Richard Rufus of Cornwall

Richard Rufus of Cornwall (Richardus Rufus Cornubiensis OFM, Richardus Rufus de Cornubia, Richard Rufus von Cornwall).

Life

Very little is known of Richard's life. He became a Franciscan in 1238, after which he moved to Oxford to stufy theology. Around 1250 he lectured on Peter Lombard's Sentences at Oxford, and again later at Paris. He returned to England to be the fifth Oxford Franciscan master of theology around 1256.

Work

Richard is the author of the earliest surviving lectures on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Physica, De generatione et corruptione, and De anima.

Primary sources

Manuscripts

• Assisi. Bibl. Sacro conven. 138 (A138) Miscellaneous minor works by Rufus et al. collected for Bonaventure's use, ...including Rufus' De intellectu divino, Miserabilis humana condicio, Speculum animae, etc.
• Assisi. Bibl. Sacro conven. 176 (A176) Sententia Parisiensis (SPar) III-IV.
• Berlin. Staatsbibl., Theol.Q.48 Long excerpts from Spar, revised by a later author.
• Bruges. Bibl. de la ville 497 Abstractiones. Sometimes ascribed to Richard Rufus.
• Erfurt, UB, Dep. Erf. CA Q.290 (Q290) Dissertatio in Metaphysicam, Memoriale in Metaphysicam.
• Erfurt, UB, Dep. Erf. CA Q.312 (Q312) InPhys., In DGen, In APos., In DAn., CAv, SAn. Doubtful works ...include commentaries on Aristotle's De memoria et reminis., De sensu et sensato, De somno et vigilia, De morte et vita, Meteora, and Super Barbarismo Prisciani.
• Florence, Bibl. Nazionale. Conv. soppr. G.iv.853 (F853) In Aristotelis De anima.
• London. British Library, Royal 8.C.iv Sententia Oxoniensis II.1-8 (incomplete), ...cf. P. Raedts, Richard Rufus, Oxford 1987, pp. 91-93.
• London. British Library, Royal 12.F.xix Abstractiones, sometimes attributed to Rufus.
• Madrid, Bibl. Nacional. 3314 (M3314) In DAn 2-3.
• Naples. Bibl. naz. VII.C.19 De cognitione Dei. Doubtful work, ...cf. P. Raedts, Richard Rufus, Oxford 1987, pp. 85-86.
• Oxford. Balliol College 62 (B62) Sententia Oxoniensis I-III.
• Oxford. Bodleian Library, Digby 2 and Digby 24 Abstractiones, sometimes attributed to Rufus.
• Oxford. Bodleian Library, Lat. misc. C71 Dissertatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis, prooemium.
• Oxford. Corpus Christi College 119 In Aristot. De generatione et corruptione. Loosely associated with Rufus, ...cf. O. Lewry, “Oxford Logic 1250-1275: Nicholas and Peter of Cornwall,” in The Rise of British Logic, Toronto 1983, pp. 2-23.
• Oxford. Corpus Christi College 293B Abstractiones, sometimes attributed to Rufus.
• Oxford. New College 285 (N285) Dissertatio in Metaph. Aristot. I-VI, VII-VIII (incomplete), XI.
• Padua. Bibl. Anton. 152 De ieiunio, attributed to Rufus by Pelster, ...cf. P. Raedts, Richard Rufus, Oxford 1987, p. 93, note 50.
• Paris. Bibl. nat., Lat. 11965 A 13th c. scholaster from Tongres writes “Magister Ricardus Cornubiensis habet librum meum de ponderibus, ...de visu, de speculis et quemdam librum Almagestis. Habet tres alios libros, scilicet quemdam librum de numeris quibusdam, et librum de umbris, in quo continentur 9 quaterni, tum de umbris, tum de judiciis astronomie et motu planetarum, tum de aliis rebus. Habet illum libellum de compoto quem emi in Parviso pro 18 denariis. Nota quod tractatus de spera deficit michi et algorismus.” See Léopold Delisle, Le Cabinet des manuscripts de la Bibliothèque Impériale II: 418.
• Paris. Bibl. nat., Lat. 14069 Abstractiones, sometimes attributed to Rufus.
• Paris. Bibl. nat., Lat. 16149, fol. 41vb-42ra In Aristot. Physicam 8.3.1, lacks two occurences of “mihi videtur” but otherwise the same as the published text. ...An excerpt discovered by Sylvia Donati and published in her “Anonymous Commentary,” Recherches de théologie et philosophie médiévales 72 (2005) 360-362.
• Paris. Bibl. nat., Lat. 16406 De sensualitate humanae, ...attributed to Rufus by Pelster, cf. P. Raedts, Richard Rufus, Oxford 1987, pp. 86-89.
• Paris. Bibl. nat., Nouv. acq. lat. 338 Sermon misattributed to Richard Rufus, ...cf. P. Raedts, Richard Rufus, Oxford 1987, pp. 105-106.
• Prague. Metropolitan Chapter. M 80 (M80) Contra Averroem I, DMet I-V, VII-IX, doubtful Meteora.
• Salamanca, Bibl. Univ., B. General Historica 2322 (S2322) Dissertatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis III-XI
• Toulouse. Bibl. municipale 737 (T737) De mutatione and De rationibus seminalibus.
• Vatican. Bibl. Apost. Borgh. 362 (B362) Sententia Parisiensis, prooemium, prologus (incomplete).
• Vatican. Bibl. Apost. Vat. Lat. 4538 (V4538) Dissertatio in Metaphysicam Aristot. Lacks much of book X.
• Vatican. Bibl. Apost. Vat. Lat. 12993 (V12993) Sententia Parisiensis I-II.

