4

Unlike Thomas de Cobham he does not attain to the "Dictionary of National Biography." The omnivorous Prattinton gives about him a mere reference to Habington. The historians of the diocese 1 class him among the bishops under whom the clergy and the Church suffered injury because he combined civil with spiritual office, being treasurer of the king's household-a judgment which is falsified the moment his register is examined with any care. Of his origin nothing can be said here; but he was entitled to bear arms, 2 and his clerk was careful to sketch them on the first folio of his register. In 1359 Edward III presented him to the church of Sharnford in the diocese of Lincoln. In July 1361 he was admitted, by an exchange with Thomas de Barkeston, to the rectory of Hendon ; and in February 1363 he exchanged this rectory for the prebend of St. Pancras in St. Paul's cathedral, then held by John Cruse de Colonia.5 In 1366 he was also a prebendary of St. Martin-le-Grand, and in February 1369 there was a further process of exchanging; for Thomas Strete of Kneseworth held the treasurership of St. Paul's cathedral, which he exchanged with Wakefield for the prebend of St. Pancras, and Wakefield passed on to Strete his prebend of St. Martinle-Grand, perhaps in return for the rectory of Haseley, Oxon, which, certainly, each held in his time. We shall see presently how this then growing system of exchanges affected the life of the diocese. But he also received direct promotion from Edward III, to the archdeaconry of Northampton, December 21, 1371, and to the archdeaconry of Canterbury, June 6, 1374.8 He had been one of the king's clerks since February 1361, if not before.9

The king also gave him, as such, the church of

1 I. G. Smith and P. Onslow, Worcester, 89.

2 Sable fretty argent, on a canton gules a cross patonce.

on his seal, but not the coat of the see.

3 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1358-61, 234.

4 Hennessey, Nov. Repertor. Londin., 214.

5 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1361-64, 342.

The coat appears

6 Hennessey, Nov. Repertor. Londin., 290. 8 Le Neve, Fasti, ii. 57; i. 41.

? Ibid. xxi. b. 44, 45.

• Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1358-61, 540.

Brompton, Yorks 1; a prebend in the collegiate church of Ripon 2; the prebend of Gorwall with Overbury in Hereford cathedral ; the deanery of the king's free chapel of Bridgnorth, though this was revoked for certain causes in a few weeks; and a prebend of Dublin, which Wakefield exchanged for the prebend of Stillington in York minster. We find him on the king's business in company with William of Wykeham in 1375 about the manor of Hitchin. At one time he was keeper of the king's wardrobe, and the fact that, while he held that office, the serjeant of the buttery and the serjeant of the saucery and a scullion were guilty of considerable pilfering which the keeper discovered,' was no impediment to his appointment on January 11, 1377, as treasurer of the king's exchequer. Also in November 1376 Edward made him one of the commissioners to visit and reform the free chapel of St. Stephen, Westminster."

Richard II renewed his appointment as treasurer,1 but the office passed to another within a few weeks.11

10

Clearly, he was marked out for episcopal office, and in June 1373, when the see of Ely fell vacant by the death of John Barnet, formerly of Worcester, the monks duly elected him as their bishop; but Gregory XI quashed the election and provided in his stead Thomas Arundel, son of the earl of Arundel and Warenne, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury. But Wakefield's rejection was short-lived. On November 20, 1373, it fell to the prior and convent of Worcester to report to archbishop Whittlesey (himself formerly bishop of Worcester) that two days earlier William Lynn, their bishop, had passed away.12 He was mounting his horse to start for Parliament, when he was seized with apoplexy.13 On Decem

1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1361–64, 137; Jan. 1, 1362.

2 Ibid. 44; Jan. 23, 1364.

3 Ibid. 1367-70, 340; Dec. 21, 1369.

▲ Ibid. 401; Apr. 25, May 11, 1370.

5 Ibid. 467; Oct. 19, 1370.

• Ibid. 170, 180, 188.

7 Ibid. 400, 403, 405, 419.

• Ibid. 410.

