Geoffrey

Geoffrey ( – 12 December 1212) was an illegitimate son of King Henry II of England who became bishop-elect of Lincoln and archbishop of York. The identity of his mother is uncertain, but she may have been named Ykenai. Geoffrey held several minor clerical offices before becoming Bishop of Lincoln in 1173, though he was not ordained as a priest until 1189. In 1173–1174, he led a campaign in northern England to help put down a rebellion by his legitimate half-brothers; this campaign led to the capture of William, King of Scots. By 1182, Pope Lucius III had ordered that Geoffrey either resign Lincoln or be consecrated as bishop; he chose to resign and became chancellor instead. He was the only one of Henry II's sons present at the king's death.

Geoffrey's half-brother Richard I nominated him archbishop of York after succeeding to the throne of England, probably to force him to become a priest and thus eliminate a potential rival for the throne. After some dispute, Geoffrey was consecrated archbishop in 1191. He soon became embroiled in a conflict with William Longchamp, Richard's regent in England, after being detained at Dover on his return to England following his consecration in France. Geoffrey claimed sanctuary in the town, but he was seized by agents of Longchamp and briefly imprisoned in Dover Castle. Subsequently, a council of magnates ordered Longchamp out of office, and Geoffrey was able to proceed to his archdiocese. The archbishop spent much of his archiepiscopate in various disputes with his half-brothers: first Richard and then John, who succeeded to the English throne in 1199. Geoffrey also quarrelled with his suffragan bishops, his cathedral chapter, and other clergy in his diocese. His last quarrel with John was in 1207, when the archbishop refused to allow the collection of a tax and was driven into exile in France. He died there five years later.

Early life

Geoffrey was probably born in about 1152, before his father Henry, later Henry II of England, married Eleanor of Aquitaine, and was likely named after his paternal grandfather, Geoffrey of Anjou. The date of his birth is determined by statements of Gerald of Wales that he was barely 20 when elected bishop in 1173, and by the fact that he was about 40 when consecrated archbishop in 1191. His mother's identity is unclear. The medieval chronicler Walter Map claimed she was a whore named Ykenai, and that he was not actually Henry's son. Another possibility for Geoffrey's mother is Rosamund Clifford, but most of the evidence for this is circumstantial.

Henry II had eight children from his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, including the future kings Richard and John. Geoffrey was brought up with his father's legitimate children. There is no evidence that Henry tried to deny Geoffrey's paternity, Geoffrey had a brother named Peter, as Peter is generally considered unlikely to have been Henry's son.

Geoffrey was Archdeacon of Lincoln in the diocese of Lincoln by September 1171, and probably retained that office until he was confirmed as bishop-elect in 1175. He also held a prebend, in the diocese of London, but there is little evidence that he executed the duties of either office. There are some indications that he studied canon law at a school in Northampton, and that he taught in Paris during the early 1170s. He also acted as a papal judge-delegate at that time. as he was under the canonical age for holding a bishopric. Geoffrey's youth was one of Alexander's objections to Geoffrey's election, and the pope only confirmed the office under duress.

In 1173 and early 1174 Geoffrey fought a military campaign in northern England in support of his father's attempts to subdue the Scots, who were supporting the rebellion by Geoffrey's legitimate half-brothers against their father. The campaign resulted in the capture of William the Lion, the King of Scots, at the Battle of Alnwick and also helped to compel Hugh du Puiset, the Bishop of Durham, to pledge fealty to Henry II. During the campaign, Geoffrey captured several castles held by Roger Mowbray, a supporter of the Scottish king. It was after this campaign that Henry said of Geoffrey "My other sons are the real bastards. ... This is the only one who's proved himself legitimate!" After Geoffrey was confirmed as bishop by Pope Alexander in 1175, the bishop-elect made a ceremonial visit to Lincoln on 1 August 1175. He subsequently went to study at Tours, where he probably befriended Peter of Blois, a medieval poet and diplomat who dedicated a later work on St Wilfrid to Geoffrey. The bishop-elect made several gifts to the cathedral at Lincoln, including two bells for the bell tower. Nevertheless, he managed to recover some lands of the diocese that had been lost as well as redeeming pawned ecclesiastical items. Although he aided the finances of his diocese with these recoveries, in 1180 he taxed his diocese heavily enough to earn him a rebuke from his father. In 1181 Pope Lucius III became concerned that Geoffrey was never going to be ordained or consecrated, and demanded that the bishop-elect's position be regularised, either through consecration as bishop or through resignation. at Marlborough in England, rather than be ordained as Pope Lucius III had ordered. after Geoffrey indicated he was going to resign the bishopric in February 1181. These offices included the Treasurer of York from 1182, the Archdeaconry of Rouen from 1183, and probably the Archdeaconry of East Riding. Henry also gave him two continental castles, one in Anjou and one in Touraine, along with lands in England and Normandy worth 1000 marks a year. Although Geoffrey held the office of Chancellor, he appears in only few documents, mainly between 1182 and 1185. After 1185 he does not appear in any contemporary documents until 1187, and it is possible that he spent some time outside his father's domains. Peter of Blois wrote that several monarchs considered Geoffrey as a possible successor for their kingdoms in Italy or the Holy Land, It is possible that Geoffrey's non-appearance in documents was due to his absence from his father's domains in pursuit of these ambitions. During Geoffrey's term of office as Chancellor Walter de Coutances served as his "seal-keeper"; the need for someone to perform this function adds further evidence to the likelihood that Geoffrey's time as Chancellor was spent on unrelated duties for his father.

