Siward Family
Maud of Huntingdon
Her name is written in English as Maud, and in Latin as Mathilda
Waltheof
Judith
of Lens
Simon
de St. Liz perhaps as early as 1090
Simon was the earl of Northampton and Huntingdon in consequence of his
marriage to Mathilda. Around 1096, Simon joined the First
Crusade. In 1098 he was captured during the Vexin campaign of king
William Rufus and was subsequently ransomed. Sometime in the period
1093–1100, he and Matilda, founded the Priory of St Andrew's, Northampton.
In addition to the Holy Sepulchre church in Northampton, he built
Northampton Castle and the town walls. Simon died between 1111 and 1113,
probably at the earlier date, in La
Charité-sur-Loire in France, where he was buried.
The Complete Peerage vol 6 pp640-1 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by Vicary Gibbs, 1926)
HUNTINGDON
EARLDOM.
II. ? 1090.
2. SIMON DE ST. LIZ
I,(d) said to be a son of RANULPH the Rich, a
Norman,(e) appears to have come to England early in the reign
of William II.(f) Presumably in consequence of his marriage,
he became EARL OF HUNTINGDON and NORTHAMPTON after 1086
(for he is not named in Domesday Book) and in or before 1090, when he
witnessed a charter to Bath Abbey as “Earl Simon.”(g) He
witnessed another royal charter under the same designation a little
later.(h) He fought for William in Normandy in 1098, and was
taken prisoner by Louis, son of the French King.(i) On the
accession of Henry I in 1100 he witnessed the charter of liberties
issued by the King at his Coronation.(j) He built the Castle
of Northampton,(k) and founded or refounded the Priory of St.
Andrew in that town, and made it dependent on the Cluniac house of La
Charité-sur-Loire; this was probably in the time of William Rufus,(l)
but certainly before 1108, when he granted an ample charter to it in
conjunction with Maud his wife.(m) He was a benefactor also
to Daventry Priory,(n) and probably built St. Sepulchre’s,
Northampton, about this time. He went to Jerusalem cruce signatus,
and returned safely, but setting out again he died on the way at the
abovenamed Priory of La Charité, and was bur. there.(a)
He m., perhaps as early as 1090, when she would be aged about
18, Maud, eldest da. of Waltheof, EARL OF HUNTINGDON
and NORTHAMPTON by Judith, niece of William I, both
abovementioned. He d., as aforesaid, at La Charité, presumably
in 1111 or shortly afterwards.(b) His widow m. DAVID
I of Scotland, as below.
(d) The form St. Liz (or de Sancto Licio)
seems to be an attempt to provide an etymology for Senlis (Silva
necta).
(e) Vita et Passio, p. 18.
(f) Freeman, Norman Conquest, vol. iv, p.
604.. According to the Vita (p. 18), he came with his elder
brother Warner to serve the King with 40 knights. The late register of
St. Andrew’s, Northampton, says they came in 1066 (Dugdale, Mon.,
vol. v, p. 190); and the Ramsey Chartulary (vol. i, p. 161) also says
that the Conqueror was Simon’s patron.
(g) Dugdale, Mon., vol. ii, p. 266.
(h) Lincoln Chartulary, Cotton MS., Vesp., E xvi, f.
4. The Vita et Passio (p. 19) records a tradition that the King
had assigned the Countess Judith to him as wife, and on her refusal (on
account of Simon’s lameness) gave him Judith’s counties. Judith fled for
hiding to the Ely marches, taking her daughters with her.
(i) Freeman, William Rufus, vol. ii, p. 190,
note.
(j) Stubbs, Select Charters (ed. 1913), p.
119.
(k) Vita et Passio, p. 18.
(l) The St. Andrew’s register gives the date as 18
William [I], i.e. 1084.; there was no year 18 William II. In the
register (f. 13 d) is a notification to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln and
the men of Northamptonshire from William, King of the English (? Rufus),
that he has confirmed all gifts made by Earl Simon to St. Mary de
Caritate. It is witnessed by Niel of Lincoln. It is not noticed in
Davis’s Regesta, but J. H. Round attributes it to William II (V.C.H.
Northants, vol. i, p. 293).
(m) Dugdale, Mon., vol. v, p. 191.
(n) Idem, p. 180, a confirmation (1109).
(a) Vita et Passio, p. 20. The St. Andrew’s
register says this expedition was made in the time of Henry I, the Earl
dying on his return journey. His body appears to have been removed to
St. Neots and buried in the Priory Church (Cartulary, Faust., A iv, f.
79 d). The date of the gift in the charter cited (1100) may be due to
bad copying.
(b) The date of his death is uncertain. He was living
in 1109, the year St. Anselm died as appears by a charter of his to
Daventry (Dugdale, Mon., vol. v, p. 180) , and in 1111 (Two
Bath Chartularies [Somerset Record Soc.], p. 47). Of his two sons,
Simon, the elder, eventually became Earl of Huntingdon; the younger, St.
Waltheof, became Abbot of Melrose (Acta SS., Aug., vol. i, p.
242) and d. 3 Aug. 1159. Maud, his daughter (d. 1140), m.
Robert fitz Richard (d. 1134.), yr. son of Richard fitz Gilbert,
of Clare and Tunbridge, ancestor of the FitzWalter family. See vol. v,
sub FITZWALTER.
The Complete Peerage vol 9 p663 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
NORTHAMPTON
EARLDOM.
II. 1090?
1. SIMON DE ST. LIZ
I, who m., perhaps as early as 1090,(c) Maud, eldest
da. of Waltheof abovenamed, became, presumably in consequence of his
marriage, EARL OF NORTHAMPTON AND HUNTINGDON. He d. circa 1111.
His widow m. DAVID I of Scotland.
(c) See Farrer, Honors and Knights’ Fees, vol.
ii, p. 296.
David
I of Scotland in 1113
Gesta Normannorum ducum (Guillaume de
Jumièges) book VIII p327 (ed. Jean Marx, 1914)
Interpolation
de Robert de Torigny
Habuit enim idem Wallevus tres filias ex uxore sua, filia comitissae
de Albamarla; quae comitissa fuit soror uterina Willelmi regis
Anglorum senioris. Harum autem filiarum comitis Wallevi primogenitam
accepit Simon Silvanectensis, cum comitatu Huntedoniae, et genuit ex
ea unum filium vocatum Simonem (3). Mortuo autem Simone comite, David,
frater secundae Mathildis regine Anglorum, duxit uxorem ejus (4); ex
qua suscepit unum filium, scilicet Henricum. Sublatis autem de medio
fratribus ejus Dudecano et Alexandro (5), regibus Scotorum ipse idem
regnum suscepit. Aliam vero, scilicet Judith Rodulfus de Toeneio,
sicut jam dictum est, duxit uxorem (6) tertiam Robertus, filius
Ricardi, sicut modo commemoravimus.
(2) Robert, frère de Gilbert 1er de Tunbridge, épousa une
fille de Waltheof, comte de Northampton et d’Huntingdon. Voir Orderic,
t. III, p. 402. Waltheof lui-même avait épousé Judith, fille de la
comtesse d’Aumale Aelize qui était la sœur utérine du Conquérant.
(3) Mathilde, autre fille de Waltheof, épousa Simon de Senlis
qui en eut un fils nommé aussi Simon.
(4) David, fils de Malcolm III et frère de Mathilde, la femme
d’Henri 1er. Voir Orderic, t. III, p. 130 et p. 399. Il eut
un fils nommé Henri. Orderic , t. III, p. 302.
(5) Duncan II qui régna en Ecosse de 1093 à 1094. Alexandre fut
roi d’Ecosse du 8 janvier 1107 au 24 avril 1124.
