GIFFARD, WALTER (d. 1279), chancellor of England and archbishop of York, was a son of Hugh Giffard of Boyton, Wilt shire, and after serving as canon and archdeacon of Wells, was chosen bishop of Bath and Wells in May 1264. In August 1265 Henry III. appointed him chancellor of England, and he was one of the arbitrators who drew up the dictum de Kenilworth in I266. Later in this year Pope Clement IV. named him archbishop of York. He was the chief of the three regents of the kingdom from the death of Henry III. in 1272 until the return of Edward I. in August 1274, and again in 1275. Giffard died in April 12 79.
See Fasti Eboracenses, edited by J. Raine (London, 1863) . Giffard's Register from 1266 to 1279 has been edited for the Surtees Society by W. Brown.