ALBERTO di ORLAMÜNDE. — German Dominican of the 13th century, perhaps a disciple of s. Alberto Magno.
Modern critics (Grabmann, Geyer) claim for him the authorship of the Philosophia pauperum, which is an extensive compendium of natural and psychological philosophy modeled on the works of s. Alberto Magno, and which received many commentaries, remaining for a long time a textbook in various German universities and schools of the Middle Ages. It is also known by the name Summa Naturalium or Summa philosophiae naturalis; but it was called Philosophia pauperum because, being a compendium, it was accessible even to the means of poor students.
BIBL.: M. Grabmann, Die Philosophia pauperum und ihr Verfasser Albert von Orlamünde, in Beiträge zur Gesch. d. Phil. des Mittelalters, XX, II, Monaco 1918. Umberto Degl'Innocenti