He studied at the University of Paris, where he became professor of theology and lectured for thirty-eight years. In 1169 he succeeded Peter Comestor in the chair of scholastic theology. His lectures were inspired the enmity of Gauthier de St-Victor, one of the bitterest opponents of Scholasticism, who ranked him with Gilbert de la Porrée, Abelard, and Peter Lombard in the pamphlet wherein he tries to throw ridicule on the four doctors, under the name of the "Four Labyrinths of France".