Geoffrey de Gorham (Goreham,

Gorron Gorron () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. It has a twin town in the UK, Hayling Island, as well as a twin town in Germany, Schwaikheim. There are a range of shops and services to be found in Gorron. The river Col ...

), sometimes called Geoffrey of Dunstable or of Le Mans (died at

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, 26 February 1146), was a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

scholar who became Abbot of St Albans Abbey, 1119 to 1146.Burton, Edwin. "Geoffrey of Dunstable." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 28 August 2022

Life

Geoffrey, born in the

province of Maine The Province of Maine refers to any of the various English colonies established in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, within portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and the Canadian ...

, then annexed to the Dukedom of Normandy, was from a noble family of Caen, Normandy. He was invited by Richard d'Aubeney, Abbot of St Albans, to become master of the

Abbey school The Abbey School is an independent selective day school for girls, in Reading, Berkshire, England. Overview The Abbey School provides education for girls aged 3 to 18 years. The school is based in the centre of Reading, on Kendrick Road. The ...

. On his arrival, he found that, owing to his journey being delayed, another had been appointed, whereupon he opened a school at

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

. According to the ''Gesta Abbatum Monasterii Sancti Albani'' ("The Deeds of the Abbots of the Monastery of St Alban"), Geoffrey staged a

miracle play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

on St. Katherine. A chronicle relates how he had borrowed some

cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

s from

St Albans Abbey St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban but often referred to locally as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Norman times. It ceased to be ...

for the performance, but had the misfortune to lose his books and the copes in a fire at his house in the night after the performance. To make up to God and the saint for the loss of the copes, he determined to become a monk of St Albans Abbey.

Abbot

Here he rose to be prior, and finally was elected abbot on the death of Richard, in 1119. He ruled for twenty-six years, and the abbey prospered. He built a fine guests' hall, and an infirmary with a chapel. Although he spent large sums on a new shrine of

St Alban Saint Alban (; la, Albanus) is venerated as the first-recorded British Christian martyr, for which reason he is considered to be the British protomartyr. Along with fellow Saints Julius and Aaron, Alban is one of three named martyrs recorded ...

, he did not hesitate during a year of famine to remove the silver plates and use them to relieve the poor. He translated the body of the saint to the completed shrine on 2 August 1129. He also founded the hospital of St. Julian for lepers, on the London road. During the wars of King

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

's reign, he melted down other silver and gave it to

William of Ypres William of Ypres ( nl, Willem van Yper; 1090 – 24 January 116524 January 1164 O.S., 1165 N.S.) was a Flemish nobleman and one of the first mercenary captains of the Middle Ages. Following two unsuccessful bids for the County of Flanders, ...

, and the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The e ...

, as ransom for the town of St. Albans, which they threatened to burn. Margate lg

Geoffrey endowed the nunnery at Sopwell.

Markyate Priory Markyate Priory was a Benedictine priory in Bedfordshire, England. It was established in 1145 and disestablished in 1537. History The priory of Markyate was founded in 1145, in a wood which was then part of the parish of Caddington, and belonged ...

, in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, was founded in 1145, in a wood which was then part of the parish of

Caddington Caddington () is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. It is between the Luton/Dunstable urban area (to the north), and Hertfordshire (to the south). The western border of the parish is Watlin ...

, and belonged to the Dean and Chapter of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

, London. The house was built under the patronage of Geoffrey, for his friend, the

recluse A recluse is a person who lives in voluntary seclusion from the public and society. The word is from the Latin ''recludere'', which means "shut up" or "sequester". Historically, the word referred to a Christian hermit's total isolation from th ...

Christina of Markyate Christina of Markyate was born with the name Theodora in Huntingdon, England, about 1096–1098 and died about 1155. She was an anchoress, who came from a wealthy English family trying to accommodate with the Normans at that time. She later bec ...

. It has been suggested by Janet Geddes and other scholars that Geoffrey's esteem for the prioress was such that he had a

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

made as a gift for her; and in celebration of their friendship had an illuminated "C" placed at the beginning of Psalm 105. Geoffrey de Gorham died at St Albans 26 February 1146. His nephew Robert de Gorham became the eighteenth Abbot in 1151.Gorham, George Cornelius. ''Genealogical accounts of the Breton and Anglo-Breton families De Gorram, in the Maine, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries.'', vol 1, J.B. Nichols and Son, 1837, p. 18
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References

;Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geoffrey De Gorham 1146 deaths Norman Benedictines Abbots of St Albans Anglo-Normans Burials at St Albans Cathedral Year of birth unknown