(6) La fille de Waltheof qui épousa Raoul de Toeny s’appelait
Aeliz d’après Orderic (t. IV, p. 198).
This roughly translates as:
Interpolation of Robert de Torigny
For the same Waltheof had three daughters by his wife, the daughter of
the countess of Albamarla; which countess was the maternal sister of
William the Elder, king of England. But of these daughters of the Earl
Waltheof, Simon of Silvan, married the eldest, with the earldom of
Huntingdon, and begat by her one son, called Simon (3). But when count
Simon died, David, brother of the second Matilda, queen of England,
married his wife (4); by whom he had one son, namely Henry. But when his
brothers Duncan and Alexander (5) were removed from the midst, he
himself assumed the same kingdom as the kings of Scotland.
(3) Matilda, another daughter of Waltheof, married Simon of
Senlis, who had a son by her, also named Simon.
(4) David, son of Malcolm III and brother of Matilda, Henry I's
wife. See Orderic, Vol. III, p. 130 and p. 399. He had a son named
Henry. Orderic, Vol. III, p. 302.
(5) Duncan II, who reigned in Scotland from 1093 to 1094.
Alexander was King of Scotland from January 8, 1107, to April 24, 1124.
Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland vol
2 p184 (ed. David Laing, 1872)
Oure
Lord this ilka Kyng Daẅy
To wyff weddyt a fayre lady,
The quhilk to name than had Dame Mald,
(As wes the Qwene hys systyr cald)
The Erlys dochtyr off Hwntyntowne
Willame, than haldyne off gret renowne,
And hys ayre. On hyr body
He gat a sown, wes cald Henry
John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation pp222-4
(ed. William F. Skene, 1872)
Before this
King David was raised to the throne, the king of the English, his sister
the good Queen Matilda’s husband, gave him to wife Matilda, the daughter
and heiress of Waldeof, Earl of Huntingdon, and Judith, who was the
niece of the first King William; and, of this Matilda, David had a son
named Henry, a meek and godly man, and of a gracious spirit, in all
things worthy to have been born of such a father.
… They had a solemn interview on the subject of peace; and, at the
instance of Queen Matilda,—Stephen’s wife, and King David’s niece
through his sister Mary,—they came to an understanding to this effect:
namely, that King David’s son, Henry, should do homage to King Stephen
for the earldom of Huntingdon, and freely hold the earldom of
Northumberland. For Matilda, this Henry’s mother, was the daughter and
heiress of Waldeof, Earl of Huntingdon, who was the son and heir of
Siward, Earl of Northumberland.
… In the seventh year of this same David, his wife. Queen Matilda, died,
and was buried at Scone.
Holinshed’s Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland
vol 5 p287 (ed. Raphaell Hollindshead, 1808)
Whilest
king Alexander was thus occupied in building and reparing of religious
houses, his brother Dauid liued in England with his sister quéene Mauld,
& through fauour which the king hir husband bare towards him, he
obteined in marriage one Mauld, daughter vnto Woldosius or rather
Waltheof earle of Huntington and Northumberland, begot of his wife the
ladie Iudith that was neece vnto king William the Conqueror. And for
that the said Woldosius or Waltheof had no other issue to inherit his
lands, Dauid in right of his wife Mauld inioied the same, and was made
earle of Huntington and Northumberland, and had issue by his wife a son
named Henrie, by whome the lands of Huntington, and some part of
Northumberland were annexed vnto the crowne of Scotland, as after shall
appéere.
Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 pp59-61 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar, 1899)
David the
First.
… Married Matilda, daughter and heir of Waltheof, earl of
Huntingdon, granddaughter of Siward, earl of Northumberland, and widow
of Simon de St. Liz, about 1113-14.5
The Earldom of Northampton and the
Honour of Huntingdon were held by Earl David in right of his wife.6
… Queen Matilda, wife of King David I., died, and was
buried at Scone in the 7th year of King David’s reign, between 23rd
April 1130 and 22nd April 1131.20
… ISSUE
King David the First had by his wife, Matilda of Huntingdon, two
sons, Malcolm and Henry, and two daughters, Claricia and Hodierna, all
of whom predeceased their father (Henry being the only one who lived to
maturity):
(I.) Malcolm, elder son of King David I.,
was strangled when a child by Donald Bane, ex-king of Scots.44
(II.) Claricia, elder daughter of King
David I., died unmarried.45
(III.) Hodierna, younger daughter of King
David I., died unmarried.46
(IV.) ‘Henry, the Earl,’ younger son of
King David I., earl of Northumberland and Huntingdon, married in 1139
Ada, daughter of William, earl of Warenne, and earl of Surrey. Earl
Henry predeceased his father, David I., 12th June 1152, and was buried
at Kelso.
5. Chron. Huntingdon, 211; Chron. Johannis Bromton (Scriptores
x.), 975, 1. 9; Fordun, bk. v. cc. 31, 32, her pedigree; Wyntoun, ii.
184, bk. vii. c. 6, 1. 940.
6. Saxon Chron., ii. 221, ao 1124; Celtic Scotland, i.
457.
20.
Extracts, 71; Fordun, bk. v. c. 33, died in the 7th year of King David,
and was buried at Scone; Wyntoun, ii. 194, bk. vii. c. 7, 1.1280; See
also above, p. 59, No. 5
44. Wyntoun, ii. 193-195, bk. vii. c. 9, 11. 1235-1296. See
also above, Donald Bane, p. 43, No. 13.
45. Orderic Vitalis, iii. 402, 403, bk. viii. c. 22, also 403,
note 1.
46. Ibid.
Dictionary of national biography vol 14
pp117-8 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1888)
In 1113 David
married Matilda, widow of Simon de St. Liz, Norman earl of Northampton,
and daughter of the Saxon Waltheof, earl of Northumbria. By this
marriage David received the honour of Huntingdon, and thus became an
English baron, probably holding also the ward of the earldom of
Northampton during the minority of his stepson, the son of St. Liz.
… David through zeal for religion had ordered an inquest to be made of
the possessions formerly belonging to the see of Glasgow that they might
be restored to it. The names of the lands of the church thus restored
are, as might be expected, chiefly Celtic, and formed, whether they had
originally belonged to the see of Kentigern or not, the later diocese of
Glasgow. The inquest concludes with the names of five witnesses who
swore to it and a larger number who were present and heard it read.
Their names, a strange medley of Celtic, Saxon, and Norman, afford a
pregnant proof of the mixed population even among the class of
landowners. Matilda the countess, David's wife, and her grandson William
were parties to the inquest.
