Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry
Illustration — Geoffroy de la Tour Landry teaching to his daughters, miniature from a medieval manuscript of the Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry (before 1330-between 1402 and 1406) was a nobleman of Anjou who fought in the Hundred Years War. In 1371–1372 Geoffroy compiled the Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles ("The Book of the Knight in the Tower") for the instruction of his daughters—La Tour Landry stands (a ruin today) between Cholet and Vezins.
Also recorded as Geoffrey de la Tour Landry · Geoffrey IV de la Tour Landry
Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry

Anonymous 15th-century French artist · Enluminures Biblissima, image cropped by the uploader · Public domain
- Born
- 1330
- Nationality
- Kingdom of France
- Occupation
- writer · knight
- Known for
- The Book of the Knight of the Tower
- Languages
- Middle French
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wikidata · Q3101115 · wikipedia · Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry
In this article
Biography
Biography
Geoffroy fought in the Hundred Years War; he was at the siege of Aguillon in 1346 and was in the war as late as 1383. His name again appears in a military muster in 1363. He married Jeanne de Rougé, younger daughter of Bonabes de Rougé, sieur of Derval, vicomte de La Guerche, and chamberlain to the king. In 1378, as a "knight banneret", he sent a contingent of men to join the siege of Cherbourg, but he did not serve in person. In 1380 Geoffroy was fighting in Brittany, and was last mentioned in 1383. He made a second marriage with Marguerite des Roches, dame de La Mothe de Pendu, the widow of Jean de Clerembault, knight.
Work
Work
• Illustration — "Geoffroy de la Tour Landry offering his book to his daughter", woodcut of Albrecht Dürer, from the German adaptation, Der Ritter vom Turn, Basel, Michael Furter, 1493 Geoffrey compiled the Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles for the instruction of his daughters, in 1371–1372. A similar book he had previously written for his sons, according to his opening text, has disappeared. The work became the most popular educational treatise of the Late Middle Ages. It was translated into German, as Der Ritter vom Turn, and at least twice into English, once by William Caxton, who printed it as The Book of the Knight of the Tower in 1483. A Dutch adaptation, titled Dē spiegel der duecht, appeared in 1515 by the Brussels printer Thomas van der Noot. The Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles served as a tutorial for De la Tour Landry's daughters on proper behaviour when visiting the royal court, which, the knight warns, is filled with smooth-talking courtiers who could potentially disgrace them and embarrass the family. The author was a widower, and concerned for his daughters' welfare. He takes a strong moral stance against the behaviour of his peers and warns his daughters about the dangers of vanity.
Family
Family
Landricus Dunesis is the name of the first known member of the De La Tour Landry family; his name appears in a charter dated from c. 1061. He built a tower and fortress that were destroyed at the end of the eleventh century. The site of the subsequently rebuilt castle still stands in the canton of Chemillé, Maine-et-Loire. De la Tour Landry's grandfather, Geoffroy III de la Tour Landry, had married Olive de Belleville, the daughter of a neighboring grand seigneur. She is mentioned in the Livre as enjoying the company of minstrels, and lauded for her generosity and piety. In the fifteenth century, Pontus de la Tour Landry commissioned the romance of Pontus et la belle Sidonie, glamorizing the family's origins in the train of Pontus, the son of the king of Galicia who fell in love with the fair Sidonia, daughter of the king of Brittany, where part of the ancestral possessions of the lords of La Tour lay.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1330
Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry born.
1405
Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry died.
Cultural references
Cultural references
In the novel The Once and Future King, by T.H. White, a reference is made that states "before King Arthur had made his chivalry, the Knight of the Tower Landry had been compelled to warn his daughter against entering her own dining hall in the evening unaccompanied – for fear of what might happen in the dark corners". In the novel Timeline, by Michael Crichton, a reference is made which states As the Professor left, Marek said, "I pray God look with favor upon your journey and deliver you safe back." That was what he always said to departing friends. It had been a favorite phrase of the Count Geoffrey de la Tour, six hundred years before."

Geoffroi de La Tour Landry (i.e. the Knight of the Tower, the author of the book) is teaching to his daughters. Miniature from a manuscript of the Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles (The Book of the Knight of the Tower) (France, Chantilly, Musée Condé, Bibliothèque, Ms. 293 f. 003)
Anonymous End of 15th-century French artist · Biblissima, image cropped by the uploader
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry, revision 1372989135 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Anne Marie De Gendt, L'art d'éduquer les nobles damoiselles : le Livre du Chevalier de la Tour Landry, Paris : Honoré Champion, 2003.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- D. B. Wyndham Lewis, G. S. Taylor (Editors), Book of the Knight of La Tour Landry (Kila, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2003).
- Simon, Anne. Framing Lives: The Narratives of Behaviour in Der Ritter vom Turn. Daphnis. 28. 35–59. 1999. 10.1163/18796583-90001144.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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