Hugh Bigod, the grandson, materially promoted the accession of Stephen to the throne, but afterwards espousing the cause of Matilda, gave utterance to the well-known triplet— “Were I in my castle of Bungay,
Upon the river Waveney,
I would na care for the king of Cockney.”
Two of the family subscribed their names to Magna Charta; another was the spokesman of the barons combined against Henry the Third; while the last earl flatly refused to accompany Edward the First in his French campaign, that king having laid heavy and illegal tollages on the country. |
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