A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



papal mandate, that the pope was aware of all 

 the young man's preferments. But neither 

 bishop nor pope were to be thwarted, and in 

 1350 John was confirmed in the wardenship 

 of St. Nicholas, although it was acknowledged 

 that he then held a canonry and prebend of 

 Lincoln, the church of Cheriton, the hospital 

 of St. Cross, and a canonry of Salisbury, with 

 expectation of a prebend. 1 The estate of the 

 hospital of St. Nicholas was ratified by the 

 Crown to Nicholas de Wykeham as master on 

 5 February, 1388, together with four prebends, 

 the church of Witney and the archdeaconry 

 of Wilts. 2 Bishop Wykeham, by his will, left 

 a set of vestments and a chalice to the hospital. 



On the resignation of the mastership of St. 

 Nicholas by Thomas Kirkeby, in 1461, Bishop 

 Waynflete collated William Elyot to that 

 office. 3 



When the Valor Ecc/esiasticus was drawn 

 up (1535), John Incent held the mastership. 

 The gross annual value was returned at 79 

 I 3 J - l\d., an d tne clear value, after distri- 

 bution of alms, etc., at 33 19;. 5^., the 

 latter sum being apparently the master's in- 

 come. 



Leland, who was at Portsmouth about 1539, 

 says : ' There is also in the west south west part 

 of the town a fair Hospitale sumtyme erected 

 by Petrus de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester, 

 Whereyn were a late xij poore men and yet vj 

 be yn it.' This last master of the Portsmouth 

 hospital and of St. Cross, Winchester, is iden- 

 tical with John Incent, born at Berkhamstead 

 in 1480, who became dean of St. Paul's in 

 1 540. He took the degree of bachelor of laws 

 at All Souls' College, Oxford, in 1507, and in 

 1513 was made commissary to Fox, Bishop of 

 Winchester. He is best known as the founder 

 of Berkhamstead Free Grammar School in 

 IS4I. 4 



This house was formally surrendered to the 

 Crown by John Incent on 2 June, 1 540. 8 The 

 chapel was spared, being first used as a chapel 

 royal attached to Government House, and after- 

 wards converted into a garrison chapel. 



MASTERS AND WARDENS OF GOD'S HOUSE, 

 PORTSMOUTH 



Robert de Hartwedon or Harewedon, 8 



13.05, I3'9 

 William de Harewedon, 1325 



1 Cat. of Papal Letters, iii. 357. 



* Pat. 1 1 Rich. II. pt. 2, m. 36. 



3 Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, i. f. izjb. 



4 Cussans' Hertfordshire, iii. 76. It is strange 

 that Dean Incent is omitted in the Diet, of Nat. 

 Biography. 



* Dep. Keepers' Reports, viii. app. 2. p. 38. 



Thomas de Hatfield, 7 1340 



Edmund Arundel, 1342, 1348 



John de Edingdon, nephew of the Bishop 



of Winchester, 8 1348, 1350 

 Thomas de Edingdon, nephew of the 



Bishop of Winchester, resigned in 1366 

 Nicholas de Portsmouth, 9 1366 

 John de Wormenhall, 1376 

 Richard de Wykeham, 1376-8 

 Nicholas de Wykeham, 10 1378 

 John Stacy, king's clerk, 11 1386 

 Thomas Kirkeby, 1461 

 William Elyot, 12 1461 

 John Incent, 1535, 1540 



29. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN 

 BAPTIST, BASINGSTOKE" 



The great Walter de Merton, Bishop of 

 Rochester, and founder of Merton College, 

 Oxford, was a native of Basingstoke. His 

 parents were buried in the church, and his 

 mother had inherited property in the town. 

 There was in the town, by an early founda- 

 tion of unknown date, a small hospital, 

 dedicated to St. John Baptist, for the accom- 

 modation of sick folk and wayfarers. Walter 

 de Merton, in the midst of other works of 

 extraordinary munificence, remembered this 

 small house, extended its area, rebuilt both 

 house and chapel, and then took steps to 

 insure its permanence by placing it under the 

 protection of the Crown, and became its 

 re-founder between 1230 and 1240. For its 

 rule, he appointed a warden, with a chaplain 

 and clerk to carry on divine worship, and 

 made it primarily a place of retirement for 

 aged and infirm priests, though it was still to 

 exercise hospitality towards ' the wayfaring 

 poor of Christ.' After the death of his 

 parents, he bestowed on the hospital the whole 

 of his Basingstoke estate, charging the bene- 

 faction with the perpetual maintenance of 

 wax lights at the Lady altar of the parish 

 church, which lights his parents had been 



6 Cal. of Paper Letters, ii. 10. 



7 Pat. 14 Edw. III. pt. i, m. 28. 



8 Cal. of Papal Petitions, i. 144, 153 ; Cal. of 

 Papal Letters, iii. 274. 



8 Winton. Epis. Reg., Edingdon, i. 1 34b. 



10 Ibid. Wykeham, i. ff. 79, 100. 



11 Pat. 10 Rich. II. pt. i, m. 20. 



12 Winton. Epis. Reg., Waynflete, i. f. I25b. 



13 The statements in this sketch are, in the 

 main, taken from the admirable History of Basing- 

 stoke, by Messrs. Baigent & Millard, published in 

 1889. Where references are given in footnotes, 

 the authorities named have been consulted at first 

 hand. 



308 



