Wainfleet, william

Wainfleet was born around 1398 (or 1395) in Wainfleet, Lincolnshire (whence his last name came from). He was the eldest son of Richard Patten (also known as Barbour), presumably a merchant (in whose dress he is depicted on a huge stained glass window in St. Magdalene's Chapel in Oxford, formerly called the Wainfleet Church), and Marjorie, daughter of Sir William Brereton from the same role in the county Cheshire. William had a younger brother, John, who later became dean of Chichester .

He was educated, according to some sources, at Winchester College and New College in Oxford, but already at the beginning of the 20th century this was considered unlikely, since none of these colleges revealed sources that coincided with the period of William's life and reported that he was there studied. His presence in Oxford and his possible studies at one of the schools there before his transition to a higher level of education is indicated in a letter from the chancellor addressed to him when William was a provost of Eton College : this letter refers to the university as “an alma mater who brought him to the light of knowledge and the nourishing power of all sciences. ”

He was probably the one William Barbour who was appointed Assistant Bishop of Lincoln Fleming on April 21, 1420 and Subdeacon on January 21, 1421; the same William Barbour was ordained to the rank of deacon in Splending on March 18, 1421 and to the rank of priest on January 21, 1426, having received it from Splending Abbey. It is also possible that he was that William Wainflet, who was admitted with the rank of “scientist” (scholar) to Kings Hall College in Cambridge on March 6, 1428 and is referred to in the source as a bachelor of law. From July 13, 1429, he may have accompanied Robert Fitzhugh, a doctor of theology and a “guardian” of the college, on a diplomatic mission to Rome. The status of a “student” in Kings Hall can be considered an analogue of the status of a scholarship holder, as evidenced by the appointment to college on April 3, 1360, of Nicholas from Drayton, a bachelor of civil law, and John Kent, a bachelor of art, who took the place of two scientists who went to fight in France without the permission of the "guard". William Wainflet, June 14, 1430, appointed Vicar of Scandlebi at Lynx Bardney Abbey, could also be the same person. However, there was another William Wainflet, appointed rector of Roxhall, Somerset, May 17, 1433, who died by November 18, 1436, when his successor was appointed to this post. On April 3, 1434, William Wainfleet's successor was appointed to King's Hall.

In 1429, Wainfleet headed the Winchester College: from June 24, 1430 until the year 1441, he was paid a salary of 10 pounds as a mentor to "scientists." Around the same time (the exact date is unknown due to the loss of the second volume of the Beaufort's Episcopal Register), he was appointed by Bishop Beaufort the head of the St. Mary Magdalene Hospital, a leper colony in St. Gills Hill, near the city of Winchester. The first known head of the college since its founding, John Melton, was appointed by Wickam to lead this hospital in 1393, shortly before the latter retired. This post earned 9 pounds and 12 shillings a year, which almost doubled the income of the college head.

Influenced by Archbishop Chicheli, who founded two colleges in an effort to imitate the affairs of Bishop Wickam, and Thomas Beckinton, the royal secretary and curator of the press, as well as other followers of Wickham, Henry VI founded on October 5, 1440, in the likeness of Winchester College, a parish church college in Eton not far from his birthplace, called the College of the Virgin Mary of Eaton and became "a kind of first fruit of his desire to subjugate the government." The staff of the college was to consist of a Provost, 10 priests and 6 choirs; 25 poor and needy “scientists”, 25 elemosinaries (collectors and distributors of alms) and a master (magister informator, that is, rector), “in order to instruct scientists and everyone else who comes from any part of England free of charge in the art of teaching [Latin] grammar”. The charter, however, mentioned only 2 employees (fellow), 4 choristers, 2 “scholars” and 2 elemosinaries, and they were probably the only permanent members of the college. The Dictionary of National Biographies suggested that Wainfleet was referred to in this statute as an “employee,” which was disproved by the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. On March 5, 1440 or 1441, the king separated the college from the financial custody of third-party abbeys with a maintenance of 500 pounds per year, which almost exactly corresponds to the original budget of Winchester.

