Baron Helias Giffard & Berta fitz Richard

 189121696. Baron Helias Giffard & 189121697. Berta fitz Richard

~1105, Helias born in England, s/o 378243392. Elias Giffard & 378243393. Ala ?.

~1117, Berta born in England, d/o 79958528. Richard fitz Pontius & 79958529. Matilda de Gloucester.

1121, Heyas Giffard and his wife Ala, and son Helias, gave Buckholt to St. Peter’s abbey, Gloucester. (S) Transactions – Bristol and Gloucester, V20, 1895, P234.

 [––Helias & Berta––]

1127, Elias married Berta. [‘Ricard Pontii filii’ granted the manor of ‘Lechia’ to ‘Mathildi uxori mee in matrimoniu’ in exchange for her original marriage portion, the manor of Ullingswick in Herefordshire, which he gave to ‘Helie Giff in mat-monu cum filia mea Berta’. (S) FMG.] – [Richard fitz Pons has given his wife Maud the manor of Leach (Gloucester) in matrimonium in exchange for her original marriage portion, the manor of Ullingswick (Hereford), which he has given to Helias Giffard in matrimonium with their daughter Bertha. (S) Pipe Roll Society, V10, 1888, P20.]

1130, Elias succeeded his father, paying 100 marks for relief.

12/22/1135, Stephen crowned king of England; ursuping King Henry I’s daughter Empress Matilda; and starting a civil war.

~1137, Elias Giffard made a gift of the church of ‘Hull Deverel’ to Bishop Roger for the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Heytesbury. (S) Fasti Ecclesiae Sarisberiensis, Jones, 1879, P390.

2/1139 at Reading, The Queen grants to the Templars her manor of Cowley near Oxford. The King confirms the gift. Both charters are witnessed by Robert Marmyon, … Elyas Giffard … (S) English Historical Review, V25, 1910, P115.

7/1139, At Domfront, before Elias Giffard and Humphrey fitz Odo, Robert, earl of Gloucester, arranged for the support of Miles of Gloucester, for the invasion Empress Matilda. (S) King Stephen, King, 2011.

2/2/1141 at Lincoln, King Stephen was captured and brought to Matilda.

3/3/1141, at Winchester, Elias Giffard as witness to a charter of Empress Matilda. (S) Caledonia, Chalmers, 1887, P516.

4/7/1141 at Winchester, Empress Matilda acknowledged as “Lady of England and Normandy” by Bishop Henry.

9/14/1141, Empress Matilda’s forces defeated at the battle of Winchester.

11/1/1141, Empress Matilda exchanged captured King Stephen for captured Robert of Gloucester [her half brother].

12/25/1141, Stephen again crowned King. [The civil war would continue for 12 more years.]

1148, Elias with wife Berta and son Walter in a document with abbot Hamelin of Boyton. Elias made a grant to the church of Boyton for the soul of Berta, his wife.

4/13/1149 at the castle of Devizes, ‘Henry, son of the Duke of Normandy and Earl of Anjou. … Know that I have restored to the church of Sarum … in the presence of Roger Earl of Bedford, Patrick Earl of Sarum, John Fitz-Gilbert, …, W’m de Bello Campo, Elias Giffard, Roger de Berkley, John de Saint John, Hubert de Valibus, Thomas Basset, … (S) Journal of the British Arch. Assoc., V40, 1884, P146.

1149, Elias Giffard and Walter of Clifford ‘obsides’ for Roger of Hereford in a treaty with William, earl of Gloucester. (S) Law and Government in Medieval England, Garnett, 1994, P314.

By 1152, Elias became a monk in St. Peter’s abbey. (S) Calendar of the Records of the Corporation of Gloucester, 1893, P71.

1152, Walterus de Clifforde confirmed the donation of “medietatem totius manerii de Ullingewike” made to Gloucester St Peter by “Berta soror mea” [my sister] … concessione Helyæ Giffardi filiii sui primogeniti” [eldest son]. (S) FMG.

1/1153, Duke Henry landed in England with 140 knights and 3,000 infantry in 36 ships.

12/19/1154, Henry II succeeded King Stephen of England.

1159, Elias died. (S) Bristol and West of England Arch. Mag., V1, Is1-3, 1843, P31.

[––Berta––]

7/18/1163, Helyas Giffardu [the son], and his mother [Berta] donated property to St. Peter in Gloucester. (S) FMG.

By 1167, Berta died.

Family notes:

1221, Elias Giffard (23640212) of Brimsfield sued by the abbot of Cirencester for erecting a gallows at Brinsfield, which the abbot claimed to be his liberty. Elias stated a certain Osbert Giffard, his ancestor, who came at the Conquest of England, had held the manor of Brimesfield, with a right of gallows, and had hanged thieves there, and after him [missing generation: Elias Giffard (378243392)] Elias (189121696) his son had had the same liberty, and after him Elias (94560848) the son of the said Elias (47280424), and the father of the defendant.

Children of Helias and Berta:

i. Elias Giffard (94560848), born ~1140 in England.

ii. Richard Giffard, born ? in England.

1176, Richard one of 18 itinerant justices appointed by the council of Northampton.

1180, Richard the bailiff of the Oximin in Normandy, receiving 200£ a year as custos of the castle of Falaise.

(S) Biographia Juridica, Foss, 1870, P298.