Thomas de Furnival1

M, #2521, d. before 28 July 1260

 

Father*Gerard de Furnival2 b. a 12 Mar 1179/80, d. 1218
Mother*Maud de Luvetot2 b. c 1178, d. 1250
Thomas de Furnival|d. b 28 Jul 1260|p85.htm#i2521|Gerard de Furnival|b. a 12 Mar 1179/80\nd. 1218|p85.htm#i2525|Maud de Luvetot|b. c 1178\nd. 1250|p85.htm#i2524|Gerard de Furnival|d. 1219|p85.htm#i2526|Andele (?)||p493.htm#i14782|William de Luvetot|d. 1181|p85.htm#i2528|Maud FitzWalter|b. c 1161|p85.htm#i2527|

Marriage* 1st=Bertha de Ferrers1 
Death*before 28 July 1260 when Bertha was recorded as the widow of her second husband, Ralph Bigod3 
Flourished*13 April 1238 3 

Family

Bertha de Ferrers
Children

Last Edited3 Apr 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-29.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-28.
  3. [S301] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, p. 117.
  4. [S284] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, Mowbray 5.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 100.

Bertha de Ferrers1,2

F, #2522

Father*Sir William de Ferrers Earl of Derby3 b. c 1168, d. 22 Sep 1247
Mother*Agnes of Chester3 b. c 1174, d. 2 Nov 1247
Bertha de Ferrers||p85.htm#i2522|Sir William de Ferrers Earl of Derby|b. c 1168\nd. 22 Sep 1247|p90.htm#i2688|Agnes of Chester|b. c 1174\nd. 2 Nov 1247|p90.htm#i2689|William de Ferrers|b. c 1136\nd. b 21 Oct 1190|p90.htm#i2691|Sybil de Braiose|b. c 1150|p90.htm#i2690|Hugh of Kevelioc|b. 1147\nd. 30 Jun 1181|p59.htm#i1758|Bertrade de Montfort|b. 1155\nd. 1227|p97.htm#i2903|

Marriage* Groom=Thomas de Furnival1 
Marriage*after 1238 Principal=Sir Ralph Bigod4 
Burial* Grey Friars, Dunwich, Suffolk5 
Name Variation Berta de Ferrers3 
Married Name de Furnival1 
Married Name Bigod1 
Living*1278/79 5 

Family

Thomas de Furnival d. b 28 Jul 1260
Children

Last Edited10 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-29.
  2. [S284] Douglas Richardson, Plantagenet Ancestry, Mowbray 5.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 84.
  4. [S374] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Bigod 2.
  5. [S374] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Aske 3.
  6. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 100.

Sir Ralph Bigod1

M, #2523, d. before 28 July 1260

 

Father*Sir Hugh Bigod2,3 d. bt 11 Feb 1225 - 18 Feb 1225
Mother*Maud Marshal2 b. c 1192, d. 27 Mar 1248
Sir Ralph Bigod|d. b 28 Jul 1260|p85.htm#i2523|Sir Hugh Bigod|d. bt 11 Feb 1225 - 18 Feb 1225|p90.htm#i2672|Maud Marshal|b. c 1192\nd. 27 Mar 1248|p90.htm#i2671|Sir Roger Bigod|b. b 1140\nd. b 2 Aug 1221|p70.htm#i2075|Ida de Tony||p70.htm#i2076|Sir William Marshal|b. 1146\nd. 14 May 1219|p89.htm#i2644|Isabel de Clare|b. 1173\nd. 1220|p100.htm#i2977|

Marriage*after 1238 Principal=Bertha de Ferrers4 
Death*before 28 July 1260 ||when Bertha was recorded as his widow1,5 
Event-Misc*1248 Ralph Bigod carried his mother's body to Tintery Abbey for burial, Principal=Maud Marshal6 

Last Edited10 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-29.
  2. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, p. 92.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 30.
  4. [S374] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Bigod 2.
  5. [S301] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, p. 117.
  6. [S374] Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry, Aske 3.

Maud de Luvetot1

F, #2524, b. circa 1178, d. 1250

Father*William de Luvetot2 d. 1181
Mother*Maud FitzWalter2 b. c 1161
Maud de Luvetot|b. c 1178\nd. 1250|p85.htm#i2524|William de Luvetot|d. 1181|p85.htm#i2528|Maud FitzWalter|b. c 1161|p85.htm#i2527|Richard de Luvetot|d. 1171|p85.htm#i2529|Cecily de Brito||p85.htm#i2530|Walter FitzRobert|b. c 1130\nd. 1198|p85.htm#i2532||||

Birth*circa 1178 1 
Marriage* Principal=Gerard de Furnival1 
Death*1250 1 
Residence* Worksop, Nottingham, England1 
Residence Sheffield, Yorkshire, England1 

Family

Gerard de Furnival b. a 12 Mar 1179/80, d. 1218
Children

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-28.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-27.
  3. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, v. 2, p. 93.
  4. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, v. 2, p. 92.

Gerard de Furnival1

M, #2525, b. after 12 March 1179/80, d. 1218

 

Father*Gerard de Furnival1 d. 1219
Mother*Andele (?)2
Gerard de Furnival|b. a 12 Mar 1179/80\nd. 1218|p85.htm#i2525|Gerard de Furnival|d. 1219|p85.htm#i2526|Andele (?)||p493.htm#i14782|||||||||||||

Marriage* Principal=Maud de Luvetot1 
Birth*after 12 March 1179/80 as he was underage on 12 Mar 1200/12 
Death*1218 1 
Arms* Sealed, late 12th Century: A bend bet. 6 martlets (Birch).3

Family

Maud de Luvetot b. c 1178, d. 1250
Children

Last Edited3 Apr 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-28.
  2. [S301] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, p. 117.
  3. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, v. 2, p. 65.
  4. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, v. 2, p. 93.
  5. [S325] Rev. C. Moor, Knights of Edward I, v. 2, p. 92.

Gerard de Furnival1

M, #2526, d. 1219

 

Marriage* Principal=Andele (?)2 
Death*1219 Jerusalem, Palestine2 
Event-Misc* He accompanied King Richard I on his Crusade.2 

Family

Andele (?)
Children

Last Edited3 Apr 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-28.
  2. [S301] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, p. 117.

Maud FitzWalter1

F, #2527, b. circa 1161

Father*Walter FitzRobert2 b. c 1130, d. 1198
Maud FitzWalter|b. c 1161|p85.htm#i2527|Walter FitzRobert|b. c 1130\nd. 1198|p85.htm#i2532||||Robert FitzRichard|d. bt 1134 - 1136|p85.htm#i2538|Maud de St. Liz|b. c 1094\nd. 1140|p85.htm#i2537|||||||

Birth*circa 1161 1 
Marriage* Principal=William de Luvetot1 
Living*1196 1 

Family

William de Luvetot d. 1181
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-27.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-26.

William de Luvetot1

M, #2528, d. 1181

Father*Richard de Luvetot1 d. 1171
Mother*Cecily de Brito1
William de Luvetot|d. 1181|p85.htm#i2528|Richard de Luvetot|d. 1171|p85.htm#i2529|Cecily de Brito||p85.htm#i2530|||||||||||||

Marriage* Principal=Maud FitzWalter1 
Death*1181 1 
Event-Misc*1130 Eustace FitzJohn and William de Luvetot were keepers of Tickhill Castle and the Honour of Blyth, Principal=Eustace FitzJohn2 
Residence* Sheffield, Yorkshire, England1 

Family

Maud FitzWalter b. c 1161
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-27.
  2. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 255.

Richard de Luvetot1

M, #2529, d. 1171

Marriage* Principal=Cecily de Brito1 
Death*1171 1 

Family

Cecily de Brito
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-27.

Cecily de Brito1

F, #2530

Marriage* Principal=Richard de Luvetot1 

Family

Richard de Luvetot d. 1171
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-27.

