archbishopric of Canterbury. In 1111, according to the ‘Annals of Winchester,’ he deposed Geoffrey the Prior, and in the same year gave the enormous sum of eight hundred marks to Henry I (Annal. Monast. ii. 43, 44), probably to purchase the royal consent for the removal of the so-called ‘new minster’ at Winchester, which stood in very inconvenient proximity to the cathedral on the north, to a new site outside the city under the name of Hyde Abbey. Feuds between the two monastic bodies had been of constant occurrence (Annal. Waverl. ib. p. 214; Hoveden, i. 168). In 1121 Giffard was deputed by the palsied Archbishop Ralph to celebrate the espousals of Henry I and Adela of Louvain (Will. of Malmesbury, ii. 132). In 1122 a very fierce quarrel broke out between Giffard and the monks of Winchester, who complained that he had alienated their revenues, and appropriated to himself nine of their manorial churches. At the end of two years their feud was healed by the intervention of the king, who had supported the convent in the quarrel. The monks threw themselves at the feet of the bishop, confessing their fault and promising satisfaction; and the bishop prostrated himself at their feet in turn, promising to give back all they asked for, and confirming the grant by a charter (Annal. Winton. p. 47). So complete was the reconciliation that Giffard himself assumed the habit of a monk, as being one of their body, loving to take his midday sleep with the brethren in the dormitory, and to sup with them in the refectory, and then always taking the lowest place with the novices. When stricken for death he was carried in the conventual habit to the infirmary, where he breathed his last (ib. p. 49). Giffard first introduced the Cistercian reform into England, being the founder, 24 Nov. 1128, of the earliest house of that order at Waverley, near Farnham in Surrey. This took place only a few weeks before his death, 25 Jan. 1128–9. He was also the founder of a house of Austin canons on the episcopal manor of Taunton, and was a considerable benefactor to St. Mary Overies in Southwark, in the immediate proximity of which he erected a palace as the London residence of the bishops of Winchester. He was buried in the nave of his cathedral church, close to his predecessor Walkelin. Contemporary historians give Giffard a high character, which he appears to have well deserved. Henry of Huntingdon calls him ‘vir nobilissimus,’ while the Winchester annalist describes his patience, piety, and gentleness. He was not calculated to be a leader of men, but he could follow faithfully and courageously such a leader as Anselm.
[Will. of Malmesbury's Gesta Pont. pp. 109, 110, 117, 132; Matt. Paris's Chron. Maj. ii. 118, 123, 124, 134, 136, 151, 156; Annal. Monast. ii. 42, 44, 46, 47, 214, 221; Henry of Huntingdon, pp. 233, 315; Sym. Dunelm. ii. 235, 236, 239, 240, 245, 283; Eadmer's Hist. Nov. pp. 64, 69; Hoveden, i. 161, 164, 168, all in Rolls Ser.; Flor. Wig. (Engl. Hist. Soc.), p. 1103; Anselm's Epist. ll. cc.; Freeman's Norman Conquest, v. 225; Freeman's William Rufus, ii. 349; Cassan's Bishops of Winchester.]
GIFFORD. [See also Giffard.]
GIFFORD, ADAM, Lord Gifford (1820–1887), lord of session and founder of the Gifford lectureships, eldest son of James Gifford and his wife, Catherine Ann West, was born at Edinburgh on 29 Feb. 1820. His father, who had risen from a comparatively humble position, became treasurer and master of the Merchant Company, an elder in the Secession church, and a zealous Sunday-school teacher. His mother was vigorous in body and mind, and a very independent thinker. She was the only teacher of her sons Adam and John, till Adam was eight years old, when the boys were sent to learn Latin and Greek at a small school kept by John Lawrie in West Nicolson Street. Adam Gifford was afterwards a pupil at the Edinburgh Institution, founded in 1832. In early life he became a Sunday-school teacher in the Cowgate, besides sometimes taking a service on a Sunday forenoon with the poor children of Dr. Guthrie's ragged school.
In 1835 Gifford was apprenticed to his uncle, a solicitor in Edinburgh; at the same time he attended classes in the university, and became a member of the Scots Law Debating Society. He soon became managing clerk in the office, but decided to become an advocate, and in 1849 was called to the bar. He was clear-headed, persevering, and had good connections, but, from unwillingness to push himself, advanced slowly. He acquired by degrees an extensive practice. As an advanced politician he expected nothing from the government, but in 1861 he was appointed an advocate-depute. In that capacity he conducted on behalf of the crown, in 1863, the prosecution against Jessie m'Lauchlan in the Sandyford murder case. In 1865 he was appointed to succeed W. E. Aytoun [q. v.] as sheriff of Orkney and Zetland; but continued his practice as an advocate, having appointed a resident sheriff-substitute.
On 28 Jan. 1870 Gifford was nominated a judge, and on 1 Feb. took his seat in the court of session as Lord Gifford. Symptoms of paralysis appeared in 1872, and gradually developed themselves, but he worked on till 1881. On 25 Jan. of that year he resigned,
