Biography of Bishop Fulk Basset 1189-1259

Paternal Family Tree: Basset

Around 1189 Fulk Basset was born to Alan Basset (age 34) and Aline Fitzrobert. He a great x 2 grandson of King Henry I "Beauclerc" England.

In 1223 Fulk Basset (age 34) was granted the church living of Howden, Yorkshire [Map].

In or before 1227 Fulk Basset (age 37) was provost of Beverley Minster [Map].

Around 1232 [his father] Alan Basset (age 77) died at Headington, Oxfordshire.

In or before 1239 Fulk Basset (age 49) was appointed Dean of York.

In 1241 Bishop Fulk Basset (age 52) was elected Bishop of London; an election confirmed by King Henry III of England (age 33) in January 1242.

All About History Books

The Chronicle of Geoffrey le Baker of Swinbroke. Baker was a secular clerk from Swinbroke, now Swinbrook, an Oxfordshire village two miles east of Burford. His Chronicle describes the events of the period 1303-1356: Gaveston, Bannockburn, Boroughbridge, the murder of King Edward II, the Scottish Wars, Sluys, Crécy, the Black Death, Winchelsea and Poitiers. To quote Herbert Bruce 'it possesses a vigorous and characteristic style, and its value for particular events between 1303 and 1356 has been recognised by its editor and by subsequent writers'. The book provides remarkable detail about the events it describes. Baker's text has been augmented with hundreds of notes, including extracts from other contemporary chronicles, such as the Annales Londonienses, Annales Paulini, Murimuth, Lanercost, Avesbury, Guisborough and Froissart to enrich the reader's understanding. The translation takes as its source the 'Chronicon Galfridi le Baker de Swynebroke' published in 1889, edited by Edward Maunde Thompson. Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback.

In 1244 Bishop Fulk Basset (age 55) was one of the escort of the King of Scotland for a meeting with King Henry III of England (age 36) at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

On 9th October 1244 Bishop Fulk Basset (age 55) was consecrated Bishop of London with King Henry III of England (age 37) making a sizeable contribution to his consecration feast. The delay in his consecration was due to a vacancy in the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury

                    Letters. 1258. Letter XIII. Matilda Prioress of the Convent of Barking to Henry III (age 50).
                
                    To her most excellent lord Henry, by God's grace illustrious king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and earl of Anjou, Matilda, humble prioress of Barking, and of the convent of the same place, wishes health, with due reverence and honour, and the suflFrages of her prayers.
                
                    Since the lady our mother, venerable for her religion, the lady Christina, late abbess of our house, did on the Monday next after the Feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, in the forty-third year of your reign, of her own good and spontaneous will, yield up the government of the said abbey, on account of the infirmity and debility of her body, and was absolved from it by our venerable father Foulk, bishop of London (age 69), we now, being destitute of the solace of an abbess, send to you our beloved sisters and fellow-nuns, Roesia de Argentes, Joanna de Wantham, and Agnes Costentin, humbly and de voutly supplicating that the bowels of your compassion may be moved towards us, and that the condescension of your mercy will grant us permission to elect some other as our abbess, so that henceforth you may receive from the highest retributor a worthy reward, and we may be henceforth obligated more specially to ofier up the merited suflfrages of our prayers for you and yours. Given at Barking [Map] the Tuesday after the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle, in the forty-third year of your reign.