Page:History of Norfolk 5.djvu/241

 obtained the office and honour of Marshal, in right of his mother, which that King thus conferred on him; the King gave the Marshal's rod or staff into Maud's hands, and she having delivered it to her son and heir Roger, the King accepted his homage for it, and ordered the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer, to let him enjoy all the privileges of that office, and admit his sufficient deputy (if occasion required) to sit in that court. In 1247, he seized the Earl of Ghisnes, on his arrival in England, and excused that fact to the King, by acquainting him, it was only a retaliation of former indignities; the said Earl having served him so, when he went ambassadour into France, having detained him prisoner till he had satisfied him for his passage through his lands. In 1252, he was present when the King confirmed the two charters called, The Great Charter or Magna Carta, and Carta de Foresta; and the next year he attended his Majesty into Gascoigne. In 1254, Robert de Ross, one of the Barons, being charged with some crime committed against the King, this Earl apologized for him, till the King gave him harsh language, and called him traitour; upon which, with a stern aspect, he told him, he lied, and that he never was, nor would be so; adding, If you do nothing but what the law warranteth, you can do no harm : Yes, quoth the King, I can thrash your corn and sell it, and so humble you: to which he replied, if you do it, I will send you the heads of the thrashers. But this breach was soon made up, for in 1259, he was sent ambassadour to the King of France. In 1263, he was one of those who undertook, that the King should submit to the determination of Lewis the French King, concerning the provisions of Oxford; and the King being made prisoner at the battle of Lewes, he was constituted by the Barons, governour of Orford castle in Suffolk. In 1269, he was found to hold this manor and advowson, (the Prior of Thetford having released all right in the latter) as head and chief parcel of the barony of Bygod, and dying soon after, he was buried at Thetford, leaving his honours and estate to his nephew,

Roger Bigod, son of his brother Hugh, who was under age when he inherited; for in 1272, John de Thorp, as guardian, had the custody of the manors of Forncet and Hanworth. In 1281, he was in the Welsh expedition. In 1288, he had a charter of free-warren to this manor. In 1293, he was licensed to embattle his castle or mansionhouse at Bungeye in Suffolk; and it is plain he did not degenerate from his ancestors, for he stood up for the people's liberty, being the chief of those lords, who openly opposed Edward I. in his arbitrary impositions upon lands and wool; and not only opposed the levy demanded by the King for his expedition into Flanders, but actually refused his personal attendance thither; and he and the Earl of Hereford, with others, inhibited the payment of the assessment, and incited the Londoners so, that he obtained a confirmation of the two great charters, and the Articuli super Chartas, which explain them, together with a pardon for all offences; thus all discontents being settled, in 1299 he went in the expedition into Scotland, and having no issue, he constituted King Edward his heir, delivering to him his Marshal's rod, on condition it should be returned to his children if he had any, he to have 1000l. down, and 1000l. per annum during life. Historians aver all this to be done out of fear, because the Earl of Hereford, his old friend and ally, being dead, he thought the King