Eustace fitz John construction of fortifications at Tickhill and Knaresborough in Yorkshire are also recorded in this pipe roll. This and evidence of royal writs show that Eustace and Walter Espec had justiciar responsibility for the counties of Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, a role that involved hearing pleas and conveying instructions from central government. The death of Henry I on 1 December 1135 led to the accession of Stephen de Blois, to whom Eustace submitted. Stephen's seizure of the throne was contested by Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda, who had been Henry's designated heir. The "Gesta Stephani" claimed that certain "very
Simon I, Count of Saarbrücken Simon I, Count of Saarbrücken Simon I of Saarbrücken (died after 1183) was a German nobleman. He was the second ruling Count of Saarbrücken , in office 1135 - 1183. Simon was a son of Frederick, Count of Saarbrücken (d. 1135) and his wife Gisela of Lorraine (b.c. 1100), daughter of Theodoric II, Duke of Lorraine. He succeeded his father as Count of Saarbrücken in 1135. His younger brother Adalbert II became Archbishop of Mainz in 1138. After his death, the county was divided. His eldest son, Simon II inherited a smaller County of Saarbrücken; his younger son Henry I