fhe IhiiVerfify oP Ox-fr-rc) -Jrom an. 
 ^ Lii'TTtinafidJi in ^he C/irtnce&rsJXeiftjrer
 
 aSLOODEN 
 
 A 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OK THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
 TO THE YEAR 1530. 
 
 H. C. MAXWELL LYTE, m.a., f.s.a., 
 
 DEPUTY KEEPER OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 MAC MI LEAN AND CO. 
 
 AND NEW YORK. 
 1886.
 
 ^^ ,, LIBRARY 
 
 \_<^ SAiVTA BARBARA 
 
 ALM^ MATRI 
 OXONIENSIS
 
 PREFACE 
 
 HE favourable reception which was given to 
 my "History of Eton College" some years 
 ago has encouraged me to attempt a " History 
 of the University of Oxford." There is a 
 certain affinity between the two subjects, 
 but the second is by far the more important and the 
 more complex. 
 
 Few institutions in Europe can boast a higher antiquity 
 than the University of Oxford ; few have a wider reputation. 
 Amid the political, religious, and social changes of mediaeval 
 and modern times, it has enjoyed a continuous existence of 
 more than six centuries, retaining a great part of its 
 original organisation, and many of its ancient character- 
 istics. It has given to the country a long series of eminent 
 statesmen, churchmen, and scholars ; and it has received 
 from successive kings charters investing it with peculiar and 
 important privileges. Various movements affecting the nation 
 at large have had their origin at Oxford, and the affairs 
 of the University have at almost every stage been closely 
 connected with those of the State. 
 
 It has been my endeavour to trace the origin and develop- 
 ment of the Universit}', and its relations towards the 
 
 b 2
 
 viii' PREFACE. 
 
 authorities claiming civil or ecclesiastical jurisdiction in 
 Oxford in the middle ages. I have therefore recorded at 
 some length the successive incidents of the protracted struggle 
 between the clerks and the townsmen, a struggle which ended 
 in the complete triumph of the academical over the municipal 
 body. " The University," says the late Mr. J. R. Green, 
 " found Oxford a busy, prosperous borough, and reduced it 
 to a cluster of lodging-houses. It found it among the first 
 of English municipalities, and it so utterly crushed its freedom 
 that the recovery of some of the commonest rights of self- 
 government has only been brought about by recent legislation." 
 The history of the University in the middle ages, indeed, 
 is not that of a body of sequestered students, intent only 
 upon the advancement of learning ; it is rather that of a 
 society of men swayed by every current of popular opinion, 
 and often separated from one another by differences of 
 race, of language, of profession, of political sentiment, and 
 of religious conviction. " North against South, Scotch against 
 Irish, both against Welsh, town against gown, academics 
 against monks, nominalist against realist, juniors against 
 seniors, the whole University against the Bishop of the 
 diocese, against the Archbishop of the province, against the 
 Chancellor of its own election, were," as Dean Stanley 
 remarks, " constantly arrayed against one another." 
 
 I have in a separate chapter attempted to describe the 
 ancient organisation of the University, illustrating it by 
 numerous references to the contemporary statutes of the 
 Universities of Paris and Cambridge. Without attempt- 
 ing a detailed history of the different Colleges, I have 
 given some account of the foundation of each, prior to the 
 year 1530, with an abstract of the statutes by which it was
 
 PREFACE. ix 
 
 originally governed. At the outset, however, I must warn my 
 readers against the common error of supposing that the 
 Colleges formed the component parts of the University to 
 which they were affiliated. As will appear in the following 
 pages, the University was a flourishing institution long before 
 the establishment of the oldest College, and the influence of 
 the Colleges did not become predominant until near the close 
 of the period embraced in this volume. The chapters relating 
 to the Colleges, have, in fact, little bearing upon the general 
 history of the University, and they may almost be regarded 
 as appendices. 
 
 Considering how fully M. Haureau, Mr. MuUinger, and 
 others, have discussed the history of scholastic philosophy, I 
 have not thought it necessary to dwell at great length upon 
 the character of the studies that were pursued in the 
 universities of mediseval Europe. Nor have I entered into 
 minute details concerning the history and topography of the 
 town of Oxford, subjects which will, I hope, ere long receive 
 adequate treatment at the hands of a local antiquary. The 
 plan at the end of the last chapter will perhaps sufficiently 
 indicate the relative positions of the different colleges and 
 religious houses shortly before the general suppression of the 
 latter by Henry VIII. It does not, however, profess to give 
 the form or dimensions of structures that no longer remain. 
 I have in the text briefly noticed the chief academical 
 buildings, but technical accounts of them would be more 
 appropriate in a separate work, for which Mr. J. \V. Clark's 
 splendid " Architectural History of the University and 
 Colleges of Cambridge " might well serve as a model. 
 
 The authorities upon which this volume is based consist 
 parth' of manuscripts prcser\ed in the Public Record Office,
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 in the British Museum, and in Hbraries at Oxford, Lambeth, 
 Paris, and other places, and partly of chronicles and other 
 printed books. Antony Wood's great work on the " History 
 and Antiquities of the University of Oxford" has been 
 constantly before me, though I have rarely had occasion 
 to quote it. Rejecting his and other abstracts as unsatis- 
 factory, I have gone to the original authorities, but I have 
 not hesitated to avail myself of any good transcripts that 
 have been available for my purpose.^ Frequent references 
 will therefore be found to the manuscript collections of 
 Thomas Smith, of University College, in the Library of 
 the Society of Antiquaries, to Hare's Register of Privileges 
 in the British Museum, and to Bryan Twyne's voluminous 
 collections, preserved among the archives of the University. 
 Untrustworthy as a historian for lack of the faculty of 
 weighing evidence, Twyne was an industrious transcriber, 
 and it was from his manuscripts that Wood obtained most 
 of the materials for the earlier part of his " Annals." 
 
 Although fully aware that my work is unworthy of the 
 great subject with which it deals, I may plead that it 
 is the first attempt at a consecutive history of the University. 
 Wood was avowedly an annalist, who recorded events, 
 not always accurately, under particular )'ears, without at- 
 tempting to classify them, or show their connexion with 
 one another.^ Subsequent writers have generally taken him 
 
 ' The references given in brackets 
 indicate the places where tran- 
 scripts may be found of the docu- 
 ments cited immediately before 
 them. 
 
 ^ The discrepancies between the 
 dates given by Wood and those 
 
 given in this book are, in many 
 cases, due to the fact that he 
 followed the legal year, beginning 
 on the 25th of March, whereas I 
 have uniformly followed the his- 
 torical year, beginning on the ist of 
 January.
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 as their sole authority for the history of the University, or, 
 while treating of all the Colleges in turn, have practically 
 ignored the existence of the University itself. 
 
 The recent foundation of the " Oxford Historical Society " 
 encourages the hope that in the future there will be more of 
 independent research. Its publications will doubtless supply 
 details concerning the internal history of most of the Colleges, 
 especially during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth 
 centuries. With regard, however, to the general history of the 
 University during the middle ages, I fear that the researches of 
 the Society are not likely to reveal the existence of many im- 
 portant documents other than those to which references will be 
 found in the following pages. The materials for such a history 
 often fail just at the point where fuller information would 
 be desirable, and the formal Latin writs from which I have 
 sought to extract all available information do not afford the 
 lively pictures of academical life that are to be found in the 
 English State Papers and familiar letters of a subsequent 
 period. In the absence of authentic records, little can be said 
 about the early life of some of the most distinguished men 
 who have taught in the schools of Oxford. 
 
 When I began this History of the University, it was my 
 intention to bring it down to a very recent period, and I have 
 made some collections with that object. Finding, however, 
 that there is no prospect of my being able to proceed with 
 it otherwise than slowly, I now issue a single volume, which 
 is, I trust, complete so far as it goes. 
 
 It remains for me to express my thanks to those who have 
 helped me in my work. The Bishop of Chester, the Rev. C. 
 W. Boase, and Mr. C. Branch, have very kindly read most 
 of the pages in proof, and favoured mc with valuable
 
 xii PREFACE. 
 
 corrections and suggestions. For access to manuscripts or 
 other assistance, I am indebted to Lord Harlech, the Master 
 of University College, the Provost of Queen's College, 
 Mr. C. L. Shadwell, Mr. James Parker, Mr. C. T. Martin, 
 Mr. F. Madan, and Mr. Gamlen. Two whom I would 
 have mentioned among these have passed away, the late 
 Warden of Wadham, and the Rev. H. O. Coxe, whose 
 kindness I can never forget. Mr. Lionel Muirhead has, by 
 permission of the Rev. T. Vere Bayne, Keeper of the 
 Archives at Oxford, made for me a careful and exact draw- 
 ing, of which a photographic reproduction is given on the 
 frontispiece. The only other adornments of the book, the 
 headpieces and tailpieces, have been copied or adapted, by 
 my wife and Mr. Anderson, from woodcuts, mostly of 
 early date. 
 
 H. C M. L. 
 
 3, PoRTMAN Square, W. 
 7 December, 1886.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Oxford in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries The Domesday Survey 
 The Castle Origin of the Mediaeval Universities The System 
 of Academical Degrees Regents and Non-Regents Origin of 
 the different Faculties Ecclesiastical Authority at Paris The 
 earliest Schools at Oxford Subjects of Study Robert Pullus 
 Vacarius Civil Law and Canon Law Jurisdiction of the Bishop 
 of Lincoln Giraldus Cambrensis A Foreign Student at Oxford 
 Cosmopohtan Character of the Mediaeval Universities .... i 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 A.D. 1208 1272. 
 
 Dispersion of the University Humiliation of the Townsmen Re- 
 establishment of the University Jurisdiction of the Chancellor 
 Edmund Rich Origin of the Mendicant Orders The Dominican 
 Convent at Oxford Study of Aristotle The Jews at Oxford 
 Arrival of the Franciscans Anecdotes of the early Franciscan 
 Scholars Robert Grosseteste jNIigration of Scholars from Paris 
 Contests with the Townsmen Attack on the Papal Legate 
 Punishment of the Clerks Grosseteste as Bishop of Lincoln 
 Study of the Bible St. Frideswyde's Chest Attack on the Jewry 
 Aymar de Lusignan Murder of a Scholar Charter of Privileges
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Increasing Authority of the Chancellor Visit of Archbishop 
 Boniface National Differences Removal of the Dominican 
 Convent Popularity of the Franciscans Adam Marsh Quali- 
 fications for Degrees Importance of the Liberal Arts Roger 
 Bacon Jurisdiction of the Chancellor Richard of Wych 
 Thomas Cantilupe Great Riot Migration to Northampton 
 Punishment of the Jews Cross near St. Frideswyde's i6 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Origin of the Collegiate System The Chantry of Alan Basset The 
 Bequest of William of Durham Origin of Balliol College Walter 
 de Merton Origin of ]Merton College Ordinance of 1264 En- 
 largement of the Scheme Purchase of Land Statutes of 1274 
 Reforms of Archbishop Peckham Origin of University College 
 Ordinances of 1280, 1292, and 131 1 Development of the House 
 of Balliol 69 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A.D. 1273 1334. 
 
 Francesco d'Accorso Dante Thirst for Learning The La Fytes at 
 Oxford Population of the University Extravagant Estimates 
 Celebrity of the University Promotion of Graduates Poverty of 
 the University Bishop Cobham's Library The House of Congre- 
 gation Establishment of Chests Rewley Abbey Gloucester 
 College Career of a Benedictine Student The Monks of Durham 
 Ambitious Schemes of the Dominicans Controversy between 
 the University and the Dominicans The Thomist Philosophy 
 John Duns Scotus Value of Logic Realists and Nominalists 
 William of Ockham Aggressiveness of the Franciscans Estab- 
 lishment of the Carmelites Feud between the Clerks and the 
 Townsmen Enactment against Retailers Grievances of the 
 Townsmen- The Great Riot of 1298 Humiliation of the Towns-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 men Development of the Chancellor's Authority Struggle with 
 the Bishop of Lincoln Controversy with the Archdeacon- 
 Internal Dissensions Condemnation of Heretical Doctrines 
 Feud between Northerners and Southerners Lawlessness of the 
 Clerks Prohibition of Jousts Secession to Stamford 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Progress of the Collegiate System The Origin of Exeter College 
 Stapledon Hall Bishop Stapledon's Statutes Foundation of 
 Oriel College The Original Statutes The Lincoln Statutes 
 Ordinance of 1329 Foundation of Queen's College Statutes of 
 1340 Enlargement of Merton College Removal of University 
 College Changes at Balliol College Sir Philip de Somerville's 
 Statutes 137 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A.D. 13351377- 
 
 Pre-eminence of the University of Oxford Richard of Bury Durham 
 College Benedictine Students Increasing Power of the Chan- 
 cellor The Great Riot of 1354 Rout of the Clerks Interdict on 
 Oxford Enlargement of Privileges Humiliation of the Townsmen 
 Commemoration of St. Scholastica's Day Agreement with the 
 Archdeacon Fresh Struggle with the Bishop of Lincoln Dignity 
 of the Chancellor Robert Stratford Supremacy of the University 
 Lawlessness of the Clerks Arrogance of the Friars Richard 
 Fitz-Ralph The Great Pestilence Canterbury College Eject- 
 ment of John Wyclif Bishop Cobham's Library Scottisli 
 Students at Oxford 156 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Origin of New College William of Wykeham Purchase of 
 Land Erection of Buildings Winchester College Architectural 
 Genius of the Founder The Plan of New College The Warden
 
 CONTENTS., 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and his Duties The Manner of electing Scholars Studies of the 
 Scholars Prayers to be said Meals Disciplinary Rules The 
 Library Death of the Founder 183 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Academical Life in the Middle Ages Popular Character of the 
 Universities The Journey to Oxford Admission to the Uni- 
 versity Chambers and Halls The Principals of Halls The 
 Manciples Contents of a Clerk's Room Books in Use General 
 Sophisters Ouestionists Determiners Bachelors of Arts The 
 Licence to Teach TheVesperies The Ceremonies of Inception 
 Regents and Non- Regents Payments for Lectures The Faculty 
 of Medicine The Faculty of Civil Law The Faculty of Canon 
 Law The Faculty of Theology The Cost of Inception- 
 Lectures Ordinary, Cursory, and Extraordinary The Schools- 
 Division of the Academical Year Processions Funerals The 
 Bedels The Proctors The Chancellor The Academical Courts 
 ^Convocation^The Faculty of Grammar 195 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The mythical Origin of the University Claims asserted in 1296 and 
 1322 Walter Burley's Opinion Ranulph Higdcn Camden's 
 Edition of Asser The Liber dc Ilyda The Benedictine Tradition 
 Legend of the Greek Philosophers Testimony of the pseudo- 
 Ingulf The Origin of University College Suit with Edmund 
 Franceys Petition of 1379 The Forged Charter of 1220 
 Opinions of different Historians Controversy between the 
 Convent of St. Frideswydc and the University The forged Bond 
 of 1201 238 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Early Life of John Wyclif Ejectment from Canterbury College- 
 Embassy to Bruges Wyclif as a Schoolman Wyclif at St. Paul's 
 Action of Gregory XL Hesitation of the University Wyclif at 
 Lambeth The " Poor Priests " Translation of the Bible The
 
 CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eucharistic Controversy Condemnation of Wyclif s Opinions 
 WycliPs " Confession " Attack on the Friars Nicholas Hereford 
 Proceedings at Black Friars The " Council of the Earthquake " 
 Decree of the Archbishop Excitement at Oxford Repyng- 
 don's Sermon Submission of the Chancellor Appeal to John of 
 Gaunt Flight of Hereford and Repyngdon Act for the Arrest 
 of Heretics Proceedings against Henry Crumpe Submission of 
 Repyngdon and others Later Submission of Hereford Convo- 
 cation at St. Frideswyde's Immunity of John Wyclif Character 
 of Wyclif s Writings Action against the Lollards Unpopularity 
 of the Friars Enactment against Unlicensed Preachers The 
 Statute " De Haretico Comburendo " Forged Testimonial in 
 favour of Wyclif Arundel's Constitutions Final Struggle of 
 Lollardism at Oxford Condemnation of Wyclif s Doctrines The 
 Council of Constance Exhumation of Wyclif s Body 249 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A.D. 1378 142I. 
 
 Intellectual Torpor Statutes against Provisors Promotion of 
 Graduates Henry V. Appointment of a Steward Visitations 
 by Archbishops Courtenay and Arundel Visitation by Bishop 
 Repyngdon The Papal Schism Action of the Universities of 
 Paris and Oxford Proposals for Ecclesiastical Reform Progress 
 of the Religious Orders The Library Chests Disturbances 
 Welshmen and Northerners Expulsion of Irish Clerks Reform 
 of Discipline 287 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A.D. 1422 1485. 
 
 Continued Decline of the University Relaxation of Discipline 
 Erection of the Divinity School^Cardinal Beaufort's Bequest 
 Bishop Kemp's Benefaction The Library Humphrey, Duke of 
 Gloucester Donors of Books Foundation of new Chests Privi- 
 leges The Chancellorship of Oxford Time-serving Policy of the
 
 iii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 University George Neville Noblemen at Oxford Acts of Re- 
 sumption Visits of Edward IV. and Richard III. Rupture 
 between the Universities of Paris and Oxford The Councils of 
 Basel and Ferrara Irish Clerks at Oxford National Differences 
 Statute against Chamberdekens^Turbulence of the Clerks 
 Intestine Controversies Claims of the Lawyers Proceedings 
 against Heretics The Oxford Press Enlargement of Gloucester 
 College Foundation of St. Mary's College and St. Bernard's 
 College 314 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Origin of Lincoln College Richard Fleming Death of the 
 Founder Erection of Buildings Thomas Rotherham, the Second 
 Founder Statutes of 1480 The Origin of All Souls' College 
 Henry Chicheley Connexion with Henry VI. The Site and 
 Buildings The Statutes Benefactors after Chicheley The 
 Origin of Magdalen College William Waynflete Magdalen 
 Hall Enlargement of the Scheme The Buildings The Statutes. 344 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A.D. 1485 1509. 
 
 Accession of Henry VII. Correspondence about Bishop Stillington 
 Royal Visit Benefactions of Henry VII. Arthur, Prince of Wales 
 The Lady Margaret Contests for the Office of Bedel The 
 Chancellorship Bishop Russell Cardinal Morton Bishop 
 Smyth Archbishop Warham St. Mary's Church The School 
 of Canon Law Riots Pestilences The Renaissance Petrarch 
 and Boccaccio The Study of Greek Guarino's English Pupils 
 Cornelio ViteUi William Grocyne Thomas Linacre The 
 Humanists and the Church John Colet Erasmus at Oxford . . 369 
 
 CHAPTER X V. 
 
 The Origin of Brasenose College William Smyth and Richard Sutton 
 -The Statutes The Collegiate Buildings Benefactions The
 
 CONTENTS. xix 
 
 TACE 
 
 Origin of Corpus Christi College Richard Fox Alteration of the 
 original Scheme The Buildings The Statutes Influence of the 
 Renaissance New Statutes for Balliol College 396 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 A.D. 1509 1530. 
 
 Archbishop Warham as Chancellor Wolsey's Power Proposed 
 Revision of the Academical Statutes Submission to Wolsey 
 Appointment of the Proctors Controversies between the Uni- 
 versity and the Town John Haynes Riots Charter of Privileges 
 Arbitration rejected Excommunication of the Mayor Pesti- 
 lences The Sweating Sickness Decay of the Academical Halls 
 Revived Study of Greek Greeks and Trojans Sir Thomas 
 More's Remonstrance Linacre's Lectureships Lectures provided 
 by Wolsey Foundation of Cardinal College Suppression of St. 
 Frideswyde's and other Religious Houses The Buildings The 
 Statutes Rise and Spread of Lutheranism The Cambridge 
 Students at Oxford Proceedings against Garret Dalaber's 
 Narrative Committee on Heresy The King's Divorce 
 Opinions of the Universities Fall of Wolsey Confiscation of 
 Cardinal College Conclusion 418 
 
 Plan TO illustrate the Topography of Oxford in ad. 1530 
 
 INDEX 487
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Page go, line 17, for " Rue de Fouarre " read " Rue du Fouarre.' 
 334, line 17, for " Innocent IV." read " Innocent VIII."
 
 HISTORY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Oxford in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries The Domesday Survey 
 The Castle Origin of the mediaeval Universities The System 
 of Academical Degrees Regents and Non-Regents Origin of the 
 different Faculties Ecclesiastical Authority at Paris The earliest 
 Schools at Oxford Subjects of Study Robert Pullus Vacarius 
 Civil Law and Canon Law Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lincoln 
 Giraldus Cambrensis A foreign Student at Oxford Cosmopolitan 
 Character of the mediaeval Universities. 
 
 HE University of Oxford did not spring into 
 being in any particular year, or at the bidding 
 of any particular founder : it was not estab- 
 lished by any formal charter of incorporation. 
 Taking its rise in a small and obscure asso- 
 ciation of teachers and learners, it developed spontaneously 
 into a large and important body, long before its existence 
 was recognised by prince or by prelate. There were cer- 
 tainly schools at Oxford in the reign of Henry I., but the 
 
 B
 
 2 THE TOWN OF OXFORD. 
 
 previous history of the place docs not throw much light on 
 their origin, or explain the causes of their popularity. 
 
 The town seems to have grown up under the shadow of a 
 nunnery, which is said to have been founded by St. Frides- 
 wyde as far back as the eighth century. Its authentic annals, 
 however, begin with the year 912, when it was occupied and 
 annexed by Edward the Elder, King of the West Saxons.' 
 To him is doubtless due the great mound at its western 
 extremity, which must have been thrown up in order to 
 command the passage of the river Thames. One of the 
 King's sons, Alfward by name, died at Oxford in 924.^ 
 Notwithstanding its partial destruction by the Danes, and 
 its ready submission to Sweyn, Oxford was considered 
 a place of great strategical importance in the eleventh 
 ccntury.3 Its position on the borders of Mercia and 
 Wessex rendered it also particularly convenient for parleys 
 between Englishmen and Danes, and for great national 
 assemblies.4 There Harold Harefoot was proclaimed King 
 by the Witenagemot in 1036, and there he died three years 
 later. 5 The formal division of the town into parishes must 
 have been made at an early period, the churches of St. 
 Martin, St. Aldatc, St. Edward, St. Mildred, and St. Ebbe, 
 having probably been dedicated to their respective patrons 
 before the invasion of England by the Normans. The name 
 of Port-Meadow recalls the common rights of pasture that the 
 townsmen have enjoyed for upwards of eight hundred years.^ 
 
 It is not known whether Oxford offered any active 
 resistance to the arms of the Conqueror, though the large 
 number of houses described in the Domesday Survey as 
 
 ' Anglo-Saxon Clironiclc, (ed. vol. i. pp. 409, 462 ; vol. ii. p. 
 
 Thorpe) vol. ii. p. 78. ; 498. 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 84. 1 5 Anglo-Saxon C/irotticic, vol. ii. 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 115, 118. I p. 131 ; Freeman, vol. i. p. 539. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 120; Freeman's Eng- \ '^ Freeman, vol. v. p. 516; Green's 
 
 lish Towns and Districts, p. 252 ; History of tlic English Pcoplr, 
 
 History of t lie Norman Conquest, vol. i. p. 215.
 
 THE TOWN OF OXFORD. 3 
 
 " waste," or uninhabited, seems to indicate that many of 
 the townsmen must have been killed or ousted by the 
 Normans.^ The population in the time of Edward the 
 Confessor has been estimated at three thousand, and that in 
 1086 at only seventeen hundred.^ 
 
 Several houses were granted to foreigners on condition 
 that the occupants should, when required, assist in repairing 
 the fortifications, and Robert d'Oili, a Norman baron, was 
 appointed Constable of Oxford. Under his directions the 
 great mound of Edward the Elder was, in 107 1, strengthened 
 by the erection of a formidable castle at the point where the 
 artificial lines of defence joined the waters of the Thames. ^ 
 The massive towers of St. George's in the Castle, and St. 
 Michael's at the North Gate, designed partly for warlike, and 
 partly for ecclesiastical purposes, are lasting memorials of the 
 time when Oxford was an almost impregnable stronghold.-* 
 The position of the original church of St. Peter le Bailey 
 testified, until lately, to the great width of the bailey or 
 open court by which the Castle was formerly surrounded.^ 
 
 In the later years of his life, Robert d'Oili set himself 
 to repair the parochial churches within and without the 
 walls of Oxford, and to build a great bridge on the north side 
 of the Castle.^ Under his protection the town began to regain 
 its former prosperity, and occasional visits from the Kings 
 of England in the twelfth century tended to enhance its 
 reputation. The siege of the Castle by Stephen in 1141, 
 memorable for the romantic escape of the Empress Matilda 
 across the frozen river, is the last military event of importance 
 
 ' Freeman, vol. iv. pp. 18S and 
 778. 
 
 ^ See Air. James Parker's very 
 valuable paper On iJie History of 
 
 dc Abingdon, (ed. Stevenson) vol. 
 ii. p. 3. 
 
 " Freeman, vol. iv. pp. 46, 734 ; 
 vol. V. p. 636. 
 
 Oxford during tJie Tenth and j ^ xhe present church was built 
 
 Eleventh Centuries. 
 
 ^ Annates Monasiici, (ed. Luard) 
 \ol. iv. p. 9 ; Ch/'onico/t Monasterii 
 
 in 1S74 on a new site. 
 
 ^ Citron. Monast. de Abingdon 
 vol. ii. pp. 14, 15. 
 
 B 2
 
 4 EARLY UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 in the annals of mediaeval Oxford.' Retaining for a while 
 its rank as one of the chief centres of political life in the 
 south of England, and as a suitable meeting-place for 
 parliaments and synods, Oxford became thenceforward 
 more and more distinctively known as a seat of learning 
 and a nursery of clerks.^ 
 
 The schools which existed at Oxford before the reign of 
 King John, are so seldom and so briefly noticed in con- 
 temporary records, that it would be difficult to show how 
 they developed into a great university, if it were not for 
 the analogy of kindred institutions in other countries. There 
 can be little doubt, however, that the idea of a university, 
 the systems of degrees and faculties, and the nomenclature 
 of the chief academical officers, were alike imported into 
 England from abroad. They seem to have originated in the 
 schools of Paris and Bologna, which attained celebrity at 
 the beginning of the twelfth century, and became the models 
 for other schools in different parts of Europe. The lectures 
 that were then given at Paris by Guillaume de Champeaux, 
 and at Bologna by Irnerius, attracted large audiences from 
 various quarters, and the number of teachers increased in 
 proportion with the increasing number of learners. Voluntary 
 associations were, before long, formed at both places, for 
 the purpose of securing uniformity ot discipline, and defend- 
 ing the common interests of teachers and pupils, and associa- 
 tions of this kind came to be known as stitdia, and eventually 
 as Huiversitates? 
 
 The true meaning of the term University is frequently 
 misunderstood. According to some, a university is a place 
 at which all the arts and sciences are taught ; according to 
 others, it is a collection of semi-independent colleges of 
 
 ' Gcsta Stcp]iani, (ed. Sewcll) p. ^ Freeman, vol. v. p. 319. 
 
 87 91 ; Gervase of Canterbury, (ed. "^ Maiden, On the Origin of 
 
 Stubbs) vol. i. p. 119 125 ; vol. ii. Universities. 
 
 p. 74, 75; Freeman, vol. v. ]>. 310. /
 
 . ACADEMICAL DEGREES. 5 
 
 students. Neither of these definitions, however, will stand 
 the test of history, for there have been great and learned 
 universities neither professing to impart universal knowledge, 
 nor boasting a single affiliated college. Indeed in the earliest 
 and broadest sense of the term, a university had no necessary 
 connexion with schools or literature, being merely a com- 
 munity of individuals bound together by some more or less 
 acknowledged tie. Regarded collectively in this light the 
 inhabitants of any particular town might be said to constitute 
 a university, and in point of fact the Commonalty of the towns- 
 men of Oxford was sometimes described as a university in 
 formal documents of the middle ages.' The term was, however, 
 specially applied to the whole body of persons frequenting the 
 schools of a large studiinn. Ultimately it came to be employed 
 in a technical sense as synonymous with studinni, to denote 
 the institution itself This last use of the term seems to be 
 of English origin, for the University of Oxford is mentioned 
 as such in writs and ordinances of the years 1238, 1240, and 
 1253, whereas the greater scat of learning on the banks of 
 the Seine was, until the year 1263, styled "the University of 
 the ]Masters," or " the University of the Scholars," of Paris. ^ 
 The system of academical degrees dates from the second 
 half of the twelfth century. Teachers who had served a long 
 apprenticeship in the schools were naturally distrustful of any 
 ambitious new-comer who, like Abelard, presumed to lecture 
 on a subject in which he had not himself followed a regular 
 course of instruction. ^ After the manner therefore of the 
 mediaeval traders and craftsmen, they banded themselves 
 together into exclusive societies which may fairly be 
 described as guilds of learning. It became a fundamental 
 
 ' Twyne ^IS. vol. xiv. f. 414. Discussions, (ed. 1853) pp. 494, 
 
 = Patent Roll, 22 Hen. III. m. I 495. 
 
 13; Munimcnta Acadciiiica, (ed. ^ Aht\^x6..,HistoriaCalmnitatnin, 
 
 Anstcy) pp. 8, 25 ; Thurot, De 1 cap. viii. ; Jourdain, bidex cJiroiio- 
 
 r Ori:;anisiXtioii de l' EnscigncDioit, ' logicus C/iaflariun Univcrsitatis 
 
 p. 1 1, and errata; SirW. Hamilton's Parisicnsis, p. ii.
 
 6 ACADEMICAL DEGREES. 
 
 rule of all these societies that nobody should be allowed to 
 teach without a formal licence.^ In the words of Mr. 
 Mullinger, " the possession of a university degree was 
 originally nothing else than the possession of a diploma to 
 exercise the function of teaching." ^ The graduate was styled 
 a Magister, a Doctor, or more rarely a Professor, of the subject 
 on which he had received licence to lecture, the three titles 
 signifying alike that he was actually a teacher, and not merely, 
 as now, that he had passed certain examinations or performed 
 certain exercises. Thus far then these appellations were purely 
 descriptive, indicating a vocation rather than an honorary 
 rank. They only acquired their technical sense when they 
 began to be retained for life by persons who had ceased to 
 teach. It is easy to understand how the change came about. 
 The name of Master was as music in the ears of scholars who 
 by their talents had raised themselves from the plough ; it 
 was highly prized even by scholars of noble birth. Retired 
 teachers, who, as parish priests or otherwise, continued to 
 reside in the immediate neighbourhood of a university, did 
 not cease to be members of the academical body; the licence 
 formally bestowed on them was not wholly withdrawn. 
 They often took part in the deliberative assemblies of the 
 Masters, and, under certain circumstances, they were free to 
 resume their lectures. A distinction was indeed made at 
 an early date between the Rcgcntes, who had the actual 
 management of the schools, and the Non-Rcgciites, who had 
 abdicated their functions in this respect, but Regents and 
 Non-Regents were alike styled Masters. 3 In other words, 
 the name of master was retained by men who were no longer 
 engaged in the work of teaching, just as nowadays the name 
 of barrister is retained by men who no longer practise at 
 
 ' ATaldcn, pp. 15, 16, 54. 
 = Tiic University of Cambridge, 
 p. 78. 
 
 ^ At Bolo.trna the actual teachers 
 
 were st}led Legeiites, tlie retired 
 teachers A^on-Legentes. Savigny, 
 GescJiielite des I\ihnischen Rccliis, 
 cap. xxi. 70.
 
 FACULTIES. 7 
 
 the bar. At this stage it had begun to indicate a title or 
 degree rather than a vocation. 
 
 The term Bachelor, which generally indicated an apprentice, 
 and specially an aspirant to knighthood, was used in a 
 technical sense at all the medieval universities, to denote 
 a student who had ceased to be a pupil, but had not yet 
 become a teacher. The degree of Bachelor was in fact an 
 important step on the way to the higher degree of Master, or 
 Doctor.^ 
 
 The term Faculty, which was also common to all universities, 
 and originally signified the capacity to teach a particular 
 subject, came to be applied technically to the subject itself, or 
 to the authorised teachers of it viewed collectively.^ Thus 
 there might be separate Faculties of Theology, Law, Medi- 
 cine, and the liberal Arts, coexistent within one university, 
 although every university did not necessarily comprise 
 all these Faculties. The University of Bologna was for 
 a long time nothing more than an eminent school of law, 
 its Faculty of Theology not being established until the year 
 1362. There w^ere no chairs of philosophy or of theology at 
 the University of Salerno, even in its most prosperous days. 
 
 It is characteristic of the Italian universities that they aimed 
 chiefly at giving a purely professional education. They were 
 for the most part frequented by students who were preparing 
 for active careers as jurists or as physicians. The University 
 of Paris, on the other hand, insisted on the advantage of a 
 liberal education for all its members. Its primary object 
 was to train their minds.3 
 
 The University of Paris differed furthermore from the great 
 universities of Italy, in that it was generally regarded as an 
 
 ' Maiden, pp. 22, 23 ; Thurot, p. 
 137. For the origin of the term 
 see Du Cange's Glossariuin, Wedg- 
 wood's Dictionaiy of English 
 
 Etymology^ and Xotcs and Queries., 
 
 4tli S. vol. iv. p. 467, vol. X. p. 257. 
 
 ' Thurot, p. 17 ; Mtcniuicnia 
 Acadonica, passim. 
 
 3 Budinszky, Die Universitat 
 Paris, p. 24.
 
 8' THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 ecclesiastical body.' The germs of it may probably be found 
 in the episcopal and monastic schools that existed on the 
 banks of the Seine in the early part of the twelfth century 
 The Faculty of Theology at any rate had its origin in the 
 cloisters of Notre Dame, while the first schools of the liberal 
 arts were situated in the southern suburb, within the territorial 
 jurisdiction of the Abbey of St, Genevieve.^ Thus it was that 
 formal licences to teach could only be obtained from the 
 Chancellor of the Cathedral Church, or from the Abbot or 
 the Chancellor of St. Genevieve, the official representatives 
 of ecclesiastical authority.3 
 
 The University of Oxford, scarcely less ecclesiastical in 
 character than that of Paris, took its origin in a town which 
 did not contain a cathedral church, or even a monastery of 
 the highest rank. The nunnery said to have been founded 
 by St. Frideswyde, was dissolved some time before the 
 Norman Conquest, and the conventual buildings belonging 
 to it seem to have undergone several vicissitudes in the 
 course of the eleventh century. At length, in the reign of 
 Henry I., they were definitely assigned by Roger, Bishop 
 of Salisbury, the chief minister of the Crown, to a Prior and 
 body of canons professing the rule of St. Augustine.^ A 
 few years later, in 1129, Robert d'Oili the younger founded 
 a larger establishment for members of the same order at 
 Oseney, one of the many islets formed by the river on the 
 western side of his castle. ^ The cloisters of St. Frideswyde's 
 
 ' Thurot, pp. 29 31. 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 4 7 ; Pasquicr, Re- 
 cherches de la France, lib. ix. cap. 
 14; Vallet de Viriville, Histoii'e 
 de I'Inshuction Publique, p. 138 ; 
 Crcvier, Histoire de P Univcisitc de 
 Paris, vol. i. pp. 117, 162. 
 
 3 Thurot, pp. 9, 15, 16 ; Du 
 Boulay,///^/r/Vj Uiiii'crsitafis Par- 
 is icnsis, vol. ii. pp. 124, 160, 161,346, 
 
 350 ; Crcvier, vol. i. pp. 256, 257. 
 
 '* Dugdale's Motiasticon Angli- 
 cannin, (ed. Caley) vol. ii. p. 134; 
 Matthew Paris, Chronica iMajora, 
 (cd. Luard) vol. ii. p. 139; William 
 of Malmeslaury, Gcsta Pojitificiim, 
 (cd. Hamilton) pp. 315, 316. St. 
 Frideswyde's Priory is often classed 
 among the Benedictine houses. 
 
 s Dugdale, vol. vi. p. 251.
 
 THE LIBERAL ARTS. 9- 
 
 Priory and of Oseney Abbey were probably the earliest 
 schools of Oxford, though it should be remarked that neither 
 of them ever attained to any great celebrity as a place of 
 education. Of the masters who may have taught at Oxford 
 before the year 1133, there is no record whatever, and it is 
 not known how many of the seven liberal arts were studied 
 there. 
 
 A complete course of instruction in the twelfth century 
 included the Trivhijn, which consisted of grammar, 
 rhetoric, and logic, and the Quadriviiim, which consisted 
 of arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.' Few 
 ordinary scholars, however, got beyond the easier or " trivial " 
 subjects. Inasmuch as all studies were pursued in Latin, 
 the common tongue of Western Christendom, the Latin 
 grammar necessarily came first in order. The elementary 
 treatises of Priscian and Donatus were used for inculcating 
 the rules of syntax and prosody, but the works of Virgil, 
 Ovid, Livy, Tacitus, and other Roman poets and historians, 
 were also consulted as examples of literary style. The 
 Categories of Aristotle and Porphyry's Isagoge were the text- 
 books in the schools of logic ; the writings of Cicero and 
 Quintilian in the schools of rhetoric. Teachers of the 
 Trivmui also made use of the works of Boethius, Casslo- 
 dorus, Orosius, Martianus Capella, and Isidore of Seville.'' 
 Nevertheless, in the opinion of ecclesiastical teachers, the 
 seven liberal arts were only profitable in so far as they 
 paved the way for the study of theology. " Thus," in the 
 words of M. Leon Maitre, " the object of grammar was to 
 read Holy Scripture better and to transcribe it more 
 accurately, that of rhetoric and logic to understand the 
 Fathers of the Church and to confute heresies, that of 
 
 ' The names of these studies are j ^ Mullinger, pp. 8, 21 32; Vallet 
 
 given in the old line :-- \ de Viriville, p. 141 ; Leon Maitre, 
 
 " LiJigua., tropics, ratio, nuinerus, Les Ecolcs Episcopales ct Monas- 
 
 tonus, nngulus, asira." tiqiies, pp. 210213, 217 225.
 
 lo ROBER T P ULL US. 
 
 music to sing sacred melodies better, and so likewise with 
 the others." ' 
 
 The study of theology itself was at a low ebb throughout 
 England, when, in the year 1133, a teacher from Paris, named 
 Robert Pullus, began to lecture at Oxford on the Bible. ^ 
 Little is known as to his previous history, and it is uncertain 
 whether he was an Englishman or a Breton. 3 All accounts, 
 however, represent him as a man of eminence. His 
 sound doctrine and exemplary life are highly commended 
 by his contemporaries, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and John 
 of Salisbury ; and his Sententice, or opinions on Holy Writ, 
 are still extant in eight books. ^ According to a chronicler 
 of later date, he spent five years at Oxford, lecturing on 
 theology, and preaching to the people on Sundays.^ Henry 
 Beauclerc, anxious to secure the services of so distinguished 
 a scholar, offered him a bishopric, but he, "having food 
 and raiment," would not accept any higher post in England 
 than the archdeaconry of Rochester. His archidiaconal 
 duties did not involve residence, and, after returning for a 
 while to Paris, he proceeded to Rome, where in 1 145 he was 
 appointed Chancellor of the Papal Court.^ 
 
 A few years after the departure of Robert Pullus, Oxford 
 was visited by another eminent teacher, Vacarius, who is re- 
 markable for having introduced into this country an entirely 
 new branch of learning. The lectures given by Irnerius at 
 Bologna at the beginning of the twelfth century, had done 
 
 ' Page 210. 
 
 ^ Anitalcs dc Oscncia in Annalcs 
 Monastici, vol. iv. p. ig. His 
 name is tlicre given as Piilein. 
 
 3 Freeman's Norman Conquest, 
 vol. V. \i. 319. 
 
 * ]\Iii;"nc, Pai7-oloi^icc Ciirsus, vol. 
 clxxxii. c. 372 ; Jolm of Salisbury, 
 (cd. (liles) vol. v. p. 78. Thc6"^7^- 
 tt/ilitirnm Libri Otto of i\.obert 
 J'ullus arc printed in Migne, Pa- 
 
 troloi^ics Cursns, vol. cl.Kxxvi. cc. 
 640 1010, but the biography pre- 
 fixed to them is untrustworthy. 
 This author must not be con- 
 founded with the Archbishop of 
 Rouen, who died in 1221. 
 
 5 Bodleian MS. 712, f. 275. 
 
 ^ Annates Monastici, vol. ii. p. 
 231 ; vol. iv. p. 19; John of 
 Hexham, in Tuysden's Scriptorcs 
 Decent, p. 275.
 
 VACARIUS. II 
 
 much towards reviving in Italy the long-neglected study 
 of Roman jurisprudence, and they had been attended 
 by crowds of eager students from different parts of Europe. 
 Thomas Becket among others had brought back to his 
 native land some knowledge of the civil law, but no 
 attempt had been made to teach it in England before 
 the election of Theobald, Abbot of Bee, to the see of 
 Canterbury. This prelate, in order to strengthen his posi- 
 tion, invited several foreign jurists to attach themselves to 
 his retinue, and the chief of them, Vacarius, a native of 
 Lombardy, undertook to expound in England the system 
 of Roman law which he had learned at Bologna, Vacarius 
 made many disciples at Oxford, rich and poor alike flocking 
 thither to imbibe the new ideas, and, in 1 149, he gave a 
 more lasting character to his labours, by making a careful 
 abstract in nine books of the Code and the Digest of Justi- 
 nian. King Stephen became greatly alarmed. He could not 
 view with indifference the rapid progress of a study which 
 threatened to undermine the old laws of the realm, and 
 he ordered Vacarius to desist altogether from his lectures. 
 A royal edict was also issued forbidding Englishmen 
 to own treatises on foreign law, and many manuscripts 
 were consequently committed to the flames. All repressive 
 measures however proved ineffectual. Vacarius himself 
 remained in England through part of the reign of Henry II., 
 and, in spite of the opposition of kings and popes, the civil 
 law became before long one of the recognised subjects of study 
 in the University of Oxford.' In the wake of the civil law 
 followed the canon law, based on the celebrated Decretum 
 of the monk Gratian.^ 
 
 It would be interesting to know in what part of Oxford 
 
 ' Robert de ]Monte in }tligne, : Opera Incdita, {^^.V>x&w&x)-<^. \2o ; 
 
 Pat}-ologia Cjivsks, vol. clx. c. 466 ; Savigny, GcscJiicJite dcs RomiscJicn 
 
 Gcrvase of Canterbury, (cd. Stubbs) Rcchts, cap. xxi. 36; Wenck, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 384 ; John of Salisbury, Mai^istcr I'acarius. 
 
 (cd. Giles) vol. iv. p. H"] ; Bacon, - MuUingcr, pp. 33 36.
 
 12 THE SCHOOLS OF OXFORD. 
 
 PuUus and Vacarius delivered their lectures, and whence 
 their pupils came, but the chronicles afford no information 
 on either point. This only is reasonably certain, that their 
 auditors were for the most part students not attached 
 either to the Priory of St. Frideswyde or to the Abbey of 
 Oseney, else these two houses would surely have obtained 
 some powers at Oxford analogous to those exercised at Paris 
 by the Cathedral Church of Notre Dame and the Abbey of 
 St, Genevieve. The early annals of the University show, on 
 the contrary, that the clerks of Oxford were under the 
 jurisdiction of the distant Bishop of Lincoln, and quite 
 independent of the neighbouring Prior and Abbot. 
 
 The grant of an important charter of privileges to the 
 burghers, the assembly of a council for the forcible repression 
 of heresy, two destructive fires, and several visits from Henry II. 
 and his queen, are the chief events recorded in connexion with 
 the town of Oxford in the second half of the twelfth century, 
 but it is not stated how any of them affected the interests of 
 the academic population.' The immediate successors of 
 Pullus and Vacarius have no place in history, nor is anything 
 known respecting the condition and progress of the local 
 schools between the years 1149 and 1186. It was in or 
 about this latter year that Gerald de Barri, who is better 
 known by the Latinised name of Giraldus Cambrensis, paid 
 a visit to Oxford, of wdiich he has left an interesting account 
 in his autobiography. Born in Wales about the year 1147, 
 Giraldus was one of the many ambitious students who 
 repaired to France in order to sit at the feet of the Parisian 
 masters. In course of time he became a noted lecturer on 
 
 ' Annalcs Monastici, vol. iv. of Coggcshall, (cd. Stevenson) 
 pp. 43, 3S0; Chronica Johnnnis i p. 122; Maitland's Albigcnses 
 
 de Oxcnedes, (cd. Ellis) pp. 57, and Waldoises, p. 365 ; Peshall"s 
 
 61 ; Gcrvase of Canterbury, (cd. History of tlie City of Oxford, 
 
 Stubbs) vol. i. p. 157; Ralph de p. 339; Madox's History of the 
 
 Diceto, Imagines Historiiirion, (cd. Exchequer, vol. i. p. 401. 
 .Stubbs) vol. i pp. 302, 31S ; Ralph
 
 GIR ALDUS CAMBRENSIS. 13 
 
 the Trivhnn, his discourses on rhetoric being considered 
 specially worthy of praise. " So entirely devoted was he 
 to study, having in his acts and in his mind no sort of 
 levity or coarseness, that whenever the Doctors of Arts 
 wished to select a pattern from among the good scholars 
 they would name Giraldus before all others." Such at least 
 is his account of his own excellence. Returning for a while 
 to his native country, he obtained the archdeaconry of Brecon, 
 and narrowly missed being made Bishop of St. David's, but 
 he did not finally quit the schools of Paris until he had 
 completed his studies in canon law and theology.' In 1184 
 he was appointed one of the chaplains of Henry II., and a 
 journey to Ireland in the train of the King's son John, supplied 
 him with the materials for his two most important works, 
 a topographical account of Ireland, and a history of the 
 English conquest of that island. The former has been justly 
 styled " a monument of a bold and original genius," for in 
 it Giraldus describes not only the incidents of his own 
 journey, but also the physical geography, the climate, the 
 natural history, the popular customs and the antiquities, 
 of the places that he visited. " The TopograpJiia" says his 
 latest editor, " was a novel experiment, and almost a solitary 
 one ; it was regarded by our author's contemporaries with 
 any feelings rather than complacency. For an archdeacon 
 to occupy his leisure in recording the manners of rough- 
 headed Kernes, and collecting the traditions, or describing 
 the scenery of a barbarous and rude country, was looked 
 upon as an undignified waste of time." ^ Giraldus on the 
 contrary was highly pleased with his own performance. 
 Writing of himself in the third person, he says : 
 
 " In course of time, when the work was finished and 
 revised, not wishing to hide his candle under a bushel, but 
 wishing to place it in a candlestick so that it might gi\e 
 
 ' Giraldus Cambrcnsis, (cd. 
 Brewer) vol. i. i)p. ix xxxii, 23. 
 
 Ibid. pp. xxvii^xlv.
 
 14 THE SCHOOLS OF OXFORD. 
 
 light, he resolved to read it before a vast audience at 
 Oxford, where the clergy in England chiefly flourished and 
 excelled in clerkly lore.' And as there were three distinc- 
 tions or divisions in the work, and each division occupied 
 a day, the readings lasted three successive days. On the 
 first day he received and entertained at his lodgings all 
 the poor people of the whole town ; on the second all 
 the Doctors of the different Faculties, and such of their 
 pupils as were of fame and note ; on the third the rest 
 of the scholars, with the militcs of the town, and many 
 burghers. It was a costly and noble act, for the authentic 
 and ancient times of the poets were thus in some measure 
 renewed ; and neither present nor past time can furnish any 
 record of such a solemnity having ever taken place in 
 England." ^ 
 
 By this time at any rate the schools of Oxford had evidently 
 become a university in fact if not in name. Their populous- 
 ness at the close of the twelfth century is moreover attested 
 by Richard of Devizes, and by Senatus, Prior of Worccster.3 
 Nor were they ignored by the highest authorities in the realm, 
 for Richard I., himself a native of Oxford, gave a weekly 
 allowance of no less than half a mark for the support of 
 a certain clerk from Hungary, named Nicholas, who stayed 
 there some time for the purpose of study."* 
 
 ' ^^Ubi clcrus in Anglla magis j anni preferifi usque ad Pasclta;n prr 
 vigebat et dericatu prcrccllebaty brc%>e RegisP Pipe Roll, 7 Richard 
 
 - Giraldus Cambrcnsis, vol. i. j I. '' NicJiolao clcrico de Huiin 
 
 na 
 
 pp. xlvii, 72, 73. In another passage 
 he mentions that scholars in Eng- 
 land took their vacation at harvest- 
 time, /bid. p. 27 r. 
 
 ^ Richard of Devizes, (c'l. Ste- 
 venson) p. 62 ; Bodleian MS. 633, 
 
 v^ ix^ de liberatione stia qriaiii habct 
 ex dono Regis, videlicet a die lune 
 proxima antefcstum Saiicti Andrec 
 iisqiie ad Piirificatioiieni per bre%ie 
 Regis ; ct eideni Nicholao l7'j^ I'iij'^ 
 de liberatio7ic sua afesto Sa/ie/i Relri 
 
 ff. 209, 223. .ad Viiicula usque ad festuui Saiicti 
 
 ^ ''^Niclwlao clerico de Ihcugeria, j Michaelis scilicet du)iidiani luarcam 
 
 -I'iij^'' ei xi'p etviif^ ad susteiitaiiduui \ per cbdoinadain per idem bre7>e.''' 
 se ill scolis afesto Saiicti Michael is V\\)Q. Roll, 8 Richard I. co. (:.\on.
 
 FOREIGN STUDENTS. 
 
 IS 
 
 It may seem strange to some that the first scholar of 
 Oxford whose name has been preserved should have been a 
 foreigner, but it should be borne in mind that throughout 
 the middle ages all the great universities of Europe were 
 cosmopolitan in character. An important edict issued by 
 Frederick Barbarossa at the Diet of Roncaglia in 1158, 
 expressly provides for the safe conduct and protection of 
 foreign scholars travelling or sojourning in his dominions.' 
 From an early period the law students at Bologna w^ere 
 divided into the Citramontani, or Italians, who were again 
 subdivided into seventeen Nations, and the Ultraniontani, or 
 foreigners, who were similarly subdivided into eighteen 
 Nations.^ So again at Paris the French formed but one of 
 the four Nations that composed the Faculty of Arts, the 
 other Nations being those of England, Normandy, and 
 Picardy. It was to Paris that the most ambitious young 
 Englishmen of the twelfth century, like John of Salisbury, 
 Thomas Becket, and Stephen Langton, repaired for the pur- 
 pose of study. On the other hand, there is no evidence to 
 show that any distinguished persons received their education 
 at Oxford before the time of King John. 3 
 
 ' Tvlalden, On the Origin of 
 Universities, p. 48. 
 
 ^ Savigny, Geschiehte des Roni- 
 ischen Reehts, cap. xxi. 71. 
 
 3 See the lives in Wright's Bio- 
 grapJiia Britannica Literaria, vol. 
 ii. and Budinszky, Die Universitat 
 Paris., pp. 75 114.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A.D. 1208 1272. 
 
 Dispersion of the University Humiliation of the Townsmen Re- 
 establishment of the University Jurisdiction of the Chancellor 
 Edmund Rich Origin of the Mendicant Orders The Dominican 
 Convent at Oxford Study of Aristotle The Jews at Oxford Arrival 
 of the Franciscans Anecdotes of the early Franciscan Scholars 
 Robert Grosseteste Migration of Scholars from Paris Contests with 
 the Townsmen Attack on the Papal Legate Punishment of the 
 Clerks Grosseteste as Bishop of Lincoln Study of the Bible St. 
 Frideswyde's Chest Attack on the Jewry Aymar de Lusignan 
 Murder of a Scholar Charter of Privileges Increasing Authority of 
 the Chancellor Visit of Archbishop Boniface National Differences 
 Removal of the Dominican Convent Popularity of the Franciscans 
 Adam Marsh Qualifications for Degrees Importance of the 
 Liberal Arts Roger Bacon Jurisdiction of the Chancellor Richard 
 of Wych Thomas Cantilupe Great Riot Migration to Northampton 
 Punishment of the Jews Cross near St. Frideswyde's. 
 
 HE schools of Oxford, which had been growing 
 in fame and popularity during the later part 
 of the twelfth century, had a narrow escape 
 of total extinction at the beginning of the 
 thirteenth. An untoward event that occurred 
 at the close of the year 1208, led to a serious breach 
 between the burghers and the clerks, and for a w^iile it 
 appeared as though English learning w^ould be compelled to 
 abandon Oxford for some more congenial abode. A young 
 woman was one day found lying dead at a house afterwards 
 known as Maiden Hall, and there was clear proof that she
 
 ^ 
 
 DISPERSION. 17 
 
 had met her end at the hands of a certain student of the 
 Facility of Arts. According to one account, she had been 
 killed by accident, according to another, she had been 
 outraged and brutally murdered, but the offender, whatever 
 the amount of his guilt, had already sought safety in flight. 
 The enraged townsmen at once started in quest of him, and 
 failing to find him, seized in his stead two innocent students who 
 lodged in the same house with him, cast them into prison, and 
 after a brief delay hanged them outside the walls of Oxford. 
 These summary proceedings were, it is said, countenanced by 
 King John, who was at that time specially incensed against 
 clerks of all sorts, on account of the papal interdict on his 
 realm. '^ The students were filled with alarm and indignation. 
 St. Thomas of Canterbury had suffered martyrdom in vain if 
 they were not to be safe from the arbitrary violence of a body 
 of ignoble laymen. It mattered little whether the young men 
 who had fallen victims to popular revenge, were or were not 
 concerned in the tragedy at Maiden Hall ; they were scholars, 
 or clerks, and as such, in the opinion of their comrades, subject 
 only to ecclesiastical jurisdiction.^ Masters and pupils were 
 alike concerned to withstand so gross a violation of their 
 common rights. Some had already quitted Oxford in fear of 
 the King's wrath, and now almost all the remainder, to the 
 number, we are told, of no less than three thousand, deter- 
 mined to abandon the schools. 3 After making every allowance 
 
 ' Roger de Wcndovcr, Flores decision in the matter was con- 
 Historiarmn, (ed. Coxe) vol. iii. j firmed by several of his successors. 
 
 pp, 227, 228, 274 ; Matthew Paris, 
 Hist aria Anfflorian, (ed. Madden) 
 vol. ii. p. 120. When a highwayman 
 was arrested for murdering a priest, 
 the King is reported to have said : 
 " He has killed an enemy of mine ; 
 untie him and let him go." 
 
 "^ Pope Celestine III. in 1194 
 referred all causes about scholars 
 to ecclesiastical judges, and his 
 
 3 Ann ales de Danstaplia, in 
 Aiinalcs Monastid, (ed. Luard) 
 vol. iii. p. 32 ; Professor Huber, 
 English Universities, (trs. by New- 
 man) vol. i. p. 411, would have us 
 believe that the statement of the 
 chronicler, ^^ divisa: stmt scliolce,'' 
 refers to a difference of opinion 
 about the King's conduct between the 
 northern and the southern scholars ! 
 
 C
 
 1 8 INTERDICT ON OXFORD. 
 
 for exaggeration on the part of writers who had no means of 
 obtaining exact statistics, it seems clear that the migration 
 which took place in January 1209 was an event of considerable 
 magnitude. Some of the seccders went to pursue their studies 
 at Paris, some at Reading, some at Maidstone, and others 
 perhaps at Cambridge. It was commonly reported that not 
 a single scholar remained at Oxford.^ 
 
 The matter did not end here, for the ecclesiastical authorities 
 proceeded to lay the whole town under an interdict, more 
 stringent apparently than that which Innocent III. had laid 
 on England in general. The burghers were thus made to 
 suffer spiritually as well as temporally. On the one hand, 
 the interdict deprived them of all ordinary religious ministra- 
 tions, while on the other, the departure of the clerks left 
 their inns and halls tenantlcss, and greatly restricted the 
 sphere of their commerce. This state of things lasted for 
 more than four years, the burghers being tenacious of their 
 municipal liberties, and unwilling to submit to any ex- 
 ternal authority. At last, soon after the arrival in England 
 of the Papal Legate, Nicholas, Bishop of Tusculum, in 1213, 
 they applied to him for forgiveness and protection. They 
 pledged themselves to abide by his decision, and at his bidding 
 they went day after day in procession to the different churches 
 of Oxford, stiipped and barefoot, carrying scourges in their 
 hands, and chanting penitential psalms, until they had obtained 
 absolution from the parish priests.^ 
 
 This was but a preliminary act of humiliation, for the Legate 
 did not issue his final sentence until the end of June, 1214. 
 Taking into consideration the general grievances of the scholars 
 
 ' Clironicon de Lanercost, (ed. j (2iiinqiic, vol. i. p. 182 ; ^^'alter of 
 
 Stevenson) p. 4 ; Chronicon Petro- 
 liUff^ense, (ed. Staplcton) p. 6 ; 
 
 Coventry, (ed. Stubbs) vol. ii. p. 201. 
 "" Roger de Wendover, vol. iii. p. 
 
 Matthew Paris, Clironica iMajora, \ 274. It is not quite certain, how- 
 
 (ed. Luard) vol. i. p. 228 ; Roger de I ever, that this was not part of the 
 
 Wendover, vol. iii. p. 228; 67/;v///cy; I penance enjoined by the Legate in 
 
 de Maihvs in Gale's Scripforcs June, 12 14.
 
 THE LEGATE'S DECREE. 19 
 
 against the townsmen, no less than the specific offence which 
 had caused the secession, he then issued a decree, which, 
 under cover of inflicting punishment on the one party, conferred 
 substantial benefits on the other. He made the townsmen 
 swear that if, at any future time, they should arrest a clerk, 
 they would on demand deliver him up to the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 to the Archdeacon of Oxford or his Official, to the Chancellor 
 set over the scholars by the Bishop, or to some other authorised 
 representative of the episcopal authority. Thus he established 
 the immunity from lay jurisdiction which, under somewhat 
 altered conditions, is to this day enjoyed by every resident 
 member of the University of Oxford. He further vindicated 
 the same principle by ordaining that, as soon as the interdict 
 should be removed, all who had taken any part in the arrest and 
 execution of the two clerks should go bareheaded, barefoot, 
 and half naked, to the place where the dead bodies lay, and 
 should reverently carry them to a churchyard, the rest of the 
 commonalty following as witnesses. Moreover, for a lasting 
 memorial of these events, he decreed that the townsmen should 
 annually provide a dinner for a hundred poor scholars on St. 
 Nicholas's day, and pay fifty-two shillings a year to the 
 Abbot of Oseney, and the Prior of St. Frideswyde's, for the use 
 of poor scholars. The appointment of the heads of these two 
 religious houses as receivers on behalf of the clerks, seems 
 only to show that they were the principal ecclesiastics 
 permanently residing at Oxford, for the distribution of 
 the alms and the management of the dinner were alike 
 committed to the Bishop, his Archdeacon, or his Chancellor. 
 It is highly important to observe that the Legate describes the 
 Chancellor as " set over " the scholars by the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 whose enormous diocese, it will be remembered, at that time 
 stretched as far south as the Thames. If students had volun- 
 tarily congregated in great numbers at Lincoln, the Chancellor 
 of the Cathedral Church would doubtless have had an authority 
 over them analogous to that enjoyed at Paris by the Chancellor 
 
 c: 2
 
 20 THE LEG A TES DECREE. 
 
 of Notre Dame. But Oxford was so far distant from Lincoln 
 that the Bishops found it convenient to appoint a separate 
 Chancellor to govern and protect the clerks studying there. 
 In the early part of the thirteenth century the Chancellors of 
 Oxford acted simply as delegates of the Bishop, but their suc- 
 cessors, as will appear hereafter, were gradually absorbed into 
 the academic body, and eventually became quite independent 
 of the episcopal authority. 
 
 The Legate further showed his favour to the clerks by or- 
 daining that they should not be made to pay more than a 
 reasonable price for provisions or other necessaries, and by 
 framing some regulations about the rent of the inns and 
 halls in which they lodged. He decreed that for the next ten 
 years to come, they should pay only one half of the rent 
 agreed on by them and their respective landlords before the 
 secession, and that for ten years more they should pay accord- 
 ing to their own valuation. The assessment of the rent of any 
 hall which had not already been inhabited by clerks, was 
 referred to a board consisting of four Masters and four towns- 
 men, who were instructed to make a new assessment every ten 
 years. Finally the Legate ordered that at least fifty of the 
 chief townsmen should annually swear, on behalf of the whole 
 community, to obey all the permanent injunctions contained 
 in his decree, and he declared that unless all these particulars 
 were duly observed the townsmen would be held excom- 
 municate, and the interdict would be reimposcd by the Bishop 
 of Lincoln. The students were forbidden to return to Oxford 
 until after the reconciliation had been formally effected ; and 
 those few masters who had " irreverently" continued to lecture 
 there during the secession, were suspended from the exercise 
 of their rights for the space of three years. ^ Throughout 
 his decree the Papal Legate was careful to respect the 
 diocesan authority of the Bishop of Lincoln, and it was to 
 tlic l^ishop that the townsmen sent a document signifying 
 ' Miniiinaifa Acadr/nica, (cd. Anstcy) pp. 14.
 
 HUMILIATION OF THE TOWNSMEN. 21 
 
 their entire submission to the hard terms imposed on them.' 
 The interdict was accordingly removed, the clerks returned, 
 lectures were resumed, and Oxford again became a place 
 of study. 
 
 It was not long before a contention arose among the 
 clerks themselves respecting one of the clauses in the Legate's 
 decree. Many of the inns and halls in Oxford were owned 
 by religious bodies, which of course had not been in any way 
 concerned in the outrage of 1209, and when the tenants 
 proffered one half of the accustomed rents, the monks de- 
 manded the whole amount. The Abbey of Oseney, which 
 would have been specially curtailed in revenue, applied for 
 help to the Bishop of Tusculum, and obtained from him a 
 charter of immunity. The secular clerks, however, refused to 
 acknowledge the validity of this new charter, on the score 
 that his legatine authority had by that time expired, and 
 they persisted in their refusal until the next Legate, Cardinal 
 Gualo de' Bicchieri, came to Oxford and put them to silence 
 in 1216.^ 
 
 The townsmen appear to have felt their humiliation acutely, 
 and they did their best to hide it, by transferring to the 
 Convent of Eynsham the perpetual obligation to pay the 
 annual fine of fifty-two shillings, and to provide the annual 
 feast. The monks must have been compensated in some 
 manner, while the arrangement was made acceptable to the 
 scholars by the promise of a dole of two shillings to every 
 one who partook of the feast. 3 Thus originated an annual 
 payment to the University, which continued long after its 
 meaning was forgotten, and which even survived the dissolution 
 of the monasteries. 
 
 The first person who is definitely recorded to have taken 
 a degree at Oxford, must have been a scholar there about the 
 time of the interdict. Edmund Rich, sometimes called after 
 
 ' Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 186. I ^ Mun. Acad. pp. 4, 5. 
 ^ Tvvvne MS. vol. xvii, f. 281.
 
 22 EDMUND RICH. 
 
 his birthplace Edmund of Abingdon, was born towards the 
 close of the twelfth century, of parents who were remarkable 
 for piety and asceticism. At the age of twelve he was sent 
 to Oxford, and while still a mere grammar student, he 
 determined that he would never wed an earthly bride. Stand- 
 ing alone one day in church, he plighted his troth to the 
 Blessed Virgin, and in token thereof placed a gold ring on the 
 finger of her image. He placed another ring, similarly 
 inscribed with the words of the angelic salutation, on his own 
 finger, where he wore it constantly until the day of his death. 
 From grammar he advanced in due course to logic, and, 
 after spending some time in the schools of Paris with his 
 brother, became a Master of Arts. He passed scatheless 
 through manifold temptations, and voluntarily subjected 
 himself to the severest discipline. Under a long grey robe 
 he wore a shirt of hair ingeniously knotted, and other things 
 calculated to vex the flesh. He spent whole nights in prayer 
 and study, and seldom thought it necessary to wash him- 
 self, being of opinion that so long as the heart was pure it 
 mattered little whether the body were clean or dirty. Even 
 before taking holy orders, he was distinguished from his 
 fellows by his daily attendance at early mass before the 
 hour of lecture, and he devoted a great part of his earnings 
 to building a chapel in honour of his spiritual bride, the 
 Virgin Mary, " Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to 
 dust," was the exclamation with which he would throw down 
 his fees on the dirty window-sill, an easy prey to mischievous 
 or dishonest pupils. After he had lectured at Oxford for six 
 years on the logic of Aristotle and the Qiiadrivhun, he 
 abandoned all secular studies, in obedience to a mandate which 
 seemed to him to come from heaven. As he was intent 
 on some geometrical diagrams, he fancied that he saw before 
 him the figure of his deceased mother, who upbraided him 
 for giving his time to such profitless subjects. Tracing on 
 his rierht hand three circles inscribed with the names of the
 
 EDMUND RICH. 23 
 
 three Persons of the Holy Trinity, she said : " Henceforth, my 
 dearest son, attend to such figures as these, and to none other." 
 The dutiful Edmund at once began to study divinity, and 
 he eventually took the degree of Doctor in that Faculty. As 
 such he converted many persons by his systematic lectures, 
 and yet more by his earnest sermons. The hagiographers 
 assert that, while he was preaching one afternoon in the 
 cemetery on the north side of All Saints' Church, his prayer 
 averted from the whole audience the rain which descended 
 in torrents all around. Edmund Rich was elected Archbishop 
 of Canterbury in 1233, and he eventually became a recognised 
 saint of the Latin Church, When the proposal for his canon- 
 isation was under discussion, in 1243, the University of 
 Oxford forwarded to Innocent IV. a testimonial setting forth 
 the purity and excellence of his life.^ 
 
 Edmund Rich had among his friends and contemporaries 
 at Oxford, a student of theology named Robert Bacon, who 
 deserves notice as one of the first Englishmen who joined the 
 Dominican friars.^ The mendicant orders play so important 
 a part in the history of our universities that it is well to 
 remember the principles on which they were originally es- 
 tablished. Up to the beginning of the thirteenth century, the 
 primary object of the monastic system had been to secure the 
 salvation of the individual monk.^ After the first glow of zeal 
 for missionary enterprise had died away among them, the 
 degenerate followers of St. Augustine, St. Benedict, and St. 
 Bruno, gave themselves up to a somewhat selfish rule of 
 life. Isolated from the outer world in their splendid and 
 
 ' Martene et Durand, Thesaurus \ does not appear to have any foun- 
 A'ovus, vol. iii. pp. 1775 1800, j dation in fact. See Wood's Col- 
 1839 1 84 1 ; C]\3.r\ts, Roger Bacon, leges and Halls, p. 660. 
 p. 412; Chronicon de Laner- ^ Martene et Durand, vol. iii. p. 
 
 cost, p. 36; Trivet, Annales,{Qd. 1841 ; Trivet, p. 229; Biographia 
 Hog) p. 228. The common belief Britatinica, vol. i. pp. 338 341. 
 that St. Edmund's Hall owes its 3 Milman's Latin Christianity, 
 
 name and origin to Edmund Rich book ix. chapter ix.
 
 24 THE MENDICANT ORDERS. 
 
 opulent monasteries, they did not consider it part of their 
 duty to preach in public, to baptize the young, to visit 
 the sick, or to hear the confessions of the penitent.' Hence 
 they had comparatively little influence on the people at large, 
 and they were powerless to check the spread of heretical doc- 
 trines. Dominic of Castile and Francis of Assisi alike saw 
 the need of some more active religious organisation for the 
 maintenance and propagation of Catholicism, and each 
 became the founder of a new society. The Spaniard aimed 
 at converting men by appealing to their intellects, the Italian 
 by arousing their emotions ; but both were agreed that their 
 disciples should mix freely with their fellow men, so as to 
 act as missionaries and supplement the ordinary work of 
 the parochial clergy. The Dominicans took the name of 
 Fratres Prcedicatores, Friars Preachers, while the Franciscans, 
 in their intense humility, styled themselves Fratres Alinores, 
 Lesser Brethren, or Minorites. In England the former 
 were commonly called Black Friars, and the latter Grey 
 Friars, from the respective colours of their cloth gowns. 
 The members of both orders were strictly forbidden to hold 
 property even in their corporate capacity, and, through being 
 obliged to depend entirely on the charity of the faithful, 
 were generically known as Mendicants. 
 
 A small band of Dominicans landed in Kent in the year 
 1221, and proceeded, with as little delay as possible, to 
 Oxford.^ Unlike the monks of the older orders who had so 
 often fixed their abodes in quiet country places, the mendicants 
 elected to dwell in populous towns where there was a large 
 field for their special work, and where money was likely to 
 flow freely into their alms-bags. But the new-comers were 
 attracted to Oxford by something more than the mere si^e 
 
 ' Gicselcr's Ecclesiastical History, 
 Div. iii. chapter iii. 68. The con- 
 dition of the monasteries is well 
 described in an cssav on MoiiJ;s 
 
 aiui Moidicant Friars, in Pauli's 
 Pictures of Old England. 
 ' Trivet, p. 209.
 
 THE STUDY OF A RIS TO TLE. 1 5 
 
 or wealth of the town. Their brethren had ah'eady been 
 established at Paris, in close connexion with the University, 
 for about four years, and they were anxious to obtain a 
 corresponding position at the chief seat of learning in 
 England. 
 
 The universities of the middle ages, though in many 
 instances derived from an ecclesiastical origin, and almost 
 always depending for protection on the ecclesiastical power, 
 were far from being sanctuaries of orthodox faith. They were 
 rather the arena in which scholastic disputants argued, with 
 perfect freedom, on subjects sacred as well as profane. 
 Speculative philosophy was there allowed to invade the 
 domain of traditional theology, and various forms of unbelief 
 manifested themselves openly. The great discovery that the 
 works of Aristotle embraced the whole range of philosophy, 
 threw the schools of Western Christendom into a ferment at 
 the beginning of the thirteenth century. He had hitherto been 
 known to them merely as a writer on logic, and his pre- 
 eminence in that branch of learning soon caused an immense 
 demand for all works bearing his name. The earliest Latin 
 versions of his long-forgotten treatises on physical science 
 were, according to M. Renan, translations " of a commentary 
 made on an Arabic translation of a Syriac translation of a 
 Greek text." The meaning of the author was often buried 
 under the additions and errors of his expositors, and sometimes 
 perverted in a pantheistic sense. For this reason it was that 
 a provincial council held at Paris in 1209 absolutely pro- 
 scribed the study of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy, and that 
 six years later the Masters of that University were likewise 
 forbidden to lecture on his Metaphysics. Nevertheless the 
 new learning made steady progress, especially when more 
 authentic translations, derived directly from the original 
 Greek, began to be circulated. The Dominicans appear from 
 the first to have thought it possible to harmonise the 
 Aristotelian philosophy with the doctrines of the Catholic
 
 26 THE EARL V DOMINICANS. 
 
 Church, and they were undoubtedly the means of its extensive 
 propagation in England, although their two most eminent 
 teachers, Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, continued 
 to reside at Paris.' 
 
 If the primary object of the Dominicans in coming to 
 Oxford was to acquire influence in the schools, they were 
 none the less anxious to win converts to Christianity by 
 their public sermons,^ Oxford was at that time a favourite 
 resort of Jews, who, in considerable numbers, dwelt in the 
 southern part of the town. The district lying between the 
 High Street and the Priory of St. Fridesvvyde was known as 
 the Jewry, and a synagogue stood almost face to face with 
 St. Aldate's Church.3 It was therefore in the very heart of 
 the Israelitish colony that the Black Friars established them- 
 selves, when they took possession of some tenements close to 
 the church of St. Edward, granted to them by the Countess 
 of Oxford and the Bishop of Carlisle. There they made a 
 humble oratory with a small cemetery adjoining, and there 
 they opened a school which was called St. Edward's School, 
 from the name of the parochial church. Conspicuous success 
 attended their labours within the first twenty-five years of 
 their residence at Oxford. So many Jews were baptized that 
 the King found it worth while to establish a house for the 
 reception of converts in Fish Street, on the site of the 
 present Town liall.-^ Robert Bacon, a Doctor of Divinity, 
 entered the order, and made its schools popular by his 
 lectures. Richard Fishacre, a student from Devonshire 
 educated in the convent under Bacon, took his degree publicly 
 as a Black P^riar, and Walter Mauclerc, Bishop of Carlisle, 
 
 ' MuUiiv^cr, pp. 91 98 ; Jourdain, 
 RecJiercJics sicr r /Iristote ; Du Bou- 
 hiy, Hist. Univ. I'aris, vol. iii. 
 
 - Twyne MS. vol. xxiv. f. 10. 
 
 '' There is an engraving of the 
 Donms Coiiversoruni in Skelton's 
 Oxonia Antigua, V\. 100. The King 
 contributed thirty oaks towards the 
 
 '^ FoiirtJi Report of tJic Historical \ Ijuilding of the Dominican school. 
 Manuscripts Commission, p. 450. Close Roll, 17 Ilcn. III. m. 10.
 
 THE EARL V FRANCISCANS. 27 
 
 a prominent statesman, resigned his see in order to become a 
 simple mendicant at Oxford.' 
 
 In the meanwhile the other order of friars had also planted 
 several flourishing convents in England. Some Franciscans 
 arrived in London in the autumn of 1224, and before they 
 had been there many weeks two of their number, a middle- 
 aged priest and a young acolyte, started on foot for Oxford. 
 On their way thither they met with an adventure which 
 curiously illustrates the difficulties which beset the pioneers of 
 a novel institution. They found themselves at dusk in a vast 
 wood, and being unable to proceed by reason of the prevail- 
 ing floods, they knocked at the gate of a grange belonging to 
 the Abbey of Abingdon, and asked for hospitality in the 
 name of the Lord whose servants they were. The porter 
 admitted them readily, but the Prior, scanning with suspicion 
 their coarse serge gowns, their knotted cords, and their bare 
 feet, took them for mummers, and as such drove them out 
 ignominiously. They would have fared badly indeed, had 
 not a novice, more compassionate than his elders, contrived to 
 shelter them for the night in a hayloft.^^ A very different 
 reception, however, awaited them at Oxford, for they were 
 courteously entertained there for eight days by the Domini- 
 cans. Being moreover warmly welcomed by the townsmen, 
 they hired a house in the parish of St. Ebbe, and there 
 " many worthy Bachelors and many eminent men " took the 
 vows of the order.3 
 
 In the following summer, the Franciscans, being cramped 
 for space, and having no chapel of their own, moved to a 
 larger house, which soon grew into a substantial friary. Just 
 
 ' Trivet, p. 229 ; Matthew Paris, i. p. 257) has followed the inaccurate 
 
 Chronica Majora, vol. v. p. 16 ; | account of these circumstances 
 
 Foss's /<^^^- of England, vol. ii. j ciuoted from Wood's MS. in Dug- 
 
 pp. 404 406. ! dale's Monasticon, vol. viii. p. 
 
 ^ Mominioita Ffanciscana, (ed. 
 Brewer) pp. 5, 9, 633 ; Mr. Green, 
 
 1524. 
 3 Monu))ienta Ffanciscana, pp. 9, 
 
 {History of t lie English People, vol. 17.
 
 28 THE EARL V FRANCISCANS. 
 
 as in London they had estabh'shed themselves in a mean 
 locaHty near Newgate, appropriately called Stinking Lane, 
 so at Oxford they chose a marshy strip of ground by the 
 river side beyond the town wall. In accordance with the 
 custom of the order, their first buildings were lowly and 
 plain, even the infirmary being little higher than a man's 
 stature.^ So severe was their rule of life that for many years 
 they had no beds, and none but the aged and the infirm wore 
 anything on their feet. Friar Walter de Madeley ventured 
 indeed to go to matins in a pair of shoes which he had found, 
 but he never repeated the offence. As he was taking his 
 midday siesta, he dreamed that he was attacked by robbers 
 in a dangerous valley on the road to Gloucester. " Slay, 
 slay ! " they seemed to say, and when he pleaded that he was 
 a Friar Minor, they retorted : " You lie, for you do not walk 
 barefoot." Another young friar was rebuked in a dream for 
 laughing too much, but on the whole the conduct of the 
 Oxford friars might almost have satisfied the severe founder 
 of the order, if only they had followed his precepts with 
 respect to study.^ Nothing is more characteristic of St. 
 Francis than his profound distrust of every sort of learning. 
 Himself a man of little education, he deliberately commended 
 ignorance. Yet even during his lifetime the members of the 
 order could scarcely be induced to cast aside all books as 
 profitless, and before he had long been dead, they had become 
 pre-eminent for learning. The friary at Oxford was from its 
 earliest years distinguished as a seat of study. Its inmates 
 would have been despised by the secular clergy and by many 
 of the townsfolk, if they had been unable to hold their own 
 in public sermons and disputations, and they therefore entered 
 on the intellectual pursuits of the place with energy. The 
 Warden, Agnello da Pisa, built a large school for them, and, 
 as they themselves were manifestly incompetent to teach, 
 
 ' Momimciita Franciscaiia, pp. I - Ibid. pp. 20, 28. 
 xvii. 34. I
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE. 29 
 
 engaged some secular masters. He soon had occasion to 
 regret that he had not insisted on a strict adherence to the 
 precepts of St. Francis, for, on entering the school one day, 
 he found the students engaged in an argument as to the 
 existence of the Deity. "Woe is me!" he cried, "simple 
 friars enter heaven, while learned friars are disputing whether 
 there be a God at all ! " ' 
 
 Agnello, however, was fortunate in securing the services of 
 Robert Grosseteste, a man of spotless orthodoxy, and un- 
 questionably the first English scholar of the age.^ Without 
 any advantages of birth or person, Grosseteste had already 
 begun to mount the ladder of fame. The son of a mere 
 peasant, he was generally described by a nickname, which 
 in Latin was rendered Capita, or Grossmn Capjit, and in 
 English Greathead, or Grosthead. The date of his birth is 
 unknown, and it is not certain whether he took his degree in 
 Arts at Oxford or at Paris. Before becoming a lecturer in 
 the Franciscan convent, he had been successively appointed 
 to the archdeaconries of Chester, Wilts, Northampton, 
 and Leicester, and he seems to have held the last 
 two of these preferments until the year 123 1.3 At one 
 time he acted on behalf of the Bishop of Lincoln as 
 " Master," or Chancellor, of the scholars at Oxford, and he 
 was clearly one of the leading men in the University in 1234, 
 when, together with the Chancellor and Friar Robert Bacon, 
 he was directed by the King to take measures for expelling 
 from the town all women of loose character.'^ Many of his 
 
 ' Momnnenta Franciscana, pp. issued within three weeks, he or- 
 
 xxviii xxxiv. 27, 37, 634. dered that all ^^ pJibliccB meretriccs 
 
 " Ibid. p. 37. et cojicubino' clericorton"' should he 
 
 ^ Le Neve's Fasti ; Gascoigne, released from prison, those of the 
 
 Loci e Libfo \'critatiini,^. 176. latter class who had houses in 
 
 " Bp. Sutton's Register, f. 117. Oxford being allowed to remain 
 
 (Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 24); Kennetfs there on giving security for their 
 
 Parocliial Antiquities,^. 21-]. The better behaviour. Prynne's Ec- 
 King soon thought fit to moderate j clesiastical Jurisdiction, vol. ii. p. 
 
 his severity, for by another writ, 445.
 
 30 
 
 ROBERT GROSSETESTE. 
 
 literary works may more safely be ascribed to the period 
 when he resided at Oxford, than to his later years, when he 
 was charged with the administration of one of the largest 
 dioceses in the realm. His Sayings, especially, according to 
 his latest biographer, " have the appearance of having been 
 delivered as lectures at Oxford ; and generally they are plain, 
 simple, and powerful applications of Scripture truths, with 
 great force of illustration and terseness of language. The 
 reverence for Scripture is unbounded, and no authority of 
 Church, or Pope, or Council, is put on the same platform as 
 the authority of Holy Writ." ^ His interest in physical 
 science seems to date from his connexion with the friars. 
 The founder of the Franciscan Order had, both by precept 
 and example, enjoined on his followers the sacred duty of 
 tending the sick, and they in consequence applied themselves 
 diligently to the study of practical medicine. " With a 
 Christlike sympathy," says Dr. Plumptre, " they took as 
 their special charge those that suffered from the leprosy, 
 which then, as the scourge of God, foul and terrible, was 
 ravaging all Europe. It was the feature in his conversion 
 on which Francis of Assisi himself dwelt with most thank- 
 fulness, that he had overcome his natural loathing of the 
 foulness of the leper's form, and had found a sweetness 
 and joy ineffable in ministering to him."^ Some of the 
 friars extended their researches into the wider field of 
 natural philosophy, and it was doubtless with the encourage- 
 ment of his Franciscan allies that Grosseteste made those 
 experiments which among the vulgar obtained for him the 
 character of a magician. ^ 
 
 If the foundation of the Dominican and Franciscan convents 
 did much to bring students to Oxford, the local schools 
 profited even more by the misfortunes of the University of 
 
 ' Perry's Life of Grosseteste, 
 p. 47. 
 
 '^ Conteinporaty Revie7t', vol. ii. 
 
 p. 36- 
 
 ^ Perry, p. 44 ; 
 Franciscafin, p. xliii. 
 
