Thomas Basin (1412–1491) was a French bishop of Lisieux and historian. Biography Basin was born at Caudebec in Normandy, but in the devastation caused by the Hundred Years' War, his childhood was itinerant. He was taken from Caudebec in 1415, and stayed in Rouen, Vernon, Falaise, Saint-James de Bouvron, Redon, and Nantes. It was on 25 October 1415 that the Battle of Agincourt took place, and there were few safe places in Normandy. Basin did not return to Caudebec until 1419, his stated object being his desire to see his parents again. Scholar In 1424 Basin went to the University of Paris, where he became a master of arts in 1429. He was admitted to the faculty of arts at Leuven on 31 December 1431, declaring his intention to study civil law. In 1433 Basin obtained a bursary at the College of St Augustine in Pavia, which had been founded by Cardinal Branda da Castiglione, a former bishop of Lisieux (1420–1424), who reserved a number of the twenty-four places for students from Normandy. He remained there until he obtained his licenciate in Civil Law. He then returned to Caudebec to visit his parents, and then took up residence in Louvain, from 1435 to 1437, where he obtained his licenciate in Canon Law. By September 1437 he was back in Italy, a Master of Arts and of Canon and Civil Laws, and is found at Bologna, where the Papal Curia and Pope Eugene IV were in residence. He was immediately given the expectation of the rectorship of the parish church of Saint-Germain-de-Carville (diocese of Rouen). This required ordination to the priesthood, but he requested a delay of five years; he was granted two. On 6 December 1437 he was also granted the privilege of holding more than one benefice at a time. Basin was compelled to return home to Normandy when he discovered that his parents had been forced to flee to Rouen to avoid the English, but he was back on the road to Italy in April 1438. The journey took nearly six months, since his itinerary, which was to include Holland and the Rhine valley, was disrupted by a storm that made him seek refuge in London, where he was ill for two months. When he finally arrived in Italy again, he could not move from Pavia to Ferrara for more than three months because of the plague. He