Editing Richard Whittington

{{Short description|Lord Mayor of London (c. 1354–1423)}}
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{{Redirect|Dick Whittington|the fairy tale|Dick Whittington and His Cat|other uses}}
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[[File:RichardWhittington 19thCEngraving After ReginaldElstrack 1590.xcf|right|thumb|Richard Whittington, 19th c. engraving after original c.1590 by [[Renold Elstracke|Reginald Elstrack]] (1570 – after 1625).<br />Original engraving depicted a skull, changed to a cat by print-seller [[Peter Stent]] to meet popular expectations. Arms: Whittington, FitzWaryn, Worshipful Company of Mercers, Merchant Adventurers Company of London; also two small shields with his [[merchant mark]]]]
[[File:Dick Whittington as portrayed in the stained glass of the Guildhall in London.JPG|thumb|upright|Richard Whittington, stained glass in the [[London Guildhall|Guildhall]], City of London]]
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| footer = Arms of Richard Whittington: ''Gules, a fess chequy or and azure in the dexter chief an annulet or'', the annulet being a [[Difference (heraldry)|difference]] of his paternal arms.<ref name=Books>[https://books.google.com/books?id=18KhDgAAQBAJ&dq=whittington++fess+chequy+or+and+azure+in+the+dexter+chief+an+annulet+or.&pg=RA1-PR17 The Heraldic Register, J. Bernard Burke, p.56]</ref> As formerly visible sculpted within a [[quatrefoil]] on the Library of the [[Christ Church Greyfriars|Greyfriars]], founded by him
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[[File:MerchantMark RichardWhittington MayorOfLondon.svg|thumb|upright|[[Merchant mark]] of Richard Whittington, as shown in his portrait c.1590 by [[Renold Elstracke|Reginald Elstrack]]]]
'''Richard Whittington''' ({{circa|1354}} {{ndash}} March 1423) of the parish of [[St Michael Paternoster Royal]],<ref name=":0">Will of Richard Whittington: " I leave to my executors named below the entire tenement in which I live in the parish of St. Michael Paternoster Royal, London"[http://users.trytel.com/tristan/towns/florilegium/community/cmreli17.html]</ref> [[City of London]], was an English [[merchant]] and politician of the [[late Middle Ages|late medieval period]]. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale ''[[Dick Whittington and His Cat]]''. He was four times (appointed once, elected three times) [[Lord Mayor of London]], a [[member of parliament]] and a [[Sheriff of London]]. In his lifetime he financed a number of public projects, such as drainage systems in poor areas of London, and a hospital ward for unmarried mothers. He bequeathed his fortune to form the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington which, over 600 years later, continues to assist people in need.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mercers.co.uk/charitable-trusts|title=Charitable Trusts|publisher=[[Worshipful Company of Mercers]]|access-date=5 March 2012}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was born, in around 1354, into an ancient and wealthy [[Gloucestershire]] [[gentry]] family, the 3rd son of Sir William Whittington (d.1358) of Pauntley, in the [[Forest of Dean]], Gloucestershire, a [[member of parliament]], by his wife Joan Maunsell,<ref>Rawcliffe, C., biography of ''Whittington, Richard (d.1423), of London'', published in: ''[[History of Parliament]]: House of Commons 1386-1421'', ed. J.S. Roskell, L. Clark, C. Rawcliffe, 1993 [https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/whittington-richard-1423]</ref> a daughter of William Maunsell (or Mansel), MP for [[Gloucestershire (UK Parliament constituency)|Gloucestershire]], [[Sheriff of Gloucestershire]] in 1313.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Whittington, Richard |volume= 61 |last= Tait |first= James |author-link= James Tait (historian) |pages= 153–157 |short=1}}</ref> His elder brothers were [[Robert Whittington (MP)|Robert Whittington]] (d.1423/4), six times a Member of Parliament for Gloucestershire,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/whittington-robert-14234
|title=WHITTINGTON, Robert (d.1423/4), of Pauntley, Glos. and Sollershope, Herefs.|website=History of Parliament Online}}</ref> and [[William Whittington (MP)|William Whittington]], also MP for Gloucestershire, the eldest brother.<ref>The ancient ''de Whittington'' family possibly took its name from the [[Manorialism|manor]] of [[Whittington, Gloucestershire|Whittington]] in Gloucestershire; not from Whittington in Shropshire, whose lords were the FitzWarin family, as is well known, and into which, by coincidence, Richard Whittington married</ref>

