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The Promotion of William of Wickham to the see of Winchester

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

J. R. L. Highfield
Affiliation:
Merton College, Oxford

Extract

None of the episcopal appointments in the reign of Edward III was more difficult for the king to secure than that of William of Wickham to the see of Winchester. Edward III was never keener for the promotion of a favourite clerk. The pope rarely agreed with more reluctance to a royal choice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1953

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References

page 37 note 1 The best account of this appointment at the moment is in A. Hamilton Thompson, Memorandum, Interim Report of the Appointment of Bishops Committee, 1929 (Church Assembly), 40.

page 37 note 2 C.Pat.R., 1354–8, 642.

page 37 note 3 Kellesey's last provision was dated 23 October 1357 (C.Pap.Pet., i. 301).

page 37 note 4 The bishop had presented on 1 April 1339 and on 26 April 1350 (Reg. Montacute (Ely), f. 7; Reg. Lisle, f. 36 in B.M. Add. MS. 5824, f. 183 and 186; cf. Ely Diocesan Remembrancer, 1889–90, 357; 1893–5, 107.

page 37 note 5 Cf. C.Fin.R., 1356–68, 21–3; C.CLR., 1354–60, 392.

page 37 note 6 Reg. Lisle, f. 101 in B.M. Add. MS. 5824, f. 186; and cf. E.D.R., 1893–5, 317. For the Lisle case see Chronicon J. de Reading, ed. J. Tait,.272–3; B. Putnam, Sir William Shareskull, 140–2; Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 652–62.

page 37 note 7 C.Pap.Pet., i. 307.

page 37 note 8 Ibid., 331.

page 37 note 9 C.Pat.R., 1361–4, 42 (10 July).

page 37 note 10 Cf. Ibid., 44 (presentation of Andrew Stratford).

page 38 note 1 There is no nuncio's account for Brian, but he was at Avignon by 4 July 1361 (cf. C.Pap.Pet., i. 369–70).

page 38 note 2 Cf. C.4 in Extrav. Comm. 3, 2.

page 38 note 3 For Wickham's presentations between 1357 and 1366 see Thompson, A. H., ‘Pluralism in the Medieval Church”, Associated Societies Reports and Papers, xxxvi, 1921–2, 31–4.Google Scholar

page 38 note 4 C.Pap.Pet., i. 380.

page 38 note 5 Eubel, Hierarckia Catholica, 19.

page 38 note 6 Stubbs, Registrwn Sacrum Anglicanum, 55.

page 38 note 7 Reg. Islip, f. 228.

page 38 note 8 Lux, C., Constitutionum Apostolicorum de Generali Resewatione Colledio et Interpretatio, 1904, 43–4.Google Scholar

page 38 note 9 Cf. cc. 2 and 34 in VI, 3, 4; c. 3 in Extrav. Comm. 3, 2.

page 38 note 10 Cf. B.M. Add. MS. 24, 062, f. 186. My attention was drawn to this MS. through the kindness of Mr. A. Brown.

page 38 note 11 C.Pat.R., 1361–4, 355.

page 38 note 12 Ibid., 345. Its estimated value in October 1366 was £350: Reg. Sudbuty (Lond.), Cant. & York Soc., ii. 165.

page 38 note 13 His accounts ran from 21 September 1363 to 13 January 1364 (E.I01/314/27). Lovayne was sent ‘en salvacion de la Regale Nostre Seigneur' L. Mirot and E. Deprez, ‘Les ambassades anglaises pendant la guerre de cent ans’, Bibl. de I'fccole des Ckartes, 1899, 180.

page 38 note 14 C.Pap.Lett., iv. 5.

page 39 note 1 B.M. Add. MS., 24, 062, f. 188v–18g. For the diplomatic importance of the cardinals and for contacts between them and die kings of France and Aragon see Mollat, G., ‘La diplomatic pontifical au xive siècle’ in Mélanges d'Histoire du Moyen Age, Louis Halphen, 1951, 507–12Google Scholar. Mollat discusses the Anglo-French peace negotiations before Innocent VI in 1354. Two cardinals, Peter of Colombiers and Guy of Boulougne, facilitated the secret offensive alliance between Henry, duke of Lancaster and the king of Navarre (ibid., 512).

