Miles Crispin (died 1107), also known as Miles or Milo of Wallingford, was a wealthy Norman landowner, particularly associated with Wallingford Castle in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). The Domesday Book records Miles as a major landowner with holdings in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, Wiltshire and two other neighbouring counties as well as being Tenant-in-chief in a lengthy list of places.
Miles is believed to be a member of the Crispin family of Neaufles in France: suggestions include son of William Crispin, part of William the Conqueror's invading force, and a relation of Gilbert Crispin, abbot of Westminster, but this is uncertain.
Miles married Matilda, daughter of Robert D'Oyly, in 1084. While D'Oyly is generally credited with building Wallingford Castle, it has also been suggested that Miles Crispin was its first castellan of Wallingford, and owner of the lands of Wigod. Matilda later married Brien FitzCount.
Famous quotes containing the word miles:
“It is an agreeable change to cross a lake, after you have been shut up in the woods, not only on account of the greater expanse of water, but also of sky. It is one of the surprises which Nature has in store for the traveler in the forest. To look down, in this case, over eighteen miles of water, was liberating and civilizing even.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)