THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 373 . 41 . W7Zk ■N ANNALS OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE T. F. KIRBY t 0;cfor5 HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY ANNALS OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE jFrom Its jfoun&atlon In tbe sear 1382 to tbe present tllme WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE CHARTER OF FOUNDATION, WVKEHAM^S STATUTES OF 1400 , AND OTHER DOCUMENTS AND AN INDEX BY T. F. KIRBY, M.A., F.S.A. Bursar of Winchester College Formerly Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge PUBLISHED UNDER THE SANCTION OF THE WARDEN AND FELLOWS LONDON : HENRY FROWDE WINCHESTER; P. AND G. WELLS Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/detaiis/annalsofwinchest00kirb_0 ^ Ws ».c -30 ^§*50 Ziz.^x N\|7ix^ PREFACE This compilation is a result of the unrestricted access which the compiler has enjoyed to the muniment room of the College for some years past. The work is mainly of an antiquarian nature, and was intended to stop at the death of Warden Barter in i86t ; but it is thought con- venient to add a few pages, containing a summary of the principal changes introduced by the ordinances of the Oxford University Commissioners and by the Statutes of the Governing Body. There is also a Table of Dates, a list of Headmasters, and an Appendix, containing the Charter of Foundation and some other documents referred to in the body of the work, and the Statutes of the Founder, now no longer in force. The compiler’s thanks are gratefully tendered to the Rev. Dr. Sewell, Warden of New College, and to the Rev. Professor Bartholomew Price, F.R.S., for perusing the proof-sheets, and for many valuable hints and corrections during the period preceding publication. T. F. K. Winchester, Dec. 3, 1891. + as 726762 ERRATA Page 1 8, line 9 from top,/o;' es read est ,, 34, lines 7, 8 „ omit and dice „ 48, line 4 „ for 1780 read 1770 „ 65, ,, I „ publication read promulgation ,, no, lines 9, 12 „ for ‘ Extrane ’ ‘ Extranei ’ j, 280, line 4 from bottom, /or Nicholas read Nichols CONTENTS CHAP. page I. The Foundation I II. The Site 7 III. The Endowment 14 IV. The Fabric 28 V. The Statutes 65 VI. The Founder’s Kin ..... 93 VII. The Commoners 109 VIII. Warden Morys (1393-1413) 137 IX. John Fromond 163 X. Cardinal Beaufort ..... 171 XI. Warden Thurbern (1413-50) 183 XII. Wayneflete 198 XIII. Wardens Chaundler and Baker (1450-87) 209 XIV. Wardens Cleve, Rede, Barnake, and More (1487-: 1541) • 224 XV. Warden White (1541-54) .... 246 XVI. Wardens Boxall and Stempe (1554-82) . 279 XVII. Warden Bilson (1582-96) .... 291 XVIII. Warden Harmar (1596-1613) 298 XIX. Warden Love (1613-30) .... 308 XX. Warden Harris (1630-58) .... 316 XXI. Warden Burt (1658-79) .... 348 XXII. Warden Nicholas (1679-1711) . 363 XXIII. Wardens Brathwaite, Cobb, Dobson, AND Bigg (1711-57) 385 XXIV. Wardens Golding and Lee (1757-89) 397 XXV. Warden Huntingford (1789-1832). . 416 XXVI. Warden Barter (1832-61). The Governing Body 426 APPENDICES I. Roger de le Chambre’s commission . 435 II. Papal license to found the College 436 III. Royal license to found the College 439 viii Contents. CHAP. PAGE IV. Founder’s Charter 440 V. Prior and Convent of St. Swithun to Wykeham . . 444 VI. Thomas Tanner to same 445 VII. Thomas Lavyngton to same 446 VIII. Indenture between Prior and Convent of St. Swithun AND Wykeham 447 IX. License to acquire possessions of alien priories . . 450 X. Charter of Privileges 452 XI. The Statutes . . ■ . 455 XII. Warden Traffles’ Diary 523 XIII. Bishop Cooper’s order limiting the number of Founder’s KIN 526 XIV. Bishop of Achonry’s commission to consecrate the Chapel, Altars and Graveyard 530 XV. Case of the Sub-Warden and Bursars of Winchester College concerning the allowance made by them TO THE Warden pro viciuahbus for the year 1710 531 Index 539 TABLE OF DATES 1324. Birth of William of Wykeham. 1367. Oct. lo. He is consecrated Bishop of Winchester. 1368-9. Jan. 3. First allusion to ‘ our scholars.’ 1373 - Sept. I. Engagement of schoolmaster. 1378. June I. Bull of Urban VI. 1380. May 9 Papal license to found a College. 1381. » 30. Appropriation of Downton Rector}’’. 1382. Oct. 10-13. Purchase of site. ,, ,, 20. Charter of Foundation. 1386. Mar. 26. First stone laid. 1389. June 19. License to acquire possession of alien priories. 1393 - Mar. 28. Opening day. 1395- Sept. 28. Charter of Privileges. „ Dec. 13. Altars, &c., consecrated. 1395-6. Jan. First allusion to commoners. 1397 - Nov. 26. Fellows admitted. 1400. Sept. II. Statutes published. 1404. „ 27. Death of Wykeham. 1437- Aug. 26. Fromond’s chantry consecrated. 1440. July 29, First visit of Henry VI. 1443- Wayneflete removed to Eton. 1470. Reredos erected. 1474-80. Thurbern’s chantry and tower built. 1544- April 18. Purchase of site of St. Elizabeth’s College. „ July II. Exchange with Henry VIII. Scholars at Moundsmere. 1548. Altar demolished and rebuilt. 1551- Altar demolished again. First communion table. 1553 Altar rebuilt. 1562. Altar demolished. 1572. Rood loft taken down and pulpit erected. 1603. Nov. 14. Sir Walter Raleigh’s trial. Scholars at Silkstead. X Table of Dates. 1636. 1639. • 1649. 1662. 1666. . 1683-87. 1687-92. 1727. . 1750. 1778. 1834- 1839-42. 1857. . 1860. 1861. 