Philippa Basset

Last updated

Philippa Basset
Countess of Warwick
Arms of Basset.svg
Coat of arms of Basset
Diedc. October 1265
Headington, Oxfordshire
Noble family Basset of Headington
Spouse(s) Henry (II) de Newburgh, earl of Warwick
Richard Siward
Issue Richard Siward, lord of Kellie
Father Thomas Basset of Headington (died 1220)
MotherPhilippa Maubanc

Philippa Basset, Countess of Warwick (died c. October 1265), was a 13th-century noblewoman and heiress. She was the wife firstly of Henry (II) de Newburgh, earl of Warwick and after his premature death she was married to Richard Siward a soldier and adventurer at the court of King Henry III of England.

Contents

Family and first marriage

Philippa was the eldest of three daughters of Thomas Basset of Headington (died c. April 1220) head of a branch of the prolific 12th-century Basset family, and a long-time royal courtier and sheriff of Oxford in the reign of King John. [1] In 1204 Thomas was awarded the wardship of the under-age earl of Warwick, Henry, then only twelve or thirteen but already married to Margaret d'Oilly. His child wife became pregnant and died delivering twins in 1205, the elder, a boy, being named by the teenage earl Thomas, apparently after his guardian; there is good evidence of lifelong friendship between Basset and the young earl. Following this domestic tragedy Thomas Basset exercised his right as guardian and in June 1205 he married his eldest daughter Philippa to his ward. In 1220 Earl Henry acquired the manor of Headington on the death of his father-in-law by right of Philippa, whose share of his inheritance it was as the chief manor of his barony. The earl died however on 10 October 1229 still only around 37 but leaving his son Thomas as adult heir by his first wife. [2] Philippa at this point assumed control not just of the lordship of Headington but substantial dower lands in the earldom of Warwick: the castle of Brailes, Warwickshire, the manor and forest of Sutton Coldfield, Chedworth, Gloucestershire and East Knoyle, Wiltshire. [3]

Widowhood and second marriage

Philippa's sizable dowry and inheritance made her vulnerable in her widowhood, as she must have realised. This would be why she put herself under the protection of her first cousin, Gilbert Basset, lord of High Wycombe and a prominent courtier, [4] and allowed herself to be persuaded into a marriage with Basset's ally, the eminent soldier and political adventurer, Richard Siward. It happened at some time in 1230: she was still at liberty in January, but Siward had control of her estates by September. [5] As a result of the marriage, Philippa was caught up in the subsequent rebellion of Basset and Siward against King Henry III which broke out in the summer of 1233. [6] The king treated her with civility during the hostilities, Philippa had a protection for her dower lands in December 1233 and free passage for her and her household into the Marches to join her husband in January 1234. [7] The result of the rebellion was favourable for Siward. His dashing exploits during the warfare made him something of a national hero and attracted the king's patronage. He became a banneret of the king's household and a member of the royal council. Though the marriage produced at least one child, and possibly more, it was not a success, and Philippa fell out with Richard. On the death of Gilbert Basset in 1241 and in the subsequent difficulties Siward experienced in his political life, Philippa petitioned for a divorce. She had secured this by the end of 1242 when a schedule was drawn up dividing their possessions. By the terms of the divorce Philippa reclaimed all her lands; custody of her son by Siward went to the father, but the boy was debarred from his mother's inheritance. [8]

St Edburga's Priory, Bicester, where Countess Philippa was buried St Edburg, Bicester, Oxon - East end - geograph.org.uk - 1634519.jpg
St Edburga's Priory, Bicester, where Countess Philippa was buried

Later years and death

Philippa spent the rest of her life as the widowed countess of Warwick, preferring to ignore the episode of her marriage to Siward (who died in 1248). She resided at her manor of Headington outside Oxford and became a patron of the priory at Bicester, which had been founded by the Basset family at the end of the 12th century. Though her son Richard was brought up in the Scottish royal court after 1248 she had not forgotten him. In her latter years she endowed a light at an altar in Bicester priory for the souls of herself and, as the grant said, her children. This implies that she had more than one child by her second husband, though the others may not have survived to adulthood. [9] Philippa Basset died in 1265, before November, when her heirs did homage to the king, and is said to have been buried in Bicester priory. [10]

Sources

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl</span> English title of nobility

Earl is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of earl never developed; instead, countess is used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Warwick</span> Title in the United Kingdom

Earl of Warwick is one of the most prestigious titles in the peerages of the United Kingdom. The title has been created four times in English history, and the name refers to Warwick Castle and the town of Warwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick</span> 11th Earl of Warwick

Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick, KG, sometimes styled as Lord Warwick, was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. His reputation as a military leader was so formidable that he was nicknamed 'the devil Warwick' by the French. In 1348 he became one of the founders and the third Knight of the Order of the Garter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick</span> English noblewoman

Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick was an important late medieval English noblewoman. She was the daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, and his second wife, Isabel le Despenser.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick</span>

Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick was the second son of Earl Roger of Warwick and Gundreda de Warenne, daughter of William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey and Elizabeth de Vermandois. He was known in his elder brother's time as 'Waleran of Warwick' marking the shift of surname in the family in his generation. The surnames 'Beaumont' and 'Newburgh' were used by the first two generations of the family, and are applied to the later generations by convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry de Beaumont, 5th Earl of Warwick</span>

Henry de Beaumont, 5th Earl of Warwick, Earl of Warwick, and by marriage Lord of Hocknorton and Hedenton (Headington) in Oxfordshire, was the son of Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick and Margaret de Bohun. He was also known as Henry de Newburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke</span> English nobleman

Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was the son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and brother of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, whom he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke and Lord Marshal of England upon his brother's death on 6 April 1231.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford</span> English noble

Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford was an English noble involved in the succession conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the mid-twelfth century.