Medieval
Lands
MATILDA
[Matilda] of Huntingdon ([1071/74]-[23 Apr 1130/22 Apr 1131],
bur Scone Abbey, Perthshire). Ingulph's Chronicle of the Abbey of
Croyland records the marriage of Matilda eldest daughter of Judith
and "Earl Simon. Orderic Vitalis records that David King of
Scotland married “filiam...Guallevi comitis et Judith consobrinæ
regis” who brought him “binosque comitatus Northamtonæ et
Huntendonæ” which “Simon Silvanectensis comes” had
possessed with her. Robert of Torigny records that the wife of "David
[rex Scotiæ] frater [Alexandri]" was "filiam Gallevi comitis et
Judith consobrini regis", naming "Symon Silvanectensis comes"
as her first husband. "Matilde comitisse, Henrico filio comitis…"
witnessed the charter dated to [1120] under which "David comes filius
Malcolmi Regis Scottorum" founded the abbey of Selkirk. "Matildis
comitissa…" witnessed inquisitions by "David…Cumbrensis
regionis princeps", dated 1124, concerning land owned by the
church of Glasgow. m firstly ([1090]) SIMON de Senlis [Saint Lis], son
of RANOUL "le Riche" his wife --- (-Priory of La Charité-sur-Loire
[1111], bur Priory of La Charité-sur-Loire). Earl of Huntingdon and
Northampton de iure uxoris. m secondly (1113) DAVID of Scotland
Prince of Cumbria, son of MALCOLM III "Caennmor/Bighead" King of
Scotland his wife Margaret of England ([1080]-Carlisle 24 May 1153, bur
Dunfermline Abbey, Fife). Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon de iure
uxoris. He succeeded his brother in 1124 as DAVID I King of
Scotland.
in the 7th year of King David’s
reign, i.e. between 23rd April 1130 and 22nd April 1131
Holinshed’s Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland
vol 5 p289 (ed. Raphaell Hollindshead, 1808)
But now in the
meane time, whilest the estate of the common-wealth in Scotland stood in
high felicitie, vnder the prosperous gouernement of king Dauid, there
happened to him an heauie losse. For the quéene his wife the foresaid
Mauld deceassed in hir flourishing age, a woman of passing beautie and
chastitie, which two points (as is thought) commend a woman aboue all
the rest. King Dauid therefore tooke such giiefe for hir death, that he
would neuer after giue his mind to marie anie other, but passed the
residue of his life without companie of all women. She was buried in
Scone, in the yeare of our Lord God 1132.
Scone
Abbey, Gowrie,
Scotland
- Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 p59 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899); John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
p222 (ed. William F. Skene, 1872)
- Gesta Normannorum ducum (Guillaume de
Jumièges) book VIII p327 (ed. Jean Marx, 1914); Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 p59 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899); Dictionary of national biography vol 14
p117 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1888); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p663
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); Simon
details from wikipedia
(Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton), Dictionary of national biography vol 14
p117 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1888) and The Complete Peerage vol 9 p663
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
- wikipedia
(Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton) and wikipedia
(Maud, Countess of Huntingdon)
- Gesta Normannorum ducum (Guillaume de
Jumièges) book VIII p327 (ed. Jean Marx, 1914); Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland
vol 2 p184 (ed. David Laing, 1872); John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
p222 (ed. William F. Skene, 1872); Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 p59 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899); Dictionary of national biography vol 14
p117 (ed. Leslie Stephen, 1888)
- Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 pp64-5 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899); wikipedia
(Maud, Countess of Huntingdon)
- Andrew of Wyntoun’s Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland
vol 2 p184 (ed. David Laing, 1872); John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
pp222-4 (ed. William F. Skene, 1872); Holinshed’s Chronicle of England, Scotland and
Ireland vol 5 p287 (ed. Raphaell Hollindshead,
1808); Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 pp59-61 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899); Medieval
Lands; People of
Medieval Scotland (Matilda (Maud) de Senlis, queen of Scots (d.1131));
wikipedia
(Maud, Countess of Huntingdon)
- John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
p224 (ed. William F. Skene, 1872); Holinshed’s Chronicle of England, Scotland and
Ireland vol 5 p289 (ed. Raphaell Hollindshead, 1808); Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 pp60-1 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899)
- John of Fordun’s Chronicle of the Scottish nation
p224 (ed. William F. Skene, 1872); Holinshed’s Chronicle of England, Scotland and
Ireland vol 5 p289 (ed. Raphaell Hollindshead, 1808); Scottish kings; a revised chronology of Scottish
history, 1005-1625 pp60-1 (Archibald Hamilton Dunbar,
1899)
Siward
Ælflæd
- Osbeorn ( ? - 1054)
- Waltheof ( ? - 1076)
Godgifu
Dictionary of national biography vol 52 p319
(ed. Sidney Lee, 1897)
[Siward's]
second wife was Godgifu, a widow, who died not long after her marriage
to him. Before she married him she gave Ryhall and Belmesthorpe, near
Stamford, to the monastery of Peterborough, to pass to the monks after
her death, but when she died Siward made agreement with the abbot that
he should keep them during his life (Codex Dipl. iv. No. 927).
Earl of Northumberland and later
also the earl of Huntingdonshire and perhaps Nothampton
Vita et Passio Waldevi comitis and Miracula Sacti Waldevi (both printed in Chroniques anglo-normandes pp98-142 (ed.
Francisque Michel, 1836)) form a hagiography, or saint's life, of Waltheof,
written in Latin. It contains some historical information about Waltheof and
Siward, as well as legendary and fantastical elements, such as dragon
slaying and animal ancestors.
The chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon pp204-5
(ed. Thomas Forester, 1853)
About this time
[A.D. 1064], Siward, the powerful Earl of Northumbria, a
giant in stature, whose vigour of mind was equal to his bodily strength,
sent his son on an expedition into Scotland. He was slain in the war,
and when the news reached his father, he inquired: “Was his death-wound
received before or behind?” The messengers replied, “Before.” Then said
he, “I greatly rejoice; no other death was fitting either for him or
me.”3 Whereupon, Siward led an army into Scotland, and having
defeated the king and ravaged the whole kingdom, he reduced it to
subjection to himself.
… The year following, the stout Earl Siward
being seized with dysentery, perceived that his end was approaching;
upon which he said, “Shame on me that I did not die in one of the many
battles I have fought, but am reserved to die with disgrace the death of
a sick cow! At least put on my armour of proof, gird the sword by my
side, place the helmet on my head, let me have my shield in my left
hand, and my gold-inlaid battle-axe in my right hand, that the bravest
of soldiers may die in a soldier’s garb.” Thus he spoke, and when armed
according to his desire, he gave up the ghost. As Waltheof, his son, was
of tender years, the earldom was conferred on Tosti, son of Earl Godwin.
3 This anecdote of the stout
Earl Siward, immortalized by Shakspeare, and the subsequent one of the
manner in which the Earl himself met his death, rest on the authority of
Henry of Huntingdon, like others for which we are wholly indebted to
him. The Saxon Chronicle informs us of Siward’s expedition into Scotland
against the usurper Macbeth.
Dictionary of national biography vol 52
pp318-9 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897)
SIWARD,
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND (d. 1055),
called Digera or the strong (Vita Ædwardi, p. 401), a Dane, is
said to have been the son of a Danish jarl named Biorn. According to
legend he was descended from a white bear and a lady. Fitting out a
ship, he is said to have sailed to Orkney, where he overcame a dragon,
went thence to Northumbria, and, in obedience to a supernatural command,
to London, where he entered the service of King Edward the Confessor. In
that capacity he is described as slaying Tostig, the Earl of Huntingdon,
who was stated to be the queen’s brother-in-law. and he received
Tostig’s earldom (Origo et Gesta Siwardi ap. Scriptures rerum
Danicarum, iii. 288; BROMTON, cols. 945-6). As a
matter of fact, he probably came to England with Canute, and received
the earldom of Deira after the death of Eadwulf Cutel, the earl of
Northumbria, when the Northumbrian earldom appears to have been divided
(SYM. DUNELM. i. 219). He is described as
earl in the attestation of a charter dated 1026 (Codex Dipl. iv.
No. 742; if this charter is genuine, Freeman’s belief as to the date
when Siward became earl, Norman Conquest, i. 587, and n.1
needs modification). He married Ælflæd, daughter of Ealdred, earl of
Bernicia, the nephew of Eadwulf Cutel. In 1041 he was employed by
Hardecanute [q. v.], along with Earls Godwin [q. v.] and Leofric [q.
v.], to ravage Worcestershire. At the king’s instigation [see under HARDECANUTE]
he in this year slew his wife’s uncle Eadwulf, who had succeeded his
brother Ealdred in Bernicia, and received his earldom, becoming earl of
the whole of Northumberland from the Humber to the Tweed (SYM.
