We may not hear too much today about Duns Scotus, Franciscan scholastic philosopher and theologian, but his teachings had an enormous influence on Catholic theology right up until the end of the 18th century. It was John Scotus, from Duns in Berwickshire, who pioneered the classical defense of the doctrine that the mother of Jesus was conceived without original sin, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception that is still important in the Roman Catholic Church. Scots also defended the papacy against the French king's wish to tax the church to pay for his wars. His great work of theology, showing his speculative mind, is his "Ordinatio".