Frederick Rolfe

The weird of the wanderer Frederick Rolfe

Frederick William Rolfe (1860-1913), better known as Baron Corvo, and also calling himself Frederick William Serafino Austin Lewis Mary Rolfe, was an English writer, novelist, artist, fantasist and eccentric. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1886 and was confirmed by Cardinal Manning. With his conversion came a strongly felt vocation to priesthood which persisted throughout his life despite being constantly frustrated and never realised. He was an occasional contributor to the Yellow Book published by John Lane; these contributions consisted of a series called Stories Toto Told Me (1898), humourous retellings of Italian peasant legends about the saints, later collected in book form with that title and with a larger sequel, In His Own Image. These made his early reputation, such as it was, and this was enlarged by his Chronicles of the House of Borgia (1901), a serious if idiosyncratic historical study in refulgently Baroque prose. His other works include: Tarcissus the Boy Martyr of Rome (1901), Nicholas Crabbe (1903), Hadrian the Seventh (1904), Don Tarquinio (1905), Don Renato (1907) and The Weird of the Wanderer (1912).