Following the declaration of war on Henry by Prince Richard and King Philip II of France in 1187, Geoffrey was given command of a quarter of the English royal army. He and his father were driven from Le Mans, Henry's birthplace, in 1189.

Archbishop

First difficulties

Richard named Geoffrey Archbishop of York on 20 July 1189, within days of taking the throne; the formal election took place on 10 August. Richard also required Geoffrey to swear that he would remain outside England for three years during the time Richard expected to be out of the country on crusade. The king subsequently released Geoffrey from the oath, the initial swearing of which was apparently another of Richard's efforts to keep Geoffrey's possible ambitions towards the English throne in check. But the cathedral chapter at York disputed Geoffrey's appointment, claiming that because the Dean of York, Hubert Walter, and some others of the chapter had not been present, the election was invalid. became treasurer; and Roger of London the abbot of Selby Abbey. Geoffrey objected to these appointments, and as a result, his estates were confiscated by the king until he submitted and became a priest.

In early 1190 Geoffrey ordered a halt to religious ceremonies in the cathedral and excommunicated Henry Marshal and Burchard in retaliation for a dispute during an earlier church service. Richard, who was in Normandy preparing to go on the Third Crusade, ordered Geoffrey to the king's presence in Normandy. Although Hugh du Puiset, who was Justiciar, was hampering Geoffrey's attempts to collect revenue for the earlier fine, Richard insisted on immediate full payment. When Geoffrey was unable to pay Richard re-confiscated his lands, increased the amount of the fine, and demanded a promise that Geoffrey would not visit England for three years. The dispute was settled once more when the pope stepped in and ratified Geoffrey's election, thus enabling a reconciliation between the king and the archbishop at Tours in June. Geoffrey's estates were returned to him in July after paying 800 marks of his fine. at Tours in France, by Barthelemy de Vendôme, the Archbishop of Tours, after the papacy agreed to allow the consecration. This permission was secured by the intervention of the king and his mother, Queen Eleanor. Geoffrey received his pallium, the symbol of an archbishop's authority, at his consecration. Longchamp claimed that Geoffrey had not sworn fealty to Richard, but this was probably just an excuse to eliminate a rival. One cause of the outrage was the obvious parallel with the murder of Thomas Becket, who had been dragged from an altar and martyred. The archbishop was released and took part in a council held at Loddon Bridge, between Reading and Windsor; Longchamp was excommunicated and deposed from the chancellorship, and Hugh of Lincoln, the Bishop of Lincoln, excommunicated those who had dragged Geoffrey from sanctuary. After Geoffrey's consecration, he summoned Puiset to a provincial synod in late September 1191, at which the bishop was charged with various irregularities. Puiset appealed to Rome and refused to attend the synod, and was excommunicated in December by Geoffrey. An attempt in March 1192 by Queen Eleanor and Hubert Walter to settle the issue came to nothing when Geoffrey insisted on a pledge of obedience from Puiset, who in turn demanded an admission from Geoffrey that the excommunication had been unjust. Further appeals to Rome led to an eventual settlement in October 1192, when the bishop finally acknowledged Geoffrey's authority over Durham.

Geoffrey caused offence by his attempts to have his episcopal cross carried before him in the diocese of Canterbury, thus implying that his diocese was superior or at least equal to Canterbury in rank. He also attempted to subordinate Clementhorpe Priory to Godstow Abbey, which provoked an appeal from Prioress Alice of Clementhorpe to the papacy. But Geoffrey was on friendly terms with Prince John; the historian G. V. Scammell has suggested that Geoffrey's consecration allowed John to feel that Geoffrey was no longer a rival for the throne, thus paving the way for good relations between the two half-brothers.

