By the Rev. Canon W. H. Rich Jones. 163 



named prelate, in 1345, William of Edingdon succeeded to the see 

 of Winchester, and was made Lord Treasurer. In 1357 he became 

 Lord Chancellor of England, and died in 1366, having some time 

 previously declined the metropolitical see of Canterbury. 



His great work, as far as our diocese was concerned, was the 

 magnificent Church at Edingdon, which still remains to us though 

 in desolation, and the restoration of which we all so much desire. 

 The building rivals almost any sacred edifice in the county, both in 

 size and beauty of detail. It was by an arrangement with the 

 Abbess of Romsey that he obtained a licence from the Crown in 1351 

 to found at Edingdon, in the first instance, a chantry in connexion 

 with Romsey Abbey. Ultimately, however, he converted that 

 foundation into a regular monastery, and built an entirely new 

 monastic church. His fraternity were of the order of S. Augustine, 

 but of a particular class called " Boni Homines " or " Bonhommes.'" 

 There were never more than two houses of this order in England ; 

 the second was at Ashridge, in Bucks. 



I have no time to do more than give a slight sketch of my pre- 

 decessors. In truth in this case it is hardly necessary, for the history 

 of William of Edingdon, as Bishop of Winchester (1346 — 67), 

 forms part of the ecclesiastical history of England. 



We pass over now pretty well a hundred years, till we come to a 

 name — that of Robert Aiscough — which is of very frequent oc- 

 currence. There seem, in truth, to have been two of the same 

 name who were contemporaries, one holding in succession the pre- 

 bends of Warminster, Bishopston, and N. Alton, and being also 

 Canon of St. Paul's and Archdeacon of Colchester ; the other holding 

 successively the prebends of Netheravon, Farringdon, S. Grantham, 

 and Chute, and becoming Archdeacon of Dorset. I really know 

 little or nothing about the two archdeacons. They terribly puzzled 

 me in working out the history of the cathedral body — I hardly 

 knew " which was which. " They were name-sakes of the Bishop 

 of Sarum, and very probably a hopeful pair of nephews, upon whom 

 a benevolent and episcopal uncle, no doubt discerning their merits 

 was not sparing of promotion. It used to be said that the name of 

 a bishop lingered for at least three generations in a diocese, in the 



