Robert de Handlo

(fl early 14th century). English music theorist, possibly from a distinguished Kent family. His treatise (Regule cum maximis Magistri Francoris cum additionibus aliorum musicorum, 1326), which remained influential for several centuries, is a practical handbook using a clear didactic method of maxims and rules by Franco of Cologne, Handlo himself and other theorists such as Petrus de Cruce and Johannes de Garlandia. Not much is original, but Handlo gave a useful synoptic history of notation, with an English emphasis. He was among the last to embrace the theory of the rhythmic modes while they were still a basis for polyphony.