Katharine Basset

Katharine Basset
Katharine Basset
Born	c. 1522
Died	after 1558
Occupation	Courtier
Spouse	Sir Henry Ashley (m. 1547)
Children	Sir Henry Ashley
Parent(s)	Sir John Basset; Honor Grenville
Relatives	Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (stepfather); John Basset (brother); Anne Basset (sister); George Basset (brother); James Basset (brother);

Katharine Basset (c. 1522 – after 1558, occasionally misnamed "Elizabeth"^[1]) was an English gentlewoman who served at the court of King Henry VIII, namely in the household of Queen Anne of Cleves, and was briefly jailed for speaking against him. Three of her letters to her mother Honor Grenville survive in the Lisle Papers.^[2]

^ Byrne in her 1981 work the Lisle Letters, makes no mention of "Elizabeth Basset" as a daughter of Sir John Basset, and it is clear from her work that the correct name of this daughter is "Katharine" (Byrne's preferred spelling). The ultimate proof, apart from her mention in several of the Lisle Papers, (i.e. Byrne, vol.6, p.34, letter 1653 19 Feb.1540 from Anne Basset to her mother: "Madam, my sister Katharine...gone this day with my Lord of Rutland...to Belvoir") must be her holograph letter to her mother, from Belvoir Castle, seat of the Earl of Rutland, dated 24 July 1539, Byrne, vol.5, p.596, letter 1495, reproduced in facsimile on p.766, which is signed "Katryn bassitt"
^ Byrne, vol.1, p.87

[1] Byrne in her 1981 work the Lisle Letters, makes no mention of "Elizabeth Basset" as a daughter of Sir John Basset, and it is clear from her work that the correct name of this daughter is "Katharine" (Byrne's preferred spelling). The ultimate proof, apart from her mention in several of the Lisle Papers, (i.e. Byrne, vol.6, p.34, letter 1653 19 Feb.1540 from Anne Basset to her mother: "Madam, my sister Katharine...gone this day with my Lord of Rutland...to Belvoir") must be her holograph letter to her mother, from Belvoir Castle, seat of the Earl of Rutland, dated 24 July 1539, Byrne, vol.5, p.596, letter 1495, reproduced in facsimile on p.766, which is signed "Katryn bassitt"

[2] Byrne, vol.1, p.87

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