Geoffrey (archbishop of York) - Chancellor

Chancellor

Geoffrey formally resigned the see of Lincoln on 6 January 1182, at Marlborough in England, rather than be ordained as Pope Lucius III had ordered. Henry had named him Chancellor of England in 1181, after Geoffrey indicated he was going to resign the bishopric in February 1181. Although Geoffrey resigned the episcopal office, he continued to hold a number of benefices in plurality, which was the holding of more than one clerical office at the same time, something normally contrary to canon law. 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 a number of 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. 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.

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.