claims to be entitled to admission to College as Founder ’ s Kin ( under the provision of the Founder ’ s statutes ). From 1710 onward Minute Books of the proceedings of the Warden and Fellows are preserved , the forerunners of the present day minutes of the Governing Body .
As has been said , the records that bear on the school life of the boys and on the education that the school has provided are a good deal thinner than those bearing on management . Reports on individuals pupils ( with a handful of chance exceptions ) have not been preserved . Records concerning the school ’ s boarding houses have not been deposited in the Archives : they remain in the houses themselves , maintained with varying degrees of care and conscientiousness by successive housemasters . Nevertheless , there are in the archives some items of interest . From the eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth century , the winning entries for various ‘ Medal Prizes ’ ( for Latin Verse , Latin Essay , English Verse and so on ) have been preserved : so have been some old school exercises . There are a number of interesting collections of letters relating to the school and from boys in the school . The two most recent College Archivists , Peter Gwyn and Roger Custance , have been energetic in adding by acquisition letters , family papers and other miscellanea bearing on the school ’ s educational and extra-curricular activities , and there is now more material bearing on these matters than is apparent from the Himsworth catalogue .
The Estates section of the muniments is classified estate by estate , individually . For each estate the original title deeds are preserved ( in some cases including deeds that trace the conveyance of title far back beyond the Founder ’ s time ). Together with these are preserved , for each estate , the detailed annual estate accounts , surveys , leases , and documents relating to copyholds and enclosures . The court rolls of proceedings in the manor courts of those College estates that were manorial are also , for the early period , preserved estate by estate . But when in Warden Stempe ’ s time ( from the late 1550s on ) these proceedings ceased to be recorded on rolls , and were entered instead into books recording chronologically the proceedings of the courts held in all the College manors , it ceased to be possible ( without dismembering the books ) to preserve the records estate by estate . Because they relate to the totality of the College ’ s landed endowment , these books are classified with the Domus muniments , not with the individual estate records .
What makes the muniments of Winchester College so remarkable and unusual , both on the Domus and the Estates side , is the completeness and the length of the time span , in many cases from the late fourteenth century down to the present day , that is covered in many of the series preserved . In a brief pamphlet , it is impossible to give more than a fleeting impression of the variety and interest of the record that they constitute . But some attempt must be made : what follows can only offer a foretaste of the riches that they can reveal to the researcher , professional or amateur .
THE CENTRAL COLLEGE RECORDS : ‘ DOMUS ’
The best way to give an introductory impression of the coverage offered by the College ’ s Domus records will be to reproduce an abbreviated list of their contents , as it is presented in Sheila Himsworth ’ s catalogue . She divided the material into four main sections and a series of subsidiary ones , the most interesting among which last are here listed as Miscellanea .
Domus I Documents relating to the foundation of the College . Oaths of the first Wardens , fellows and scholars . Archbishop Arundel ’ s injunction to the Warden and Fellows ( 1407 / 8 ). Cardinal Beaufort ’ s injunctions ( 1411 ), limiting the number of commoners . Costs of building , 1395-1402 . Archbishop Parker ’ s dispensation to eat flesh on Wednesdays ( 1564 ). Bishop Sherborne ’ s benefaction ( c . 1530 ) Amicabilis Concordia with Eton ( 1441 ).
Domus II Letters of recommendation for the election of scholars . Visitations of the College ; complaints and appeals to the Visitor and others . Admissions and resignations of Wardens , fellows , scholars etc . Winchester in the period of the Commonwealth . Correspondence of Warden Harris ( Warden , 1630-58 ). Warden Nicholas ( 1679-1712 ) and the building of School . Papers of Warden Biggs ( Warden 1730-40 ). 1818 School rebellion . The Election ( disputed ) of Warden Harry Lee ( 1763 ). Miscellaneous papers relating to e . g . the 1793 school rebellion , and to various internal disputes among the fellows , etc , principally 18th century .
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