Simon was brought up at the court of William of Normandy, and inherited his father's sizable lands in 1074.
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.
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.
Simon was not content with the relatively luxurious surrounds of the Abbey of Saint-Claude, and decided upon a life as a hermit in the forests of Burgundy on the upper reaches of the river Doubs.