Roger Bigod (abt. 1144 - bef. 1221)

Born about 1144 in Suffolk, England [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Ida (Toeni) le Bigod — married before 25 Dec 1181 in England

Descendants

Died before 2 Aug 1221 before about age 77 in Thetford, Norfolk, England

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Magna Carta Surety Baron Roger Bigod was one of the twenty-five medieval barons who were surety for Magna Carta in 1215. Join: Magna Carta Project Discuss: magna_carta

Biography

Birth and Parentage

Roger was the 4th earl of Norfolk overall, and the 2nd of the second creation.^[1]

Roger Bigod was the son of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, and Juliana de Vere, Hugh's first wife.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} His birth date is uncertain. (See Research Notes below.)

Marriage and Children

Roger married Ida, probably Ida de Toeni, before 25 December 1181.^[2][3] She was a former mistress of Henry II, by whom she had a son, William Longespée.^[2][3][5] They had at least eight children:

• Hugh (5th Earl of Norfolk)^{[1][2][3][4][5]}
• William^[2][3][4][5]
• Roger^[2][3][4][5]
• John^[2][3][5]
• Ralph^[2][3][4][5]
• Mary^[2][3][4][5]
• Margaret/Margery^[2][3][4][5]
• Ida^[2][3][5]

The 1173-4 Rebellion

Roger stayed loyal to Henry II when three of Henry's sons rebelled in 1173-4^[1], while his father sided with the rebels. In the Battle of Fornham (October 1174) Roger fought on the side of the king, and his father was with the opposing forces.^[4]

Dispute over Inheritance

Roger's father Hugh repudiated his mother and remarried, his second wife being Gundred. When Hugh died in 1177, Gundred lodged a claim to Bigod lands. An appeal was made to Henry II, who used the opportunity to take the disputed lands into royal possession.^[2][4] Some of the lands held by his father were restored to Roger in 1182^[1] but it was not until the accession of Richard I that Roger was confirmed as Earl of Norfolk and hereditary Steward of the the king's household.^[2][4] Inheritance difficulties with his half-brother Hugh dragged on until 1199, when a dispute over lands worth £30 a year was finally settled.^[4]

Reign of Richard I

In 1189 Roger was present at the coronation of Richard I.^[1] Roger's fortunes soon improved. That year he served as ambassador to Philippe-Auguste of France in connection with arrangements for the Third Crusade.^[1][2] In 1191 Hereford Castle was entrusted to him.^[2] From 1191 he served as a judge both at Westminster and on eyre circuit.^[1] In 1193 he took part in negotiations for the release of Richard I from captivity in Germany.^[1][2] When Richard I was crowned for a second time in 1194, Roger was one of four earls who held a silk canopy over the king's head - a sign of favour.^[2][4] From 1194 to 1196 he was a Baron of the Exchequer.^[4] In 1197 he was Chief Judge in the royal court.^[2]

Around this time Roger began rebuilding the Bigod castle at Framlingham, Suffolk, which Henry II had destroyed in 1176.^[4]

Reign of King John

Roger attended the coronation of King John in 1199.^[1][4] He continued in royal favour in the first decade of John's reign. In 1200 he was made Warden of Romford Forest.^[2] That year he was one of the barons who escorted the King of Scotland when he came to pay homage to King John for his English lands.^[1][2][4]

Roger is recorded as accompanying King John to Normandy in 1200, and taking part in campaigns in Poitou, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.^[4]

In 1211 he negotiated a lifetime respite for the payment of scutage on his extensive landholdings, and a reduction in future payments.^[4] But in 1213 he appears to have suffered a brief period of custody for reasons which are not known.^[2] That same year he headed a commission appointed to investigate an ecclesiastical dispute in the Diocese of Ely.^[4]

In 1214 Roger went with King John to Poitou.^[2] But the following year he joined in the baronial unrest which led to the Magna Carta, of which he was one of the Surety Barons.^[1][2][4] During the subsequent rebellion, Roger was excommunicated and his lands were made forfeit^[1][2][4], and in 1216 his castle at Framlingham was captured by the royalist forces.^[4]

Reign of Henry III

Roger finally returned to royal allegiance in 1217, and his lands were restored.^[1][2][4] He appears to have retired largely from active life - he was into old age - as his name hardly features in subsequent State records.^[4]

Death

Roger died before 2 August 1221^[1][2][4], when his son Hugh came into his inheritance.^[1]