 UTonumeata
 
 MIGRATION FROM PARIS. 31 
 
 Paris, A dispute in the spring of 1229 between a party of 
 young Picards and a tavern-keeper in the Bourg de St. 
 Marcel, grew into a serious fray, in which several innocent 
 scholars were killed by the Provost of Paris and his archers. 
 The masters espoused the cause of their pupils, suspended 
 their lectures, and, after trying in vain to obtain redress from 
 the Queen-Regent and the Bishop, went away in anger. The 
 most famous University in Western Christendom was thus 
 dispersed, and its members betook themselves to Angers, to 
 Orleans, to Rheims, and to other places. Henry III. saw 
 here a good opportunity of humiliating the French monarchy, 
 and sent trusty agents abroad to foment the strife. He 
 moreover addressed a formal letter " to the Masters and 
 the University of Scholars of Paris," sympathising with 
 them in their affliction, and promising that if they would 
 come to study in England they should receive ample 
 liberties and privileges. The invitation proved highly 
 attractive, especially to members of the English Nation 
 at Paris, and a migration to Oxford was headed by 
 John Blound, Ralph of Maidstone, William of Durham, and 
 other teachers of eminence.' Two years later, the King was 
 able to boast that Oxford was frequented by a vast number 
 of students coming from various places over the sea, as well 
 as from all parts of Britain.^ 
 
 The sudden influx of strangers naturally had an unfavour- 
 able effect on the discipline of the growing University. Some 
 of the students openly set the Chancellor and Masters at 
 defiance, whilst other offenders, who had no real connexion 
 
 ' Cre.x\tr, Hisfflife de rUinvefsitL' (ed. Shirley) vol. i. p. 398; Cooper's 
 
 de Pur is, vol. i. p. 337 ; Du Boulay, 
 HisL Univ. Paj'is, vol. iii. p. 132 ; 
 Patent Roll, 13 Hen. III. m. 6. 
 (Twyne MS. vol. iii. f. 261) ; 
 Matthew Paris, Clironica Majora, 
 vol. iii. p. 168. 
 
 ^ Royal and H/s/orital letters. 
 
 Annals of Catnbridge, vol. i. As 
 early as the year 1226 the young 
 king granted twenty marks for 
 the maintenance of Guy, brother 
 of the Count of Auvergne, at the 
 schools of Oxford. Issties of the 
 Exeheqner, (ed. Dc\on) p. 6.
 
 32 LA WLESSNESS. 
 
 with the schools, pretended to be clerks in order to be exempt 
 from the jurisdiction of the civil powers.' In the quaint words 
 of Fuller, " these lived under no discipline, having no tutor, 
 saving him who teacheth all mischief"^ Lawlessness pre- 
 vailed at Oxford to such an extent that the King had to 
 interfere, and in 123 1 he issued several writs tending to 
 strengthen the authority of the Chancellor. He directed that 
 whenever material force was required, the Chancellor and 
 Masters should apply to the Bishop, who would thereupon 
 summon the Sheriff of the county to their assistance, and that 
 the Chancellor should be allowed to imprison refractory clerks 
 in Oxford Castle at the expense of the University, and to 
 release them from custody at his discretion. ^ For his own 
 part the King handed over to the Chancellor certain scholars 
 who had been found trespassing in Shotover Forest armed 
 with bows and arrows, and so left them to be dealt with 
 according to ecclesiastical law.'* He also caused proclamation 
 to be made by the Sheriff that no one would be recognised as 
 a clerk who was not under the care and tuition of some known 
 master of the schools, all the pseudo-clerks being commanded 
 to quit the town within a fortnight. 5 At the same time he 
 tried to reconcile the two classes which were ever striving for 
 supremacy at Oxford. It was but three years since a severe 
 conflict had taken place, in which some clerks had been 
 wounded, and some inns had been plundered. The town had 
 for the second time been placed under interdict, the more 
 guilty burghers had been cited to Rome, a fine of fifty marks 
 had been levied for the benefit of poor scholars, and the 
 commonalty had been obliged to acknowledge four of the 
 
 ' Royal and Historical Letters, ' s Royal and Historical Inciters, 
 
 vol. i. p. 396. vol. i. p. 397. The Papal Legate, 
 
 - History of Ca))ihridgc,\ i. 34- \ Robert de Courcjon, had in 12 15 
 
 3 Royal and Historical Letters, ' laid down the rule : " Nnllus sit 
 
 vol. i. p. 396 ; Close Roll, 15 Hen. j scholaris Parisiiis qui ccrtuni 
 
 I II. m. 18 (Hare MS. f. 12). | vtagistruni non/iabeat."' Du Boulay, 
 
 Close Roll, 15 Hen. III. m. 9. Hist. Unii'. Paris, vol. iii. p. 82.
 
 CONTESTS WITH THE TOWN. 33 
 
 chief Masters as final arbitrators in all future controversies 
 between the laity and the clerks.^ Since then the townsmen, 
 smarting under their humiliation, had taken advantage of the 
 greater demand for accommodation caused by the arrival of the 
 students from abroad, and had refused to let their houses 
 except on unreasonable terms. The King, on taking the 
 matter in hand, pointed out to the Mayor and the Bailiffs that 
 the voluntary concourse of learned men at Oxford was no less 
 profitable to the local traders and landlords than honourable 
 to the country at large, and he showed the inexpediency of 
 altogether driving such good customers away by extortionate 
 charges. He proceeded to confirm the old arrangement 
 according to which the inns were to be assessed by two 
 respectable townsmen and two Masters, and ended his 
 letter with a significant hint that he did not wish to be 
 troubled any more on the subject. Inasmuch as a like 
 arrangement prevailed at Paris and at Cambridge, the King 
 was amply justified in styling it " the custom of a univer- 
 sity." ^ 
 
 Several causes of discord arose within the next few years. 
 In 1232, some clerks were wounded in a riot, and the laymen 
 inculpated, after being delivered from prison by a too 
 friendly Bailiff, were recaptured by the Sheriff under a 
 royal warrant. 3 In 1235, the University made formal com- 
 plaint that the townsmen had violated a compact as to the 
 price of victuals. -* In the following year there was further 
 bloodshed, and peace was only restored with difficulty, by the 
 intervention of royal commissioners and certain nobles and 
 prelates. 5 
 
 ' Aniiales dc Dtenstaplia, in An- ^ Close Roll, 16 Hen. III., m. r i. 
 
 nales Monastici, (ed. Luard) vol. " Close Roll, 19 Hen. III., m. 
 
 iii. p. 109. \%b. 
 
 "^ Royal and Historical Letters, '" Patent Roll, 20 Hen. III., mm. 
 
 vol. i. p. 398 ; Du Boulay, vol. iii. ii(5, 5; Matthew Paris, Chronica 
 
 p. 160; Cooper's Annals of Catn- \ Majora, vol. iii. p. 371. 
 
 bridge, vol. i. p 41. \ 
 
 D
 
 34 ATTACK ON THE LEGATE. 
 
 The next disturbance at Oxford was in nowise due to the 
 feud between the clerks and the townsmen : it arose by mere 
 chance on the occasion of the visit of the Papal Legate, 
 Cardinal Otho, to Oseney Abbey in 1238. Some members of 
 the University having sent him some delicacies for his table 
 on the morning of the 23rd of April, went in the afternoon 
 to pay their respects in person, and to ask of him a favour 
 in return. The doorkeeper, however, a suspicious Italian, 
 absolutely refused to admit them to the guests' hall. Irritated 
 by this unexpected rebuff, they collected a great number of 
 their comrades, and made a determined attack on the 
 foreigners, who defended themselves with sticks, swords, and 
 flaming brands plucked from the fire. The fury of the clerks 
 reached its height when the Legate's chief cook took up a 
 cauldron full of boiling broth, and threw its contents in the 
 face of a poor Irish chaplain, who had been begging for food 
 at the kitchen door. A student from the Marches of Wales 
 thereupon drew his bow and shot the cook dead on the spot, 
 whilst others tried to set fire to the massive gates which 
 had been closed against them. The terrified Legate, hastily 
 putting on a canonical cope, fled for refuge to the belfry of 
 the Abbey, and there lay hid for several hours, while the 
 clerks assailed the building with bows and catapults. 
 
 News of the fray soon reached King Henry III., who 
 happened to be staying at Abingdon, and he lost no time in 
 despatching some soldiers to the rescue. Under their powerful 
 escort the Legate managed to ford the river by night, accom- 
 panied by the members of his suite. Still as he galloped 
 away he seemed to hear the shouts of his adversaries ringing 
 in his ears "Where is that usurer, that simoniac, that spoiler 
 of revenues, and thirstcr after money, who perverts the King, 
 overthrows the realm, and enriches strangers with plunder 
 taken from us .' " Breathless and in tears he hastened to lay 
 his complaint before the King, his grief and indignation being 
 intensified by the fact that the man slain was his own brother,
 
 PUNISHMENT. 35 
 
 who had undertaken the office of chief cook in order to 
 protect him from the danger of poison.' His tale met with 
 ready sympathy. That very night, a writ was issued ordering 
 the Mayor and good men of Oxford to assist two com- 
 missioners sent by the King to make enquiry about the riot, 
 and the Earl of Warren started with an armed force to arrest 
 the chief offenders.'' Twenty or thirty scholars, some of 
 them youths of noble birth, were consequently committed 
 to prison in Wallingford Castle, and thence, at the request 
 of the Legate, conveyed in open carts like felons to the 
 Tower of London, where they were heavily laden with 
 irons.3 The Lord Chancellor and Peter des Roches, Bishop 
 of Winchester, went to Oxford in person, and guards were 
 stationed at all the gates of the town to prevent the egress of 
 a single member of the University. Nevertheless the jurors 
 had to report that no less than thirty-seven of the guilty clerks 
 had effected their escape, and the King found it necessary to 
 call upon the sheriffs of distant counties to assist in capturing 
 them.5 
 
 While the civil authorities were thus taking active measures 
 against the offending clerks, the Legate on his side was not slow 
 in making them feel the full weight of ecclesiastical censure. 
 Two or three days after the riot, he pronounced sentence of 
 excommunication on all who were responsible for it, prohibited 
 all scholastic exercises and lectures in the University, and laid 
 
 ' Matt. Paris, Chronica Majora, \ most entitled to credence about 
 vol. iii. pp. 4S1 484, and Historia j events that took place at their own 
 Mi)ior^ p. 407 ; Flores Historiarton, ; monastery. 
 
 (ed. 1601) p. 298; Hemingford, in 
 Giles's Rgrjitn Anglica7'ni Scrip- 
 tores, vol. ii. p. 573 ; Annales 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 22 Hen. III., m. 
 yd, and Matthew Paris. 
 
 3 Afina/es Moiiastici, vol. i. pp. 
 
 Monasiici, vol. i. pp. 107, 253; vol. \ 107, 253. 
 
 iii. p. 147, vol. iv. pp. 8486 ; 1 * Ibid, and Patent Roll, 22 Hen. 
 
 Trivet, Annales, t^. 224, It is im- \ III., mm. 6, 7. 
 
 possible to reconcile the different \ ^ Close Roll, 22 Hen. III., m. 
 
 accountsof the riot, but on the whole \ \2b ; Vrynnt's Ecclesiastical Juris- 
 
 the chroniclers of Oseney seem the diction, \o\. iii. p. 558. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 INTERDICT OF OXFORD. 
 
 the whole town under interdict. His decree was solemnly 
 published by the Bishop of Winchester and the Abbots of 
 Evesham and Abingdon, to a vast audience of clergy and 
 laity assembled in the Priory of St. Frideswyde.' 
 
 The King's wrath began to abate before very long, and the 
 Archbishops of York and Dublin and other magnates suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining permission for certain clerks dependent on 
 them to go in and out of Oxford freely, with their horses, their 
 harness, and their other movable property.^ On the 24th 
 of May, this permission was extended to all Regent Masters 
 and beneficed clergy who would promise in writing to appear 
 when summoned by the Legate, and to all ordinary scholars 
 who could find sufficient bail. 3 Eight days later, the gates of 
 the town were thrown open without any special restrictions.* 
 Cardinal Otho proved less placable than the King, and he 
 gave full vent to his indignation against the University at a 
 council that was held in London on the 17th of May. The 
 English bishops, however, told him bluntly that the riot at 
 Osency was entirely due to the insolence of his own servants,and 
 complained that, by his appeal to the secular arm, he had sacri- 
 ficed the liberties of the Church to his private feelings of animo- 
 sity. The Bishop of Lincoln in particular took up the matter 
 warmly, and pronounced a counter-excommunication on all who 
 had interfered with his jurisdiction by arresting clerks residing 
 in his diocese. When all other arguments in favour of leniency 
 had failed, the bishops tried to work on the Legate's fears, 
 warning him that among the students recently suspended from 
 their studies at Oxford there were many Welshmen, Scots, and 
 other foreigners, who were likely to take a bitter revenge. ^ 
 Under this pressure he gave way, and it was probably with 
 his approval that orders were sent to the Constable of the 
 
 ' ^lattlicw Paris ; Hemingford ; ^ Prynnc, vol. iii. p. 558. 
 
 Trivet ; and Florcs, as before. j ** Patent Roll, 22 Hen. Ill,, m. 6. 
 
 ^ Close Roll. 22 Hen. HI., m. 14 ^' 'Matt. Vans ; A ;n/a/csMofias/2Cz\ 
 
 and m. T4/' ; Patent Roll, m. 6. , vol i. pp. 107. 253.,
 
 RECONCILIA TION. 37 
 
 Tower to deliver up to the Bishops of London and Lincoln 
 a teacher of law named Odo de Kilkenny, another Master, 
 and ten clerks, who had all been concerned in the fray 
 at Oseney.' But he declared that he would not restore the 
 University to his favour until its chief members had publicly 
 begged for pardon. They accordingly assembled in the 
 cathedral church of St. Paul in London, and walked in pro- 
 cession to Carlisle House in the Strand, accompanied by the 
 bishops who had pleaded their cause, and by the canons of 
 Oseney, who had perhaps shown themselves remiss in the 
 defence of the Italians. Then taking off their copes, their 
 mantles, their girdles, and their shoes, in token of penitence, 
 they went on to Durham House, where their submission was 
 at length accepted by the aggrieved prelate.^ On the 29th 
 of May, he issued a formal document, relaxing the interdict 
 and giving permission for the resumption of academical 
 teaching at Oxford. ^ At the beginning of July, the King 
 ordered the Sheriff of Oxford to hand over to the ISishop 
 of Lincoln some clerks who were still in custody; and 
 authorised the Archdeacon and the Chancellor to proclaim 
 that all who had lately fled in consequence of the riot might 
 safely return to seek absolution without fear of arrest or injury.* 
 Finally the Legate offered his full pardon to all penitent clerks 
 without distinction, taking care nevertheless to exact from 
 each of them a sum of money equivalent to a week's " com- 
 mons," for the benefit, as he declared, of his brother's soul.s 
 
 ' Close Roll, 22 Hen. III., m. 13. 
 Odo de Kilkenny was soon after- 
 wards sent to the Roman Court as 
 an advocate on behalf of the Chap- 
 ter of Lincoln. Matthew Paris. 
 
 " Flores Historiariim^ p. 298 ; 
 
 " Close Roll, 22 Plen. III., m. q ; 
 Patent Roll, m. 13. The second of 
 these writs is addressed, " Arclii- 
 diacono et Cancellario Universita- 
 tis Oxon;^' the term Unh'ejsitas 
 beinsr used in its technical sense 
 
 Matt. Paris, Chronica Majora,\o\, without the word ^^ jnagisiroriini.''' 
 
 iii. pp. 484, 485. Wood erroneously I or '' sc/iola>iu/n" ?i{ter \t. 
 
 assigns the reconciliation to the = Miinimcuta Acadeinica, pp. 7, 
 
 next year. 8 ; Aniialcs iMonaslici, \ol. i. p. 
 
 ^ Mii/iuiientaAcadt.-iiilta,Y)\^.'^ 7. 1 1 1.
 
 38 BISHOP GROSSETESTE. 
 
 The Bishop of Lincoln who contended so stoutly for the 
 privileges of the clerks, was the same Robert Grosseteste who 
 has already been mentioned as lecturer in the Franciscan 
 schools at Oxford. He had been summoned thence in 1235 
 to govern one of the most important dioceses in England, and 
 he had retained a warm affection for the scene of his early 
 labours. Throughout his eventful episcopate, he exercised a 
 wise and fatherly vigilance over the University, striving to 
 guard it alike from external attacks and from internal dissen- 
 sions. To him, if to anyone man, is due the marked progress 
 which it made in the first half of the thirteenth century. 
 Among the many benefits which he conferred on learning in 
 general, must be reckoned a translation of Aristotle's Ethics, 
 which he seems to have superintended in person ; and he 
 certainly did much to popularise Aristotle's other works, by 
 encouraging new translations, more accurate than those 
 derived from the Arabic. Even when busily occupied with 
 the duties of his high office, he contrived to find time to 
 pursue the study of Hebrew and of Greek,' and his large- 
 minded love of scholarship prompted him to invite Greek 
 teachers, presumably men of alien faith, to settle in England.^ 
 The active Mendicants found in him an enthusiastic patron ; 
 the degenerate Benedictines a severe censor. Nevertheless 
 the contemporary Benedictine historian was constrained 
 to praise him as "an open opponent of the Pope and 
 the King, a reprover of prelates, a corrector of monks, a 
 director of priests, an instructor of clerks, a supporter of 
 scholars, a noted preacher to the people, a persecutor of the 
 
 ' '' Non bene scii'it linouas nt not understand Greek or Hebrew 
 
 tran!;fe7-rct,nisi ci7xa Jiltinniiii vitce j he liad many assistants.'" Ibid, 
 
 suce." " Grcccum et Hcbrauin non I p. Ix. So too Mr. Mullingcr de- 
 
 scivit sitjjicie liter iit per se trans- \ scribes him as " ignorant of 
 
 ferret, sed habiiit nuiltos adjutoresp . Greek." University of Cambridf^e, 
 
 R. Bacon, Opera Jnedita, pp. gr, : p. 665. 
 
 472. I'rofcssor J>re\ver strang\>Iy : == Jkicon. Opera Inedita, \>\). 91, 
 
 translates thi.'> : - 'Hujugh lie did 434.
 
 BISHOP GROSSETESTK. 39 
 
 incontincnt,an industrious student of different sorts of literature, 
 a hammer and despiser of the Romanists." ' The greatest 
 philosopher of the time, a Franciscan bound to Grosseteste 
 by ties of personal friendship, was even more lavish of 
 praise. " One man only," writes Roger Bacon, "has known 
 the sciences, namely the Bishop of Lincoln, . . . whose life 
 few prelates imitate, and whose studies the so-called learned 
 orders and the secular clergy entirely neglect." ^ So again a 
 theologian of the fourteenth century declares that to compare 
 Grosseteste to any later teacher is like comparing the sun in 
 h's splendour to the moon under eclipse.^ A saint in popular 
 estimation, though not canonised by any pope, Grosseteste 
 was confessedly one of the greatest of the schoolmen. For 
 more than two centuries after his death, on the continent as 
 well as at home, by rigid Catholics as often as by Lollards, 
 the opinions of Lincolniensis, the Bishop par excellence, were 
 quoted as of the highest authority in matters of theological 
 controversy. 
 
 It is therefore specially interesting to remark the advice 
 which Grosseteste gave, when consulted as to the proper system 
 of instruction to be pursued by the Faculty of Theology at 
 Oxford. He answered that, just as skilful builders in laying 
 foundations made careful choice of such stones as were capable 
 of supporting the structure above, the Masters Regent in 
 Divinity ought to take the Old and New Testaments as the 
 only sure foundations of their teaching, and make them the 
 subject of all their morning lectures, according to the practice 
 prevailing at Paris. '^ 
 
 Grosseteste was able to cite the example of the University 
 of Paris on another occasion, when he complained to the Pope 
 of certain teachers who had ventured to open schools at 
 Oxford without proper licence. It was at his request that 
 
 ' Matthew Paris, Chronica Ma- ^ Fasciculi Zizaiiioruin.{(t^.^\\\x- 
 
 jora, vol. V. p. 407. ' ley) p. 135. 
 
 "" Opera Incdiia.Y)'^. 2>}>- A?>~- i '' R. (Jrosseleste,7://-5-^'/rr,p. 346.
 
 40 ST. FRIDESWYDE'S CHEST. 
 
 Innocent IV. issued a decree that no one should lecture there 
 in any faculty who had not been examined and approved by 
 the Bishop of Lincoln or his deputy ; a decree which shows 
 clearly that the Chancellor of the University was still regarded 
 as an episcopal officer.^ 
 
 A third instance of Grosseteste's watchful supervision occurs 
 in the earliest ordinance relating to the finances of the 
 University. Finding that the money paid half-yearly by the 
 Abbey of Eynsham on behalf of the townsmen of Oxford 
 was not always regularly applied for the use of poor scholars, 
 he ordered that it should thenceforward be placed in a chest to 
 be provided for the purpose at St. Fridesw}'de's. One of the 
 canons selected by the Prior and the Chancellor, and two 
 prudent persons selected by the University at large, were 
 appointed to administer the funds for a year, at the end of 
 which time they wxre enjoined to render a strict account of 
 their stewardship. The right of borrowing from St. Frides- 
 wyde's Chest was limited to scholars whose yearly income 
 did not exceed two marks, and provision was made that 
 all articles deposited in it by way of security for money 
 advanced, might be sold if not redeemed within a twelvemonth. 
 Any surplus remaining after the sale of a pledge was to be 
 restored to the defaulting borrower, or, if he were dead, to 
 be laid out in masses for the benefit of his soul.'' 
 
 Grosseteste found serious cause for anxiety in the quarrels 
 that frequently arose at Oxford between the clerks and the 
 laymen. In 1240, some of the former thought themselves so 
 
 ' Bp. Wallis's Register (Twyne Ibid. p. 499. At a later period 
 
 MS. vol ii. f. 19). the University ceased to capital- 
 
 "^ Munimt'/ita Ac(ide>nica,Tp\>.^ ise tlie money paid to it by the 
 10. A.D. 1240. V>Y a subsequent Convent of Eynsham, and, treat- 
 statute of the Uni\-crsity the amount ing it as income applicable to 
 of the loans was restricted to < charitable purposes, divided it 
 131. 4(/. in the case of a Master, j among the most needy Masters of 
 8j. in the case of a Bachelor, and ! Arts who were actually Rcgcni. 
 5^. in the case of a Sophister. Ii>ii/. pp. 500502.
 
 PO VERTY AND PO WER. 41 
 
 harshly used, that they migrated to Cambridge, in the hope of 
 obtaining better treatment there, and a removal of the Uni- 
 versity was recognised as not unlikely in a legal document 
 executed three years later.' In order to understand this 
 state of affairs, it is necessary to bear in mind that, in the first 
 half of the thirteenth century, the University in its corpo- 
 rate capacity was not possessed of any property whatever. 
 The schools in which lectures were given, and the hostels 
 and chambers in which studeats lodged, were alike hired from 
 the townsmen or other landlords ; public business was gene- 
 rally transacted in parochial or conventual churches lent for 
 the purpose. Poverty, however, had its compensating advan- 
 tages, for it left the University free to settle itself wherever it 
 pleased, without risk of forfeiting buildings or endowments. 
 The chief contests of the University against the townsmen of 
 Oxford, against the Bishop of Lincoln, and against other 
 adversaries, were fought and won before it became riveted to 
 a particular spot by material interests. If argument failed 
 and physical force was unavailing, the clerks could, at any 
 rate, leave Oxford, their departure entailing pecuniary loss 
 on the burghers, and grave discredit on the ruling powers in 
 church and state, Gregory IX., in 1231, gave formal permis- 
 sion to the masters at Paris to suspend their lectures whenever 
 the liberties of their University were in danger, and at Oxford 
 too, a general closing of the schools was understood to mean 
 that the clerks would shortly disperse if their griexances did 
 not receive prompt attention.^ 
 
 The year 1244 is memorable for a riot somewhat different 
 in kind from the riots which so often broke out at Oxford in 
 the middle ages. The clerks, by way of revenge for some 
 acts of extortion, invaded the Jewry in force, and sacked 
 the sumptuous houses of their creditors. Forty-five of the 
 
 ' Matthew Paris. CJnvnica Ma- ' Du Boulay, Hist. Univ. Paris, 
 
 /ora, vol. iv. p. 7 ; Twyne MS. vol. vol. iii. p. 141. 
 xii. f. 159.
 
 42 PRIVILEGES. 
 
 rioters were consequently committed to prison, and it was 
 only at Bishop Grosseteste's urgent demand that the King 
 ordered them to be transferred from civil to ecclesiastical 
 custody.' It is somewhat remarkable that the Bishop should 
 have appointed the Abbot of Oscney and the Prior of St. 
 Frideswyde's as his deputies to receive the imprisoned clerks 
 from the Sheriff, the claims of the Chancellor being thus en- 
 tirely ignored.^ Nevertheless the affair seems to have obtained 
 for the Chancellor a great accession of authority, for, only about 
 a fortnight later, the King issued a decree that all controversies 
 about debts, about the rent of lodgings, or about the price of 
 horses, victuals, or clothes, in which a clerk of Oxford was 
 concerned, should be heard and finally decided by the Chan- 
 cellor.3 This decree, confirmed and renewed by a long series 
 of English kings, may fairly be termed the Magna Charta of 
 the University, for it contained the germ of most subsequent 
 exemptions and privileges. It created a special tribunal for 
 the benefit of students, and invested the Chancellor with a 
 jurisdiction which no legate or bishop could confer, and which 
 no civil judge could annul. 
 
 The burghers of Oxford incurred the serious wrath of the 
 King about three years later. When Aymar de Lusignan, 
 the half-brother of Henry III., came to study in the schools, in 
 the autumn of 1247, they quarrelled with him and killed his 
 baker. The liberties of the town were consequently sus- 
 pended for two months, and only renewed in consideration of 
 
 ' CJironkle of Abingdon, (ed. ' the following day by the Prior of 
 
 Halliwell) p. 5, where however the the Dominicans, the Minister of the 
 
 date is given as 1245; Fourth \ Franciscans, the Chancellor of the 
 
 Report of tJie Deputy Keeper of tJic ; University, tlie Archdeacons of 
 
 Public Records, ^^. 1^,2. \ Lincoln and Cornwall, and P^riar 
 
 " Close Roll, 28 Hen. III., m. ' John Bacon, on behalf of the clerks. 
 
 I2(^ (Twyne MS. vol. xiv. f. 90). i Patent Roll, 28 Hen. HI., m. 6// 
 
 ^ Registruni Privilegioruin. The (Twjne MS. vol. xiv. f. 28). 7"he 
 
 King's writ was dated at Reading, order in which these persons are 
 
 May 10. 1 246. and a deed of acknow- nanted is significant, 
 ledgincnt was executed there on
 
 AYMAR DE LUSIGNAN. 43 
 
 a heavy fine. Various marks of the royal favour were be- 
 stowed on Aymar de Lusignan during his sojourn at the 
 University. He was appointed to a canonry at St. Paul's, 
 and to several English benefices ; and he received on one 
 occasion thirty quarters of charcoal for his fire, on another 
 two hundred marks in money, and on a third thirty bucks 
 from the Isle of Wight and the New Forest. It is therefore 
 evident that his household at Oxford must have been very 
 different to that of ordinary clerks.' 
 
 A casual breach of the peace which occurred on May 
 Day in 1248, was adroitly turned to the advantage of the 
 University. A Scottish scholar of high position and good 
 character, named Gilbert of Dunfermline, passing by the 
 church of St. Martin at Carfax, late in the afternoon, was 
 suddenly attacked by a party of townsmen, and, as he fled 
 down the High Street, was pelted with stones and with 
 offal from the butchers' stalls. Disabled by the repeated 
 blows of his pursuers, he fell down close to the door of All 
 Saints', and a few days later he died of the injuries he had 
 received. The whole affair being ignored by the Bailiffs of 
 the town, the masters of the University put a stop to all 
 lectures, vowing that, unless due retribution was exacted, all 
 the scholars should leave Oxford, and that the corpse should 
 lie unburied until favourable replies should be received from 
 the King and the Bishop of Lincoln. Grosseteste lost not a 
 moment in ordering his official, Robert Marsh, to publish 
 solemn sentence of excommunication on the murderers, and to 
 make diligent search for them with the assistance of the more 
 respectable burghers.^ The masters, however, were not 
 content to let the matter drop until they had obtained some 
 security against the recurrence of similar outrages. They 
 
 ' Close Roll, 32 Hen. III., mm. Winchester in 1250. 
 
 ]8, 14, 13, II, 10/', 10, 8/', 3 ; 34 "" R. Grosseteste, Epistolce.^ (od. 
 
 Hen. III., m. 10. Aymar de Luard) p. 437 ; Close Roll, 32 Hen. 
 
 Lusignan was elected Bishop of III.,m. 9.
 
 44 PRIVILEGES. 
 
 accordingly sent proctors to Woodstock to lay their griev- 
 ances before the King, and, although the townsmen also sent 
 delegates to argue the case on their behalf, Henry III. had 
 no hesitation about granting another charter of privileges 
 to the University. In it he ordained that any future en- 
 quiries as to wrongs done to scholars should be made by juries 
 consisting partly of townsmen and partly of unprejudiced 
 persons from the neighbouring country ; and that in the event 
 of any scholar being killed or grievously hurt by townsmen 
 the whole commonalty should be fined, and the Bailiffs 
 punished separately if found to have been negligent in the 
 execution of their duties. He ordered that every Mayor and 
 Bailiff of Oxford, on assuming office, should solemnly swear to 
 respect the liberties and established customs of the University, 
 and that the Chancellor should always be invited to hear these 
 oaths taken. Moreover, in order to remove two fruitful causes 
 of strife, he forbade the Jews to exact more then forty-three 
 per cent, interest on loans to scholars, and stipulated that 
 the Chancellor and Proctors should have the rioht of beincf 
 present in person or by deputy at the assay of bread and 
 ale." The Proctors, two in number, thus associated with 
 the Chancellor, were, it should be remarked, the delegates 
 of the University, the Chancellor being still, in theory at 
 least, the delegate of the Bishop of Lincoln. 
 
 A very serious controversy which is recorded to have arisen 
 between the clerks and the townsmen in 125 1, was apparently 
 due to the imprisonment of two of the former.^ The masters 
 again closed their schools, and when Henry HI. came to 
 Oxford with his queen at the beginning of February, the 
 University prayed that thenceforth all clerks arrested by the 
 civil authority should be transferred to the custody of the 
 Chancellor. The King set the two prisoners at liberty, and 
 
 ' Re(^istr!iin Privikgioruni {Close I ^ Annales iMonastici, vol. i. p. 
 Roll, 32 Ilcn. III., m. 9). May 29, , 147. 
 1248. 1
 
 PRIVILEGES. 
 
 45 
 
 promised that clerks arrested for comparatively light offences 
 should be handed over to the Chancellor, who, as viceregent 
 of the Bishop of Lincoln, would be able to inflict due punish- 
 ment, but he reserved to the Bishop or his deputy, specially 
 appointed, the sole jurisdiction over clerks charged with serious 
 crimes. The younger members of the University openly ex- 
 pressed their dissatisfaction at this compromise, and the 
 masters, though approving it, did not resume their lectures for 
 some time.' The King himself was quite resolute on the 
 point, and when three clerks were soon afterwards arrested 
 for wounding the servants of certain other clerks, he ordered 
 that they should only be delivered to the Chancellor to be 
 tried " according to the custom of the University," if the 
 wounds were not likely to prove mortal.^ So again, three 
 years later, he ordered certain prisoners to be handed over 
 to the Chancellor unless they were charged with homicide, 
 theft, or some other offence for which a layman would be in 
 danger of life or limb.s 
 
 In 1254, Innocent IV. took the University under his special 
 protection, confirmed its different immunities and privileges, 
 and directed the Bishops of London and Salisbury to guard 
 it from evil.'^ He also issued a bull promising that the 
 masters and scholars should not be summoned to judgment 
 outside Oxford by the Holy See or" its Legates, on account of 
 any contracts made within the limits of that town.^ 
 
 Further privileges were granted to the University in 1255, 
 somewhat at the expense of the liberties of the town. The 
 King appointed that four aldermen and eight discreet burghers 
 
 ' Monuniejita Frajiciscana, p. | concession should not be adduced 
 
 115. as a precedent on any future 
 
 ^ Close Roll, 36 Hen. III., m. ijb. \ occasion. Twync MS. vol. xiv. 
 
 3 Close Roll, 38 Hen. HI., m. 8 I f. 287. 
 
 (Hare MS. f. 17). In allowing two 
 scholars imprisoned for maiming to 
 
 ' Mnniatenta Academica, pp. 
 26 30. 
 
 be delivered to the Chancellor in j ^ Register of Innocent IV., at 
 1262, the King stipulated that this Rome.
 
 46 PRIVILEGES. 
 
 should be chosen to assist the Mayor and the Baihffs in main- 
 taining order and capturing malefactors, and that two officers 
 in each parish should once a fortnight make diligent search 
 for persons of suspicious character, every householder being 
 made responsible for any one who stayed more than three 
 nights under his roof. Vintners were enjoined to sell wine to 
 clerks and to laymen on equal terms, and retail dealers were 
 forbidden to intercept provisions coming to market, or to buy 
 in order to sell again before nine o'clock in the morning. It 
 was decreed that the half-yearly assay of bread and ale 
 should be deemed invalid unless made in the presence of the 
 Chancellor or his deputy ; and that bakers or brewers guilty of 
 adulteration or dishonesty should, for the third offence, be 
 put in the pillory. It was distinctly laid down that the Chan- 
 cellor had the right of demanding the surrender of any clerks 
 detained in the Castle for grave crimes, or in the town prison 
 for lighter offences, and his jurisdiction was further extended 
 by an enactment that any layman convicted of a serious 
 assault on a clerk, should be confined in the Castle, until he 
 should have satisfied the injured party or the Chancellor and 
 University,' In the following year, the King ordered that the 
 assessment of the inns and hostels occupied by scholars, should 
 be made by a joint board of scholars and townsmen, once in 
 five years, instead of once in ten years, and the dissatisfaction 
 with which this change was viewed by the canons of Oseney 
 and other owners of house property in Oxford, shows clearly 
 that a reduction in rents ensued.'' 
 
 Favoured alike by the King, the Pope, and the Bishop of 
 Lincoln, the University of Oxford occupied a high position in 
 the eyes of the world in the middle of the thirteenth century. 
 Its decisions commanded general respect. Thus, when Henry 
 III. became involved in a controversy with Bishop Ralegh, he 
 
 ' Rcgisiruni Prh'ikgwrum (Pa- ^ /(^/(Z. (Patent Roll. 40 Hen. III., 
 
 tent Roll, 39 Hen. III., m. 7). I m. 29) ; Aniiales de Osencia in 
 
 Annalcs MonasUci^ vol. iv. p. iii.
 
 VISIT OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 47 
 
 consulted the masters of law at Oxford on the questions 
 at issue, and he afterwards caused his defeated opponent 
 to be denounced in the schools, as infamous.' So again, in 
 1252, Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, laid his 
 grievances against the Bishop of Winchester, before the great 
 English university. Matthew Paris relates that the Primate 
 " directed his steps towards Oxford, in order that, having 
 summoned the whole body of scholars who were assembled 
 there for purposes of study from different parts of the world, 
 he might publish the wrong committed, so that by the scholars' 
 report even distant nations might hear of the offence. And when 
 proceeding thither he drew near to the town, an innumerable 
 throng of clerks mounted on richly caparisoned steeds, and 
 attired in fine apparel, came towards him, and on meeting 
 him received him with applause and honour as became an 
 archbishop and primate of all England, so noble by birth ; 
 and provided him abundantly with meat and drink for his 
 table. And when the Archbishop and the clerks of Provence 
 in his suite remarked their courtesy, the dignity of their bearing, 
 the texture of their dress, and the gravity of their character, 
 they were obliged to own that the University of Oxford was 
 worthy to be reckoned the rival of the University of Paris." 
 The scholars were summoned by their common bell, to hear 
 the Archbishop proclaim his decree on the 7th of December, 
 1252. In another place INIatthew Paris speaks of Oxford as 
 " the second school of the Church." ^ 
 
 At the same time, the cosmopolitan character of the 
 University was very unfavourable to the maintenance of good 
 discipline. The schools were frequented by impetuous young 
 men, coming from different countries and speaking different 
 languages, who viewed one another with distrust and 
 antipathy. Blows were exchanged on slight provocation, 
 
 " Patent Roll, 28 Hen. III., | ' "^ Chronica Majorn, vol. v. pp. 
 ni. 10 ; Matthew Paris, Chronica \ 353, 368. 
 Majora, vol. iv. p. 265. 1
 
 48 INTESTINE FEUDS. 
 
 and the battles of contending nations were on a small scale 
 reproduced in the narrow streets of mediaeval Oxford. Party 
 spirit showed itself specially strong whenever the natives 
 of any particular country met to celebrate the festival of 
 their own patron saint, for on such occasions they would 
 assemble in great numbers, and go to church dancing and 
 shouting, with masks over their faces and garlands on their 
 heads. The University therefore resolved to put a stop to 
 such excesses by prohibiting all national festivals, and decreed 
 that if any one wished to do honour to the patron saint of 
 his own diocese, he should go to his parish church alone, 
 so that there should be no great assemblage at any place.^ 
 It would appear that the University of Paris was also 
 periodically troubled by demonstrations of over-zealous 
 patriotism, but as it had recognised the existence of at least 
 four different Nations within its Faculty of Arts, it was 
 obliged to accord one annual festival to each Nation, besides 
 the feasts of St. Catharine and St. Nicholas, which were 
 observed by scholars of all races alike.^ 
 
 The University of Oxford was not entirely successful in its 
 attempt to suppress the spirit of clanship, for bloody feuds 
 continued to break out from time to time within its precincts, 
 until it became more exclusive in character. In 1252 there 
 was a great controversy between the north-country scholars 
 and the Irish scholars, which was not appeased without 
 difficulty. An oath was eventually imposed on the members 
 of both parties that they would not disturb the peace of 
 the University, that they would not shield offenders from 
 punishment, and that they would secretly denounce rioters 
 to the Chancellor, an arrangement being moreover made 
 that if the Chancellor was suspected of partiality in a suit 
 
 ' Mini. Acad. \). 18. Nation at Paris was St. Edward 
 
 - l)u Boulay, IlisL Univ. Pan's, the Martyr, but he was deposed in 
 
 vol. iii. p. 420. A.T). 1275. The I favour of St. Thomas of Canter- 
 
 orit^inal patron of the Enj^dish ' bury.
 
 THE DOMINICAN FRIARS. 49 
 
 between them, he should have two Northerners and two 
 Irishmen as assessors. An agreement to this effect was 
 subscribed by twenty-one representatives of the North, of 
 whom sixteen were Masters, and by four Irish Masters and 
 twenty-four Irish scholars. It is specially interesting as con- 
 taining the earliest authentic mention of the assembly of the 
 University in the church of St. Mary "in full Congregation."' 
 In December 1258, there w^as a general encounter; Scotsmen, 
 Welshmen, Northerners and Southerners, advanced to the 
 fray under their respective banners, and several of the 
 combatants were killed.^ A few weeks later, a party of 
 riotous clerks, among whom was the vicar of St. Giles's 
 Church, rescued from prison a man who had been condemned 
 to death for murdering his wife.3 Well might Roger Bacon 
 say that the scholars of Oxford scandalised the laity by their 
 fights, their quarrels, and their other vices. ^ 
 
 While the secular clerks were thus abusing the liberty 
 accorded to them by the University, the mendicant orders, 
 through the severity of their discipline and their serious 
 attention to study, were rapidly gaining honour and in- 
 fluence. The Dominicans, finding their residence in the 
 Jewry too small for their wants, removed in 1245 to an island 
 in the southern suburb, bounded on the north by Trill Mill 
 Stream, and on the south by the main channel of the river. 5 
 There they built a church in the following year, and the 
 convent at Oxford soon became the recognised place of 
 study for friars from the northern part of Europe. When the 
 Prior of the English Province showed himself reluctant to 
 admit foreigners, he was severely punished by his superiors. 
 A chapter-general, which met at Barcelona in 1261, not only 
 condemned him to say seven masses, to live on bread and 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 20 24. ; Abbyeviatio, p. 146. 
 
 ^ ?slatt. Paris, vol. v. p. 726. | Twyne MS. vol. xxiv. f. 26. 
 
 '^ Ibid.'^.'j\l\ Flores Historiarnm., j = Annales Monastici, vol. iv. pp. 
 
 (ed. 1570) p. 281 ; Piadtoruin 94. 95. 
 
 E
 
 so 
 
 THE MENDICAXT ORDERS. 
 
 water for seven days, and to undergo seven scourgings, but 
 dismissed him from his place and sent him to Germany. 
 The other officers of the order who had supported his policy 
 were also made to suffer for their excessive patriotism.' No 
 material trace of the Dominican convent is to be seen at 
 Oxford, but a memorial of it still survives in the names of 
 " Friars Street," " Blackfriars Road," and " Preachers' Pool." 
 
 Encouraged by the success of the Dominicans, the Car- 
 melites, or White Friars, came to Oxford, and in 1256 built 
 themselves a house on the west side of Stockwell Street in 
 the northern suburb. "" The Friars of the Sack also established 
 themselves near the Castle; and in 1268 the Augustinian 
 Friars obtained from the King the site for their future convent 
 outside Smith Gate in Holywell. 3 
 
 The friars, however, who acquired by far the greatest in- 
 fluence were those who professed the rule of St. Francis. 
 Under a long series of able teachers the Franciscan school at 
 Oxford grew in size and reputation, until it became famous 
 throughout Christendom as the rival of the Dominican school 
 at Paris.4 For some thirteen years after the promotion of 
 Grosseteste to the see of Lincoln, the chair of divinity in 
 the Minorite convent was occupied successively by three 
 secular priests, each of whom, like him, quitted it in order to 
 accept high ecclesiastical preferment. 5 In 1248 however, 
 Friar Adam Marsh, a pupil of Grosseteste, who had taken 
 the degree of Doctor before entering the order, was appointed 
 to instruct his brethren in theology, and from that time forth 
 
 ' Martene ct Durand, Thesaurus 
 Novus Anecdoloriuii, vol. iv. pp. 
 1730, 1731- 
 
 " Annales Alonastici, vol. ii. p. 
 113; Dugdalc's Mouasticon^ vol. 
 viii. p. 1575. 
 
 ^ Dugdale, pp. 1596, 1608. 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 1525 1531- 
 
 5 Master Peter, Grosseteste' s 
 
 immediate successor, was made a 
 bishop in Scotland ; Master Roger 
 de Weseham, Archdeacon of Ox- 
 ford, Dean of Lincoln, and Bishop 
 of Coventry ; Master Thomas W'al- 
 lensis, Bishop of St. David's. 
 Moujiiucnta Ernnciscaua, (cd, 
 I]re\ver) pp. }-], 38.
 
 ADAM MARSH. 51 
 
 it was not found necessary to engage secular teachers.' Friar 
 Roger Bacon, a writer by no means inclined to flatter the 
 members of his own order, can hardly find words strong 
 enough to express his admiration of his friend Adam Marsh. 
 In one passage he classes him with Solomon, Aristotle, 
 Avicenna, and Grosseteste, as "perfect in all knowledge"; 
 in another he describes Grosseteste and Marsh as "the 
 greatest clerks of the world, and men perfect in know- 
 ledge, divine and human." ^ Some of the letters of " the 
 Illustrious Doctor," as Marsh was formerly styled, have 
 been preserved, and, if they scarcely warrant the high 
 encomium of Bacon, they are at least interesting records 
 of an unselfish and honourable life. The Oxford friar had 
 as his two chief correspondents Robert Grosseteste, the 
 champion of the English church, and Simon de Montfort, 
 the champion of the English people. Yet, notwithstanding 
 his apparent attachment to the anti-papal and constitutional 
 cause, he was equally sought and consulted by such 
 papalists as St. Bonaventura and St. Antony of Padua on 
 the one hand, and by the queen of Henry III. on the other. 
 " At one time," observes Dr. Pauli, " we find this ever-active 
 man endeavouring to obtain increased stipends and allowances 
 for poor scholars of merit, or books and vellum for some 
 industrious members of his order ; at another time he is 
 anxious to secure his brethren protection from the hostile 
 university authorities, or^ to free them from attendance on 
 some course of lectures. At one time we find him preaching 
 before the court, or, by the command of the pope, exhorting 
 his hearers to join the crusades ; at another time he has 
 business with the Parliament in London, while he also 
 accompanies the archbishop to Rome, and is one of the 
 delegates at the Council of Lyons. Then again we find him 
 occupied in the spiritual duties of his brotherhood, either 
 
 ' Mo7iunienta Franciscana, pp. I ^ Opera Inedita, pp. 70, 75, 329. 
 S, 39, 542. I 
 
 E 2
 
 52 RIVAL FACULTIES. 
 
 compassionately administering consolation in the hour of 
 bitterest need, relieving the conscience of a man who has 
 unjustly possessed himself of property, or giving his advice 
 and assistance to a poor woman, who has been involved in a 
 complicated matrimonial process, and has been unmercifully 
 dealt with by the subtile and avaricious practitioners of 
 the law. " ' 
 
 Two of Adam IMarsh's letters relate to a point of some im- 
 portance in connexion with the system of academical degrees. 
 Ever since the different schools at Oxford had become welded 
 into one corporate body, it had been tacitly recognised that 
 the University was " founded in Arts," or, in other words, that 
 its primary duty was rather to provide students with a liberal 
 education than to instruct them in the distinctive elements of 
 any particular profession. All its members had as a matter 
 of course applied themselves to the study of the Trivhnn or 
 the Qiiadrk'ium, and it was only after mastering these that 
 some of those who stayed a long time at Oxford had turned 
 their attention to other subjects. The Faculties of Law and 
 Theology were therefore composed exclusively of elderly or 
 middle-aged men, who had already gone through the ordinary 
 course in the schools of arts. The Franciscan students, however, 
 viewed some of the liberal sciences with indifference, if not 
 with hostility, and only took part in the public exercises of the 
 University in order thereby to obtain the much coveted title 
 of Master, or Doctor, of Theology. In the year 1253 they 
 attempted a bold innovation, and a certain friar, named 
 Thomas of York, who had never lectured in arts, came 
 forward to claim a theological degree. The leaders of the 
 University were thrown into considerable perplexity. On 
 the one hand the candidate was well qualified to teach the 
 subject which he had made his special study, and he had not 
 violated any written rule ; on the other hand all precedents 
 
 ' Pictures of Old Eni^daiid, (trs. I Drcwer's introduction \oMo)niiJic]iia 
 by OUc) pp. 67, 68. Cf. I'rofessor I Frauciscaiux, pp. l.\x.\iv Ix.xxvii.
 
 DEGREES IN THEOLOGY. 53 
 
 were against him. A committee was appointed to report on 
 the matter, and the Chancellor, Masters, and chief Bachelors, 
 held three meetings before they could come to a decision. 
 Adam Marsh pleaded the cause of his order zealously, but with- 
 out success. Warned by the example of the University of Paris, 
 where the Dominicans had established a perpetual right to one 
 of the public chairs of divinity, the Oxford Masters refused to 
 acknowledge an)/ difference between friars and other students. 
 Although Thomas of York was, as a personal favour, allowed 
 to " incept," or, as we should say, to take his degree, a 
 statute was made declaring that thenceforth no one should 
 be allowed to incept in theology who had not already 
 been admitted Master of Arts in some University, before 
 lecturing on a book of the Bible or of the Sentences or His- 
 tories, and preaching publicly before the University, The 
 Chancellors and Masters moreover, while reserving to them- 
 selves power to grant dispensations, technically styled 
 " graces," took care to enact that any one attempting to 
 procure a grace by the interest of any powerful patron 
 should ipso facto forfeit his privileges as a member of the 
 University. They evidently intended by this clause to counter- 
 act the subtle influence which, through the confessional and 
 otherwise, the mendicant friars then exercised over spiritual 
 and temporal magnates alike. And as a further security, they in- 
 sisted that the new statute should be subscribed not only by the 
 Chancellor, by the blasters Regent in Theology and in Law, and 
 by the two Rectors, or Proctors, of the Faculty of Arts, but 
 specifically by Friar Hugh of Misterton as representative of 
 the Dominicans, and by Friar Adam Marsh as representative 
 of the Franciscans.' The victory of the Masters of Arts was 
 complete, and, notwithstanding the resistance of the Donuni- 
 cans about sixty years later, it has proved lasting. Although 
 I^.Iasters of Arts arc practically exempt from the duty of 
 
 ' Moipujnenta Frnnciscana, (ed. ineiita AcadLiiiica.'^. 2^. 
 Brewer) pp. 338, 346, 347 ; Mini,
 
 54 
 
 ROGER BACON. 
 
 lecturing in school, a degree in arts is no less necessary- 
 nowadays as a preliminary for a degree in theology, law, or 
 medicine, than it was six hundred years ago. At the same 
 time it must be remarked, that the Masters of 1253, in their 
 very anxiety to do honour to the liberal arts, unwittingly 
 caused them to be regarded as mere preliminary studies for 
 men aiming at higher knowledge. The Faculties of Theology, 
 Law, and Medicine, soon took rank above the Faculty of 
 Arts, and the teachers of these superior Faculties came 
 to be styled Doctors, in contradistinction to the Masters of 
 Arts.' 
 
 The contemporary fame of Adam Marsh, and all other 
 noted Franciscan teachers of the thirteenth century, has in 
 later times been entirely eclipsed by that of a simple friar who 
 lived and toiled almost unobserved within the walls of the 
 convent at Oxford. Roger Bacon, now generally recognised as 
 the greatest natural philosopher in England before the time of 
 his namesake, Francis Bacon, joined the Grey Friars about 
 1257, after having devoted twenty years and a large sum of 
 money to the prosecution of scientific studies. But he soon had 
 occasion to regret the irrevocable vows that he had taken, 
 for he found his new brethren intent on idle speculations, and 
 when he showed himself desirous of writing a book for public 
 circulation, his superiors threatened to seize his materials and 
 to place him on a diet of bread and water. All his knowledge 
 might have died with him if Pope Clement IV., more tolerant 
 than the friars, had not expressly authorised him to commit 
 his discoveries to writing. Thus released from his com- 
 pulsory silence, Bacon set to work in good earnest, and in 
 a wonderfully short time produced several books of the 
 highest interest.^ This is not the place to notice Bacon's pro- 
 
 ' Iluljcr's iL/ii^iish U/th'Cfsitics, 
 (trs. h\ Xewmanj vol- i. p. 134. 
 
 - I'^niilc Charles, Roj^^er Bacon, 
 Sa I 'if. ses On7'ra('is. ses Doctrines. 
 
 The biographer states that Bacon 
 was educated " an College de Mer- 
 lon on a eclici dii Ncs de Bronze^^ 
 regardless of the facts that Merton
 
 ROGER BACON. 55 
 
 phctic anticipation of the use of gunpowder and of telescopes, 
 or his other schemes and theories ; but his pages afford some 
 information about the state of learning in the second half of 
 the thirteenth century, especially at Paris and Oxford. P>om 
 them we learn that civil law was the favourite study of the more 
 ambitious scholars, inasmuch as it led to wealth and honour. 
 "Jurists," writes Bacon in 1271, "receive all rewards and 
 benefices, so that students of theology and philosophy have 
 not wherewithal to live, to obtain books, or to explore and 
 make trial of the secrets of science. Nor have jurists who 
 profess the canon law, the means necessary for subsistence and 
 study, unless on account of their previous knowledge of civil 
 law. . . . Every first-rate man, having an aptitude for 
 theology and philosophy, betakes himself to civil law, because 
 he sees that civilians are enriched and honoured by all prelates 
 and princes. . . . The greedy Faculty of Civil Law attracts the 
 mass of the clergy." "A civil lawyer is more praised in the 
 Church of God, even if he be skilled only in civil law^, and 
 ignorant of canon law and theology, than a Master in Theology, 
 and he is sooner chosen for ecclesiastical dignities." ^ These 
 words only echo the complaint of Innocent IV., who had done 
 his best to restrict the study of civil law to the confines of the 
 Holy Roman Empire. He had, about 1254, issued a decree 
 that no professor of law or advocate who was not skilled in 
 the liberal arts, should be advanced to any ecclesiastical dignity 
 or benefice whatever in France, England, Scotland, Wales, 
 Spain, or Hungary, and he had suggested to the rulers of these 
 countries that all lectures on the jurisprudence of ancient Rome 
 should be absolutely prohibited in all places where it was not 
 recognised in the ordinary courts of law. ^ But all repressive 
 
 College Avas not founded until he 
 was about fifty years of age, and 
 that he died at least two hundred 
 years before the foundation of 
 llrasenose College. See Ur. Plump- 
 tre's admirable article on Roger 
 
 15 aeon in the Conte/iiporaiy Reinew, 
 vol. ii. pp. 364392. 
 
 ' Opera hiedila. pp. 84, 418. 
 
 - Du Boulay, Hist. Univ. Paris, 
 \ol. iii. p. 265 ; Savigny, GescJiicJite 
 dcs Roinisclicii Reditu ^^i\\). xxi. 137.
 
 S6 ROGER BACON. 
 
 measures had proved ineffectual, and Bacon seems to have 
 been somewhat alarmed lest the Doctors of Civil Law at Paris 
 and Oxford should follow the example of those at Bologna, by 
 refusing the tonsure, and by taking to themselves wives, while 
 still claiming to be considered clerks. For his part the friar 
 was of opinion that if clerks must needs study laws made by 
 laymen, they would be better employed on the common 
 law of their own country than on any foreign system, however 
 venerable or popular.^ 
 
 The prevailing studies of the theologians were no less 
 sharply reproved by the same critic. Bacon complains that the 
 commentaries of Peter Lombard were more highly valued 
 than the text of Holy Scripture, and that, at Paris at least, 
 lecturers on the Sentences had the first choice of hours. 
 In contrast to the practice of his own day, he cites the examples 
 of holy teachers and wise men of old, among whom he takes 
 care to mention Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, and Friar Adam 
 Marsh, who always adhered closely to the text.^ He declares 
 that Richard of Cornwall, whose lectures on the Soitences, 
 delivered at Oxford in 1250, had profoundly influenced the 
 whole I'aculty, was a mere madman, and he finds small 
 grounds for hope for the future, except in the comparative 
 neglect which had already overtaken the Suninia ascribed to 
 Alexander of PLales, "the Irrefragable Doctor." 3 He does 
 not spare even Albert the Great or Thomas Aquinas, and he 
 complains that the friars in general, puffed up with pride, 
 attempted to teach without having themselves learned. He 
 avers that thousands of boys entered the mendicant orders 
 unable to read their Psalter or their Latin Grammar, and were 
 forthwith set down to the study of theology--^ 
 
 So again, when treating of the liberal arts, Roger Bacon 
 urges that boys should be instructed in the Vulgate and in the 
 
 ' Oprra Incdita, p. 419. 1 Opera Incdita, p. 327. 
 
 - li'id. pp. 32S, 329. 42S. I Ibid. pp. 425,426. 
 
 ^ Lharks, Roi^^cr Bacon, p. 415 ; ,'
 
 ROGER BACON. 57 
 
 moral writings of Seneca, rather than in the amatory poems 
 of Ovid, and he declares that the ordinary method of teaching 
 geometry was needlessly long and tedious,^ He laments the 
 paucity of good mathematicians, and the fact that no lectures 
 on optics had ever been given at Paris, and very few at 
 Oxford. ^^ With regard to natural science he maintains boldly, 
 that it is useless to rely on authority, experiment being the 
 only sure guide to certainty.^ 
 
 Such views were scarcely likely to find favour at a time 
 when authority was worshipped with blind devotion, and there 
 is reason to believe that the adventurous friar was m.ade to 
 suffer for his opinions by imprisonment and disgrace. At any 
 rate his superiors managed to suppress his works, so effectually 
 that no quotations from them are to be found in authors of the 
 thirteenth or fourteenth centuries.'^ His principal treatise, the 
 Opes JMajiis, remained in manuscript until the middle of the 
 eighteenth century, and three other treatises by him of the 
 highest interest have only found an editor within the last 
 thirty years. In the meanwhile the fame of Friar Bacon 
 was kept alive by a vulgar tradition. According to ignorant 
 persons, who could not appreciate the advantages of experi- 
 mental science, the industrious scholar working in his cell for 
 the glory of God and the advancement of true learning, was 
 a crafty alchemist conspiring with infernal spirits to penetrate 
 the inscrutable mysteries of nature. 
 
 A similar charge of necromancy was brought against the 
 fair name of Bishop Grosseteste, Bacon's great exemplar, but 
 it was amply refuted by the many miracles and prophecies 
 popularly ascribed to him. His death in 1253 was said to 
 have been heralded by sounds of supernatural music, the deep 
 tones of a heavenly bell above all proclaiming that the spirit 
 
 ' Opera biediia, pp. 54. 66. 1 '^ Charles, Roger Bacon, pp. 37, 
 
 == Ibid. pp. 35, 37. i 40^42. 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 43, 469- i
 
 58 THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. 
 
 of the holy Robert was departuig from the exile of this world, 
 which he had never truly loved.' 
 
 Henry of Lexington, Grossetcstc's successor in the see of 
 Lincoln, showed himself unfavourably disposed towards the 
 scholars of Oxford, and in 1257 some Masters of Arts, about 
 nine in number, repaired to the King at St. Alban's, to make 
 formal complaint that the Bishop was encroaching on the 
 liberties of the University. Matthew Paris the chronicler, who 
 was at that time a monk at St. Alban's, had a private interview 
 with the King and pleaded their cause warmly, saying: " Sire, 
 in the name of God take care of the Church already tottering. 
 For the University of Paris, the nurse and mistress of so many 
 holy prelates, is disturbed in no slight degree, and if the 
 University of Oxford, which is the second school of the 
 Church,or rather the very foundation of the Church, be similarly 
 disturbed at the same time, it is greatly to be feared that the 
 whole Church will be ruined." The delegates from Oxford 
 were accordingly ordered to appear before the Parliament 
 which was about to assemble at Westminster, and it would 
 seem that the dispute was there settled.'' The exact point 
 at issue is nowhere specified, but it is not improbable that the 
 Bishop may have tried to restrain the Chancellor from inflicting 
 spiritual punishment without his special leave. At any 
 rate, in 1262, we find the Chancellor and scholars of Oxford 
 issuing sentence of excommunication in their own name 
 against the Bailiffs of the town, on account of the detention 
 of certain clerks in prison. ^ 
 
 A few months previously, the claims of the Chancellor 
 had come into conflict with those of the Crown, respecting 
 the right to decide causes between Jews and scholars. i\ll 
 Jews in ICngland were, it will be remembered, looked upon 
 as mere serfs of the King ; the districts in which they lived 
 
 ' Perry's Life of Grosscfcst:^ p. 1 " Matt. Paris, Cliroiiica Majora^ 
 44 ; Matllicw Paris, Clironica \ \o\. v. p. 618. 
 Mdjora, \kA. v. p. 407. I ^ Close Ru!l.4') IJcn. lll.,ii]. \il>.
 
 SCHOLARS AND JE IVS. 59 
 
 in the large towns were, like the royal forests, exempt from 
 the operation of the common law. Thus, while the Angcvins 
 and the Plantagenets had no compunction in helping them- 
 selves freely and frequently from the hoarded treasures of 
 the Jews, they were careful to protect them from pillage 
 by others. The ecclesiastical law against usury did not 
 apply to members of the Hebrew communion, and causes 
 between them and Christians were referred to a mixed 
 tribunal.' Before the establishment of St. Frideswyde's Chest, 
 and other funds for granting loans to poor students, the Jews 
 were the only money-lenders at Oxford, and they had consi- 
 derable dealings with the clerks throughout the reign of 
 Henry III, Although the rate of interest in their cases had 
 been specially limited by the King to twopence a week on a 
 pound, many misunderstandings used to arise, and the Chan- 
 cellor was often called upon to decide between Hebrew credi- 
 tors and Christian debtors. The Constable of Oxford Castle, 
 how^ever, in 1260, took upon himself to call in question the 
 Chancellor's authority over the Jews, contending that they did 
 not form part of the ordinary community of the town. The 
 matter was referred by the King to certain commissioners and 
 a jury of townsmen, and they reported that it would not be 
 wise to limit the Chancellor's jurisdiction too closely, "for 
 the said Chancellor doth not take alms, or money of the said 
 scholars or Jews, but nourisheth peace and tranquillity 
 between them, and administereth speedy justice to either 
 party."^ This testimony to the impartiality of the Chancellor's 
 court would be the more valuable if there were no reason to 
 suspect that in thus praising the Chancellor, the townsmen 
 were chiefly actuated by a desire to humiliate the Jews ; for 
 much as they hated the scholars, they hated the Jews yet 
 more. Anyhow, the controversy was settled in favour of the 
 Chancellor, with the full consent of the King. 
 
 ' Stubbs's CoHstiiitiional His- I - Tovey's Ant^Ua fudaica, pp. 
 to>'y, vol. ii. p. 530. I \-:i'hiy:).
 
 6o RICHARD OF WYCH. 
 
 Of the Chancellors who successively presided over the 
 schools of Oxford during the long reign of Henry III., the 
 most eminent, after Robert Grosseteste, were Ralph of 
 Maidstone, Richard of Wych, and Thomas Cantilupe. All 
 three became bishops of the English Church, and two of them 
 obtained the posthumous honour of canonisation. 
 
 Ralph of Maidstone, who was Chancellor in 123 1, has 
 already been mentioned as one of the chief scholars who 
 repaired to Oxford, in 1229, in consequence of the temporary 
 dispersion of the University of Paris. ^ He was at that time 
 Archdeacon of Chester, and after holding the deanery of 
 Hereford for a while, he was elected Bishop of that diocese 
 in 1234.^ Five years later, attracted by the zeal and holi- 
 ness of the early friars, he resigned his see in order to become 
 a Franciscan at Oxford. 3 
 
 Richard of Wych was born in Worcestershire towards 
 the close of the twelfth century. Renouncing in favour 
 of his brother a small landed estate and the hand of a 
 rich heiress, he went, after the death of his father, to study 
 logic at Oxford and Paris. One of his biographers dwells on 
 the frugality of his habits at this period. He shared a room, 
 and even the use of an academical cope, with two other 
 students, so that when one of the three went to the schools 
 the others had perforce to stay at home. Meat and fish were 
 never seen at their table save on Sundays and holy days, 
 and the rare occasions on which guests were expected. 
 Nevertheless Richard of Wych used afterwards to look back 
 on this as the happiest time in his life. After taking his 
 degree at Paris, he settled at Oxford as a teacher of the liberal 
 arts. Thence he betook himself to Bologna, where he studied 
 ci\il and canon law for upwards of seven years. During the 
 illness of his master he lectured in his stead for six months 
 
 ' Page 31 ; Close Roll. | 3 Monmnenta Franciscana, (ed. 
 
 ' he ^Q\'c, Fasti Fcclcsice Ani^li- \ Brewer) p. 542. 
 cance
 
 THOMAS CANTILUPE. 6i 
 
 with great success, but being unwilling to wed his master's 
 only daughter, who was offered to him in marriage, he took 
 the next opportunity of returning to his native land. He 
 appears to have been Chancellor of the University of Oxford 
 in or about the year 1238. Offers of honourable employment 
 soon came to him from the two most eminent sons of the 
 University, Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
 Robert Grossetcste, Bishop of Lincoln. Attaching himself 
 to the former as Chancellor of the Archiepiscopal Court, he 
 accompanied his patron into exile, and stayed with him until 
 his death at Soissy in 1240. Then he went to study theology 
 in the convent of the Black Friars at Orleans, and there 
 became a priest, though without actually joining the Dominican 
 Order. He was consecrated Bishop of Chichester by Innocent 
 IV. at the time of the Council of Lyons, and he was canonised 
 by Urban VL in 1261, only eight years after his death.' The 
 shrine of St. Richard, in the cathedral church of Chichester, 
 soon became one of the most popular in the south of England, 
 and his name is still retained in the reformed calendar of 
 the Anglican Church.^ 
 
 Thomas Cantilupe, the last of the Chancellors of Oxford 
 who requires special notice in this place, was a man of illus- 
 trious birth. His grandfather and his father had successively 
 held high office under the Crown ; his mother was a mem.bcr 
 of the noble house of Gournai. Born about the year [220, he 
 was from an early age bred as a clerk, under the advice of his 
 uncle, Walter Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester. Plaving taken 
 his degree as a Master of Arts at Paris, he applied himself to 
 the study of jurisprudence and became a Doctor of Canon 
 Law at Oxford. He was noted alike for his piety and for his 
 wealth. While at Paris he kept a private chaplain to say 
 
 ' The life of St. Richard, by his | Acta Sanctorum, vol. x. pp. 276 
 
 confessor, Ralph Docking, a Doini- j 3'6. 
 
 nican friar, and another life of him j - SieY>^-\cn%' s Memorials 0/ the Sec 
 
 from Capgrave, are printed in the 0/ Chichester.
 
 62 THOMAS CANTILUPE. 
 
 mass for him every morning, and he used daily to feed a 
 certain number of poor persons at his lodging. On one occa- 
 sion he took his plate with him from Oxford to London, and 
 there gave a banquet to the King's son Edward, and other 
 great men of the realm. He was chosen Chancellor of the 
 University in 1262, and it is recorded that he discharged the 
 duties of that office with singular ability. So anxious was he 
 to appease a riot that had broken out between the Northern 
 and the Southern clerks, that he interfered in person, at the im- 
 minent risk of his own safety. He did not come out scatheless, 
 but he freely forgave the injury to his academical cope that 
 was done by a Northerner in the heat of the fray. In order, 
 however, to prevent the recurrence of such events, he made it 
 his rule to confiscate the arms of all riotous scholars, and to 
 bestow them on others of better character. Thus it was that 
 a certain Hugh le Barber was intrusted with the sword of 
 Roger de Horn, a braggart who declared himself able to hold 
 his own against twenty adversaries. 
 
 From Oxford Thomas Cantilupe was summoned by Simon 
 de Montfort and the barons of his party, in 1265, to act as 
 Chancellor of all England, but his tenure of the Great Seal 
 was brought to an abrupt close six months later by the fatal 
 battle of Evesham. After this brief experience of political 
 life, he went to study theology at the University of Paris, and 
 he there gave '' cursory " lectures on the canonical Epistles. He 
 returned, however, to complete his course at Oxford, and it was 
 at Oxford that he took his degree as Doctor of Divinity in 1 273. 
 His "inception" was by his own desire postponed for a while, 
 in order that his former master. Friar Robert Kihvardby^ 
 Archbishop-elect of Canterbury, might preside at it. The 
 ceremony took place in the church of the Black Friars, and 
 at the disputations called " Vcsperice" held on the previous day, 
 the new Archbishop said publicly of his pupil : '' So help 
 me God, this man is as pure in mind and bod}- to-day as on 
 the day of his birth/' and in support of this statement added :
 
 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1264. 63 
 
 " If you ask of mc how I know this, I answer before God, that 
 by hearing his confessions for very many years past I have 
 read his conscience and Hfe as clearly as you could read a 
 well-written book laid open before your eyes." Thomas 
 Cantilupe was at that time about fifty-four years of age. 
 After lecturing on theology for only sixteen months, he re- 
 paired to the Council of L}'ons. On his return he was elected 
 Chancellor of the University for the second time, and in 1275 
 he was promoted to the see of Hereford. He died in Italy 
 seven years later, and after long negotiations he was canonised 
 by Pope John XXII. in 1320.' No Englishman has attained 
 a like honour since that date. 
 
 The great question at issue between Henry III. and the 
 barons did not seriously affect the peace of the University 
 before the year 1264, and the strife which then arose at Oxford 
 seems to have been due as much to local as to political causes. 
 The slightest provocation on either side was generally enough 
 to array clerks and laymen against one another, and it would 
 have been strange indeed if the sudden arrival of the King's son 
 Edward, with a considerable armed force, had not led to some 
 disturbance. As it was, the civic authorities foresaw the danger, 
 and tried to avert it by rigorously closing the gates against 
 the prince, who had taken up his quarters at the King's Hall 
 in the northern suburb. But no sooner had he resumed his 
 journey towards the Welsh Marches than a party of scholars, 
 impatient of restraint, determined to go out and amuse them- 
 selves as usual in the fields of Beaumont. Finding themselves 
 stopped at Smith Gate a gate which stood close to the site 
 now occupied by the Clarendon Buildings they hewed down 
 the wooden doors and carried them off in triumph into the 
 
 Acta Sanctorum, vol. xlix. pp. 1 the bibliographer than to the his- 
 
 539 704. TJic Life and Gcsts of | torian. For a curious account of 
 
 S. Thomas Cantilupe. by Richard ] the reHcs of St. Thomas Canti- 
 
 Strange, a Jesuit, pubhshcd at j hipe, see The MontJi, for January, 
 
 t;hent in 1674, is more vahiable to 1882.
 
 64 ' SECESSION TO NORTHAMPTON. 
 
 country, chanting over them part of the office of the dead. For 
 this outrage some of the offenders were cast into prison by the 
 Mayor and Provosts, or Baihfifs, in spite of the Chancellor's 
 protest. The angry townsmen were about to make further 
 arrests, when a clerk who saw them advancing in a body down 
 the High Street, gave the alarm to his fellows by ringing the 
 common bell of St. Mary's Church. The clerks were all at 
 dinner, but, on hearing the warning sound, they seized their 
 arms and rushed out at once to give battle. They wounded 
 many of their foes, tore their banner, and put them all to 
 flight. Then, flushed with victory, they pillaged a bowyer's 
 shop, set fire to the house of one of the Bailiffs in the south part 
 of the town, and broke open the Spicery, where the other Bailiff" 
 lived, scattering the stores in all directions. Finally, they re- 
 venged themselves on the Mayor, who was a vintner, by invading 
 the Vintry and drawing all the taps, so that the wine flowed out 
 into the street. For the moment the success of the clerks was 
 complete, but when complaint was made to the King, and they 
 found that they were likely to forfeit their privileges, they lost 
 heart, and determined to secede from Oxford.' It was less than 
 two years since, in consequence of a great riot, many masters 
 and scholars had removed from Cambridge to Northampton, 
 with the avowed intention of founding a third university.^ 
 Thither the Oxonians also betook themselves, and a permanent 
 coalition between the two bodies might have been eff'ected if 
 the King had not induced them to return, by promising that 
 they should not be molested if only they would keep the 
 peace. Very few of them, however, had returned to Oxford 
 before the King issued a new writ, ordering all the scholars to 
 quit the town and stay at home until he should recall them 
 after the session of Parliament then about to be held at 
 Oxford. 
 
 ' Robert of Gloucester's C//;w/zV/r, ] vol. i. p. 48 ; Close Roll, 49 Hen 
 (cd. Hearnc)pp. 540542. ! III. m. 10/;; Ayliffe, vol. ii. p. ix. 
 
 - Cooper's yhiJ!a/s n/ Cin/i/'riWiV,
 
 THE BARONS' WAR. 65 
 
 The reason assigned for this arbitrary mandate was, that many 
 of the lords who had been summoned were so " untamed and 
 fierce " that the King could not be responsible for their conduct. 
 But even if he had really entertained this low opinion of his 
 own followers and in the case of his Scottish allies it may have 
 been well founded his real object in dispersing the University 
 was to protect himself against treachery.^ Most of the 
 clerks were in truth disaffected, and the University itself had 
 such sympathy with the insurgent barons that it did not 
 scruple to grant to them a loan of a great part of the money 
 bequeathed by William of Durham as an endowment for poor 
 Masters of Arts." When therefore Henry III. ejected the 
 clerks from Oxford, many of them openly joined the barons, 
 and by their advice repaired to Northampton, 
 
 Meanwhile the King assembled his forces, and, as if to show 
 his confidence in the justice of his cause, ventured within 
 the walls of Oxford in person, and paid his devotions at the 
 shrine of St. Frideswyde, in defiance of the popular super- 
 stition that any king who entered the town would certainly 
 incur the wrath of that holy virgin. 3 Parliament met on the 
 30th of March, and as it failed to bring about a reconciliation 
 between the two parties, Henry HI. raised his camp and 
 marched through Oxford at the head of a formidable army, on 
 his way to Northampton. He found that town closed against 
 him, and foremost among its defenders was a body of Oxford 
 students, arrayed under a banner of their own, and fully 
 
 ' An;2a/es Monastic/, {ed. Luavd) | vol. iv. p. 142; Walsinghami 
 vol. ii. p. 100; vol. iv. p. 139; I Ypodigma NcustricE., (ed. Riley) p. 
 
 Chronicle of Abitigdon, (ed. Halli- 
 well) p. 16 ; Blaauw's Barotis' War, 
 (ed. Pearson) p. 120; Patent Roll, 
 48 Hen. III. p. 2, m. 17 (Hare 
 
 514; Dugdale's Monasticon, (ed. 
 Caley) vol. ii. pp. 137, 149. It is 
 difficult to reconcile this tradition 
 with the records of several royal 
 
 I\IS. f. 20). I visits to Oxford, although it may be 
 
 "^ Ahtn. Acad. p. 781 ; Smith's | remarked that the King's Hall and 
 
 Annals of University College, y>- 10. 
 3 Chronicle of Abingdon, (ed. 
 
 the Dominican convent, where the 
 King sometimes stayed, were alike 
 
 Halliwell) p. 17; Annaks Monastici, situated outside the walls of Oxford.
 
 66 THE BARONS' WAR. 
 
 equipped for war. So well Indeed did they ply their slings, 
 their bows, and their catapults, that the King, enraged at the 
 havoc they wrought among his men, swore that if he suc- 
 ceeded in taking the town he would have them all hanged. 
 The news of the fate awaiting them soon reached the rebel 
 clerks, and, repenting of their rashness in taking up arms, some 
 of them ran away, while others renewed their tonsures and 
 took refuge in the churches. Northampton was taken by 
 stratagem in a few days, and Henry III. was only deterred 
 from carrying out his threat by the remonstrances of his own 
 partisans, who pointed out that such violent measures would 
 alienate from his cause all those of his nobles and other 
 followers who had sons or kinsmen among the scholars.^ 
 
 The battle of Lewes, a month later, entirely reversed the 
 positions of the contending parties, and Henry HI. found 
 himself a prisoner in the hands of Simon de Montfort. One 
 of the first acts of the conqueror was to issue writs in the 
 name of the King, ordering the dispersed scholars to return to 
 Oxford, and by midsummer the University was re-established 
 in its former habitation. ^ 
 
 After the King had recovered his liberty, the University 
 obtained from him a confirmation of former privileges, and 
 also a decree that the rent of single rooms occupied by clerks 
 in private houses should be assessed every five years, in the 
 same manner as that of entire houses let as inns or halls, 
 so that young men coming up fresh from the country should 
 not be cheated by extortionate landlords.^ The Papal Legate, 
 Ottobon, was induced to confirm the charter of his predecessor 
 Cardinal Nicholas, and also to promise an indulgence of twenty 
 days to all penitents who should attend the three great anni- 
 versary masses of the University. '^ 
 
 ' Knyghtoii, in Twysden's ^'f;'/})- " Rcgistnim Privilcgionun Univ. 
 
 tores Decern, c. 2447. Oxon. (Charter Roll, 52 Hen. III. m. 
 
 " Patent Roll, 48 Hen. III. p. 2. 6) ; Patent Roll, 53 Hen. Ill.m. 17 
 
 m. 11/; (Hare MS. f. 21) ; Annales (Hare MS. f. 23); Miin.Aead.^.Tjj^ 
 
 Monastici, vol. iv. p. 139. ' Man. Acad. pp. 31, 32.
 
 O UTRA GE B V THE JE 1 1 'S. 67 
 
 The most memorable incident that occurred at Oxford 
 during the last few years of the reign of Henry III. testifies 
 to the bitter antagonism that subsisted between the Christians 
 and the Jews.' It was on Ascension Day, 1268, as a long 
 procession of clergy was wending its way towards the ceme- 
 tery of St. Frideswyde's, to hear the public sermon, which 
 the Chancellor of the University was wont to preach on 
 that day, that a number of Jews made a sudden attack on 
 the cross-bearer, and having wrenched the cross out of his 
 hands, trampled it underfoot ignominiously. The King's son, 
 Edward, who happened to be in the town at the time, at once 
 sent news of the outrage to his father at Woodstock, and then 
 the King in council decreed that the Jews of Oxford should be 
 forced to atone for this insult to the Christian religion, by provid- 
 ing two new crosses in the stead of the one they had broken. 
 The larger of these crosses was directed to be " made of marble, 
 fair and lofty, well and suitably carved and polished, with a 
 crucifix above on one side and a figure of the Blessed Virgin 
 with her Son on the other, conveniently arranged and gilded " ; 
 and it was to be set up on the very spot where the outrage 
 had been committed, with an inscription explaining the cause 
 of its erection. The other cross was to be carefully wrought in 
 silver gilt, having a staff of the same size as that of an 
 archbishop's cross, and was to be given to the University to be 
 carried in procession on all solemn occasions. The Oxford 
 Jews, shrinking from the cost of constructing such splendid 
 memorials, and shrinking yet more from the humiliation of 
 having to provide for the use of Christian clergy the distinctive 
 symbol of their hated creed, tried to evade the royal commands, 
 by making over their goods collusively to people whom they 
 could trust, and thus rendering themselves apparently poor. 
 The manoeuvre, however, proved futile, for the King ordered 
 
 ' A dispute in 1273, betv.-een tlie 
 Chancellor and scholars on one 
 side, and the Mayor and townsmen 
 
 on the other, seems to have been 
 settled by the royal commissioners 
 appointed for the purpose. 
 
 2
 
 68 PUNISHMENT OF THE JEWS. 
 
 the Sheriff, the Mayor, and the cofferers of the Jews at Oxford, 
 to make search for the secreted goods, and, if necessary, to 
 seize and sell them. On the other hand, certain townsmen 
 complained that the erection of a large cross in the street 
 would seriously interfere with traffic, and in consequence of 
 their remonstrance, it was decreed that the marble cross 
 should be placed opposite to the synagogue. This order, 
 which certainly seemed likely to cause fresh quarrels between 
 Jews and Christians, was in turn revoked, and the King gave 
 instructions that the cross should be set up near the church of 
 St. John the Baptist, in the open space where his ex-Chanccllor 
 and trusty adviser, Walter de Merton, was then rearing the 
 walls of the earliest Oxford college, and he at the same time 
 entrusted the custody of the silver cross to the Scholars of 
 jMerton. It was not long, however, before the King was once 
 more induced to reconsider the matter, and the marble cross 
 was eventually placed on or near the site originally chosen, 
 between the cemetery of St. Frideswyde's and the Jewry, while 
 the processional cross was delivered into the hands of the 
 officers of the University, and by them deposited with the 
 rest of the common treasure in the Priory of St. Frideswyde.' 
 These historical details, trivial as they may at first sight 
 appear, are interesting, as showing firstly, that up to the year 
 1268 the University did not possess any buildings of its own, in 
 which it could keep its property, and secondly, that the college 
 of Walter de Merton, like most novel institutions, was for a 
 time viewed with jealousy, if not with suspicion. 
 
 ' Tovey's Anglia Judaica, pp. 
 '70173; Mun. Acad. pp. 36, 37, 
 
 7S0 ; Ross, Historia Reguni, (ed. 
 Hearne) p. 202.
 
 CHAPTER I I I. 
 
 Origin of the Collegiate System The Chantry of Alan Basset The 
 Bequest of William of Durham Origin of Balliol College^Walter 
 de Merton Origin of Merton College Ordinance of 1264 En- 
 largement of the Scheme Purchase of Land Statutes of 1274 
 Reforms of Archbishop Peckham Origin of University College 
 Ordinances of 1280, 1292, and 131 1 Development of the House 
 of Balliol. 
 
 OR those who are acquainted with the Oxford 
 of the present century only, and who regard 
 the admission of " unattached students " to 
 academical status as a novel experiment, it 
 may be difficult to realise that the University 
 was a large and flourishing body long before it contained a 
 single college of secular students, The collegiate system did 
 not take its rise until the second half of the thirteenth 
 century, and at least three more centuries elapsed before it 
 became predominant. Throughout the mediaeval period, the 
 great majority of the secular students lived either in rooms 
 hired from the townsmen, or in halls, hostels, or inns, which, 
 though set apart for their use, and governed by graduates, 
 were little more than boarding-houses. It was not until 
 the reign of Henry V. that clerks were forbidden to 
 lodge in the houses of laymen ; and the halls succumbed 
 only gradually to the increasing power of the incorporated 
 colleges. 
 
 There are several instances in the early history of Oxford 
 of kings, nobles, and prelates, paying for the education of
 
 70 
 
 WILLIAM OF DURHAM. 
 
 poor students who had been born on their estates, or had 
 otherwise estabhshed a claim on their bounty. Rich men 
 who were very zealous for learning may have resolved to 
 maintain a succession of students at the University, may have 
 engaged a special abode for them, and may even have laid 
 down some sort of rules for their conduct ; but it is obvious 
 that arrangements which depended absolutely on the pleasure 
 of a living patron, were wanting in stability. The first per- 
 manent provision known to have been made for the support of 
 scholars at the University, is contained in a deed of the year 
 1243, by which the Prior and Convent of Bicester undertook 
 to carry out the instructions given in the will of Alan Basset, 
 then lately deceased. In consideration of two hundred marks 
 received by them from his estate, they bound themselves to 
 pay eight marks a year to two chaplains, who should pray 
 daily for the souls of Alan Basset, his wife, and the faithful 
 departed, at Oxford, or at whatever other place might there- 
 after become the seat of the University.^ This foundation was 
 primarily a chantry, and, as such, it was suppressed in the 
 reign of Edward VI.; but a stipulation that the chaplains 
 should be "scholars" fairly entitles it to a place among 
 institutions designed for the encouragement of learning. 
 
