Born about in Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Ancestors 
Daughter of Lambert (Boulogne) de Boulogne
[uncertain]
and Adelais (Normandie) de Lens
Sister of
Guy (Ponthieu) de Ponthieu [half], Sybille (De Boulogne) Boulogne [half], Elizabeth (Ponthieu) de Ponthieu [half], Adelaide (Ponthieu) de Beaumont [half], Helissende (Ponthieu) de St Pol [half] and Etienne (Champagne) de Troyes [half]
Wife of
Waltheof (Huntington) of Northumberland
— married
after Jan 1070 [location unknown]
Descendants 
Mother of
Uctred FitzWaltheof, Adelise (Huntingdon) de Tony, Judith Huntingdon and Maud (Huntingdon) of Scotland
Died about
at about age 35
in Fotheringay, Northamptonshire, England
Profile last modified
| Created 28 Feb 2011
This page has been accessed 29,236 times.
Judith Lens was a member of the aristocracy in British Isles.
Contents |
Biography
Parents
Judith of Lens was the daughter of Lambert, Count of Lens and Alice of Normandy (sister of King William the Conqueror).[1]
Her mother was Adelaide of Normandy, the sister of William the conqueror. Adelaide was married three times:
- Enguerrand of Ponthieu, lord of Aumale
- Lambert, count of Eu, brother of Eustace of Boulogne
- Eudo of Champagne
Judith has traditionally been seen as daughter of the second husband Lambert, as she is described this way in one source, but in recent times Enguerrand is sometimes considered a serious contender. According to Williams for example, "The Vita Waldevi makes Judith Lambert's daughter, but she may have been the child of Enguerrand of Ponthieu".[2] (The idea seems to go back to Thomas Stapleton, who however eventually changed his mind back to Lambert.[3])
Husbands and child
She was married about 1070 to Earl Waltheof.[4]
The fact that she was such an important Norman heiress, shows that King William wanted the services of the man who she was given to in marriage, the Anglo-Saxon earl Waltheof. His family had been Earls in Bamburgh, and even under the Normans they held a large fief which largely in Northamptonshire, Huntingdonshire and Leicestershire in the midlands, extending east into Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and south into Bedfordshire.[2]
Waltheof was executed for treason in 1076, for being part of the so-called revolt of the Three Earls. Keats-Rohan writes that "Judith was one of his accusers, but after his death she arranged for him to be honorably buried at Crowland abbey".[4]
Complete Peerage notes in a footnote that there is a tradition that the King had first assigned the Countess Judith to him as wife to Simon St Liz, later her daughter's husband, "and on her refusal (on account of Simon’s lameness) gave him ]udith’s counties. ]udith fled for hiding to the Ely marches, taking her daughters with her".[5]
Marriage and Issue
- m. 1070 Waltheof, Earl of Bamburgh. Issue:
- Maud had issue from two husbands, a saint, an earl and a king.
- m.1 Simon of St Liz (or Senlis)
- m.2 David I King of Scotland
- Adelise
- m. Raoul III de Conches[6]
Sources
- ↑ Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols., ed. Kimball G. Everingham. (Salt Lake City, UT: the author, 2013), vol. III, page 233, HARRIS.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Williams, Ann (1995) The English and the Norman Conquest p.58
- ↑ Stapleton Magni rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae p.xxxi
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Keats-Rohan, "Judita Comitissa" in Domesday People, p.286
- ↑ Cockayne, Gibbs et al., Complete Peerage, 2nd ed., Vol.6 "Huntingdon", p.640 footnote "h".
- ↑ Conches' sister Godehilde m. Baldwin I of Jerusalem.
See also:
- Royal Ancestry 2013 D. Richardson Vol. I p. 277-278, Vol. V page 489
- Burke, Bernard. A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited and Extinct, Peerages of the British Empire (Harrison, London, 1866) (pp. 467-8)
- Dugdale
- Weber, J. (n.d.) The Phillips, Weber, Kirk, & Staggs families of the Pacific Northwest. Rootsweb.com
- Reports and Papers of the Architectural and Archaeological Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton (Savill and Edwards, London, 1850) Vol. 1, Page 236
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Uctred (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/FitzWaltheof-4) says Judith may not have been his mother. So perhaps Uctred should be unlinked??
Good historial fiction on the life of Judith and her daughter Matilda's first marriage.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1306835.The_Winter_Mantle
posted
by David Grim
Source: Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham (Salt Lake City: the author, 2013), volume I, page 208 AUMALE 1.
Alice Of Normandy, illegitimate daughter of Robert, Duke of Normandy, possibly by his mistress, Arlette (or Harleve), born 1035. She was the sister of William the Conqueror, King of England. She married (1st) Enguerrand II, son of Hugues II, by Berthe, daughter of Guerinfried. They had one daughter, Alice. She married (2nd) 1053/4 Lambert Of Boulogne, son of Eustache I, by Mathilde (or Mahaut), daughter of Lambert I. They had one daughter, Judith. Alice, married (3rd) in 1060 Eudes III, son of Etienne, by his wife, Adelaide. They had one son, Stephen (or Etienne). Alice, was living in 1086, and died before 1096. Eudes, Count of Champagne, died in prison sometime between Jan. 1096 and 2 August 1107.
Thank you!
Should the children Uctred and Judith not be disconnected?
