Biography of Bishop William Wickham 1539-1595

Archaeologia Volume 22 Section XVI. The Bishopp of Winchester^l recovereth his temporalytyes by mediation of Ales Peres (age 29).

[March 1377] In the meane tyme the byshopp of Wynchester, whoo with many losses & iniuryes was afflicted, seynge the lawes of the lande not to be iustly handled, but accordyng to the will of certein persons, & beynge destitute almost of all man's helpe, although he thought the sayme to be unfyttynge for hym, be turned himselffe to the women kynde, that ys to wytt, forced with necessytye he dyd that whiche he ought to doo, providynge not only for hym selffe, but also for the oppressions & losses of hys churche. Therfor knowynge that Ales Peres, the kynge's con- cubyne, cold doo all thynges that she wolde, & that there was not any man that wolde in any thynge resyste her wyll, he requested her helpe, he offered her money, he promysed her greate frendshipp, yf she colde helpe hys bishopricke furth of such troubles. She promysed easely to dispatch his cause, & whoesoever thou be that knowest the manners of harlots, thou will not doubt of this, especiallye for that his cause was greate [harde], hys adversaryes stronge, and she overcovetous; for truly she not refusynge that whiche was offered, & hyred (as ys sayed) for a suffycyent rewarde, went forwardes to trye yf any sparkes of love yett reigned in the kynge, yf the deceites of a harlott myghte now, as in tymes paste, have place with hym. He therfor that long had been taken with her love, mitigated with her speache & prayers, supposed nothynge to be denyed her now that she asked. Therfor agaynst the duke's will, he commanded hys temporalytyes to be gyven unto hym agayne, & so the bishopp by ryght & wronge, maikeynge hymselffe freinds with the ritches of this worlde, he recovered that whiche was loste. The duke, althoughe he greavously tooke that whiche Ales had doone contrarye to hys desyre, yet fearynge the kynge's wrath, he purposed to be silent for a tyme, in deferringe his revengement, & to temper hys wrathe untell he myght more fyttly reward them.

Note 1. Bishop Lowth, anxious to support the reputation of his hero, observes with respect to this statement, that it "has been advanced without any other foundation of proof, or colour of probability than the supposed influence of this lady with the king by some late writers, at a time when, as it could not possibly be verified, so neither could it easily be confuted." But he appears to have forgotten that in his preface he had in effect admitted the antiquity, at least, of the story, by remarking that the work in which it was found appeared to have been written recentibus odiis i.e. "because of recent hostilities". Whether the statement be true or false, it seems to have been propagated in Wykeham's lifetime, and though perhaps a calumny, it cannot now be easily refuted. Towards the conclusion of his work, the Bishop labours with better success to disprove Bohun's assertion that Alice Perrers was Wykeham's niece. The family name of Alice his niece was Chawmpeneys, and she was married to William Perot. On this question, however, as well as on that of the alleged bribe to Alice Perrers, doubts unfavourable to Wykeham appear to have been entertained by Archbishop Parker, who most probably derived his information from the original of the Chronicle before us. De Antiq. Brit. Eccl. p. 386, edit. 1729.