A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



' fearing grave prejudice to himself and the 

 college,' he protested before a public notary in 

 St. Martins le Grand, London, in an appeal 

 to the papal see : 'I never will consent to the 

 transfer of any persons of Eton to St. George's, 

 Windsor, or to its union or appropriation thereto, 

 by apostolic or any other authority . . . and if 

 I ever consented thereto which I do not admit, 

 but altogether deny I did so, not by my own 

 free will, but under fear such as may affect a 

 man of reasonably firm mind.' 



Eton school, if it had ever entirely ceased, was 

 resumed either at Michaelmas 1466, or at the 

 beginning of I467, 62 as appears from an imper- 

 fect and undated account roll which has been 

 hitherto unnoticed. It is rather difficult to make 

 out exactly what period this roll covers, since 

 dating from the first coming (primo adventu), it 

 gives 1 7 weeks' commons without details. It 

 then gives the third term with the usual details, 

 but extends this term to 27 weeks, and then 

 begins similar details for ' the first week of this 

 year ' and the rest of that term. This apparently 

 refers to the Michaelmas term of 1467, which 

 was the normal beginning of the college year. 

 The income for the period to 31 December 1467 

 amounted 10^321, but of this 13 was attri- 

 buted to a legacy from John Bower, one of the 

 earliest fellows, presumably for the obit, which 

 was afterwards maintained in remembrance of 

 him ; and 2 ids. was for an old debt of 

 Thomas Capron, paid by his wife. Apparently 

 only the provost, a temporary head master, 

 and half a dozen boys came at first, as the com- 

 mons ' at their first corning ' only amounted to 

 6s. id., and next week to <)s. 6d. By the end 

 of the quarter beginning at Lady Day the 

 weekly commons amounted to 401. At the 

 beginning of the third term, Midsummer Day, 

 there were the provost, 2 fellows, the head 

 master, usher, i chaplain, 6 clerks, and 20 

 ' scholars, choristers, and servitors,' who gradu- 

 ally rose to 26. In the i6th week the number 

 of the scholars suddenly rose to 43, and by the 

 27th week to 52, though how the term managed 

 to have 27 weeks is a mystery. The rise in num- 

 bers was due to a new election held on 8 July 

 1467, the morrow of the translation of St. 

 Thomas the Martyr (Becket), the earliest possible 

 day according to the statutes. The election 

 roll is extant. It contains 71 names, 7 of which 

 are found on the roll for King's the following 

 year, though only one had then attained the 

 statutable age of 1 8, and one was no more than 

 1 5 years old, while 22 of them eventually went to 

 King's, showing that there were large gaps to 

 fill in that college also. Of those on the roll I 7 

 came from London, 7 from Hampshire, 4 from 

 Cambridgeshire, and the rest dispersedly from 

 various counties. Two of those elected to King's 



this year seem to have declined admission, and 

 their places were taken by the two last on the 

 roll, one of whom was twenty-two years old, and 

 probably a scholar at the time of Henry VI, who 

 had gone ofFelsewhere meanwhile. The huge roll 

 of 71 must have been intended to supply a 

 very large deficiency in the full numbers at 

 Eton. All certainly were not admitted, as three 

 or four are found at the top of the roll next 

 year. But the majority must have been admitted. 

 This large election was made in anticipation of 

 the re-endowment of the college effected by 

 letters patent ten days later, 17 July I4&7, 61 

 the grant being in frankalmoign, i.e. by way 

 of charity, to pray for the souls of King Edward 

 IV and his queen, Edward thus being sub- 

 stituted as founder for Henry VI. The main 

 items, apart from the apportus payable to alien 

 houses, were the hospital of St. John the Baptist, 

 Dorchester ; the priories of Langford ' Hang- 

 inglangford ' it is usually called in the accounts 

 in Wiltshire ; Brimpsfield, Gloucestershire ; 

 Modbury and Cowick, Devonshire ; Blakenham, 

 Suffolk ; St. Helen's, Isle of Wight ; most of the 

 possessionsof Ogbourne Priory,including Weedon 

 Beck ; and the reversion of St. James' Hospital, 

 now St. James' Palace, ' by Westminster,' after 

 the death of Roger Malmesbury, who on the 

 resumption had been appointed warden. Pov- 

 ington Priory, 64 Dorset, was also included ; but 

 this, mysteriously enough, though granted 17 May 

 1474 to St. George's, Windsor, is found after- 

 wards among the Eton possessions, and was event- 

 ually exchanged in the time of Edward VI for 

 other property. It seems probable that the intro- 

 duction into the statutes of the oaths of the fellows 

 that they ' will not favour the damned opinions, 

 errors, or heresies of John Wycliff, Reginald 

 Pecok, or other heretic while he lives, on pain, 

 of perjury and expulsion ipso facto,' was effected 

 at this time. For the persecution of poor Pecok 

 was a Yorkist bid for the favour of the Church. 



The head master shown in the roll of 1466-7 

 was Clement Smythe, who had returned from 

 Winchester at the reduced pay of jiO a year, 

 to which amount, the same as that of the head 

 master of Winchester, instead of ^i 6 as contem- 

 plated by Henry's statutes, the salary of the head 

 master of Eton was permanently reduced until 

 the reign of Elizabeth. Clement Smythe was 

 paid for three terms only, showing that he came 

 at Lady Day 1467. Some scholars accompanied 

 or were found by the provost ' at his first advent,' 

 and were taught by one Henry Grymston, who 

 was paid 6s. 8d. fro informacione puerorum, and 

 then by ' Sir ' Walter Barbour. Richard Profett, 

 the principal servant, who like the rest suffered 

 a reduction of wages from 5 a year to 2, in 

 the absence of fellows, was sent on estates busi- 



68 See Eton Audit Rolls. 



168 



M Pat. 7 Edw. IV, pt. iv, m. 13. 

 44 Pat. 14 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. i. 