Isabel de Clare, suo jure 4th Countess of Pembroke and Striguil, was an Anglo-Norman and Irish noblewoman descended from Aoife Macmurrough and Richard de Clare and one of the wealthiest heiresses in Wales and Ireland. She was the wife of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, who served three successive kings as Marshal of England. Her marriage had been arranged by King Richard I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick</span>

Katherine Mortimer, Countess of Warwick was the wife of Thomas de Beauchamp, 11th Earl of Warwick KG, an English peer, and military commander during the Hundred Years War. She was a daughter and co-heiress of Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March and Joan de Geneville, Baroness Geneville.

Maud de Lacy was an English noblewoman, being the eldest child of John de Lacy, 2nd Earl of Lincoln, and the wife of Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke</span>

Walter Marshal, 5th Earl of Pembroke was the fourth son of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Countess Isabel, the daughter of Richard son of Gilbert, earl of Striguil. He was a member of the Marshal Family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Warwick</span>

William earl of Warwick was an English nobleman. He was married to Matilda de Percy, daughter of William de Percy and his first wife Alice of Tonbridge.

Edmund de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln (c.1230–1258) was an important landholder in Northern England, with a strategic manor at Stanbury which was important for east–west communication, and as Lord of the Honour of Pontefract he possessed Pontefract Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Siward</span>

Richard Siward was a distinguished 13th-century soldier, adventurer and banneret. He rose from obscurity to become a member of King Henry III's Royal Council and husband of Philippa Basset, the widowed countess of Warwick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Siward (died 1311)</span> 13th-14th century Scottish noble

Richard Siward, Lord of Kellie, was a 13th-14th century Scottish noble. He was the son of the English adventurer Richard Siward and his wife, the wealthy heiress and widow Philippa Basset countess of Warwick, who had married in 1230. His parents divorced in 1242 and young Richard remained in the custody of his father by the terms of the settlement. The Siwards moved north to Scotland after this, where King Alexander II offered the elder Richard a place in his household and gifts of land in Fife, including Kellie and lands in Aberdour. On his death in 1248 the young Richard remained in Scotland, presumably as a royal ward. He inherited no share of his mother's lands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ela Longespée</span>

Ela Longespée, Countess of Warwick was an English noblewoman. She was the daughter of Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury and William Longespée, and sister to, among others, Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury. Ela married, first, Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick, and, secondly, Philip Basset. She was a great religious benefactor, and contributed to the foundation of Merton College, Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matilda de Percy</span> 12th-century noblewoman and heiress, died c. 1204

Matilda de Percy, Countess of Warwick, was a 12th-century noblewoman and heiress. She was the wife of William, earl of Warwick and, in 1174 became a co-heir of her father's large Yorkshire barony with her younger sister Agnes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gundreda de Warenne</span> Anglo-Norman noblewoman

Gundreda de Warenne, Countess of Warwick was the wife of Earl Roger. She was the daughter and eldest child of William II, earl Warenne by the Capetian princess Isabel of Vermandois daughter of Count Hugh the Great of Vermandois and niece of King Philip I of France. On the death of her first husband Count Robert of Meulan and Leicester in 1118 Isabel promptly married Earl William II de Warenne and since Gundreda had an infant daughter by 1138 it is most likely she was the eldest child of the marriage. The Flemish name Gundreda was given her in recollection of her father's mother Gundreda de Warenne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Basset (died 1220)</span>

Thomas Basset, called Thomas Basset of Headington or Thomas Basset of Colinton, was an Anglo-Norman lord and royal counsellor to King John of England.

References

  1. Basset Charters, c. 1120-1250, ed. William T. Reedy (Pipe Roll Society, new series, 50, 1995), pp. xxxiii-xxxiv.
  2. Richard Dace, 'Introduction' in, The Newburgh Earldom of Warwick and its Charters, 1088-1253 ed. David Crouch and Richard Dace (Dugdale Society, 48, 2015), pp. 13-15.
  3. David Crouch, 'The Local Influence of the Earls of Warwick, 1088-1242', Midland History, 21 (1996), 9-11.
  4. For the relationship between the Headington and Wycombe Bassets, Scott L. Waugh, The Lordship of England: Royal Wardships and Marriages in English Society and Politics, 1217-1327 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), pp. 211-13.
  5. Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, p. 15n.
  6. Nicholas Vincent, Peter Des Roches: An Alien in English Politics, 1205-1238 (Cambridge: CUP, 1996), pp. 363-428.
  7. David Crouch, 'The Last Adventure of Richard Siward', Morgannwg: The Journal of Glamorgan History, 35 (1991), 16.
  8. Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, p. 15 and n.
  9. Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, p. 221.
  10. Newburgh Earldom of Warwick, p. 15.