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
Henry II with [[Thomas Becket, from a 13th-century illuminated manuscript|thumb|left]]
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,