active 1279 d'Orléans Laurent

Little is known about this medieval writer as a person, but library and manuscript records identify him as a Dominican friar active around 1279 and connect him with the French royal court. He is described as a confessor to King Philip III of France, which helps explain the practical, instructive tone of his best-known work.

That work, La Somme le roi (also called Somme des vices et des vertus), was written as a moral and devotional handbook. It sets out religious teaching in a clear, organized way, helping readers think through sin, virtue, conscience, prayer, and Christian living.

Its influence lasted well beyond its own century. The text circulated widely in manuscript form and became the basis for later adaptations and translations, including the Middle English Ayenbite of Inwyt. For modern readers, his importance lies not in a dramatic personal story, but in the long afterlife of a book that helped carry medieval moral teaching across languages and generations.