Mary Basset's dedicatory epistle to Mary I of England in her translation of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History
Mary's education was praised by scholars Roger Ascham and Nicholas Harpsfield, and she presented Mary I with a copy of five books of Eusebius's “Ecclesiastical History” which she had translated from Greek into English.
Mary, born in around 1523, was the daughter of Sir Thomas More’s beloved daughter, Margaret, or Meg, who married William Roper. More, being a humanist, had provided an excellent education for his daughter and Meg did the same with Mary, making sure that she learnt Greek and Latin.
Mary was married twice, first to Stephen Clarke, and then to courtier James Basset, who served Bishop Stephen Gardiner as secretary. In their two-year marriage, Mary had two sons, Philip and Charles.
The staunchly Catholic Mary served Queen Mary I as a gentlewoman of the privy chamber.
As well as her translation of Eusebius’s work, Mary translated her grandfather’s Latin “History of the Passion”, which was praised by Nicholas Harpsfield, and Harpsfield also mentioned further works that Mary had chosen to suppress out of modesty.
She died on 20th March 1572 at around the age of 49, leaving her grandfather Sir Thomas More’s gold cross to her eldest son, Philip, along with a gold ruby ring that his namesake, King Philip, had given Mary.
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