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
Elstow Abbey in
Bedfordshire around 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 ▪ Piddington, Oxfordshire ▪ Potton, Bedfordshire
The parish of
Sawtry Judith in Huntingdonshire is named after the Countess.
Decapitado
Matilda's father Waltheof had been
Earl of Northumberland, a defunct lordship which had covered the far north of England and included
Cumberland and
Westmorland,
Northumberland-proper, as well as overlordship of the bishopric of Durham. After King Henry's death, David would revive the claim to this earldom for his son Henry.
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