Walter FitzRobert1

M, #2532, b. circa 1130, d. 1198

Father*Robert FitzRichard2 d. bt 1134 - 1136
Mother*Maud de St. Liz2 b. c 1094, d. 1140
Walter FitzRobert|b. c 1130\nd. 1198|p85.htm#i2532|Robert FitzRichard|d. bt 1134 - 1136|p85.htm#i2538|Maud de St. Liz|b. c 1094\nd. 1140|p85.htm#i2537|Richard FitzGilbert|b. 1035\nd. c 1090|p85.htm#i2539|Roese Gifford|d. a 1113|p85.htm#i2540|Simon de St. Liz|b. c 1068\nd. 1111|p85.htm#i2542|Countess Maud of Huntingdon|b. 1072\nd. 1131|p85.htm#i2544|

Marriage* Bride=Maud de Lucy1 
Birth*circa 1130 3 
Death*1198 4,3 
Burial* Little Dunmow, Essex, England3 
Residence* Little Dunmow, Essex, England4 

Family 1

Maud de Lucy
Child

Family 2
Child

Last Edited18 May 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-26.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  3. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  4. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-26.
  5. [S285] Leo van de Pas, 30 Jun 2004.
  6. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 52.

Maud de Lucy1

F, #2534

Father*Sir Richard de Lucy Knt.2 d. 1179
Mother*Rohese (?)2
Maud de Lucy||p85.htm#i2534|Sir Richard de Lucy Knt.|d. 1179|p85.htm#i2535|Rohese (?)||p85.htm#i2536|||||||||||||

Marriage* 2nd=Walter FitzRobert1 

Family

Walter FitzRobert b. c 1130, d. 1198
Child

Last Edited17 Jun 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148A-26.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-26.
  3. [S285] Leo van de Pas, 30 Jun 2004.

Sir Richard de Lucy Knt.1

M, #2535, d. 1179

Marriage* Principal=Rohese (?)1 
Death*1179 1 
DNB* Lucy, Richard de (d. 1179), soldier and administrator, was born early in the twelfth century, of a family with lands in both Normandy and England. His mother, Aveline, is mentioned in association with the young Richard in several records; his father's name is unknown. The family originated in Normandy, at Lucé, near Domfront; Richard's brother Walter, later abbot of Battle in Sussex, was at first a monk at Lonlay-l'Abbaye, near Lucé. Other brothers were Robert and possibly Herbert. Richard married a woman named Roysia, whose origins are unknown, and they had sons named Geoffrey and Godfrey, and daughters Matilda, Aveline, and Alice who married Odinel de Umfraville (d. 1182) [see under Umfraville family (per. c.1100-1245)].

Lucy may have begun his career of royal service under Henry I, from whom he was later said to have received a grant of royal land in Suffolk. By 1136 he was in the service of King Stephen, for whom he daringly and successfully defended the castle of Falaise against Geoffrey of Anjou in October 1138. After this he returned to England, where he remained in almost constant attendance upon the embattled king. Although his only official title in Stephen's reign was apparently that of local justice in Middlesex, London, and Essex from c.1143 onwards, he gradually became one of Stephen's closest associates and right-hand men, steadfast in his service to the king even in the most troubled periods of the anarchy. He served as an intermediary between the king and Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury in 1148, while in the summer of 1153, when support for Stephen was waning among the barons, Richard de Lucy helped lead a raid up the Thames valley into the territory held by Henry of Anjou, who would soon force Stephen into negotiations over the throne. The treaty of Westminster, later the same year, demonstrated the esteem in which both sides held Richard de Lucy, naming him guardian of the Tower of London and Windsor Castle, which he was to hand over to Henry upon Stephen's death; Richard's son was to be a hostage for his father's good faith.

During Stephen's reign Lucy had begun to collect the estates that would eventually form his barony of Ongar. His English inheritance, worth some seven knights' fees, included lands at Diss and Stowe in East Anglia and Newington in Kent; in the latter county he was a tenant of the archbishop of Canterbury. From Stephen he received generous grants from the king's honour of Boulogne, including Chipping Ongar in Essex; here Lucy built a castle and promoted the growth of the town. Concentrated in eastern England, his territorial interests coincided with those of the royal family, and royal grants strengthened the connection.

When Stephen died in 1154 and was succeeded by Henry II, Richard de Lucy moved easily into the new royal administration, and was almost immediately named co-justiciar with Robert, earl of Leicester. Both his familiarity with English government and his unblemished record of loyalty, albeit to Henry's rival, doubtless commended him to the new king, as did his continuing competent service. For the first few years of this reign he served as sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire and was in charge of several royal manors as well. Then he turned more exclusively to the concerns of central government. In 1166 he was one of those sent on the first of the revived judicial eyres. He also continued to carry out occasional military tasks, in 1167 repelling an attempted landing by Matthew, count of Boulogne, claimant to the English honour of Boulogne. As justiciar Lucy often filled a viceregal role while the king was overseas, and he himself was sent on frequent foreign missions.

On the king's orders Lucy played an important role in securing the election of his colleague Thomas Becket as archbishop of Canterbury in 1162; he also helped to draw up the constitutions of Clarendon, which led in 1164 to Becket's quarrel with Henry II. Later that year, when overseas on royal business and possibly returning from a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, he met with the exiled archbishop to urge a reconciliation between him and the king. Instead the two argued bitterly, and Lucy renounced his homage. In 1166 Becket excommunicated him at Vézelay for his role in drafting the constitutions and for his support of the king. Soon after this Lucy was said to have taken a crusader's vow, but if he did he never fulfilled it. Instead he was absolved by the bishop of St Asaph in 1167, and excommunicated by Becket once again in 1169.

As a servant of Henry II, Lucy continued to increase his lands and wealth. From the king himself he received large ‘gifts’ from the royal revenues, confirmation of Stephen's grants, and (c.1174) a new grant of Ongar hundred. In addition Richard de Lucy became the ally and tenant of various intimates of the new king. Already in 1155 he and his brother Walter enjoyed a ‘treaty of friendship’ with the king's uncle, Reginald, earl of Cornwall, and the royal constable Richard du Hommet, as well as less formal alliances with other familiares of the king. By 1166 he was holding ten knights' fees from Reginald; nine fees from Reginald's tenant Adam Malherbe; and one fee from the honour of Clare in Suffolk. A few years later he was enfeoffed by the king's cousin William, earl of Gloucester, with ten knights' fees at Greenstead in Essex.

Richard de Lucy was left sole justiciar upon the earl of Leicester's death in 1168. It was in the next decade that he reached the pinnacle of his career, being called the king's familiarissimus and ‘the most powerful man in the kingdom’ (Gesta … Benedicti, 1.124; Works of Gervase of Canterbury, 1.241). During the rebellion of 1173–4 he was the leader of the king's forces in England. With Reginald of Cornwall he besieged and captured the town of Leicester, then he and Humphrey (III) de Bohun led a force into northern England and Scotland against the Scottish king, William, who had invaded Northumberland. But, hearing of the landing of the rebellious earl of Leicester in the south, Lucy arranged a truce with William and returned to the midlands, where he laid siege to Huntingdon Castle, which belonged to the Scottish king's brother David. Lucy's prudence, energy, and success during this lengthy crisis permanently increased not only his own reputation but also the power and prestige of the justiciarship itself. Henry was said to call him ‘de Lucy the loyal’ (Gesta … Benedicti, 1.124), and it was a surprise to contemporaries when Ongar Castle was among those confiscated by the king in the post-rebellion repossessions of 1176. Lucy was sure enough of his standing with the king to reprimand him for later ignoring the forest privileges he had granted to his servants during the rebellion.

