288 Broughton Gifford. 
supposes the manor of Broughton to have been enfeoffed to the 
Giffords; and, though the pedigrees do not show that John Gifford 
had a daughter Eve at that time, yet the authority from the mar- 
riage is not despicable; nor, supposing the bridegroom elderly and 
- the bride in her teens, are the dates irreconcileable. 
Three Giffords are named in Domesday, and all connected with 
Wilts. 
1. Walter, a great man and a favourite with William the Con- 
queror, his cousin in the 3rd degree, who acknowledged his great 
services by the Earldom of Longueville in Normandy, that of 
Buckingham in England, and large grants in ten! counties (Maiden 
Bradley, &c., in Wilts) to support these dignities. He is repeat- 
edly mentioned by Robert Wace (Roman de Rou et des ducs de 
Normandie) in his poetical narrative of the Battle of Hastings. 
He was one of the Conqueror’s commissioners for the compilation 
of Domesday book, and also one of the witnesses to Henry I.’s 
confirmation of the laws and customs of England, 1101; which 
charter, after lying long dormant, Stephen Langton, 1218, pro- 
duced to the nobles who confederated with him to maintain its 
several articles against King John.? 
2. Berenger Gifford, who obtained the grant of Fonthill, and 
gave his name to it. 
8. Osbern Gifford, who was the chief Wilts proprietor of the 
name, having twelve manors there, and from whom are descended 
the Barons Gifford of Brimsfield,? in the county of Gloucester, 
1This is an instance of William’s policy. He rewarded his followers with 
large territorial grants, but the lands did not lie together; a manor here and a 
manor there, no two adjacent manors. He thus guarded against the formation 
of compact principalities independent of the Crown, as in France. 
2 There was, however, this difference, arising from the circumstances of the 
time, between Henry’s charter and John’s. Henry promised to give Saxon laws 
to Saxons, whose aid he wanted, leaving Normans as before. John undertook 
to give equal justice and protection to all. The two races were distinct in 
Henry’s time, and his charter kept up the distinction. The lapse of a century 
had brought them together, and Magna Charta tended to make them one. 
37 have made a pilgrimage to Brimsfield (bryme famous, field open spot). 
It is situated seven and a half miles S. of Cheltenham, on the Cotswolds, very 
high in itself, but not so high as the neighbouring hills (Smith’s Cross to the 
§,E, is said to be the highest in Gloucestershire), which confine the view within 
