Nielsen Hayden genealogy

Simon I de Senlis

Male - 1113


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  • Name Simon I de Senlis  [1, 2
    Gender Male 
    Death Between 1111 and 1113  [3
    Alternate death Bef 1113  La Charite-sur-Loire, Nievre, France Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    Person ID I6291  Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
    Last Modified 4 Jul 2022 

    Father Landri de Senlis,   b. of Chantilly, Oise, Picardy, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Ermengarde 
    Family ID F927  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Maud of Northumberland,   b. Abt 1072   d. Between 1130 and 1131 (Age ~ 58 years) 
    Marriage Bef 1091  [5, 6, 7, 8
    Children 
     1. St. Waltheof   d. 3 Aug 1159
    +2. Maud de Senlis,   b. Abt 1092   d. Aft 1158 (Age ~ 67 years)
    +3. Simon II de Senlis,   b. Abt 1103   d. Aug 1153 (Age ~ 50 years)
    Family ID F6027  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Jul 2022 

  • Notes 
    • Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton, jure uxoris. "Went to Jerusalem cruce signatus, and returned safely, but, setting out again, d. at the Abbey of La Cherité-sur-Loire, in France, circa 1111." [The Wallop Family, citation details below.]

      From the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography:

      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. [...]

      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.

  • Sources 
    1. [S128] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant ed. Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Duncan Warrand, Howard de Walden, Geoffrey H. White and R. S. Lea. 2nd edition. 14 volumes (1-13, but volume 12 spanned two books), London, The St. Catherine Press, 1910-1959. Volume 14, "Addenda & Corrigenda," ed. Peter W. Hammond, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 1998.

    2. [S2338] Bruce McAndrew, "The Collective Memory in Scottish Heraldry: Fiction, Fact, and Fancy." Foundations 10:62, 2018.

    3. [S76] The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, 2004-ongoing.

    4. [S142] Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families by Douglas Richardson. Salt Lake City, 2013.

    5. [S142] Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families by Douglas Richardson. Salt Lake City, 2013., "in or before 1090".

    6. [S145] Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. 8th edition, William R. Beall & Kaleen E. Beall, eds. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2004, 2006, 2008., "abt. 1090".

    7. [S128] The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant ed. Vicary Gibbs, H. A. Doubleday, Duncan Warrand, Howard de Walden, Geoffrey H. White and R. S. Lea. 2nd edition. 14 volumes (1-13, but volume 12 spanned two books), London, The St. Catherine Press, 1910-1959. Volume 14, "Addenda & Corrigenda," ed. Peter W. Hammond, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 1998., "perhaps as early as 1090".

    8. [S6417] David L. Greene, "The Royal Ancestry of the Ipswich (Massachusetts) and Long Island Lawrence Families." The Genealogist 10:3, 1989., "about 1090".