Walter of Bibbesworth

About 1250 he served in Gascony under the seneschal Nicholas de Molis in the army of the English king Henry III.

[1] In 1270/1271 he is believed to have taken part in the Ninth Crusade on the evidence of a tençon or poetic argument between himself and Henry de Lacy, 3rd Earl of Lincoln.

In fact the young Henry de Lacy, "recently married and with heavy responsibilities at home",[2] did not take part in the Ninth Crusade.

[3][4] Apart from the tençon Walter is best known for a longer poem which in early manuscripts is called Le Tretiz ("The Treatise"), written in medieval French verse and supplied with Middle English glosses between the lines.

[5] Bibbesworth has also been credited with two other short poems in medieval French, one in praise of beauty, a second on the Virgin Mary, though the first of these is more likely to be the work of Nicole Bozon.