LONDON. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1913.
CONTENTS.—No. 193.
Notes.
SEVER OF MERTON.
Who was Henry Sever, D.D., S.T.P., whose will, dated 4 July, 1471, is among the Testamenta Eboracensia in the British Museum? From the 'D.N.B.' we learn that he was a member of Merton Coll., Oxford, in 1427, when he served as Senior Proctor in the University.
"He graduated D.D., and subsequently became Chaplain and Almoner to Henry VI. By the charter of incorporation he was on 11 Oct., 1440, appointed first Provost of Eton College. In 1442 he was succeeded as Provost by William Waynefleete, and at the end of that year he became Chancellor of Oxford University. In the following year he was specially recommended by the University to the favour of Eugenius IV. On 29 May, 1445, he was collated to the prebend of Harleston in St. Paul's Cathedral, and in April, 1449, he became Chancellor of that church. In 1446 the College presented him to the Chapel of Kibworth, which he resigned soon after, and on 19 Feb., 1455/6, elected him Warden of Merton College. In the reign of Edward IV. Sever is said to have held fourteen ecclesiastical preferments. He died on 6 July, 1471, and was buried in the choir of Merton College Chapel; a monumental brass placed over his tomb is now within the rails of the communion-table on the south side of the chancel. His will, dated 4 July, 1471, is printed in 'Test. Ebor.' (iii. 188-90): by it Sever made many bequests to Merton College. While Warden he rebuilt or completed the Warden's house and the Holywell tower, probably at his own expense: these services won him the title of Second Founder of the College."
Unfortunately, the term of his Wardenship coincides with the time when there is a gap in the University Registers and College documents and records; but, even so, it seems extraordinary that absolutely no record should be left of the personal history, parentage, and antecedents of so eminent a man. Besides the references mentioned at the end of the article in the 'D.N.B.,' I have also searched the following list, where his name occurs, for some account of his pedigree, but without avail:—
Antony Allen's MS. Catalogue of Provosts of Eton.
'Epist. Savil. ad Camdenum,' p. 224.
F. Godwin ('De Præsulibus Angl.').
Wood, ' Ath. Oxon.,' vol. i. p. 553.
Dugdale, 'Monasticon,' vol. iii. p. 195 et seq.
Wood, 'Hist, and Ant. Univ. Oxon.,' L. 2, p. 86.
Le Neve, 'Fasti Eccl. Angl.'
'Registrum Regale,' pub. by E. P. Williams, 1847, orig. 1774.
'Acts of Privy Council,' vol. vi. pp. 212-13.
'Calendar Patent Rolls,' 13 Henry VI., p. 455, &c.
'Calendar Patent Rolls,' Edward IV.
Henderson's 'History of Merton College.'
In addition, I have examined many other manuscript and printed materials in the Bodleian likely to bear on the subject.
The libraries of Merton and of Eton College yield no further information, beyond the statement that Sever "is a shadowy figure, of whom little is known,"[1] which is not encouraging. But in the parlour of Merton College the arms of Dr. Henry Sever are prominent among the armorial bearings that adorn the walls. The field is argent; the three rings and three bands are red.
The only relative mentioned in his will is John Sever, to whom he bequeaths
"my house in Chalvey and Farnham, co. Bucks, for the term of his life, with remainder to Richard Gaysgill and his heirs."
Who was Richard Gaysgill? and, more important, who was John Sever? for the relationship is not stated. Other residences he leaves are "my manor of Pery," "my mansion in West Tillbury, co. Essex," "my house in Yelling, co. Middlesex," "my
- ↑ Mr. Benson's 'Fasti Etonenses.'
