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In 1294 April 20, Rogerus le Bigod, Comes Norff. was granted, by Edward I, (In year 22 of his reign) a Royal licence to crenellate Bungeye (Bungay Castle)
Licence for Roger le Bigod, earl of Norfolk and marshal of England, to crenellate his house of Bungeye, co. Suffolk. (CPR)

Rogerus le Bigod, Comes Norff. ... mansum ... Bungeye, Suff. (Turner and Parker)

quod Rogerus le Bigot, Comes Norff., et Marescallus Angl: possit kernellare mansum suum de Bungay. (Suckling)

Granted at Canterbury. Grant by {King}.

Comments

In 1293, Roger Bigod had license to imbattle his mansion-house at Bungeye, where there had formerly been a castle, which was-erased by order of Henry II. at which time he was a great favourite of the King's, and as Earl of the county, was constable of the castle of Norwich, where the sheriff of the county was to keep criminals in safe custody, till the coming of the justices itinerant and jail delivery. (Blomfield)
Blomfield must have been aware of the remains at Bungay but was able to see these as domestic and knew a licence to crenellate was for domestic house and a sign of royal favour not permission to build a castle as later authors would assume.
Suckling, rather unaccountable, dates this as 1281 but otherwise his transcription seems reasonably reliable.

Original source is;

(In fact, the original source given is usually a transcription/translation of what are precious medieval documents not readily availably. It should be noted that these transcription/translations often date to the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries and that unwitting bias of transcribers may affect the translation. Care should also be taken to avoid giving modern meaning to the medieval use of certain stock words and terms. Licentia is best translated as 'freedom to' not 'permission'.)

Significant later sources are;

Bigod, Roger (IV), fifth earl of Norfolk (c.1245–1306)
Bigod, Roger (IV), fifth earl of Norfolk (c.1245–1306), magnate and soldier. The hereditary office of marshal of England was entrusted to Bigod shortly before his uncle's death, and he performed the ceremonial duties associated with the office at Edward I's coronation. He served in all the major campaigns of Edward's Welsh wars (1277, 1282–3, 1287, and 1294–5). At this time Roger's debts were causing increasing difficulties with the crown but it was another 5 years before his relation with the crown collapsed. Roger did build at Bungay but did much more building at Chepstow Castle (with no record of a licence there.)

Biographical source include;

More information about licences to crenellate can be found here.

Please do inform Gatehouse if you see any errors, can add information or can otherwise help to improve this resource. Please contact Gatehouse.

Record created by Philip Davis. This record last updated on Sunday, October 4, 2015.


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