Lucy's eldest son, Geoffrey, predeceased his father, leaving his young son Richard as the justiciar's heir. For his second son, Godfrey de Lucy, the elder Richard arranged a church career, which culminated in his election to the see of Winchester in 1189. For his daughters Lucy achieved marriages into some of the leading families of Essex: Matilda married Walter fitz Robert de Clare, and Aveline married Gilbert de Montfichet. Alice married Odinel de Umfraville. Richard de Lucy was a benefactor of Holy Trinity Priory in London, where his wife was buried, and a champion of Battle Abbey, where his brother was abbot. His interest in religion increased in the later years of his life. In 1178 he founded a house of Augustinian canons on his land at Lessness, or Westwood, in Kent, not far from Ongar. The foundation was dedicated to the Virgin and St Thomas of Canterbury—the latter an unexpected dedication, in the light of Lucy's difficult relations with the archbishop. He retired from the justiciarship in 1178 or 1179, and entered this house as a canon. He died at Lessness on 14 July 1179, and was buried in the abbey there. He was succeeded by two young grandsons in turn, and eventually by his daughters and granddaughters.

Emilie Amt
Sources

Reg. RAN, vols. 2–3 · Pipe rolls · H. Hall, ed., The Red Book of the Exchequer, 3 vols., Rolls Series, 99 (1896) · E. Searle, ed., The chronicle of Battle Abbey, OMT (1980) · R. W. Eyton, Court, household, and itinerary of King Henry II (1878) · J. C. Robertson and J. B. Sheppard, eds., Materials for the history of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, 7 vols., Rolls Series, 67 (1875–85) · E. Amt, ‘Richard de Lucy, Henry II's justiciar’, Medieval Prosopography, 9 (1988) · J. H. Round, ‘The honour of Ongar’, Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, new ser., 7 (1898–9), 142–52 · A. Saltman, Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury (1956) · The historical works of Gervase of Canterbury, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols., Rolls Series, 73 (1879–80) · R. Howlett, ed., Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, 4 vols., Rolls Series, 82 (1884–9) · St Aelred [abbot of Rievaulx], ‘Relatio de standardo’, Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, ed. R. Howlett, 3, Rolls Series, 82 (1886) · Chronica magistri Rogeri de Hovedene, ed. W. Stubbs, 4 vols., Rolls Series, 51 (1868–71) · W. Stubbs, ed., Gesta regis Henrici secundi Benedicti abbatis: the chronicle of the reigns of Henry II and Richard I, AD 1169–1192, 2 vols., Rolls Series, 49 (1867)
© Oxford University Press 2004–5
All rights reserved: see legal notice      Oxford University Press


Emilie Amt, ‘Lucy, Richard de (d. 1179)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/17149, accessed 24 Sept 2005]

Richard de Lucy (d. 1179): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/171492 
Occupation* England, Justiciar of England1 
(Witness) Event-Misc17 October 1173 Fornam, Suffolk, After Sir Robert de Beaumont landed at Walden, Suffolk with Flemish mercenaries,he joined Hugh Bigod. Their forces plundered Norwich and took Hagenet castle. He headed for Leicester to relieve his castle, but was defeated and captured by Richard de Lucy, Principal=Sir Robert de Beaumont3 

Family

Rohese (?)
Children

Last Edited24 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-26.
  2. [S376] Unknown editor, unknown short title.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 19.
  4. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 133.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 134.

Rohese (?)1

F, #2536

Marriage* Principal=Sir Richard de Lucy Knt.1 
Married Name Lucy1 

Family

Sir Richard de Lucy Knt. d. 1179
Children

Last Edited17 Jun 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-26.
  2. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 133.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 134.

Maud de St. Liz1

F, #2537, b. circa 1094, d. 1140

Father*Simon de St. Liz2,3 b. c 1068, d. 1111
Mother*Countess Maud of Huntingdon2,3 b. 1072, d. 1131
Maud de St. Liz|b. c 1094\nd. 1140|p85.htm#i2537|Simon de St. Liz|b. c 1068\nd. 1111|p85.htm#i2542|Countess Maud of Huntingdon|b. 1072\nd. 1131|p85.htm#i2544|Ranulph (?) "The Rich"||p85.htm#i2543||||Waltheof I. of Northumberland|b. 1045\nd. 31 May 1076|p85.htm#i2546|Judith of Lens|b. 1054\nd. a 1086|p85.htm#i2545|

Marriage* Groom=Robert FitzRichard1,3,4 
Birth*circa 1094 3 
Marriage* Principal=William d' Aubigny3 
Marriage*after 1136 Groom=Saher de Quincy5,3 
Death*1140 1,3,4 
Name Variation Maud de Senlis6 

Family 1

Saher de Quincy d. bt 1156 - 1158
Children

Family 2

Robert FitzRichard d. bt 1134 - 1136
Children

Last Edited18 May 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-24.
  3. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  4. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 157-1.
  5. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 53-27.
  6. [S207] Douglas Richardson, wife of Roger de Huntingfield Identity of Alice de Senlis in "Identity of Alice de Senlis, wife of Roger de Huntingfield," listserve message 16 Dec 2002.
  7. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 209.
  8. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 157-2.

Robert FitzRichard1

M, #2538, d. between 1134 and 1136

Father*Richard FitzGilbert1,2 b. 1035, d. c 1090
Mother*Roese Gifford1,2 d. a 1113
Robert FitzRichard|d. bt 1134 - 1136|p85.htm#i2538|Richard FitzGilbert|b. 1035\nd. c 1090|p85.htm#i2539|Roese Gifford|d. a 1113|p85.htm#i2540|Gilbert of Brionne|d. 1040|p85.htm#i2541|Gunnora Briune||p116.htm#i3474|Walter Giffard "the Elder"|b. s 1010\nd. b 1084|p116.htm#i3475|Ermentrude Flaitel||p116.htm#i3476|

Marriage* 1st=Maud de St. Liz1,2,3 
Death*between 1134 and 1136 1,2 
Occupation* England, Lord of Little Dunmow, Essex, Steward of King Henry II of England1,4 
Name Variation Robert de Clare5 
Residence* Little Dunmow, Essex, England1 

Family

Maud de St. Liz b. c 1094, d. 1140
Children

Last Edited18 May 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 157-1.
  4. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 52.
  5. [S285] Leo van de Pas, 30 Jun 2004.
  6. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 157-2.

Richard FitzGilbert1

M, #2539, b. 1035, d. circa 1090

Father*Gilbert of Brionne1,2 d. 1040
Mother*Gunnora Briune2
Richard FitzGilbert|b. 1035\nd. c 1090|p85.htm#i2539|Gilbert of Brionne|d. 1040|p85.htm#i2541|Gunnora Briune||p116.htm#i3474|Godfrey de Brionne|d. c 1015|p170.htm#i5088|Hawise (?)||p170.htm#i5089|||||||

Marriage* 1st=Roese Gifford1,2 
Birth*1035 2 
Death*circa 1090 1,3 
Burial* St. Neots, Huntingdon, England2 
HTML* 
Clare Line
 
Feudal* Bienfaite and Orbec in Normandy, Clare in Suffolk, and Tonbridge4 
Name Variation Richard de Clare2 
Event-Misc*after 1040 After the assasination of their father, the brothers fled to the court of Baldwin V de Lille, Count of Flanders, but William the Conqueror restored them to Normandy., Principal=Baldwin of Meulan, Witness=Count Baldwin V of Flanders3 
Event-Misc*1075 Richard FitzGilbert and William de Warenne were regents of England, and crushed the rebellion of the Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, Principal=William de Warenne5 

Family

Roese Gifford d. a 1113
Children

Last Edited21 May 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 51.
  4. [S301] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell, p. 58.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 51, 259.
  6. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 246B-24.
  7. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 153-1.