DUNELM. i. 91), and also held, probably at a later date,
the earldom of Huntingdonshire (Codex Dipl. iv. No. 903; Norman
Conquest, i. 792, 3rd ed.) He accompanied Edward the Confessor
from Gloucester to Winchester when, in 1043, the king seized the
treasures of his mother Emma [q. v.] Ethelric, bishop of Durham,
complained to him in 1045, that he had been driven out from his
bishopric by the clerks of Durham, for he had been elected against their
will; he offered the earl money to reinstate him, and Siward compelled
the clerks to receive him back (SYM. DUMELM.
u.s.)
Siward upheld Edward the Confessor [q. v.] in his quarrel with
Godwin in 1051. The story that he joined Archbishop Stigand [q. v.] and
Earls Godwin and Leofric, in advising the king to appoint Duke William
as his successor, and in swearing to uphold this arrangement (WILLIAM
OF POITIERS, p. 129), is incredible as it
stands, but may refer to a promise made by Edward during William’s visit
in this year (cf. Norman Conquest, ii. 296-303, iii. 678). In
pursuance of the king’s command, Siward invaded Scotland both by sea and
land with a large force in 1054. The king of Scotland was Macbeth [q.
v.], who had slain his predecessor Duncan I [q. v.], the husband of a
sister or cousin of the earl (SKENE), and Siward’s
invasion was evidently undertaken on behalf of Duncan’s son Malcolm [see
MALCOLM III called CANMORE]. A fierce
battle took place on 27 July; the Scots were routed, Macbeth fled, and
Malcolm appears to have been established as king of Cumbria in the
district south of the Firths of Forth and Clyde. Many of the earl’s
followers were slain in the battle, both English and Danes, and among
them his elder son Osbeorn and his nephew Siward. It is said that when
he heard that Osbeorn had fallen, he asked whether he had received his
death wound before or behind, and on being told that it was before,
said, ‘I am right glad, for no other death would be worthy of me or my
son’ (HEN. HUNT. p. 194). Early in 1055 he
died at York. When he felt that his end was near, he is said to have
cried, ‘How shameful is it that I could not have died in one of all my
fights, and have lived on to die at last like a cow,’ i.e. lying in his
bed. Then he bade his attendants arm him with his breast-plate, helmet,
and shield, and give him his sword and gilded axe, that he might meet
death as a warrior, and so standing fully armed he died (ib. p.
196). Siward had built a minster at a place called Galmanho, close to
York, where the abbey of St. Mary afterwards stood, and dedicated it to
St. Olaf, and there he was buried. He was of almost gigantic size; he
seems to have been violent and unscrupulous, but must on the whole have
been a just as well as a strenuous ruler. By his first wife Ælflæd, he
had two sons, Osbeorn and Waltheof [q. v.] On his marriage with her he
gave her Barmpton, near Darlington, and five other estates which were
claimed by the church of Durham; she, however, declared that they were
hers by hereditarv right, and left them to her son Waltheof (SYM.
DUNELM. i. 219-20). His second wife was Godgifu, a widow,
who died not long after her marriage to him. Before she married him she
gave Ryhall and Belmesthorpe, near Stamford, to the monastery of
Peterborough, to pass to the monks after her death, but when she died
Siward made agreement with the abbot that he should keep them during his
life (Codex Dipl. iv. No. 927). Siward and his son Osbeorn,
called by Shakespeare ‘young Siward,’ appear in ‘Macbeth.’
[A.-S. Chron. ed. Plummer; Flor. Wig. (Engl. Hist. Soc.); Sym.
Dunelm. (Rolls Ser.); Vita Ædwardi ap. Lives of Edward the Conf. (Rolls
Ser.); Will, of Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum (Rolls Ser.); Will. of Poitiers
ap. Gesta Wilhelmi I, ed. Giles; Hen. Hunt. (Rolls Ser.); Langebek’s
Scriptores Rerum Danicarum; Kemble’s Codex Dipl. (Engl. Hist. Soc.);
Freeman’s Norman Conquest; Skene’s Celtic
Scotland.] W. H.
The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp702-3 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
NORTHUMBERLAND
The following were Earls or administrators of Northumberland from
the time immediately preceding the Conquest till the Earldom was taken
in hand by William Rufus.
SIWARD, a Dane, who perhaps came to England with
Cnut, was an Earl (probably of the southern—Danish—portion of the
ancient Northumbria) in or before 1041.(c) His marriage had
given him some claim to the hereditary Earldom of Northumberland, and in
or before 1042 the murder of his wife’s uncle Eadulf put him, as Earl,
in possession of the whole of Northumbria, from Humber to Tweed.(d)
He was presumably Earl also of Northampton and Huntingdon—see those
titles. He gave active support to the Confessor against Earl Godwin and
his sons, and in 1054 led a force of English and Danes against the
Scottish usurper Macbeth, which put Malcolm, regis Cumbrorum filium,
upon his murdered father’s throne.(a) He m, 1stly,
Elfleda, da. of Aldred, EARL OF NORTHUMBRIA
(d. s.p.m.); and, 2ndly, Godiva, a widow.(b) He d.
1055, at York, and was bur. at the neighbouring abbey of
Galmanho, which he had founded.(c)
(c)
When, with Earls Leofric and Godwin,.he was sent by Harthacnut to ravage
Worcestershire (Florence of Worcester, Chron. vol. i, p. 195).
With these Earls he attested many charters of Harthacnut, and later of
Edward the Confessor.
(d) Eadurlf had succeeded to the hereditary Earldom,
on the death of his half-brother Aldred, to the exclusion of his
brother’s daughters and heirs, 3 years previously. (Simeon of Durham, Hist.
Cont., Surtees Soc., p. 91).
(a)
Flor. of Worc., vol. i, pp. 205, 206; Earle, Two Saxon Chron.,
vol. i, pp. 174, 175. In the Scottish expedition his eldest son Osbeorn
was slain.
(b) Codex Diplom., vol. iv, no. 927—possib1y
widow of Halfdene s. of Brinctin, who gave “in” Ryhall and Belmisthorpe
(a hamlet of Ryhall), Rutland, to Peterborough Abbey (Dugdale,.Mon.,
vol. i, p. 386).
(c) Earle, op. cit., vol. i, p. 184. The Vita
Æduuardi Regis (Rolls Sen), p. 408, says in the church of St.
Olaf; and the Chron. Petriburg., ed. Giles, p. 50, in St. Mary’s
outside York.
The Complete Peerage vol 6 p638 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by Vicary Gibbs, 1926)
HUNTINGDON
… SIWARD,
EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, appears to have
held it immediately afterwards, being addressed as Earl in a charter of
King Edward which may be dated 1050 to 1052.(c) He m.
Ælfled, da. of Aldred of Bernicia.(d) He d. in 1055,
when, his surviving son Waltheof being too young, the Earldoms of
Northumberland and Northampton were bestowed on Tostig, brother of
Harold and a favourite of the King, who is styled Earl of Northampton in
a royal confirmation of agreements between the Abbey of Ramsey and those
of Peterborough and Thorney,(e) and probably held the Earldom
of Huntingdon also until his banishment in Oct. 1065.
(c) Idem [Chron. of Ramsey (Rolls
Ser.)], p. 165. The chroniclers relate a traditional story that his
predecessor was one Tosti, a Dane, who when on his way to visit the King
insulted Siward; that Siward took no notice, but that on Tosti’s return
he cut off his head, carried it to the King, and demanded the Earldom,
for he had been promised the next dignity that fell to the King’s hands.
