Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk

Roger Bigod (c. 1144/1150 – 1221) was the son of Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk and his first wife, Juliana de Vere. Although his father died in 1176 or 1177, Roger did not succeed to the earldom 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. Richard I 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.

In most of the years of the reign of King John, 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's assent to Magna Carta, 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 until 1217.

Around Christmas 1181 Roger married Ida, apparently Ida de Tosny (or Ida de Toesny) [ Ida de Tosny was a royal ward and mistress of King Henry II, by whom she was mother of a young son William de Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury) (b c. 1176-March 7, 1226). Ida was not the first English royal ward to be taken as mistress by a King who was her guardian; that honour probably belongs to Isabel de Beaumont (Elizabeth de Beaumont), daughter of Robert de Beaumont, who fought at the Battle of Hastings with the Conqueror. That king's youngest son made Beaumont's daughter his mistress. Ida's ancestry was unknown for many years, but a charter by her eldest (illegitimate) son refers to his mother as the "Countess Ida" which pins her down to the wife of Roger Bigod. For Ida's ancestry, see [http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cp/vol9.shtml "Some corrections and additions to the Complete Peerage: Volume 9: Summary"] and Marc Morris's [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=UqbcpEEbpi8C&pg=RA1-PR18-IA2&lpg=RA1-PR18-IA2&dq=%22Ida+de+Tosny%22+Bigod&source=web&ots=kMcshfD_Dd&sig=9_SUGvBlR84C6Cuyu16dqilNs6c&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result "The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century"] ] , and by her had a number of children including:
#Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk who married in 1206/ 1207 a daughter of William Marshal
#William Bigod
#Ralph Bigod
#Roger Bigod
#Margery, married William de Hastings
#Mary Bigod, married Ralph fitz Robert [S. D. Church, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"]

Many historians, including [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=UqbcpEEbpi8C&pg=RA1-PR18-IA2&lpg=RA1-PR18-IA2&dq=%22Ida+de+Tosny%22+Bigod&source=web&ots=kMcshfD_Dd&sig=9_SUGvBlR84C6Cuyu16dqilNs6c&oi=book_result&ct=result&hl=en#PRA1-PR18-IA2,M1 Marc Morris] have speculated that the couple had a third daughter, Alice, who married Aubrey de Vere IV,Earl of Oxford as his second wife. If so, the marriage would have been well within the bounds of consanguinity, 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.

References

* Liber Vitae Ecclesiae Dunelmensis, Vol. 13
* Morris, Marc. "The Bigod Earls of Norfolk in the Thirteenth Century" (2005)
* [http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISH%20NOBILITY%20MEDIEVAL.htm#_Toc165088024 Foundation for Medieval Genealogy on Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk]