will that he began rebuilding the
nave and left money for the continuation of the work.

Wykeham, as we shall see, had already a reputation for architectural
skill when first introduced to Edward III., and this reputation stood
him in good stead in the matter of preferment. When he was elected to
Winchester he found the bishop's palaces of Farnham, Wolvesey, Waltham,
and Southwark in a very dilapidated condition, and he set these in order
before he turned his attention to anything else. New College, Oxford,
and Winchester College practically occupied him up to 1393; whilst his
work in the cathedral was really the last great undertaking of his life,
inasmuch as it was not finished at the time of his death. The actual
method of Wykeham's transformation of the interior is described more
fully elsewhere, and we will not therefore do more than quote a few
words from Willis on the work done. "The old Norman cathedral was cast
nearly throughout its length and breadth into a new form; the double
tier of arches in its peristyle was turned into one, by the removal of
the lower arch, and clothed with Caen casings in the Perpendicular
style. The old wooden ceilings were replaced with stone vaultings,
enriched with elegant carvings and cognizances. Scarcely less than a
total rebuilding is involved in this hazardous and expensive operation,
carried on during ten years with a systematic order worthy of remark and
imitation.... Judging from the provision of his will of the expenditure
for the last year and a half, the cost of this great work to the bishop
in present money cannot be estimated at less than L200,000."

Wykeham's successor, Beaufort, was far less a bishop of Winchester than
an English statesman. His contributions to the architecture of his see
are very small. He did indeed so add to the hospital of St Cross as to
make it almost a new foundation; but in the cathedral he only left one
monument, though this Milner styles the "most elegant and finished
chantry in the kingdom," lying on the south side of the retro-choir.
Waynflete, who followed him, left another fine chantry in a
corresponding position to the north. Under Bishops Peter Courtenay and
Thomas Langton, the latter of whom has his chapel at the east end, next
the Lady Chapel, considerable additions were made to the architecture of
the cathedral, though most of the credit is due to the priors Hunton and
Silkstede, who seem to have been chiefly responsible for the new