John Whethamstede

Who was John Whethamstede?

John Whethamstede, English abbot, was a son of Hugh Bostock, and was born at Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire, owing his name, the Latin form of which is Frumenlarius, to this circumstance.

After early schooling at the Abbey School he entered St Albans Abbey when only sixteen. He was chosen abbot of this Benedictine monastery in 1420. In 1423, Whethamstede attended the Council of Siena. In the Kingdom of England, his time was mainly occupied with lawsuits, several of which he carried on to defend the property and enforce the rights of the abbey.

In 1440, he resigned his post but, in 1451, on the death of his successor John Stoke, he became abbot for the second time. He died on 20 January 1465, and his tomb may still be seen in the abbey church.

Whethamstede was an energetic and successful abbot. He greatly improved the buildings at St Albans, which suffered somewhat during his later years owing to the Wars of the Roses, the first open conflict of which was the First Battle of St Albans in 1455. He also did some building at Gloucester.