(ib. vol. iii. pref. viii). His work was revised, augmented, and carried on without a break by Paris in his ‘Chronica Majora.’
Wendover, while an outspoken and honest writer, is more moderate in his language than Paris, and therefore probably more trustworthy where personal character is concerned; but his chronicle, partly because it reveals less strong feeling, lacks the vigour and brightness that distinguish the work of Paris. A fairly complete picture of the younger historian can be gained from his writings, but the ‘Flores’ do not enable us to become acquainted with Wendover. Nor does Wendover systematically expound the causes of events; and for this reason may perhaps accurately be described as a chronicler, while Paris deserves to be called an historian. As a chronicler, however, he stands high; he was industrious in collecting information, and, though he sometimes makes mistakes—as in asserting that the second coronation of Henry in 1220 took place at Canterbury, in placing the consecration of Walter Mauclerk [q. v.] to Carlisle under 1223 instead of 1224, in describing the grant of 1224 as two marcs on the carucate instead of two shillings, and in calling the count of Brittany in 1229 Henry instead of Peter—is generally accurate, and shows some narrative power, though in this respect too he is eclipsed by Paris. He seems to have been specially interested in ecclesiastical matters, and relates many miracles and other wonders. He does not seem to have had a wide acquaintance with Latin classical authors, for in the part of his work which is original he scarcely ever quotes from them. His Latin, which exhibits some marked though unimportant characteristics, is clear and correct, though sometimes rather bald.
[Luard's prefs. to Chron. Maj. vols. i. ii. iii., Hardy's Cat. of Materials, iii. 36, 79–83, Madden's pref. to Hist. Angl. vol. i., Hewlett's pref. to Wendover's Flores, vol. i. (all Rolls Ser.); Stevenson's pref. to Wendover, vol. i. (Engl. Hist. Soc.).]
WENDY, THOMAS (1500?–1560), court physician, born between May 1499 and May 1500, was the second son of Thomas Wendy of Clare, Suffolk (Addit. MS. 19154, f. 342). He was educated at Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1518–19 and on Lady day following was elected fellow of Gonville Hall (afterwards Gonville and Caius College). He proceeded M.A. in 1522, and then went abroad to study medicine; he graduated M.D. at Ferrara, and was incorporated in this degree at Cambridge in 1527 (Venn, Biogr. Hist. of Gonville and Caius Coll. p. 24). He was subsequently appointed physician to Henry VIII, who on 12 June 1541 granted to him and his wife the manor of Haslingfield, Cambridgeshire (Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, xvi. 947). Wendy plays some part in Foxe's story of Gardiner's alleged intrigue against Catherine Parr for heresy (Maitland, Essays, 1849, pp. 319–21). He attended Henry VIII on his deathbed, was one of the witnesses to his will, and was bequeathed 100l. by the king. He was continued as royal physician with a salary of 100l. by Edward VI, who made him further grants of land (Acts P. C. ii. 432; Lit. Remains of Edward VI, p. cxcvii). On 12 Nov. 1548 he was appointed one of the ecclesiastical visitors of Oxford, Cambridge, and Eton, and on 6 May 1552 was again commissioned to visit Eton (cf. Dixon, iii. 120). He was admitted fellow of the College of Physicians on 22 Dec. 1551, and became an elect in 1552. He attended Edward VI on his deathbed, and was continued as royal physician by Mary, to whom he performed a like service. On 26 March 1554 he was returned to parliament for St. Albans, and for Cambridgeshire on 10 Oct. 1555. He was appointed an ecclesiastical visitor by Elizabeth in 1559, and died at Haslingfield on 11 May 1560 in the sixty-first year of his age; he was buried at Haslingfield on the 27th. He was a friend of Dr. John Caius (1510–1573) [q. v.], who dedicated to him in 1557 the first of his ‘Galeni Pergameni libri;’ he gave many medical and classical books to the library of Gonville and Caius College, founded a fellowship there, and is commemorated in the college by a service held on 11 May.
Wendy left no issue by his wife Margery, and was succeeded by his nephew Thomas, son of his elder brother John. Thomas was sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1573–4, 1585–6, and 1602–3 (Lists of Sheriffs, 1898, p. 14); in 1586–7 he was in trouble with the privy council for refusing the oath (Heywood and Wright, Cambr. Trans. ii. 420–9); he added his lands at Barrington, Cambridgeshire, to his uncle's endowment of Gonville and Caius College. His descendants are given in Le Neve's ‘Pedigrees of Knights’ (Harl. Soc. p. 17).
[Authorities cited; Sloane MSS. 1301 f. 151, 3562 f. 51; Cal. State Papers, Dom., 1547–80, p. 11 (indexed as Hendy); Davy's Suffolk Coll. in Addit. MS. 19154; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 205; Munk's Coll. of Phys. i. 50; Dixon's Hist. vol. iii. (indexed as Windrie); Lit. Rem. of Edward VI (Roxburghe Club); Hist. MSS. Comm. 13th Rep. App. iv. 414, 441; Baker's St. John's, i. 125, 146, ii. 628; Acts of the Privy Council.]
