Judith of Lens

Judith of Lens (c.1054-after 1086), a niece of William the Conqueror through his sister Adelaide, was married to Waltheof, the last great English earl. In 1075 tradition holds that she revealed her husband's part in the Revolt of the Earls; Waltheof was beheaded the next year; the only English aristocrat the Conqueror executed; and was venerated as a near-martyr at Crowland while Judith kept her vast midland estates, later refusing the king's choice of a second husband at the price of forfeiture. Her daughter Maud became Queen of Scots, and our ancestor.