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All About History Books
The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.
Paternal Family Tree: Giffard
Before 18th March 1217 [his father] Hugh Giffard (age 22) and [his mother] Sibyl Cormeilles (age 24) were married.
Around 1225 Archbishop Walter Giffard was born to Hugh Giffard (age 30) and Sibyl Cormeilles (age 32).
Around 1246 [his father] Hugh Giffard (age 51) died at Warminster, Wiltshire [Map].
On 22nd May 1264 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 39) was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells.
On 4th January 1265 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 40) was consecrated as Bishop of Bath and Wells at Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral [Map].
After 10th August 1265 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 40) was appointed Lord Chancellor.
On 15th October 1266 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 41) was appointed Archbishop of York.
On 31st October 1266 the Dictum of Kenilworth was issued. The Dictum was a peace agreement between King Henry III of England (age 59) and the rebels who were besieged in the impregnable Kenilworth Castle [Map]. The committee included:
Bishop Walter Branscombe (age 46).
Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 41).
Gilbert de Clare 8th Earl Gloucester 7th Earl Hertford.
Humphrey Bohun 2nd Earl Hereford 1st Earl Essex (age 62).
Philip Basset (age 82).
John Balliol (age 58).
Robert Walerand.
Alan Zouche (age 63).
Roger Somery 2nd Baron Dudley (age 76), and.
Warin Bassingbourne.
Robert Ferrers 6th Earl of Derby (age 27) and Henry Hastings (age 31) were fined seven times their annual income. The Dictum, however, required the rebels to pay their fines before being restored to their lands; something of a Catch-22 since if they weren't restored to their lands, they would have no income to pay the fine.
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On 1st November 1266 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 41) was enthroned as Archbishop of York.
Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In the year of our Lord 1279, Walter Giffard (age 54),1 Archbishop of York, died on the 22nd of April. He was succeeded by William de Wickwane2. In the second year of his archiepiscopate, wishing to visit his suffragan Robert of Holy Island, Bishop of Durham, and the chapter of Durham, he was repelled for they shut the city gates against him. Nevertheless, taking up his pontifical insignia, he preached in the city square, choosing as his sermon theme: "I have come down to see Judah and Jerusalem." After delivering his sermon, he pronounced a dreadful sentence of excommunication upon those who opposed him and placed the city under ecclesiastical interdict. But they treated all of this lightly, relying on a constitution of Pope Innocent IV concerning censuses and Roman exactions, and they appealed, claiming that he should not be admitted unless he had first visited his own chapter and diocese, which he had not done. For that constitution states: "We decree that any archbishop who wishes to visit his province must first take care to visit the chapter, city, and diocese of his own church." A year later, with the Bishop of Durham now dead, the archbishop returned again at the same time of year, around the [24th June 1280], intending another visitation. There, he suffered even greater injury than before, and after renewing the same dreadful sentence, he departed. From that time on, a lawsuit ensued in the Roman Curia at enormous expense.
Anno Domini MCCLXXIX obiit Walterus Giffard Eborum archiepiscopus X kalendas Maii. Cui successit Willelmus Wychewang. Hic in anno archiepiscopatus sui secundo suffraganeum suum Robertum de Insula Dunolmensem episcopum et capitulum Dunolmense visitare volens, passus est ibidem repulsam, clauserunt enim portas civitatis contra eum; ipse vero pontificali accepto prædicavit ibidem in platea civitatis, et assumpto themate, Descendi ut viderem Judæam et Jerusalem, et facto sermone in contradictores The bishopric sibi sententiam excommunicationis terribilem laid under fulminavit et locum eundem ecclesiastico supposuit interdicto. Ipsi vero parvipendebant omnia; fundaverant enim se super constitutionem Innocentii quarti de censibus et exactione Romana, et appellaverant, dicentes eum admitti non debere nisi proprium capitulum et dioecesim prius visitasset, quod non fecit. Dicit enim constitutio illa sic: Statuimus ut quilibet archiepiscopus, suam volens visitare provinciam, prius ecclesiæ suæ capitulum et civitatem ac dioecesim visitare procuret. Anno autem revoluto, et mortuo Dunolmensi episcopo, iterato et eodem tempore anni, scilicet circa festum Sancti Johannis Baptistæ, ibidem causa visitationis adveniens, majorem quam prius passus est injuriam, et renovata terribili sententia recessit et abiit: et extunc in Romana curia immensis sumptibus litigabant.
Note 1. The date of this archbishops death is assigned by Godwin to the 25th of April.
Note 2. MSS. Coll. Arm, and Cott. Tib. William Wickwane, Chancellor of York, was elected June 22, 1279, and consecrated at Rome on the 19th of September following.
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On 25th April 1279 Archbishop Walter Giffard (age 54) died at York [Map]. He was buried at York Minster [Map].
Great x 4 Grandfather: Osberne de Bolbec Giffard
Great x 3 Grandfather: Osberne Giffard
Great x 4 Grandmother: Avelina Unknown
Great x 2 Grandfather: Elias Giffard
Great x 1 Grandfather: Elias "The Boy" Giffard
GrandFather: Walter Giffard
Father: Hugh Giffard
GrandFather: Walter Cormeilles
Mother: Sibyl Cormeilles