Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DENIS GODEFROY (Dionysius Gothofredus...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 171 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DENIS See also:GODEFROY (See also:Dionysius Gothofredus) (1549–1622) , jurist, son of See also:Leon Godefroy, See also:lord of Guignecourt, was See also:born in See also:Paris on the 17th of See also:October 1549. He was educated at the See also:College de See also:Navarre, and studied See also:law at See also:Louvain, See also:Cologne and See also:Heidelberg, returning to Paris in 1573. He embraced the reformed See also:religion, and in 1579 See also:left Paris, where his abilities and connexions promised a brilliant career, to establish himself at See also:Geneva. He became See also:professor of law there, received the freedom of the See also:city in 158o; and in 1587 became a member of the See also:Council of the Two See also:Hundred. See also:Henry IV. induced him to return to See also:France by making him See also:grand bailli of See also:Gex,but no sooner had he installed himself than the See also:town was sacked and his library burnt by the troops of the See also:duke of See also:Savoy: In 1591 he became professor of See also:Roman law at See also:Strassburg, where he remained until See also:April 1600, when in response to an invitation' from See also:Frederick IV., elector See also:palatine, he removed to Heidelberg. The difficulties of his position led to his return to Strassburg for a See also:short See also:time, but in See also:November 16(4 he definitely settled at Heidelberg. He was. made See also:head of the See also:faculty of law in the university, and was from time to time employed on See also:missions to the See also:French See also:court. His repeated refusal of offers of See also:advancement in his own See also:country was due to his Calvinism. He died at Strassburg on the 7th of See also:September 1622, having left Heidelberg before the. city was sacked by the imperial troops in 1621. His most important See also:work was the Corpus See also:juris See also:civilis, originally published at Geneva in 1583, which went through some twenty See also:editions, the most valuable of them being that printed by the Elzevirs at Amster-See also:dam in 1633 and the See also:Leipzig edition of 1740. Lists of his other learned See also:works may be found in See also:Senebier's See also:list. lift. de Geneve, vol. ii., and in Niceron's Memoires, vol. xvii. Some of his See also:correspondence with his learned See also:friends, with his kinsman See also:President de See also:Thou, See also:Isaac See also:Casaubon, See also:Jean Jacues See also:Grynaeus and others, is preserved in the See also:libraries of the See also:British.

Museum, of See also:

Basel and Paris. His eldest son, See also:THEODORE GODEFROY (1580–1649), was born at Geneva on the 14th of See also:July 1580. He abjured Calvinism, and was called to the See also:bar in Paris. He became historiographer of France in 1613, and was employed from time to time on See also:diplomatic missions. He was employed at the See also:congress of See also:Munster, where he remained after the See also:signing of See also:peace in 1648 as See also:charge d'affaires until his See also:death on the 5th of October of the next See also:year. His most important work is Le Ceremonial de France ... (1619), a work which became a classic on the subject of royal ceremonial, and was re-edited by his son in an enlarged edition in 1649. Besides his printed works he made vast collections of See also:historical material which remains in MS. and fills the greater See also:part of the Godefroy collection of over five hundred portfolios in the Library of the See also:Institute in Paris. These were catalogued by Ludovic Lalanne in the Annuaire Bulletin (1865–1866 and 1892) of the Societe de l'histoire de France. The second son of Denis, JACQUES GODEFROY (1587-1652), jurist, was born at Geneva on the 13th of September 1587. He was sent to France in 1611, and studied law and See also:history at See also:Bourges and Paris. He remained faithful to the Calvinist persuasion, and soon returned to Geneva, where he became active in public affairs.

He was secretary of See also:

state from 1632 to 1636, and See also:syndic or See also:chief See also:magistrate in 1637, 1641, 1645 and 1649. He died on the 23rd of See also:June 1652. In addition to his civic and See also:political work he lectured on law, and produced, after See also:thirty years of labour, his edition of the Codex Theodosianus. This See also:code formed the See also:principal, though not the only, source of the legal systems of the countries formed from the Western See also:Empire. Godefroy's edition was enriched with a multitude of important notes and historical comments, and became a See also:standard authority on the decadent See also:period of the Western Empire. It was only printed thirteen years after his death under the care of his friend See also:Antoine Marville at See also:Lyons (4 vols.1665), and was reprinted at Leipzig (6 vols.) in 1736–1745. Of his numerous other works the most important was the reconstruction of the twelve tables of See also:early Roman law. See also the See also:dictionary of Moreri, Niceron's Memoires (vol. 17) and a See also:notice in the Bibliotheque universelle de Geneve (Dec. 1837).

End of Article: DENIS GODEFROY (Dionysius Gothofredus) (1549–1622)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DENIS GODEFROY (1615–1681) 		[next]
DENIS, JOHANN NEPOMUK COSMAS MICHAEL (1729-1800)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries