# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Giffard, John

1904 Errata appended.
​GIFFARD, JOHN, Lord Gifford 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.
C. L. K.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.135 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 295 | i | 6 f.e. | Giffard, John, Lord Giffard of Bromsfield: after Prince Edward there insert in March 1264 |