Geoffrey long faced opposition from some members of his cathedral chapter led by Henry Marshal, Burchard du Puiset, and Roger of London. They objected to his having given a large part of York's treasury toward Richard's ransom, (Richard was held captive in Germany while returning from crusade and was only released after the payment of a ransom, which was 150,000 marks.) To raise this sum, all of Richard's subjects were taxed at the rate of 25% for both their incomes and their possessions. These payments were required from both laymen and the clergy. Later that year Geoffrey began to quarrel with Hubert Walter over the primacy of England, which Canterbury claimed and York disputed. Walter's decision to have his episcopal cross carried before him in the diocese of York in March 1194 was symbolic of his claim to primacy over York and all of England. Geoffrey responded by having his own cross carried before him in the diocese of Canterbury the following month. King Richard did not reprimand Geoffrey for this act of provocation, and even went so far as to restore some of his confiscated estates. Before Richard left England in May 1194 he appointed Walter as Justiciar; that summer Walter began an investigation into Geoffrey's actions, which led to Geoffrey's estates being confiscated once again. Geoffrey appealed to the king, who was then in Maine; Richard over-ruled Walter, restored Geoffrey's estates, and pardoned him in return for a payment of 1000 marks and the promise of 1000 more to follow. and Geoffrey returned to Rome until 1198. An attempt at reconciliation with Richard came to nothing, after Geoffrey refused to approve the king's appointments in the diocese of York without some guarantees that they would be approved by the papacy. Ultimately Pope Innocent III on 28 April 1199 ordered that Geoffrey was to be restored to his lands as soon as he had paid his debts to the king. Innocent further ordered that any royal appointments in York would require papal approval. Some of Geoffrey's opponents who were officials in his diocese resigned their offices, and for a short time peace reigned in York. But the perceived arrogance of Geoffrey's officials offended the cathedral chapter at York, and this further conflict was not resolved until March 1200. For most of the remainder of 1199 Geoffrey was frequently with the king, and the two appear to have been on good terms, a state of affairs that continued throughout the first half of 1200. but it did not last, as Geoffrey continued to refuse to allow the tax to be collected. John then renewed the demand for the payment for the office of sheriff due from Richard's reign, which forced Geoffrey to rescind his excommunication and offer another payment in return for peace, which occurred in May 1201. But it was short-lived; disputes over the appointments in the diocese of York broke out, but with the support of Pope Innocent Geoffrey was able to secure the appointment of a few of his own candidates. Geoffrey also quarrelled with some of the monasteries in his diocese, with the usual claims and counterclaims going to the papacy for judgement. Among the religious houses Geoffrey had disagreements with were Guisborough Priory, Meaux Abbey, and Fountains Abbey. Most of these conflicts arose from disputed appointments to offices, but the quarrel with Meaux involved claims of tithe exemption by that house. Geoffrey excommunicated anyone who attempted to collect the tax in his archdiocese, but the king confiscated Geoffrey's estates in retaliation. Geoffrey once again secured the support of Pope Innocent, who ordered John to restore Geoffrey's possessions, but in the meantime the archbishop had fled to France. A medieval chronicler, Geoffrey of Coldingham, stated that the English church considered Geoffrey a martyr because of this stand against King John. His tomb was still extant in 1767, when the inscription on it was recorded by an antiquary. He may have become a monk before his death. Another historian, J. C. Holt, stated that Geoffrey was through his career "a perpetual source of danger, quarrelling now with de Puiset, now with the Yorkshire sheriffs, ever ready to attack the judicial and fiscal superiority of the Crown."

Geoffrey's ambitions may have included becoming King of England, which may account for some of the harshness that his two legitimate half-brothers displayed towards him. His military abilities, displayed in the rebellion of 1173–1174, as well his custody of castles near Tours, would have also fed into Richard's disquiet over Geoffrey's possible intentions. Geoffrey was known to be ambitious, which led the historian D. L. Douie to call him a "formidable bastard". The historian Ralph Turner said of Geoffrey that "he sought power and wealth despite the handicap of his birth" and that he had "inherited the bad temper of the other Plantagenets".

Geoffrey was a patron of scholarship, and employed scholars throughout his life, Honorius was subsequently employed by Hubert Walter and wrote a legal work on canon law. The Leiden St Louis Psalte (It is in Latin on parchment containing 185 folios with 23 miniatures, now at Leiden in the University Library under catalogue MS.) lat. 76A.