As a younger son, under the system of [[primogeniture]] he would not expect to inherit his father's estate, and thus was sent to the [[City of London]] to learn the trade of [[Mercery|mercer]] through an apprenticeship. He was a contemporary of John Abbot who was the first mercer to leave property to the [[Mercers' Company]] to support a school.<ref name=":0" />

== Career ==
Whittington became a successful merchant, dealing in valuable imports such as silks and [[velvet]]s, both luxury fabrics, much of which he sold to royalty and nobility from about 1388. There is indirect evidence that he was also a major exporter to Europe of much-sought-after English [[wool]]len cloth such as [[broadcloth]]. From 1392 to 1394, he sold goods to King [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] worth £3,500 ({{inflation|UK|3500|1394|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-5}}). He also began [[money-lending]] in 1388, preferring this to outward shows of wealth such as buying property. By 1397, he was lending large sums of money to the king.<ref name="sutton">{{cite ODNB|last=Sutton|first=Anne|title=[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]|year=2004|location=Oxford, England|chapter=Whittington, Richard (c.1350–1423)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29330 }}</ref>

In 1384, Whittington had become a [[Councilman]] of the [[City of London]]. In 1392, he was one of the City's delegation to the king at [[Nottingham]] at which the king seized the City of London's lands because of alleged misgovernment. By 1393, he had become an [[alderman]] and was appointed [[Sheriffs of the City of London|Sheriff of the City of London]] by the incumbent mayor, William Staundone,<ref>{{cite book|editor=Riley, Henry Thomas|editor-link=Henry Thomas Riley|title=Memorials of London and London life, in the XIIIth, XIVth, and XVth centuries. Being a series of extracts, local, social, and political, from the early archives of the City of London, A.D. 1276–1419|year=1868|publisher=Corporation of the City of London|chapter=Election of Richard Whityngton to the Shrievalty|oclc=884588|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=grDRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA533 533,534]|quote=the said Mayor chose Richard Whytyndone, {{sic}} Alderman...to be Sheriff...of London for the ensuing year.}}</ref> as well as becoming a member of the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers]]. Two days after the death of [[Adam Bamme]] in June 1397, Whittington was imposed on the City by the king as his replacement as [[Lord Mayor of London]]. Within days, Whittington had negotiated with the king a deal in which the City bought back its liberties for £10,000 ({{inflation|UK|10000|1397|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-5}}). He was formally elected as mayor by a grateful populace on 13 October 1397.<ref name="sutton" />

The [[Deposition (politics)|deposition]] of King [[Richard II of England|Richard II]] in 1399 did not affect Whittington and it is thought that he merely acquiesced in the coup led by [[Henry IV of England|Bolingbroke]], later King [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]], whom Whittington had long supplied with merchandise. He also lent the new king substantial amounts of money. He was elected mayor again in 1406 and 1419, and during 1407 served as mayor of [[The Staple]] at [[Calais]],<ref name="sutton" /> representing that town's merchants.<ref>{{cite book|last=Arnold-Baker|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Arnold-Baker|title=The companion to British history|edition=2001|year=1996|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=0-415-18583-1|page=220|chapter=Calais}}</ref> In 1416 he became a [[member of parliament]] for the City of London. He was also influential with King [[Henry V of England|Henry V]], Henry IV's son and successor, to whom he lent large amounts of money and for whom he served on several [[Royal Commission]]s of [[oyer and terminer]]; for example, Henry V employed him to supervise the expenditure to complete [[Westminster Abbey]]. Despite being a moneylender himself, he was sufficiently trusted and respected to sit as a judge in [[usury]] trials in 1421. Whittington also collected revenues and [[Import tariff|import duties]]. A long dispute with the [[Worshipful Company of Brewers]] over standard prices and measures of ale was won by Whittington.<ref name="sutton" />

