=John Duns Scotus=[1421] was a Franciscan at Oxford in 1300. In the list of friars presented to the Bishop of Lincoln he appears as ‘Johannes Douns’[1422]; the Bishop refused to grant him license to hear confessions. Soon afterwards Duns lectured on the four books of the _Sentences_ as B.D. at Oxford[1423]. At the end of 1304 he was called to Paris to incept as D.D. The letter of the General Minister recommending this choice is given by Wadding[1424], who however has misunderstood it. For this reason, and because it illustrates some points in the educational system of the Minorites, the letter may be quoted in full[1425]. In Christo sibi carissimis Patribus, Guillelmo Guardiano Parisiis, vel ejus Vicario et Magistris, Frater Gondisalvus gaudens in Domino. Ad expeditionem dilecti in Christo Patris Aegidii de Legnaco, de quo per litteras vestras certificatus existo, cum de alio (ut moris est) eodem calculo praesentando providere oporteat, et cum, secundum statuta Ordinis, et secundum statuta vestri Conventus, Baccalaureus hujusmodi praesentandus ad praesens debeat esse de aliqua provincia aliarum a Provincia Franciae, dilectum in Christo Patrem Joannem Scotum, de cujus vita laudabili, scientia excellenti, ingenioque subtilissimo, aliisque insignibus conditionibus suis, partim experientia longa, partim fama, quae ubique divulgata est, informatus sum ad plenum, dilectioni vestrae assigno, post dictum patrem Aegidium, principaliter et ordinarie praesentandum. Injungo nihilominus vobis ad meritum salutaris obedientiae, quatenus praesentationem hujusmodi cum solemnitate solita sine multo dispendio facere debeatis; si tamen constiterit vobis, quod dominus Cancellarius velit duos simul licentiare de nostris, volo et placet mihi, quod frater Albertus Methensis, si ad Conventum redire poterit, cum praefato fratre Joanne debeat expediri. In quo casu mando et ordino, quod dictus frater Albertus antiquitatis merito prius incipere debeat, dicto fratre Joanne sub eo postmodum incepturo. Valete in Domino et orate pro me. Datum in loco Esculi provinciae Marchiae Anconitanae, XIV Kal. Dec. anno MCCCIV. Duns probably taught at Paris till 1307. Wadding, indeed, asserts that he was sent to Cologne by the General Minister in 1305[1426]; but this is almost impossible, and the description which Wadding gives of the scene is derived from later and unhistorical tradition. The statement, however, that he was appointed Regent by the friars in the General Chapter at Toulouse in 1307 sounds more plausible[1427]; he may have been made the first Regent at Paris, or he may have been sent at this time as lector or Regent of the Franciscan schools at Cologne. At any rate there seems no reason to distrust the notice of his death which Wadding quotes from the list of friars who died at Cologne[1428].