Roese Gifford1

F, #2540, d. after 1113

Father*Walter Giffard "the Elder"2,3 b. s 1010, d. b 1084
Mother*Ermentrude Flaitel2,4
Roese Gifford|d. a 1113|p85.htm#i2540|Walter Giffard "the Elder"|b. s 1010\nd. b 1084|p116.htm#i3475|Ermentrude Flaitel||p116.htm#i3476|Walter Giffard|b. c 978|p170.htm#i5090|Avelina d. Crepon|b. s 956|p160.htm#i4797|Gerard d. Fleitel||p140.htm#i4179|Anonyma d' Evereux||p140.htm#i4180|

Marriage* Groom=Richard FitzGilbert1,2 
Birth* Longueville, Normandy, France2 
Birthsay 1045 4 
Death*after 1113 2 
Name Variation Rose3 

Family

Richard FitzGilbert b. 1035, d. c 1090
Children

Last Edited4 Jun 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 246B-24.
  4. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 104.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 51.

Gilbert of Brionne1

M, #2541, d. 1040

Father*Godfrey de Brionne2,3 d. c 1015
Mother*Hawise (?)2
Gilbert of Brionne|d. 1040|p85.htm#i2541|Godfrey de Brionne|d. c 1015|p170.htm#i5088|Hawise (?)||p170.htm#i5089|Richard I. of Normandy "the Fearless"|b. 933\nd. 20 Nov 996|p91.htm#i2708||||||||||

Birth* Normandy, France2 
Marriage* Principal=Gunnora Briune2 
Death*1040 (murdered)2,3 
Title* Count of Brionne3 
Residence* Brionne, Normandy, France1 
Name Variation Gilbert de Bruine2 

Family

Gunnora Briune
Children

Last Edited18 May 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-25.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 51.

Simon de St. Liz1

M, #2542, b. circa 1068, d. 1111

Father*Ranulph (?) "The Rich"1,2
Simon de St. Liz|b. c 1068\nd. 1111|p85.htm#i2542|Ranulph (?) "The Rich"||p85.htm#i2543||||||||||||||||

Birth*circa 1068 Normandy, France2 
Marriage*circa 1090 1st=Countess Maud of Huntingdon1,2 
Death*1111 La-Charite-sur-Loire, returning from Jerusalem1,2,3 
DNB* Senlis, Simon (I) de [Simon de St Liz], earl of Northampton and earl of Huntingdon (d. 1111x13), magnate, was the third son of Landri de Senlis, lord of Chantilly and Ermenonville, and a lady Ermengarde. The derivation St Liz (de sancto Licio) appears to be an attempted etymology for Senlis (Silva necta). His elder brother Guy de Senlis (d. 1124), a generous benefactor to Notre Dame de Senlis and St Martin des Champs, inherited the patrimony, his sons becoming prominent supporters of the Capetian kings, with three in succession holding the title of grand butler of France. Another brother, Hubert, became a canon of Notre Dame, Paris. Both the foundation charter of Sawtry Abbey, founded by his son Simon (II) de Senlis (d. 1153), and the late register of St Andrew's Priory, Northampton, believed Simon (I) to have come to England in 1066 and to have been patronized by William I; but his absence from Domesday Book (1086) suggests that his arrival, or at least his endowment, took place under William Rufus.

Little is known about the career of Simon de Senlis, and it is unknown whether he aided Rufus during the serious baronial insurrections of 1088 in favour of his brother Robert Curthose. Nevertheless, he was distinguished enough to receive in marriage Maud (or Matilda) (d. 1131) [see under David I], daughter of Earl Waltheof and Countess Judith, niece of William the Conqueror, and was granted, probably in right of his wife, the earldoms of Northampton and Huntingdon, in or before 1090. The semi-legendary tract about the Countess Judith, De comitissa, written in the later years of Henry II's reign and incorporated into the account of the life and martyrdom of Waltheof compiled at Crowland c.1219, records an implausible tradition that the king had initially wished to give the widowed Judith and her lands to Simon, son of Ranulf the Rich, who had come with his elder brother Garnier (in fact Simon (I)'s uncle) and forty knights. Refusing Simon on account of his lameness, however, Judith and her daughters fled from the king's anger into the Ely marshes.

According to the De comitissa, Simon de Senlis made a successful pilgrimage to Jerusalem. This was almost certainly after the first crusade, for Suger notes that Simon was captured during William Rufus's Vexin campaign of 1098 against the Capetian heir-apparent, Louis, and subsequently ransomed. Earl Simon witnessed Henry I's charter of liberties issued at his coronation on 5 August 1100 and may have accompanied Henry on his campaign against Robert de Bellême's castle at Tickhill in 1102. He attests royal charters in England from 1100 to 1103, in 1106 and 1107, and in 1109 and 1110.

At Northampton Earl Simon probably constructed the first castle and walled the considerable settlement that had expanded beyond the earlier defences. Although the earliest surviving fabric of the round church of the Holy Sepulchre in Northampton dates to the second quarter of the twelfth century, it is possible that its foundation was inspired by Simon's pilgrimage. Here he also founded the church of All Saints and the Cluniac priory of St Andrew (between 1093 and 1100) as a dependency of La Charité-sur-Loire. When Hugh of Leicester, steward of Countess Maud, established monks of La Charité at Preston Capes (c.1090) in emulation of his lord, Earl Simon granted them the endowments of the secular college at Daventry to which they subsequently moved (between 1107 and 1108). The earl also made grants to Lincoln Cathedral.

Simon de Senlis embarked on a second journey east, but died at La Charité, ‘the eldest daughter of Cluny’, and was buried there in the great new priory church. It is possible that his body was subsequently moved to the priory of St Neots, which he had patronized. The date of his death is uncertain. He attests a grant of Henry I to Bath Abbey on 8 August 1111 at Bishop's Waltham, as the king was crossing to Normandy, and this may mark the earl's own outward voyage. By midsummer 1113, however, David of Scotland was recognized as earl of Huntingdon, marrying Simon's widow, Maud, although the earldom of Northampton reverted to the crown.

Simon de Senlis had three known children: Simon (II), Waldef, who became abbot of Melrose (1148–59), and Matilda, who married Robert fitz Richard of Tonbridge. Countess Maud's younger sister Judith (or Alice) married Ralph de Tosny in 1103.

Matthew Strickland
Sources

F. Michel, ed., ‘Vita et passio Waldevi comitis’, Chroniques anglo-normandes: recueil d'extraits et d'écrits relatifs à l'histoire de Normandie et d'Angleterre, 2 (Rouen, 1836) · Reg. RAN, vol. 2 · R. M. Serjeantson, ‘Origin and history of the de Senlis family’, Associated Architectural Societies' Reports and Papers, 31 (1911–13), 504–17 · GEC, Peerage, new edn, 6.640–42 · VCH Northamptonshire, 3.2–5 · An inventory of the historical monuments in the county of Northampton, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 5 (1985) · M. J. Franklin, ed., The cartulary of Daventry Priory, Northamptonshire RS (1988)
© Oxford University Press 2004–5
All rights reserved: see legal notice      Oxford University Press


Matthew Strickland, ‘Senlis, Simon (I) de , earl of Northampton and earl of Huntingdon (d. 1111x13)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25091, accessed 24 Sept 2005]

Simon (I) de Senlis (d. 1111x13): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/25091

Back to top of biography4 
Title* Earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon by right of his wife3 
Occupation* a crusader1 
Event-Misc*1098 Simon fought for William Rufus in Normandy and was taken prisoner by Louis, son of the the King of France, Principal=Louis VI of France "the Fat"5 
Event-Misc*1100 He witnessed the charter of liberties issued by Henry I at his coronation.5 
Event-Miscbefore 1108 He made grants to the Priory of St. Andrew at Northampton, making it dependent on the Cluniac house of l Charite-sur-Loire5 

Family

Countess Maud of Huntingdon b. 1072, d. 1131
Children

Last Edited24 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-24.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 113.
  4. [S376] Unknown editor, unknown short title.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 114.

