Richard Basset (died between 1135 and 1144) was a royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King
Henry I of England
Henry I ( – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in 1087, Henr ...
. His father was also a royal justice. In about 1122 Basset married the eventual heiress of another justice; the marriage settlement has survived. In 1129–30 Basset was co-sheriff of eleven counties. Basset and his wife founded a monastic house in 1125 from their lands, which before the donation were equivalent to 15
knight's fee
In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...
s.
Early life
Basset was the son of
Ralph Basset
Ralph Basset (sometimes Bassett; died c. 1127) was a medieval English royal justice during the reign of King Henry I of England. He was a native of Normandy and may have come to Henry's notice while Henry held land in Normandy prior to becoming ...
,
[Keats-Rohan ''Domesday Descendants'' p. 166] who was a
royal justice
Royal justices were judges in medieval England with the power to hear pleas of the Crown. They were roving officials of the History of the English monarchy, king of England, sent to seek out notorious robbers and murderers and bring them to justic ...
under Henry I. While it is not known whether Richard was Ralph's eldest son, Richard inherited Ralph's estates in
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
, which were near
Montreuil-au-Houlme
Montreuil-au-Houlme () is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.
Geography
The commune is made up of the following collection of villages and hamlets, La Crestinière and Montreuil-au-Houlme.
Montreuil-au-Houlme along with ...
. He also inherited his father's English estates at Colston Basset, Kingston Winslow, and Peatling Parva.
[ The bulk of Ralph's English lands did not go to Richard, however.][Reedy "Introduction" ''Basset Charters'' pp. x–xi] Basset's brother Nicholas signed over his own inheritance to Richard.[ Ralph Basset was considered one of the "new men" of Henry I.][Newman ''Anglo-Norman Nobility'' p. 73][Newman ''Anglo-Norman Nobility'' p. 102] William Basset, the abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
of the Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monastery of the abbey of St Benet of Hulme, may have been a relative, as he granted lands to Richard Basset in return for a £10 annual rent.[Newman ''Anglo-Norman Nobility'' pp. 149–150] Another relative may have been the Robert Basset who witnessed nine charters of Ranulf de Gernon
Ranulf was a masculine given name in Old French and Old Occitan, and is a masculine given name in the English language. ''Ranulf'' was introduced into England by the Norman conquest or alternatively is said to have been introduced to Scotland and ...
, Earl of Chester
The Earldom of Chester () was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England, extending principally over the counties of Cheshire and Flintshire. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs apparent to the English throne, ...
.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' p. 213]
Royal service
In 1125, the king appointed Basset to oversee the lands of Peterborough Abbey
Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew, and formerly known as Peterborough Abbey or St Peter's Abbey, is a cathedral in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, in the United Kingdom. The seat of the Anglic ...
after the death of the abbot. The revenues of a vacant abbey went to the king, and Basset's job was to secure Peterborough's income for King Henry.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' p. 267]
In 1129–30, Basset served as sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...
, Norfolk and Suffolk, and Surrey
Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
together with Aubrey de Vere II
Aubrey () is a traditionally male English name. It was quite common in the Middle Ages, but had lost favour for a time before experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the 19th century.
In the United States, following the 1973 release of the s ...
.[Green ''Government of England'' pp. 231–232] The number of shrievalties was unusual and is known from the Pipe Roll
The Pipe rolls, sometimes called the Great rollsBrown ''Governance'' pp. 54–56 or the Great Rolls of the Pipe, are a collection of financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, or HM Treasury, Treasury, and its successors, as well a ...
of 1130. According to the entries in the Pipe Roll, de Vere and Basset did not function as traditional sheriffs, farming the revenues, but were instead responsible for the entire royal revenue in those counties.[Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 360]
As well as his service as a sheriff, Basset also served as a royal justice, hearing pleas in Leicestershire in 1129 and 1130.[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' p. 249] Between 1131 and 1133, Basset appears to have been a frequent attendee at the royal court, as he witnessed a number of documents. He was present at the councils held at Northampton in 1131 and at Westminster in 1132. Basset witnessed no royal documents after 1133 when King Henry left England for Normandy for the final time.[Green "Basset, Richard" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'']
After King Henry's death in 1135, Basset was not employed as a royal official, either as a justice or as a sheriff. He appears once as a witness to a charter of King Stephen's in 1136, but the authenticity of this document has been questioned. He had built a castle in Normandy at Montreuil-au-Houlme, but Basset did not have possession of it in 1136, when it was held against Stephen's opponents by William de Montpincon.[
]
Lands
Basset's lands did not form a compact estate, as they were spread over 11 counties.[Newman ''Anglo-Norman Nobility'' p. 126] In 1135, Basset's lands totalled 184.25 carucate
The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment.
