Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville

Walter Giffard, Lord of Longueville, Normandy (a.k.a. 'Giffard of Barbastre'), was a Norman baron, a Tenant-in-chief in England, a Christian knight who fought against the Saracens in Spain during the Reconquista and was one of the 15 or so known companions of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Walter was the son of Osborne de Bolbec, Lord of Longueville and Avelina, sister of Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy. As such he was a cousin of William the Conqueror.

From the mid 1040s Walter's name appears among the loyal supporters of William the Conqueror. Walter was at the Battle of Mortemer and was among the Norman barons who surprised and defeated Counts Odo and Renaud leading the French contingent attacking Normandy from the east. In particular, he and another great vassal Robert of Eu encountered Odo's army encamped in the village of Mortemer with no sentries and the soldiers were drunk. The Normans attacked the French while they slept, most being either killed or taken prisoner. While Odo himself escaped, when King Henry I learned of the fate of his brother Odo's army he promptly withdrew his remaining forces and left Normandy. In 1054 Walter was in charge of maintaining the siege of Arques castle, against William of Talou, who had rebelled against the Conqueror.

Like many other Norman and French knights during the eleventh and early twelfth centuries, Walter served as a Christian knight in Spain (c. 1064-65) against the Saracens. His epithet le Barbastre was earned when he took part in the Siege of Barbastro, an undertaking sanctioned by Pope Alexander II against the Moors in 1064, one of the more famous exploits of that time. By the time of the Conquest, Walter had returned to Normandy bearing a gift of the King of Spain for Duke William, a magnificent war-horse. The same Spanish war-horse duke William called for on the morning of the Battle of Hastings. The Spanish king in question was in all probability Sancho Ramírez of Aragon (1063–94) who was known for making friends and recruiting knights and soldiers from Northern France. Walter was also one of the first, if not the first in England to go on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, which he did after the siege of Barbastro and before returning to Normandy.

...
Wikipedia