 About five years after the establishment of the chantry of 
 Alan Basset, Master William of Durham, a scholar of some 
 renown, bequeathed to the University of Oxford the sum of 
 three hundred and ten marks wherewith to buy yearly rents 
 for the maintenance of ten or more Masters in perpetuity. 
 He died at Rouen in 1249, and, after an interval of four 
 years, the University began to buy houses in the town of 
 Oxford with part of the money which it had received from the 
 executors of his will. Most of the fund however was allowed 
 
 ' ReL,nster of Bp. Wallis, f. 71 
 (Twync MS. vol. xii. f. 159). Alan 
 liassct, the founder of the chantry, 
 may perhaps be identified with 
 
 Alan Basset, who held various high 
 offices under John and Henry III., 
 and died in 1232. Cf. Foss's 
 Judges- of England.
 
 5/A' JOHN DE BALLIOL. yi 
 
 to lie idle in a coffer known as "the Chest of William of 
 Durham," from which unprofitable loans were occasionally 
 granted to clerks, and from which the University did not 
 scruple to help itself in times of need. "Certain magnates" 
 too, presumably the barons who came to Oxford to attend the 
 parliament, or conference, of 1264, borrowed a considerable 
 sum from the Chest, and it was not until more than thirty 
 years after the death of William of Durham that any of 
 the rents purchased with his money began to be applied in 
 accordance with the terms of his will.^ Irrespectively 
 however of this delay, William of Durham can scarcely 
 be considered the founder of the earliest secular college 
 at Oxford, for it is very doubtful whether he intended that 
 the recipients of his alms should be an organised community 
 enjoying corporate rights. 
 
 Sir John de Balliol, the father of the claimant of the 
 Scottish crown, went some way towards founding the college 
 which bears his name; but he too left his scheme to be 
 perfected by others. It was in or before the year 1260 that 
 he incurred the censure of Walter Kirkham, Bishop of 
 Durham, by some serious offence against ecclesiastical order, 
 and he was not pardoned until he had submitted himself to 
 be publicly scourged by the Bishop at the door of the 
 cathedral church, and had vowed to set apart a certain sum 
 of money for the perpetual maintenance of poor students at 
 the University.^ In fulfilment of this vow, an establishment 
 known as " the House of Balliol " was ere long opened at 
 Oxford, for the reception of poor scholars, the patron granting 
 to each of them a weekly allowance of eight pence for 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 780 783; ham, Archdeacon of Durhnm 
 \\\\\. 'iiVM'CviS An7tals of University . Archbishop Clay's Rci^ister, (cd. 
 
 C^/A'^t', pp. 4 10, 1720; Monu- 
 vienta Franciscana, p. 256. WilUam 
 of Durham has by some been 
 identified with VVilham dc Lane- 
 
 Raine) p. 245. 
 
 - Clironicon de Lanercosf, (ed. 
 StCN'enson) p. 69.
 
 72 WALTER DE MERTON. 
 
 "commons/' that is to say, for a share of the food at a 
 common table.' Nevertheless it does not appear that he 
 ever assigned to them any definite endowment, or accorded 
 to them the right of self-government. He died in 1269, and 
 although his widow DervorguiUa continued to pay the weekly 
 allowances, she did not until 1282 take steps for giving a 
 permanent character to the House of Balliol.^ 
 
 While the scheme of William of Durham was in abeyance, 
 and while that of John de Balliol was in slow process of 
 development, Walter de Merton planned, founded, and 
 firmly established at Oxford, a college which now boasts more 
 than six centuries of corporate existence, and which may 
 fairly claim to be the oldest institution of the kind in 
 England. Too little, unfortunately, is known about the 
 remarkable man who thus originated a society destined to 
 serve as a model for many others at Cambridge as well as at 
 Oxford. His surname seems to show that he was either born 
 or educated at Merton in Surrey, and a notice of him by 
 Adam Marsh has given rise to a conjecture that he was a pupil 
 of that illustrious teacher. In 1238 he is simply styled 
 " clerk," and it is not until twenty years later that he figures 
 in public life for the first time, as Keeper of the Great Seal. 
 The barons caused him to be dismissed from his post in 1260, 
 on account of his attachment to the King's party ; but in the 
 following year Henry HI., without consulting them, definitely 
 appointed him Lord Chancellor at a salary of four hundred 
 marks a year.3 Having by his own talents and industry 
 raised himself to a position of wealth and honour, Walter de 
 Merton resolved to do something for the advancement of 
 learning, especially among the members of his own family. 
 With this object he obtained licence, in 1262, to assign his 
 
 ' Chroiiicoii de Mailros, in Ful- | Manuscripts Coviniission, p. 442. 
 
 man's Re7uin Anglicarum Scrip- \ ^ I5p. Ilobhousc's Sketch of t lie 
 
 tores. \ Life of Walter de Merton, pp. 
 
 ^ Eourtlt Report cf tlie II istoric'd i 7.
 
 ORIGIN OF MERTON COILEGE. 73 
 
 manors of Maiden and P'arley for the maintenance of clerks 
 studying in the schools.' At this time he apparently 
 intended to employ the canons of Merton as the dispensers of 
 his bounty, yet when he executed the conveyance he omitted 
 all mention of them, and transferred the property to eight of 
 his nephews who were then residing at the schools. This was 
 not merely a gift from a celibate churchman to his nearest 
 male heirs, but a lasting endowment for scholars, provision 
 being made for the filling up of such vacancies as should from 
 time to time occur among the eight clerks nominated in 
 the deed.^ The locality in which Walter de Merton placed 
 his original scholars is not indicated by name, but the 
 course afterwards taken by him in the matter, leaves no 
 reasonable doubt that the schools which they were attending 
 were those of Oxford. 
 
 In 1264, finding perhaps that the revenues of the manors 
 of Maiden and Farley were more than sufficient for the 
 purpose to which they had been assigned, the founder 
 enlarged his scheme considerably, and issued a more elaborate 
 ordinance for the government of "'the House of the Scholars 
 of INIerton." He thereby appointed that the estates should 
 be administered by a Warden, who should occupy the house 
 at Maiden, in company with two or three aged or infirm 
 chaplains, and who should, like them, be supplied with 
 all the necessaries of life. The Scholars on the other 
 hand, not less than twenty in number, were directed to 
 reside, if possible, under one roof, at Oxford or wherever else 
 the University might happen to be, on a yearly allowance 
 of forty shillings apiece. A common dress was enjoined 
 on them in token of mutual affection, and they were 
 required to attend one or two anniversary services in com- 
 memoration of their benefactors. They were allowed to retain 
 their places so long as they did not break the rules by 
 
 ' Foundation Statutes of Mcrtoii 
 College, (ed. Percival) p. i. 
 
 Ibid, p.
 
 74 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 misconduct or inattention to study, by the acceptance of a 
 benefice, or what is more remarkable by the assumption of 
 a reh'gious habit. They were entrusted with the privilege of 
 filling up all vacancies in their own number, a preference 
 being, however, reserved firstly for the founder's kin, and 
 secondly for natives of the diocese of Winchester. Eight or 
 nine of the senior Scholars were charged with the duty of 
 going to Maiden once a year, for the purpose of auditing the 
 Warden's accounts. In case the Warden or one of the Scholars 
 became incapable of performing his duties efficiently, he was 
 to be admitted as a brother of the house at Maiden, and 
 maintained in it for the rest of his days. This establishment 
 was also designed to be an almshouse for such servants of the 
 founder as might happen to be left indigent at the time of 
 his death, and a preparatory school for poor boys connected 
 with his family. Finally, Walter de Merton placed his founda- 
 tion in close connexion with a hospital which he had erected 
 at Basingstoke, and constituted the Bishop of Winchester its 
 special patron and protector.' 
 
 The ordinance of 1264, though solemnly confirmed by the 
 King and by the Bishop of Winchester, bears evident traces 
 of haste in its composition, and takes much for granted. It 
 was probably drawn up by Walter de Merton in order that 
 some account of his intentions might remain on record, if he 
 should lose his life or his fortune in the civil war which was 
 then raging in England. The migration of the University of 
 Oxford to Northampton might moreover have disarranged his 
 whole scheme, if he had not distinctly made provision for such 
 a contingency. Six years later, when peace had been re-estab- 
 lished, he issued a more perfect ordinance, explaining many 
 points which had been left doubtful in the first, and making 
 several changes in the rules. It is scarcely necessary, however, 
 to specify the different additions and corrections that were then 
 introduced, inasmuch as the ordinance of 1270 was in its turn 
 
 ' rercival, p. 5 ; Statu tts of tlic Cdlci^^cs 0/ (Ai/c^/v/, 1853, vol. i.
 
 SITE AND ENDOWMENTS. 75 
 
 superseded in 1274 by a code of forty-one statutes, which 
 contain the final expression of the founder's wishes, as 
 modified by the experience of ten years. It is sufficient to 
 observe that the ordinance of 1270 confirmed the dual system 
 by which one part of the community was maintained at 
 Maiden and the other part at Oxford, and that it added 
 considerably to the former endowments.' 
 
 At first Walter de jMerton seems to have hired for his 
 scholars one or more of the small hostels set apart for the 
 use of members of the University, but as early as the year 1266 
 he began to acquire land, in order to give them a permanent 
 habitation of their own at Oxford. The site which he selected 
 for the purpose was in the southern quarter of the town, a 
 little to the east of the Augustinian Priory of St. Frideswyde, 
 Having purchased of the Abbot of Reading a plot of ground 
 on the western side of the parochial church of St. John 
 the Baptist, he obtained the King's permission to enclose 
 it, provided that in time of war the burghers might pass 
 through it in order to have access to the town -wall, then 
 lately built. The advowson of the adjoining church passed 
 to him with this plot of ground, and in the same year he 
 secured for his new foundation the advowson of the church of 
 St. Peter in the East, and of the chapel of the Holy Cross 
 at Holywell outside the town, and he induced the Bishop of 
 Lincoln to appropriate all three benefices to it for ever, so that 
 the Warden and Scholars should receive the tithes and other 
 parochial dues. He also bought a tenement on the eastern 
 side of St. John the Baptist's from the Prior of St. 
 Frideswyde's, and another from a Jew named Jacob the 
 son of IMoses of London.^ On the site of these he soon 
 began to erect buildings. He had conceived his scheme on 
 so grand a scale that he resolved to rebuild the chancel of 
 the parochial church as a chapel for his scholars, and also to 
 
 ' Pcrcival, pp. 14 40; Statittts 1 - Hobhouse, pp. 16 i8:Tovey's 
 0/ ihc CoIh\i;\'s 0/ O.vjc'fii. \ .-h/^/i'a ///(/a/or, p'p. i So 183.
 
 76 MERTON COLLEGE. 
 
 cut a channel to divert some of the waters of the Cherwell, so 
 that they might wash the court-yard of the College.^ None 
 of the existing buildings of Merton College can, however, be 
 ascribed to his time, although the high altar of the chapel was 
 dedicated in 1277. The handiwork of the founder must 
 be sought not in any material structure, but in the fatherly 
 regulations by which Merton College was governed until a 
 few years ago. 
 
 The statutes of 1274, says Bishop Hobhouse, exhibit 
 for the first time in English history " an incorporated body 
 of secular students, endowed with all the attributes of the 
 great Corporations of Regulars self-support, self-govern- 
 ment, self-replenishment settled locally in connection with 
 a great seat of study, acquiring a share of that influence 
 in the University which the establishment of powerful 
 monasteries within its bounds had almost monopolized 
 in the hands of the Regulars, and wielding that influence 
 for the benefit of the Church in the advancement of the 
 secular clergy, who for lack of support and encourage- 
 ment in the Universities, were sadly decayed in learning." ' 
 They show that the founder had for some reason seen fit to 
 close the house at Maiden, and transfer its inmates to Oxford, 
 where the House of the Scholars of Merton was duly 
 established within definite territorial limits. The Warden was 
 the head of the whole body, and occupied a more important 
 position than that assigned to him by the ordinance of 1264. 
 No longer a mere manager of estates and distributor of 
 revenues, he was required to be a man " circumspect in 
 matters spiritual and temporal," and therefore presumably an 
 ecclesiastic. The right of electing the Warden was vested in 
 the seven senior Scholars, who might, if they pleased, make 
 choice of one of their own number. Although liable to be 
 reproved by inferior officers for misconduct, the Warden was 
 only removable at the discretion of the Bishop of Winchester. 
 ' I'crcival, ]). 7. | -' Hobliousc, p. 14.
 
 SCHOLARS AND FELLOWS. 77 
 
 He had an allowance of fifty marks a year for his tabic, and 
 he drew upon the common fund for the wages of his 
 servants, for the expenses of his wardrobe, and for the keep 
 of his two horses. Every autumn he rode on circuit to the 
 different estates belonging to the society, and, after examining 
 their condition and prospects, fixed the terms on which they 
 should be farmed during the ensuing year. He also received 
 the rents from the collectors. 
 
 The Scholars, for whose benefit the society was primarily 
 established, formed the largest and most important section of 
 it, and their number was appointed to increase in proportion 
 to the increase of the revenue.' They were required to be 
 " honourable, chaste, peaceable, humble, needy, teachable, and 
 anxious for improvement," and to have undergone a year's 
 probation before formal admission. They were bound by 
 oath to accept and obey the rules of the House, and were all 
 obliged to go through the usual course in arts, the founder 
 having expressly commended philosophy as a most profitable 
 training for theologians and others. At an indefinite time they 
 were expected to proceed thence to the study of divinity, and 
 the Warden might give leave to four or five of the most advanced 
 to learn canon law or even civil law. It would appear that 
 the elder students acted as tutors to the younger students, 
 who were under the special charge of a resident grammar- 
 master. This gramm.ar-master might be consulted without 
 shame by the elder Scholars, and he was authorised to correct 
 all mistakes that he heard in their conversation, whether Latin 
 or English. Old and young were alike styled Scholars. 
 When mentioned in relation to one another they were some- 
 times called Fellows, but the word Fellow had not as yet 
 acquired the technical sense which it now bears, and it was 
 
 ' A papal bull of tlie year 1280 who were to till the ground and 
 
 states that the establishment was wait on the scholars. Twyne MS. 
 
 founded for forty scholars and for vol. xxii, f. 322. 
 certain lavmen living religiously.
 
 78 ME R TON COLLEGE. 
 
 only used by Walter dc Mcrton in token of the spirit of 
 equality and companionship which should prevail among the 
 recipients of his bounty. It occurs in a similar sense in 
 77ie Reeve s Tale a century later : 
 
 " Our corne is stolen, men wol us fonncs calle, 
 Both the wardein, and eke our fellawes alle." ' 
 
 The Scholars of Merton Hall, though of course clerks 
 according to the wider meaning of the term, were not 
 necessarily in holy orders. They were obliged to vacate their 
 places on accepting a benefice, or on entering a monastic 
 order. Expulsion was inflicted for grave offences, for in- 
 subordination, and for idleness, while only such Scholars 
 as had been expelled for offences of the more venial class, 
 and had since shown signs of repentance, could ever hope to 
 be re-admitted, and then only as probationers. If after a 
 year's illness a Scholar seemed incurable, he was transferred to 
 St. John's Hospital at Basingstoke. The right of settling 
 all these matters lay with the Warden and six or seven senior 
 Scholars, and against their decision there was no appeal. 
 General chapters, or scrutinies, at which any member of 
 the house might bring forward accusations against his fellows 
 and ventilate grievances, were held three times a year, and 
 the records of the fourteenth century show how minutely the 
 conduct of the different inmates used to be examined on 
 these occasions.^ When vacancies occurred, they were filled 
 up by the unanimous vote of the Warden and at least si.x 
 senior Scholars, candidates who were of the founder's kin, or 
 natives of a diocese in which the College held property, being 
 expressly preferred. In point of fact Northerners were 
 seldom admitted. 3 The Scholars received an annual allowance 
 of fifty shillings apiece, or rather of so much of that sum as 
 
 ' Chaucer's Canfninny Ta/i's. \ 6jo 674. 
 - Rogers's Llistory of Agri- \ ^ Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 33. 
 culture aud Piiccs, vol. ii. pp. ]
 
 INTERNAL ECONOMY. 79 
 
 remained over after the value of their commons had been 
 deducted. It has been remarked as characteristic of Walter 
 de Merton's scheme, that he assigned some portion of secular 
 business to as many of his scholars as could be employed in 
 the affairs of the College ; three of them acted as bursars, or 
 treasurers, and five others as auditors of the accounts,' The 
 eldest in each dormitory was styled the Dean, and was held 
 responsible for the good behaviour and industry of the other 
 inmates. All the Scholars dined and supped together in the 
 refectory, or hall, where, according to monastic usage, some one 
 read aloud in Latin during meals. The principal table was 
 occupied by the Warden, the Vice-Warden, and three or four 
 chaplains, and was served by five menials. To this table 
 came also such of the land-agents of the College as had 
 business to transact at Oxford. Inasmuch as most of the 
 farms were kept in hand until the middle of the fourteenth 
 century, the whole society was in great measure dependent 
 on the honesty and prudence of these agents, who, by the 
 founder's order, were constituted brethren of the house.'' 
 Once a year a rigorous inquiry was held at one of the 
 manors into the administration of the Warden, the agents, 
 and the bailiffs, in the presence of the Vice- Warden and eight 
 or ten of the senior Scholars. If it appeared that the annual 
 revenue had been increased by their good management, one 
 tenth of the increase v.^cnt to better the fare at the Warden's 
 table. All the domestic service at the house in Oxford, and 
 as far as possible in the manor houses, was performed by 
 males, but the number and position of the difiercnt servants 
 are not specified in the statutes. 
 
 Poor boys of the founder's kin, up to the number of 
 
 Rogers, vol. i. p. 115. Paris. This institution however 
 
 = y /;/(-/. p. 24. Jt has been thought was intended for theologians only, 
 
 by some that Walter de Merton and there is little resemblance 
 
 based his statutes on those of the between the two codes. 
 College of Robert de Sorbonne at
 
 So ME J^ TON COLLEGE. 
 
 thirteen, received a free education under the care of the 
 Warden, in order that they might become quahfied for 
 scholarships, Walter de Merton justifying the favour shown to 
 his own relations on the score that they would have succeeded 
 to his property in the ordinary course of law, if he had not 
 disinherited them by bestowing his goods on an academical 
 institution. All members of the society were required to 
 attend the commemorations of benefactors, that were held at 
 the times of the three general chapters, or scrutinies. The 
 Warden and eight or ten senior Scholars had the power of 
 making addition to the statutes. 
 
 Such was the novel institution set up at Oxford by Walter 
 de Merton, at a time when other churchmen were still intent 
 on furthering the extension of the monastic system. Many 
 of his regulations were obviously copied from those of the 
 religious houses. The subjection of the inmates of the House 
 of the Scholars of Merton to a common head, their freedom 
 from external interference, the novitiate to be undergone 
 before admission, the use of a common table and of a 
 common burial-ground, the anniversary services for the soul 
 of the founder, and other arrangements, recall the internal 
 discipline of a monastery. On the other hand, the Scholars 
 were not lodged in a common dormitory, they were not 
 dressed quite uniformly, and they were not required to 
 observe the canonical hours on ordinary days. Above all, 
 they were not bound by perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, 
 or obedience. 
 
 Walter de Merton was promoted to the see of Rochester 
 in 12/4, but he died three years after, leaving the material 
 fabric of his foundation at Oxford to be completed by others. 
 In the later part of his life, he transferred the right of patron- 
 age and visitation from the Bishop of Winchester to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who was accordingly called upon 
 to settle questions from time to time arising out of ambiguities 
 in the statutes. In 1284, there was a dissension between
 
 CORRECTION OF ABUSES. 8i 
 
 the Warden and the Scholars, and Archbishop Pcckhani 
 had occasion to issue an ordinance in which the latter 
 were severely reproved. The charges made against them 
 show that even within seven years of the founder's death 
 the discipline of the society had become considerably 
 relaxed. The canonical hours were entirely neglected by 
 the Scholars, and the person who was appointed to read 
 aloud at meals from the Morals of St. Gregory could 
 scarcely make himself heard amid the prevailing din. The 
 rule enjoining Latin conversation was habitually broken, and 
 grammarians were despised. The Warden was set at nought 
 by the Scholars, and even by the servants, and excluded from 
 the weekly audit of accounts. The fare at table was less frugal 
 than of old, and the cook and the brewer were in receipt of un- 
 authorised salaries. The Scholars habitually took wood and 
 straw for their private use, and sometimes dined outside the 
 precincts of the College. Beneficed clergymen clung to their 
 scholarships tenaciously, and the Warden could not obtain 
 the expulsion of flagrant offenders. The statutes as to study 
 were similarly violated, the Scholars of Merton Hall caring- 
 only to acquire such learning as would prove useful and 
 remunerative. Some devoted themselves to medicine, pre- 
 tending that it was a branch of philosophy, while others 
 who had duly received permission to study law for a limited 
 time, could not be induced to return to the liberal arts. 
 Vacant places, which should have been bestowed on promising 
 youths, were reserved for men who had already achieved 
 success in the schools, and no special favour was shown 
 to the founder's kin, to natives of the dioceses of Win- 
 chester and Canterbury, or even to the poorer candidates. 
 The elementary school for boys had been suppressed.^ 
 Most of the abuses were corrected by the Archbishop,^ and 
 
 ' Statutes of the Colleges. 
 - The school for boys was main- 
 tained as late as the rei'ni of 
 
 Edward III., Warton's History oj 
 English Poetry, (ed. Hazhtt) vol. 
 
 iii. p. 332.
 
 82 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 in spite of various imperfections, Merton Hall soon acquired a 
 prominent position in the University. Its Scholars became 
 distinguished for their sobriety of conduct and their appli- 
 cation to study ; its Warden obtained a rank equal to that 
 of the heads of the religious houses. 
 
 Mention has been already made of the fund established at 
 Oxford by William of Durham. Of the two hundred pounds 
 and more, bequeathed by him for the maintenance of ten 
 Masters, only one hundred had been invested in the pur- 
 chase of rents within the first thirty years after his death, 
 the whole income therefrom amounting to no more than 
 twelve pounds a year. An important step, however, was 
 taken in 12S0, by the appointment of certain Masters 
 to enquire into the state of the fund, and to draw up a 
 scheme for its future management. The report of this 
 committee, accepted and confirmed by the University, was 
 jM-actically the foundation-charter of the institution which 
 is now known as University College. It provided for the 
 establishment of a very small society, devoted exclusively to 
 the study of theology. Four poor Masters, who had already 
 acted as Regents in the schools of arts, were to be 
 the only partakers of William of Durham's bount}-, until 
 an increase in the revenue should permit an increase in 
 their number. One at least of them was to be in priest's 
 orders, and thc\' were all to stud}' divinity, under the super- 
 intendence of persons appointed by the Chancellor, They 
 were to li\'e together on a yearly allowance of fift)- shillings 
 apiece, the idea of association being evidentl)' borrowed from 
 the arrangements of Merton Hall. One of them was to 
 receive an additional allowance of five shillings, in considera- 
 tion of his collecting the rents and transacting other secular 
 business, in conjunction with a Regent Master deputed b}' 
 the University for the purpose. Inasmuch as it was not 
 intended that the Scholars should form a society independent 
 of the Uni\'crsil\-, they were alIo\vcd only a limited share
 
 ORDINANCE OF 1292. 83 
 
 in the management of their own affairs, all real power being 
 vested in the Chancellor, the Masters Regent in Theology, 
 and other officers of the University.' 
 
 A house at the corner of School Street and St, Mildred's 
 Lane, on the site now occupied by the north-eastern part of 
 Brasenose College, had been purchased with some of William 
 of Durham's money as far back as the year 1253, and it 
 would appear that the Scholars appointed under the 
 ordinance of 1280 were there provided with rooms free of 
 charge. Through being the first hall acquired by the Uni- 
 versity, this building received the name of University Hall.^ 
 The members of the foundation came to be generally known 
 as "the Scholars of University Hall," although the proper 
 description of them as " the Scholars of the Hall of William 
 of Durham" was retained in formal documents until the 
 reign of Elizabeth. 
 
 The revenue of the fund of William of Durham must have 
 increased considerably between 1280 and 1292, for by some 
 statutes issued in the latter year, it was ordained that there 
 should be two classes of Scholars, the seniors receiving 6s. Sd. 
 a year apiece more than the juniors, and having authority over 
 them. A further allowance of 6s. 8d. apiece was granted to 
 the Scholars for their servants and rooms, and the bursar's 
 salary was doubled. As, however, the Hall was not yet full, an 
 arrangement was made by which other clerks of good character 
 might be admitted to lodge and board there at their own 
 expense. In them we may recognise the protot}'pes of the 
 "commoners," not members of any foundation, who now 
 form the great majority of the academical body at Oxford. 
 New benefactors having arisen, a library was established in 
 University Hall, from which books might be borrowed under 
 strict conditions. A rule was also made that disputations 
 should be held in the Hall on certain days. Latin was 
 
 Muiiinicnta Acadonica, pp. ] ' Smith's Annals of University 
 780783. 1 C^/A;i,v, pp. 9, 56 -37, 60.
 
 84 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 prescribed as the language for ordinary conversation, and 
 the practice of reading aloud at meals was confirmed. The 
 Scholars were made parties to the annual audit, and w^erc 
 allowed the use of a common seal, but they were also subjected 
 to severer discipline. They were enjoined "to live honourably 
 as clerks, in a manner befitting saints, not fighting, not using 
 scurrilous or low words, not reciting, singing, or willingly hear- 
 ing, songs or tales of an amatory or indecent character, not 
 taunting or provoking one another to anger, and not shouting 
 so as to disturb the studies or repose of the industrious." A 
 graduated scale was made, according to which a Scholar who 
 insulted another in private was fined i^., if the offence was 
 committed before their fellows 2s., and if in the street, in 
 church, or in the recreation ground, 6s. ^d.'^ 
 
 The general tendency of the statutes of 1292 was certainly 
 to enlarge the independence of the Scholars ; and nineteen 
 years later a supplementary body of statutes was made, by 
 which the Scholars were allowed to fill up vacancies in their 
 own society, the Chancellor, Masters in Theology, and Proctors 
 of the University reserving only to themselves the right of 
 rejecting the persons elected, and of expelling offenders. 
 The favour which would seem to have been hitherto shown 
 to natives of the neighbourhood of Durham, was secured 
 for the future by a proviso that they should be preferred to 
 other candidates of equal merit. It was also ordered, that any 
 Scholar who absented himself from Oxford for a year, or 
 accepted a living worth more than five marks, should thereby 
 forfeit his place. The old rule about the study of theology 
 was maintained in all its rigour, and a rule was added 
 obliging every Scholar to become an "opponent" in the 
 schools, within seven years of his first attendance at lectures. 
 The study of canon law was declared permissible during vaca- 
 tion tinie only. The Scholars were required to provide two 
 masses a year in the parish church, for the soul of William of 
 ' Mint. Acdd. pp. 56 61.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 85 
 
 Durham, and the senior among them was appointed to be 
 their chaplain.' 
 
 Reserving the subsequent history of University Hall for 
 future notice, it is now necessary to revert to the students 
 who had been maintained at Oxford by the alms of Sir John 
 dc Balliol. It appears that for some time after his death 
 they received their allowances regularly from his widow, 
 Dervorguilla; but there is no proof of their existence as a dis- 
 tinct community earlier than the year 1282, when a formal ordin- 
 ance was issued for their government. In this, Dervorguilla 
 committed the supreme authority to her two proctors, or agents, 
 Friar Hugh de Hertilpol and Master William de Menyl, who, 
 though members of the University, did not live in the house 
 with the Scholars. The ordinance does not explain how future 
 proctors were to be appointed after the death of the foundress, 
 and it is only by examining a very imperfect list of these 
 officers, who were also described as " Rectors," or "Extraneous 
 Masters," that we arc led to believe that one of them was to 
 be chosen from among the Franciscan friars, and the other 
 from among the secular Masters of Arts. Such a belief, how- 
 ever, receives considerable support from an ancient tradition, 
 which points to Friar Richard de Slickebury as the confessor 
 of Dervorguilla, and the person who persuaded her to carry 
 out the wishes of Sir John de Balliol wdth regard to the 
 scholars at Oxford.^ According to the ordinance of 1282 
 the Principal, the resident head of the society, was to be 
 elected by the Scholars from among themselves, and was 
 to exercise some degree of jurisdiction over them. The 
 Scholars were to attend lectures on all ordinary days 
 according to the statutes of the University, and also to take 
 part in fortnightly disputations in their own house. On 
 Sundays, and on all the principal festivals, they were to 
 attend divine service in church, and to hear sermons. They 
 
 Mini. Acad. pp. 8791. I rhaiiits. ('I'wync M.S. vol. .wii. 
 
 ^ Woodford's Ansn'cr io Anna- I f. 103.)
 
 86 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 were also bound to provide three masses a year for the soul of 
 Sir John de Balliol, and to make daily mention of him, of 
 his widow, of his relations, and of the two Proctors, in their 
 graces before and after meat. If the weekly commons for 
 the whole society cost more than the sum allotted for the 
 purpose by the foundress, the Proctors were to levy the 
 necessary money from the richer Scholars only, and in cases 
 of discontent they were empowered to expel all grumblers. 
 71ie use of Latin for ordinary conversation was more strictly 
 enjoined on the Scholars of the House of Balliol than on 
 those of Merton Hall or University Hall, for any one break- 
 ing the rule on the subject was to be relegated by the 
 Principal to a separate table at meals, and, if still contu- 
 macious at the end of a week, he was to be expelled by 
 the Proctors. The food that remained after meals was to 
 be given to some poor scholar.' 
 
 Such were the chief regulations issued by Dervorguilla in 
 1282, and it is clear that they were only intended to confirm 
 and supplement certain other "statutes and customs" of which 
 unfortunately no memorials arc now extant. 
 
 The Scholars of Balliol lived for some years in a 
 hired house situated in the northern suburb of Oxford, in 
 Horsemonger Street, near the church of St. Mary Magdalen. 
 Thence they removed to another house a few yards eastward 
 in the same street, known as Mary Hall, which, with three 
 adjoining plots of ground, was purchased for them by the 
 Lady Der\'orguil]a in 1284.'' After their removal, Mary Hall 
 came to be called New Balliol Hall, and the house which they 
 had vacated, Old Balliol Ilall. In 1293. the Scholars obtained 
 licence from the Bishop of Lincoln for the performance of 
 divine service within the Hall, but they continued to attend 
 the parish church of St. Mary ]\Iagdalen on all great festivals ; 
 and their oratory was not licensed for the administration of 
 
 ' Slatiitcs flf tJie Colleges, vol. i. ] ATanu scripts Coini/iissio/i, p. 4.1.6. 
 ' Fourth Report of the Historical \
 
 HALLS, HOUSES, AND COLLEGES. 87 
 
 the sacraments until the middle of the next century. In 
 addition to the endowments given to them by the foundress, 
 they acquired from the executors of the will of Sir John de 
 Balliol the right to collect and retain all the debts owing to 
 him at the time of his death, and they received several grants 
 of property in Oxford and elsewhere from private benefactors. 
 Before leaving the subject of the early collegiate foun- 
 dations, it is well to remark that they were sometimes de- 
 scribed as Halls, sometimes as Houses, and sometimes as 
 Colleges. Any building set apart for the habitation of stu- 
 dents might be styled an Aula, or Hall. The term Donms, 
 or House, when employed in a technical sense, indicated 
 a religious or semi-religious establishment, while the term 
 Collegiuin was the Latin equivalent for our ^\-ord Corporation. 
 It was therefore quite legitimate to use the term College in 
 conjunction with the term Hall, the former meaning the living 
 body, and the latter the material fabric, of an institution. In 
 later times, the term Hall has come to be used in contra- 
 distinction to College, to denote a society of students which 
 does not enjoy corporate rights or endowments. There is, 
 however, a survival of the earlier nomenclature at Cambridge, 
 in the name of Trinity Hall, which is, strictly speaking, a 
 College. Clare College and St. Catharine's College were 
 until lately styled Clare Hall and St. Catharine's Hall. 
 The term House, which has long since disappeared from 
 Oxford, is still retained at Cambridge in the name of its 
 earliest Colleee Peterhouse. 
 
 ' Savage's Balliofergiis, p. 36 ; 
 Eoiirih Report of the Histori.al 
 
 Manuscripts Conuitission, pp. 442, 
 4-I-3-
 
 CHAPTER I \^ 
 
 A.I). 1273 1334. 
 
 Francesco cVAccorto Dante Thirst for Learning The La Fytcs at 
 Oxford Population of the University Extravagant Estimates 
 Celebrity of the University Promotion of Graduates Poverty of 
 the LIniversity Bishop Cobham's Library The House of Con- 
 gregation Establishment of Chests Rewley Abbey Gloucester 
 College Career of a Benedictine Student The Monks of Durham 
 Ambitious Schemes of the Dominicans Controversy between the 
 University and the Dominicans The Thomist Philosophy John 
 Duns Scotus Value of Logic Realists and Nominalists William 
 of Ockham^ Aggressiveness of the Franciscans Establishment of 
 the Carmelites Feud between the Clerks and the Townsmen Enact- 
 ment against Retailers Grievances of the Townsmen The Great Riot 
 of 1298 Humiliation of the Townsmen Development of the Chancel- 
 lor's Authority Struggle with the Bishop of Lincoln Controversy 
 with the Archdeacon Internal Dissensions Condemnation of Here- 
 tical Doctrines Feud between Northerners and Southerners T-awless- 
 ness of the Clerks Prohibition of Jousts Secession to Stamford. 
 
 HE University of Oxford attained its higlicst 
 celebrity within a century of the time when it 
 first began to be recognised as a corporate body. 
 Scholars resorted to it in great numbers not 
 only from all parts of England and W'ales, but 
 from Scotland, from Ireland, and from more distant countries 
 beyond sea.' Edward I. was justl)' proud of this adv^ent of 
 foreigners, and it was at his instigation that Francesco d'Ac- 
 corso, one of the chief teachers of ci\il law at the Universit)- of 
 Bologna, came to reside at Oxford. D'Accorso seems to ha\c 
 attaclied himself to the King, when the latter was passing 
 ' Kymcr's l-'odi-fii, \o\. ii. p. 43.
 
 FRANCESCO D'ACCORSO. 89 
 
 through Italy on his return from the Holy Land, at the very 
 beginning of his reign, and he became one of his most trusted 
 counsellors." It was not long before the King wrote urgently 
 to D'Accorso's wife, exhorting her to join her husband in Eng- 
 land, and offering to make a liberal provision for them and 
 the members of their family.^ Oxford was chosen as the 
 place of their abode, and in December, 1275, the Sheriff of 
 the county received orders to give them the free use of the 
 King's Hall, the royal residence in the northern suburb.s 
 
 Although summoned away from time to time to attend 
 the King in Parliament and elsewhere, Francesco d'Accorso 
 must surely have given lectures on Roman law at Oxford. 
 None of his works remain, and little is known of him beyond 
 the fact that in his own day he was reckoned scarcely 
 inferior in ability to his father of the same name, "the 
 idol of the lawyers," and the compiler of the Great Gloss. 
 Dante brands him as a man of immoral life, placing him in 
 a part of hell where "all were clerks and great scholars and 
 of great renown ; by one same crime on earth defiled." 4 
 
 It was probably in Italy rather than in England that the 
 r^lorcntine poet gleaned his informiation about the Bolognese 
 lawyer, although there are fair grounds for believing that 
 he himself visited Oxford. Villani states that Dante, who 
 was one of his contemporaries and neighbours at Florence, 
 " v.-ent to the University (studio) at Bologna, and then at Paris, 
 and in other parts of the world." 5 Boccaccio, a little later 
 in point of time, mentions incidentally that Dante visited 
 luTgland as well as France ; and Giovanni da Seravalle, 
 Bishop of P^ermo, writing in 141 6, states positively that 
 Dante studied the liberal arts at Padua and Bologna, and 
 
 ' Savigny, Ccscliiclitc dcs Roinis- | ^ Patent Roll, 4 Edw. I. m. 35 
 
 chcn Rcclits im JMittclalier, cap. l (Twyne MS. ii. f. 43). 
 
 xliii. ; Sinhhs's Coastitittionat His- j * ////Ivv/i^, canto xv. (trs. Carlyle). 
 
 tcvy, vol. ii. pp. 107, 262, 264. I 3 Istoric Fiorciilinc, [Cldssid 
 
 = Lord Harlech's MS. Letter- /ArZ/Vw/) vol. v. p. 136. 
 Look of Richard of Lury, f. 4S.
 
 go DANTE A T THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 theology at Oxford and Paris.' Some indirect evidence in 
 support of this may be found in the Divina Conimedia, which 
 contains a description of the coast of Flanders, an allusion 
 to Westminster Abbey, and several scattered notices of 
 English affairs.^ A close resemblance has also been traced 
 between some of Dante's opinions and those of Roger 
 Bacon, the great English philosopher.3 
 
 The date of Dante's undoubted sojourn at Paris must be 
 placed either between the years 1287 and 1289, or between 
 1308 and 1314. On behalf of the earlier date, Dr. Plumptre 
 argues that, after his banishment from Florence, Dante had 
 neither the money nor the energy requisite for so long a 
 journey, whereas in his younger days he may well have 
 sought in travel and study some solace for his mortification 
 at the marriage of Beatrice. It appears moreover that Sigier, 
 who is mentioned in the Paradiso as a teacher in the Rue 
 de Fouarre {)iel vico degli strami) at Paris, died in or before 
 the year 1300.^ Lastly Giovanni da Seravalle states that the 
 poet returned from Paris to Plorence, in consequence of 
 his inability to defray the heavy expenses of incepting 
 as a Doctor of Theology. On the other hand the earlier 
 authorities Villani, Benvenuto da Imola, and Boccaccio, 
 agree in referring Dante's sojourn at Paris to the period 
 of his involuntary exile. It should be remarked too that 
 the degree of Bachelor of Theology, which he is said to have 
 obtained at Paris, implied a previous residence of not less than 
 five years at a University that had a Faculty of Thcology.5 
 In an}' case Dante, who was born in 1265, would not have 
 Ijccn qualified for the degree of Doctor of Theology before the 
 
 ' Tiraboschi, Storia della Let- ' See Dr. Plumptre's interesting- 
 
 tcraiura, {Classici Italiaui) vol. v. AxnzXG'wWXx^ Coiitentpo-arv ReTJciu 
 
 pp. 714, 715. Cf. The Academy, vol. xi. pp. S43 859. 
 
 I'"cb. 20, 18S6. Divina Conunedia, {cd. Scar- 
 
 - Inferno, xv. 4-6, xii. 120, xxviii. tnzzini) vol. iii. p. 268. 
 
 '33-135; Tio-^i^a/flii'iK y'n. 130-132; ^ Thurot, De P Ori^/inisa/icn de 
 
 rnradiso, x. 137. \i\. 121-123. P JCnsei^neinenf, p. 110.
 
 THIRST FOR LEARNING. 91 
 
 year 1300, inasmuch as no one was allowed to proceed to it at 
 Paris under the age of thirty-five.' On the whole it seems pro- 
 bable that if the great poet ever visited Oxford, he went there 
 at a period when his intellectual powers were fully matured. 
 
 The more ambitious scholars of the middle ages were 
 wont to travel great distances in quest of learning. " Not 
 content with one teacher," writes Dr. Newman, "they went 
 from place to place, according as in each there was pre- 
 eminence in a particular branch of knowledge. . . . As then 
 the legendary St. George or St. Denys wandered from place 
 to place to achieve feats of heroism, as St. Antony or Sul- 
 picius Severus went about on pilgrimage to holy hermits, as 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen visited Greece, or St. Jerome tra- 
 versed Europe, and became, the one the most accomplished 
 theologian, the other the first Biblical scholar of his age, so 
 did the m.ediseval Doctors and Masters go the round of 
 Universities, in order to get the best instruction in every 
 school."^ The ancient statutes of Peterhouse at Cambridge 
 authorise the Masterand Scholars to send one or two of their 
 number to study at Oxford. Thomas Cobham, Bishop of 
 Worcester, is a notable example of a man who graduated 
 in three different faculties in as many Universities. 3 The 
 common opinion on the subject finds expression in Chaucer's 
 remark that 
 
 'Sondry scoles maken subtil clerkes."'-* 
 
 Although travelling was costly and dangerous si.x centuries 
 ago, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge were far more 
 closely connected with those of the continent than they are 
 now, for all the national churches of Western Christendom 
 professed a common faith. The universities of England, of 
 P'^rancc, of Italy, and of Spain, however much they might 
 difter in scope, in constitution, and in character, recognised 
 
 ' Thurot, p. iio; I.'u Boulay, ] ' Clironicles of Ediv. I. &^ //. , 
 Ilisf. Utiii'. Paris, vol. iii. p. 82. \ (cd. .Stubbs)vol. i. p. 274. 
 ' Ilislorical SkeLiifs.\>. 175. | * Tlw Merthautcs TuL.
 
 92 COSMOPOLITAN UNIVERSITIES. 
 
 the same standards of orthodoxy, and for the most part used 
 the same text-books in their schools of theology, " The 
 smallest school," writes Mr. Green, " was European and not 
 local. Not merely every province of France, but every 
 people of Christendom had its place among the ' nations ' of 
 Paris or Padua. A common language, the Latin tongue, 
 superseded within academical bounds the warring tongues 
 of Europe. A common intellectual kinship and rivalry 
 superseded the petty strifes which parted province from 
 province or realm from realm. . . , Dante felt himself as 
 little a stranger in the 'Latin' quarter around ]\Iont St. 
 Genevieve as under the arches of Bologna." ' 
 
 At the same time it was only natural that students 
 sojourning in a foreign town should for the most part consort 
 with their own countrymen. The Citraniontani at Bologna 
 were subdivided into seventeen sections, and the Ultra- 
 inontani into eighteen, while at Paris the English Nation 
 comprised groups of students from England, Scotland, L'e- 
 land, Sweden, Germany, and other countries.^ At Oxford, 
 on the other hand, the students from the continent, however 
 numerous they may at times have been, were mere units, and 
 never acted together collectively after the manner of the Welsh, 
 the L'ish, and the Scots. Most of them were doubtless natives 
 of the foreign dominions of our Plantagenct kings. Such at 
 least were tv.o young men of whose expenses at Oxford some 
 curious details are recorded in the royal wardrobe accounts 
 of 1289 and 1290. When Edward L returned from Gascony 
 in August of the former year, he brought with him a clerk 
 of Agen, called Master Stephen de la Fyte, and his nephews, 
 Arnold and Bertram de la Fyte. Soon after their arrival in 
 England, the uncle, who seems to have been an architect, 
 and a person of some importance, was ordered to inspect 
 
 IIi.-i(oyy of tlic I'.ni^Iish People^ - Savign\-, Gcsdiiclilc dcs R'oiui- 
 
 \()1. i. p. 204. Cf. Miiiu'inciita schcn RccJits^ cap. x\i. 71. 
 Aciidcwica, ]\ 2X3.
 
 THE LA FYTES AT OXFORD. 93 
 
 certain castles and manors, while Arnold and Bertram were 
 sent to study at the University. They went to Oxford on 
 the 20th of September, accompanied by a private tutor, 
 and, it would seem, by a Spanish manservant. The King 
 gave them a weekly allowance of half-a-mark for board, 
 and made himself responsible for their other necessary ex- 
 penses, which during the first nine months amounted to 
 61. i<^s. 2d. The entries on their account show payments 
 for the rent of their inn, for wood and coals, for the salaries 
 of their laundress and their barber, for the purchase of cloth 
 and linen, and for the repair of their winter and summer 
 clothes, their hose, and their shoes. The only scholastic 
 charges recorded are those for the salaries of masters, 
 " ordinary " and " cursory," and for the purchase of two copies 
 of \\\Q Institutions of Ouintilian. At Midsummer, 1290, the 
 King arranged to provide the two young men with certain 
 clothes and a tabard apiece from his wardrobe every year that 
 they remained at the University, and he at the same time raised 
 their allowance to thirty-five marks a year, a sum which was 
 evidently intended to cover all their current expenses.^ 
 
 Two youths named Kingswood, who were sent to Oxford 
 in 12S8, by Richard Swinfield, Bishop of Hereford, cost 
 their patron only 13/. 19^-. 2d. in the course of about forty 
 weeks, and a comparison of their expenses with those of 
 Arnold and Bertram de la Fyte seems to show that, Vv'hilc a 
 king's protege might require as much as 4^-. 6d. a week, an 
 ordinary student could live at Oxford on 3^-. i\d. a week, in the 
 reign of Edward I.' 
 
 It is unfortunate that we have no similar m.eans of esti- 
 mating the real number of resident members of the University 
 
 ' Wardrobe Accounts, 16-18 Edw. ' duction to the HoiiseJiold Expenses 
 
 I. (;t Exchequer Q.R.); Wardrobe of Bishop Siei?i/ield, -p- 118. 
 
 Book, 1 8 Edw. I. (Tower). These ^ Household Expenses of Bishop 
 
 documents arc quoted, but not quite S-ujinficld, p. 117. Cf. Riley's 
 
 accurately, in Mr. WeblVs Intro- Me/iioriais of Londo/i, J), ^j^.).
 
 94 THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS. 
 
 at this its most flourishing period. Some very definite assertions 
 have indeed been made on the subject. Richard Fitz-Ralph, 
 the illustrious Archbishop of Armagh, declared, in a memo- 
 rable discourse before the Papal Consistory at Avignon in 1357, 
 that in his younger days there had been as many as thirty 
 thousand students at Oxford, though their number had since 
 dwindled down to less than six thousand/ And again, Dr. 
 Thomas Gascoigne, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth 
 century, seems to state positively in his TJieological Dictionary, 
 that he had ascertained by personal examination of the rolls 
 of the old Chancellors of Oxford, that there were thirty thou- 
 sand students at Oxford before the time of the Great Plague. 
 Antony Wood, though aware that these statements would 
 seem incredible, did his best to establish their accuracy, and 
 even within the last forty years a learned German writer has 
 defended them with some warmth. Professor Huber contends 
 that there were formerly three hundred inns and halls at 
 Oxford, capable of accommodating on an average one hun- 
 dred students apiece, and that the estimates of Fitz-Ralph 
 and Gascoigne refer not only to students in the ordinary 
 sense of the term, but also to all the " barbers, copyists, 
 writers, parchmcnt-preparcrs, illuminators, book-binders, sta- 
 tioners, apothecaries, surgeons, laundresses," and "' mulierailce'' 
 of questionable fame, who were in any way connected with 
 the students.^ There is, however, no proof of the occupa- 
 tion of more than eighty halls at any one time, and, 
 as Mr. Anstey points out, these could not on an average 
 have held more than thirty inmates apiece; 3 while against 
 the second plea may be cited the agreement of 1 290, which 
 
 ' Dcfcnsoriiim Curatormn, rc- 
 jirintcd in Brown's Fasciciilits 
 rcriim expeicndaruni ct fic,i^'i- 
 endariDii. In a trinslation made 
 by John Trcvisa, before the year 
 1412, the passage runs: ''In my i ' Miin. Acad. p. xlviii 
 tvmc in l>c univcrsitic of ()x('iif(ir(l 
 
 were ] ritty pousand seders at ones ; 
 and now bcj) unnc|;e sixc Jiousand.'' 
 Harl. MS. 1900, f. \\b. 
 
 *' The English U/u7'e7-sifies, (ti's. 
 by Newman) vol. i. pp. 67, 403.
 
 EXTRA VA GAXT ES TIM A TES. 95 
 
 limited the "privilege" of the University to clerks and their 
 servants, parchment-makers, illuminators, writers, barbers, 
 and other persons who wore the livery of the clerks.' 
 
 There still remains the original difficulty of reconciling the 
 oft-quoted statements of Fitz-Ralph and Gascoigne with what 
 is known about the boundaries of mediaeval Oxford, and 
 the size of other contemporary universities. Both the wit- 
 nesses were men of high position and character. The one 
 speaks of matters within his own cognisance, the other pro- 
 fesses to have derived his information from certain specific 
 records. It is hard to understand how Fitz-Ralph could 
 have ventured, even in a rhetorical passage, to make the 
 extravagant statement attributed to him. Yet his error is 
 not so strange as that of the Parliament of 1371, which 
 based a scheme of taxation on an estimate that there were 
 forty thousand parishes in England, when, in truth, there 
 were not nine thousand.^ With respect to Gascoigne's 
 testimony, it may be argued that his reference to the old 
 rolls had no connexion whatever with his statement about 
 the number of students at Oxford, and that it was in- 
 tended to confirm a previous statement in the same sentence, 
 to the effect that there were formerly very few lawyers 
 resident in that town. 3 Apart from his quotation of documents 
 which are now unfortunately missing, Gascoigne is not a very 
 
 ' Mtin. Acad. p. 52. Mr. Anstey tween the different estimates of the 
 
 has strangely rendered "qui sunt de number of Scots killed at the battle 
 
 ;v?i5/jir/^;76cr//'w,"" who are occupied ; of Falkirk. 
 
 about the clothes of the clerks." A ! ^ ^'^ Ante enim Diagiimii pcsteviiii 
 
 lateragreement on the subject, given \ Anglia paucce fiicniJit qucrelce in 
 
 in the same work, p. 346, and populo, et paicca iniplaciiationes, et 
 
 another gi\en in Turner's Rccoj'ds sic fncrunt item paiici legistce in 
 
 of the City of Oxford, p. 17, show : AnglicE regno, et panci legistce in 
 
 the true meaning of the expression. ! Oxojiia, qnando fuernnt triginta 
 
 Compare also Acta Sanctorum, for milia scotarium in Oxonia, ut 7ndi 
 
 October, vol. i. p. 541. \ iti rotulis a7ttiquoru7n caJicellari- 
 
 ^ Stubbs" s Constitutional His- ' ortini Oxonice, quando ego fui ibi- 
 
 iory, vol. ii. pp. 422-433. Compare detn cancellariusrLoci e Libro 
 
 also the great discrepancies be- Wiitatinn. (ed. Rogers) p. 202.
 
 96 
 
 THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS. 
 
 valuable witness as to the condition of Oxford a century 
 before his own time. It is likely enough that he based his 
 belief in the fable of the thirty thousand students on the 
 passage in Fitz-Ralph's speech. No other mediaeval writers 
 place the academical population of Oxford at so extravagant 
 a figure. William of Rishanger, in his account of the tem- 
 porary expulsion of the University by Henry III. in 1264, says 
 that at that time "the number of clerks whose names had 
 been inscribed in the registers of the masters {in uiatriculis 
 rcctoruni) was, according to the testimony of many credible 
 persons, upwards of fifteen thousand." ' This estimate in its 
 turn seems much too high for our acceptance. 
 
 The best guide to a true solution of the question is perhaps 
 to be found in a formal statement as to the number of clerks 
 who took part in the sanguinary riot of 1 298.^ We are distinctly 
 told by the townsmen, who were fairly able to obtain accurate 
 statistics, that the clerks mustered rather more than three 
 thousand strong, and when we consider that few of them 
 would have been content to remain inactive on so critical an 
 occasion, we have fairgrounds for believing that the number of 
 persons then enjoying the privilege of the University cannot 
 have amounted to four thousand in all. It is not probable 
 that the University of Oxford was much more populous than 
 that of Paris, which, according to M. Thurot, could not in 
 its palmiest days boast of more than two hundred teachers 
 and fifteen hundred pupils. 3 
 
 The Oxford blasters certainly had no mean opinion of 
 their own dignity and importance. When they were informed 
 that the Pope had given a Catholic sanction to degrees 
 conferred at Paris, by enacting that graduates of Paris might 
 freely become teachers at any other university without 
 obtaining a new licence, they at once demanded the same 
 
 ' Walsingham"s Ypodigma Ncus- 
 triiC, (cd. Riley) p. 514. 
 '' 'i'uync MS. vol. iv. f. 72. 
 
 2 Dc r Organisation dc l' Ensci 
 mcnt, pp. 32, 42.
 
 POVERTY OF THE UNIVERSITY. 97 
 
 right for themselves, and persuaded the Bishops of Lincoln 
 and Carlisle to write to the Pope on their behalf It is worthy 
 of note that their diocesan's letter contains in a tentative form 
 the earliest assertion of the University's claim to a remote 
 antiquity. The Bishop, writing in 1296, observes that "the 
 University of Oxford, in the diocese of Lincoln, is by many 
 believed to be the oldest of the seats of learning now existing 
 among the Latins."' Twenty-one years later, Edward IL 
 wrote to John XXIL, renewing the request for a general 
 recognition of the validity of the Oxford degrees, on the 
 ground that the great French University owed its origin 
 to Englishmen.^ In 1322, the Oxonians, hearing that the 
 Pope had conferred certain benefices and bishoprics on 
 priests who had graduated at Paris, despatched a letter 
 to him by the hands of their Chancellor, praying for 
 similar tokens of papal favour, and declaring in set terms 
 that the University of Oxford was older than that of Paris, 
 and not a whit inferior to it in dignity. 3 After this, it be- 
 came customary for successive Kings of England to write 
 to every new Pope on his election, pleading the poverty 
 of the Oxford graduates, and begging that they might be 
 promoted to suitable benefices.'^ In its corporate capacity 
 the University was undoubtedly poor, and it had scarcely 
 any funds applicable for general purposes. St. Frideswyde's 
 Chest and William of Durham's endowment were administered 
 as separate trusts, and it is not clear that certain tenements 
 granted to the University in the thirteenth century by 
 Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, and by one of the 
 bedels, named William Hoyland, were held uncondition- 
 
 ^ Historical Papers from NoriJicrii \?iy, Hist. Univ. /'i:7;7V, vol. iii. pp. 
 
 i?,?^-/^-/^;-.^, (ed. Raine)p. 122; Bishop , 150,449. 
 
 Sutton's Register, f. 140.!^ (Twyne -' Ayliffe, vol. ii. p. xviii. ; /tfi/zr/// 
 
 MS. vol. ii. f. 19). The graduates Report of t]ie Historical MSS.Com- 
 
 of Paris had enjo}-ed the right of mission, p. 383. 
 
 teaching elsewhere for a consider- ' Smith MS. vol. i. f. 9. 
 
 able time. Thurot, p. 50; Du Bou- ! * Lambeth MS. vol. ccxxi. f. 226. 
 
 H
 
 98 POVERTY OF THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ally,' Pupils paid their fees to their own masters, not to 
 the masters collectively. 
 
 It is a marked characteristic of the older medieeval univer- 
 sities, that they could not afford to erect or purchase public 
 buildings of any size. Nowadays the mention of a uni- 
 versity conjures up a vision of lecture-rooms, examination- 
 halls, libraries, and museums ; but at a time when archi- 
 tecture was at its best, and when churches, town-halls, and 
 castles, were rising on all sides, the chief dignitaries of 
 the greatest universities had to be content to live in hired 
 lodgings, and to lecture in hired schools. The University of 
 Paris, the most illustrious seminary of Western Christendom, 
 had no habitation of its own. Scholastic disputations, and 
 the meetings of the different Faculties and Nations, took 
 place, by favour of the local clergy, in certain parochial and 
 monastic churches on the south side of the Seine.^ The 
 official dinners of the Masters of Arts were given at the 
 common taverns of the town. 3 So at Oxford in the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries, the Faculty of Arts used to assemble 
 in the church of St. Mildred, while degrees were granted and 
 other secular business was, by sufferance, transacted in the 
 church of St. Mary the Virgin.-* Poverty was not without 
 some compensating advantages, for as the clerks were not 
 tied to a particular town by material interests, they could 
 with light hearts threaten to migrate in a body, whenever the 
 townsmen gave them cause for com[)laint.3 
 
 ' Midi. Acad. p. 372; Smilh's \-\\\c, Ilistoire dc V I>ist)-iiciiflii Fiih- 
 
 Annals of Unh'crsity College, p. 59. liqiic, pp. 160, 353. 
 
 ^ Savigny, Geschichlc dcs Roiiiis- ' Register of the English Nation, 
 
 chen Rcchts lin Mittclaller, cap. MS. in the Library of the Sor- 
 
 x.xi. 128; Du V>o\.'A;\)\ passim. It bonne, vol. iii. ft". iS, 31, etc. 
 was not until a comparatively late * Mini. Acad, pp, jO, 4r, 81, 114, 
 
 period that the four Nations com- 146, 18S, 189. 
 
 posing the Faculty of Arts built = Gregory IX. specifically con- 
 
 some schools in the Rue du Fouarre. finned the right of the scholars at 
 
 and these did not belong to the Paris to migrate. Du Roula}-, Ilisl. 
 
 University at large. \'allet de \'iri^ i'/tl\'. I\iris, vcd. iii. p. \\\.
 
 BISHOP COB HAM'S UBRARY. 
 
 99 
 
 The Chancellor and Masters of Oxford determined in 1274 
 to found a chantry in the church of St. Mary the Virgin, where 
 masses might be said for the King and other benefactors ; and 
 Edward I., in a circular letter to the archbishops and bishops 
 of his realm, asked them to grant indulgences to all penitents 
 who should resort thither.' It is, however, doubtful whether 
 any practical steps were ever taken in the matter, although 
 in building the beautiful new tower of that church about 
 this time, a large arch was left open in its eastern wall as 
 if to give access to a chantry. At any rate, the earliest 
 edifice known to have been designed for the use of the 
 University was not commenced until nearly fifty years later. 
 It was in or about 1320 that Thomas Cobham, Bishop of 
 Worcester, undertook to enlarge the old fabric of St. Mary's 
 Church, by erecting a building two storeys in height imme- 
 diately to the east of the tower, apparently on the very site 
 previously selected for the University's chantry. His intention 
 was that the lower room should be used primarily for the 
 meetings of the Congregation of Regent Masters, and at 
 other times for parochial purposes, and that the upper room 
 should serve partly as an oratory and partly as a general 
 library for members of the University. If he had been able 
 to carry out his scheme, he would have provided two chaplains 
 to say daily masses for him, and to attend in turn for some 
 hours before and after dinner, in order to take care that the 
 books should not be injured. But he died in 1327, and 
 Adam de Brome, the Rector of St. Mary's, who had been 
 acting as his architect or overseer, was left to complete the 
 building as best he could. It was to little purpose that the 
 good Bishop had bequeathed the sum of three hundred and 
 fifty marks and his own collection of books to the projected 
 library, for the executors of his will found themselves 
 unable to pay the legac}-, and were even driven to pawn 
 the books for fifty pounds, in order to raise money to 
 ' Rymer's Firilcra, \ol. ii. p. 43. 
 
 II 2
 
 loo THE HOUSE OF CONGREGATION. 
 
 defray his debts and funeral expenses. In reply to De 
 Brome's remonstrances they could only say that if he chose 
 to redeem the books he might assign them to the College 
 which he had lately founded at Oxford. The offer was gladly 
 accepted, and thus Bishop Cobham's books, which ought to 
 have been chained to desks at St. Mary's, for the use of 
 the University at large, were placed in the library of Oriel 
 College, for the exclusive use of a small society.' 
 
 In the meanwhile the lower room of the new building at 
 St. Mary's was fitted up according to the founder's intentions, 
 and it became the regular meeting-place of the Congregation 
 of Regents, as distinguished from the Convocation, or Great 
 Congregation, of Regents and Non-Regents, which continued 
 to be held in the chancel of the church.^ Though afterwards 
 superseded, and for a time degraded into a receptacle for 
 lumber, the old House of Congregation has survived the 
 changes of more than five centuries, and there are few spots 
 in Oxford which have more venerable associations than that 
 low vaulted chamber, in which successive mediaeval Chancellors 
 granted to kneeling candidates the licence to teach as Masters 
 in the schools of the University. 
 
 It would appear that such movable property as the 
 University possessed was kept at St. Mary's in the four- 
 teenth and fifteenth centuries. In the reign of Henry III., as 
 will be remembered, the University had no treasury of its own, 
 and the money received yearly from the Abbey of Eynsham, 
 and the processional cross supplied in 1268 by the offending 
 Jews, had been placed for safety at St. Frideswyde's.3 But, 
 either in consequence of some jealousy between the secular 
 clerks and the canons regular of St. Frideswyde's, or owing 
 to the comparatively remote situation of that priory, the 
 
 ' Collectanea (Oxford Historical : a Congregation is described as 
 
 Society), vol. i. pp. 6265. ; "great " or " solemn," Convocation 
 
 '" It is not always easy to dis- ' is meant. Cf. Ahin. Acad. pp. 234, 
 
 tinguish between these two bodies, 235, 267, 282, and other places, 
 
 but it would api)ear that whenever | ^ Pp. 40, 68.
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OE CHESTS. loi 
 
 Chancellors and Masters always preferred to transact their 
 business in the parochial church of St. Mary the Virgin. 
 There, we may reasonably believe, they kept the chests 
 containing the different sums of money entrusted to them 
 for the benefit of poor scholars. Between the years 1293 
 and 1323 at least five persons, Ela, Countess of Warwick, 
 John de Pontoise, Bishop of Winchester, Henry de Guild- 
 ford, called " le Mareschal," Hugh de Vienne, Canon of 
 St. Martin's le Grand, and Gilbert Rothbury, Justice of the 
 King's Bench, gave or bequeathed funds for the establishment 
 of chests similar in principle to that already established 
 at St. Frideswyde's by Bishop Grosseteste. Each of these 
 chests had its own guardians, or trustees ; each had its own 
 code of regulations ; the founder of each was separately 
 mentioned by name in the public prayers and thanksgivings 
 of the University. But the conditions under which loans were 
 granted from the chests, and the stipulations as to the number 
 oi Pater Nostcrs and Ave Ularias which the borrowers were 
 bound to say for their benefactors, were nearly the same in 
 all cases.' Of four other chests established about the same 
 period little but the mere names are recorded.^ Benefactors 
 who were unable or unwilling to found colleges, founded 
 chests, and the two systems grew up side by side for about 
 
 ' xlhin. Acad. pp. 6267, 82 85, de St. Leofard, Bishop of Chiches- 
 
 95 99, 102 106. For Henry de ter, who was reckoned among the 
 
 Guildford, see the Xinth Report of benefactors of the University. Mun. 
 the Historical MSS. Commission ; ' Acad. pp. cxHii. 373. The Ijurnell 
 
 for Hugh de Vienne, see Registrum Chest probably owes its origin to 
 
 Palatiniim D2ciielmense,{e.6..ll?iYdL\-) William Burnell, Provost of ^^'ells, 
 
 vol. iv. p. cxii.; and for Gilbert Roth- who gave some property to Balliol 
 
 bury, see Yq=>s^s Judges of England. College; and the Queen's Chest may 
 
 " The Lincoln Chest was doubt- have been due to the bounty of 
 
 less founded by Henry de Lacy, the l-lleanor of Castile, who was also 
 
 great Earl of Lincoln, for whom the mentioned in the prayers of the 
 
 University used annually to pray University. i\Tun. Acad. pp. cxlix. 
 
 on the 17th of December. Man. 371. The word "aVAr"' was some- 
 
 Acad.Yi-c^- The Chichester Chest times translated "chest,'' and 
 
 was probably founded by Gilbert sometimes " hutch." 
 
 LIBRARY 
 UMVERSITV 01 CALIl'ORN 
 SAMA BARBAIU
 
 I02 REWLE Y ABBE V. 
 
 two centuries. There was ample scope for both, and, as will 
 be seen, some of the colleges had chests for the exclusive 
 use of their own members. These chests formed, as Mr. 
 Anstey says, "a money-lending, or, more properly, pawn- 
 broking department," for affording temporary relief to strug- 
 gling scholars. It would appear that loans were made 
 without any charge for interest, but, as he continues, "the 
 ordinances always carefully stipulate that the pledges de- 
 posited should, on the valuation of a sworn stationer of the 
 University, fairly exceed in value the sum borrowed." " Silver 
 cups and the like were sometimes taken as security, but the 
 pledges generally consisted of Bibles, Missals, or other precious 
 books. ^ Thus there are in the British Museum at least five 
 manuscripts which bear inscriptions recording the dates at 
 which they were respectively deposited in chests at Oxford, 
 and the sums that were advanced for them.3 There are others 
 in collegiate libraries. 
 
 The religious orders made considerable progress at Oxford 
 in the later part of the thirteenth century. In 1281, Edmund 
 Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall, founded a monastery for an 
 Abbot and fifteen brethren of the Cistercian Order, at a 
 spot called Rcwley in the suburb of North Oseney, to 
 the intent that they should pray continually for the soul 
 of his father, Richard, King of Germany, the uncle of 
 Edward I. The Cistercians themselves often described 
 Rewlcy Abbey as "the place of study at Oxford."'* It 
 was not long before the Benedictines began to realise the 
 importance of acquiring a house at Oxford in which students 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. xxwiii. Air. - Boase's Ri\s;istcr of Exeter 
 
 Anstcyrcckonsthcnumbcroflhc.se College, pp. vii, xii, 22, 23. 
 
 chests in the fifteenth century at > Casley's Catalogue of MSS., 
 
 twenty-four, but in so doing- he pp. 27, 67, 107, 134, 189. 
 
 seems to inchidc several chests * Annates de Dunstaplia, in 
 
 which were simply tlie depositories .'liinales Monastiei, (ed. Luard) 
 
 of books, ornaments, and other vol. iii. p. 287; Dugdale's J/6V/a.f- 
 
 goods of the Unixcrsity. tieo/!, vol. v. pp. 697, 699.
 
 GLOUCESTER COLLEGE. 103 
 
 of their order might Hve and study together, and a chapter- 
 general, held at Abingdon in 1279, imposed a tax on the 
 revenues of all the Benedictine monasteries in the province 
 of Canterbury for this purpose.' But before any large sum 
 could have been collected in this manner, the scheme was 
 taken up by a rich nobleman. In 1283, John Giffard, Baron 
 of Brimsfield in Gloucestershire, purchased certain tenements 
 in Stockwell Street in the north suburb of Oxford, and there 
 founded a house for thirteen black monks professing the rule 
 of St. Benedict. They were at first chosen exclusively from 
 the monastery of St. Peter at Gloucester, but about seven 
 years later the founder was persuaded to alter and enlarge 
 his scheme, by throv/ing the establishment open to students 
 from any of the Benedictine houses in the southern province. 
 The first Prior was chosen from among the brethren of 
 Gloucester, and, in remembrance of its original connexion 
 with that place, Giffard's new foundation received the name 
 of Gloucester College, or Gloucester Hall.'' Its site is now 
 occupied by Worcester College, and a dreary open space 
 a few yards ofi" is still known as Gloucester Green. The 
 heads of the Benedictine community in England watched the 
 
 ' Clironicon Petrolnirgciisc, (ed. 32 ; Annales dc Wigoniia in An- 
 
 Stapleton) p. 31. Wood and other 7iales Monastici, vol. iv. p. 488. 
 
 writers sta^e that the Benedictines Wood asserts that Gilbert Clare, 
 
 of Winchcombe had a place of Earl of Gloucester, lived here in 
 
 study at Oxford in the twelfth 1260, and in proof of his asser- 
 
 century. Dugdale's Mo)iasticou, tion points to an old shield of 
 
 vol. iv. p. 404. It is true enough the Clare arms which in his time 
 
 that they owned a house {imam was to be seen in one of the win- 
 
 maiisioneiii) at Oxford in 11 75, dows. V)\ig^7x!iCs MonastLcoii,\o\. 
 
 but there is no evidence to show iv. p. 403. It is more probable, 
 
 that it was used by them as a place however, that these arms were set 
 
 of study, or that it differed in up at Gloucester College in memory 
 
 character from the three houses of the benefactions of the Clare 
 
 in London which they owned at family to the monastery of St. 
 
 the same period. See Dugdale's Peter at Gloucester. Some of the 
 
 MoJiasticoii, vol. ii. p. 303. early charters of Gloucester College 
 
 - Historia Moiiastcrii S. Petri are given in the Monasticon, vol. iv. 
 
 G/oucestricc, (cd. Hart) vol. i. p. pp. 407, 408.
 
 I04 
 
 GLOUCESTER COLLEGE. 
 
 growth of Gloucester College with warm interest,' and when 
 it was announced that one of the students was about to take 
 his degree as Doctor of Divinity, they resolved to mark the 
 event by extraordinary solemnities. As the "inceptor," 
 William de Brock, had formerly been a monk at St. Peter's, 
 Gloucester, the Abbot, the Prior, and the brethren of that house, 
 came to Oxford with certain esquires and dependents, a goodly 
 cavalcade of a hundred horses in all. Thither came also the 
 Abbots of Winchester, Reading, Abingdon, Evesham, and 
 Malmesbury, and many Benedictine priors and monks, and 
 both they and other dignitaries of the order who were unable 
 to be present at the ceremony, loaded the inceptor w^ith 
 gifts and praises. Being the first Benedictine to take a 
 Doctor's degree at Oxford, De Brock had to find a master 
 outside the precincts of his own college, and he selected the 
 most important personage in the University, the Chancellor 
 himself^ But when another inmate of Gloucester College 
 was about to take a similar degree in 1301, it was thought 
 desirable that De Brock, who was then Prior of Gloucester, 
 should return to Oxford for a while, in order to preside 
 at the scholastic disputations of his old colleague.3 
 
 It was in one of the earlier years of the fourteenth century 
 that a certain Richard de Wallingford became a student at 
 Gloucester College, and his career, as given in the chronicles 
 of St. Alban's, may fairly be taken as a sample of that of 
 many a Benedictine in the middle ages. By birth the son 
 of a blacksmith, he was at the age of ten adopted by the 
 Prior of Wallingford, and at his expense sent to Oxford seven 
 years later. There he went through the usual course in 
 grammar and philosophy, and took the degree of Bachelor 
 of Arts at the age of twenty-three. Then, bidding farewell 
 to the world, he assumed the Benedictine habit at St. Alban's ; 
 
 ' Rc}'ncr, Aposlolatics Bcnedicti- 
 uoruin in Aiiglia, part ii. pp. 53. 
 54. 
 
 ' Hist. Mcnast. Gloucesiria^ \ol. 
 
 p. 34. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 35.
 
 STUDENTS FROM DURHAM. 
 
 105 
 
 but, after three short years of claustral life, he returned to 
 Oxford, and, during a residence of nine years, appUed himself 
 so diligently to the study of philosophy and theology as to 
 be licensed to lecture on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. 
 In 1326 he was elected Abbot of St. Alban's, and it is recorded 
 that in his later years he used to lament that he had wasted 
 so much of his time on the secular arts of arithmetic, geometry, 
 astronomy, and music, instead of devoting his whole energies 
 to acquiring a thorough knowledge of theology.^ 
 
 In the meanwhile some Benedictines from the province of 
 York had also established themselves in the northern suburb 
 of Oxford. Hugh de Darlington, Prior of Durham, sent some 
 of the younger brethren of that famous monastery to study 
 in the schools of Oxford about the year 1286, and, some five 
 years later, his successor, Richard de Hoton, began to build 
 a house for them, on a plot of ground which he had purchased 
 in Horsemonger Street, to the north-east of Balliol Hall, and 
 consequently to the north of the great fosse called Canditch.^ 
 The new-comers seem to have had a dispute as to precedence 
 with the Cistercians, for in 1300 the University had to make 
 a decree that in public processions the monks of Rewley 
 should wd\\<. immediately after the Dominicans, and before 
 the Benedictines. 3 
 
 While the older monastic orders were thus gaining a footing 
 at Oxford, the friars for their part were striving to aggrandise 
 themselves at the expense of regulars and seculars alike. 
 The Dominicans in particular caused a good deal of trouble 
 by their ambitious schemes. Not satisfied to contend against 
 other aspirants to academical fame on terms of honourable 
 rivalry, they aimed at securing a permanent supremacy by 
 means of special rights and immunities. They desired to 
 profit to the utmost by their connexion with the University, 
 
 ' Gcsta Abbatii))i Sti. Albaiii, 
 (cd. Riley) vol. ii. p. 182. 
 
 - }Iist. Du/uiin. Soiptorcs T7xs, 
 
 (Surtees Society) p. 72; Dugdale" 
 Miuiasticon, vol. vi. p. 676. 
 3 Mini. Acad. p. 78.
 
 io6 CLAIMS OF THE DOMINICANS. 
 
 to fill its highest offices, and to exercise the greatest influence 
 in its schools, and yet to remain practically exempt from its 
 jurisdiction. After a long struggle they had won a signal 
 victory at Paris, and had compelled the reluctant University 
 to reserve for them two of its twelve public chairs of theology.' 
 If all succeeding Popes had shown as great partiality to 
 their cause as Alexander IV. had shown in his famous bull 
 Quasi liginnii vitce, they might have destroyed the indepen- 
 dence of other universities. But, although they gained some 
 success over the Cambridge Masters in the year 1303, they 
 encountered at Oxford a body of men who were well able 
 to hold their own against all assailants, in the schools and 
 in the law courts alike. 
 
 A sharp controversy arose between the Dominicans and the 
 University of Oxford with respect to some statutes which were 
 passed in 1303 and 131 1. The blasters assembled in Con- 
 vocation, having observed that the solemn disputations known 
 as" Vespcrice',' and the Latin sermons of Bachelors in Divin- 
 ity, often attracted a number of listeners too large for any 
 ordinar}^ school, passed a decree that for the future these 
 exercises should always take place in St. Mary's Church. "^ 
 The Dominicans chose to represent this as a wanton affront 
 to themselves. Their con\'ent had proved spacious enough 
 to accommodate Henry III. and his suite, a Parliament had 
 been held within its walls, and its position, far removed from 
 the traffic and turmoil of the High Street, made it in their 
 opinion very convenient for scholastic assemblies. The vast 
 audiences of clerks who from time to time had come there 
 to hear l^csperuc, and sermons, had been a source of gain 
 as well as of honour to the order, and the friars protested 
 vehemently against any measure which would rob them 
 of such welcome visitors. At the same time they took 
 
 ' (l\-^\\c':,IIistoirc de I'Unii'cysite I ii.; ('j\c?>c\cY''i, luclesias/u'al Illsiory. 
 dc Paris, vol. i. p. 392 ; Milman"s Mini. Acad. pp. 39- 395. 
 
 /. i I tin Cii ' is/ii 1 11 ity, b o o k x i . c h ap t c r |
 
 DEGREES AV THEOLOGY. 107 
 
 exception to another recent statute of the University, which 
 forbade any one to lecture on the text of the Bible who had 
 not already lectured on the Sentences and taken the degree of 
 Bachelor of Divinity, arguing with some force that the meaning 
 of the inspired writers was far more intelligible than the 
 subtle arguments of Peter Lombard. Having thus found 
 some plausible grounds of complaint against the University, 
 the Dominicans thought that they might safely attack the 
 statute of 1253, which required a Master's degree in Arts 
 as a preliminary qualification for all degrees in the superior 
 faculties. This important statute had from the first been 
 disliked by the Dominicans, because, as their ov/n rules did 
 not allow them to graduate in Arts, it seemed to debar 
 them from proceeding to the highly coveted degree of 
 Doctor of Divinit}', unless they had graduated in Arts before 
 assuming the black habit. In point of fact, the University 
 had always been willing enough to relax the severity of the 
 statute in favour of deserving candidates, but the Dominicans 
 chafed under the humiliation of having to obtain by grace 
 an honour which others could claim by right. They pointed 
 out that a "grace" might be denied to a sound theologian, 
 if a single secular ]\Iaster chose to oppose it, and they 
 demanded that the obnoxious statute should be repealed as 
 far as they were concerned. They sought moreover to 
 establish at Oxford the singular right which they enjoyed 
 at Paris, of being the sole judges as to the fitness of any 
 members of their own body for academical degrees. 
 
 The ^Masters replied to these pretentious claims by declaring 
 plainly that they could not make any distinction between friars 
 and other students, and by summoning all graduates to swear 
 that they would uphold the liberties and privileges of the 
 University. The Dominicans, being on the point of appealing 
 to Rome against the University, declined to take the oath, and 
 were in consequence excluded from all share in academical 
 affairs. Having drawn up a formal appeal and proclaimed it
 
 io8 CLAIMS OF THE DOMINICANS. 
 
 in the Franciscan and Carmelite convents, they deputed Friar 
 Lawrence de Warwick to read it before the Regents and Non- 
 Regents in St, Mary's Church. But when he repaired there 
 for the purpose, he was promptly ejected, together with the 
 notary-public and the other witnesses whom he had brought 
 with him. Not to be foiled in this manner he collected a crowd 
 in the churchyard, and, mounting a tombstone close to an open 
 window on the south side of the chancel, proceeded to read 
 the appeal in a loud voice to the Masters assembled within. 
 He also affixed a written copy of it to the church door, and 
 he did not retreat until the servants of the secular clergy 
 and other bystanders began to jeer at him, and utter 
 threats of setting fire to his convent. On another occasion 
 he tried to serve a writ on the Chancellor in person, and, 
 waylaying him as he was coming down from his schools, 
 thrust the document at him, but the Chancellor would not 
 look at it, and let it fall into the mud. The quarrel was 
 embittered by several little incidents of this sort. When 
 a Dominican Regent went one day to " determine " and 
 dispute according to custom, he found the school already 
 occupied by two other disputants, and he had to content 
 himself with disputing against some friars of his own convent, 
 to his and their shamc.^ No Dominican Bachelors were 
 allowed to take degrees, and when one of them obtained a 
 recommendatory letter from the King himself, he met with a 
 downright refusal because he would not take the new oaths. ^ 
 The bedels, or servants of the University, turned deaf ears to 
 the commands of the Dominican Masters, and, in fact, entirely 
 ignored them. The secular clergy, and even the laity of 
 Oxford, deserted the Dominican church, and ceased to take 
 Black P'riars as their confessors. Finally, in consequence of a 
 decree of the Archbishop of Canterbury against all impugners 
 of the University statutes, the Dominicans found themselves 
 
 ' Di;4by Roll 234, in the liod- j - Close Roll, 5 Edw. II. in. 8/a 
 Ician Library. j
 
 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS. 109 
 
 branded as excommunicate.' Nevertheless they did not despair 
 of ultimate success. Edward II., doubtless under the influence 
 of a mendicant confessor, espoused their cause warmly, and 
 not only forbade the Chancellor and Masters to molest them 
 before the next session of Parliament, but also threatened to 
 subject the privileges of the University to a rigorous scrutiny, 
 as if with the intention of annulling them altogether.^ He 
 even went so far as to write to the Pope and to several 
 Cardinals requesting them to decide in favour of the Domini- 
 cans. 3 The Archbishop too was induced to mitigate his 
 wrath. 
 
 The cause came on for hearing before the Cardinal of 
 St. Eustace at the end of January 13 13, when John Stratford, 
 a Doctor of Laws, put in an appearance together with four 
 others on behalf of the University.s He pointed out that the 
 statute of 1253 had been actually subscribed by the master 
 of the Dominican school at Oxford, and had been held 
 in respect for sixty years. The more recent statutes he 
 justified on grounds of public convenience. At the same 
 time he refused to plead formally, for, as he said, the University 
 was poor, and could not afford the expense of a protracted 
 suit at a great distance from home. His real reason for 
 desiring that the cause should be heard in England, was that 
 the officers of the Roman court were likely to be prejudiced 
 in favour of an order which had establishments in every part 
 of the Latin Church, and numbered many Italians among its 
 members. The Dominicans, on the other hand, declared that 
 they could not obtain justice in England, because all the 
 lawyers there were so closely attached to the University, either 
 by oath or by sympathy, that not one of them would act for 
 
 ' Digby Roll, as before. i, 1313. 
 
 ^ Close Roll, 6 Echv. II. m. \2b. ; = Ibid. p. 3S0. 
 
 Rymer's Ea'dera, vol. iii. pp. 379, Register of Archbishop Rey- 
 
 3S0. \Vood erroneously places the nolds, f. 33. 
 
 second of these two writs under the ^ He afterwards became Arch- 
 year 1 3 16. Its real date is February bishop of Canterbury.
 
 I lo ARBITRA TION AND A WARD. 
 
 the other party.' Stratford eventually gained his point, and 
 Pope Clement \^ ordered the Bishops of London, Worcester, 
 and Llandaff to effect an agreement between the litigants. 
 Legal proceedings were thereupon dropped by mutual con- 
 sent, and, in the month of November, the University and the 
 Dominicans respectively nominated two arbitrators, and bound 
 themselves in a sum of two hundred pounds to abide by their 
 decision. The award was given before long, and it must have 
 proved highly satisfactory to the University. All the impugned 
 statutes were specifically confirmed, and the Dominicans had 
 to console themselves with an unimportant proviso that all 
 Bachelors about to incept in theology should preach one 
 sermon in their conventual church. A rule was at the same 
 time made that in future a fortnight's notice should be given of 
 any proposal to alter the statutes, and that no statute should 
 be deemed valid which had not been passed by the Faculty of 
 Arts and two other Faculties, or by a clear majorit}- of all the 
 Regents collectively with the assent of the Non-Regents. The 
 award was solemnly ratified by the King in the spring of 1 3 14. ' 
 The quarrel, however, broke out again before long, for, in 
 the autumn of that very year, Walter Reynolds, the newly 
 appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, had occasion to repro\-e 
 the Chancellor and Masters of Oxford for encouraging certain 
 rebellious Dominicans to take proceedings against the chiefs 
 of their own order.3 Two years later, he complained 
 to four Cardinals that the University persisted in harass- 
 ing the Dominicans ; and it was probably at his instigation 
 that Edward IF, who had formerly been his pupil, wrote 
 to Clement V. and to every member of the Sacred College, 
 praying that the privileges of the Dominicans, wantonl)- 
 infringed by the University, might be confirmed.-* 
 
 ' Digby Roll, as before. tor, f. 58/A October i, 1314. 
 
