John Whethamstede

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John Whethamstede (died 20 January 1465) was an English abbot and one of the leading literary figures in fifteenth-century England. [1] </ref>

Contents

Life

He was a son of Hugh and Margaret Bostock, and was born at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, owing his name, the Latin form of which is Frumentarius, to this circumstance. [2]

After early schooling at the Abbey School (now St Albans School) he entered St Albans Abbey when only sixteen. He was chosen abbot of this Benedictine monastery in 1420. In 1423, Whethamstede attended the Council of Siena. In the Kingdom of England, his time was mainly occupied with lawsuits, several of which he carried on to defend the property and enforce the rights of the abbey. [2]

In 1440, he resigned his post but, in 1451, on the death of his successor John Stoke, he became abbot for the second time. [2] He died on 20 January 1465, and his tomb was recently discovered during archaeological excavations prior to the construction of the new Welcome Centre at St Albans Abbey.

Whethamstede was an energetic and successful abbot. He greatly improved the buildings at St Albans. [2] He was an eyewitness of the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, the first open conflict of the Wars of the Roses. It is also likely that he was in attendance when Richard, Duke of York made his claim for the throne in October 1460, which resulted in the Act of Accord. He also did some building at Gloucester College, Oxford.

He was also closely, if clumsily, associated with the humanistic activities of Henry V's youngest brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1447 and was buried in St Albans Abbey, where he was honoured as a benefactor.

Writings

Whethamstede's Chronicle, or the Registrum abbatiae Johannis Whethamstede, is a register compiled soon after the abbot's death, telling the events of his second abbacy. It was edited by H. T. Riley, and is in volume i. of the Registra quorundam abbalum monasterii S. Albani (London, 1872). The events of his first abbacy are narrated in the Annales monasterii S. Albani of John Amundesham, also edited by Riley (London, 1870–1871). Whethamstede's works also includied Granarium de viris illustribus; Palearium poetarum, and Super Valerium in Augustinum de Anchona. [3]

Whethamstede was "shy and bashful in public, yet egotistical and boastful in his writings". [4] He read widely — as well as commonplace medieval texts, works in Latin, Greek and Italian were in his library.

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This is a list of abbots of St Albans Abbey up to its Dissolution in 1539.

  1. Willegod (793–796)
  2. Eadric
  3. Wulsig
  4. Wulnoth (Walworth)
  5. Eadfrith
  6. Wulsin
  7. Aelfric
  8. Ealdred
  9. Eadmer
  10. Leofric
  11. Ælfric of Abingdon
  12. Leofstan
  13. Frithric (Frederic)
  14. Paul of Caen (1077–1093)
  15. Richard d'Aubeney (1097–1119)
  16. Geoffrey of Dunstable (1119–1146)
  17. Ralph Gubion (1146–1151)
  18. Robert de Gorron (1151–1166)
  19. Symon (1167–1183)
  20. Warin (1183–1195)
  21. John de Cella (1195–1214)
  22. William of Trumpington (1214–1235)
  23. John of Hertford (1235–1263)
  24. Roger de Norton (1263–1291)
  25. John of Berkhamsted (1291-1302)
  26. John de Maryns (1302–1308)
  27. Hugh of Eversden (1308–1327)
  28. Richard of Wallingford (1326–1335)
  29. Michael of Mentmore (1335–1349)
  30. Thomas de la Mare (1349–1396)
  31. John de la Moote (1396–1401)
  32. William Heyworth (1401–1420)
  33. John of Wheathampstead (1420–1440)
  34. John Stoke (1440–1451)
  35. John of Wheathampstead (1451–1465)
  36. William Albon (1465–1475)
  37. William of Wallingford (1476–1492)
  38. Thomas Ramryge (1492–1520)
  39. Thomas Wolsey (1521-1529/1530), Commendatory abbot
  40. Robert Catton (1529–1538)
  41. Richard Boreman alias Stevenage (1538–1539), last abbot
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The St Albans Press was the third printing press set up in England, in 1479. It was situated in the Abbey Gateway, St Albans, a part of the Benedictine Monastery of St Albans. The name of the printer is unknown, only referred to by Wynkyn de Worde in a reprinting of one of the St Albans books as 'Sometime schoolmaster'. He has sometimes been identified as John Marchall, master of St Albans School; however, a passage written by Worde in 1497 implies that the printer was deceased, and Marchall is known to have lived until 1501. Recent research has produced the name John Haule as a possible candidate for the Schoolmaster Printer. He presented the school with its first printed textbook, the Elegantiolae, which was the first book printed at the press, and he was a printer, probably in St Albans in 1479.

Henry Thomas Riley was an English translator, lexicographer, and antiquary.

John Westwyk was an English astronomer, adventurer, Benedictine monk, and author of the Equatorie of the Planetis.

William Binham was an English theologian and Benedictine prior of Wallingford in Berkshire. He took the degree of D.D. at Oxford, where he was for a time intimate with Wycliffe, against whom he afterwards wrote Contra Positiones Wiclevi.

Simon Binham or Bynham was an English chronicler and Benedictine monk of the priory of Binham, Norfolk. He assisted the prior of Binham in opposing the exactions of Hugh, abbot of St. Albans, and was imprisoned for some time with the other rebellious monks. He is said to have contributed to the continuation of the Chronicle of Rishanger, but his other writings are largely lost.

Henry (de) Blaneforde or Blankfrount was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk of St. Albans. He wrote a short continuation of the chronicle of Trokelowe for the years 1323 to 1324.

References

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