General Notes

on the history of the Earldom of Huntingdon:

His [Waltheof's] son-in-law Simon de St Liz was the next holder of the Earldom [of Huntingdon], the family connections of Simon's wife Maud making the transition a natural one under the terms prevailing then. Indeed the history of the Earldom over the next few decades amply illustrates the almost chattel-like nature of such a title at this time, a quasi-hereditary post which was nevertheless as often as not held from the king at pleasure and which could be transferred between members of the same family like a parcel of land.  [Burke's Peerage]

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EARLDOM OF NORTHAMPTON (II, 1)

EARLDOM OF HUNTINGDON (II)

SIMON DE ST. LIZ, said to be a son of Ranulph the Rich, a Norman, appears to have come to England early in the reign of William II. Presumably in consequence of his mariiage, 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." He witnessed another royal charter under the same designation a little later. He fought for William in Normandy in 1098, and was taken prisoner by Louis, son of the French King. On the accession of Henry I in 1100 he witnessed the charter of liberties issued by the King at his Coronation. He built the Castle of Northampton and founded or refounded the Priory of St. Andrew in that town, and made it dependent on the Cluniac house of La CharitÈ-sur-Loire; this was probably in the time of William Rufus, but certainly before 1108, when he granted an ample charter to it in conjunction with Maud his wife. He was a benefactor also to Daventry Priory, 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 CharitÈ, and was buried there.

He married, perhaps as early as 1090 when she would be aged about 18, Maud, eldest daughter of Waltheof, EARL OF HUNTINGDON and NORTHAMPTON, by Judith, niece of William I. He died, as aforesaid, at La CharitÈ presumably in 1111 or shortly afterwards. His widow married DAVID I of Scotland.  [Complete Peerage VI:640-1, (transcribed by Dave Utzinger)]