Two days later Edward III died, forsaken by his mistress,
Alice Perrers, and estranged from the one man who had served him so long
and so faithfully.
The architectural genius of Wykeham as exhibited at St. Mary's College
and the cathedral at Winchester, and at New College, Oxford, originally
founded as "St. Maries' College of Winchester at Oxenford", marks a very
decided epoch in the development of English architecture. His works, in
an architectural style found nowhere but in England, are the outcome of
a mind free from triviality, and full of common sense. His buildings are
admirably suited to their purpose, and at first sight they appear to be
so simple in design that it has been suggested that Wykeham cared more
for the constructive than the artistic side of building. It is true that
he considered sound construction and good proportions of greater
importance than a profusion of detail, yet such ornament as is found in
his work is highly effective and most carefully studied. To this
bishop-architect we undoubtedly owe much of the dignity and simplicity
which mark the Early Perpendicular buildings, qualities which make the
style such a contrast to the exuberance of that which immediately
preceded it, or the over-elaboration of the Tudor buildings that
followed it.
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