Adeliza de Tosny

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1130

Notes:

"Keats-Rohan [...] suggests that Roger had only one wife. She also refers to a charter of of the time of Henry I (therefore 1100 or later) of Roger and Adelisa for Rochester Priory, attested by their children William, Humphrey, Gunnor and Matilda; on the hypothesis of the Complete Peerage, this would imply that the first wife survived at least until 1100, despite the suggested birth date of around 1095 for Hugh, seen as a son of the second marriage." [Chris Phillips, Some Corrections and Additions to The Complete Peerage]

Family/Spouse: Roger I le Bigod. Roger was born about 1045; died on 8 Sep 1107 in Earsham, Norfolk, England; was buried in Norwich Cathedral, Norwich, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William d'Aubigny. William (son of Roger d'Aubigny and Amice) was born in of Buckenham, Norfolk, England; died in 1139; was buried in Wymondham Priory, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Cecily de Belvoir.

Family/Spouse: William "Brito" d'Aubeney. William (son of Main d'Aubigny and Adele de Bohun) was born in of Belvoir, Leicestershire, England; died after 1130. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Richard. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Earl of Norfolk. Died on pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Edward Maunde Thompson, in the Dictionary of National Biography (1886):

At the time of his father's death, whom he survived some seventy years, Hugh must have been quite a young child. Little is heard of him at first, no doubt on account of his youth, but he appears as king's dapifer in 1123, and before that date he was constable of Norwich Castle and governor of the city down to 1122, when it obtained a charter from the crown. Passing the best years of his manhood in the distractions of the civil wars of Stephen and Matilda, when men's oaths of fealty sat lightly on their consciences, he appears to have surpassed his fellows in acts of desertion and treachery, and to have been never more in his element than when in rebellion. His first prominent action in history was on the death of Henry I in 1135, when he is said to have hastened to England, and to have sworn to Archbishop William Corbois that the dying king, on some quarrel with his daughter Matilda, had disinherited her, and named Stephen of Blois his successor. Stephen's prompt arrival in England settled the matter, and the wavering prelate placed the crown on his head. Hugh's reward was the earldom of Norfolk. The new king's energy at first kept his followers together, but before Whitsuntide in the next year Stephen was stricken with sickness, a lethargy fastened on him, and the report of his death was quickly spread abroad. A rising of turbulent barons necessarily followed, and Bigod was the first to take up arms. He seized and held Norwich; but Stephen, quickly recovering, laid siege to the city, and Hugh was compelled to surrender. Acting with unusual clemency, Stephen spared the traitor, who for a short time remained faithful. But in 1140 he is said to have declared for the empress, and to have stood a siege in his castle of Bungay; yet in the next year he is in the ranks of Stephen's army which fought the disastrous battle of Lincoln. In the few years which followed, while the war dragged on, and Stephen's time was fully occupied in subduing the so-called adherents of the empress, who were really fighting for their own hand, the Earl of Norfolk probably remained within his own domains, consolidating his power, and fortifying his castles, although in 1143-4 he is reported to have been concerned in the rising of Geoffrey de Mandeville. The quarrel between the king and Archbishop Theobald in 1148 gave the next occasion for Hugh to come forward; he this time sided with the archbishop, and received him in his castle of Framlingham, but joined with others in effecting a reconciliation. Five years later, in 1153, when Henry of Anjou landed to assert his claim to the throne, Bigod threw in his lot with the rising power, and held out in Ipswich against Stephen's forces, while Henry, on the other side, laid siege to Stamford. Both places fell, but in the critical state of his fortunes Stephen was in no position to punish the rebel. Negotiations were also going on between the two parties, and Hugh again escaped.

