Denis Godefroy (Dionysius Gothofredus; 17 October 1549 – 7 September 1622) was a French

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, a member of the noted Godefroy family. He worked in France and Germany.

Biography

He was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the son of Léon Godefroy, lord of

Guignecourt Guignecourt (; Picard: ''Djincourt'') is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. Population See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 680 Communes of France, communes of the Oise Departments of ...

. He was educated at the

Collège de Navarre The College of Navarre (, ) was one of the colleges of the historic University of Paris. It rivaled the University of Paris, Sorbonne and was renowned for its library. History The college was founded by Queen Joan I of Navarre in 1305, who provi ...

, and studied law at

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the sub-municipalities of ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, returning to Paris in 1573. He embraced the reformed religion, and in 1579 left Paris, where his abilities and connections promised a brilliant career, to establish himself at

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. He became professor of law there, received the freedom of the city in 1580 and in 1587 became a member of the Council of the Two Hundred.

Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...

induced him to return to France by making him ''grand bailli'' of Gex, but no sooner had he installed himself than the town was sacked and his library burnt by the troops of the

Duke of Savoy The titles of the count of Savoy, and then duke of Savoy, are titles of nobility attached to the historical territory of Savoy. Since its creation, in the 11th century, the House of Savoy held the county. Several of these rulers ruled as kings at ...

. In 1591 he became professor of

Roman law Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (), to the (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law also den ...

Strassburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, where he remained until April 1600, when in response to an invitation from

Frederick IV, Elector Palatine Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (; 5 March 1574 – 19 September 1610), only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine and Elisabeth of Hesse, called "Frederick the Righteous" (; French: ''Frédéric IV le juste''). Life Bor ...

, he moved to Heidelberg. The difficulties of his position led to his return to Strassburg for a short time, but in November 1604 he definitely settled at Heidelberg. He was made head of the faculty of law in the university, and was from time to time employed on missions to the French court. His repeated refusal of offers of advancement in his own country was due to his

Calvinism Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Christian, Presbyteri ...

. He died at Strassburg, having left Heidelberg before the city was sacked by the imperial troops in 1621.

Works

His most important work was the new edition of ''

Corpus juris civilis The ''Corpus Juris'' (or ''Iuris'') ''Civilis'' ("Body of Civil Law") is the modern name for a collection of fundamental works in jurisprudence, enacted from 529 to 534 by order of Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. It is also sometimes referred ...

'', originally published at Geneva in 1583, which went through some twenty editions, the most valuable of them being that printed by the Elzevirs at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

in 1663 and the

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

edition of 1740. Lists of his other learned works may be found in Senebier's ''Hist. litt. de Genève'', vol. ii., and in Nicéron's ''Mémoires'', vol. xvii. Some of his correspondence with his learned friends, with his kinsman President de Thou,

Isaac Casaubon Isaac Casaubon (; ; 18 February 1559 – 1 July 1614) was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England. His son Méric Casaubon was also a classical scholar. Life Early life He was born in Geneva to two F ...

, Jean Jacques Grynaeus, and others, is preserved in the libraries of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, of Basel and Paris.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godefroy, Denis 1549 births 1622 deaths Lawyers from Paris Huguenots French legal scholars University of Paris alumni Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg 16th-century French lawyers 17th-century French lawyers Denis