Geoffrey Ridel (bishop of Ely)

Geoffrey Ridel (died August 1189) was the nineteenth Lord Chancellor of England, from 1162 to 1173.<ref name=Handbook84>Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 84</ref>

Ridel 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 started witnessing charters.<ref name=DNB>Duggan "Ridel, Geoffrey" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography</ref> He was a king's clerk before he was Archdeacon of Canterbury, which office he held by March 1163.<ref name=BHOArchDCant>Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Canterbury: Archdeacons of Canterbury</ref> He performed the duties of the chancellor's office after Thomas Becket resigned the office, but no documents explicitly name him to the office.<ref name=HenryII307>Warren Henry II p. 307</ref> He also served as a royal judge.<ref name=Church256>Barlow English Church p. 256</ref> By 1165, Ridel was a baron of the Exchequer.<ref name=DNB/>

During the controversy between King Henry II of England and Archbishop Thomas Becket, Ridel supported the king.<ref name=Bartlett401>Bartlett England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings p. 401</ref> Ridel was one of the persons whom the Constitutions of Clarendon were addressed to, along with Richard de Luci and Richard of Ilchester.<ref name=Constitutions759>Knowles, et al. "Henry II's Supplement" English Historical Review p. 759</ref> 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.<ref name=DNB/> Becket's supporters called Ridel the "archidiabolus",<ref name=HenryII535>Warren Henry II p. 535</ref> 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.<ref name=DNB/>

After the controversy was resolved, Ridel was rewarded with a bishopric.<ref name=Poole220>Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 220</ref> He was elected to the see of Ely in late April 1173 and consecrated on 6 October 1174<ref name=Handbook244>Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 244</ref> at Canterbury.<ref name=DNB/> For several years previous to his election he had been the custodian of the see and had received the episcopal revenues.<ref name=HenryII535/> He resigned the chancellorship when he became a bishop.<ref name=Huscroft191>Huscroft Ruling England p. 191</ref> 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.<ref name=DNB/>

Ridel died on either 20 or 21 August 1189.<ref name=Handbook244/><ref name=BHOEly>Greenway Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces): Ely: Bishops</ref> After his death, King Richard I of England confiscated his personal property,<ref name=Poole190fn>Poole Domesday Book to Magna Carta p. 190 footnote3</ref> because Geoffrey had died without a will.<ref name=Patronage10>Turner "Religious Patronage" Albion p. 10</ref> The bishop's estate at his death included over 3000 marks in coins, as well as agricultural supplies and gold and silver plate.<ref name=RichardI115>Gillingham Richard I p. 115</ref> He was buried in Ely Cathedral. During his time as bishop, he built much of the western transept of Ely Cathedral.<ref name=DNB/>