SCHOOLS 



discorage mannye of his subjectes, whiche be both apte and wyllyng to 

 applye theymselfes to larnyng, and cause theym, by reason of the 

 tenuytie of lyvyng, to withdrawe and gyve their mindes to suche other 

 thynges and fantacies as shulde neyther be acceptable to God nor profit- 

 table for his publique welthe.' 



In consideration of the remission, each college at the universities 

 was to maintain a public lecturer in such science or tongue as the king 

 should appoint, while the chancellor of the university, the provost of 

 Eton, and the warden of Winchester were each to maintain 



Two masses to be there solempnely sung, whereof one shall be of Holye Trynyte 

 the 8 day of Maye, and the other of th'olye Gooste the 8 day of October, for the 

 presarvacion of the Kynges Highesse and the mooste excellent Prynces, Quene Anne 

 his wyfe, and the right noble Princes Elizabeth, daughter of our said Soveraiyne 

 Lorde and of the said Quene Anne, during their lyves ; and after the decease of our 

 said Sovereiyne Lord' two anniversaries ' with dyrige over night and mass of requiem 

 in the next morrowe ' of those days. 



This coupling of Eton and Winchester with the universities, as if 

 they were part of them, had a most important effect, and was the 

 means of saving them from destruction in the general dissolution of 

 colleges. 



The dissolution of monasteries which began that year could not in 

 any case have been long delayed. Wykeham and Chicheley had dis- 

 solved monasteries by purchase to apply them to the purposes of the 

 secular clergy and of general education, then an ecclesiastical purpose. 

 Waynflete, Wolsey, Fox and 'Saint John' (Fisher), as by papal 

 authority he is now officially designated, armed with papal bulls, con- 

 fiscated monasteries on the ground of uselessness or irregularity, without 

 payment, for the like public purposes. 



We recognize two of the most prominent of the monastic visitors 

 who took part in the dissolution of the monasteries as Wykehamists. 

 One of them, Dr. London, who had been domestic chaplain to the 

 ' saintly and venerable ' Warham, was warden of New College and dean 

 of the ancient college of Wallingford. Another, perhaps the first in the 

 field, was Dr. Bedyl, who was secretary to the same archbishop, arch- 

 deacon of London and clerk of the council. Both of them in the usual 

 way were canons of divers cathedrals. 



In the last years of Henry VIII. the history of the college narrowly 

 escaped being brought to an abrupt conclusion. Colleges, hospitals and 

 chantries were included in the Act of 1539, which confirmed the 

 suppression of the larger monasteries already made or to be made. 

 Under this Act Chicheley 's college of Higham Ferrars disappeared, 

 being granted to the Dacres, now Fitzwilliams ; and at Winchester the 

 Old College (Pontissera's college of St. Elizabeth) found its way by 

 purchase into the hands of Thomas Wriothesley, knight, Lord Wrio- 

 thesley. He was a Hampshire man and steward of Winchester College. 

 It was granted him by letters patent 1 on 29 March, 1543, in considera- 



1 Pat. 35, Henry VIII. p. 9, m. 33-4. 

 303 