page 39 note 2 Reg. Langham (Cant.), f. 12.

page 39 note 3 This was the living of Menhenyot, co. Cornwall (ibid.).

page 39 note 4 ‘les sugestions maliciouses et niains vraies sur lui faites.… envieusement par ses malveullans …; et le savons trescher amy assez de certain qe nostre dit seint pere et vous aussi lui tendrez tresbien dignes d'estre amez et promeuz a grand honur, et si vous eussiez tant vraie cognoissance come nous avons de toute la bontee, science, loialtee, honesteeetsouffissancedesapersone.’ (B.M. Add. MS. 24, 062, f. 188v–189).

page 39 note 5 Cant. Reg. G, f. 120.

page 39 note 6 Ibid., f. 147–8v.

page 39 note 7 Reg. Langham (Cant.), f. iiiv; cf. Ang. Sac., i. 317.

page 39 note 8 He was provided on 24July 1366 (Reg. Langham (Cant.), f. 45).

page 39 note 9 He was born at Wickham near Fareham, co. Hants. (Ang. Sac., i. 317).

page 39 note 10 The congd d'dlire was dated 13 October. The royal assent followed on the 24th (C.Pat.R., 1364–7, 311 and 324). For the royal reaction to the election cf. the 15th c. account in ‘Heath 6’ quoted in G. H. Moberly, Life of William of Wykeham, 1887, 55 n. 1. Ultra quam credi potest gavisus est et laetatum est cor suum.’ Letters were sent to notify the pope of the result of the election on 25 October (C.CI.R., 1364–8, 250).

page 39 note 11 Wykeham's Register, ed. T. F. Kirby, i. 2.

page 40 note 1 He was the son of Sir John Cobham, co. Kent and his first wife, Joan, daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Hatch, co. Somerset. He was related to the king through his wife Margaret, daughter of Hugh Courtenay, earl of Devon and of Margaret, daughter of Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford (Complete Peerage, iii. 344). His friendship with Wickham may be deduced from No. 5.

page 40 note 2 E.101/315/18. See Appendix at the end of this article.

page 40 note 3 He was described as ‘king's merchant’, who has ‘long made his stay in London, having there his permanent domicile’ on 12 July 1361, when he was granted the liberties of a citizen of London for life (C.Pat.R., 1361–4, 42); cf. also Renouard, Y., Recherches star les compagnies commerciales et bancaires (1942), 45–6Google Scholar. For the Spifame see Mirot, L., ‘Etudes Lucquoises; l'origine des Spifame. Barthelemi Spifame’, Bibl. Ec. des Chart., 1938, 6781Google Scholar I owe the last two references to the kindness of Mr. E. B. Fryde.

page 40 note 4 This had been led by Sir Bartholemew Burghersh and Sir Richard Stafford (E. 101/315/16, C. Pap.Lett., iv. 24, Foedera, vi. 510).

page 40 note 5 B.M. Add. MS. 24, 062, f. 189 and 189v.

page 40 note 6 Reg. Langham (Cant.), f. 85, printed in Lowth, App. V and Wykeham'sRegister i. 2–3.

page 40 note 7 He was at ‘Luppa’ near Paris on 19 January 1367 to arrange for the mainprise of the duke of Bourbon by his brother John, duke of Berry (Foedera, vi. 546, 549).

page 40 note 8 Froissart, Chroniqucs, ed. S. Luce, vii. 101–2 and cf. xli. n. 1. The story is repeated in Christina of Pisa's Le livre des faits et bonnes meurs du sage roy Charles, ed. J. A. C. Buchon, 1838, part 2, xiiii, 249–50. It is not inherently impossible. Froissart who was the protégé of queen Philippa was at Bordeaux himself in 1366. The duke of Bourbon was in London on 22 January 1366 (Foedera, vi. 488–9), and in France on 14 and 18 June, 10 September and in November (La chronique du bon due Lays de Bourbon, ed. A. M. Chazaud, 1876, 348–9). He was granted prorogation of his leave of absence on 20 December 1366 until Easter 1367 and for a year thereafter. Copies of this document were sent to Cobham who, as has been seen, completed the arrangements for the duke's sureties (Foedera, vi. 540–1). But the author of La chronique du bon due Loys ascribes the duke's release to the favourable impression he made at the English Court and to the influence of queen Philippa. Her sister, Mary of Hainault, was the duke's mother (cf. Chazaud, op. cit., 350).

page 41 note 1 He was the son of Roger Beauchamp of Bletsoe, co. Beds, and of Sibyl, daughter of Sir John Patshull of Bletsoe and Mabel Grandisson, niece of William Grandisson, bishop of Exeter (cf. Complete Peerage, ii. 44).

page 41 note 2 G. Mollat, Let Papes d'Avignon, 1949, 116.

page 41 note 3 Moberly, op. cit., frontispiece and xviii–xix. Moberly's date cannot be accepted. The reference to the pope as on the move and the evidence of Cobham's accounts make it certain that the letter was written in connection with Cobham's second mission, probably on the last Monday before he left London.

page 41 note 4 E. 101/315/22.

page 41 note 5 Harleian Roll, C. 29.

page 41 note 6 Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford, had gone out to Pa via as the royal envoy in the summer of 1366 (Foedera, vi. 509–10).

page 41 note 7 The treaty was not concluded until 25 April 1368.

page 42 note 1 C.Pap.Pet., i. 320.

page 42 note 2 C.Pat.R., 1364–7, 153.

page 42 note 3 Reg. Grandisson (ed.J. Hingeston Randolph), iii. 1501.

page 42 note 4 Cf. C.Pap.Lett., iv. 26.

page 42 note 5 Cf. C.Pat.R., 1367–70, 191, 259, 260.

page 42 note 6 A clerk of the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, he had become warden of the hospital of Danewell with its annexed church of Burton in Wirral by 8 August 1343 when he was provided to the stall and prebend of Mora in St. Paul's (C.Pap.Pet., i. 68). On 13 November 1348 after a suit at the Curia his right to the church of Hodnet, co. Salop, was confirmed (ibid., 142). On 17 January 1350 he added a canonry and prebend in York (ibid., 184). Before 11 August 1361 he had secured the portion of Overhall in Ledbury. On that day he had provision of the stall and prebend of Tervyn in Lichfield and the church of Brantingham, co. Yorks. (ibid., 320 and 373).

page 42 note 7 Cf. ibid., 206, 208, 217, 218 and 228.

page 42 note 8 C.Pap.Lett., iv. 10.

page 42 note 9 This was Richard Derby who had been presented after a successful action for recovery in a royal court (cf. C.Cl.R., 1343–6, 672).

page 42 note 10 C.Pat.R., 1345–4, 314.

page 43 note 1 C. Pat.R., 1348–50, 313.

page 43 note 2 Ibid., 310.

page 43 note 3 C.Cl.R., 1349–50, 263 (8 August), cf. 249.

page 43 note 4 On 24 October 1351 the sheriffs of London were told to deliver the body of Mr. Nicholas Heath (whom they had arrested) to the Constable of the Tower until he had satisfied the king for the 100 marks in which he was held for his contempts (ibid., 1349–54.328).

page 43 note 5 These were Henry Ingelby for the prebend of Cave in York, John Edington for that of Farindon in Salisbury, William Kellesey for the portion of Overhall in Ledbury and Richard Derby for the church of Hodnet (C.Pat.R., 1350–4, 189 and cf. 178, C.Cl.R., 1349–54, 402).

page 43 note 6 C.Pat.R., 1350–4, 206. For his activities in 1352 see ibid., 278.

page 43 note 7 Ibid., 418.

page 43 note 8 Ibid.

page 43 note 9 C.Cl.R., 1354–60, 78.

page 43 note 10 Cf. C.Pat.R., 1354–8, 635.

page 43 note 11 These were his prebends of Mora in St. Paul's, and Hunderton in Hereford, the portion of Oldhall in Ledbury and the church of Hodnet (ibid., 513). On 18 November 1357 100 marks of his fine were remitted (ibid., 635).

page 43 note 12 Ibid., 1358–61, 37 and cf. 52 (appointment of attorneys during absence).

page 43 note 13 This was the prebend of Morehall in Gnoshall (ibid., 460).

page 43 note 14 On 18 December 1361 John Aleyn secured a grant of the prebend of Mora in St. Paul's and the church of Hodnet was given to another on the grounds that Heath was dead.

page 43 note 15 He held lands in co. Derby and co. Warwick (C.Cl.R., 1360–4, 559–60, ibid., 1369–74, 430, C.Fin.R., 1356–68, 383) and came from the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield (C.Pap.Lett., iv. 17 and 53).

page 44 note 1 I Cf. C.Pap.Pet., i. 505, 509, 511 and 517; C.Pap.Lett., iv. 53, 28 and 98.

page 44 note 2 This was Roger Burton (cf. Cal.Pap.Pet., i. 177 and 275).

page 44 note 3 Ibid., 534.

page 44 note 4 Perhaps for 12 years (1366–80) (C.Fin.R., 1356–68, 339 and cf. 338, Foedera (Westm.), iv. 78, C.Pat.R., 1377–81, 494).

page 44 note 5 C.Pap.Lett., iv. 28.

page 44 note 6 Peter of Banhac, O.S.B., a Limousin. He was made a cardinal a year later (22 September 1368) (cf. Baluze, Vitae Paparum Avenionensium (ed. Mollat), i. 368).

page 44 note 7 He was an Austin canon and had been elected a cardinal on 18 September 1366 when he was bishop of Avignon. At the time of this letter he had the title of St. Peter in Chains (Eubel, 20). Wickham was named by him as his attorney in England on 11 May 1367 (C.Pat.R., 1364–7, 394).

page 44 note 8 He was the nephew of Innocent VI and had been elected on 23 December 1356 when he was bishop of Pamplona. He took the title of St. Anastasia (Eubel, 19).

page 44 note 9 He had been elected a cardinal on 17 September 1361 when he was bishop of Vabres. He became cardinal deacon of St. George ‘ad Velum auratum’, but since 6 December 1362 had been cardinal priest of St. Laurence in Lucina (ibid.).

page 44 note 10 Wickham had been presented to it on 20 August 1362 (C.Pat.R., 1361–4, 244). In the return of pluralists of 1366 he included the prebend of Sutton worth 260 marks (Reg. Sudbury (Lond.), ii. 165).

page 44 note 11 It was worth 110 marks in 1366 (ibid.). He had held it since 31 October 1363 (Le Neve, iii. 200).

page 45 note 1 Cotton MS. Cleopatra, E. 11, f. 111 – 12v.

page 45 note 2 It went to Richard Ravenser who was archdeacon in 1368 (Reg. Whittlesey (Cant.)) and until 1386 (Le Neve, ii. 44).

page 45 note 3 E. 179/35/4. He had already been provided to the deanery of York on 28 September 1366 (C.Pap.Pet. i. 535) and was in possession in 1369 (E. 179/63/5).

page 45 note 4 Laughton went to Mr. John Buckingham who succeeded to it on 29 March 1367 (Le Neve, iii. 200), and had his title ratified on 9 June 1368 (C.PatR., 1367–70, 122). But Grimoard had secured another prebend in York, that of South Cave, by 1375 when he had confirmation of it (C.Pap.Lett. iv. 212–3). He still had his deanery and Sutton with Buckingham at the outbreak of the Great Schism when as a Clementine cardinal he was despite protest eventually dispossessed (cf. Perroy, L'Angleterre et le Grand Schisme, 59–62).

page 45 note 5 Ang. Sac. i. 47.

page 45 note 6 Wykeham's Register, ii. 1–4.

page 45 note 7 Rot. Parl, i. 141 and 339.

page 48 note 1 This letter is pasted across these two folios.

page 48 note 2 Damage.

page 48 note 3 This letter like the last is pasted across two folios.

page 49 note 1 Printed by kind permission of the Warden and Fellows of New College (cf. G. H. Moberley, Life of William of Wykeham, frontispiece and pp. xviii–xix.). This document was formerly in the possession of Sir E. Dering (ibid.).

page 49 note 2 Copy of transcription of address on tag now missing.