==Marriage==
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| footer = '''Left''': arms of FitzWarin, Baron FitzWarin: ''Quarterly per fess indented argent and gules''; '''right''' a [[Difference (heraldry)|differenced]] version (with ermine) as shown, for his wife, in the portrait of Richard Whittington circa 1590 by [[Renold Elstracke|Reginald Elstrack]], also known to have been used by the family of Baron FitzWarin
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In 1402, at the age of 48, he married Alice FitzWaryn (d.1411), but she died without producing any children. She was one of the two daughters and joint heiresses of Sir Ivo FitzWaryn (1347–1414), of Caundle Haddon<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/fitzwaryn-sir-ivo-1347-1414|title=FITZWARYN, Sir Ivo (1347-1414), of Caundle Haddon, Dorset. &#124; History of Parliament Online|website=historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref> in Dorset, and of [[Wantage]] then in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) (whose [[monumental brass]] survives in Wantage Church). As a [[member of parliament]] variously for the county seats of Dorset, Devon, and Somerset; a son of Sir William FitzWaryn, [[Knight of the Garter]], of [[Whittington Castle]] in Shropshire, who was probably a son of [[Baron FitzWarin|Fulk FitzWarin, 3rd Baron FitzWarin]] (c.1315–1349), also of Whittington Castle in Shropshire<ref name="auto"/> and of [[Wantage]], who were of an ancient and powerful family of [[Marcher Lords]]. A portrait of Richard Whittington circa 1590 by [[Renold Elstracke|Reginald Elstrack]] shows his paternal heraldic arms and also for his wife a differenced version of the usual arms of Baron FitzWarin with ''ermine'' in the 1st and 4th quarters in place of ''argent'', which variant was also used by Wiliam FitzWarin, a member of the Shropshire family, as depicted in the [[Gelre Armorial]], c.1370–1414.

The last in the male line was Fulk FitzWarin, 7th Baron FitzWarin (1406–1420), whose eventual successor (via a female line) was [[William Bourchier, 9th Baron FitzWarin]], second son of [[William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu]] (1386–1420,) one of the wealthy noblemen to whom Richard Whittington lent money.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1386-1421/member/whittington-richard-1423|title=WHITTINGTON, Richard (d.1423), of London. &#124; History of Parliament Online|website=historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>

== Benefactions ==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2024}}
In his lifetime Whittington donated much of his profit to the city, and he left further endowments by his will. He financed:
* the rebuilding of the [[Guildhall, London|Guildhall]]
* a ward for unmarried mothers at [[St Thomas' Hospital]]
* drainage systems for areas around [[Billingsgate]] and [[Cripplegate]]
* the rebuilding of his [[parish church]], [[St Michael Paternoster Royal]]
* a public toilet seating 128 called [[Whittington's Longhouse]] in the parish of [[St Martin Vintry]] that was cleansed by the [[River Thames]] at high tide
* most of [[Greyfriars, London|Greyfriars]] library

He also provided accommodation for his apprentices in his own house. He passed a law prohibiting the washing of animal skins by apprentices in the [[River Thames]] in cold, wet weather because many young boys had died through [[hypothermia]] or drowning in the strong river currents.

