William of Wykeham

The Acquisition of Colerne and Stert as New College Estates (1387–1394)

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:49:04 +0000

The Acquisition of Colerne and Stert as New College Estates (1387–1394)

Olivier Poncet

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Colerne and Stert are two peaceful villages in the county of Wiltshire. Colerne was the site of a church of St John the Baptist built in the 13th century, while in the Middle Ages Stert possessed only a chapel belonging to the church of Urchfont. The acquisition of the manors there in the 14th century, with the church advowson at Colerne, was a key moment in the construction of the patrimony of New College under its founder William of Wykeham.

Seal of John of Wykeham
New College Archives, Oxford, NCA 10231

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN3 (2025) Poncet on Colerne and Stert.pdf1.62 MB

‘So that the Fellows of our College may persevere to be of one mind inwardly and to be more closely united in mutual charity . . .’: The Annual Liveries of Fellows and Scholars of Medieval New College

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:47:31 +0000

‘So that the Fellows of our College may persevere to be of one mind inwardly and to be more closely united in mutual charity . . .’: The Annual Liveries of Fellows and Scholars of Medieval New College

Timothy Hallett

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Livery

William of Wykeham

New College history

New College, Oxford, possesses some of the most extensive and detailed accounts of any medieval collegiate foundation in Oxford and Cambridge. Amongst the 58 account rolls made by early wardens or bursars between 1376 and 1529 we find regular allocations of cloth, and sometimes furs, given as annual livery to the academic �鶹app established by William of Wykeham. Medieval accounts can be used in combination with the founder’s statutes and surviving pictorial evidence to gain insight into the reasoning behind academic livery, the vendors who supplied cloth and furs, costs and quantities of cloth and furs, the design and colours of academic livery, plus rules on the attire which was also prohibited to members of the college.

The college porter ejects a youth, in distinctly unclerical garb, who is not a member of the college.
New College Archives, Oxford, NCA 3584

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN2 (2025) Hallett on Liveries.pdf1.02 MB

The Acquisition of Alton Barnes as a New College Estate in 1385

Christopher — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 19:52:41 +0000

The Acquisition of Alton Barnes as a New College Estate in 1385

Michael Stansfield

Issue number

(2023): 20

Notes category

The manors of Alton Barnes with Shaw and Alton Priors, now the civil parish of Alton, are in the Vale of Pewsey on the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire. Alton Priors only came into New College’s purview relatively recently, in 1912. Alton Barnes with Shaw, on the other hand, has had a much longer association with the college, being one of the first estates to be provided by the Founder for his new foundation in Oxford when it became part of the college’s endowment in 1385. As with many of the college’s estates, the New College archive is rich with documents recording both the process of it becoming part of that endowment, and also something of the back story of its existence before then.

The earl of Salisbury’s counterseal, used by William Montagu (1328–1397), 2nd earl of Salisbury
New College Archives, Oxford, NCA 10039 [detail]

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

20NCN3 (2023) Stansfield on Alton Barnes.pdf405.67 KB

Lending to the Manchester Art Exhibition in 1857

Christopher — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 13:18:26 +0000

Lending to the Manchester Art Exhibition in 1857

Michael Burden

Issue number

(2020): 13

Notes category

Manchester Art Exhibition, 1857

Exhibitions

William of Wykeham

Warden Walter Hyll

13NCN6 (2020) Burden on the Manchester Art Exhibition.pdf688.25 KB

‘The Origins and Life of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester’

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 14:37:26 +0000

‘The Origins and Life of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester’

Christopher Johnson

Issue number

(2014): 05

Notes category

New College history

15thC history

William of Wykeham

5NCN1 (2014) Johnson on Wykeham.pdf288.06 KB