William of Wykeham

“ Swithun with this ancient capital of Wessex, the genius loci is William of Wykeham, one of the most remarkable men the world has ever produced. The more we study his life and character the more we are amazed at the versatile nature of his splendid gifts. Born, like Wolsey, the only other clerical architect with whom he can be compared, of humble parents, in the sleepy little village of Wickham, in the autumn of 1324, he early attracted the attention of Sir John Scures, the lord of the manor of Wickham, and Constable of Winchester Castle. ”

“ In the certificate, made to the Archbishop of Canterbury, of the benefices of William of Wykeham, is the following entry:—“Item the aforesaid Sir William of Wykeham, at the time of the date of the aforesaid monition, by collation of our Lord, the illustrious King of England, the canonry and Prebend of Alnthle, (Alveley) in the aforesaid our Lord the King’s free Chapel of Bruggenorth.”—Lowth’s Life of Wykeham, p. 34. ”

“ The chancellor, William of Wykeham, bishop of Winchester, declared the king's need of supplies to enable him to prevent invasion. A petition from the monastic landowners was made the opportunity for an attack on the wealth of the church, which was, a certain lord said, like an owl dressed in the plumage of other birds, until a moment of peril came and each bird reclaimed its own feathers (Fasciculi Zizaniorum, Pref. p. xxi) . The attack was led by the Earl of Pembroke, who was betrothed to the king's daughter Margaret, and it probably, therefore, met with the king's approval. ”

“ Our Wykeham first appears in the public records in 1350 as keeper of the manor of Rochford, Hants, during the minority of the heir, William Botreaux.
On the 12th of October 1352 Henry Sturmy of Elvetham, sheriff and escheator of Hants, and frequently a justice in eyre for the forests of Hants and Wilts, at Winchester, describes William of Wykeham as “my clerk” in a power of attorney dated at Winchester, to deliver seisin of lands in Meonstoke Ferrand, Hants, which he had sold to William of Edyndon, bishop of Winchester (Win. Coll. Lib. H. 249) . ”

“ But, after all this virtuous remonstrance on the misdirection of William of Wykeham’s noble endowment, we must own that, of our Oxford acquaintance, none are more agreeable than those New College fellows of the old school, “who wore shocking bad hats and asked you to dinner.” Much better than the cold-blooded “monks without mass” who are fast superseding them, just as idle and more ill-natured. ”

“ They ought have been friends; but one was a high churchman, the other a low churchman.
William of Wykeham had been chancellor of{209} England and had resigned. In the next reign, that of Richard II., he was once more raised to that high office. In the meantime he had fallen out with John of Gaunt duke of Lancaster uncle of Richard, and that quarrel brought about an alliance between the duke and Wiclif. John was the fourth son of Edward III. and possessed the qualities of his race. ”

“ He would choose his own counsellors, and be a king indeed. Suiting the action to the word, he demanded the seals from Arundel, and handed them next day to the veteran William of Wykeham; Wykeham's old colleague Brantingham succeeded Bishop Gilbert of Hereford at the treasury; the judges substituted by the appellants for those banished to Ireland by the ‘Merciless Parliament’ were removed. But no attempt was made to recall the latter or the greater victims of 1388 who had found refuge abroad. Suffolk, Neville, and De Vere all died in exile. ”

“ He wore an ermine amice in chapel. He had his own palace apart. But the humblest member of the foundation had been as minutely provided for by Wykeham’s code. Above all, the scholar was not to be left to himself in his studies, but to the care of an appointed tutor. And in 1387 the new college proceeded to William of Wykeham’s quadrangle, with singing and pomp. It was the first home of scholars in Oxford, which was completely and specially fashioned for their use alone, to be
A place of friends! ”

“ From the records of the priory we learn a fact, which I believe has hitherto escaped notice, and which becomes highly interesting when we remember how ignorant we are of every thing connected with the family and parentage of William of Wykeham. His father, mother, and sister, were buried in the church of Suthwyk priory. ”

