Thomas Basset Lord of Headington

• Preferred Name: Thomas Basset Lord of Headington^[1]
  
• Gender: M
  
• Death: 1220 in Whitford, Devon, England at LATI: N0.7554 LONG: E3.0512
  
• Birth: 1156 in Hedington, Oxfordshire, England
  
• FSID: G9GQ-VGW
  
• Notes:

  === Life Sketch ===
  «b»Biography«/b»
  Thomas was a younger son of Thomas Basset and Adeliza de Dunstanville.
  
  First recorded before c. 1180, the younger Thomas Basset had by 1190 been granted custody of land in Oxfordshire through the favour of Richard I, and over the next few years he was maintained in royal service, briefly holding land in Hereford and Shropshire. As a counsellor of the king's brother John, count of Mortain, in 1191 he was excommunicated by the chancellor, William de Longchamp, John's rival for the government of England during the absence of King Richard on crusade. He witnessed a large number of the charters of King Richard, and was one of the few royal servants to attend the king's deathbed at Châlus near Limoges.
  
  Under King John, before 1202 Thomas served as constable of Dover, and between 1202 and 1214 as sheriff and constable of Oxford, an office previously held by his father and his elder brother, Gilbert Basset. In 1202 John granted him custody of the Oxfordshire barony of Headington, confirmed to him in perpetuity in 1203, to be held thereafter as a single knight's fee rendering £20 a year to the exchequer. In 1204 he received temporary custody of several manors seized from Norman landholders who had defected to the French, and in 1205 fined 500 marks with the crown, for custody of the lands and heir of Waleran, late earl of Warwick. The heir, Henry de Newburgh, was in due course married to Thomas's daughter Philippa.
  
  Thomas served on the king's expedition to Ireland in 1210, and during the civil war of 1215-?17 remained loyal to the king, taking custody of Warwick Castle and of the estates of several rebel knights. Roger of Wendover names him as one of John's evil counsellors, and his prominence as a royal familiaris is underlined by his having been one of the men on whose advice Magna Carta was said to have been granted. In May 1217 he fought on the royalist side at the battle of Lincoln.
  
  «b»Marriage and Children«/b»
  He married Philippa Maubanc, probably a Norman, and when he died, shortly before 1 May 1220, his lands were divided among their three daughters, Joan (who married Reginald de Vautort), Alice, and Philippa, and their husbands. Philippa and Joan died without children, and their lands descended to the daughters and heirs of Alice, the children of her second marriage, to John Biset.
  
  === B-57 (234A-28): Thomas was lord of Headi ===
  B-57 (234A-28): Thomas was lord of Headington, Oxford and of Colynton and Whitford, Devon, by hes wife. B-72, 57-1: Thomas was named in the Magna Charta.
  
  === Named in Magna Charta, 1215 ===
  Named in Magna Charta, 1215
  
  === «b»Biography«/b» ===
  «b»Biography«/b»
  Thomas was a younger son of Thomas Basset and Adeliza de Dunstanville.
  
  First recorded before c. 1180, the younger Thomas Basset had by 1190 been granted custody of land in Oxfordshire through the favour of Richard I, and over the next few years he was maintained in royal service, briefly holding land in Hereford and Shropshire. As a counsellor of the king's brother John, count of Mortain, in 1191 he was excommunicated by the chancellor, William de Longchamp, John's rival for the government of England during the absence of King Richard on crusade. He witnessed a large number of the charters of King Richard, and was one of the few royal servants to attend the king's deathbed at Châlus near Limoges.
  
  Under King John, before 1202 Thomas served as constable of Dover, and between 1202 and 1214 as sheriff and constable of Oxford, an office previously held by his father and his elder brother, Gilbert Basset. In 1202 John granted him custody of the Oxfordshire barony of Headington, confirmed to him in perpetuity in 1203, to be held thereafter as a single knight's fee rendering £20 a year to the exchequer. In 1204 he received temporary custody of several manors seized from Norman landholders who had defected to the French, and in 1205 fined 500 marks with the crown, for custody of the lands and heir of Waleran, late earl of Warwick. The heir, Henry de Newburgh, was in due course married to Thomas's daughter Philippa.
  
  Thomas served on the king's expedition to Ireland in 1210, and during the civil war of 1215-?17 remained loyal to the king, taking custody of Warwick Castle and of the estates of several rebel knights. Roger of Wendover names him as one of John's evil counsellors, and his prominence as a royal familiaris is underlined by his having been one of the men on whose advice Magna Carta was said to have been granted. In May 1217 he fought on the royalist side at the battle of Lincoln.
  
  «b»Marriage and Children«/b»
  He married Philippa Maubanc, probably a Norman, and when he died, shortly before 1 May 1220, his lands were divided among their three daughters, Joan (who married Reginald de Vautort), Alice, and Philippa, and their husbands. Philippa and Joan died without children, and their lands descended to the daughters and heirs of Alice, the children of her second marriage, to John Biset.

1. Jane Basset, b. 1192 in Headington, Oxfordshire, England     d. AFT 1235

1. Title: Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
   Publication: Name: https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/ENGLISHNOBILITYMEDIEVAL3.htm#ThomasBassetdied1171;
   Note: THOMAS Basset [II] of Headington, Oxfordshire (-1220). "Thomas Bass" granted "manerium meum de Comptun cum terra de Berewic" to "Alano filio meo" by charter dated to [1180/82?], witnessed by "…Waltero de Dunstanvile, Alano de Dunstanvile, Fulcone Basset…Thoma Basset juvene…"[299]. Thomas was most likely his parents’ second son, as shown by the order of witness names in the charter dated to [1180/1205] under which [his brother] "Gillebertus Basset" confirmed land at Cowley to "Waltero filio Tostani de Coveleia", witnessed by "Toma Basset, Alano Basset…"[300]. "Thom Basset" paid a fine for the marriage of "fil sua fil com de Warwic" in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, dated 1205[301]. Matthew Paris names “...Thomas Basset” among the "consiliarios iniquissimos” of King John[302]. Bracton records a claim, dated 1220, by "Engelramus de Pratellis…et Sibilla uxor eius" against "Thomam Basset" [son of Alice de Dunstanville, see below] for "terciam partem de Colintona…dotem ipsius Sibille et Walterus de Dunstanuilla quondam vir suus"[303]. m PHILIPPA, daughter of WILLIAM FitzHugh Malbank & his wife ---. The primary source which confirms her parentage and marriage has not yet been identified. Thomas [II] & his wife had three children: i) PHILIPPA Basset (-before 29 Nov 1265, bur Bicester Priory). ii) JOANNA Basset (-after 1230). iii) ALICE Basset (-[1263]).