Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk

Hugh Bigod
Arms of Bigod (dropped post-1269 by Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk): Or, a cross gules
Born	c. 1182
Died	18 February 1225
Title	3rd Earl of Norfolk
Tenure	1221-1225
Nationality	English
Predecessor	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk
Successor	Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk
Spouse(s)	Maud Marshal
Parents	Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk Ida de Tosny

Hugh Bigod (c. 1182 – 18 February 1225) was a member of the powerful early Norman Bigod family and was for a short time the 3rd Earl of Norfolk.

He was born c. 1182, the eldest son of Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk by his wife Ida de Tosny.

In 1215 he was one of the twenty-five sureties of Magna Carta of King John. He succeeded to his father’s estates (including Framlingham Castle) in 1221.

In late 1206 or early 1207, Hugh married Maud Marshal (1192 - 27 March 1248), daughter of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1147–1219), Marshal of England, by his wife Isabel de Clare, 4th Countess of Pembroke. They had four, or possibly five, children:

Contrary to the assertion of Frederick Lewis Weis, Ancestral Roots, there is no evidence for a fourth son called Simon Bigod. A man of that name appears as a witness to one of Earl Hugh's charters (Morris, HBII 2), but as the eighteenth name in a list of twenty, suggesting no close connection to the main branch of the family. He is also named among the knights who surrendered to King John at Framlingham Castle in 1216. He was a probably a descendant of Hugh or William Bigod, half-brothers to Earl Roger II Bigod.

Hugh died on 18 February 1225. Very soon after Hugh's death, his widow Maud remarried William de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey.

Hugh Bigod and his wife [Mahelt] are the main characters in Elizabeth Chadwick's To Defy a King. They also appear as secondary characters in novels chronicling their parents such as The Time of Singing (UK: Sphere, 2008) published in the USA as For the King's Favor; The Greatest Knight; and The Scarlet Lion.