“ A large party was formed in England, especially amongst the greater barons, which was anxious to strip the clergy of their wealth and power, without any thought for the better fulfilment of their spiritual functions. In the Parliament of 1371 bishops were declared unfit to hold offices of state. Amongst others who (p. 260) were dismissed was William of Wykeham, the Bishop of Winchester. He was a great architect and administrator, and having been deprived of the Chancellorship used his wealth to found at Winchester the first great public school in England. ”

“ The manor of Herbelyn was held of the king in capite, on condition of finding a man armed with an haketon, hauberk, bacinet, iron gloves, and lance, to keep guard at the east gate of the castle of Portchester in time of war, for fifteen days.
William of Wykeham was consecrated bishop of Winchester October 10, 1367. His statutes for these chantries are dated October 3, 1369. The priory of Suthwyk was therefore, in all probability, the first place in his diocese which partook of the liberality of that munificent prelate. ”

“ Whether he did not betray his abilities early in life, or his masters had not skill enough to discover in their pupil any marks of genius for which he merited reward, or no vacancy at Oxford afforded them an opportunity to bestow upon him the reward provided for merit by William of Wykeham; certain it is, that to an Oxford fellowship our poet did not succeed. By chance, or by choice, New college cannot claim the honour of numbering among its fellows him who wrote the Night Thoughts. ”

“ At the same time, high as the pretensions of the clergy were, there can be no doubt that the clerical standard was lowered by the pestilence. Many benefices were suddenly vacated, and there were few to fill them. The ranks of the clergy must have been recruited with men of inferior education, and it was by them that the vacant cures were supplied. Some efforts were made to remedy the ignorance of those who should have been the teachers of the people. Islip’s foundation at Oxford has already been noticed; it was soon to be followed by the more magnificent foundations of William of Wykeham. ”

“ In 1834, her husband raised to the dignity of a Baroness, the lady who had declined to share with him whatever of higher or more equivocal honour he could have conferred, by marrying her. In that year, Miss Wykeham became, by the grateful memory and good taste of her old royal lover, Baroness Wenman of Thame Park, Oxon. This testimony of the memory of an old affection was an act to be honoured by a Queen, and to it that royal homage was freely tendered. Enquirers, on turning over the peerage books, may discover many honours conferred on women too ready to listen to the suit of a monarch ”

“ The Duke subsequently married a German princess, but he never ceased to esteem the heiress, whose presence made Brighton so happy nearly half a century ago. As soon as the Duke became William IV., King of England, he, with the glad sanction of Queen Adelaide, prevailed on the lady whom he had once sought to make his wife, to accept a peerage. Miss Wykeham took the title of Baroness Wenman, whereby she revived an old title in her family. Her grandfather had married the sister and heiress of the Viscount Wenman, in the Irish peerage. ”

“ Cathedral,—had a title to be called their "maker," with no king or subject to dispute his pretensions. He was one of the very few men who, having raised themselves by their abilities and integrity to riches and honour, worked not sordidly for themselves to heap up treasure, but nobly employed their wealth in works of the highest public utility. The life of such a man is for example. William De Wykeham, or Of Wykeham, was born at Wykeham or Wickham, in Hampshire, in the year 1324, and, as his biographer Bishop Lowth has shown, some time between the 7th of July and the 27th of September. ”

“ The late Bishop Milner, Vicar-Apostolical, in his History of Winchester, as also the anonymous author of an older history, have supposed that the Cloisters of Winchester College were not the work of Wykeham, and have assigned them to Fromond, the founder of the Chantry Chapel, which stands within them: they were probably misled by the terms of the commission issued to the bishop of Aghadoe, a copy of which is preserved in Wykeham's Register, and the original itself in the muniment room of the College. ”

“ P.C. i. 100) . On the 23rd of July 1400 he lent Henry IV. £500 for his journey towards Scotland, and in 1402 another £500, while a general loan for the war with France and Scotland on the 1st of April 1403 was headed by Wykeham with £1000, the bishop of Durham lending 1000 marks (£666, 13s. 4d.) , and no one else more than £500. Meanwhile on the 29th of September 1394 he had begun the recasting of the nave of the cathedral with William Wynford, the architect of the college, as chief mason, and Simon Membury, an old Wykehamist, as clerk of the works. ”

