Simon de Senlis

Delapré Abbey - Photo © R Neil Marshman, Nov 2005

From Senlis in Normandy. Raundoel le Ryche was the brother brother Garnerius, who came to the conquest of England. Their lineage is obscure, yet Simon must have been held in very high esteem by the Conqueror, since he offered him the hand of the countess Judith his niece, dowered with the earldoms of Huntingdon and Northampton, who had been widowed by the execution of Waltheoff, the son of Siward, earl of Northumberland, which occurred in 1076. The countess refused because Simon "halted on one leg" and, with her three daughters, was forced to flee from her uncle's wrath. King William seized forthwith her possessions and gave to Simon the town of Northampton, with the whole hundred of Falkeley. In 1089 Simon married Maud, the countess's eldest daughter, who brought him the two earldoms above mentioned, which her mother, the countess, had forfeited. They had issue three children, Simon, who succeeded his father, Waltheoff, abbot of Melrose, and a daughter, named Maud, who was married to Robert Fitz Richard, son of Richard de Quincy, who was present at Hastings. Simon was the founder of the castle of Northampton and the priory of St-Andrews, and died in 1115 on his return to the French abbey of Our Lady of Charity from Jerusalem. Maud, his wife, then married David of Scotland, a son of Malcolm, who became one of the most renowned kings of that country. Through this marriage came the connection between the earldom of Huntingdon and the royal house of Scotland. Simond II succeeded to the earldom of Northampton only. The earldom of Huntingdon was by special grace of king Henry I conveyed to David of Scotland, who, on ascending the throne in 1124, transferred it to his only son, Henry, but on Henry's death in 1152, it reverted to Simon. The latter married Isabel de Beaumont and died about 1154, leaving a son and heir, Simon III. Again the earldoms were divided. Simon became earl of Northampton and the earldom of Huntingdon was given by Henry II to Malcolm IV, king of the Scots, the eldest son of prince Henry, who predeceased his father, and therefore the grandson of king David I. The controversy over the earldom still continued, and the king of England, angered by the continual strife and dissension concerning it, ordered the castle demolished. --(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).

In 1100 Simon de Senlis, upon his safe return from the crusades, built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1145 the grandson of Simon de Senlis built Delapré Abbey