Geoffrey of Beaulieu (died 9 or 10 January 1273×1276), from Évreux in Normandy, was a French friar and biographer.

From a noble family, Geoffrey was a friar of the Dominican Order.[1] Nothing is known of his early life. He became the confessor of Louis IX of France,[2] and inspired such lasting confidence, that, finding himself head of the clergy surrounding the king, he could, better than anyone, gather the necessary material to become his royal master's historian. Geoffrey accompanied King Louis IX on crusades to Tunis and Egypt.[3]

The manuscript of The Life of Saint Louis, which he was ordered to write by Pope Gregory X, was conserved for several centuries in the library of the Dominican order in Évreux, before being published in 1617 with the work of Jean de Joinville. Geoffrey's work was expanded shortly after his death by fellow Dominican William of Chartres.

References edit

  1. ^ Rathmann-Lutz, Anja (2016). "The Sanctity of Louis IX. Early Lives of Saint Louis by Geoffrey of Beaulieu and William of Chartres". French History. 30 (1).
  2. ^ O’CONNELL, DAVID (1971). The Teachings of Saint Louis: A Critical Text. University of North Carolina Press. JSTOR 10.5149/9781469637556_oconnell.
  3. ^ Johnson, Timothy J. (2015). "Review of Roger Bacon and the Defence of Christendom [Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th series]". The Catholic Historical Review. 101 (3): 625–627. ISSN 0008-8080. JSTOR 45175540.