Hugh Bigod ( – 18 February 1225) was a member of the powerful early Norman

Bigod family The Bigod family was a medieval Norman family, the second Earls of Norfolk, the first being Ralph de Guader. Succession *Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, father of the true 1st Earl *Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk (1095–1177), second son ...

and was for a short time the 3rd

Earl of Norfolk Earl of Norfolk is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. Created in 1070, the first major dynasty to hold the title was the 12th and 13th century Bigod family, and it then was later held by the Mowbrays, who we ...

Origins

Coat of arms of Hugh Bigod, heir to the earldoms of Norfolk and Suffolk

He was born c. 1182, the eldest son of

Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk Roger Bigod ( – 1221) was the son of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk and his first wife, Juliana de Vere. Although his father died 1176 or 1177, Roger did not succeed to the earldom of Norfolk until 1189 for his claim had been disputed by hi ...

by his wife

Ida de Tosny Ida de Tosny, Countess of Norfolk (died after 1181), was a Norman royal mistress. Named after her grandmother Ida de Hainaut, she was the daughter of Ralph IV de Tosny (died 1162) and his wife Margaret (born 1125 and living in 1185), a daughter ...

Career

In 1215 he was one of the twenty-five sureties of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

of King John. He succeeded to his father’s estates (including

Framlingham Castle Framlingham Castle is a castle in the market town of Framlingham in Suffolk in England. An early motte and bailey or ringwork Norman castle was built on the Framlingham site by 1148, but this was destroyed (slighted) by Henry II of England in ...

) 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 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Norman French: ', French: '), was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings— Henry II, his sons the "Young King" ...

(1147–1219),

Marshal of England Earl marshal (alternatively marschal or marischal) is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the United Kingdom). He is the ei ...

, by his wife

Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke Isabel de Clare, suo jure 4th Countess of Pembroke and Striguil (c. 1172 – 11 March 1220), was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman and one of the wealthiest heiresses in Wales and Ireland. She was the wife of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who s ...

. They had four, or possibly five, children: *

Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk Roger Bigod (c. 1209–1270) was 4th Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England. Origins He was the eldest son and heir of Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk (1182-1225) by his wife Maud, a daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1147-1219) ...

(–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 Shere is a village in the Guildford district of Surrey, England east south-east of Guildford and west of Dorking, centrally bypassed by the A25. It is a small still partly agricultural village chiefly set in the wooded ' Vale of Holmesdale' ...

Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monarch ...

, by whom she had issue, including

Maud FitzJohn Maud FitzJohn, Countess of Warwick (c. 1238 – 16/18 April 1301) was an English noblewoman and the eldest daughter of John FitzGeoffrey, Lord of Shere. Her second husband was William de Beauchamp, 9th Earl of Warwick, a celebrated soldier. ...

, and Joan FitzJohn who married Theobald le Botiller, and from whom descended the Irish

Earls of Ormond Earldom of Ormond may refer to: *Earl of Ormond (Scotland) Earl of Ormond was a title twice created in the Peerage of Scotland, both times for members of the Douglas family. The related title Marquess of Ormond was created twice in the Peerage ...

. * 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

in 1216. He was a probably a descendant of Hugh or William Bigod, half-brothers to Earl Roger II Bigod. Simon le Bigot is recognized as the third son of Hugh Bigod in Francis Blomefield, 'North Erpingham Hundred: Felbrigg', in ''An Essay Towards A Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 8'' (London, 1808), pp. 107–119. ''British History Online'' http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol8/pp107-119 ccessed 2 June 2019 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 p528.

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 aheltare 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

References

* M. Morris, ''The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century'' (Woodbridge, 2005) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bigod, Hugh, 3rd Earl of Norfolk 1180s births 1225 deaths 3rd Earl of Norfolk Hugh

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...