 ^ Patent Roll, 7 VAw. II. p. 2, " IbidA. 85/;. September, 1316; 
 
 m. 10. Rymer's Firdcra, vol. iii. pp. 5SS 
 
 -* Archbisliop ReynoUla's Regis- 589.
 
 R EXE IV A L OE COXTROVERSV. m 
 
 So bitter was the animosity between the two parties that 
 on one occasion a band of secular students forced the gates 
 of the Dominican convent, beat the inmates, and overthrew 
 the altars and images in the church. Legal proceedings were 
 resumed, and the Chancellor of the University, Henry de 
 Harcla, was despatched to the Roman Court, where he died 
 while the suit was still pending.^ By this time the King had 
 begun to regard the Black I'riars with less favour; and when 
 they put forward a claim to be exempt from the criminal 
 jurisdiction of the Chancellor, he ordered the Sheriff of 
 Oxford to support the Chancellor against them, regardless of 
 any privileges which they might have obtained from the 
 Pope.^ On the other hand, they induced John XXII. to 
 withhold his assent from two important articles of the award 
 of 13 1 3, that, namely, which insisted on a Master's degree in 
 Arts as a preliminary for the study of theology, and that 
 which forbade any one below the degree of Bachelor of 
 Divinity to lecture on the text of Holy Scripture.^ How 
 long these points remained in suspense does not appear. John 
 Luttrell, the new Chancellor of Oxford, seems to have started 
 for Avignon in the month of December, 13 17, taking with 
 him letters of introduction from the King and others, but 
 it is not clear whether the cause was ever tried there.^ A 
 year later, Archbishop Reynolds made a vain attempt at 
 mediation.-' 
 
 One result of the litigation was that the University found 
 itself involved in debt. Its own slender resources had soon 
 failed ; funds intended for the relief of poor scholars had been 
 absorbed ; and individual members had contributed to the 
 utmost of their means. There seemed to be no alternative 
 but surrender or flight.'' Under these circumstances the 
 
 ' Lord Harlech's ?^IS. Letter- * Ibid. ii. 146, 14S ; Aylitie, p. 
 
 book of Richard of Buiy, ft". 144/-', xi\. 
 
 145/;, 146.^, 153. 5 Letter-book, as before, ft". 150') 
 
 - Ayhffe, vol. ii p. .\ix. -^i53- 
 
 3 Letter-book, as before, f. 103/'. ^ IhiiL ft". 144 146.
 
 112 ECCLESIASTICAL TAXATION. 
 
 Convocations of the clergy of Canterbury and York came 
 to the help of the necessitous University, and imposed a tax 
 of a halfpenny in the mark on all ecclesiastical benefices in 
 the realm. The chiefs of the older religious orders granted 
 money in a somewhat less formal manner.' It was, perhaps, 
 this general manifestation of ecclesiastical opinion which in- 
 duced the Dominicans to come to terms with their adversaries, 
 at the end of the year 1320. In a Congregation of the Univer- 
 sity in St. Mary's Church, certain representative friars ten- 
 dered a public apology on behalf of their brethren.^ It would 
 appear, however, that this submission was not made without 
 some corresponding concession on the part of the secular 
 Masters, and we may probably refer to this period a statute 
 of the Universit}', whereby members of the religious orders 
 who had not graduated in arts were to be allowed to graduate 
 in theology, if they had attended a course of lectures longer 
 by two years than that required of secular candidates. 3 
 
 The controversy being thus settled, many of the parochial 
 clergy tried to evade the necessity of pa}-ing their share of 
 the tax, and as late as the year 1327 the University had not 
 received the whole sum that should have been collected in 
 the province of York.'* A tax of a farthing in the pound 
 was in 1320 levied on all benefices in the southern province, 
 for the maintenance of a converted Jew who was then teaching 
 Hebrew at Oxford, the Council of Vicnne having decreed 
 that there sliould be two lecturers on Hebrew, two on Arabic, 
 two on Greek, and two on Chaldee, at the Roman Court, at 
 Paris, at Oxford, at Bologna, and at Salamanca. ^ 
 
 ' Letter-book, as before, ff. 145, tot ion Universitati, December 13, 
 
 '53''^ 155) 15S ; Register of Bishop 1320. (Twyne MS. vol. iii. f. 367.) 
 
 lUirghersh, f. 351 (Twyne MS. vol. ^ J///;/. Acad. p. 3SS. 
 
 ii. f. ^b) ; Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ^ Historical Papcrs/roni A'ofi/wni 
 
 ii. p. 551 ; Eii^lit/i Report of the His- Rei!;isters^ (ed. Rainc) pp. 346349. 
 
 torical MSS. Conimissioii, p. 354. = Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. ji. 
 
 - Letter-book, as before, ft". 154, 499 ; Constitutions of Clement \'. 
 
 157/' ; Sub>nissio Fratntni Prccdica- lib. v. cap. i.
 
 THOMA S AQ UINA S. 113 
 
 In striving to obtain supremacy at Oxford the Dominicans 
 were to a great extent influenced by a desire to propagate the 
 doctrines of their illustrious teacher, Thomas of Aquino, the 
 attachment of their order to his memory having been deepened 
 and strengthened by time. This remarkable man, often 
 described as "the Angelic Doctor," had made an elaborate 
 attempt to reconcile human philosophy with divine faith. He 
 did not indeed pretend that every article of the Christian creed 
 could be proved by man's unaided reason, but he maintained 
 that natural and revealed truth were complemental to one 
 another, and he compiled an enormous work which professes 
 to contain a comprehensive and harmonious system of 
 philosophy and theology.^ His plan was to bring forward the 
 strongest arguments that his subtle brain could devise on both 
 sides of every question, and then to give his own judicial 
 decision in strict conformity with the teaching of the Church. 
 Thus, as has been remarked, " the reasoner against almost any 
 tenet of the Catholic faith may be furnished at a short notice 
 with almost any kind of weapons out of the armoury of the 
 great Catholic doctor." ^ Aquinas was, like his master Albert 
 the Great, an ardent admirer of Aristotle, but finding that the 
 exposition of Aristotle by Averroes, hitherto so popular in 
 Western Europe, was incompatible with strict orthodoxy, he 
 determined to reject it.3 The Franciscans, however, partly 
 from their sympathy with the doctrine of Averroes, and partly 
 from their jealousy of the Dominicans, refused to bow to 
 the authority of the Angelic Doctor, and openly challenged 
 his decisions upon many subjects. It would have been 
 strange indeed if so voluminous a writer had proved invul- 
 nerable at all points, and we accordingly find that some of 
 his tenets were officially condemned at Paris during his own 
 
 ' ^iMV^Wig&xWiih'ej-sity of Cam- p. iSS. 
 bridge, pp. no 115. "' Mullinger, p. 114. 
 
 ' Maurice's Medicrval Philosophy,
 
 U4 
 
 THOMA S A Q VINA S. 
 
 lifetime' IMoreover, within three years after his death, which 
 occurred in 1274, Stephen, Bishop of Paris, and the Faculty 
 of Theology of that University, specifically condemned his 
 teaching as to the absence of matter in angelic bodies,^ and 
 Kilwardby, Archbishop of Canterbury, himself a Dominican, 
 denounced his theory as to the constituent elements of man.^ 
 The leaders of the Dominican Order became seriously alarmed, 
 and a chapter-general held at Milan in 1278 despatched two 
 friars in all haste to England, with instructions to punish and 
 degrade certain of their brethren who had ventured to speak 
 disparagingly of the great Dominican docton-^ So, again, 
 a chapter-general held at Paris eight years later, bound all 
 members of the Order to defend and propagate his doctrines 
 under pain of suspension. ^ On the other hand, an Oxford 
 P'ranciscan, William de la Mare, wrote an elaborate Censure 
 of Friar Thomas ; and, to the extreme vexation of the 
 Dominicans, Peckham, the Franciscan Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, reiterated his predecessor's decrees in the schools of 
 Oxford.^ The Dominicans eventually won a signal victory, 
 for, in 1322, Pope John XXII. enrolled their champion 
 
 ' DialoiiKs Magistri Cuillcn/ii 
 de Ockha/n, lib. ii. c. 19. 
 
 ^ Petri Lombardi Scntcnticr 
 Doctoris Bo?iave/iiiim opus (ed. 
 15 15). D'Argentrc tries to show- 
 that the words " contra fratrcni 
 Thotnam" were no part of the 
 original decree, but it is easier to 
 account for their omission after the 
 canonisation of Aquinas, than for 
 their interpolation into earlier 
 manuscripts. 
 
 ' Dialogns Magistri Guiliermi 
 de Ock/iai)2, lib. ii. c. 19, 22, 24; 
 I3'Argentr(5, Collcctio Jitdicionan, 
 vol. i. pp. 185, 186, 201 ; M. Hau- 
 rcau {Philosopliic SiJiolnstiqiir, 
 \ol. ii. p. 213) writes a- if Kilward- 
 
 by had taken part in a diocesan 
 synod at I'aris in 1277. The real 
 facts are that Stephen Tempier 
 condemned thirteen errors at Paris 
 on the loth of December, 1270, 
 and two hundred and nineteen 
 errors on Mid-Lent Sunday, 1276 
 or 1 277, whereas Robert Kilwardby 
 condemned thirty-one errors at 
 Oxford on the Thursday after St. 
 Cuthbert's Day (20th March), 1276. 
 * Marteneet Durand, '1 Jiesaurus 
 A'o7'us Aiiccdotorioii, \q\. iv. p. 
 
 1793- 
 
 5 Ibid.^. 1 81 7. 
 
 ^ Wadding, Scriptorcs Ordinis 
 Minorum, p. 105 ; Wilkins's Cor,- 
 cilia, vol. ii. pp. 107 110.
 
 THOMA S AQ UINA S. 115 
 
 among the canonised saints of the Latin Church, and 
 another Bishop of Paris revoked the decisions of 1276, in 
 so far as they affected '' the refulgent light of the universal 
 church, the sparkling jewel of the clergy, the fountain of 
 doctors, the very clear mirror of the University of Paris, the 
 noble and illuminating candlestick," St. Thomas.' Italian 
 painters have represented the Angelic Doctor as seated on 
 a majestic throne between Plato and Aristotle, with Arius, 
 Sabellius, and Averroes, crouching beneath his feet, and the 
 greatest of Italian poets has placed him with eleven other 
 sages in a dazzling orb, high in the realms of Paradise.^ 
 
 Nevertheless, the opponents of Thomas Aquinas would not 
 own themselves beaten, and having found a redoubtable 
 champion in the Franciscan friar, John Duns Scotus, they 
 carried on the contest with renewed zeal. The universities of 
 Western Europe were for many years the scene of a wordy 
 war between the Thomists and the Scotists, as the adherents 
 of the rival factions came to be called from the names of their 
 respective teachers. 
 
 Duns has been claimed as a fellow-countryman by English- 
 men, by Scotchmen, and by Irishmen alike, and he has formed 
 the subject of several laborious biographies. Yet all that 
 is certainly known about his life may be summed up in a very 
 few words : he was born in the British islands, he became a 
 Grey Friar, he lectured at Oxford in or about the year 1304, 
 and, after resuming his lectures at Paris, he died at Cologne 
 in 1308. All else is fable, or at best conjecture. ]\I. Renan 
 has sufificiently shown that the posthumous reports of his 
 universal charity, of his ecstatic fervour, and of his meek 
 benevolence, were fabricated at a time when the Franciscans 
 were intent on exalting their Subtle Doctor to the level 
 of the Angelic Doctor of the Dominicans. E\-en the quasi- 
 
 D"Argentr6, Colleciio Juditio- Monastic Orders, p. 394 ; Dante, 
 rinii, vol. i. pp. 218, 222, 223. Paradiso, canto x. 
 
 - Jameson's Le^^ends of iJic . 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 /( V/X D I W'S SCO TL 'S. 
 
 historical statement that Duns propounded the doctrine of 
 the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary to an applaud- 
 ing assembly of Parisian divines, has been proved to have 
 no foundation in fact.' 
 
 Dismissing without serious comment the tradition that his 
 lectures were attended by audiences of thirty thousand 
 listeners, we need only remark in connexion with his Oxford 
 career, that many writers of good repute have fallen into the 
 strange error of supposing that he became a member of 
 Merton College after having joined the Franciscan Order in 
 his boyhood. Such a proceeding would have been forbidden 
 alike by the practice of the Grey Friars and by the statutes 
 of Walter de Merton.^ 
 
 If it be true that Duns died at the early age of thirty-four, 
 the rapidity of his mental productiveness may well be 
 characterised as " the most w^onderful fact in the intellectual 
 history of our race." 3 His treatise on the Sentences of Peter 
 Lombard, generally known as the Scriptuni Oxoniense, 
 alone fills six folio volumes of small type, and his other 
 collected works occupy at least an equal space. No mere 
 reproducer of other men's opinions, he was an independent 
 logician of the greatest ingenuity, and it is only by the 
 extraordinary irony of fate that the name of the learned 
 schoolman Duns has in common parlance come to denote 
 an ignorant blockhead.* 
 
 One important distinction between the Thomists and the 
 Scotists lay in the different estimates which they formed 
 of the value of logic. Since the recovery of the long- 
 lost philosophical writings of Aristotle, in the first half of 
 the thirteenth century, logic had been tacitly degraded 
 from its pre-eminence in the schools of Paris and Oxford. The 
 
 ' Histoire Litteraire dc la France, ^ See the quotations given by 
 
 vol. XXV. pp. 404 467. j Richardson, Webster, Trench, and 
 
 - .See p. 74. ' Wedgwood, s.v. " Dunce." 
 "^ Milman's Laf/n Cliristianity.
 
 JOHN DUNS SCOruS. 117 
 
 Thomists were unanimous in considering it an art, a valuable 
 art indeed, but at best only a method of arriving at true know- 
 ledge. According to them it dealt with artificial processes of 
 the human mind, rather than with actual facts. Duns, on the 
 other hand, claimed for it the first place among the sciences. 
 He pushed realism to an advanced point, maintaining that 
 logic treated of distinctions which had an objective existence 
 anterior to their conception by man.' " The mind of Duns," 
 remarks Dean Milman, '' might seem a wonderful reasoning 
 machine ; whatever was thrown into it came out in syllogisms 
 of the coarsest texture yet in perfect flawless character. 
 Logic was the idol of Duns; and this logic-worship is the 
 key to his whole philosophy." ^ As a theologian, however, 
 he admitted that there were some mysteries which, even when 
 revealed by God, could not be thoroughly analysed by the 
 human understanding.^ Despite his dry method and his 
 barbarous literary style, he had many followers, and the 
 enthusiasm which his lectures excited attests the extra- 
 ordinary intellectual activity of an age which could not 
 appreciate the refinements of polite literature. " Precisely 
 that contempt," says ]\Ir. Mullinger, "with which the ordinary 
 scholar now regards the metaphysical researches of the school- 
 men, was felt by the schoolman of the fourteenth century 
 for researches such as hav^e mainly occupied many of the 
 learned of our own time. Discussions on Greek metres and 
 disquisitions on Etruscan pottery would have appeared, to 
 the Oxonian of the days of Edward I., but solemn trifling, 
 while the distinction between the prima and seciinda vitentio 
 remained uninvestigated and the principutm individuationis 
 undetermined ; and students, who could not have written a 
 Latin verse or a page of Latin prose without solecisms that 
 would now excite the laughter of an average English public 
 
 ' Mullinger's University of Cam- ' pp. 307 382. 
 bridge, pp. 173 186 ; Haurcau, * Latin Christianity. 
 
 Philosophie Scliolastiquc, vol. ii. ' MuUinger, p. 185.
 
 ii8 WILLIAM OF OCKHAM. 
 
 schoolboy, listened with rapt attention to series upon series 
 of argumentative subtleties such as have taxed the patience 
 and powers of some of our acutest modern metaphysicians." ' 
 The influence of Duns Scotus was so great that in 
 England at least the tide of popular favour turned against 
 the system of St. Thomas Aquinas. His own authority, 
 however, was in its turn assailed by an Englishman trained 
 in the same cloister, and said to have been one of his 
 own pupils. The controversy between Thomists and Scot'sts 
 gave place for a time to a controversy between Realists 
 and Nominalists. William of Ockham, the reviver of 
 Nominalism, styled " the Singular Doctor," and " the In- 
 vincible Doctor," maintained, in direct opposition to Duns, 
 that universals, or general terms, existed only in name, being 
 simply produced by the abstracting powers of the human 
 mind, and having no real independent existence whatever. 
 He was the founder of a school of thinkers who abandoned 
 the attempt to harmonise philosophy with theology. Having 
 assigned separate functions to each of these sciences, and 
 being thus untrammelled by the necessity of subordinating 
 everything to the decisions of the Catholic Church, he pursued 
 logic fearlessly wheresoever it led him.^ In one sense of the 
 word he may fairly be called "a freethinker," though he was 
 a devoted member of the Franciscan Order and a strenuous 
 defender of mendicancy. The daring contest which he main- 
 tained against two succcssi\'e Popes, has earned for him a 
 conspicuous position in the history of the fourteenth century; 
 but it is not necessary in this place to discuss his views on 
 the relations of Church and State and such matters, especially 
 as nothing is certainly known about his career at Oxford. 3 
 lie was at once the glory and the reproach of his order. 
 
 ' UiiivcrsifyofCaiiibridgc^^.ili. \ Mcrton. Perhaps the earliest allu- 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. iSS 193; Haurcau, | sion to his education at Oxford is 
 
 vol. ii. pp. 418 474. ' that in a eulogy of the University, 
 
 ' Wood ventures to claim him in Lambeth MS. 221, f 3o8<^. 
 
 as a member of his own college- -
 
 THE FRANCISCAN FRIA RS. \ 1 9 
 
 The consciousness of intellectual superiority led the Fran- 
 ciscans to adopt an aggressive policy in many countries. Not 
 content with making proselytes in the open field of the Latin 
 Church, they invaded the convents of other orders, and tried 
 to attract the inmates to their own professedly holier rule 
 of life. Such conduct naturally provoked a good deal of 
 ill-feeling, and when the Oxford Franciscans admitted an 
 Augustinian friar to their society, the Prior of the Augustinians 
 retaliated by laying them under sentence of excommunication. 
 Archbishop Peckham, however, a Franciscan friar, interfered 
 in the matter, and soon settled it in favour of his own order.' 
 On another occasion too, he did his best to increase the 
 influence of the Grey Friars at Oxford, by forbidding the 
 Carmelites and Augustinian friars to hear confessions within 
 the archdeaconry.^ Bishop Dalderby of Lincoln was less 
 partial, and when the Provincial Minister of the Franciscans 
 asked him to license twenty-five of the Oxford friars to 
 hear confessions, he cut the number down to four, and it 
 was with difficulty that he was induced to license eight.3 The 
 right to hear confessions was indeed a powerful weapon in 
 the hands of the mendicants, and during the contest between 
 the Dominicans and the University, the former used to absolve 
 clerks and laymen excommunicated by the Chancellor, until 
 the Bishop of the diocese prohibited the practice as an invasion 
 of his special prerogative. The convent of the Oxford 
 P"ranciscans, inconveniently crowded with students from 
 different parts of the world, was materially enlarged in 
 1309, for, on the petition of the Earl of Richmond, Pope 
 Clement V. granted to them the site of the adjoining convent 
 of the PViars of the Sack, who had recently been suppressed. ^ 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. p. ' a.d. 1300. 
 
 log. A.D. 12S4. ^ Jbiif. f. 391. (Twyne MS. vol. 
 
 "^ Archbishop Peckham's Register, . ii. f. 15.) A.D, 1319. 
 
 f. 166^. A.D. 1280. 5 J3u l3oiilay, Hist. Univ. Paris. 
 
 5 Bishop Dalderby' s Register, f. vol. iv. p. 127. 
 13. (Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 23/'.)
 
 I20 THE CARMELITE ERIARS. 
 
 The Carmelites, or White Friars, also grew in import- 
 ance in the early part of the fourteenth century. Iji fulfil- 
 ment of a vow made in a moment of peril on the field 
 of Bannockburn, but contrary to the advice of Hugh le 
 Despencer, Edward II. granted to them, in 13 17, his manor- 
 house in the northern suburb of Oxford, generally known 
 as the King's Hall. They soon abandoned their original 
 dwelling on the swampy banks of the river, and established 
 a convent for twenty-four friars on their newly-acquired 
 property, between Stockwell Street and the church of St. 
 Mary Magdalene.^ As late as the reign of Henry VI. it 
 was customary for the Kings of England who visited Oxford 
 to take up their abode at the Carmelite convent, in remem- 
 brance of its having belonged to their own ancestors.^ Some 
 vestiges of this historical building were in existence about 
 seventy years ago, but they were removed in order to make 
 room for the dreary houses of Beaumont Street, and its 
 memory is only preserved in the name of a neighbouring 
 alley still called Friars' Entry.3 
 
 The great development of the University in the later part 
 of the thirteenth century tended to aggravate the old feud 
 between the clerks and the townsmen. Scarce a year passed 
 that the King did not receive a statement of grievances from 
 the one side or from the other. One frequent cause of com- 
 plaint on the part of the clerks was the unwholesome condition 
 of the town. Butchers were wont to slaughter their beasts 
 at Carfax, and in other public places, and chandlers used 
 to pollute the air by melting grease in the open street.'* 
 The main thoroughfares and the narrow alleys were alike 
 in a disgraceful condition, deep in mire and filth ; and 
 
 ' Bishop Daklcrby's Register, f. \ "^ Ross's Historia Regiivi, (ed. 
 
 38S (Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 4^) ; Hearnc) p. 192. 
 
 Patent Roll, 11 Edw. II. p. i, m. 3, | 3 Seethe engraving in Skelton's 
 
 and p. 2, m. i (Twyne MS. vol. Oxoiiia Aniiqua. 
 
 xxii. f. 117); Chi'onicles of Edw. I. '' Twyne MS. vol. iv.f. 61 ; Wood's 
 
 a/id II., {(td. Stubbs) vol. ii. p. 300. AniiaLs, vol. i. pp- 361, 362.
 
 CLERKS AND TRADESMEN. 121 
 
 householders were often remiss as to the repair and cleansing 
 of the pavement in front of their dwellings.^ Until re- 
 strained by royal prohibition, the bakers and brewers of 
 Oxford used to draw the water required for their respective 
 trades at Trill Mill, and at the bridges leading to the 
 Dominican convent, regardless of the sewers which emptied 
 their foul contents into the river hard by.^ The wine sold 
 to the scholars by the Oxford vintners was denounced 
 as being at times unfit fpr human consumption, and 
 exorbitantly dear,3 The townsmen were frequently accused 
 of rapacity and illegal conduct, in charging higher prices 
 for certain articles of food than were sanctioned by act of 
 Parliament.4 The clerks, being desirous to buy direct from 
 the producers and importers, viewed all forestallers and 
 middle-men with special antipathy, and protested vehemently 
 if the local traders in any way attempted to prevent country 
 folk and strangers from exposing their goods for sale in 
 Oxford. Under the idea that they could keep down prices 
 more effectually by limiting the number of regrators, or 
 retail victuallers, than by encouraging competition among 
 them, they persuaded the townsmen to agree that there should 
 never be more than thirty-two regrators in the town and 
 suburbs, and they made complaint to the King whenever 
 that number was exceeded. ^ They had influence enough 
 at Court to obtain the dismissal of a certain Robert 
 
 ' Close Roll, 29 Echv. I., m. \\b ; m. \']b. 
 
 Patent Roll, 5 Edw. III. p. 3, m. 18. s Mim. Acad. p. 38 ; Rot. Pari 
 
 (Hare MS. ff. ^i^), ^Sb) vol. i. pp. 163, 373 ; Twyne MS. vol. 
 
 ^ Placitacorajn Rege. Mich. 21 iv. f. 67; Close Roll, 12 Edw. II. 
 
 22 Edw. I. (Twyne MS. vol. ii.f. 86.) m. 6 (Hare MS. f. 49) ; It appears 
 
 3 Twyne MS. vol. iv. f. 66 ; Patent from the second of these references 
 
 Roll, 4 Edw. III. p. 2, m. 21, and that the contracted word " reg." in 
 
 5 Edw. III. p. 2, m. 8. the first of them stands for regra- 
 
 '' Close Roll, 3 Edw. I. m. 181$ tores rather than for regentes. On 
 
 (Hare MS. f. 25) ; Twyne MS. vol. the other hand see Register of the 
 
 XV. f. 321 ; Patent Roll, 6 Edw. III. University, {td. Boase) vol. i. p. 295.
 
 122 CONTESTS WITH THE TOWN. 
 
 Wells from the office of Bailiff of the Hundred without the 
 North Gate in 1288, and they solemnly resolved to suspend 
 all lectures if he were ever reinstated.' 
 
 The controversies between the clerks and the townsmen 
 ran so high in 1286 and the following year, that special 
 commissions were appointed to settle them.'' In 1290, the 
 representatives of the University and of the town appeared 
 before the Parliament at Westminster, and agreed to waive 
 all hostile proceedings on either side, if the King would 
 arbitrate on certain matters then in dispute. The townsmen 
 were the complainants this time. They contended that the 
 Chancellor habitually exceeded his legal powers, by rescuing 
 rioters from custody, by exacting ruinous fines from laymen 
 imprisoned at his command, by summoning people to appear 
 before him without due notice, and by appropriating on behalf 
 of the University the fines imposed on forestallers and dis- 
 honest traders, and they declared that they suffered loss by 
 the hard conditions vvliich the clerks made about the hire of 
 their hostels, and by the extension of the privileges of the 
 University to certain married men who carried on secular 
 business in the town. Edward I. dealt suinmarily with these 
 complaints, and gave decisions worthy of his reputation as the 
 English Justinian, sometimes in favour of one party, 
 sometimes in favour of the other. On the whole, however, the 
 clerks seem to have been the principal gainers by the 
 arbitration, and they caused the King's award to be registered 
 in the collection of their privileges.^ 
 
 The peace between the University and the town so formally 
 ratified did not last long, for in 1298 there was a violent 
 outbreak of ill-feeling. On Friday, the twenty-second of 
 
 ' Midi. Acad. pp. 43^45, 68. [ i. p. 33 ; Rcgisti-um rrivilegiormn. 
 
 " Patent Roll, 14 Edw. I. m. 7 i A copy of the award in Royal 
 
 (Twyne MS. vol. v. f. 6); MS. 12. D. XI. f. 61, is headed : 
 
 University Archives, Box M. No. ^^ Afagiia carta de concordia facta 
 
 2 (Twyne MS. vol. i.). | qticc dicitiiy ' Starra' inter U/ii- 
 
 ' Rotnli Parliaineuforiiiu, vol. I I'crsitatcin ct Burgenses Oxonne."
 
 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1298. 123 
 
 February, a clerk had a scuffle with one of the Baih'ffs 
 at Carfax and took away his mace. He was at once ar- 
 rested, but, as he was being carried to prison, a party of his 
 comrades rescued him, and avenged themselves on the Bailiff 
 by breaking open the doors of his house. On the following 
 day some of the clerks went armed to St. Mary's Church and 
 fought with the townsmen whom they found there, wounding 
 and ill-using them, and even beating to death a trader who had 
 come from Iffley to Oxford with merchandise for sale. The 
 Bailiff repaired to the Chancellor, and demanded that the 
 malefactors should be committed to prison, but he replied 
 curtly, " Chastise your laymen and we will chastise our 
 clerks." Their indignation at this rebuff was heightened 
 when they heard of a grim joke played by some clerks, 
 who had forced a common beadsman to pray for the souls 
 of certain living townsmen on the score that they would 
 soon be dead. Foiled in their attempt to obtain justice, the 
 townsmen took the matter into their own hands, and seized 
 and imprisoned three clerks who had been concerned in the 
 fray at St. INIary's. On the Sunday they continued to arrest 
 scholars in Oxford and in the suburb, invading their inns, 
 making havoc of their goods, and trampling their books 
 under foot. It was scarcely to be supposed that the high- 
 spirited young clerks would submit to such treatment, and 
 they prepared to take their revenge on the morrow. In vain 
 did the Proctors send the bedel about the town to forbid 
 them to leave their respective inns ; by nine o'clock on the 
 Monday morning bands of scholars were parading the 
 streets in martial array. The Mayor was equally unable 
 to restrain the ardour of the townsmen. The great bell of 
 St. Martin's rang out an alarm, ox-horns were sounded in 
 the streets, and messengers were sent into the country to 
 collect rustic allies. The clerks, to the number, it is said, 
 of three thousand, began their attack in several different 
 places, and broke open various warehouses in the Spiccry,
 
 124 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1298. 
 
 in the Cutlery, and elsewhere. Armed with bows and 
 arrows, with swords and bucklers, and with slings and stones, 
 they fell upon their opponents, killing three and wounding 
 about fift}^ One band led by Fulk de Neyrmit, rector of 
 Piglesthorne, and his brother, took up a position in High 
 Street, between the churches of St. Mary and All Saints, and 
 attacked the house of a certain Edward Hales, who had 
 made himself particularly obnoxious to the clerks on former 
 occasions. Hales, however, took up his crossbow, and from 
 an upper chamber sent an unerring shaft into the eye of the 
 warlike churchman, who at once fell mortally wounded. The 
 clerks thereupon lost heart and fled, closely pursued by 
 the townsmen and the country folk. Some were struck 
 down in the streets, while others who had taken refuge 
 in the churches were dragged out and mercilessly driven 
 to prison, lashed with thongs, and goaded with iron spikes. 
 In the evening the Chancellor summoned the Mayor and 
 Bailiffs to come to him, and demanded of them the keys 
 of the town, but when they refused to surrender them, some 
 clerks took forcible possession of Smith Gate and East Gate, 
 and blocked up the latter with great logs of wood. 
 
 Complaints were of course made to the King without 
 delay, each side accusing the other of murder, violence, and 
 robbery. The clerks assessed the damages done to them at 
 a thousand pounds, while the townsmen claimed the extra- 
 vagant sum of three thousand pounds.' Two commissions 
 were successively appointed to enquire into the matter, and 
 when the Bishop of Lincoln had passed sentence of ex- 
 communication on their adversaries, the clerks abandoned 
 the idea of migrating from Oxford. They had every reason 
 to be satisfied with the decision of the commissioners. A 
 fine of two hundred marks was imposed on the commonalty 
 of the town ; certain laymen imprisoned by order of the 
 Chancellor and subsequently released by the BailifTs w^ere 
 ' Twync MS. vol. iv.ff. 72,77, 78, 143. Wood has mis-translated some words.
 
 CLERKS A XL) TOWNSMEN. 125 
 
 recommitted ; the two Bailififs were themselves removed from 
 their office ; twelve of the most turbulent townsmen were 
 altogether banished from Oxford, and six others, somewhat 
 less guilty, were deprived of the places which they held in 
 connexion with the University.^ So ended the great riot of 
 1298, but the records of the time are full of notices of minor 
 frays and street brawls in which lives were often lost. After 
 one of these encounters, the clerks concerned in it fled armed 
 to Shotover Forest, and there maintained themselves for some 
 time, setting their pursuers at defiance '^ ; on another occasion 
 when some scholars had been shot in the street, the murderers 
 found shelter within the walls of St. Martin's at Carfax, the 
 official church of the towmsmen. So valuable indeed was 
 the position of St. Martin's for warlike purposes, that the 
 commonalty took measures for strengthening it, and complaint 
 was made to the King in 1321 that they had raised the walls 
 of one of the aisles, and crenellated them like a fortress, in 
 order to overawe the clerks. 3 
 
 Meanwhile, the authority of the Chancellor was steadily in- 
 creasing, and an incident that occurred in 1325 shows the pitch 
 it had then attained. The Mayor of Oxford, having presumed 
 to remove the pillory without the leave of the Chancellor, 
 was solemnly excommunicated by him. The Regent Masters 
 refused to hear his appeal, and he was finally compelled 
 to sue for absolution in the church of St. Mary. It was not 
 until a formal submission had thus been exacted of him, that 
 the leaders of the University would agree to confer with the 
 municipal authorities as to the site on which the pillory should 
 thenceforth stand.'* In consequence of repeated complaints 
 that the traders of Oxford used false weights and measures 
 
 ' Twyne MS. vol. v. f. 6 : ! Mun. Acad. pp. 6769. 
 
 University Archives, Box M. No. ! ^ Twyne MS. vol. iv. f. 102. 
 
 I. (Twyne MS. vol. i.) Bishop I 3 University Archives, Box M. 
 Sutton's Register, f. 253. (Twyne No. 12. (Twyne MS. vol. i.) 
 MS. vol. ii. f. I.) An/tales Monas- " iMn?i. Acad. pp. 113 117. 
 
 tici, (ed. Luard) vol. iv. p. 539.
 
 126 
 
 THE CHANCELLOR OF OXFORD. 
 
 with impunity, the King in 1328 confirmed the right of the 
 Chancellor of the University to take part in the customary 
 assize of bread and ale, and all the Mayor's attempts to 
 ignore the Chancellor's jurisdiction in such matters were 
 signally frustrated.' The constant and successful interference 
 of the Chancellor in secular affairs encouraged the clerks to 
 abuse their privileges, and, until checked by Edward II., some 
 of them used to make money in an illicit manner, by buying 
 up actions for debt, for breach of contract and the like, and 
 then suing the defendants in the Chancellor's court, where 
 laymen were not likely to obtain a favourable hearing.^ 
 
 The growing power of the Chancellor was viewed with 
 jealousy, not only by the commonalty of Oxford but also 
 by the Bishop of Lincoln. In the very first year of his 
 episcopate, Oliver Sutton called in question the immemorial 
 right of scholars to cite their adversaries before the Chancellor, 
 and their immunity from the jurisdiction of any civil court 
 outside the University. He also disputed the right of the 
 Chancellor to grant probate of scholars' wills, and it was with 
 some difficulty that the Archbishop of Canterbury procured 
 for the Chancellor the right of punishing immoral clerks in 
 the Bishop's name.^ The Masters seem to have acknowledged 
 their diocesan's claim to hear appeals from the University 
 court, but in 1284 they complained that Bishop Sutton 
 habitually tried to bring before himself cases which ought 
 properly to have come under the cognisance of the Chancellor, 
 and the Archbishop had to warn him that the University 
 would disperse rather than submit to this " unwonted 
 bondage." 
 
 ' Twyne MS. vol. xxii. ff. 310, 
 273; Close Roll, 2 Edw. III. m. 
 23 ; Patent Roll, 2 Edw. III. p. i, 
 ni. 16 19. 
 
 -' Twyne MS. vol. x\ii. f. 316. 
 Cf. Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, 
 A.D. 1326. 
 
 5 Mun. Acad. pp. 41- -43 ; Twyne 
 MS. vol. vii. f. 369 ; University 
 Archives, Box I, No. 5. (Twyne 
 MS. vol vii. f. 371.) 
 
 Wilkinb's Concilia, vol. ii. pp. 
 Ill, 113; Harleian MS. 6951, It". 
 29/', 30.
 
 THE CHANCELLOR OF OXFORD. 127 
 
 The clerks of Oxford had as their Chancellor in 1288, 
 Robert Winchelsey, Archdeacon of Essex, who had pre- 
 viously been Rector of the University of Paris.' When 
 he resigned the office at the end of that year, a new question 
 was raised, which, though apparently unimportant in itself, 
 led to much bitterness and trouble. The Regent Masters 
 having elected one of their number, named William of 
 Kingscote, sent messengers to the Bishop to request that 
 he might be confirmed as Chancellor according to pre- 
 cedent. Sutton, however, refused to admit by proxy a man 
 whom he did not know, and although the Masters protested 
 that it was not usual for their Chancellors-elect to go out 
 of Oxford, he persisted in his refusal. All lectures were 
 thereupon suspended at the University, and, as the controversy 
 raged for about six months, many students went away alto- 
 gether.^ It required the intervention of the King and his 
 council to effect a compromise, whereby it was arranged 
 that the blasters should present their Chancellor-elect in 
 person, if they could go to the Bishop and return without 
 missing a single lecture, but that if the Bishop were far 
 from Oxford he should confirm the Chancellor by proxy. 3 
 Kingscote's successor went to the Bishop as far as Newton 
 Longueville, in Buckinghamshire, and several subsequent 
 Chancellors were admitted by proxy, but Oliver Sutton took 
 care to show his displeasure on such occasions. On the other 
 hand the Masters were watching for an opportunity of obtain- 
 ing greater freedom in the matter, and at the first occurrence 
 
 ' Miin. Acad. p. 44 ; Wharton's ' 316. 
 
 Anglia Sacra, \o\.\. p. 12. Win- 
 chelsey afterwards became Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. When efforts 
 
 = Ibid. p. 318; Prynne's Ecclesi- 
 astical Jurisdiction, vol. iii. p. 1297 ; 
 Rotuli Parliainentonuii, vol. i. p. 
 
 were made to have him canonised, 160. 
 
 the University wrote to the Pope. * Bishop Sutton's Register, ff. 3, 
 
 setting forth his great merits. Lord 51, 117. (Tvvyne MS. vol. ii. ff. i, 
 
 Harlech's MS. Letter-book of 24, and Harleian MS. 6951. ff. 28^, 
 
 Richard of Bury, f ly^^b. \ 29*^, ^ob.) 
 ^ Annates Monastici, vol. iv. p.
 
 128 THE ARCHDEACON OF OXFORD. 
 
 of a vacancy in the Chancellorship after Sutton's death, they 
 merely sent a delegate to their new diocesan at Bugden. 
 Bishop Dalderby, however, saw through the manoeuvre, and 
 only consented to confirm their nominee as a personal favour, 
 on the score that the messenger sent to him was a near 
 relation both of the Archbishop of Canterbury and of the 
 Chancellor-elect of Oxford.^ 
 
 These disputes with the Bishop were scarcely allayed when 
 a controversy arose between the University and Gaillard de la 
 Mote, Archdeacon of Oxford, as to the right of the latter 
 to receive the probate of scholars' wills, and to exact fines 
 from clerks convicted of immorality. Instead of being an 
 English churchman, taking a prominent part in diocesan 
 affairs and residing near Oxford, this Archdeacon was a 
 foreigner, a Cardinal of the Roman Church, and an absentee 
 from his proper sphere of work. Pi is duties were performed 
 by proctors, to whom he farmed out the revenues of his office 
 for a fixed annual sum, on the understanding that they might 
 keep whatever they could make in excess of that amount. 
 These rapacious underlings, being loth to forego any possible 
 source of revenue, instigated the Archdeacon to complain to 
 the Pope that the University was encroaching on his time- 
 honoured rights, John XXII., disregarding the plea that no 
 Englishmen should be dragged to judgment across the seas, 
 appointed the Cardinal of St. Mary in Aquiro to hear the case, 
 and a writ was sent to the Archbishop of Canterbury straightly 
 ordering him to cite the Chancellor, the Proctors, and certain 
 Masters, to appear at Avignon within sixty days. Archbishop 
 Reynolds evidently disliked the task imposed on him, and 
 delegated his authority in the matter to the Abbots of Oseney 
 and Rewley. They in their turn showed themselves equally 
 lukewarm, for, after making a pretence of searching for the 
 individuals named in the Cardinal's writ, they merely issued 
 a proclamation at St. Mary's, stating in general terms that 
 
 ' Bishop Daldcrby's Register, f. 5. (Twync M.S. vol. ii. f. 4.) A.D. 1300.
 
 INTERNAL DISSENSIONS. 129 
 
 all persons implicated in the controversy were required to 
 proceed to the Roman Court within the time specified.' Upon 
 this Edward II. took the question up, and wrote to the Pope 
 and to the two Cardinals concerned, urging that the case should 
 be remitted to England for trial according to the custom 
 of his realm.2 In the third and fourth years of his reign, 
 Edward III. took similar steps on behalf of the University, 
 and a compromise was attempted in 1330.3 The suit was, 
 however, reopened in 1333, and it was not settled until 1345.'* 
 While the University was bravely asserting its rights against 
 the townsmen on the one hand, and against the Bishop of 
 Lincoln and the Archdeacon of Oxford on the other, it was 
 well-nigh rent asunder by internal dissensions. The secular 
 clergy were jealous of the mendicant friars ; the students 
 were banded together according to their nationalities ; rival 
 masters contended in the schools. Archbishop Kilwardby 
 came to Oxford in 1276 to settle some of the questions at 
 issue, and, with the assent of a majority of the Regents and 
 Non-Regents, he there condemned four common errors in 
 Latin grammar, eleven errors in logic, and sixteen errors in 
 natural philosophy, of which at least one had been maintained 
 by the great luminary of his own order, Thomas Aquinas.s 
 Eight years later, Kilwardby's successor in the archiepiscopal 
 see of Canterbury, John Peckham, like him a graduate of 
 Oxford and of Paris, summoned the Masters to appear at his 
 visitation, and in their presence solemnly ratified Kilwardby's 
 condemnatory decrees, and promulgated certain new articles 
 directed against the doctrine of Friar Peter John Olivi.^ 
 The Prior of the Dominican convent at Oxford opposed him 
 openly, and the rest of the inmates declared with one 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. pp. \ " Collectanea, (Oxford Historical 
 
 526 528. Society) vol. i. pp. 18 25. 
 
 ^ Rymer, vol. iv. pp. 189 191. ^ D'Argentre, Collcctio Jitdici- 
 
 '^ Ibid. pp. ZTji 3S5) 411 413; wv/'w, vol. i. p. 185. 
 
 University Archives, Box I, No. ' * Annales Monastici, (ed. Luard) 
 
 II. (Twyne MS. vol vii. f. 396.) vol. iv. pp. 297 299. 
 
 K
 
 I30 INTERNAL DISSENSIONS. 
 
 voice that they would defend the opinions of their Friar 
 Thomas against all men living.^ In 1285, when the Archbishop 
 and his suffragans passed a censure on the teaching of a 
 Dominican friar named Knapwell, the Provincial of the order 
 in England denied their authority and appealed to the Pope.^ 
 In the following year, the Chancellor of the University con- 
 curred with a number of prelates and divines in condemning 
 certain scholastic doctrines, and in 13 14 the Faculty of Theo- 
 logy at Oxford reprobated some erroneous views then current 
 as to the nature of the Holy Trinity.3 Edward II. seems to 
 have been somewhat ashamed of the quarrels of the Oxonians, 
 for in 1322 he issued a writ forbidding Dr. John Luttrell, who 
 had lately been ejected from the office of Chancellor, to 
 go abroad or to publish scandalous accounts of the dis- 
 pute that had arisen between himself and the Masters and 
 Scholars of Oxford. + The point at issue is not specified, but 
 it was of so serious a nature, that the Chapter of Lincoln 
 wrote to warn the Archbishop that it was likely to lead to 
 a general schism. 5 
 
 Sharp words were not the only weapons used by the 
 scholars in their disputes. The Northerners and the Irish 
 came to blows in 1273, and several of the latter were killed.'^ 
 Many of the leading members of the University went away 
 in alarm, and Edward I. took their departure so much to 
 heart that he ordered them to return at once, and threatened 
 to visit with his grave displeasure any who should venture 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. pp. 
 107, 108, 1 10, 112. 
 - Ibid. p. 120. 
 3 Ibid. pp. 123 124; Mun. Acad. 
 
 Fasti, p. 19. In point of fact he 
 was one of the champions of the 
 University against the Dominicans. 
 It may have been in consequence 
 
 pp. 100 102. ' of the controversy with Luttrell 
 
 * Close Roll, 16 Edw. II. m. 29/;. that the University in 1322 passed 
 
 5 Lord Harlech's MS. Letter- a statute limiting the duration of 
 
 book of Richard of P)ury, f 155. the Chancellor's tenure of office to 
 
 Wood states, somewhat inconsist- two years. Mini. Acad. p. 106. 
 ently, that Luttrell was a Dominican '^ Knyghton, in Twysden's Scrip- 
 
 friar and a Canon of Salisbur\-. tores Decent, c. 24.60.
 
 NORTHERNERS AND SOUTHERNERS. 131 
 
 to exercise their own free will in the matter. Some of the 
 bishops, moreover, issued a notice earnestly exhorting the 
 Oxford clerks in their respective dioceses to repair to the 
 schools, "not armed for fight, but rather prepared for study." ' 
 In thenextyear,however, there was a deadly encounter between 
 two hostile parties, and four of the clerks concerned in it were 
 committed to the Tower of London. '^ A few weeks later, the 
 Northerners and Southerners appointed certain ecclesiastical 
 dignitaries to effect a reconciliation between them, to be 
 accompanied by a mutual restitution of plunder, and by 
 stringent precautions against the recurrence of similar out- 
 breaks in the future. Every member of the University was 
 also required to swear solemnly that he would not carry arms, 
 or join any conspiracy for disturbing the peace.^ In 1313 
 it was again found necessary to prohibit seditious gatherings 
 and leagues for the espousal of private quarrels. The Scholars 
 were reminded that they all belonged to one nation, and that 
 such party divisions were most injurious to the community 
 at large. "^ The spirit of faction, however, ran too high to be 
 thus stamped out, and, after at least three other fatal frays 
 between Northerners and Southerners, the University was in 
 1320 constrained to recognise the existence of two nation- 
 alities within its own body, in a decree that one of the 
 three guardians of the Rothbury Chest should always be a 
 Northerner and another a Southerner.^ 
 
 Quarrels of another kind broke out from time to time, and 
 in Lent 1327, the students rose in rebellion against their 
 masters, on account of some new statutes for the preservation 
 of the peace. After several persons had been killed and 
 wounded on both sides, victory declared for the younger 
 combatants, and they secured the election of a Chancellor 
 
 ' Wilkins's C'(rz7/rt', vol.ii. p. 25. i '' Mun. Acad. -p- 92. 
 
 - Karleian MS. 6702, f. \o2,b. ' ^ Twyne MS. vol. xxiii. ff. 154, 
 
 "^ University Archives, Box I, 1 55, vol. iv. f. 145 ; Muu. Acad. p. 
 
 No. 12 (Twyne MS. vol. v. f, 103. The West-country men always 
 
 65). aided with the Southerners.
 
 1 32 LA WLESSNESS. 
 
 and two Proctors, who were thought to be favourable to their 
 views.' The University was for a time nearly deserted, but 
 in the autumn of the same year several statutes were passed 
 for the repression and punishment of turbulent persons.^ 
 The young Oxonians were indeed ever giving fresh proofs 
 of their lawless instincts, at one time by fighting with the 
 King's foresters, at another by rescuing prisoners from gaol, 
 at a third by provoking a riot in the streets of Eynsham, 
 and yet again by taking part in an attack on the Abbey of 
 Abingdon. 3 No feeling of reverence deterred them from 
 defiling by bloodshed the church and churchyard of St. 
 Mary the Virgin.'^ Some of them were wont to spend 
 their nights at eating-houses and taverns, regardless of any 
 rules to the contrary, and it was deemed necessary in 1305 
 to invoke the aid of Parliament to put a stop to such irregular 
 practices. 5 The Chancellor's threats of excommunication 
 produced little effect on disorderly clerks, who well knew 
 that if they made their escape from Oxford they could set 
 his authority at defiance. A provincial council held at 
 Reading in 1279 had indeed ordained that the different 
 bishops should punish any runaways from Oxford who should 
 seek shelter in their respective dioceses, but it was no easy 
 matter to carry out the decree efficiently.'' 
 
 ' Twyne ^IS. vol. x\ii. f. 366; 
 Chronicles of Edw. I. and IL, (cd. 
 Stubbs) p. 332. Cf. J. Sp7'otti 
 Clironica^ (ed. Hcarnc) p. ']']. The 
 fij;ht took place on the 3rd nones of 
 
 for the statute there printed belongs 
 really to the year 1346. See Cotton 
 MS. Claudius, D. VIII. f. 7. 
 
 "" Man. Acad. pp. 119, 122 125. 
 
 ' Annah's Monastici, (ed. Luard) 
 
 April, which fell on the Friday vol. iii. p. 286 ; Bishop Sutton's 
 
 before Palm Sunday. The date ' Register, f. 253 (Twyne MS. vol. 
 
 must, therefore, be either 1327, 1338, ii. f i ) ; Chronicles of Ediu. I. and 
 
 or 1349. Cf. Bond's Handbook for II., p. 332 ; Wood's Annals, vol. i. 
 
 I'crifyin.cr Dates. Wood gives the pp.412 418. 
 
 (1 itc as 1347. Annals, vol. i. p. z]42. * Rymer's Ea'dera,\o\. iv. p. 454. 
 
 The Chancellor and Broctors v/ho = Rotuli Parliainentornni^ vol. i. 
 
 were deposed, were not those whose p. 163. 
 
 names occur in Miinimoita Acadc- ^ Mun. Acad. pp. 3941, 124 ; 
 
 mica, }). 118, under the year 1326, Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. p. 214.
 
 PROHIBITION OF JOUSTS. 133 
 
 In addition to the ordinary local causes of disturbance, the 
 peace of the University was from time to time jeopardised 
 by the advent of feudal lords with great retinues of armed 
 men; and, in the years 1305 and 1309, the King found it 
 necessary to forbid the holding of any jousts or tournaments 
 in the neighbourhood of Oxford or Cambridge.^ " Many 
 sad casualties," says Fuller, in his quaint style, " were caused 
 by these meetings, though ordered with the best caution. 
 Arms and legs were often broken as well as spears. JNIuch 
 lewd people waited on these assemblies, light housewives as 
 well as light horsemen repaired thereunto. Yea, such was 
 the clashing of swords, the rattling of arms, the sounding 
 of trumpets, the neighing of horses, the shouting of men all 
 daytime, with the roaring of riotous revellers all the night, 
 that the scholars' studies were disturbed, safety endangered, 
 lodging straitened, charges enlarged, all provisions being 
 unconscionably enhanced. In a word, so many war-horses 
 were brought hither, that Pegasus was himself likely to be 
 shut out; for where Mars keeps his terms there the Muses 
 may even make their vacation."^ 
 
 The disturbed state of the country in the reign of Edward 
 II. was not without its influence on the University. In June 
 1312, the Earl of Pembroke came to Oxford, and called 
 together the clerks and the townsmen, to complain of the 
 arrest and detention of Piers Gavcston by the other associated 
 barons, and to justify his own conduct. Inasmuch, however, 
 as there was reason to suspect his sincerity, the Oxonians 
 wisely refused to meddle in a matter which did not concern 
 them. A few days later the headless corpse of Gaveston was 
 brought to Oxford, and deposited in the convent of the 
 Dominican friars. 3 In 13 18, a handsome young man, named 
 John of Powderham, who had been educated in the schools of 
 
 ' Rymer's /^i2'('/,i'rrt, vol. ii. p. 975 : ^ Clinviiclcs of Edw. I. and If., 
 
 Close Roll, 34 Edw. I. m. 21. (ed. Stubbs) vol. i. pp. 207, 271 ; vol. 
 
 '^ History of Cambridge. ii. pp. 44, 178, 180, 209.
 
 134 POLITICAL DISTURBANCES. 
 
 Oxford, took up his abode in the King's Hall, with a dog 
 and a cat, pretending himself to be the eldest son of Edward 
 I., and consequently the rightful owner. He was arrested by 
 the Chancellor and the Bailiffs, and after being confined for 
 a while in Bocardo, the prison adjoining the North Gate, he 
 was in due course executed at Northampton.' Four years 
 later the King, under pretence of providing for the security 
 of the clerks, ordered the Chancellor and the Sheriff to exact 
 an oath from all persons staying at Oxford that they would 
 show themselves loyal subjects, and defend the town if neces- 
 sary.^ In 1326 he sent to the Chancellor a statement of his 
 grievances against the King of France, and against his own 
 wife and son, and he subsequently enjoined the Chancellor 
 to close Smith Gate, which was then under his custody, 
 against Roger de Mortimer, the leader of the Barons' army.3 
 It does not appear which side the University espoused, but 
 before many weeks were over, the Queen took possession of 
 the town, while the King was flying before his enemies, 
 Adam Orlton, Bishop of Hereford, there delivered a notable 
 sermon before the University, defending the policy of the 
 Queen, and advocating extreme measures against her ill- 
 starred husband. 
 
 There were grave troubles at Oxford in 1334. The 
 Northerners fought against the Southerners, and the Chancellor 
 arrested so many rioters that the Castle was filled to over- 
 flowing, and the Sheriff protested that he could not be 
 answerable for the safe custody of all the prisoners.^ Many 
 of the more studious clerks, chiefly Northerners, resolved to 
 quit Oxford for ever, and betook themselves to Stamford, 
 
 ' Chrojiicon de La)tcrcost, (ed. I ' Close Roll, 20 Edw. II. mm, 
 
 Stevenson) p. 236; Cliroiiclcs of j 6, 10. 
 
 luiward I. and //., (ed. Stubbs) 1 * Walsingham, Ilistoria Aiie^U- 
 
 vol. i. p. 282 ; vol. ii. pp. 55, i CMia, vol. i. p. iSi ; CJiroiiicIcs of 
 
 234 : Twyne MS. vol. xxiv. ff. 13, j Edw. I. and II., vol. ii. p. 310. 
 245. T Rofnli Parlia/iiailo!!!!!!. \o\. \i. 
 
 Close Roll, 15 I'.dw. II. m. 20. p. 76.
 
 SECESSION TO STAMFORD. 135 
 
 where there were already some flourishing schools,' In 
 the same year, a violent contention arose at Oxford between 
 the clerks and their servants. This time the Chancellor 
 and the Proctors were very remiss in punishing the 
 offenders, and Edward III. was informed that there was 
 reason to fear a total dissolution of the University. The 
 Chancellor and the Mayor were therefore summoned to 
 appear at Westminster, and the Lord Chancellor, Richard of 
 Bury, Bishop of Durham, and two other prelates, were sent 
 to Oxford to enquire into the case.^ In the meanwhile the 
 King took steps to recall the clerks who had migrated to 
 Stamford, and he ordered the Sheriffs of Lincoln and Oxford 
 to forbid the performance of any scholastic exercises in that 
 town, or elsewhere beyond the precincts of the existing 
 universities.3 The clerks replied, with considerable show of 
 reason, that they had left Oxford on account of the disturb- 
 ances which occurred there very frequently, that they merely 
 desired to pursue their studies in quiet and peace, and that 
 their right to stay at Stamford was as good as that of 
 members of any other profession/ The King was not to be 
 turned from his purpose by arguments, and the Sheriff of 
 Lincoln was again sent to inform the headstrong clerks that 
 if they persisted in their disobedience they would forfeit all 
 their goods, and specially their much-prized books. This 
 second warning was equally disregarded ; seventeen Masters, 
 six Bachelors, and certain other students, continued to attend 
 the schools at Stamford, and it was not until five months 
 later that they were compelled to disperse.^ 
 
 A trace of the sojourn of the Oxford scholars at Stamford 
 
 ' Knyghton, in Twysden's Scrip- I vol. iv. p. 622 , Ayliffe's University 
 tores Deceffii c. 2565 ; Royal MS. I <?/ Oxford, vol. ii. p. xxxviii. 
 
 12, D. XI. fif. 13, 22b, 24j5, 28, 2C)b, 
 90 ; Collectanea, (Oxford Historical 
 Society) vol. i. 
 ' Rymer's Fcedcra, (ed. Clarke) 
 
 3 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. iv. p. 621. 
 * Peck's Atmals of Stamford, 
 book xi. p. 17. 
 
 5 Rymer's Fcedera, vol. iv. p. 638; 
 
 vol. ii. part ii. p. 892 ; Ibid. (ed. 1707) j Ing. p.m. 9 Edw. III. 2nd numb 72.
 
 136 
 
 SECESSION TO STAMFORD. 
 
 survived there for about four hundred years, in the name and 
 sign of a building which some of them had inhabited, and on 
 which they had bestowed the famih"ar appellation of Brase- 
 nose Hall.' At Oxford the memory of the secession of 1334 
 was preserved even longer in an oath that was administered 
 to all candidates for a degree : " You shall swear that you 
 will not give or attend lectures at Stamford, as in a university, 
 seat of learning, or general college."'^ This antiquated formula 
 has been used within the memory of men who are still living. 
 Having been retained in the Laudian code of 1636, it received 
 fresh sanction in 1800, and it was not expunged from the 
 statute-book of the University until 1827.3 
 
 ' Peck's Annals of Stant/o7'd, 
 book xi. pp. 23 27. 
 
 " Mun. Acad. p. 375. 
 
 3 Ward's Oxford University Sta- 
 tutes, vol. i. p. Ill; vol. ii. pp. 43, 
 
 140. Brasenose Hall at Oxford is 
 mentioned by that name in docu- 
 ments of the thirteenth century. 
 Churton's Lives of Smyth and 
 Sutton, p. 277.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Progress of the Collegiate System The Origin of Exeter College 
 Stapeldon Hall Bishop Stapeldon's Statutes Foundation of Oriel 
 College The Original Statutes The Lincoln Statutes Ordinance of 
 1329 Foundation of Queen's College Statutes of 1340 Enlarge- 
 ment of Merton College Removal of University College Changes 
 at Balliol College Sir Philip de Somerville's Statutes. 
 
 HE first half of the fourteenth century- 
 witnessed the establishment of three new 
 colleges at Oxford, now known as Exeter 
 College, Oriel College, and Queen's College, 
 and the material development of the three 
 which already existed, Merton Hall, Balliol Hall, and 
 University Hall. 
 
 Walter de Stapeldon, Bishop of Exeter, was the founder 
 of the college which now bears the name of that see. In 
 April, 1 3 14, he conveyed the rectory of Gwinear, in Corn- 
 wall, to the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, on condition that 
 they should apply the income to the maintenance of twelve 
 scholars studying philosophy at the University, and he 
 purchased for these scholars two houses in the parish of 
 St. Peter in the East, at Oxford, known respectively as 
 Hart Hall and Arthur Hall. The original members of the 
 foundation were placed in Hart Hall, which in consequence 
 received for a while the name of Stapeldon Hall. It was 
 not long, however, before the Bishop resolved to provide 
 them with a more comfortable abode. In October, 13 15, he
 
 138 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 bought a tenement called St. Stephen's Hall, an adjoin- 
 ing tenement called La Lavandrie, and a third to the 
 east of them, situated just within the town wall, between 
 the Turl and Smith Gate. Thither the twelve scholars 
 removed, and the name of Stapeldon Hall was transferred to 
 the little group of buildings which thus became the nucleus 
 of Exeter College. Hart Hall, being no longer required by 
 the students, was let to a yearly tenant, and the rent arising 
 from it was made into a fund for the repair of their new 
 dwelling.' Further endowments were also secured to them 
 by the purchase of other halls in the town and suburb of 
 Oxford, the expense of employing collectors or land-agents 
 in distant parts of the country being thus avoided. 
 
 The statutes of Stapeldon Hall bear date the 24th of 
 April, 1316, when they were accepted by the existing mem- 
 bers of the foundation. They provide for the perpetual 
 maintenance of thirteen scholars, of whom eight were to be 
 natives or inhabitants of Devonshire, and four natives or 
 inhabitants of Cornwall.^ Narrow as the restriction may 
 appear to the liberal spirit of the nineteenth century, it was 
 not without practical advantages in the fourteenth. Apart 
 from the benefit which it enabled a Bishop of Exeter to 
 confer on the subjects of his spiritual jurisdiction, it tended 
 greatly to secure harmony within the walls of the College. 
 " In days when intercourse between widely severed localities 
 was rare and difficult," observes Mr. Mullinger, "the limits 
 of counties not unfrequently represented differences greater 
 than now exist between nations separated by seas. The 
 student from Lincolnshire spoke a different dialect, had 
 different blood in his veins, and different experiences in his 
 
 ' For particulars concerning the ^ The Statutes of Exeter College^ 
 
 foundation and history of Stapeldon printed by desire of the Comniis- 
 
 Hall, see Mr. Boase's valuable \ sioners under the Act ij &^ i'& Vitf. 
 
 Register of Exeter College, a store- c. 81, 1855. 
 house of information.
 
 THE SCHOLARS. 139 
 
 whole early life, from those of the student from Cumberland or 
 the student from Kent. Distinctions equally marked charac- 
 terised the native of Somersetshire and the native of Essex, 
 Hereford, or Yorkshire." ^ Those colleges, therefore, which 
 were open to candidates from all parts of England were 
 specially liable to be troubled by internal feuds. 
 
 Vacancies among the Scholars of Stapeldon Hall were to 
 be filled up by the vote of two-thirds of the body, poverty, 
 uprightness of conduct, and aptitude for study being the 
 chief qualifications required by the statutes. No one, how- 
 ever, was eligible for a scholarship who had not already 
 attended the lectures of a JMaster of Arts for a year or more, 
 and another year of probation was necessary before full 
 admission. All the Scholars were required to "determine" 
 as Bachelors of Arts within six years, and to "incept" as 
 Masters of Arts within ten years, and afterwards to give 
 ordinary lectures for two years. They were to forfeit their 
 places if they obtained ecclesiastical preferment, or a yearly 
 income of sixty shillings, if they refused to undertake the 
 office of Rector, or if they absented themselves from the 
 Hall for five months in any year without good cause. In 
 any case they were to leave the Hall at the end of the 
 third year after their inception, the academical course of a 
 Master of Arts being then fully completed. It is specially 
 worthy of remark that Stapeldon, a Bishop of the Church, 
 and a Doctor of Canon Law, made no provision for the 
 maintenance of theologians or jurists. The object of his 
 foundation was to give a good education to young men Avho 
 were not necessarily destined for holy orders. The Regent- 
 INIasters and the younger Scholars were alike expected to 
 attend disputations, which were to be held regularly twice a 
 week, two of every three such disputations being on logic, 
 and the third on natural science. The only member of the 
 
 ' The University of Cambridge, p. 239.
 
 140 EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 whole foundation who was required to be a priest was the 
 Chaplain, His duties and his studies were to be different 
 from those of the other twelve Scholars, and he was to receive 
 a larger allowance of money. Instead of being elected in 
 the same manner as the others, he was to be nominated by 
 the Dean and Chapter of Exeter, and only removable from 
 his office on complaint of at least two-thirds of the Scholars. 
 
 The Scholars of Stapeldon Hall seem to have enjoyed a 
 considerable amount of individual liberty. They had indeed 
 a nominal chief, styled the Rector of the Hall, but he was 
 simply one of themselves, elected by them to hold ofifice for 
 the short term of a twelvemonth. He might with almost 
 equal propriety have been styled the Bursar, his principal 
 duties being to collect the rents, to apportion the different 
 rooms in the Hall, and to engage and control the servants of 
 the establishment. The annual audit was held at the begin- 
 ning of October, and, after his accounts had been examined 
 and approved, the out-going Rector was eligible for the 
 ensuing year. The deeds, books, muniments, and money, of 
 the College were kept in a chest, of which one key was held 
 by the Rector, another by the senior Scholar, and a third by 
 the Chaplain. The weekly allowance for commons was ten- 
 pence to every person, in addition to which the Rector and the 
 Chaplain received twenty shillings a year apiece, and each of 
 the other eleven Fellows ten shillings. Any one who absented 
 himself for more than four weeks in the year, forfeited a 
 proportionate part of the value of his commons. 
 
 In times of need the members of Stapeldon Hall could 
 have recourse to a chest containing twenty marks, which was 
 established for their exclusive benefit by Ralph Germein, 
 Precentor of Exeter, as early as the year 1316. Masters of 
 Arts were allowed to borrow a pound from it. Bachelors a 
 mark, and sophisters half a mark, provided that they 
 respecti\'cly deposited pledges of greater value. The society 
 was also allowed to borrow money from the same source for
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 141 
 
 its corporate requirements. All loans, however, had to be 
 repaid within a twelvemonth. Another chest was also es- 
 tablished at Stapeldon Hall soon afterwards by Richard 
 Grenfield, rector of Kilkhampton. 
 
 Bishop Stapeldon issued supplementary ordinances in 1322 
 and in 1325, explaining several points which appeared am- 
 biguous in his original statutes. He moreover expressed his 
 earnest desire that the Scholars should converse in French or 
 in Latin at meal" times, and at all other times when they were 
 gathered together. In 1326, he obtained licence from the 
 Bishop of Lincoln to consecrate the high altar of the chapel 
 of Stapeldon Hall in honour of the Blessed Virgin, St. Peter 
 the patron saint of Exeter and St. Thomas the Martyr, but 
 in October of that year he was seized and murdered by the 
 citizens of London, on account of his attachment to the 
 cause of Edward W. and his own unpopularity. 
 
 Oriel College, the fifth in antiquity of the colleges that 
 now remain at Oxford, dates its legal existence from the 
 year 1326, although it actually took its origin two years 
 earlier. It was in 1324 that Edward II. gave formal per- 
 mission to his almoner, Adam de Brome, to acquire land for 
 the purpose of founding a college which should be styled 
 " the House of the Scholars of St. Mary at Oxford." ^ In 
 accordance with the terms of the royal licence, Adam de 
 Brome bought of Roger Marshall, rector of Tackley, a 
 building known as Tackley's Inn, situated on the south side 
 of the High Street of Oxford, and there he seems to have 
 established his scholars, one of them, set over the rest, being 
 designated the Rector.' He also bought for their benefit a 
 house called La Perilos Hall, which stood on the eastern side 
 of Durham College, in the northern suburb. Before long, 
 however, he resolved to place his college under more powerful 
 
 ' Statutes of tlw Colleges of ~ Lansdowne MS. 3S6, f. 13. 
 Oxford^ vol. i.
 
 142 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 protection than his own, and with that object surrendered it 
 into the hands of his royal master, Edward II. was, by a 
 transparent fiction, made to appear the founder of an institu- 
 tion of which in point of fact he was merely the foster-father/ 
 On the 2 1st of January, 1326, he issued a formal charter of 
 foundation and a code of statutes, both, no doubt, drawn up 
 by his almoner, who caused himself to be appointed the 
 official head of the College, with the title oi PrcEpositiis, ox 
 Provost. In both documents the new institution was described 
 as " a college of scholars studying theology," and the ten 
 original Scholars to be nominated by Adam de Brome were 
 required to be students of theology. No limit was placed on 
 the future number of the Scholars ; but, although Bachelors 
 of Arts were declared eligible, theology was to be the ulti- 
 mate study of all save five or six, who were to be allowed 
 to devote themselves to civil and canon law. The College 
 was therefore to be more ecclesiastical in character than 
 those which had been founded by Dervorguilla de Balliol 
 and Walter de Stapeldon, The Scholars were required 
 to observe the canonical hours in the church of St. Mary 
 the Virgin on Sundays, and on the days marked in the 
 calendar as Double Feasts, this rule being only slightly 
 relaxed in favour of those who, as Regents, were actively 
 engaged in the work of education. Chaplains attached to 
 the College were to say three masses every day at the high 
 altar, and a fourth mass for the special benefit of Hugh le 
 Despenser the younger, at the altar of Corpus Christi. In 
 other respects the new foundation was intended to bear a 
 close resemblance to that of Walter de Mcrton, and there 
 are only a few sentences in the statutes that were not taken 
 word for word from the statutes which were framed for the 
 government of Merton Hall in 1274.^ 
 
 ' \r\'^x7a-Vi?, Memorials of Oxford J printed by desire of iJte Coin- 
 Wade's Walks i)i Oxford, -p- i43- )iiissioiiers under the Act 17 -^ jS 
 
 - The Statutes of Oriel ColleL^e, Viet. c. 81, 1855.
 
 THE LINCOLN STATUTES. 143 
 
 The royal charter, which was issued simultaneously with 
 the original statutes, assigned to the College the pro- 
 perty already acquired for it by Adam de Brome, and also 
 the advowson of the church of St. Mary the Virgin, of 
 which he was the rector,' On his subsequent resignation of 
 the rectory, the church was appropriated to the College, 
 and the services in it have ever since been performed by 
 vicars.^ The glebe comprised five shops on the southern 
 side of the High Street, opposite to the church, and a house 
 known as St. Mary's Hall, situated to the south of them on 
 the eastern side of Schydyard Street, the principal resort of 
 the sellers of parchment.3 This house, which in the statutes 
 is styled "the manse of the rectory of the church of St. 
 Mary," is there specified as the habitation of the Provost and 
 Scholars, but leave was given to them to remove to any other 
 spot in the same parish that might appear more suitable. 
 
 The College had not been established many months before 
 Adam de Brome perceived that he had made a mistake 
 in connecting it so closely with the unpopular cause of 
 Edward H. and the Despensers, He therefore resolved to 
 find for it a patron belonging to the opposite party, and 
 he was fortunate in securing the favour of Henry Burghersh, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, a prelate of noble birth and great social 
 influence. Relying on a clause in the statutes of January, 1326, 
 which authorised the Provost and eight or ten senior Scholars 
 to draw up fresh regulations from time to time, Adam de 
 Brome and the Scholars of St. Mary's Hall issued an entirely 
 new code in the month of May of the same year. The 
 original statutes were repealed, or rather superseded ; and they 
 were not revived until the College had enjoyed four centuries 
 of corporate existence. 
 
 The statutes that were promulgated in May, 1326, differed 
 materially from those by which the Scholars of Merton Hall 
 
 ' Lansdowne MS. 386, f. 9/'. ' Ibid. f. 9/^. 
 
 ^ Ibid. f. 10.
 
 144 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 were governed.' Thus, while sophisters, Bachelors of Arts, 
 and Masters of Arts, were alike eligible to scholarships at 
 Merton College, all the ten original members of "the House 
 or Hall of St. Mary " were required to be men who had 
 already graduated in arts. Provision was indeed made that 
 if the revenue of the society should so increase as to allow of 
 an increase in the number of members, a limited number of 
 Bachelors of Arts should be admitted as Scholars, but they 
 too were to be obliged to forsake their secular studies, as soon 
 as they had gone through the regular course by taking their 
 degrees and lecturing for a certain time on logic or philo- 
 sophy. The study of ecclesiastical law was forbidden 
 save to a small minority. The Scholars, admitted after 
 a year's probation, were entitled to retain their places for 
 life, unless they broke the rules by taking monastic vows, 
 by accepting preferment, by absenting themselves from the 
 College, by neglecting their studies, or by grave misconduct. 
 For venial offences they were liable to be reproved by the 
 Provost, or by the second officer of the College, who was 
 styled the Dean. They were expected to dress as far as 
 possible alike, and to use the Latin or the French language 
 in their ordinary conversation. 
 
 Although endued with considerable authority, the Provost 
 was for some purposes reckoned as one of the ten Scholars. He 
 was to sit at table with them, and, like the others, to receive 
 a shilling a week for commons. On the other hand, he was 
 probably given the luxury of a private apartment, while his 
 fellows, despite their academical rank as Masters, were 
 crowded together in small rooms, the senior in each room 
 being answerable for the industry no less than for the good 
 conduct of all the inmates. 
 
 The Provost and Scholars formed a corporate body, and 
 had a common seal. They were to meet in chapter at least 
 
 ' Tlicy arc printed in Statutes of tlic Collrgcs of Oxford, vol. i.
 
 ORIEL COLLEGE. 145 
 
 three times a year, each meeting being preceded by a solemn 
 service in St, Mary's Church, in commemoration of their 
 principal benefactors. King Edward II., Henry Burghersh, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, and Adam de Brome. They were also to 
 keep the canonical hours in that church on Sundays, and on 
 all Double Feasts. Masses for benefactors, and in honour of 
 the patroness of the College, were to be said daily by two 
 Scholars in priest's orders, or by two chaplains engaged for the 
 purpose. The right of confirming the Provost-elect, and of 
 interpreting the statutes, was vested in the Bishop of Lincoln 
 and his successors, and from this the statutes of May 1326 
 came to be known as " the Lincoln Statutes." 
 
 Adam de Brome and the members of his foundation did 
 not long occupy St. Mary's Hall. In December, 1327, 
 Edward HI. granted to them the reversion of a house 
 called La Oriole, situated at the corner of Schydyard 
 Street and St. John's Street, and at that time in the 
 possession of a Canon of St. Paul's, named James of 
 Spain, who held it under a grant from his countrywoman 
 Queen Eleanor, the wife of Edward I. A few months 
 later, the Spaniard surrendered his life-interest on very 
 favourable terms, and " the Provost and Scholars of the 
 House or Hall of St. Mary " obtained actual possession of 
 the building from which Oriel College takes its name.^ All 
 traces of the original structure have long since disappeared, 
 and nothing is known for certain with regard to its form, 
 the architectural term " Oriel " having been used in several 
 different senses in the middle agcs.^ 
 
 A supplementary ordinance was issued by Adam de Brome 
 and the Scholars, in March, 1329. The Provost's allowance 
 
 ^ Lansdowne MS. 386, f. 16. ArchcEolog{a,\o\.\yX\\,-^^. 105-116; 
 
 - The term " Oriel " may in most Skelton's Oxonia Antiqna Rcs- 
 
 cases be rendered "recess," but taiiraia ;Va.r'kQrs Glossary o/Archi- 
 
 for other meanings, and for quota- tcctiirc, vol. i. p. 333 ; and Domestic 
 
 tions from ancient authorities, see Architecture, vol. ii. pp. 82 86. 
 
 L
 
 146 ORIEL COLLEGE. 
 
 was thereby raised to ten marks a year, a separate table was 
 assigned to his use in hall, and he received licence to hold a 
 benefice without vacating his place. The then existing author- 
 ity of the society over the studies of its individual members 
 was considerably increased, weekly disputations were enjoined, 
 and the Scholars were given the privilege of borrowing books 
 from the library once a year, on All Souls' Day. The 
 connexion between the College and the church of St. Mary 
 the Virgin was strengthened by an order that the Scholars 
 should wear their surplices in the choir at the canonical 
 hours and at mass, on the chief festivals of the ecclesiastical 
 year. Provision was at the same time made that whenever 
 the price of wheat at Oxford rose above ten shillings a 
 quarter, the weekly allowance for commons should be 
 raised proportionately up to fifteenpence a head. Finally, 
 small yearly stipends were assigned to the dean, to the two 
 bursars, to the manciple who catered for the wants of the 
 scholars, to the cook who prepared their food, and to the 
 barber who cut their tonsures and washed their heads. 
 
 About a year before the date of this ordinance, Edward III. 
 had added to the endowments of the College, by bestow- 
 ing on it the Hospital of St. Bartholomew, which stood 
 in the parish of Cowley, a little beyond the East Gate of 
 Oxford. Although the royal deed of grant stated that the 
 affairs of the Hospital had been mismanaged for some time 
 past, and insisted on the perpetual maintenance of a chaplain 
 and eight brethren, the avowed object was to give the Provost 
 and Scholars a place to which they might repair in times of 
 sickness.' The distance from their ordinary abode to the 
 Hospital was little more than a mile, yet the smells of mediaeval 
 
 ' " Voloites let dicti Prcposilus ct 
 Scolares, supcrvcnicnte infiniiitatc, 
 piirioris no-is iniimttationc recf'c- 
 ciif !/>'." r;itcnt Roll, 2 Edw. III. 
 
 the Hospital see Dugdale'si^/cw^M'- 
 /icoii, vol. vii. p. 642, and P7-oci'cd- 
 ings of /lie Oxford ArcJutcctin-al 
 Society, New Series, vol. ii. pp. 
 
 ]). I, in. 28. For the history of , 178 1S4.
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 147 
 
 Oxford were so foul that the King was amply justified in 
 commending the air of Cowley Marsh as " purer." 
 
 Sixteen years after the first foundation of Oriel College 
 by Adam de Brome, another clerk attached to the English 
 Court established a very similar institution. In January, 
 1340, Robert de Eglesfield, chaplain to Queen Philippa, 
 the wife of Edward III., obtained royal licence to found "a 
 collegiate hall " for scholars, chaplains and others, under the 
 name of " the Queen's Hall of Oxford." The site selected for 
 it was in the parish of St. Peter in the East, a little to the 
 north of the High Street, about mid-way between the East 
 Gate of the town and the church of St. Mary the Virgin, 
 Inspired doubtless by the example of Adam de Brome, and 
 in avowed hope of future assistance, the founder resolved to 
 place his college under royal protection, and accordingly gave 
 the patronage of it to Queen Philippa and all subsequent 
 Queens-Consort of England. It was by the Queen's special 
 permission that he was allowed to issue some elaborate 
 statutes for the government of the College, in March, 1340.' 
 
 Unlike the statutes of Adam de Brome for Oriel College, 
 the statutes of Robert de Eglesfield bear no direct trace of 
 the influence of Walter de Merton ; in substance and in form 
 alike they are wholly original. An ecclesiastical tone per- 
 vades them throughout, and several of their enactments 
 have a symbolical meaning. In founding Queen's Hall, 
 Robert de Eglesfield had four objects in view the main- 
 tenance of a Provost and twelve at least students of theology 
 or canon law, the careful performance of certain religious 
 services, the elementary education of a number of indigent 
 boys, and the regular distribution of alms among the poor 
 of Oxford. Of these the first two were evidently the most 
 important in his eyes, the greater part of the statutes being 
 devoted to them. 
 
 The Provost, the head of the whole body, was to be elected 
 
 ' Statutes of the CoZ/eges of Oxford^ vol. i. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 by a majority of the Fellows, and to be presented for con- 
 firmation to the Archbishop of York, in whose province were 
 situated the church of Brough-undcr-Stainmore and the 
 manor of Ravcnwyk, which formed part of the endowment 
 of the College. He was to be free to live wherever he 
 pleased within easy reach of the College, and to hold any 
 benefice which did not require continual residence. His 
 income was fixed on a sliding scale, varying according to 
 the number of Fellows in the College, the maximum amount 
 being fixed at forty pounds a year. 
 
 The Fellows, or Scholars, originally corresponding in num- 
 ber to the Apostles, were to be poor men who had graduated 
 in Arts, and who desired to proceed with the study of 
 theology or, in some cases, of canon law.' A preference was 
 to be shown to the founder's kin, and to natives of the 
 counties of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and secondly 
 to natives of places where the College held property, but 
 otherwise the choice of the Fellows was to be unfet- 
 tered, foreigners being expressly declared eligible. Can- 
 didates from other colleges in Oxford, were not to be 
 rejected, the founder having himself nominated a former 
 Scholar of Stapeldon Hall to be one of the twelve original 
 Fellows. Those Fellows who were not priests at the time 
 of their admission were required to take priest's orders 
 within a given time. Fellowships were to be tenable for 
 life, on condition that the students of theology should in- 
 cept, or take their full degree, within eighteen years, and 
 the students of law within thirteen years. Any P'ellow who 
 should obtain an independent income, civil or ecclesiastical, 
 of ten marks a year, was to be forthwith ejected from the 
 society. A disputation on theology was to be held once a 
 
 ' It has been already remarked 
 (p. 77) that in the statutes of Mcr- 
 ton College the term Fellow is only 
 
 nexiou of the Scholars with one 
 another. In the statutes of Queen's 
 Hall it is used in its technical 
 
 used relatively to show the con- , sense.
 
 THE FELLOWS. 
 
 149 
 
 week under the presidency of the Provost. The allowance 
 to each Fellow was to be ten marks a year, or rather 
 so much of that sum as should remain over after the 
 deduction of two shillings a week for his commons. The 
 cost of the commons was not necessarily to be more than 
 eighteenpence a week for each Fellow, the difference between 
 the amount actually expended on food under the Provost's 
 direction and the two shillings allowed on that score, being 
 devoted to charitable purposes. Even on the lowest scale, the 
 fare at Queen's Hall was intended to be more abundant than 
 that at any other college at Oxford. On the other hand, the 
 Fellows were strictly forbidden to indulge in costly break- 
 fasts, in "second suppers," in drinking bouts, or the like. 
 No " inception feasts " were to be held in the College, save 
 at the inception of any of the actual Fellows. Individual 
 Fellows were not to keep servants or other dependents in 
 the College, or to have private oratories. Those only of 
 them who had attained high academical rank were to have 
 separate bed-chambers or separate studies. The use of 
 musical instruments was forbidden, except at times of com- 
 mon recreation, and the practice of archery was wholly 
 proscribed. Hounds and hawks were to be rigorously 
 excluded from the College, on the score that it did not 
 become persons mainly subsisting on alms to give the bread 
 of man to dogs. Notwithstanding the age of the Fellows, 
 and their clerical character, the founder thought it necessary 
 to warn them against gambling at dice, chess, or other 
 games, and against frequenting taverns and houses of ill fame. 
 One of the P^ellows was to serve as treasurer and another as 
 chamberlain, with duties analogous to those of the bursars 
 at Merton College and at Oriel College. 
 
