Founded 1348 | ||
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The Dean and Canons of Windsor are the ecclesiastical body of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Contents
Foundation
The college of Canons was established in 1348 by Letters Patent of King Edward III. It was formally constituted on the Feast of St Andrew the Apostle, 30 November 1352, when the statutes drawn up by William Edington, Bishop of Winchester, as Papal Delegate, were solemnly delivered to William Mugge, the Warden of the College.
Accepting that the process of foundation took several years to complete, the college takes the year 1348 as its formal date of foundation.
Costume
Three ancient monumental brasses survive depicting Canons of Windsor, wearing the mantle of the Order of the Garter, purple in colour, with a circular badge on the left shoulder, displaying: Argent, a cross gules (a Cross of St George):
- c. 1370. Roger Parkers, North Stoke, Oxfordshire (half effigy with inscription; head lost).
- 1540. Roger Lupton, LL.D., Provost of Eton College and Canon of Windsor. Eton College Chapel (mantle worn over fur-lined cassock; no surplice).
- 1558. Arthur Cole, S.T.B., President of Magdalen, at Magdalen College, Oxford. Showing a very ornate mantle worn over cassock and surplice.
The long cords which fasten the mantle are well represented at North Stoke and Magdalen College. In the two later examples it is gathered. On the Eton brass the mantle is fastened at the neck. The lost effigy of John Robyns, d. 1558, of which the inscription remains in St. George's Chapel, may have shown him wearing the mantle. (See: "Brasses of Canons of Windsor," by the Rev. J. E. Field, The Antiquaryy Vol. XV., 1887; For military examples, see Ch. III). Brasses of Canons of Windsor are found showing them vested in copes, without the Garter badge, as at Thurcaston, Leicestershire. (John Mershdcn, 1425), and at Harrow (Simon Marcheford, 1442). A brass was discovered in 1890 at Bennington, near Stevenage, Hertfordshire, showing a small mutilated effigy of a priest in a cope with a round badge (possibly a rose) on the left shoulder. The cope has an orphrey. This has been supposed to represent a Canon of Windsor. (See Transactions of the Cambridge University Association of Brass Collectors, Vol. II, p. 24).
Suspension of canonries
Section 9 of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840 provided for the suspension of eight of the canonries at St George's. It required that the first two vacant canonries should be suspended, the next filled, the next two suspended, the next filled, the next two suspended, the next filled, and the next two suspended.
Current chapter
Deans of Windsor
See List of Deans of Windsor for chronological list.
Canons of the First Stall
Canonry of the First Stall suspended 1861 by Act of 1840.
Canons of the Second Stall
Canonry of the Second Stall then suspended by Act of 1840.
Canons of the Third Stall
Canonry of the Third Stall suspended by Act of 1840.
Canons of the Fourth Stall
Canonry suspended by Act of 1840.
Canons of the Seventh Stall
Canonry suspended in 1860 by Act of 1840.
Canons of the Eighth Stall
Canonry of the Eighth Stall suspended by the Act of 1840.
Canons of the Tenth Stall
Canonry of the Tenth Stall suspended by the Act of 1840.
Canons of the Twelfth Stall
Twelfth Stall suspended under the Act of 1840.