...
s of land, and were later considered 15 knight's fees.[Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' p. 222] In Leicestershire, Basset held most of the lands held by Robert de Buci at the time of the Domesday Survey
Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086. The lands were held by Basset of the king by right of his wife, but how the lands had passed into her family is unclear. In addition, Basset held land in Leicestershire from both King David I of Scotland
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Scottish Gaelic, Modern Gaelic: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th century ruler and saint who was David I as Prince of the Cumbrians, Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 112 ...
and from Robert de Beaumont, the Earl of Leicester
Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837.
History
Earl ...
.[Slade ''Leicestershire Survey'' pp. 92–94]
In 1125, Basset and his wife founded an Augustinian Order
Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th ...
priory at Launde
Launde is a civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, bordering Rutland. The parish is the site of Launde Abbey. It gives its name to an electoral division of Leicestershire that stretches all the way from Scraptoft, Thurnby a ...
in Leicestershire,[Green ''Aristocracy of Norman England'' pp. 403–404] This priory, Launde Priory
Launde Priory is a former Augustinians, Augustinian priory in Leicestershire, England. Its successor Launde Abbey is used as a Conference centre, conference and Retreat (spiritual), retreat centre by the Church of England dioceses of Diocese of L ...
, was endowed with the village of Loddington in Leicestershire and a number of churches in that county and others.[Hoskins "Houses of Augustinian Canons: The Priory of Launde" ''History of the County of Leicestershire'']
Family and death
Basset married Matilda, the daughter and eventual heiress of Geoffrey Ridel (d. 1120), sometime between 1120 and 1123.[ Matilda had a brother Robert, who was mentioned in her ]marriage settlement
A marriage settlement in England and Wales was a historical arrangement whereby, most commonly and in its simplest form, a trust of land or other assets was established jointly by the parents of a bride and bridegroom. The trustees were establish ...
. By the terms of the settlement, Robert Ridel was placed under the guardianship of Richard Basset until he was knighted and married to Basset's niece.[ The marriage settlement describes Matilda's ]dowry
A dowry is a payment such as land, property, money, livestock, or a commercial asset that is paid by the bride's (woman's) family to the groom (man) or his family at the time of marriage.
Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price ...
as being worth four knight's fee
In feudal Anglo-Norman England and Ireland, a knight's fee was a unit measure of land deemed sufficient to support a knight. It would not only provide sustenance for himself, his family, and servants, but also the means to furnish himself and h ...
s.[ Basset also received the right to arrange marriages for Matilda's sisters. Robert's lands were to come to Basset if Robert had no children.][Newman ''Anglo-Norman Nobility'' p. 82] Not long after the settlement was written, Basset was in possession of the lands that should have been Robert's.[
Basset witnessed a royal charter in 1135 but was dead by 1144 when his lands were granted by the ]Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda (10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to ...
and her son Henry
Henry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters
* Henry (surname)
* Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone
Arts and entertainmen ...
to Richard's son Geoffrey Ridel. His other sons were Ralph Basset, who held lands near Drayton, and William Basset, who held lands near Sapcote.[ William became a royal justice and sheriff like his father.][ Richard also had two daughters: Sibil, who married Robert de Cauz, and Matilda, who married John de Stuteville.][ Ralph inherited the ancestral lands in Normandy.][ The Norman chronicler ]Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis (; 16 February 1075 – ) was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk who wrote one of the great contemporary chronicles of 11th- and 12th-century Normandy and Anglo-Norman England.Hollister ''Henry I'' p. 6 Working out of ...
wrote that Basset built a tower on his ancestral lands of Montreuil in Normandy purely to demonstrate his status and wealth.[
]
Citations
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Basset, Richard
Anglo-Normans
High sheriffs of Norfolk
High sheriffs of Suffolk
High sheriffs of Bedfordshire
High sheriffs of Buckinghamshire
High sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire
High sheriffs of Essex
High sheriffs of Hertfordshire
High sheriffs of Leicestershire
High sheriffs of Northamptonshire
High sheriffs of Surrey
12th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown