Sir Peter Giffard, Knt.

Primary Sources

13 April 1319 Kirkham
Licence for John de Cherleton and Hawisia, his wife, to grant to Master Thomas de Cherleton, king's clerk, their reversions in two parts of the manor of Grenehalle and of the land of Megheyn Ughcoyt, and Moghnanf Ughraider in the Marches of Wales, held in chief, and which Peter Giffard and Ela his wife hold in dower of the said Ela of the inheritance of the said Hawisia, and also of the remaining third part of the said manor and lands, which Sybil, late the wife of Louis de la Pole, holds in dower of the same inheritance ; licence also for the said Thomas to regrant the same reversions to the said John and Hawisia for their lives, with remainder, and to John son of John de Cherleton and Matilda his wife and the heirs of the body of the said John son of John, and failing such issue to Owen (Amheno) son of John de Cherleton and the heirs of his body, to Edward son of John de Cherleton and the heirs of his body, to Humphrey son of John de Cherleton and the heirs of his body and finally to the right heirs of the said Hawisia. By p.s.
Source: Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public Record Office: Edward II, A.D. 1307-1327. Page 327

CP 25/1/286/31, number 182.
Link: Image of document at AALT
County: Herefordshire. Nottinghamshire.
Place: Westminster.
Date: The day after St John the Baptist, 12 Edward II [25 June 1319].
Parties: Peter Giffard' and Ela, his wife, querents, and John, the parson of the church of Sheynton', deforciant.

 Property:	6 messuages, 1 carucate and 6 bovates of land, 4 acres of meadow and 10 shillings of rent in Haffeld', Wolfputtes, Masynton' and Ledebury in the county of Hereford and a third part of the manor of Thornhawe in the county of Nottingham. 

Action: Plea of covenant.
Agreement: Peter has acknowledged the tenements to be the right of John, as those which John has of his gift. For this: John has granted to Peter and Ela the tenements and has rendered them to them in the court, to hold to Peter and Ela and the heirs of their bodies, of the chief lords for ever. In default of such heirs, remainder to the right heirs of Ela.
Source: Abstracts of Feet of Fines

July 14. 1322 York.
To Roger de Swynnerton, constable of the Tower of London. Order to cause James de Perers, in the Tower for certain causes, to be delivered to Peter Corbet [Peter Giffard]* and Ela his wife, mother of the said James, of the king's special grace, Peter (iidem) and Ela having mainperned to have his body before the king when ordered. By K.

Source: 'Close Rolls, Edward II: July 1322', in Calendar of Close Rolls, Edward II: Volume 3, 1318-1323, ed. H C Maxwell Lyte (London, 1895), pp. 569-584. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-close-rolls/edw2/vol3/pp569-584 [accessed 9 September 2017].

*Peter Corbet appears to be a mistranscription of the name Peter Giffard.

Peter Giffard b c1285 Died before the 22nd April, 16 E. II (1323)

He was knighted; he was the keeper of Mortimer's Castle and Chirk, Denbigh

family

2nd son of Sir John Giffard of Chillington in Brewood Knight c1240-a1310 and Ada [? Bassett dau of Ralph Bassett 1st Baron Basset of Sapcote c1214-c1282 QV] d c1307-10

Married

1. unknown
2. Ela Audley dau of Nicholas Audley "Baron Audley" a1258-1299 QV: She m1 Gruffydd de la Pole c1285-1309 QV; m2 1313 Sir James Perrers Knight; d 1325

Children by first wife

• Hugh
• Robert No known children by 2nd wife

biography

page 101 of Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 5 "The Giffards"

Before proceeding with the history of the successors of the last Sir John Giffard, I propose to devote a page to the career of his half-brother Sir Peter Giffard, who played a not unimportant part in the troubled reign of Edward II.

He first appears in Ada Giffard deed of 10 E. II (March, 1317), by which Ada grants to Peter Gifi'ard, her son, all her interest in Gunston (deed No. 13).

In 13 E. II (1319), he was serving in Scotland in the retinue of John de Cherleton. This John was married to Hawyse, the sister and heir of Griffin de la Pole, the Prince of Powis, and in the same year we find Peter Giffard married to Ela, the widow of Grifiin. The latter had died under age in 1309, leaving no issue, and Ela married James de Perrers1 shortly afterwards, and had been left a widow for a second time when she married Peter Giffard. Ela was daughter of Nicholas, Lord Audley, and her mother Katherine was a daughter of John Giffard, the Baron of Brimsfield.

On the De Banco Roll of Michaelmas, 13 E. II, Peter Giffard and Ela, his wife, sued Walter de Grendon to render to them an account for the time he had been the bailiff of the said Ela in Tissington, co. Derby

At Michaelmas term, 15 E. II, Joan, late wife of Nicholas de Audley, sued Peter Giffard and Ela, his wife, for 10 marks of rent in Legh Underbrokhurst, in which Ela had no entry except through Nicholas de Audley, the husband of Joan, who had demised the rent to Ela and to James de Perers, formerly her husband, and to which Joan could not object during the lifetime of her husband.8

By this marriage Peter had become a very large landowner in Wales, for besides Ela's dower as widow of Griffin de la Pole, the Prince of Powis, her mother, Katherine de Audley, by a deed in the Liber Rubeus, had granted to James de Perers and to Ela, her daughter, the castle and manor of Thlamandewry, with the Commotes of Hormyn and Pernet, to be held by them and the heirs of their bodies. This deed also proves the parentage of Ela, for Katherine was the wife of Nicholas, Lord Audley, who died in 1299.1

Sir Peter, as the husband of a dowager Princess of Powis, must have been an important person in Wales at this juncture. The King had recalled the Despencers on the 8th December, 1321, and immediately ordered a levy of men from Wales and from the counties of Sussex, Oxford, Berks, Hants, Northampton, Stafford, Warwick, and Lancaster.

In January, 1322, on the rebellion of Roger de Mortimer, the King committed to Peter Giffard the custody of the Castle of Chirk, which was the caput of the Barony of Mortimer. On the 5th March in the same year, when the King assembled his forces at Coventry to attack the Confederate Lords under the Earl of Lancaster, he commanded Sir Peter Giffard to send to the rendezvous of the army at Coventry 500 men from Chirk

The Commissioners of Array for co. Stafford were John de Swynnerton and John Giffard of Chillington, who were ordered to raise 2,000 men and conduct them to the King wherever he might be.

The King had always been popular with the Welsh, and a large body of that nation joined his standard. On hearing of his approach, the Earl of Lancaster raised the siege of Tickhill and attempted to defend the line of the Trent, but the King passed by a ford, and the Earl fell back towards Scotland. At Boroughbridge he was intercepted by a force from Cumberland, and after a few hours fighting, his army was defeated and dispersed. Sir Peter Giffard must have taken part in these operations, for his arms are entered on the famous Roll of Boroughbridge. He bore azure, three stirrups and leathers gold and a border for distinction as a younger son. I think it probable that he served as a banneret upon this occasion. The battle was fought on the 22nd March. [SIC: now called "The Newcastle Roll," and identified as a tournament fought in 1319]

In the following year he was dead, for on the 22nd April, 16 E. II (1323), the King issued a writ to the Sheriff of Salop and Stafiord commanding him to take into the Kings hands all the goods and chattels of Peter Gifiard, late custos of the Castle of Chirk, who was dead, and who was indebted at the date of his death in divers sums to the King.1 Apparently the harshness of the Kings fiscal ofiicers upon this occasion alienated Ela, the widow of Sir Peter, from her allegiance to the Kings cause, for two years afterwards there is an entry on the Fine Roll of 18 E. II stating that Ela, formerly wife of James de Perers, who had been indicted for adhering to the King's enemies, made oath, and found security for her good behaviour in a sum of 300 pounds. It is not unusual to find a widow designated in this way on the Rolls under the name of a previous husband.