Ranulph (?) "The Rich"1

M, #2543

Residence* Normandy, France1 

Family
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-24.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.

Countess Maud of Huntingdon1

F, #2544, b. 1072, d. 1131

Father*Waltheof II of Northumberland2,3 b. 1045, d. 31 May 1076
Mother*Judith of Lens2,3 b. 1054, d. a 1086
Countess Maud of Huntingdon|b. 1072\nd. 1131|p85.htm#i2544|Waltheof II of Northumberland|b. 1045\nd. 31 May 1076|p85.htm#i2546|Judith of Lens|b. 1054\nd. a 1086|p85.htm#i2545|Siward of Northumberland|b. c 1020\nd. 1055|p85.htm#i2547|Ælflæd (?)|b. c 1027|p85.htm#i2548|Lambert of Boulogne|b. c 1022\nd. 1054|p148.htm#i4415|Adeliza of Normandy|b. b 1030\nd. bt 1081 - 1084|p122.htm#i3642|

Birth*1072 1 
Marriage*circa 1090 Groom=Simon de St. Liz1,3 
Marriage*1113 Groom=David I of Scotland "the Saint"4,3,5 
Death*1131 1,3 
Burial* Scone, Perthshire, Scotland3 
Name Variation Matilda of Northumbria (?)3 

Family 1

Simon de St. Liz b. c 1068, d. 1111
Children

Family 2

David I of Scotland "the Saint" b. c 1080, d. 24 May 1153
Children

Last Edited5 Jun 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-24.
  2. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  3. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  4. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 170-22.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 113.
  6. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 114.

Judith of Lens1

F, #2545, b. 1054, d. after 1086

Father*Lambert of Boulogne2,3 b. c 1022, d. 1054
Mother*Adeliza of Normandy2,4 b. b 1030, d. bt 1081 - 1084
Judith of Lens|b. 1054\nd. a 1086|p85.htm#i2545|Lambert of Boulogne|b. c 1022\nd. 1054|p148.htm#i4415|Adeliza of Normandy|b. b 1030\nd. bt 1081 - 1084|p122.htm#i3642|Count Eustace I. of Boulogne|b. c 1004\nd. 1049|p132.htm#i3935|Mathilda d. Louvain||p132.htm#i3936|Robert I. of Normandy|b. c 1000\nd. 22 Jul 1035|p59.htm#i1770|Arlette of Falais|b. c 1003|p60.htm#i1771|

Birth*1054 1,2 
Marriage*1070 Principal=Waltheof II of Northumberland1,2 
Death*after 1086 2 
Note* Bedford, She founded the nunnery of Elstow5 

Family

Waltheof II of Northumberland b. 1045, d. 31 May 1076
Children

Last Edited5 Jun 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-22.
  4. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 130-24.
  5. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 113.

Waltheof II of Northumberland1

M, #2546, b. 1045, d. 31 May 1076

Father*Siward of Northumberland1,2 b. c 1020, d. 1055
Mother*Ælflæd (?)1,2 b. c 1027
Waltheof II of Northumberland|b. 1045\nd. 31 May 1076|p85.htm#i2546|Siward of Northumberland|b. c 1020\nd. 1055|p85.htm#i2547|Ælflæd (?)|b. c 1027|p85.htm#i2548|Berne (?)|b. c 975|p148.htm#i4412||||Aldred of Bernicia|d. 1038|p85.htm#i2549||||

Birth*1045 2 
Marriage*1070 Principal=Judith of Lens1,2 
Death*31 May 1076 St. Giles Hill, Winchester, England, beheaded1,2 
Burial* Crowland, Two weeks after the beheading, the Abbot of Ulfketel, upon a request by Judith, and with the King's permission, retrieved the body to be entombed honorably3 
Title* Earl of Huntingdon, Northampton, and Northumberland4 
DNB* Waltheof, earl of Northumbria (c.1050-1076), magnate, was the second son of the Danish interloper Siward, earl of Northumbria (d. 1055), and his first wife, Ælfflæd, daughter of Earl Ealdred, son of Earl Uhtred. His mother was a member of the house of Bamburgh, which had ruled Northumbria until Cnut's reign.
Early life and promotion
Waltheof may have been born about 1050, and it was later believed that Siward intended him to rule north of the Tees. The death in battle in 1054 of a much older brother, Osbearn, made Waltheof his father's heir, but too young to succeed as earl of Northumbria when Siward himself died in 1055. King Edward instead appointed an outsider, Tostig.

The next ten years are a blank in Waltheof's life. Given his parentage it is likely that he spent part of his childhood at court, and he may have received some of the estates in southern England which he was holding by 1066. Later traditions recorded only that he learned the psalms by heart, which was perhaps normal for a boy of his rank. The earliest opportunity which the king had to promote him came when he was perhaps fourteen or fifteen, after the Northumbrian revolt against Tostig in 1065. Waltheof again failed to gain preferment in the north, but his father had also been earl in the south-east midlands, and there is indirect evidence that Waltheof was made earl over the shires of Huntingdon and Northampton, and possibly others (though the title ‘earl of Huntingdon’ accorded him by many historians is an anachronism).

By 1066 Waltheof owned manors in eight counties, mostly in the east midlands (Huntingdonshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, and Lincolnshire), but also two big manors near London (Tottenham and Walthamstow) and the large soke of Hallamshire in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was a modest estate, but many smaller landowners throughout the east midlands had already put themselves under his protection. His influence thus extended into Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire and was most striking in Cambridgeshire, where, however, Waltheof had no manors of his own.
Anglo-Norman earl
Waltheof's appointment as earl inaugurated an eventful public career. He submitted peacefully to William the Conqueror in 1066, and was among the young English aristocrats whom the new king kept at court in Normandy and England throughout 1067 and until Whitsun 1068 or later. Afterwards, however, he left court for rebellion in the north, and in the company of other Northumbrian leaders joined forces with an invading Danish fleet in 1069 to attack the king's castles in York. When William arrived in late 1069, Waltheof and his cousin Gospatric, earl of Northumbria, retreated from York, and in early 1070 submitted to the king on the banks of the Tees. Both were pardoned, and Waltheof not only resumed authority in his southern earldom, but married the king's niece Judith.

The marriage was intended to cement Waltheof into the new ruling group around William. Judith was the daughter of the king's sister Adelaide and the second of her three husbands, Count Lambert of Lens, who died in 1054, at about the time Judith was born. She had probably been brought up partly in her mother's dower county of Aumale, partly at the Norman court. She and Waltheof had two daughters, Maud and Alice (also known as Judith). Long after their father's death, Maud married first Simon (I) de Senlis, earl of Northampton and of Huntingdon, and then David, later king of Scots; Alice's husband was Ralph de Tosny.

Waltheof continued to acquire lands in the south of England under William I, for instance manors which the rebel Thorkell of Harringworth forfeited probably in 1069. At their full extent they may have corresponded closely to the estate which Judith still owned in 1086: some 200 rural manors mainly scattered between Lincoln, Leicester, Northampton, Bedford, and Cambridge, with houses in several east midland towns. Even so, Waltheof was nothing like as rich as the dozen or so most powerful Norman barons in England.

Waltheof's dealings with the great Benedictine monasteries of the fens were double-edged. Ely, Thorney, and especially Crowland all remembered him as a brother, but he bargained or stole manors from both Thorney and Peterborough, while Crowland's tradition that when Abbot Wulfketel was rebuilding the abbey church Waltheof donated the vill of Barnack, which included quarries of fine building stone, appears to have been wishful thinking. Waltheof was more generous to churches outside his immediate area of influence, especially the new cathedral church of Lincoln, on which he bestowed the valuable Huntingdonshire manor of Leighton Bromswold some time about 1072. Another beneficiary was Bury St Edmunds.

