Wykeham, WILLIAM DE, was one of those ecclesiastics who from small beginnings rose to almost princely power. Froissart says that in his day 'everything was done by him and nothing without him.' So obscure was his origin that there has been a controversy as to what was his surname. His mother, Sibilla, was the granddaughter of the 'Lord of Stratton,' but his father was a yeoman called John Longe, perhaps on account of his stature. He was known as 'William,' born in 1324 at Wickham—a small Hampshire village, 3 miles from Fareham. The place was sometimes called Wickham-Scures from the family to whom it belonged; and Sir John Scures, who was almost the viceroy of the southern counties, took a liking to William and sent him to the Prior's school at Winchester. There he learned French, some Latin, arithmetic, and geometry. On his leaving school Sir John appointed him his secretary, and introduced him to Bishop Edington, who presented him to Edward III. In 1351 Sir J. de Brocas was in a commission for repairing Windsor Castle, and Wykeham's first important work was that of assisting in the construction of the Round Tower. He was appointed surveyor of Windsor and other royal castles in 1359, built Queensborough Castle in 1361, was Keeper of the Privy-seal and secretary to the king in 1364, and in 1367 was consecrated Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England. Towards the end of Edward III.'s reign he, and many others, had some differences with the Duke of Lancaster and Alice Perrers, but he found means to conciliate her and proceed with the founding of his colleges. In 1380 New College, Oxford, was commenced, and in 1387 Winchester School was begun, which was finished in 1393. Next year, when seventy years of age, he undertook the transformation of the nave of Winchester Cathedral, personally supervised the work until the last two years of his life, and probably drew his own plans. The money he laid out on building would altogether represent half a million at the present time. In 1404 he finished his magnificent chantry at Winchester, and, dying in that year, was buried in it, on the spot where as a boy he used to kneel before the figure of the Virgin. He regarded Mary as his especial patroness, and dedicated both his colleges to her. Wykeham held large church preferment, but had he lived later would probably have been merely a great architect. He was not an ardent theologian, and Wycliffe spoke lightly of him as 'a builder of castles.' But he was generous and religious—he founded his colleges 'first for the glory of God and the promotion of divine service, and secondarily for scholarship.' His famous motto was 'Manners,'—i.e. morals—'maketh man,' and he carried out useful reforms at St Cross and in St Swithun's. In politics he was national as opposed to papal. At the close of his life he was present in the parliament when Richard II. was deposed, and in the first one held by Henry IV. He has been called the 'Father of the public-school system;' and although he did not invent the Perpendicular architecture, he established it, and saved the Gothic in England from the degeneracy it underwent abroad. His style of building can best be studied at Winchester. These relics of Wykeham remain at New College: an autograph letter, parts of his mitre, his silver Pastoral Staff (q.v.), silk gloves, and jewelled morse. In the British Museum are some charters in his handwriting.
See WINCHESTER and works there cited; and Lives by Lowth (1759; new ed. 1777), Chandler (1842), Moberly (1887), and Basil Champneys (Art Journal, 1888).