JOHN

See also:

• JOHN WHETHAMSTEDE (d. 1465)

WHETHAMSTEDE (d. 1465)  , English abbot, was a son of Hugh Bostock, and was born at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, owing his name, the Latin form of which is Frumentarius, to this circumstance . In early life he entered St Albans Abbey and in 1420 he was chosen abbot of this house . In 1423 he attended a council at Pavia, but in England his time was mainly occupied with lawsuits, several of which he carried on to defend the property and enforce the rights of the abbey . In 1440 he resigned his post, but in 1451, on the death of his successor, John Stoke, he became abbot for the second time . He died on the 20th of January 1465, and his tomb may still be seen in the abbey church . Whethamstede was an energetic and successful abbot . He greatly improved the buildings at St Albans, which suffered somewhat during his later years owing to the wars of the roses; he also did some building at Gloucester College, Oxford, with which he was connected . He was a friend of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, whom he helped to gather together his famous collection of books, and was himself a writer, his works including Granarium de viris illustribus; Pa/atrium poetarum; and Super Valerium in Augustinum de Anchona . Whethamstede's Chronicle, or the Registrum abbatiae Johannis Whethamstede, is a register compiled soon after the abbot's death, which tells the events of his second abbacy . It has been edited by H . T . Riley, and is in vol. i. of the Registra quorundam abbatum monasterii S .

Albani (London, 1872) . The events of his first abbacy are narrated in the Annales monasterii S . Albani of John Amundesham, also edited by H . T . Riley (London, 187o-1871) .