n, William of Wykeham, the builder of much of the cathedral, and
the founder of St. Mary's College, Winchester, and New College,
Oxford--the former of which, although of later foundation, was intended
as a stepping-stone for the latter.

With the Norman Conquest, and the rapid rise of Westminster, the days of
Winchester as the seat of government were numbered, although it was much
favoured by the early Norman kings, possibly owing to its proximity to
such hunting grounds as the New Forest Cranborne Chase (where King
John's hunting lodge still stands), and the Royal Warren of Purbeck.

William I had his great palace near the cathedral, and it was to
Winchester that the body of William Rufus was brought on a cart, after
his ill-fated death in the New Forest.

Then the Domesday Book--if not compiled at Winchester--was kept there
for many years, when it was called "The Book of Winton". In the seventh
year of Henry II a charge appears in the Pipe Roll for conveying the
"arca", in which the book was kept, from Winchester to London.

There is naturally much in the life-history of St. Swithun that is
incapable of proof. He was possibly born in the neighbourhood of
Winchester about the year 800. He became a monk of the old abbey, and
rose to be head of the community, when he gained the favour of King
Egbert, who entrusted him with the education of his son Ethelwolf. There
is an authentic charter granted by Egbert in 838, and bearing the
signatures of Elmstan, _episcopus_, and Swithunus, _diaconus_. On the
death of Elmstan, in 852, Swithun was appointed his successor in the
see, when, in addition to erecting several churches, and building a
stone bridge over the Itchen, he appears to have enlarged and beautified
the Saxon cathedral built by Kynewalch when Winchester became the seat
of a bishopric in 679. The site of this Saxon church is considered to
have been a little to the north of the present cathedral, which is a
Norman building commenced by Walkelin a few years after the Conquest.

St. Swithun is best known to-day in his capacity of weather prophet. In
his humility he is said to have desired to be buried outside the church,
so that the foot of the passer-by, and the rainwater from the eaves,
could fall upon his grave; and here his body lay for more than a
century. When his remains were eventually translated, a chapel was
erected over the site of his grave at the north-east corner of the
church, and faint traces of this