• Abstractiones
• Contra Averroem
• De causa individuationis (Inc.: 'O flos pulcherrime qui solus es scietas anime ...')
• De Deo (Quaestio "An sit Deus", Quaestio "De unitate Dei", Quaestio "De aeternitate Dei")
• De ideis (Inc.: 'Liceat parumper disserere de quibusdam uerbis ...')
• De intellectu divino
• De materia in angelis
• De mutatione
• De rationibus seminalibus
• De speciebus intelligibilibus
• Dissertatio in Metaphysicam Aristotelis
• In Analytica posteriora Aristotelis (Sententia super libros posteriorum analyticorum Aristotelis)
• In De anima
• In De generatione et corruptione Aristotelis
• In Meteora
• In Physicam Aristotelis
• Inc.: 'Que sit materia diuinarum scripturarum. Materia diuinarum scripturarum omnium sunt opera restauracionis hominis ...'
• Lectura Oxoniensis in Sententias (Commentarius in IV libros Sententiarum)
• Lectura Parisiensis in Sententias (Liber I abbreviatus super Sententias Magistri Bonaventurae, Abbreviatio)
• Memoriale quaestionum in Metaphysicam Aristotelis
• Miserabilis humana conditio (Miserabilis est humana conditio)
• Scriptum super Metaphysicam (Inc.: 'Liceat nobis parumper disserere de quadam proposicione ...')
• Sermo
• Speculum animae
• Syncategorematica

Secondary sources

• Lohr, Charles: Medieval Latin Aristotle Commentaries, in: Traditio 28 (1972), 281-396.
• Richard Rufus of Cornwall Project: http://rrp.stanford.edu/index.html.
• Richard Rufus of Cornwall: In Physicam Aristotelis, hrsg. v. Wood Rega, Oxford/New York 2003 [Auctores Britannici Medii Aevi, XVI].
• Richardus Rufus Project: http://rrp.stanford.edu/index.html.
• Sharpe, Richard: A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540, Turnhout 1997.
• Wood, Rega: "Richard Rufus of Cornwall", in: A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages, hrsg. v. Jorge J. E. Gracia/Timothy B. Noone, Malden/Oxford/Victoria 2006 [Blackwell Companions to Philosophy].
• Wood, Rega: "Richard Rufus s De anima Commentary: The Earliest Known, Surviving, Western De anima Commentary", in: Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001), 110-156.
• Wood, Rega: "Richard Rufus's De anima Commentary: The Earliest Known, Surviving, Western De anima Commentary", in: Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001), 110-156.
• Wood, Rega: "Richard Rufus’s De anima Commentary: The Earliest Known, Surviving, Western De anima Commentary", in: Medieval Philosophy and Theology 10 (2001), 110-156.
• Wood, Rega: Richard Rufus' "Speculum animae": Epistomology and the Introduction of Aristotle in the West, in: Miscellanea Mediaevalia 23 (1994), 86-109.

Notability

This philosopher has 8 pages in the Blackwell Companion. 1200 1235 England Oxford England