See also
| Husband: | Manasser + * BISET (1136-1177) | |
| Wife: | Alice + * of CANY (1136- ) | |
| Children: | Henry +* BISET (1150-1213) | |
| Margaret BISET (1158- ) | ||
| Marriage | 1148 | England |
| Name: | Manasser + * BISET | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | William * + BISET (1116- ) | |
| Mother: | Hawise * + (1118- ) | |
| Birth | 1136 | Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England |
| Occupation | Lord of Kidderminster | |
| Title | Lord of Kidderminster | |
| Death | 1177 (age 40-41) | |
| Name: | Alice + * of CANY | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 1136 | Cany, Seine-Interieure, Normandy, France |
| Name: | Henry +* BISET | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Spouse 1: | Aubrey + * FITZRICHARD (1157-1199) | |
| Spouse 2: | Iseult PANTULF (1160-1222) | |
| Birth | 1150 | Castle Belvoir, Leicestershire, England |
| Occupation | Lord Biset | |
| Title | Lord | |
| Death | 11 Dec 1213 (age 62-63) | Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England |
| Name: | Margaret BISET | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Birth | 1158 | |
steward to Henry II by 1153, d. 1177, had lands in Notts. [but this land he gave to his brother William, ending his interests there], Worcs., ,Wilts., and Hants. [but no evidence of Yorkshire lands], and Gloucs. By his wife, Alice, sister of Gilbert de Falaise, he also had a son and heir named Henry Biset, who died in 1208. This Henry definitely married Isolde, but she might be a second wife, rather than mother of his heir. I know of no specific evidence or rationale to claim that this Henry, who was seated at Kidderminster, Worcester, married a Yorkshire girl. No Yorkshire lands are evidenced in this branch of the family or their descendants.
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Manasser Biset, steward of Henry II, was a landowner in five counties in 1158-9, (fn. 1) and his main interests lay in Hampshire and Wiltshire and at Kidderminster (Worcs.). Before 1164 he founded a hospital for leper women a mile north of the village of Bradley in south-west Wiltshire, and gave to it the manor of Bradley, which had been brought to him by his wife, Alice. (fn. 2) He added the reversions of the churches of Rockbourne (Hants) and Kidderminster. (fn. 3) Walter son of Osmund granted a mill to the lepers of Bradley before 1166, in a deed witnessed amongst others by Adam, Manasser's clerk. (fn. 4) Henry II confirmed Manasser's gifts in at least three charters, probably before 1164 and in 1169 and 1170, and granted freedom from forest fines and assarts. (fn. 5) Roger of Gloucester, Bishop of Worcester (116479), Richard of Dover, Archbishop of Canterbury (1174-84), and Manasser's son, Henry Biset, also confirmed the grants. (fn. 6) The parish church of Bradley had earlier been granted to Nutley Abbey (Bucks.), (fn. 7) and before Manasser's death, which occurred about 1176, (fn. 8) a chapel was dedicated at Bradley for the hospital, without prejudice to the rights of Nutley Abbey in the parish church. (fn. 9) Rivalry between the two churches led to disputes between Nutley and Bradley: the Dean of Wylye was ordered to intervene in 1274, (fn. 10) and the dispute was still unsettled in 1483. (fn. 11) The church of Rockbourne was released to the canons of Breamore (Hants) about 1188 for a rent of £5 a year; (fn. 12) but that of Kidderminster was appropriated to Maiden Bradley, probably by Henry de Soilli, Bishop of Worcester (1193-5). (fn. 13)
Manasser's son, Henry Biset, succeeded him as patron of the hospital. He gave to it land worth 10s. a year and a rent of £5 at Burgate, in Fordingbridge (Hants). (fn. 14) His sister Margaret built herself a house in the court of the hospital; gave to it services and rents in Wishford and Burton in Mere, a rent of 6s. 6d. in Kidderminster, and a piece of land called 'Wulsiscroft' in Bradley; and obtained for it a grant from Henry III of freedom to collect wood in the forest of Selwood, and of £3 6s. 8d. out of the farm of Brampton in Devon. (fn. 15) John Biset, grandson of Henry and justice of the forests, died in 1241 leaving three daughters, and was buried at Bradley. (fn. 16) With John, his widow, and successors, the hospital contended for the advowson of Kidderminster church, which it finally secured in 1336. (fn. 17)
A series of gifts from other benefactors can be traced, in many cases, to the Biset influence. William Marshal, the elder, Earl of Pembroke, who died in 1219, released to the poor women of Bradley 2 knights' fees which Manasser and Henry Biset owed to him, reserving a yearly payment of £1. (fn. 18) William Longespée, in his will dated 1225, left the house of Bradley 100 ewes and 10 cows. (fn. 19) Roger le Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk, grandson of Pembroke and ward of Salisbury, granted common of pasture in Marston Bigott Wood in Nunney (Som.). (fn. 20) In and before 1226-7 Sir Ralph de Auxeville gave the Worcestershire manors of Comberton and Oldington in Kidderminster, with the tenants and their issue, for the souls of his lord, Henry Biset, and others, and partly in consideration of the payment of his ransom of £66 13s. 4d. 1,2
| 1 | "Cirencester Cartulary". |
| 2 | "http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36540". |