Walter Giffard

Walter Giffard (April 1279) was Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York.

Family A picture of Henry III taken from Cassell's History of England published c. 1902. Henry entrusted his son Edward to the care of Walter's parents. Giffard was a son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton in Wiltshire, 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. Hugh and Sybil were entrusted with the care of the young Prince Edward in 1239. In 1256 Giffard and his mother received the king's licence to live in Boyton Castle. The family was also related to Walter de Gray, who was Archbishop of York from 1215 to 1255. On 22 May 1264 he was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells and received the temporalities 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. 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 Simon de Montfort the Earl of Leicester and his party on Giffard's return to England. In August of the following year he was appointed one of the arbitrators for drawing up the Dictum of Kenilworth 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 His register contains many gifts to the poor, and he helped support schoolmasters at Beverley. He also supported the scholarly careers of two of his successors at York, John le Romeyn and William Greenfield.

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