Founder ’ s Obit 2016
Delivered by the Headmaster on Monday , 5 September 2016 in Winchester Cathedral .
William of Wykeham , whose death on 27 September 1404 and subsequent benefaction we commemorate , a little prematurely , today , made his reputation as a builder . He acquired royal favour through his work at Windsor , where Edward III commissioned the development of a huge chivalric castle intended to accommodate the new Order of the Garter . According to a 16th century account reproduced by Virginia Davis in the most recent biography of Wykeham , the relationship at Windsor faltered only once . When Edward discovered inscribed on a castle wall the words Hoc fecit Wykeham , he told Wykeham that the glory due to the master was being improperly assumed by the servant . Wykeham ’ s wily response was that the true meaning of the phrase was not that Wykeham had made the castle but that the castle had made Wykeham . Both interpretations have validity . Yes , some people do great things ; but what people do is a result of circumstance , environment , and how each individual makes use of the opportunity available to them . This morning ’ s simple questions are therefore twin : what did our founder do , and what should we do as a consequence of the opportunities he created for us ?
I : William of Wykeham William of Wykeham was born , as many of you know , in 1324 , of unexceptional yeoman stock . His abilities , learnt at a school in Winchester , attracted him to powerful patrons : the Sheriff of his home county , then the Bishop of Winchester , and finally the King . Wykeham ’ s talents lay in getting buildings done on time and within cost . He became Chief Surveyor of four of the royal castles : much of his work at Windsor is still visible . Relatively late in life Wykeham was ordained ; within five years , he was already amongst the favourites to become Archbishop of Canterbury . Shortly after William Edington , Bishop of Winchester , was nominated to that archiepiscopal see , Wykeham filled his place at Winchester . It was an office in which he was to remain for the final 37 years of his life . As was not uncommon in mediaeval times , Wykeham developed a political career in parallel with his ecclesiastical one , and this career was equally spectacular . He rose to become first Lord Privy Seal and finally Lord Chancellor – the highest political office in the land – the nearest modern equivalent is Prime Minister . He served twice in this office , from 1367-71 and 1389-91 , and , in Edward III and Richard II , under two highly contrasting kings . To be sure , he fell from favour for a time , largely for unknown reasons , but at the height of his power that power was extraordinary : “ everything was done by him , and nothing was done without him ”, remarked his contemporary Froissart . Wykeham ’ s two careers enabled him to acquire huge personal wealth , which he put to two principal philanthropic purposes : this Cathedral , whose nave he entirely remodelled , and the twin