John of La Rochelle (d.1245)

John of La Rochelle was one of the first generation of Franciscan theologians at the University of Paris. What little is known of his life places him as a close partner to the greatest of the early Franciscan teachers, Alexander of Hales. John collaborated with Alexander not only in steering the Franciscan order towards some sort of institutional equilibrium, but also in the elaboration of the first synthesis of Franciscan theology, the Summa Fratris Alexandri (Summa of Brother Alexander). Whole sections of the Summa were written by John, most notably the treatment of moral law. John wrote in his own voice a number of theological works and two books on the soul, the Tractatus de divisione multiplici potentiarum animae (Treatise on the Multiple Division of the Soul’s Power) and the Summa de anima (Summa on the Soul).