 Independently of the priest-Fellows, there were to be at 
 Queen's Hall certain hired chaplains, removable at the 
 pleasure of the Provost and Fellows. The chief of them 
 was to be styled dean of the chapel, two others were to
 
 I50 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 serve as precentors, a fourth as sacristan, a fifth as reader 
 in hall, a sixth as almoner, and a seventh as clerk of the 
 treasury. The total number of chaplains was, however, 
 limited to thirteen, lest it should exceed that of the members 
 of the governing body. Each of the chaplains was to re- 
 ceive commons to the value of a shilling a week, and a 
 yearly allowance of twenty-eight shillings wherewith to buy 
 clothes. The statutes give precise orders about the daily 
 celebration of five masses, about the observance of the 
 canonical hours by the chaplains, about the commemora- 
 tion of benefactors, and about various details connected with 
 the performance of divine service. Several passages in 
 them show that the founder hoped to obtain for the 
 College the advowson of a parochial church in Oxford, in 
 order that an appropriation might be effected, like that by 
 which the church of St. John the Baptist was united to 
 Merton College, or that by which the church of St. Mary 
 the Virgin was united to Oriel College. The chancel of 
 the neighbouring church of St. Peter in the East, for ex- 
 ample, might have been made to serve as the chapel of 
 Queen's College; but, failing the appropriation of that or 
 any other church in the town, Robert de Eglesfield resolved 
 that a chapel should be built within the precincts of the 
 College, and called the Chapel of All Saints. 
 
 The chaplains were to be assisted in their ministrations by 
 two clerks skilled in plain chant, who were also to act as 
 teachers of music to the poor boys maintained in the College. 
 These poor boys were to be elected in the same manner 
 as the Fellows, a preference being again reserved for the 
 founder's kin and for natives of places where the College held 
 property. They were to serve as choristers in the chapel, 
 and to attend masses and hours on Sundays and on other 
 festivals on which they would not be required to go to 
 school. The }'ounger boys were to study grammar under 
 a grammar-niastcr, and the elder bo}S logic or philosophy
 
 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 151 
 
 under a teacher belonging to the Faculty of Arts. The poor 
 boys were to vacate their places at the end of the fourth 
 term after their " determination " as Bachelors of Arts, or at 
 latest within eight years of their admission to the College. 
 Those of them who afterwards proceeded to the degree of 
 Master of Arts were to be regarded as specially eligible 
 for Fellowships. The poor boys and their four teachers 
 were to receive weekly commons in hall at the rate of eight- 
 pence apiece, the former receiving also some further dole 
 from the almoner, and the latter a small fixed salary. 
 
 The chief officers of the College were to be a " spenser," 
 a cook, a baker, a brewer, a barber and porter, a gardener, a 
 watchman, and a laundress, some of whom were to have 
 scullions to assist them in their work. The younger Fellows 
 were to undertake the office of steward of the hall for a 
 week each in turn. Two of the founder's directions with 
 regard to the discipline in hall are observed to this day. The 
 students are still summoned to dinner by the sound of a 
 trumpet, and the Fellows still sit on one side of the high 
 table with their chief in the centre, like Christ and the 
 twelve Apostles in old pictures of the Last Supper.^ In 
 1340, the Fellows were required to wear mantles of crimson 
 cloth, symbolical of the Saviour's blood, those of the Doctors 
 of Theology or of Canon Law being furred with black 
 budge. The chaplains were to be clothed in white, and the 
 poor boys and their masters sitting at a side table were also 
 to wear a distinctive dress. At the beginning of every meal, 
 the Fellows were to " oppose," or examine, the poor boys, so 
 as to ascertain whether they were making good progress in 
 their studies. A chaplain was then to read aloud a portion 
 of Holy Scripture, and no conversation was to be permitted 
 save in Latin or in French.'' 
 
 ' Stanley's JA7//(5;7W A- (t/" C'(?;//r;'- < until the beginning of the present 
 
 />//rj',Y>p. 133, 185. century. When the late Provost 
 
 -' A trace of this custom remained Jackson was an undergraduate.
 
 152 QUEEN'S COLLEGE. 
 
 Thirteen paupers of cither sex, blind, deaf, dumb, or 
 maimed, attired in crimson mantles, were to be brought into 
 the hall daily, to receive their dole of bread, beer, soup and 
 meat, or fish, at the discretion of the almoner. Half a 
 bushel of soup, made of peas or beans mixed with oatmeal, 
 was also to be distributed daily at the gate of the College. 
 On Maunday Thursday thirteen poor persons were to be 
 regaled in the hall and presented with clothes, after the 
 ceremonial washing of their feet. 
 
 At the end of each of the three academical terms, or 
 oftener if necessary, the Provost and Fellows were to hold a 
 solemn meeting, after the manner of a scrutiny at Merton 
 College, or of a chapter at Oriel College, for the purpose 
 of enquiring into the conduct of the different inmates of the 
 College, from the Fellows downwards. Any dispute that might 
 arise between the Provost and the majority of the Fellows was 
 to be referred to the arbitration of the Archbishop of York. 
 
 Robert de Eglesfield appears to have spent the closing 
 years of his life in watching the progress of his collegiate 
 foundation, and the earliest of its coviputi, or accounts, 
 shows that he took commons in hall with the Fellows, 
 and " battels " in his private chamber.' He died in May, 
 1349, but the place of his burial is unknown, and his supposed 
 (t^^Y on a brass plate at Queen's College proves to be the 
 Q-^gY o^ ^ later benefactor, Dr. Robert Langton.^ The one 
 genuine relic of his time that the society still possesses is a 
 loving-cup formed of a buffalo horn encircled by bands of 
 silver-gilt, and resting on feet fashioned like birds' claws. 
 
 the porter used to take a Greek aloud, dinner began. 
 
 Testament to the senior Fellow in ' Ingram.' s Meinofi'a Is 0/ Ox/on/, 
 
 hall directly after grace. The Queen's College, p. 3 ; Second 
 
 P'ellow opened it, pointed to a | Report of the Historieal MSS. 
 
 verse, and said '^ Legal,'' adding \ Coi)i;iiissio)t,Tp. i^c). 
 
 the name of one of the Scholars, ' " Skelton's Pietas Oxoniensis, ]>. 
 
 to whom the book was then taken. ' 26 ; Haines's AFaniial of Momi- 
 
 Whcn tlie verse had been read mental Brasses, pp. Ixii. cwxii.
 
 ENLARGEMENT OF COLLEGES. 153 
 
 The word " wacceyl," which is engraved on it ten times, 
 sufficiently explains the use to which it was put.' 
 
 Each of the three Colleges founded at Oxford in the 
 second half of the thirteenth century underwent some change 
 of constitution or of material form in the first half of the 
 fourteenth. At Merton Hall the fabric made considerable 
 progress. The old vestry is known to have been built in 
 1310, and the beautiful Decorated windows of the choir 
 cannot be earlier by many years, although a high altar 
 was dedicated as far back as 1277. The stained glass in 
 them was the gift of Henry Mansfield, who was Chancellor 
 of the University in 131 1. The muniment-room and the 
 chambers on the eastern side of the small quadrangle seem 
 also to belong to the same period, while the date of the south- 
 ern and western sides may be placed about fifty years later.^ 
 
 In 1311, the small body of theological students supported 
 by the fund of William of Durham, received some new 
 statutes, which have already been noticed ; and about the 
 year 1343 they seem to have removed from their original 
 dwelling in School Street to larger premises on the southern 
 side of the High Street, almost opposite to the houses 
 adjoining the new College of Queen's Hall. They con- 
 tinued to be described formally as " the Scholars of Master 
 William of Durham/' but they came to be more generally 
 known as " the Master and Scholars of the Great Hall of 
 the University," or " the Master and Fellows of Micklc 
 University Hall." ^ 
 
 The fabric of Balliol Hall was considerably enlarged 
 during the reigns of Edward H. and Edward HI. In 1309 
 
 ' There are engravings of it in \ vol. ii. pp. 272 277 ; Brodrick's 
 
 Skelton's Oxonia Aniiqiia, and in Memorials of Merion College, pp. 
 
 Cripps's College ai:d Corporation 13 16. 
 
 Plate, p. 26. 3 Smith's Annals of University 
 
 '' ArcJiccological foKrnal, vol. ii. College, pp. 57-62 ; L^ondon Gazette, 
 
 p. 142 ; Proceedings of the Oxford \ No. 25,000. 
 
 Architectural Society, New Series, '
 
 154 BALLIOL COLLEGE. 
 
 or 1 3 10, the Scholars acquired the site of the eastern part 
 of the present edifice, bounded on the south by Horsemonger 
 Street, and on the east by Durham College.' In 1343, they 
 acquired the building known as St, Margaret's Hall, which 
 was situated between Old Balliol Hall on the west and 
 New Balliol Hall on the east.- About the year 1310, Hugh 
 de Vienne, Canon of St. Martin's le Grand, bequeathed to 
 them fifty marks towards the erection of a chapel in memory 
 of him, and in 1327 Nicholas de Quappelode, Abbot of 
 Reading, gave theni a glass window worth ten pounds, some 
 timber and other building materials, and more than twenty- 
 six pounds in money, towards the completion of this building, 
 which, it seems, was dedicated to St. Catharine. 3 A con- 
 troversy as to the studies that should be pursued in the 
 College was settled in 1325 by a decision of the two 
 Extraneous Masters, that no Fellow of Balliol might lawfully 
 devote himself to any branch of learning which was not 
 reckoned among the seven liberal arts. 4 
 
 Fifteen years later, Sir Philip de Somerville, lord of 
 Wichnore, endowed the College with the church of Mickle- 
 benton and other property, and issued some new statutes 
 for its government.5 These statutes professed to be merely 
 supplementary to certain '"' ancient ordinances," and the 
 changes avowedly introduced by them were not many. 
 The number of Fellows, or Scholars, was increased from 
 sixteen to twenty-two, a special chaplain was provided to 
 say prayers for Sir Philip de Somerville and his relations, 
 and the weekly commons of every P'cllow were raised to 
 
 Savage's Balliofcrgus, p. 29. ; ncous Masters who gave this de- 
 
 * Fouiili Report of the Uislorical \ cision was a Doctor, and the other 
 MSS. Coininissio)!^ p. 447. ; a Bachelor, of Divinity. Richard 
 
 3 Rcgistriiiii Palatiniiiii Duiicl- | Fitz-Ralph, afterwards well known 
 Diciisc, (cd. Hardy) vol. iv. p. 112 ; as AnJiacJiamis from the name of 
 Fourtli Report of the Historical his see, is nientioned in the deed as 
 MSS. Cojinaissio/i, p. 443. having been formerly a P^ello.v of 
 
 ' //'/(/. J). 442. It is worthy of the House of Balliol. 
 remark tliat one of the Extra- ' ^ Statutes of t/ie Ci'Iteges, vol. i.
 
 STATUTES OF 1340. 155 
 
 elevenpence, with a proviso that they might further be raised 
 to fifteenpence in times of dearth. A more important 
 innovation was made by a rule that six of the Fellows, 
 having completed their course in arts should apply them- 
 selves to the study of theology, and incept in that faculty 
 within thirteen years. 
 
 It is not clear whether the statutes of 1340 changed the 
 constitution of the College, or merely confirmed changes 
 that had been made since the issue of the statutes of 1282. 
 At any rate, it is worthy of remark that whereas in 1282 
 all real power lay in the hands of the two proctors of the 
 Lady Dervorguilla, the College in 1340 enjoyed the right 
 of self-government. The two Extraneous Masters were indeed 
 authorised by Sir Philip de Somerville to receive the oaths of 
 the chief officer of the society and of the six students of 
 theology, and under some circumstances to eject the former, 
 but even in the execution of these duties they had associated 
 with them the Chancellor of the University and the Prior or 
 Warden of the Benedictine monks of Durham College. The 
 experiment of intrusting visitorial jurisdiction over a secular 
 college to a Franciscan friar and another extraneous Rector, 
 was tried again, a few years later, at Pembroke College, 
 Cambridge, and, there too, resulted in failure.' Under Sir 
 Philip de Somcrville's statutes, the government of Balliol 
 College was committed to a jMaster, whose rank, duties, and 
 emoluments, were made to correspond more or less with 
 those of the permanent heads of other colleges at Oxford. 
 The office of Principal mentioned in the statutes of 1282 
 was retained, but the holder of it was placed in subjection 
 to the Master. 
 
 ' Mullinger's University of Catnbridge, p. 237. 
 
 JMS^
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A.D. 1335 1377- 
 
 Pre-eminence of the University of Oxford Richard of Bury Durham 
 College Benedictine Students Increasing Power of the Chancellor 
 The great Riot of 1354 Rout of the Clerks Interdict on Oxford 
 Enlargement of Privileges Humiliation of the Townsmen Com- 
 memoration of St. Scholastica's Day Agreement with the Arch- 
 deacon Fresh Struggle with the Bishop of Lincoln Dignity of the 
 Chancellor Robert Stratford Supremacy of the University Law- 
 lessness of the Clerks -Arrogance of the Friars Richard Fitz-Ralph 
 The Great Pestilence Canterbury College Ejectment of John 
 Wyclif Bishop Cobham's Library Scottish Students at Oxford. 
 
 HE period between the temporary secession to 
 Stamford in 1334 and the outbreak of the 
 Great Pestilence in 1349 must be accounted 
 one of the most prosperous in the annals of the 
 University. The number of students was 
 seemingly as great as ever, and the high reputation of Oxford 
 for scholastic learning was amply maintained by Walter 
 Burley " the Plain Doctor," John Baconthorp "the Resolute 
 Doctor," and Thomas Bradv/ardine " the Profound Doctor," 
 who, according to the chronicler Knyghton, "was famous 
 above all other clerks of Christendom." ' It is almost certain 
 that William Ockham " the Singular Doctor," and Robert 
 Ilolcot, were also educated at the chief university of their 
 native land, and there is some ground for Thomas Fuller's 
 
 ' '1 wysden's Scripiores Decoii, c. 2600.
 
 RICH A RD OF BURY. 1 57 
 
 boast that, even if Britain first received her Christianity from 
 Rome, Italy received her school-divinity from England.' 
 Richard of Bury, Bishop of Durham, writing about the year 
 1 340, mourns over the decadence of the University of Paris, 
 and declares that the chief logicians there were at best 
 imitators of their English contemporaries.^ 
 
 Of all the prelates of the time, Richard of Bury was the most 
 enthusiastic in his devotion to learning. The tutor and after- 
 wards the trusty adviser of Edward III., the holder of various 
 important offices in Church and State, and the generous lover 
 of the poor, he is chiefly remarkable as a patron of literature. 
 He kept separate collections of books in his different houses, 
 and his bed-room was usually strewn with precious volumes. 3 
 He had about him a staff of " antiquaries, scribes, book-binders, 
 correctors, illuminators," and the like. IMany of his literary 
 treasures were bought abroad in the course of his embassies to 
 Paris and the Roman Court. ^ In his opinion the true collector 
 should never refuse to buy a book, unless the knavery of the seller 
 seemed to require a check, or unless a more favourable oppor- 
 tunity of buying was likely to occur again. s His opinions on 
 all such points are contained in a quaint Latin treatise entitled 
 Philobiblon. " Books," says this indefatigable collector, "are 
 the masters who teach us without birch and ferule, without 
 harsh words and anger, without exacting clothes and money. 
 If you approach them, they are not asleep ; if in the course of 
 your enquiries you interrogate them, they do not hide them- 
 selves ; they do not grumble if you make mistakes ; they do 
 not laugh if you are ignorant." ^ 
 
 After bewailing the illiterate tastes of the clergy of his own 
 day, the author makes the books pour out their own com- 
 plaint : "We are forcibly ejected from the houses of the 
 
 ' C]ni7-c]i Histury,hoo\L\\\. ^\\\. Diinehnoisis Script07-cs Trcs,^.\lo. 
 
 c. 1 5. i " Philobiblon, cap. viii, 
 
 - Pliilobiblon, cap. ix. | = Ibid. cap. iii. 
 
 ' W. de Chambre, in Hisioiice \ ^ Ibid. cap. i.
 
 I s 8 RICH A RD OF B UR V. 
 
 clerks, which should belong to us by hereditary right. We 
 had formerly quiet cells in some inner chamber, but, oh shame ! 
 in these wicked times we are altogether banished and suffer 
 disgrace out of doors. For our places are occupied sometimes 
 by hounds and hawks, sometimes by a biped beast woman 
 to wit whose cohabitation was of old avoided by the clerks, 
 from whom we have always taught our pupils to fly more even 
 than from the asp and the basilisk. Therefore this beast, ever 
 jealous of our studies and ever implacable, spying us at length 
 in a corner, protected only by the web of some defunct spider, 
 draws her forehead into wrinkles, abuses us in virulent lan- 
 guage, and laughs us to scorn. She also points out that of all 
 the furniture in the house we only are kept unemployed, and 
 complains that we are useless for any purpose of domestic 
 economy, and advises that we should forthwith be bartered 
 away for costly head-dresses, cambric, silk, and twice-dipped 
 purple clothes, variegated furs, wool, and linen." ' 
 
 The good Bishop thought that at Oxford at least his books 
 would be rightly valued, and he accordingly sent them to the 
 house of the Prior and Convent of Durham on Canditch, in the 
 north suburb of Oxford. The regulations drawn up for the 
 due management of his library are believed to have been 
 based on those of the Sorbonne at Paris, the town which he 
 in one place describes as " the Paradise of the World." ^ 
 Five of the Benedictine students were to be appointed librarians 
 by the head of the house, and all the inmates were to have 
 the right of borrowing books for perusal in their own cells. 
 But it was also ordained in a very liberal spirit, that other 
 resident members of the University, secular as well as regular, 
 should be allowed to borrow duplicate volumes from the 
 library, on condition that they should deposit a sufficient sum 
 of money by way of security, and swear faithfully that they 
 would not transcribe them. 3 
 
 ' Pliilobihlou^ cap. \\. \ Littcraire dc la France. 
 
 ' Jbid. CA\).\\\\.;'Lcc\crc, Hisloire i ^ Pliiiolnblo/i, c^\-). ix.
 
 DURHAM COLLEGE. 159 
 
 It was Richard of Bury's intention to convert the colony of 
 Durham students at Oxford into a body corporate, consisting 
 of a Prior and twelve brethren, and, in gratitude for the signal 
 defeat of the Scots at Halidon Hill, Edward III. took the 
 proposed College under his special protection in 1338.^ 
 Richard of Bury seems to have provided funds for the main- 
 tenance of eight monks and seven young students of arts, but 
 he died in 1345, leaving the scheme incomplete.^ His suc- 
 cessor, Thomas of Hatfield, resolved that the establishment 
 should be half monastic and half secular, and accordingly 
 raised the number of art-students to eight, so that it should 
 correspond with the number of regular Benedictines. He 
 directed that the secular students, who were all to be natives 
 of the diocese of Durham, should occupy a separate part of 
 the building, that in the refectory they should sit at a second 
 table with the clerks and servants, and that they should 
 recei\'e two tunics and two hoods apiece every year. If well 
 behaved, they were to be allowed to retain their places for 
 seven years ; if found guilty of loose conduct or insubordi- 
 nation, they were to be chastised or even expelled by the 
 Warden, who was to be the chief, not only of the monastic sec- 
 tion but of the whole College. This scheme, however, was not 
 thoroughly carried out until after the death of Bishop Hatfield.^ 
 
 The chiefs of the Benedictine Order certainly did their best 
 to encourage learning. Grammar, logic, and philosophy, were 
 taught in all the larger monasteries, and at least one monk out 
 of every twenty was sent to the University to study theology 
 or canon law. A chapter-general held at Northampton in 
 1343 assigned a salary often pounds a year to the monk lec- 
 turing on divinity at Gloucester College, and twelve years 
 later another chapter-general established a chair of divinity 
 at Durham College with a similar endowment. The teachers 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. ii. p. ' p. 138. 
 613. : ' Wilkins, vol. ii. pp. 614 619. 
 
 - Hist. Ditnchii. Scriptorcs Tres,
 
 i6o 
 
 BENEDICTINE STUDENTS. 
 
 of canon law in both these houses were also well paid for their 
 labours. Some of the Benedictine students held a disputation 
 on theology, and another on philosophy, every week, and those 
 of their number who did not aspire to a degree in Theology, 
 delivered frequent sermons in Latin and in English, so as to 
 exercise themselves in the art of preaching. The inmates of 
 Gloucester College and of Durham College were by no means 
 isolated from the rest of the University, for though they 
 might not receive absolution or the Eucharist from monks 
 of any other order, and although they incepted under 
 Masters of their own profession, they mixed freely with secular 
 students at the ordinary lectures and disputations in School 
 Street. The feasts which they gave at the time of inception 
 rivalled those given by the Augustinian canons, and far sur- 
 passed those given by the austere Cistercians.^ 
 
 In 1 33 1, the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, had a 
 house at Oxford close to the church of St. Peter in the East, 
 on or near the site now occupied by St. Edmund's Hall. The 
 rent paid for it was six marks a year, and, although it 
 held only three students, it had a small oratory in which they 
 performed divine service, by virtue of a licence from the Bishop 
 of Lincoln. Small as was this society, its members could not 
 live together in harmony, and there is reason to believe that 
 they were, in 1341, transferred to Gloucester College, the 
 common establishment of their order, in the northern suburb 
 of Oxford.^ Canterbury College, which may fairly be reckoned 
 
 ' Gesta Abbaticni S. Albani, (ed. 
 Riley) vol. ii. pp. 459 464. The 
 expenses of a Benedictine or 
 Augustinian inceptor were limited 
 by Benedict XII. to 2000 Gros 
 Tonrnois, and those of a Cistercian 
 inceptor to half that amount. 
 BullariiDii Roinaiuiiii, vol. i. pp. 
 216, 226, 245. Clement V. had 
 already limited the expenses of a 
 
 secular inceptor to 3000 G70S 
 ToH>-nois, a sum which was con- 
 sidered equivalent to 41/. 13^-. ^.d. 
 of English money. Cambridge 
 Documents, vol. i. p. 379. 
 
 "" Canterbury Letters, (ed, Shep- 
 pard) pp. XV. xvi.; Ninth Report of 
 the Historical MSS. Commission, \. 
 pp. 78, 79.
 
 PRIVILEGES. i6i 
 
 as another Benedictine house, was not founded until twenty 
 years later. 
 
 During the long reign of Edward III., the University ac- 
 quired several new privileges, the rights of the townsmen being 
 curtailed in a corresponding degree. In 1336, an order was 
 made that in the absence of the King, the four aldermen of 
 Oxford and their eight associates, and the two men elected 
 from each parish for the preservation of the peace, should 
 take their oaths before the Chancellor of the University or 
 his deputy.^ This was accompanied by a decree that every 
 householder should be held responsible for the proceedings of ail 
 members of his family in selling wine or food to scholars, and 
 by another that the townsmen should no longer prevent 
 wholesale dealers from selling short lengths of cloth and linen 
 to the scholars at the wholesale price. Two years later, the 
 Chancellor received authority to hold the assize of bread and 
 ale alone, if the Mayor did not come when duly summoned 
 for the purpose, and a similar right would have been asserted 
 with regard to the assize of weights and measures, if the 
 municipal authorities had not hastened to make a compromise 
 with the University on the subject.^ Regardless of the pro- 
 tests of the townsmen, who were quite satisfied with their 
 ancient shambles, the clerks in 1339 obtained a royal decree 
 that no large beasts should thenceforward be slaughtered 
 within the walls of Oxford. 3 They also caused the townsmen 
 to be reproved on several occasions for the filthy condition of 
 the streets and pavements. 1 The continual bickering that 
 went on about such matters as these showed clearly enough 
 that the old animosity between the two parties was as keen 
 as ever. The clerks regarded the town as existing for their 
 
 ' Regis/nan Privilcgiorttm. \ * Close Roll. 10 Edw. III. m. 
 
 " Patent Roll, 12 Edw. III. p. 3, I 36^; Patent Roll, 12 Edw. III. p. 3. 
 
 m. I (Hare MS. f. 80^); Mnn. \ m. 6 ; Patent Roll, 13 Edw. III. p. 
 
 Acad. pp. 159167. 2, m. 10 (Hare MS. '^. 69, '85). 
 
 AylitTe, vol. ii. pp. xlii xl 
 
 M
 
 1 62 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1354. 
 
 service and convenience only ; the natives regarded the 
 University as a colony of aggressive strangers planted in the 
 midst of them. The former were constantly striving to enlarge 
 the domain of their peculiar rights ; the latter were doggedly 
 resolved to maintain the ancient liberties of the town. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when, on the feast of St. Schol- 
 astica in 1354, there began the most bloody conflict that has 
 ever taken place between the clerks and the laymen of Oxford. 
 Like the riot which led to the dispersion of the University of 
 Paris in 1229, this great conflict had its immediate origin 
 in a vulgar brawl. A company of scholars who had been 
 drinking at the Swyndlestock, a tavern near Carfax, after 
 their midday dinner on the loth of February, brought their 
 carouse to an end by flinging some of the wine into the 
 landlord's face and cutting his head open with a quart pot. 
 What happened next is not so clear, for each party after- 
 wards accused the other of having been the first to take up 
 arms. This much, however, is certain, that John de Bereford, 
 the INIayor, caused the common bell of St. Martin's Church 
 to be rung to summon the townsmen to battle. After making 
 a vain attempt to check the impending riot, Humphrey 
 de Charlton, the Chancellor of the University, rallied the 
 clerks together by the sound of the great bell of St. Mary's 
 Church. The fray began at once, but, the days being short 
 at that time of the year, it was soon stopped by the 
 darkness that enveloped the town at nightfall. It is very 
 doubtful whether any one was killed or seriously injured that 
 day on either side. The following morning, the Mayor 
 and some of the chief townsmen rode to Woodstock, to 
 lay their grievances before the King in person. The Chan- 
 cellor, on the other hand, convoked the clerks at St. Mary's, 
 and both there and at Carfax, made public proclamation 
 that nobody should carry arms of offence or in any way 
 disturb the peace. Lectures were given as usual, and, although 
 a Doctor of Divinity and some of his pupils were forcibly
 
 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1354. 163 
 
 driven away from the Augustinian convent outside Smith Gate, 
 it seemed for a time as if the angry feeh'ngs of the previous 
 day had subsided. Such, however, was by no means the case. 
 From an early hour the townsmen made secret preparations 
 for renewing the fray on a larger scale. Every one who longed 
 for an opportunity of avenging himself on the insolent clerks 
 furbished up his shield and tested the string of his bow. 
 Messengers were sent into the suburbs and into the neighbour- 
 ing country to seek for assistance, and no pains were spared 
 to ensure complete success. 
 
 The onslaught began in the northern suburb. Eighty armed 
 men assembled at St. Giles's Church about dinner time, and 
 sallying forth fell upon some scholars who were disporting 
 themselves in the fields of Beaumont. Taking aim at a short 
 distance, they shot their arrows with such precision that 
 they killed one clerk on the spot, and inflicted mortal wounds 
 on several others. Nor did they desist until the affrighted 
 clerks had sought refuge within the town, or at least within 
 the lofty walls of the Augustinian convent, which stood on 
 the site now occupied by Wadham College. Nothing could 
 now avert a general encounter. The tolling of the town 
 bell at St. Martin's was answered by that of the Univer- 
 sity bell at St. Mar}''s. Both parties flew to arms. The 
 clerks barred the gates of the town, and for some time de- 
 fended themselves valiantly in the narrow streets and alleys. 
 At vesper-tide, however, some new combatants appeared on 
 the scene. A body of rustics, vaguely estimated at two 
 thousand in number, forced the West Gate and poured into the 
 town, headed by a black banner of dire import, and shouting, 
 " Slay, slay ! " " Havock, havock ! " " Smite fast ! " " Give good 
 knocks I " Sudden terror fell upon the clerks, and they fled for 
 refuge to their respective inns, closely pursued by the enemy. 
 When all active resistance on their part was thus at an end, 
 the victorious townsmen proceeded to break open five inns, or 
 halls. They beat and wounded the inmates, poured out their 
 
 M 2
 
 i64 THE GREAT RIOT OF 1354. 
 
 wine and beer, trampled their bread and fish under foot, and 
 carried off their books. The sack lasted until dusk, when 
 public proclamation was made in the King's name that no 
 one should injure the scholars or their goods, under pain of 
 forfeiture. 
 
 The next morning witnessed fresh scenes of violence, for 
 the townsmen were again called together by their common 
 bell soon after sunrise. Fourteen inns were successively 
 attacked and plundered, their sturdy doors being either 
 forced open with iron bars or set on fire. Some scholars 
 were killed, others were grievously wounded, and others 
 again were haled to prison in a pitiable condition. One band 
 of rioters seized some unfortunate chaplains, and in derision 
 of their tonsures flayed the skin off the crowns of their heads. 
 The infuriated mob did not stop short of open sacrilege. 
 When some friars went out carrying the reserved host in 
 procession, and praying the Lord to appease the strife, a clerk 
 named Haryngton fled to them in terror, hoping to find safety 
 in the immediate presence of the blessed sacrament. His 
 pursuers, however, tore him away from the priest who held the 
 pyx, hurried him off to prison, and dashed the crosses of the 
 friars to the ground. 
 
 This was apparently the culminating point of the riot, for 
 about midday the townsmen desisted from the attack, and 
 retired to their houses. The boldest among them must 
 have begun to realise that they had carried their triumph 
 too far, and that they would surely be called to account for 
 the deeds of violence that they had so savagely committed. 
 The storm of the morning was followed by a strange calm 
 in the afternoon, for the vanquished were preparing to quit 
 Oxford. Six days after the bloodstained festival of St. 
 Scholastica, there were scarcely any clerks left in the town, save 
 such as dwelt within the strong walls of a monastery or college. 
 All lectures were of course suspended, and those Masters who 
 ventured to remain at Oxford, occupied part of their enforced
 
 INTERDICT ON OXFORD. 165 
 
 leisure in composing Latin verses to record the dire mis- 
 fortunes that had overwhelmed their beloved University. 
 
 On the 1 6th of February, a Master of Arts was sent to the 
 Bishop of Lincoln with a minute account of the late riot, and 
 of the losses that had been sustained by the clerks. Six 
 members of the University were known to have been killed in 
 the fray, and twenty-one others to have been dangerously 
 wounded, irrespectively of a large number who were reported 
 as missing. The list of victims includes priests and Masters 
 of Arts, as well as younger students and servitors. Many of 
 them were evidently Irish. 
 
 The Bishop of Lincoln, incensed at the maltreatment 
 of the clerks, and, if possible, even more incensed at the 
 attack on the procession of Grey Friars, proceeded to lay the 
 whole town of Oxford under interdict, so that the innocent 
 and the guilty were alike deprived of the ministrations of the 
 Catholic Church, The King also took the matter in hand, 
 though apparently not before the beginning of March. The 
 clerks were placed under the special protection of the Crown ; 
 commissioners were sent to enquire into the causes of the 
 riot, and the Sheriff of Oxfordshire was summarily dismissed 
 from his office. Two hundred of the townsmen were arrested, 
 and the Mayor, John de Bereford, a man particularly detested 
 by the clerks, was, with several of his associates, committed to 
 the Marshalsea prison.^ When it was clearly perceived at 
 Court that the fatal riot on St. Scholastica's Day was the out- 
 come of a protracted controversy, the Comm^onalty of the town 
 and the University were advised, or required, to surrender 
 their respective privileges into the King's hands. ^ 
 
 ' Robert of Avesbury, (ed. I 859, ff. 292,^ 294^5; Patent Roll, 
 
 Hearne) pp. 197 199 ; Leland's i 29 Edw. III. p. i, mm. 6, 13 ; p. 2, 
 
 Itinerary, vol. vi. pp. 141 146 ; m. 26. 
 
 Adam of Murimuth, (ed. Hog) i '^ Twyne MS. vol. iv. f. 533 ; 
 
 p. 184; Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 5; Cotton MS. Claudius D. VIIL, ff. 
 
 vol. iv. ff. 76, 571 ; Bodleian MS, 56, 80. Jjt
 
 1 66 CHARTER OF PRIVILEGES. 
 
 In the case of the University the transaction proved to be 
 a mere form, inasmuch as Edward III. restored all its ancient 
 privileges within four days. The townsmen on the other hand 
 were kept much longer in suspense, while the King and the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury were striving to induce the scholars 
 to return to Oxford.' 
 
 Humphrey de Charlton, Chancellor of the University, and 
 his brother Lewis, had strong influence at Court, where they 
 were supported by Queen Philippa, by Edward the Black 
 Prince, by the Earl of Stafford, by the Archbishop of York, 
 and by the Bishops of Lincoln and Winchester.^ At their 
 request, the King issued a new charter of privileges to the 
 University in the later part of June. In it he granted a free 
 pardon to all the Masters and scholars, and their servants, 
 who had taken part in the great riot in February, and, after 
 bestowing the highest praise on the University, as the main 
 source and channel of all learning in England, more precious 
 to him than gold or topaz, proceeded to frame several new 
 regulations for the better government of the town of Oxford 
 and its suburbs. He committed absolutely to the Chancellor 
 or his deputy the assay and assize of bread and ale, and of 
 weights and measures, the right of imposing fines on regrators, 
 and vendors of putrid meat and fish, of excommunicating 
 any persons who polluted or obstructed the streets, and of 
 assessing the taxes to be paid by all servants, writers, 
 illuminators, and parchment-sellers, who were subject to his 
 jurisdiction. It was at the same time decreed that thence- 
 forward the Sheriff and the Under-Sheriff of the county 
 should, on taking office, swear to uphold the privileges of 
 the University. 3 Thus did the Mayor and Commonalty of 
 Oxford see their ancient rights once more curtailed, and they 
 were left uncertain as to what further punishment might still 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 29 EcUv. III. p. 2, ^ Eodlcian MS. 859. 
 
 ni. 26; Wilkins's C(9677/r?, vol. iii. '< Rcgistiuiii Privilegiorion. 
 
 p. 3,5- i
 
 HUMILIATION OF THE TOWNSMEN. 167 
 
 be in store for them. Three weeks later, the King and the 
 Lords of liis Council ordered the townsmen in their corporate 
 capacity to pay 250/. in compensation for property that had 
 been carried off or destroyed during the riot ; but even after 
 that large sum had been paid, the clerks were expressly left 
 free to prosecute their claims against individual offenders. 
 The Mayor and Bailiffs were also ordered to collect all the 
 stolen goods that they could find, and to deliver them to the 
 Chancellor and Proctors.' The list of goods so restored 
 includes books on grammar, law, and medicine, lyres, carpets, 
 ecclesiastical vestments, a great quantity of clothes, and a 
 curious belt said to be made of human skin.^ All the prisoners 
 were released on bail in the middle of July, except John de 
 Bereford, the late Mayor. Finally at the end of that month, 
 the King re-granted to the townsmen all such of their ancient 
 rights as he had not lately transferred to the University.3 
 
 The clerks and their special protector, the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 were not to be appeased so soon, and Oxford lay under 
 ecclesiastical interdict for more than two years. It was 
 necessary that the townsmen should undergo fresh humiliation 
 before their offences against Holy Church could be forgiven. 
 A formal reconciliation was at last effected in May 1357, on 
 condition that the Ma}-or, the Bailiffs, and sixty of the most 
 substantial burghers, should annually, on the feast of St. 
 Scholastica, provide and attend a solemn mass in St. Mary's 
 Church for the souls of the clerks who had been killed in 
 the conflict, and offer at least a penny apiece."^ So humili- 
 ating did this condition appear, that it gave rise to a popular 
 belief that the Mayor of Oxford was obliged on the anniversary 
 of the riot to wear round his neck a halter, or at best a silken 
 cord. The arrangement certainly was not calculated to allay 
 the spirit of strife, and as the representatives of the town 
 
 ^ Rci^isfrm)! Pr/^'ili'/^/orui/i; Close ; ^ Close Roll, 29 Kdw. III. m. 21. 
 Roll, 29 Edw. III. m. 17. j - Miiiiiiiicnta Acadonica, jip. 
 
 " T\\ yne MS. vol. iv. f. 5S. I 190 202.
 
 i68 
 
 THE CHANCELLORS AUTHORITY. 
 
 wended their way to church on St. Scholastica's Day they 
 were year after year exposed to taunts and jeers, if not to 
 actual blows, from their jubilant adversaries.' The prohibi- 
 tion of masses for the dead in the middle of the sixteenth 
 century seemed to release them from the necessity of per- 
 forming their annual act of penance, and for fifteen years in 
 the early part of the reign of Elizabeth there was no special 
 service at St. Mary's on the loth of February. The University, 
 however, sued them upon their bond of 1357 for fifteen 
 hundred marks, and, though the Lords of the Council disallowed 
 this claim, it was ordered that there should be an annual 
 sermon or communion on St. Scholastica's Day, and that the 
 offerings should be made as of yore. The service was 
 maintained in a modified form down to the reign of Charles 
 II. or even later.^ 
 
 The claim of the Chancellor to exercise in the parishes 
 of St. Mary Magdalen, and St. Giles, the authority con- 
 ferred on him in 1355, was from the first disputed by Sir 
 Richard d'Amory, who held the Hundred without the 
 North Gate of Oxford direct from the Crown, but it was 
 specifically confirmed by the King in the following year.3 
 
 The University was not less successful in resisting the 
 claims of certain ecclesiastical dignitaries. In 1346, after 
 a struggle lasting upwards of twenty years, a final agree- 
 ment was made between the University and Cardinal Gail- 
 lard dc la IMotc, the absentee Archdeacon of Oxford, by 
 which it was settled that the former should have full jurisdic- 
 tion over all Masters and Doctors, Regent and Non-Regent, 
 over all scholars regular and secular, over all scholars' servants 
 living with them, over the six bedels and the four stationers of 
 the Uni\-crsity, and over all scribes employed by the scholars, 
 the Archdeacon reserving to himself only his ancient rights 
 
 Muiiiineittd Acadoiiica, p. 463. 
 Wood's .'hinals, \o\. i. jip. 472, 
 
 473- 
 
 ' Mn/i. Acad., pp. 173 iSo.
 
 THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 169 
 
 with regard to the cures of the parochial clergy, and the 
 probate of the wills of the scribes.' 
 
 The old controversy between the University and the 
 Bishop of Lincoln broke out with renewed bitterness in 1350. 
 William de Palmorva, a Doctor of Divinity, who had been 
 successively Fellow of Stapeldon Hall and of Queen's 
 College, was in that year elected in the usual manner to fill 
 the office of Chancellor.^' Bishop Gynwell, however, for some 
 reason of his own, delayed to confirm the election, and ex- 
 hausted the patience of the Oxford Masters by his repeated 
 evasions. Complaint was therefore made to Archbishop Islip, 
 and he, ever true to the cause of the University that had bred 
 him, at once despatched a peremptory letter to the Bishop, 
 ordering him to confirm the election within six days, unless he 
 could show some adequate reason to the contrary. Several 
 weeks elapsed, and then the Primate took the matter into his 
 own hands by deputing his Commissary to confirm the 
 election, and authorising the resident members of the 
 University to admit William de Palmorva as their lawful 
 Chancellor. Bishop Gynwell was again cited to appear before 
 the Archbishop, and, on his refusal to appear, the town of 
 Banbury, in which his private chapel was situated, was laid 
 under interdict. He in his turn disregarded the interdict, 
 renounced any obedience to the see of Canterbury, and cited 
 his metropolitan to appear before the Roman Court. ^ As far 
 as the University was concerned, the question was already 
 
 ' Mun. Acad., pp. 148 152. Mr. Society, vol. i. 
 
 Anstey's proposed emendation of 
 the text is quite unnecessary, inas- 
 much as the month of February, 
 1345, fell within the fourth year of 
 the pontificate of Clement VI. as 
 stated in AIS. D. Several docu- 
 ments relating to the controversy 
 between the University and the 
 Archdeacon are printed in the 
 
 ^ The letters 7' and 71 being 
 generally alike in mediaeval manu- 
 scripts, this Chancellor had been 
 called Palmorna by Wood, Le Neve, 
 and other writers. Boase s Register 
 of Exeter College, p. i. 
 
 3 Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. pp. 
 3 8 ; Register of Archbishop Islip, 
 ff. 20, 2731, 35, 36, 83, 84 : 
 
 G'//tvA?-'/6v; of the Oxford Historical \ Mun. Acad., \^^. 16S 172.
 
 170 THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 
 
 practically settled, for Palmorva was allowed to retain the 
 office of Chancellor without any further annoyance. The 
 controversy about his confirmation marks the last stage but 
 one in the long struggle of the Chancellors of Oxford to 
 emancipate themselves from the jurisdiction of their diocesan. 
 The last stage of all was reached in 1368, when Urban V. 
 issued a bull entirely abrogating the claim of the Bishop of 
 Lincoln to confirm the Chancellor-elect of Oxford.^ From 
 that time to the present, the University has enjoyed the right 
 of electing and admitting its highest officer without reference 
 to any superior authority whatever. 
 
 The Chancellorship of Oxford was a much coveted post in 
 the middle ages, for it generally proved a stepping-stone to 
 higher preferment. Robert Stratford, who was Chancellor in 
 1335 and several succeeding years, was a man of great ability ; 
 it was by his firmness and prudence that the scheme of setting 
 up a rival University at Stamford was brought to nought. 
 This danger was scarcely past when he was summoned by the 
 King to take an active part in the government of the realm. 
 Rather than lose so experienced a chief, the Proctors and 
 Masters of the University granted him leave of absence from 
 Oxford for three months. In .March 1337, he was appointed 
 Chancellor of England, and five months later he was elected 
 Bishop of Chichester. At the earnest request, however, of the 
 Masters, he continued to hold the office of Chancellor of the 
 University until the year 1340, some of his duties as such 
 being performed, in his absence, by a Commissary.^ Like his 
 brother, John Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert 
 Stratford was entrusted with the Great Seal more than once. 3 
 
 There was a disputed election to the Chancellorship of 
 Oxford in 1349, and one of the claimants, John W^ylliot, broke 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. Patent Roll, 14 Edw. III. j). i, 
 
 p. !':>. m. 47 (Hare AIS. f. 85/)). 
 
 = Collectanea {0\[m(\ Historical ' Yo%'i,\ Judges of Engla)id. 
 
 .Society), vol. i. pp. 15, 33 y^ :
 
 THE CHA N CELLO R'S A UTHORI TV. 171 
 
 open the chest of the University, took possession of the 
 Chancellor's seal of office, and banished one of the Proctors 
 who had opposed him. So fiercely indeed did party spirit run 
 that the King was obliged to send commissioners to enquire 
 into the matter.^ A few years later, the University was able 
 to boast that its Chancellor, William Courtenay, was " the 
 son of an earl, and illustrious on account of his royal lineage."^ 
 
 The University used to exercise strict supervision over many 
 persons who, although not clerks in the strict sense of the 
 term, were closely connected with the clerks. Thus, in 1348, 
 the assent of the Chancellor was deemed necessary for the 
 promulgation of a body of statutes by which the barbers, the 
 surgeons, and the makers of sacramental wafers, bound them- 
 selves together as one craft or body corporate. Most of these 
 statutes had reference, as might be expected, to the admission 
 of members and officers and the like, but fines for certain 
 offences were made payable to the Chancellor and Proctors. 
 The influence of the Church may also be detected in an 
 enactment that no member of the craft should work on 
 Sundays, except at harvest time, or shave any one at all on a 
 Sunday who was not about to take part in the celebration of 
 divine service. ^ Ten years later, it was decreed in Congre- 
 gation that any tailor who cut the clothes of the Masters or of 
 the bedels too short should be committed to prison.* Again, 
 in 1373, in consequence of the frequent sales of valuable 
 manuscripts to strangers, the Congregation of Regents ordained 
 that no one save the public stationers should sell any book for 
 more than half-a-mark within the limits of the Chancellors 
 jurisdiction, under pain of imprisonment. 5 
 
 While the University was thus strenuously maintaining a 
 struggle for supremacy in Oxford, it was often divided against 
 
 ' Close Roll, 23 Edw. III. p. i, I Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 m. 16/;. 3 Wood's Annals, vol. i. pp. 
 
 - A.D. 1367. a\Iu?i. Acad.-p. 226. 443 446. 
 
 He was a great-grandson of Ed- ' * Mujt. Acad. p. 212. 
 ward I. He afterwards became ' Ibid. pp. 233, 234.
 
 1/2 INTERNAL DISSENSIONS. 
 
 itself on questions of purely academical interest. A decree 
 passed by the Congregation of Regents in 1370, that Bachelors 
 and opponents in Theology, and Masters of Arts, should take 
 precedence of Bachelors of Civil Law in processions of the 
 regular clergy, and some other decrees about responsions and 
 disputations, gave dire offence to the whole Faculty of Law. 
 Party spirit ran so high that several graduates were degraded 
 and banished, and complaints were laid before the King him- 
 self in Parliament. Five bishops were eventually deputed to 
 settle the controversy, and by their authority the banished 
 Masters were recalled, and the recent statutes modified.' 
 About the same time, we read of bands of armed scholars 
 plundering clerks and laymen alike, and venturing even to 
 threaten the King's judges with personal violence.^ Law- 
 less characters like these cared little for the Chancellor's 
 excommunication, if they could but escape beyond the 
 bounds of his authority, and it was for their punishment 
 that the King from time to time renewed an arrangement by 
 which the Chancellor of Oxford was empowered to apply 
 to the Court of Chancery for the arrest of runaway clerks.3 
 
 The arrogance of the mendicant friars in the fourteenth 
 century, was a fruitful source of trouble at Paris, at Oxford, 
 and at Cambridge alike. Their lofty and well-built convents 
 vied in splendour with the castles of the feudal barons ; their 
 tables were spread with choice viands, and their gowns were 
 made of costly stuffs.* Their conventual libraries were stored 
 with precious manuscripts. It was a matter of common 
 complaint that secular scholars could not pursue their studies 
 at Oxford to any advantage, because the friars bought up all 
 the books that were exposed for sale. 5 But such a complaint 
 
 Mini. Acad. p. 233; Ayliffe, ' " PJiilobidlon, C7i\i. vi. See Pierce 
 
 vol. ii. pp. Ix l\ii, l.xix, Ixx. the Plowmaih Crcde. 
 
 - AylitVe, vol. ii. pp. xlix, liii. ^ R. Armachanus, Def elisor iitni 
 
 '^ Patent Rolls, 12, 14, 21, 26, 31, Ciiratorum ; Wyclifs Eii^s^Iish 
 
 38, 43,46, Edward III. (Hare MS.) IVorks, (ed. Matthew) pp. 128, 221.
 
 ARROGANCE OF THE FRIARS. 173 
 
 as this would never have been heard if the friars had not 
 made themselves objectionable in other ways. Assuming an 
 air of superior wisdom and sanctity, they were wont to speak 
 disdainfully of all other clerks. Thus a certain Dominican 
 ventured to deride the whole study of the liberal arts in a 
 public sermon at Oxford, and another friar went so far as to 
 maintain that tithes ought to be paid to the mendicants rather 
 than to the parochial clergy, that temporal lords might lawfully 
 confiscate the endowments of churches and monasteries, and 
 that the University itself was but a school of heresy.' Both 
 these friars were forced to retract their intemperate words, but 
 incidents of this sort were not easily forgotten. A Carmelite 
 who was cited to answer certain charges in the Chancellor's 
 Court, refused to appear, and was encouraged in his contumacy 
 by the Prior of his convent, who cited the Chancellor himself 
 to appear before an ordinary ecclesiastical judge.^ 
 
 Unlearned friars used sometimes to tiy to obtain 
 academic degrees in an irregular manner, by procuring re- 
 commendatory letters from royal and other influential 
 personages. The University had not at first sufficient courage 
 to reject such unworthy candidates altogether, but it refused 
 to allow them to lecture, and it held them up to scorn as 
 " Wax- Doctors," who relied on the wax seals attached to the 
 letters of their patrons, rather than on their own merits. 
 About the year 1358, a stringent statute was passed against 
 all external interference on behalf of persons aspiring to 
 academical degrees. 3 But the chief cause of the unpopularity 
 of the friars was their unscrupulous zeal in making proselytes. 
 Inexperienced boys fresh from home were often cajoled into 
 entering a convent, before they could consult their parents, or, 
 
 ' ^fJln. Acad. pp. 20S 212. plained that friars were wont to 
 
 - Close Roll, 34 Edw. III. m. obtain the " cappe of maysterdome 
 
 27^-; Patent Roll, 36 Edw. III. p. 2, by preyer of lordis, and grcte 
 
 m. 44(5. ; giftis." Select English Works, (ed. 
 
 ' SliDi. Acad. pp. 206, 208 212. ; Arnold) vol. iii. p. 376. 
 Some vears later, Wvclif com-
 
 174 RICHARD FITZ-RALPH. 
 
 as Fuller quaintly says, " before they could well distinguish 
 betwixt a cap and a cowl. " ' Once admitted and bound by 
 irrevocable vows, they were in many instances allowed to 
 neglect their lessons, in order that they might occupy them- 
 selves in soliciting alms and favours from their friends and 
 relations. 
 
 The corrupt system of the mendicant friars did much to dis- 
 credit them, even at a time when the schools of Western 
 Christendom were ringing with the fame of the Franciscan 
 Ockham. Richard of Bury, the learned Bishop of Durham, 
 denounced it in bitter words, which the University of Oxford 
 afterwards embodied in one of its statutes.^ Then again in 
 1351, certain Cardinals, and other dignitaries of the Papal 
 Court, urged Clement VI. to suppress the mendicant orders 
 altogether, on account of their aggressive conduct towards the 
 parochial clergy.3 But by far the most notable opponent of 
 the friars before the rise of John Wyclif, was Richard Fitz- 
 Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, who had been a Fellow of 
 Balliol College, and Chancellor of the University of Oxford. 
 Not content with striving to check their influence at home, he 
 repaired to Avignon in 1357, in order to accuse them before 
 Innocent VT., and in a great speech before the Papal Consistory, 
 cited a striking instance of their audacity that had just come 
 under his notice. " This very day," he said, " as I was leaving 
 my inn, there met me a good man from England, who has come 
 to this court for succour and remedy, and he told me that a 
 little while after last Easter the friars at Oxford carried off 
 his son, then under thirteen years of age, and that he was not 
 allowed to speak to him except under the custody of the 
 friars." One grievous result of this system, according to the 
 Archbishop, was that the Ei niversity of Oxford had fallen into 
 general disfavour, parents preferring that their sons should 
 
 ' Histo>-y of the University of Acad. p. 207. 
 Cambridge., iii. c. 46. ^ Gieselei's Ecclesiastical dristory , 
 
 '" Philol)iblo}i, cap. vi. ; Mint. (trs. by Hull) vol. iv. p. 144.
 
 RICHARD FITZ-RALPH. 175 
 
 grow up mere tillers of the earth rather than that they should 
 run the risk of being inveigled into convents.' The friars de- 
 fended themselves with energy, and the controversy bade fair 
 to last a long time, Fitz-Ralph being, it was said, assisted by 
 voluntary contributions from other like-minded bishops.^ He 
 died however in 1360, to the great grief of his admirers on 
 either side of the Irish Channel. So high was his reputation 
 for holiness and wisdom, that miracles were ere long reported 
 to have been wrought at his tomb at Dandalk. In after years, 
 the English Lollards and others did not hesitate to describe 
 him as " Saint Richard of Armagh."3 
 
 Discouraged by the death of their great champion, the 
 Anglican clergy did not send any one to represent them at 
 Avignon.4 The strife, however, was maintained for some time 
 in England, where the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge 
 almost simultaneously passed statutes against the reception of 
 students under eighteen years of age into any of the mendi- 
 cant orders. The friars themselves proved the truth of the 
 charges made against them, by demanding the absolute repeal 
 of these statutes, and they eventually obtained a favourable 
 decision on this point from the Parliament of 1366. They 
 
 ' The Defensoriion CttratoruDi \ the churches of the Dominicans, 
 
 of Armachanus, as Fitz-Ralph was the Franciscans, and the Carmehtes, 
 
 generally called, is reprinted in at Avignon, before the beginning of 
 
 Brown's Fasciculus Rtruin c.r- his great controversy with the friars. 
 
 pctetidariim etficgioidarjini, vol. ii. | See Lansdowne MS. 393. For 
 
 There is an early English version his connexion with Balliol College, 
 
 of it by John Trevisa, in Harleian ' see the FoiirtJi Report of the His- 
 
 MS. 1900. Dr. Lechler gives an to7-ical MSS. Conanissio?!, p. 433. 
 
 abstract of the whole discourse in , " Fasciculi Zizanioruin, (ed. 
 
 John Wiclif and his English Pre- 
 cursors, vol. i. The passage about 
 the number of students at Oxford 
 
 Shirley) p. 284. 
 
 3 Select English Works of John 
 Wyclif, (ed. Arnold) vol, iii. pp. 412, 
 
 has already been noticed. Fitz- | 416; Wyclifs English Works, {^Ci. 
 
 Ralph was Chancellor of the Uni- I Matthew) pp. 128, 507 ; Rotuli 
 
 versity in 1333. Mun. Acad. pp. I Parlia?nentoruni, vol. iii. p. 69. 
 
 127 129. It is worthy of remark j Walsingham, Historia Angli- 
 
 that he preached several times in 1 cana, vol. i. p. 285.
 
 1 7 6 THE GREA T PES TIL ENCE. 
 
 were, however, distinctly forbidden to make use of any papal 
 bulls that might in any way be prejudicial to the English 
 Universities.' The orders issued by Edward III. in 1344, and 
 again in 1367, that the Chancellor of Oxford should not be 
 summoned to appear in the Roman Court, were in all proba- 
 bility directed against the friars.^ 
 
 The decline of the University, which is so often mentioned 
 with lamentation in writings of the second half of the fourteenth 
 century, and subsequent times, may perhaps be said to date 
 from the Great Pestilence of 1349. The effects of this terrible 
 scourge were felt throughout England. " The population," 
 says Dr. Stubbs, " was diminished to an extent to which it is 
 impossible now even to approximate, but which bewildered 
 and appalled the writers of the time ; whole districts were 
 thrown out of cultivation, whole parishes depopulated, the 
 number of labourers was so much diminished that on the one 
 hand the survivors demanded an extravagant rate of wages, 
 and ev'Cn combined to enforce it, whilst on the other hand the 
 landowners had to resort to every antiquated claim of service 
 to get their estates cultivated at all." ^ Little is known as to 
 the actual extent of the ravages which " the foul death " com- 
 mitted among the clerks of Oxford, but the unwholesome 
 state of the town must have been very favourable to the spread 
 of infection. The clergy of the Anglican Church died in 
 such great numbers that many parishes were left without 
 services or sacraments ; the yearly stipends of chaplains rose 
 to an unprecedented amount. Bishops found themselves 
 obliged to confer holy orders on illiterate candidates, and the 
 interests of scholarship suffered accordingly.'' 
 
 The great dearth of learned clerks, in consequence of the 
 pestilences of 1349 and 1361, is expressly mentioned as one 
 
 ' Rotuli Parlia))icntoniiii,\o\.\\. ^ Constitutional History, \o\. ii. 
 
 p. 290. p. 400. 
 
 - Ayliffc, vol. ii. p. lii ; Patent > II. Knyghton, in Twysdcn's 
 
 ]\oll, 41 Eclw. III. p. I, m. 13. . Script o)'cs Decern.
 
 CANTERBURY COLLEGE 
 
 177 
 
 of the causes which led to the foundation of Canterbury- 
 College at Oxford.^ This new college owed its name 
 and origin to Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 who established it in 1361 or 1362, on a piece of ground 
 on the north side of St. Frideswyde's Priory. As first 
 designed by him, it was a hybrid institution, somewhat 
 similar in character to Durham College. The Warden 
 and three of the twelve Fellows were Benedictine monks 
 of Christ Church, Canterbury, the other eight being secular 
 students, and it was arranged that on any vacancy of the 
 office of Warden, the Archbishop and his successors should 
 have the right of selecting one out of three names submitted 
 by the Prior and Chapter of Canterbury. The first Warden, 
 Henry Woodhull, a Doctor of Divinity, was thus appointed 
 in 1362. It appears, however, that matters did not go 
 smoothly at this new home of learning, for in 1365 the Arch- 
 bishop found it necessary to make a radical change, by ejecting 
 the Warden and the other three monks and substituting for 
 them four secular scholars.^ It is likely enough that Woodhull 
 was a troublesome, self-willed man, for he had lately caused 
 an angry strife between the Chancellor and the Proctors, by 
 attempting to incept under a secular Doctor, instead of 
 being satisfied to incept under a monk of his own order.3 
 The person appointed to succeed him in the government of 
 Cantei'bury College was John Wyclif, a Bachelor of Divinity, 
 whose learning, industry, prudence, and integrity are said to 
 have attracted the favourable notice of the Archbishop.4 
 
 It was probably about this time that a new body of statutes 
 was issued, entirely severing the connexion between Canterbury 
 College and the Benedictine Priory of Christ Church, Canter- 
 bury. These statutes show clearly that the founder's object was 
 not so much to train young men for a degree in Arts, as to 
 
 ^ Fifth Report of the Historical pp. 28 5 292. 
 MSS. Commission^ p. 450. 3 Mtin. Acad. pp. 220 224. 
 
 -' Lewis's Life of fohn IVicIif \ ^ Lewis, p. 290. 
 
 N
 
 178 EJECTION OF THE SECULARS. 
 
 encourage graduates to pursue higher studies at Oxford. They 
 show too how thoroughly the inmates of Canterbury College 
 were regarded as members of one family, the term Fellow 
 being still used in its original sense of comrade. The Fellows 
 were to dress alike, to attend mass together in the early 
 morning, to go together to the schools, accompanied by 
 a servant who should carry their books, to take their meals 
 together, to go out walking in couples after vespers, and at 
 night to occupy four or five common dormitories. It was 
 moreover decreed that any Fellow falling ill should after a 
 while leave the College, so that the other inmates might not 
 be distracted from their studies by the care and anxiety of 
 nursing him through his sickness.^ There is no occasion, 
 however, to examine these statutes in detail, for they only 
 remained in force for a few months. 
 
 Archbishop Islip, the founder of Canterbury College, died 
 in 1366, and Simon Langham, his successor in the primacy, 
 viewed the recent changes with disfavour. Being himself a 
 member of the Order of St. Benedict, he lent a ready 
 ear to the complaints of the monks of Canterbury, and, 
 in March 1367, appointed one of their number, named 
 John Radyngatc, to be Warden of Canterbury College, in 
 the place of John Wyclif A few weeks later, he cancelled 
 this nomination in order to reinstate Woodhull as the law- 
 ful Warden. Wyclif, however, and his adherents, absolutely 
 refused to retire, being no doubt firmly persuaded that, 
 after the death of the original founder, nobody had any 
 right to eject them ; and when the Primate sequestered the 
 church of Pageham, which was their chief source of revenue, 
 and prevented the delivery of certain books that Archbishop 
 Islip had bequeathed to Wyclif, they appealed to the Pope. 
 Langham for his part replied that Wyclif's appointment as 
 Warden of Canterbury College ought not to be recognised, 
 inasmuch as it had been obtained by fraud at a time when 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, ^ol. ii. pp. 52 58.
 
 CANTERBURY COLLEGE. 179 
 
 Archbishop Islip was in a feeble state of health. The cause 
 was never tried by process of law, for, after hearing part of it 
 in full Consistory, Urban V. referred it to Cardinal Andruyn, 
 to be decided on grounds of general expediency. He seems 
 to have thought that, after what had occurred, the monks and 
 the secular clerks would never agree to live in harmony under 
 one roof, and so he authorised his delegate to assign the 
 College entirely to one section or the other.^ Wyclif thereupon 
 withdrew his Proctor, perceiving clearly that he had no chance 
 of success against so influential a person as Langham, who had 
 recently been created a Cardinal. 
 
 The papal mandate which virtually dismissed the secular 
 clerks from Canterbury College, was issued in ]\Iay 1370, and 
 in the following year the monks of Canterbury sold their 
 share in the common house of the Benedictine Order in 
 Stockwell Street, to the monks of St. Peter's Westminster. 
 They reserved to themselves, however, a right to cancel the 
 bargain, in the event of their being deprived of Canterbury 
 College by process of law.^ In 1372, Edward III. issued a 
 charter pointing out that the original constitution of Canter- 
 bury College, to which alone he had given his royal con- 
 firmation, had been twice violated, firstly by the ejection of 
 the monks, and secondly by the ejection of the secular clerks. 
 Nevertheless he agreed to ratify the recent changes, in con- 
 sideration of a fine of two hundred marks paid to him by 
 the Prior and Convent of Christ Church Cantcrbury.3 John 
 Wyclif and the Fellows who were ejected with him, are not 
 known to have received any part of this large sum in com- 
 pensation for their losses. 
 
 The subsequent history of Canterbury College may be 
 summed up in a few words. Under the auspices of Thomas 
 
 ' The documents relating to the 
 suit about Canterbury Hall are 
 given in Lambeth ^IS. 104, ff. 209 
 219. Some extracts from them are 
 printed in Lewis's Life of foJui 
 
 WicUf. 
 
 ^ Clirist C /lurch Letters, (ed. 
 Sheppard) p. xv. 
 
 3 Lewis, p. 300. 
 
 N 2
 
 i8o CANTERBURY COLLEGE. 
 
 Chillenden, Prior of Christ Church, the fabric was rebuilt in 
 the reign of Richard II., in a form which it retained almost 
 unaltered for nearly four hundred years. The little quadrangle 
 contained a chapel and a hall ; on the eastern side stood the 
 main gateway, facing the end of St. John's Street; at the 
 north-western angle a postern gate gave access to the open 
 space now occupied by Peckwater Quadrangle. " The upper 
 stories," says Mr. Sheppard, " were pargetted, that is, built 
 of timber and covered with plaster impressed with fantastic 
 designs ; while the ground story was strongly constructed with 
 Headington stone." The roofs were covered with Stonesfield 
 slates. In point of fact the buildings proved too large for the 
 students from Canterbury, who at no one time were more than 
 five in number, and the superfluous rooms were let to monks 
 belonging to other houses subject to the Benedictine rule.' 
 Canterbury College shared the fate of larger and more cele- 
 brated monasteries in the reign of Henry VI I L, and the last 
 remains of its ancient buildings were finally demolished in 
 1775.2 A memorial of it, however, still survives at Oxford in 
 the name of Canterbury Quadrangle, and the story of its 
 early vicissitudes must ever command the attention of all who 
 are interested in the life of John Wyclif. 
 
 Alongside of new colleges, religious and secular, several 
 new chests for granting loans to scholars were established at 
 Oxford in the reign of Edward III. ; and the University 
 acquired so many movable possessions that it had to make 
 elaborate provision for their safe custod}\3 The books which 
 
 ' Christ Church Letters, pp. [ year, and another by William dc 
 
 xiii XV, xvii, 59,60; Fifth Report \ Selton, Canon of Wells, in 1360. 
 
 0/ the Historical MS S. CoDiniis- \ AJun. Acad.pp. 12,0 140,213 220. 
 
 sio)!, p. 450. I The property of the University was 
 
 - See the engravings in Skelton's kept in the Proctors' Chest, the 
 
 Oxonia Antiqua Restaitrata. Chest of the Four Keys, and the 
 
 'A chest was established by , Chest of Patterns. Ibid. Y>-p. 152 
 PhilipdcTurvile,Canonof Lichfield, '' 157. In 1361, Michael North- 
 in 1336, another by John Langton, \ burgh, Bishop of London, be- 
 liisliop of Chichester, in the same \ queathed 100/. for the maintenance
 
 LIBRARIES AT OXFORD. i8i 
 
 Bishop Cobham had bequeathed to the University, but 
 which, as has been seen, had passed into the h'brary of Oriel 
 College, were forcibly removed thence in 1337 or 1338, by 
 a band of clerks acting under the order of the Chancellor's 
 Commissary.' They seem, however, to have lain unused for 
 about thirty years. At last, in 1367, the Masters resolved to 
 sell some of the more precious of them for 40/., and with 
 part of that sum to provide a fixed salary for a chaplain 
 who should act as librarian. The remainder of Cobham's 
 books, together with certain others, which had hitherto been 
 stowed away in chests, were placed on desks in the chantry 
 over the House of Congregation at St. Mary's, and secured by 
 chains."" Thus was established the first public library of the 
 University, the prototype of the noble libraries of Humphrey, 
 Duke of Gloucester, and Sir Thomas Bodley. The convents 
 and colleges had their own little libraries, and in 1336 we 
 find Stephen Gravesend, Bishop of London, bequeathing 
 books to four different colleges. 3 So again, in 1368, Simon de 
 Bredon, the astronomer, a former Proctor of the University, 
 bequeathed books to each of the six secular colleges then 
 existing at Oxford, namely those of Balliol Hall, University 
 Hall, Merton Hall, King's Hall (Oriel), Queen's Hall, and 
 Exeter HalL-^ 
 
 The frequent wars of Edward HI. against France and 
 Scotland did much to make the English universities 
 more exclusively national than they had been before. He 
 himself was willing enough that foreign clerks should visit 
 England. In 1357, in 1363, and some subsequent years, he 
 issued general letters of protection for all Scottish scholars who 
 
 of twelve scholars of civil and ' " Mun. Acad. pp. 226 228. 
 
 canon law at Oxford, for four years, ^ Nintli Report of the Historical 
 
 and 20/. for their master. A'inth . MSS. Commission, i. p. 46. 
 
 Report of tlie Historical MSS. Com- * Register of Arclibishop Whit- 
 
 7nissio)i,\. \). \~i. tlcsey, f. 122. Simon dc Bredon 
 
 ' CoUcctafica {Oxford Historical was Proctor in or about the year 
 
 Society), vol. i. p, 64. | 1337. Royal IMS. 12. I,). XI. f. 25.
 
 1 82 FOREIGN STUDENTS. 
 
 desired to repair to Oxford or to Cambridge for the purpose 
 of study, and from time to time he granted special safe- 
 conducts to the more eminent scholars. Thus in 1357, at the 
 request of King David 1 1., he gave permission to John Barbour, 
 Archdeacon of Aberdeen, to travel to Oxford with three 
 scholars in his company. Barbour came to Oxford again 
 seven years later with four horses, and in 1368 he passed 
 through England with two horses and two valets on his way to 
 Paris. He seems to have been a Master at this latter date, 
 but his posthumous reputation rests on his historical poem, 
 TJie Bruce, rather than on his achievements in the schools of 
 philosophy or theology. Several other Scottish ecclesiastics of 
 high position came to Oxford more than once during the 
 closing years of the reign of Edward III.' By the treaty 
 between the kings of England and France, concluded at 
 Bretigni in 1360, it was agreed that students of either country 
 might freely resort to the other, and enjoy the usual privi- 
 leges.^ There was, however, no welcome in store for avowed 
 foes. On the fresh outbreak of war nine years later, the 
 Chancellor of the University of Oxford caused a ro}'al proclam- 
 ation to be published at Carfax, ordering all French scholars 
 to quit the realm within eight days.^ Four years later, the 
 Dominicans at Oxford were commanded to eject from their 
 convent certain false brethren, who, under pretext of desiring 
 to study at the University, had come thither for the purpose 
 of obtaining secret intelligence for the King's enemies.^ The 
 severance of the tics that bound the Universities of Paris and 
 Oxford together was one of the causes which brought about 
 the rapid decline of both these famous seats of learning. 
 
 ' Rotuli Scotiir^ \Qi\.\. pp. 808, : proclamationcm ilid/n co)ttc)>ipsit, 
 
 8 '5' 859> 87?) 881, 886, 905, 926. ' ct pliiribiis in regia via aiiiiiii siinin 
 
 ' C/iro/iicou Anif/icr,{ed.Thomp- apertc inanifestavit.in coiitcmptiDii 
 
 son) p. 48. doinini Rrgis." Twyne, MS. vol. 
 
 ' A certain George le Fourbcr xxiii. f. 188. 
 
 was accused of unseemly behaviour ^ Close Roll, 47 Edw. Ill, in, 
 
 on this occasion : " /(ii';;i Geonrius !o.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Origin of New College William of Wykeham Purchase of Land 
 Erection of Buildings Winchester College Architectural Genius 
 of the Founder The Plan of New College The Warden and his 
 Duties The Manner of electing Scholars Studies of the Scholars 
 Prayers to be said Meals Disciplinary Rules The Library Death 
 of the Founder. 
 
 T is a remarkable instance of the longevity of 
 popular appellations, that after more than 
 five centuries of corporate existence, the 
 College of St. Mary of Winchester in Oxford 
 is still generally known as New College. It 
 owes its origin and its formal name to William of Wykeham, 
 Bishop of Winchester, one of the most gifted Englishmen 
 of the middle ages. The able administrator of one of the 
 most important dioceses in the realm, and the chief minister 
 of two kings, Wykehain was pre-eminent as an architect of 
 great and original genius ; but he is more especially to be 
 remembered as the founder of the first public school in 
 England, and of a college which in size and magnificence 
 far surpassed all others at Oxford and Cambridge. His 
 creative work was in both cases finished during his own 
 lifetime, so effectually that all subsequent benefactions to 
 either establishment appear insignificant. Men who have 
 received their education at Winchester College, or at New 
 College, are proud to be styled Wykehamists.
 
 1 84 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 
 
 It is doubtful whether Wykeham himself studied in the 
 schools of Oxford, and it is almost certain that he did not 
 obtain a Master's degree. His rapid advancement in the 
 Church was primarily due to his skill in architecture, which 
 brought him under the immediate notice of Edward III. 
 After acting for a short time as clerk of the King's works 
 in the manors of Henle and Yeshampsted, Wykeham was, 
 in 1356, appointed surveyor of the works at Windsor. A 
 considerable part of the castle was reconstructed under 
 his direction, and in 1359 he was promoted to the office of 
 warden and surveyor of the castles of Windsor, Leeds, 
 Dover, and Hadlam.' Two years later, he began to build the 
 royal fortress of Queenborough in the Isle of Sheppey, and in 
 1364 he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal.^ Ecclesiastical 
 dignities were in those days often given as rewards for 
 secular service, and Wykeham received from the King the 
 rectory of Pulham and other pieces of preferment, several 
 years before his ordination as an acolyte in 1361. About 
 four years after his admission to the priesthood, he was in 
 possession of the archdeaconry of Lincoln and no less than 
 eleven prebends, besides a parish church with cure of souls. 
 He was elected Bishop of Winchester in 1366, and before his 
 consecration as such in the following year, he was appointed 
 Lord Chancellor of England. ^ Froissart says : " This Sir 
 William of Wykeham stood so high in the favour of the 
 King of England that by him all things were done, and with- 
 out him was nothing done." '' Wyclif, or one of his followers, 
 sneers at the promotion of a clerk who was "wise of building 
 of castles. "5 
 
 The duties of the Chancellorship, or of the Bishopric alone, 
 were sufficient to tax the energies of an able administrator, 
 
 Lowth's Life of Jf 3'Xv//<?w, (ed. , ' Lowth, pp. 2236, 39 49. 
 1759) pp. 15, 19, 23. * Jlisfflit-c, fed. 1574) p. 317. 
 
 - Cockerell's Williavi of Wyhc- s E/ii^lish Works of Wyclif, (cd. 
 
 hivn fyocccdinos of tlw Arohcfo/o- Matthew) p. 246. 
 i^iictl histitutc (it II 'i/h/h's/cr), p. 6.
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 185 
 
 but it was at the very time when the two offices were united 
 in William of Wykeham, that he took the first steps towards 
 the establishment of a college. At the beginning of 1370, 
 he deputed three clerks to purchase for him some pieces of 
 u^aste ground in the north-eastern part of Oxford, bounded on 
 two sides by the town wall, and on the south by the church- 
 yard of St. Peter in the East, Several adjoining tenements 
 and plots were also acquired in the course of the same year.' 
 The scheme, however, was not matured until after Wykeham's 
 resignation of the Great Seal in 1371, and it was thought 
 more important to organise a society than to erect buildings. 
 By hiring several empty halls the founder was able, in 1375 
 or 1376, to provide temporary accommodation for seventy 
 students, who were styled " the poor scholars of the venerable 
 lord, William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester." He 
 assigned to them a weekly allowance of eighteen pence apiece 
 for commons, and placed them under the care of a W^arden, 
 Richard Tonworth, who, as a former Fellow of IMerton, was 
 familiar with the routine of collegiate life.'' The purchases of 
 land were resumed in 1379. It was part of W^ykeham's 
 design to make use of the existing wall of the town as a 
 boundary for his college on the north and east, and he 
 accordingly undertook that the Warden and Fellows should 
 keep part of it in good repair. The townsmen were glad 
 enough that he should inclose and abolish a filthy lane which 
 ran alongside of the north wall, the common resort of 
 malefactors and women of abandoned character.^ In June 
 1379, Richard II. gave his licence for the establishment of 
 a new college at Oxford, consisting of a Warden and seventy 
 Scholars, and five months later the Bishop of W'inchester 
 issued the formal charter of foundation. * The collegiate 
 buildings, begun in March 1380, were fit for occupation on 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges and Halls;, \ " Wood, pp. 17S, 179. 
 pp. 177, 178. I " Statutes of tlic Colleges of Ox- 
 
 ^ Lowth, p. 185. I foi-d, vol. i. ; Lowth, p. 186.
 
 i86 NEIV COLLEGE. 
 
 the 14th of April, 1386, when the Warden and Scholars 
 entered in procession, chanting a solemn litany.' 
 
 One very remarkable feature in Wykeham's scheme was 
 the establishment of a collegiate school at Winchester in 
 close connexion with the college at Oxford. In 1373, he 
 began to pay for the education of certain poor boys in his 
 cathedral city, and nine years later he issued the charter 
 of foundation of " the College of St. Mary of Winchester." 
 The buildings were begun in 1387, and in 1393 they were 
 assigned to the Warden and Scholars in perpetuity.^ It was 
 Wykeham's desire that the two colleges, having a common 
 founder and common interests, should be indissolubly united 
 by mutual affection, and he provided that vacancies among the 
 Scholars at Oxford should be filled by boys who had been 
 instructed in grammar at Winchester. The close relations 
 established by Henry VI. between Eton College and 
 King's College, Cambridge, by Cardinal Wolsey between 
 Ipswich School and Cardinal College, by Sir Thomas White 
 between Merchant Taylors' School and St. John's College, 
 and by Queen Elizabeth between Westminster School and 
 Christ Church, are alike due to the example set by William 
 of Wykeham. A great part of the mediaeval statutes of All 
 Souls' College and Magdalen College is copied almost word 
 for word from those of New College. 3 
 
 The genius of William of Wykeham showed itself equally 
 powerful in the three branches of architecture ecclesiastical, 
 military, and domestic. At Winchester he remodelled the 
 nave of the cathedral church, without destroying the core of 
 Norman masonry ; at Windsor and Oueenborough he erected 
 two of the most stately castles of the age ; and at Oxford 
 he devised a noble pile of collegiate buildings on an entirely 
 original plan. The fabric of New College was distinguished 
 by its completeness and unity. Livery part had its own 
 
 ' Walcotl's WHliixin of W'ykc- I -^^ Lowtli, pp. 195, 10'^. 
 luvn, pp. 28 r. 282. I ' Walcott. p. 276.
 
 THE BUILDINGS. 187 
 
 distinct functions, in due relation to the others. The main 
 quadrangle was approached from the west by a gateway 
 under a substantial tower, from the upper windows of which 
 the Warden could look out on either side. The chapel and 
 the lofty hall on the north side of the quadrangle served 
 as a screen against the chilly blasts of winter, while the low 
 range of bed-chambers and studies on the opposite side 
 scarcely excluded the rays of the southern sun. Part 
 of the first floor on the eastern side was devoted to a library. 
 In the north-eastern angle stood a tower, through the lower 
 part of which a flight of steps gave access to the hall, the 
 three upper rooms being used as depositaries of the muniments, 
 and the treasures of the College. The kitchen, the bakehouse, 
 the pantry, and other domestic offices, w^ere conveniently 
 situated, close to the hall, but out of sight of the quadrangle. 
 The chapel and the hall were under one roof, and had a 
 continuous parapet, divided at regular intervals by the pin- 
 nacles which surmounted a row of massive buttresses. There 
 was, however, a marked diff"erence between the windows of the 
 two buildings, and the hall had below it several rooms for 
 the chaplains and the clerks, w^hile the floor of the chapel 
 was scarcely raised above the ground. It is worthy of remark 
 that Wykeham adhered to the noble form of the two-centred 
 arch in his difi"erent chapels and halls. The four-centred 
 arch, which came into general use in the reign of Richard II., 
 was in his opinion suitable only for openings of moderate size 
 and height.' 
 
 The singular plan of the chapel of New College was 
 dictated by considerations of utility. Regardless of all 
 precedent, Wykeham attached a choir of fi\'e bays to a 
 three-aisled nave of two only, so that the whole took the 
 form of a letter T- It has been stated indeed that he 
 derived the idea of this arrangement from the unfinished 
 chapel of Mcrton College, which consists of a choir and a 
 ' Cockcrell, p. 43.
 
 1 88 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 transept without any nave,' but more careful research has 
 proved that the transept at Merton College was not begun until 
 after his death.' As designed by William of Wykeham, the 
 short nave of New College fulfilled three distinct purposes. 
 It served as a vestibule to the choir; it afforded space for 
 several altars ; and it formed a convenient arena for dis- 
 putations on theology and on law. So useful indeed did 
 it prove, that it was afterwards taken as a model by the 
 architects of All Souls' College, Magdalen College, and Wad- 
 ham College. The large windows of the chapel of New 
 College were originally filled with stained glass, of which 
 some beautiful specimens still remain in the nave, or ante- 
 chapel.3 Inasmuch as the hall lay immediately to the east 
 of the chapel, there was no window above the high altar, but 
 the eastern wall of the choir was elaborately adorned with 
 statues and carved niches, among which a figure of the 
 crucified Redeemer was specially prominent.-* 
 
 The lovely cloister on the western side of the chapel was 
 not set in hand until the more important parts of the College 
 had been built. It was, however, finished during the lifetime 
 of the venerable founder, and solemnly consecrated on the 
 19th of October, 1400. The ceremony was performed by the 
 Bishop of Dunkeld, who, on the same day, anointed three 
 bells in the massive tower which Wykeham had reared upon 
 one of the bastions of the old town wall.^ 
 
 As established by the founder, the society of New College 
 consisted of the Warden, seventy Scholars, ten chaplains, three 
 clerks, and sixteen choristers.^ The W'ardcn was a very 
 important dignitary. Like the head of a great monastery 
 he had a separate house and a separate staff of servants. He 
 
 ' Cockerell, p. 29. 1 * Statutes of the Colleges, Xciv 
 
 - Proceedings of tJicOxford Arclii- I College, tit. 63. 
 
 tectural Society, N.S. vol. ii. p. 274. i = Second ixeport of the Ifistoiicdl 
 
 ' //'/V/. vol. ix. pp. 29-57; 6Vi'/r/'/c/(?;' MSS. Commission, \). 135. 
 
 of the Anglican Churcit Illustrated, ^ ^' Statutes of the Colleges. 
 
 (ed. 1S51) pp. 115 117. I
 
 THE SYSTEM OF ELECTION. 189 
 
 was allowed to entertain guests at the expense of the College, 
 and he took his meals apart from the Scholars, save on 
 twenty-one great festivals in the year, when he occupied the 
 chief seat in the common hall. The College supplied him 
 with plate, and utensils for his kitchen and hall, maintained 
 his horses, and gave him an annual allowance of forty pounds 
 in money, besides his livery of cloth. He was moreover free 
 to hold any benefice which would not require his absence 
 from the College during more than two months in the year. 
 In church and in chapel he was entitled to wear an amess of 
 grey fur, like that of a secular canon. On the death or 
 resignation of the Warden, the right of electing his successor 
 was vested in the whole body of F'ellows, and they were 
 bound to make choice of a graduate in priest's orders, not 
 less than thirty years of age, who was, or who had been, a 
 member of their own body. It was necessary that he should 
 be skilful in secular business, for in the autumn of every year 
 he had to visit the different farms belonging to the College 
 and make an elaborate report on their condition. On these 
 "circuits," or progresses, the Warden was always accompanied 
 by one of the Fellows. Whenever he was absent from Oxford 
 his duties were performed by one of the Fellows appointed 
 to act as vice-warden, or sub-warden. 
 
 The annual election to vacant scholarships at New College 
 was held at Winchester during the long vacation, the exact 
 date being announced seven weeks beforehand by a public 
 notice affixed to the door of the chapel. The board of 
 electors consisted of the Warden and two graduate Fellows 
 of New College specially chosen for the purpose, and the 
 Warden, the sub-warden, and the head-master of the sister 
 establishment. Candidates who were of the founder's kin 
 enjoyed singular advantages, on the score that they would 
 have inherited his worldly goods if he had not preferred 
 "to make Jesus Christ his heir." In order to obtain admission 
 as Fellows of New College, they were only required to prove
 
 I90 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 that they were of good character and under thirty years of 
 age, that they had studied the Latin grammar, and that they 
 had not twenty marks a year of private fortune. After 
 satisfying the claims of the founder's kin, the electors 
 bestowed the remaining places on poor and deserving scholars 
 of Winchester College who were between fifteen and twenty 
 years of age. A preference was shown to natives of parishes 
 in which either college held property, to natives of the diocese 
 of Winchester, and lastly to natives of certain specified 
 counties in the south and east of England. Inasmuch as 
 the election was held only once in the year, while vacancies 
 were liable to occur at any time, the electors made provision 
 against future contingencies by nominating some scholars 
 to succeed in due order to any places that might fall 
 vacant during the ensuing twelvemonth. The election to 
 scholarships at Winchester College was held at the same time 
 and by the same persons as the election to scholarships at 
 Oxford, the candidates being examined as to their proficiency 
 in reading, in Latin grammar, and in plain chant. 
 
