WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM (WICKWANE, WYCKEHAM):. Bishop of Winchester; b. at Wykeham (13 m. s.e. of Winchester), England, in the summer of 1324; d. at South Waltham Sept. 24, 1404. He was educated at Winchester; and in 1356 was

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surveyor of King Edward III.'s works at Windsor, and was rewarded for his merit by the gift of the rectory of Palham, Norfolk, 1357, by a prebendary's stall at Lichfield, 1359, and by the deanery of St. Martin-le-Grand, 1360. He was ordained acolyte, 1361, and priest, 1362, and held a great number of prebends 1361-62. Resigning Pulham in 1361, he exchanged the canonry of Lichfield for that at South well. In 1364 he was made keeper of the privy seal; secretary to the king, 1365; bishop of Winchester, 1367; and was chancellor, 1367-71. In 1369 he be gan the work which developed into New College at Oxford, completed, 1386; and in 1378 was engaged in founding St. Mary College of Winchester, com pleted 1394. In 1376 he was accused of malfea sance in office, and deprived of the temporalities of his see. But his rectitude was subsequently estab lished, and Richard II. restored him to his offices and dignities, 1379, and he was again chancellor, 1389 1391, but from 1391 kept aloof from politics. He rebuilt Winchester Cathedral, 1395-1405. He was the author of 1V. de Wycumba libri duo de vita R. Betun episeopi Herefordemis, with Vita by T. Chaundler, published in H. Wharton's Anglia Sacra (London, 1691).

Bibliography: Lives have been written by R. Lowth, London, 1758, 3d ed., Oxford, 1777; J. Chandler, ib. 1842; and G. H. 111oberly, 2d ed., London, 1893. Con sult further: 111. E. C. Walcott, William of Wykeham and his Colleges, London, 1852; The Three Chancellors: . Lives of William of Wykeham . . and Sir T. More, London, 18§0; S. R. Gardiner, Student's History of Eng land, pp. 260-262, London, 1895; J. H. Overtort, The Church in England, i. 287-292, 315, London, 1897; W. W. Capes, English Church in the 14th and 16th Centuries, pp. 93 sqq., ib., 1900; W. A. Spooner, in Typical English Churchmen, ib., 1909; DNB, lxi. 178-179; W. L. Fox, William of Wykeham, the Complete Life and Pilgrimage, 2 parts, London, 1909.

WILLIAMITES: The name of two orders. 1. Benedictine Hermits of Monte Vergine (a high mountain near Avellino upon which in 1123 William of Vercelli in Piedmont-l. 1142-erected a con vent). The order was confirmed by Pope Alexander III. under the Benedictine rule, spread in numerous monasteries and convents over Italy, and was re formed by Peter Leonardi at the request of Pope Clement VIII. It has now only the parent convent on Monte Vergine. 2. The Followers of Saint William of Maleval (d. Feb. 10, 1157). He was a hermit who in 1153 set tled on the island of Lupocavio near Pisa, and in 1155 in the territory of Siena, in the bishopric of Grosseto in a stony valley later called Malavalle. There he found an associate in a certain Albert, who became his biographer. The congregation that formed about him followed his rule and spread over Italy, France, Germany, and Flanders. In 1229 Gregory IX. moderated the severity of the rule, giving the order the rule of Benedict, and Innocent IV. enlarged their privileges. In 1256 Pope Alexan der IV. attempted to incorporate the order within the mendicant Augustinians and to prescribe, for them the rule of Augustine, but they opposed ths measure and preserved their independence. The order was divided into the three provinces of Tuscany, Ger many, and Flanders. In 1435 the council of Basel confirmed their privileges. In the course of time most of the monasteries went over into other orders until they entirely disappeared during the eighteenth century.

(G. Grützmacher.)

Bibliography: On 1 consult: G. Jordano, Chroniche di Monte Vergine, Naples, 1581; T. Costo, Istoria dell' origins del s. luogi di Monteoergine, Venice, 1691; H6lyot, Ordres monastiques, vi. 122 sqq.; KL, xii. 1626 sqq. On 2 consult: ASB, Feb., ii. 433-472, of. Analecta Bollandiana, i (1882), 525-527; ASB, ut sup., contains selections from the Vita by Albert, which was published at Siena, 1770; HAlyot, Ordres monastiques, vi. 142 sqq.; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, ii. 180-181.