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Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

After the failed revolt of 1075, Roger Bigod inherited Ralph de Guader's forfeited title and estates. As Earl of Norfolk and Suffolk and Constable of Norwich Castle, Roger was a monastic patron and a wealthy lord. By 1101, he had gained the estate of Framlingham and Bungay in Suffolk, where the Bigod family built and maintained strongholds for centuries. After Roger's death, the monks of Thetford claimed that his body belonged at the Priory of St Mary, founded by the Earl just days earlier. Bishop de Losinga was keen to reinforce his power over the lordly families of Norfolk, so he snatched the body and buried it in Norwich Cathedral. Roger's family made desperate attempts to recover it, but to no avail.

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