the devolution of their lands differed; for those of Roger, from their subsequent lords, came to be known as the Honour of St. Valery, while Robert's became united with those of Miles Crispin in what was called the Honour of Wallingford.[1]
As this Honour represented two such considerable fiefs, its descent is of some importance for the feudal history of the county. The accepted version is that which is found in a return of the time of John, which professes to trace that descent from Harold's days.[2] According to this version Robert d'Ouilly married the daughter of Wigod of Wallingford, who held great estates both before and after the Conquest, and had by her a daughter Maud, who brought the whole inheritance to her two husbands, Miles Crispin and Brian Fitz Count, in succession. It is certain that Brian held the Honour in right of his wife, who is found described as Maud ' de Walengeford '[3] and also as Maud ' de Oylli ';[4] but it is strange, on chronological grounds, that Maud's successive husbands should have been living respectively under William I. and under Stephen. It is also strange that Domesday shows us Miles Crispin already in possession of portions of Wigod's lands even in the lifetime of Robert d'Ouilly,[5] who ought to have been holding the whole of them. In Buckinghamshire he had obtained two of Wigod's manors and one which had been held by Ordwig, a ' man ' of Wigod, while Robert is not mentioned once as succeeding to Wigod.[6] Iver, however, which Robert had obtained by exchange, is spoken of as ' of his wife's fee.' If we seek a common predecessor for Robert and Miles, we find him, in this county, not in Wigod, but in Brihtric, a thegn of Queen Edith. Robert had succeeded him at Wycombe and Masworth,[7] and Miles at Waddesdon, Wingrave and another manor,[8] while Miles had also obtained the lands of several of his men. Another English predecessor of Miles here and in Gloucestershire was the thegn Haminc. Except for Amersham, Geoffrey de Mandeville owed his fief, in this as in other counties, to his well-recognized succession to Ansgar ' the staller,' while Bondig, another ' staller,' here disguised as ' Boding the constable,' was succeeded, as elsewhere, in his two manors by that Derbyshire magnate, Henry de Ferrers. The Buckinghamshire fief which lingered the longest in the heirs of its Domesday holder was that of Walter, son of Other, which was held for some centuries by his descendants the family of Windsor. Walter the Fleming, a Bedfordshire baron, was succeeded in his fief for many generations by his descendants the Wahulls, but in this county he had but a trifling holding.
- ↑ For instance Iver, the first manor on Robert's fief in the record, is returned two centuries later as held ' de honore Walingfordie ' (Feudal Aids, i. 76).
- ↑ Testa de Nevill, p. 115. This return, though found under Berkshire, is of value for the devolution of some Buckinghamshire lordships, such as Wycombe and Iver.
- ↑ Ancient Charters (Pipe Roll Society), p. 43.
- ↑ Bracton's Note Book (ed. Maitland), iii. 535.
- ↑ Compare Mr. Freeman's Appendix on ' Wigod of Wallingford and Robert of Oily ' in Norman Conquest, vol. iv.
- ↑ In Oxfordshire Miles had succeeded Wigod in three manors and Robert in one only.
- ↑ Alias Marsworth.
- ↑ He is also found as a predecessor of Miles in cos. Beds and Oxon.
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