See “Gesta Siwardi” in Langebek, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum,
vol. iii, p. 290; John of Brompton, in Twysden, X Scriptores,
pp. 945-6.
(d) Symeon of Durham (Rolls Ser.), vol. 11, p.
199.
(e) Chron. of Ramsey (Rolls Ser.), p. 167. In
the Chron. Petriburgense (ed. Giles), p. 50, Waltheof is said to
have succeeded his father in the Earldom of Northampton.
The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp662-3 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
NORTHAMPTON(a)
Observations.—Lapse of time has deprived us of direct
proof that Siward was Earl of Northampton as well as Earl of Huntingdon,
and Tostig, who succeeded to his vast estates, Earl of Huntingdon as
well as Earl of Northampton.(b) To both of them, as well as
to Waltheof, s. of Siward, who obtained possession of his father’s
Honour of Huntingdon in 1065, and of his Earldom of Northumberland in
1072,(c) were presumably addressed writs such as that to
Tostig, Earl of Northampton,(d) record of which has survived
for nearly 900 years.
 |
Death of Earl Siward
This 1861 painting by James
Smetham depicts the tale that Siward on his deathbed bade
his attendants to dress him in full armour, so that he might meet
death as a warrior
|
1055, at York, Yorkshire, England
in a minster dedicated to St Olaf,
built by Siward, at a place called Galmanho, close to York, where the abbey
of St. Mary afterwards stood.
- Dictionary of national biography vol 52
p319 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897; The Complete Peerage vol 9 p703
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 52
p319 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 52
p319 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p703
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 52
pp318-9 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp702-3
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
- The chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon pp204-5
(ed. Thomas Forester, 1853); Dictionary of national biography vol 52
pp318-9 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp702-3
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp662-3
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); Medieval
Lands (SIWARD); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
- The chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon pp204-5
(ed. Thomas Forester, 1853); Dictionary of national biography vol 52
p319 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p703
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 52
p319 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1897); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p703
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); wikipedia
(Siward, Earl of Northumbria)
Waltheof
 |
This statue has been traditionally
identified as Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria. It is on the fourth
tier of the Croyland Abbey's west front of the ruined nave; the
statue dates from the 15th century.
|
Siward
Ælflæd
Judith
of Lens in 1070
- Maud of Huntingdon ( ? - 1130-1)
- Judith (or Alice) m. Ralph of Toesny, the younger
- 3rd daughter m. Robert FitzRichard
Earl of Northampton and
Huntingdon, and Earl of Northumberland
Vita
et Passio Waldevi comitis and Miracula Sacti Waldevi (both printed in Vita
Quorundum Anglo-Saxonum pp1-30 (ed. John Allen Giles, 1854))
form a hagiography, or saint's life, of Waltheof, written in Latin. It
contains some historical information about Waltheof and Siward, as well as
legendary and fantastical elements.
Gesta Normannorum ducum (Guillaume de
Jumièges) book VIII pp327-8 (ed. Jean Marx, 1914)
Interpolation
de Robert de Torigny
Roberto autem, filio Ricardi, successit filius suus primogenitus,
natus ex quadam filiarum Wallevi, comitis Huntedoniae (2). Habuit enim
idem Wallevus tres filias ex uxore sua, filia comitissae de Albamarla;
quae comitissa fuit soror uterina Willelmi regis Anglorum senioris.
Harum autem filiarum comitis Wallevi primogenitam accepit Simon
Silvanectensis, cum comitatu Huntedoniae, et genuit ex ea unum filium
vocatum Simonem (3). Mortuo autem Simone comite, David, frater
secundae Mathildis regine Anglorum, duxit uxorem ejus (4); ex qua
suscepit unum filium, scilicet Henricum. Sublatis autem de medio
fratribus ejus Dudecano et Alexandro (5), regibus Scotorum ipse idem
regnum suscepit. Aliam vero, scilicet Judith Rodulfus de Toeneio,
sicut jam dictum est, duxit uxorem (6) tertiam Robertus, filius
Ricardi, sicut modo commemoravimus.
(2) Robert, frère de Gilbert 1er de Tunbridge, épousa une
fille de Waltheof, comte de Northampton et d’Huntingdon. Voir Orderic,
t. III, p. 402. Waltheof lui-même avait épousé Judith, fille de la
comtesse d’Aumale Aelize qui était la sœur utérine du Conquérant.
(3) Mathilde, autre fille de Waltheof, épousa Simon de Senlis
qui en eut un fils nommé aussi Simon.
(4) David, fils de Malcolm III et frère de Mathilde, la femme
d’Henri 1er. Voir Orderic, t. III, p. 130 et p. 399. Il eut
un fils nommé Henri. Orderic , t. III, p. 302.
(5) Duncan II qui régna en Ecosse de 1093 à 1094. Alexandre fut
roi d’Ecosse du 8 janvier 1107 au 24 avril 1124.
(6) La fille de Waltheof qui épousa Raoul de Toeny s’appelait
Aeliz d’après Orderic (t. IV, p. 198).
This roughly translates as:
Interpolation of Robert de Torigny
But Robert, the son of Richard, was succeeded by his eldest son, born of
one of the daughters of Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon (2). For the same
Waltheof had three daughters by his wife, the daughter of the countess
of Albamarla; which countess was the maternal sister of William the
Elder, king of England. But of these daughters of the Earl Waltheof,
Simon of Silvan, married the eldest, with the earldom of Huntingdon, and
begat by her one son, called Simon (3). But when count Simon died,
David, brother of the second Matilda, queen of England, married his wife
(4); by whom he had one son, namely Henry. But when his brothers Duncan
and Alexander (5) were removed from the midst, he himself assumed the
same kingdom as the kings of Scotland. But another, namely Judith,
Rodulfus of Toeneio, as has already been said, Robert, the son of
Richard, married as a third wife (6), as we have just mentioned.
(2) Robert, brother of Gilbert I of Tunbridge, married a daughter
of Waltheof, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon. See Orderic, Vol. III,
p. 402. Waltheof himself had married Judith, daughter of the countess of
Aumale Aelize, who was the Conqueror's half-sister.
(3) Matilda, another daughter of Waltheof, married Simon of
Senlis, who had a son by her, also named Simon.
(4) David, son of Malcolm III and brother of Matilda, Henry I's
wife. See Orderic, Vol. III, p. 130 and p. 399. He had a son named
Henry. Orderic, Vol. III, p. 302.
(5) Duncan II, who reigned in Scotland from 1093 to 1094.
Alexander was King of Scotland from January 8, 1107, to April 24, 1124.
(6) Waltheof's daughter, who married Raoul de Toeny, was named
Aeliz, after Orderic (vol. IV, p. 198).
The
historical works of Simeon of Durham in The
Church Historians of England vol 3 part 2 p767 (ed. Joseph
Stevenson, 1855)
Simeon’s
account of the siege of Durham
Earl Waltheof, the grandson of earl Aldred,—for he was the son of his
daughter,—some time afterwards avenged the death of his grandfather with
a mighty slaughter; for which purpose he had collected a large assembly
of young men. For when the sons of Carl were feasting together in the
house of their elder brother, at Seteringeton, not far from York, the
party which had been despatched there for that purpose fell upon them
unawares, and put the whole of them to death, with the sole exception of
Cnut, whose life was spared from regard to his innate excellence of
disposition. Sumerlede, who is alive at this present day, happened not
to be there. Having massacred the sons and grandsons of Carl, they
returned, carrying with them many and diverse spoils.
Dictionary of national biography vol 59
pp265-7 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899)
WALTHEOF,
or Lat. WALDEVUS or GUALLEVUS (d.
