Samson in rabbinic literature x. 13), was a member of that clan (comp. I Chronicles iv. 3). The name "Samson" is derived from "shemesh" ("sun"), so that Samson bore the name of God, who is also "a sun and shield" (Psalm lxxxiv. 12 [A. V. 11]); and as God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God. Samson's strength was divinely derived (Sotah 10a); and he further resembled God in requiring neither aid nor help (Genesis Rabba xcviii. 18). In the blessings which Jacob pronounced on the tribe of Dan (Genesis xlix. 16-17) he
Samson (bishop of Worcester) 1096 and consecrated as bishop on 8 June 1096. Being a bishop did not prevent him from fathering a daughter, Isabelle of Douvres, known for her later liaison with Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester. The son of Robert and Isabelle was Richard, who was Bishop of Bayeux from 1135 to 1142. Samson had two sons who also became bishops. Richard was Bishop of Bayeux from 1108 to 1133, and Thomas was Archbishop of York from 1108 to 1114. Samson has been suggested as possibly the scribe who oversaw the compilation of Domesday Book by the historian V. H. Galbraith. Samson