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Birthbef 1232
Death29 May 1299
Burial11 Jun 1299, Malmesbury Abbey, Wilts.
General1st baron, of Brimpsfield, Glos. On many campaigns and commissions for the crown.
FatherSir Elis (IV) Giffard (ca1170-<1248)
Notes for John Giffard Lord Giffard
m. (1)  Maud de Clifford, (2) Margaret.
Founded Worcester college, Oxford.
Feudal baron (2nd class) of Elston in Oschestron St George, Wilts.
Arms Generally notes for John Giffard Lord Giffard
Gules, three lions passant argent. (CP V, 639, note (b) )
DNB Main notes for John Giffard Lord Giffard
Giffard, John, Baron Giffard of Bromsfield 1232-1299

Name: Giffard, John
Title: Baron Giffard of Bromsfield
Dates: 1232-1299
Active Date: 1272
Gender: Male

Field of Interest: Military, Land Ownership
Occupation: Soldier and baron in the reigns of Henry III and Edward I
Spouse: Matilda, widow of William Longespée and heiress of W. de Clifford,   See text
Sources: Annales Monastici, Rishanger's Chronicle, Hist. S...
Contributor: C. L. K. [Charles Lethbridge Kingsford]

Article
Giffard, John, Baron Giffard of Bromsfield 1232-1299, was a soldier and baron in the reigns of Henry III and Edward I, descended from Osbern Giffard, a Norman noble, who under William I acquired various estates, of which Bromsfield (now Brimpsfield) in Gloucestershire and Sherrington in Wiltshire were the chief. From Osbern was descended Richard, one of the justices appointed at Northampton in 1176 (Hoveden, ii. 87), whose grandson, Elias, was one of the barons who fought against King John. The son of this Elias was John Giffard, who succeeded his father in 1248 at the age of sixteen (Inq. p.m. in Calendarium Genealogicum, p. 25). During his minority the queen had the guardianship of his lands, which probably prejudiced him against the court. His first experience of war was against the Welsh between 1257 and 1262. He seems to have been attached to the household of Simon de Montfort, and when the civil war broke out early in 1263 he ravaged the lands of Roger Mortimer; later in the same year he was one of the barons who captured the alien bishop of Hereford, attacked Sir Matthew de Besil at Gloucester, and afterwards besieged Prince Edward there in March 1264. Next year he was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and in April, while governor of Kenilworth, attacked Warwick Castle and captured its earl and countess. He was present at Lewes, where he was captured early in the day, imprisoned in the castle, and rescued at its close. He had himself captured Alan de la Zouch, a dispute as to whose ransom, or, according to Wykes (iv. 60, perhaps supported by document in Cal. Gen. p. 172), an order to surrender some lands which he had occupied, alienated him from Montfort. Giffard now attached himself to Gilbert de Clare, whom he appears to have influenced in taking up the royalist cause (Ann. Lond. Rolls Series, ii. 67). He took an active part in the events which preceded Evesham, was present at that battle, 4 Aug. 1265, and in recognition of his services received pardon for his past conduct (Pat. Roll, 49 Hen. III). During the following years of peace we hear of him only as receiving licenses to hunt in the royal forests, except that in 1271, for forcibly marrying Matilda, widow of William Longespée and heiress of W. de Clifford, he had to pay a fine of three hundred marks to the king (ib. 55 Hen. III; Cal. Gen. p. 151). He was employed in all the wars of Edward I's reign; in Wales, where he was one of the knights commanding the English when Llewellyn was killed, in Gascony, and in Scotland. He was at the council of Berwick in 1292; was summoned to parliament by writ in 1295; and in 1297, during Edward's absence in Flanders, he was one of the council of regency, and as such must have had a share in the ‘Confirmatio Cartarum.’ He died on 30 May 1299. Giffard is constantly described as a valiant and skilful soldier and a prudent and discreet man (cf. ‘The Song of the Barons,’ Wright, Political Songs, p. 59). In 1283 he had founded Gloucester Hall (now Worcester College) outside the walls at Oxford, and made provision for the sustenance there of thirteen Benedictine students. His son John, by a third wife, took part with Thomas of Lancaster in the next reign, and was attainted and executed in 1322, when his castle of Bromsfield was destroyed.

Sources
Annales Monastici, Rishanger's Chronicle, Hist. S. Petri Gloucestriæ, Robert of Gloucester, all in the Rolls Series; Rishanger, De Bellis (Camden Soc.); W. Hemingburgh (Engl. Hist. Soc.); History of Broughton Giffard, by the Rev. J. Wilkinson, in Wiltshire Natural History and Archæological Magazine, vol. v.; Blaauw's Barons' War; Burke's Dormant and Extinct Peerages; Banks's Dormant and Extinct Baronage, i. 324. Some further slight information may also be found in the Patent Rolls and Calendarium Genealogicum.

Contributor: C. L. K.

published  1889
Last Modified 26 Jan 2007Created 14 May 2022 by Tim Powys-Lybbe
Re-created by Tim Powys-Lybbe on 14 May 20220