Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 62.djvu/162

 chancellor in 1288 (, Fasti Oxon. p. 15, ed. Gutch). A confusion of him with a namesake, John Winchelsea, has led to the improbable assertion that he was a fellow of Merton College (, Memorials of Merton Coll. pp. 197–8, Oxford Hist. Soc.). He enjoyed a great reputation as scholar and administrator both at Paris and Oxford ( in Anglia Sacra, i. 12). He was appointed prebendary of Leighton Manor in Lincoln Cathedral, but his rights there were contested by the litigious Almeric of Montfort [q. v.] (Peckham's Letters, i. 90). Winchelsea gained the suit, and held the prebend until he became archbishop (, Fasti Eccl. Angl. ii. 176, ed. Hardy). About 1283 Winchelsea was appointed archdeacon of Essex and prebendary of Oxgate in St. Paul's (ib. ii. 333–4, 420;, Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Londin. i. 71, 190). He resided constantly and diligently visited his archdeaconry. He preached frequently and resumed the delivery of theological lectures in St. Paul's (, p. 12).

Peckham died on 8 Dec. 1292. The papacy was vacant, and for once there was a chance of a canonical election to Canterbury. On 22 Dec. Henry (d. 1331) [q. v.] of Eastry, prior of Christ Church, sought license to elect, and two of his monks visited Edward at Newcastle, whence they were sent back on 6 Jan. 1293 with the necessary permission. The election took place on 13 Feb., and was ‘per viam compromissi,’ a committee of seven being entrusted with making the appointment on behalf of the whole chapter (, Concilia, ii. 189–90). Through Eastry's influence, and probably with Edward I's goodwill, Winchelsea was unanimously elected. The king gave his consent after three days (, p. 12), whereupon Winchelsea at once prepared to start off for Rome (cf. Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1292–1301, p. 7). He reached Rome on Whit-Sunday, 17 May. The papacy being still vacant, he was delayed at the curia more than a year before he could obtain confirmation and consecration. He made so good an impression on the cardinals that it was believed in England that he was thought of as a possible pope (, p. 12). At last the election of Celestine V terminated the long vacancy on 5 July 1294. The new pope thought so well of Winchelsea that he offered him a cardinalate, which Winchelsea refused. Despite the opposition of the Franciscans (Worcester Ann. p. 518), Celestine confirmed Winchelsea's election. On 12 Sept. he was consecrated bishop at Aquila, where the papal court then was (, Concilia, ii. 198). He left Rome on 5 Oct., and travelled home by way of Germany, Brabant, and Holland, to avoid the territories of Philip the Fair, with whom Edward I was then at war. He reached Yarmouth on 1 Jan. 1295 (Worcester Ann. p. 518). Besides the sum of 142l. 19s. expended in England, his outlay at Rome had amounted to the huge sum of 2,500 marks (, Antiq. of Cant. Appendix to Supplement, pp. 18–19). The proctors of the chapter had spent more than half as much besides.

Edward I was in North Wales suppressing the revolt of Madog ab Llywelyn [see ]. Winchelsea at once repaired to the royal camp at Conway, where on 4 Feb. the order for the restoration of his temporalities was issued (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1292–1301, p. 129). On 6 Feb. Winchelsea excommunicated Madog (Concilia, ii. 203), and on 18 March he made his solemn entry into Canterbury, where he received the pallium. He was enthroned on Sunday, 2 Oct., in the presence of the king, Edward's brother and son, and a great gathering of clerks and magnates. The details of the ceremony were carefully recorded (‘Forma inthronizationis archiepiscopi VI Non. Oct. ab Henrico priore,’ &c., in, i. 57–8).

A secular priest, canonically elected by an English chapter, Winchelsea was anxious from the beginning not to fall short of his two mendicant predecessors (Kilwardby and Peckham), whom the papacy had forced upon the English king and church. In personal holiness he was in no wise inferior to them, and he was probably their superior in ability. He continued to be assiduous in preaching. He attended the canonical hours as regularly as a monk. He frequently shut himself up for prayer and meditation, and, as his intimates suspected, for severe corporal discipline. His charity and almsgiving were magnificent. Many poor scholars partook of his bounty, and he was careful to reserve many of his best benefices for needy masters and bachelors of divinity. He was bountiful to the mendicant friars, though he sought to restrain them from exercising pastoral functions without the consent of the local clergy (Worcester Ann. p. 546; cf. however Concilia, ii. 257–64). He constantly distributed his rich garments to the poor, and never kept more than two robes for himself. He partook sparingly or not at all of the costly meats set before him, and habitually gave them away to the poor and sick, much to the disgust of his servants, who thought that coarser food would have sufficed for pauper needs. Yet he seldom gave way to the excesses of asceticism. He was cheerful in temperament, corpulent in body, a hard worker, and a good man of