. Hilton used a long story about a spiritual journey to Jerusalem to describe finding "peace" through meditation. He said this peace is a gift from Christ. The first book of The Scale was written earlier and was often read by itself.

Other Important Works

The Mixed Life is another important book by Hilton. It sometimes appeared with The Scale of Perfection in old manuscripts. It was even printed as a third book of The Scale in 1494. This book helped people understand how to balance their everyday lives with their spiritual journey.

Hilton also wrote other Latin letters that gave spiritual advice. He wrote about defending the use of images in churches, which some people at the time disagreed with. He also wrote explanations of parts of the Bible, like some Psalms.

How Walter Hilton's Works Influenced Others

Walter Hilton's spiritual writings were very important in England during the 1400s. His ideas were used a lot in other religious books written shortly after his death.

The Scale of Perfection was his most famous work. We still have about 62 copies of it from that time. Fourteen of these are Latin translations made around 1400 by a friar named Thomas Fishlake. This Latin translation was the first book originally written in English to be read in other parts of Europe.

The Scale and The Mixed Life were printed in 1494 by Wynkyn de Worde. This was done at the request of Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was the mother of King Henry VII. These books were printed five more times before the English Reformation in the 1530s, showing how popular they were.

In the 1800s, when the Roman Catholic Church became more active in England, a new version of The Scale was published in 1870. Later, Evelyn Underhill also published an edition of The Scale in 1923, making it available to more modern readers.

Honoring Walter Hilton

Even though Walter Hilton was never officially made a saint by the Catholic Church, he is still honored by other churches. The Church of England remembers him on March 24. The American Episcopal Church honors him on September 28, along with other famous English mystics like Richard Rolle and Margery Kempe.