Gautier has been known to scholarship only as the author of two romances, the Eracle (of 6,593 verses) and the Ille et Galeron (of 6,592). In the prologues and epilogues to these works he mentions a number of illustrious patrons and sheds some light, though a rather dim one, on his own personality. From what he says there, it is possible to date the two romances approximately, so that we know the years of his adult life. The poet claims friendship with Count Baudouin of Hainaut, identified as Baudouin V, brother-in-law and successor of Philip of Flanders; Count Thibaut of Blois, grand seneschal of Louis VII of France; Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis and Eleanor of Aquitaine and sister-in-law of Thibaut; and Beatrice of Burgundy, second wife of Frederick Barbarossa, emperor of Germany. Anyone familiar with the political friendships and enmities of the time will wonder at the wide acquaintance and patronage Gautier claims.