Henry VI on July 31, 1441 went to Winchester College for a weekend to see the life there. According to some reports, Wainfleet upon the arrival of the monarch made such a good impression on him that in the same 1441 he ceased to be the rector of Winchester. In October, Wainfleet, according to some reports, was present at the dinner at Kings Hall as a guest, and at Christmas in 1442 he received royal livery - five yards of purple cloth - as Eston’s wake. Sometimes he is regarded as the first rector of Eaton, but no unconditional evidence of this fact has been found. So, the construction of the college building was completed only in May 1442; William Westbury, who left New College, “having transferred to the royal service" in May 1442 and mentioned in sources as Eaton's first rector in 1444-1445, probably held this position from May 1442. If Wainfleet really was the rector from October 1441 to May 1442, then his duties, apparently, were nothing more than nominal. On May 2, in the status of Provost, Wainflit achieved the release of the college from control by the archdeacon, and on November 30, 1443 he entered into an agreement to complete carpentry work in the eastern part of the building.

On December 2, 1443, he took the oath of observance of the charters to Bishop Beckinton and Count of Suffolk, the ombudsman, and swore allegiance to other members of the institution, among which there were only 5 employees and 11 “scientists” over the age of 15 (the oath was not taken by the younger ones). According to some reports, he facilitated the transition of about half of the “scientists” and scholars from Winchester to Eaton to establish a scientific school there. At the same time, it was established that in 1443 only 5 “scientists” and, possibly, one “commoner” (commoner - not officially listed in the educational institution) left Winchester due to the transition to Eaton; this probably happened in July, on the eve of the election. Three of them have officially been listed as "scientists" at King's College Cambridge since July 19; this college, according to its second charter of July 10, 1443, was with Eaton in the same relationship as New College with Winchester, that is, the involvement of "scientists" in it was provided exclusively from Eaton.

Wainfleet’s main responsibilities as a Provost were to finance and complete the construction and installation of the facility. The number of "scientists" increased significantly by the election of 25 new September 26, 1444. The college budget at that time was 946 pounds; the king contributed 20 pounds of this amount, Wainfleet himself - 18 pounds, which amounted to more than half of his annual salary, equal to 30 pounds. The originally planned number of "scientists", 70 people, was achieved only in 1446/1447, that is, the last year Wainfleet was in the position of Provost.

Wainfleet had such a good relationship with Heinrich that when Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, Uncle Henry, passed away in April 1447, Heinrich ordered the Winchester Church, rector and monks of the Syutinsky Cathedral to elect Wainfleet as his successor. On April 12 he was granted the right to temporarily perform duties, on April 15 he was elected to this position, and on May 10 he was represented by the papal bull to occupy the department. July 13, 1447 he was ordained in the Eton Church; then the “guardian”, employees and other members of the college he had previously headed gave him a horse worth more than 6 pounds and more than 13 shillings to pay for grooming. Subsequent visits to Winchester inspired Heinrich to rebuild the Eton Church and bring its status to the cathedral. Wainfleet was appointed chief executor of his “will” in this matter, while his responsibilities included resolving possible disputes between the project executors. Between 1448 and 1450, 3,336 pounds were spent on modernizing the church; of this amount, Wainflith, together with the Marquis of Suffolk and the Bishop of Salisbury, contributed 700 pounds. The disasters that began in 1450 put an end to these works.

In the rank of bishop, Wainfleet did not lose time and decided, following Wickam's example and taking advantage of royal favor, to establish his own college. On May 6, 1448, he received the so-called right of the dead hand, and on August 20 founded in Oxford “an eternal college” called St. George’s College, “to eradicate heresies and delusions, strengthen church order and decorate the holy mother church” Mary Magdalene, to study theology and philosophy, consisted of a rector and 50 "scientists." This institution was not located in the building of the current college with the same name, but in two buildings of an earlier construction, called Boston and Hare, where examination schools are now located. The charter of the institution mentioned 13 masters of art and 7 bachelors, as well as the rector, John Hornley, bachelor of theology. The dedication to Mary Magdalene College was apparently associated with the Winchester Hospital, which Wainfleet had previously headed. On st. Wulfstan , January 19, 1448 or 1449, Wainfleet, in the presence of the king, ascended to the pulpit at Winchester Cathedral , and perhaps partly out of respect for him, parliamentary meetings were held there in June and July 1449; the king often visited the college chapel when Wainfleet conducted services there.

After the uprising of Jack Cad in 1450, Wainflith was entrusted with Archbishop Stafford, Chancellor, to negotiate with the rebels at St. Margaret Church, Southerk, near Winchester House. They promised a complete pardon to all participants in the riot, but on August 1, Wainflit became one of the members of the special commission on the rebel trial. On May 7, 1451, Wainfleet, while at his homestead in Sauterk, wrote that his episcopal dignity was received fairly and that his ministry was held without any hindrance, but, fearing some "terrible assassination" against himself and his pulpit, he turns to to the pope for protection. It is assumed that the tone of this letter was due to the unrest in Winchester, where, after Kad’s execution, one of the limbs of the leader of the rebels was taken by way of quartering. However, according to Richard Chandler, we are talking about attacks on Wainflit by some Yorkists at the papal court, to counter which he appointed 19 proctors the next day to assist him.

One way or another, as a whole, nothing disturbed his peaceful stay at the episcopal chair. Together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, he received Henry VI on August 2, 1451, during the latter's pilgrimage to the grave of St. Thomas Becket . When the Duke of York camped in November near Dartford, Wainflit, with three other delegates, was sent from the royal camp to Blackheath to propose the terms of the armistice, which were eventually accepted. Edward, Prince of Wales , was born on October 13, 1453, and was baptized by Wainflith the next day. In the same year, Wainfleet acquired a return on Stanswick Manor in Burks from Lady Danvers for Magdalen College. The king lost his mind in 1454. After the death of Chancellor John Kemp , Archbishop of Canterbury, during a parliamentary meeting chaired by the Duke of York, delegates led by Wainfleet were sent to ask him to appoint a new chancellor, apparently intending to hear the name Wainfleet, but there was no response from the king, and after some delay the seal took Lord Salisbury .

During the Regency of York, both before and after the Battle of St. Albans , Wainflit took an active part in the Privy Council . In order to improve the welfare of his college, Wayfleet received on July 5, 1456, the building of the St. John the Baptist Hospital outside the east gate in Oxford, and on July 15 received a license to open a college there. Having received the papal bull , he officially founded it by letter of June 12, 1458, turning the hospital into a college with a rector and six comrades; two days later, college of st. Mary Magdalene, along with all his property and all the people working there, were assigned to the "New College of St. Mary Magdalene. "

At the same time, Wainfleet himself was promoted to the highest position in the state - chancellor; the seal was handed over to him by the king at Coventry Monastery in the presence of the Duke of York; he was apparently regarded as a person acceptable to both parties to the conflict. On October 27, 1457, he took part in the trial and condemned Reginald Pecock, bishop of Chichester, who was ordained a clerk and deacon on the same day and by the same bishop as Wainfleet himself, for the heresy. Only the writings of Pekok, and not the "heretic" himself, were sentenced to be burned. Since the essence of the "heresy" consisted mainly in protecting the clergy for reasons of reason instead of power, this process did not require any extensive explanatory work on the part of Wainflit. It must have been precisely at this time that Wainflith added an addition to the charter of Eton College, according to which the abbots were to renounce the heresies of John Wycliffe and Pecock.

Wainfleet presided over the Chancellor of Parliament in Coventry in November 1459, who, after the Yorkist catastrophe near Ludlow, sentenced the York leaders to public disgrace and denial of all civil and property rights (attainder). Most likely, because of this, three days before the Yorkists attacked Northampton, on July 7, 1460, he handed over a large seal to the king in his tent near Delapre's Women's Abbey in Northampton. The seal was accepted by Henry and after July 25th ended up in London in the hands of the Yorkist George Neville , Bishop of Exeter, brother of the king, Earl of Warwick.

The claims of some researchers that Wainfleet was on the run and hiding during the Battle of Wakefield and the work of the first Parliament of Edward in 1461, look very doubtful. The evidence of his devotion, reflected in a letter to Henry to the pope on November 8, 1460, dates back to the time when Henry himself was in the hands of the Yorkists. The complaint about the unlawful collection of known rights, filed personally by Edward IV in August 1461 by the tenants of the East Men’s Episcopal estate in Hunts and decided by the Parliament in favor of the bishop in December of the following year, also suggests that Wayfleet was not regarded by the Yorkists as an enemy, although it was personal favorite of Henry. This point of view is also confirmed by the general charter of July 1, 1462, which secured for him and his successors the right of ownership and bishopric in Winchester.

It is very likely that he took an active part in the restoration of Eton College, which in 1463 was annexed by Edward to the College of St. George in Windsor, which deprived him of a significant part of the land holdings. In the earliest audit reports after the college was restored in 1467, there were many records of visits by the Provost of Westbury to the “Lord of Winchester,” which in January 1468 or 1469 concerned the “start of church work” and the provision of this money. For which it was February 1, 1469 that Wainflit was granted a pardon, not explained. After returning to the throne of Henry VI on September 2, 1470, Wainflit greeted him on the occasion of his release from the Tower , which necessitated a new pardon, which was granted a month after the restoration of Edward on May 30, 1471 and the provision of a loan of 2,000 marks by the king. In the years 1471-1474, Wainfleet was mainly occupied with the supervision of the completion of the construction of the church, later called the chapel, in Eton: the glassblower who worked for him, who was involved in the installation of windows, and Wainfleet entered into a pulpit contract on August 15, 1475, one side of which was supposed to be like a pulpit "at Bishop Wickham's college in Winchester," and the other was like a pulpit of "St. Thomas Actress in London. " In 1479, a church entrance hall in the western part of the chapel was erected from the Headington Oxford stone.

In 1474, Wainflit, being appointed chief executor of the will of Sir John Fastolph, who passed away in 1459 and left a controversial will, ensured that his inheritance was transferred to seven priests and seven elemosinaries in Caistor, Norfolk, who in fact were seven collaborators and seven “poor scholars” of Magdalene college. In the same year, the college took possession of the Sele Abbey, Sussex, located outside the county, whose trial was terminated in 1469. New (subsequently called old) buildings at Magdalen College began to be built in the same year; On May 5, 1474, the first stone was laid at the center of the foundation of the main altar. Licenses of July 1, July 22, 1477 and February 12, 1479 allowed to increase the initial construction budget. August 23, 1480 the construction of the college was completed, including in accordance with the fashion of those times, which went from the College of All Souls, a large window was arranged on the western side of the building. On the same day, a new rector, Richard Mayhew, of New College, was elected, and charters were promulgated. This college year is usually considered the year of foundation of the college, and not the 1448th when the Magdalen College was founded, although it is more correct to date its foundation in 1458, when the original college and St. John's Hospital were transformed into the New College of St. Magdalen. The charters were for the most part a copy of those charters of New College, whose employees had previously been all the employees of the Magdalen College who had nominated themselves as candidates for the post of rector. The charters provided for the post of rector and the presence of 70 “scientists” in the college, but the latter were divided into 40 employees and 30 scholars who were called “demies,” since their number was half that of their senior comrades.

School of St. Magdalen was founded at the gates and as part of the college, becoming, like Eton, a free grammar school, where tuition was not charged to anyone and which was open to all comers, functioning under the guidance of a mentor. The first master was John Anquihuel, a married man, with a salary of 10 pounds a year - the same as in Winchester and Eaton. The renewal of interest in classical literature was proved by the prohibition of the study of sophism by any "scientist" under the age of 18, unless they have mastered the perfect grammar. On September 22, 1481, Wainflit honored Edward IV at college, where he spent the night, and in July 1483, he received Richard III - with even greater honor, which the teacher William Grocken, a former New College staffer, called "Divine." In 1484, Wainfleet made a donation to the college treasury named after him for the work of a free grammar school, sufficient to pay a priest teacher a salary of 10 pounds a year, that is, equal to the income of the director of the Magdalene school, and also to build the of our time, a new school building, a thin-brick building with two towers, 76 feet long by 26 feet wide. The following year, the Augustinian Priory College was acquired in Selborn, Hunts.

On April 27, 1486, Wainfleet, like Wickham, signed his will in the South (or "bishop") Waltham, the beloved estate of the bishops. It is noteworthy that he bequeathed to Winchester College and New College the same amount of money as the Magdalen College he founded directly, but he declared the owner of all his land holdings. He died on August 11, 1486 (in some sources the month of death is incorrectly indicated May) and was buried in the chapel of St. Mary Magdalen at the main altar in the Winchester Cathedral, which he installed during his lifetime. The image on this altar is often seen as an authentic portrait of Wainflit.

• This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .

• Wainfleet, William // The Catholic Encyclopedia