Waltheof also apparently played an active part in the affairs of London, demonstrated by his involvement in the transfer of the Surrey manor of Tooting from its pre-conquest owners to Westminster Abbey. The family concerned was that of Swein and his nephew Æthelnoth, rich Londoners. Swein gave the manor to Waltheof; Waltheof mortgaged it to Æthelnoth; Æthelnoth donated it to the abbey when he became a monk, along with three houses in London and a small estate adjoining Waltheof's at Walthamstow.

The earl's power and standing were immeasurably enhanced in 1072, when William I expelled Gospatric from the earldom of Northumbria and gave it to Waltheof, probably by then in his early twenties. The earldom came with very large estates both north of the Tees and in Yorkshire, but was almost ungovernable in the aftermath of the king's brutality in 1069–70. Waltheof had many enemies in Northumbria, not least other members of the house of Bamburgh excluded from power, and he certainly involved himself in the darker side of the region's politics, notably in a bold move in 1074 against a Yorkshire family of four brothers, the sons of Karl, which had long been the enemy of his own. Over two generations the brothers' grandfather and father had killed Waltheof's maternal great-grandfather and grandfather. Waltheof now sent his retainers to ambush them, and succeeded in murdering the two oldest brothers. The raid has long been seen as the final act in a long feud, but even at the time it must have been difficult to distinguish notions of family honour from the violence of ordinary politics. It might equally be claimed that Waltheof was acting for King William in destroying enemies who had refused to come to terms.
Revolt and execution
A year later, in 1075, Waltheof himself was broken over his part in the revolt of earls Ralph of East Anglia and Roger of Hereford. His motives, even his actions, were uncertain at the time and have been contentious ever since. Waltheof certainly did not rebel openly. It may have been simply (as one later version had it) that he knew about a conspiracy against the king and was slow in reporting it, or (following another account) that he went along with the plot when it was first put to him, only to have immediate reservations and throw himself on the king's mercy, using Archbishop Lanfranc as an intermediary. Whatever the truth of the matter, the king regarded him as deeply implicated. After a trial whose decision was repeatedly postponed, and almost a year under confinement, Waltheof was hurriedly executed by beheading on St Giles's Hill outside Winchester on 31 May 1076.

Why the king ordered Waltheof's death is unclear. The modern view has been that he was applying to an Englishman the English penalty for treason, but that ignores the lifetime imprisonment served on Earl Morcar a few years earlier. Perhaps the king drew the line at Waltheof's second rebellion, or had simply had enough of Englishmen whose obedience was not absolute and unquestioning. Waltheof's body was thrown in a ditch, but a fortnight later, at his widow's request, Abbot Wulfketel of Crowland retrieved it for more honourable burial in the chapter house of his monastery.

Waltheof's dramatic end made a deep and unexpected impact upon the popular imagination. The earl was said to have spent his months of captivity as a penitent in prayer and fasting, his innocence supported by Archbishop Lanfranc. He was executed almost in secret, and the few people present evidently believed that when the sword fell during Waltheof's recitation of the Lord's prayer, his severed head voiced the final ‘but deliver us from evil, Amen’. His guilt must have been vigorously debated in the months before, with English and Normans taking opposite sides, and a widespread expectation that he would be spared. The event itself was a potent brew of treason and piety, involving an angry king, summary justice, and the frightening beheading—itself unprecedented since 1066—of one of the foremost living Englishmen.
The beginnings of the cult
The febrile atmosphere in Winchester nourished the idea that Waltheof was a martyr, even a saint. Such views were cultivated especially at Crowland, which had a financial stake in his reputation. After a disastrous fire Abbot Ingulf moved the body in 1092 from the ruined chapter house to a prominent place in the abbey church. On opening the coffin the corpse was found intact, the head rejoined to the trunk with only a fine crimson line showing where it had been cut off. The miracle was publicized by Crowland and began to draw pilgrims to the tomb.

Elsewhere a second centre of interest in Waltheof was apparently developing at a shrine in the nunnery of Romsey in Hampshire, not far from Winchester. Popular support there for the idea that Waltheof was a saint was stirred up by the mysterious presence in the village of a man claiming to be his son. The cult had the tacit approval of the nuns, but no consent from the bishop of Winchester. It may, for one thing, have had an unwelcome anti-Norman flavour, since in the 1090s Romsey still had close ties with the remnants of the English nobility. In 1102, having tried persuasion and failed, Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury threatened the nuns with an interdict, and sent an archdeacon to suppress the cult and drive away Waltheof's ‘son’. No more was heard of it or him.

The field was thus clear for Crowland to shape its own sanitized version of the cult of St Waltheof. Healing miracles began around 1111, but they were confined to the abbey precinct and largely to pilgrims from the abbey's own manors, suggesting that interest was not widespread. The author of the Hyde chronicle, writing about 1130, knew something of the story of a man whom he termed Waltheof the Gentle, still working miracles at a tomb which the chronicler could not locate. Many of the cures which Crowland recorded took place at dawn, the time of Waltheof's execution, and three-quarters of them involved the restoration of sight. The Crowland cult may at first have had undercurrents similar to those at Romsey: a visiting Norman monk denigrated Waltheof as a traitor, and was immediately struck down with an illness that proved fatal. Probably by then, however, the cult was being depoliticized by abbots anxious to play down any element of hostility to Norman rule. One sign of Waltheof's rehabilitation among the Normans is that about 1105 it was possible for his daughter Maud to give his name to her second child, whose father was a Norman baron, Simon de Senlis, and indeed whose cousin was Henry I.
Elaborations and variations
Crowland's documentation of the cult was taken a step further perhaps in 1119, when Abbot Geoffrey, once a monk at St Evroult in Normandy, invited its historian Orderic Vitalis to come and improve the written record of the abbey's traditions. Orderic spent five weeks at Crowland and wrote an account of Waltheof and the 1075 rebellion which he later elaborated in his ecclesiastical history and which became the basis at Crowland for a thirteenth-century life and passion of Waltheof. Orderic clearly tried to make sense of Crowland's traditions about Waltheof in the light of what he already knew about the early years of Norman rule in England. As a historian and a monk with deep-rooted English sympathies, he was much taken by Waltheof's story and the monks' devotion to his memory. In his hands the 1075 rebellion took on a moral dimension, as an illustration of how earthly glory fades, albeit one interwoven with some of Orderic's characteristic prejudices. There were legitimate objections (he thought) to William I's violent and arbitrary rule, but a stronger case for fidelity to a king. Orderic gave the former side of the argument to earls Roger and Ralph, and the latter to Waltheof, whom he presented as faultless except in taking a foolish oath not to reveal the conspiracy. He pointedly contrasted a brave and contrite Waltheof with his Norman enemies and faithless wife, who between them brought about his condemnation.

Other historians of the early twelfth century fashioned their own versions of the fall of Earl Waltheof. Henry of Huntingdon and John of Worcester added only snippets to the bare account which they found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, but William of Malmesbury went to the trouble of consulting the prior of Crowland, and finally decided that he agreed with the English who thought Waltheof innocent. In both his and Orderic's accounts, however, it is difficult to separate eleventh-century fact from Crowland tradition, or indeed from their own personal views. Significantly, other near-contemporaries without direct access to the Crowland tradition were much less clear about Waltheof. The Hyde chronicler's treatment of the rebellion was vague and strewn with errors, while the Norman genealogist Robert de Torigni, often precise with details of families, was badly confused about Waltheof's. Clearly by the 1130s authentic independent information about Waltheof was difficult to come by. Nor did the Crowland tradition penetrate Northumbria. Durham historians of the early twelfth century took little interest in him.

