Editing Roger Bigod of Norfolk

{{Short description|Norman knight}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:Thetford_Priory_ruins.jpg | thumb | right | alt=Ruins of Thetford Priory. | Ruins of Thetford Priory]]
'''Roger Bigod''' (died 1107) was a Norman knight who travelled to England in the [[Norman Conquest]]. He held great power in [[East Anglia]], and five of his descendants were [[Earl of Norfolk|earls of Norfolk]]. He was also known as '''Roger Bigot''', appearing as such as a witness to the [[Charter of Liberties]] of [[Henry I of England]].

Bigod came from a fairly obscure family of poor knights in [[Normandy]]. Robert le Bigot, certainly a relation of Roger's, possibly his father, acquired an important position in the household of William, Duke of Normandy (later [[William I of England]]), due, the story goes, to his disclosure to the duke of a plot by the duke's cousin [[William Werlenc]].<ref>mentioned by [[William of Jumièges]] in [[Gesta Normannorum Ducum]].</ref>

Both Roger and Robert were rewarded with a substantial estate in [[East Anglia]] following the [[Norman Conquest]] of England. The [[Domesday Book]] of 1086 lists Roger as holding six lordships in [[Essex, England|Essex]], 117 in [[Suffolk]] and 187 in [[Norfolk]].

Bigod's base was in [[Thetford]], Norfolk, then the see of the bishop, where he founded a priory which was later given to the abbey at Cluny. In 1101 he further consolidated his power when Henry I granted him licence to build [[Framlingham Castle|a castle]] at [[Framlingham]], which became the family seat of power until their downfall in 1307. Another of his castles was [[Bungay Castle]], also in Suffolk.

In 1069 he, [[Robert Malet]] and [[Ralph de Gael]] (then Earl of Norfolk), defeated the Dane [[Sweyn II of Denmark|Sweyn Estrithson]]'s invasion attempt near [[Ipswich]]. After de Gael's fall in 1074, Bigot was appointed [[sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk]] and acquired many of the dispossessed earl's estates. For this reason he is sometimes counted as Earl of Norfolk, but he probably was never actually created earl. (His son Hugh acquired the title earl of Norfolk in 1141.) He acquired further estates through his influence in local law courts as sheriff and great lord of the region.

In the [[Rebellion of 1088]] he joined other barons in England against [[William II of England|William II]], whom they hoped to depose in favour of [[Robert Curthose]], Duke of Normandy. He seems to have lost his lands after the rebellion had failed but regained them after reconciling with the king.

In 1100, Bigod (as Roger Bigot) was one of the witnesses recorded on the [[Charter of Liberties]], King [[Henry I of England|Henry I]]'s coronation promises later to influence the [[Magna Carta]] of 1215.

In 1101 there was another attempt to bring in [[Robert Curthose|Robert of Normandy]] by removing [[Henry I of England|King Henry]], but this time Bigod stayed loyal to the king.

Bigot died on 9 September 1107 and is buried in [[Norwich]]. Upon his death there was a dispute over his burial place between the [[Bishop of Norwich]], [[Herbert Losinga]], and the monks at [[Thetford Priory]] founded by Bigod. The monks claimed his body, along with those of his family and successors, had been left to them by Bigot for burial in the priory in his foundation charter (as was common practice at the time). The bishop of Norwich stole the body in the middle of the night and had him buried in the new cathedral he had built in Norwich.

For some time he was thought to have two wives, Adelaide/Adeliza and Alice/Adeliza de Tosny. It is now believed these were the same woman, Adeliza (Alice) de Tosny (Toeni, Toeny). She was the sister and coheiress of William de Tosny, Lord of [[Belvoir, Leicestershire|Belvoir]]. Their father was [[Robert de Todeni]].

He was succeeded by his eldest son, [[William Bigod]], and, after William drowned in the disastrous sinking of the ''[[Victims of the White Ship disaster|White Ship]]'' in 1120, by his second son, [[Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk]]. He also had three daughters: Gunnor, who married Robert fitz Swein of Essex, Lord of Rayleigh; Cecily, who married [[William d'Aubigny (Brito)|William d'Aubigny "Brito"]]; and Maud, who married [[William d'Aubigny (died 1139)|William d'Aubigny "Pincerna"]], and was mother to [[William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Arundel]].<ref>Cokayne, ''The Complete Peerage of England'', vol. 9.</ref>

== See also ==
*[[House of Tosny]]
*[[Ida de Tosny]] (wife of [[Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk]])

== Notes ==
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[[Category:11th-century births]]
[[Category:1107 deaths]]
[[Category:11th-century Normans]]
[[Category:12th-century Normans]]
[[Category:11th-century English landowners]]
[[Category:12th-century English landowners]]
[[Category:Anglo-Normans]]
[[Category:Norman warriors]]
[[Category:Bigod family|Roger]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Norfolk]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Suffolk]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:People from Thetford]]
[[Category:Burials at Norwich Cathedral]]
[[Category:William II of England]]