ROGER BIGOT, SEIGNEUR DE MALTOT.

Wace (l.13677) chronicles "L'ancestre Hue le Bigot ki avoit terre a Maletot et as Loges et a Chanon." Maletot is near Caen, Canon (Chanon) is in the arrondissement of Lisieux, and Loges may have been either Les Loges, near Aunay, or another commune of the same name, near Falaise. The original name of the family was Wiggott, Wigott, or Bygod. The family of Bigot or Wigot, was descended from Wigot de St-Denis, one of the greatest nobles in Normandy, who made grants to Cerisy abbey in 1042, and in 1050 witnessed a charter of duke William at the head of the Norman barons. He married a sister of Turstin Goz, father of Richard d'Avranches, by whom his younger son, Robert Wigot or Bigot, was ingratiated into the good graces of duke William. His son Roger, was present at Senlac and received large grants for his services at the conquest, comprising 123 manors in Essex and Sussex, only six being in the latter county. It is quite possible that Robert, as well as his son Roger, accompanied duke William to England; the latter must have been a young man at that time, as he did not die until 1107, when he was buried in the abbey of Thetford in Norfolk, which he had founded in 1103. he married Adeliza, daughter of Hugh de Grentemesnil, by whom he had seven children. William, his eldest son and heir, was dapifer to the king and perished in the wreck of the "White Ship," and was succeeded by his brother Hugh, who was also steward of the king's household. Hugh was created earl of Norfolk and his descendants, through a marriage with Maud, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the Marshals, earls of Pembroke, became marshals of England, which office is held to-day by the duke of Norfolk. William Bigot, the younger brother of Rooger Bigot here mentioned, went to Apulia, from where he returned with Geoffry Ridel to the conquest of England. He had a grant of Dunmow and Finchingfield, Essex, where he made gifts to Thetford abbey. He had a son, Ilger (Bigod d'Ige), who in 1096 was chief commander in Palestine under Tancard, who left him in command of 200 knights to defend Jerusalem.

--(This name appears on the Falaise Roll).