1871. April 22 1873. . Second communion table and rails. Choir screen. Choir wainscoted. Parliamentary Visitation. Altar rebuilt. The Plague. Scholars at Crawley. ‘ Sehool ’ built. Antechapel wainscoted, ‘ Superannuates’ Fund ’ established, ‘Commoners’ founded. Visit of George III. School Library founded. New Commoners built. Statutes of University Commissioners. First Boarding House. Death of Warden Barter. New Governing Body of Winchester School established. Statutes made by Governing Body. HEADMASTERS OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE A.D. John Milton or Melton ^ . • 1393 Thomas Romesye • 1393 John Pole ....... . 1407 Thomas Romesye (again) .... . 1414 Richard D’Arcey . 1418 Thomas Alwyn or Wallwyn . 1424 William Waynflete^ . 1429 Thomas Alwyn (again) . 1442 William Ive, D.D. ..... . 1444 John Barnarde • 1454 John Grene ....... • 1459 Clement Smyth, M.A. ^ .... . 1464 Richard Dene, M.A . . 1466 John Rede, B.D. . 1484 Robert Fescam, M.A . 1490 William Horeman, M.A. ® . . . . . 1494 William Farlyngton or Darlington, M.A. . 1502 Edward More, B.D. ® . 1508 Thomas Erlisman'^ • 1517 John Twychener, M.A. .... . 1526 Richard Twychener, M.A • 1531 ^ Retired at Michaelmas, 1393. ^ Headmaster of Eton, 1442 ; Provost, 1443 ; Bishop of Winchester, 1447. ® Headmaster of Eton, 1453. * Warden of Winchester College, 1501. ® Headmaster of Eton, 1485; Fellow of Eton, 1502. ® Warden of Winchester College, 1526. ’’ Headmaster of Eton. xii _ Headmasters of Winchester College. John White, D.D. ^ 1537 Thomas Baylie, B.A 1542 William Evered, M.A 1546 Thomas Hyde, M.A. ^ 1552 Christopher Jonson, M.D.^ 1560 Thomas Bilson, D.D. ^ 1571 Hugh Lloyd or Floyd, D.C.L 1580 John Harmar, D.D.® 1588 Benjamin Heydon, D.D. 1596 Nicholas Love, D.D.® 1601 Hugh Robinson, D.D 1613 Edward Stanley, D.D. 1627 John Potenger, D.D. 1642 William Burt, D.D."^ 1654 Henry Beeston, D.C.L. ® ..... . 1658 William Harris, D.D.® 1679 Thomas Cheyney, D.D. . . . . . . 1700 John Burton, D.D 1724 Joseph Warton, D.D. 1766 William Stanley Goddard, D.D.^® . . . . 1793 Henry Dison Gabell, D.D. . . . . . . 1809 David Williams, D.C.L. 1823 George Moberly, D.C.L. ^^ . . . . . . 1836 George Ridding, D.D. . . . ' . . . 1866 William Andrewes Fearon, D.D. .... 1884 ^ Warden of Winchester College, 1542 ; Bishop of Lincoln, 1554 ; of Win- chester, 1556. ^ Prebendary of Winchester, 1556 ; retired to Louvain, 1558. ® Physician in London, 1571. * Warden of Winchester College, 1580; Bishop of Worcester, 1596; of Winchester, 1597. ® Warden of Winchester College, 1596. ® Warden of Winchester College, 1613. Warden of Winchester College, 1658. ® Warden of New College, 1679. ® Prebendary of Winchester. Canon of Wells. Prebendary of St. Paul’s and Winchester. ** Prebendary of St. Paul’s and Salisbury. Warden of New College, 1840. Bishop of Salisbury. Bishop of Southwell. Honorary Canon of Winchester. ANNALS OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE. I. The Foundation. Its origin and objects. — First Schoolmaster. — Bull of Urban VI. — Royal license to found a College. — Charter of Foundation. — Warden Cranlegh. — Bulls of Pope Boniface IX. — Western Schism. Wykeham seems to have begun his great work of providing free education for the sons of people who could not afford to pay for it, as a means of supplying the exhausted ranks of an edu- cated clergy, very soon after he became Bishop of Winchester. For in a commission dated January 3, 1368-9, for facilitating the provision of holy water for the use of poor scholars, quoted by Moberly from Wykeham’s Register (III. 16), Wykeham mentions his own scholars (nostri scolares), an expression which cannot possibly refer to the boys of the ancient cathedral school, which, if it still existed, which is doubtful, belonged to the Priory of St. Swithun, and not to the See of Winchester. And in a petition which he addressed to Pope Urban VI for leave to found a college, he seems to have relied on the fact that he had been maintaining a number of poor scholars at his own expense for several years as a reason why his prayer should be granted By the autumn of the year 1373, Wyke- ham’s own school was so far established as to warrant the en- gaging of a permanent master. Wykeham’s choice fell on ^ In the Bull granting leave to found the college, Urban VI says that Wykeham ‘ ut asserit, scolaribus in gramatica in eadem civitate studentibus pluribus annis vitae necessaria ministravit.’ % _ Annals oj Winchester College. Richard Herton, a grammaticus, or teacher by profession. Herton was engaged for the term of ten years from Michael- mas, 1373, to teach grammar, that is to say, the rudiments of Latin, to any poor boys whom Wykeham had in his school then, or might have in it during the term. Herton was to take none but these. If he fell sick, or went on a pilgrimage to Rome (which he was at liberty to do once during the ten years), he was to provide a substitute. Wykeham on his part agreed to provide at his own expense a competent assistant master. I quote the contract from Wykeham’s Register. It is unfortu- nately silent upon two points on which we should like a little information — the extent of the holidays, if any, and Herton’s stipend h We hear no more of Herton, and cannot tell how the school throve under him, or whether it was kept open during the period of Wykeham’s political disgrace in 1376-7 I imagine ^ In Dei nomine amen. Anno ab Incarnacione domini secundum cursum et computacionem Ecclesie Anglicane millesimo trecentesimo septuagesimo tercio, indiccione undecima, mensis Septembris die prima, pontificatus sanctissimi in Christo patris et domini nostri Gregorii divina providencia Pape undecimi anno tercio, constitutus personaliter coram reverendo patre domino Willelmo Dei Gracia Wynton. Episcopo in aula manerii sui