A French historian and curator of the manuscript department at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Benjamin Guerard (1797-1854) made a considerable contribution to the study of medieval French cathedrals and monasteries. Having studied at Dijon, Guerard became a banker in Paris, before studying at the Ecole royales des chartes where he trained as an archivist. He was a founding member of the Societe de l'histoire de France, and this publication on the Abbey of Saint-Pere at Chartres was part of the society's first series of documents inedits. Guerard was elected to the Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, and became the director of the Ecole des chartes in 1848. This collection of the medieval charters of the abbey was published in Paris in 1840.