General Notes

Roger Bigod, 2nd earl of Norfolk, who, in the 1st year of Richard I, had a charter dated at Westminster, 27 November, reconstituting him Earl of Norfolk and steward of the household, his lordship obtaining at the same time restitution of some manors, with grants of others, and confirmation of all his wide-spreading demesnes. In the same year he was made one of the ambassadors from the English monarch to Philip of France, for obtaining aid towards the recovery of the Holy Land. Upon return of King Richard from his captivity, the Earl of Norfolk assisted at the great council held by the king at Nottingham; and at his second coronation, his lordship was one of the four earls that carried the silken canopy over the monarch's head. In the reign of King John he was one of the barons that extorted the great Charters of Freedom from that prince, and was amongst the twenty-five lords appointed to enforce their fulfillment. His lordship m. Isabel, dau. of Hamelyn, Earl of Warrenne and Surrey, and had issue,

Hugh, his successor.
William, m. Margaret, dau of Robert de Sutton, with whom he acquired considerable property.
Thomas.
Margery, m. to William de Hastings.
Adeliza, m. to Alberic de Vere, Earl of Oxford.
Mary, m. to Ralph Fitz-Robert, Lord of Middlesham.

The earl d. in 1220 and was s. by his eldest son, Hugh Bigod, 3rd earl.

[Sir Bernard Burke, Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages, Burke's Peerage, Ltd., London, 1883, p. 53, Bigod, Earls of Norfolk]

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The Bigods held the hereditary office of steward (dapifer) of the royal household, and their chief castle was at Framlingham in Suffolk. [Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1961 ed, Vol. 3, pages 556/557, article Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk.)