ON October 30, 1356, a man of modest parentage from the village of Wickham (or Wykeham), Hampshire, was appointed Surveyor of the King’s Building Works in the castle and park of Windsor. How this man, William, by now in his early thirties, had recommended himself for this role remains a mystery, but it placed him in charge of what was about to become one of the most ambitious building projects in 14th-century Europe: the reconstruction of the Upper Ward of the castle by Edward III, paid for out of the ransom of Jean II, King of France, captured at the battle of Poitiers less than six weeks earlier.
William of Wykeham displayed a voracious appetite for lucrative appointments, both secular and ecclesiastical
William of Wykeham’s appointment marked the beginning of a spectacular career in royal service made possible by the King’s favour. He immediately displayed a voracious appetite for lucrative appointments both secular and ecclesiastical and, in 1360–61, legitimised the latter by taking clerical orders. Then, in October 1366, he was elected Bishop of Winchester and secured the office of Chancellor. Shrewd investment, speculation and peculation, meanwhile, made him vastly wealthy. It also brought him powerful enemies and, in 1376, he was nearly destroyed by the King’s son, John
