Geoffrey de Burgh

Coat of arms of Geoffrey de Burgh (1215)

Geoffrey de Burgh (* uncertain: around 1180; † December 17, 1228 ) was a bishop of the English diocese of Ely .

Origin and spiritual career

Geoffrey de Burgh was the third or fourth son of a Norfolk knight . His father's name is unknown, only the first name Alice has been passed down from his mother . His older brother was the future justiciar Hubert de Burgh . Since Geoffrey became archdeacon in 1200 and was thus of legal age, he must have been born around 1180 at the latest. Almost nothing is known about his youth, except that he probably received no special education and training and probably did not attend university. Unlike his brothers who entered the service of the English kings, Geoffrey began a spiritual career. He was supported by his brother Hubert, who made a career under King Johann Ohneland . That Geoffrey was temporarily active in the treasury cannot be proven and is considered unlikely. Instead, he received the parish of Heighington , County Durham , from Philip of Poitou , Bishop of Durham, and later he was also given the parish of Itteringham , Norfolk. When the Diocese of Norwich was vacant in 1200 , King John used his right to appoint offices during the vacancy and in the summer of 1200 appointed Burgh Archdeacon of Norwich . Before 1214 Burgh received a canon in Salisbury .

Bishop of Ely

After the death of Bishop Eustace von Ely in 1215, the monks of the cathedral priory elected Geoffrey de Burgh as the new bishop, presumably influenced by King John and Hubert de Burgh. However, some dissatisfied monks also elected Master Robert of York , an official of the late Eustace, as bishop. The king refused this choice, but handed over the temporalities of the diocese to Robert in June 1215 . Robert kept this until March 1216, and until at least 1217 he also had the spiritual leadership of the diocese. In May 1219, Pope Honorius III declared. Both elections were invalid, whereupon John , the abbot of Fountains Cistercian Abbey in Yorkshire, was elected as the new bishop. John of Fountains died on May 6, 1225, and shortly thereafter Geoffrey de Burgh, who had previously retained his other ecclesiastical offices, was elected the new bishop. His new election was again due to his brother Hubert. On June 2 the temporal was given to him and on June 29 he was ordained a bishop.

There were no special incidents in his diocese during his brief tenure. He issued the oldest known statutes of the Hospital of St Mary Magdalene at Ely . He bequeathed his chasers and silver chasers and land to his cathedral priory in Wisbech , Cambridgeshire . He was buried in Ely Cathedral.

Web links

• Nicholas Karn: Burgh, Geoffrey de (d. 1228). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004

predecessor	Office	successor
John of Fountains	Bishop of Ely 1225-1228	Hugh of Northwold