Another interesting point about the descendants of the Counts
of Vexin who were known as "Le Riche" is Earl Simson de Senlis
in England c. 1100. His father was was thought to be a Norman
and had the name Randel le Ryche. Simon was known as De Senlis
which actually was quite outside Normandy. The term Senlis can be associated
with
the Counts of Vexin, especially Gautier the Second who married
the daughter of Herbert the First of Vermandois. Gautier obtained
the countship of Valois from her and I assume the land of Senlis as well.
In other words perhaps Gautier and his wife lived part time on their
Senlis land and Randel/Simon was born there. Randel le Ryche was perhaps
not a Norman at all but a Frankish noble descended from Gautier.
Simon is thought to have gone to England after the Conquest, but
is thought to have fought with King William. The significant
matter about Simon de Senlis is he was active in trade, having
issued various extant trade charters. His territory was not far from
Norfolk. Below is his Dictionary of National Biography information:
Article
Senlis or St. Liz, Simon de, Earl of Northampton and Huntingdon d. 1109, was
son of a Norman noble called Randel le Ryche. According to the register of
the priory of St. Andrew at Northampton (Monast. Angl. v. 190), he fought
with his brother Garner for William the Conqueror at Hastings. But there is
no mention of him in Domesday book, and it seems more probable that he did
not come to England till about the end of the reign of William I (Freeman,
Norman Conquest, iv. 604). According to the legends preserved in the
pseudo-Ingulph and the ‘Vita Waldevi,’ Simon was given by the Conqueror the
hand of Judith, the widow of Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon; but Judith refused
to marry him on account of his lameness. Simon then received the earldom of
Northampton and Huntingdon from the king, and eventually married Matilda or
Maud, the daughter of Waltheof and Judith. The marriage is an undoubted
fact, but probably must be placed, together with the grant of the earldoms,
not earlier than 1089. According to the ‘Vita Waldevi,’ Simon went on the
crusade in 1095, but he appears to have been fighting on the side of William
Rufus in Normandy in 1098, when he was taken prisoner by Louis, son of the
king of France (Freeman, William Rufus, ii. 190). He was also one of the
witnesses to the coronation charter of Henry I in 1100 (Stubbs, Select
Charters, p. 102). Afterwards he went on the crusade. He died in 1109, and
was buried at the priory of La Charité-sur-Loire. Earl Simon built
Northampton Castle, and founded the priory of St. Andrew, Northampton,
according to tradition, about 1084, but more probably in 1108 (Monast. Angl.
v. 190-1). By his wife, Matilda, Simon had two sons¾Simon, who is noticed
below, and Waltheof (d. 1159) [q.v.], who was abbot of Melrose. A daughter
Maud married Robert FitzRichard of Tonbridge.
Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Northampton d. 1153, was a minor at his father's
death. His mother married as her second husband David (1084-1153) [q.v.],
afterwards king of Scotland. David obtained the earldom of Northampton in
right of his wife and to the exclusion of his stepson. The young Simon
witnessed the Oxford charter of King Stephen at Easter 1136, simply as Simon
de Saintliz (Stubbs, Select Charters, p. 121). Stephen granted the earldom
of Huntingdon to Simon's half-brother, Henry of Scotland (1114?-1152)
[q.v.]. When Henry and his father gave their support to the Empress Matilda,
Simon not unnaturally joined Stephen, who previously to 1141 restored him to
the earldom of Northampton. Earl Simon fought for Stephen at Lincoln in
1141, and was one of the three earls who remained faithful to Queen Matilda
during her husband's captivity. After the death of Henry of Scotland in
1152, Simon was rewarded for his loyalty by receiving the earldom of
Huntingdon. He died in August 1153. He had been one of the foremost of
Stephen's supporters, and his death, coinciding with that of the king's son
Eustace, removed the two chief opponents to an agreement between the king
and Henry FitzEmpress (Hen. Hunt. p. 288). Henry of Huntingdon makes Robert
of Gloucester describe Simon II as one whose acts never got beyond speeches,
nor his gifts beyond promises (ib. p. 270). Simon II de Senlis founded the
nunnery of De la Pré, near Northampton, and the abbey of Saltrey in
Huntingdonshire. He married Isabel, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, earl of
Leicester (d. 1118), by whom he had a son, Simon. Simon III de Senlis was
apparently recognised in the earldom of Northampton as soon as he came of
age in 1159; he obtained the earldom of Huntingdon also on its forfeiture by
William the Lion of Scotland in 1174. He married Alice, daughter and heiress
of Gilbert de Gant, earl of Lincoln, but died without offspring in 1183 or
1184.
Sources
Ordericus Vitalis, iii. 402, iv. 169, v. 130 (Soc. de l'Hist. de France);
Henry of Huntingdon (Rolls Ser.); Vita et passio Waldevi ap. Chroniques
Anglo-Normandes, vol. ii.; Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, v. 178, 185,
190-1, 207, 521; Freeman's Norman Conquest and William Rufus; Round's
Geoffrey de Mandeville; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 58; Doyle's Official
Baronage, ii. 611-12; G. E. C[okayne]'s Complete Peerage, iv. 282-4, vi. 67.
Contributor
C. L. K.
published 1897