A HISTORY OF YORKSHIRE 



was confiscated by the king,*" and the see remained vacant till 1189, when 

 the canons elected the king's half-brother, GeofFrey Plantagenet, bishop-elect 

 of Lincoln. Hubert Walter, Dean of York, and the Bishop of Durham were 

 absent from the election, and obtained a stay of confirmation from Richard I. 

 The king, having made Hubert Bishop of Salisbury, and sold the earldom 

 of Northumberland to Pudsey, evidently thought that he could proceed with 

 safety, and confirmed the election at Pipewell Abbey (16 September 1 189)." 

 Geoffrey was about thirty years old, in deacon's orders, with tastes which he 

 felt were unsuited to his dignity." He received priest's orders at Southwell 

 from the Bishop of Whithorn,*" disregarding the claim of the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury to ordain and consecrate him. His consecration, deferred by 

 quarrels with his chapter and the king, was performed by the Archbishop of 

 Tours (18 August 1 191)." The disputes concerned the royal appointment of 

 Henry Marshal to the deanery of York, and of a kinsman of Pudsey to the 

 treasurership. 



Geoffrey made peace with his opponents, and recovered his confiscated 

 temporalities, in December 1189.*' But on 5 January 1189-90, coming to 

 vespers in the minster, he found that the dean and treasurer had begun service 

 without him. The dean tried to continue the office ; but when Geoffrey began 

 it afresh the treasurer ordered the lights to be put out. The Epiphany 

 services were suspended ; and the citizens were hardly restrained from doing 

 violence to the offended dignitaries. Geoffrey went abroad in February, was 

 forbidden to return by the king, and hindered from obtaining consecration by 

 the opposition of the Pudseys, but nevertheless obtained the grant of the pall. 

 Meanwhile, in York, the Jews perished by massacre and mutual slaughter 

 during March ; and a visit at Eastertide from the king's chancellor, 

 William Longchamp, left the chapter under interdict. 



After his consecration in 1 1 9 1 Geoffrey came to England. He was 

 imprisoned in Dover Castle by Longchamp, and delivered by order of John. 

 He sat in the council which deprived Longchamp, and was enthroned at York 

 on 1 November.** Hugh Pudsey was soon visited with excommunication ; 

 and Geoffrey did not scruple to excommunicate his deliverer John for holding 

 intercourse with the recalcitrant bishop. The nuns of Clementhorpe 

 appealed against his appropriation of their house to Godstow Abbey, where 

 his mother lay buried.*' On the promotion of Marshal to the see of Exeter, 

 Geoffrey bestowed the deanery on his brother Peter ; but Peter was abroad 

 and could not be installed.*' To avoid accepting a royal nominee, Geoffrey 

 gave the office to one of his clerks, Simon of Apulia.*' Shortly after he 



" Hoveden, op. cit. ii, 264-5. 



*' The history of Geoffrey's stormy pontificate until 1 20 1 is given at some length by Hoveden, whose 

 account has been mainly follow^ed here. For other authorities, see footnotes to his life in Dixon and Raine, 

 op. cit. 251 seq. 



" Dixon and Raine, op. cit. 256, quote Giraldus's statement that Geoffrey declined at first the offer of 

 the archbishopric by the canons, on the ground of his sporting tastes. 



" Hoveden gives the date of the ordination as 29 Aug. This must be a mistake for 28 Sept., as the 

 Bishop of Whithorn had been consecrated only on 1 7 Sept. at Pipewell, by the Archbishop of Dublin. 



" Dixon and Raine, op. cit. 261, from Giraldus Cambrensis. 



" He bought them back with a promise of 3,000 marb for the Crusade. His inability to raise this sum 

 caused subsequent difficulty with Richard. Dixon and Raine, op. cit. 258 seq. 



" Dixon and Raine, op. cit. 263. " Hoveden, Chron. (Rolls Sen), iii, 188. 



*' Peter was Archdeacon of Lincoln. 



" Simon became Bishop of Exeter in 12 14, succeeding Marshal there as at York. 



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