In 1447, the See of Winchester became vacant by the death of Cardinal Beaufort, and the King at once recommended William Waynflete for election. He was elected within a few days, and was consecrated at Eton on the 13th July of the same year. Immediately after his elevation to the Episcopate, he seems to have set himself to promote the interests of learning, and to provide for a need which his experience as a schoolmaster had impressed upon his mind, by a foundation in the University of Oxford. Early in 1448, before his enthronement at Winchester, he obtained from the King a license to found a Hall for a President and fifty scholars, to be called St. Mary Magdalen Hall.[197] At the same time he obtained, for a term of years, a site and buildings which occupied the ground now covered by the new Examination Schools, and in two or more of the halls included in this property he placed his new society, of which he chose John Hornley to be the first President. In 1456 Waynflete became Chancellor, and on his elevation to that position he at once conceived the idea of improving his foundation at Oxford, by converting it from a Hall into a College, and by providing it with a better habitation and more ample endowments. For this purpose, having obtained the necessary permission from the King, he acquired for the Hall the buildings, site, and property belonging to the ancient Hospital of St. John Baptist. The property of the Hospital included the tenements which the members of the Hall had until this time inhabited. The Hospital itself was a non-academical institution, having for its purpose the care of pilgrims and the relief of the poor.[198] It had been in existence before the reign of John, from whom, while he was still known as Count of Mortain, its Master and Brethren had received benefactions; and it had been endowed, and perhaps refounded, by Henry III. The existing Master and Brethren retired upon pensions, the poor inmates of the Hospital were duly provided for, and the Hospital was united to the College, which Waynflete founded by a charter of June 12th, 1458. The members of the Hall, with the exception of Hornley, who retired to make way for William Tybarde, the first President of the College, were transferred to the new foundation, and the Hall ceased to exist.
The members of the College appear to have continued to occupy the buildings formerly leased to the Hall, which had now become their own property, until the Founder should carry out his intention of providing new buildings on the site of the Hospital, and the land adjoining it. The fulfilment of this intention was long deferred, as were some of the plans upon which Waynflete now entered for the increased endowment of his foundation. The troubles in which the country was now for some years involved, and the change in Waynflete’s own position, probably account for the delay. In 1460, a few days before the battle of Northampton, Waynflete resigned the Chancellorship, an act which seems to have brought him into discredit with the Lancastrian party, though not with Henry himself. He does not seem to have taken any active part in the events which followed, on either side; but his sympathies appear to have been with the House of Lancaster. We are told by one authority that he “was in great dedignation with King Edward, and fled for fere of him into secrete corners, but at last was restored to his goodes and the kinges favour.” In 1469, when Edward’s power was fully established, a full pardon for all offences, probable and improbable, was granted to Waynflete: but some years earlier Edward had confirmed to him the charters and privileges of his See, from which we may reasonably infer that his period of hiding had not been very long. It was not, however, till after the death of Henry VI. that the College began to resume its prosperity, and the work of building was actually begun. The foundation-stone of the chapel was laid in 1474; and in 1480, before the building was actually finished, the President and scholars removed from their temporary quarters, and occupied the College, using the oratory of the Hospital for their place of worship until the chapel was completed. The Vicar of St. Peter’s in the East, in which parish the College was situated, gave up all claims to tithes and dues within its precincts in consideration of a fixed annual payment, and the College was transferred by the Bishop of Lincoln, with consent of the Dean and Chapter, to the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Winchester, who were to be also its Visitors.
The society had until this time possessed no body of statutes. Such a code was now given by the founder, and a new President was also appointed by him as successor to Tybarde, who was old and in failing health. The person chosen for this office was Richard Mayew, of New College, who took possession on August 23rd, 1480, and at once proceeded to administer to the members of the College the oath of obedience to the statutes. Ten of the thirty-six members, it appears, at first refused compliance, and were for a time suspended, by the founder’s command, from the benefits of the society. In the following year Waynflete himself came to visit the College, and there received the King, who came from Woodstock to Oxford to inspect the new foundation, and passed the night within its walls. Some further statutes, chiefly concerning elections and admissions, were issued by the founder in 1482, in which year a large number of Fellows and Demies[199] were formally admitted, and the society regularly organized, though its numbers were not yet fixed. In 1483, Richard III. visited the College, being received, as Edward had been, by the founder, and disputations were held before him, at his desire, in the College Hall, in one of which William Grocyn took part. At this time the founder delivered to the College the whole body of the statutes which he had framed, reserving to himself, however, the right to add to them or revise them as he should see fit.
