William Breton (William le Breton)

William Breton appears to have been born between 1165 and 1 1 70 a.d. He was thus almost of exactly the same age as Philip Augustus, whose exploits he has celebrated in his two great works "The History of the Life and Deeds of Philid Augustus" (prose) and the " Philippeis " in verse. William is said to have studied at Nantes. Later in life he became Philip's elerk or chaplain, and followed this king on more than one expedition. He was also tutor to one of Philip's natural children, and seems to have died in or after 1224.

The Historia continues Rigord's work mentioned above, and extends to 12 19; the concluding part thence to 1223 is the work of an anonymous monk of St. Denys. The Philippeis, a Latin hexameter epic in XII. books, is dedicated to Philip's son, alluded to above, then a boy some fifteen years old.

Bibliography:

"William the Breton". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press, 1911

Rigord

Rigord or Rigold was a native of Languedoc, where this name is found in the 13th century. He is possibly the Bernardus Rigordi whose name is in the necrology of the abbey of St. Denis under May 5. As he tells us he was already getting old in 1205, it has been inferred that he was born about 1 145 a.d. He was a physician before he became a member of St. Denys, somewhere about the year n 90, when he would have unequalled opportunities for collecting the material for the great work he had begun at least ten years before, at his abbot's request, he gave it to the world and presented a copy to the king himself early in 1196. He issued three editions of his work. These seem to have been issued about the years 1196, 1200, and 1206.

Bibliography:

Archer (T. A.), The Crusade of Richard I, London, 1889.