Philip the Chancellor
French writer and theologian
Philip the Chancellor, (French: Philippe le Chancelier) also known as "Philippus Cancellarius Parisiensis" (Philip, Chancellor of Paris) (c 1160–December 26, 1236) was a French theologian, Latin lyric poet, and possibly a composer as well. He was Chancellor of Notre-Dame de Paris starting in 1217 until his death, and was also Archdeacon of Noyon. Philip is portrayed as an enemy to the Mendicant orders becoming prevalent at the time, but this has been greatly exaggerated. He may have even joined the Franciscan order soon before his death.
Philip was one of the most prolific Medieval lyric poets. He was the subject of Henri d'Andeli's Dit du Chancelier Philippe. Philip's most influential work was his Summa de Bono.
Biography
Philip was born in Paris between 1165 and 1185 to an important Parisian family. He was the illegitimate son of Philippe, Archdeacon of Paris (born in 1125), and was part of a family of powerful clerics. In particular, his uncle, Peter of Nemours, was Bishop of Paris 1208–18 and undoubtedly helped to foster Philip's ecclesiastical career.
The public source identifies “Philip the Chancellor” as french writer and theologian. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Philip, Chancellor and French.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q768555. VIAF identifies the subject as 98117837. The Library of Congress control number is n85327634. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1160, 1236, 1217 and 1165.
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This entry incorporates text from “Philip the Chancellor” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.