Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford

Centres of the feudal barony of
Miles of Gloucester

Miles FitzWalter of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford (died 24 December 1143) (alias Miles of Gloucester[1]) was a great magnate based in the west of England. He was hereditary Constable of England[a] and Sheriff of Gloucestershire.

He inherited vast landholdings in Wales from his wife Sibyl de Neufmarché (whose father had conquered the independent kingdom of Brycheiniog (Brecknockshire, modern: Breconshire) in South Wales, which became the Lordship of Brecknock, and other lands in Gloucestershire from his father (the nucleus of which were the Domesday Book holdings of his great-uncle Durand of Gloucester)[2] and acquired other large landholdings himself, including the extensive Lordship of Abergavennny in South Wales, and St Briavel's Castle and the Forest of Dean in the west of Gloucestershire. These combined lands became a feudal barony, now known as the "Barony of Miles of Gloucester".[1]

By his three daughters and eventual co-heiresses his barony was split between the families of de Bohun, which inherited the fiefdom of Durand of Gloucester (Miles's great-uncle),[3] the hereditary Constabulary of England and was re-created Earl of Hereford in 1200; de Braose, which inherited the Lordships of Brecon and Abergavenny; and FitzHerbert, which inherited Blaen Llyfni.

In 1136 he founded Llanthony Secunda Priory half a mile south of Gloucester Castle, in the chapter house of which he and many of his de Bohun descendants were buried.[4] John of Salisbury classed him with Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex and others as non tam comites regni quam hostes publici ("not so much earls of the kingdom as public enemies"). The charge is justified by his public policy, but the materials for appraising his personal character do not exist.[5]

  1. ^ a b Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.7
  2. ^ Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.7, note 1
  3. ^ Namely 14 1/2 knights-fees centred on Haresfield in Gloucestershire, (Sanders, I.J. English Baronies: A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Oxford, 1960, p.7, & note 2)
  4. ^ George Roberts, Some account of Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire, London, 1847, Appendix, pp.63 et seq [1]
  5. ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 479.


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