Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod (c. 1182 – 18 February 1225) was a member of the powerful early Norman Bigod family and was for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.

Hugh Bigod
3rd Earl of Norfolk
Arms of Bigod (dropped post-1269 by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk): Or, a cross gules
Tenure	1221–1225
Predecessor	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk
Successor	Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk
Born	c. 1182
Died	18 February 1225
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Maud Marshal
Issue	Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk Hugh Bigod Isabel Bigod Ralph Bigod
Parents	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk Ida de Tosny

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 and children

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 childless.
• 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 (son of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath and his wife Margaret de Braose), by whom she had issue; Secondly to John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere, Justiciar of Ireland, 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 probably a descendant of Hugh or William Bigod, half-brothers to Earl Roger II Bigod.

Simon is recognized as the third son of Hugh Bigod in Francis Blomefield's "North Erpingham Hundred: Felbrigg", An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 8 (London, 1808), pp. 107–119. British History Online Profile, british-history.ac.uk. Accessed 2 June 2019.</ref> He is also recognized by Gary Boyd Roberts in The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States, Vol 1, p. 528.

Death

Hugh died on 18 February 1225. Very soon after Hugh's death, his widow Maud remarried William de Warenne, 5th 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 9. Adeliza de Tosny 2. Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk 10. Aubrey de Vere 5. Juliane de Vere 11. Adeliza de Clare 1. Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk 12. Roger de Tosny, Lord of Flamstead 6. Raoul de Tosny, Lord of Flamstead 13. Gertrude de Hainaut 3. Ida de Tosny 14. Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester 7. Margaret de Beaumont 15. Amice de Gaël

References

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

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