Rigord (c. 1150—c. 1209) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 chronicler, was probably born near Alais in Languedoc

Languedoc

Languedoc is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrénées in the south of France, and whose capital city was Toulouse, now in Midi-Pyrénées. It had an area of approximately 42,700 km² .-Geographical Extent:The traditional...

, and became a physician.

After becoming a monk he entered the monastery of Argenteuil

Argenteuil

Argenteuil is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil....

, and then that of Saint-Denis, and described himself as "regis Francorum chronographus".

Rigord wrote the Gesta Philippi Augusti, dealing with the life of the French king, Philip Augustus

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII and his third wife, Adela of Champagne...

, from his coronation in 1179 until 1206. The work, which is very valuable, was abridged and continued by William the Breton

William the Breton

William the Breton , French chronicler and poet, was as his name indicates born in Brittany.He was educated at Nantes and at the University of Paris, afterwards becoming chaplain to the French king Philip Augustus, who employed him on diplomatic errands, and entrusted him with the education of his...

. 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.

The Gesta is published in tome xvii of Dom Martin Bouquet

Martin Bouquet

Martin Bouquet was a French Benedictine and historian, of the Congregation of St.-Maur. His major work was Rerum Gallicarum et Francicarum Scriptores, a collection of the historians of Gaul and France, which covers the time from France's earliest history until the year 987.-Biography:Bouquet was...

's Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France (Paris, 1738-1876); and with introduction by HF Delaborde

Henri Delaborde

Henri François Delaborde was a French general in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.-Early career:He was the son of a baker of Dijon. In 1783, Delaborde joined the Regiment of Condé as a private...

 (Paris, 1882-85). A French translation of the Gesta is in tome xi of Guizot

François Guizot

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional...

's Collection des mémoires relatifs à l'histoire de France (Paris, 1825). Rigord also wrote a short chronicle of the kings of France.