de Merewell Wynton. Dioceseos in mei notarii publici et testium subscriptorum presencia venerabilis et discretus vir magister Ricardus de Herton gramaticus certam convencionem cum eodem Domino Wynton. Episcopo fecit iniit et firmavit pro hac forma, videlicet, quod idem Ricardus per decern annos incipiendos in festo St. Michaelis proxime future instruet et informabit sub hac forma pauperes scolares quos dictus dominus Episcopus suis sumptibus exhibet et exhibebit fideliter et diligenter in arte gramatica, et nullos alios sine licencia dicti patris ad doctrinam huiusmodi recipiet per tempus predictum : excepit tamen tempus infirmitatis sue et tern- pus quo curiam romanam semel visitabit suis propriis sumptibus, et per idem tempus alium virum sufficientem et ydoneum pro doctrina dictorum scolarium substituet loco suo. Ad hec convenit cum dicto patre quod idem pater inveniet et exhibebit sibi unum alium virum ydoneum qui eum poterit adjuvare in labore discipline scolarium predictorum. Hec promisit firmiter idem magister Ricardus cum omni diligencia perficere et implere ; et super firmitate illius convencionis tenende et servande idem Magister Ricardus per manum suam dextram in manu dextra dicti patris expresse posuit et dedit fidem suafm ad premissa omnia perficienda in forma supradicta. Acta sunt hec anno indiccione mense die pontificatu et loco prenotatis presentibus discretis viris magistris Johanne de Bukyngham canonico Ebor. et dominis Joh. de Cam- peden Canonico Ecclesie Suthwellensis Ebor. dioces. et Henrico de Thorp ac Johanne de Keleseye, notariis publicis, testibus ad premissa rogatis specialiter et vocatis. Reg. III. a 98. * Probably not, for we know from the chronicles that his school at Oxford The Foundation. 3 that Wykeham’s application to the Pope was made as soon as he was restored to favour at Court. The Bull granting it bore date June i, 1378. It reached Wykeham when he was intent i on his design for New College, and was put aside until the first stone was laid there h He then ^ placed the Bull in the hands of Roger de le Chambre, a confidential body-servant^, with in- structions to deliver it forthwith to the Bishop of Rochester, Thomas de Brinton, who was named the Pope’s delegate for the special purpose of granting the license. Away went Roger d^ le Chambre from Southwark, where Wykeham was at the time, along the road traversed by the Canterbury pilgrims, and crossing the Straits, found the Bishop at Guisnes, and obtained the license on May 9, 1380 ^ The next step was to obtain the concession from Richard II. Having, we may be sure, obtained a promise of this, Wykeham saw no great occasion to move further in the matter, until he had secured the site on which he meant to build. The royal license to found the college bears date October 6, 1382. It empowers Wykeham to acquire the site and build a hall or college to the honour and glory of God and Our Lady; to settle in it a warden and seventy scholars, who should study grammar within its walls ; to grant them a charter ; to vest the site in them and their successors ; and endow them with the rectory of Downton in Wiltshire, the Statute of Mortmain notwithstand- ing Within a fortnight after the date of this license, Wyke- ham completed the purchase of the site, and published the Charter of Foundation, dated October 20, 1382®. In an eloquent preamble Wykeham affirms his belief in the import- ance of free education in Latin to the sons of poor people ; a knowledge of Latin being (he says) the janua et origo omnium liheralium artium^ which many poor students have failed to reach solely from lack of means. He then founds the College, nomi- nating Thomas de Cranle^ first warden, admitting seventy was closed during that period, and the scholars sent home. Introd. Chron. Angl. App. B, p, lii, quoted by Moberly, p. 137. ^ March 5, 1379-80. ^ May 6, 1380. ® Appendix I. ^ Appendix II. 5 Appendix III. ® Appendix IV. Or Cranlegh, a Fellow of New College. He resigned in 1389, and John Westcote succeeded him. Cranlegh became Warden of New College in 1397, and Archbishop of Dublin in the following year. Henry IV made him Chan- cellor, and Henry V made him Chief Justice of Ireland. Returning home in B 2 4 Annals of Winchester College. scholars and incorporating the warden and them by the name of ^Seinte Marie College of Wynchestre V with a common seal, to live together in collegiate fashion (collegialiter), obeying the statutes and holding the site in frankalmoign ® of Wykeham and his successors in the See of Winchester. This completed the work of foundation. With the object of strengthening the position of the College and benefiting its members, Wykeham obtained twelve Bulls from Boniface IX, who succeeded Urban VI in 1389: — I. A Bull enabling the Warden to hold a benefice with cure of souls in addition to the Wardenship. Urban VI had granted the same privilege to the Warden of New College. II. A Bull enabling the Warden and scholars to let their lands on lease. III. A Bull granting the right of free sepulture within the College. Boniface IX had granted the same right to New College. IV. A Bull enabling the Warden to exchange one benefice for another. V. A Bull allowing the Warden and scholars to have masses performed cum notd et alia voce, and the sacraments administered within the precincts of the College. VI. A Bull declaring that all oblations, legacies, &c., given to the Warden and scholars do and shall de jure belong to them and not to the diocesan. ill-health, he died at Faringdon in 1417, and was