1076), Earl of Northumberland, was the only surviving son of Siward [q.
v.], earl of Northumbria, by his first wife, Elfleda, Ælflaed, or
Æthelflaed, one of three daughters of Earl Ealdred or Aldred, son of
Earl Uhtred [q. v.] Waltheof was a mere boy at his father’s death in
1055. From the fact that he had learned the psalter in his youth it may
be conjectured that he was intended for the monastic life, that the
death of his elder brother [see under SIWARD] caused this
intention to be abandoned, and that his early training was not without
some influence on his life. At a later time he was Earl of
Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire, the most probable date for his
appointment being that of the downfall of Tostig [q. v.] in 1065 (FREEMAN,
Norman Conquest, ii. 559-60). That he took part in the battle of
Fulford against the Danes is unlikely (it is asserted only by Snorro, LAING,
iii. 84, where there seems a confusion between him and Edwin the brother
of Morcar [q. v.]), and there is no trustworthy evidence that he was at
the battle of Hastings (ib. p. 95; FREEMAN, u.s.
iii. 352, 426, 526). Along with other great Englishmen, he was taken by
the Conqueror to Normandy in 1067.
When the Danish fleet was in the Humber in September 1069,
Waltheof joined it with some ships, and in the fight at York with the
garrison of the castle took his stand at one of the gates, and as the
French fugitives issued forth from the burning city cut them down one by
one, for he was of immense strength; his prowess on this occasion is
celebrated by a contemporary Norse poet, who says that ‘he burnt in the
hot fire a hundred of the king’s henchmen’ (Corpus Poeticum Boreale,
ii. 227). After the Danes had left England he went to meet the king, who
was encamped by the Tees in January 1070, submitted to him, took an oath
of fealty, and was restored to his earldom (ORDERIC, p.
515). William gave him to wife his niece Judith, a daughter of his
sister Adelaide, by Enguerrand, count of Ponthieu, and in 1072 appointed
him to succeed Gospatric [q. v.] as earl of Northumberland. He was
friendly with Walcher [q. v.], bishop of Durham, and was always ready to
enforce the bishop’s decrees.
Through his mother Waltheof inherited the blood feud which had
been begun by the murder of his great-grandfather, Earl Uhtred, and,
hearing in 1073 that the sons of Carl, the murderer of his grandfather
Ealdred, were met together with their sons to feast at the house of
their eldest brother at Settrington in the East Riding, he sent a strong
band of men, who fell upon them unawares, slew them all except two of
Carl’s sons—Canute, who was extremely popular, and Sumorled, who chanced
not to be there—and returned to their lord laden with spoil of all
kinds. In 1075 he was present at the wedding feast of Ralph Guader [q.
v.] or Wader, earl of Norfolk; and he was invited to join in the
conspiracy, that was made on that occasion, to divide the whole country
between him and the Earl of Norfolk and Hereford, one of them to be the
king and the other two earls. He appears to have been entrapped against
his will into giving his consent (FLOR. WIG.
an. 1074; ORDERIC, pp. 534-5, represents him as refusing
his consent, but swearing secrecy). He repented, and as soon as he could
went to Lanfranc [q. v.] and confessed to him the unlawful oath that he
had taken. The archbishop prescribed him a penance, and counselled him
to go to the king, who was then in Normandy, and lay the whole matter
before him. He went to William, told him what he had done, offered him
treasure, and implored his forgiveness. The king took the matter
lightly, and Waltheof remained with him until his return to England,
when the rebellion was over. Before long, however, the Danish fleet,
which had been invited over by the rebels, appeared in the Humber, and
the king caused Waltheof to be arrested and imprisoned.
At Christmas he was brought to trial before the king at
Winchester, on the charge of having been privy to, and having abetted,
the late rebellion, his wife Judith informing against him. He allowed
that he knew of the conspiracy, but flatly denied that he had in any way
abetted it. Sentence was deferred, and he was committed to stricter
custody at Winchester than before. In prison he passed his time in
seeking to make his peace with God by prayers, watchings, fastings, and
alms-giving, often weeping bitterly, and daily, it is said, reciting the
whole psalter, which he had learned in his youth (ib. p. 536; FLOR.
WIG.) He is also said to have besought the king to allow
him to become a monk (Liber de Hyda, p. 294).
Lanfranc expressed his conviction that the earl was innocent of
treason and that his penitence was sincere (FLOR. WIG.)
That he did take the oath of conspiracy seems as certain as that he
speedily repented of doing so. It is probable that the other
conspirators, with or without his assent, used his name to induce the
Danes, with whom it would have great influence, to invade England; that
he did not tell this to the king, and possibly was not aware of it; and
that when William found that the Danish fleet had come, he thought far
more seriously of Waltheof’s part in the conspiracy than before, and was
led by his niece, the earl’s wife, to believe, truly or falsely, that
her husband was the cause of their coming.
On 15 May 1076 his case was considered in the king’s court; he
was condemned to death for having consented when men were plotting
against the life of his lord, for not having resisted them, and for
having forborne publicly to denounce their conspiracy. The order for his
execution was soon sent down to Winchester, and early on the morning of
the 31st he was led forth from prison before the citizens had risen from
their beds, for his guards feared that a rescue might be attempted, and
was taken to St. Giles’s Hill, which overlooks the city. He wore the
robes of his rank as earl, and when he came to the place where he was to
be beheaded distributed them among the clergy and the few poor men who
happened to be present. He asked that he might say the Lord’s prayer.
When he had said ‘Lead us not into temptation,’ his voice was choked
with tears. The headsman would wait no longer; he drew his sword, and
with one blow cut off the earl’s head. The bystanders declared that they
heard the severed head clearly pronounce the last words of the prayer,
‘but deliver us from evil, Amen.’
Waltheof was tall, well made, and extraordinarily strong.
Matchless as a warrior, he was weak and unstable in character; he seems
to have been made a tool of by the conspirators in 1075, and was
probably so deficient in insight as to interpret the Conqueror’s
clemency to him in 1070 as a sign of weakness, and the subsequent favour
that he showed him as a proof that his importance was far greater than
it really was. In spite of his vengeance on the family of Carl, which
must be viewed in connection with the barbarous state of the north and
with the doings of his immediate ancestors, he was a religious man, a
constant and devout attendant on divine services, and very liberal to
the clergy, monks, and poor. He enriched the abbey of Crowland in South
Lincolnshire, bestowing on it the lordship of Barnack in
Northamptonshire, to help Abbot Ulfcytel in building his new church, and
placed his cousin Morkere, the younger son of Ligulf [see under WALCHER]
by Waltheof’s mother’s sister, at Jarrow to be educated as a monk,
giving the convent with him the church and lordship of Tynemouth (SYMEON,
Historia Regum, c. 166; Monasticon, i. 236). Nevertheless
he unjustly kept possession of two estates in Northamptonshire that had
been given to Peterborough by his stepmother, and had after her death
been held, with the consent of the convent, by his father Siward for his
life. He entered into an agreement with the abbot Leofric, in the
presence of Edward the Confessor, by which he received five marcs of
gold in consideration of at once giving up one of the estates, keeping
the other for his life, but broke the agreement and kept both. During
the reign of Harold he repented, and, going to Peterborough, assured the
convent that both should come to it on his death (Codex Diplomaticus,
iv. No. 927); they were, however, both held by the widow (Norman
Conquest, iv. 257).