== Death and burial ==
[[File:Sir R. Whittington on his death bead Wellcome L0007367.jpg|thumb|Whittington on his deathbed: at his side the four executors of his will, John Coventre, John White, clerk, John Carpenter, and William Grove,<ref>[http://users.trytel.com/tristan/towns/florilegium/community/cmreli17.html Will of Whittington]</ref> with many of the beneficiaries of his charities at the foot of his bed. A physician [[Urology|examines a bottle of urine]].]]
Whittington died in March 1423, aged around 68 or 69, and was buried in the church of [[St Michael Paternoster Royal]], to which he had donated large sums during his lifetime. The tomb is now lost, and the mummified cat found in the church tower in 1949 during a search for its location probably dates to the time of the [[Christopher Wren|Wren]] restoration.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Kent, William|title=An Encyclopaedia of London|year=1937|publisher=J. M. Dent|location=London|page=149|chapter=St Michael Paternoster Royal|oclc=492430064}}</ref>

==Bequests==
{{Unreferenced section|date=December 2024}}
Having died childless, Whittington left £7,000 in his will to charity, in those days a large sum, {{inflation|UK|7000|1423|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-5}}. Some of this was used to:
* rebuild [[Newgate Prison]] and [[Newgate]] and accommodation in it for the Sheriffs and [[Recorder of London|Recorder]], which is the forerunner of that in the [[Old Bailey]]
* build the first library in Guildhall (the ancestor of the modern [[Guildhall Library]])
* repair [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]]
* create his 'college' i.e. [[almshouse]] and hospital, originally at St Michael's
* install some of the first public [[drinking fountain]]s
The almshouses were relocated in 1966 to [[Felbridge]], near [[East Grinstead]]. Sixty elderly women and a few married couples currently live in them. The Whittington Charity also disburses money each year to the needy through the [[Worshipful Company of Mercers|Mercers' Company]].

To mark his bequests, the [[Whittington hospital]] at [[Archway, London|Archway]] in the [[London Borough of Islington]] was named after him on its establishment in 1948.

== Dick Whittington—stage character ==
{{Further|Dick Whittington and his Cat}}
[[File:Richard Wittington and his Cat.jpg|right|thumb|"Portraits of Sir Richard Whittington & his cat".<br />Printed in ''New Wonderful Museum'', Vol. III (1805), "from the original painting at [[Mercers' Hall]]".]]
The gifts left in Whittington's will made him well known and he became a character in an English story that was adapted for the stage as a play, ''The History of Richard Whittington, of his lowe byrth, his great fortune'', in February 1604.<ref>[[Stationers' Register]], quoted in   {{cite book|last=Halliwell-Phillipps|first=James|author-link=James Halliwell-Phillipps|title=A dictionary of old English plays, existing either in print or in manuscript|year=1860|publisher=John Russell Smith|location=Soho, London|page=210|oclc=457585907}}</ref> In the 19th century this became popular as a [[pantomime]] called ''[[Dick Whittington and His Cat]]'', very loosely based on Richard Whittington. There are several versions of the traditional story, which tells how Dick, a boy from a poor Gloucestershire family, sets out for London to make his fortune, accompanied by, or later acquiring, his cat. At first he meets with little success, and is tempted to return home. However, on his way out of the city, whilst climbing [[Highgate|Highgate Hill]] from modern-day [[Archway, London|Archway]], he hears the [[Bow Bells]] of London ringing, and believes they are sending him a message.  There is now a large hospital on Highgate Hill, named the [[Whittington Hospital]], after this supposed episode.  A traditional rhyme associated with this tale is:

{{blockquote|<poem>
Turn again, Whittington,
Once Lord Mayor of London!
Turn again, Whittington,
Twice Lord Mayor of London!
Turn again, Whittington,
Thrice Lord Mayor of London!
</poem>}}

On returning to London, Dick embarks on a series of adventures. In one version of the tale, he travels abroad on a ship, and wins many friends as a result of the rat-catching activities of his cat; in another he sends his cat and it is sold to make his fortune. Eventually he does become prosperous, marries his master's daughter Alice Fitzwarren (the name of the real Whittington's wife), and is made [[Lord Mayor of London]] three times. The common belief that he served three rather than four times as Lord Mayor stems from the City's records 'Liber Albus' compiled at his request by the City Clerk John Carpenter wherein his name appears only three times as the remainder term of his deceased predecessor Adam Bamme and his own consequent term immediately afterwards appear as one entry for 1397.

