Geoffroi De Beaulieu

Geoffroi De Beaulieu a French hagiographer, was born near the commencement of the 13th century. He entered the Dominican order, and more than twenty years performed the functions of almoner, confessor, and intimate counsellor to Louis IX, whom he accompanied in the crusade of 1248, sharing his captivity, and with whom he returned to France in 1254. He also took part in the crusade of 1270, and assisted at the last moments of Louis IX. Returning to France, he wrote, by order of pope Gregory X, the life of the saintly king. He died about 1274. Geoffroi was not a polished historian; he was a religious hagiographer, who kept within the bounds of collecting the religious customs, the prayers, the confessions, the austerities of the monarch, and all the acts of piety and charity which gained for him the title of saint. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.