Jump to content

Geoffrey Ridel (royal justice)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the royal justice. For other uses, see Geoffrey Ridel.

Geoffrey Ridel (died 25 November 1120) was a landholder and royal justice during the reign of King Henry I of England.

Ridel is mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book as holding land in Norfolk, and is probably also the same Geoffrey who held land in Derbyshire in Domesday. The mention in the Norfolk section of Domesday notes that Ridel had journeyed with William Bigod, brother of Roger Bigod, back from Apulia.[1] Ridel and William's arrival in England can be dated to between 1075 and 1086.[2] Ridel may have been born in southern Italy or Sicily, as a Ridel family was well known there in the 11th and 12th centuries. Another Geoffrey Ridel (active between 1061 and 1084) was a supporter of Robert Guiscard and was appointed Duke of Gaeta.[3] Other possibilities for his origin include the county of Perche, where a Geoffrey Ridel was a witness to a charter of the Count of Perche around 1080.[1]

Ridel married Geva, who is often stated to have been an illegitimate daughter of Hugh, Earl of Chester Sir William Dugdale. [1][4] states that she is the daughter of Hugh d'Avranches. also cited in House of Benedictine Monks: The Priory of Canwell, stating she is the daughter of Hugh 1, Earl of Winches ester.

However, she did not inherit her father's lands.[3] Ridel's lands were centered on Great Weldon in Northamptonshire, which had belonged to Robert de Buci in Domesday Book.[3]

Ridel first appears as a witness to Henry's documents in 1105.[3] In 1106, Ridel served as a royal justice hearing a case concerning the rights of the Archbishop of York to the church at Ripon. Along with Ridel, Ralph Basset, Ranulf Meschin and Peter de Valognes served on the panel of judges.[5] In 1111, Ridel was an advisor to Queen Matilda, who had been left as regent of England while Henry was in Normandy.[6]

The chronicler Henry of Huntingdon called Ridel "justice of all England",[7] although this title was also given to Ralph Basset, Richard Basset, and Robert Bloet, and should not be equated to the title of Chief Justiciar. Instead, the phrase probably indicated that Ridel, along with the others, was a royal justice who had powers that were not restricted to any one part of England, but that extended over the entirety of the kingdom.[8]

Ridel's brother, Matthew, was a monk of Mont Saint-Michel and was elected abbot of Peterborough Abbey in 1102 but died 21 October 1103.[9] Ridel acquired the manor of Pytchley in Northamptonshire, which belonged to Peterborough, through the offices of his brother. After Matthew's death, the next abbot attempted to regain the manor, but Ridel successfully retain control, although he was required to pay rent for the property.[10]

Geoffery had a sister by the name of Hawise Ridel [11] stating that she was his sister, mentioning Geva in the same context.

Geoffrey Ridel died in 1120 in the shipwreck of the White Ship.

Geva survived Ridel and later founded the monastic house of Canwell Priory in Staffordshire.[3] [12]

Marriage and Progeny

[edit]

Geoffrey and Geva had issue:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Keats-Rohan Domesday People pp. 230–231
  2. ^ Barlow William Rufus p. 61
  3. ^ a b c d e Green "Ridel, Geoffrey (d. 1120)" Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  4. ^ Monasticon Anglicanum, or the history of the ancient abbies, and other monasteries, hospitals, cathedral and collegiate churches in England and Wales. With divers French, Irish, and Scotch monasteries formerly relating to England by Dugdale, William, Sir Publication date 1693 https://archive.org/details/monasticonanglic00dugd/page/49/mode/1up?q=geva
  5. ^ Green Henry I p. 116
  6. ^ Green Government of England pp. 39–40
  7. ^ Quoted in Green Government of England p. 48
  8. ^ Green Government of England p. 48
  9. ^ Knowles, et al. Heads of Religious Houses p. 60
  10. ^ Green Aristocracy of Norman England p. 267
  11. ^ Ingulph's chronicle of the abbey of Croyland with the continuations by Peter of Blois and anonymous writers by Ingulf, 1030?-1109; Peter, of Blois, ca. 1135-ca. 1212; Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas), 1816-1878, tr Publication date 1854 page 245. https://archive.org/details/ingulphschronic03petegoog/page/146/mode/2up?q=hawise
  12. ^ A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol3/pp213-2161970.
  13. ^ Name: Ansketil (of Saint-Médard) https://opendomesday.org/name/ansketil-of-saint-medard/
  14. ^ RICHARD BASSET Justice and tenant-in-chief of the honour of Great Weldon (Northants) page 16 https://actswilliam2henry1.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/h1-richard-basset-2018-1.pdf
  15. ^ Pipe Roll 31 Hen I (1129/30), Northamptonshire, p. 83.
  16. ^ Descriptio militum de Abbatia de Burgo, p. 168.
  17. ^ de St Medard Pedigree http://www.cb5.co.uk/StMedard1.htm

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Barlow, Frank (1983). William Rufus. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-04936-5.
  • Green, Judith A. (1997). The Aristocracy of Norman England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-52465-2.
  • Green, Judith A. (1986). The Government of England Under Henry I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-37586-X.
  • Green, Judith A. (2006). Henry I: King of England and Duke of Normandy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-74452-2.
  • Green, Judith A. (2004). "Ridel, Geoffrey (d. 1120)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (revised May 2008 ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23617. Retrieved 13 May 2011. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
  • Hatton's Christopher Sir Bk. of Seals, ed. L. C. Loyd and Doris M. Stenton, pp. 35-36; Dugdale, Mon. iv. 106-7; Lich. Dioc. Regy., B/A/1/2, f. 197; ibid./11, f. 61; C 142/76/36. Geva founded the priory in honour of St. Mary, St. Giles, and All Saints: Dugdale, Mon. iv. 105.
  • Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. (1999). Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166: Domesday Book. Ipswich, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 0-85115-722-X.
  • Knowles, David; London, Vera C. M.; Brooke, Christopher (2001). The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales, 940–1216 (Second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-80452-3.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geoffrey_Ridel_(royal_justice)&oldid=1265261153"