As the son of gentry, Whittington was never very poor and there is no evidence that he kept a cat. Whittington may have become associated with a thirteenth-century [[William Gore Ouseley#Art and literature|Persian folktale]] about an orphan who gained a fortune through his cat;<ref>{{cite book|last=Broderip|first=William|author-link=William Broderip|title=Zoological Recreations|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222609|year=1847|publisher=H. Colburn|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.222609/page/n220 206]|oclc=457155095}}</ref> the tale was common throughout Europe at that time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clouston|first=William|title=Popular Tales and Fictions: Their Migrations and Transformations  |year=1887|publisher=Blackwood|location=London|page=304|isbn=9781576076163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bjc-O6EaRR4C&pg=PT394|oclc=246807577}}</ref> Folklorists have suggested that the most popular legends about Whittington—that his fortunes were founded on the sale of his cat, who was sent on a [[Cargo ship|merchant vessel]] to a rat-beset Eastern emperor—originated in a popular 17th-century engraving by [[Renold Elstracke]] in which his hand rested on a cat, but the picture only reflects a story already in wide circulation.<ref>{{cite book|last=Tiffin|first=Walter Francis |title=Gossip about portraits|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924031220522|year=1866|publisher=Bohn|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924031220522/page/n72 59]|oclc=1305737}}</ref> Elstracke's oddly-shaped cat was in fact a later replacement by printseller [[Peter Stent]] for what had been a [[Skull (symbolism)|skull]] in the original, with the change being made to conform to the story already in existence, to increase sales.<ref>{{cite book|last=van Vechten|first=Carl|author-link=Carl van Vechten|title=The Tiger in the House|url=https://archive.org/details/tigerinhouse01vanv|year=1920|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/tigerinhouse01vanv/page/150 150]|oclc=249848844}}</ref>

There was also known to be a painted portrait of Whittington shown with a cat, hanging at Mercer Hall, but it was reported that the painting had been trimmed down to smaller size, and the date "1572" that appears there was something painted after the cropping, which raises doubt as to the authenticity of the date, though [[James Peller Malcolm|Malcolm]] who witnessed it {{circa|early 1800s}} felt the date should be taken in good faith.<ref name="malcolm">[[James Peller Malcolm]] in ''Londinium Redivivum'', Vol. 4 (1807).</ref> The print published in ''The New Wonderful Museum'' (vol. III, 1805, pictured above) is presumably a replica of this painting.<ref>{{citation|last1=Granger|first1=William|last2=Caulfield|first2=James|chapter=History of the Memorable Sir Richard Whittington|title=The New Wonderful Museum, and Extraordinary Magazine|volume=3|publisher=Alex. Hogg & Co.|year=1805|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rKU0AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1420|page=1420}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Dick Whittington and His Cat]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17652 The History of Sir Richard Whittington] by T. H. (1885), from [[Project Gutenberg]]

== External links ==
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/content/articles/2005/06/16/dick_whittington_plays_feature.shtml Nine part radio play from BBC Radio Gloucestershire]
* [http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/306.htm ''The History of Whittington''], as collected by [[Andrew Lang]] in ''[[Andrew Lang's Fairy Books|The Blue Fairy Book]]'' (1889)
* ''[http://www.digibib.tu-bs.de/?docid=00000293 Dick Whittington and His Cat]''.  London: Jarrold, 1900
* [http://www.thegreatcat.org/history-of-the-cat-in-the-middle-ages-part-10/ Dick Whittington and his Cat at The Great Cat]
* [http://www.longlongtimeago.com/llta_folktales_dickwhittington.html Dick Whittington and His Cat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217142850/http://www.longlongtimeago.com/llta_folktales_dickwhittington.html |date=17 December 2007 }} as retold by Rohini Chowdhury

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