Simon I de Senlis (or Senliz, St. Liz, etc.), 1st Earl of Northampton and 2nd Earl of Huntingdon ''

jure uxoris ''Jure uxoris'' (a Latin phrase meaning "by right of (his) wife"), citing . describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title '' suo jure'' ("in her own right"). Similarly, the husband of an heiress could beco ...

'' (died between 1111 and 1113; most likely 1111 as this is when his castle at Northampton passed to the crown) was a Norman nobleman. In around 1096, Simon de Senlis joined the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the Middle Ages. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Muslim conquest ...

to the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

. There he would have seen the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

near the centre of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, which he later copied when building one of the four remaining

round church A round church is a church with a completely circular plan, thus a rotunda in architectural terms. There are many Nordic round churches in Sweden and Denmark (notably the island of Bornholm); round churches were popular in Scandinavia in the ...

es in England, The Holy Sepulchre, Northampton. In 1098 he was captured during the Vexin campaign of King

William Rufus William II (; – 2 August 1100) was King of England from 26 September 1087 until his death in 1100, with powers over Normandy and influence in Scotland. He was less successful in extending control into Wales. The third son of William the Co ...

and was subsequently ransomed. He witnessed King Henry I’s

Charter of Liberties The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, or Statutes of the Realm, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100. It sought to bind the King to certain laws regarding the t ...

issued at his coronation in 1100. He attested royal charters in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 1100 to 1103, 1106 to 1107, and 1109 to 1111. Sometime in the period 1093–1100, he and his wife, Maud, founded the Priory of St Andrew's,

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

. He witnessed a grant of King Henry I to

Bath Abbey The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictines, Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, i ...

on 8 August 1111 at

Bishop's Waltham Bishop's Waltham (or Bishops Waltham) is a medieval market town situated at the source of the River Hamble in Hampshire, England. It has a foot in the South Downs National Park and is located at the midpoint of a long-established route between ...

, as the king was crossing to Normandy. As well as The Holy Sepulchre church in Northampton, he built Northampton Castle and the town walls. Simon de Senlis subsequently went abroad and died at La Charité-sur-Loire, where he was buried in the new priory church. The date of his death is uncertain.

Family

Simon was the third son of Laudri de Senlis, sire of

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city ** US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...

and

Ermenonville Ermenonville () is a commune in the Oise department, northern France. Located near Paris, Ermenonville is notable for its park named for Jean-Jacques Rousseau by René Louis de Girardin. Rousseau's tomb was designed by the painter Hubert Robe ...

(in

Picardy Picardy (; Picard language, Picard and , , ) is a historical and cultural territory and a former regions of France, administrative region located in northern France. The first mentions of this province date back to the Middle Ages: it gained it ...

), and his spouse, Ermengarde.Matthew Strickland, 'Senlis, Simon (I) de, earl of Northampton and earl of Huntingdon (d. 1111x13)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 He married in or before 1090 Maud of Huntingdon, daughter of

Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria (, ) (died 31 May 1076) was the last of the Anglo-Saxon earls and the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of William I. Early life Waltheof was the second son of Siward, Earl of Northumbria. ...

, Northampton and Huntingdon and

Judith of Lens Judith of Lens (born Normandy, between 1054 and 1055 - died Fotheringhay, c. 1090) was a niece of William the Conqueror. She was a daughter of Lambert II, Count of Lens and Adelaide of Normandy (Countess of Aumale), the sister of William the ...

, niece of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. This Judith had earlier refused to wed Simon; she had fled abroad to avoid her uncle's wrath. Simon and Maud had three children: * Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton, * Saint Waltheof of Melrose, and *Maud de Senlis, who married (1st) Robert Fitz Richard (of the

de Clare The House of Clare was a prominent Anglo-Norman noble house that ruled the Earldoms of Pembroke, Hertford and Gloucester in England and Wales throughout its history, playing a prominent role in the Norman invasion of Ireland. They were desce ...

family), of Little Dunmow, Essex, had issue, then following his death married (2nd) Saer de Quincy, Lord of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire Following Simon's death, his widow, Maud, married (2nd) around Christmas 1113, to

David I David I may refer to: * David I, Caucasian Albanian Catholicos c. 399 * David I of Armenia, Catholicos of Armenia (728–741) * David I Kuropalates of Georgia (died 881) * David I Anhoghin, king of Lori (ruled 989–1048) * David I of Scotland ...

nicknamed the Saint, who became

King of Scots The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British cons ...

in 1124. David was recognized as Earl of Huntingdon to the exclusion of his step-son, Simon; the earldom of Northampton reverted to the crown. Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon, the

Queen of Scots The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British cons ...

, died in 1130/31.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntingdon-Northampton, Simon I de Senlis, Earl of 11th-century births 1110s deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain 11th-century English nobility 12th-century English nobility Anglo-Normans People from Northampton Norman warriors Earls of Northampton Earls of Huntingdon (1065 creation) William II of England Peers jure uxoris Jure uxoris counts