buried in New College Chapel. ^ Whose names, he says, are recorded in the archives of the College, where alas, they are not now to be found. The existing register commences with the names of the seventy scholars whom Wykeham admitted on the morning of the opening day in 1393. ^ ‘ The warden and scholars-clerks of St. Mary College of Winchester near Winchester’ is the present corporate name, the words ‘near Winchester’ being added to distinguish Winchester College from the other St. Mary College of Winchester in Oxford, which is more commonly called New College now, just as Winchester College was called down to the middle of the last century. The real corporate name was of importance ; for an error in it might lead to serious consequences. In i Eliz. a lease by Eton College was held to be void by all the judges for no other reason than that a puritanical generation had purposely omitted the words ‘ beatae Mariae ’ from the corporate name of the college. See Eaton College Case, Dyer, Rep. 150 a. ^ Or free alms, the tenure by which the Church holds most of its lands. The Foundation. 5 VII. A Bull enabling the Warden and scholars to retain all oblations and burial fees made and received within the precincts of the College. VIII. A Bull empowering the Warden and scholars to have a belfry and bells. IX. A Bull declaring that the chapel and graveyard of the College may be purified or ^reconciled’ from any manner of canonical defilement by any clerk in holy orders without the intervention of the diocesan, provided that the holy water has been blessed by him or some other bishop. X. A Bull granting one hundred days relaxation of penances and an indulgence and remission of forty years to all who should visit the chapel or lend helping hands (manus ad fabricam et eius consecracionem porrexerint adjutrices) to the completion and maintenance of the fabric. XI. A Bull permitting the Warden and members of the foundation to receive holy orders at the hands of any bishop. XII. A Bull granting to the College in view of its object, the advancement of learning and religion, all manors, advowsons, lands and tenements in England belonging to the monasteries of Tiron and Mont St. Katherine near Rouen, the whole ex- ceeding the yearly value of three hundred marks (£200 per annum), with a proviso that compensation should be given if and whenever the monasteries should return to their alle- giance. The great Western schism was raging at the time. There was a pope (Boniface IX) at Rome, and another (Clement VII) at Avignon. Richard II sided with him of Romeh The French religious houses, as a rule, sided with him of Avignon. It was to punish these Frenchmen for siding with one whom Boniface IX unamiably calls in this Bull ‘ Robertus Basilice XII apostolorum presbyter cardinalis, iniquitatis alumpnus,’ as well as to confer a benefit on Wykeham’s foundation, that Boniface IX issued this Bull. Wykeham accepted it ; but paid the price asked for the estates of the monasteries notwithstand- ing^. In grateful remembrance, no doubt, of the fact that they ^ Cf. Stat. 2 Ric. II, i, 7, declaring that Urban VI was duly chosen Pope and ought to be accepted and obeyed as such. ^ See Chapter III. 6 Annals of Winchester College. owed the acquisition of the property of these monasteries to the Western schism, the Society made a subscription in the year 1478 to a fund which was being then raised with the object of promoting the union of the churches of England and France : — ^In allocat. bursariis de debito Joh. Okeborne xx® solut. per eosdem ad subsidium cleri existentis ultra mare pro unione ec- clesie facienda/ is the entry in the computus of that year. These Bulls are no longer to be found in the muniment room, where they seem to have been at the time when Charles Black- stone compiled his MS. Book of Benefactions rather more than a century ago. Copies of the first and third Bull, and of nine others granted to New College by Urban VI and Boniface IX, are still preserved there. CHAPTER II. The Site. Why chosen. — Its extent. — Boundaries. — The Prior’s Garret. — The Sustern Spital. — The Lockburn. — Former owners of the site. — The litigious tailor. — Provision against incumbrances. — Contract with the monks of St. Swithun. The site was wisely chosen in the Soke or suburb of Win- chester, without the jurisdiction of the Mayor and Corporation \ within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester, as lord of the Soke Liberty, and not more than a bowshot from Wolvesey Castle, one of Wykeham’s numerous residences. The original site contains nearly five acres. The site of New College, within the ancient walls of Oxford which bound its north and east sides, contains upwards of six acres. The greater part of the site of Winchester College was bought of the monks of St. Swithun, the great Benedictine Priory environing the Cathedral Church of Winchester. From the monks of this convent Wykeham acquired a messuage, an acre and a half of garden ground (terrae), and a meadow of three acres, which was divided at the time by a fence running east and west into two paddocks or closes, known as Dumeres mede and Oter- bornes mede, after Dummer and Otterborne, their occupiers at some former period. The purchase deed or feoffment which is dated October lo, 1382, describes this portion of the site as bounded by the precinct of the Sustrene Spitele or Sustern Spital on the west, the garden and closes of the Carmelite Friars inhabiting King’s Gate Street on the south, and the ^ Priores garet ’ and monks’ private