THE PLATE OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE
❧ WRITTEN BY PERCY MACQUOID, R.I. ❧
THERE is an undefinable feeling of romance and sentiment that forcibly strikes even the most callous who visit Winchester College. Founded by William of Wykeham in 1393 for the purpose of providing free education for the sons of those who could not otherwise have afforded it, as well as a means of supplying the country with an enlightened priesthood, it remains to-day the oldest and one of the greatest of England’s public schools. The royal licence to found the college, granted by Richard II, empowers Wykeham to ‘acquire the site and build a hall or college to the honour and glory of God and our Lady, and to settle in it a warden and seventy scholars who should study grammar within its halls and to grant them a charter.’ This first building took six years to complete, and the sum of £1.014 8s. 3d. was spent upon its construction, a sum that would represent about £20,000 according to the present value of money. ¶ As Winchester was at one time the capital of England, many kings made it their chief seat of residence, and many important parliaments were held there, and it was no doubt from this traditional importance that reigning sovereigns, and the highest dignitaries of Church and State, continually paid visits to the college. It would be otherwise difficult to account for the very large amount of ecclesiastical plate and precious vestments, in addition to the great quantity of secular plate, that was at different times in the possession of the college. The number of rose-water basins with ewers and spoons enumerated in one inventory alone proves that the entertainments must have been of a highly important nature. ¶ The earliest record of a royal gift in plate is of 1449, when Henry VI gave a tabernacle of gold, Margaret of Anjou about the same time presenting a pair of silver-gilt basins, weighing 114 oz., with the enamelled arms of England on one and those of France on the other. Before this date King Henry had paid many visits to the college, being desirous of gaining information on the subject of its working rules and statutes, in order to apply the same to the two similar institutions he was about to found. Another visit was on the occasion of his marriage, when it is stated in one of the records that the wine and beer for the entertainment of the royal suite cost two shillings and fourpence, a sum that does not appear excessive for court refreshments. Doubtless it was in return for the information and hospitality received that he produced the tabernacle and basins. The only recorded visit of Henry’s successor, Edward IV, was in 1469, when he was sufficiently impressed by the school to lend a live lion for the edification of the boys, but he does not appear to have made any presentation of plate; nor is there record of any particular interest taken in the college by either Richard III or Henry VII. During the next reign—which might with justice be called the reign of terror so far as gothic plate was concerned—Thomas Cromwell, representing the king as vicegerent and vicar-general, paid a formal visit to the college. Perhaps the authorities, scenting the coming storm, thought that the presentation to him of a standing salt from the college plate chest might prove a politic precaution; for in the records this entry occurs: ‘Sol. pro reparacione unius salsarii dat. Mro Cromwell secretario Dn̄i Regis pro favore suo habendo in causis Collegii vs. xd.’ A few weeks later, when the king was at Wolvesey Castle, two oxen, ten sheep, and twelve capons were sent to him and graciously accepted. Whether on account of the gift of the salt to Cromwell, or of the offering of sheep and chickens, Henry VIII spared the college plate; his indulgence in this respect is proved when it is seen, from the following inventory taken in 1525 of the secular college plate, how great the temptation must have been:—
| OZ. | |
| Six silver goblets, one silver-gilt cover, the gift of Dr. Young | 82½ |
| Three silver-gilt cups, with one silver-gilt cover, the gift of Mr. Ashborne | 84½ |
| A silver standing cup with gilt lid, the gift of Roger Mapull | 29½ |
| Do., the gift of Dr. Lavender | 26½ |
| Do., the gift of Dr. Mayhew | 21½ |
| Do., the gift of Clyff, Fromond’s chaplain | 18¼ |
| Two silver-gilt cups and covers, called the Rose pieces | 36¼ |
| A great silver cup with gilt cover, the gift of Andrew Hulse | 66½ |