11 Ibid. 7; July 19, 1377.

8 Ibid. 400.

10 Ibid. 1377-81, 3; June 26, 1377. 12 Register, Sede Vacante, f. 167b.

13 Leland, Itinerary (L. Toulmin Smith), v. 227.

ber 4 the convent fixed the seventh day of that month for the election, and on the 7th there were present Walter Leigh, or Lye, the prior, and thirty brethren, only brother William Power being absent, by leave. They summoned to their aid, in order that due form of law might be observed, Master de la More, archdeacon of Llandaff, a capable jurist, who faithfully served the incoming bishop. The monk's choice fell on their prior, Walter Leigh, and Robert de la More proclaimed the election to the people with a loud voice. The elect retired to the chapel of St. Nicholas in the priory for deliberation and at the hour of vespers had made up his mind to submit to the election. So it was happening at many vacancies up and down England at that time, and all to no purpose. The convent chose John de Malverne, their precentor, to go to the Papal court and act with another proctor on the spot in order to get the election confirmed. They wrote to the king and to the archbishop to secure their support.1 The strangeness of it all was the more marked here because by an ancient composition the prior immediately became bishop in all but name. He appointed a vicargeneral (Master Robert aforesaid); he issued mandates to archdeacons and rural deans; he hired a suffragan Robertus Prissinensis,2 to hold ordinations and perform other episcopal functions, such as the reconciling of the church of Hartlebury after it had been polluted by bloodshed, as if to imply that it was high time for a bishop to be in residence once more. And, indeed, our village was in some disgrace; for Richard son of Thomas Lekhull had mortally wounded Hugh Fyscheyre of Trokeston in Hartlebury church and all the clergy in the deaneries of Worcester, Kidderminster, and Wych were busy with bell, book, and candle excommunicating the murderer. The church was closed, and the Hartlebury folk were permitted to resort to neighbouring churches, till their church was reconciled. But the reconciliation

1 Register, Sede Vacante, ff. 169, 169b.

2 His title is hard to decipher; I give it as Stubbs read it (Regist. Sacr. Anglican.) 197.

3 Register, Sede Vacante, f. 195; August 17, 1375.

would cost money. Either the chief malefactor or the parishioners must pay to the prior a hundred shillings, out of which he would hand over twenty shillings to the suffragan. But the money was not forthcoming; so the rural deans of Kidderminster and Wych were set to work to instruct the clergy of their deaneries that, before service began, they must publicly warn all Hartlebury folk to be gone. They must not be free to use other churches if they would not pay for the reconciling of their own.

Thus the year 1373 closed and all 1374 went by and most of 1375 before the elect of Worcester realised finally that his election was quashed, there being shown to him at high mass on October 8, 1375, a mandate from a new archbishop, Simon Sudbury, to the effect that Gregory XI had provided Henry de Wakefield, archdeacon of Canterbury, to the see of Worcester, and that the elect had made his profession of canonical obedience. Wakefield received consecration at Hatfield on October 28th in the chapel, and at the hands of, Thomas Arundel, who had stepped before him into the see of Ely.

The choice proved to be of good service to the diocese. The two matters which are commonly attached to any account of Wakefield's administration are his struggles with Lollardy and his contention with John Grene, the prior, about the latter's pontifical insignia-mitre, gloves, ring, and pastoral staff. It is overlooked that he was a conscientious and constantly resident diocesan. A little more than a fortnight after his consecration he was functioning at his mansion in London, whence he passed to the Worcester manor at Hillingdon, Middlesex. On his way to his enthronisation (March 30, 13763), he briefly made acquaintance with Blockley and Bredon, and on April 3rd he was in his chapel at Hartlebury castle. Thenceforward, till about eighteen months before his death, he was constantly at his duties. It is true that

1 Register, Sede Vacante, f. 201.

2 Ibid. f. 198b; Lambeth, October 3, 1375.

3 Register, Wakefield, f. 2.

4 His register is defective here.

in 1377 he was appointed treasurer of the king's household, and it is also true that for that year the entries in the register are slight-an ordination at Tewkesbury abbey1 and some institutions in London 2; but it is likely that a certain number of folios have been lost. It has also to be remembered that 1377 witnessed the death of Edward III and the crowning of his youthful successor. Walsingham records that in the "Missa congruens Coronationi" it fell to Wakefield to read the epistle :

3

;

subiecti estote omni creaturae humanae propter Dominum," the gospel being read by Arundel of Ely. In any case his record is considerable. It consists of 581 institutions and twenty-two collations, all of which were conducted by him personally; there was only one case in which he committed his functions to another on July 3, 1390, Master Robert de la More was sent to Gloucester to institute a clerk to a benefice, and found accommodation for the purpose in the hospital of St. Bartholomew. Apart from this exemplary personal activity of the bishop the amazing feature of this long series of over six hundred admissions to sacred officesvicarages, rectories, chantries, chapelries, prebends, archdeaconries-is that no less than two hundred and seventy were the result of exchanges between the men themselves. Every such exchange was at least ostensibly a matter of strict investigation, by one or other of the bishops concerned, as to whether the causes were legitimate; and at times the presentee was represented by a proctor instead of coming to the bishop himself; but Wakefield, owing to these frequent institutions, had personal opportunity in this way to make acquaintance with large numbers of the clergy; and he could hardly take a stand against these excesses in the system of promotion by exchange, whereof his own career was a conspicuous instance.

The question for us is, to what extent did Hartlebury castle figure in these arrangements and functions? Once at least, with full appropriateness, he held a special ordina2 Ibid. f. 15.

1 Register, f. 147.

4

3 Hist. Angl. (Rolls Series), i. 336.

1 Pet. ii. 13.