Philippa Basset

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Philippa Basset , Countess of Warwick († before November 29, 1265 ) was an English noblewoman.

Origin and marriage to the Earl of Warwick

Philippa Basset came from the Anglo-Norman family Basset. She was the eldest of three daughters of Noble Thomas Basset , Lord of Headington. When her father died in 1220 with no male heirs, she and her two sisters became heir to his estates, which included Colyton and Whitford in Devon and Headington in Oxfordshire . Philippa received Headington from the inheritance. In 1205 her father had acquired the guardianship of the minor Henry de Beaumont , the heir of Waleran de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Warwick , for 500 marks . After his first wife Margery de Oilly died, he married Philippa before 1220. Marriage to the daughter of a little knight was not a good marriage for the Earl of Warwick, and when Beaumont died on October 10, 1229, Philippa was entitled to a third of her husband's possessions as a Wittum for life . This reduced the income and thus the power of the Earls of Warwick considerably, which led to quarrels with their stepson, Thomas de Beaumont, 6th Earl of Warwick , after he had come of age.

Marriage to Richard Siward

Philippa paid the king 100 marks to be able to decide on her next marriage herself, but on November 4, 1229 she married the knight Sir Richard Siward , probably at the urging of her cousin Gilbert Basset . Siward was a follower of William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke , and in 1233 he and Gilbert Basset supported the rebellion of Marshal's brother Richard Marshal . Siward went on a series of forays, and in January 1234 the Oxfordshire Sheriff confiscated Philippa's property in Headington for building materials for the Siward burned Beckley estate, owned by Richard of Cornwall . However, Philippa was given safe conduct to visit her husband in the Welsh Marches during the rebellion .

After the failure of the rebellion, Siward, who was considered a war hero, was pardoned by the king and accepted into his court. However, after her cousin Gilbert died in 1241, Philippa had her marriage to Siward annulled in 1242 , perhaps because the marriage had been forcibly entered into. She agreed with Siward that her movable property would be evenly divided, but the dispute arose mainly because of his debts. Finally she paid Siward £ 75 on September 19, 1242, with which she initially settled his debts.

Later life and death

Until her death, Philippa managed her possessions, which she also defended against claims by others in court. She remained unmarried after her second marriage was annulled and died shortly before November 29, 1265. She was buried in Bicester Priory in Oxfordshire, founded by her cousin Gilbert Basset.

Her marriage to Henry de Beaumont had been childless. From her marriage to Richard Siward, she presumably had a son, Richard, who grew up on Siward's estate in Scotland after Siward's death around 1248. Her wittum reverted to the Earl of Warwick after her death, Headington as well as her other possessions inherited John Bisset, the husband of her sister Alice, and their daughters.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ David Crouch: Siward, Sir Richard (d. 1248). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
personal data
SURNAME Basset, Philippa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Warwick, Philippa Basset Countess of
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English nobles
DATE OF BIRTH 12th century or 13th century
DATE OF DEATH before November 29, 1265