Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/145

Geoffrey GEOFFREY (d. 1212), archbishop of York, has been generally described as a son of Henry II and 'Fair Rosamond' [see ]. This claim is quite untenable. The only contemporary writer who gives any account of Geoffrey's mother, Walter Map, says that she was a woman of the most degraded character, named Ykenai or Hikenai, and that she persuaded the young king to acknowledge Geoffrey as his son, despite a general assurance to the contrary (, De Nug. Curial, dist. v. c. 6). All the other writers of the time habitually describe Geoffrey as 'the king's son,' without hinting a doubt of his paternity. Gervase of Canterbury when seeking to discredit Geoffrey calls him 'regio natus &hellip; sanguine, ut putabatur' (. i. 520). Elsewhere he describes him as 'frater regis, sed nothus,' without further remark. It is clear that no doubt was felt by Henry or by Geoffrey himself, while both Richard and John always acknowledged Geoffrey as their brother, and Richard even suspected him of a design upon the crown, which could scarcely have entered the head of any one if his origin had been generally doubted. Map may have exaggerated the social degradation of Geoffrey's mother. From the fact that William Longsword, son of an elder William Longsword, who was an illegitimate son of Henry II, laid claim in the reign of Henry III to the estates of one Roger of Akeny, which suggests Ykenai, the late Mr. J. F. Dimock conjectured that these names might possibly be identical, and that Geoffrey's mother might be a knight's daughter or sister of Norman origin (. Opp. vii. pref. xxxvii). The sole mention of this claim of William Longsword is in the Close Roll (12 Hen. III, m. 5, date 15 July). There is nothing to indicate the nature or origin of William's connection with the family of Akeny, and nothing but the slight verbal similarity to connect Akeny with Ykenai; while the great difference of age which almost certainly existed between Geoffrey and the elder William Longsword renders it very improbable that they were sons of the same mother. Some modern writers have referred to the 'Chronicle of Kirkstall' as authority for the statement that Geoffrey was born in 1159. But the 'Kirkstall Chronicle' in its present form dates only from the reign of Henry V; and the 'Galfridus filius regis [Henrici] secundi' whose birth it records is clearly Geoffrey's half-brother, Queen Eleanor's child of the same name, who certainly was born in September 1158. Gerald of Wales, in his 'Life of Geoffrey of York,' says that Geoffrey was scarcely twenty when appointed bishop of Lincoln, i.e. in April 1173, and elsewhere that he was about forty when consecrated to York, i.e. in August 1191. Neither of the dates thus indicated for his birth, 1151 or 1153, is in itself impossible. The later date seems the more probable. Map's language would seem to imply that he was regarded as an Englishman by birth. Map says that Ykenai presented him to the king 'at the beginning of his reign.' Now, Henry remained in England twelve months after his coronation in December 1154; he had also spent there nearly the whole of 1153; and his previous visit there had terminated in January 1150. Shortly after Henry's accession, in any case, Geoffrey was acknowledged as his son and taken into his household, where he was brought up on a footing of practical equality with Eleanor's children. While still a mere boy he was put into deacon's orders, made archdeacon of Lincoln, and endowed with a prebend at St. Paul's, till in April 1173 Henry caused the Lincoln chapter to elect him as their bishop. Shortly afterwards a revolt, in which Eleanor's three elder sons took part, broke out in Henry's continental dominions. Geoffrey at once levied contributions throughout his diocese for the royal treasury. Next spring he found it wiser to return the money which he had collected, and appeal to the men of Lincolnshire to follow him in person against the disaffected barons of northern England. After taking and razing Roger Mowbray's castle of Kinardferry in the Isle of Axholme, he joined his forces to those of Archbishop Roger of York; led the united host to a successful siege of Kirby Malzeard; threatened Mowbray's third fortress, Thirsk, by erecting a rival fort at Topcliffe; compelled the Bishop of Durham to give pledges for his loyalty, and frightened the king of Scots into withdrawing from his siege of Bowes Castle. One foreign writer attributes the crowning exploit of the war—the capture of the Scottish king at Alnwick in July (1174)—to 'the king's son, Mamzer,' a description which at this period can point to no one but Geoffrey (, 1. i. c. 67). It is, however, clear from the silence of the English historians that Geoffrey was not present on this occasion, although it is probable that some of his followers were, as the words of his biographer imply that he had an indirect share in it (. Vita Galfr. Archiep. 1. i. c. 3). He had at any rate well earned the greeting with which Henry met him at Huntingdon when the struggle was over: 'Baseborn indeed have my other children shown themselves; this alone is my true son!' On 8 Oct. Geoffrey, by his father's desire, followed him into Normandy, with the