Waltheof’s execution was an unprecedented event, and the
Conqueror, who, though terrible in his punishments, never condemned any
one else to death, must have been influenced in his case by some special
consideration such as would be afforded by the belief that he was the
main cause of a foreign invasion. The act of severity has been regarded
as the turning point in William’s reign, and was believed to have been
connected with his subsequent troubles and ill-success (FREEMAN,
u.s. p. 605; ORDERIC, p. 544). Though his father was a
Dane by birth, Waltheof was regarded as a champion of English freedom
and a national hero, and his penitence and death caused him to be
venerated by the English as a saint and martyr. His body was first
buried hastily at the place of execution; a fortnight later the
Conqueror, at Judith’s request, allowed Abbot Ulfcytel to remove it to
Crowland, where it was buried in the chapter-house of the abbey. Ten
years later Ulfcytel was deposed, possibly because he encouraged the
reverence paid to the earl’s memory at Crowland (FREEMAN).
His successor, Ingulf [q. v.], caused Waltheof’s body to be translated
and laid in the church in 1092, when, on the coffin being opened, it was
found to be undecayed and to have the head united to it, a red line only
marking the place of severance. Miracles began to be worked in great
number at the martyr’s new tomb (ORDERIC; WILL.
MALM.; Miracula S. Waldevi). The next abbot,
Geoffrey (d. 1124), though he was a Frenchman, would not allow a
word to be spoken in disparagement of the earl, and was rewarded with a
vision of Waltheof in company with St. Bartholomew and St. Guthlac, when
the apostle and the hermit made up by their alternate remarks an
hexameter line to the effect that Waltheof was no longer headless, and,
though he had been an earl, was then a king (ORDERIC).
Under the next abbot, Waltheof, the son of Gospatric, the monks sent to
the English-born Orderic, who had beforetime visited their house, to
write an epitaph for the earl, which he did and inserted in his
‘History.’
Waltheof left three daughters. The eldest, Matilda, married,
first, Simon de Senlis, who was in consequence made earl of Northampton
[q. v.]; by him she was mother of Waltheof (d. 1159) [q. v.]; she
married, secondly, David I [q. v.] king of Scotland. The second, Judith,
married Ralph of Toesny, the younger; and the third married Robert
FitzRichard [see under CLARE, RICHARD DE,
d. 1090?] (WILLIAM OF JUMIÈGES,
viii. 37). His widow Judith founded a house of Benedictine nuns at
Elstow, near Bedford (Monasticon, iii. 411).
[Flor. Wig. (Engl. Hist. Soc.); A.-S. Chron. cd. Plummer;
Orderic, Will, of Jumièges (both ed. Duchesne); Sym. Dunelm., Will, of
Malmesbury’s Gesta Regum, Liber de Hyda (all Rolls Ser.); Will, of Poit.
ed. Giles; Vita et Passio Wadevi, Miracula S. Waldevi ap. Chron.
Angl.-Norm. vol. ii. ed. Michel, of no historical value except as
regards the cult; Corp. Poet. Bor.; Freeman’s Norm.
Conq.] W. H.
The Complete Peerage vol 6 pp638-40
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by Vicary Gibbs, 1926)
HUNTINGDON
EARLDOM.
I. 1065 and 1070-1076
1. WALTHEOF, s. of SIWARD, EARL
OF NORTHUMBERLAND,by Ælfled, da. of ALDRED
of Bernicia, became EARL OF HUNTINGDON and EARL OF NORTHAMPTON
when Tostig was banished in Oct. 1065.(f) He is not known to
have opposed the Conqueror in 1066, but was taken to Normandy the
following year.(g) In 1069 he joined the Danes in their
descent on Yorkshire, distinguishing himself in the attack on the city
of York.(h) When the Danes left England he submitted himself
to William, in Jan. 1070,(i) and was restored to his
Earldom,(j) and to his father’s Earldom of Northumberland in
1072.(a) While attending the wedding of Ralph de Gael, Earl
of Norfolk, at Exning in the spring or summer of 1075, he was enticed to
join the conspiracy of the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford to seize
England for themselves. He quickly repented, and by Lanfranc’s advice
Went to Normandy and asked pardon of the King,(b) who treated
the matter lightly at the time; but at Christmas Waltheof was brought to
trial at Westminster, his wife Judith being a witness.(c) He
was imprisoned at Winchester, where on the resumption of the trial in
May he was condemned and beheaded on St. Giles’s Hill, 31 May 1076, and
hastily buried.(d) He m., in 1070, Judith,(e)
da. of Lambert, COUNT OF LENS, by Adelaide
or Adeliz, sister of the Conqueror. He d. as aforesaid, s.p.m.
31 May 1076,(f) and a fortnight later the Abbot Ulfketel, at
Judith’s request and by the King’s permission, removed his body to
Crowland, where it was honourably entombed.(g) His widow, who
as “Judith the Countess” is recorded in Domesday Book to have held
estates in many counties in 1086, most of them apparently gifts from the
King, her unc1e,(a) held Huntingdon in dower.(b)
She founded the Nunnery of Elstow, near Bedford.(c)
(f) It is recorded in Domesday Bookthat Ælget had held
land in Weston, Hunts, of Earl Tosti and then of Waltheof in the time of
King Edward; Eustace the sheriff had it in 1086, but the Countess Judith
claimed it. This Eustace also held a hide in Buckden which had been held
of Earl Waltheof in 1066 (Dom. Bk., ff. 206 d, 208).
(g) Orderic Vit. (ed. le Prévost), vol. ii, p.
167; A.S. Chron., an. 1066.
(h) Orderic, vol. ii, p. 192; A.S. Chron., an.
1069; Vigfusson and Powell, Corpus Poet. Bor., vol. ii, p. 227
(place not named).
(i) Orderic, vol. ii, p. 197; A.S. Chron., an.
1070.
(j) Orderic, vol. ii, p. 221, the Earldom of
Northampton. It would appear that the counties of Northampton and
Huntingdon usually went together, and another Norman writer, William of
Jumieges (bk. 8, c. 37), calls Waltheof Earl of Huntingdon.
(a) Symeon of Durham (Rolls Ser.), vol. ii,
pp. 199, 384.
(b) Orderic, vol. ii, pp. 260-262; A.S.
Chron., an. 1075; Florence of Worc., an. 1074. The date
of the offence is indicated by Orderic’s statement that Waltheof was a
captive for a year before his execution.
(c) Vita et Passio Waldevi comitis (ed.
Giles), p. 13.
(d) A.S. Chron., an. 1076; Orderic,
vol. ii, pp. 265-267.
(e) Orderic, vol. ii, p. 221. On her parentage
see ante, vol. i, sub AUMALE. She must have been
born in 1054 or 1055, so that she would be under 17 when married to
Waltheof.
(f) He left 3 daughters: (1) Maud, who m.,
1stly, Simon de Saint Liz or Senlis, and, 2ndly, David I, King of
Scotland, both being Waltheof’s successors in title. (2) Judith or
Alice, who m. Ralph de Toni the younger (Will. of Jumieges, bk.
8, c. 37). Alice is the name given in the Vita at Passio. Ralph
de Toni and Alice his wife endowed a house of canons at Wastacre,
Norfolk (Dugdale, Monasticon,vol. vi, p. 576). Alice widow of
Ralph de Toni gave the Church of Walthamstow in Essex to Holy Trinity
Priory (Christ Church), Aldgate (Idem, p. 152). Walthamstow was
one of the manors held by Waltheof, and then by the Countess Judith. (3)
A daughter said to have m. a Robert son of Richard (Will.of
Jumieges). There is perhaps some confusion, for Maud, da. of Simon de
St. Liz I, is said to have married a Robert son of Richard (see below).
