May declared that he had provided Waynflete, and set him over the church of Winchester. On the 4th of June precepts were issued, signifying that the Pope had made this notification; that the bishop elect had renounced all and every the words in his bulle derogatory to the king and his crown; and that the king, having accepted his homage for the temporalties of his see, ordered them to be released. On the 16th Waynflete made profession of obedience to the archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. He was consecrated at Eton on the 13th of July. The college at Winchester presented him on the occasion with a horse, which cost six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence; and gave money (thirteen shillings and four pence) to the boys at Eton. The warden, with other members, attended the solemnity; and the expenses of their journey thither, and to London, on horseback, amounted to thirteen shillings D. Redmanni Registr. Cant. Provisus 10 Maii. H. Wharton, vol. i. p. 318, Rymer, t. xi. p. 172. Budden, p. 66, 4 Jun. Rex restituit temp. Will o W. proviso in Ep. Wint. MS. Harl. N° 6962. and and five pencet. On the 18th Waynflete received the spiritualties"; and he held his first general ordination on Sunday the 23d of December following at Eton, by special license from the bishop of Lincoln. It has been asserted, that during the whole primacy of Stafford the Pope appointed bishops in England by provision; and, among others, Waynflete, a prelate remarkable for piety and learning*. Budden, though he allows that the bishop did not perhaps entirely abstain from availing himself of the power of illustrious persons, and the custom of the age, dissents from the opinion that he was raised to the episcopal throne by papal provision; and the reader who considers the foregoing detail will probably pronounce that he was not, in the larger sense of the word; but will regard him as indebted for his high dignity, to his own character, the suffrages of the chapter of St. Swythin, and the influence of the king. The bishop, soon after he was confirmed Registr. Waynflete. Computus Coll. Wynton. Registr. Stafford. H. Wharton. Godwin. Budden, p. 66. * Budden, p. 60. From M. Parker in V. Stafford. See p. 64, 66. Mat. Parker, p. 432. in the possession of his see, received a most honourable testimony of the confidence reposed in him by his royal patron. King Henry, possibly foreseeing the troubles about to overwhelm the nation, was solicitous to insure the completion of his two colleges. He now made a testamentary provision for it; and, "in consideration of the great "discretion, the high truth, and the fer"vent zeal for his welfare, which he had "proved" in the bishop of Winchester, constituted him by his will, dated at Eton on the 12th of March 1447, his surveyor, executor, and director; as also sole arbiter of any variance which might happen with his feoffees. The desire to accomplish this measure, was perhaps the particular motive of his impatience to secure the advancement of Waynflete to the mitre, A popular preacher of reformation (Reginald Pecock) about this time enlarged on the riches, luxury, and pride of the superior clergy; and by his eloquence rendered the grandeur annexed to episcopacy in parti y See Appendix, No VII. Henry VI. nominated him one of the fourteen trustees of his will, to succeed the first nominees in case of death. Sepulchral Mon. cular, cular, a subject of public clamour and indignation. The spiritual lords were then served on the knee, and had pompous retinues; some, it is related, appearing abroad with as many as fourscore attendants, their horses all bedecked with silver trappings". So splendid was the mitre when conferred on Waynflete; whose approved moderation, with the worthy uses to which he destined his revenue, was well adapted to conciliate the temper of its adversaries. He persevered in his wonted, unaffected humility; and, we are told, was accustomed to repeat often that verse of the Magnificat, St. Luke i. 49, "Qui potens est fecit pro me magna, et "sanctum nomen ejus;" which also he added to his arms as his mottoa. * See A. Wood. Budden, p. 87. CHAP CHAPTER III. Transactions at Oxford and Winchester, with the Founding of Magdalen Hall by Bishop Waynflete. SECT. I. I.TH HE long continuance of the war with France had engrossed the attention, and exhausted the finances, as well of individuals as of the public. The university of Oxford lamented its empty halls and inns ; and the condition of the scanty number of students, which still resorted to it, was from poverty, neglect, and the difficulty of obtaining instruction, truly deplorable. Indigent clerks had one while received assistance from customary and voluntary stipends, or exhibitions, chiefly the bounty of rich churchmen; but these, instead of residing, as formerly, on their preferments, lived in the houses of the great, or expended their revenues at the court. In a synod of the clergy held at London (1438), In 1437. Epist. Acad. Oxon. 125. in Archiv. arch |