On Henry's accession in December 1154, Bigod at once received a confirmation of his earldom and stewardship by charter issued apparently in January of the next year. The first years of the new reign were spent in restoring order to the shattered kingdom, and in breaking the power of the independent barons. It was scarcely to be expected that Hugh should rest quiet. He showed signs of resistance, but was at once put down. In 1157 Henry marched into the eastern counties and received the earl's submission. After this Hugh appears but little in the chronicles for some time; only in 1169 he is named among those who had been excommunicated by Becket. This, however, was in consequence of his retention of lands belonging to the monastery of Pentney in Norfolk. In 1173 the revolt of the young crowned prince Henry against his father, and the league of the English barons with the kings of France and Scotland in his favour, gave the Earl of Norfolk another opportunity for rebellion. He at once became a moving spirit in the cause, eager to revive the feudal power which Henry had curtailed. The honour of Eye and the custody of Norwich Castle were promised by the young prince as his reward. But the king's energy and good fortune were equal to the occasion. While he held in check his rebel vassals in France, the loyal barons in England defeated his enemies here. Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leicester (d. 1190), landing at Walton, in Suffolk, on 29 Sept. 1173, had marched to Framlingham and joined forces with Hugh. Together they besieged and took, 13 Oct., the castle of Hagenet in Suffolk, held by Randal de Broc for the crown. But Leicester, setting out from Framlingham, was defeated and taken prisoner at Fornham St. Geneviève, near Bury, by the justiciar, Richard de Lucy, and other barons, who then turned their arms against Earl Hugh. Not strong enough to fight, he opened negotiations with his assailants, and, it is said, bought them off, at the same time securing for the Flemings in his service a safe passage home. In the next year, however, he was again in the field, with the aid of the troops of Philip of Flanders, and laid siege to Norwich, which he took by assault and burned. But Henry returned to England in the summer, and straightway marched into the eastern counties; and when Hugh heard that the king had already destroyed his castle of Walton, and was approaching Framlingham, he hastened to make his submission at Laleham on 25 July, surrendering his castles, which were afterwards dismantled, and paying a fine. After these events Hugh Bigod ceases to appear in history. His death is briefly recorded under the year 1177, and is generally mentioned as occurring in the Holy Land, whither he had accompanied Philip of Flanders on a pilgrimage. It is to be observed, however, that on 1 March of that year his son Roger appealed to the king on a dispute with his stepmother, Hugh being then dead, and that the date of his death is fixed 'ante caput jejunii,' i.e. before 9 March. If then, he died in Palestine, his death must have taken place in the preceding year, 1176, to allow time for the arrival of the news in England. Henry took advantage of Roger's appeal to seize upon the late earl's treasure. Besides the vast estates which he inherited, Hugh Bigod was in receipt of the third penny levied in the county of Norfolk.

[PNH: To that last point, note that the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography says that "Hugh Bigod retained his earldom and Bungay Castle, as well as the four royal manors first granted to him in 1153, but he may have lost the right to collect the earl's third penny."]

Family/Spouse: Juliana de Vere. Juliana (daughter of Aubrey de Vere and Alice de Clare) died after 1185. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 12 Oct 1176, Waverley Abbey, Surrey, England

Notes:

Earl of Lincoln; Earl of Arundel. Hereditary Chief Butler of England; Privy Councillor to Henry I.

Also called William d'Albini; William "Strong Hand".

