Walter Giffard (April 1279) was

Lord Chancellor of England The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

and

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

Family

Henry III of England - Illustration from Cassell's History of England - Century Edition - published circa 1902

Giffard was a son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

,Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Archbishops
' a royal justice, by Sibyl, a daughter and co-heiress of Walter de Cormeilles. He was born about 1225, and may have been the oldest son.Dobson "Giffard, Walter" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' Hugh and Sybil were entrusted with the care of the young Prince Edward in 1239.Prestwich ''Edward I'' pp. 5–6 In 1256 Giffard and his mother received the king's licence to live in Boyton Castle. Giffard's brother was Bishop

Godfrey Giffard Godfrey Giffard ( 12351302) was Chancellor of the Exchequer of England, Lord Chancellor of England and Bishop of Worcester. Early life Giffard was a son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton in Wiltshire,Bishop of Worcester and also Lord Chancellor of England; his sister Mabel was the

Abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...

Shaftesbury Abbey Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second ...

. Walter was also a kinsman of William of Bitton I, who was Walter's predecessor at Bath.Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 7: Bath and Wells: Bishops
' The family was also related to

Walter de Gray Walter de Gray (died 1 May 1255) was an English prelate and statesman who was Archbishop of York from 1215 to 1255 and Lord Chancellor from 1205 to 1214. His uncle was John de Gray, who was a bishop and royal servant to King John of England. Af ...

, who was Archbishop of York from 1215 to 1255.

Career

Giffard studied at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and took his Master of Arts at

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. While at university

Adam Marsh Adam Marsh (Adam de Marisco; c. 120018 November 1259) was an English Franciscan, scholar and theologian. Marsh became, after Robert Grosseteste, "...the most eminent master of England." Biography He was born about 1200 in the diocese of Bath, a ...

wrote to another scholar praising Giffard's scholarly skills. Giffard took holy orders and became a

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

and archdeacon of Wells and a papal chaplain.Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 7: Bath and Wells: Unidentified Prebendaries
' On 22 May 1264 he was elected

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

and received the

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a ''Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

on 1 September 1264. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Boniface of Savoy was in France, Giffard travelled to Paris to be consecrated at Notre-Dame on 4 January 1265.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 282 The service was performed by Peter d'Acquablanca, the Bishop of Hereford, Giffard having first sworn that he would not take part against King Henry III. However, the barons were angered that he had ventured abroad against their will and ravaged nearly all his manors. Archbishop Boniface ordered him to

excommunicate Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the Koinonia, communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The ...

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

the

Earl of Leicester Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837. Early creatio ...

and his party on Giffard's return to England. Following the Battle of Evesham, on 10 August 1265 King Henry made Giffard Chancellor and awarded him a stipend of five hundred marks a year.Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 85 In August of the following year he was appointed one of the arbitrators for drawing up the

Dictum of Kenilworth The Dictum of Kenilworth, issued on 31 October 1266, was a pronouncement designed to reconcile the rebels of the Second Barons' War with the royal government of England. After the baronial victory at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Simon de Montfor ...

which provided the disinherited lords a means of recovering their estates. On 15 October 1266 Giffard was appointed by Pope Clement IV to the Archbishopric of York. As part of this elevation he resigned the chancellorship and was enthroned on 1 November 1266, receiving his temporalities on Boxing day. Soon after his enthronement he became involved in a dispute with Archbishop Boniface of Canterbury about the right to carry his cross erect in the southern province, and ended up making an appeal to Rome. Although Giffard had family wealth and much money associated with his office, he could not keep clear of debt. In the years after his appointment he paid 1600

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s to Italian money-lenders, 550 marks to certain merchants of Paris, and in 1270 sent 200 marks to his agents at Rome to expedite his affairs, hoping, "...for the present to keep out of the whirlpool of usury." Despite his own financial problems he seems to have been kind to his relatives, paying for his nephew's education and giving his brother Godfrey the Archdeaconry of York.Greenway
Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 6: York: Archdeacons: York
' His register contains many gifts to the poor, and he helped support schoolmasters at Beverley.Moorman ''Church Life'' pp. 205–207 He also supported the scholarly careers of two of his successors at York, John le Romeyn and

William Greenfield William Greenfield (died 6 December 1315) served as both the Lord Chancellor of England and the Archbishop of York. He was also known as William of Greenfield. Early life Greenfield was born in the eponymous Lincolnshire hamlet of Greenfield. ...

. On 13 October 1269 Giffard officiated at the translation of Edward the Confessor's relics. When leaving England, Prince Edward (who was then heir to the throne) appointed him by will in 1270 as one of the tutors of his sons. He also assisted Edward in bringing John de Warenne the

Earl of Surrey Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror. It is currently held as a subsidiary title by the Dukes of Norfol ...

to justice for the murder of Alan la Zouche at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

. Upon the death of Henry III on 20 November 1272 the Great Seal was delivered to the Archbishop as first Lord of the Council in order for him, Roger Mortimer and

Robert Burnell Robert Burnell (sometimes spelled Robert Burnel;Harding ''England in the Thirteenth Century'' p. 159 c. 1239 – 25 October 1292) was an English bishop who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1274 to 1292. A native of Shropshire, h ...

to be appointed to govern the Kingdom until the return of the new king, now Edward I, to the country in August 1274.Chrimes ''Introduction to the Administrative History'' p. 130 Giffard again acted in this capacity during the king's absence in 1275.

Death

Giffard died at York on or about 22 April 1279, and he was buried in

York Minster The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...

, probably in the choir. Archbishop Thoresby later removed his body to a tomb which he had erected in the presbytery. Contemporary reports state that Giffard was a handsome, happy and genial man who was fond of luxury; as a result of this in later life he grew fat which affected both his health and his temper. He was noted at the time as being a man of high character who was able and industrious.

Citations

References

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External links

Godfrey Giffard's Will
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giffard, Walter 1279 deaths People from Wiltshire Archbishops of York Bishops of Bath and Wells Archdeacons of Wells 13th-century English Roman Catholic archbishops High Sheriffs of Nottinghamshire High Sheriffs of Derbyshire Lord chancellors of England Burials at York Minster Year of birth uncertain 1225 births