Lands

Roger held extensive lands spread across a number of counties.^[2] In 1211, when he compounded with King John over scuttle, they amounted to some 160 knights' fees.^[4], when his son Hugh came into his inheritance.^[1] His inheritance from his father included the Barony of Framlingham.^[6]

Research Notes

Title

Roger was 2nd Earl of Norfolk of the second creation of the title, and 4th Earl of Norfolk overall.^[7]

Birth Date

Roger Bigod's birth date is uncertain. Douglas Richardson says he was born before 1140^[2][3]; the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says he was born in about 1143.^[4] Neither Cawley^[5] nor Cokayne^[1] give a birth date.

Formerly-shown Children

The following persons have been previously shown on WikiTree as children of Roger le Bigod but are not verified by Richardson or Cawley^[2][3][5] and are therefore no longer linked, pending establishment of documentation that they are in fact children of Roger le Bigod.

• Thomas
• Alice/Adeliza
• Unknown Bigod married Basset

Other sometimes-suggested Children

Medlands names a further daughter, Basilia, citing the Liber Vitae of Durham.^[5] The first edition of this also appears to name further children, G G Dapifer and Henricus Capellanus. These three names were added in an empty space between a Bigod entry and the end of a page, and almost certainly not intended to represent children of Roger. There was a 2002 thread about this in soc.genealogy.medieval.^[8]

Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Biography

For the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta in 2015, Professor Nigel Saul wrote a set of biographies of the Surety Barons. He and the Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee generously gave permission for them to be reproduced on WikiTree. They can be viewed here.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17} G E Cokayne. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. IX, St Catherine Press, 1936, pp. 586-589, NORFOLK IV, viewable on Familysearch
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28} Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 197-200, BIGOD 1
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12} Douglas Richardson. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for ‘’Royal Ancestry’’. Vol. I pp. 362-364
4. ↑ ^{4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24 4.25 4.26} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Bigod, Roger, second earl of Norfolk (c. 1143–1221), print and online 2004, revised online 2006, available online via some libraries
5. ↑ ^{5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12} Medieval Lands, database online (Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, 2006-2013), English Earls 1067-1122, Chapter 5, Norfolk, B. EARLS of NORFOLK 1142-1306 (BIGOD): Hugh Bigod 1. Roger Bigod, son of Hugh Bigod
6. ↑ I J Sanders. English Baronies. A Study of their Origin and Descent 1086-1327, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1960, p. 47
7. ↑ Wikipedia: Earl of Norfolk
8. ↑ Soc.genealogy.medieval, 'Liber Vitae and the family of Roger and Ida Bigod', thread started by Rosie Bevan on 1 August 2002

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry for 'Bigod, Roger, second earl of Norfolk (c. 1143–1221), print and online 2004, revised online 2006, available online via some libraries
• Cokayne, G E. Complete Peerage, revised edition, Vol. IX, St Catherine Press, 1936, pp. 586-589, NORFOLK IV
• Richardson, Douglas. Royal Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 5 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. Salt Lake City: the author, 2013. See also WikiTree's source page for ‘’Royal Ancestry’’. Vol. I pp. 362-364
• Richardson, Douglas. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, 4 vols, ed. Kimball G. Everingham, 2nd edition (Salt Lake City: the author, 2011), Vol. I, pp. 197-200, BIGOD 1
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, entry for 'Bigod, Roger (d.1221)', Wikisource
• Cawley, Charles. Medieval Lands, database online (Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, 2006-2013), English Earls 1067-1122, Chapter 5, Norfolk, B. EARLS of NORFOLK 1142-1306 (BIGOD): Hugh Bigod 1. Roger Bigod, son of Hugh Bigod
• Morris, Marc. The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century, Google Books
• Wikipedia: Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk

• For additional information about early baronies, see the top-level category page Early English Feudal Baronies. Individual category pages (links below) should include information specific to the category.

Acknowledgements

Magna Carta Project

As a surety baron, Roger Bigod's profile is managed by the Magna Carta Project. See Bigod-2 Descendants for profiles of his descendants that have been improved and categorized by the Magna Carta project and are in a project-approved trail to a Gateway Ancestor. See this index for links to other surety barons and category pages for their descendants. See the project's Base Camp for more information about Magna Carta trails.

This profile was revised for the Magna Carta Project by Michael Cayley in December 2019.