Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk

Roger Bigod, 5th Earl of Norfolk (c. 1245 – bf. 6 December 1306) was a Norman feudal lord belonging to the powerful Bigod family. Quotes By God, O King, I will neither go nor hang. In 1297, King Edward commanded that Bigod should serve against the King of France in Gascony, while Edward himself went to Flanders. Bigod asserted that by the feudal tenure of his lands he was only compelled to serve across the seas "in the company of the king himself", whereupon Edward said, punning on the Earl's name, "By God, Earl, you shall either go or hang," to which Bigod replied thus. — Reported in Sir Richard Baker, A Chronicle of the Kings of England (1665), p. 109, and elsewhere; see Walter of Guisborough External links "The Chronicles of Walter of Guisbrough", Camden Society, ser. 3, vol. 89 (1957), p. 29 Category:Military leaders from England