Peter left a son Hugh, who served in the expedition to Hennebonne in 1342. He was probably son of Peter by a former wife and was one of a body of outlaws employed by Edward III, who, having found sureties to serve at their own cost, obtained a general pardon dated from (Jastry on the 16th September, 1342)

• 1 James do Perers was pardoned for marrying Ela without the Kings permission in 1309 (Fine Roll, 3 E. II). His brother, Richard do Perers, paid 100 marks for the pardon.
• 2 Staffordshire (Vol. IX, p. 78. Tissington was an Audley fee.
• 3 Ibid., p. 87.
• The pedigree of Audley is given very incorrectly in all the historic peerages. This Nicholas left a son Thomas, who died ap. in 1307, and was succeeded by a brother Nicholas. Inqns. pm.
• Staffordshire Collections, Vol. VIfl, p. 42.

supporting data

page 83 of Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society "Notes on Albrighton, near Shifnal"

• I. Peter Giffard had a grant of Chillington from Peter Corbizon, who calls him his wife's nephew. His son,
• II. Peter fitz Giffard, was of Chillington, co. Stafford, 1231, and by his wife Avice had issue
  • 1. Sir Hugh, married Sibilla, but ob. s.p.; 2. Peter; 3. Walter; 4. Sir John.
• III. Sir John succeeded his brother, and died 1314, leaving by Ada his wife
  • 1. Sir John, of whom presently; 2. Sir Peter, who had lands from his mother in Gunston, and was custodian of Chirk Castle 15 Edward II. He left a son Robert.

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From https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/gg/giffard02.php (subscription to view)

Giffard02 links to: Lead / Letter Families covered: Giffard of Black Ladies, Giffard (Gifford) of Chillington, Gifford of Water Eyton

We now follow BLG1952

• A. Peter Giffard of Chillington m. Avice Hastang (dau of Eutrop Hastang)
  • iii. Sir John Giffard of Chillington d c1310 m. Ada (probably dau of Basset of Sapcote)
    • a. Sir John Giffard of Chillington d c1344 m. ?? (probably dau of Chandos of Derbyshire)

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• http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/giffard/1/
• page 89 of Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 5
• http://www.armorial.dk/english/Newcastle.pdf drawn up in connection with a tournament held during the Berwick campaign of late 1319
  • "Peter Giffard, d.1323, custos of castles in Wales, husband of Ela, who had Greenhall Manor in the marches in dower and inheritance of Hawise Cherlton." Moor KE 2:112 (John), 116 (Peter); XBM:10087* ( John, 1315, of Chillingstone, staffs, less border)
• page 264 of Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 9 By Staffordshire Record Society. **"3. ELA, married (1) Grifiin de la Pole, who died an infant in 1309, md. (2) 1313, Sir James Perrers, by whom she had issue, md. (3) Sir Peter Giffard, younger brother of Sir John Giffard of Chillington.8 She died 1325.9
  • Esch., 1325, Ela de Perrers.
• page 223 of Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 5
  • No. 19. Original deed at Chillington. Ada, the wife of Sir John Giffard, who appears to have been a person of some importance, on her marriage with Sir John must have been jointly enfeoffed with her husband in Walton and Gunston. In this deed she parts with her interest i11Gunston in favour of her son, Peter Giffard. It will be seen that a Basset of Sapcote again witnesses the deed. The Bassets of Sapcotes were lords of Cheadle, co. Stafford, and I suspect Ada was one of that family. Thomas de la Hide, the first witness, served in Scotland with Sir John Giffard in 1319 in the retinue of John de Somery, the Baron of Dndley_ (Vol. VIII of Stajfordshire Collections, p. 40).
• page 39 of A history of Chirk Castle and Chirkland: with a chapter on Offa's Dyke By Margaret Mahler