Francis Bigod

Sir Francis Bigod (4 October 1507 – 2 June 1537) was the leader of Bigod's Rebellion.

Francis Bigod was descended from the Bigod Earls of Norfolk and from the Barons Mauley of Mulgrave Castle near Whitby, Yorkshire. Born 4 October 1507 at Seaton Manor in Hinderwell, Yorkshire, Francis was the eldest son of Sir John Bigod and Joan Strangways, the daughter of Sir James Strangways. His father was killed by the Scots in 1513, perhaps at the Battle of Flodden. His paternal grandfather, Sir Ralph Bigod, died two years later in 1515, leaving Francis, then seven years of age, as his heir. After the death of Francis' father, his mother, Joan, married Sir William Maleverer.

On 9 May 1515 Francis' wardship was granted to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, and he may have grown up in Wolsey's household. He attended Oxford, but left without taking a degree, though his letters show that he was a scholar.

In 1527 he was in Wolsey's service. He proved his age on 23 September 1529, and was soon afterwards knighted. According to Hicks, it was likely Wolsey who chose Katherine Conyers (d.1566), the daughter of William Conyers, 1st Baron Conyers, as Francis' wife, and it was likely Wolsey to whom her marriage portion was paid.

In his youth he became 'a committed Protestant with scholarly theological interests', hearing several sermons daily and corresponding with reformers, including Thomas Garret. At one point he considered taking orders. Under Thomas Cromwell, Wolsey’s successor, he was engaged in advancing in Yorkshire Henry VIII's ecclesiastical reforms. Unlike Cromwell, however, he wished the monasteries to be reformed, not dissolved, and in some cases personally undertook their reformation. He assisted in the compilation of the Valor Ecclesiasticus. In 1533–6, in a Treatise Concernyng Impropriations of Benefices, he argued that tithes should be transferred from the monasteries to the support of preachers.

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