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THE MIDDLE AGES
According to legend Oxford
university was founded in 872 when Alfred the Great happened to meet some
monks there and had a scholarly debate that lasted several days. In reality
it grew up in the 12th century when famous teachers began to lecture there
and groups of students came to live and study in the town. The university was
given a boost in 1167 when, for political reasons, the English king ordered
all students in France
to return home. Many of them came to Oxford.
From the start there was friction between students and
the townspeople. In 1209 the students left and went to Cambridge. However the traders in Oxford soon missed the
custom of the students and persuaded some of them to return in 1214. In that
year the first chancellor was appointed, a man named Robert Grosseteste
(1175-1253).
At first the students lodged with the townspeople or
lived in halls. St Edmund Hall dates from 1238. In the 13th century the first
colleges were founded. Each college owned its own buildings. The colleges
also owned land (today many of them own investments). Each college was self
governing. The first college, University
College, was founded in
1249 by William of Durham. (The oldest part of the existing buildings dates
from 1634).
Balliol
College was founded in
1264 by John de Baliol. He founded it as a penance after insulting the Bishop
of Durham. Merton
College was founded in
1264 by Walter de Merton. Merton library was built in 1379.
Exeter College was founded in 1314 by Walter Stapledon for
students from Exeter Diocese, 8 were to come from Devon and 4 from Cornwall. Oriel College was founded in 1324 by Adam de
Brome. Queens College was founded in 1341 by Robert
Eglesfield. He was the queen's chaplain and he named it in her honour. In
1377 John Wycliffe was expelled from Oxford University
after he critisised some of the church's teachings.
After 1410 students were forbidden to lodge with
townspeople and had to live in halls of colleges. Eventually most of the
halls were replaced by colleges. However St Edmund Hall survived till the
20th century when it became a college. The Divinity School
was built about 1426.
Lincoln
College was founded in
1427 by the Bishop of Lincoln. It was intended to train men to fight heresy.
The chapel was built in 1630. All Souls
College was founded in 1437 by
Archbishop Chichele to commemorate Henry V and all the men killed at Agincourt. Magdalen
College was founded in
1448 by William of Waynflet, Bishop of Winchester. Its bell tower was built
in 1509.
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY
1500-1800
In the Middle Ages students learned from lectures as
books were rare luxuries. The situation changed when Caxton introduced the
printing press to England
in 1476. Books became far more common. In the Middle Ages students learned
the seven liberal arts of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmatic, geometery,
astronomy and Music. In the 16th century they began to study the humanities.
In the Middle Ages ancient writers like Aristotle were regarded as the final
authority. Lecturing was a matter of explaining what they meant. With the
renaissance there was a new spirit of enquiry.
Brasenose
College was founded in
1509. Its name comes from a bronze door knocker taken from a house in Stamford. The Hall was
built in 1663. The chapel was built in 1666.
Corpus
Christi College
was founded in 1516. Christchurch
College was founded in
1525 by Cardinal Wolsey. In 1542 the chapel of Christchurch College
became Oxford Cathedral. Tom
Tower (the college bell
tower) was built in 1682 by Wren. Trinity college was founded in 1555. Also
in 1555 St Johns
College was founded. Jesus College was founded in 1571 by Queen
Elizabeth.
In 1444 Duke Humfrey (younger brother of Henry V) founded
a library at Oxford.
At the reformation it was broken up and the books were sold. However in 1598
Sir Thomas Bodley decided to restore it. The new library opened in 1603.
Bodley then decided to extend the library. He died in 1613 but work went on
and the Bodleian Library was completed in 1624.
In 1621 a physic garden, where medicinal plants were
grown, was created at Oxford.
It is now the Botanic Gardens.
Wadham College was founded in 1612 and Pembroke College
was founded in 1624. Oriel
College was rebuilt in
the years 1619-42. In 1647 after the civil war Oxford University
was purged of royalists among its staff. After the restoration in 1660 it was
purged of puritans. The Sheldonian Theatre was built by Wren in 1669. The Old
Ashmolean museum was built in 1683 (it is now the Museum of the History of Science.
The Clarendon Building was erected in 1713. Worcester College was founded in 1714. Radcliffe
Camera opened as a library in 1749. Magdalen Bridge
was built in 1782.
THE 19th CENTURY
The famous debating society, the Union Society was formed
in 1823. Oxford
University press dates
from 1478. The present building was erected in 1830. The Ashmolean Museum
opened in 1845. The Taylor Institution was built in 1854. University Museum
of Natural History opened in 1860. The Clarendon Laboratory was built in
1872. Pitt-Rivers museum was built in 1885. Keble College
was founded in 1868 to commemorate John Keble (died 1866). It was built by
the famous architect William Butterfield (1814-1900). Hertford College
was founded in 1874. Mansfield
College was founded in
1886. St Hughs College was also founded in 1886.
From 1884 onwards women were allowed to attend lectures
and take university exams for the first time (although they were not actually
awarded degrees till 1920). Halls were built for female students (later they
became collges). Lady Margaret Hall for women was founded in 1878 by
Elizabeth Wordsworth. Somerville
College for women was
founded in 1879. St Hildas College was founded in 1893 by Dorothea Beale. The
University Act of 1854 made it possible for those who did not belong to the
Church of England to study at Oxford.
In 1889 a dissenters academy moved to Oxford.
It is now Harris
Manchester College.
Kellogg College for continuing education was
founded in 1878. Campion Hall (Jesuit theological college) was founded in
1895. It was named after Edward Campion (1540-81). Ruskin Hall was founded in
1899. It became Ruskin
College in 1913.
THE 20th CENTURY
In 1902 Cecil Rhodes died. He left money to provide
sholarships for students from the colonies, the USA
and Germany.
Rhodes House was built in 1929. The Bridge of Sighs
was built in 1914. St Peters
College was founded in
1929. Nuffield College was founded in 1937. St
Antonys College was founded in 1948. St Annes College was founded in 1952.
Greyfriars Hall (a Fransiscan friary which dates from 1910) was made a
permanent private hall in 1957. So was Regents Park
College. St Edmund Hall
was finally made a College in 1957. Linacre College
was founded in 1962. St
Catharines College
was founded in 1963. Wolfson College (originally Iffley College)
was founded in 1965. St Cross College was also founded in 1965. The Zoology
and Psychology buildings at Oxford
were erected in 1970. Green
College was founded in
1979. After 1974 more and more of the colleges at Oxford changed from being single sex to
being dual sex colleges. To date the only exception is St Hildas. Blackfriars
(a Dominican friary) was made a permanent private hall in 1994. Wycliffe Hall
(which dates from 1877) followed in 1996.
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Originally published at http://www.picturesofengland.com/history/#
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