Editing Eton College (section)

===Establishment===
[[File:MK17834 Eton College.jpg|thumb|A statue of [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]], the college's founder, in the school yard and Lupton's Tower (background)]]
[[File:Eton College by Loggan 1690 - R - slpl ste02048 merge.jpeg|thumb|A 1690 engraving of Eton College by [[David Loggan]]]]
[[File:Canaletto (II) 005.jpg|thumb|''[[Eton College (painting)|Eton College]]'' by [[Canaletto]], 1754]]

Eton College was founded by [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]] as a [[charity school]] to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to [[King's College, Cambridge]], founded by the same king in 1441. Henry used [[Winchester College]] as a model, visiting at least six times (in 1441, 1444, 1446, 1447, 1448, 1449, 1451, 1452) and having its statutes transcribed. Henry appointed Winchester's headmaster, [[William Waynflete]], as Eton's [[Provost (education)|Provost]], and transferred some of Winchester's 70 scholars to start his new school. There is a rumour that he also had carts of earth from Winchester transported to Eton.{{cn|date=July 2023}}

When Henry VI founded the school, he granted it a large number of endowments, including much valuable land. The group of [[feoffee]]s appointed by the king to receive forfeited lands of the [[Alien priory|Alien Priories]] for the endowment of Eton were as follows:<ref>Watts, John, ''Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=qTP4CF_boeoC&pg=PA169 pp. 169–70], quoting Calendar of [[Patent Rolls]] 1436–41, pp. 454, 471.</ref>
* [[Henry Chichele]], [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] (d. 1443)
* [[Thomas Spofford]], [[Bishop of Hereford]] (d. 1456)
* [[John Low (bishop)|John Low]], [[Bishop of Rochester]] (d. 1467)
* [[William Ayscough]], [[Bishop of Salisbury]] (d. 1450)
* [[William de la Pole, 1st Marquess of Suffolk]] (1396–1450) (later Duke of Suffolk)
* [[John Somerset]] (d. 1454), [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] and the king's doctor
* [[Thomas Beckington]] (c. 1390–1465), Archdeacon of Buckingham, the king's secretary and later [[Lord Privy Seal|Keeper of the Privy Seal]]
* [[Richard Andrew]] (d. 1477), first Warden of [[All Souls College, Oxford]], later the king's secretary
* [[Adam Moleyns]] (d. 1450), [[Clerk of the Council]]
* John Hampton (d. 1472) of [[Kinver]], [[Staffordshire]], an [[Esquire of the Body]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kingswinford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/com/kinver/kinverchurch.htm |title=Kinver Church – kingswinford.org |access-date=4 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225020702/http://www.kingswinford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/com/kinver/kinverchurch.htm |archive-date=25 February 2015}}</ref>
* James Fiennes, another member of the [[Royal Household]]
* William Tresham, another member of the Royal Household

It was intended to have formidable buildings; Henry intended the [[nave]] of the [[Eton College Chapel|College Chapel]] to be the longest in Europe, and several religious [[relic]]s, supposedly including a part of the [[True Cross]] and the [[Crown of Thorns]].<ref name=lrb>{{cite news|last=Hope|first=Charles|title=At Eton|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n05/charles-hope/at-eton|access-date=28 February 2013 |newspaper=London Review of Books|date=7 March 2013}}</ref> He persuaded the then [[Pope]], [[Eugene IV]], to grant him a privilege unparalleled anywhere in England: the right to grant [[indulgence]]s to [[penitent]]s on the [[Feast of the Assumption]]. The college also came into possession of one of England's [[English Apocalypse manuscripts|Apocalypse manuscripts]].

However, when Henry was deposed by [[King Edward IV]] in 1461, the new King annulled all grants to the school and removed most of its assets and treasures to [[St George's Chapel, Windsor]], on the other side of the [[River Thames]]. Legend has it that Edward's mistress, [[Jane Shore]], intervened on the school's behalf. She was able to save a good part of the school,<ref>Nevill. p. 5.</ref> although the royal bequest and the number of staff were much reduced. Construction of the chapel, originally intended to be slightly over twice as long,<ref>Nevill, p. 5.</ref> with 18, or possibly 17, bays (there are eight today) was stopped when Henry VI was deposed. Only the [[choir (architecture)|Quire]] of the intended building was completed. Eton's first Head Master, [[William Waynflete]], founder of Magdalen College, Oxford and previously headmaster of [[Winchester College]],<ref>Nevill, p. 4.</ref> built the ante-chapel that completed the chapel. The important wall paintings in the chapel and the brick north range of the present School Yard also date from the 1480s; the lower storeys of the cloister, including College Hall, were built between 1441 and 1460.<ref>Nikolaus Pevsner, Buildings of England – Buckinghamshire</ref>

As the school suffered reduced income while still under construction, the completion and further development of the school have since depended to some extent on wealthy benefactors. Building resumed when [[Roger Lupton]] was [[Provost (education)|Provost]], around 1517. His name is borne by the big [[gatehouse]] in the west range of the cloisters, fronting School Yard, perhaps the most famous image of the school. This range includes the important interiors of the Parlour, Election Hall, and Election Chamber, where most of the 18th century "leaving portraits" are kept.

"After Lupton's time, nothing important was built until about 1670, when [[Provost (education)|Provost]] Allestree gave a range to close the west side of School Yard between Lower School and Chapel".<ref>Nikolaus Pevsner, op. cit. p. 119.</ref> This was remodelled later and completed in 1694 by Matthew Bankes, Master Carpenter of the Royal Works. The last important addition to the central college buildings was the College Library, in the south range of the cloister, 1725–29, by Thomas Rowland. It has a very important collection of books and manuscripts.