"William d'Aubigny de Albiniaco or in the Anglo-Latin of Dugdale and other writers, de Albini, surnamed 'the strong hand,' Lord of the manor of Buckenham, Norfolk, son and heir of William D'Aubigny (died 1139), Pincerna Regis by Maud, daughter of Roger le Bigod, probably by his 2nd wife, Alice, sister and coheir of William de Tosny, Lord of Belvoir, daughter of Robert de Tosny of the same, was b. early in the reign of Henry I. On his marriage with the Queen Dowager, he acquired with her, in 1138 or 1139, the Castle and Honour of Arundel, which had been settled on her in dower, whereby it may be considered that, according to the admission of 1433, he became Earl of Arundel. There is conclusive evidence from various charters, that at, or about the time of, and probably soon after, his said marriage, he was recognised as Earl of Lincoln, and he may be assumed to have been so created in the summer of 1139. In this year he gave shelter to the Empress Maud, at Arundel Castle, but ever after adhered to Stephen. He can be shown to have very soon lost the Earldom of Lincoln, and in 1141 he attested a charter of Stephen as Earl of Sussex, (being from time to time thereafter so described, as, e.g. where he witnesses a charter to the Abbey of Barking under that name) and may be assumed to have been so created by Stephen in 1141, after that King had regained his freedom. Early in 1142, the Earldom of Lincoln had already passed to another, viz. William de Roumare. In his own later charters he is styled, and in a charter, before 1150, of the Queen Dowager to the Abbey of Reading, she styles him Earl of Chichester. He was influential in arranging the treaty of 1153, whereby the Crown continued with King Stephen for life, though the inheritance thereof was secured to Henry II. To this instrument he subscribed as "Comes Cicestrie." Henry II, by a grant undated, but supposed to have been in 1155 (the year after his accession), confirms to him as 'William, Earl of Arundel, the Castle of Arundel, with the whole honour of Arundel and all its appurtenances,' and, by the same instrument, bestows on him the third penny of the pleas of the county of Sussex unde Comes est. No doubt, however, he was more generally known as "Earl of Arundel," and as such (only) he is spoken of by his son and heir (who styles himself Earl of Sussex) in a charter to the Priory of Wymondham; and as Earl of Arundel (only) he is described in the record of his death in the Annals of Waverley. He was justly held in great esteem by Henry II, and was one of the embassy to Rome in 1163/4, and to Saxony (on the espousal of the Princess to the Duke of Saxony) in 1168. He was also in command of the Royal army in August 1173, in Normandy, against the King's rebellious sons, where he distinguished himself for his 'swiftness and velocity,' and, on 29 September following he assisted at the defeat, near Bury St. Edmunds, of the Earl of Leicester, who, with his Flemings, had invaded Suffolk. He m., in 1138 (the 3rd year of her widowhood) Adeliz, Queen Dowager of England (widow of Henry I), 1st daughter of Godefroy a? la Barbe, Duke of Lothier (i.e. Lorraine Inférieure), Count of Brabant and Louvain, by his 1st wife, Ide, daughter of Albert III, Count of Namur. His wife, the Queen Dowager, retired in 1150 to a nunnery at Afflighem, in South Brabant, where she d., and was bur. 23 April 1151, aged about 48. He survived her 25 years, and d. 12 October 1176, at Waverley Abbey, Surrey, and was bur., with his father, at Wymondham Priory, Norfolk. [Complete Peerage I:233-35, as corrected in Volume XIV.]

"According to K.S.B. Keats-Rohan [Prosopon, no 9 (1998)], Roger le Bigod's children by Alice were born from the late 1090s onwards. If so, and if William were a grandson of the marriage, he must have been born rather later than suggested above." [Chris Phillips, Some Corrections and Additions to The Complete Peerage]

William married Alice of Louvain, Queen Consort of England between Dec 1136 and Aug 1139. Alice (daughter of Godfrey I of Brabant and Ida of Chiny and Namur) was born about 1103; died on 25 Mar 1151 in Afflighem Abbey, Brabant, Belgium; was buried in Reading Abbey, Berkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1166

Notes:

Nicknamed "Le Breton".

Family/Spouse: Maud de Senlis. Maud (daughter of Robert fitz Richard and Maud de Senlis) was born about 1125; died after 1185. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1178

Roger married Alice de Vere after 1144. Alice (daughter of Aubrey de Vere and Alice de Clare) was born before 1141; died after 1185. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Framlingham, Suffolk, England
• Alternate birth: Abt 1150

Notes:

Earl of Norfolk. Hereditary Steward of the Household; Privy Councillor; Keeper of Hertford Castle 1191; Judge in the King's Court 1195, 1196, 1199, 1202; Chief Judge in the King's Court 1197; Warden of Romford Forest 1200.

