By the Rev. Arthur Fane. 



103 



towards the Church, is of earlier date than the side now exposed to 

 the Mortuary Chapel. But the person indicated by the effigy on 

 the tomb cannot be doubtful. The form is that of a Crusader, in 

 the chain armour and flat helmet of the reign of Henry III. The 

 triangular shield, the long sword, fitted for double-handed use, the 

 rude spurs, the crossed legs, all show the soldier of the Cross, 

 exactly clad as the knightly warriors of that particular reign were 

 clad, whilst the armorial bearings on the shield mark him as 

 once being a younger scion of the noble house of Giffard. 



Who he was and what he was, whose silent form in stone covers 

 the ashes that are below, two contemporaneous histories declare. 

 It is the effigy of Sir Alexander Giffard, who went to that Crusade 

 which was headed by St. Louis of France, and which numbered 

 amongst its most valiant champions and illustrious names, William 

 Longespee, the seccnd of that name, the grandson of King Henry II. 

 and Fair Rosamond, the nephew of Richard Coeur de Lion, the 

 cousin of King Henry III. 



According to the strict laws of feudal tenancy, Sir Alexander 

 Giffard left his native home at Boy ton, and followed his Liege 

 Lord, the gallant Longespee, to the war. The result of that Cru- 

 sade was much like all the rest. The fiery valour of the Christian 

 Chivalry at first carried all before it, then jealousies and divisions 

 ensued. The final catastrophe to the English knights and their 

 contingent, is fully described by Matthew Paris, and in a Minstrel's 

 Poem, which exists to this day, in the Cottonian Collection of 

 manuscripts, Julius A. v. fol. 76-6. This very curious rhythmical 

 history has been translated in the Excerpt a Historica, 1831. It 

 can hardly be exceeded in quaint particularity and touching fide- 

 lity, whilst the narrative gives a most brilliant picture of the calm 

 courage, and yet chivalrous heroism of the English Knight of that 

 day. No Napiers or Wellingtons can exceed the valourous Knight 

 who, in the scorching plains of Egypt, in the year 1249, showed 

 precisely the same martial vigour and determination which, under 

 happier auspices, and with the appliances of modern skill in war, 

 crumbled the walls of Acre, or overthrew the legions of France. 



In the early part of February, 1250, St. Louis of France, invited 



