Simon I. de Senlis

Simon I. de Senlis ( Senliz, St Lyz; † between 1111 and 1113, buried in La Charité-sur-Loire ) was Earl of Northampton and Earl of Huntingdon , both possibly from the right of his wife ( iure uxoris ).

origin

The origin of Simon de Senlis is controversial. On the one hand he is seen as the third son of Landri de Senlis, Sire de Chantilly et de Ermenonville , and his wife Ermengarde, on the other hand as the son of Ranoul / Raundoel le Riche.

Life

According to the founding deed of Sawtry Abbey , donated by his son Simon II , and the founding report of St Andrew's Priory in Northampton, Simon I de Senlis came to England in 1066 with William the Conqueror . Since he is not mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, a later arrival is more likely, at the latest in the early days of King Wilhelm Rufus , who reigned from 1087.

In 1090 he was already married to Maud of Huntingdon (* probably 1071/1074), daughter and heiress of Waltheof II, Earl of Northumbria and Northampton, and Judith von Lens , a niece of William the Conqueror, after they had previously married Simon had refused and fled abroad in the face of the king's wrath. After his marriage he was appointed Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton (probably 1087/1090), probably not de iure uxoris , since the office of his father-in-law, who was executed in 1076, must have been forfeited by his revolt against William the Conqueror, but because of a new appointment, so that he was thereafter incumbent in his own right. He signed a certificate in favor of Bath Abbey from 1090 with "Earl Simon".

He had Northampton Castle and the city walls of Northampton built - probably in the early years of his marriage . Between 1093 and 1100, he and Maud founded St Andrew's Priory in Northampton. According to Suger von Saint-Denis , he was captured in 1098 during King Wilhelm Rufus' Vexin campaign and later released for a ransom. In 1100 he witnessed the Charter of Liberties at the coronation of Henry I , as well as the royal charters from 1100 to 1103, 1106–1107 and 1109–1111. On August 8, 1111, he testified in Bishop's Waltham that Henry I was donated to Bath Abbey when the king was on his way to Normandy . Simon de Senlis then also went to the continent and died between 1111 and 1113 in La Charité-sur-Loire, where he was buried in the new priory church ( consecrated in 1107 by Pope Paschal II ). His year of death is believed to be in 1111, as Northampton Castle fell to the Crown in that year, and in 1113 he died safely, as his widow had her second marriage at the end of that year.

A document from the end of the 12th century mentions a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , probably against the background of the First Crusade , which began in 1096 and led to the capture of the city in 1099. If the pilgrimage took place, then certainly clearly afterwards, since it is mostly attested in England between 1098 and 1111. The journey that ended with his death is said to have been a second pilgrimage in which he died on the way back.

progeny

Three children of Simon and Maud are known:

• Simon II. De Senlis , Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton
• Waltheof von Melrose , elected Archbishop of York who was rejected by the King
• Maud de Senlis, who first married Robert Fitz Richard, son of Richard Fitz Gilbert (from the Clare family ) of Little Dunmow , Essex († 1136); second Saer de Quincy, Lord of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire; their descendants were:
  • Robert de Quincy († around 1198), father of:
    • Alice de Senlis (St. Liz), the mother of William de Huntingfield , and
    • Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester († 1219).

After Simon's death, around Christmas 1113, Maud married David of Scotland , who became king of his country in 1124. As Maud's husband, David was recognized as the successor to Simon I. Countess Maud died in 1130/31.

literature

• William Dugdale : Monasticon Anglicanum. Volume 5, Priory of St Andrew, Northampton, I, Incipit de Fundatione Domus nostræ , p. 190
• Matthew Strickland: Senlis, Simon (I) de, earl of Northampton and earl of Huntingdon (d. 1111x13). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, 2004

Web links

• Charles Cawley, Medieval Lands, Earls of Huntingdon (family of Simon de Senlis) ( online, accessed March 20, 2019)

Remarks

1. ↑ Probably a hearing mistake by an English scribe who is not familiar with the geography of France and the place name Senlis
2. ↑ Strickland 2004
3. ↑ duo fratres ... Garnerius dictus le Ryche et Simon de Seynlyz filii Raundoel le Ryche (Dugdale)
4. ↑ Dugdale
5. ↑ Ordericus Vitalis (Edition Prévost, Volume III, Book VIII, XXII, p. 402) reports that the two counties jointly owned
6. ↑ Dugdale

predecessor	Office	successor
Waltheof	Earl of Huntingdon 1087 / 90-1111 / 1113	David I. (Scotland)
Waltheof	Earl of Northampton 1087 / 90-1111 / 1113	Simon II. De Senlis