Thomas or Wilton, Dd

Thomas or Wilton, D.D.

was made first chancellor and then dean of St. Paul's, London. In his time (during the reigns of Edward IV) occurred the contest between the prelates and friars, the latter upbraiding the former for their pomp and plenty. Wilton entered into this contest, and charged upon the monks that, although confessing their poverty, they really, by their influence at the confessional, opened the coffers of all the treasures in the land. He wrote a book, An Validi Mendicantes sint in Statu Perfectionis, maintaining that much were rogues by the laws of God and man, and fitter for the house of correction than a state of perfection. Wilton flourished in 1460. See Fuller, Worthies of England (ed. Nuttall), 3:335.