page_title: Basset family
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Basset family / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Location of Basset sites in the Department of Orne, southern Normandy
context_page_description: Members of the Basset family were amongst the early Norman settlers in the Kingdom of England. It is currently one of the few ancient English families that has survived through the centuries in the paternal line. They originated at Montreuil-au-Houlme in the Duchy of Normandy.
context_section_description: Genealogists over many years have held the mistaken belief that the progenitor of the Basset family in England was one Thurstan Basset. As early as the sixteenth century, Sampson Erdeswicke proclaimed "Turstin de Basset" as owner of five hides of land at Drayton, Staffordshire, and as father of Ralph Basset, Chief Justice of England. (Erdeswicke’s thorough manuscript was not published until the nineteenth century).
  Erdeswicke based this claim on an entry in the Domesday Book naming "Turstin" as lord of the manor of "Draiton" in the landholdings of Staffordshire. A manor, which was known later as Drayton Bassett, became the main seat of the Lords Basset of Drayton. It was reasonable to assume that in 1086 the lord of the manor was named Thurstan Basset and that his lands descended to his son Ralph Basset, the Justiciar and his descendants. Unfortunately the entry in Domesday Book on which this supposition was made is an error. This was pointed out by the Rev. R.W. Eyton in 1881. Eyton explained in his Errata that, in compiling the fair version of the Domesday Book for Staffordshire, the details of a tenement in Oxfordshire named "Draiton" were accidentally duplicated by the scribes into the Staffordshire pages. The scribes made a further error by writing the name as "Turstin", whereas the holder of "Draitone" in Oxfordshire was "Turchil" i.e. "Thorkil of Warwick", whose lands have nothing to do with the Bassets. Erdeswicke gives credit to Ms. Charlotte Sophia Burne for pointing this out to him. The lands at Drayton Bassett in Staffordshire were held by the king at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, not by the fictitious Thurstan Basset. Further, Drayton Bassett only came to the Basset family through the marriage of Ralph’s son Richard Basset to Matilda Ridel (granddaughter of Hugh earl of Chester) in 1120x3.
  The earliest Basset of whom we have any knowledge is Osmund Basset who, with his unnamed brothers, witnessed a grant from Hawise de Grandmesnil, daughter of Giroie, Lord of Échauffour, to Montivilliers Abbey in 1050. Orderic notes that Osmund Basset was one of the vassals of the Grandmesnil and Giroie clan who pledged part of their wealth to the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in 1051. Osmund was of an age to have participated in the Norman Conquest and perhaps it was his sons who were enfeoffed with land in England by the time of Domesday in 1086.
  A charter of  Henry I in 1113 confirmed a grant of income from "Fontanias in Obsimine" to St. Evroul Abbey by Ralph Basset. This is apparently the modern Fontaine-les-Bassets, 27 km northeast of Montreuil-au-Houlme. Also nearby is the small town of Ouilly-le-Basset, incorporated in 1947 in the modern town of Pont-d'Ouilly. The Domesday overlord of Ralph Basset and of Richard Basset was Robert D'Oyly. Reedy has suggested that Robert may have originated from Ouilly-le-Basset and may have been the overlord of the Bassets there as well as in England. There are thus three towns associated with the Bassets within a relatively compact area of Normandy. Reedy also speculated that Ralph Basset may have come to the notice of the future king Henry I when Henry was lord of Domfront (from 1092 to 1100) during the reign of William II. Domfront is 30 km southwest of Montreuil-au-Houlme. 
  Three Bassets are recorded in the Domesday Book. Ralph Basset held Marsworth (Bucks.) and Tiscott (Herts.) as a sub-tenant of Robert d'Oilly. Richard Basset held Thurleigh (Beds.), also as a sub-tenant of Robert d'Oilly. William Basset held Milton Ernest (Beds.) from Hugh de Beauchamp. It is likely that these men were related, but it is not clear how. Reedy considers it likely that this Ralph Basset was the great justice of Henry I, or otherwise his father. 
  Ralph Basset was the ancestor of a prolific family of royal administrators. He had at least four sons; Richard, Nicholas, Turstin and Ralph, a clerk. They gave rise to the later Baronies of Drayton, Sapcote, Weldon and Wycombe. Further, Reedy considers that Ralph had two brothers Osmund (ancestor of the Bassets of Tehidy and the Baron of Stratton and de D
caption: Basset locations in the Départment of Orne, southern Normandy
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