born 0441; 1125
died 1194, Paris
French monk, philosopher, theologian, and poet.
About 1160 Godfrey entered the monastery of Saint-Victor in Paris. He left after 20 years for a rural priory, where he wrote his principal work, Microcosmus , an attempt to systematize history and knowledge into a rational structure. Recalling Classical philosophy and that of the early Church Fathers, it asserts that mankind is a microcosm containing the material and spiritual elements of reality. In his other notable work, The Fount of Philosophy ( 0441; 1176), he proposed a classification of learning. His writings are considered prime examples of 12th-century humanism.