Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Newbald, Geoffrey de
NEWBALD or NEWBAUD, GEOFFREY de (d. 1283), judge, is first mentioned as being appointed, on 24 Oct. 1275, an assessor in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk of the fifteenth granted by the prelates, earls, and barons (Parl. Writs, i. 759). In Michaelmas term 1276 he was present in full council when judgment was given against Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester [q. v.], in a suit concerning certain lands between him and the king; on 2 Nov. in the same year he was appointed a justice to hold pleas in the priory of Dunstable. On 20 Aug. 1277 he became chancellor of the exchequer, with a salary of forty marks (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 47), an appointment which was confirmed two years later (ib. p. 48). Newbald also appears as ‘custos’ of the bishopric of Durham (Rymer, i. ii. 530), and was presented to the church of Ronbery (?Rothbury) in the same diocese. The bishop refused to admit him, and the issue of his petition to parliament is not recorded (Rolls of Parliament, Index). In 1278 he received grants of money to provide for the journey of Alexander, king of Scots, to Westminster, and was present there on 29 Sept., when Alexander did homage to Edward. In 1280–1 he was granted lands in Lincolnshire. He also held land in Kent, and in 1270 had some litigation with the proctor of Monks Horton priory (Archæologia Cant. x. 278). On 15 Nov. 1282 he was granted the prebend of Hunderdon in Hereford Cathedral (Cal. Pat. Rolls, Edw. I, p. 40; cf. Le Neve, i. 509, where the name appears as Newland). He was also dean of St. Martin's-le-Grand, London. He died in January 1283. Examples of his seal are preserved in the British Museum (MSS. Cat. of Seals).
[Foss's Lives of the Judges; Parl. Writs, i. 759; Calend. Rotul. Patentium, pp. 47–8; Rolls of Parliament; Rymer's Fœdera, 1816 edit. I. ii. 530, 563; Rotulorum in Scaccario Abbreviatio, i. 37; Dugdale's Chron. Series, p. 26; Madox's Exchequer, ii. 52, 62, 321; Archæologia Cantiana, x. 278.]