Durant Waite Robertson Jr. (Washington, D.C. October 11, 1914 – Chapel Hill, North Carolina, July 26, 1992) was a scholar of medieval English literature and especially Geoffrey Chaucer.
His dissertation on the work of Robert Mannyng, A Study of Certain Aspects of the Cultural Tradition of Handlyng Synne, was written under the direction of G. R. Coffman and Urban Tigner Holmes Jr.
Critics were impressed by the extent of Robertson's reading in and grasp of primary sources, mainly in Latin and French, and secondary literature in every major European language as far back as the 19th century.
These include Robert P. Miller, Paul Olson, Chauncey Wood, John V. Fleming, Alan T. Gaylord, David Lyle Jeffrey, Marc Pelen, and Lynn Staley.
Among them are some of Robertson's bold attempts to extend the application of "Robertsonianism" beyond the confines of the Middle Ages: to Renaissance art (Leonardo), sixteenth-century literature (Sidney, Shakespeare's Hamlet), and beyond (Alexander Pope).