diff --git a/src/core/parseHTML.js b/src/core/parseHTML.js
index 30405363c..260fd3ca7 100644
--- a/src/core/parseHTML.js
+++ b/src/core/parseHTML.js
@@ -21,14 +21,28 @@ jQuery.parseHTML = function( data, context, keepScripts ) {
 		context = false;
 	}
 
-	// Stop scripts or inline event handlers from being executed immediately
-	// by using document.implementation
-	context = context || ( support.createHTMLDocument ?
-		document.implementation.createHTMLDocument( "" ) :
-		document );
+	var base, parsed, scripts;
 
-	var parsed = rsingleTag.exec( data ),
-		scripts = !keepScripts && [];
+	if ( !context ) {
+
+		// Stop scripts or inline event handlers from being executed immediately
+		// by using document.implementation
+		if ( support.createHTMLDocument ) {
+			context = document.implementation.createHTMLDocument( "" );
+
+			// Set the base href for the created document
+			// so any parsed elements with URLs
+			// are based on the document's URL (gh-2965)
+			base = context.createElement( "base" );
+			base.href = document.location.href;
+			context.head.appendChild( base );
+		} else {
+			context = document;
+		}
+	}
+
+	parsed = rsingleTag.exec( data );
+	scripts = !keepScripts && [];
 
 	// Single tag
 	if ( parsed ) {
diff --git a/test/unit/core.js b/test/unit/core.js
index 7f58f489a..5bf3ab1d1 100644
--- a/test/unit/core.js
+++ b/test/unit/core.js
@@ -1563,6 +1563,15 @@ QUnit.test( "jQuery.parseHTML", function( assert ) {
 	assert.ok( jQuery.parseHTML( "<#if><tr><p>This is a test.</p></tr><#/if>" ) || true, "Garbage input should not cause error" );
 } );
 
+QUnit.test( "jQuery.parseHTML(<a href>) - gh-2965", function( assert ) {
+	assert.expect( 1 );
+
+	var html = "<a href='test.html'></a>",
+		href = jQuery.parseHTML( html )[ 0 ].href;
+
+	assert.ok( /\/test\.html$/.test( href ), "href is not lost after parsing anchor" );
+} );
+
 if ( jQuery.support.createHTMLDocument ) {
 	QUnit.asyncTest( "jQuery.parseHTML", function( assert ) {
 		assert.expect( 1 );