3Waltheof (1050 – 31 May 1076),
1st Earl of Northumberland and
1st Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton and last of the
Anglo-Saxon earls. He was the only English aristocrat to be executed during the reign of
William I.
Contents [
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1 Early life 2 Family and children 3 First revolt 4 Second revolt and death 5 Cult of martyrdom 6 In popular culture 7 ReferencesEarly life
Waltheof was the second son of
Siward, Earl of Northumbria. His mother was Aelfflaed, daughter of
Ealdred, Earl of Bernicia, son of
Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria. In 1054, Waltheof’s brother, Osbearn, who was much older than he, was killed in battle, making Waltheof his father’s heir. Siward himself died in 1055, and Waltheof being far too young to succeed as Earl of Northumbria,
King Edward appointed
Tostig Godwinson to the earldom.
He was said to be devout and charitable and was probably educated for a
monastic life. In fact around 1065 he became an earl, governing
Northamptonshire and
Huntingdonshire. Following the
Battle of Hastings he submitted to William and was allowed to keep his pre-Conquest title and possessions. He remained at William’s court until 1068.
Family and children
In 1070 Waltheof married
Judith of Lens, daughter of
Lambert II, Count of Lens and
Adelaide of Normandy, Countess of
Aumale. They had three children, the eldest of whom,
Maud, brought the earldom of Huntingdon to her second husband,
David I of Scotland, and another, Adelise, married the Anglo-Norman noble
Raoul III of Tosny. Their son
Uchtred of Tynedale married Bethoc; daughter of
Donald III, King of Scotland.
One of Waltheof's grandsons was
Waltheof (d. 1159),
abbot of Melrose.
First revolt
When
Sweyn II invaded
Northern England in 1069, Waltheof and
Edgar Ætheling joined the Danes and took part in the attack on
York. He would again make a fresh submission to William after the departure of the invaders in 1070. He was restored to his earldom, and went on to marry William's niece,
Judith of Lens. In 1072, he was appointed
Earl of Northampton.
The
Domesday Book mentions Waltheof ("Walleff"); "'In
Hallam ("Halun"), one manor with its sixteen hamlets, there are twenty-nine carucates [~14 km²] to be taxed. There Earl Waltheof had an "Aula" [hall or court]. There may have been about twenty ploughs. This land Roger de Busli holds of the Countess Judith." (Hallam, or
Hallamshire, is now part of the city of
Sheffield)
In 1072, William expelled
Gospatric from the earldom of Northumbria. Gospatric was Waltheof’s cousin and had taken part in the attack on York with him, but like Waltheof, had been pardoned by William. Gospatric fled into exile and William appointed Waltheof as the new earl.
Waltheof had many enemies in the north. Amongst them were members of a family who had killed Waltheof’s maternal great-grandfather,
Uchtred the Bold, and his grandfather
Ealdred. This was part of a long-running blood feud. In 1074, Waltheof moved against the family by sending his retainers to ambush them, succeeding in killing the two eldest of four brothers.
Second revolt and death
In 1075 Waltheof joined the
Revolt of the Earls against William. His motives for taking part in the revolt are unclear, as is the depth of his involvement. However he repented, confessing his guilt first to Archbishop
Lanfranc and then in person to William, who was at the time in
Normandy. He returned to England with William but was arrested, brought twice before the king's court and sentenced to death.
He spent almost a year in confinement before being beheaded on May 31, 1076 at
St. Giles's Hill, near
Winchester. He was said to have spent the months of his captivity in prayer and fasting. Many people believed in his innocence and were surprised when the execution was carried out. His body was initially thrown in a ditch, but was later retrieved and was buried in the chapter house of
Croyland Abbey.
Cult of martyrdom
In 1092, after a fire in the chapter house, the abbot had Waltheof’s body moved to a prominent place in the abbey church. When the coffin was opened, it is reported that the corpse was found to be intact with the severed head re-joined to the trunk. This was regarded as a miracle, and the abbey, which had a financial interest in the matter began to publicise it. As a result, pilgrims began to visit Waltheof’s tomb.
After a few years healing miracles were reputed to occur in the vicinity of Waltheof’s tomb, often involving the restoration of the pilgrim’s lost sight.
3Judith of Lens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Countess Judith (born in
Normandy between 1054 and 1055, died after 1086), was a niece of
William the Conqueror. She was a daughter of his sister
Adelaide of Normandy, Countess of Aumale and
Lambert II, Count of Lens.
In 1070, Judith married Earl
Waltheof of Huntingdon and Northumbria. They had three children, the eldest daughter,
Maud, brought the earldom of Huntingdon to her second husband,
David I of Scotland.
In 1075, Waltheof joined the
Revolt of the Earls against William. It was the last serious act of resistance against the
Norman conquest of England. Judith betrayed Waltheof to her uncle, who had Waltheof beheaded on 31 May 1076.
After Waltheof's execution Judith was betrothed by William to
Simon I of St. Liz, 1st Earl of Northampton. Judith refused to marry Simon and she fled the country to avoid William's anger. He then temporarily confiscated all of Judith's English estates.
Judith founded the
Abbey at
Elstow Bedfordshire in about 1078. She also founded churches at
Kempston and
Hitchin.
She had land-holdings in 10 counties in the
Midlands and
East Anglia. Her holdings included land at:
▪ Earls Barton, Northamptonshire
▪ Great Doddington, Northamptonshire
▪ Grendon, Northamptonshire ▪ Merton, Oxfordshire ▪ Potton, Bedfordshire
The parish of
Sawtry Judith in Huntingdonshire is named after the Countess.