WYKEHAM, WILLIAM DE, was b. at Wickham, in Hampshire, in 1324. He was educated at Winchester. On Oct. 8, 1366, by the king's recommendation, he was elected bishop of Winchester. He was consecrated Oct. 10 of the year following. Meanwhile, he had been appointed lord high chancellor of England; in which office he was confirmed Sept. 17, 1367. He resigned on Mar. 14, 1371, on a petition being presented to the king against the government remaining too long in the hands of men connected with the church. He now devoted himself to various objects of lasting usefulness. His prepara tory college or school at Winchester was opened for teaching in 1373; but the building of the college was not begun till 1387. It was finished in 1393. In the college which he instituted at Oxford, teaching had also begun in 1373; but the building of " St. Mary's college of Winchester in Oxford " was not begun till 1380; it was finished in 1393. He began the rebuilding of Winchester cathedral in 1395, and just lived to see it finished. Meanwhile, he had become the object of resentment to the duke of Lancaster and party, at whose instance he was indicted for pecuniary defalcation, and other crimes alleged to have been committed by him as keeper of the privy seal and lord chancellor. He was heard iu 1376 before a commission of peers, bishops, and privy councilors, declared guilty, and a severe sentence was passed upon him. It was, however, ultimately com
muted into a fine, which was remitted on the accession of Richard II. in 1377. He was one of the council of 14 appointed to the king in 1386, and in May, 1389, he was again made lord chancellor. He continued in office till Sept. 27, 1391, when he resigned; and from this date he appears to have taken little active part in public affairs. He was present in the parliament held on Sept. 30, 1399, when Richard II. was deposed. He was also present in the first parliament of Henry IV. He died at South Waltham, Sept. 27, 1404.—See Life by Dr. (afterward bishop) Lowth (Loud. 1754). Wykeham of Wyke ham was one of the most munificent benefactors of the English church; but be was not a fanatic. He loved learning, order, civilization, and purity of manners; and as bishop of Winchester, signalized himself by his rigorous reformation of ecclesiastical abuses; but he had not the slightest tendency toward Protestantism, affording, in this respect, a most striking contrast to his great contemporary Wycliffe (q.v.). Wykeham of Wyke ham may be taken as the type of a class of English churchmen both before and after the reformation—men who are destitute of zeal on questions of doctrine, but zealous for the dignity, culture, and practical efficiency of the church.