CHICHELEY, HENRY (1364-1443), English archbishop, founder of All Souls college, Oxford, was born, the son of a yeo man, at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. He seems to have passed from Winchester college to New college, Oxford, where he took his B.A. in 1392. He was then ordained sub-deacon, but he already held the living of Llanvarchell, in the diocese of St. Asaph. About 1394 he went up to London to practise as an advocate in the principal ecclesiastical court, the court of arches, and from that time an extraordinary number of posts fell to him. In 1396 he was presented to the rectory of St. Stephen's,Walbrook, and, being ordained deacon and priest later on in the year, he was made arch deacon of Dorset in 1397, and in 1399, canon of the collegiate church of Abergwili, North Wales. In Feb. 1402, he was allowed to use a bull of the pope "providing" him to the chancellorship of Salisbury cathedral and canonries in the nuns' churches of Shaftes bury and Wilton, and in Jan. 1402-3 he became archdeacon of Salisbury. In May 1404, Boniface IX. provided him to a prebend at Lincoln, notwithstanding that he already held prebends at Salis bury, Lichfield, St. Martin's-le-Grand and Abergwili, and the living of Brington.
In July 1405, Chicheley began his diplomatic career by a mission to the new Roman pope, Innocent VII., who was professing his desire to end the papal schism by resignation, if his French rival at Avignon would do likewise. In 1406 he was appointed to treat for peace with the French king, and in the following year he was sent to the new pope, Gregory XII., to end the schism. The pope provided him to the bishopric of St. David's and gave him a bull granting him the right to hold all his benefices with the bishopric.
In Jan. 1409, Chicheley was chosen by the convocation of Canterbury to attend the Council of Pisa, which withdrew obedi ence from both existing popes and in June elected a new pope. Chicheley now became the subject of a leading case, the court of king's bench deciding, after three successive terms, that he could not hold his previous benefices with the bishopric, and that a papal bull could not supersede the law of the land (Year-book ii. H. iv. 37, 59, 79). Accordingly he had to resign livings and canon ries wholesale (April 28, 1410), and was enthroned at St. David's in May, 141I. He was with the English force under the earl of Arundel which accompanied the duke of Burgundy to Paris in Oct. 1411, and there defeated the Armagnacs; and in July 1413 was sent by Henry V., with the earl of Warwick, to France to conclude peace. On the death of Archbishop Arundel he was nominated to the archbishopric.
These dates are important as they save Chicheley from the charge, versified by Shakespeare (Henry V. act i. sc. 2) from Hall's Chronicle, of having tempted Henry V. into the conquest of France for the sake of diverting parliament from the disendowment of the Church. As a matter of fact, the parliament at Leicester, in which the speeches were supposed to have been made, began on April 3o, 1414 before Chicheley was archbishop, and the rolls of parliament show that he was not present in parliament. Moreover, parliament was so far from pressing disendowment that on the petition of the Commons it passed a savage act against the heresies "commonly called Lollardry" which "aimed at the destruction of the king and all temporal estates," making Lollards felons and ordering every justice of the peace to hunt them down.
Chicheley was present at the siege of Rouen, and the king com mitted to him the negotiations for the surrender of the city in Jan. 1419 and for the marriage of Katherine. He crowned Kath erine at Westminster (Feb. 20, 1421), and in Dec. baptized her child, Henry VI.
Chicheley is renowned chiefly for his educational founda tions. He endowed a chest or loan fund for poor scholars at New college, and another for the university at large. He founded at least three colleges, one at Higham Ferrers and two at Oxford. The licence for the first was given by Henry V. in May 1422. It was closely modelled on Winchester college, and to it was attached an almshouse for 12 poor men. His first Oxford college, St. Bernard's, was founded under licence in mortmain in 1437 for Cistercians. It was suppressed with the Cistercian abbeys in and granted in 1546 to Christ Church, Oxford, who sold it to Sir Thomas Pope in 15S3 for the present St. John's college. The patent for All Souls college, dated May 20, 1438, is for a warden and 20 scholars, to be called "the Warden and College of the souls of all the faithful departed," to study and pray for the souls of Henry V. and Henry VI. and all Englishmen who had died in the wars with France. A papal bull for the college was obtained on June 21, 1439; and further patents for endowments from May 11, 1441, to Jan. 28, 1443, when a general confirmation charter was obtained, for which £i,o0o 430,000 at least of our money) was paid. Only about a quarter of the whole endowment was derived from alien priories bought by Chicheley from the crown. The rest, particularly the manor of Edgware, which made the fortune of the college, was bought from private owners. Early in 1443 the college was opened by Chicheley with four bishops in state. The statutes, not drawn up until April 2, raised the number of the college to 4o, 16 of whom were to be "jurists" and 24 students of arts and philosophy or theology.
Chicheley died on April 12, 1443, and was buried in Canterbury cathedral.