he souls of his benefactors and relations,
and these objects were to be served by providing for the maintenance
of twenty poor scholars and two or three priests in the schools of
Oxford, or elsewhere, if learning should, in these days of civil war,
flourish elsewhere than at Oxford. The endowment which he provided was
to consist of his manors of Maldon and Farleigh, in Surrey, to which
was added the Merton estate, at the end of what are now the "Backs" in
Cambridge. This was purchased in 1269-70. The lands were given to his
scholars, to be held under certain conditions, in their own name. His
own kindred were to have the first claim upon places in the new
Society, and, after them, natives of the diocese of Winchester; they
were to have allowances of forty shillings each per annum, to live
together in a Hall, and to wear uniform garb in token of unity and
mutual love. As vacancies arose, by death, by admission into a
religious order, by the acceptance of livings in the Church, or by
appointments in other callings, they were to be filled up, and if the
funds of the society permitted, the numbers, both of scholars and of
priests, were to be increased. Scholars who proved to be incorrigibly
idle, or who led evil lives, were to be deprived; but the sick and (p. 052)
infirm were to be treated generously, and any of the Founder's kin who
suffered from an incurable malady, and were incapable of earning an
honest living in the Studium or elsewhere, were to be maintained till
their death. It was assumed that the scholars had already received the
preliminary training in Latin which was necessary for their studies,
but provision was made for the elementary instruction of poor or
orphan boys of the Founder's kin, until they were ready to enter the
University. Once or twice a year all the members of the foundation
were to meet and say mass for their Founder and his benefactors,
living and dead. The management of the property was entrusted to a
Warden, who was to reside not at Oxford or any other Studium where the
Hall might happen to be, but at Maldon or Farleigh. The Warden was a
member of the Society, but had no authority over the scholars, except
that, in cases of disputed elections, he, or the Chancellor or Rector
of the University where the Hall happened to be at the time, was to
act on the advice of six or seven of the senior scholars, and the
senior scholars, rather than the Warden, were looked upon by the
founder as the natura