Denis Godefroy facts for kids
Denis Godefroy (born October 17, 1549 – died September 7, 1622) was a famous French jurist. A jurist is someone who studies and writes about law. He was part of the well-known Godefroy family. Denis Godefroy worked in both France and Germany during his life.
Life Story of Denis Godefroy
Denis Godefroy was born in Paris, France. His father was Léon Godefroy. Denis went to school at the Collège de Navarre. He then studied law in several cities like Louvain, Cologne, and Heidelberg. He finished his studies and returned to Paris in 1573.
Denis Godefroy became a follower of the Reformed religion, which was a type of Protestantism. In 1579, he left Paris and moved to Geneva. In Geneva, he became a professor of law. He was given the special status of a citizen in 1580. Later, in 1587, he became a member of the Council of the Two Hundred, which was an important governing group in Geneva.
Henry IV of France asked Denis Godefroy to come back to France. He offered him a job as the grand bailli of Gex. A grand bailli was like a chief judge or governor of a region. Soon after he moved there, the town of Gex was attacked. Sadly, his large collection of books was burned.
In 1591, Denis Godefroy became a professor of Roman law in Strassburg. He stayed there until 1600. Then, Frederick IV, Elector Palatine invited him to move to Heidelberg. He faced some challenges there, so he went back to Strassburg for a short time. But in November 1604, he settled permanently in Heidelberg.
He became the head of the law department at the university in Heidelberg. He was also sent on important missions to the French court sometimes. He was offered many chances to advance in his own country, but he always said no. This was because of his strong belief in the Reformed religion. He died in Strassburg in 1622. He had left Heidelberg before the city was attacked in 1621.
Denis Godefroy's Important Works
Denis Godefroy's most important work was a new edition of the Corpus juris civilis. This was a very old and important collection of Roman laws. His first edition was published in Geneva in 1583. This book was so important that it was printed about twenty more times! The most famous editions were printed by the Elzevir family in Amsterdam in 1663 and in Leipzig in 1740.
Some lists of his other scholarly writings can be found in old books like Senebier's Hist. litt. de Genève and Nicéron's Mémoires. Some of the letters he wrote to his learned friends, like Isaac Casaubon and Jean Jacques Grynaeus, are kept in libraries today. These libraries include the British Museum and libraries in Basel and Paris.
