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Individual Record for: Geoffrey PLANTAGENET (male)

Source:

bulkeley.txt

Notes:

Geoffrey Plantagenet was an illegitimate son of King Henry II. It is sa id that his mother was Rosamond Clifford, the "Fair Rosamond" of litera ry fame. Geoffrey, whose "tumultuous nature" is insisted upon by Fuller, i nherited a full measure of the stormy Plantagenet character.

When still a child he was made Archdeacon of Lincoln and, when about fourt een, his father procured his election to the Bishopric of that see. The Po pe refused to consecrate him for three years; but the Bishop elect, who w as not even in priest's orders, received all the temporalities until 118 1, when the Pope, Alexander III, insisted that he should either receive or dination or give up Lincoln altogether. He chose the latter, receivi ng in exchange from the King, many rents and offices in England and Norman dy.

Alone of Henry's sons, Geoffrey was faithful to his father and was with h im at his death in the Castle of Chinon (France), in 1189. On his retu rn to England, Geoffrey was met in London by a body of the York ecclesiast ics, informing him that he had been elected to that see, which had be en so long vacant. At first, he declined positively, telling them th at he was fonder of clogs and hawks than of books and priests. They answer ed that his tastes need not be altogether abandoned when he came into t he north as Archbishop. Geoffrey, at last, consented to accept their nomin ation which was, shortly afterwards, confirmed by King Richard I. Geoffr ey was then ordained priest; but it was not until the 18th August 1191 th at he was consecrated Bishop in the Church of St. Maurice at Tours by t he Archbishop of that see.

There had already been dissension between Geoffrey and his half-brother, K ing Richard. Before leaving for the Holy Land, the latter is said to ha ve extorted a promise from both his brothers, John and Geoffrey, that th ey would not return to England for three years after his departure witho ut his special permission. However this may be, Geoffrey returned at on ce after his consecration and, at Dover, was seized by order of the Bish op of Ely, the Grand Justiciar of the Kingdom in Richard's absence. For so me days, he was imprisoned in the Castle; but the Bishop of Ely was, at le ngth, compelled to let the Archbishop go without swearing the allegian ce on which he had insisted. Geoffrey at once proceeded to York.

The canons of York seem to have discovered, at once, that their choice h ad been an imprudent one. Throughout Geoffrey's episcopate, he was in cons tant dissension either with them or with his brothers, Richard and John. T he Pope, Celestine, at the instance of the canons, issued a commissi on of inquiry in 1195, at the head of which was the Bishop of Lincoln. T he result was the suspension of Archbishop Geoffrey by the Pope; but th at suspension was reversed and a sentence given altogether in Geoffrey's f avour upon his personal appeal to Rome. Sometimes in great favour with Ki ng John, and sometimes deprived of all his temporalities except the man or of Ripon, Geoffrey continued to hold the see of York until 1207, when J ohn extorted from his subjects the tax of a thirteenth, and Geoffrey set h is face stoutly against it. He excommunicated all those who should attem pt to collect it in his province; and then was compelled to provide for h is own safety by flight. He never returned to England and died, it is sai d, in 1212 at Grosmont in Normandy. After Geoffrey's flight the temporalit ies of the archbishopric remained in the King's hands for nine years.

Edited from Richard John King's "Handbook to the Cathedrals of England: No rthern Division" (1903).

Notes Source: bulkeley.txt

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