Islip, Simon

Islip, Simon an English prelate, flourished in the 14th century. But little is known of his early history. He became archbishop in 1349, having previously been canon of St. Paul's, dean of the Arches, and a member of the privy council of the king. He is especially celebrated as the founder of the college of Canterbury (now a part of Christ Church, Oxford). "He built it," says bishop Godwin, in his account of Islip, "and endowed it with good possessions, appropriating unto the same the parsonages of Pagham and Mayfield." Perhaps more noteworthy still is his conduct towards Wickliffe, related by Neander (Ch. Hist. 5, 135-6, where the name is by mistake spelled Islep, and so even in the English translation by Torrey). Islip, says Neander, was a firm friend of the reformer, and in 1363 showed his predilections for Wickliffe by appointing him overseer over the Canterbury college, characterizing him "as a man in whose circumspection, fidelity, and activity he had the utmost confidence, and to whom he gave this post on account of his honorable deportment and his learning." Of course, after Islip's death in 1366 (Apr. 26), Wickliffe was deprived of his place (comp. Levis, Life of Wickliffe, 1820, p. 9 sq.). See Hook, Ecclesiastical Biography, 6, 265. (J. H. W.)