Nicolas d'Orbellis was a French

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

theologian and philosopher, of the Scotist school.

Biography

He was born about 1400. He seems to have entered the monastery of the Observantines, founded in 1407, one of the first in France. He appears to have been professor of theology and philosophy in the University of Angers, where he enjoyed great reputation as an expounder of the teaching of

John Duns Scotus John Duns Scotus ( ; , "Duns the Scot"; – 8 November 1308) was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered one of the four most important Christian philosopher-t ...

. After 1465 he wrote his chief work, a commentary on the Four Books of Sentences. He died at

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1475 and was interred in the church of the Ara Coeli on the

Capitoline The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; ; ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome. The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. The word ''Capitolium'' first referre ...

. Under the entry for the word Dorbel, the Oxford English Dictionary gives the date of his death as 1455. The meaning of Dorbel (based on the name of Nicholas de Orbellis) is given as: a scholastical pedant, a dull-witted person, dolt.

Writings

His chief works are: *"Expositio in IV Sententiarum Libros", a compilation based on the teachings of John Duns Scotus, published first at Rouen without date or place (s.l. et a.) and then at Rouen without the year (s. a.); at Paris, twice in 1488, again in 1499, 1511 and 1517; at Lyons, 1503; at Hagenau, 1503; Venice, 1507; *"Expositio in XII Libros Metaphysicae Aristotelis secundum viam Scoti" (Bologna, 1485; Paris, 1505) on Aristotelian

Metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

; *"Expositio Logicae secundum Doctrinam Doctoris Subtilis Scoti" (Parma, 1482; Basle, 1494; Venice, 1507) on

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

, as the following work; *"Logicae Summula", with passages from Francis of Mayron, Antonio Andrea, Bonetus and Scotus (Venice, 1489 and 1500). *"Compendium Mathematicum", appeared without place or date (about 1485) (Bologna, 1485), on

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

like the following; *"De Scientia Mathematica, Physica" etc. (Basle, 1494 and 1503).

References

* {{Authority control French Friars Minor 15th-century French Catholic theologians Academic staff of the University of Angers (pre-1793) Scotism Franciscan theologians