Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 1.djvu/70

20 COMPLETE PEERAGE ABERGAVENNY

William and Matthew. He was living in 1103, and d. 5 Mar. 11—.[1]
II. temp. Henry I.	Brien fitz Count, or of Wallingford, illegit. s. of Alan Fergent, Duke, or Count, of Britanny, was a Welsh magnate before 16 Oct. 1119, being then possessed of the honour of Abergavenny (i.e. Over Gwent), which he held either by grant to him and his wife, Maud, Lady of Wallingford,[2] or else solely in her right. They transferred the honour to Miles, Earl of Hereford,[3] in 1141–2, to be held of them and their heirs by the service of 3 knights.
III. 1141–2.	Miles of Gloucester, hereditary sheriff thereof, and the King's Constable, s. and h. of Walter fitz Roger de Pîtres, who held the former office. He was cr. Earl of Hereford, 25 July 1141. He m., 1121, Sibyl, da. and h. of Bernard de Neufmarché, Lord of Brecon,[4] and d. 24 Dec. 1143. See fuller account under "Hereford."
IV. 1143.	Roger, Earl of Hereford and the King's Constable, s. and h. He was confirmed in all his father's possessions by Henry II in 1155; this must be held to have included the honour of Abergavenny. He m. in 1137–8, Cicely, 1st. da. and coh. of Payn fitz John, by Sibyl.[5] He d. a monk of Gloucester, in 1155, s.p. See fuller account under "Hereford."

castro Baladone natus atque propter industriam a rege Anglorum Wilhelmo filio opinatissimi regis Wilhelmi amplissimis muneribus atque honoribus sublimatus" gave to the Abbey "capellam sui castelli quod sibi supradictus gloriosus rex jam dederat quod lingua Britannica Bergeuenis nominant." He also gave all the tithes of all Over Gwent (Weneiscoit). These gifts were confirmed by King Henry I. (ex inform. G.W. Watson.) V.G.

1. The fundatoris genealogia of Abergavenny (Monasticon, vol. iv, p. 615) says that he was s. of Dru de Baladun, and that he d. s.p., and gave Abergavenny and Over Gwent to Brien (filio comitis de Insula), s. of his sister Lucy. But J.H. Round has proved (Peerage Studies, pp. 198–206) that he left a da., Emmeline, who m. Reynold, s. of Roger, Earl of Hereford, and was mother of William, who, in 1166, entered a claim to Abergavenny. The genealogia, which, however, as Round elsewhere remarks, breaks down completely on being tested, states that Earl Miles was s. of Emma, another sister of Hamelin. (ex inform. G.W. Watson.) V.G.
2. According to an inquisition in the Testa de Nevill (p. 115), she was widow of Miles Crespin (a Domesday tenant, who d. 1107), and da. and h. of Robert d'Oilly of Wallingford (another Domesday tenant) by the da. and h. (Ealdgyth) of Wigod, Lord of Wallingford temp. King Harold. But this inquisition is of too late a date to be implicitly relied on. (ex inform. G.W.Watson.) V.G.
3. J.H. Round has edited in his Ancient Charters (Pipe Roll Soc.) pp. 43–5, the charter by which the Empress Maud granted to Miles, Earl of Hereford, and his heirs the Castle and Honour to be held of Brien fitz Count and Maud of Wallingford his wife and their heirs. Round infers from this important charter that Brien held the castle in right of his wife. It will be observed that the charter merely creates an under-tenancy. V.G.
4. Round, Ancient Charters, no. 6.
5. Idem, nos. 21, 22.