The regulations thus made for the government of the society, provided that it should consist of a President, forty Fellows, thirty Demies, four chaplains, eight clerks, sixteen choristers, a schoolmaster, and an usher. The Fellows were to be chosen from certain counties and dioceses; the Demies, in the first instance, from places where the College had property bestowed by the founder or acquired in his lifetime. The Demies were not to be less than twelve years of age at the time of their election, and were not to retain their places after reaching the age of twenty-five years. The system by which Demies succeeded to vacant Fellowships was the growth of later custom, and was not provided for by the statutes. The schoolmaster and usher were to give instruction in grammar to the junior Demies, and to all others who should resort to them. Provision was made for the teaching of moral and of natural philosophy, and of theology, by the appointment of readers in these subjects, whose lectures were to be open to all students, whether members of the College or not. Besides the foundation members of the College, the statutes allowed the admission of commoners of noble family, whose numbers were not to exceed twenty, and who might be allowed to live in the College at the charge of their relations. The regulations as to the dress, conduct, and discipline of the College were based upon those laid down in the statutes given by William of Wykeham to New College, from which society a Fellow, or former Fellow, might be chosen as President. Save for this exception, no one who had not been a Fellow of Magdalen College was to be accounted eligible for that office.
The endowments of the College, besides the property which was derived from the Hospital of St. John Baptist, and that which had been originally settled upon the Hall, consisted partly of lands acquired by Waynflete for the purpose, partly of the endowments of other foundations which were united or annexed to the College at different times as the Hospital of St. John had been. These were the Hospital of SS. John and James at Brackley in Northamptonshire, the Priory of Sele in Sussex,[200] the Hospital of Aynho, a hospital or chantry at Romney, the Chapel of St. Katharine at Wanborough, and the Priory of Selborne in Hampshire.[201] An intended foundation at Caister in Norfolk, for which Sir John Fastolf had provided by his will, was by Waynflete’s influence diverted to augment the foundation of the College. The Fellowships to be held by persons born in the dioceses of York and Durham, or in the county of York, were partly provided for by special benefactions from Thomas Ingledew, one of Waynflete’s chaplains, and by John Forman, one of the Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen Hall.
Besides the endowments which Waynflete bestowed on his College during his lifetime, he bequeathed to it by will all his manors, lands, and tenements, with one exception; and he further recommended it to the special care of his executors, directing that they should bestow upon it a share of the residue of his estate.
The royal favour which had been shown towards the College during Waynflete’s life was continued after his decease (which took place on August 11th, 1486), by Henry VII., who visited the College in 1487 or 1488, and is still annually commemorated on May 1st as a benefactor, on account, as it would seem, of his having secured to the College the advowsons of Findon in Sussex, and Slymbridge in Gloucestershire, and having directed that the latter benefice should be charged with an annual payment for the benefit of the College.[202] Henry also extended his patronage to the President, Richard Mayew, whom he employed in many matters of state business, appointing him to be his almoner, and also to be his Procurator-general at the Court of Rome. Mayew also held during his Presidentship several ecclesiastical offices. In 1501 he was sent to Spain to conduct the Infanta Katharine, about to be married to Arthur, Prince of Wales, to England. This marriage forms one of the subjects depicted in some pieces of tapestry still preserved in the President’s lodgings, which are believed to have been a gift bestowed upon Mayew by Prince Arthur, who twice at least took up his abode in the College, and was entertained by the President on his visits. Mayew’s non-academical employments must have necessitated his repeated absence from his duties as President; and at last, after his election to the See of Hereford, a dispute seems to have arisen as to the compatibility of his episcopal and academical functions. A party among the Fellows, headed by Stokesley, afterwards Bishop of London, who was then Vice-President, declared that by the fact of Mayew’s consecration the office of President had become vacant, and at last obtained from Bishop Fox of Winchester, the Visitor of the College, a decision in favour of their own view. Mayew, in the meantime, had attempted to assert his authority as President in a manner not altogether in accordance with the statutes, and it became necessary for the Bishop of Winchester to hold a formal visitation of the College. This he did by a Commissary, and