 He entered the Order of the Canons Regular at Saint-Euverte in Orléans about 1150, then studied canon law and Roman law at Bologna university, returning to his monastery in 1160.He was elected abbot of Saint-Euverte in 1167 and of the Abbey of Sainte-Geneviève at Paris in 1177.The latter monastery he almost entirely rebuilt, establishing a monastic school in connexion with it.