Produced by Louise Pryor, David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) [Illustration: ABBOT COLCHESTER.] WILLIAM DE COLCHESTER ABBOT OF WESTMINSTER BY E. H. PEARCE CANON OF WESTMINSTER SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE LONDON: Northumberland Avenue, W.C. New York: E. S. GORHAM 1915 TO J. D. AND H. R. D. WITH AFFECTION CONTENTS PAGE I. A Window in the Nave 9 II. A Novice from Essex 14 III. A Man of Affairs 21 IV. A Proctor at Rome 30 V. An Archdeacon 41 VI. Abbot of Westminster 52 VII. The Abbot at Home 60 VIII. The Abbot Abroad 73 NOTE Having had the honour of an invitation to deliver in May last a "Friday Evening Discourse" at the Royal Institution on the Archives of Westminster Abbey, I thought it best to confine what I could say within an hour to the career of a single man, preferably one whose record had not hitherto been written. I have here expanded the lecture to some extent, and have added references. I am indebted to Mr. David Weller, the Dean's Virger, for some excellent pictures. E. H. P. 3, Little Cloisters, _September, 1915._ LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO FACE PAGE Abbot Colchester _Frontispiece_ The Kitchener's Account for Pancakes 28 Chambers in Little Cloisters 48 The Personal Effects of Abbot Litlington 54 Abbot Colchester's Seal 74 Coronation of Henry V. 80 WILLIAM DE COLCHESTER I A WINDOW IN THE NAVE