dowed, by his provision for building the north-west tower,
and by his chantry chapel. There was at this time another hospital
called the Priory, which has now disappeared. He was one of the
English envoys at the Council of Constance. Mandates were sent him by
the archbishop for the prosecution of the Lollards, but there is no
record of any proceedings having been taken, till JOHN STAFFORD
(1425-43) had succeeded him, when one William Curayn was compelled to
abjure and receive absolution for some very reasonable heresies.
Stafford was translated to Canterbury.

THOMAS BECKINGTON, or Bekynton (1443-65), was first tutor, then
private secretary to Henry VI., and Keeper of the Privy Seal. His many
works at Wells are noticed in our other chapters; in his will he
states that he spent 6000 marks in repairing and adorning his palaces.
After his death, the mayor and corporation showed their gratitude by
going annually to his tomb (p. 125) to pray for his soul.

ROBERT STILLINGTON (1466-91) was a minister of Edward IV., and one of
Richard III.'s supporters. Accused in 1487 of helping Lambert Simnel,
he was imprisoned at Windsor for the rest of his life. RICHARD FOX
(1492-94), Keeper of the Privy Seal, translated to Durham. OLIVER KING
(1495-1503), Chief Secretary of Henry VII. A dream moved Bishop Oliver
in 1500, to rebuild Bath abbey in the debased Perpendicular style with
which we are now familiar.

The celebrated ADRIAN DE CASTELLO (1504-1518) obtained first Hereford
and then Wells, as a reward for political services. As he never
visited his diocese, his affairs were managed by another famous man,
Polydore Vergil, who was archdeacon, and furnished the choir of Wells
with hangings, "flourished," says Fuller, "with the laurel tree," and
bearing an inscription, _Sunt Polydori munera Vergilii_. Adrian, who
was born of humble parents at Cornuto in Tuscany, had been made a
cardinal in 1503 by the infamous Pope Alexander VI., and both his
archdeacon and himself are prominent figures in Italian history of the
period.

CARDINAL WOLSEY (1518-23) was appointed to the see, which he held
together with the archbishopric of York; he was therefore Bishop of
Bath and Wells only in name, and was soon put in the enjoyment of the
richer sees successively of Durham and Winchester. He was followed by
JOHN CLERK (1523-41) and WILLIAM KNIGHT (1541-47). The abbey of Bath
was now suppressed, so that the bishop's seat was now at Wells alone,
and (ex