Geoffrey Ridel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geoffrey Ridel
Denomination Catholic
Senior posting
See Diocese of Ely
Title Bishop of Ely
Period in office 1173–1189
Predecessor Nigel
Successor William Longchamp
Religious career
Previous post Archdeacon of Canterbury
Personal
Date of death August 21, 1189

Geoffrey Ridel (died 1189) was the nineteenth Lord Chancellor of England, from 1162 to 1173.[1]

[edit] Life

He was probably the great-nephew of Geoffrey Ridel, who died in 1120 and was a royal justice. He was a royal clerk by about 1156, when he first starts witnessing charters.[2] He was a king's clerk before he was Archdeacon of Canterbury, which office he held by March 1163.[3] He performed the duties of the chancellor's office after Thomas Becket's resignation of the office, but no documents explicitly name him to the office.[4] He also served as a royal judge.[5] By 1165, Ridel was a baron of the Exchequer.[2]

During the controversy between King Henry II of England and Archbishop Thomas Becket, Geoffrey supported the king.[6] Ridel went to Rome in 1164 to represent the king before the papal curia, and in 1166 opposed Becket once more. By 1169 he was urging King Louis VII of France to no longer give refuge to Becket.[2] Becket's supporters called Ridel the "archidiabolus",[7] or "our archdevil", a play on the office of archdeacon which Ridel held. Ridel also urged King Henry's son, Henry the Young King, to refuse to see the archbishop in 1170, telling the prince that Becket wished to disinherit the prince.[2]

After the controversy was resolved, he was rewarded with a bishopric.[8] He was elected to the see of Ely in late April of 1173 and consecrated on October 6, 1174[9] at Canterbury.[2] For a number of years previous to his election he had been the custodian of the see, and had received the episcopal revenues.[7] He resigned the chancellorship when he became a bishop.[10] He continued to be involved in governmental affairs, attending councils and escorting King Henry II's daughter Joanna to Provence when the princess was sent to Sicily to marry King William II of Sicily. He also continued to hold the office of baron of the exchequer at least as late as 1185.[2]

He died on either August 21, 1189 or August 20.[9][11] After his death, King Richard I of England confiscated his personal property,[12] because Geoffrey had died without a will. The bishop's estate at his death included over 3000 marks in coins, as well as agricultural supplies and gold and silver plate.[13] He was buired in Ely Cathedral. During his time as bishop, he built much of the western transept of Ely Cathedral.[2]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 84
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Duggan "Ridel, Geoffrey (d. 1189)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ British History Online Archdeacons of Canterbury accessed on October 25, 2007
  4. ^ Warren Henry II p. 307
  5. ^ Barlow The English Church 1066-1154 p. 256
  6. ^ Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 401
  7. ^ a b Warren Henry II p. 535
  8. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 220
  9. ^ a b Fryde Handbook of British Chronology p. 244
  10. ^ Huscroft Ruling England p. 191
  11. ^ British History Online Bishops of Ely accessed on October 25, 2007
  12. ^ Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 190 footnote3
  13. ^ Gillingham Richard I p. 115

[edit] References

Political offices
Preceded by
Thomas Becket
Lord Chancellor
1162–1173
Succeeded by
Ralph de Warneville
Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
Nigel
Bishop of Ely
1173–1189
Succeeded by
William Longchamp
Persondata
NAME Ridel, Geoffrey
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Bishop of Ely; Lord Chancellor of England
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH August 1189
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages