Norman Conqueror

1906 illustration from the Ballad of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk by Edmund Dulac.

Hugh was the son of Roger Bigod I, the subject of this Tale.

Roger Bigod I

Born: 1060 in St. Sauveur, Calvados, Normandie

Died: 9 September 1107

Earl of East Anglia

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk

Roger is the 3X Great-Grandfather to Robert le Strange, whose Tale of a Crusader was shared a few weeks ago.

His father was Chamberlain to Duke William of Normandy, later known as William the Conqueror, King of England (who is also one of our great-grandfathers through the de Bohun, de la Pole, Blewitt, Edwards, and Revis families).

Roger was the first of his family to settle in England during the Conqueror's time. He possessed six lordships in Essex and 117 in Suffolk, besides divers manors in Norfolk. He was one of the tight-knit group of second-rank Norman nobles who did well out of the conquest of England. His territorial fortune was based on his service in the royal household, where he was a close adviser and agent for the first three Norman kings, (William the Conqueror, William Rufus, and Henry I). His family held prominent positions at court. His son William Bigod was the household steward for King Henry I. Our family line continues through Roger's daughter Cecily.

Timeline of the Norman conquest of England. I'm thinking that our grandfather Roger would have been in at least some of the battles listed. Detailed image below is from the Bayeux Tapestry, created around 1070.

Roger took up arms and fortified his castle at Norwich (pictured below) against William Rufus during the first year of that monarch's reign (Rebellion of 1088).

Archaeological evidence suggests that over 500 castles were built during the reign of William the Conqueror. The most famous Norman castle is the Tower of London.

When Henry I took the throne in 1100, Roger obtained Framlingham (pictured below) in Suffolk as a gift from the crown. Contemporary artist Ed Sheeran wrote a song that features the location, "Castle on the Hill".

Thetford Priory (pictured below) in Norfolk was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod in lieu of a vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Roger established a dynasty which dominated East Anglia from the 1140s, as earls of Norfolk, until 1306. Roger's name and the subsequent family name was derived from a word (bigot) meaning double-headed instrument such as a pickaxe: a tribute, perhaps to Roger's effectiveness as a royal servant; certainly an apt image of one who worked hard both for his masters and for himself.

He died on 9 September 1107 and is buried in Norwich. Upon his death there was a dispute over his burial place between the Bishop of Norwich, Herbert Losinga and the monks at Thetford Priory, founded by Bigod. The monks claimed Roger's body, along with those of his family and successors, had been left to them by Roger for burial in the priory in Roger's foundation charter (as was common practice at the time). The bishop of Norwich stole the body in the middle of the night and had him buried in the new cathedral he had built in Norwich.

The following photo shows the temporary installation of a Helter Skelter inside the Norwich Cathedral during 2019. I wonder what Roger would have thought of that?

Fun map. You can see the locations for both Norwich and Framlingham. I think that the main focus of this map is to show Norman castles. I copied it from Reddit user copperknickersII.

The Normans were the descendants of a group of Viking raiders.

More on that in a future Tale!

Where do I find this stuff?

It certainly is fun to track down ancient ancestors. Wikipedia is helpful when the person is well known. I am finding that even obscure names will have a robust biography (with sources noted) on Geni.com.

Findagrave.com sometimes provides background stories or family lore not mentioned elsewhere.

For this particular Tale, I also used tudorplace.com.ar and Who's Who in Early Medival England (1996).

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

A new Dead Family Tale is posted every Monday.

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Do you have more tales of our Koprek, Haupt, Revis, or Oswald lines?

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