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,Greenway "Archbishops" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York before his father Henry, later Henry II of England, married Eleanor of Aquitaine,Warren Henry II p. 78 note 1 and was likely named after his paternal grandfather, Geoffrey of Anjou. Although he is often given the surname "Plantagenet" in modern histories, that name was not in use during his lifetime.Given-Wilson and Curteis Royal Bastards pp. 103–104 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. This is the only contemporary source that gives her name, and as Map was hostile to Geoffrey, the information must be judged carefully. Instead, Ykenai may have been a daughter of a knight. Another possibility for Geoffrey's mother is Rosamund Clifford, but most of the evidence for this is circumstantial. It is assumed that Geoffrey was the eldest of Henry's children, legitimate or illegitimate.

Henry II had eight children from his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine, including the future kings Richard and John.Flori Richard the Lionheart p. ix Geoffrey was brought up with his father's legitimate children. There is no evidence that Henry tried to deny Geoffrey's paternity, although Walter Map said that Henry's acknowledgment was done "improperly and with little discretion".Quoted in Jones "Generation Gap" Albion p. 28 Geoffrey had a brother named Peter, who appears to have been his maternal half-brother,Given-Wilson and Curteis Royal Bastards p. 118 as Peter is generally considered unlikely to have been Henry's son.Given-Wilson and Curteis Royal Bastards p. 179

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.Greenway "Archdeacons of Lincoln" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 3: Lincoln He also held a prebend, an income from land owned by a cathedral chapter,McGurk Dictionary p. 32 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. Pope Alexander III initially refused to confirm Geoffrey's selection as Bishop of Lincoln in about May 1173, prompting Geoffrey to travel to Rome in October 1174 to secure confirmation of this office. He was confirmed in the office of bishop by July 1175, but he was not ordained at that time,Greenway "Bishops of Lincoln" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 3: Lincoln as he was under the canonical age for holding a bishopric.Morey Bartholomew of Exeter p. 37 Geoffrey's youth was one of Alexander's objections to Geoffrey's election, and the pope only confirmed the office under duress. Another potential problem was Geoffrey's illegitimacy, which normally disbarred a person from holding ecclesiastical office, but that was dealt with by the granting of a papal dispensation.Cheney Roger of Worcester p. 215

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.Lovatt "Geoffrey" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography During the campaign, Geoffrey captured several castles held by Roger Mowbray, a supporter of the Scottish king.Scammell Hugh du Puiset pp. 38–39 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!"Quoted in Lovatt "Geoffrey" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 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. While Geoffrey was the bishop-elect at Lincoln, it appears that Adam, Bishop of St Asaph, carried out the episcopal duties in the diocese of Lincoln, as Geoffrey had not been consecrated and was unable to perform those functions.Richardson "Schools of Northampton" English Historical Review p. 599 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.

Chancellor

Geoffrey formally resigned the see of Lincoln on 6 January 1182,Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 255 at Marlborough in England, rather than be ordained as Pope Lucius III had ordered. Henry had named him Chancellor of England in 1181,Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 84 after Geoffrey indicated he was going to resign the bishopric in February 1181. Although Geoffrey resigned the episcopal office, he continued to hold benefices in plurality, which was normally contrary to canon law.Hamilton Religion in the Medieval West p. 39 These offices included the Treasurer of York from 1182, the Archdeaconry of Rouen from 1183,Greenway "Treasurers of York" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York and probably the Archdeaconry of East Riding.Greenway "Prebends of York" Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York 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, and that he was actually offered the throne of Jerusalem by Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem.Wahlgren "Peter of Blois" English Historical Review p. 1212 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. William Longchamp fulfilled the same assistant role for the archdeaconry at Rouen.Spear Personnel p. 216

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. Geoffrey did not attend the subsequent conference at which Henry submitted to Philip immediately before Henry's death, unwilling to witness his father's humiliation, but he did help nurse him during his final days. Henry made a bedside wish that Geoffrey be made either Archbishop of York or Bishop of Winchester, and Geoffrey used his father's seal to make appointments to York after Henry's death. Geoffrey then escorted Henry's body to Fontevrault Abbey for burial. He was the only one of Henry II's sons present at his death.Lyon Constitutional and Legal History pp. 233–236

Archbishop

First difficulties

Richard named Geoffrey Archbishop of York on 20 July 1189,Turner "Richard Lionheart and English Episcopal Elections" Albion p. 4 within days of taking the throne; the formal election took place on 10 August. What happened with the vacant archbishopric of York after Richard took the throne, and why, as well as the exact chronology of events, is complicated by the contradictory nature of the main contemporary accounts. Gerald of Wales states that Geoffrey was reluctant to accept York, but another chronicler, Benedict of Peterborough relates that Geoffrey quickly took control of the archiepiscopal estates. However the election occurred, Geoffrey's consecration did not take place until much later, and soon after his election, he either resigned or was stripped of his office of Chancellor. A further complication was that the cathedral chapter had earlier elected the Dean of York, Hubert Walter, as archbishop.