the records of the Visitation contain many extraordinary charges made by the partizans on each side. Stokesley himself was accused, among other things, of having taken part in some magical incantations, including the baptizing of a cat, in order to discover hidden treasure. The cat, it may be remarked, is sometimes described as cattus, sometimes with more elegant Latinity as murilegus. These proceedings were alleged to have taken place in Yorkshire; concerning the more immediate affairs of the College, it appears that the strife between the parties had run so high, that some of the Fellows went about the cloisters with armour offensive and defensive. The general result of the Visitation was the acquittal of Stokesley, who cleared himself from all charges to the satisfaction of the Commissary. Bishop Mayew retired from the Presidentship, and was succeeded early in 1507 by John Claymond, formerly Fellow, one of the many distinguished men who were members of the College during the quarter of a century over which Mayew’s term of office had extended. Among other members of the College under Mayew’s rule may be mentioned the celebrated Grocyn, who was Praelector in Divinity, Richard Fox (already referred to as Bishop of Winchester), John Colet, afterwards Dean of St. Paul’s, and Thomas Wolsey—the last, perhaps, the most celebrated man whom the College has produced. It was during Mayew’s Presidentship that the Tower, sometimes attributed to Wolsey,[203] was built, and that the cloister on the south side of the quadrangle was added.
The rise of Wolsey in the King’s favour secured the College a friend at Court whose influence was for a time more powerful than that of either Waynflete or Mayew had been. He was appointed one of the King’s chaplains, and employed by Henry VII. in some important missions. Soon after the accession of Henry VIII. he became almoner, and “ruled all under the King.” Throughout the time of his prosperity he kept up friendly relations with the College, and frequent exchanges of presents took place between him and its members. The first Dean of his College in Oxford was John Hygden, who had succeeded Claymond as President of Magdalen; and several members of Magdalen College were among the first Canons of Cardinal College.
Another new foundation closely connected with Magdalen College was the College of Corpus Christi, founded by Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, who not only induced Claymond to become the first President of his new society, but closely imitated Waynflete’s statutes in those which he gave to Corpus Christi College. These statutes provided that the students of Theology and Bachelors of Arts of Corpus Christi College should attend lectures at Magdalen—the lectures intended being no doubt those of the Praelectors or readers established by Waynflete, who occupied a position not unlike that of the University Professors of a later time. It was perhaps with a view to the advantages afforded by these lectures that a further direction enjoined the members of Corpus Christi College, if compelled by a visitation of the plague to move from Oxford, to take up their quarters near the place where the members of Magdalen College had settled for the time. The second President of Corpus Christi College, Robert Morwent, had been Vice-President of Magdalen, and had migrated with Claymond to take charge of Fox’s infant foundation. These two Presidents of Corpus, with John Hygden, first Dean of Cardinal College and of Christ Church, joined together in a benefaction to their former society. They made provision for the yearly distribution to its members of a sum of money, which was to be, and still is, distributed by the bursar in the chapel during the singing of Benedictus on the first Monday of every Lent.
The “revolution under the forms of law,” effected in the reign of Henry VIII., of which Wolsey’s fall was the beginning, had no great direct effect upon the College. Indirectly, however, the suppression of the religious houses was a cause of considerable expense. The College had permitted the Carmelites of Shoreham, whose house was much decayed, to occupy their annexed Priory of Sele; and it was perhaps only in accordance with the justice of the King’s proceedings that the Priory was in consequence treated as a Carmelite house, and the College compelled to buy back its own property from the persons to whom Henry had granted it. A less important expenditure involved by the King’s proceedings was incurred by the provision of new painted glass, no doubt to replace portions of the chapel windows which had been defaced by the King’s commissioners as containing emblems derogatory of his Majesty’s supremacy. The “linen-fold” panelling of the hall appears to have been placed in its present position in the year 1541; it is said to have come from Reading Abbey, but the groups of figures, the heraldic ornaments, and the not too flattering effigy of Henry VIII., which are now inserted in it, were probably designed for the decoration of the Hall. Except for the acquisition of this wood-work, the College seems to have received nothing from the spoil of the religious orders.