Gautier Giffard

Gautier Giffard ( Engl. Walter Giffard , called Giffard of Barbastre , lat. Galterius / Walterius Giffardus , † before 1085), Seigneur de Longueville in Normandy, was a Norman Baron, a member of the family Giffard , tenant-in-chief in England, Christian knight who fought against the Saracens on the Iberian Peninsula , as well as one of 15 companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Life

Gautier Giffard was the son of Osbern de Bolbec, Seigneur de Longueville, and Avelina, sister of Gunnora . Thus he was a cousin of William the Conqueror.

From the mid-1040s, Gautier's name appeared among the loyal supporters of William the Conqueror. Gautier was one of the Norman barons who surprised and defeated the Counts Odo and Renaud, who led the French contingent to attack Normandy from the east , at the Battle of Mortemer in late 1054. In particular, he and another great vassal came across Odo's army of drunkards camped in the village of Mortemer without posting. The Normans attacked the French in their sleep, most of them killed or captured. While Odo was fleeing himself, King Henry I of France , when he learned of the fate of his brother Odo's army, immediately withdrew from Normandy. In the same year 1054 Gautier was responsible for maintaining the siege of the castle of Arques-la-Bataille against William of Talou , who had rebelled against the Duke. Like many other Norman and French knights during the 11th and early 12th centuries, Gautier served as a Christian knight against the Saracens in the Iberian Peninsula . His nickname de Barbastre was earned when he took part in the siege of Barbastro, an enterprise sanctioned by Pope Alexander II against the Moors in 1064, one of the most famous exploits of the time.

At the time of the conquest of England, Walter had returned to Normandy with a gift from the “King of Spain” for Duke Wilhelm, a magnificent war horse - the same horse that Duke Wilhelm requested on the morning of the Battle of Hastings. The Spanish king in question was in all probability Sancho Ramírez , King of Aragon (1093-1094), who was known for making alliances in northern France and for recruiting knights and soldiers from there. Gautier was also one of the first, if not the first, in England to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela , which he did after the siege of Barbastro and before his return to Normandy.

At the beginning of January 1066, after Duke Wilhelm had received the news of the coronation of Harold Godwinson as King of England, he convened a meeting, the "Council of Lillebonne", which included six of his most important magnates, including Gautier Giffard. After telling them of his plan to invade England and gain the crown, they all gave him their full support but suggested that he summon all of his vassals, which Wilhelm then did. In the preparatory phase for the Battle of Hastings, Gautier was one of the Norman magnates who provided ships for Wilhelm's invasion fleet. With him there were 30. Walter was one of two who had been given the privilege of carrying Wilhelm's standard in battle, but refused respectfully: although he was already an elderly, white-haired warrior, he wanted to fight freely with both hands. As a reward for his participation, Gautier received the Barony of Long Crendon , with 107 estates, 48 ​​of them in Buckinghamshire ,

When Gautier died is not known, it is known that his son Walter succeeded him before 1085.

family

Gautier was married to Ermengarde, daughter of Gérard Flaitel . Your children were:

• Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham .
• William Giffard , Bishop of Winchester .
• Rohese Giffard († after 1113), ∞ Richard Fitz Gilbert , Lord of Clare.
• Lora Giffard, ∞ Sir Robert de Hampden.

literature

• Thomas Andrew Archer, Giffard of Barbastre , in: The English Historical Review , Volume 18, No. 70 (April 1903), p. 304
• Reginald Allen Brown (Ed.) Anglo-Norman Studies X, Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987 , The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK 1988, Appendix 4. “Ships list of William the Conqueror”
• George Edward Cokayne , The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant , Vol. II, Ed. Vicary Gibbs (London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., 1912), p. 387
• David Bruce Crouch, The Normans (New York: Hambledon Continuum, 2002), p. 64
• David Charles Douglas, William the Conqueror (Berkeley and Los Angeles: The University of California Press, 1964), pp. 68 and 388
• Edward Augustus Freeman , The History of the Norman Conquest of England , Volume 3 (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1869), p. 465
• Charles Warren Hollister , The Strange Death of William Rufus , in: Speculum , Vol. 48, No. 4 (October 1973), pp. 645-646
• Elisabeth MC van Houts, The Ship List of William the Conqueror , in: R. Allen Brown (Ed.), Anglo-Norman Studies X; Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1987 ,: The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK 1988, p. 161
• KSB Keats-Rohan , Domesday People, A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 , Volume I, Domesday Book (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1999), p. 456
• Derek William Lomax, The First English Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela , in: Henry Mayr-Harting, RI Moore (Ed.) Studies in Medieval History: Presented to RHCDavis , London: The Hambledon Press, 1985, p. 166
• François Neveux , A Brief History of the Normans , transl. Howard Curtis, London: Constable & Robinson, Ltd., 2008, p. 127
• IJ Sanders, English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327 , Oxford, 1960, pp. 62-4
• Detlev Schwennicke , European Family Tables: Family Tables for the History of the European States , New Series, Volume III Part 4 (Marburg, Germany: Verlag von JA Stargardt, 1989, Plate 695)

Remarks

1. ↑ This Gautier / Walter Giffard is to be distinguished from his son, Walter Giffard, 1st Earl of Buckingham . Ordericus Vitalis mixed up reports of father and son, while Freeman did not know that the elder Gautier / Walter had died during the Conqueror's lifetime. It was believed that Wilhelm Rufus had made the first Gautier / Walter Earl of Buckingham, while in fact the son became the first earl. See: "Records of Buckinghamshire," Volume 8, Ed. John Parker (Aylesbury: GT de Fraine, "Bucks Herald" Office, 1903), pp. 289-293
2. ↑ Robert von Torigni calls them Wevia, The Complete Peerage , Volume 2, p. 386, footnote (a) states that both were sisters of Gunnora , although it remains uncertain who Osbern's wife was. Schwennicke calls her Weva too.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Cokayne, p. 386 footnote (a)
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Schwennicke
5. ↑ Crouch
6. ^ Douglas, p. 68
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Neveux
8. ^ Douglas, p. 388
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Archer
10. ↑ As an example of some pitfalls found in translations of earlier works, Gautier Giffard's nickname de Barbastre appears in a verse by Geoffrey Gaimar . The first of his English translators suggested that “de Barbastre” referred to Walter as a barber. Geoffrey's second translator said that “de Barbastre” was in some ways an indication that Gautier's cousin William the Conqueror was a bastard. In fact, Gautier de Barbastre was a name of honor given to him during the successful siege of Barbastro in Aragon near Zaragoza. See Archer, Giffard of Barbastre, EHR , 18, 70 (1903), pp. 304-05; Lomax
11. ↑ ^{a b} Lomax
12. ↑ ^{a b} van Houts
13. ↑ Brown
14. ↑ Freeman
15. ↑ Sanders
16. ↑ ^{a b c} Cokayne, p. 387
17. ↑ Keats-Rohan
18. ↑ Hollister