“ He pointed out the injustice with which the bishop had been treated by the government, and urged the clergy to make no grant to the crown until he had received his summons. His opposition was successful. Wykeham took his seat, and John of Gaunt, in whose interest the archbishop had acted, was foiled. The quarrel between the two parties was carried on by the prosecution of Wycliffe, who was allied with the duke in the attempt to bring humiliation on the churchmen. Courtenay virtually attacked Lancaster when he cited Wycliffe to appear before the archbishop at St. ”

“ Hoc fecit Wykeham were the words he inscribed, according to the legend, on the walls of the castle at Windsor; and it is equally true that he made it and that it made him, for so, to stop the mouths of his calumniators, he chose to translate the phrase. The King marked the admirable man of affairs; and rewarded him, according to custom, with innumerable benefices. Wykeham became the greatest pluralist of his age. He grew in favour at court, until soon “everything was done by him and nothing was done without him.” ”

“ Henry IV was forgiven a debt of five hundred pounds, and was to have a pair of silver-gilt basins, ornamented with double roses, which were probably given to Wykeham by Edward III, as a special mark of his favour. So we take leave of this master builder and munificent bishop, whose motto "Manners makyth man" is known the world over. The inscription on his tomb tells us of his works, but Wykeham needs no inscription so long as the stones of the Cathedral hold together, and his two fair colleges raise their buttressed walls beside the waters of the Isis and the Itchen. ”

“ In 1397, when the Duke of Gloucester was put to death, and several of those who had joined him in taking arms in 1386 were attainted for that treason, the Bishop of Winchester and others were, at the intercession of the Commons, declared by the king from the throne in parliament not to have been implicated [Pg 158] in what their fellow-commissioners had done. Wykeham was present in the parliament held 30th September, 1399, when Richard was deposed, and also in the first parliament of Henry IV., summoned a few days after ”

“ William was an infant when the civil war broke ont; and, while he was still in his rudiments, a Presbyterian hierarchy and a republican government were established on the ruins of the ancient church and throne. Old Mr. Wycherley was attached to the royal cause, and was not disposed to intrust the education of his heir to the solemn Puritans who now ruled the universities and public schools. Accordingly the young gentleman was sent at fifteen to France. He resided some time in the neighbourhood of the Duke of Montausier, chief of one of the noblest families of Touraine. ”

“ Ecclesiastical benefices were the chief means by which, before the Reformation, the civil servants of the crown were paid for services which, being clerical, were also ecclesiastical, and for which the settled stipends were wholly inadequate. In his accumulation of benefices Wykeham seems to have distanced all his predecessors and successors, except perhaps John Maunsell, the chancellor of Henry III., and Thomas Wolsey, the chancellor of Henry VIII., the latter being a pluralist not in canonries and livings but in bishoprics. ”

“ This King William that we speak about was a very wise man and very rich; more worshipped, and stronger than any of his foregangers were. He was mild to the good men that loved God, and beyond all metes stark to those who withsaid his will. On that same ground where God gave him that he should win England, he reared a noble minster and set monks there and well endowed it. ”

“ Now Wykeham, before he received his mitre, had been surveyor of works and architect at Windsor, and secretary to the King, in addition to holding sundry pieces of preferment in the Church. Wyclif, as a declared enemy to pluralists, and to ecclesiastics who grew wealthy by dividing the trust-funds of the Church, would have been inconsistent if he had not blamed Wykeham amongst the rest—or amongst the very first. ”

“ William was, as we have said, the centre of opposition to Louis, and that began to mean to Catholicism as well. Also, William had married a daughter of King James and had thus some claim to interfere in the family domains. And, most important of all, as chief ruler of Holland, William had an army at command. With a portion of that army he set sail late in 1688 and landed in England. Englishmen of all ranks flocked to join him. King James fled to France, and a Parliament, hastily assembled in 1689, declared him no longer king and placed William and his wife Mary on the throne as joint rulers. ”