Meanwhile quite different stories of Waltheof's deeds, in a wholly different genre, were circulating as skaldic poetry. A single verse about Waltheof's heroic exploits during the attack on York in 1069 was known at Crowland in the twelfth century, and three more surfaced in the thirteenth in the Icelander Snorri Sturluson's masterpiece, Heimskringla. Since, however, the tendency in skaldic verse was for the poet to praise famous men irrespective of the facts, they cannot necessarily be regarded as containing authentic details. In any case Snorri's account of Waltheof was utterly unhistorical, making him a brother of Earl Harold, and successively leader of the English army at Gate Fulford in 1066 and hero of an improbable episode on the evening of the battle of Hastings.
Historical significance
Neither the warrior hero of the skaldic tradition nor the saint of Crowland's cult can be read as an accurate representation of the young earl who was active in politics during the decade 1065–75. From an early date Waltheof's life-story was made to carry the weight of different and widely divergent views on the course of late Anglo-Saxon history. A century later he passed into fiction proper when his name was selected by an educated East Anglian poet of about 1200 for the hero of the Anglo-Norman Roman de Waldef. Meanwhile the greatest importance of the real Waltheof, so often seen by historians as archetypally English, was perhaps that he was the ancestor, through his daughters, of three notable ‘Norman’ families: the Senlis, the Tosnys, and the kings of Scots descended from David I.

C. P. Lewis
Sources

Ordericus Vitalis, Eccl. hist. · ‘Vita et passio Waldevi comitis’, Vita quorundum Anglo-Saxonum: original lives of Anglo-Saxons and others who lived before the conquest, ed. J. A. Giles, Caxton Society, 16 (1854), 1–30; repr. (1967) · Ingulf, ‘Descriptio … abbatem monasterii Croyland’, Rerum Anglicarum scriptorum veterum, ed. [W. Fulman], 1 (1684), 1–107 · A. Farley, ed., Domesday Book, 2 vols. (1783) · H. S. Offler, ed., Durham episcopal charters, 1071–1152, SurtS, 179 (1968) · Symeon of Durham, Opera · Snorri Sturluson and B. Aðalbjarnarson, Heimskringla, 3 vols. (Reykjavik, 1941–51) · S. Anselmi Cantuariensis archiepiscopi opera omnia, ed. F. S. Schmitt, 6 vols. (1938–61) · F. S. Scott, ‘Earl Waltheof of Northumbria’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th ser., 30 (1952), 149–215 · A. Williams, The English and the Norman conquest (1995) · GEC, Peerage, new edn, 6.637–47; 9.662–4 · F. E. Harmer, ed., Anglo-Saxon writs (1952), no. 92 and 311–13, 573 · VCH Essex, 6.89, 184 · C. R. Hart, The early charters of eastern England (1966), no. 160 · W. E. Kapelle, The Norman conquest of the north: the region and its transformation, 1000–1135 (1979) · C. J. Morris, Marriage and murder in eleventh-century Northumbria: a study of De obsessione Dunelmi, Borthwick Papers, 82 (1992) · C. Watkins, ‘The cult of Earl Waltheof at Crowland’, Hagiographica, 3 (1996), 95–111 · A. J. Holden, ed., Le roman de Waldef (cod. Bodmer 168) (Geneva, 1984) · Henry, archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. D. E. Greenway, OMT (1996) · Willelmi Malmesbiriensis monachi de gestis pontificum Anglorum libri quinque, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, Rolls Series, 52 (1870) · John of Worcester, Chron. · R. Howlett, ed., Chronicles of the reigns of Stephen, Henry II, and Richard I, 4, Rolls Series, 82 (1889) · E. Edwards, ed., Liber monasterii de Hyda, Rolls Series, 45 (1866) · ASC
© Oxford University Press 2004–5
All rights reserved: see legal notice      Oxford University Press


C. P. Lewis, ‘Waltheof, earl of Northumbria (c.1050-1076)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28646, accessed 24 Sept 2005]

Waltheof (c.1050-1076): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/286465 
Event-Misc*October 1065 Waltheof was young when his father died, and the earldoms were given to Harold's brother Tostig. When Tostig was banished, the earldoms were given to Waltheof3 
Event-Misc1069 He joined the Danes on the attack on Yorkshire3 
Event-MiscJanuary 1070 He submitted to King William, who confimed his earldom3 
Event-Misc*1075 Exning, Earl Waltheof joined the conspiracy to seize England while attending the wedding of Ralph de Gael, Principal=Ralph de Guarder3 
Event-Misc25 December 1075 Westminster, He repented and went to Normandy to seek the pardon of the King, who treated the matter lightly at the time. However, at Christmas he was brought to trial, with his wife as witness3 
HTML* 
Loxley & Huntington
The Last English Eorl
Waltheof Earl of Huntingdon and Northumberland: Stolen Glory


 

Family

Judith of Lens b. 1054, d. a 1086
Children

Last Edited24 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 113.
  4. [S338] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 8th ed., 98A-23.
  5. [S376] Unknown editor, unknown short title.

Siward of Northumberland1

M, #2547, b. circa 1020, d. 1055

Father*Berne (?)2 b. c 975
Siward of Northumberland|b. c 1020\nd. 1055|p85.htm#i2547|Berne (?)|b. c 975|p148.htm#i4412||||Styrbiorn S. (?)|b. 956\nd. 985|p148.htm#i4413|Thyra o. D. (?)|d. 18 Sep 1000|p148.htm#i4414|||||||

Marriage* Principal=Ælflæd (?)3,2 
Birth*circa 1020 Denmark2 
Death*1055 York, Yorkshire, England2,4 
Anecdote* It was told "that his predecessor was one Tosti, a Dane, who insulted Siward while Tosti was on his way to visit the king. At the time Siward took no notice, but on Tosti's return, he cut off his head, carried it to the king and demanded the Earldom, as Siward had been promised the next dignity which fell into the king's hands."4 
DNB* Siward, earl of Northumbria (d. 1055), magnate, first appears witnessing as dux in a charter by King Cnut for Archbishop Ælfric of York in 1033. Siward's name (Sigvarthr) suggests that he was of Danish stock, although the names of his parents are unknown. The life of King Edward recorded his nickname as ‘Digri’, or ‘Digara’, from the Danish Diger meaning ‘the Stout’, or ‘the Strong’. A legend preserved in the twelfth century noted that Siward was descended from the union of a white bear and a noblewoman.

Siward succeeded Earl Erik of Hlathir in southern Northumbria between 1023 and 1033, the dates of Erik's last appearance in a charter and Siward's first. Siward was one of those to whom Cnut delegated significant authority in England while he was occupied in his Scandinavian lands. The northern part of Northumbria remained in the hands of the earls of Bamburgh. Eadulf Cudel had succeeded his brother Earl Uhtred c.1016 and was, in turn, succeeded by Uhtred's son Ealdred. Earl Ealdred was himself followed by another Eadulf, who was Uhtred's son by another wife. In 1041, however, Siward killed this Earl Eadulf and assumed control of all Northumbria. Siward played a significant role in the politics of the kingdom of the English during the reigns of Cnut, Harthacnut, and Edward the Confessor, often acting in concert with Earl Leofric of Mercia in opposition to the Godwine family. A measure of his activity may be obtained by examining his attestation of royal charters in this period. For example, he witnessed a lease of land by Ælfwine, bishop of Winchester, to Osgod in 1043 or 1044, possibly around the time of the attack on Queen Emma described below. He was also a witness to the endowment of Stow St Mary by Earl Leofric and his wife, Godgifu, between 1053 and 1055. This may reflect his close relationship with the comital house of Mercia. For a time Siward seems to have held the earldom of Huntingdon and there is a semi-legendary account of his slaying of a certain Tostig, earl of Huntingdon.

