Robert of Torigni was a Norman monk and chronicler. He was born at Torigni-sur-Vire

Torigni-sur-Vire

Torigni-sur-Vire is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-Heraldry:-See also:*Communes of the Manche department...

 in central Normandy

Normandy

Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

, at an unknown date. He entered the monastery of Le Bec

Bec Abbey

Bec Abbey in Le Bec Hellouin, Normandy, France, once the most influential abbey in the Anglo-Norman kingdom of the twelfth century, is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure département, in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay.Like all abbeys, Bec maintained annals...

 in 1128 and became prior there about 1149. He was elected abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel in 1154, and served there until his death.

Robert was an "avid reader" and collected religious and "profane" books. As prior and abbot, he was far more involved in the outside world than either of his two co-authors of the Gesta Normannorum Ducum

Gesta Normannorum Ducum

Gesta Normannorum Ducum is a chronicle originally created by the monk William of Jumièges just before 1060. In 1070 William I had William of Jumièges extend the work to detail his rights to the throne of England. In later times, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni Gesta Normannorum Ducum (Deeds...

, Orderic Vitalis

Orderic Vitalis

Orderic Vitalis was an English chronicler of Norman ancestry who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th and 12th century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England. The modern biographer of Henry I of England, C...

 and William of Jumièges

William of Jumièges

William of Jumièges was a contemporary of the events of 1066, and one of our earliest writers on the subject of the Norman Conquest. He is himself a "shadowy figure", only known by his dedicatory letter to King William as a monk of Jumièges...

. Robert's revision of the Gesta dates from 1139 and was his first substantial work. He wrote additions and appendices to the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux

Sigebert of Gembloux

Sigebert of Gembloux was a medieval author, known mainly as a pro-Imperial historian of a universal chronicle, opposed to the expansive papacy of Gregory VII and Pascal II...

, covering the period 385-1100; and the Gesta is a continuation of Sigebert, extending from 1100 to 1186. It is for continental

Continental Europe

Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

 affairs between 1154 to 1170 that his information is valuable.

Catalog tradition, as recorded by John Bale

John Bale

John Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...

, lists Robert as the author of two anonymous Arthurian romances, De Ortu Waluuanii and Historia Meriadoci.