Roger Bigod was the son of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk was born in Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire, England.He was the second son of Roger Bigod , Sheriff of Norfolk, who founded the Bigod name in England...

 and his first wife, Juliana de Vere. Although his father died 1176 or 1177, Roger did not succeed to the earldom of Norfolk

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 were also made Dukes of Norfolk...

 until 1189 for his claim had been disputed by his stepmother for her sons by Earl Hugh in the reign of Henry II

Henry II of England

Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...

. Richard I

Richard I of England

Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

 confirmed him in his earldom and other honours, and also sent him as an ambassador to France in the same year. Roger inherited his father's office as royal steward. He took part in the negotiations for the release of Richard from prison, and after the king's return to England became a justiciar

Justiciar

In medieval England and Ireland the Chief Justiciar was roughly equivalent to a modern Prime Minister as the monarch's chief minister. Similar positions existed on the Continent, particularly in Norman Italy. The term is the English form of the medieval Latin justiciarius or justitiarius In...

.

In most of the years of the reign of King John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

, the earl was frequently with the king or on royal business. Yet Roger was to be one of the leaders of the baronial party which obtained John

John of England

John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

's assent to Magna Carta

Magna Carta

Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...

, and his name and that of his son and heir Hugh II appear among the twenty-five barons who were to ensure the king's adherence to the terms of that document. The pair were excommunicated by the pope in December 1215, and did not make peace with the regents of John's son Henry III

Henry III of England

Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...

 until 1217.

Around Christmas 1181, Roger married Ida, apparently Ida de Tosny

Ida de Tosny

Ida de Toesny, Countess of Norfolk was very likely a daughter of Ralph V de Tosny and his wife Margaret , a daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester...

 (or Ida de Toesny), and by her had a number of children including:

1. Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk
   Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk
   Hugh Bigod was the eldest son of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk, and for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.In 1215 he was one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta of King John...
   
    who married in 1206/ 1207, Maud
   Maud Marshal
   Maud Marshal, Countess of Norfolk, Countess of Surrey was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and her mother Isabel de Clare suo jure 4th Countess of Pembroke. Maud was their eldest daughter...
   
   , a daughter of William Marshal
2. William Bigod
3. Ralph Bigod
4. Roger Bigod
5. Margery, married William de Hastings
6. Mary Bigod, married Ralph fitz Robert

Many historians, including Marc Morris have speculated that the couple had a third daughter, Alice, who married Aubrey de Vere IV, Earl of Oxford

Earl of Oxford

Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, held for several centuries by the de Vere family from 1141 until the death of the 20th earl in 1703. The Veres were also hereditary holders of the office of master or Lord Great Chamberlain from 1133 until the death of the 18th Earl in 1625...

 as his second wife. If so, the marriage would have been well within the bounds of consanguinity

Consanguinity

Consanguinity refers to the property of being from the same kinship as another person. In that respect, consanguinity is the quality of being descended from the same ancestor as another person...

, for the couple would have been quite closely related, a daughter of the second earl of Norfolk being first cousin once removed to the second earl of Oxford.

Roger Bigod in fiction

Roger Bigod and his wife Ida de Tosny

Ida de Tosny

Ida de Toesny, Countess of Norfolk was very likely a daughter of Ralph V de Tosny and his wife Margaret , a daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester...

 are the main characters in Elizabeth Chadwick

Elizabeth Chadwick

Elizabeth Chadwick is an author of historical fictions. She is a member of Regia Anglorum, a Medieval reenactment organisation.-Biography:Elizabeth Chadwick was born in Bury, Lancashire. She moved with her family to Scotland when she was four years old and spent her childhood in the village of...

's The Time of Singing (Sphere, 2008), published in the USA as For the King's Favor. They appear as minor characters in other of her books set at the same time, notably To Defy a King, which concerns the marriage of their son Hugh

Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod was the eldest son of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk, and for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.In 1215 he was one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta of King John...

 to Maud

Maud Marshal

Maud Marshal, Countess of Norfolk, Countess of Surrey was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and her mother Isabel de Clare suo jure 4th Countess of Pembroke. Maud was their eldest daughter...

, a daughter of William Marshal