Winchester College, Hampshire, part 1
The Warden and Fellows of Winchester College
ON October 30, 1356, a man of modest parentage from the village of Wickham (or Wykeham), Hampshire, was appointed Surveyor of the King's Building Works in the castle and park of Windsor. How this man, William, by now in his early thirties, had recommended himself for this role remains a mystery, but it placed him in charge of what was about to become one of the most ambitious building projects in 14th-century Europe: the reconstruction of the Upper Ward of the castle by Edward III, paid for out of the ransom of Jean II, King of France, captured at the battle of Poitiers less than six weeks earlier.
William of Wykeham's appointment marked the beginning of a spectacular career in royal service made possible by the King's favour. He immediately displayed a voracious appetite for lucrative appointments both secular and ecclesiastical and, in 1360-61, legitimised the latter by taking clerical orders. Then, in October 1366, he was elected Bishop of Winchester and secured the office of Chancellor. Shrewd investment, speculation and peculation, meanwhile, made him vastly wealthy. It also brought him powerful enemies and, in 1376, he was nearly destroyed by the King's son, John of Gaunt.
The Bishop's full political rehabilitation followed the accession of Richard II in 1377. It may have been the experience of his change in fortune-not to mention the tumultuous politics of the next three decades or more that encouraged a new focus for his activities. This was the establishment of two colleges, both dedicated to the Virgin, that could offer between them a complete education for future generations of priests in grammar and theology.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 15, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 15, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds