[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Bottom] [Home] [Mail]

Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
No Surnames: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Vol II File 4: The Paternal Ancestry of Homer Beers James

• 1. Thomas Basset, a Magna Charta Surety, 1215. He had a daughter, Alice (Mabel).

• 2. Alice (Mabel) Basset married (1) William Malet, Magna Charta Surety, 1215, descendant of William Malet, Lord Malet, general and companion of William the Conqueror, Baron of Curry, and High Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset. They had five children as follows:
  
  • 1. Hugh Malet.

  • 2. William Malet.

  • 3. Mabel Malet, married Hugh de Vivonia, Baron of Chewton and steward of Poitou, who held West Kingston in 1214. They had three children: John, who d.s.p.; William de Vivonia, who married Maud Ferrers; and Helewise Vivonia, who married Walter de Wahull.

  • 4. Hawise (Howise) Malet. See below.

  • 5. Bertha Malet.
    

    Alice (Mabel) Basset (Malet) married (2) John Biset.

• 3. Hawise (Howise) Malet married (1) Hugh de Poyntz, who died in April 1220, and (2) Robert de Musegros, of Berwain and Norton, Knight of King Henry III. He was Keeper of Savernake Forest, May 4, 1252. He held the Manors of Brynham, Cherlton, and Norton. He died January 29, 1253 or 1254 (Ref.: Harleain Society, "Knights of Edward I, p.230). (Note: Mussegros is a canton of Fleurigny-sur-Andelle in the arrondissement of Les Andelys. The name is presumed to have been derived from Musgrave or Mewsgrave, "the keeper of the king's hawks, or the king's equerry." Roger de Mucelgros, who is said to have been at Senlac, was a tenant-in-chief in Herefordshire in 1086 (Domesday), where he gave his name to Lude-Muchgros. His descendants spread to many parts of England and in the 13th century the family held estates in Somerset, Dorset, Gloucester, and Hereford. Charlton Musgrove in Somerset is named from it, hence the baronets Musgrove. (Ref: Crispin & Macary, "Falaise Rolls"). They had two children as follows:
  
  • 1. John Musegros. See below.

  • 2. Mabel Musegros, Lady of Finborough.
    

• 4. John Musegros (Mucegros), Knight of Charlton, Norton, and other estates, was born August 10, 1232, and died May 6, 1275, holding Manors of Northton, Brywham as 1/2 fee, Cherlton 1 fee, and Stavill 1.2 fee, co. Somerset, Berton Regis and lands at Knemerton, Boyton, Lit. Cumpton, Hatherle, and Langeford, co. Gloucester. The following record is taken from "Knights of Edward I.":
  

  "Protection, going to Ireland, May 10, 1259. Sheriff of Devon, July 9, 1261, Constable of Exeter, July 9, 1261, to July 18, 1263. Holds 1 knight's fee at Botyngton and Kemerton, co. Gloucester, late of Richard, Earl of Gloucester, August 10, 1262. Protection during the Welsh war March 22, 1263. Safe conduct for him and several knights coming to the King with horses, households, and goods, July 7, 1264. Made Constable of Salisbury Castle for him and other knights lately in munition of Bristol Castle to stay in with their households, December 19, 1264, to May 31, 1265. Safe conduct coming to the King, February 14, 1254, but not to come till sent for March 12, 1265. To leave Kenilworth Castle as he values his life, August 26, 1265. Sir John de Mucegros was against the King, and had 40/- rents and advowson at Sotesbrok, co. Berkshire."
  

  He married Cecily Avenal, Lady of Bicknor, Taynton, and Longford, daughter of William Avenal, of Bicknor, and his wife, Aline. Cecily died August 10, 1301. William Avenal was born about November 1202, and died April 21, 1236. John and Cecily had a son and heir, Robert.

• 5. Robert de Musegros, of Charlton and Norton, born in 1252, was age twenty-three and more in 1275. He died on December 27, 1280. He married Agnes Ferrers, who was living in May 9, 1281. They had a daughter, Hawise.

• 6. Hawise (Howise) Musegros was born December 21, 1276, and was living as late as June 24, 1340. She married (1) William de Mortimer, (2) John de Ferrers, and (3) John de Bures, who died at Bodington, December 22, 1350. The origin of this family was Bures near Bayeux, who owned an important castle there. Michel de Bures was, according to the Egerton manuscripts in the British Museum, the first of the name who came to England. He accompanied Duke William to the battle of Senlac, by whom he was given two manors in Somersetshire, one in Hertfordshire, mentioned in the Domesday survey. The two manors in Somersetshire are known as East Bower and West Bower, Bridgewater. Walter, his son, held a small manor near Calne in Wiltshire, to which he gave the name of Bures. Pierre de Bures was Viscount of Dieppe and Arques during the war of 1173-1174. The family prevailed in England, in the counties of Stafford, Somerset, Berks, Gloucester, and others, for several centuries (Ref: Crispin and Macary, pg. 66). John Bures and Hawise Musegros had a daughter, Catherine.

• 7. Catherine Bures married May 21, 1329, Giles de Beauchamp, of Beauchamp's Court, in Alcester, co. Warwick, third son of Walter de Beauchamp, who was a younger son of William de Beauchamp, Lord of Elmley. See Burke, pg. 34. He was the steward of the household of King Edward I. He inherited the lordship of Alcester, the manor-house of which, called Beauchamp's Court, he had license to fortify in the 14th year of King Edward III. with a wall of lime and stone, and to embattle it; and he obtained similar permission regarding his house at Fresh-Water, in the Isle of Wight, in the 16th year of the same reign, 1342-43. This Giles was succeeded by his son, John.

• 8. John de Beauchamp, of whom little is mentioned, was in an expedition against France in the 3rd year of Richard II. He married Elizabeth St. John, thought to be daughter of John St. John. They had two sons as follows:
  
  • 1. William de Beauchamp, his successor. See below.

  • 2. Walter de Beauchamp, from whom the Beauchamps, Barons of St. Amand, derived.
    

• 9. William de Beauchamp, of Powyck and Alcester, was sheriff of the shires of Worcester and Gloucester. He married before March 5, 1414 Catherine Ufflete, daughter and eventual co-heir of Gerard de Ufflete. He died before 1431 and was succeeded by his son, John.

• 10. John de Beauchamp, Knight, purchased from Thomas de Botreaux the other moiety of the manor of Alcester, which had continued in that family for divers descents. In the 17th year of King Henry VI, on May 2, 1447, he was elevated to the peerage, in consequence of the many good and acceptable services performed by him to that king, and to Henry V., his father, by the title of Lord Beauchamp, Baron of Powycke. He was also constituted Justice of South Wales, with power to exercise that office personally or by deputy; and before long in the 28th year of King Henry VI., was raised to the office of Lord Treasurer of England, and became a Knight of the Garter. He died in 1475. He married Margaret Ferrers. He was succeeded by his only son, Richard, then forty years of age.

• 11. Richard de Beauchamp, Knight of the Bath, 2nd Baron of Beauchamp and Powyck, was born in 1435. He married Elizabeth Stafford, daughter of Humphrey Stafford, Knight. They had the following daughters:
  
  • 1. Elizabeth Beauchamp, married Robert Willoughby, Lord Willoughby of Broke, and they had an only son, Edward, who predeceased his father, leaving by his wife, Elizabeth Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, Lord Latimer, three daughters of whom, the eldest, Elizabeth, alone left issue; which Elizabeth married Fulke Greville, 2nd son of Fulke Greville, of Milcote, co. Warwick, and from that union descended the extant Earls of Brooke and Warwick, the Barons Willoughby of Broke, etc.

  • 2. Anne Beauchamp. See below.

  • 3. Margaret Beauchamp, married Richard Rede, Esq., of Co. Gloucester.
    

    Richard de Beauchamp died in 1496, leaving no male heir, thus the Barony of Beauchamp expired, while the estates of the deceased lord devolved upon the above daughters as co-heiresses. Elizabeth, Lady Willoughby of Broke, having the manor of Alcester, and her sisters Powyke and the other lands in co. Worcester.

• 12. Anne Beauchamp married Richard Lygon, Esq., of Worcestershire and Arle Court, Gloucester, Sheriff of Worchester. From this marriage the present Earl Beauchamp derives. (See Burke's "Peerage and Baronetage.")
  

  See the continuation of this lineage in the Lygon Line of Volume II.

• 1. Thurstan, the Norman was the father of Ralph.

• 2. Ralph Basset I
  

  "Few families in the early annals of England can boast of a more eminent progenitor than the Bassets, and the descendants of few of the Anglo-Norman nobles attained a high degree of power than those of Ralph Basset, who was Justice of England under King Henry I. We find his son Ralph, in the reign of King Stephen, abounding in wealth, and erecting a strong castle upon some part of his inheritance in Normandy. Ralph Basset, the Justice of England, required none of the artificial aids of ancestry to attain distinction; he had within himself powers sufficient at any period to reach the goal of honor, but particularly in the rude age in which he lived. To his wisdom we are said to be indebted for many salutary laws, and among others for that of the frank pledge. Like all the great men of his day, he was a most liberal benefactor to the church."
  

  He died in 1120, leaving the following children:
  

  • 1. Thurstine Basset, who succeeded to the manor of Colston.

  • 2. Thomas Basset, ancestor of the Bassetts of Heddington, whom diverted the Wycombe Bassets.

  • 3. Richard Basset. See below. This Richard is called the eldest son by Dugdale and by others, the 2nd.

