[1] Little is known of the greater part of his life except that at one time he was prior of his order in London, and at another he was teaching at Oxford, also that he was at Santa Maria Novella in Florence.

A large number of these exist in manuscript in various libraries, but only two appear to have been printed, one being the work by which he is chiefly remembered, the chronicle of the Angevin kings of England; the other was the last twelve books of his commentary on St. Augustine's treatise De civitate dei.

The full title of the former work is Annales sex regum Angliae qui a comitibus Andegavensibus originem traxerunt, an important historical source for the period between 1135 and 1307, containing a specially valuable account of the reign of Edward I, who was his contemporary.

While over a hundred manuscripts exist, in Latin, French and Italian, of his commentary on Boethius, which in turn influenced Jean de Meun and Chaucer.

A member of Nicholas' family was Sir Thomas Trivit (died October 1383), a soldier of repute, who saw a good deal of service in France.