Roger le Bigod Earl of East Anglia, "the Sheriff"

  General Notes:

~~Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition,
18A:22 - as father of Maud, 68:28 - as father of Hugh, m. Maud Marshal ¹⁶⁰

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁷²²
Roger le Bigod may have been the son of Robert le Bigot of Normandy, who was related to Richard d'Avranches, father of Hugh, Earl of Chester. Roger died at Earsham, Suffolk, 8 or 15 Sep 1107, and was buried at Norwich. He married a woman named Adelaide, of unknown parentage. His second wife was Alice, sister and coheir of William de Tosny, Lord of Belvoir, and daughter of Robert de Tosny, Lord of Belvoir. Alice succeeded to the estate of Belvoir in 1130 and was living in 1136.

In 1080, he was Sheriff of Norfolk. Before the Domesday Survey, he was Sheriff of Suffolk. In 1088, he went into rebellion, but in 1091, he witnessed a royal charter as Steward. He held Les Logers and Savenany in Normandy, by service of a knight's fee. On 5 Aug 1105, he attested a charter as the third of three royal stewards.
Children with his first wife:
William, drowned in the wreck of the White Ship, 25 Nov 1120
Maud, said to have married William d'Aubigny

Children by his second wife:
Cecily, b. sometime around 1090
Gunnor, b. sometime around 1093
Hugh, b. sometime around 1095; d. before 9 Mar 1176/77, m. 1st Juliane de Vere, sister of Aubrey de Vere,

• Background Information. ⁸⁵¹
Roger le Bigod was living at the time of the Norman conquest. He possessed six lorships in Essex and a hundred and seventeen in Suffolk beside many manors in Norfolk. He founded the Abbey of Whetford in Norfolk in 1103 and four years later was buried there. His wife was Adeliza, daughter of Hugh de Grantesmesnil, high steward of England.

~Wurts' Magna Charta, pp. 43-44

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Roger Bigod held Earsham, Suffolk, under Stigand, etc. before 1071. He shared the lands forfeited by Earl Ralph de Gael. He was one of the King's barons, 1076-1709, holding pleas at Bury St. Edmunds. His name begins to appear in royal charters as a witness around 1080. Also in 1080, he was the Sheriff of Norfolk. In 1082, he was served the King in Normandy. Before the Domesday Survey, Roger had been sheriff of Suffolk. Roger joined the revolt in 1088, and this caused him temporarily lose his holding.

Roger also is a witness to charters of William II, and after William's death, Roger adhered to Henry I. He was present for the Conation for Henry I at Westminster on 5 Aug 1100. He was made one of the King's councilors. During the reign of Henry I, Roger's name often appears on charters as a witness. He continued to act as a steward of the royal household under Henry I.

Roger married a woman named Adelidis, whose parentage is not known. His second wife was Alice, sister and coheir of William de Toeni, Lord of Belvoir, and daughter of Robert de Toeni, also Lord of Belvoir. Roger had two sons and three daughters, William, who was likely the son of Roger's first wife; Hugh; Gunner, who married Robert de Essex, also known as Robert Fitz Suein, Lord of Rayleigh; Maud who was married to William d'Aubigny, Master Butler of the Royal Household; and Cecily "de Belvoir," who was married to William d'Aubigny, the Breton, who had obtained part of the fee of Belvoir before Cecily's mother was given possession of it, and finally it was pasted onto Cecily upon her mother's death. There is a likelihood that the wife of Roger Fitz Richard of Warkworth is styled as "nepos comitis Hugonis Bigot" by his brother-in-law William de Vere, Canon of St. Osyth's and by the date, there is no way that Roger could have been Hugh's grandson.

~Cokayne's Complete Peerage, 2nd Edition, (Norfolk), Vol. IX, pp. 575-578

Roger married Alice de Toeni of Belvoir, daughter of Robert de Toeni Lord of Belvoir and Adélaide de Belvoir, in 1095. (Alice de Toeni of Belvoir was born about 1068 in Saveur, France and died after 1136 ¹⁴¹.)