Geoffrey II, Duke of Brittany
Geoffrey (
September 23 1158 â€"
August 19 1186) was
Duke of Brittany between
1181 and 1186, through his marriage with the heiress
Constance. Geoffrey was the fourth son of King
Henry II of England and Duchess
Eleanor of Aquitaine.
He was a younger maternal half-brother of
Marie de Champagne and
Alix of France. He was a younger brother of
William, Count of Poitiers,
Henry the Young King,
Matilda of England and
Richard I of England. He was also an older brother of
Leonora of Aquitaine,
Joan of England and
John of England.
King Henry arranged for Geoffrey to marry
Constance, the heiress of Brittany. Geoffrey was invested with the duchy, and he and Constance were married in
1181. Geoffrey and Constance would have three children, one born posthumously:#
Eleanor, Fair Maid of Brittany (
1184-
1241)#
Maud of Brittany (
1185-before May
1189)#
Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (
1187-
1203)
He was fifteen years old when he joined the first revolt against his father, and was later reconciled to Henry in 1174, when he took part in the truce meetings at Gisors (when Richard was not present) and later, when Richard was reconciled at a place between Tours and Amboise. Geoffrey also figured prominently in the second revolt of 1183, fighting against Richard on the side of the Young King.
He was a good friend of the French king
Philip Augustus, and the two statesmen were frequently in alliance against King Henry. Geoffrey spent much time at Philip's court in Paris, and Philip made him his seneschal. There is evidence to suggest that Geoffrey was planning another rebellion with Philip's help during his final period in Paris in the summer of 1186. As a participant in so many rebellions against his father, Geoffrey acquired a reputation for treachery. Gerald of Wales said the following of him: "He has more aloes than honey in him; his tongue is smoother than oil; his sweet and persuasive eloquence has enabled him to dissolve the firmest alliances and his powers of language to throw two kingdoms into confusion..."
Geoffrey also was known to attack monasteries and churches in order to raise funds for his campaigns. This lack of reverence for religion earned him the displeasure of the Church and also of the majority of chroniclers who were to write the definitive accounts of his life.
Geoffrey died on August 19, 1186, at the age of twenty-eight. There are two possible versions of what happened to him: the more common story is that he was trampled to death during a jousting tournament. At his funeral, a grief-stricken Philip was said to have tried to jump into the coffin with him. The source of this story is
Roger of Hoveden's chronicle, and the detail of Philip's hysterical grief comes from
Gerald of Wales. However, the chronicle of
Rigord, a French royal clerk, claims that Geoffrey died of a sudden illness: an attack of acute abdominal pain, which apparently happened immediately after Geoffrey made a speech to Philip, boasting of his intentions to lay waste to Normandy. It is possible that this version of events was an invention of the chronicler, the sudden illness representing God's judgement on an ungrateful son for plotting rebellion against his father and for his lack of regard for religion. It is more likely, however, that the tournament story was itself an invention, created by Philip to prevent a plot from being discovered by Henry II. By inventing a purely social reason, a tournament, for Geoffrey to be in Paris, Philip obscured the probable nature of their plotting. See [
1]
See also: Dukes of Brittany family tree â€"
British monarchs family tree â€"
Other politically important horse accidentsWith a character closely resembling that given by Gerald of Wales above, Geoffrey appears as a major character in the
James Goldman play
The Lion in Winter. In the 1968 film version of the play, Geoffrey is played by
John Castle and in the 2003 film version the role is portrayed by
John Light.
* Everard, Judith.
Charters of Duchess Constance of Brittany and her Family, 1171-1221, 1999
* Everard, Judith.
Brittany and the Angevins: Province and Empire, 1158-1203, 2000
* Gillingham, John.
The Life and Tmes of Richard I, 1973
* Reston, James.
Warriors of God: Richard the Lion-Heart and Saladin in the Third Crusade, 2001
* Hoveden on the
The 1183 Revolt*
The Medieval Sourcebook contains many primary sources including Hoveden and Gerald of Wales, some of which pertaining to Geoffrey