  • 4. Nicholas Basset, who sided with King Stephen against the Empress Maud; and his son forfeited all the estates to King Henry II.

  • 5. Gilbert Basset, of Little Rissington, co. Gloucester, ancestor of the Bassets of Little Rissington.
    

• 3. Richard Basset I, succeeded his father as Justice of England, which high office he filled in the latter part of King Henry I.'s reign, and through the whole of King Stephen's. In the 5th year of the latter monarch, he was sheriff of Surrey, Cambridge, and Huntingdonshire, with Aleric de Vere; and he served the same office for Essex, Hertford, Buckingham, Bedford, Norfolk, Suffolk, Northampton, and Leicestershire. He married Maud Ridel, only daughter and heiress of Geoffrey Ridel, Lord of Witheringe, by Geva, daughter of Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester (See above for the lineage of Hugh Lupus in the Abrincis Line), and they had the following children:
  
  • 1. Geoffrey de Ridel (Basset), who, from his mother, assumed the surname of "de Ridel." See below.

  • 2. Ralph Basset II., of Drayton, co. Stafford (a lordship bestowed upon his mother by the Earl of Chester).

  • 3. William Basset, of Sapcoate.
    

    He was succeeded by his eldest son, Geoffrey.

  • 4. Geoffrey de Ridel. This feudal lord married twice, and had issue by both wives.; by the first wife, ________, he had two sons, as follows:
    
    • 1. Geoffrey de Ridel, who obtained the principality of Blaye, in France, and is said to be Geoffrey "The Troubadour."

    • 2. Richard de Ridel. See below.
      

      By the 2nd wife, ________, Geoffrey had one son, Hugh.
      

      Geoffrey de Ridel was succeeded at his decease by his eldest surviving son, Richard.

  • 5. Richard Basset II, re-assuming his paternal surname, and seating himself at Welden, in Northamptonshire, became Richard Basset, of Welden, and was succeeded by his son, Ralph.

  • 6. Ralph Basset III, who, in the 2nd year of King Henry III., paid 30 marks for the fifteen knight's fees he then held, upon the levy of the first scuttage for the king. He died sometime before the year 1257, and was succeeded by his son, Ralph.

  • 7. Ralph Basset IV, who had livery of his lands, upon doing homage in the 42nd year of King Henry III. (1257-1258). He was succeeded by his son, Richard.

  • 8. Richard Basset III, who died in 1275, and was succeeded by his son, Ralph.

  • 9. Ralph Basset V, who died in 1294, and was succeeded by his son, Richard.

  • 10. Richard Basset IV was summoned to parliament, February 6, 1299, as Richardo Basset de Welden. In the 34th year of King Edward I., he was in the expedition made against the Scots, in the retinue of Almare de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, and being subsequently engaged in the same service, he was slain at the battle of Strevelyn in 1314. He was succeeded by his son (then in minority. whose wardship was granted to Richard de Grey), Ralph.

  • 11. Ralph Basset VI, 2nd baron, making proof of his age, had livery of his lands in the 15th year of King Edward II. (1321-1322). He was summoned by King Edward III, in first year of his reign, to New Castle cum equis et armis, but does not appear, by the existing enrollments, that he was summoned to parliament. He married Joane de la Pole, daughter of John de la Pole, citizen of London, and they had the following children:
    
    • 1. Ralph Basset VII., his successor, 3rd Baron, who, becoming a canon regular in the priority of Laund, was succeeded by his son, and heir, Ralph Basset VIII., doing his homage, had livery of all his father's lands, and dying in the 8th year of King Richard II., was succeeded by his son, Richard Basset V., who d.s.p. in the 10th year of the reign of King Henry IV, (1408-09), leaving his cousins, sons of Eleanor and Joane Basset, Sir John Aylesbury and John Knyvett, as heirs to his extensive estates.

    • 2. Eleanor Basset, married Sir John Knyvett, Lord Chancellor of England. From John Knyvett descended the Knyvetts, Buckenham, Norfolk, the Knyvetts, of Charlton, Wilts, the Knyvetts, of Escrick, co. York, the Knyvetts, of Plumstead, Norfolk (ancestors of Lord Berners), etc.

    • 3. Joane Basset, married Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Knight. See below.
      

  • 12. Joane Basset married Thomas Aylesbury, Knight, son of Sir John Aylesbury. The male line of Sir John Aylesbury failed with his son, Sir Thomas Aylesbury, who left two daughters, co-heiresses, as follows:
    
    • 1. Isabel Aylesbury, wife of Sir Thomas Chaworth, Knight

    • 2. Eleanor Aylesbury. See below.
      

  • 13. Eleanor Aylesbury, who married Humphrey Stafford, of Grafton.
    

    See the continuation of this lineage in the Stafford Line.

[Contents] [Next] [Previous] [Top] [Home] [Mail]