Rigord

Rigord (c. 1150 - c. 1209), French chronicler, was probably born near Alais in Languedoc, and became a physician. Afterwards becoming a monk he entered the monastery of Argenteuil, and then that of St Denis, and described himself as regis Francorum chronographus. Rigor wrote the Gesta Philippi Augusti, dealing with the life of the French king, Philip Augustus, from his coronation in 1179 until 1206. The work, which is very valuable, was abridged and continued by William the Breton. The earlier part of the Gesta speaks of the king in very laudatory terms, but in the latter part it is much less flattering in its tone. It is published in tome xvii. of Dom Bouquet's Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France  (Paris, 1738-1876); and with introduction by H. F. Delaborde (Paris, 1882-85). A French translation of the Gesta is in tome xi. of Guizot's Collection des memoires relatifs a l'histoire de France (Paris, 1825). Rigord also wrote a short chronicle of the kings of France.

See A. Potthast, Bibliotheca historica (Berlin, 1896); and A. Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France, tome iii. (Paris, 1903).