Geoffrey de Turville or de Tourville (died 1250) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born judge and

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

in thirteenth century

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, who held office as

Bishop of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Provinces of Ireland, Province of Leinster, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remain ...

and

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland (commonly known as Lord Chancellor of Ireland) was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801, it was also the highest political office of ...

, and was noted as an extremely efficient administrator. His career has been described as an excellent example of what a clerk in the royal service might hope to accomplish.

He was a native of

Turville Turville is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, west of High Wycombe, east-southeast of Watlington, north of Henley-on-Thames and 2 miles (3 km) from the Oxfordshire border. The name is Anglo-S ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, where an earlier Geoffrey de Turville (c.1122-1177) had been Lord of the Manor of

Weston Turville Weston Turville is a historic village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, 3 miles (4.9 km) from the market town of Wendover and 3.5 miles (5.7 km) f ...

Bishop of Ossory

He is first heard of in

in 1218, in the entourage of Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin. He held the

benefices A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Dungarvan from 1224, and was appointed

Archdeacon of Dublin The Archdeacon of Dublin is a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Anglican Diocese of Dublin and Glendalough. The Archdeacon is responsible for the disciplinary supervision of the clergy within the Dublin part of the diocese, which is by far ...

in 1227, before becoming

in 1244. He was described as a man who was "in high favour with the English Crown".Carrigan, William ''The History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory'' published by Seary Byers and Walker, Dublin 1905 Vol. 1 p.37 Given his own English birth, it is not surprising that he opposed a proposal to prevent English clerics from holding any

canonry A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

in an Irish

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, and it was probably he who secured

Papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

condemnation for the proposal. As Bishop of Ossory in 1245 he was granted the right to hold an annual

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

and a weekly market in

Kilkenny Kilkenny (). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512. Kilken ...

; he was also granted the right to hold another annual fair at

Durrow, County Laois Durrow (, formerly ''Darmhagh Ua nDuach'') is a village located in south-east County Laois, Ireland. Bypassed by the M8 motorway on 28 May 2010, the village is located on the R639 road at its junction with the N77. The River Erkina flows thr ...

beginning on St Swithin's Day, together with the right to hold a

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

there every Thursday, and he was given similar privileges at

Freshford, County Kilkenny Freshford () is a village and former town in the barony of Crannagh, County Kilkenny, Ireland. History The village is the site of a monastery dating to the early 7th century. The Irish name ''achadh úr'' has historically been anglicised as '' ...

. He was granted the supply of a conduit of water by the monks of the

Black Abbey The Black Abbey of Kilkenny, Ireland, is a Catholic priory of the Dominican Order, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Black Abbey was established in 1225 as one of the first houses of the Dominican Order in Ireland. The history of the ...

Treasurer and Chancellor

He also held a number of administrative and judicial posts. He was Chamberlain of the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting The Crown, royal revenue. Modelled on the Exchequer, English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure ...

1230–32, and

Treasurer of Ireland The Lord High Treasurer of Ireland was the head of the Exchequer of Ireland, chief financial officer of the Kingdom of Ireland. The designation ''High'' was added in 1695. After the Acts of Union 1800 created the United Kingdom of Great Britain ...

from 1235 to 1250, and is credited with several reforms which improved the working of the Treasury. He served as an itinerant justice in 1230, and was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in about 1237, having already served as Deputy Chancellor from 1232. He acted as Deputy

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch) ...

1245–6. Elrington Ball praises Geoffrey as a learned and able lawyer. Otway-Ruthven credits him as being the Lord Chancellor who developed the

Irish Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court which exercised equitable jurisdiction in Ireland until its abolition as part of the reform of the court system in 1877. It was the court in which the Lord Chancellor of Ireland presided. Its final sitting plac ...

as a Government Department in its own right, which was fully independent of the English Chancery, and had its own staff. As Treasurer he began the practice by which the Irish Exchequer kept its own separate accounts for

audit An audit is an "independent examination of financial information of any entity, whether profit oriented or not, irrespective of its size or legal form when such an examination is conducted with a view to express an opinion thereon.” Auditing ...

by the

English Exchequer In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reve ...

. He was the first Irish Treasurer to receive a fixed salary. He also oversaw the

minting Minting is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated south from the A158 road. The population (including Gautby) at the 2011 census was 286. Minting Priory was located here. Mi ...

of the

Great Seal of Ireland The Great Seal of Ireland was the seal used until 1922 by the Dublin Castle administration to authenticate important state documents in Ireland, in the same manner as the Great Seal of the Realm in England. The Great Seal of Ireland was used fr ...

. He died in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in October 1250, and was buried in the

Temple Church The Temple Church is a Royal peculiar church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of J ...

.Ball p.46

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Turville, Geoffrey 13th-century Irish judges 13th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland People from Buckinghamshire 13th-century English clergy 1250 deaths Archdeacons of Dublin Bishops of Ossory