WILLIAM
642
WILLIAM
design; and his statutes jjrovided for stately and
elaborate services, including the daily performance of
the Divine office "with chant and note", and the daily
singing of seven Masses at the high altar. Every
detail of the studies and of the scholastic discipline
was regulated by himself; and probably, of all the pre-
Reformation colleges of England, Winchester is the
one in which (in spite of the change of reUgion) the
original statutes are most closely observed, and the
memory of the founder is most deeply venerated.
Wykeham's collegiate buildings, finished about 1375,
are stiU in use, but there have been extensive modern
additions, and the college still ranks with the greatest
of English public schools.
Another important work undertaken by Wykeham was the rebuilding of the nave of his cathedral, or rather its transformation from Norman to Perpendicu- lar. This work, begun by him in 1394, was completed by his successors Cardinal Beaufort and WajTieflete. Meanwhile the bishop, after some years of non-inter- vention in state affairs, had for the second time (in 1389) been appointed chancellor, and discharged the office to the satisfaction of Richard II. In little more than two years, however, he finally resigned the posi- tion, and from that date until his death took no active part in politics, although his ability and integrity caused him to be frequently included in committees of the upper house and in royal commissions. He spent the last three years of his life in retirement at his palace of South Waltham, and in 1402 found it neces- sary to appoint two coadjutor bishops, both fellows of New College. He made his will in July, 1403, bequeathing large sums for charitable purposes and for Masses and suffrages for his soul. Fourteen months later, after several days spent in uninter- rupted prayer, he passed peacefully away. According to his own wish he was buried in the chantry built by himself on the south side of the nave of his cathedral, on the site of an altar of the Blessed Virgin. A beautiful altar-tomb, with a recumbent figure, perpet- uates the memory of a prelate who, if not specially distinguished as a statesman or a man of learning, was certainly one of the most zealous, generous, and mag- nanimous occupants of the historic See of Winchester.
LowTH, Life of William of Wykeham (London. 1759); Mo- BEHLT, Life of William Wykeham (Wells, 1887); Walcott, William of Wykeharn and his Colleges (London, 1897) ; Campbell. Lives of the Lord Chancellors (London, 1848), I, xv, xvii; Dr.ine. The Three Chancellors (London, 1882). 1-112; Kitchin, Win- chester in Historic Towns Series (I^ondon, 1890).
D. O. Hunteh-Blair.
William Perault (Perauld, Peraldfs, Pbrai,- Tus), writer and preacher, b. at Perault, France; d. at Lyons; the date of his death is disputed, some placing it before 1260, others extending it to about 1270 or 1275. He studied at the University of Paris, and there, being drawn to the religious life by the preach- ing perhaps of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, he was received into the Dominican Order. It is thought that Perault was somewhat advanced in years when he embraced the religious state, although the precise date of his entrance into it is also unknown. He entered the order at Paris, but was destined, according to a custom then existing, for the convent at Lyons. At Lyons, where he passed his life, at once contem- plative and active, he rendered untold service to the Church by the briUiancy of his writings and preaching and by the charm and splendour of his virtues. His part in ecclesiastical affairs was for a time also very important. For fully ten years he performed all the episcopal functions of the Churcli of Lyons, having been chosen for this work during the vacancy of the see by Philip of Savoy who, although not in Holy orders, bore the title of Archbishop of Lyons from 1245 to 1207. Because of Perault's long labours in ministering to the needs of the dioce.se, he himself came to be known as the Bishop or Archbishop of Lyons. This error was further emphasized by the
title of bishop which a later hand added to many of
his writings. While, then, we are assured by such
trustwortliy authors as Gerson, Pere Alexandre,
Echard, and Hurter that Wilham Perault was never
Archbishop of Lyons, as the authors of the "GaUia
Christiana" would have us believe, M. Dupin is by
no means justified on the other hand in saying that
he was never more than a reUgious of the Order of
Preachers (cf. Touron, "Hist, des hommes illust.",
1, 1. 2, 184). Known and reverenced far and wide for
singular gifts of nature and grace, he was a man truly
powerful in word and work — well deserving the triple
title given him by all, of monk, doctor, and apostle.
His most important works are: "Summa de vir- tutibus et vitiis" (Cologne, 1497, 1618, 1629; Venice, 1492, 1497; Rome, 1557; Lyons, 1668); "Sermones de tempore et de Sanctis", which appeared under the name of Wilham III of Paris (Paris, 1494; Cologne, 1629); "De eruditione seu de institutione religio- sorum" (Paris, 1512; Louvain, 1575; Lyons, 1585); "De regimine principum", which, as in the Roman edition of 1570, was attributed to St. Thomas and of which, in fact, St. Thomas wTote a part: "Speculum religiosorum seu institutionum vita? spiritualis", which appeared under the name of Humbert V, Master-General of the Order of Preachers.
Echard, Script. Ord. Freed., I, 131 sq.; Hurter. Xoinenclator; Touron, Hist, des Hommes Illust., I 182 sq.; L'Annfe Domini- caine (Lyons. 1884), 843 sq.
Charles J. Callan.
Williams, Rich.^rd, Vener.vble. See Hartley, William, Venxrable.
William the Clerk (of Normandy), French poet of the thirteenth century. Nothing is kno^-n of his life except that he was a clerk of Normandy. Among the works, which may be assigned to him with some certainty, are: "Bestiaire divin" (ed. Hippeau, Caen, 18.53), a moral and theological treatise on natural his- tory deahng with man and animals, probably com- posed about 1210, as the author, in his description of the dove, deplores the sad condition of the Church in England in 1208; "Besant de Dieu", an allegorical poem, composed in 1226 (ed. Martin, Halle, 1869); "Joies Nostre Dame" (ed. Reinsch in "Zeitschrift fiir Romanische Philologie", III, 1879, p. 2); "Treis moz de I'evesque de Lincoln" (ibid.); "Vie de Tobie" (ed. Reinsch in Herrig, "Archiv", 1881). A legend of "St. Magdalen" is also credited to him. The "Roman de Tergus", which is connected with the romances of the Round Table, the "FabUaux" (short stories), "Prestre et Alison", "Male Honte", and "La fille a la bourgeoise" are no longer regarded as his. Although he probably lived for a time in England, as many Norman clerks did, he did not use the Anglo- Norman dialect, but the French.
Histoire litttraire de la France, XXII. XXHI (Paris, 1856); Seeger, Ueber die Sprache des Guillaume le Clerc de Xormandie u, Cber den Verfasser u. die Quelle des Tobias (Halle, 1881) ; Schmidt, Guillaume le Clerc de Normandie in Romanische Studien, IV (1881).
Lopis N. Del.vmarre.
William the Conqueror, King op England AND Duke of Normandy, was the natural son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, his mother, Herleva, being the daughter of a tanner of Falaise. In 1035 Robert set out upon a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in which he died. Before starting he presented to the nobles this child, then seven years old, demanding their allegiance. "He is little", the father said, "but he will grow, and, if God please, he will mend." In spite of the muriler of three of his guardians, and of attempts to kidnap his own person, the child, after a period of anarchy, became the ruler of Nor- mandy in his father's place. He seems to have been a youth of clean life and of much natural piety, while the years of storm and stress through which he pa-ssed gave him an endurance and far-sighted resolution of character which lasted to his life's
