Simon II de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton
Simon II de Senlis (or Senliz, St. Liz, etc.), 4th Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton (c. 1098 – 1153) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He was the son of Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton and Maud, Countess of Huntingdon. He married Isabel, daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester and they had a son Simon.
He was prominent in the Anarchy, fighting for Stephen of England in 1141 at the Battle of Lincoln. He continued to support Stephen's side; R. H. C. Davis calls him 'staunch' and 'consistently loyal'[1] and surmises that Simon calculated that if the Empress Matilda won, his earldom of Northampton would be taken over by her uncle David I of Scotland.[2]
Simon was rewarded by becoming Earl of Huntingdon. He died in 1153 just before Henry II of England took over, whereupon the king restored the Earldom of Huntingdon-Northampton to his ally Malcolm IV of Scotland.[3]
Notes
- King Stephen (1967) p.112, p.135.
- p.70.
- Crouch, David (2005). The Image of Aristocracy: In Britain, 1000-1300. Routledge. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-134-97794-9.
References
- Stringer, Keith, "Senlis, Simon (II) de, earl of Northampton and earl of Huntingdon (d. 1153)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 20 May 2007