He was the son of Guillebert I de Lannoy and Catherine of Molembais. He was a member of the noble de Lannoy family.
His brothers were Hugo of Lannoy and Baldwin of Lannoy, also founding Knights of the Golden Fleece.
His travels in the Baltic region and Russia are recounted in his book Voyages et Ambassades, published in Mons in 1840 with subsequent editions. Around 1440 Lannoy wrote L'Instruction de josne prince ("Advice for a Young Prince"), which he dressed up with a fictional origin in the court of Norway "long, long ago", followed by a rediscovery of the manuscript text. The dedication miniature in Charles the Bold's copy of 1468-70 illustrates the Norwegian story, but using up-to-date Burgundian costume and, it seems, the faces of the ducal family. Charles, around seven when the work was written, had no doubt always been the young prince Lannoy had in mind.[2]
Oscar Halecki, "Gilbert de Lannoy and His Discovery of East Central Europe" Bulletin of the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences in America, 2:2 (1944), 314-31.
Kren, T. & McKendrick, Scot (eds), Illuminating the Renaissance – The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, Getty Museum/Royal Academy of Arts, 2003, ISBN1903973287