Gunnor le Bigod

  General Notes:

~Weis' Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 246:26, Lord of Rayleigh and Haughley, Henry of Essex, son of Robert Fitz Suein of Essex by Gunnor Bigod, married Cicely and their daughter was Agnes of Essex who maried Aubrey de Vere. ¹⁶⁰

~Boyer's The Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 28, daughter of Roger le Bigod and Alice de Tosny, m. to Robert Fitz Swein of Essex. ^722,503

  Noted events in her life were:

• Background Information. ¹³⁹⁰
Gunnora, the wife of Robert de Essex, was a daughter of Roger le Bigot, the greatest of East Anglican Feudalists, who having been presented by William the Conqueror with most part of the estates of Earl Ralph de Guader, exiled in 1074, himself died in 1107, or perhaps 1108. Gunnora was, therefore, the sister of William le Bigot,on of the crew which perished in the "White Ship," when, on 25 Nov 1120, it struck on the Cataras Rock, outside of Barfleur.

There are the remains of a Carter of somewhat earlier date than 1120, whereby "Robert de Essex and Gunnora his wife, daughter of Roger Bigod, for the souls of their ancestors and of their son Henry, on the day of his birth, gave to Thetford Priory the Church of Fremingham. Moreover, Gunnora, at the same time, her husband consenting, gave the Churches of Cavedon and Brom and Posingland Magna for joy of the birth of her son Henry."

Gunnora Bigod seems to have survived her husband and the disgrace of her son, and to have lived to a "great age." It is she, we presume, who, under the name of Gonnora de Essex, and late in the interval between the years 1167 and 1189, accepts a lease for her life from Peter, Prior of Binham, of 60 acres of land, which Dame Agnes de Valoniis, and Robert, er son, had given in almoign to Binham Priory. The lease, at a rent of five shillings, was to continue for Gonnora's, or for so long as she should continue in a secular habit.

Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History, Volume II, pp. 17-19

Gunnor married Robert Fitz Swein of Essex, son of Swein of Essex and Unknown.¹⁶⁰ (Robert Fitz Swein of Essex was born in Rayleigh Castle, Essex, England and died after 1132 in Essex, England.)