CHAPTER XV. CHANCELLORS AND KEEPERS OF THE GREAT SEAL FROM THE APPOINTMENT OF WILLIAM OF WICKHAM TILL THE DEATH OF EDWARD III. THE successor of Langham was a man whose memory is still regarded with high respect by the English nation, the famous WILLIAM OF WICKHAM. СНАР. Sept. 17. WILLIAM OF WICK HAM. This distinguished man, who was twice Lord Chancellor, 1867. was born in the year 1324, at the village in Hampshire from which he took his name, of poor but honest parents, being the son of John Long and Sibyl his wife.* He probably His origin. never would have been known to the world had he not, when almost quite a child, attracted the notice of Nicholas Uvedale, Lord of the Manor of Wickham, and governor of Winchester, who put him to school in that city. He is likewise said to Education. have been sent to study at Oxford; but there is great reason to doubt whether he ever was at any university, and his splendid foundations for the education of youth probably proceeded less from gratitude, than from a desire to rescue others from the disadvantages under which he had himself laboured, for he never possessed scholastic learning, and he It has been lately asserted that Wickham, or Wykeham, was his family name, because it is said to have belonged to several relations born elsewhere; but all the earliest accounts of him concur in the statement I have adopted. For example: "Qua capit australes comitatu Hamptona Britannos, Vixit Iohannes illic cognomine Longus, Hanc habuit patriam GULIELMUS et hosce parentes Longus enim ut longo duraret tempore, caute Ortus et Vita Gul. de Wicham. CHAP. Introduced owed his advancement to the native fervour of his genius and the energy which enabled him to surmount all difficulties. While still a youth, he became private secretary to his patron, and was lodged in a high turret in Winchester Castle, of which Uvedale was Constable. Here he imbibed that enthusiastic admiration of Gothic architecture which was the foundation of his fortune. Ere long there was no cathedral, ancient church, baronial hall, or Norman castle many miles round that he had not visited and studied; and he set to work to consider scientifically how such stately structures were erected, and to figure in his imagination others grander and of finer proportions. He was first noticed by Edington, the Bishop of Winchester, then Lord Chancellor, — little thinking that he was himself to be Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor. But from him he had only fair words and good cheer. Uvedale afterwards happened to mention to the King the to Ed. III. remarkable young man he had for his secretary, and Edward, ever ready to avail himself of efficient service and to encourage merit in every department, desired that he might be presented to him. He was accordingly brought to Court, and instantly made a most favourable impression by his modest and insinuating manners, and his great knowledge of the subject to which he had devoted himself. First he was made "Clerk of all the King's works in his manors of Henle and Yelhampsted," and then "Surveyor of the King's works in the castle and park of Windsor."† Builds Edward, after his great victories, now meditated the erection of a palace where, according to the taste of the age, he might entertain the flower of European chivalry of which he was the acknowledged head, affording his brother knights a full opportunity to display their prowess in the tournament, and to lead the dance with their lady-loves in the brilliant hall at night. Windsor, the destined site, had been occasionally the residence of our sovereigns since the Conquest; but what was then called "the Castle," consisted of a few * Patent, dated 10th May, 1356. Patent, 30th Oct. 1356. irregular buildings, with pepper-boxes at the corners of them. Wickham furnished the designs for the new Castle such nearly as we now behold it-suitable to its noble position, and for simplicity and grandeur superior to any royal residence in the world. He showed corresponding vigour in carrying the plan into execution. By a stretch of prerogative every county in England was obliged to send a contingent of masons and other workmen, and in a surprisingly short period the structure was completed. CHAP. XV. Order of The King, to celebrate the event, founded the illustrious A.D. 1849. order of the Garter, which now adds to the patronage of the the Garter. Prime Minister, and furnishes the object of highest ambition to our greatest nobles. on Castle. It is said that the architect gave deep offence to his royal Inscription master by placing on one of the gates the inscription, “This made Wichem," which was construed into an arrogant appropriation to himself of all the glory of the edifice. But he insisted that the words were to be read as a translation of "Wichamum fecit hoc*"-not of "Hoc fecit Wichamus,' —that according to the usual idiom of the English language, "Wichem" was here the accusative case, instead of the nominative—and that he only wished posterity to know that his superintendence of the work had gained him the royal favour, and thus had raised him from low degree to