From Brette in Maine, or possibly short for Breton. Roger Brito, or Brette appears in Domesday, holding land under the Church at Long Sutton in Somersetshire, where the family was afterwards seated at Sandford-Bret. “By what means Sandford came into their possession does not appear; but in the time of Henry I. it was held by Simon Bret, of the honour of Dunster, by the service of half a knight’s fee. This Simon had two sons; Richard, who was called Brito, and was one of the persons principally concerned in the murder of Thomas à Beckett, and Edmund, who from this place had the surname of de Sandford.”—Collinson's Somerset. Richard le Bret and three other knights left Henry II.’s court in Normandy on the same errand in December 1170, crossed over to England, and put the Archbishop to death in his own cathedral church of Canterbury, believing they would find favour with the king by ridding him of his redoubtable adversary. (See Fitzurse.) Fitzurse and Tracy first struck down Beckett with their swords, and as he lay on his face, bleeding and helpless, Le Bret dispatched him with one terrific blow on the head, that fractured the skull and completely severed the scalp, “Great stress was laid on this, as having been the part of his body which had received the sacred oil.”—Dean Stanley. exclaiming (in allusion to a quarrel of Beckett with Prince William), “Take this for love of my lord William, brother of the King!” The sword snapped in two on the marble pavement; and the broken point, found lying where it fell, afterwards became an object of special devotion to the Canterbury pilgrims. It was presented to each in turn to be kissed, and was treasured up in a wooden chest placed on the altar of “The Martyrdom,” more commonly named from it Altare ad Punctum Ensis, or the “Sword’s Point.” Le Bret himself is said to have died in Palestine, where the Pope had sentenced him to do penance by fighting the Saracens. His daughter Maud and his grand-daughter Alice are mentioned as benefactors of Woodspring Priory (dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury by the grandson of another of his murderers) in the hope, expressed by Alice, “that the intercession of the glorious martyr might never be wanting to her and her children.”

None of the usual judgments believed to be consequent upon sacrilege appear to have fallen on the Brets. They were among the principal barons of Somerset at the time of the murder, and remained in peaceful possession of Sandford-Bret till 1360. “Walter Brito, in the reign of Henry II., had the manor of Whitestanton by the grant of the Crown, and was progenitor of a respectable family who possessed it till the beginning of the present century. Richard, son of Robert Bret of Whitestanton, was one of the translators of the Bible now used in our churches and private families; he was well versed in the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, and Æthiopian languages, and published several books of history, biography, and criticism. He died in 1637, and was buried at Quainton in Bucks, of which parish he was rector. - Collinson's Somerset.

The name appears in several other parts of the country; we find it in the thirteenth century in the chartulary of Brecknock Abbey: in 1309 Geffrey le Bret was one of the Barons of Ireland; and there were Le Brets in Cheshire up to the sixteenth century. The knight with the vermilion shield mentioned on the Roll of Carlaverock “Mais Euermenions de la Brette La banière eut toute rougecte:”

who was held in great consideration both by Edward I. and Edward II., and constantly employed in diplomatic affairs, is said to have been of Gascon origin.