Magna Carta surety.

Edward Maunde Thompson, in the Dictionary of National Biography (1886):

BIGOD, ROGER (d. 1221), second Earl of Norfolk, was son of Hugh, first earl [q. v.] On the death of his father in 1176, he and his stepmother, Gundreda, appealed to the king on a dispute touching the inheritance, the countess pressing the claims of her own son. Henry thereupon seized the treasures of Earl Hugh into his own hands, and it seems that during the remainder of this reign Roger had small power, even if his succession was allowed. His position, however, was not entirely overlooked. He appears as a witness to Henry's award between the kings of Navarre and Castile on 16 March 1177, and in 1186 he did his feudal service as steward in the court held at Guildford.

On Richard's succession to the throne, 3 Sept. 1189, Bigod was taken into favour. By charter of 27 Nov. the new king confirmed him in all his honours, in the earldom of Norfolk, and in the stewardship of the royal household, as freely as Roger, his grandfather, and Hugh, his father, had held it. He was next appointed one of the ambassadors to Philip of France to arrange for the crusade, and during Richard's absence from England on that expedition he supported the king's authority against the designs of Prince John. On the pacification of the quarrel between the prince and the chancellor, William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, on 28 July 1191, Bigod was put into possession of the castle of Hereford, one of the strongholds surrendered by John, and was one of the chancellor's sureties in the agreement. In April 1193 he was summoned with certain other barons and prelates to attend the chancellor into Germany, where negotiations were being carried on to effect Richard's release from captivity; and in 1194, after the surrender of Nottingham to the king, he was present in that city at the great council held on 30 March. At Richard's re-coronation, 17 April, he assisted in bearing the canopy. In July or August of the same year he appears as one of the commissioners sent to York to settle a quarrel between the archbishop and the canons.

After Richard's return home, Bigod's name is found on the records as a justiciar, fines being levied before him in the fifth year of that king's reign, and from the seventh onwards. He also appears as a justice itinerant in Norfolk. After Richard's death, Bigod succeeded in gaining John's favour, and in the first years of his reign continued to act as a judge. In October 1200 he was one of the envoys sent to summon William of Scotland to do homage at Lincoln, and was a witness at the ceremony on 22 Nov. following; but at a later period he appears to have fallen into disgrace, and was imprisoned in 1213. In the course of the same year, however, he was released and apparently restored to favour, as he accompanied the king to Poitou in February 1214, and about the same time compounded by a fine of 2,000 marks for the service of 120 knights and all arrears off scutages. Next year he joined the confederate barons in the movement which resulted in the grant of Magna Charta on 15 June 1215, and was one of the twenty-five executors, or trustees, of its provisions. He was consequently included in the sentence of excommunication which Innocent III soon afterwards declared against the king's opponents, and his lands were cruelly harried by John's troops in their incursions into the eastern counties.

After the accession of Henry III, Bigod returned to his allegiance, and his hereditary right to the stewardship of the royal household was finally recognised at the council of Oxford on 1 May 1221. But before the following August he died. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Hugh, as third earl, who, however, survived him only four years.

Roger married Ida de Tony about 25 Dec 1181. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Earl of Arundel, also styled earl of Sussex. Hereditary Chief Butler of England; Privy Councillor; Constable of Windsor Castle 1191-3.

According to Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans (citation details below), he was a crusader.

"William d'Aubigny, Earl of Sussex, s. and h., n 1176/7, was confirmed in that dignity, but the Castle and Honour of Arundel having, in accordance with the policy of Henry II, been retained by the Crown, on the death of the last holder, he did not obtain restoration of them till Richard I restored them to him, 27 June 1190, when (according to the admission of 1433 abovenamed) he became Earl of Arundel. He was, however, styled Earl of Arundel before he received possession of the Castle and Honour, namely, on 18 Sep. 1189, and on 26 Nov. of the same year he witnessed King Richard's Charter as 'Will. Earl of Arundel.' He received also at the same time, the third penny of the pleas of Sussex in the precise words of the grant made to his father. In 1191 he was made Custos of Windsor Castle, and in 1194 one of the Receivers of the money raised for the King's ransom. He m. Maud, widow of Roger (de Clare), Earl of Hertford (who had d. 1173), da. and h. of James de St. Hilaire du Harcouet, by Aveline, his wife. He d. 24 Dec. 1193, and was bur. at Wymondham Priory." [Complete Peerage I:235-36]