(g) Many miracles are recorded, for Waltheof was by
many regarded as a saint (Flor. of Worc., an. 1075; Vita et
Passio, pp. 14, 17, and for miracles see pp. 23-33). An epitaph
was written for the tomb by Orderic (vol. ii, p. 289). Other epitaphs
are in the Vita. He is described as strong in person and of
great repute as a warrior (Vita, p. 10; Orderic, vol. ii,
p. 266), pious, had learnt the psalter in his youth, was liberal to the
clergy and the poor (Vita, p. 13; Orderic, loc. cit.),
and a benefactor in particular to Jarrow and Crowland. To the former he
gave Tynemouth (Symeon of Durham, vol. ii, p. 209). The chief
stain on his memory is his part in a family blood-feud, for he ordered
the murder of the sons of one Carl, who had killed Earl Ealdred,
Waltheof’s grandfather (Idem, vol. i, p. 219, vol. ii, p. 200).
(a) Ellis, Intro. to Domesday Book, vol. i, p.
440.
(b) Vita et Passio, p. 18.
(c) Dugdale, Mon., vol. iii, p. 411 (quoting
Leland, Collect., vol. i, pp. 41, 56); V.C.H. Beds, vol.
i, p. 353. Gifts to the Abbey made by Judith are recorded in Domesday
Book.
The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp662-3 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
NORTHAMPTON(a)
Observations.—Lapse of time has deprived us of direct
proof that Siward was Earl of Northampton as well as Earl of Huntingdon,
and Tostig, who succeeded to his vast estates, Earl of Huntingdon as
well as Earl of Northampton.(b) To both of them, as well as
to Waltheof, s. of Siward, who obtained possession of his father’s
Honour of Huntingdon in 1065, and of his Earldom of Northumberland in
1072,(c) were presumably addressed writs such as that to
Tostig, Earl of Northampton,(d) record of which has survived
for nearly 900 years. Domesday Book supplies us with no evidence in the
case of Northampton corresponding with the details given of the
pre-Conquest Earl’s third in Huntingdon;(e) in 1086
the Countess Judith had £7 of the issues of the borough of Northampton,
but this does not appear to be her dower qua Countess, because
the burgesses rendered to the sheriff £30 10s.(f)
Possession of what in the 12th century was known as the Honour of
Huntingdon, which had passed from Siward to Tostig, and to Waltheof, and
was held in dower by Waltheof’s widow Judith, appears to have given the
title of Earl of Huntingdon and of Northampton to its earliest
possessors, while the second title, with some portion of the Honour, was
made a separate dignity in 1136 for the elder son of the Countess Maud,
rightful heir of the whole Honour, presumably when David I of Scotland
secured the Honour itself for the Countess’s younger son (by himself),
Prince Henry of Scotland.(g) The difficulty of tracing with
exactitude the dates of the passing of the Honour from tenant to tenant
is enhanced by the immunity from scutage &c. conferred upon it by
Henry I.(a)
EARLDOM.
I. 1065 to 1076
1. WALTHEOF, s. of Siward, EARL OF
NORTHUMBERLAND, became EARL OF NORTHAMPTON AND HUNTINGDON
on the banishment of Earl Tostig in 1065. Having participated in the
conspiracy of the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford, he was beheaded 31 May
1076. He d. s.p.m.
(a) The Observations
and the account of William de Bohun are by Miss Ethel Stokes, who has
also revised and documented other portions of this article.
(b) See vol. vi, p. 638.
(c) Idem.
(d) Idem.
(e) Domesday Book, vol. i, fo. 203.
(f) Idem, fo. 219.
(g) That Simon de St. Liz II held some portion of the
Honour is shown by his grant to St. Andrew’s, Northampton, of 100s.
of land in Ryhall (which Siward had held—Kemble, Codex Dipl.,
no. 927) donec eis dedero eseambium de propria hereditate mea de
Huntyngdon (Cott. MS., Vesp., E xvii—Cartulary of St. Andrew’s—fo.
260). That the assigning of the title of Northampton to Simon was
presumably part of the arrangement made between King Stephen and King
David in Feb. 1136 is deduced from Stephen’s charter of confirmation to
the church of Exeter (made, if the charter be genuine, when the King was
there besieging the castle in the summer of 1136), which was witnessed,
among the Earls, by Simon comes de Norhamtona (Cal. Charter
Rolls, vol. v, p. 171). The date 1136 has some support from the
omission, in the (exhaustive) list of lords of Sawtrey, of Prince Henry.
In connection with the Earl’s foundation of Sawtrey Abbey, the men of
the place recount the lords of whom it has been held, and in this
statement Earl Simon follows immediately upon David, King of Scotland,
who married the Countess Maud (Ramsey Abbey Cart., Rolls Ser.,
vol. i, p. 160). As Earl of Northampton, Simon confirmed lands
to Daventry Priory, in a grant witnessed by his brother-in-law Robert
FitzRichard (who d. 1136-7) (Brit. Mus. Facs. of Charters,
pt. I, no. 26 note).
(a) Fœdera, vol. i, p. 48.
The Complete Peerage vol 9 p705 (George
Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
NORTHUMBERLAND
The following were Earls or administrators of Northumberland from
the time immediately preceding the Conquest till the Earldom was taken
in hand by William Rufus.
… WALTHEOF, younger, but only surviving, son of Siward, EARL
OF NORTHUMBERLAND, by his first wife Elfleda,
both abovenamed, who became Earl of Huntingdon and of Northampton upon
the banishment of Tostig, 1065, received in 1072 the Earldom which
Gospatric had forfeited, but not (it would appear) the Earldom of his
father Siward viz. the entire Northumbrian Earldom.(b)
He was executed 31 May 1076. For fuller particulars see HUNTINGDON.
(b)
Idem [Simeon of Durham], p. 92. Waltheovus in comitatum
sustollitur, ei ex patris ac matrix prosapia debitum (Idem,
p. 93). The unknown author of the account of the siege of Durham (Simeon
of Durham, p. 157), in a statement re certain demesne lands of
the Earldom, says that Waltheof’s mother, Elfleda, being Countess, since
she was daughter of Earl Aldred, and he was the son of Ughtred and of
the daughter of Bishop Aldun, claimed these lands as hers by hereditary
right, which Earl Siward, her husband, gave her; and she gave to her son
Waltheof the Earldom of the Northumbrians, as Waltheof’s grandfather, to
wit, Earl Aldred, had it. [Aldred had had the Earldom North of Tyne]
31 May 1076, executed by beheading on
St Giles's Hill, Winchester, Hampshire, England, for treason
 |
Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire in 1849
|
Waltheof was initially buried in a
ditch at St Giles Hill in Winchester, the place of his execution, but two
weeks later his body was reburied in Crowland
Abbey, Lincolnshire, England, where miracles were claimed to occur at
his tomb.
- Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p265 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p265 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); The Complete Peerage vol 6 p639
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by Vicary Gibbs, 1926); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
- Gesta Normannorum ducum (Guillaume de
Jumièges) book VIII pp327-8 (ed. Jean Marx, 1914); Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p267 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p265 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p663
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936)
- The
historical works of Simeon of Durham in The
Church Historians of England vol 3 part 2 p767 (ed.
Joseph Stevenson, 1855); The Complete Peerage vol 6 pp638-40
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by Vicary Gibbs, 1926); Dictionary of national biography vol 59
pp265-7 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); The Complete Peerage vol 9 pp662-3
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p705
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); Medieval
Lands (WALTHEOF Earl of Huntingdon); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p266 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); The Complete Peerage vol 9 p663
(George Edward Cokayne, enlarged by H. A. Doubleday, 1936); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
- Dictionary of national biography vol 59
p267 (ed. Sidney Lee, 1899); wikipedia
(Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria)
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