Person:Margaret Le Bigod (1)

Margaret and Margery are equivalent names in this period. The surname was often spelled as Bygod, but today is normally spelled Bigod.

The only clear source for Margaret and all her relationships (parents, husband, children) is the 17th century antiquarian William Dugdale, who reported in his Baronage (in his Bigod and Hastings sections) seeing evidence in the collection of the herald Robert Glover.

A hint of possible additional evidence for her, also now perhaps lost might be found in Blomefield's article on Gayton Thorpe.^[2]

Vital dates. Her birth, marriage and death years can apparently only be speculated about by looking at her parents, husband and children. However, Clark specifically says that Margery died 31 March 1237, but only names Milles, Dugdale and Eyton as sources, who do not appear to report it.^[3]

Father. Roger le Bigod the Surety Baron, Earl of Norfolk. Dugdale specifically says under Hastings it was the Roger who had a step-mother named Gundred, because William and Margaret had rights to the manor of Little Bradley after she passed away. Under Bigod he gives more details about this Roger, explaining he died around the 5th year of Henry III, 1219/20.

Mother. No specific record names Margaret's mother, but she was treated as legitimate and it is widely presumed to be her husband's only known wife Ida de Tosny.

Husband. Concerning which William Hastings she married (father or son) Dugdale gave 2 conflicting explanations in his Bigod and Hastings sections. Under Bigod he is specifically described as William the son of William de Hastings. This seems to be the correct explanation chronologically, and also given that the second William was not the son of Margaret but Maud Banestre, as known from other evidence such as the Fine Rolls apparently not noticed by Dugdale.

Note. Dugdale's position that Margerie Bigod first married William Cumin and remarried William de Hastings not too long before 1216, is not tenable. But there was a William de Hastings who had such a marriage. The great medieval genealogist J.H. Round wrote this up, and noted that this Margerie was an heiress of the Giffard family of Font Hill, not a Bigod. This William de Hastings must also have been dead long before the dapifer, according to the inheritance successions noted by Round.^[4] Furthermore, Henry de Hastings, the Bury dapifer's heir was an adult and able to take up in inheritance in January 1226, only 10 years later. A less well-known claim is found in a 19th century article on the Bigods, saying that Margerie first married a William de Camville, before marrying William de Hastings, but the source is not stated.^[5]

Children of Margery Bigod and William de Hastings:

• Sir Henry de Hastinges. Inherited from his father, as recorded in the Fine Rolls of Henry III.
• Ida de Hastings, named by Dugdale as the sister of Henry de Hastings, in the section for her first husband's Seagrave Barony.

1.   Dugdale, William. The baronage of England: or, an historical account of the lives and most memorable actions of our English nobility. Deduced from publick records, ancient historians, and other authorities. (London, England: Thomas Newcombe, 1675)
   Under Bigod and Hastings.
2. ↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol8/pp437-441
3. ↑ Clark, G. T. C. (1869), "The Rise and Race of Hastings" (in 3 parts), Archaeological Journal, Vol. 26. archive.org link
4. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/ancestorquarterl09lond#page/146/mode/2up/search/hastings
5. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/journalofbritish21brit#page/98/mode/2up