Many fanciful stories have been invented to account for the origin of certain names, among which is the well-known one related by Camden, in reference to that of Bigot or Bigod. The name appears to have been at first applied as a sobriquet by the French to the Normans in general, for their evil habit of taking God's name in vain.1 1 Compare Wace, Roman du Rou, vol. ii. p. 71. Mult out Franceis Normanz laidiz This Roger the Norman, Comes Roger, or Roger Bigot, was probably the first who appropriated the generic name as a surname, and as such it was continued by his descendants for many generations. He was a man of great power and reputation, and the Conqueror, upon the rebellion of Ralph de Guader, Earl of Norfolk, appointed him, in 1077, constable of the castle of Norwich, and also King's bailiff, to gather all the rents arising from the borough of the castle, city, and earldom, which high offices continued in the family of Bigot for many years.1 Besides these and other honours to which he afterwards attained, he was largely endowed with lands in several counties; and drawing towards the close of life, in 1104 he founded the abbey for Cluniac monks at Thetford. In the foundation charter for this abbey he expresses his desire that he and his posterity should be buried therein." He died in 1107, and although he had directed his body to be interred in the monastery he had founded, and his epitaph, according to Weever, formerly existed in that church, by the contrivance of the monks of Norwich he was buried in that city.3 Roger Bigot held 187 manors in Norfolk, valued T. R. E. at £206. 4s. 8d., T. R. W. at £281. 18s.; he and his men had also unlawfully got possession of sixteen portions of land, by invasion of the property of others; these were valued T. R. E. at £2. 128. 9d., T. R. W. at £2. 68. 9d. Sovent lor dient reproviers E claimant Bigoz et Draschiers. Mr. Edgar Taylor, in a note, in his edition of the Roman du Rou, p. 235, observes, "The history of this family, their name, and origin, seems worthy of more consideration than has hitherto been given. The usually assigned origin of the name appears doubtful. On one of the Norfolk estates was lately found a signet ring of one of the family, exhibiting in the rebus-' by goat'-a new variety of the name." 1 Blom. passim. 2 Martin's History of Thetford, chap. xii. 3 Weever's Funeral Monuments, p. 829; and Tanner's Notitia Monastica, p. 335, note. Hugh Bigot, 1st E. 1st, Julia, da. of Alberic de Vere. 2nd, Gundred. Roger Bigot, 2nd E. of Norfolk; Isabel, da. of Hameline, ob. in 1220. Hugh Bigot, 3rd E. of Norfolk; ob. in 1225. E. of Warren and Surrey. Maud, dr. of William Roger Bigot, 5th E. of Norfolk; ob. in 1306: he made the King his heir, disinheriting his brother, Sir John, and his children. = = Isabel, sister of 1st, Aliva, da. and h. of Philip Lord Basset. 2nd, Alice, da. of John Count of Heynault. Bigot. Gu. a Lion passant, Or. IX.-WILLIAM BISHOP OF THETFORD. William Galsagus, called also Bellofago, Bewfewe, and corruptly, by some, Velson,1 is thought to have been brother or father to Ralph de Bellofago, to be hereafter mentioned; he succeeded Arfast in the bishopric of Thetford in 1085, and was consecrated at Canterbury in 1086. According to Martin, 1 Blom. vol. iii. p. 465; and Spelman's Glossary, voce Cancellarius. "he was esteemed to be a man of tolerable learning, and qualifications suitable to his character." Very few particulars of his life are known, but we are informed that he died on the 22nd of July, in 1119 or 1120.1 It has been conjectured that this Bishop of Thetford was the same person as Bishop Herbert de Losinga, his successor;2 but this supposition is plainly an error, for William Bishop of Thetford, the tenant in chief of Domesday Book, must have preceded Herbert de Losinga in that bishopric; the great Survey having been completed in 1086,3 at least five years before Herbert bought the see of Thetford of William Rufus, in 1091; unless indeed we can suppose him to have been bishop before he made the simoniacal purchase of the King, which can hardly be admitted. Blomefield tells us that Bishop William "is said by some authors to have been chancellor to the King, as well as his predecessor; but, plain it is, he was in great favour with the Conqueror, who gave him no less than thirty odd manors, in fee, to him and his heirs, besides lands and revenues in above forty other towns, some of which belonged to Stigand, who had took them from the see, to which at his death, he left all those that ever did belong to it, with many others of his own gift, being the greatest benefactor that the bishopric ever had." "4 Of the "Terra de Feudo" of the Norfolk Domesday, the same writer says, "not as belonging to the original revenues of the bishoprick, but as part of those revenues that his predecessors had been infeoffed in by other pious benefactors ;"5 1 Martin's History of Thetford, p. 35. 3 2 See Norfolk Archæology, vol. iii. p. 140. Weever also omits William Galsagus, and makes Herbert, whom he calls Galfagus, successor to Arfast. Domesday Book was completed in 1086, as we are informed by the superscription at the end of the second volume. The record is noticed in the Saxon Chronicle under the year 1085, but according to the Red Book in the Exchequer, it was begun in 1080 and finished in 1086; and from internal evidence there can be no doubt of the correctness of this latter date. 5 Ibid. vol. i. p. 405. 4 Blom. vol. ii. p. 49. but this, Sir Henry Ellis remarks, is wrong. It was the bishop's private property. The greater part of the possessions, both in Norfolk and Suffolk, which Bishop Beaufoe held individually as a tenant in capite, he left at his death to the see of Thetford." Bishop William is supposed to have been a married priest, and Richard de Bella-fago, who has been considered his son, was Archdeacon of Norwich in 1107, as well as Bishop of Avranches; Alan, the son of this Richard, appears to have succeeded his father in the archdeaconry of Norwich ;1 and other of Bishop William's descendants continued many years lords of West Herling. William, Bishop of Thetford, held :— £ s. d. s. d. 4 4, T.R.W. 166 10 0 136 19 8, 190 17 10 £240 4 0 £357 7 10 X.-OSBERN BISHOP OF EXETER. This bishop was a Norman of noble birth, and brother of William Fitz-Osbern, Earl of Hereford, to whom, with Odo Bishop of Baieux, King William entrusted the administration of the kingdom during his absence in Normandy; he was preferred to the see of Exeter, March 28th, 1074, and continued bishop there for thirty years; but towards the latter 1 Blom. vol. iii. p. 638. 2 Blomefield (vol. iv. p. 532) says that the revenues of the see of Norwich, in this county only, in Ailmar's time, when the Confessor took his survey, were £105.68. in annual rents, which were raised in Bishop Beaufoe's time, when the Conqueror took his survey, to £159. 18. 8d. per annum. difference between this valuation and that given in the text is not great. The 3 Blomefield (ibid.) has a list of 64 manors, given in fee to the bishop and his heirs; we reckon 80: this difference arises from the difficulty of distinguishing in all cases those which were entire manors from such as were merely berewicks.-Martin (Hist. of Thetford, p. 36) says the bishop held upwards of 70 manors. 4 Malmesbury, de Gestis Pontif. fol. 145 b. |