CHAP. XIV. the famous John Wickliff, then a student at the College there erected by Islip his predecessor. This ardent youth being unjustly expelled, and finding no redress for the wrong he Quarrels suffered, turned his mind to clerical usurpation and oppression, with Wickand prepared the way for that reformation in religion which blessed an after age. Langham was installed in his office of Chancellor with extraordinary pomp and magnificence. Being appointed on Sunday, 19th February, the record says that on Tuesday next following, taking the Great Seal with him to Westminster, "et in sede marmorea, ubi Cancellarii sedere sunt assueti, sedens, &c., literas patentes, &c., consignari fecit.” * 66 liffe. Custom of Chancellor opening with dis course from All the parliaments called in his time were opened by an oration from him. We may give as a specimen his performance on the 4th of December, 1364. He set the example, parliament long followed on such occasions, of beginning with a text from the Holy Scriptures as a theme. He now took the saying text in of the Royal Prophet - Faithful judgment doth adorn the Scripture, King's seat;" whence he took occasion to extol the great valour of the King, his master, and the many victories which, by God's assistance, he had gained in his youth; not forgetting the constant and dutiful goodwill and ready concurrence of the King's loyal subjects towards the furtherance of those his important undertakings. "For all which, as the King did now by him return them his hearty thanks, so he let them know that for his part he was resolved to seek the common peace and tranquillity of all his people, especially by enforcing a due observance of all good and wholsesome laws, and amending such of them as should be thought defective; as also by establishing new ones as necessity should require." Popedom. Notwithstanding these smooth words, there were heavy Langham complaints against the Chancellor for increasing the fines in aims at the Chancery payable to the King, and the Commons prayed that these fines should not be higher than they were in the time of the King's father, or at the King's first coronation. It would appear that the new practice was agreeable as well as profit *Rot. Cl. 37 Ed. 3. m. 39. See Dugd. Or. Jur. 37. He adds that the marble chair remained to his day, being fixed in the wall over against the CHAP. He retires to Avignon. able to the King, who was determined to continue it by returning this answer:- "The King wills that fines be reasonable to the ease and quiet of his people." In the beginning of 1367 Langham's ambition was further gratified, as he was made a Cardinal by Pope Urban V.; and there being nothing further in England which he could covet, he aspired to the triple crown itself. It was probably with this view, that he soon after resigned the office of Chancellor, and went to Avignon to intrigue among the Cardinals. There he lived eight years in great credit and splendour. In 1371 he came to London as a legate from the Pope to negotiate a peace between France and England. But while speculating at Avignon about a vacancy in the papacy, all his ambitious schemes were for ever terminated by an attack of palsy, of His death. which he immediately died. He is celebrated more for his liberality to the abbey and monks of Westminster, than for his just administration of the law or any improvements in legislation. 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. 1367. WILLIAM OF WICK HAM. This distinguished man, who was twice Lord Chancellor, was born in the year 1324, at the village in Hampshire from which he took his name, of but honest parents, being poor 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 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 * 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 Johannes illic cognomine Longus, Hanc habuit patriam GULIELMUs et hosce parentes Ortus et Vita Gul, de Wicham. CHAP. Introduced 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. He was first 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 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, † Patent, 30th Oct. 1356. * Patent, dated 10th May, 1356. 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. СНАР. XV. the Garter. The King, to celebrate the event, founded the illustrious A. D. 1349. order of the Garter, which now adds to the patronage of the Order of Prime Minister, and furnishes the object of highest ambition to our greatest nobles. It is said that the architect gave deep offence to his royal Inscription master by placing on one of the gates the inscription, "This on Castle. 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. Except the common law, the only road to wealth and Wickham power open to a non-combatant in those days was the church. takes holy It was now too late for William to begin the study of orders. 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 employments†, although not in the church; and hitherto he had no * This use of "facere," to make a man, rather strengthens the presumption that he did not study at Oxford. I suppose his translation of his own motto would have been "Hominem facit mores." Thus in the contemporary poem of the "Wife of Bath's Prologue" by Chaucer, 66 My fifthe husbande, God his soule blesse |