way to Priors Barton on the east. The highway from the King’s Gate to Wolvesey bounded it on the north, but the fact is not stated in the feoff- ^ Thus escaping the octroi levied on goods entering the city gates. ^ Appendix V. 8 Annals of Winchester College. ment, probably because it was a matter of notoriety. The Sustern Spital, or Sisters’ Hospital, an ancient foundation of Sisters of Mercy dependent on the Priory of St. Swithun, stood where Commoners now stands. The division between it and the western boundary of the land which Wykeham acquired from the monks was (and still is) marked by a drain or sewer, then open, now covered, called the Lockburn This historic stream issues from the close under the house occupied by the subwarden, Mr. Gilbert Heathcote, crosses College Street, runs under the old slaughter-house at the western end of the brew- house, and so southwards past the principal buildings of Chamber Court, ultimately joining the river which it left some way above the city^. The convent of Carmelite Friars stood on the site of Sick- house. Its garden and closes form Sickhouse mead and the southern portion of Meads ; and its graveyard lay where the racquet court and gymnasium stand now. The Prior’s Garret — le Garite it is sometimes called — was at the north-eastern corner of the site, at the foot of the bridge in College Street. It seems to have been a loft^ over a doorway in a structure of some kind ^ Vulgarly ‘ Logpond.’ The word occurs in the Bursars’ books, e. g. ' pro purgando ly lokborne ’ as early as the year 1584. ‘ Le Logborne’ occurs in the accounts of 1649. ‘ Lock’ is ‘ lake/ a running stream. Locally, ‘ Lady Lake ’ is the name of a stream in the confines of Wolvesey. The little streams which remain at low tide in Portsmouth harbour are called ‘ lakes.’ Lacus is the word used in the computus rolls. The ‘ lacus exterior/ the open ditch along the north side of College Street, was dug in 1495 for the purpose of flushing the Lockburn. ‘ Sol. H. Zilforde et Robto. Awdley laborant. in rammyng in le flodegate in lacu exteriori per ij dies, xij,. £ s. d. I 10 o 006 o 12 o 338 880 076 O 12 8 080 330 610 250 0 2 0 £‘ 2 ^ 13 4 ^ The Society ceased to kill their own meat in 1697. ^ No doubt from the foundations of some monastic building. There is a tradition that the lion’s head in the wall came from St. Elizabeth’s College. The Fabric. 35 The clump of pollard limes in front of the screen is called * Paradise,’ possibly from a fancied resemblance to the fore- court of the Roman Basilica, which bears that name. The en- trance to the inner or Chamber Court is by the archway under Middle Gate Tower. On either face of this will be seen in three tabernacled niches the figure of the Virgin Mary, flanked by figures of the archangel Gabriel and the founder on his knees, the attitude in which he is depicted in the east window of the Chapel. The figures looking south are dilapidated, and were mended with Roman cement in 1813. Middle Gate Tower contains two chambers, one over the other, which are ap- proached by a turret staircase similar to the one in Outer Gate Tower. These chambers were assigned to the Warden, and he occupied them until he removed to his lodgings in the Outer Court. Warden Bilson (1580-96) was the first married warden, and the last who lived in these two chambers. Peter Martyr’s wife (he followed Luther’s example and married a nun) was the first woman that lived in any College or Hall at Oxford, and Mrs. Bilson was the first woman who lived in Winchester College. The lower one of these chambers is called Election Chamber, for the reason that the ceremony of electing scholars was performed in it until recent changes. It is wainscoted, and was warmed by means of a brazier until the year 1555, when a chimney was built and a fireplace added. The College tutor occupies it now, as well as the chamber above it, which was restored in 1887. Chamber Court measures a hundred and fifteen feet from east to west, and a little less from north to south. It is paved with cobble-stones and flints, surrounded by a border of flag- I stones known as * Sands.’ ^ Pro novis lapidibus in ambulachro dicto ly Sands’ occurs in the accounts of the year 1674. There is a tradition that the flints replace the cobble-stones which the juniors were made to carry for aggressive pur- poses to the top of Middle Gate Tower during the rebellion I of 1793. The chambers — the residential portion of the fabric — sur- round three sides of this court, and are entered by plain pointed arches with corbels of various designs. They were of two . floors until the seventeenth century, when a third or attic floor i was formed in the roof. The windows, of two lights, with D 2 3^6 Annals of Winchester College. cinquefoiled heads and transoms^ were modernised in the year 1812, and are now square-headed, with hood moulds and corbels of appropriate design'. Six of the ground-floor chambers, known as First, Second, &c., housed the scholars. These chambers were floored with chalk, rammed hard on a bottom of flints, like the floor of any old Hampshire barn. Floors of oak were laid over these in the year 1540 at the expense, according to tradition, of Dean Fleshmonger, an old Wykehamist. The present oak floors were laid early in the present century. In these six chambers the seventy scholars studied and slept. Quite recently, separate studies have been provided, and nearly all the boys sleep off the ground floor. The Statutes required that all except the youngest should have separate beds. Conse- quently