 Every Scholar of New College who was not of the founder's 
 kin was subjected to a probation of two years before ad- 
 mission as a Fellow. If rejected at the end of that time he 
 was obliged to quit the College without delay. Under some 
 circumstances the seventy Scholars might all be Fellows at 
 one time. The probationers did not receive any allowance 
 of livery from the bursars, and they were often glad enough 
 to wear the old clothes of the Fellows discarded after four 
 years' use. They sat at a separate table in the hall, but 
 they received commons at the same rate as the Fellows, viz. 
 a shilling a week at ordinary times, and as much as eightcen- 
 pcnce a week in seasons of very great scarcity. 
 
 Of the seventy Scholars of New College twenty were 
 required to study law, two medicine, and two astronomy. 
 The others were required to graduate in Arts, and after 
 lecturing in the public schools as Regent Masters for three
 
 RELIGIOUS SERVICES. 191 
 
 full years, to apply themselves to the study of theology. 
 Frequent disputations on philosophy were held in the hall, 
 and on law and theology in the nave of the chapel. Five 
 of the senior Fellows, styled the Deans, exercised a general 
 supervision over the studies of the rest, while others acted as 
 tutors to those who were of less than three years' standing in 
 philosophy or in law, receiving for their labour a certain yearly 
 stipend. A Fellow who desired to take an academical 
 degree had to obtain permission beforehand fi"om the Warden 
 and certain senior Fellows, and if he had not money where- 
 with to pay the expenses, he could claim assistance from 
 the College. When he went to St, Mary's to claim the 
 Chancellor's licence or to incept in any faculty, he was 
 accompanied by the whole body of his colleagues. Fellows 
 were allowed to hold their places for life, on condition that 
 they remained unbeneficed, poor, celibate, secular, resident 
 in Oxford, and obedient to the statutes. All were eventually 
 required to enter the priesthood, but not until some years 
 after they had graduated in their respective faculties. Forty 
 marks were distributed every year among those Fellows in 
 priests' orders who took part in the services of the chapel. 
 Any danger, however, of the College degenerating into an 
 asylum for mere mass-priests, was obviated by a statute which 
 forbade the Fellows to receive money for officiating outside 
 the walls of their own chapel. 
 
 On first rising in the morning, and again on going to bed, 
 the Warden and each of the Scholars repeated a short form of 
 private prayer, in which they made special mention of William 
 of Wykeham, and at some other time in the course of the 
 day, they offered prayers for the souls of Edward III. and his 
 queen, Edward the Black Prince, and the parents of the 
 founder. Those of the Fellows who were in priests' orders 
 celebrated mass every morning, and the others heard mass 
 and recited fifty Ave Marias and five Pater Nosters. The 
 canonical hours were said daily by the chaplains and the
 
 192 
 
 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 clerks, the Scholars attending in their surplices on Sundays 
 and on all days on which public lectures were not given in the 
 schools. The stalls on either side of the choir were reserved 
 for the Fellows, who sat in order of academical precedence. 
 Graduates wore their furred hoods all the year round, but 
 non-graduates wore theirs in the winter only. Special services 
 were said four times a year in commemoration of the founder 
 and other benefactors, and obits were kept on certain days. 
 On the chief festivals of the ecclesiastical year, the members 
 of the College walked round the cloisters in solemn procession, 
 according to the use of the illustrious church of Sarum. The 
 mummery of a Boy Bishop was distinctly encouraged by the 
 statutes, and on the feast of the Holy Innocents, a chorister, 
 fully attired in pontifical vestments, performed all the services 
 in the chapel, except the most sacred portion of the mass.' 
 
 The Bible, which is supposed by some to have been a 
 closed book during the middle ages, was read aloud at dinner- 
 time every morning by one of the clerks of the chapel, or by 
 one of the junior scholars. No noisy games were tolerated in 
 the hall, and the Scholars were required to withdraw to their 
 chambers after dinner and supper, as soon as they had 
 partaken of the loving-cup. On great festivals, however, 
 and on some evenings in winter when there was a large 
 fire in the hall, they were allowed to remain longer, amusing 
 themselves with popular songs, or more gravely occupied 
 with "poems, chronicles of kingdoms, and the wonders of 
 this world." Such food as remained over from the tables of 
 the Fellows and Scholars was given to the choristers. 
 
 Strangers who came to the Colle"-e on business were 
 
 ' For particulars about Boy 
 Bishops, sec Brand's Popular 
 AiitiqiiUies, Warton's History of 
 Jui^'/ish Poetry, Hone's Aiicioit 
 Mysteries, Walcott's William of 
 Uylcehain, p. 205, Rock's Chiircli 
 of our Fattiers, Lytc's History of 
 
 Eton College, pp. 156, 157, Bloxam's 
 Register of Magdalen College, 
 vol. ii. pp. 259 261, 265, 266, 268, 
 and Murray's Handbook to the 
 Southern Cathedrals, vol. ii. p.
 
 INTERNAL ECONOMY. 193 
 
 generally invited to take their meals in the hall. Farm- 
 bailiffs, masons, glaziers, carpenters, candle-makers, book- 
 binders, and other artisans of the better sort, dined and 
 supped with the Fellows, their assistants and common labourers 
 being relegated to the servants' table.' In 1388, the College 
 gave a banquet to some lords of the King's Council, and 
 in 1393 it provided comfits and wine for the great Duke of 
 Lancaster and his retinue.^ Scholars might entertain friends 
 and relations at their own expense, either in their chambers 
 or in the common hall, but no visitors were allowed to pass a 
 night within the precincts of the College, The great western 
 gate, and the wicket in it, were rigorously locked at sunset 
 every evening, the keys being given to the Warden or to the 
 sub-warden for safe custody until the following morning. 
 
 The Scholars were expressly forbidden to keep hounds, 
 hawks, or ferrets, or to take part in any noisy or dangerous 
 game. Dice and chess were alike proscribed by name. Any 
 Scholar who wished to go into the town was required to 
 w^ear academical costume, and was not allowed to walk alone 
 unless he was going to some church or school. The books 
 of the Scholars were generally carried to the schools by 
 one of the common servants of the College, but Doctors 
 of Law, of Medicine, and of Theology, had the privilege of 
 keeping one private servant apiece. All the work in the 
 College was done by males, except perhaps the washing of 
 linen. The choristers waited on the Scholars at table, and 
 made their beds. 
 
 New College was from its earliest years well supplied with 
 books, the munificent founder having given sixty-two to the 
 chapel, and three hundred and twelve to the common 
 library. Of these last, one hundred and thirty-six related to 
 
 ' Second Report of the Historical Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, in 
 MSS. Cofiintission, pp. 133, 134. 1399) ^^^^ there must be a mistake 
 
 -' Lowth, pp. 204, 205. Mr. Wal- as to the name or the date, for 
 cott (p. 284) gives a list of the Wykeham was Bishop of Win- 
 expenses of entertaining Henry Chester until his death in 1404. 
 
 O
 
 194 NEW COLLEGE. 
 
 theology, thirty- four to philosophy, fifty-two to medicine, 
 fifty-three to canon law, and the remainder to civil law.' 
 Every Fellow was entitled to borrow two books, and to keep 
 them in his chamber for a whole year, and was, moreover, 
 provided with a key of the " clickett," or latch, on the door 
 of the library, so that he could have access to other books 
 at any time in the day. Such volumes as remained on the 
 shelves for general use were secured by iron chains, and the 
 catalogue was carefully examined once a year. The only 
 books belonging to the College that might lawfully be taken 
 to the schools were the ordinary texts of civil and canon law, 
 which, by reason of their great bulk, were very costly. 
 
 If a Scholar fell ill, he could move into the infirmary of the 
 College ; if he found himself in pressing need of money, 
 he could obtain a loan, on very favourable terms, from a chest 
 established by the founder. At the scrutinies which were held 
 thrice a year, and at the rarer visitations of the College by 
 the Bishop of Winchester, he had ample opportunities of 
 bringing forward any complaints which he might wish to make. 
 
 William of Wykeham died on the 27th of September, 1404. 
 By a will dated in the previous year, he bequeathed small 
 sums of money to the different members of his College at 
 Oxford, and to the College itself he bequeathed his mitre, his 
 pastoral staff, his dalmatics and his sandals. ^ Some jewelled 
 ornaments of the mitre still remain to attest its former 
 magnificencc.3 The pastoral staff, too, of silver gilt, adorned 
 with beautiful enamels, has fortunately escaped the destructive 
 fanaticism of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.^ It is 
 carried before the Bishop of Winchester whenever he comes 
 to \'isit the college founded by his illustrious predecessor. 
 
 ' Second Histo)ital Report of tlic = Archaolo^^ical Journal, vol. ii. 
 
 MSS. Co/nnn'ss/on, p. 135. A list pp. 205 207. 
 
 of the books is given by Walcott, There are engravings of it in 
 
 pp. 285 287. Carter's Specimens of Antieni 
 
 ' Lowlh, Appendix wxix. }\u'ntini^r and Sculpture, and Skcl- 
 
 lon's Oxonid Ant/quo.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Academical Life in the Middle Ages Popular Character of the 
 Universities The Journey to Oxford Admission to the University 
 Chambers and Halls The Principals of Halls The Manciples 
 Contents of a Clerk's Room Books in Use General Sophisters 
 Ouestionists Determiners Bachelors of Arts The Licence to teach 
 The Vesperies The Ceremonies of Inception Regents and Non- 
 Regents Payments for Lectures The Faculty of Medicine The 
 Faculty of Civil Law The Faculty of Canon Law The Faculty of 
 Theology The Cost of Inception Lectures Ordinary, Cursory, and 
 Extraordinary The Schools Division of the Academical Year 
 Processions Funerals The Bedels The Proctors The Chancellor 
 The Academical Courts Convocation The Faculty of Grammar. 
 
 AVING now traced the general history of the 
 schools of Oxford from the middle of the 
 twelfth century down to the later part of the 
 fourteenth, it seems desirable to pause for 
 a while in order to examine, more closely 
 than has been possible hitherto, the ancient constitution of 
 the University, and the ordinary course of academical life in 
 the middle ages. For such an examination the materials are 
 unfortunately somewhat scanty. No Vv'riter of those days was 
 at the pains to describe a s}'stem which was familiar to most 
 of his readers, and such allusions to it as occur in the monastic 
 chronicles are neither numerous nor important. Unlike the 
 different colleges which sprang up under its protection, the 
 
 O 2
 
 196 MEDIAEVAL VNIVERSiriES. 
 
 University of Oxford had no code of statutes. Taking its 
 origin in an informal association of students bound togetiier 
 by common interests and pursuits, it flourished for some time 
 without any written laws. Legislation became necessary only 
 when some old established usage was set at nought, or when 
 new circumstances arose. The statutes that were from 
 time to time put forth by the academical senate were tran- 
 scribed into the official registers of the Chancellor and the 
 Proctors, and it is through them chiefly that we obtain an 
 insight into the condition of the University during the four- 
 teenth century. Many obscure passages in them are elucidated 
 by the contemporary statutes of other universities, the close 
 intercourse between Oxford and Paris on the one hand, and 
 between Oxford and Cambridge on the other, having been 
 maintained for a long time. 
 
 Before proceeding to examine the ancient constitution of 
 the University of Oxford, it is necessary to observe that all 
 the great universities of the middle ages were far more popular 
 in character than those which now exist in England ; they 
 were not recruited from any one social class. An academical 
 education was not ordinarily given to young men of gentle 
 birth, unless they showed a special aptitude for study, while 
 on the other hand promising lads of humble origin were 
 often maintained at the schools by wealthy patrons. The 
 monastic orders moreover, which were recruited from all 
 classes of society, furnished a considerable number of stu- 
 dents. Thus by patience and industry the son of the small 
 trader, of the artisan, or of the mere villein, could in due 
 course of time obtain a degree which would place him on 
 almost equal terms with the sons of knights and gentlemen.' 
 One scholar might indeed spend twice as much as another 
 
 ' Richard II., in 1391, refused to the schools to become clerks, 
 
 his assent to a petition from the Rotiili Parlianieiitoi-tiin, vol. iii. 
 
 Commons that villeins should be ' p. 294. 
 restrained from sending their sons
 
 SOCIAL DISriNCTlOXS. 197 
 
 on his weekly commons ; ' one might keep a servant, while 
 another had to perform menial duties for his teacher, by- 
 way of payment for his lessons;* but a brilliant victory in 
 disputation compensated for all temporary discomforts, and 
 opened the road to fame and fortune. Short of the throne 
 itself, there was scarcely an office in the realm to which a 
 clerk of the lowliest origin might not eventually attain. At 
 the same time it is scarcely correct to state broadly that 
 within the University " society and government rested on a 
 purely democratic basis." ^ "The son of the noble" did not 
 stand on "precisely the same footing with the humblest 
 mendicant." From the very beginning of his academical 
 career, he was distinguished from his inferiors in social rank 
 by the use of a hood lined with rich fur; he enjoyed certain 
 privileges with regard to the taking of degrees ; and on 
 some critical occasions he was invited to subscribe the 
 decisions of the Doctors and Masters.-* 
 
 The roads leading to Oxford were notoriously unsafe in the 
 middle ages, and few persons who had anything to lose, cared 
 to make the journey alone or unarmed. ^ A wealthy noble or 
 prelate sending a lad to the University, would mount him 
 on one of his own horses, and depute a faithful servant to 
 make all necessary arrangements for him.*^ Monks coming 
 from a distance carried with them letters of introduction, 
 which ensured to them a favourable reception at the dif- 
 ferent religious houses that they passed on their way.'' In 
 
 yl/. ^m^/. pp. 74, 75, 469. MS. vol. ii. f. 13; Register F. 
 
 '^ Thurot, De F Organisatioti de f. \2b. 
 
 r Eiiseigncmefit datis I'Universiie ^ Monnmenta Fraficiscana (ed. 
 
 de Paris, p. 39. Brewer), p. 28 ; Mun. Acad. pp. 91, 
 
 "' Green's History of the English , 355. 
 
 People, vol. i. p. 204. * Household Roll of Bishop Sivin- 
 
 " Mun. Acad. pp. 129,301,321, field,^^^. 116 119. 
 
 }^tQ>,\s\^ ; Dociiinciits relating to the '' Liber S. Mary de Calchou 
 
 University and Colleges of Cam- {Bannatyne Club), p. 441. 
 bridge (1S52), vol. i. p. 382 ; Twvne
 
 193 ADMISSION TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 ordinary cases, however, the young student was entrusted to 
 the care of a man who undertook to convey him to his 
 destination for a sum varying in amount according to the 
 length of the journey. The " bringers of scholars," and the 
 " common carriers," who plied between Oxford and other 
 large towns, occupied a position analogous to that of the 
 pctits niessagers of the University of Paris, and were exempt 
 from the jurisdiction of the municipal authorities.' All 
 scholars could not afford to ride, and many a poor lad 
 trudged to Oxford on foot, with his scanty bundle of clothes 
 slung over his shoulder, glad enough to get a good supper 
 and a night's lodging at any monastery on his road. 
 
 The immediate future of the young clerk was doubtless 
 settled before he left his home. If his parents or his patron 
 had forbidden him to enter a convent, and if he was not 
 so fortunate as to obtain admission to one of the few colleges 
 that then existed for the maintenance of secular students, he 
 must needs lodge in the town at his own expense. There 
 was no examination or formal ceremony of admission to the 
 University. In order to become a member of that privileged 
 body, the young clerk had only to call on a resident master 
 and declare to him that he proposed to attend lectures. 
 He was not required to adopt any distinctive academical 
 costume, the tonsure on his crown being considered sufficient 
 token that he desired to be exempt from lay jurisdiction. 
 Every master kept a list of his own pupils, and all whose 
 names appeared on the roll were entitled to claim his aid 
 and protection in the hour of trouble. The rolls were from 
 time to time read aloud in the schools.'' 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. 346; Rogers's , 306,444, 457,467,476; Caiiibridi^c 
 
 Documents, vol. i. p. 332 ; Thiirot, 
 p. 38. Mr. Maskell shows "that 
 not only bishops, but priests, by 
 special permission, or privilege, as 
 versitdt Paris, p. 42. in the case of abbots, were per- 
 
 -' Midi. Acad. iip. 17, iz. wo. niitted to confer the tonsure, antl 
 
 Histoiy of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 
 660 ; vol. ii. p. 605 ; Boase's 
 Register of Exeter College, pp. xii, 
 5, 10, 14 ; Budinszky, Die Uni-
 
 ADMISSION TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 199 
 
 Considering the bitter feuds that raged at Oxford between 
 the natives of different countries, we may be sure that the 
 newcomer chose a master who came from his own neighbour- 
 hood and spoke his own tongue. The germ of the modern 
 system of matriculation may perhaps be found in a statute 
 of the year 1420, which required that all scholars and scholars' 
 servants who had attained years of discretion should swear 
 before the Chancellor that they would observe the statutes 
 for the repression of riots and disorders.' There was no rule 
 as to the age at which persons could be admitted to the 
 privileges of the University. At Cambridge it was thought 
 necessary to enact that the scholars of King's Hall should 
 not be less than fourteen years of age, while on the other 
 hand a poem of the fifteenth century mentions twenty as the 
 age at which a young man should "goo to Oxenford, or lerne 
 la we." ^ 
 
 In early times, the students of Oxford took lodgings 
 wherever they could find them at a reasonable price. Some- 
 times a party occupied the whole of a house ; sometimes 
 a single student, like Chaucer's Hendy Nicholas, hired one 
 room in the house of a townsman. ^ But from the very first, 
 the University aimed at securing for its members the exclusive 
 use of certain houses. As far back as the middle of the 
 thirteenth century, a resolution was passed to the effect that 
 no landlord should be allowed to recover possession of a 
 
 even the minor orders." Monii- Universitate Oxoji celehrandi po- 
 
 inenta.Ixititalia (ed. 1847), vol. iii. tcstatem habeaiit ta7n cancellarii 
 
 pp. Ixxxvii, 145. It is not unlikely ' qiiavi coniviissarii ejiisde/n Uni- 
 
 that the Chancellor of Oxford had ' vcrsifatis." Register F. f. 164^^. 
 
 authority to confer the tonsure, ' Man. Acad. p. 278. 
 
 even though his commissary had - Mullinger, p. 353 ; Ma'uiei's 
 
 not authority to confer the minor and Meals in the Olden Time 
 
 orders. In a letter to the collector (ed. Furnivall),p. xxxix. Cf. Thurot, 
 
 of the papal revenues in England, p. Zl- 
 
 written in or about the year 1489, ' Close Roll, 22 Henry III. ni. 
 
 the University prays him to use his 12/'. ; Tlie Millcres Tale. 
 influence '' /// i/ii/ici-es ordincs in
 
 200 ACADEMICAL HALLS. 
 
 house which had been let as a hall for students, or as a school, 
 unless he intended either to live in it himself, or to let it to 
 some other layman for a term of not less than ten years.' 
 Inasmuch as young men who lodged in the houses of laymen 
 were subject to no domestic control, and only too prone to 
 form undesirable connexions, it was found necessary, in 1420, 
 to enact that every scholar or scholar's servant claiming the 
 privilege of the University, should dwell in a hall governed 
 by a responsible Principal.^ So again, twelve years later, a 
 decree was made imposing a fine on any townsman who 
 should allow a clerk to lodge or board in his house without 
 special licence.3 The change thus effected was of the highest 
 importance. 
 
 The halls devoted to the exclusive use of the clerks were 
 for the most part small stone buildings, containing each a 
 common room for meals, a kitchen, and a few bedrooms.* 
 They all had their own distinguishing names. Some were 
 called after the patron saint of a neighbouring church, as 
 St. Edward's Hall, and St. Mary's Entry ; some after their 
 owners, as Alban Hall, Tingewick Hall, and Peckvvater's 
 Inn. Studley Hall once belonged to the abbey of that name, 
 and Tackley's Inn to the rector of Tackley. ]\Iany of the 
 halls took their names from the sign that was to be seen over 
 the gateway, the Eagle, the Lion, the Elephant, the Saracen's 
 Head, or the Brasen nose. Glassen Hall evidently dates from 
 a period when glass windows were a costly luxury, and 
 Chimney Hall from a period when large chimneys were 
 uncommon. Aristotle's Hall was perhaps at one time 
 inhabited by enthusiastic followers of that great philosopher, 
 and some elementary lectures on his native tongue may once 
 have been given in Greek Hall. The origin of the descriptive 
 
 ' Mitu. Acad. p. 15. Cf. Cam. \ ^ Engravings of several of the 
 /Jac. vol. i. pp. 350, 351. old halls are to be found in SkcIton"i 
 
 J/////. Acad. pp. ly, 25, 279. Oxonia Antiqua. 
 
 ' J hid. p. J2(.J.
 
 PRINCIPALS. 20I 
 
 names of Angle Hall, Broadgates Hall, Leadenporch Hall, 
 White Hall, and Black Hall, is sufficiently obvious.' 
 
 Most of the halls originally belonged to laymen, and were 
 let by them to the clerks at rents fixed by a board of 
 assessors, consisting of four Masters and four townsmen ; =" 
 but as time went on, the University and the different colleges 
 and religious bodies of Oxford acquired a great deal of house 
 property in the town. Every hall occupied by clerks had 
 a resident Principal who exercised authority over all the 
 inmates. 3 The office of Principal was evidently one of 
 considerable profit. In the middle of the thirteenth century, 
 it was found necessary to restrain Principals from selling their 
 places, and in the fifteenth century it was formally decreed 
 that none but graduates should be allowed to become 
 Principals. '^ Any one applying for the Principalship of a hall 
 was moreover required to find substantial security for the 
 due payment of the rent, and to take certain oaths imposed 
 by the University for the purpose of maintaining order.^ The 
 tenants of single rooms in a hall were generally bound to 
 attend the lectures given there, unless indeed they were 
 themselves graduates.^ The rent of a room varied according 
 to its size and position, and so we read of Js. 6d. a year being 
 charged at one place, and I'^s. ^d. at another.^ In the reign 
 of Edward III. the son of a prosperous citizen of London 
 could be maintained at Oxford for less than lo/. a year.^ 
 
 ' Several lists of halls are given ' * Ibid. pp. 14, 307, 360. A 
 
 in Muniuienta Acadeiiiica, vol. ii. ! Bachelor of Arts was admitted 
 
 Particulars as to their respective \ Principal of Staple Hall in 1442. 
 
 positions are given in Peshall's Ibid. p. 529. 
 
 City of Oxford. s Ibid. ^i^^. 13, 15, 93, 279, 512, 
 
 "" Mun. Acad. pp. i, 2, 13, 56, 529,618,675,687. 
 
 156, 491, 749; Cambridge Docii- \ * /(^Z(^. p. 242, 517, 528, 582, 664. 
 
 ine7its, vol. i. pp. 349 351 ; Du " Ibid.\)^. 556, 655. 
 
 Boulay, vol. iii. p. 160. s In the accounts of the guardian 
 
 ^ Mun. Acad. pp. 93, 279, 427. of Hugh atte Boure, his board is 
 
 517. charged at 2s. a week, his tuition at
 
 202 MANCIPLES AND SERVANl'S. 
 
 The Principal of a hall was not allowed to cater for the 
 other inmates, and their payments for food were always made 
 to an upper servant known as a manciple." It was the 
 manciple's duty to go to market every morning, before the 
 admission of the retail-dealers at- nine o'clock, and there to 
 buy provisions as cheaply as he could on behalf of his 
 employers.^ The amount of his salary varied in proportion 
 to the amount which they contributed weekly towards the 
 maintenance of the common table.3 Although he might have 
 a wife and a house of his own in the town, the manciple 
 was always reckoned among the privileged members of the 
 University, and social distinctions were so little regarded 
 that a scholar might become a manciple, or a manciple a 
 scholar. '^ Private servants too sometimes applied themselves 
 to study at Oxford, and a curious contract has been preserved 
 by which a master undertook to improve his servant " in the 
 kunnyng of writyng," and to give him two pairs of hosen, two 
 shirts, four pairs of shoes, a gown, and 3^\ ^d. in money, during 
 the first of his four years of service. s The ordinary salary 
 of a private servant in the middle of the fifteenth century 
 was 2/. a year, besides some livery.'' 
 
 We may obtain a fair idea of the contents of a clerk's room 
 at Oxford from some wills and inventories of the fifteenth 
 century, wliich are entered among the Acts of the Chancellor's 
 Court. The most conspicuous object in every chamber was of 
 course the bedstead, which probably belonged to the Principal 
 of the hall, while the mattress, the bolster, the blankets, and 
 the sheets, belonged to the occupants If the latter was not 
 
 26^-. %d. a year, his clothes at 20s. ^ Ibid. p. 469. 
 
 a year, and journeys and sundries * Ibid. pp. 52, 346, 46S, 525, 659, 
 
 at 20s. a year, in all 9/. lo.v. 8c/. j 664, 686. 
 
 Riley's Memorials of London.^ p. : ^ /Zi/V/. pp. 656, 661, 665. 
 
 379- ' ' Ibid. pp. 578, 693. 
 
 ' Miin. Acad. pp. 468, 528, 547, : ' Ibid. pp. 565,567,579, 583, 61 1, 
 664. 612, 663 ; Reg. Aaa, ii 251^ 270. 
 
 - Ibid. j). 46S.
 
 STUDENTS' CHAMBERS. 203 
 
 very poor, his bed would be adorned with a counterpane, a 
 tester, and a curtain deftly embroidered with flowers, birds, 
 or quaint designs.' Another important piece of furniture was 
 the oaken chest, or coffer, in which he kept his most precious 
 possessions under lock and key.^ Two Masters of Arts are 
 recorded to have owned a table and chair apiece, but the 
 absence of all mention of these and other necessary articles 
 from most of the inventories seems to show that furniture 
 was in part hired from the Principal, from the manciple, or 
 from a townsman.'* The number and nature of the books 
 to be found in the chamber of an Oxford student depended 
 upon his wealth and his special pursuits. The poorer scholars 
 had no books at all, and even among the graduates there was 
 seldom one who could afford to have 
 
 " at his beddes hed 
 A twenty bookes clothed in black or red 
 Of Aristotle and his philosophic."' 
 
 Such lists of books as have been preserved tend to prove 
 that the works of the Schoolnien were much commoner than 
 those of the Fathers. Bibles, Missals, Portuaries, and Primers, 
 seem to have been rare, unless indeed they lay in the different 
 chests at St. Mary's, in pledge for loans granted to their 
 needy owners.^ Rosaries of jet were to be seen in the rooms 
 of pious clerks, while lutes, lyres, or hornpipes, betokened 
 the musical tastes of others.^ Chaucer describes Hendy 
 Nicholas as keeping his books and his mathematical instru- 
 ments on shelves above his bed, while on a press covered with 
 
 red cloth 
 
 " there lay a gay psalt'ry 
 On which he made at nightes melody, 
 
 " Mini. Acad. pp. 532,545,565 | Prologue. 
 
 567, 579. 583, 611, 612,663. ' 5 Mi(n. Acad. pp. 515, 516, 532, 
 
 = Ilnd. pp. 515, 566, 579, 612, 546, 561, 566, 577, 579, 582, 583, 
 
 613; Reg. Aaa, f. 251. ; 609611, 648, 658, 660, 663, 666, 
 
 3 Mill!. Acad. pp. 515, 613. 671. 
 
 Chaucer. Cantcrbnyy Talcs, ' '^ Ilnd. pp. 515, 579, 584,663.
 
 204 STUDENTS' CHAMBERS. 
 
 So sweetely, that all the chamber rang : 
 And Angelus ad Vtrginein he sang. 
 And after that he sung the kinges note ; 
 Full often blessed was his merry throat." ' 
 
 Some of the clerks must hav^e been able to have fires in 
 their private rooms, or they would not have wanted bellows, 
 trivets, gridirons, and tongs. ^ Saws, too, they had, and 
 hatchets, intended primarily for cutting up their firewood, but 
 serviceable also in attacks upon the shops of the burghers. ^ 
 Considering the unsettled state of the country, we need not 
 be surprised at finding that grave Masters of Art had bows 
 and arrows in their rooms, and that swords and daggers were 
 kept ready for use.'^ A candlestick, a pair of snuffers, a 
 pitcher and bowl, a pestle and mortar, and knives, might 
 be seen in some scholars' rooms, and a few of the richer 
 graduates could boast of silver spoons, and inkstands of 
 Parisian metal-\vork. = 
 
 Within his bedroom, the Principal of a hall generally had 
 a " study," in which he kept his books, his reading-desk, and 
 some stools or forms for the use of his pupils at lecture.^ All 
 the inmates of a hall took their meals together, dinner of 
 course being always served in the forenoon. ^ The amount 
 which each individual contributed towards the common purse 
 of the establishment was known as " commons," and varied 
 from eightpence to eighteenpence a week.^ Extra food 
 obtained from the manciple to be eaten in private was called 
 
 ' The Millercs Tale. For the I * Ibid. pp. 515, 615, 639, 663, 
 
 clerk's hymn see Tlic Academy, 1 665. 
 
 vol. XX. p. 472. ^ Ibid. pp. 515, 525, 560, 579, 
 
 " Mun. Acad. pp. 515, 546, 613, 584, 647, 660, 664, 683. 
 
 664; Reg. Aaa, f. 251. Mr. Mul- | * Ibid.^^. 515, 545. 
 
 linger (p. 369) states too positively ' Mtin. Acad. pp. 360, 600; 
 
 that "there was no fireplace and Wright's Domestic Manners, pp. 
 
 no stove, this luxury being reserved 155, 248, 455, 456. 
 
 for the hall alone." " Mun. Acad. pp. 75, 457, 469 
 
 5 Mun. Acad. pp. 515, -,1-^. 579. '^z{^.
 
 GENERAL SOPHISTERS. 205 
 
 " battels," ' It is highly probable that some of the halls 
 were specially frequented by natives of particular districts, 
 who thus banded themselves together and gained facilities 
 for disturbing the peace of the University if so inclined.^ 
 At the same time it should be remembered distinctly that 
 in the eye of the law the members of a hall did not form a 
 body corporate, and that the halls had no endowments 
 whatever.3 
 
 In the third year of his residence at the University, the 
 student of the liberal arts was allowed to become a " general 
 sophister." As such he was required to attend the logical 
 " variations " that were held " in the parvise " for at least a 
 year, "disputing, arguing, and responding" on sophisms.* The 
 ecclesiastical origin of these disputations is shown by the 
 phrase " in parviso," the parvise being a cloister, paved plat- 
 form, or other open space, immediately adjoining a church. 5 
 A curious instance of the survival of old names is to be found 
 in the " testamur " or Latin certificate which is nowadays 
 issued by the examiners at " Responsions," to the efifect that 
 a successful candidate has answered to the questions of the 
 masters of the schools " in parvisoT ^ 
 
 After performing his exercises in the parvise for the 
 prescribed period, the sophister was admitted "to respond to 
 the question," He became a "questionist," though without 
 
 ' Mioi. Acad. p. 320: Second i a week and known by the name of 
 
 Report of the Historical MSS. \ Generals. Ayliffe, vol. ii. pp. 117, 
 
 Commission, p. 139. Cf, Murray's j 118 ; Ward, vol. i. pp. 32 36. 
 
 New English Dictiottary. ^ See Dii Cange, Littre, Viollet- 
 
 '' Mutt. Acad. pp. Ixxvi, 590, 714, i le-Duc, and the Glossary of Archi- 
 
 725, 734. I lecture, under the words Paradisus, 
 
 3 This is still the main distinction Parvis, and Paradise, 
 
 between a hall and a college. '' The happy recipient of the cer- 
 
 ^ Mun. Acad. pp. 34, 35, 242, 1 tificategenerallyimagines that these 
 
 422, 684, 738, 744 ; Cambridge | words should be translated "for 
 
 Documents, vol. i. p. 382. In the [ Smalls," or " for Little-go," the 
 
 eighteenth century, the variations ' familiar names of the examination 
 
 in the parvise were held three times officially known as " Responsions."
 
 2o6 ACADEMICAL STUDIES. 
 
 ceasing to be a sophister.' On the payment of a fee, varying 
 in proportion to the amount of his weekly commons, his name 
 was inscribed in a register, as that of a person who had 
 obtained a certain definite rank in the University. The day 
 of his advancement was one of the most important in his 
 academical career. He gave robes to the Master who pro- 
 pounded the question, and he entertained his friends at a feast 
 or drinking-bout.^ If however he had ah'cady spent four whole 
 years in the study of the liberal arts, he might very soon after- 
 wards proceed to the ceremony of "determination," by whicli 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts was ordinarily obtainable. ^ 
 
 At Paris, students seem to have been allowed to determine 
 at the early age of fourteen, after attending the schools of 
 logic for only two years, but at Oxford and at Cambridge, 
 if not at Paris itself, the average age of the determiners can 
 scarcely have been less than seventeen or eighteen.'* The 
 course of teaching which they had gone through cannot, un- 
 fortunately, be described with any certainty. It might be 
 plausibly conjectured that the degree of Bachelor implied a 
 knowledge of the Triviniii, and that of Master a knowledge 
 of the Qiiadriviiim, but such a theory finds no support in the 
 mediaeval statutes of the great universities. While grammar 
 and logic were invariably studied before determination, and 
 music, geometry, astronomy, and moral philosophy, after 
 
 ' The regulations for some of the , //V^;/.f, pp. iv vi, Ixvii. 
 
 chestsdividethepotential borrowers , ^^ Afu/i. Acad. pp. 242,410,411: 
 
 into three classes, viz. Masters, Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 384. In the 
 
 IJachelors, and sophisters. Mun. \ thirteenth century, the statutes of 
 
 Acad. pp. 85, 99, 104, 499. Oxford required an interval of about 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 156, 247, 410, 455; ' six months between "responding 
 
 Cam. Doc.\o\.\. p. 384. Cf. Nintli to the question" and "determin- 
 
 Report of tlic Historical MS S. Com- ing." Midi. Acad. p. 35. 
 
 mission., i. p. 205. The ceremonies ; Thurot, p. 43 ; Vallet de \'iri- 
 
 by which sophisters were admitted \ille, Histoire dc l Insiruclion 
 
 to respond at Cambridge in the I'libliqne, p. 360 ; Mun. Acad. pp. 
 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 242, 410; Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 385. 
 are given in Peacock's Ohsci-iUi-
 
 DETERMINATION. 207 
 
 determination, there was no fixed rule of general obligation 
 as to the time at which rhetoric, arithmetic, and natural and 
 metaphysical philosophy should be studied. Priscian, Donatus, 
 and Terence were the authors most frequently read in the 
 schools of grammar, Porphyry, Boethius, Aristotle, and 
 Petrus Hispanus, in those of logic, and Aristotle again in 
 those of the three philosophies.' The Greek language, it will 
 be remembered, was practically unknown in Western Europe 
 in the later part of the fourteenth century. 
 
 A short time before the beginning of Lent, four Mas- 
 ters, two Northerners and two Southerners, were elected 
 in Congregation to make arrangements for the ensuing 
 determinations. In their presence every candidate was 
 required to prove, by oath or otherwise, that he had gone 
 through the prescribed course of study, and to produce 
 favourable testimony from Masters or Bachelors of Arts 
 worthy of credit.^ Any one who could do this, and could 
 moreover satisfy them as to his age, stature, and morals, was 
 forthwith admitted to determine, for, as Mr. An^tcy remarks, 
 ' there seems to have been nothing corresponding to our 
 modern plucking!' 3 The formal ceremonies of determination 
 began on the morning of Ash Wednesday, and ended about 
 ten days before Easter.t During the interval between these 
 dates, the determining Bachelor was said to "stand in Lent," 
 in allusion to his posture in school. 5 No determination was 
 accounted valid which did not take place under the super- 
 intendence of a Master of Arts, in one of the thirt\--two 
 
 ' Mit7i. Acad. pp. 34, 242, 243, or other private place, or to wear 
 
 285, 413: Cambridge Doaeincn/s, furred hoods outside their own 
 
 vol. i. p. 3S5 ; Thurot, p. 45. lodgings for two years to come, by 
 
 " Mini. Acad. pp. 34, 243, 246, reason of the shortness of their 
 
 454; Cam. Doc. as above. stature. Register of the U/iit'ersitv 
 
 3 Mun. Acad. pp. Ixxxiv^, 246. ^ 6'-t/^r<f, (ed. Boase) vol. i. p. 287. 
 
 In the middle of the fifteenth ccn- ^ Mun. Acad. p. 244. 
 
 tury, two Bachelors were forbidden ? Ibid. pp. iio, 422. 
 to determine save in their own halls
 
 20.S 
 
 /)/: TERM IN A TION. 
 
 schools situate in School Street.' On the first, and again 
 on the last day of determination, the determiner argued a 
 question against a senior Bachelor of Arts.^ On at least 
 seven other days, he stood at a desk from nine to twelve in 
 the morning, and from one to five in the afternoon, ready 
 to defend certain particular propositions against all comers. 
 Logic formed the subject of the disputations that were held 
 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and 
 grammar of those that were held on Fridays. 3 An ambitious 
 determiner could court attack by raising a knotty point, while 
 conversely an unskilled disputant could almost as surely 
 escape discomfiture by laying down some proposition that 
 could hardly be impugned. The masters in whose schools 
 these disputations took place were bound to correct any one 
 who made use of irrelevant or fallacious arguments, and, by 
 way of compensation for the frequent interruption of their 
 
 ' ;T/z/.^^(a:^. pp. 240,245,411,453. 
 If there were more than eighteen or 
 twenty determiners in any one year, 
 the Chancellor and Proctors divided 
 them into two equal bands, assign- 
 ing the immediate use of the schools 
 to the members of the first band, 
 and postponing the determination 
 of the members of the second band 
 to a later part of Lent. Such at 
 least appears to be the meaning of 
 two statutes (pp. 240, 453), which 
 have baffled the ingenuity of I\Ir. 
 Anstey. The word circuhis seems 
 to mean a cycle of time rather than 
 a circuit of places, and, if this be so, 
 there is no evidence to support 
 Mr. Anstey's theory that the de- 
 terminers used in turn " to go to 
 all the thirty-two schools, replying 
 to the questions proposed by each 
 master in his turn." On the other 
 hand, see Ayliffe, vol. ii. p. 147. 
 
 For the ceremonies of determina- 
 tion at Cambridge in the sixteenth 
 and seventeenth centuries, see 
 Peacock's Observations, pp. vi xv, 
 Ixix Ixxi. 
 
 = Muii. Acad. p. 246. Ayliffe 
 (vol. ii. p. 120) says that "these 
 Lent Disputations are called Deter- 
 minations, because they do deter- 
 mine and finish the Conditions of 
 Batchelor's Degree, and truly com- 
 pleat the same," and at a much 
 earlier date determiners are said 
 ^' defer tiiiiiare acta sua.'" Mil?!. 
 Acad. p. 240. On the other hand, 
 one of the statutes of New College 
 enacts : " Detenninaturi .... in 
 artibiis dispntabiint maieriafn qnain 
 proponunt dcterminare in Quad- 
 ragesima tunc scquente." 
 
 3 Mun. Acad. pp. 240, 245 ; 
 Ward, vol. i. p. 43.
 
 DE TERM IN A TION. 209 
 
 own lectures, they were entitled to claim from the deter- 
 miners one-third of the rent of their respective schools.' To 
 determine before a great crowd of admiring, and perhaps 
 applauding, listeners, was the fond hope of the needy 
 sophister, for on the degree of skill which he then exhibited 
 might depend his whole future career. The art of disputa- 
 tion, observes Mr. Lewes, " was to the athletes of the middle 
 ages what parliamentary debate has been to the English."^ 
 A brilliant success on the part of the determiner would 
 attract numerous pupils to his future lectures, would bring 
 him under the notice of powerful patrons, and would give 
 him that feeling of self-confidence without which it is diffi- 
 cult for a young man to make his way in the world. 3 So 
 important was it that the determiner should have a good 
 audience in the schools, that his friends would sometimes 
 stand outside the door, and forcibly compel the passers-by 
 to come in and witness the proceedings. 
 
 The expenses of determination were very heavy. At one 
 time indeed the University passed a self-denying ordinance, 
 strictly forbidding all feasts, drinking-bouts, and presentation 
 of robes, at determination, but this virtuous mood did not 
 last long. The ordinance was repealed in 1408, and thence- 
 forth those clergy only who held valuable benefices were 
 debarred from accepting robes from determiners and ques- 
 tionists.5 The fee exacted from every determiner by the 
 University was the value of half a week's commons. The 
 rules of the Catholic Church enjoining a strict observance of 
 
 ' Mini. Acad. p. 246. acqidrinit loquendi audaciain qua 
 
 - History of Philosophy, \o\. ii. necessaria est artist ce, viagnatiiin 
 
 p, 8. notitiam per qiiain solebaut ad 
 
 3 " Cmn ad eorum detenniiia- bcncjicia eeclesiastica proinoverir 
 
 iifliies veniant viri valcntes et dis- ' Memoire contre Philip de Thori, 
 
 creti de singulis facultatibus, mag- quoted by M. Thurot, p. 44.. 
 
 nates pitta aliqiiando, archidiaconi, * Mini. Acad. pp. 247, 410. 
 
 cant ores ct prcrpositi ecclcsiarum ~- Ibid. pp. 247, 410, 453 455. 
 
 cafhedralii/ni, coram illis loqi/endo, 
 
 V
 
 2 1 o DE TERMINA TR W. 
 
 the Lenten fast, must have been openly disregarded at the 
 chief universities of Western Christendom, unless we are to 
 believe that meat was excluded from the feasts of the deter- 
 mining Bachelors. At any rate a great deal of wine w^as 
 drunk on these occasions, and it was a matter of common 
 notoriety that frays between clerks and laymen, and frays 
 between clerks of different countries, were more frequent in 
 Lent than at any other season.' At Paris, it was found 
 difficult to restrain the determining Bachelors from illumin- 
 ating the schools and marching about the streets in military 
 array with banners unfurled before them.^ 
 
 The poorest students were not wholly precluded from the 
 honours of determination, for, by a very remarkable arrange- 
 ment, their wealthier comrades were allowed to determine 
 for them in the second half of Lent. Any one wishing " to 
 determine for others," as the phrase ran, was bound to obtain 
 the favourable testimony of at least six Masters of Arts, and 
 to prove that he had gone through a longer course of study 
 than was required of ordinary determiners. Unfortunately 
 for the present enquiry, the relations of the sub-determiners 
 to their patrons were so well understood at Oxford, at 
 Cambridge, and at Paris alike, that it was not thought necessary 
 to define them accurately by statute. 3 It would appear that 
 in the fifteenth century determination was a voluntary exercise, 
 
 ' Mi/;2. Acad. pp. 4^2)^682 : Vc^- quod anno dcternihiaiioiis vestro"., 
 
 cock, p. 28 ; Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. nee dc p7'oprio ncc de quocunquc 
 
 333 ; Close Roll, i Ric. II. m. 4. alio, plus quani quatuor dcnaiios 
 
 - Du Boula\-, vol. iii. p. 420 ; in scptimana potcstis expcnderc 
 
 \'allet de Viriville, p. 360. secundum I'estrani facultatcni. 
 
 "' Mun. Acad. pp. 35, 243, 245, Iteni incipictis dclcrininare sub 
 
 416, 731 ; Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 385 ; principali dctermi)iatore vcstro a 
 
 Du Boulay, vol. iii. p. 487 ; Vallct medio quadragesimee posiquatn di- 
 
 de \'iiiville, p. 361. The oaths miscrit idem determitiator princi- 
 
 imposcd on the sub-determiners of palis, et contimtabitis vestram 
 
 the English nation at Paris were de/erminalionem per residuum 
 
 as follows : '^ Prinio 7'os jurabiiis quadragesimce." Register iii. p. 57.
 
 BA CHELORS OF ARTS. 2 1 1 
 
 and that scholars could become Masters of Arts without 
 having ever determined as Bachelors.' 
 
 Like his representative in the nineteenth century, the Oxford 
 scholar of the middle ages generally left the University as 
 soon as he had attained to the degree of Bachelor of Arts.^ 
 If, however, he desired to proceed to the higher degree of 
 Master, it was necessary that he should pursue his studies 
 there for three years longer.3 During the whole of this period, 
 he was required to attend the ordinary lectures of a Regent 
 Master, and during part of it to give elementary lectures on 
 Aristotle, at hours w^hen the schools were not otherwise 
 engaged. At least once a year he took part in the general 
 disputations of Bachelors, which, from being held weekly at 
 the convent of the Augustinian friars, were styled " Austins," 
 a name which continued in use at Oxford for nearly three 
 centuries after the dissolution of the monasteries. At certain 
 other specified times, the Bachelors of Arts disputed against 
 Masters, the former standing, and the latter sitting before 
 their desks in token of superior dignity.^ By a statute passed 
 in 143 1, it was ordained that all candidates for the degree 
 of Master of Arts should study the seven liberal arts and the 
 three philosophies for twenty-one terms, or seven years.^ An 
 eighth year of study was required of those who had not 
 undergone the ordeal of determination.^ 
 
 ' Miin. Acad. pp. 415, 417 ; Wil- , le baccalaurcat n^ctait pas un grade, 
 
 kins's Ctf;/a7/(^, vol. iii. p. 531. The inais un etatj' Nevertheless in 
 
 statutesofBrasenose College issued England we find frequent mention 
 
 in 1521 somewhat later than the of '"'' gradus Bachilarii.^' Mtin. 
 
 period now under consideration Acad. pp. 411,457; Gesta Abbatuin 
 
 make mention of Bachelors who ! Mon. Sti. Aibani, vol. ii. p. 460. 
 
 had not determined " bacca- i ^ Mien. Acad. p. 416. 
 
 laiirciis in artibus qui non deter- : * Ibid. pp. 118, 142, 143,313,411, 
 
 ininavit." Statutes of the Colleges ' 412, 414, 416, 422; Ward, vol. i. 
 
 of Oxford, \o\. n. PP- 44 46. 
 
 ^ M. Thurot says (p. 137) : = Mun. Acad. pp. 2S5 287. 
 
 ^^ Les reglements de la Facultc de "" Ibid. pp. 415, 417. 
 tlieologie niontreiit clairenient que 
 
 P 2
 
 212 LICENTIATES. 
 
 No amount of attendance at lectures could qualify an 
 undeserving Bachelor for the degree of Master. It was 
 necessary that fourteen Regents, besides the Master who 
 presented him, should vouch for his moral character and 
 proficiency in learning, at least nine of them speaking from 
 personal knowledge, unbiassed " by entreaty, by payment, by 
 friendship, by enmity, by fear, or by hope of reward." They 
 delivered their testimony to the Chancellor and the Proctors 
 in a low whisper, at a special meeting of the Faculty of Arts, 
 and they were strictly forbidden to divulge its nature to 
 others. The Bachelor's skill had already been sufficiently 
 tested in disputations, and if the Masters considered him unfit 
 for promotion, they could remand him for a twelvemonth.' 
 When, on the other hand, a candidate's claims had been 
 approved, he was formally presented by a Regent Master, 
 and, kneeling before the Chancellor and the Proctors, he swore 
 solemnly on a volume of Holy Writ that he would observe the 
 statutes, privileges, and customs, of the Univ^ersity, that he 
 would incept at Oxford within a year, and that he would not 
 spend more than three thousand gros Tournois at the time 
 of his inception. Then the Chancellor laid the sacred volume 
 on his head, and, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the 
 Holy Ghost, gave him licence "to incept, to lecture, to 
 dispute," and to do all things pertaining to the degree of a 
 Master.^ 
 
 The grant of the Chancellor's licence did not of itself raise 
 the Bachelor to the degree of Master, the Universities of 
 Paris, Oxford, and Cambridge, alike refusing to recognise any 
 one as a Master who had not actually undertaken the duties 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 378, 379, 424- 
 426, 449 ; Cam. Doc. vol. i. pp. 360, 
 361. 
 
 ' Mini. Acad. pp. 382, 3S3, 450 ; 
 Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 378. The oath 
 
 inception was based on one of the 
 Clementine Constitutions, promul- 
 gated in the Council of A'ienne 
 (lib. V. c. 2). The equivalent in 
 Enjrlish monev was said to be 
 
 as to the limit of the expense of 41/. I3.'. \(t. Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 379.
 
 INCEPTION. 213 
 
 of a teacher in the schools. Great importance was accord- 
 ingly attached to the occasion on which the licentiate began 
 to teach with authority, or, in technical language, to his 
 " inception," or " commencement." A licentiate who omitted 
 to incept within the year prescribed by his oath, was required 
 to pay a heavy fine, and the fine was doubled if he held any 
 lucrative post at the time. His licence to teach was also 
 cancelled.' So anxious indeed was the University to induce 
 licentiates to incept on the earliest possible occasion, that it 
 would not allow them to take any part in public processions, 
 although Bachelors and others of lower rank had places 
 allotted to them.^ 
 
 In the ordinary course of events, the licentiate lost no time 
 in making arrangements for his inception. Having satisfied 
 the Chancellor or the Proctors that he had secured the use 
 of a school for the ensuing twelvemonth, he requested a 
 Master of Arts in most cases his own teacher to fix a day 
 for the vespericE, an exercise which always preceded an 
 inception. This settled, he went in person to all the schools 
 of the University to ask the different Masters to attend his 
 inception, and the banquet by which he intended to celebrate 
 it. He was accompanied on this circuit by the bedel of his 
 Faculty, who issued invitations to the vesperies, in the name 
 of the Master who was to preside. The Non-Regents were 
 also summoned. 3 The vesperies of the Faculty of Arts might 
 be held either in the parochial church of St. Mildred, or in 
 the conventual church of the Augustinian friars, on any day 
 that was available for lectures.-* The exercise consisted of 
 a disputation between the inceptor and some Masters of Arts, 
 on certain questions propounded in Latin verse by the presid- 
 ing Master, who was generally styled the Father. This 
 ended, the inceptor was required to swear that he would never 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. -^-i-] , 378. 
 
 - Ibid. p. 300. 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 415, 432, 433; Can. 
 
 Doc. vol. i. p. 380 ; Peacock, p. xx. 
 * Mini. Acad. pp. 159, 408, 429, 
 433 ; Cain. Doc. vol. i. p. 379.
 
 2 14 IX CEP TI ON. 
 
 consent " to the reconciliation of Henry Symeon," or re- 
 assume the degree of Bachelor of that Faculty.^ The exact 
 nature of Henry Symeon's offence is not stated, but for 
 century after century the implacable University held him up 
 to the obloquy of every Bachelor who was about to become 
 a Master of Arts, This singular oath has been taken by 
 some men who are still living, for it was not abolished until 
 the year of grace 1827/ To the inceptor himself the most 
 pleasing part of the vesperics was the oration in which the 
 Father publicly commended his virtue and learning. Any 
 modest blushes that might rise to his cheeks were hidden 
 from the spectators by the hood tightly drawn over his head 
 by the bedel of the Faculty.3 The vesperies closed with an 
 announcement of the hour and place chosen for the ceremony 
 of the morrow. In the evening, the more boisterous clerks 
 were wont to indulge their love of horseplay, by shaving the 
 youthful beards of their comrades.'* 
 
 On the day of an inception, all lectures and disputations 
 were suspended, in order that the members of the different 
 faculties might be prescnt.s After the solemn celebration 
 of mass, every one went to his appointed place in St. Mary's 
 Church, and, at a signal given by one of the Proctors, the 
 proceedings began. First the Father stepping forward 
 delivered a book into the hands of the inceptor, placed a cap 
 
 ' Mini. Acad. pp. 432,473 ; Cam. j monastery, in which regency in 
 
 Doc. vol. i. p. 380. Some examples ' secular arts was not allowed. Anti- 
 
 of the questions set at vesperies are ' qiiitaiis Oroii. Apologia, p. 376. 
 
 L,n\en by Caius, Vindicics Acad. \ He does not, however, cite any 
 
 (^.iy;;/., (ed. Hcarnc) vol. i. p. Ixviii ; ! authority for this plausible expla- 
 
 others are preserved in Lambeth j nation. 
 
 MS. 221, ft". 27S-30S. I ' Wood's Aimals, vol. i. pp. 61, 
 
 '^ Ward's Oxford U/iii'crsity \ 62 ; Peacock, pp. xxiii, Ixxxii. 
 
 .Sfatu/cs, vol. ii. p. 139. Bryan 1 ^ Statutes of New Collcgey tit. 
 
 Tuyne states that Symeon was a ; 25. 
 
 ]\.egent in Ails at Oxford, who [ = Mun. Acad.'g. i\2\ ; Cam. Doc. 
 
 feigned himself a Bacliclor in order vol. i. p. 3S6. 
 to ol)lain admission to a foreign
 
 INCEPTION. 215 
 
 the emblem of magisterial authority on his head, and 
 greeted him with the kiss of peace. Then the inceptor, 
 attired in the black cope of a Regent Master, read aloud a 
 passage from Aristotle or some other approved author, and 
 propounded two questions connected therewith, to be answered 
 by the Regent Master who had last incepted in that Faculty. 
 At the close of the disputation he "determined the question " 
 with a single argument, and declared himself satisfied with 
 the answers of his seniors.' Then, as he knelt down and 
 placed his hand on a volume of Holy Writ, the Proctor, ad- 
 dressing him for the first time as " Master," made him swear 
 that he would respect the statutes and privileges of the 
 University, that he would not foment discord, that he would 
 not recognise any University in England save those of 
 Oxford and Cambridge, that he would not lecture at Stam- 
 ford, and that he would wear a habit suitable to his new 
 degree. Some further oaths were imposed in the early part 
 of the fifteenth century, inceptors being thenceforward re- 
 quired to swear that they would be careful of the books in 
 the public library, and that they would not maintain the 
 Lollard opinions which had been condemned in 141 1, or the 
 doctrine of Friar William Russell as to tithes, which had been 
 condemned in 1425.^ 
 
 The fee exacted by the University from every Master 
 at the time of his inception was merely the value of one 
 week's commons, but the other expenses were consider- 
 able.3 Many a fond parent must have stinted himself for 
 months or years, and perhaps run into debt, in order that his 
 son, the clerk, should be able to scatter money with an open 
 hand at the important time. The inceptor was expected to 
 give robes to his relations, to the inmates of his hall, to the 
 poorer graduates of the University, and to various other 
 
 ' il/;/. ^iTiTi^. pp. 432 434, 683 ; - Mun. Acad. pp. 374376; 
 
 Ward, vol. i. p. 64 ; Peacock, p. 
 xxvi. 
 
 Ward, vol. i. p. no. 
 
 ^ Mitn. Acad. pp. 457, 480.
 
 2i6 MASTERS AND TEACHERS. 
 
 persons at Oxford.' It was also necessary that he should 
 provide a banquet for the Regent Masters in a large hall, or 
 in a tent erected for the purpose.^ These costly entertain- 
 ments had been forbidden at Paris by the Papal Legate 
 Robert de Courcon, as far back as the year 121 5, but the 
 attempt to suppress them had been soon abandoned, and 
 every inceptor of the English Nation was absolutely required 
 to feast the Regents, unless he could prove his poverty by 
 oath. 3 At Oxford, the poorer licentiates used to incept under 
 the protection of some wealthier comrade, who took the chief 
 place at the ceremonies, and paid most of the expenses.* 
 
 In the early days of the great mediaeval universities, all 
 recipients of the Chancellor's licence were willing enough to 
 undertake the task of giving oral instruction. The majority 
 of students quitted the schools without any formal certificate 
 of merit, while those only who desired to earn a livelihood by 
 teaching, sought to be admitted as Masters. To style a man 
 Master, who had not actually been a teacher, would have 
 seemed a gross anomaly to the scholars of the twelfth and 
 thirteenth centuries. In course of time, however, the name of 
 Master came to indicate a degree rather than a vocation. It 
 bore lasting testimony to the learning and industry of the 
 bearer. A clerk who did not proceed beyond the degree of 
 Bachelor, was generally styled " Domi7ius" in Latin, and 
 " Uan," " Dompne," or " Sir," in English. ^ The more honour- 
 
 J/////. y^it"(C(/. pp. 431, 435. I oi\S\&\ftA\\^\'-^. Letters and Papers, 
 
 Ibid. p. 308. I vol. V. p. 361. Anthony Dalaber 
 
 speaks of " Master Garret " and 
 " Sir Diet." V ox s Acts and Afo/iu- 
 nwnts, \o\. V. p. 424. There was 
 
 ' Du Boulay, vol. iii. ]x Si 
 Thurot, p. 63. 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 374, 376, 431 
 
 435 ; The Pastun Letters, (cd. | formerly an inscription in the 
 
 CJairdner) vol. iii. p. 246. ; collegiate chiuxh of Eton request- 
 
 5 Spenser describes Chaucer as ' ing prayers for " Sir Alexander 
 
 " Dan Geoffrey." " Dompne John , Philippe, chantrie preist." Lyte's 
 
 Deryng" and "Dompne Will. History of Etc ti Col/ei:^e, \). 166. 
 
 Jerome ' arc mentioned in a letter In 1669 there was a contest at
 
 NECESSARY REGENCY. 217 
 
 able designation of Master, conferred at the time of inception, 
 was retained for life, and was universally recognised as a mark 
 of distinction. Hence there sprang up a class of graduates 
 who sought to reap immediate advantage from their aca- 
 demical . career, without incurring the labour of teaching. 
 In self-defence against such interlopers, the Universities of 
 Oxford and Cambridge decreed that every new Master of 
 Arts should give ordinary lectures during the whole of the 
 year following his inception, or commencement.^ 
 
 This period was afterwards lengthened to two years, and 
 such Masters as neglected their duty in this respect were 
 threatened with the extreme penalty of degradation and 
 expulsion. 2 Few enactments have had a more lasting 
 influence on the constitution of the English universities. 
 Even now all new Masters of Arts at Oxford are nominally 
 required to lecture in the schools for two years after gradu- 
 ation. During that time they are styled "necessary Regents,'" 
 and as such are entitled to sit in the assembly known as the 
 Ancient House of Congregation, alongside of the Heads of 
 Colleges, the public Professors, and the Doctors of the 
 
 Oxford between " Sir Russell" and 1 the medium of communication, the 
 "Sir Turner," Bloxam's Register j term ' Sir ' is prefixed to the family 
 
 of Magdalen College, vol. v. p. 262. 
 "Sir Barret" and " Sir Tutsham " 
 occur at Cambridge in 1620, "Sir 
 Gosnall " occurs in 1663, and " Sir 
 Talbot" in 1667. Wordsworth's 
 
 name. It is also the way in which 
 graduates under masters' standing- 
 have their names distinguished on 
 their outer doors. Thus, an under- 
 graduate's door would bear his name 
 
 Social Life, \)Yi. 118,279, 280,440. as 'Jones;' when a B.A. 'Sir 
 
 Earlier instances occur in the ' Jones.' '' Tilings not generally 
 
 Register of tJie University of Ox- ; Known, p. iSi. In the class-lists 
 
 ford, (ed. Boasc) vol. i. ; in the published at Cambridge the letters 
 
 Reports of tJic Historical Mann- j '' Ds^' prefixed to the name of 
 
 scripts' Commission, and elsewhere. 1 every wrangler stand for Doniinus. 
 
 "In the University of Dublin, all > ' Mun. Acad. p. 415 ; Cam. Doc. 
 
 Bachelors of Arts arc styled vol. i. p. 381. 
 
 ''Domini'' ; but in calling rolls, or - Mun. Acad. pp. 419,452. Cf. 
 
 on any occasion where English is Peacock's Ol>ser7'ations, p. 51.
 
 2 1 8 REGENT J/A S TERS. 
 
 superior Faculties, who are styled " Regents at pleasure." 
 In point of fact none of them ever hear a word about the 
 necessity of lecturing-, for, unsolicited by them, the Vice- 
 Chancellor and one of the Proctors go through the form of 
 dispensing with the requirements of the statute. 
 
 In the middle ages, when the academical exercises had a 
 real importance, the Regent Master of Arts held a disputation 
 on each of the first forty days after his inception that were 
 available for the purpose.' During this part of his career, he 
 was required to wear heel-less shoes, which were anciently 
 known as " pynsons," and afterwards as " slop-shoes." ^ A 
 salutary rule, common to Oxford and Cambridge, forbade 
 him to attend the lectures of any other Faculty, until the two 
 years of his necessary regency were completed.^ At Paris 
 the rules as to regency were far less stringent, and a Master 
 might without shame plead detention in prison as a valid 
 excuse for the interruption of his course* 
 
 A Regent Master of Arts received at least one shilling a 
 year from every pupil whom he instructed in logic, and 
 eighteenpence from every pupil whom he instructed in natural 
 science.5 Ambitious teachers, who were possessed of private 
 means, might have filled their schools with pupils by lecturing 
 gratuitously, if the University had not passed a decree that 
 no Masters, save the sons of earls and barons, should be 
 allowed to remit the customary fecs.^ After the year 1432, 
 the payments made to the ditTcrent Regents were thrown 
 into a common fund and evenly divided among them.7 The 
 examinations called "collections," which are nowadays held 
 in the colleges of Oxford at the end of each academical term, 
 
 ' Mun. AauL pp. 313, 430; vol. i. p. 390. 
 Thurot, p. 60. I * Thurot, p. 91. 
 
 - Mun. Acad. p. 450 ; Ayliffe, vol. ' j[fun. Acad. p. 128. 
 
 ii. p. 133; ]5ailey's Dictiotiary : ^ Ibid. pp. no, 129, 256, 279; 
 
 Proiiiptoriuni Pariniloniin, (ed. Cam, Doc. \ol. i. p. 391, 
 
 Way) p. 400. ' Mun. Acad. p. lo},. 
 
 ' Muii. Acad. ]). 418 ; Ctim. Doc.
 
 THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE. 219 
 
 are said to derive their name from the " collecta" or ingather- 
 ing of fees, which was anciently made at the corresponding 
 times.' It would seem that in the middle ages a Master of 
 Arts continued to be a Regent so long as he chose to deliver 
 "ordinary" lectures in the schools, the idea of limiting the 
 duration of regency to the first two years after inception 
 dating only from a time when the old system of instruction 
 was no longer regarded with favour."* A Non-Regent could 
 reassume the habit and the duties of a Regent after going 
 through certain formalities, analogous to those by which the 
 Masters of other universities were admitted to corresponding 
 rank at Oxford. 3 
 
 Of the four superior Faculties of Theology, Canon Law, 
 Civil Law, and Medicine, the last was generally accounted 
 the lowest, although its members claimed to take prece- 
 dence of the civilians. It was unquestionably the smallest.-* 
 A Master of Arts desirous of acting as a physician within 
 the precincts of the University, was required to frequent 
 the schools of the Faculty for four years. If, after 
 taking the degree of Bachelor of Medicine, he wished to 
 proceed to the higher degree of Doctor, it was necessary 
 that he should give cursory lectures on the theory no less 
 than on the practice of medicine, and take part in disputa- 
 tions during at least two years. Persons who had not 
 graduated in Arts were precluded from incepting as Doctors, 
 and even from practising as physicians, until the end of their 
 eighth year of study. The more ambitious students of 
 medicine generally resorted to the famous schools of Mont- 
 pellier, and it was with difficulty that the Faculty maintained 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. xcvi. , the fifteenth century. 
 
 - Ibid. p. 147 ; Gascoigne, Z^ ^ ; ^ Miin. Acad. pp. 147, 417, 418, 
 
 Libro Vcritatuin, pp. 13, 14, 175, 430, 446, 447 ; Cafn. Doc. vol. i. pp. 
 
 201. Mr. Thorold Rogers (p. Ixxxiv) . 380, 386. 
 
 is wrong in describing the Congre- ! * Miui. Acad, pp. 234, 238, 408 ; 
 
 gation of the University as " con- Register F. f. 2,9b ; Ayhffe, vol. ii. 
 
 sisting of the younger ]\histers '' in p. 194.
 
 220 PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS. 
 
 its existence at Oxford. At times there was not more than 
 one Doctor of Medicine actually Regent in the whole Uni- 
 versity, and Non-Regents, and even Masters of Arts, had to 
 be called in to testify to the fitness of candidates for degrees. 
 Doctors of Medicine were obliged to reside and teach at 
 Oxford for two years beyond the end of the year of their 
 inception, and to hold weekly or fortnightly disputations. 
 Galen and Hippocrates were the authors most highly es- 
 teemed in the schools of medicine, but the works of some 
 of the Arabian physicians were read in their Latin form with 
 almost equal diligence.' The Doctor of Physic portrayed 
 in the Canterbury Tales " lovede gold in special," and it 
 would seem that the successful members of his profession 
 were often rewarded for their services with ecclesiastical 
 benefices.^ A mediaeval couplet, cited by Wood, says : 
 
 " Dat Galcnits opes, dat Jiistiniauus lionorcs, 
 Scd genus el species eogitiir ire pedes." 
 
 The two statements contained in the first line were equally 
 true. The great temporal advantages that were to be ob- 
 tained by a knowledge of civil law were clearly perceived as far 
 back as the twelfth century, and it was with some difficulty that 
 members of the religious orders were restrained from pursuing 
 so attractive a study. ^ Roger Bacon, writing in 1271, com- 
 plains that the ablest clerks of the day preferred civil law to 
 theology or philosophy, inasmuch as it led more directly to 
 power and riches. + In the fourteenth century, the study 
 
 ' Mini. Acad. pp. 236, 406-409, j Original Lellers, 3rd Series, vol. i. 
 
 430. Cf. Cam. Doe. vol. i. pp. 362, p. 71 ; Le Neve's Fasti, passim. 
 
 375) 3S0, and Peacock, pp. lii, liii. J Crcvier, Ilisloire de P L^/iiver- 
 
 In 1414, there was only one Doctor sile de Paris, \o\. i. p. 247; Mul- 
 
 of Medicine resident at Oxford, ' linger, pp. 38, 39. 
 
 and he was a foreigner. Twync -* R. Bacon, Opera Inedita, pj). 
 
 MS. vol. ii. f. 13. 84, 418. See above p. l^, and VlwW- 
 
 ' FourtJi Report 0/ iJie Historical inger, p. 319. 
 
 MSS. Coniiiiission, p. yy^ ; I'^llis's '
 
 THE FACULTY OF CIVIL LAW. 221 
 
 of old Roman jurisprudence was often combined with that 
 of the canons of Christian councils and the decretals of 
 successive popes. " Compared with such lore," says Mr. 
 jMullinger, "theological learning became but a sorry recom- 
 mendation to ecclesiastical preferment ; most of the popes at 
 Avignon had been distinguished by their attainments in a 
 subject which so nearly concerned the temporal interests of 
 the Church ; and the civilian and the canonist alike looked 
 down with contempt on the theologian, even as Hagar, to 
 use the comparison of Holcot, despised her barren mistress. 
 The true scholar returned them equal scorn ; and Richard 
 of Bury roundly averred that the civilian, though he might 
 win the friendship of the world, was the enemy of God." ' 
 Nevertheless, it must not be supposed that civilians were ever 
 very numerous at Oxford. The best schools of law were in 
 Italy, and, although the Doctors of Civil Law were em- 
 powered to levy higher fees than those of any other faculty, 
 the profession of an advocate in the ecclesiastical courts was 
 known to be far more lucrative than that of a teacher at 
 the University. The mediaeval statutes of Oxford frankly 
 recognise the possibility of the number of resident Doctors 
 of Civil Law falling below four.^ 
 
 The degree of Bachelor of Civil Law could be obtained 
 by a Master of Arts after four years of continuous study, 
 and that of Doctor after six or seven. In the interval be- 
 tween the assumption of these two degrees, he was required to 
 give cursory lectures for one year on the /;/i'///?//^i- of Justinian, 
 and for another year on two parts of the Digest, and to 
 " oppose " and " respond " at least once in the schools of 
 
 ' Page 211. I any year in the later part of the 
 
 ^ Alini. Acad. p. 404. At Cam- I fifteenth century, so that commencc- 
 
 bridge,there were seldom more than ments in that faculty must have 
 
 one or two scholars admitted to the been very rare events. Alullinger, 
 
 degree of Bachelor of Civil Law in ' p. 320.
 
 222 THE FACULTY OF CANON LA IV. 
 
 canon law. Two additional years of study were exacted 
 of candidates who had not graduated in Arts.' 
 
 No previous degree was required of persons who claimed 
 to be admitted as Bachelors of Canon Law, but it was 
 necessary that they should have devoted three years to the 
 study of civil law. After hearing the Decretiun of Gratian in 
 school for two years, and the Decretals of Gregory IX. and 
 Boniface VI 1 1, for three years, they were themselves allowed 
 to give cursory lectures on them. The further studies that 
 went before admission to the degree of Doctor are not 
 exactly specified, but it would seem that they comprised an 
 elementary course of theology. Most of the instruction in 
 civil and canon law was given by Bachelors. They sat in 
 the professorial chairs, and delivered lectures which differed 
 in name only from those of the Doctors. Candidates for a 
 licence in either branch of law were required to lecture "extra- 
 ordinarily " in the stead of every resident Doctor of their 
 respective faculties.'^ The Bachelors of Law were generally 
 styled Masters at Oxford, and, in the reign of Ilenry VI., they 
 strove to compel the University to acknowledge them as 
 such. 3 At Cambridge, a special statute was needed to 
 restrain them from usurping the habit and the cap of a 
 Doctor, and holding public disputations,-* In any contro- 
 versies with the Faculty of Arts, the canonists could generally 
 count on the support of the monks and friars, canon law 
 being one of the recognised subjects of study in most of 
 the religious orders. 
 
 Theology was universally regarded in the middle ages as 
 
 ' Miin. Acad. pp. 402-405 ; Cam. 3 Register F. ff. 34(5', 35, 39/' ; 
 
 Doc. vol. i. pp. 363-365, 369, 375, Tanner MS. 196, f. \b. 
 
 376. j * Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 369. 
 
 - Mien. Acad. pp. 129, 398-401. j ^ Biillarium RomaJinm, vol. i. 
 
 530, 730, 733, 734, 739 ; Cam. Doc. \ pp. 223226, 242245 ; Wilkins's 
 
 vol. i. pp. 359, 360, 365369, 389- ' Concilia, vol. iii. p. 531.
 
 THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY. 223 
 
 the highest and most difficult branch of learning that could 
 be pursued by man. As far back as the year 121 5, the 
 Papal Legate, Robert de Courgon, forbade the Faculty of 
 Theology at Paris to admit as a Doctor any person under 
 thirty-five years of age/ and the statutes of our English 
 universities were scarcely less exacting in this respect. At 
 Oxford, the degree of Doctor of Theology was only to be 
 obtained after some twenty years of patient study in the 
 schools. Having devoted seven years to the Trivinni, the 
 Qiiadriviwn, and the three philosophies natural, moral, and 
 metaphysical, and completed his necessary regency of two 
 years, the graduate in Arts could become a Scholar of 
 Theology in the tenth year of his academical career. For 
 the next three years, he was obliged to attend cursory lectures 
 on the Bible, and at the end of the fourth he could be 
 admitted to " oppose " in theological disputations. Two 
 more years of study and residence were necessary before he 
 could take the part of a " respondent." At the end of his 
 seventh year, the Scholar of Theology could be advanced to 
 the degree of Bachelor, on the recommendation of the masters 
 of the Faculty. By this time at latest he was in holy orders. 
 The preponderating strength of the secular clergy at our 
 English universities is shown by the severity of the condi- 
 tions on which alone the regular clergy were admitted to 
 degrees in Theology. Being prevented by their own regula- 
 tions from acting as Masters of Arts, friars desirous of 
 becoming Bachelors of Theology were required by the 
 Oxford statutes to have devoted eight years to the study 
 of the liberal arts, and to have gone through a course of 
 theological instruction longer by two years than that exacted 
 of secular candidates.'' At Paris, on the other hand, the 
 
 ' Du Boulay, vol. iii. p. 82. 
 
 = Mun. Acad. pp. 204, 237, 389 
 391 ; Caw. Doc. vol. i. pp. 369,370, 
 377i 399- The Oxford statutes were 
 
 in 1447 somewhat relaxed in favour 
 of the monks, in consideration of a 
 monetary payment. Mtcn. Acad. 
 P- 574-
 
 224 THE FACULTY OF THEOLOGY. 
 
 religious orders enjoyed special privileges, wrung from the 
 University at a time of sore distress.^ 
 
 The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge differed further- 
 more from that of Paris with regard to the system of theo- 
 logical instruction. At Paris, the first duty of the new Bachelor 
 was to give a series of lectures on the Bible, and it was not 
 until this course was over that he w^as allowed to lecture on 
 the Sentences? This order was inverted in England, admis- 
 sion to the degree of Bachelor being here accompanied by 
 a licence to lecture at once on the great work of Peter 
 Lombard. 3 The Dominicans tried to introduce the Parisian 
 system into the schools of Oxford at the beginning of the 
 fourteenth century, but in vain.'^ It is in fact somewhat 
 doubtful whether the Bachelor of Theology at Oxford was 
 at any time absolutely required to expound the text of the 
 Holy Scriptures.5 In the Sentences he found a vast body of 
 scholastic divinity, affording materials for endless arguments.^ 
 During the two years which always intervened between the 
 end of his course of lectures and his admission to the degree 
 of Doctor of Theology, he was bound to take part in eight 
 disputations, and to preach a probationary sermon in Latin. 
 The issue of the Chancellor's licence to teach was followed 
 by vesperics, and by a solemn inception in St. Mary's Church. 7 
 The degree of Doctor was conferred by the so-called P'ather, 
 who conducted the inccptor to a professorial chair, and gave 
 him a cap, a book, a golden ring, and a kiss.'^ 
 
 ' Thurot, p. 1 38 ; Crcvicr, His- (ed. 1869) vol. xii. pp. 589 601 ; 
 
 foirc dc r Uiiiversitc de Paris^i vol. Mullingcr, pp. 58 63. 
 
 i. pp. 389397, 415-466. ' Mini Acad. pp. 25, 379, IT- - 
 
 - Thurot, pp. 137 149. 396, 683 ; Register F. f. 158 /k 
 
 ^ Mun. Acad. pp. 237, 389, 391 ; ^ geg t]^^ graceful explanation of 
 
 Cam. Doc. vol. i. pp. 370, 399. these symbols by Bentley, quoted 
 
 * Sec above, p. 107. in Peacock's Observations, pp. xl 
 
 '^ Mini. Acad. pp. 25, 396. But xlii. The formula used at Cam- 
 
 cf Cam. Doc. vol. i. p. 377. \ bridge in the year 1574 is probably 
 
 " Histoirc Littirairc dc la France, of great antiquit)-. Dean Peacock
 
 THE COST OF INCEPTION. 
 
 225 
 
 The cost of taking a degree in Theology, or indeed in any 
 of the superior Faculties, was very heavy. Members of the 
 religious orders, having no private property, were therefore 
 unable to become Doctors without the aid of a grant from 
 their brethren assembled in chapter. In 1400, the Conv^ent 
 of Christ Church, Canterbury, paid no less than 1 1 8/. 3^-. ^d. 
 for the inception of two Benedictine monks, in Theology and 
 in Canon Law respectively.' The money was spent, partly in 
 the distribution of robes, partly in the payment of fees, and 
 partly in the entertainment of the Regent Masters and other 
 members of the University.- Monks and friars used, however, 
 generally to compound for the banquet and certain custo- 
 mary fees, the former paying 20/. to the University, and the 
 latter 10/. In point of fact, the inception of a simple mendi- 
 cant in the middle of the fifteenth century, rarely cost less than 
 15/., a sum that would represent about 180/. at the present 
 day.3 The scale of composition was reduced by one-third in 
 1478, and a rule was at the same time made, enabling secular 
 inceptors who could not afford to spend more than 100/. at 
 the University, to compound at the same rate as monks."* 
 
 During the year that followed his inception, the Doctor of 
 Theology gave a course of ordinary lectures, and delivered a 
 Tatin sermon at St. Mary's, either in person or by deputy .^ It 
 
 remarks that the insignia doctoralia \ latter. Biillariuni Romanuni, vol. 
 
 were considered by the canonists 1 i. pp. 216, 226, 245. There is some 
 
 " indispensably necessary to the ; difficulty in ascertaining the equi- 
 
 validity of a doctors degree," and j valent of these sums in English 
 
 that "they were conferred, with j money, and it is by no means certain 
 
 very little variation of form, in that the papal orders were strictly 
 
 every university of Europe.'" obeyed. 
 
 ' Tanner IMS. 165, f. 212. - Mini. Acad. pp. 324, 431,435, 
 
 Clement V. limited the expenses of j 457, 4S0. 
 
 secular inceptors to 3,000 gros \ = Ibid. pp. 565, 732 ; Register F. 
 
 Totirnois, and Benedict XII. those '\'i. 15, \oc)b ; Register Aaa. i. 28. 
 
 of Regular Canons and Benedic- Mun. Acad. pp. 353, 354. 
 
 tines to 2,000 silver Toiirnois, and s Jbid. p. 39G. 
 those of Cistercians to 1,000 of the 
 
 O
 
 226 THE SYSTEM OF LECTURES. 
 
 is probable that much of the instruction in the schools of 
 theology was given by Bachelors.' 
 
 The ordinary lectures of the Regent Masters seem to have 
 differed according to the nature of the text-book employed. 
 Mr. Mullinger gives the following paraphrase of M. Thurot's 
 account of the analytical method : " The lecturer commenced 
 by discussing a few general questions having reference to the 
 treatise which he was called upon to explain, and in the 
 customary Aristotelian fashion, treated of its material, formal, 
 final, and efficient cause. He pointed out the principal 
 divisions ; took the first division and sub-divided it ; divided 
 again the first sub-division and repeated the process until he 
 had sub-divided down to the first chapter. He then again 
 divided until he had reached a sub-division which included 
 only a single sentence or complete idea. He finally took 
 this sentence and expressed it in other terms which might 
 serve to make the conception more clear. He never passed 
 from one part of the work to another, from one chapter to 
 another, or even from one sentence to another, without a 
 minute analysis of the reasons for which each division, 
 chapter, or sentence, was placed after that by which it was 
 immediately preceded ; while, at the conclusion of this pain- 
 ful toil, he would sometimes be found hanging painfully over 
 a single letter or mark of punctuation. This minuteness, 
 especially in lectures on the civil law, was deemed the 
 quintessence of criticism." 
 
 " The second method," says the same writer, " was designed 
 to assist the student in the practice of casting the thought of 
 the author into a form that might serve as subject-matter for 
 the all-prevailing logic. Whenever a passage presented itself 
 that admitted of a twofold interpretation, the one or other 
 interpretation was thrown into the form of a qiucstio, and then 
 discussed pro and con, the arguments on either side being 
 drawn up in the usual array. It is probable that it was at 
 
 ' Thurot, p. 133.
 
 THE SYSTEM OF LECTURES. 
 
 227 
 
 lectures of this kind that the instruction often assumed a 
 catechetical form one of the statutes expressly requiring 
 that students should be ready with their answers to any 
 questions that might be put, 'according to the method of 
 questioning used by the masters, if the mode of lecturing used 
 in that faculty required questions and answers,' Finally the 
 lecturer brought forward his own interpretation, and defended 
 it against every objection to which it might appear liable ; 
 each solution being formulated in the ordinary syllogistic 
 fashion, and the student being thus furnished with a stock of 
 qjicBstiones and arguments requisite for enabling him to under- 
 take his part as a disputant in the schools." ' 
 
 Ordinary lectures began soon after daybreak, about the 
 hour of prime.^ Cursory lectures on the other hand seem to 
 have been limited to the time between a midday dinner and 
 an early supper,3 The former could be given only by Regent 
 Masters, while the latter could be given either by Masters or 
 by Bachelors, The exact points of difference between these 
 two kinds of lectures are not clearly specified, but it is 
 probable that the cursor was a preparatory tutor, who did not 
 venture to raise difficult questions or expound his own views. 
 A mere reading of the text with a simple commentary must 
 
 ' University of Cafnbfidge, pp. 
 359361 ; Thurot, p. 73 ; Man. 
 Acad. p. 288. 
 
 "" Cambridge Documents, vol. i. 
 p. 389 ; Thurot, pp. 67, 146 ; 
 Original Letters., English Refor)na- 
 tiott, (ed. Robinson) p. 419. 
 
 "* Miin. Acad. pp. 245. 420 ; Cam. 
 Doc. vol. i. pp. 360, 369. 
 