Family/Spouse: Maud de St. Hilary. Maud (daughter of James de St. Hilary du Harcourt and Aveline) was born in of Field Dalling, Norfolk, England; died on 24 Dec 1193; was buried in Priory of Great Carbrooke, Norfolk, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Complete Peerage calls her "probably" a daughter of William d'Aubeney and Maud de Senlis.

Family/Spouse: Gilbert of Strathearn. Gilbert (son of Ferteth and Ethen) was born before 1151; died in 1223. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1 May 1236

Notes:

Magna Carta surety. Sheriff of Rutland 1195; Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire 1197; Sheriff of Warwickshire and Leicestershire 1197; Governor of Rochester Castle. He was buried at Newstead, but his heart was interred at Belvoir Priory, Leicestershire.

From Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans (citation details below):

Having been forced to give his son to King John as a hostage in 1201, he was a member of the moderate or middle section of the baronage in the conflict between King John and the barons, remaining in attendance on the king until going over to the extreme party upon their taking possession of London on 24 May 1215. Going with them to Runnymede, he was elected a Magna Carta surety in 1215, and then withdrew to Belvoir. Although he was excommunicated by name by the Pope, along with de Quency and Mowbray, as a result of Runnymede, he refused to attend the Hounslow tournament on 6 July 1215.

He was prevailed upon to return to service in the fall, and was placed in charge of Rochester, but was forced to surrender it to John after a gallant defense lasting from 11 Oct. to 30 Nov. 1215, and was thrown into prison, narrowly escaping hanging.

In 1216, upon payment of a fine of 6,000 marks [£4000], he was released and regained his lands. He did homage to King Henry III, was entrusted with Sleaford Castle and a command at the battle of Lincoln of 19 May 1217, which earned him high favor. In 1219 and 1225 he served again as an itinerant justice.

Family/Spouse: Margary de Umfreville. Margary (daughter of Odinel de Umfreville and Alice de Lucy) died before 1198. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Warkworth, Northumberland, England
• Alternate death: Bef 22 Nov 1214
• Alternate death: Bef 22 Dec 1214

Notes:

Also called Robert de Warkworth. Sheriff of Norfolk from Michaelmas 1190 to Easter 1194, and again from Michaelmas 1197 to Easter 1200. Friend and counselor of King John.

Family/Spouse: Margaret de Chesney. Margaret (daughter of William de Chesney) was born in of Horsford, Norfolk, England; died in 1230. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Alice de Vere.

Family/Spouse: John fitz Richard. John (son of Robert fitz Eustace and Aubrey de Lisours) was born about 1145 in of Halton, Runcorn, Cheshire, England; died in 1190 in Acre, Palestine. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: William de Hastings. William (son of William de Hastings and Maud Banastre) was born in of Ashill, Norfolk, England; died in 1224. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Bef 18 Feb 1225

Notes:

Earl of Norfolk. Hereditary Steward of the Household; Hereditary Warden of Romford.

Magna Carta surety.

Hugh married Maud Marshal, Marshal Of England in 1207. Maud (daughter of William Marshal and Isabel de Clare) was born in 1192; died on 27 Mar 1248; was buried in Tintern Abbey, Monmouthshire, Wales. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ranulph fitz Robert. Ranulph (son of Robert fitz Ralph and Hawise de Glanville) was born about 1185 in of Middleham, Yorkshire, England; died before 7 Dec 1252; was buried in Coverham Abbey, Yorkshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]