Place Name
Henry Chichele also spelt Checheley and Chicheley (born sometime around 1364 – April 12, 1443) served as Archbishop of Canterbury between 1414 and his death, and who founded All Souls College, Oxford, which owned much of Willesden. Malories manor, as it was called, was a sub-manor of Willesden and had changed hands a number of times, until in 1438 William Crowmere and other London citizens gave it to Chichele and the trustees of All Souls College to pay for the upkeep of the college. Chichele had a middle-class upbringing. After Oxford, he took up the church, becoming an ecclesiastical lawyer in London, this at a time when church law and secular law varied greatly. His talents – and aided by family connections – saw him rapidly promoted. He was at the heart of a dispute between various bishops and the successive Popes, the result was he had to give up some of his preferments. By this point he was mixing in royal circles and was with Henry V’s English forces in France, acting as negotiator in surrenders. At home, he was elevated to Archbishop of Canterbury following the death of Thomas Arundel. On domestic matters he was ruthless against so-called heretics and led the charge in persecuting the Lollards, much of his efforts appear to have been directed at ensuring the church’s income streams remained protected. In 1438, he and Henry VI founded All Souls College, Oxford, to commemorate the victims of the Hundred Years’ War. He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral.