 " Mnn. Acad. pp. 392, 418, 423 ; 
 Thurot, p. 139. Mr. Mullingcr 
 contends " that the original use of 
 the terms ordinary and cursory had 
 no reference to any special ynode of 
 teaching''' (p. 646). A different 
 conclusion, however, seems to be 
 
 warranted by a statute of the Uni- 
 versity of Paris cited by Dean 
 Peacock (p. xlv.) : " Nnlhts magis- 
 ter qui legct ordi)tarie lectiones stcas 
 debet finire citrsorie." There ^vas 
 another statute of the same Uni- 
 versity forbidding " ne aliquis 
 Bachelarins libriim cursoric ilia 
 Jiora Icgat, qua aliquis M agister 
 ilium libritm cursorie legit." Du 
 Boulay, vol. iv. p. 390. So again 
 one of the O.xford statutes is 
 headed: ''' A'ullns cursorie legal 
 in ScJiolis artium hora ordinariaT 
 Mun. Acad. p. 420. .See also Du 
 Boulay, vol. iii. pp. 82, 194. 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE SYSTEM OF LECTURES. 
 
 have been valuable to students who had very few books of 
 their own, and Bachelors were quite as competent as Masters to 
 read aloud a summary of the opinions of ancient philosophers 
 and lawyers.' The "extraordinary" lectures on civil and 
 canon law mentioned in the statutes of the mediaeval uni- 
 versities, seem to have been those which were given by 
 Bachelors in the place of Doctors, though in the sixteenth 
 century they are described as private lectures.^ 
 
 At the time of lecture, the Regent Master sat at a raised 
 desk, fully attired in academical costume.^ Students of the 
 superior Faculties sat on forms or benches, with or without 
 desks before them, but these luxuries were not allowed in the 
 schools of the liberal arts. Urban V. in 1366 expressly 
 ordered all students of the Faculty of Arts to sit on the 
 ground, facing their masters."^ For their convenience, the 
 filthy floors of the schools were generally strewn with fresh 
 herbs in summer, and with straw in winter. It is, however, 
 very doubtful whether, as frequently stated, the Riie da 
 Foiiarre at Paris Dante's Vico dcgli Strauii took its name 
 from the straw which was used in its many schools. ^ 
 
 The academical year at Oxford was divided into four 
 terms. The first began on the loth of October, and ended 
 on the 17th of December ; the second began on the 14th of 
 January, and ended on the vigil of Palm Sunday ; the third 
 lasted from the second Wednesday after Easter until the 
 Thursday before Whitsun Day, and the fourth from the 
 Wednesday after Trinit)- Sunda}- to an indeterminate day not 
 earlier than the 8th of July. P'or most purposes, however, 
 the two summer terms were reckoned as one. The interval 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. 41S. -MS. 275, ff. 176/^ 180/^, 184,203,218/^, 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 399--401, 730, 733, 265 ; Royal MS. 17 10. III. ff. 36, 
 
 734) 739 ! Cam. Doc. vol. i. pp. 209, &c. 
 
 363 365, 368 ; Orioi)ial Tetters., * Dii Boulay, vol. \\. p. 390. 
 
 JCus^dish Rcfon/iatio/i, (cd. Robin- ' Thurot, jjp. 62, 69 ; I'eacock, 
 
 son) p. 420. p. \lv. 
 ' See the illuminations in Hurncv
 
 THE ACADEMICAL YEAR. 229 
 
 between them was styled the Short Vacation, in contradis- 
 tinction to the Long Vacation, which lasted nearly three 
 months. Many of the students remained at Oxford through- 
 out the year, and teaching went on continuously, although 
 the ordinary lectures of the Regent Masters were suspended 
 during the vacations.^ 
 
 Irrespectively of the vacations, there were in the academical 
 year many days on which lectures were strictly forbidden. 
 Such were of course those twenty-five great ecclesiastical 
 feasts for which the reformed Anglican Church still provides 
 special services. The three anniversaries of St. Frideswyde, the 
 reputed foundress of Oxford, were kept as holydays ; and the 
 whole University observed the festivals of the patron-saints 
 of particular countries and districts, St. Patrick, St. David, 
 St. Cuthbert, St. William of York, and St. Hugh. The like 
 honour was paid to several old English saints, such as St. 
 Augustine and St. Dunstan, and to three canonised scholars 
 of a later period, Thomas Becket, Edmund Rich, and Richard 
 of Wych, Disputations were not allowed on the vigils of the 
 days that were thus marked in the calendar as " Non legibilis" 
 or '' Non le ; " and on certain other days that were marked as 
 " Legibilis festinanterl' the hours of lecture were shortened. 
 The teachers were from time to time called away from their 
 work to attend the masses that were celebrated in St. Mary's 
 Church for the souls of public benefactors. ^ Once a year, in 
 the month of November, the chaplain of the University went 
 the round of all the schools, preceded by one of the bedels, 
 and read aloud a list of the benefactors for whom the 
 assembled students were in duty bound to pray. 3 On certain 
 stated days, the Masters and Bachelors wended their way to 
 
 ' Minj. Acad. pp. cxxxix cl, 392, \ U>iiv. O.voit, in Robert of Avcsbury, 
 
 419, 447, 449, -j^tJ ; Du Boulay, vol. (cd. Hcarne) pp. 299307. 
 
 iii. p. 141. ' 3 Mun. Acad. pp. 63,82, 103, 297, 
 
 - J/////. ^677^/. pp. cxxxix cl, 154, , 335) 343 J Eider Bedelloruin., as 
 
 1,312; .liiliquus liber Bcdclloriini alj on'C.
 
 230 THE BEDELS. 
 
 St. Fridesvvydc's Cross in solemn procession, followed by the 
 members of the religious orders, the parochial clergy of 
 Oxford, and a long line of scholars.' The silver cross which 
 was borne before them on these and similar occasions, was a 
 lasting memorial of the insult which the Jews of Oxford had 
 offered to the Christian religion in 1268.^ On the eve of 
 Midsummer Day, and again on the 28th of June, there were 
 processions of a less formal character, and bonfires were 
 doubtless lighted.3 At Christmas a Lord of Misrule was 
 elected with mock ceremonial. 4 
 
 On the death of any Regent Master, his colleagues sus- 
 pended their lectures in order to do honour to his memory. 
 They attended the nocturn vigils, and on the day of the 
 funeral they accompanied the corpse to the churchyard, 
 chanting the Psalms with due devotion. The great silver 
 cross was borne before the body of a deceased Non-Regent, 
 and, if the weather was fine, the officiating clergy wore costly 
 vestments belonging to the University.^ At all processions, 
 inceptions, and other public ceremonies of the University, 
 the six bedels, or common servants, played a prominent 
 though subordinate part. It was their business to see that 
 all the prescribed forms were duly observed. They pub- 
 lished proclamations in the schools and at Carfax, they 
 served writs and citations, and they conducted offenders to 
 prison. Three of them, who were known as " gentlemen 
 bedels," and afterwards as " esquire bedels," resigned their 
 staves of office once a year, but they were re-eligible.^ The 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 78, 103, 233, 
 299, 448, 449. 
 
 ^ Sec above, pp. 67, 68. 
 
 3 Muju Acad. p. 540. 
 
 ' Collecta7iea {Oxford Historical Faculties of Law, and two to the 
 Society), vol. i. pp. 39 49. . Faculties of Medicine and Arts, 
 
 Boulay, vol. iii. pp. 82, 486. 
 
 * Two bedels, an upper and a 
 lower, were specially attached to 
 the Faculty of Theology, two to the 
 
 '" M7tn. Acad. pp. 64, 65, 154, 
 477-479 ; Cant. Doc. vol. i. pp. 358, 
 403 ; Register of the English 
 Nation at Paris, iii. f 57/;; I)u 
 
 Mun. Acad. pp. 94, 140 142, 150, 
 283, 321, 324, 362, 494, 496, 617, 
 696, 740, 756; Ward, vol. i. p. 197.
 
 THE PROCTORS. 231 
 
 other servants of the University were a bell-man, and four 
 stationers, whose duty it was to appraise the books that were 
 offered in pledge by persons wishing to borrow from any of 
 the chests/ 
 
 The two Proctors, the official representatives of the 
 University, always belonged to the Faculty of Arts. They 
 were elected once a year, soon after Easter, by two boards, 
 nominated respectively by the senior Northern Master of 
 Arts, and the senior Southern Master of Arts. One Proctor 
 was consequently styled the Northern Proctor, and the other 
 the Southern. It was the duty of the Proctors to attend the 
 Chancellor on all important occasions, to regulate the 
 assemblies of Masters, to administer oaths, to keep the 
 public accounts, to exact the payment of fines, to keep lists 
 of off"cnders, and generally to enforce obedience to the 
 statutes.^ 
 
 The gradual process by which the University achieved its 
 independence, has been traced in detail in some of the fore- 
 going chapters. Suffice it therefore to repeat in this place, 
 that the Chancellor, the depositary of its many rights and 
 privileges, exercised a very wide jurisdiction, civil and 
 ecclesiastical, in the town of Oxford and its immediate 
 neighbourhood. Any resident graduate was eligible for the 
 supreme dignity of Chancellor, and each of the five Faculties 
 was represented on the board by which the election was 
 made. 3 In point of fact, some Doctor of Theology or of 
 Canon Law was usually chosen, and whenever a vacancy 
 occurred, the senior member of the Faculty of Theology 
 undertook the duties of the office, with the title of Cancellariiis 
 Xatus or " Chancellor Born." In the ordinary course of 
 
 ' Mun. Acixd. pp. 150, 233, 253, j Ibid. pp. 123, 533, 542, 548, 
 346, 383387, 497, 525- ' 555 ; Register F. ff. 73^, 178, 182 ; 
 
 - Ibid. pp. 81, 109, no, 370, Churton's Lives of Smytli and 
 466, 485 490, 494. Sutton, p. 182. 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 493, 748.
 
 232 THE CHANCELLOR. 
 
 events, the Chancellorship was tenable for two years.' If the 
 Chancellor had occasion to leave Oxford on public business, 
 his authority was for the time delegated to a Commissary, or 
 Vice-Chancellor.2 In the event of grave misconduct, the 
 Chancellor might be deposed by the Regents and Non- 
 Regents assembled in Convocation. 3 The want of an official 
 residence and of a regular salary did not in any way derogate 
 from the high position of the Chancellor. He was un- 
 questionably the most important person at Oxford. On 
 taking office he received from the Proctors a silver seal, a 
 bound volume of the statutes, a silver cup, and various 
 measures for corn, ale, candles, and cloth.4 Butchers, bakers, 
 vintners, brewers, spicers, clothiers, and other tradesmen 
 guilty of fraudulent or rapacious dealing, had cause to fear 
 his searching inquisition. If convicted before him, they could 
 be committed to Bocardo, the gaol at. the North Gate, or 
 altogether banished from the neighbourhood of Oxford. 5 
 Common scolds were often imprisoned, and women of loose 
 character were either placed in the pillory or banished.^ The 
 worst offenders against the public peace were sent to the 
 king's dungeons in the Castle, while for assaults and for the 
 use of dangerous arms, there was a graduated scale of fines. 7 
 Riotous masters could be suspended from lecturing, and 
 unruly scholars restrained from proceeding to a coveted 
 degree.^ In some cases the Chancellor had recourse to the 
 spiritual weapon of excommunication. 9 
 
 Civil suits were generally tried before certain judges who, 
 from sitting for a week apiece in turn throughout the year, 
 were known as Ilcbdoviadarii. These Avere originally the 
 
 ' Mint. Acad. pp. 106 108. 
 
 = Ibid. pp. 19, 71, 127, 260,493; 
 Rcgistrum Mali)icshitriensc, (ed. 
 Brewer and Alarlin) vol. ii. p. 30. 
 
 ' Mku. Acad. p. loS. 
 
 > I hid. pp. 271,283-285. 
 
 ' Ihid. ])p. 517. 540, 543, 556, 
 
 589, 725, 726 ; Reg. \:i?L. passim. 
 
 ^ Mkh. Acad. pp. 533, 548, 580, 
 581, 660. 
 
 7 Ildd. pp. 305, 6S2, 6S3, 717. 
 
 8 I/)id. pp. 30, 124. 
 
 9 Ibid. pp. 13, 16, 18, 113, 225, 
 534, 682.
 
 ACADEMICAL COURTS. 233 
 
 Doctors of Canon and of Civil Law, resident at Oxford, but 
 at a later period, Bachelors of the same Faculties specially- 
 nominated for the purpose were allowed to sit in their stead. 
 Regent Masters seldom condescended to appear in this 
 inferior court, and every one had a right of appeal from it 
 to the Chancellor.' From the Chancellor there was a further 
 right of appeal in civil causes to the Regents, and to the 
 Regents and Non.-Regents, but frivolous appeals were punished 
 by fines varying in amount according to the means of the 
 appellants.^ The University did not acknowledge the juris- 
 diction of any external tribunal save that of the King's 
 Council in temporal matters, and that of the Pope in spiritual. 3 
 In the academical courts, justice was administered with 
 praiseworthy despatch, the suitors being protected against 
 the dilatory tactics of greedy lawyers. Proceedings were 
 conducted in a language that was understood by both parties, 
 and every suit was settled within three days of its bcginning.4 
 
 The Chancellor exercised authority over several classes of 
 persons whose business brought them into close connexion 
 with the clerks, such as stationers, book-binders, writers, 
 limners, barbers, and laundresses. s Surgeons could not practise 
 their art in Oxford without his licence.^ From time to time 
 he issued regulations concerning the sale of bread and beer." 
 
 A proposal to alter a statute of the University, or to confer 
 a grace on an individual scholar, could not be brought before 
 the Convocation, or Great Congregation of Regents and Non- 
 Regents, unless it had been submitted to the Faculty of Arts 
 on a previous day, a right of veto vested in that Faculty 
 being apparently the origin of a similar right now vested in 
 
 ' Ml/ft. Acad. pp. 19, 69, 71, -jx,, ' ^ Il)id. pp. 70, -7, 155, 230. 
 
 231,232,260,356. Register of the -=> Ibid. pp. 52, 150, 346, sio, 
 
 Uiiiveysity of Oxford, (ed. Boase) ':,':,(^, 592, 6S6. 
 
 vol. i. p. 18. ^ Ibid. p. 694. 
 
 = Ibid. pp. 24, lZl(i, 114, 154, ' Ib^i^- PP- 506, 541, 5S9; 694, 695, 
 
 231, 232, 460, 465. 710. 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 44, 232, 461.
 
 234 THE FACULTY OF GRAMMAR. 
 
 the two Proctors. The solemn assemblies of the Faculty of 
 Arts were styled Black Congregations, from the black colour 
 of the academical copes worn by the Masters of Arts. The 
 place of meeting was originally at St. Mildred's, but, after the 
 destruction of that church in the fifteenth century, it was 
 transferred to the House of Congregation on the north side 
 of St. Mary's.^ On some occasions the votes seem to have 
 been given by Faculties, the Non-Regents meeting for private 
 deliberation in the choir of St, Mary's, the theologians in the 
 House of Congregation, and the canonists, the civilians, the 
 physicians, and the " artists," in different parts of the same 
 church.^ 
 
 There was one Faculty that of Grammar which had no 
 place in the general assemblies of the University. Grammar, 
 that is to say Latin grammar, was accounted the first of the 
 seven liberal arts, and it was the most necessary of them, in- 
 asmuch as a great part of the teaching of the University was 
 conducted in Latin. Masters of Arts were, by the very force 
 of the term. Masters of Grammar, but there were certain other 
 masters who had licence to teach grammar only. There was 
 a separate Faculty of Grammar, and the members of it were 
 honoured with the title of Regent Master.3 At the same time it 
 is clear that this Faculty of Grammar was at best an inferior 
 Faculty, or, if one may use the expression, a Sub-Faculty. 
 Masters of Grammar did not rank above Bachelors of Arts, 
 and their funerals were not attended by the Masters of 
 the other Faculties.^ They were mere schoolmasters, and 
 their pupils were mostly boys who had not been admitted to 
 the tonsure.s Some Masters of Grammar were married 
 
 ' Midi. Acad. pp. 8i, 117, 330 1 s See the illuminations in Burney 
 
 332, 364, 429, 481,491. But see | MS. 257, f. \b ; Royal MS. 15 D. 
 
 p. 188. ' III. f. 285; and 17 E. III. ff. 93^, 
 
 ' Ibid. 482. I 297. The Masters of Grammar 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 436 --440. I were sometimes described as Peda- 
 
 * Ibid. pp. 264, 443 ; Cam. Doc. gogucs. Miin. Acad. pp. 601, 713; 
 
 vol. i. p. 404. , Thurot, p. 95.
 
 THE FACULTY OF GRAMMAR. 235 
 
 men, who lived in private houses.^ Every candidate for a 
 degree in Grammar was required to obtain a certificate of fit- 
 ness from a board of examiners consisting of four Masters of 
 Arts, and a Doctor of each of the four superior Faculties.^ 
 The degree was conferred by the grant of a rod and a birch, 
 and at Cambridge, if not at Oxford too, the first act of every 
 new Master of Grammar was to beat openly in the schools 
 " a shrewd boy," who received a groat by way of reward for 
 his sufferings.3 
 
 The Masters of Grammar were bound to watch over the 
 morals, no less than the studies, of the pupils entrusted to their 
 care, and it would appear that with this object they received 
 boys into their own houses as boarders. * They were ex- 
 pressly forbidden to lecture on Ovid's Art of Love, the Elegies 
 of Pamphilus, or other indecent books.s Their ordinary 
 system was to make their pupils parse Latin sentences word 
 by word, and construe them into French as well as into 
 English. They used also to dictate Latin verses and epistles, 
 to be copied out and afterwards repeated by heart.^ The 
 more elementary teaching seems to have been given by sub- 
 monitors, or ushers, who had no authority outside the 
 schoolroom.7 The charge for the instruction of a student 
 of grammar was limited by statute to eightpence a term.^ 
 Once a week the Masters of Grammar used to hold dis- 
 putations, extracts from Priscian and Donatus being thrown 
 into the form of logical qiicEstiones to afford subjects for 
 argument.5 The Faculty met at the beginning and at the 
 end of every term, for the transaction of public business, and 
 perhaps also for the performance of scholastic exercises. ' The 
 
 ' Miin. Acad. p. 713. \ of English Poetry.! (cd. Hazlitt) 
 
 * Ibid. p. 436. 
 
 3 Register of the University, (ed. 
 Boase) vol. i. p. 64 ; Peacock, p. 
 xxxvii. 
 
 * Mini. Acad. p. 436. 
 
 vol. iii. p. 126. 
 
 '^ Mun. Acad. pp. 437, 438. 
 
 7 Ibid. pp. 87, 436 ; Thurot, p. 95. 
 
 8 Man. Acad. p. 439. 
 
 9 Ibid. pp. 86, 430, 444. 
 
 5 Ibid. p. 441 ; Warton's History "' Ibid. p. 437.
 
 236 POETS LAUREATE. 
 
 whole management of the grammar schools, however, was 
 under the strict supervision of two Masters of Arts, a 
 Northerner and a Southerner, who received a yearly salary of 
 two pounds apiece, derived partly from the fees of the Masters 
 of Grammar, and partly from the funds of the University 
 at large.' Bachelors of Grammar occur in the sixteenth 
 century.^ 
 
 In the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., degrees in 
 Rhetoric, or licences to teach that art, were occasionally 
 granted by the University, but the Masters of Rhetoric did 
 not constitute a separate Sub-Faculty. Like the teachers of 
 grammar, the teachers of rhetoric were sometimes required to 
 write a Latin poem or comedy in honour of the University. 
 The outward symbol of a degree in Rhetoric seems to have 
 been a crown of laurel, and in at least two instances rhe- 
 toricians were styled Poets Laureate.3 Caxton mentions 
 " Mayster John Skelton, late created poete laureate in the 
 unyversite of Oxenforde," and Skelton himself says : 
 
 " A kyng to me myn habite gave : 
 At Oxforth, the universyte, 
 Auvaunsed I was to that degre 
 By hole consent of theyr senate, 
 I was made poete laureate." 
 
 The University of Cambridge, in 1493, admitted him to a 
 degree corresponding with that which he already occupied at 
 Oxford, and likewise encircled his brows with a wreath of 
 laurel.'* So again, in 1 5 1 3, Robert Whittington, having studied 
 rhetoric for fourteen years, and taught it for twelve, applied 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 85, 173, 188, 
 207,436,438,440. 
 
 ^ Register- of the U/u'i'ersify, vol. 
 i. pp. 80, 91, loy, passim. 
 
 ' Ii>id. \o\. i. pp. 298, 299. The 
 extracts there given do not support 
 
 the statements made by Warton, 
 History of English Poct/y, (ed. 
 Hazlitt) vol. iii. p. 126. 
 
 * Poetical Works of John Skelton, 
 (ed. Dyce) pp. xi. xii.
 
 DEGREES IN MUSIC. 
 
 lyi 
 
 to the University of Oxford for the honour of laurcation. 
 Being crowned on the day of his admission as Bachelor of 
 Arts, he was thenceforth styled Poet Laureate.^ 
 
 Degrees in Music appear to have been first granted in the 
 early part of the sixteenth century.^ Music, however, lias 
 never ranked as a Faculty with Arts, Medicine, Law, and 
 Theology. 
 
 ' Register of the University, vol. 
 i. pp. 85, 299 ; Lowndes's Biblio- 
 grap/ier's iMameat, vol. iv. p. 1492. 
 
 "^ Register of the University, (ed. 
 Boase) vol. i. pp. 107, no, 292.
 
 
 ^Xlh!^A ^ 
 
 
 ^M 
 
 ft 
 
 P^AmJafi^ 
 
 P^^ 
 
 ^'fv,'^^vp**:^j:^^vv/ 
 
 ^M^mm 
 
 ^'^ 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The mythical Origin of the University Claims asserted in 1296 and 1322 
 Walter Barley's Opinion Ranulph Higden Camden's Edition of 
 Asser The Liber de Hyda The Benedictine Tradition Legend 
 of the Greek Philosophers Testimony of the pseudo-Ingulf The 
 Origin of University College Suit with Edmund Franceys Petition 
 of 1379 The forged Charter of 1220 Opinions of different Historians 
 Controversy between the Convent of St. Frideswyde and the 
 Univei^sity The forged Bond of 1201. 
 
 HE claims to remote antiquity which used to be 
 urged on behalf of the Universities of Oxford 
 and Cambridge were tacitly abandoned many 
 years ago. Nobody now affects to believe that 
 Oxford was peopled by learned philosophers 
 soon after the close of the Trojan war, or that Cambridge 
 took its name from a Spanish king named Cantaber. Some 
 credence is, however, still given to other fictions of a more 
 specious character, such as that which represents King Alfred 
 as the founder of the schools of Oxford, and a short account 
 of them seems appropriate to the present place. 
 
 It was in the middle of the fourteenth century that certain 
 vague legends as to the antiquity of the University began to 
 assume a definite shape. Up to that time the monastic 
 chroniclers had been content to record different events that 
 occurred at Oxford, without attempting to explain how the 
 place first became a scat of learning. A desire to obtain tem- 
 poral advantages seems to have prompted the assertion of
 
 CLAIMS TO ANTIQUITY. 239 
 
 high-sounding claims, which had no soHd basis in history. 
 The earliest trace of them is to be found in a letter which Oliver 
 Sutton, Bishop of Lincoln, addressed to Boniface VIII. in 1296 
 on behalf of the Masters of Oxford. He pleads for a papal 
 recognition of their right to lecture in any school in Europe, 
 on the score that their University "is by many believed to 
 be the oldest of the seats of learning now flourishing among 
 the Latins."^ So again in 1322, the graduates of Oxford 
 wishing to induce John XXII. to extend to them the favour 
 which he had shown to their contemporaries at Paris, assured 
 him that the English University was the older of the two. 
 They were so ignorant of the comparatively recent origin ot 
 the University of Paris as to style Alcuin its founder, but 
 they seem to have thought that Alcuin, being an Englishman, 
 must necessarily have received his education at Oxford. ^ 
 Walter Burley, "the Plain Doctor," who wrote about the 
 same period, is reported to have stated incidentally that 
 Oxford was founded by the exertions of certain philosophers 
 from Greece.3 
 
 So far at least the traditions are vague. Ranulph Higden, a 
 monk of Chester, who compiled a voluminous chronicle in 
 the time of Edward III., was the first to describe the Uni- 
 versity as a royal foundation. Finding from Asser and from 
 Roger of Wendover that Alfred the Great had assigned one 
 eighth of his revenue to the maintenance of a school, he took 
 upon himself to add that the school in question was situated 
 at Oxford, having been established there by the wise King at 
 the instigation of the Abbot Neot."* 
 
 Serious as Higden's offence may appear, it was venial in 
 comparison with that of the unknown person who inter- 
 polated a long paragraph about Oxford into a copy of 
 
 ' Register of Bishop Suttcn [ * F/orcs II/s/(?n'arum,(ed.y{arc]y) 
 (Twyne MS. vol. ii. f. 19). vol. i. p. 353 ; Polychronicon, (eel. 
 
 ' Smith MS. vol. i. f. 19. ' Lumby) vol. vi. pp. 354, 362. 
 ' Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. iS.
 
 240 ASSER'S LIFE OF ALFRED 
 
 Asser's Life of King Alfred. According to this, the monk 
 Grimbald and the learned men who had accompanied him 
 from Gaul, quarrelled, in ^?>6, with the scholars whom they 
 had found resident at Oxford on their arrival in England. 
 King Alfred is stated to have heard both sides at considerable 
 length, and to have left them free to follow their respective 
 customs, those of the English scholars having been sanctioned 
 by St. Gildas, Melkin, Nennius, Kentigern, and St. German, 
 as appeared "by the undoubted testimony of ancient annals." 
 The narrative proceeds to recount that Grimbald was so dis- 
 pleased at the King's award that he betook himself to Hyde 
 Abbey, abandoning his desire to be buried in the crypt which 
 he had built under the chancel of St. Peter's Church at 
 Oxford.^ 
 
 No such passage is to be found in the edition of Asser's 
 work published by Archbishop Parker in 1574, or in any early 
 copy now extant. Camden first quoted it in his Britannia 
 in 1600, on the authority of "an excellent manuscript," 
 and soon afterwards inserted it in his edition of the Life of 
 Alfred, without a word of apology. Inasmuch as he professed 
 to have followed Parker's text throughout his reprint, he 
 stands self-condemned of a literary fraud. ^ Years moreover 
 passed before he vouchsafed any explanation, and when at 
 last he was pressed on the subject by Bryan Twyne, he 
 admitted that the manuscript containing the suspected passage 
 was not earlier than the time of Richard II. The interpola- 
 tion appears to have been made on the authority of a copy 
 of Asser's work belonging to Henry Savile of Bank, who is 
 by some believed to have been its author.^ On one hypothesis, 
 
 ' On the strength of this state- " Petrie and Sharpe, MoniDiieiita 
 
 ment the existing crypt of St. H/storica Br/ta/uiicn, -p. JC). 
 
 Peter's in the East, an interesting ^ Twyne MS. vol. xxii. f. 385 ; 
 
 work of the twelfth century, has Wood's Aiuials, vol. i. pp. 21-24, 
 
 been often referred to the ninth 45. Twyne further represents 
 
 rentiiry. Camden as saving that he had
 
 THE LIBER DE HYDA. 241 
 
 therefore, it dates from the time of Richard II. ; on another, 
 from that of Elizabeth. On neither, has it any real historical 
 value. Twyne, ever anxious to establish the antiquity of 
 Oxford, declared himself satisfied with Camden's explanation, 
 and, since his time, other antiquaries of Oxford have attempted 
 to defend the genuineness of the forged passage.' 
 
 A circumstantial account of the foundation of the schools 
 of Oxford in the year 886 is to be found in the Liber de Hyda, 
 a monastic record which seems to have been compiled during 
 the second half of the fourteentli century. It professes to 
 give a list of the original staff of teachers. St. Neot and St. 
 Grimbald are stated to hav^e given lectures on theology, 
 Asser on grammar and rhetoric, John, a monk of St. David's, 
 on logic, music, and arithmetic, and another monk of the same 
 name, on geometry and astronomy. The absence of any 
 allusion to lectures on medicine or law may be due to the fact 
 that the compiler of the Liber de Hyda was a monk who, as 
 such, had no interest in either of these branches of study. He 
 shows himself singularly inaccurate as to the history of 
 Oxford in his own century, for he states positively that the 
 University had its abode outside the North Gate until the 
 year 1354, and used the church of St. Giles as its formal place 
 
 caused the whole of Asser's work genious theory that, while some 
 to be transcribed from the manu- parts of the interpolation are " as- 
 script copy a statement which suredly unsatisfactory,'' others may 
 can hardly be reconciled with his be received as genuine. Professor 
 former statement that he had fol- Huber considers it "certain" that 
 lowed Parkers text. Twjne may Alfred " frequently abode at Ox- 
 have misunderstood him on this ford." English Universities^ (trs. 
 point. Henry Savile of Bank by Newman) vol. i. pp. 373, 383. 
 must not be confounded with his A moderate amount of original 
 contemporary, Sir Henry Savile, research might have taught him 
 \Varden of Merton College and that the name of Oxford does not 
 Provost of Eton. occur in English history before 
 ' It was reserved for a modern the time of Alfred's son, Edward 
 writer, trained in the critical schools the Elder, 
 of Germany, to propound the in- 
 
 R
 
 242 CLAIMS TO ANTIQUITY. 
 
 of assembly.^ In thus investing the northern suburb with an 
 importance which it never had, the Benedictine chronicler was 
 doubtless prompted by a desire to glorify the locality in which 
 were situated the two seminaries of his own order, Gloucester 
 College and Durham College. 
 
 Another Benedictine monk, writing at St. Alban's in the 
 early part of the fifteenth century, boasts fearlessly that the 
 illustrious University of Oxford was founded by three 
 members of his own order, Plegmund, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, and Grimbald, Abbot of 
 Hyde. There is some ingenuity in his theory that the black 
 gowns and the boots worn by all Masters of Arts, at Oxford 
 and Cambridge alike, were derived from the costume of the 
 Benedictine monks.^ 
 
 When, in 1426, the graduates of Oxford applied to the 
 Benedictine Order for a grant of money for the Divinity 
 School, they did not hesitate to say that the University sprang 
 from a monastic origin. 3 In general however they claimed 
 for it a more remote antiquity. Prefixed to the official 
 registers of the Chancellor and the Proctors is a brief sketch, 
 known as the Historiola, which states that of all the univer- 
 sities of Western Christendom that of Oxford is the most 
 ancient, the most comprehensive, the most orthodox, and the 
 most richly endowed with privileges. Brutus and his warlike 
 Trojans were, it says, accompanied to this island by some 
 Greek philosophers who settled at Grceklade, or Cricklade, not 
 far from a spot which, on account of its beauty, was originally 
 called Bcllosite, but which afterwards received the name of 
 Oxford from the Saxons who made it a place of study.'^ 
 
 One of the most famous passages bearing upon the early 
 liistory of the schools of Oxford is that in which a literary 
 
 ' L!l7c?- dc Hyda, (cd. Edwards) ^ Resistcr F. f. 6. 
 
 ]:)p. 41, 42. ' Miiniincnta Acadciuica, \). 
 
 = Annalcs Mo)iastcn'i S. Albani, 367. 
 (ed. Riley) vol. i. p. 423.
 
 THE PSEUDO-INGULPH. 243 
 
 Abbot of Croyland describes the education which he received 
 in England before the invasion of the Normans. It runs as 
 follows : 
 
 " I, Ingulph, being in my tender years disposed to the 
 acquisition of learning, was sent firstly to Westminster, and 
 afterwards to the University {studio) of Oxford, and when 1 
 had made rapid progress in the study of Aristotle, going 
 beyond many of my fellows, I devoted myself wholly to the 
 first and second Rhetoric of Tully." ^ 
 
 This testimony was treated as genuine by Bryan Twyne, by 
 Antony Wood, and by many subsequent writers, including . 
 Professor Huber. Modern criticism regarded it for a while 
 as a daring interpolation, but the whole of the chronicle in 
 which it occurs is now believed to be a work of the time of 
 Richard II., the very time indeed at which most of the forgeries 
 mentioned in this chapter had their origin.^ The chroniclers 
 of the fifteenth century, Brompton, Rudborn, RosS, and 
 John of Glastonbury, accepted, and reproduced in various 
 forms, the fabulous statements of their predecessors. 
 
 Of all the falsehoods with which ignorance and fraud have 
 obscured the true history of Oxford, the most preposterous 
 is that which connects the name of Alfred the Great with 
 the establishment of University College. Yet it has been 
 approved by a formal judgment of the Court of King's 
 Bench, and it meets with some credence at the present 
 time. A few years only have passed since the College 
 gave a banquet to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of 
 its foundation. 
 
 It has been stated in a previous chapter that William of 
 Durham, a notable scholar of the thirteenth century, be- 
 queathed a sum of money for the maintenance of poor 
 
 Rcrtivi Anglicarinn Scyiptorcs, 1 of Materials Rctating to the His- 
 
 (ed. Savile) p. 903. 1 tory of Great Brttaifi, (ed. Hardy) 
 
 ^ Archcpologicat Journal^ vol. xix. vol. ii. pp. 58 64. 
 pp. 3249, 114133; Catalogue 
 
 R 2
 
 244 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 clerks at Oxford, and that the University therewith estab- 
 lished a small society of divines in a building which came 
 to be known as the Great Hall of the University, or simply 
 as University Hall.^ No mention whatever of any earlier 
 foundation occurs before the time of Richard II., and the 
 pretentious claims that were then put forward had their 
 origin in deliberate dishonesty. There was, it appears, an 
 important suit in 1379, between a certain Edmund Franceys, 
 citizen and grocer of London, and Idonea his wife, on the 
 one side, and the Master and Fellows of University Hall 
 on the other, concerning the title to some houses in the town 
 of Oxford and its suburbs. ^ Large as was the jurisdiction 
 of the Chancellor, criminal and civil, it did not extend to 
 causes affecting the possession of freehold property, and the 
 original proceedings seem to have been taken on a writ of 
 Nisi Prius. The College, however, was not prepared to 
 defend its right in the ordinary courts of law, and a petition 
 was drawn up praying that the two parties should be sum- 
 moned to produce their respective evidences before the 
 King's Council. The chief reason alleged for this request 
 was that the Scholars had no money wherewith to carry 
 on a protracted suit, but, in order to propitiate the King 
 and his advisers, a clause was inserted stating for the first 
 time that the College, now threatened with ruin, had been 
 founded by King Alfred for twenty-four students of divinity, 
 and that it had nourished three notable saints, John of 
 Beverley, Bede, and Richard of Armagh, besides many 
 other learned Doctors and Masters. 3 It mattered little 
 that both St. John of l^cverlcy and the \^enerable 
 l^ede had died more tlian a century before the birth of 
 King Alfred : the petition sounded well, and it was prc- 
 
 ' Pp. 70, 71, 82, S3, above. ' southern suburb. 
 
 - Some were in the parisli of All ' Rotiili ParIiainc)itoruiii,\o\.\\\. 
 
 Saints, others at C.randpont in the p. 69.
 
 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 245 
 
 sented in due course.^ The future historian of Univer- 
 sity College will perhaps trace in detail the successive 
 stages of the prolonged litigation that ensued. Suffice it 
 here to say that Franceys and his wife brought their suit 
 before the Mayor and Bailiffs of Oxford, and again before 
 the Justices of the King's Bench, but that on three different 
 occasions all their proceedings were annulled by royal or 
 by parliamentary authority. They eventually withdrew their 
 claims, in consideration of a sum of a hundred pounds paid 
 to them by the College in 1390.^ 
 
 It is more important to notice the tortuous policy that 
 was pursued by the Master and Fellows in order to support 
 their mendacious petition. They knew well enough that 
 their bold assertions about King Alfred were liable to be 
 called in question and set aside, if unsupported by evidence, 
 yet they were confronted by the awkward fact that their 
 College was often styled the Hall of Master William of 
 Durham. 3 Their own calendars mentioned William of 
 Durham as the founder of the College, and their chief festival 
 
 ' The idea of claiming St. John 
 of Beverley as a former member of 
 the College may have arisen from 
 the fact that a certain Philip of 
 Beverley received licence in 1337 to 
 convey some lands in mortmain, 
 "to the Masters and Scholars con- 
 tinuing and studying in the Hall of 
 the University of Oxford." Smith's 
 Annals of Uiiiversity College, p. 95. 
 There was formerly an image of 
 St. John of Beverley in a room at 
 the eastern end of the chapel, and 
 another in the chapel itself Wood's 
 Colleges and Halls, pp. 58, 64. 
 
 ^ For particulars about the suit, 
 see Close Roll, 4 Ric. II. m. 8 ; 
 Close Roll, 7 Ric. II. m 5 ; Rotuli 
 Parliaincntontni, vol. iii. p. 176; 
 
 Parliamentary Petitions (Public 
 Record Office), Nos. 6417, 6418 ; 
 Close Roll, 12 Ric. II. mm. 40, 43, 
 44 ; Smith's Annals of Uiiivcjsity 
 College J Turner and Coxe, Cata- 
 logue of Charters and Rolls, p. 290^ 
 Other notices of it might perhaps be 
 found by careful search among the 
 Public Records. 
 
 3 Twyne MS. vol. iv. f. 225 ; 
 Fifth Report of the Historical MSS. 
 Commission, p. 477. A seal, dating 
 from the early part of the fourteenth 
 century, bears the legend : " Sigil- 
 hcm comimine scolariiiin Magistri 
 Willie I mi de Diinelm studentium 
 Oxoni' Burgon, Arms' of the 
 Collects.
 
 246 UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 
 
 in the year was that of St. Cuthbcrt, the special patron of 
 the diocese of Durham,' To ignore William of Durham was 
 obviously impossible ; to represent him as having lived in the 
 ninth century was unsafe, even at a time when historical 
 criticism was almost unknown. It was therefore resolved by 
 the unworthy recipients of his bounty to produce a document 
 which should incidentally mention the existence of the College 
 at a date somewhat anterior to that of his bequest. Utterly 
 unscrupulous as to their mode of action, they contrived to . 
 obtain an impression of the Chancellor's official seal, and 
 they affixed it to a short deed purporting to have been 
 executed on the loth of May, 1220, by Lewis de Chapyrnay, 
 Chancellor of the University, and the rest of the Doctors 
 and Masters. The deed itself was not likely to arouse 
 suspicion, for it merely recorded the receipt of four hundred 
 marks bequeathed by William of Durham, Archdeacon of 
 Durham, for the maintenance of six Masters of Arts, natives 
 of that neighbourhood, and the subsequent conveyance of 
 certain tenements to Master Roger Caldwell, Warden and 
 Senior Fellow of the Great Hall of the University.^ 
 Chapyrnay and Caldwell were alike imaginary persons, not 
 mentioned in any other records, but the fraud was not 
 detected, Richard II. acknowledged the College to be of 
 royal foundation, and, despite the growth of historical 
 criticism, the Court of King's Bench made a similar 
 acknowledgment in 1726.3 
 
 The deed purporting to have been executed in 1220, 
 has been quoted by Bryan Twyne as a document which 
 "cannot lie." Antony Wood, however, was very doubtful 
 as to its authenticity. Inasmuch as it did not profess to 
 be earlier than some genuine entries in the Chancellor's 
 official register, it did not in any way strengthen his case 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges ntui Halls, Apoloi^^ia, p. 340. 
 p. 46. ' Smith's y?;/;?(7/.f, p. no. 
 
 ^ Twyne, Aiithjuiliitis Oxon. \
 
 FORGED DEEDS. 247 
 
 on behalf of the antiquity of the University, and it seemed 
 to deprive Walter de Merton, the founder of his own 
 College, of all claim to be accounted the originator of 
 the collegiate system. He therefore took care to notice that 
 the piece of parchment was " coarse, thick, and greasy, 
 whereas in the reign of Henry HI, parchment was not so, 
 but fine and clear," and he criticised the quality of the ink 
 and the colour of the wax of the seal.^ Had Wood dis- 
 played similar honesty and ingenuity with regard to other 
 questions concerning the early history of Oxford, his great 
 work would have been free from some of the faults which 
 impair its value. William Smith of University College, 
 an old antiquary whose researches were hardly less exten- 
 sive than those of Antony Wood, did not hesitate to 
 recognise William of Durham as the true founder of his own 
 College. To Twyne's confident statement that Chapyrnay's 
 charter " cannot lie," he retorted bluntly that " if ever there 
 was a lie in the w^orld, that which we find in that charter is as 
 great a one as ever the devil told since he deceived our first 
 parents in paradise," ^ He was not aware that the College 
 had produced four other spurious deeds in order to support 
 its wrongful claims. 3 
 
 While the Scholars of William of Durham were thus 
 endeavouring to pervert the course of justice, the Augustinian 
 canons of St. Frideswyde's were engaged in a controversy 
 with the University, concerning their right to hold a fair in an 
 open space close to the conventual buildings. So keen 
 indeed was the controversy that on one occasion the Chan- 
 cellor, and some scholars acting under his instructions, cut 
 down the tents, and drove away the people who had come to 
 
 ' Colleges and Halls, ^. \\. The " Annals of University College, 
 
 deed could not be found, when p. 167. 
 
 search was made for it, among the ' Turner and Coxe, Catalogue of 
 
 muniments of University College Charters and Rolls, p. 290. 
 
 in November 18S3. ,
 
 248 FORGED DEEDS. 
 
 buy and sell at the fair.' The canons seem to have thought 
 that they were justified in opposing fraud to force, and 
 they fabricated a deed in which the Chancellor and Masters 
 of the University were represented as binding themselves 
 in a sum of no less than two hundred pounds to abstain 
 from molesting any persons dwelling within the precincts of 
 the Priory. The spurious bond to this effect professes to 
 have been executed in the House of Congregation, on the 
 feast of St, James the Apostle, in the year 1201, and it bears 
 an impression of the Chancellor's seal, which, as in the former 
 case, must have been improperly obtained.^ It is still pre- 
 served among the archives of the University, and an early 
 copy of it occurs in the register of St. Frideswydc's at Christ 
 Church, a volume which contains transcripts of several other 
 mediaeval forgeries. The authenticity of the original seems 
 to have been called in question as far back as the time of 
 Charles I. by Cotton and Spelman, but it was defended by 
 Twync, and subsequently by Wood.^ William Smith was 
 too acute to be thus deceived. -^ His book, however, is seldom 
 consulted, and learned writers of the present century, like Dr. 
 Ingram, have not hesitated to treat the forged bond of 1201 
 as a genuine document. ^ It would be too much to hope that 
 the baseless legends and impudent fictions enumerated in 
 this chapter will not reappear in future books professing to 
 describe the origin of the University of Oxford. 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 6 Ric. II. p. i. ni. i Anuals of University College, 
 
 b; Rotuli Parlia/zientonun, \o\. iii. \ pp. 200, 203; Smith MS. vol. xxii. 
 
 p. 176 f. 12!. 
 
 -^ Twyne, /hitiquitatis Oxoii 5 iSlonorials of Oxford, vol. iii.; 
 
 Apologia, p. 234. Handbook for Visitors to Oxford 
 
 ^ TwynC;, MS. vol. iii. f. 169. j (1875), P- 81.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Early Life of John Wyclif Ejectment from Canterbury College^Embassy 
 to Bruges Wyclif as a Schoolman Wyclif at St. Paul's Action of 
 Gregory XI. Hesitation of the University Wyclif at Lambeth 
 The "Poor Priests" Translation of the Bible The Eucharistic 
 Controversy Condemnation of Wyclifs Opinions Wyclif's " Con- 
 fession" Attack on the Friars Nicholas Hereford Proceedings at 
 Black Friars The "Council of the Earthquake" Decree of the 
 Archbishop Excitement at Oxford Repyngdon's Sermon Sub- 
 mission of the Chancellor Appeal to John of Gaunt Flight of 
 Hereford and Repyngdon Act for the Arrest of Heretics Proceed- 
 ings against Henry Crumpe Submission of Repyngdon and others 
 Later Submission of Hereford Convocation at St. Frideswyde's 
 Immunity of John Wyclif Character of Wyclifs Writings Action 
 against the Lollards Unpopularity of the Friars Enactment against 
 Unlicensed Preachers The Statute "Z?^ Haretico Conihiirendo" 
 Forged Testimonial in Favour of Wyclif Arundel's Constitutions 
 Final Struggle of Lollardism at Oxford Condemnation of Wyclif's 
 Doctrines The Council of Constance Exhumation of Wyclifs 
 Body. 
 
 F the great religious movements which have 
 from time to time produced a deep impression 
 on the Enghsh people, three have had their 
 origin at Oxford. It was at Oxford that 
 John Wyclif gave oral instruction to the early 
 Lollards ; it was at Oxford that the Wesleys began the 
 Methodist revival ; it was at Oxford that John Henry New- 
 man and his colleagues issued their famous Tracts for the 
 Times. Some notice of each of these remarkable movements 
 is therefore necessary in a history of the University, although 
 fuller accounts mav be found elsewhere.
 
 250 
 
 JOHN WYCLIF. 
 
 The story of John Wyclif and his labours has been told 
 and retold by writers of different schools, and as yet there 
 is no general agreement as to the object or nature of his 
 teaching.' According to some, he was a dangerous socialist ; 
 according to others, an intrepid apostle of evangelical truth ; 
 while others again consider him an ardent controversialist, 
 who was too often led away by the violence of his feelings. 
 Many of Wyclif's works remain unprinted, and in this place 
 no attempt will be made to analyse his systems of theology, 
 politics, and ethics. It will be sufficient here to trace the rise, 
 the development, and the decline, of the Lollard movement 
 at Oxford. 
 
 John Wyclif was born near Richmond in the North Riding 
 of Yorkshire, in the early part of the fourteenth century. 
 The exact year of his birth, and the date at which he was 
 sent to the University, are alike unknown.^ His biographers 
 have been at some pains to ascertain the college at which he 
 was educated, but it should be remembered that, in the 
 middle ages, the greater number of Oxford scholars did not 
 
 ' John Wyclif has been made the 
 subject of several books and of in- 
 numerable essays and articles. Tlic 
 Life of fohii IVick/iJfe, by John 
 Lewis, written in the early part of 
 the eighteenth century, and re- 
 printed in 1820, is chiefly valuable 
 for the documents that are given 
 in the Appendix. Dr. Robert 
 Vaughan's biographies should not 
 be read without great caution. Dr. 
 Shirley was a less partial writer, but 
 some of the views expressed in his 
 brilliant preface to the Fasciculi 
 Zizatiioriiin are no longer tenable. 
 folin Wiclif and his Ejiglish Prc- 
 ciirsors, by Professor Lechler, with 
 the notes of Professor Lorinier, is 
 at present the best work on the 
 
 subject. Mr. Matthew's preface to 
 the volume of Wyclifs English 
 works, issued by the Early English 
 Text Society, contains a careful and 
 temperate sketch of the life and 
 opinions of the great Reformer. 
 One error may however be men- 
 tioned here he persistently writes 
 of the " vicc-ChanccUor '' of Oxford, 
 at a period wlien the University 
 had a resident Chancellor. The 
 publications of the WyclitT Society 
 will doubtless throw fresh light on 
 the opinions of the theologian from 
 whom it takes its name. 
 
 '^ Cf. Lechlcr-Lorimer, vol. i. 
 pp. 121 123, 26-128, 130; and 
 Mattliew, p. i.
 
 JOHN WYCLIF. 251 
 
 belong to any college. There is reason to doubt whether 
 the Reformer should be identified with a certain John Wiclif 
 who was steward of Merton College in 1356, inasmuch as a 
 Yorkshireman w^ould scarcely have sought or obtained ad- 
 mission to that stronghold of the southern faction.^ On the 
 other hand there seems to have been some connexion between 
 his native place and the college which ow^ed its foundation 
 to the Balliols of Barnard Castle, and was chiefly frequented 
 by Northerners. This much only is certain, that John Wyclif 
 the Reformer was Master of Balliol in May 1360.^ The 
 Mastership of Balliol was not in those days the dignified and 
 lucrative post that it is now, and accordingly we find that, in 
 May 1 36 1, Wyclif accepted in its stead the rectory of 
 Fillingham in Lincolnshire, of which the advowson belonged 
 to the College. 3 He probably took a year of grace before 
 actually resigning the office of Master, and his sojourn at 
 Fillingham cannot have lasted very long. The income of the 
 rectory helped to maintain him as an independent student at 
 Oxford. From the middle of 1363 to the middle of 1365, he 
 had a room or a set of chambers in Queen's College, although 
 he was not a member of that foundation. + When the endow- 
 ments of a college were insufficient to provide for the full 
 number of persons that the building was intended to accom- 
 modate, the unoccupied rooms were often let to other members 
 of the University, who lived in them at their own cost. 5 
 This was the case at Queen's College during the first period 
 of its corporate existence, and the apartment that Wyclit 
 occupied there was simply a lodging for which he paid rent 
 at the rate of 205. a year. 
 
 On the expulsion of the Benedictine brethren of Canterbury 
 from Canterbury Hall at Oxford, at the end of 1365, John 
 
 ' Lechler-T.orimer, vol. i. pp. [ ' Fasciculi, p. 515. 
 
 187 189. Cf. Twyne MS. vol. ii. i ^ iMiui. Acad. p. 655; Twyne 
 
 f. 33<J. I MS. xxii. f. 351 ; Fifth Report of 
 
 ' Lechler-Lorinier, pp. 185, 186. ' the Historical MSS. Coininission, 
 
 ' Lewis, p. 5. p. 478.
 
 252 JOHN WYCLIF. 
 
 Wyclif was appointed Warden of that establishment by the 
 founder, Archbishop Islip.' His acceptance of the post was 
 of itself a challenge to the monks, and from that time 
 until his death, nineteen years later, he was constantly 
 engaged in controversy with the old religious orders. He 
 seems indeed to have been regarded as an approved champion 
 of the secular clergy, before his peculiar views brought him 
 under suspicion of heresy. It was in answer to a monk that 
 he wrote his first political pamphlet, a defence of the refusal 
 of the English King and Parliament to pay the arrears of 
 tribute claimed by the Pope in 1366.2 The circumstances 
 under which he was in his turn ejected from Canterbury Hall 
 have been already dcscribed,3 and it need only be remarked 
 here that he appears to have continued to reside at Oxford 
 during the progress of his law-suit, and for some time after- 
 wards. In April 1368, he received from the Bishop of Lincoln 
 a dispensation to absent himself from his parochial duties, in 
 order to prosecute his studies at the University, and in the 
 following November he exchanged the living of P^illingham 
 for that of Ludgarshall in Buckinghamshire, which was much 
 nearer to Oxford. '^ About six years later, he received from 
 the Crown two pieces of preferment, the rectory of Lutter- 
 worth in Leicestershire, and the prebend of Aust, which 
 latter however he held for a few months only. It is probable 
 that he continued to reside in Oxford, at all events during 
 term time, for between the years 1367 and 1374 he proceeded 
 from the degree of Bachelor of Divinity to that of Doctor.^ 
 
 ' Lewis, p. 2WO. It would be ' Master of Arts when appointed 
 
 easy to exaggerate the importance Warden of Canterbury Hall in 
 
 of the laudatory expressions used 1365, and that he was a Doctor 
 
 in the formal deed of appointment. ; of Divinity when nominated a royal 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 349-356. 
 
 3 Pp. 178, 179, above. 
 
 ' Lechler-Lorimcr, vol. i. p. 1S2. 
 
 commissioner in July, 1374. He 
 has, however, failed to notice that 
 Wvclif describes himself as Master 
 
 '" Dr. Lechler has remarked (vol. | of Arts and Ijachelor of Divinity 
 i. p. 181) that John Wyclif was a : in his appeal to Urban \'. concern-
 
 JOHN WYCLIF. 253 
 
 Having already distinguished himself by his patriotic oppo- 
 sition to papal exactions, he was in July 1374 appointed one 
 of the seven royal commissioners for settling the different 
 questions at issue between the Courts of England and Rome . 
 The negotiations with the representatives of Gregory XI. 
 were carried on at Bruges, and lasted two months, during 
 which Wyclif lived in a style befitting his high official 
 position, the sum allowed for his maintenance being no less 
 than 20s. a day, besides his travelling expenses. While at 
 Bruges he must have been in constant communication with 
 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was there on the 
 same mission, and his connexion with that powerful prince 
 greatly influenced the whole of his subsequent career.^ The 
 worldly statesman who desired to humiliate the English 
 clergy found a useful ally in the priest who desired to reform 
 their mode of life.^ 
 
 At the University of Oxford Wyclif enjoyed the highest 
 reputation. He was unquestionably the first English school- 
 man of his day. William Thorpe, one of the Lollard martyrs, 
 says, " Maister John Wickliffe was holden of full mainie men 
 the greatest clearke that they knewe then living." + A very 
 unfriendly chronicler calls him "a most eminent teacher of 
 theology," and says that " he was reckoned second to nobody 
 in philosophy, and incomparable in scholastic exercises." s 
 Another writer says that he was styled " the flower of 
 Oxford," ^ It was not until after he had taken his degree 
 as a Doctor of Divinity that he became notorious as a 
 teacher of "new-fangled" doctrines.'' So favourable were 
 
 ing the Wardenship of Canterbury (ed. Townsend) vol. iii. p. 257. 
 
 Hall, in 1367 or 1368. See Lambeth = Knyghton, cc. 2644, 2663. 
 
 MS. civ. f. 213. ^ Eiilogiiim Historiaritm, (ed. 
 
 ' Lewis, p. 304. Haydon) vol. iii. p. 345. 
 
 = Lechler-Lorimer, vol. i pp. 229, " FascicuU, p. 2. He is often 
 
 249. styled " doctor noi'clhisy Wilkins, 
 
 3 Fasciculi, p. xxvi. Concilia, vol. iii. p. 171. 
 
 " Foxe's Acts and Monuments,
 
 254 
 
 WYCLIF AT ST. PAUL'S. 
 
 the mediaeval universities to freedom of thought, that he 
 might probably have maintained heretical opinions with 
 impunity, if he had confined himself to purely theological 
 questions. Many of the clergy, however, took alarm at his 
 views on the relation of Church and State, and he was cited 
 to appear before the Convocation of the Province of Canter- 
 bury in February 1377. He received the summons cheerfully, 
 knowing well that he would not stand alone before his adver- 
 saries. When he went to St. Paul's early on the day of trial, 
 he had with him four Bachelors of Divinity, representatives of 
 the four great Mendicant Orders, who were prepared to main- 
 tain his cause against the monks. If argument failed, he 
 could rely on material help, as he was also accompanied by 
 the two most influential laymen in the kingdom, the Duke of 
 Lancaster, and Sir Henry Percy, Earl Marshal of England. 
 The Cathedral Church was thronged with people, and the 
 Earl Marshal ordered his men to clear a passage through the 
 crowd. Arrived at the Lady Chapel, where the prelates and 
 others were seated, he demanded a chair for the inculpated 
 clerk, in direct defiance of the Bishop of London, William 
 Courtcnay, a haughty ecclesiastic of noble birth. Taunts and 
 threats were interchanged in the sacred building, and the 
 assembly broke up in confusion before nine o'clock in the 
 morning. It would appear that John Wyclif did not have 
 occasion to utter a single word, though he is said to have 
 behaved "with indescribable insolence." ' The wrath of the 
 Bishop and citizens of London was turned against his patrons, 
 whilst he was suffered to return in peace to his studies at 
 Oxford. 
 
 The monks, however, did not abate their hostility. Finding 
 the English bishops unwilling or afraid to proceed further 
 against Wyclif, they carried their complaints against him to 
 the Papal Court. There they produced a series of extracts 
 
 ' CJironiton Aii'^Ucr, pp. 117 
 121, 397 ; Walsingham, Uistoia 
 
 An^i^IIca/ra, vol. i. p. 325. Cf. 
 Lccliler-Lorimcr, vol. i. p. 281.
 
 ISSUE OF PAPAL BULLS. 255 
 
 from his writings, consisting of nineteen articles, in which 
 he seemed to deny the rights of property and hereditary 
 succession, the unconditional character of ecclesiastical en- 
 dowments, and the validity of spiritual censures. Gregory 
 XL, seeing in these articles some resemblance to the 
 doctrines of IMarsilio of Padua and John of Jandun, which 
 had been condemned by John XXII., issued five bulls about 
 them on the 22nd of May 1377. In one of these, he chides 
 the Anglican episcopate for its negligence, and enjoins the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London to 
 ascertain whether the objectionable articles had really been 
 put forth by W}'clif, and if so to commit him to prison, 
 and forward to Rome a private report of any confession or 
 declaration that he might make.^ In the second bull, it is pro- 
 vided that if the offender should seek safety in flight or con- 
 cealment, he should be publicly cited at Oxford and elsewhere 
 to appear in person before the Pope within three months.^ 
 In the third bull, Gregory orders his two commissioners to 
 represent to Edward III., to the Princess of Wales, to the 
 members of the King's Council, and to other unsuspected 
 persons skilled in Holy Writ, that the articles attributed to 
 Wyclif are not only theologically erroneous, but also sub- 
 versive of all civil polity. 3 In the fourth bull, he directly 
 invokes the assistance of the secular arm ; and in the fifth, he 
 severely reproves the Chancellor and University of Oxford 
 for allowing the growth of tares {loluiui) amid the pure wheat 
 of their field of study. They are threatened with the with- 
 drawal of all privileges granted to them by the Holy See, 
 if they do not obediently carry out the Pope's orders. All 
 erroneous doctrines are to be rigorously suppressed ; John 
 W'yclif and any other members of the University who 
 
 ' Lewis, pp. 310 312. There is ! conclusions are given by Lewis, 
 
 a misprint of the regnal year of the \ pp. 316, 317. 
 
 Pope. It should be " septi/no" as ' - Lewis, pp. 30S, 309. 
 
 in Walsingham, vol. i, p. 351. The ^ Idid. p. 307.
 
 256 PROSECUTION OF WYCLIF. 
 
 obstinately adhere to him, arc to be arrested and handed 
 over to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of 
 London.' 
 
 The five papal bulls can scarcely have arrived in England 
 before the death of the aged King to whom one of them was 
 addressed, and no notice was taken of them for some time. 
 So far indeed was Wyclif from being in disgrace that, at this 
 very juncture, he was consulted by the Great Council as to the 
 lawfulness of withholding from the Pope certain payments 
 that the English Church had been wont to make. His reply 
 w^as to the effect that, although all Christians ought to give 
 alms for the relief of the Pope's wants, they were by no 
 means bound to maintain his worldly pomp and authority. 
 God, he declared, would not recognise as valid any ecclesias- 
 tical censures or interdicts that were pronounced for the sake 
 of obtaining money.^ 
 
 It was not until the middle of December that the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London began to 
 move in the matter of the prosecution, and the course which 
 they then took was very different to that which had been 
 enjoined on them by the Pope. Instead of trying to obtain 
 the arrest of Wyclif, they merely ordered the Chancellor of 
 Oxford to cite him to appear before them at St. Paul's ; and 
 they exceeded their instructions in another way by asking 
 for a secret report of the opinions of the Doctors of Divinity 
 at Oxford on the impugned articles. 3 Gregory XI. had de- 
 puted them to be his agents ; they arrogated to themselves 
 independent judicial authority. 
 
 The papal bulls did not meet with ready acceptance at 
 Oxford. When the Masters Regent and Non-Regent met to 
 consider them, several voices declared in patriotic words that 
 
 ' Lewis, pp. 31 2-- 314 ; Fasciculi, derived it from the Latin ^' lolimn.'" 
 
 pp. 242 244. Whatever may be - Fasciculi, pp. 258 271. 
 
 tlic real origin of the name LoL ' Lewis, pp. 314, 315. 
 lard, it is clear that Gregory XI.
 
 WYCLIFS EXPLANATION. 257 
 
 no Englishman ought to be cast into prison at the Pope's 
 command, lest the Pope should thereby seem to have kingly- 
 dominion and power in England. On the other hand it was 
 urged that if the University entirely ignored the bull, it might 
 be deprived of some of its most valued privileges. Finally, 
 as a compromise, Wyclif was ordered, or requested, not to stir 
 outside the walls of Black Hall, so that he might be regarded 
 as a prisoner or as a free man according to circumstances. 
 The Masters Regent in Theology then proceeded to consider 
 the question of doctrine, and the Chancellor on their behalf 
 determined publicly in the schools that the nineteen articles 
 quoted in the papal bull were strictly orthodox, though they 
 had an unorthodox sound. To this Wyclif replied that the 
 Catholic faith ought not to be condemned on account of any 
 interpretation that might be put upon it by the hearers. ' 
 
 The formal examination which was to have been held at 
 St. Paul's, was actually held in the chapelof Lambeth Palace, 
 in the early part of the year 1378. John Wyclif had by that 
 time prepared several written defences of his tenets. ^ In 
 one of these, he professed his willingness to submit to the 
 correction of holy mother Church, and gave an ingenious 
 explanation of the articles that had been quoted against him. 
 He declared that in saying that men could not make grants 
 of property in perpetuity, he merely meant that all human 
 rights of dominion must come to an end at the day of judg- 
 ment. To his former assertion that temporal lords might 
 lawfully take away the endowments of a delinquent church, 
 he added the important qualification that this should only 
 be done with the consent of the proper ecclesiastical authority. 
 His apparent denial of the Pope's authority to qualify or dis- 
 qualify any one, was explained to mean that, in exercising the 
 power of the keys, the Pope should act in the name of Christ, 
 
 ' Eitlogiitni Historiarion, vol. iii. i " Fasciculi, pp. 245 257, 481 
 p. 348 ; Walsingham, liistoria \ 492 ; Walsingham, vol. i. pp. 357 
 Aiii^licana, vol. i. p. 345. j 363. 
 
 S
 
 2S8 WYCLIF A T LAMBETH. 
 
 rather than in his own. He showed, easily enough, that 
 Christ's disciples did not obtain temporal possessions by 
 means of ecclesiastical censures, at a time when the Christian 
 Church had no endowments whatever, and that the Pope 
 was like other mortals liable to fall into sin. In claiming for 
 every priest who had been lawfully ordained full power to 
 absolve penitents from all sins recounted in confession, he 
 sheltered himself under the authority of the great schoolman, 
 Hugh of St. Victor.^ 
 
 The two prelates did not quite know how to deal with 
 so adroit a disputant, and while they were considering the 
 matter there appeared a knight from the Court, the bearer 
 of a peremptory message from the Princess of Wales, mother 
 of Richard H., forbidding them to issue any decree against 
 Wyclif. Some Londoners, moreover, who had obtained ad- 
 mission to the archiepiscopal chapel, made it clear by their 
 noisy shouts that the accused clerk had supporters in the 
 lowest, as well as in the highest, ranks of society. The prelates 
 were disconcerted at the unexpected turn that affairs had 
 taken. In the words of the indignant monastic chronicler, 
 they became " even as a man that heareth not, and in whose 
 mouth are no reproofs."^ They therefore satisfied them- 
 selves with ordering Wyclif to be silent on the disputed 
 points. He nevertheless soon put forth a paper containing 
 ten propositions, mostly directed against the exercise of civil 
 dominion by ecclesiastics. The death of the Pope under 
 whose authority the proceedings were taken, put an end to 
 the prosecution. 3 
 
 It was about this period that Wyclif organised a body 
 of itinerant preachers to propagate his doctrines among the 
 laity. Like the founders of the mendicant orders, he was 
 imbued with the belief that the surest way of pleasing God 
 was to imitate as far as possible the outward manner of the 
 
 ' Lewis, p. 382. I ^ Ibid. pp. 363, 364. 
 
 Walsint;liam, vol. i. 2)S^>. '
 
 THE POOR PRIESTS. 259 
 
 Redeemer's earthly life.' Evangelical poverty was therefore 
 set up as the standard of human goodness. Prelates and monks 
 were denounced for clinging to their temporal possessions, 
 while friars were commended for their voluntary self-sacrifice. 
 It appeared, however, to Wyclif that the Gospel might be 
 preached with advantage by men who were not fettered by 
 the strict rules of the conventual system. Under his auspices, 
 Oxford became the centre of a religious movement which 
 extended far and wide. The '* poor priests," or " simple 
 priests," as the new preachers were called, had a common 
 abode in Oxford, and wore a distinctive dress typical of their 
 poverty. In other respects they enjoyed considerable liberty 
 of individual action, and they may thus more fairly be 
 compared to the disciples of John Wesley than to those of 
 St. Dominic or St. Francis. Clad in coarse russet gowns 
 reaching down to their ankles, and barefooted, they went 
 "from county to county, and from town to town" preaching 
 to the people in plain, homely English. Like the mendicant 
 friars, they were ready to preach at any time and at any place, 
 sometimes in a church, sometimes in a churchyard, sometimes 
 in the open street on the occasion of a fair or market. Wyclif 
 seems to have provided outlines for some of their sermons, 
 which differed widely, both in scope and style, from the 
 technical Latin discourses which he himself used to pronounce 
 before the scholars of the University. At first all the itinerant 
 preachers were priests who had duly received ordination at 
 the hands of a bishop, but it would seem that after a while 
 laymen took upon themselves the office of instructing the 
 people in God's word. There was nothing strange in the idea 
 of laymen preaching, for many of the friars were not in holy 
 orders, and it was only the want of episcopal licence that 
 made Wyclif's itinerants appear innovators. The number of 
 them was at one time computed at no less than two hundred. ^ 
 
 ' BritisJi Onartoiy Rcviezv, vol. | '*' Walsingham, vol. i. p. 324 : 
 Ixi.K. pp. 359 362, 366. I Clironicon Aiiglicc,\i.y)-^\Euh\i^iuiu 
 
 S 2
 
 26o WYCLIF'S BIBLE. 
 
 It should be remembered, however, that all teachers of new- 
 fangled doctrines, social or religious, were indiscriminately 
 styled " Lollards," and that Wyclif, as the most prominent 
 of them, was often credited with opinions that were contrary 
 to those which he really held.^ His true disciples gave offence 
 often enough, by denouncing the corruption of the Church 
 and the world lin ess of the clergy. 
 
 It may have been with a view to training the poor priests 
 for the work of their ministry that Wyclif resolved to produce 
 a translation of the entire Bible into their mother tongue. 
 Many of them were confessedly " unlearned," and to pious 
 persons who were ignorant of Latin an English version 
 of the Bible was obviously a priceless treasure. The trans- 
 lations of the New Testament by Wyclif himself, and of 
 great part of the Old Testament by his fellow-labourer 
 Nicholas Hereford, seem to have been finished in 1382, but 
 the whole work was not finally revised until the originator 
 and director of the scheme had been dead about four years. 
 Single books and other portions were copied out separately 
 for general circulation, and we are expressly told that laymen 
 and women who knew how to read were thus enabled to 
 study the Gospel narrative, as freely as the more highly 
 educated clerks.^ 
 
 As John Wyclif advanced in years his opinions diverged 
 more and more widely from those generally received, and the 
 open scandal of the Papal schism stimulated yet further his 
 patriotic antagonism to the extravagant claims of the Papacy, 
 
 Jlistonaruin, vol. iii. p. 355 ; Fas- 315, 318 321. Dr. Lechler has, 
 
 ciculi, p. 275 ; Knyghton, c. 2663 ; ! however, failed to notice that they 
 
 Rotuli ParlicDnentorum, vol. iii. p. j lived together at Oxford, which is 
 
 124; Bodleian IMS. B. 2, 14, f. 30. | expressly stated both by Walsing- 
 
 Thcrc are several notices of the \ ham and by the anonymous author 
 
 jioor priests in Wyclif's Select of the Chroiiicon Anglicc. 
 
 English Works, and there is an ' Fasciculi, p. Ixvii. 
 
 interesting section about them in - Lechler-Lorimer, vol. i. pp. 
 
 Lechlcr-Lorimer, vol. i. pp. 29S 324 352.
 
 EUCHARISTIC DOCTRINE. 261 
 
 It was not, however, until the year 1381 that he began to 
 impugn the teaching of the mediseval Church on the sacra- 
 mental system. The earliest of his numerous writings on 
 this subject is a paper containing twelve "conclusions" laid 
 down by him in the schools of Oxford. In these, he main- 
 tained that the sacrament of the Eucharist was in its nature 
 bread and wine, which, by virtue of the words of consecration, 
 contained the very body and blood of Christ at every point ; 
 that the doctrine of Berengarius was the ancient doctrine 
 of the Roman Church, and that the scholastic terms Tran- 
 substantiation, Identification, and Impanation, had no founda- 
 tion in Holy Scripture.^ 
 
 The publication of the twelve " conclusions " greatly alarmed 
 the rulers of the University. The Chancellor, William de 
 Berton, a man who had already " determined " against Wyclif 
 in the schools, summoned a committee of approved divines, 
 and, by their advice, issued a decree condemning the doctrines 
 that the substance of bread and wine remain in the Eucharist 
 after consecration, and that the body of Christ is only present 
 therein in a figurative manner. The publication or defence 
 of these doctrines within the limits of the University was 
 moreover forbidden under pain of suspension, excommunica- 
 tion, and imprisonment. The Chancellor's decree to this 
 effect was subscribed by ten Doctors of Divinity of whom 
 two only were secular priests, three being Dominican Friars, 
 the other three mendicant orders, the Benedictines, and the 
 Cistercians being represented by one Doctor apiece. It was 
 also subscribed by one Doctor of both Laws and by one 
 Doctor of Canon Law.- Wyclif was not mentioned by name, 
 and the two theses condemned did not exactly correspond 
 with any of those put forth by him, but there could be no 
 doubt that the decree was levelled at him individually. He 
 
 ' Fascicidi, Y>V- 104 107. Cxnm^e. a.?," abbas monachtes" '\?,?in 
 
 - FascicuUi pp. iio 113, 241. \ ohw'iow?, errox {oy" albus monac/iitsy 
 The description of Master Henry '
 
 262 EUCHARISriC DOCTRINE. 
 
 was seated in the Master's chair in the school of the Austin 
 Friars, presiding over a disputation on the nature of the 
 Eucharist and "determining" it in accordance with his own 
 views, when the bedels of the University came in to pubHsli 
 the decree. Although dumb-foundered for the moment, 
 he soon plucked up courage to say that the Chancellor and 
 his partisans could not shake his opinion. He also gave 
 notice of appeal, not to the Pope or to the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 the ecclesiastical superiors of the University, but to the King 
 of England. Richard II. was still too young to decide difficult 
 questions, and the matter was brought before his uncle the 
 Duke of Lancaster, though perhaps only in an informal way. 
 Glad as John of Gaunt had been to make use of the Reformer's 
 talents in a political struggle with the rulers of the Church, 
 he had no desire to proclaim himself the patron of a theologian 
 who was suspected of heresy. He therefore enjoined his 
 former ally to desist from further controversy on the nature 
 of the Eucharist.' 
 
 Wyclif was not so easily to be silenced. Although 
 debarred from proclaiming his opposition to the doctrine of 
 Transubstantiation in the churches or schools of Oxford, 
 he managed to ventilate his views on the subject in a Latin 
 tract, entitled his Coiifessio. In this he maintains that 
 though the body of Christ remains substantially and cor- 
 poreally in Heaven, the consecrated host in the hands of 
 the priest is the very body which Christ took of the Virgin, 
 which suffered on the Cross, which lay dead, which rose 
 again, and which now sits at the right hand of the Father.^ 
 In a somewhat later English Confession on the same sub- 
 ject he says : " Right as the persoun of Crist is verrey 
 God and mon verrey Godhed and verrey monhed right so, 
 holy Kirke, mony hundred winters, have trowed, the same 
 sacrament is verrey God's body and verrey bred." 3 This 
 
 Fasciculi, \)Y>- 113, 114. 
 Ihid. pp. 1 15 133. 
 
 ^ Select English Worlds of John 
 Wyclif, vol. iii. p. 502.
 
 WYCLIF AND THE FRIARS. 
 
 263 
 
 language was repeated some forty years afterwards in the 
 profession of faith of the great Lollard martyr, Sir John Old- 
 castle, and in later times it has found an echo in the teaching 
 of the Laudian and Tractarian schools of Anglican theology. 
 Wyclif himself adhered to it consistently during the later 
 years of his life, specifically rejecting " the error of Berengarius " 
 that the Eucharist is not the body of Christ, and the opinion 
 of others that it is the body of Christ merely in a figurative 
 manner.^ 
 
 The mere denial of the scholastic doctrine of Transub- 
 stantiation was, however, sufficient to provoke the enmity 
 of the mendicant orders. Elaborate replies to the Confession 
 of IMastcr foJin Wyclif were written by John Tyssyngton, 
 a Franciscan, and Thomas Wynterton, an Augustinian 
 friar.^ The temporary alliance between the English prelates 
 and the friars in defence of the impugned doctrine, was 
 likened by Wyclif to the alliance between Herod and Pilate.3 
 Wyclif had until lately been a warm supporter of the 
 mendicant orders, and it was less than five years since 
 he had sought their assistance on the occasion of his trial 
 at St. Paul's. He had been wont to contrast their voluntary 
 poverty with the indolent luxury of the endowed orders, and 
 to declare that the Franciscans in particular were "very dear 
 to God." '' This testimony is the more remarkable when 
 we consider that the friars had lost much of their early 
 reputation for religious zeal and learning, that they were 
 specially disliked by the secular clergy at Oxford and 
 
 ' Lechler-Lorimer. vol. ii. p. 203. 
 
 "" Fasciculi, pp. 133 238. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 284. 
 
 * Eulogiu)n Historiarian,\o\. iii. 
 p. 345 ; Chrotiicon Anglice, p. 46 ; 
 Walsingham, Historia Anglicaiia, 
 vol. i. p. 324. Even in his later 
 work Dr. Vaughan says : " Wycliffe 
 began his labours as a reformer by 
 
 an attack on the Religious Orders 
 especially on the Friars" (p. 64). 
 Dr. Lechler was the first to point 
 out that this view was untenable, 
 vol. i. pp. 196 198. He, however, 
 has pushed his conclusions rather 
 too far. See Matthew, pp. xliii, 
 xliv, 405.
 
 264 NICHOLAS HEREFORD. 
 
 Cambridge, and that they had recently been denounced on a 
 memorable occasion by Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, an ex- 
 Chancellor of Wyclif's own University. 
 
 The persistent attacks of Wyclif and his followers on the 
 friars seem to date from the year 1378. In the spring of 
 1382, we find the convents of the four mendicant orders at 
 Oxford writing a joint letter to the Duke of Lancaster, to 
 complain that Master Nicholas Hereford, Doctor of Divinity, 
 was inciting the people against them, by unjustly accusing 
 them and their brethren of having fomented the Revolt of the 
 Peasants/ In a Latin sermon preached at St. Mary's about 
 the same time before a large assemblage of clergy, Hereford 
 went so far as to propose that no member of a religious order 
 should be admitted to any academical degree at Oxford." It 
 was in vain that the monks and friars made complaint to the 
 rulers of the University. William de Berton, Wyclif's old 
 opponent, had lately been succeeded in the office of Chancellor 
 by Robert Rygge, a divine who had signed the decree about 
 the Eucharist in the previous year, but who in all other 
 matters seemed disposed to favour the Lollards. The two 
 new Proctors, Walter Dash and John Huntman, made no 
 attempt to disguise their hostility to the friars. 3 Peter 
 Stokes, a Doctor of Divinity belonging to the Carmelite Order, 
 strove zealously to uphold the doctrine of the friars in 
 frequent sermons and "determinations," and it was a severe 
 mortification to him and his brethren that Nicholas Plereford 
 was selected by the Chancellor to preach the most important 
 English sermon of the whole year, that, namely, which was 
 to be delivered in the cemetery of St. Frideswyde's Priory 
 on the feast of the Ascension. Hereford did not fail to make 
 use of the opportunity by publicly defending the cause of his 
 friend John Wyclif. If the report of his adversaries may 
 be trusted, the sermon was of an inflammatory character.'* 
 
 Fasa'n/Ii, pp. 292 295. 
 //>id. p. 305. 
 
 ^ Jbul pp. 1 1 3, 304. 
 
 find. pp. 296, 303, 306.
 
 COUNCIL IN LONDON. 265 
 
 Four days after the date of Hereford's sermon at St. 
 Frideswyde's, an important meeting of the opposite party was 
 held in the convent of the Bhick Friars near Ludgate in the 
 city of London. Certain members of the Parhament then 
 sitting had advocated stringent measures for the repression 
 of heresy, and William Courtenay, who had lately been trans- 
 lated from the see of London to that of Canterbury, showed 
 himself far more zealous in the matter than his predecessor, 
 Archbishop Sudbury, had been. At his personal invitation 
 there met, on the 19th of May, 1382, a committee of more 
 than forty divines, which has sometimes been credited with 
 the name of a Provincial Council, The members were either 
 Bishops, or Doctors or Bachelors of Divinity or Law, about 
 half of them being mendicant friars. On the second day 
 of their session the 19th of May they were thrown into 
 a sudden panic by a violent earthquake, which did much 
 damage in the south-eastern parts of England. So ominous 
 indeed did the incident appear, that the assembly would have 
 broken up in confusion, if the Archbishop had not skilfully 
 declared that the expulsion of foul winds from the earth was 
 emblematic of the expulsion of heresy from the English 
 Church.' Wyclif, on the other hand, in one of his later 
 works, likened this earthquake to that which was felt at 
 Jerusalem at the time of the Crucifixion.^ A decree was 
 drawn up at the meeting condemning ten " conclusions " as 
 heretical, and fourteen others as erroneous. Among the 
 former we find the startling thesis "that God ought to obey 
 
 ' iv7J-aV////, pp.272,286 288. Dr. incuts illustrating the History of St. 
 
 \'aughan persistently describes the ' Paul's Cathedral, (ed. Simpson) 
 
 place of meeting as "the Grey ' pp. 59, 60, 219 221. 
 
 Friars," an error which only appears ! ^ Lechler-Lorimer, vol. ii. p. 244. 
 
 less strange after his description of j There is a slight error in Note 46 
 
 the Franciscans as the ^^ preaching \ on that page. The 19th of May fell 
 
 friars." John de Wycliffe, p. 81. on a Monday in 1382, not on a 
 
 For the day and hour at which the Wednesday as there stated, 
 earthquake took place, see Docii-
 
 266 CONDEMN A TOR V DECREE. 
 
 the Devil;" and others to the effect that Christ did not ordain 
 the Mass ; that the substance of material bread and wine 
 remain in the Eucharist after consecration ; that a bishop 
 or priest in mortal sin cannot administer the sacraments ; that 
 a wicked Pope has no authority save from the Emperor ; that 
 no one ought to be recognised as Pope after Urban VI., 
 and that ecclesiastics are forbidden by Scripture to have 
 temporal possessions. The fourteen conclusions condemned 
 as erroneous are chiefly directed against the abuse of the 
 power of excommunication, the exaction of tithes by un- 
 worthy priests, and the monastic system in general/ 
 
 In transmitting the decree to his suffragans, the Arch- 
 bishop explained that the condemned doctrines had been 
 publicly taught by certain children of perdition, who 
 went about the country preaching to the people without 
 proper authority. Wyclif is not mentioned by name, and 
 it was probably thought expedient to proceed in the first 
 instance against those of his " poor priests " who had been the 
 least guarded in their language. The decree was to be 
 published throughout the province of Canterbury, and all 
 teachers of the condemned doctrines were to be visited with 
 the greater excommunication.^ Inasmuch as Oxford was the 
 centre of the movement, a separate mandate was sent thither, 
 to forbid the teaching of the condemned doctrines in the 
 University, and to command all faithful people to avoid and 
 flee from the defenders of them. A Carmelite friar, Peter 
 Stokes, who had distinguished himself by his opposition 
 to Hereford, was deputed to enforce obedience to the 
 archiepiscopal mandate.^ On Friday in Whitsun week, a 
 penitential procession of clergy and laity walked barefoot 
 through the streets of London to St. Paul's, where a Carmelite 
 friar denounced the condemned doctrines from the pulpit.-* 
 On the same day, the Archbishop wrote to the Chancellor 
 
 Fasciculi, pp. 277 288. 
 Knyghton, cc. 2651 2653. 
 
 3 Fasciculi, pp. 275 277. 
 * Knyghton, c. 2651.
 
 REP VNGDON'S SERMON. 
 
 267 
 
 of Oxford, rebuking him for appointing Hereford to preach 
 the principal sermon of the year, and charging him to cause 
 the decrees of the synod to be pubHshed in the schools of 
 theology/ The letter was delivered by Stokes on the eve 
 of the feast of Corpus Christi. There was to be a public 
 sermon at St. Frideswyde's Cross on the following day, and 
 the Carmelite friar was anxious to take that opportunity 
 of executing his commission. The Chancellor, however, 
 received him with marked displeasure, upbraiding him with 
 violating the liberties of the University, and saying that no 
 steps could be taken in the matter without careful considera- 
 tion.^ This was but one of many rebuffs that Stokes had 
 to encounter at Oxford. The preacher selected for the morrow 
 was a noted partisan of Wyclif, Philip Repyngdon, an 
 Augustinian canon of Leicester, who, as a Bachelor of 
 Divinity, had won general esteem and affection. The sermon, 
 as might have been anticipated, proved to be an outspoken 
 defence of the Lollards, After it was over, the Chancellor 
 waited for Repyngdon at the door of St. Frideswyde's, and 
 went away with him in high spirits. Stokes himself was too 
 frightened to venture out at the time. He knew that the 
 Chancellor, the Proctors, and the great majority of the 
 Masters of Arts were opposed to him, and that, for once, the 
 Mayor of Oxford was of the same opinion as the rulers of 
 the University. Rumour said that the Chancellor had col- 
 lected a band of a hundred armed men, and some twenty of 
 them were reported to have been seen in the church itself, 
 concealing weapons beneath their clothes. ^ 
 
 On the following day, Stokes presented his credentials 
 in a full Congregation, but he also wrote to the Archbishop 
 declaring that he dared not proceed any further for fear of 
 his life, and praying that he and his brethren might not 
 
 ' Fasciculi, pp. 298, 299 ; Wal- 
 singham, Hisioria Anglica?ia, vol. 
 ii, p. 60. 
 
 ^ Fasciculi, pp. 299 301, 307. 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 296, 297, 299, 300, 307, 
 308.
 
