ROBERT OF ORFORD (DE COLLETORTO)

English Dominican theologian; d. probably before 1300. Variations of his name include Tortocollo, Hereford, and Orphordius. Almost nothing is known of his life; it has been speculated that he may be a confusion of two scholars, or a Franciscan writer, or the Dominican william macclesfeld. What is known of Robert is culled chiefly from his works, which show great depth; though written in defense of thomism, they are relatively mild in their polemic. Robert defended the teachings of St. thomas aquinas and his school in Impugnatio Henrici de Gandavo, aimed at the quodlibets of henry of ghent. He directed another work against giles of rome, the Reprobationes dictorum a fratre Aegidio in sententiarum libros. Most likely he wrote the Correctorium "Sciendum" against william de la mare. He also composed a commentary on the second book of the Sentences, a work on the unity of forms, and a commentary on Aristotle's De somno et vigilia.

Bibliography: d. a. callus, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 8:1337. w. a. hinnebusch, The Early English Friars Preachers (Rome 1951) 391–396. a. b. emden, A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500 (Oxford 1957–59) 2:1401. p. bayerschmidt, "Robert von Colletorto, Verfasser des Correctorium 'Sciendum', " Divus Thomas (Fribourg) 17 (1939) 311–326. p. glorieux, "Les Correctoires: Essai de mise au point," Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 14 (1947) 287–304.

[j. f. hinnebusch]