Historical Background
William de Wickwane’s background is unknown, but he was referred to as "magister", so he probably attended university. Wikewane/Wykewane was the name of Wickhamford in the Middle Ages, so it is feasible that he was born in that village, but see Footnote.
Hugh of Evesham
A link to this area is also provided by his association with of Hugh of Evesham, who studied at Oxford University in the 1260s and was a friend of John Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury between 1279 and 1292. In the early 1270s, Hugh of Evesham worked as a royal clerk to King Edward I and by the end of the decade had gained a reputation as a great physician. He received many beneficiaries in the Diocese of York and was involved in the election of a successor to Archbishop William Gifford in 1279. He was known as “Magister Hugo de Ewesan”, Canon of York. The successor to Archbishop Gifford was William de Wickwane, Chancellor of York. On 17th December 1279, Hugh was one of the examiners of candidates for the ordination of Archbishop William de Wickwane.
Cardinal Hugh participated in the Conclave of 1-2 April 1285, at Perugia, Italy. An outbreak of plague affected that election and Hugh of Evesham was one of the Cardinals who died as a result of this. He was buried in the church at San Lorenzo in Lucina.
Archbishop William Wickwane
It is thought that as William de Wickwane held the title of master, he might have been a student at Oxford or Paris. He was Chancellor of York by January 1254 and that month he also received the rectory of Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, in the Diocese of Lincoln. In 1265, he was prebendary of North Newbald in Yorkshire and also held the prebend of Ripon, roles which involved the administration at a Cathedral or Collegiate Church. After his election as Archbishop of York, on 22nd June 1279, he went to Italy and was consecrated on 17th September by Pope Nicholas III at Viterbo. On his return to England, he had his primatial cross carried in front of him through the Province of Canterbury. John Peckham, the Archbishop of Canterbury took exception to this and ordered that no food should be sold to him on pain of excommunication. An official and his men had a struggle with Wickwane's party and broke the cross. Despite this strange event, he was enthroned at York Minster on Christmas Day 1279.
He tried to make an archiepiscopal visit to Durham Cathedral, in 1281, but his entry was prevented by the Cathedral Chapter. After this event he excommunicated the Chapter and the Bishop of Durham, Robert of Holy Island. He again visited Durham in person in 1283, and was about to excommunicate the prior in the church of St. Nicolas, when some of the younger citizens raised a tumult; he was forced to flee, one of his palfrey's ears was cut off, and he is said to have been in danger of his life. (A palfrey was a highly valued light-weight riding horse). They both appealed to Rome and the case dragged on for six years, before being settled by a compromise.
Archbishop Wickwane also tried to prevent clergy who kept concubines from performing clerical functions in the Diocese of York ! At one point, he wrote to Bogo de Clare, a Canon of York Minster, taking him to task for the state of vestments and other liturgical items at the cathedral.
Wickwane died of fever, on 26th or 27th August 1285, on his way to a Papal curia to plead his case against the monks of Durham and he was buried in the Cistercian Abbey in Pontigny, Burgundy. He was buried with a ring of gold on which was inscribed Ave Maria gracia plena. (A statement that he resigned his see appears merely to refer to his assumption of the monastic habit during his last illness, according to the Dictionary of National Biography – see footnote.) It was said that:
William de Wickwane sacrificed comfort and dignity for the principle of metropolitan jurisdiction and for the integrity of the church of York. He is a strong example of the 13th–century English type of pastoral bishop.
The Dictionary of National Biography also has the following statement about him:
Emaciated in person, austere in life and manners, and sparing in expenditure, William had a high reputation for sanctity, took as little part as possible in civil affairs, and was industrious and strict in his administration of his province and of his diocese, in which he consecrated many new churches. Miracles, and specially cures of fever, are said to have been wrought at his tomb. He made a beneficial rule, confirmed by the king in 1283, that each archbishop of York should leave a certain amount of stock on the estates of the see. He is said to have been learned, and to have written a book called "Memoriale", apparently a kind of learned commonplace book (BALE). His register (1279–85), extant at York, was published by the Surtees Society in 1907.
His supposed work, the "Memoriale", is not extant, but his register and a collection of his letters as chancellor survive - The Register of William Wickwane, Lord Archbishop of York, 1279–1285, ed. W. Brown (Durham 1907).
Footnotes:
- One source suggests that William de Wickwane came from Childswickham, rather than Wickhamford. The name of that village, which adjoins Wickhamford, was Wicuene in the Domesday Book.
- The Register of William Wickwane, Lord Archbishop of York, 1279-1285 (Classic Reprint) was published by Forgotten Books in 2020.
- The Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, in its entry for William mentions alternative spellings of his surname as ‘Wickwane’ and ‘Wycheham’.
Tom Locke – September 2024