Geoffrey of Beaulieu

Who is Geoffrey of Beaulieu?

Geoffrey of Beaulieu, from Évreux in Normandy, was a French biographer who died towards the end of the 13th century.

From a noble family, nothing is known of the early life of this friar of the Dominican Order. Having become the confessor of Louis IX of France, he inspired in him 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.

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.