Ivo studied first in Paris and then at the Abbey of Bec in Normandy under Lanfranc where he would have met Anselm (like Lanfranc a future archbishop of Canterbury).
As bishop of Chartres and a canonist he opposed King Philip I's repudiation of his wife Bertha of Holland in order to marry Bertrade of Anjou in 1092. Ivo was briefly imprisoned for his opposition.
Ivo prepared two extensive canonical works, a Decretum and the Panormia (around 1094).