Simon de Crépy
Simon de Crépy (c. 1047 – 1081) was Count of Amiens, of the Vexin and of Valois from 1074 until 1077. He was the son of Count Ralph IV of Valois and Adèle of Bar-sur-Aube and thus the brother of Adele of Valois. He is also known as Simon de Vexin and Saint Simon.
Simon was brought up at the court of William II of Normandy, and inherited his father's sizable lands in 1074. These lay between the royal domain of King Philip I of France and the lands of William of Normandy, by then King of England, and made Simon an important man. It is said that at this time William of Normandy proposed a marriage between Simon and his daughter Adela (1064x1066–1137). In the meantime, King Philip attempted to withhold part of Simon’s inheritance and a three-year-long war resulted.
A marriage with Adela was within the prohibited degree of consanguinity and Simon went to Rome to meet with Pope Gregory VII, perhaps to arrange a dispensation. Whether this was his motive, the Pope arranged a truce between Simon and King Philip. Perhaps as part of the papal settlement, Simon married a daughter of the Count of Auvergne (chronologically, this would have been either William V or Robert II) about 1075.
In the Martyrology
- September 30 Saint Simon de Valois de Vexin, Benedictine monk