Ida de Tosny


Ida de Tosny ', Countess of Norfolk', was a Norman royal mistress. Named after her grandmother Ida de Hainaut, she was the daughter of Ralph IV de Tosny and his wife Margaret, a daughter of Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
Circumstances of her early life are uncertain. She had at least eight children by Roger Bigod after 1182, so was likely born no earlier than 1150. Moreover, some sources put the date of marriage between her mother Margaret and her father Ralph at 1155 or later This, however, is difficult to reconcile with her identification as the mother of William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and his estimated birth date of circa 1167
Despite her Norman ancestry, Ida was born and raised in Flamstead, Hertfordshire, England.

Relationship to King Henry II

Ida de Tosny was a royal ward and mistress of Henry II, King of England, by whom she was the mother of one of his illegitimate sons, William Longespee,, as demonstrated by the discovery of a charter of William mentioning "Comitissa Ida, mater mea". Ida was not the first English royal ward to be taken as a royal mistress. Isabel de Beaumont, was the ward of King Henry I and the mistress of one of his sons.
Ida was a first cousin, once removed, of Henry II's other famous mistress, Rosamund Clifford

Marriage

Around Christmas 1181, Ida de Tosny was given by Henry II in marriage to Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk, together with the manors of Acle, Halvergate and South Walsham, which had been confiscated from Roger's inheritance after the death of his father Hugh Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk. Ida and Roger had a number of children, including:
Many historians have speculated that the couple had a third daughter, Alice, who married Aubrey de Vere IV, 2nd Earl of Oxford, as his second wife.