The Starr Family of America

BIGOD, HUGH, first Earl of Norfolk (d. 1176 or 1177), was the second sonof Roger Bigod, the founder of the house in England after the Conquest.The origin of the name is quite uncertain. The French called the Normans'bigoz e draschiers' (Rom. de Rou, iii. 4780) in contempt. The secondword is said to mean beer-drinkers; the other has been explained as anickname derived from the oath 'bi got' commonly used by the earlyNormans. But whether the family name Bigod had any connection with thisterm or not, it is evident that in England in the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries it was punned upon in words of profane swear!ng(Wright's Political Songs, pp. 67, 68; Hemingburgh's Chronicle, ii. 121).

The first person who, bearing the name of Bigod or Bigot, appears inhistory is Robert le Bigod, a poor knight, who gained the favour ofWilliam, duke of Normandy, by discovering to him the intended treacheryof William, count of Mortain. This Robert may have been the father ofRoger, and one or the other, or both, may have been present at the battleof Hastings. In the 'Roman de Rou,' iii. 8571-82, the ancestor of HughBigod (perhaps the above Robert) is named as holding lands at Malitot,Loges, and Chanon in Normandy, and as serving the duke in his householdas one of his seneschals. He was small of body, but brave and bold, andassaulted the English gallantly. Roger Bigod is not traced in Englishrecords before 1079, but by this time he may have been endowed with theforfeited estates of Ralph de Guader, earl of Norfolk, whose downfalltook place in 1074. In Domesday he appears as holding six lordships inEssex, and 117 in Suffolk. From Henry I he received the gift ofFramlingham, which became the principal stronghold of him and hisdescendants. He likewise held the office of king's dapifer, or steward,under William Rufus and Henry I. He died in 1107, and was succeeded byhis eldest son, William, who, however (26 Nov. 1120), was drowned in thewreck of the White Ship. Roger's second son, Hugh, thus entered intopossession of the estates.

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 in1123, and before that date he was constable of Norwich Castle andgovernor of the city down to 1122, when it obtained a charter from thecrown. Passing the best years of his manhood in the distractions of thecivil wars of Stephen and Matilda, when men's oaths of fealty sat lightlyon their consciences, he appears to have surpassed his fellows in acts ofdesertion and treachery, and to have been never more in his element thanwhen in rebellion. His first prominent action in history was on the deathof Henry I in 1135, when he is said to have hastened to England, and tohave sworn to Archbishop William Corbois that the dying king, on somequarrel with his daughter Matilda, had disinherited her, and namedStephen of Blois h!s successor. Stephen's prompt arrival in Englandsettled the matter, and the wavering prelate placed the crown on hishead. Hugh's reward was the earldom of Norfolk. The new king's energy atfirst kept his followers together, but before Whitsuntide in the nextyear Stephen was stricken with sickness, a lethargy fastened on him, andthe report of his death was quickly spread abroad. A rising of theturbulent barons necessarily followed, and Bigod was the first to take uparms. He seized and held Norwich; but Stephen, quicky recovering, laidsiege to the city, and Hugh was compelled to surrender. Acting withunusual clemency, Stephen spared the traitor, who for a short timeremained faithful. But in 1140 he is said to have declared for theempress, and to have stood a siege in his castle of Bungay; yet in thenext year he is in the ranks of Stephen's army which fought thedisastrous battle of Lincoln. In the few years which followed, while thewar dragged on, and Stephen's time was fully occupied in subduing theso-called adherents of the empress, who were really fighting for theirown hand, the Earl of Norfolk probably remained within his own domains,consolidating his power, and fortifying his castles, although in 1143-4he is reported to have been concerned in the rising of Geoffrey deMandeville. The quarrel between the king and Archbishop Theobald in 1148gave the next occasion for Hugh to come forward; he this time sided withthe archbishop, and received him in his castle of Framlingham, but joinedwith others in effecting a reconciliation. Five years later, in 1153,when Henry of Anjou landed to assert his claim to the throne, Bigod threwin his lot with the rising power, and held out in Ipswich againstStephen's forces, while Henry, on the other side, laid siege to Stamford.Both places fell, but in the critical state of his fortunes Stephen wasin no position to punish the rebel. Negotiations were also going onbetween the two parties, and Hugh again escaped.