In 1041 Siward took part in an attack on the monastery and town of Worcester following the murder there of two of King Harthacnut's tax gatherers, Feader and Thurstan. After Edward the Confessor's coronation, Siward, together with earls Leofric and Godwine, advised the king to ride from Gloucester to Winchester. The earls accompanied him and, on 16 November 1043, they arrested Emma, the queen mother. Emma's wealth was confiscated on the grounds that she had not aided Edward as much as she might have done and that she had been harsh towards him. An account of the translation of St Mildrith added that Emma was accused of inciting King Magnus of Norway to attack Edward's realm. During the crisis of 1051–2, when Earl Godwine and his sons collected their forces and threatened the king near Gloucester, Siward acted together with Earl Leofric of Mercia and Earl Ralph in first opposing Godwine and his family on the king's behalf and then allowing them to regain their positions in 1052. The C and D texts of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle suggest that the earls' hesitancy in attacking Godwine and then allowing his return was born of a fear that civil war would leave the kingdom open to foreign invasion.

Siward is named by the Norman chronicler William of Poitiers as being one of those magnates of England who swore an oath to secure Duke William of Normandy's succession to the English throne. Siward's rule in Northumbria was seen as particularly harsh but effective by contemporary sources. The life of King Edward describes how before the earl's time parties of even twenty or thirty men were not safe from robbers, but that Siward's policy of killing or mutilating the miscreants, however noble, brought security to the region. Siward may also have expanded his control into Cumbria, as a writ issued in the name of a certain Gospatric, ruler of that area, seems to suggest that he was under Siward's overlordship. Siward reinstated Æthelric, bishop of Durham, who had offered him money after being driven out of his bishopric by the community of St Cuthbert in 1045. In 1054 Siward invaded Scotland on behalf of his nephew, Malcolm Canmore (d. 1093), who claimed the throne of his father, Duncan, in opposition to Macbeth. Soon after Duncan's overthrow in 1040 Malcolm had fled Scotland and found a refuge at his uncle's court in York. According to some sources it was on the order of Edward the Confessor that Siward prepared a land and sea assault against Macbeth. Having routed the Scots and their Norman allies, the earl ravaged the kingdom, so the twelfth-century chronicler Henry of Huntingdon reported. During the decisive battle on the Day of the Seven Sleepers (27 July 1054), fought in Perthshire, north of the River Tay, Siward's son, Osbeorn, was killed together with the earl's nephew, another Siward.

Earl Siward married first Ælfflæd, a daughter of Earl Ealdred of Bamburgh, and they had at least two sons, Osbeorn and Waltheof; it is not known whether the couple had any daughters. A second wife, Godgifu, is recorded as promising to give the two estates of Belmesthorpe and Ryhall near Stamford to Peterborough Abbey on her death. She predeceased Siward and he made an agreement with the abbey whereby he held both estates until his death. According to Domesday Book the manors were held by Waltheof at the time of King Edward's death and by Waltheof's widow, Judith, in 1086.

Henry of Huntingdon described Earl Siward as a giant of a man ‘whose vigour of mind was equal to his bodily strength’ (Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum (OMT), 376). During an attack on Scotland, when one of his sons was killed, Siward enquired whether he had received his wound in front or behind. When informed that the wound had been received in front, the earl rejoiced that his son had died a fitting death. This may refer to the death of Osbeorn at the hands of the Scots in 1054. Also according to Henry of Huntingdon, Earl Siward himself died of dysentery. He felt ashamed that he was not going to die in one of his many battles and asked to be dressed in his armour, so that, with shield and battleaxe in his hands, he might die a soldier's death. This was at York, before mid-Lent 1055, when he was buried in the monastery which he had founded at ‘Galmanho’, dedicated to St Olaf, king and martyr—which indicates Siward's continued Danish sympathies. Bootham Bar in York was formerly Galmanhithe and the site of the monastery there was given to St Mary's Abbey, York. The earldom was given to Tostig, son of Earl Godwine of Wessex, possibly because Siward's surviving son, Waltheof, was still young in 1055 and the influence of the Godwine faction at court was overwhelming. According to Domesday Book, Earl Siward and his son held lands worth around £350. This cannot, however, represent the total value of his estates while in office, as Domesday Book did not survey the lands to the north of the River Tees or the larger part of Cumbria. Siward's recorded lands lay in Derbyshire and in Yorkshire, most notably at Whitby.

William M. Aird
Sources

ASC, s.a. 1043, 1044, 1048, 1051, 1052, 1053, 1055 [texts C, D, and E] · John of Worcester, Chron. · A. J. Robertson, ed. and trans., Anglo-Saxon charters (1939) · F. Barlow, ed. and trans., The life of King Edward who rests at Westminster, 2nd edn, OMT (1992) · F. E. Harmer, ed., Anglo-Saxon writs (1952) · P. A. Clarke, The English nobility under Edward the Confessor (1994) · M. K. Lawson, Cnut: the Danes in England in the early eleventh century (1993) · F. Barlow, Edward the Confessor (1970) · W. E. Kapelle, The Norman conquest of the north: the region and its transformation, 1000–1135 (1979) · Guillaume de Poitiers [Gulielmus Pictaviensis], Histoire de Guillaume le Conquérant / Gesta Gulielmus ducis Normannorum et regis Anglorum, ed. R. Foreville (Paris, 1952) · Henry, archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. D. E. Greenway, OMT (1996) · A. O. Anderson, ed., Scottish annals from English chroniclers, AD 500 to 1286 (1908)
Wealth at death

over £350: Domesday book
© Oxford University Press 2004–5
All rights reserved: see legal notice      Oxford University Press


William M. Aird, ‘Siward, earl of Northumbria (d. 1055)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25652, accessed 24 Sept 2005]

Siward (d. 1055): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/256525 
Name Variation Sigurd of Northumberland3 
Name Variation Siward2 

Family 1
Child

Family 2

Ælflæd (?) b. c 1027
Child

Last Edited24 Sep 2005

Citations

  1. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 187.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  4. [S347] Carl Boyer 3rd, Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 112.
  5. [S376] Unknown editor, unknown short title.

Ælflæd (?)1

F, #2548, b. circa 1027

Father*Aldred of Bernicia1,2 d. 1038
Ælflæd (?)|b. c 1027|p85.htm#i2548|Aldred of Bernicia|d. 1038|p85.htm#i2549||||Uchtred of Northumberland "the Bold"|b. 989\nd. 2 Dec 1016|p80.htm#i2387|Ecgfrida o. Chester|d. a 1018|p114.htm#i3405|||||||

Marriage* Principal=Siward of Northumberland1,2 
Birth*circa 1027 of Northumberland, England2 
Name Variation Æthelflæl of Bernicia (?)2 
Married Name of Northumberland1 

Family

Siward of Northumberland b. c 1020, d. 1055
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.

Aldred of Bernicia1

M, #2549, d. 1038

Father*Uchtred of Northumberland "the Bold"2 b. 989, d. 2 Dec 1016
Mother*Ecgfrida of Chester2 d. a 1018
Aldred of Bernicia|d. 1038|p85.htm#i2549|Uchtred of Northumberland "the Bold"|b. 989\nd. 2 Dec 1016|p80.htm#i2387|Ecgfrida of Chester|d. a 1018|p114.htm#i3405|Waltheof of Northumberland|d. a 994|p105.htm#i3126||||Ealdhein (Aldune) (?)||p114.htm#i3406||||

Of* Northumbria beyond Tyne, Scotland2 
Death*1038 2 
Name Variation Ealdred3 
Title*between 1019 and 1038 High-Reeve of Bamburgh3 

Family
Children

Last Edited24 Feb 2005

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 148-23.
  2. [S218] Marlyn Lewis, Ancestry of Elizabeth of York.
  3. [S343] British Monarchs, online http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/northumb.html

Joan de la Mare1

F, #2550, d. 9 August 1348

ChartsAnn Marbury Pedigree

Marriage* Principal=Ralph de Cromwell1,2 
Death*9 August 1348 1,2 

Family

Ralph de Cromwell b. c 1292
Child

Last Edited24 Oct 2003

Citations

  1. [S168] Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, 210-33.
  2. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 138-5.
  3. [S233] Frederick Lewis Weis, Magna Charta Sureties, 138-6.
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