Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford

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.

Walter was also seemingly Constable of England under King Henry I (1100-1135), as he is described in an annal of Llanthony Secunda Priory (transcribed by Dugdale[7]) as Constabularius, princeps militiae domus regiae, vir magnus et potens et inter primos regni praecipue honoratus ("Constable, chief of the royal military household, a great and powerful man and amongst the first of the kingdom especially honoured").

[15] On his accession, King Stephen set himself to secure the allegiance of these two lords-marchers, who at length, on receiving a safe conduct and obtaining all they asked for, did him homage.

[b] Miles is next found attending the Easter court at Westminster as one of the royal constables,[16] and, shortly after, the Oxford council in the same capacity.

[17] He was then despatched to the aid of the widow of Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare, who was beleaguered in her castle by the Welsh and whom he rescued.

[26] On her arrival Miles met her at Bristol, welcomed her to Gloucester, recognised her as his rightful sovereign, and became thenceforth her ardent supporter.

[30] He took part in the victory at Lincoln (2 February 1141),[31] and on the consequent triumph of the empress, he accompanied her in her progress, and was one of her three chief followers on her entry (2 March) into Winchester.

[38] As "Earl Miles", he now accompanied her to Winchester,[39] and on the rout of her forces on 14 September 1141 he escaped to Gloucester, where he arrived "exhausted, alone, and with scarcely a rag to his back".

[40] Towards the end of the year he was in Bristol making a grant to Llanthony Priory in the presence of the Empress Matilda and Robert, Earl of Gloucester.

[41] In 1142 he is proved by charters to have been with the Empress at Oxford and to have received her permission to hold Abergavenny Castle of Brian Fitz Count.

Robert de Bethune, Bishop of Hereford, withstood his demands, and, on the Earl invading his lands, excommunicated him and his followers, and laid the diocese under interdict.