sixty-four bedsteads were ordered at the opening of the College. These bedsteads were of oak and cost one shilling each. They seem to have been mere trays to hold the straw on which the scholars lay. ^ Clean straw * is a ^ notion * for clean sheets to this day. Dean Fleshmonger replaced these bed- steads at his own expense with others of oak, having heads or testers. One of this class of bedsteads is kept in Sixth Cham-' ber as a curiosity. In memory of Fleshmonger’s benefactions the Society ordained that a mass should be sung for him daily in each chamber at the sound of the second bell for matins. Every other article of chamber-stock the scholars provided for themselves. Consequently the inventories are silent as to the contents of the scholars’ chambers. The upstairs chambers bore the same numbers as the cham- bers underneath which they corresponded to. First, Second, and Third were designed for nine of the Fellows. Fourth was the aula custodis in which he entertained visitors officially and received the supervisors during Election week. Fifth Chamber was appropriated to the Commoners, until it was added to the schoolmaster’s apartments under Dr. Burton ^ ^ E. g. a head, with hand moulding a youth’s head, over the doorway leading to Election chamber : a psaltery and bagpipe over the staircase leading to hall : Excess, a head vomiting, and a manciple with his cash box over the kitchen windows. The corbels of the windows of Fromond’s chantry likewise repay examination. “ ‘ Sol. pro V modiis albedinis (of whiting) ij modiis sabuli et uno crinis (of The Fabric, 37 All these chambers, and the attics over them, are now dormi- tories. Sixth was assigned to the schoolmaster, usher, and remaining fellow. Every Fellow had a separate museum or study in the chamber which he lived in ; and when the attics were made, each chamber became a set of chambers containing several rooms. The following particulars of Third (tertia camera magistrorum) come from an inventory of the year 1670. In addition to the great or common chamber, entered from the staircase, it contained a gallery on that floor, and on the second or attic floor a room over the gallery, which can have been no better than a passage, and the private studies of Chalkhill, Ken \ and Coles, the three Fellows who occupied the set at that time. These galleries were a feature in the original design. They afforded a passage on the first floor by means of which the occupant of any chamber on that floor, or the Warden himself, might pay a visit to any other chamber on that floor without going downstairs into the court. A ground-floor chamber behind Sixth, known as Seventh chamber^, was the abode of the choristers. It was approached by the doorway in the north-western corner of Chamber Court, which now leads to the Fellows’ common-room, and in the early days of Dr. Burton gave access to the quarters of his com- moners. References occur in the books to this chamber and to the ^scola choristarum,’ which was on the ground floor next the kitchen, with a window (now converted into a door), looking into Chamber Court. I find in the computus for the year 1543 the following entries: — ^Sol. Joh. Clement pro clave ostii camerae choristarum, iiij<^. .... Sol. praeposito domus Ste. Crucis pro una lapidea fenestra pro scola choristarum cum cariagio et comunis, xjs.’ A Fellow named William Nyghtyn- gale, who devised quit-rents amounting to 285. 4-d. yearly, and a tenement in Winnall, as a provision for his obit in the year 1467, directed that each of the six chambers should receive 6d., and cowhair) el clavis ad clathros (laths) absumptis in alligando et reparando cubi- culum commensalium, iijs. ixd.’ is an entry in the bursar’s book of 1664, 1 Afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells. ^ Not the present Seventh chamber, which was originally the schoolroom, and began to be called ‘ Seventh ’ when the ‘ School ’ was built under Warden Nicholas. 38 Annals of Winchester College. the Seventh or choristers’ chamber \d. on the anniversary of his death. The will, dated in the year 1472, of Richard Rede, janitor or porter of Wolvesey Castle, who devised lands called Gordon’s ^ in East Worldham to Winchester College, contains a similar provision. The situation of this Seventh chamber is fixed by the bursar’s book of the year 1663, which describes the screen of masonry^ in the Outer Court as ^murus transversus a brasino ad cubiculum choristarum.’ Early in the seventeenth century this chamber became a store for lime, &c., and the choristers were allowed to live with their friends in the town, with the result that one would expect. The supervisors say in the year 1631 that they (1) Run about in hats. (2) Come not to school. (3) Few if any of them have surplices. (4) Only two or three can sing. This state of things continued until the year 1810, when the Warden and Fellows bought the lease of a house in College Street, and put the choristers into it under the superintendence of a person appointed for the purpose. Many Wykehamists remember the late Mr. William Whiting, who acted for so many years in that capacity, and is best known as the author of Eternal Father, strong to save,’ the beautiful hymn for those at sea. This house, which had formed part of the old Cheyney Court, answered its purpose indifferently well until the year 1882, when the choir school in Kingsgate Street was built on the site of the old Crown Inn ^ The chamber over the scola choristarum was appropriated to the three chaplains. It is now the Second Master’s drawing- room. ^ One would scarcely expect to find a name which in Milton’s opinion ‘ would have made Quintilian stare and gasp’ localized in East Hampshire in the fifteenth century : but in fact Gordon or Gurdon was a common name in that quarter of England. Witness Adam de Gurdon, the outlaw, who had the single combat with Prince Edward in the forest between Selborne and Alton. 2 Ante, p. 34. ^ The title to this site can be traced back to the year 1407, when Nicholas Kerby, the owner, devised it to his daughter Alice by the description of his messuage, ‘ Situm in occidentali parte Kyngatestrete inter venellam que ducit ad ecclesiam beati Michaelis ex parte australi et tenementum Walteri Botchere ex parte altera.’ It was held of the See of Winchester. The Fabric, 39 The bakehouse was a building with a skilling or lean-to roof, against the back of the choristers* chamber. It and the gateway at the south-west corner of Outer Court were built two or three years after the opening day. Over the bakehouse, abutting on the west end of the Sixth upstairs or schoolmaster’s chamber, a benefactor named Thomas Watson, of whom nothing further is known, built in the year 1551 a Fellows’ Common-Room (domus pro aisiamento sociorum), with flints and stone from the dissolved house of the Austin Friars^ without the South- gate of Winchester, at a total cost of £106 3s. 2.d, The kitchen occupies the rest of the western side of Chamber Court. It is a lofty room reaching to the roof, with four windows to let out the smoke and smell of cooking. The lower halves of two of these windows were blocked up in the year 1514. Brick was used on this occasion for the first time : ‘In sol. Will“o Grawnte laboranti in coquina mense Junii circa obstructionem ij fenestrarum in parte occidentali coquinae per v. dies, capienti per diem iiij^ cum xv*^ sol. uni servienti sibi, capienti p. diem hj^ et xx<^ pro eorum comunis, iiij® vij<^. Et sol. Colswayne pro breke ad id opus iij® cum xij^ sol. pro j quarteria calcis adustae et viij pro j pott sabuli, iiij® viij*^.’ The lobby and music room were carved out of the kitchen in the sixteenth century. In this lobby hangs the painting of the Trusty Servant. This Abraxas of the sixteenth century wears a serving man’s blue coat with vest and bands ; and has the head of a swine, the ears of an ass, and the feet of a hart. A padlock is on his lips. The arms are upraised, the right hand is open, the left hand is closed on a broom, a shovel, and a fork ; a sword hangs by his side, and a buckler is on his left arm. These attributes are described in the following lines on the wall : — ‘ Effigiem servi si vis spectare probati Quisquis es haec oculos pascet imago tuos. ^ One of the small religious houses which came to the College under the ex- change with Henry VIII to be mentioned in Chapter xv. It stood as nearly as possible where St. Michael’s Rectory now stands. ® Originally buff but painted blue, turned up with red, like the Windsor uni- form, when George III visited the College in 1778. 40 Annals of Winchester College. Porcinum os, quocunque cibo jejunia sedat ; Haec sera, consilium ne fluat, arcta premit. Dat patientem asinus dominis jurgantibus aurem, Cervus, habet celeres ire, redire, pedes. Laeva docet multum tot rebus onusta laborem, Vestis, munditiem, dextera aperta, fidem : Accinctus gladio, cl3q)eo munitus, et inde Vel se vel dominum quo tueatur habet.’ ‘ A Trusty servant’s portrait would you see ? This emblematic figure well survey. The porkers snout, not nice in diet shows. The padlock shut, no secrets he’ll disclose: Patient, the ass his master’s rage will bear, Swiftness in errand, the stag’s feet declare ; Loaded his left hand apt to labour saith ; The vest, his neatness, open hand, his faith : Girt with his sword, his shield upon his arm. Himself and master he’ll protect from harm.’ It is not known where the figure came from. The imple- ments in the left hand, and the scenery in the background, indicate a German or Flemish origin, the broom being exactly that which the Flemish ‘ Buy a Broom ’ girls used to offer for sale in the streets of London seventy years ago. The first allusion to the figure in the bursar’s books occurs in 1628. ^Hieronymo pictori pro reparanda effigie Dni Fundatoris in aula et servi ante culinam.’ A similar figure is, or was latel}^, the sign of an inn at Minestead, in the New Forest. The Rev. W. H. Gunner thought that the Latin lines were by Christopher Jonson (Head-master 1560-71) h The writer is indebted to Mr. Horace Kelway Pope, of Southampton, for the reference to A Communicant Instructed, by Robert Hill, D.D. (London, 1613), which contains the following dialogue : — Quest. How may a good manservant be described ? Aks. You told me that you had seen him thus described in print. He must have — 1. The snout of a swine to be content with any fare. 2. A locke on his mouth to keep his masters secrets. 3. The long ears of the ass, to hearken to his master’s command- ments. 4. Good apparell on his back, for his master’s credit. ’ Notes attd Queries, Series I, Vol. vi. 417. The Fabric. 41 5. A sword and buckler on his right arm for his master’s defence. 6. On his left arm a currycombe for his horse, a beesome for his chamber and a brush for his apparell, as one ready for any service. 