Conrad of Prussia (commentator)
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Conrad of Prussia was a Scholastic philosopher who wrote the earliest known commentary on Thomas Aquinas' De ente et essentia ('On Being and Essence').[1] He also wrote the only known commentary on Dominicus Gundissalinus' De unitate et uno ('On Unity and the One').[2] Both commentaries have been edited.[3]
Nothing is known for certain of Conrad. His name in the genitive, Conradi de Prusya, appears incompletely erased in two places in codex 367 of Admont Abbey Library. In both instances, the surname de Prusya has been retained but the given name erased, albeit not well enough to be illegible in one case. Thus no certainty attaches to the name 'Conrad'. The surname implies that he was from Prussia.[4] There is no evidence that Conrad was a Dominican friar. Martin Grabmann assumed that he was a secular priest.[5]
Since Conrad is traditionally assumed to have written before 1323, he cannot be identified with the Dominican reformer Conrad of Prussia, who died in 1426.[6] Alexander Fidora, however, argues that since the manuscript evidence places him in or about Vienna, where the later Conrad is also known to have been active, it is probable that they are the same person, which would shift the date of his works back considerably.[7]