| Summary: | <p>For too many years the common assumption has been that both Eton College and King's College, Cambridge, were simply the pious endeavours of a young and unworldly king, and were united in aim and conception in much the same way that the double foundation of William of Wykeham had been over six decades before. It is the aim of this thesis to show that this is a misconception, and to prove that far from being the private acts of a pious king, the foundations were, on the contrary, public acts of the Lancastrian monarchy, with their motivation owing more to the needs of government than to Henry VI' s personal will. The availability of alien priory resources, the anxiety felt by certain groups that such resources should be used towards socially useful purposes, the political legacy of Henry V, the burgeoning of humanistic studies in Italy and their uptake in England, and the key roles played by the Earl of Suffolk, Thomas Bekynton, and William Waynflete, all helped to shape the religious motives which lay behind royal patronage towards an educational end.</p> <p>The thesis examines the way in which the aims of royal pious founders developed into a mature public concept of the religion of the state, reaching its apogee at Sheen Charterhouse and Syon Abbey, founded by Henry V in 1415. What has hitherto remained obscure is the way in which this vibrant state inspired religion developed after Henry V's death, in the absence of a mature king, and during the turbulent closing stages of the Hundred Years War. The thesis presents an examination of these concepts.</p> <p>The thesis also reappraises the progress of the works at Henry VI' s foundations, offering fresh insight into the reasons why the plans were changed and enlarged at both colleges, and drawing a vital but hitherto virtually ignored distinction between the two royal foundations.</p>
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