I believe the correct death place name spelling is "Fotheringhay", Northamptonshire, England - note the missing "h" in "Fotheringhay"
Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015
View Record Name Judith de Boulogne Gender f Birth Date Abt 1054 Birth Place Lens, Artois Father Lambert de Boulogne Mother Adelheid of Normandy Spouse Waltheof of Northumberland Children Alice Huntington URL https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/genealogie_manuel/I1073154895.php
Judith is 30 degrees from Emeril Lagasse, 29 degrees from Nigella Lawson, 29 degrees from Maggie Beer, 44 degrees from Mary Hunnings, 36 degrees from Joop Braakhekke, 39 degrees from Michael Chow, 30 degrees from Ree Drummond, 30 degrees from Paul Hollywood, 30 degrees from Matty Matheson, 30 degrees from Martha Stewart, 36 degrees from Danny Trejo and 35 degrees from Molly Yeh on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
L > Lens | O > of Lens > Judith (Lens) of Lens
Categories: Domesday Book | Honour of Fotheringhay | Earls of Northampton | Earls of Huntingdon
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.
From the Domesday Book
In POTONE Hugh holds ½ virgate of land from the Countess. Land for 1 plough; it is there, with 1 smallholder. The value is and was 5s; before 1066, 2s. Earl Tosti held this land in Potton, his manor.
Countess Judith holds POTONE herself. It answers for 10 hides. Land for 12 ploughs. In lordship 3½ hides; 3 ploughs there. 18 villagers and 2 Freemen with 8 ploughs; a ninth possible. 13 smallholders and 3 slaves. 1 mill, 5s; meadow for 12 ploughs; pasture for the village livestock. In total, value £12; when acquired 100s; before 1066 £13. King Edward held this manor; it was Earl Tosti's. There were 4 Freemen who had 1 hide and 1 virgate; they could grant to whom they would.
In (Cockayne) HATLEY Countess Judith holds 3 hides and 2½ virgates as one manor. Land for 6½ ploughs. In lordship 1 hide and ½ virgate; 2 ploughs there. 8 villagers with 4½ ploughs; woodland, 4 pigs. Value £6 5s; when acquired 100s; before 1066 £6. Earl Tosti held this manor. It lies in Potton, the Countess' own manor. A Freeman had 1 virgate; he could grant and sell, and withdraw to another lord.
Ranulf brother of Ilger holds EVERTON from the Countess. It answers for 5 hides. Land for 5 ploughs; 2 ploughs there; 3 possible. 4 villagers; 5 smallholders. Meadow for 1 plough. Value £3; when acquired 100s; as much before 1066. Earl Tosti held this manor. It lay in Potton, the Countess' own manor.
Source •Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America Before 1700 by Frederick Lewis Weis, Lines 98A-23, 130-25.
From Medieval Lands database:
JUDITH (1054-after 1086). JUDITH de Lens, daughter of LAMBERT de Boulogne Comte de Lens & his wife Adelais de Normandie (1054-after 1086).
Her marriage is recorded by Orderic Vitalis who calls her the king's "consobrina"[461]. A manuscript records that “Juditha comitissa…uxor Waldevi comitis Huntingdon, et neptis Gulielmi Conquestoris” founded Elstow priory[462].
Her parentage is further clarified by the foundation charter of Saint-Martin d´Auchy narrates the church´s foundation by “Guerinfrido qui condidit castellum…Albamarla” and names “Engueranni consulis qui filius fuit Berte supradicti Guerinfridi filie et Adelidis comitisse uxoris sue sororis…Willelmi Regis Anglorum” and “Addelidis comitissa supradicti Engueranni et supradicte Adelidis filia…Judita comitissa domine supradicte filia”[463].
The Vita et Passio Waldevi Comitis records that “Waldevus” married “rex Willelmus…neptem suam Juettam filiam comitis Lamberti de Lens, sororem…Stephani comitis de Albemarlia”[211]. A manuscript records that “Juditha comitissa…uxor Waldevi comitis Huntingdon, et neptis Gulielmi Conquestoris” founded Elstow priory[212]. Her marriage is recorded by Orderic Vitalis who calls her the king's "consobrina"[213]. Orderic Vitalis says Waltheof's marriage with Judith was arranged by King William "to strengthen the bonds of friendship" with her future husband[214]. She deposed against her husband when he was accused of involvement in the conspiracy of the Earls of Norfolk and Hereford in 1075[215].
m (1070) WALTHEOF Earl of Huntingdon, son of SIWARD Earl of Northumbria & his wife Ælfled of Northumbria (-executed St Giles's Hill, Winchester 31 May 1076, bur Crowland Abbey).
http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN FRANCE.htm
Judith was one of the accusers of her husband, the Earl Waltheof, in his treason against King William (Judith's uncle), but after his execution, she arranged for him to be honorably buried in 1076.
She was recorded in the Domesday book as "Judith the Countess" and to have held estates in many counties, most of them apparently gifts from the King, her uncle, and held Huntingdon in dower in 1086.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_of_Lens for considerably more information, including the Domesday Book accounting.
In Domesday, founded nunnery of Elstow, near Bedford
Also see "My Lines" ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/p63.htm#i8094 ) from Compiler: R. B. Stewart, Evans, GA ( http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cousin/html/index.htm ) -------------------- -------------------- BIOGRAPHY: event in Bedfordshire, England. ·founded the Nunnery of Elstow, near Bedford event in 1086. ·recorded in the Domesday book as "Judith the Countess" and to have held estates in many counties, most of them apparently gifts from the King, her uncle, and held Huntingdon in dower ·a daughter of Adelaide of Normandy by a second marriage to Lambert of Lens rather than a posthumous daughter of her first husband Enguerrand of Ponthieu