Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod
Arms of Bigod (dropped post-1269 by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk): Or, a cross gules
Born	c. 1182
Died	1225
Title	3rd Earl of Norfolk
Tenure	1221-1225
Nationality	English
Predecessor	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk
Successor	Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk
Spouse(s)	Maud Marshal
Parents	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk Ida de Tosny

Hugh Bigod (c. 1182 – 1225) was a member of the powerful early Norman Bigod family and was for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.

Origins

Arms used by Hugh Bigod, as heir to the earldoms of Norfolk and Suffolk, and as recorded during the signing of Magna Charta

He was born c. 1182, the eldest son of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk by his wife Ida de Tosny.

Career

In 1215 he was one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta of King John. He succeeded to his father’s estates (including Framlingham Castle) in 1221.

Marriage & progeny

In late 1206 or early 1207, Hugh married Maud Marshal (1192 - 27 March 1248), daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1147–1219), Marshal of England, by his wife Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke. They had four, or possibly five, children:

• Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk (c. 1209-1270), died without progeny.
• Hugh Bigod (1211–1266), Justiciar of England. Married Joan de Stuteville, by whom he had issue.
• Isabel Bigod (c. 1212- 1250), married twice: Firstly to Gilbert de Lacy, by whom she had issue; Secondly to John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere, by whom she had issue, including Maud FitzJohn, and Joan FitzJohn who married Theobald le Botiller, and from whom descended the Irish Earls of Ormond.
• Ralph Bigod (born c. 1215)

Contrary to the assertion of Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, there is no evidence for a fourth son called Simon Bigod. A man of that name appears as a witness to one of Earl Hugh's charters (Morris, HBII 2), but as the eighteenth name in a list of twenty, suggesting no close connection to the main branch of the family. He is also named among the knights who surrendered to King John at Framlingham Castle in 1216. He was a probably a descendant of Hugh or William Bigod, half-brothers to Earl Roger II Bigod.

Death

Hugh died on 18 Feb 1225. Very soon after Hugh's death, his widow Maud remarried William de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey.

Hugh Bigod in fiction

Hugh Bigod and his wife [Mahelt] are the main characters in Elizabeth Chadwick's To Defy a King. They also appear as secondary characters in novels chronicling their parents such as The Time of Singing (UK: Sphere, 2008) published in the USA as For the King's Favor; The Greatest Knight; and The Scarlet Lion.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk

8. Roger Bigod                       4. Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk                             18. Beranger de Tosny               9. Adeliza de Tosny                       2. Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk                                   20. Aubrey de Vere               10. Aubrey de Vere                       21. Beatrice               5. Juliane de Vere                             22. Gilbert FitzRichard, Lord of Clare               11. Adeliza de Clare                       23. Adeliza de Clermont-en-Beauvaisis               1. Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk                                         24. Raoul de Tosny, Lord of Conches-en-Ouche               12. Roger de Tosny, Lord of Flamstead                       25. Adelise of Huntingdon               6. Raoul de Tosny, Lord of Flamstead                             26. Baudouin III, Count of Hainaut               13. Gertrude de Hainaut                       27. Yolande of Guelders               3. Ida de Tosny                                   28. Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester               14. Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester                       29. Élisabeth de Vermandois               7. Margaret de Beaumont                             30. Raoul de Gaël               15. Amice de Gaël

References

• M. Morris, The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century (Woodbridge, 2005)

External links

• Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands on Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
• Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands on Isabel Bigod, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy