download

536 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
6. The Later Middle Ages
William of Wykeham (d 1404), bishop of Winchester and
chancellor of England, was moved to his notable munificence
in the cause of education by the general decay of the militia
dericalis which he attributed to 'the pestilences, wars, and other
afflictions ofthe world'. In his twin foundations at Winchester
and Oxford (PL 1 10 a) he not only erected a great school and
a great college, but, in so doing, initiated a
revolutionary de^
velopment in the provision ofuniversity and school education.
The number offellows in Oxford colleges was nearly doubled
by the founding ofNew College: the quadrangular layout and
size of its buildings set a new standard for collegiate architect
ture. It was the first college in which undergraduates were in/
corporated on a large scale; and,consequently, the first to adopt
and make famous the tutorial system which the halls had de/
on a sister founda/
veloped. The dependence ofNew College
tion at Winchester for all its fellows was also an innovation.
And Winchester College has the distinction of being the
earliest fully endowed school in England. In OxfordWyke/
ham's example inspired two subsequent benefactors: Henry
Chichele (d. 1443), archbishop of Canterbury, who founded
All Souls College in 1438, and a collegiate school at Higham
Ferrers in Northamptonshire; and William Waynflete (d.
1486), bishop ofWinchester, who founded Magdalen College,
in its first form, ten years later. Waynflete, who had been head/
master of Winchester and provost of Eton, followed Wyke/
ham's example further by founding a school in association with
his college at Oxford and another at Wainfleet, his native
place. Waynflete introduced two important innovations in
his statutes for Magdalen. He provided three
lectureships in
theology, moral philosophy, and natural philosophy, thereby
making his college largely selsufficient for the purpose of
teaching. As the lectures were to be open to other members of
the university, he pointed the way to the endowed university
professorships which were eventually to supersede the regency
system. He also made provision for the admission ofthe sons of