| Two silver standing cups, with gilt covers, the gift of Mr. Ashborne | 46½ |
| A silver standing cup with cover, three hounds at its foot | 21½ |
| A silver standing cup with cover and an eagle on it | 26½ |
| A silver-gilt cup called ‘le spice dyssh,’ enamelled | 12½ |
| Three silver cups with one cover, the gift of Warden Cleve | 118½ |
| A silver cup and cover | 16½ |
| Three silver cups and one cover, marked ‘T’ and ‘A’ on the bottom | 23½ |
| A silver basin with the founder’s arms | 52½ |
| A silver ewer with a hare on its top | 16½ |
| A silver basin and ewer with the founder’s arms, the gift of Warden Cleve | 115½ |
| A silver basin and ewer with the founder’s arms, the gift of Warden Cleve | 113½ |
| A silver basin, the gift of Hugh Sugar | 43½ |
| A silver basin and ewer | 53½ |
| Two silver pots | 44½ |
| Two silver salts and one silver cover | 36½ |
| Four silver salts and one silver cover | 64½ |
| Three silver-gilt spoons | 5¼ |
| Twelve silver spoons with ‘pinnacles’ | 14½ |
| Twelve silver spoons, six marked ‘Margarett,’ six marked ‘Batt’ | 16½ |
| Twelve silver spoons with a mayden’s hedde | 15½ |
| Eleven silver spoons marked with a lion | 11½ |
| Fourteen silver spoons with a diamond | 8½ |
| Twenty-four silver spoons, eighteen with an acorn and six with pinnacles | 25½ |
| Twelve silver spoons with a diamond | 2½ |
| Three silver spoons with round | 18¼ |
| Twelve silver spoons with a diamond | 9½ |
| Fifteen silver spoons | 13½ |
| A nutt with a blue knoppe and cover. | |
| A nutt and cover with three stags at its foot. | |
| A nutt and cover with silver knoppe. | |
| A nutt with a cover and a round knoppe. | |
| A nutt and cover marked ‘B.’ | |
| Six nutts and five covers. |
¶ There is also an inventory of what was given to the college chapel by Wykeham and other benefactors, consisting of silver plate and gilt 3,892 oz., gold plate and articles in gold 91⅞ oz., which Henry VIII must have found even more difficult to resist. Out of the amount of gothic plate mentioned in these two inventories but one piece remains; this is the so-called ‘Election Cup’ illustrated on [Plate I]. ¶ The death of Henry VIII in 1547 relieved the college from the threatened danger of dissolution, but not from the sequestration of its plate; the blow fell in the sixth and seventh year of Edward VI, when the plate was seized, together with all the plate and other ornaments belonging to the ‘cathedrall churche and other parishes and chapells within the said cytie of Winchester.’ The different ‘parcells’ are minutely described in the indenture that forms a receipt, and beautiful ‘parcells’ they must have been. ¶ The college was honoured by a visit from Queen Mary on the occasion of her marriage with Philip, which took place in Winchester cathedral in 1554, and it received small gifts of alms from the royal couple; but neither Mary nor Elizabeth attempted to make good the confiscation of plate that had taken place during their brother’s reign. However, in 1565 the college began once more to accumulate plate, and amongst other things bought a ‘pousshe-pot for wine.’ Some few of these purchases and presentations are still in existence, and are given in the illustrations, but the greater part disappeared in various ways during the seventeenth century. As an instalment towards replacing this, Dr. Nicolas, a warden, presented in 1861 a large silver-gilt bowl and two silver-gilt salvers, and that others were prompted to follow his example is proved by the fine specimens of Charles II silver still in possession of the college. At the beginning of the next century Dr. Burton became head-master, and consolidated the branch of the school known as commoners. As many of these pupils were of noble birth, a special and well-appointed table was kept for their use, and much of the older plate was in 1740 condemned to the melting-pot in order to provide the necessary silver forks, spoons, etc., for the use of these fashionable young gentlemen. It was Dr. Burton’s practice to accept gifts of portraits and plate from his pupils in place of what was termed ‘leaving money’; on his death he bequeathed the portraits to the college, but not the presentation plate, some of which still exists as the property of his descendants, and was exhibited at the Fine Arts Society last winter.
PLATE II
PARCEL GILT ROSE-WATER DISH AND EWER, WITH TOP OF THE COVER OF THE EWER, BELONGING TO WINCHESTER COLLEGE
⇒
LARGER IMAGE