On Henry's accession in December 1154, Bigod at once received aconfirmation of his earldom and stewardship by charter issued apparentlyin January of the next year. The first years of the new reign were spentin restoring order to the shattered kingdom, and in breaking the power ofthe independent barons. It was scarcely to be expected that Hugh shouldrest quiet. He showed signs of resistance, but was at once put down. In1157 Henry marched into the eastern counties and received the earl'ssubmission. After this Hugh appears but little in the chronicles for sometime; only in 1109 he is named among those who had been excommunicated byBecket. This, however, was in consequence of his retention of landsbelonging to the monastery of Pentney in Norfolk. In 1173 the revolt ofthe young crowned prince Henry against his father, and the league of theEnglish barons with the kings of France and Scotland in his favour, gavethe Earl of Norfolk another opportunity for rebellion. He at once becamea moving spirit in the cause, eager to revive the feudal power whichHenry had curtailed. The honour of Eye and the custody of Norwich Castlewere promised by the young prince as his reward. But the king's energyand good fortune were equal to the occasion. While he held in check hisrebel vassals in France, the loyal barons in England defeated his enemieshere. Robert de Beaumont, earl of Leices[er (d. 1190) [q. v.], landing atWalton, in Suffolk, on 29 Sept. 1173, had marched to Framlingham andjoined forces with Hugh. Together they besieged and took, 13 Oct., thecastle of Hagenet in Suffolk, held by Randal de Broc for the crown. ButLeicester, setting out from Framlingham, was defeated and taken prisonerat Fornham St. Genevieve, near Bury, by the justiciar, Richard de Lucy,and other barons, who then turned their arms against Earl Hugh. Notstrong enough to fight, he opened negotiations with his assailants, and,it is said, bought them off, at the same time securing for the Flemingsin his service a safe passage home. In the next year, however, he wasagain in the field, with the aid of the troops of Philip of Flanders, andlaid siege to Norwich, which he took by assault and burned. But Henryreturned to England in the summer, and straightway marched into theeastern counties; and when Hugh heard that the king had already destroyedhis castle of Walton, and was approaching Framlingham, he hastened tomake his submission at Laleham on 25 July, surrendering his castles,which were afterwards dismantled, and paying a fine. After these eventsHugh Bigod ceases to appear in history. His death is briefly recordedunder the year 1177, and is generally mentioned as occurring in the HolyLand, whither he had ac.companicd Philip of Flanders on a pilgrimage. Itis to be observed, however, that on 1 March of that year his son Rogerappealed to the king on a dispute with his stepmother, Hugh being thendead, 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 takenplace in the preceding year, 1176, to allow time for the arrival of thenews in England. Henry took advantage of Roger's appeal to seize upon thelate earl's treasure. Besides the vast estates which he inherited, HughBigod was in receipt of the third penny levied in the county of Norfolk.He was twice married, his first wife being Juliana, sister of Alberic deVere, earl of Oxford, by whom he had a son, Roger, d. 1221 [q.v.], hissuccessor; and his second, Gundreda, who after his death was married toRoger de Glanville.

[Chronicles of Henry of Huntingdon, Rog. de Hoveden, Rad. de Diceto,Benedict of Peterborough, Gervase of Canterbury (Rolls Series, passim);Dugdale's Baronage, i.123; Blomfields's Hist. of Norfolk, iii, 24 seq.;Stubbs's Constitutional History and Early Plantagenets; Eyton's Itineraryof Henry II; Additional MS. 31939 (Eyton's Pedigrees) f. 129.] E.M.T.