The Lives of the Brethren (Latin: Vitae Fratrum) is an early account of the first members of the Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominicans.
This is to be distinguished from other works such as the Vitae fratrum eremitarum Ordinis Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitae, which is a fifteenth-century account of the Pauline Hermits in Hungary, or the Liber vitasfratrum of Jordan of Quedlinburg, which recounts the early history of the Order of Saint Augustine.
Gerard (also known as Gerald)[1] was born in Chalons (Haute Vienne) in Aquitaine, joined the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in around 1225, and died at Limoges sometime between 1271 and 1281.
[2] The book was written as a result of a request from the General Chapter in 1256 which was anxious to collect eyewitness accounts of the doings and sayings of the early friars before the first generation of the order died.
[3] The text of the Vitae Fratrum is based largely on the submissions made by friars as well as separate writings from Bartholomew of Trent and Jordan of Saxony, covering in all the period from about 1206 to 1260.