General Notes

REFN: 1871AN
REFN: P1871
Waltheof, 1st Earl of Huntingdon and Northampton (d. 1076) was the la
st of the Anglo-Saxon earls, remaining in England for a decaDe after the N
orman conquest.
He was a son of Earl Siward of Northumbria, and, although he was probab
ly educated for a monastic life, became Earl of Huntingdon and Earl of Nor
thumberland about 1065. After the Battle of Hastings he submitted to Willi
am the Conqueror; but when Sweyn II of Denmark invaded Northern Engla
nd in 1069 he joined him with Edgar Ætheling and took part in the atta
ck on York, only, however, to make a fresh submission after their departu
re in 1070. Then, restored to his earldom, he married William's niece, Jud
ith, and in 1072 was appointed Earl of Northampton.
The Domesday Book (ordered to be prepared by William the Conqueror, and fi
nally completed in 1086) mentioned Waltheof ("Walleff"); "'In Hallam ("Hal
un"), one manor with its sixteen hamlets, there are twenty-nine carucat
es [~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 hol
ds of the Countess Judith." (Hallam, or Hallamshire, is now part of the ci
ty of Sheffield, in the county of South Yorkshire).
In 1075 Waltheof joined the conspiracy against the king arranged by the ea
rls of Norfolk and Hereford; but soon repenting of his action he confess
ed his guilt to Archbishop Lanfranc, and then to William, who was in Norma
ndy. Returning to England with William he was arrested, and after being br
ought twice before the king's court was sentenced to death. On the 31
st of May 1076 he was beheaded on St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester. We
ak and unreliable in character, Waltheof, like his father, is said to ha
ve been a man of immense bodily strength. Devout and charitable, he was re
garded by the English as a martyr, and miracles were said to have been wor
ked at his tomb at Crowland.
Family and children
He was married 1070 with Judith of Lens, daughter of Lambert II, Cou
nt of Lens and Adeliza, Countess of Aumale and had three daughters, the el
dest of whom, Matilda, brought the earldom of Huntingdon to her second hus
band, David I of Scotland. One of Waltheof's grandsons was Waltheof (d. 11
59), abbot of Melrose. His creation of the earldom of Northampton, howeve
r, died with him, and he would remain the last to hold a Saxon-era title u
ntil the Earl of Wessex nearly a thousand years later.