Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/114

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ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS.

familia et equis suis per quinque dies tempore consecrationis Capellæ et Cimiterii et Claustri Collegii Winton, die Sabbati in festo Sc'i Kenelmi (July 17, 1396); una cum expensis aliorum extraneorum supervenientium per vices, et pro die principali confectionis specialiter invitatis, una cum donis datis diversis de familia prædicti suffraganei, xlixs vd ob.

The suffragan, to whom William of Wykeham gave his commission to consecrate the Chapel, Cloister, and Cemetery of his newly finished College at Winchester, was Simon, bishop of Aghadoe, in Ireland. The late Bishop Milner, Vicar-Apostolical, in his History of Winchester, as also the anonymous author of an older history, have supposed that the Cloisters of Winchester College were not the work of Wykeham, and have assigned them to Fromond, the founder of the Chantry Chapel, which stands within them: they were probably misled by the terms of the commission issued to the bishop of Aghadoe, a copy of which is preserved in Wykeham's Register, and the original itself in the muniment room of the College. In this no mention is made of the Cloisters, and the Cemetery is spoken of as "locus in Cimiterium destinatus." They inferred from this that the Cloisters had not yet been built. The extract given above, with many others in these rolls, relating to repairs done to the Cloisters anterior to the time of Fromond's building, prove beyond a doubt that the Cloisters are the work of Wykeham himself.

The following charge occurs in the roll of 12, 13 Henry IV.

In rewardo dato Joanni Berton pro scriptura historiæ Corporis Christi, et Sce' Anne, et pro duplicatione eorumdem, una cum ympnis, et aliis correctionibus factis per eundem in diversis libris, iiis iiiid

In the 2 & 3 Henry V., we meet with the cost of some beautiful frontels for the high, and the two inferior altars of the Chapel.

In soluto Joanni Halle Mercier, London' pro duobus frontellis de albo fustian pro summo altari' operatis in medio imagine Crucifixi, Marie et Joannis, et pulverizatis cum rosis rubris ; ac quatuor frontellis de eodem panno simili modo operatis et pulverizatis, pro altaribus inferioribus, lxvs.

In the 4 Henry VI., the following charges occur under this head.

In cordulis et splintris emp. pro sepulchre Dñico, vid.

In solut. pro factura quatuor amiciarum, cum iiiid datis clerico Prioris Sci' Swithini temp, benedictionis earumdem, vid.

In solut. pro I cressant de argento deaurato pro eucharistia supportanda in pixide de crystal, habente in pondere, xiiid, cum viiid pro factura, xxiid.

In solut. Thomæ Smyth pro XXIII pynnes ferreis pro cruce triangulari ordinat. pro candelis infigendis tribus noctibus ante Pascha, xiid.

The charges under the head of the Cost of the Hall contain nothing that need be cited, except the following, which occurs twice in the 8 and 9 of Henry IV., and 3 of Henry VI.

In viridibus candelis et ramis arborum empt' erga festum Nat' Sc'i Joannis Baptistæ xiiid.

I have not met with anything that throws light upon the practice of burning green candles on this festival.

Amongst the charges, which occur under the head of Gifts, are many items, constantly recurring, for presents given to the officers of justice, and administrators of the law, in order to secure their friendship and goodwill in matters affecting the interests of the College. The recipients of these gifts are generally the sheriff, or his deputy, or the jury; but sometimes offerings are made to persons far higher than they. The Admiral of