7. The eyes of an eagle to see into that which may be for his master’s good. 8. The feet of a hinde to go with speed about his master’s business. The kitchen had no chimney till 1520, when a chimney with two flues (tonnelli) was built, at the cost of John Webbe, one of the Fellows. Until then, the cooking was done over an open hearth, in the middle of the floor. An iron bar across the kitchen had a number of brass pots of all sizes hanging from it by iron crooks ; and when the cook wanted to boil any- thing he put it into a pot of the right size, and drew the pot along the iron bar to its place over the fire. The biggest pot of all was called ‘ Colman,’ for what reason does not appear. Any meat that was roasted was turned over the fire on a hori- zontal spit by the garcio coquinae. The scholars washed under a penthouse in Chamber Court, against the wall of the kitchen. Marks on the wall show the height and pitch of the roof of this penthouse. William Iken- ham, the carpenter, was paid 475. in 1399 for making the original penthouse and a windlass (machina) to the well in the kitchen, which supplied the conduit under the penthouse. Baths (lavacra) of stone and basins (pelves) of lead under this penthouse are frequently referred to. The conduit was rebuilt in 1651 of timber, with a portico supported by five wooden columns of the Ionic order \ It was removed about fifty years ago, when the ordinary conveniences for washing were provided in Chambers. The penthouse is figured in the view of Chamber Court in Ball’s Historical Account of Winchester, p. 154. There was another conduit in the Cloisters for the use of the senior members of the Society. ‘ In reparacione lavacri in claustro occurs in 9 H. VI. A flight of stone steps, replacing the original flitches of oak, ^ Cost of sawing nine hundred feet of timber for columns, &c., of the new conduit, igs.6d.] Colston, turning five columns, zs. 6d.\ Jerome, carving the capitals and the Founder’s arms, 15 days, £i 105. ; an elm board to cut the arms on, 4s. 6d . ; Bernard, mason, pulling down the old conduit and laying bases for the columns, &c., 25I days, £i 14s. : painting and gilding the Founder’s arms, columns, capitals and roof, £4 105. 42 Annals of Winchester College. in the south-west corner of the quadrangle, leads to the Hall. As he ascends the Hall stairs, the visitor sees before him the remains of the lantern, carved in stone, which lighted the stair- case. Here, too, was Ma Vyse,* the parvise, or porch, which is mentioned in the earliest computus rolls. The valvae, or folding-doors of oak, and the sliding bolt to secure them against force from without, should also be noticed. The Hall is sixty- three feet long by thirty wide. The dimensions of New College Hall are eighty feet by forty. It is lighted by three lofty two- light Perpendicular windows on the south side, and two on the north, divided by transoms. The ceiling is of oak, the groining ribs resting on corbels representing the heads of kings and prelates alternately. The middle of the roof was raised higher than the rest, and had apertures at the sides for ventila- tion, as in the roof of the brewhouse ; but this bit of original work was not reproduced when the roof was renewed in 1817. Mr. Garbett, the architect who restored the Cathedral, was consulted at that time, and found that about one-third of the massive oak rafters were decayed where they rested on the plate, owing to defects in the lead letting in the wet, and he advised that the rotten timbers should be replaced with new ; describing the roof as an admirable specimen, in design and execution, of the work of the Founder’s period. He says at the conclusion of his report : — ‘ Upon the Survey of such a specimen of ancient Carpentry, the Reporter begs leave to embrace the opportunity it affords of paying his humble tribute of admiration of the simple elegance display’d in the design of this Roof, the scientific principles of its construction, the care with which the Materials must have been selected, and the accuracy with which the workmanship was executed. To this conir bination of excellence he attributes the preservation of the work nearly intire through four Centuries, while works of contemporary and of subsequent origin have ceased to exist, and have given place to others by no means favourable to a comparison of Modern with ancient Taste, and Art. It must not however be concealed that the Timbers which exhibit such a striking proof of the durability of that Material when properly selected and apply’d, are of such dimensions that the expence of renewing the whole according to the original design would be very great ; but when it is considered that one third of the principal Timber, and nearly the whole of the inferior Timber and ornaments may be preserved throughout the greater part, if not the whole, of another Century, the circumstances appear favourable The Fabric. 43 for perpetuating so venerable an example of Carpentry according to its original design.* Local influence, however, prevailed. A new roof was put on, and a costly job it proved to be. Thirty oak trees, measuring forty loads, were bought for £440 195. ^d. The carpenter’s bill was £1710, and the bricklayers’ and plumbers’ bills, with the cost of scaffolding, brought up the total to nearly £2900. The professional charges seem a mere fraction of what they would be nowadays. Mr. Garbett had only £5 55. for his elaborate and valuable report, and £13 135. for the drawings for the new roof ; and Mr. Forder, the College surveyor, was paid only £20 for superintending the work, measuring it, and checking the tradesmen’s bills. The floor of the Hall was paved at first. Rushes to strew it at Christmas and on St. John the Baptist’s Day and the Annun- ciation cost 6s. 3