Duke Geoffrey England BRITTANY

   Other names for Geoffrey were ENGLAND Prince, RICHMOND Earl and BRITTANY Duke.

   Ancestral File Number: 8WKQ-5R.

   General Notes:

Prince of ENGLAND, Earl of RICHMOND, Duke of BRITTANY Reigned 1171-1186.

Father of Arthur, who was murdered by King John.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Geoffrey, Duke of Britanny, Earl of Richmond, Mar Constance Daughter of Conan IV Duke of Britanny, Killed in Tournament 1186."

The PoliticalHistory of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, Ch XIV, p297:
"...[Henry's] hold on Britanny was strengthened by the death, in February, 1171, of Conan the candidate whom he had recognized as count. Since 1166the administration of the country had been practically in his hands; and in that year his son Geoffrey had been betrothed to Constance, the daughter and heiress of Conan. Geoffrey would now succeed to the countship, but he was still a child; and Britanny was virtually incorporated in Henry's continental empire."
Ch XVI, p345: [1186] "...Geoffrey, however, offered himself to Philip's purposes. Henry's third son seems to have been in character and conduct somewhat like his eldest brother, the young king. He had the same popular gifts and attractive manners; he enjoyed an almost equal renown for knightly accomplishments and for the knightly virtue of `largesse'; and he was, in the same way, bitterly dissatisfied with his own position. He believed that the death of his brother ought to improve his prospects, and his mind was set on having the county of Anjou added to his possessions. When Richard and his father refused him this, he turned to France and betookhimself to Paris. Philip received him with open arms, and they speedily became devoted friends. Just what their immediate plans were we cannot say. They evidently had not been made public, and various rumours were in circulation. Some said that Geoffrey would hold Britanny of Philip; or he had been made seneschal of France, an office that ought to go with the county of Anjou; or he was about to invade and devastate Normandy. It is probable that some overt action would have been undertaken very shortly when suddenly, on August 19, Geoffrey died, having been mortally hurt in a tournament, or from an attack of fever, or perhaps from both causes. He was buried in Paris, Philip showing great grief and being, it is said, with difficulty restrained from throwing himself into the grave."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, 1949, Doubleday & Co, p47:
"A son followed [Joanna], who was given the name of Geoffrey and who married the heiress of Brittany..."
p103: "In 1171 [Henry's] third son Geoffrey was married to Constance, the heiress of Brittany, and assumed the title of duke of that rugged corner of France, with its rocky shores and tumultuous streams, jutting out between the Sleeve (as the French always called the Channel) and the Bay of Biscay. Now all of northern France was included in the Angevin empire, as well as the west and some of the south..."
p107: "The castle of Chinon was one of the three which Henry's father had willed to Geoffrey, his brother. Geoffrey being dead, it had come to Henry..."
p125: "From the moment he became King, Philip set himself with a fierce determination, which seemed strange in a boy ofhis [14] years, to carrying out his threat. He made a point of winning the friendship of the three remaining sons of the English King and became particularly close to Geoffrey, the Duke of Brittany. Geoffrey was the most difficult of all the English princes, and so his liking for Philip was certain to cause trouble. The tie was soon broken, however, in a way which caused the tired King still more grief. Geoffrey, who was the handsomest member of the royal family and almost as adeptwith arms as the mighty Richard, entered a tournament in Paris. He was thrown from his horse and trampled to death.
"The tragedy was an even greater blow to Eleanor, who had loved Geoffrey next to Richard...it caused her to fall into a long period of deep melancholy.. She wrote, `The Young King and the Duke of Brittany both sleep in dust while their wretched mother is compelled to live on, though tortured by the irremediable recollections of the dead.'"

The Oxford Book of RoyalAnecdotes, Elizabeth Longford, 1991, Oxford Univ Press, pxix: "Normans and Plantagenets Genealogy: Geoffrey, mar Constance of Brittany, died 1186."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol I, p372, Angevin (Norman) Empire: "...Brittany, first conquered by Henry I in 1113, was finally brought into the Angevin Empire when Henry II's son Geoffrey (died 1186), who married the heiress of Duke Conan IV, succeeded as Duke of Brittany in 1171..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Macropaedia, Vol XV, p827, Richard I the Lion- Heart of England: "...The third son of Henry II and Eleanor...like all [their] sons, he had little or no filial piety, foresight, or sense of responsibility. He joined his brothers in the great rebellion (1173-1174) against their father, who invaded Aquitaine twice before Richard submitted and received pardon... Richard's harshness infuriated the Gascons, who revolted in 1183 and called in the help of the `Young King' Henry and his brotherGeoffrey of Brittany in an effort to drive Richard from his duchy altogether. Alarmed at the threatened disintegration of his empire, Henry II brought the feudal host of his continental lands to Richard's aid, but the younger Henry died suddenly (June 11, 1183) and the uprising collapsed..."

The Magnificent Century, Thomas B Costain, 1951, Popular Library, p20: "Geoffrey, Born 1158, Died 1186, Married Constance of Brittany 1181..."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Family Search 19 Aug 1999 Ancestral File v4.19 AFN: 8WKQ-5R.

   Marriage Information:

Geoffrey married Duchess Constance BRITTANY, daughter of Duke Conan Bretagne BRITTANY, IV and Margaret De HUNTINGDON, in Jul 1181-1182. (Duchess Constance BRITTANY died in 1201.)