exalted fortune. Edward was appeased, and ever afterwards delighted to honour him. takes holy orders. Except the common law, the only road to wealth and Wickham power open to a non-combatant in those days-was the church. It was now too late for William to begin the study of Bracton, Fleta, and the Year Books, and to try to obtain practice in Westminster Hall; but he was prevailed upon to take orders, and ecclesiastical preferments were showered upon him. It has been supposed that he had early taken deacon's orders, because in 1352 he was styled "clericus" or clerk, but this designation was given to men in civil employ This use of "facere," to make a man, rather strengthens the presumption that he did not study at Oxford. СНАР. ments, although not in the church; and hitherto he had no ecclesiastical function or benefice. On the 5th of December, 1361, he was admitted to the order of "acolyte ;"—he was ordained subdeacon on the 12th of March, 1362, and priest on the 12th of June following. He was now inducted into the rectory of Palham in Norfolk, - he was presented to a prebend in the cathedral at Lichfield, and he received the King's grant of the deanery of the royal free chapel or collegiate church of St. Martin's-le-Grand, London, -with other His prefer- pluralities. His secular preferment likewise still proceeded, ment. Engages in politics. His in come. as he was appointed "chief warden and surveyor of the King's castles of Old and New Windsor, and sundry others, with the parks belonging to them," for which he had, besides many fees and perquisites, an assignment of 20s. a day out of the Exchequer. He now likewise entered the field of politics; on the 11th of May, 1364, he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal, and soon after he is styled "secretary to the King," performing the functions of the officer afterwards designated "Principal Secretary of State." In May, 1365, he was commissioned along with others to treat of the ransom of David II. King of Scotland, taken prisoner at Neville's Cross, and the prolonging of the truce with the Scots. Under the bull of Pope Urban V. against pluralities, he was reluctantly compelled to make a return of his ecclesiastical benefices, in which he calls himself "Sir William of Wykeham, clerk, Archdeacon of Lincoln, and secretary of our lord the illustrious King of England, and keeper of his Privy Seal," and in which he reduces the total produce to 8731. 6s. 8d. He did not attend much to his spiritual duties, but he showed great dexterity in civil business, and a natural aptitude for every situation in which he was placed, so that he Thus in the contemporary poem of the "Wife of Bath's Prologue" by "My fifthe husbande, God his soule blesse He sometime was a CLERK of Oxenforde, And had left scole and went at home at borde." Of course the clerk had not taken orders, or he could not have entered into this matrimonial alliance. XV. escaped the envy that might have been expected to attend his CHAP. elevation, and was a general favourite. Conscious how much he owed to his delicate attention to the feelings of others, when he had from the Heralds a grant of arms, he took for his motto, "Manners makyth man.”* Winches At last, on the death of Ex-chancellor Edington, Bishop Made of Winchester, in 1366, at the earnest recommendation of the Bishop of King, he was elected by the prior and convent to succeed ter. him in that see. This promotion in his native county must have been particularly gratifying to him, and as he was only in his forty-second year, we may hope that his parents were still alive, and walked from the village of Wickham to Winchester to see him enthroned. Receives The resignation of the Great Seal by Archbishop Langham Sept. 1367. in pursuit of the triple crown, threw the King into consider- the Great able perplexity, there being neither lawyer nor churchman Seal. whom he considered perfectly well qualified for the office of Chancellor. He yielded to personal inclination and appointed to it his favourite, William of Wickham, whose installation he graced by delivering to him a new Great Seal, with the lilies engraved upon it, in consequence of a resolution of parliament that he should resume the title of King of France.t the ap This appointment, in spite of William's abilities and popu- Improlarity, must have been generally condemned, and shows that priety of while the King was all-powerful from the success of his pointment. arms abroad, he disregarded public opinion in the acts of his domestic government. The jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery had been greatly extended during the last forty years, and Parnynge while presiding there must have given something like system to its practice. The result soon. showed that no one who was an entire stranger to legal pursuits and habits, could decently discharge the duties even We must not infer defective education from the seeming ungrammatical structure of this motto, for our ancestors, like the Greeks, put a singular verb to a plural neuter substantive, as Purchass "Little corn, but cragges and stones Rot. Cl. 43 Ed. 3. m. 18. |