Medieval France
(d. 1167). Born in England, Robert studied in the schools of Paris. He succeeded Peter Abélard in the school at Mont-Sainte-Geneviève in Paris, where he taught John of Salisbury, who mentions him in the Metalogicon. Sometime ca. 1142, Robert moved to Melun, where he taught theology. He returned to England ca. 1160 and was elected bishop of Hereford in 1163.
Robert’s main theological writings were three: an unfinished Sententiae, Quaestiones de divina pagina, and Quaestiones de epistolis Pauli.
In each of these works, Robert draws upon two of the great theologians of the immediate past, Abélard and Hugh of Saint-Victor, and in so doing represents the tendency of later 12th-century authors to draw together viewpoints that would have been more clearly opposed in the early to mid-12th century. One can see the influence of Hugh’s thought in the structure of Robert’s Sententiae. At the same time, Robert mounted a spirited defense, in opposition to Bernard of Clairvaux, of Abélard’s description of the Trinity in terms of predicating power of the Father, wisdom of the Son, and love of the Holy Spirit.
Grover A.Zinn
[See also: ABÉLARD, PETER; HUGH OF SAINT-VICTOR; SCHOLASTICISM; SCHOOLS, CATHEDRAL; SENTENCE COLLECTIONS]
Horst, Ulrich. Die Trinitäts- und Gotteslehre des Robert von Melun. Mainz: Matthias-Grünewald, 1964.
Luscombe, David. The School of Peter Abelard: The Influence of Abelard’s Thought in the Early Scholastic Period. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970, pp. 281–98.
Martin, Raymond-Marie, and R.-M.Gallet, eds. Œuvres de Robert de Melun. 3 vols. in 4. Louvain: Spicilegium Sacrum Lovaniense, 1932–52.
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