In 1400 he was excused from attending the
Scottish wars, and in 1406 he was again elected mayor. He rebuilt his
parish church, and Mr. Riley has printed in his valuable _Memorials_ (p.
578) the grant by Whittington of land or the re-building of the church
of St. Michael, Paternoster, "in the street called La Riole," called
after the merchants of La Riole, a town near Bordeaux, who had
established themselves there.
Whittington was knighted by Henry V., and in 1419 he was elected mayor
for the fourth time. It was in this year that John Carpenter commenced
the compilation of his famous _Liber Albus_. We see how highly this
distinguished citizen was appreciated from the writings of such men as
Grafton and Stow. Richard Grafton writes in his _Chronicle_ (1569, p.
433)--
"This yere (1406) a worthie citizen of London, named Rychard
Whittyngton, mercer and alderman, was elected maior of the sayde
citie, and bare that office three tymes. This worshipfull man so
bestowed his goodes and substaunce to the honor of God, to the
reliefe of the pore, and to the benefite of the comon weale, that
he hath right well deserved to be regestered in the boke of fame.
First, he erected one house or church in London to be a house of
prayer, and he named the same after his awne name Whittyngtons
College, and so it remayneth to this day.
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