 268 SUSPENSION OF LOLLARDS. 
 
 be exposed to bodily peril.^ Four days later, he summoned 
 up courage to "determine" against Repyngdon in the schools, 
 but he saw some armed men, and feared that he would not 
 be allowed to descend alive from the master's chair. Under 
 these circumstances he was not sorry to receive a letter from 
 his patron summoning him to Lambeth without delay .^ 
 
 The Chancellor had already gone to London, and on the 
 octave of Corpus Christi a second assembly of divines was 
 held at the convent of the Black Friars. After the Chancellor 
 and Thomas Brightwell, another Doctor of Divinity, had been 
 examined by the Archbishop, they declared their hearty assent 
 to the decree of the previous assembly, together with six 
 other Doctors of Divinity, two Doctors of Law, and two 
 Bachelors of Divinity. Rygge probably cared more about 
 maintaining the independence of the University than about 
 defending the truth of the Lollard doctrines, but he was 
 forced to tender an unreserved submission. On his bended 
 knees he apologised for his disobedience to the Archbishop's 
 orders, and, even after this act of humiliation, he only obtained 
 pardon through the intercession of the great Bishop of Win- 
 chester, William of Wykeham.3 Two new mandates were 
 then handed to him, by one of which he was commanded to 
 cause the list of condemned articles to be published at 
 St. Mary's, and in the schools, in Latin and in English; and 
 by the other to suspend John Wyclif, Nicholas Hereford, 
 Philip Repyngdon, John Aston, and Laurence Bedeman, from 
 preaching or performing any scholastic exercises. Search was 
 to be made through the different halls of the University for 
 persons who held the condemned doctrines, and all who 
 would not abjure their errors were to be visited with the 
 greater excommunication. When the Chancellor pleaded 
 that he dared not execute these orders for fear of his life, the 
 Primate answered severely, ** Then the University is a favourer 
 
 ' Fascictdi^ pp. 300, 301. 
 - Ibid. p. 302. 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 289, 304, 308 ; Wilkins's 
 Concilia, vol. iii. p. 159.
 
 JOHN OF GA UNT'S POSITION. 269 
 
 of heresies, if it will not allow Catholic truths to be pro- 
 claimed." ' A peremptory message from the King's Council 
 convinced the unhappy Chancellor that no attempts at evasion 
 would be tolerated. He therefore rode back to Oxford on 
 Saturday, June 14th, and informed Hereford and Repyngdon 
 that he must suspend them from preaching and teaching. 
 John Wyclif, whom the Archbishop had likened to a "serpent 
 that emits noxious poison," had apparently betaken himself 
 to his country parish before the storm burst upon his disciples 
 at Oxford. 
 
 The publication at St. Mary's Church of the Archbishop's 
 mandate on the morrow of Rygge's return, caused great 
 excitement. The secular clerks accused the monks and friars 
 of wishing to ruin the University, and there was serious 
 danger of a riot. Early the next morning, Hereford and 
 Repyngdon started for London, to lay their grievances before 
 John of Gaunt, Wyclif's former patron. To him they repre- 
 sented that the decree of the ecclesiastical synod tended to 
 impair the authority of the Crown, and they had thus 
 almost succeeded in winning his sympathy, when some 
 Doctors of Divinity belonging to the other party dexterously 
 shifted the subject of the argument from politics to theology. 
 However opposed to the chief ecclesiastics of his time on 
 political questions, the Duke had no desire to incur a charge 
 of encouraging heresy. Therefore, after hearing the opinions 
 of Hereford and Repyngdon on the nature of the Eucharist, 
 he pronounced them utterly detestable, and declared that he 
 could himself refute them without having recourse to pro- 
 fessional assistance. This marks a turning-point in the 
 history of the Lollard movement, for some of Wyclif's chief 
 adherents began to lose heart on finding themselves deserted 
 by the powerful Duke of Lancaster. 
 
 On the 1 8th of June, the day after their interview with 
 
 ' Fasciculi, pp. 309 311 ; Wil- 
 dns, p. 159. 
 
 Fasciculi, pp. 311, 318.
 
 270 EXAMINATION OF LOLLARDS. 
 
 John of Gaunt, Hereford and Rcpyngdon appeared before 
 the Primate and eleven friars at the Dominican convent in 
 London, and on asking for time for deliberation were 
 ordered to appear again two days later. John Aston, who 
 when examined declared himself unable to say whether 
 the substance of bread remained in the Eucharist, was also 
 remanded to the same date." On the 20th of June accord- 
 ingly, the two Doctors of Divinity handed in a document 
 setting forth their intention "to be humble and faithful 
 children of the Church and Holy Scripture, and to obey the 
 determinations of the Church in all things." They acknow- 
 ledged some of the condemned conclusions to be heretical, 
 and others to be erroneous, with certain qualifications, but 
 when pressed as to the points on which they seemed to 
 hesitate, they would not make any more explicit declarations. 
 Their answer was therefore pronounced insufficient, and they 
 themselves were ordered to appear a week later, to receive 
 judgment. John Aston adopted a line of his own, persisting 
 in answering in English, and protesting that as a mere lay- 
 man he could not be expected to understand the difficult 
 questions propounded to him.^ Although condemned as an 
 obstinate heretic, and committed to prison at St. Alban's, he 
 managed to circulate a statement of his case in English 
 in the streets of London, but he eventually found it advisable 
 to submit unconditionally.3 Hereford and Repyngdon duly 
 appeared before the Archbishop on the 27th of June at his 
 palace at Otford, together with a Bachelor of Divinity named 
 Hilman, but the case was again adjourned until the 1st of 
 July, in order that a large number of clergy should be 
 assembled.'' On the appointed day, the Archbishop took his 
 
 ' Fasciculi, p. 289 ; Wilkins's 
 Coiiciliix, vol. iii. p. 159. 
 
 = Fasciculi, pp. 290, 3193-9; 
 Wilkins's Concilia., vol. iii. pp. 
 161 163 ; Knyi;hton, c. 2655. 
 
 ^ Fasciculi, pp. 3-9333; Bod- 
 leian MS. B. 2, 14, f. 30, 
 
 * Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 
 163.
 
 LOLLARDS EXCOMMUNICATED. 271 
 
 seat before nine o'clock in the Chapter House at Canterbury, 
 and there six Doctors of Divinity subscribed the condemna- 
 tion of the twenty-four conclusions. It was not until two 
 o'clock that Hilman put in an appearance, and followed their 
 example. Hereford and Repyngdon absented themselves, and 
 were accordingly excommunicated for their contumacy. As 
 a last resource they drew up an appeal to Rome, which, how- 
 ever, the Archbishop refused to transmit, on the ground that 
 it was devised only for the sake of delay.' 
 
 In the meanwhile the energetic Primate had persuaded the 
 House of Lords and the King to pass, in an irregular manner, 
 a statute which enabled him and the other English bishops 
 to obtain the arrest and imprisonment of any persons whom 
 they might suspect of heretical views.^ On the strength of 
 this the King issued two successive letters, ordering the 
 immediate arrest of all defenders of the condemned con- 
 clusions. The second of these w^as accompanied by a 
 mandate from the King's Council, desiring the Chancellor, 
 the Proctors, and the Regents in Theology at Oxford, to 
 expel from the University all partisans of Wyclif, Hereford, 
 Repyngdon, or Aston, and to make diligent search in the 
 different halls for books or tracts by either of the two first 
 named. 3 The excommunication of Hereford and Repyngdon 
 was solemnly proclaimed at St. Paul's Cross in London, and 
 in St. Mary's Church, and in the schools at Oxford. '^ 
 
 The University was still inclined to favour the movement 
 which had sprung up within its own bosom. When a Doctor 
 of Divinity named Crumpe, a member of the Cistercian Order, 
 stigmatised the teachers of the new doctrines as heretics and 
 Lollards, he was accused of disturbing the peace of the 
 
 ^ /7?^if////, pp. 290, 291 ;\Vilkins, f. 166; the second, July 12. Lewis, 
 
 vol. iii. pp. 164, 165. p. 332; Rymer's Fadera, vol. vii. 
 
 - Rotuli Parliajnentoruni, vol. iii. p. 363. 
 pp. 124, 141. '' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. 
 
 3 The first is dated June 26. pp. 165, 166. 
 Archbishop Courtenay's Register,
 
 272 RECANTA TIONS. 
 
 University, and cited to appear at Oxford on one of the very- 
 days on which he was to sit in Council with the Archbishop 
 and other theologians at the Black Friars in London. In his 
 absence he was condemned for contumacy, and suspended 
 from the performance of any scholastic exercises. It required 
 a peremptory mandate from the King to obtain his restoration, 
 and to prevent any acts of retaliation against Peter Stokes 
 and Stephen Patryngton, the two Carmelite friars who had 
 most distinguished themselves by their opposition to Wyclif.^ 
 
 As time went on, one Lollard after another made his formal 
 submission. On the i8th of October, 1382, the Archbishop 
 ordered the restoration of Laurence Bcdeman to his academi- 
 cal rights, and five days later he removed the sentences of 
 suspension and excommunication that had been passed on 
 Philip Repyngdon. The canon of Leicester had not actually 
 been convicted of heresy, and had obtained pardon on satisfy- 
 ing the Primate of his orthodoxy, and apologising for his 
 recent contumacy.^' 
 
 A meeting of the Convocation of the clergy of the pro- 
 vince of Canterbury was held in the Priory of St. P>idesvvyde 
 at Oxford, on the i8th of November, 1382. Robert Rygge, 
 the Chancellor of the University, who was by this time free 
 from all taint of heresy, preached the opening sermon, and 
 was appointed to serve on two committees. On the seventh 
 day of the session, Repyngdon and Aston were called upon 
 to make public renunciation of their former errors. The 
 Doctor of Divinity complied at once, while the Master of 
 Arts, still professing himself unable to answer any abstruse 
 theological questions, was referred for instruction to a com- 
 mittee of orthodox clergymen, under whose advice he made 
 a satisfactory statement the same afternoon. He was there- 
 fore restored to his academical position by the express desire 
 of the Archbishop. The University had not yet forgiven the 
 
 ' Fasciculi, pp. 31 t, 312, 314- 
 317- 
 
 -' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. pp. 
 168, 169.
 
 REPYNGDON AND HEREFORD. 273 
 
 monks and friars who had warmly supported the repressive 
 policy of the episcopate, and the Chancellor took the first 
 opportunity of turning the tables on them. On the 25th 
 of November, he appeared before the assembled clergy in the 
 Chapter House at St. Frideswyde's, and, in j the name of the 
 venerable body of which he was the chief officer, preferred 
 a charge of heresy against the Cistercian Crumpe, the Car- 
 melite Stokes, and a Bachelor of Theology belonging to the 
 Franciscan Order. The blow was well aimed. Neither of 
 the three could deny the charge absolutely, and they had 
 to fall back on the plea that they had used arguments in the 
 schools "by way of exercise," which they did not seriously 
 hold as true. Courtenay found the two parties very much 
 embittered against each other, and had great difficulty in 
 effecting a sort of reconciliation between them before he left 
 Oxford.' 
 
 Strange as it may seem, Repyngdon's audacious con- 
 duct in 1382 proved no obstacle to his advancement in 
 the Church. He was successively appointed Abbot of 
 Leicester, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and Bishop 
 of Lincoln, in which last capacity he distinguished himself 
 by his persecution of the Lollards. He died a Cardinal of 
 the Roman Church.^ Hereford's recantation, though deferred 
 for several years, was not less complete. On going to Rome 
 to prosecute his appeal, he was thrown into prison by Urban 
 VL, and he only regained his liberty in consequence of a riot 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. I vol. iii. p. 258. 
 
 172. Notwithstanding the profes- 
 sion of ftith which he made before 
 the Convocation in 13S2, Aston was 
 still regarded as a heretic five vears 
 
 ^ Le Neve's Fasti EcclesicE 
 Anglicancp, vol. ii. p. 16 ; Wilkins's 
 Concilia, vol. iii. p. 396 ; Foxe's 
 Acts and Monuments, (ed. Cattley) 
 
 later, and William Thorpe claimed \ vol. iii. pp. 257, 258. See 
 him as a consistent maintainer of : sketch of his episcopate in the 
 
 Lollard doctrines. Wilkins's Con- \ ChmxJi Qtiaiicrly Rcviciu, vol. xix. 
 cilia, vol. iii. p. 203 ; Foxe's Acts . PP- 74 8-- 
 and Monuments, (ed. Cattley)
 
 274 DEATH OF WVCLIF. 
 
 in which the doors of his gaol were broken open.' He was 
 still regarded as a heretic in 1387, but in 1391 he was 
 Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Hereford.^ In 1393, 
 he displayed his orthodoxy by taking part in the proceedings 
 against a Lollard named Walter Brute, and he eventually 
 took the vows of the Carthusian Order at Coventry.3 
 
 One historian seems to assert that John Wyclif appeared 
 in person before the Convocation at St. Fridcswyde's, and 
 handed in a short statement of his views on the Eucharist in 
 the mother tongue.-* The fact, however, is far from certain. 
 There is no mention of him in the official record of the 
 proceedings, and it is not very likely that Wyclif, who was 
 confessedly the first schoolman of the time, would on so grave 
 an occasion have abstained from displaying his dialectical 
 skill in Latin. The English Confession on the contrary, 
 which he is said to have presented to Convocation, bears 
 the appearance of having been composed with a view to 
 general circulation among the lay folk. Be this as it may, 
 it is very remarkable indeed that while his principal disciples 
 and colleagues were being forced to recant, Wyclif himself, 
 the founder and leader of the Lollard movement, should have 
 been left unmolested. The abortive trial in the chapel of 
 Lambeth Palace was the last attempt to silence him that was 
 ever made. The closing years of his life were, it is true, spent 
 in retirement at Lutterworth, but even there he was constantly 
 busy w^ith his pen. The Trialogiis, one of his most important 
 works, was certainly written after he had left Oxford. He 
 died in December 1384.5 "Admirable," says Fuller, "that 
 a hare so often hunted with so many packs of dogs, should 
 
 ' Knyghton, c. 2657. ! Enj^lisJi Works of John Wyclif, \o\. 
 
 ^ Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. ill. pp. 501 503. Mr. Arnold thinks 
 
 203 ; Le Neve, vol. i. pp. 489, 492. that the chronicler refers to the 
 
 ' Foxe's Acts and Monuments, \ council at the Black Friars in 
 
 \-ol. iii. pp. 187 1S9, 279 ; T5odleian \ London. 
 
 M.S. T). 2, 14, f. 30. ! 5 Lechler-Lorimcr, vol. ii ; Gas- 
 
 ' Knvghton, r. 2646. CL Select coignc, Loci, p. 116.
 
 WYCLIPS WRITINGS. 275 
 
 die at last quietly sitting in his form."' In examining the re- 
 lation of Wyclif to subsequent religious movements, it should 
 be remembered that he died in undisputed possession of his 
 benefice, and in full communion with the Catholic Church. 
 When seized by the paralysis which ended his life, he was 
 attending at the celebration of mass. 
 
 This is not the place for an elaborate estimate of Wyclif's 
 character and system of doctrine, respecting both of which 
 there have been the widest differences of opinion. " Wycliffe," 
 says Dean Milman, ''was a subtle schoolman, and a popular 
 religious pamphleteer. He addressed the students of the 
 University in the language and in the logic of their schools ; 
 he addressed the vulgar, which included no doubt the whole 
 laity and a vast number of the parochial clergy, in the 
 simplest and most vernacular phrase. Hence he is, as it were, 
 two writers : his Latin is dry, argumentative, syllogistic, 
 abstruse, obscure : his English rude, coarse, but clear, 
 emphatic, brief, vehement ; with short stinging sentences, 
 and perpetual hard antithesis." ^ A later writer remarks : 
 " He did not come as one inspired from on high, charged with 
 all truth and ready to be a martyr for it. He was a bold, 
 dexterous, clear-headed man, who perceived distinctly the 
 abuses of his age, which had so often called forth protests 
 from good men. He was a dialectician of extraordinary skill, 
 and this led him to lay down paradoxes which seemed in- 
 capable of defence that he might show his subtlety in 
 upholding them. He was a lover of and seeker for truth, 
 but it is idle to hope to construct a system of doctrine from 
 his writings, or to find there a dogmatic theology which may 
 be trusted." 3 
 
 The death of Wyclif was of course a severe blow to the 
 Lollards, for it deprived them of their most learned champion. 
 
 ' CJiiirch History, book iv., 26. 
 '^ Latin Christianity, book xiii. 
 chapter vi. 
 
 ^ ChurcJi (2uartcrly Review, vol. 
 xix. p. 61.
 
 2/6 THE LOLLARD MOVEMENT. 
 
 The doctrines, however, which they had embraced were for 
 the most part of so simple a character as to be easily 
 comprehensible by persons of inferior education and ability. 
 Although proscribed in the academical schools of theology, 
 they found favour among the laity, and struck root deeply. 
 The Earl of Salisbury, Sir Lewis Clifford, Sir Thomas 
 Latimer, and other knights attached to the court of Richard 
 IL were avowed Lollards, and there was a strong tendency 
 towards socialism among the inhabitants of several populous 
 towns,' Oxford continued to be the head-quarters of the 
 reforming movement, and it was to Oxford that a series of 
 repressive writs was addressed by the civil and ecclesiastical 
 authorities of the realm, 
 
 William Serle, chaplain of Stapeldon Hall, was removed 
 from his place by Archbishop Courtenay in 1384, on account 
 of his Lollard opinions.^ In 1388, a scries of writs were 
 issued in the King's name empowering certain commissioners 
 to seize and forward to the Council any books, treatises, or 
 pamphlets by John Wyclif, Nicholas Hereford, John Aston, 
 or others of their persuasion, that could be found, and ordering 
 them to proclaim that no person should keep, transcribe, buy, 
 or sell, any such works, or defend any of the wicked opinions 
 expressed in them, under pain of imprisonment and for- 
 feiture. A contemporary chronicler records that this attempt 
 to check the growth of Lollard opinions proved ineffectual. 3 
 The time for active persecution had not yet come, and the 
 occasional defection of an unstable preacher did not seriously 
 impair the strength of the party. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that Henry Crumpc, the Cistercian 
 monk who had so actively opposed the Wyclifites at Oxford, 
 was condemned by his own bishop in 1385, and again in a 
 
 ' Walsingliam, Ilisforia Angli- ; Col/ci^c, pp. 9, 10. 
 
 cann, vol. i. p. 159, vol. ii. pp. 244, \ ^ Knyghton, c. 2709; Cotton MS. 
 291. Cleopatra E. li., f. 188. 
 
 " Hoa,c"s /uxi.s/i'r of ExciiT
 
 THE MENDICANT FRIARS. 
 
 ^n 
 
 council at Stamford in 1392, for his attacks on the mendicant 
 orders. The King, who had previously caused him to be re- 
 admitted among the Oxford Masters, now ordered his sus- 
 pension from the performance of scholastic exercises in the 
 University.^ The friars had indeed incurred the hatred and 
 contempt of different classes of persons in England, by their 
 covetousness, their interference with the parochial clergy, their 
 laxity in the confessional, their pride in sumptuous buildings, 
 and their artifices in making proselytes. Wyclif and his 
 followers did not scruple to denounce them as 'Tscariot's 
 children," "irregular procurators of the fende," "perilous 
 enemies to holy Church," "adversaries of Christ and dis- 
 ciples of Satan." ^ The climax of vituperation was perhaps 
 reached by a writer who said : " There shall no saule have 
 rowme in hell, of frers ther is such throng." 3 
 
 In 1395, the Lollards presented a remarkable Latin petition 
 to Parliament, inveighing against the compulsory celibacy 
 of the clergy, the union of spiritual and secular functions, 
 the offering of special prayers for the souls of individuals, 
 auricular confession, pilgrimages, capital punishment, and 
 other received practices and doctrines.'^ Their audacity seems 
 to have provoked fresh repressive measures, for, in the summer 
 of that year, the King ordered the Chancellor of Oxford to 
 summon all the Doctors of Divinity for the purpose of 
 making a list of the errors in Wyclif's Trialogus, and also 
 to banish from the University a certain Robert Lychlade and 
 all other Lollards and suspected heretics. ^ 
 
 Thomas Arundel, who was translated to the see of Canter- 
 bury in 1396 on the death of Archbishop Courtenay, proved 
 himself the most formidable adversary that the Lollards had 
 
 ' Fascicidi, pp. 343359- 
 " These flowers of speech have 
 already been culled by Mr. ]Mul- 
 linger (p. 270) and Chancellor 
 Massingberd (p. 124). 
 
 3 Mo7ii{inei^ta Franciscmia, (ed- 
 Brewer) p. 605. 
 
 * Fasciculi, pp. 360 369. 
 
 5 A)]ifle"s Uni%'crsity of Oxford, 
 pp. xxvi.- x.wiii.
 
 278 PERSECUTION OE LOLLARDS. 
 
 yet encountered. He had not been enthroned many weeks 
 before he began to take steps for their utter extirpation. In 
 the Convocation of the Southern Province that met in 
 February, 1397, certain Doctors, Masters, and scholars, made 
 formal complaint that heretical and erroneous doctrines taken 
 from the writings of John Wyclif were being freely preached 
 at Oxford. The Archbishop thereupon declared his intention 
 of attacking Lollardism in its stronghold, by holding a 
 visitation of the offending University.^ Having compelled 
 the graduates to renounce the new papal bull which professed 
 to exempt them from his control, he was about to open his 
 visitation when he was impeached in Parliament for high 
 treason, and banished the realm. ^ This gave the Lollards only 
 a short reprieve, for the accession of the House of Lancaster 
 deprived them of any influence they may hitherto have had 
 at Court. Archbishop Arundel was reinstated, and Henry 
 IV., though a son of Wyclif's powerful protector, John of 
 Gaunt, shewed himself anxious to be on good terms with 
 the Anglican clergy.3 
 
 In 1401, a stringent statute was passed, enacting that 
 nobody should thenceforth presume to preach without proper 
 licence, that all heretics should be arrested and confined 
 in the episcopal prisons, and that all impenitent or relapsed 
 heretics should be delivered to the sheriff, to be burned to 
 death in a public place* As Jeremy Collier quaintly 
 remarks, " this roasting men to orthodoxy, and enlightening 
 them with fire and faggot was a discipline not understood " 
 in the early days of the Christian Church. 5 There had been 
 but a single instance of an execution for heresy in the whole 
 course of Lnglish history before the beginning of the fifteenth 
 century. The new statute docs not appear to have provoked 
 
 ' Wilkins's Co/uilia, vol. iii. pp. vol. iii. pp. 25, 31, 32. 
 
 229, 230. * Statute 2, Henry IV. c. 15. 
 
 - See Chapter XI. ^ Ecclesiastical Histo)y. 
 Stubbs's Co list H lit ioiial Hist o}-)\
 
 A DOUBTFUL TESTIMONIAL. 279 
 
 any particular opposition on account of its intolerant character, 
 yet it did not for some time fulfil the hopes of its authors. 
 The Lollards continued bold and aggressive.' 
 
 There has been some controversy as to the origin of a 
 remarkable testimonial which purports to have been issued 
 by the Chancellor and Masters of Oxford in their House 
 of Congregation on the 5th of October, 1406. After mention- 
 ing the spotless character of John Wyclif, his exemplary 
 manner " in responding, in lecturing, and in determining," 
 and his truly Catholic zeal against "all who blaspheme 
 Christ's religion by voluntary begging," the document in 
 question states that he was neither convicted of heretical 
 pravity during his life, nor exhumed and burned after death, 
 and that he had no equal in the University as a writer on 
 logic, philosophy, theology, or ethics,^ An original copy 
 written in the English style, and duly attested by the seal 
 of the University, was quoted by John Huss, the Bohemian 
 reformer, and there is an early transcript of it among the 
 Cottonian manuscripts.^ Its authenticity has nevertheless 
 often been called in question.'* Formal complaint was made 
 in the Convocation that met at St. Paul's in 141 1, that, with- 
 out the consent of the Doctors and Masters, the common seal 
 of the University of Oxford had been secretly affixed to some 
 lying letters, which gave a testimonial for the encouragement 
 of heresy and error, and that letters thus improperly sealed 
 had been despatched to different foreign countries. ^ Then 
 again, Thomas Gascoigne, who was Chancellor of Oxford in 
 1434, states positively that a certain Peter Payne stole the 
 seal of the University, and affixed it to a letter assuring the 
 
 ' Stubbs, vol. iii. pp. 2iSh, 359- ' Wood, Collier, and other Angli- 
 
 -' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. can historians have been quite as 
 
 p. 302. ready as any Roman Catholics to 
 
 ' P'oxes Acts and Mofuitncfifs, pronounce the document a forgery. 
 
 (ed. Cattley) vol. iii. pp. 58, 59, s Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 
 
 64; Cotton MS. Faustina, C. vil. 336. 
 
 f. 125.
 
 28o ARUNDEL'S CONSTITUTIONS. 
 
 heretics at Prague of the sympathy of the Oxonians/ One 
 circumstance, hitherto unnoticed, may perhaps clear up the 
 difficulties of the case. The 5th of October, the date of the 
 disputed document, fell during the Long Vacation.^ At such 
 a time a handful of Masters might easily snatch a sudden 
 division in Congregation, and arrogate to themselves the 
 authority of the whole University. Thus the testimonial in 
 favour of John Wyclif may have been technically valid, though 
 it had not received the assent of a majority of the Doctors 
 and Masters. Some confirmation of this theory may be 
 found in a statute of the University finally passed in 1426, 
 to the effect that no document should be sealed with the 
 common seal which had not been submitted for a clear day 
 to the full Congregation of Regents during term, or to the 
 Convocation of Regents and Non-Regents during vacation. ^ 
 
 Further proceedings were taken against the Lollards in the 
 Parliament of 1406, and in the following year Archbishop 
 Arundel held a provincial council at Oxford.'* It was doubt- 
 less thought that members of the University who were halting 
 between two opinions would be more readily influenced by 
 the resolutions of a great assembly meeting in their very 
 midst than by the thunders of a distant Parliament. One of 
 the Constitutions, issued by the Primate in this council, 
 proscribed Wyclifs English Bible and all other translations 
 of the Holy Scriptures which had not been approved by 
 episcopal authority. Another ordered that no book or 
 treatise written in the time of John Wyclif, or since, should 
 be read in any schools, halls, or inns of the southern province, 
 
 ' Loci e Libra Verifafian, pp. 20, 
 186, 187; Loserth's Wiclif and Hiis. 
 ^ Miin. Acad, p. cxlviii. 
 3 Ibid. pp. 282, 283. The date 
 
 Stubbs's Constitutional History, 
 vol. iii. p. 359 ; Wake's State of 
 the Chtircli, p. 346. Wood and 
 others have wrongly placed this 
 
 affixed to this statute in the Chan- { synod under the year 1394, some 
 
 cellor's and Proctor's books is not j time before the elevation of Thomas 
 
 necessarily that at which it was Arundel to the see of Canterbury, 
 first made.
 
 ARUNDEL'S CONSTITUTIONS. 281 
 
 until it had been examined and approved, firstly by the 
 University of Oxford or Cambridge or by twelve delegates 
 appointed for the purpose, and secondly by the Archbishop 
 or his successors. Even after a book had passed this double 
 ordeal, transcripts of it were only to be made by stationers 
 acting under the authority of the University, and every copy 
 was to be carefully collated before being offered for sale. 
 The original manuscript of any work so issued was to be 
 preserved in one of the chests of the University. It is 
 scarcely conceivable that any writer of independent genius 
 would have chosen to submit to such conditions ; Roger 
 Bacon, Duns Scotus, and Bradwardine would probably have 
 lived and died in obscurity if Arundel's Constitutions had 
 been in force in their days. The establishment of the censor- 
 ship proved in fact an effectual check on the literary 
 productiveness of Oxford for several generations. 
 
 It was not so easy to prevent the oral dissemination of 
 Lollard opinions in a community which had hitherto enjoyed 
 considerable liberty of conscience. Archbishop Arundel, 
 however, attem.pted the task by forbidding all Masters of 
 Grammar or of Arts to instruct their pupils in theology 
 contrary to the determination of the Church, or to allow 
 them to dispute publicly or privately about the Catholic 
 faith or the nature of the sacraments. He also ordered 
 all heads of academical colleges, halls, or "entries," to make 
 diligent search at least once a month for any persons under 
 their jurisdiction who held any opinions contrary to the 
 received doctrine of the Catholic Church. All offenders in 
 this respect were to be deprived of their rights, and summarily 
 expelled. Fresh orders were at the same time issued with 
 respect to unlicensed preachers, for the purpose of silencing 
 the "poor priests." 
 
 The Constitutions promulgated by Archbishop Arundel 
 in the provincial council at Oxford in 1407, were re-issued 
 with great solemnity in London in the early part of
 
 282 A COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY. 
 
 1409.' Lollardism was thus condemned by the highest 
 authorities in Church and State ahke. There was, however, 
 one important semi-ecclesiastical body which had made 
 no explicit declaration on the subject. The University of 
 Oxford had for some years maintained a passive attitude. 
 If it had not indeed issued the disputed testimonial in favour 
 of John Wyclif already noticed, it had on the other hand 
 done nothing of its own accord to discountenance his 
 followers. Any pressure that had been brought to bear on 
 the Lollards at Oxford had come from without. Although 
 less eminent than in former times for learning and culture, 
 the University still enjoyed a high reputation in most of 
 the countries of Europe, and Arundel saw the importance of 
 procuring from it a condemnation of the opinions that he 
 was so anxious to suppress. With this object, the Convocation 
 of Canterbury in 1409 desired the University to appoint 
 twelve persons to draw up a list of any heretical or erroneous 
 conclusions that were to be found in the writings of John 
 Wyclif.^ When, however, a proposal to nominate the com- 
 mittee came before the Oxford Masters, it was rejected by 
 the votes of several Faculties. The Archbishop was indignant 
 at this open act of disobedience, while the IMasters on their 
 side threatened to suspend all lectures, and to retire to their 
 respective homes, if their liberties were infringed. ^ 
 
 The form of the proposed decree seems to have been 
 modified, for after a while a majority of the Regents and Non- 
 Regents in full Congregation appointed four Doctors, four 
 Bachelors, and four students of Theology, to make the desired 
 enquiry. In order to secure impartiality six of these examiners 
 were chosen from among the Northerners, and six from among 
 the Southerners. + Matters, however, did not advance very 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. pp. ' Iti\f. f. 161. The names arc 
 317320. ^ Ibid. ]x 322. given in Wilkins's Cf/Zf^vV/V?, vol. iii_ 
 
 ' Cotton M.S. Faustina c. \\\. p. 172. 
 f. I^.v
 
 CENSURE PRONOUNCED. 283 
 
 rapidly, and the Archbishop had to write another letter 
 complaining of the dilatoriness of the committee. To this 
 the University replied that the works submitted for examina- 
 tion were very numerous, that they had many warm defenders, 
 and that there would be a risk of plucking up the good wheat 
 with the tares, if anything should be decided hastily.' At last, 
 a majority of the examiners issued a list of no less than two 
 hundred and sixty-seven erroneous propositions that had been 
 put forward by John VVyclif^ The works in which they oc- 
 curred were moreover publicly burned at Carfax in the 
 presence of Thomas Prestbury, Chancellor of the University.^ 
 Vigorous measures of this sort were of course only carried 
 after a severe struggle, the promoters of them being constantly 
 reviled and insulted with scurrilous rhymes.* Two members 
 of the examining committee, Richard Fleming, afterwards 
 Bishop of Lincoln, and John Luk, opposed the policy of 
 their colleagues, and the Archbishop had occasion to reprove 
 several young graduates, beardless boys, he said, who were 
 scarcely out of their cradles, and who yet presumed to teach 
 others before they knew rightly how to spell.5 
 
 Sixty-one of the conclusions quoted in the report of the 
 
 ' Cotton MS. Faustina C. vii. 1 as already mentioned. Lewis (pp. 
 
 f. I34'''- I 368 371) arbitrarily assigns the 
 
 - Their report is given twice in I report to the year 1396, and Wood 
 
 Wilkins's Concilia (vol. iii. pp. 171^ ! (vol. i. pp. 551 554) to the year 
 
 339) under the years i3S2and 141 2 i 141 1. A mandate from Archbishop 
 
 respectively. In the first of these Arundel shows clearly that it had 
 
 instances, the name of the Arch- ! been presented before December 
 
 bishop is wrongly given as William | 1409. Wilkins's Concilicx, vol. iii. 
 
 instead of Thomas, and the tran- ' p. 322, from Arundel's Register, ii. 
 
 script is stated to have been made , f. 127. 
 
 from the Register of Archbishop 
 Sudbury, f. 76. On turning how- 
 ever to this reference, we find a 
 totally different document, the 
 
 '" Cascoignc, Loci e Lil>ro l^crifa- 
 tuin, p. ] 16. 
 
 * Cotton r\IS. Faustina C. vii 
 f 160^. 
 
 decree of William de Eerton, . = Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. pp. 
 Chancellor of Oxford, against John 322,323. 
 Wyclif, which was issued in 13S2,
 
 284 -S- UPPRESSION OF L OLLA RDISM. 
 
 twelve examiners were again condemned at Oxford in Con- 
 vocation in June, 1410, and another selection of forty-five 
 errors was condemned by a synod that met in London in the 
 following March.' Archbishop Arundel, moreover, forwarded 
 to Pope John XXIII. a list of the errors of "the heresiarch,'' 
 John Wyclif, praying that the body of " that son of the old 
 serpent," "that forerunner and disciple of Anti-Christ," might 
 be exhumed, and cast on a dunghill or burned.^ About the 
 same time, he issued a commission to five graduates of Oxford, 
 ordering them to go to all the different colleges and halls 
 of the University, in order to exact a solemn oath from all 
 scholars, graduate or non-graduate, who desired to be styled 
 Christians, that they would try to avoid the errors that had 
 been condemned by the recent synod. ^ 
 
 LoUardism was not finally suppressed at Oxford until it 
 had made one more struggle for existence, under cover of 
 a defence of the liberties of the University. The party which 
 professed itself pre-eminently national and anti-papal did not 
 scruple, in 141 1, to make use of a papal bull, in order to 
 oppose the claims of the Primate of all England. It was, 
 however, compelled to submit to his jurisdiction, as will 
 appear in the next chapter. The Uriivcrsity itself soon after- 
 wards passed a stringent decree that a copy of the condemned 
 articles should be kept in the public library, so that they 
 might be known and avoided by all teachers and scholars, 
 under pain of imprisonment, degradation, and excommuni- 
 cation. It was furthermore ordered that all graduates, on 
 admission to their respective degrees, should swear solemnly 
 not to maintain any of them, and that the heads of the 
 different colleges, and the principals of all the halls, should 
 once a year swear not to admit into their societies any 
 Misters, Bachelors, scholars, or servants, who were reasonably 
 
 ^ Lewis, p. 133 ; Twync ]MS. vol. "" Wilkins's Ccv/677/i/, v. iii. p. 350' 
 
 ii. f. 229: Cotton ]MS. Faustina ' Cotton MS. Faustina c. \il. 
 
 c. \ii. f. 170/'. f. 170/;.
 
 EXHUMA TION OF VVYCLIF. 285 
 
 suspected of heresy or Lollardism.' By a strict enforcement 
 of this decree, the rulers of the University soon silenced the 
 few remaining supporters of the defeated party. The history 
 of the Lollard movement at Oxford ends with the reign of 
 Henry the Fourth. 
 
 The doctrines of John Wyclif were successively condemned 
 by the Anti-Pope Gregory XII., by the Pope Alexander V.,and 
 by a synod at Rome.^ In 141 5, the Council of Constance pro- 
 nounced a more weighty judgment against them, and ordered 
 that the bones of their author should be dug up and cast far 
 away from those of any orthodox Christians. 3 The duty of 
 carrying out this decree devolved on the Bishop of Lincoln, 
 in whose diocese the church of Lutterworth was situated, but 
 for several years it was entirely ignored. Although Philip 
 Repyngdon, the then Bishop, had long since abjured his 
 Lollard opinions, he may well have shrunk from offering 
 indignity to the remains of a man who had been his early 
 friend and leader. The new Archbishop of Canterbury, more- 
 over, was less zealous in this particular matter than the 
 relentless Arundel had been. On Repyngdon's resignation of 
 the see of Lincoln in 1419, a successor was found to him 
 in the person of Richard Fleming, who had so vehemently 
 resisted the Primate ten years before. He in his turn showed 
 some unwillingness to execute the task, and it was not until 
 he had received direct instructions from Pope Martin V. that 
 he exhumed the body of the great schoolman and committed 
 it to the flames.'^ This was done in 1427. An active persecu- 
 tion had by that time broken the strength of the Lollards 
 throughout England, and before many years were over they had 
 ceased to exist as a party. In the words of ]\Iilton, " Our 
 Wicklefs preaching, at which all the succeeding Reformers 
 
 ' Midi. Acad. pp. 26S 270, 376. I = Foxe's Acts and Moimmciits, 
 - Raynaldi A/iua/es, vol. viii. pp. vol. iii. pp. 21, 22, 60 62, 94. 
 
 305, 358 ; Mansi, Co)icilioritm Col- \ ^ Raynaldi Aiinalcs, vol. ix. pp. 
 
 lectio, vol. xx^'ii. p. 505. 55, 56 ; Lyndu'cde's Provincialc.
 
 286 IVVCL/F'S INFLUENCE. 
 
 more effectually lighted their tapers, was to his countrey-men 
 but a short blaze soone dampt and stifl'd by the Pope, and 
 Prelates." ' The reforming movement which swept over 
 England in the reign of Henry VIII. was not a historical 
 continuation of that which was started at Oxford in the reign 
 of Edward III.^ 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the Fellows of Oriel College 
 had the courage to buy several of Wyclif's works in 1454.3 
 Yet, about twenty-two years later, the University reported to 
 Edward IV. that the books and treatises by Wyclif and 
 Pecok which they had been ordered to find, " lay hid, as it 
 were, deserted and unknown," + 
 
 At a time when the greatest activity was shown in all 
 quarters for collecting the relics of the saints, some Bohemian 
 students carried away from England a small fragment of the 
 tombstone of John Wyclif.5 Copies of his books and 
 traditions of his oral teaching were also conveyed to Prague 
 before the date of the Council of Constance.^ Thus at the 
 very time when the doctrines which he had sown in his native 
 land were being uprooted by persecution, they were beginning 
 to bear more abundant fruit in a foreisin soil. 
 
 ' Of Rcfonnation in England. 
 
 " MuUingcr, p. 274, quoting a 
 paper in the FortnigJitly Review, 
 vol. ii., by Mr. Gairdner, 
 
 3 " xiv." die Februarii, soliitiini 
 Magistro Matikyszucll, pro nno 
 Jibro flpcris Wyclyffe de Dominio 
 Civil i et Blasfeniia, et pro ligatura 
 
 sflliitum Maoistro T. IVyc/ie, pro 
 libro conipcrto a Johanne More 
 contincnte Ar/nacanunt, Holkot, et 
 IVyclyff super Sententias xHj'k" 
 Book of Treasurer's Accounts, f. 
 50. 
 
 4 Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 630. 
 
 5 Lcnfant, Histoire du Concilc de 
 
 certoriun et cathenatione libroriem, ' Constance, vol. i. p. 228. 
 
 I'ij' vj'' . . . Item xinij" die Martis, 
 sohttuni Johanni More, pro iino 
 libra ciini niultis contcntis Wyclyff, 
 iij' I'j' . . . Item x-7'iij" die Aprilis, 
 
 '^ Gascoigne, Loci e Libro Verita- 
 tunt, p. 9 ; Loserth's IViclif and 
 litis.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A.D. 1378 1421. 
 
 Intellectual Torpor Statutes against Provisors Promotion of Graduates 
 Henry V. Appointment of a Steward Visitations by Archbishops 
 Courtenay and Arundel Visitation by Bishop Repyngdon The 
 Papal Schism Action of the Universities of Paris and Oxford- 
 Proposals for Ecclesiastical Reform Progress of the Religious Orders 
 The Library Chests Disturbances Welshmen and Northerners 
 Expulsion of Irish Clerks Reform of Discipline. 
 
 HE intellectual torpor that unquestionably pre- 
 vailed at Oxford and at Cambridge for about 
 a hundred years after the time of John 
 Wyclif, has been attributed by Professor 
 Iluber to the systematic repression of 
 Lollardism and free thought by the ecclesiastical authorities.' 
 During the period in question, however, the constant demand 
 of the languishing Universities was not so much for greater 
 liberty of conscience, as for a larger share of this world's 
 goods. They had been injuriously affected by the statutes 
 of Provisors, which forbade the introduction into the 
 realm of any papal bulls or letters prejudicial to the in- 
 terests of the King or his subjects. Grossly as the Popes had 
 abused their questionable rights, by appointing foreigners to 
 lucrative offices in England, little complaint could be made of 
 the manner in which they had distributed their favours among 
 
 ' Eiii(lisli Universities^ chap. vi.
 
 288 LETTERS OF PROVISION. 
 
 Englishmen. They had generally shown a decided preference 
 for those clerks who had distinguished themselves in the 
 schools. It had been the custom to send petitions to every 
 new Pope on his accession, praying him to promote deserving 
 graduates in England ; and with a like object the University 
 of Paris had regularly forwarded lists of its graduates to suc- 
 cessive Popes.' In 1382, Urban VI. issued a bull to the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury for the appointment of Doctors and 
 Bachelors to dignities in cathedral churches,^ Private patrons 
 on the other hand were for the most part indifferent to the 
 claims of learning, and valuable livings were often bestowed 
 on ignorant and undeserving persons. 3 When it became 
 apparent that academical degrees did not pave the way to 
 ecclesiastical preferments, there was a marked decline in the 
 number of students. 
 
 Such being the case, the House of Commons in 1392 
 authorised the King and his Council to modify the action of 
 the statute against Provisors, praying him specially to deal 
 tenderly with the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. "^ 
 Seven years later, Richard II. granted permission to the 
 Chancellor and graduates of Oxford to seek and to accept 
 letters of Provision from the Pope, all statutes to the contrary 
 notwithstanding.5 The Commons in 1402 followed the pre- 
 cedent set in 1392, and, in the following year, Henry IV., at 
 the special request of his Queen, exempted all graduates from 
 the operation of the statute against Provisors.^ In the next 
 reign, however, the Commons had occasion to reiterate their 
 plea for the Universities, and they went so far as to declare 
 
 ' Lambeth MS. ccxxi. ff. 15S, ' ' Patent Roll, 22 Ric. II. p. 3, 
 
 225, 226 ; Du Boulay and Crevier, | m. iS (Hare MS. f. 132). 
 
 passim. \ ^ RoitiU Parlianicutfl7-ui,\o\.m. 
 
 "" W\W\n=>'sCo!!a'lit'i,\o\.\\\.\>. 173. | p. 46S ; Rymer's Fa'dera, vol. viii. 
 
 ^ Mullinger's Uiik'crsHy of Cam- 1 p- 339 ; Yoxit^zwc, On iJic Govcrn- 
 
 hridi^c, p. 2S5. I ancc of England, (cd. I'lummcr) 
 
 ^ R'^/uIi Pa?-/iamcntoj-!/m.\o\.\\]. ' 11.84. 
 1). -^oi.
 
 PROMOTION OF GRADUATES. 289 
 
 that the non-advancement of deserving scholars was the cause 
 of intolerable errors and heresies against God, and of rebellions 
 against the King.' 
 
 In 141 7, the Warden of Merton College and a certain 
 Master Thomas Kyngton from Cambridge, appeared before 
 a provincial synod at St, Paul's in London, to give evidence 
 as to the deplorable condition of their respective Universities. 
 The result of this was that an elaborate decree was framed for 
 regulating the system of appointment to benefices. It was 
 ordained that on the occurrence of any vacancy during the 
 ensuing ten years, and on the occurrence of every third vacancy 
 afterwards, all livings in the province of Canterbury should 
 be offered to graduates of the Universities according to a fixed 
 rule. All benefices above the yearly value of sixty marks 
 were specially reserved for Doctors of the superior Faculties, 
 and all those above the yearly value of fifty marks, for licen- 
 tiates in Law or in Medicine, and for Bachelors in Theology- 
 Provision was also made that secular clergy who had obtained 
 academical degrees " by grace " or favour, without having gone 
 through the prescribed course of study, should not be accounted 
 worthy of promotion.^ 
 
 The Kings of the House of Lancaster were not less favour- 
 ably disposed towards the scholars of Oxford than their 
 predecessors had been. Henry IV. presented the University 
 with a large gilded cross, and when he withdrew his patronage 
 for a while, it was his eldest son who effected a reconciliation.^ 
 It has indeed been stated on tolerably good authority that 
 Henry V. was a student at Queen's College when his uncle 
 Henry Beaufort was there, and that he occupied the room 
 over the old gateway that formerly faced the lane that leads 
 from New College to the High Street.* After his accession to 
 
 ' Rot all Pa?'lia/nc?!/oru III, vol. \v. : Hearne) p. 207; Second Report of 
 p. 181. the Historical ilfSS. Commission, 
 
 - Wilkins'sC<?;/t77/(i;,vol.iii.p. 3S1. ^ p. 141. There are engravings of the 
 3 Mnn. Acad. p. 251. old gateway in Skelton's Oxonia 
 
 - Ross, Historia Rci^um, (ed. Antigua. 
 
 U
 
 2go 
 
 APPOINTMENT OF A STEWARD. 
 
 the throne, he formed a scheme for the estabhshment in 
 Oxford Castle of a college for the study of the liberal arts, 
 but he did not live long enough to carry it into effect.' 
 
 The privileges that the University received during the fifteenth 
 century were neither so numerous nor so important as those that 
 it had received under Henry III. and the first three Edwards. 
 The area of the Chancellor's jurisdiction was in 1401 defined 
 as reaching from St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the west, to 
 Botley on the east, and from Godstow Bridge on the north to 
 Bagley Wood on the south. The yearly payment to the Crown 
 for the assize of bread and ale, which had been fixed at 5/., was 
 at the same time reduced to the nominal sum of a penny.^ 
 
 The staff of officers of the University was permanently 
 increased in the reign of Henry IV. by the appointment of a 
 Steward, who was invested with certain high judicial functions. 
 The King in 1406 decreed that if any persons enjoying the 
 privilege of the University were indicted in a secular court for 
 offences in Oxfordshire or Berkshire, they should at the demand 
 of the Chancellor be delivered to the Chancellor's Steward, 
 to be tried by him in the Guildhall at Oxford. The jury 
 in such cases was to consist, partly of men from the place 
 where the crime was said to have been committed, and parti}' 
 of laymen under the privilege of the University. The Steward 
 in his turn was bound to deliver to the Bishop of Lincoln any 
 prisoner who could claim to be under ecclesiastical jurisdic- 
 tion. ^ Members of the University accused of treason, felony, 
 or maiming, had hitherto been tried in the ordinary courts of 
 justice, and this extension of the peculiar rights of the 
 University was stoutly opposed by the knights and squires 
 of the two counties, no less than by the Mayor and townsmen 
 of Oxford. At their joint petition, the House of Commons 
 declared that the recent charter had been improperly obtained, 
 
 ' Ross, Historia Regiini, p. 20S ; 
 
 Patent Roll, 14 Hen. VI. p. 2,m. 19, 
 
 ' Charter Roll, 2 Henry I\'. p. 
 
 I, no. 2 (Hare MS. f. 134). 
 
 ^- Ibid. 6 & 7 Henry IV. no. 3 
 (Hare MS. f. 139).
 
 DISPUTED PRIVILEGES. 291 
 
 and that it was contrary alike to law, to common right, and to 
 the dignity of the Crown. The question was therefore referred 
 to the King's Council, and the impugned charter was for a 
 time suspended.' The Commons sent up a similar remon- 
 strance in 1410, with a similar result, but in the following 
 year Henry IV. flatly rejected their petition, in the conven- 
 tional phrase, " Le Roy s'avisera." ^ 
 
 The Oxford Masters of the fourteenth century were im- 
 patient of all external control, civil or ecclesiastical. Not 
 content with having successively thrown off the yoke of the 
 Bishop of Lincoln and of the Archdeacon of Oxford, they 
 wished to be independent of the Primate of all England. It 
 would appear, however, that when Archbishop Courtenay 
 came to Oxford in 1389, to hold a visitation, he met with no 
 open opposition, save from the Benedictine students of Glou- 
 cester College. Many of the inmates of that establishment 
 belonged to monasteries that were subject only to the au- 
 thority of the Pope himself, or of his Legate a latere, and the 
 summons to a visitation seemed to them an unwarrantable in- 
 vasion of their liberties. Sorely dismayed and perplexed, they 
 applied for advice to the chiefs of their order in England. The 
 Abbot of Westminster, on the one hand, devised an elaborate 
 scheme of evasion. The Abbot of St. Albans, on the other, 
 wrote direct to the Archbishop to dissuade him from his project. 
 The bearer of the letter was able to tell the Archbishop with 
 truth that the principal house of the Benedictines at Oxford 
 was not strictly a College, inasmuch as it had neither a com- 
 mon seal nor endowments. But he found it more difficult to 
 meet the argument that since all the inmates without excep- 
 tion were subject to the jurisdiction of the Chancellor, during 
 their stay at the University, they were also subject to that of 
 his ecclesiastical superior, the Archbishop. The dispute was 
 eventually compromised in favour of the monks. The Prior 
 and the students of Gloucester College appeared before the 
 
 ' Rot. Part., vol. iii. p. 613. 1 - Ilnd. pp. 638, 659661. 
 
 U 2
 
 292 DISPUTED PRIVILEGES. 
 
 Archbishop in the conventual church of St. Frideswyde to 
 beg for his favour, and he replied that he did not intend to 
 trouble them.' 
 
 Shortly after this, a petition was drawn up in the name of 
 the Chancellor, the Masters, the Doctors, and the scholars, of 
 the University of Oxford, praying that they might be exempted 
 from the jurisdiction of all archbishops and bishops in 
 England, A proposal to despatch it to Rome was vehemently 
 resisted by the theologians, the canonists, the civilians, the 
 monks, and the friars, but was nevertheless carried by a 
 majority consisting exclusively of secular Masters of Arts.'' 
 Archbishop Courtenay was somehow induced to withdraw his 
 opposition to a measure which was avowedly designed to 
 curtail the ancient rights of his see, and the King did not 
 think it necessary to interfere. Boniface IX. accordingly 
 issued a bull in June, 1395, in which he specifically confirmed 
 the sole jurisdiction of the Chancellor over all members of the 
 University, including priests, students belonging to exempt 
 monasteries, and mendicant friars. 3 When the bull was first 
 read in Congregation at Oxford, it was repudiated by some 
 of those then present, and the Faculty of Law, in February, 
 1397, sent a proctor to denounce it before a provincial synod 
 of the clergy at St. Paul's in London. Thomas Arundel, who 
 had lately succeeded William Courtenay as Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, promised to provide some remedy for their 
 grievances, whereupon Thomas Hcndman, the Chancellor of 
 Oxford, seeing how matters were going, declared that he 
 would resign his office, and left the Chapter House in a 
 towering rage.+ Soon after this, the Chancellor and the 
 Proctors of the University were cited to answer for their 
 conduct in the Court of Chancery, and, their explanations 
 
 ' Walsingham, Historia ^Ingli- \ Anstey has placed this bull under 
 
 cana, vol. ii. pp. 189 192. ' the year 1300, as if it had been 
 
 -' Cotton MS. Faustina, c. \'ii. issued by T5oniface VIII. 
 
 f. 164. Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. 
 
 3 Mini. Acad. pp. 78-Si. :Mr. 229.
 
 ARUNDEL'S VISITATION. ic^-i, 
 
 being considered unsatisfactory, a messenger was sent to 
 Oxford, to threaten the University with the forfeiture of all its 
 privileges if it did not publicly renounce the bull without 
 delay. The English King was made to appear more zealous 
 for orthodoxy than the Pope himself, for it was declared in 
 the royal writ that the exemption of the University from 
 archiepiscopal control would greatly encourage the Lollards 
 and other heretics.^ 
 
 The Masters of Arts made their submission in the prescribed 
 form, but they carefully omitted to keep any record of it, or 
 to expunge the copy of the condemned bull from the 
 registers of the University. An ingenious attempt on their 
 part to sow discord in the Council of Ministers by declaring 
 that the right of visiting the University belonged to the 
 Crown only, was frustrated by the King's renunciation of his 
 claims in favour of the Archbishop.^ 
 
 The controversy broke out afresh in 141 1, when Archbishop 
 Arundel announced his intention of holding a visitation in 
 the church of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford, The University 
 was divided against itself. The more zealous churchmen, the 
 older graduates, and the Southerners, were on the whole 
 disposed to submit to the Primate. The Lollards, the younger 
 scholars, and the Northerners, with their lawless allies, the 
 Irish, were in favour of active resistance. The Chancellor, 
 Richard Courtenay, tried to hold the balance between the 
 two parties. At one time we find him suspending several 
 Doctors of Law who adhered to the Archbishop, and threaten- 
 ing the Archbishop himself with excommunication as an 
 undutiful son of the University. ^ At another time we find 
 him incurring the wrath of the Lollards, by publishing the 
 notice of the threatened visitation. Three Fellows of Oriel 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 20 Ric. II. p. 3, p, 651 ; Patent Roll, 20 Ric. II. p. 
 
 m. 32 (Twyne MS. vol. vii. f. | 3, m. 9. 
 
 69). i ^ Cotton MS. Faustina, c. vil. 
 
 - Roticli Parliaiiicntoruin,\o\. iii. f. 137.
 
 294 ARUNDEL S VISITATION. 
 
 College, Robert Dykes, William Symon, and Thomas Wilton, 
 all Northerners, were notorious fomenters of discord. After 
 parading the streets until nearly midnight, they used to come 
 in by a gap in the wall of the College, sometimes accompanied 
 by other armed men. On Trinity Sunday, there was a great 
 fight near St. Peter's in the East, in which the Southerners 
 were severely beaten, and deprived of their arms. Three 
 weeks later, on the eve of the feast of St. Peter, a party of 
 Northerners broke the door of the Chancellor's lodging, and 
 inflicted mortal injuries on a scholar named Stockton whom 
 they found within. The Chancellor himself was so frightened 
 that he durst not show himself in the High Street in broad 
 daylight, and he took refuge for a night in the house of a 
 townsman. 
 
 When the Archbishop arrived at Oxford, he found the 
 church of St. Mary the Virgin barricaded against him, and a 
 band of scholars drawn up in hostile array, armed with bows, 
 swords, and bucklers. Regardless of an interdict which was 
 consequently laid upon the church, John Birch, one of the 
 Proctors, opened the doors on the morrow, caused the bells to 
 be rung, and celebrated mass in the accustomed manner.' 
 Party spirit ran so high that for a time the University was in 
 danger of utter disruption. At last an agreement was made 
 in the presence of the Earl of Arundel and other nobles, to the 
 effect that the controversy should be referred to the King."" 
 
 The first result of the arbitration was that the Chancellor, 
 Richard Courtenay, and the Proctors, John Birch and Benedict 
 Brent, resigned their oftices in the King's presence, in the 
 early part of September, 141 1. Edmund Bcckyngham, 
 Warden of Merton College, the senior Doctor of Divinity, 
 was entrusted with the administration of affairs during the 
 vacancy of the Chancellorship, and it was probably by his 
 order that the younger students who had opposed the 
 
 ' MS. Roll in the nninimcnt room [ ' Rotiili ParUamcntoruin,\o\.\\\, 
 of Ciiel College. I [1. 651.
 
 SUBMISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY. 295 
 
 Archbishop were soundly whipped, to the great satisfaction 
 of Henry IV. On the 17th of September, the Council of 
 Ministers declared the bull of exemption to be absolutely 
 invalid, and their decision was soon afterwards ratified by 
 Parliament.' The Oxford Masters, however, were not yet 
 entirely cowed, and when the King ordered them to elect 
 three new persons to fill the places of the deposed Chancellor 
 and Proctors, a majority of them deliberately gave their votes 
 for Courtenay, Birch, and Brent.^ This open act of defiance 
 might have entailed serious consequences if the Prince of Wales, 
 INIadcap Harry, had not come forward as a mediator. By 
 his advice, the Oxford Masters abandoned their lofty pre- 
 tensions, while on the other hand their Chancellor and Proctors 
 were allowed to remain in office. The bull of exemption 
 granted by Boniface IX. in 1395 was revoked by John XXII. 
 in November 141 1 ; the University acknowledged itself subject 
 to the see of Canterbury ; and Archbishop Arundel made a 
 handsome present of books to the public library at Oxford.'* 
 
 The submission of the University to the archiepiscopal 
 authority encouraged Philip Repyngdon, Bishop of Lincoln. 
 to reassert some of the ancient rights of his see. This pre- 
 late, who had formerly been a supporter of the Lollards, and 
 afterwards Chancellor of Oxford, gave notice in 141 3 of his 
 intention to hold a visitation at Oxford, for the purpose of 
 repressing heresy. Strange to say, the University raised no 
 serious objections to this, and the Chancellor's reply to his 
 diocesan is chiefly interesting as giving the names of all the 
 members of the University who were cited to appear at the 
 visitation. From this document we learn that, independently 
 of the Chancellor and the two Proctors, there were then 
 resident in Oxford nine Doctors of Divinity, of whom three 
 
 ' Rotuli ParHa7ne)itoru!n,\'o\.n\. j ^ Miin. Acad. p. 251. 
 
 p. 651, and Cotton MS. Faustina, ' Cotton MS. Faustina, c. vii. f. 
 c. VII. ff. 127, 166. 164 ; Mun. Acad. pp. 249252, 261, 
 
 - Cotton MS. Faustina, c vii. ff. 266. 
 \2(-)h -i^od, i66b.
 
 296 DECLINE OF THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 were monks and three friars, one Doctor of Canon Law, four 
 Doctors of Civil Law, one Doctor of Medicine a foreigner, 
 ten Bachelors of Divinity, twelve Masters of Arts Regent, 
 and eighteen Non-Regent, four Bachelors of Law, twelve 
 scholars of Divinity, and six junior scholars whose rank and 
 wealth entitled them to a place beside the graduates.' These 
 statistics seem to show that in the reign of Henry IV., at any 
 rate, the whole number of clerks at Oxford cannot have been 
 very great. A list of the cooks and other laymen enjoying 
 the privilege of the University in 1383 contains one hundred 
 and forty-five names. ^ 
 
 The decline in the number of students at Oxford in the 
 later part of the fourteenth century was accompanied by a 
 decline in the reputation of the University. Paris again 
 became the intellectual centre of Western Christendom, and 
 the Papal schism, which at one time seemed likely to prove 
 disastrous to all Universities alike, served only to bring into 
 high relief the great moral strength of the French theologians. 
 " The age of the schism," writes Crevier " is the epoch of the 
 most brilliant position of our University. Never was it more 
 consulted or more listened to. Never did it take so prominent 
 a part in deciding affairs of the greatest importance. It then 
 gave birth to greater men than had ever come out of it before 
 a Nicholas de Clemengis, a Peter d'AilH, the incomparable 
 John Gerson."3 The University of Oxford had no such 
 names as these to boast, and it played but a secondary part 
 in the negotiations for restoring the unity of the Latin 
 Church. 
 
 The schism broke out in the autumn of 1378, Clement VII. 
 being then elected Pope at P^ondi, in opposition to Urban VI. 
 who had been elected at Rome in the previous spring. 
 Although the King of P>ancc announced his adhesion to 
 
 ' Register of 15 p. Repyngdon, f. ' Histoire de rUnivcrsite dc 
 
 136 (Tvvyne MS. vol. ii. fT 13). Piiiis, vol. iii. p. 3. 
 
 " Twyne MS. vol. iv. f. 199.
 
 THE PAPAL SCHISM. 297 
 
 Clement VII. in the middle of November, the University of 
 Paris could not come to any decision in the matter for several 
 months.' It had already recognised Urban as Pope, and the 
 governments of several of the countries from which it drew 
 its members had also espoused his cause. After great 
 debates in the month of May, 1379, a formal declaration in 
 favour of Clement was issued in the name of the University 
 of Paris by the Faculties of Theology, Law, and Medicine, and 
 the Nations of France and Normandy, in spite of the vigorous 
 protests of the nations of England and Picardy.^ Neverthe- 
 less a joint letter is said to have been subscribed in 1380 by 
 the Universities of Paris, Oxford, Prague, and Rome, urging 
 the Emperor Wenceslaus to heal the schism, and requesting 
 the Pope Urban to make preparations for the assembly of a 
 General Council. ^ Two years later, the Nations of England 
 and Picardy at last allowed the seal of the University of 
 Paris to be affixed to a document in which Clement was 
 addressed as Pope, and all active opposition to him from that 
 quarter was finally abandoned. + On the other hand the 
 University of Oxford was no less definitely pledged to 
 maintain the cause of the Italian claimant.^ The decision 
 in both cases was more influenced by considerations of 
 general policy than by regard to the strict forms of eccle- 
 siastical law.^ All adherents of the Anti-Pope Robert, as 
 Clement was styled in England, were by Act of Parliament 
 made liable to forfeiture of their goods. ^ The mere fact, 
 however, that the English supported Urban was enough to 
 make the Scots follow the example of their French allies, by 
 ' Histoire de VUiiiv. dc Paris, from Walsingham (p. 2742) is ob- 
 
 pp. 24 28. 
 
 - Du Boulay, Hist. Univ. Paris, 
 
 vioiisly wrong, inasmuch as Urban 
 died in 1389. 
 
 vol. iv. pp. 566 574. . ^ Gieseler's Ecclesiastical His- 
 
 ' Goldast, Monarcliia Roiiiaiii ' tory, (trs. Hull) vol. iv. p. 97, note 
 
 J/iiperii, vol. i. p. 229. 8 ; Milman's Latin Christianity, 
 
 * Du Boulay, vol. iv. pp. 591, 592. book xiii. c. i, last note. 
 
 5 Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. " 2 Ric. II. c. 7. 
 
 224. The date 1395 there given
 
 298 THE PAPAL SCHISM. 
 
 declaring in favour of the rival Pontiff. During a temporary 
 truce between England and France, in December, 1382, the 
 Chancellor and Proctors of the University of Oxford were 
 commanded by the Great Council of the realm to suffer 
 Scottish scholars to pursue their studies unmolested, unless 
 they were adherents of the Anti-Pope/ When one claimant 
 professed himself willing to submit the controversy to a 
 General Council, the other stood on his rights as the true 
 successor of St. Peter, 
 
 The death of Urban VI. in 1389 did not mend matters, for 
 the Cardinals belonging to his faction lost no time in electing 
 a successor to him, who took the name of Boniface IX, The 
 University of Paris laboured persistently to put an end to the 
 scandal. In the middle of the year 1394, it addressed a formal 
 letter to the French King, pointing out that the unity of the 
 Church might be restored, either by the simultaneous ab- 
 dication of the two claimants, or by an arbitration between 
 them, or by the decree of a General Council. So sincerely 
 anxious indeed was it for peace that it incurred the wrath of 
 the Pope whom it acknowledged.^ On his death in September, 
 1394, it tried in vain to induce the Cardinals at Avignon to 
 postpone the election of a new Pope.'* The Cardinal Peter 
 de Luna received the votes of his colleagues, and took the name 
 of Benedict XIII. A council of the Galilean Church, held in 
 February, 1395, strongly advised the resignation of Benedict 
 and of Boniface alike, and the scheme was approved even by the 
 Cardinals who had so lately elected the former.^ The University 
 of Paris therefore sent a Doctor of each of the three superior 
 r^aculties and two Masters of Arts to England at the end of 
 the month of August, to solicit the help of the University of 
 Oxford. The deputies, however, were sent back by Richard 1 1., 
 
 ' Rymer'si^2'^ifrrt, vol. vii. p. 372. "" Du Boulay, vol. iv. pp. 703 
 
 '' Crevier, Histoirc dc VUnivcr- 713. 
 s/'/c dc Pivis, \o\. iii. p. 77. ^ Crevier, vol. iii. pp. 136 
 
 ^ Du Boulay, vol. iv. pp. 687 151. 
 703 ; Cicselcr, vol. iv. p. iio.
 
 THE PAPAL SCHISM. 
 
 299 
 
 who informed them that no steps could be taken in the matter 
 until the clerks of Oxford and Cambridge should return to their 
 studies after the long vacation.^ Undaunted by all rebuffs, the 
 University of Paris wrote letters on the 12th of March, 1396, 
 urging the different Universities and princes of Western Europe 
 to adopt the scheme which it had devised for putting an end 
 to the schism.2 Five days later, the University of Oxford 
 forwarded to the King of England a severe criticism of the 
 French proposals. It made no pretence of impartiality. The 
 graduates of Paris had said that the two claimants of the 
 Papal throne were responsible for the continuance of a grievous 
 scandal, but the graduates of Oxford laid all the blame on 
 Benedict. He, they declared, was an anti-Pope, and he 
 alone ought to be compelled to resign. Practical objec- 
 tions were moreover raised against the simultaneous resigna- 
 tion of the rival Pontiffs. There were two claimants of 
 almost every Cardinal's title. On what terms, it was asked, 
 could the rival colleges be induced to meet .'' Neither 
 would acknowledge the rights of the other, and if they both 
 resigned, it would be impossible to form a conclave for the 
 election of a new Pope. In the opinion of the University of 
 Oxford, a General Council could alone restore peace to the 
 Church. 3 
 
 Benedict XIII. showed himself so averse to any reasonable 
 compromise, that in July, 1398, the states and clergy of France 
 formally withdrew their allegiance from him."* Deserted by 
 most of his Cardinals, this stubborn claimant spent the next 
 five years as a prisoner in his own palace at Avignon. The King 
 of France and the University of Paris again addressed the 
 King of England on the subject of the schism, in the later part 
 of 1398, and he in turn sought the advice of the Universities 
 
 ' Du Boulay, vol. iv. pp. 751, College MS. liii. f. 317. Wood 
 
 752,772,773. {A7inals, vol. i. p. 533) gives the 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 773775. date as 1397. It should be 1395-6. 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 776-785 ; Magdalen ^ Du Boulay, vol. iv. p. S53.
 
 300 THE PAPAL SCHISM. 
 
 of Oxford and Cambridge.' An ecclesiastical council was also 
 summoned to meet at Oxford at the end of January, 1 399, to 
 consider the question.^ It would appear that the University 
 offered to send twelve of its members to France, to argue 
 against the Parisians as to the best means of ending the 
 schism. 3 
 
 The escape of Benedict XIII. from prison created a 
 temporary reaction in his favour, and in 1403 the University 
 of Paris was induced to return to its old allegiance. It is 
 worthy of remark, however, that the Masters of the English 
 Nation refused to take part in the discussion that led to this 
 result, on the score that they had never been subject to the 
 Pope of Avignon.^ The King of Franc2 had all along allowed 
 them to recognise the Italian claimant as the true Pope, lest 
 they should secede from Paris and deprive that University of 
 its cosmopolitan character. Boniface IX. was succeeded by 
 Innocent VII., and he again by Gregory XII., who swore 
 solemnly at his election that he would do every thing in his 
 power to promote the reunion of the Church. It was not long, 
 however, before reports of Gregory's shameless nepotism and 
 insincerity reached England ; and in July 140S, a Provincial 
 Synod was held in London, at which it was resolved that no 
 money should be sent to the Pope during the continuance of 
 the schism. 5 The Chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge were 
 l)rescnt in person, and they were soon afterwards sent abroad 
 in company with the Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Scrope, 
 to make this decision known on the continent.'^ About the 
 
 ' Cotton ?iIS. Cleopatra, E. 11. caua., vol. ii. p. 279; Parker, Pe 
 
 f. 224. Antiqttitaie Brituniiiac Ecclesicc, 
 
 ' Wake's State of the Church in (ed. 1729) p. 411. See also a letter 
 
 Con7>ocntio7i, Appendix, p. 80. from Henry I\^. to Rupert, King of 
 
 3 Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 534. the Romans, in Ilarl. MS. 431, f. 
 
 ' Dii Boulay, vol. v. p. 65. 16. Wood mentions this embassy 
 
 ^ Wake, p. 347, and Appendix, under the year 141 7, being evidently 
 
 pp. 82 85. misled by the date in the margin 
 
 " Walsingham, Historia Angli^ of Archbishop Parker's book just
 
 AN OXONIAN POPE. 301 
 
 same time, a theologian of Oxford named Richard Ullerston 
 drew up a memorial in favour of the reformation of the Church, 
 and dedicated it to Robert Halam, Bishop of Salisbury, who 
 had formerly been Chancellor of the University.' The two 
 claimants of the papal throne were ere long held up to public 
 scorn by their own Cardinals. 
 
 When at length a General Council was summoned to meet 
 at Pisa, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge made 
 choice of suitable persons to represent them.^ As the English 
 delegates passed through Paris on their way to Italy, they 
 were greeted in the name of the University by the illustrious 
 Gerson, who specially complimented the Oxonians on their 
 consistency in demanding a Council.^ The proceedings at 
 Pisa resulted in a sentence of deposition against Gregory and 
 Benedict alike, and in the election of Peter Philargi, a 
 Franciscan friar from Crete, who had taken the degree of 
 Bachelor of Theology in the schools of Oxford. This Pope, 
 who assumed the title of Alexander V., is the only wearer of 
 the tiara whom either of the English Universities can claim 
 as a graduate.4 
 
 After a pontificate of only a few months, Alexander V. was 
 succeeded by John XXIII. Gregory XII. and Benedict XIII. 
 
 cited, where the date refers merely [ Annals, vol. i. p. 545. 
 
 to the year of the death of Arch- 
 bishop Arundel. 
 
 t Gascoigne, Loci e Libro Vcri- 
 tatum, (ed. Rogers) pp. 161, 162, 
 
 ' Von der Hardt, Constafitiense 174. In writing to this Pope, 
 
 Concilium, vol. i. pp. 11 15 II73; Henry IV. reminds him, " ^zm/Z/tv 
 
 Walsingham. a jtiventute Jiiistis in fcgno Anglicc 
 
 "" Alansi, Concilioru?n Collectio, ac etiani in prcEclaro Univcrsitatis 
 
 vol. xxvi. p. 1248; Boase's7?^^z'jV^r ' OxonicB studio convcrsati, quodque 
 
 of Exeter College, p. 14. \ inultos hof tores et bona quaniplura 
 
 3 Gcrsonii Opera, (ed. Dupin) '. suscepistis ibidem." April 15, 1410. 
 
 vol. ii. pp. 123 130. Woodcharac- j Cotton MS. Cleopatra, E. 11. f. 
 
 teristically adds that Gerson "ex- ; \62b. Wood {Annals, vol. i. p. 
 
 horted the auditory to concord, j 535) seems to ascribe this letter to 
 
 fearing lest the Oxonians should 1 the year 1403, and states that the 
 
 become superior in debating and so English recognised Benedict XIII. 
 take the honour awav from Paris.'"
 
 302 PJWPOSALS FOR REFORM. 
 
 continuing all the while to maintain their respective claims to 
 the tiara. There were thus no less than three Popes in the 
 field. Another General Council was therefore summoned to 
 meet at the end of 1414, in order to put an end to the scandal. 
 Before the opening of this Council at Constance, the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford drew up forty-six articles for the reformation 
 of the Church, and forwarded them to the King of England. 
 In them we find a forcible yet dignified protest against many 
 of the abuses which Wyclif and his followers had denounced 
 with such passionate vehemence. While fully recognising 
 John XXIII. as their lawful Pope, the Oxford Masters suggest 
 that he and his two rivals should alike resign their claims, in 
 order to secure peace to the Church. They complain of the 
 simoniacal and extortionate proceedings of the Roman Court, 
 and of the appointment of foreigners to benefices in England. 
 They accuse the Archbishops of Canterbury and York of 
 encroaching on the rights of their suffragans, and they charge 
 the whole order of prelates with nepotism and avarice. 
 Abbots, they contend, should not be allowed to wear mitres 
 and sandals, as if they were of equal rank with bishops, and 
 monks should not be exempt from ordinary episcopal juris- 
 diction. Friars should be restrained from granting absolution 
 on easy terms, from stealing children, and from begging for 
 alms in the house of God. Secular canons should be made 
 to abandon their luxurious style of living, and masters of 
 hospitals to pay more regard to the wants of the poor. Parish 
 priests who neglect the flocks committed to their care, are 
 described as ravening woh^cs. Several of the articles refer to 
 prevalent abuses in the exercise of ecclesiastical patronage, a 
 subject which touched the University very nearly. The 
 claims of virtuous students, it is said, were too often over- 
 looked, while benefices were given or sold to illiterate persons. 
 Unworthy candidates were admitted to the priesthood without 
 examination. Complaint is also made of the non-observance 
 of the Sabbatli, and of the iniquitous swstcm of indulgences.
 
 PROPOSALS FOR REFORM. 303 
 
 Most of the Oxford articles of 1414 might have been 
 subscribed, or even composed, by an avowed disciple of John 
 Wyclif,and the whole University would perhaps have incurred 
 suspicion of heresy if it had not included among them a 
 demand for active measures against the Lollards. It also 
 requested that all new books or tracts issued " since the be- 
 ginning of the Anglican schism " might be withdrawn from 
 circulation until the translations of them into the mother 
 tongue had been approved by scholars of undoubted ortho- 
 doxy.^ The real wishes of the Oxford Masters seem to have 
 been accurately expressed by Henry Abingdon, afterwards 
 Warden of Merton, who, in a sermon delivered at the Council 
 of Constance in 141 5, showed much greater zeal for the 
 reformation of the Church than for the extirpation of heresy.^ 
 In that great assembly there was scarcely any one who 
 distinguished himself more than Robert Halam, the noble 
 Bishop of Salisbury, a former Chancellor of Oxford. 3 
 
 By far the most important building that was erected at 
 Oxford between the reigns of Edward III. and Henry VI. 
 was the sumptuous New College of William of Wykeham, 
 which has been already noticed. The burghers repaired the 
 walls of the town in the time of Richard II., and, in 1418, the 
 Warden and Fellows of Merton received royal licence to 
 fortify and embattle the tower which they were building over 
 the north gate of their college.^ A library, which has long 
 since disappeared, was built at Stapeldon Hall in 1383, at a 
 cost of nearly sixty pounds.^ The dwelling of the Benedictine 
 students from St. Alban's was partly rebuilt by John de la 
 Moote, Abbot of that great monastery, at the end of the 
 fifteenth century, and his successor, Abbot Heyworth, made 
 it the handsomest of the different houses that were comprised 
 
 ' Wake, Appendix, pp. 8997. 
 
 "" Lenfant, Histoire dii Co7idlc 
 de Constance, p. 339. 
 
 3 Milman's La/in Cliristianity, 
 book xiii. chapters 8 10. 
 
 "* Peshall, p. 191 ; Patent Roll, 10 
 Henry V. p. i. m. 36. 
 
 5 B case's Register of Exeter 
 College, p. 178.
 
 304 DURHAM COLLEGE. 
 
 within Gloucester College.' Walter Skirlaw, the munificent 
 Bishop of Durham, is said to have saved Durham College 
 at Oxford from utter destruction, and in 1404 he bequeathed 
 20/. for its maintenance.^ The character of that mixed 
 establishment was somewhat altered about the same time, by 
 an ordinance of the Prior and Chapter of Durham, that the 
 eight secular students should wait on the regular brethren at 
 table, and that they should never go outside the gates of the 
 College, except for the purpose of attending the schools, 
 without special permission from the Warden. ^ They were thus 
 placed in a position of marked inferiority to the Benedictine 
 monks. The chapel in which they attended divine service 
 was, like the mother church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, as we 
 learn from a bull of Pope John XXIII., which sanctioned its 
 use as a burial-place for the members of the College.^ In 
 142 1, the Augustinian canons presented a petition to Henry V., 
 stating that they alone of all the religious orders had no place 
 of study at Oxford, and praying him to buy for them a piece 
 of ground that was then for sale on Canditch, close to the 
 dwelling of the monks of Durham.^ The scheme was not 
 carried out at that particular time, or in that particular 
 manner, and the chief interest of the petition lies in the 
 negative evidence it supplies that the Augustinian Abbey of 
 Oseney, and the Augustinian Priory of St. Frideswyde, were 
 not considered places of study in the technical sense of the 
 expression. They were not affiliated to the great University, 
 which perhaps owed its origin to them. 
 
 In 1410, the Provost and Scholars of Oriel, acknowledging 
 that the House of Congregation on the north side of the 
 chancel of St. Mary's Church had belonged to the University 
 
 ' Gcsta Abbatuni Monastcrii 
 S. Albani, (ed. Riley) vol. iii. p. 
 454 ; Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. ii. 
 
 "^ Ibid. p. ccxxii. 
 
 Ibid. p. cciii. 
 
 5 Rotuli Parlianicnioriiiu, vol. iv. 
 
 p. 199. p. 190; Patent Roll, 14 Hen. \^I. 
 
 - Hisforice Duiiclmcnsis Scripto- p. 2, ni. 19. 
 
 res 
 
 Trcs (Surtces Society), p. c.xciii.
 
 THE P UBLIC LIBRA R Y. 30 5 
 
 before the advowson of that Church had been granted to their 
 College, surrendered their claims on it for a nominal annual 
 rent, on payment of fifty marks by Thomas Arundel, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. ' Richard Courtenay, who was Chan- 
 cellor of the University in the following year, displayed great 
 zeal about the completion of the public library on the upper 
 floor of the House of Congregation. Presents of books or 
 money were sent by Henry IV., and by his four sons, Henry 
 Thomas, John, and Humphrey, by Philip Repyngdon, Bishop 
 of Lincoln, and by Edmund Mortimer, the youthful Earl of 
 March. In 1412, a list of all the books, with the names of the 
 donors, was written on a large board hanging in the library, 
 and a duplicate of it was deposited in the Chest of the Four 
 Keys. The salary of the librarian was at the same time 
 raised to eight marks a year, and it was ordered that he 
 should thenceforward receive handsome robes from every new 
 graduate. In his other capacity, he was charged with the duty 
 of saying mass for the benefit of the different benefactors to 
 the University, the normal scene of his ministrations being an 
 altar near the door of the House of Congregation, dedicated 
 to St. Catharine, the patroness of schools. Several regulations 
 were also made in 141 2 for the management of the library, 
 which was to be open daily from nine to eleven in the morning, 
 and from one to four in the afternoon, except on certain 
 festivals. Between these hours, the books might be consulted 
 by graduates, by monks who had spent eight years in the 
 study of philosophy, and by the sons of barons who sat in 
 Parliament. No special favour was shown in this respect to 
 the mendicant friars, who were very unpopular at the time. 
 Masters of Grammar and Bachelors of every Faculty, except 
 that of Theology, were required to wear their academical dress 
 whenever they visited the library, and all readers, of whatever 
 degree, were required, to swear that they would not in any way 
 injure the books which they were allowed to consult. The 
 ' Ayliffc, \ ol. ii. pp. Ix.xx. Ixxxvi.
 
 3o6 ACADEMICAL PROPERTY. 
 
 keys of the chains by which the books were fastened to the 
 desks in the hbrary, were kept in the Chest of the Four 
 Keys.' At least one book belonging to the University, a 
 copy of the popular biblical commentary by the Franciscan 
 doctor, Nicholas de Lyra, was kept in the chancel of St. Mary's 
 Church, of course duly secured with chains. ^ The official 
 property of the Chancellor, consisting of a book of the statutes, 
 a seal, and a silver cup bequeathed by Master John Aylmer, 
 was kept in the Chest of the Four Keys during any vacancy 
 of the chanccllorship.3 
 
 A new chest styled " the Chest of the Five Keys " was 
 made about the year 141 1, for the reception of movable goods 
 which had no proper place in any of the other chests of the 
 University. The Chancellors and the Proctors received a key 
 apiece, while the two remaining keys were entrusted to the 
 care of two secular masters who were heads of colleges. The 
 statute sanctioning this arrangement marks the date at which 
 the heads of the colleges began to have a recognised position 
 in the University, higher than that of the principals of 
 halls, or of graduates in general. It will be seen hereafter 
 how they eventually obtained oligarchical power. One of 
 the two heads of colleges appointed as guardians of the chest 
 at the first election was a Northerner, and the other was 
 a Southerner, and the words of the statutes seem to imply 
 that this distinction was to be maintained at future elections.'* 
 Though there were at the time only six endowed secular 
 colleges at Oxford, it was tolerably certain that each of the 
 two national parties would have at least one representative 
 among the six heads. The southern element was generally 
 predominant at Merton,and Stapeldon Hall, and the northern 
 element at University Hall, Balliol Hall, and Queen's Hall. 
 
 The relations between the University and the town of 
 Oxford appear to have been more friendly during the reigns 
 
 ' Mim. Aidd. pp. 261 "263, 375, = 7/>id. pp. 271, 272. 
 
 74" J^dd. p. 270. J Jbid. pp. 257 25<;.
 
 LOCAL CONTESTS. 307 
 
 of Richard II., Henry IV., and Henry V., than at any former 
 period. The burghers acknowledged themselves vanquished 
 in the long struggle for supremacy, and made no attempt to 
 shake off the yoke that had been imposed on them. Some- 
 times indeed they raised a protest against the encroachments 
 of the clerks, as for instance in 1378, when Merton College 
 appropriated two acres of land in Canditch between Smith 
 Gate and Crowell, on which a daily market had hitherto been 
 held.' They had more serious cause for complaint against 
 the same College two years later, for no sooner had they re- 
 paired the fortifications and cleansed the ditch at considerable 
 expense than the Mertonians, assembling in martial array, 
 proceeded to fill up part of the ditch, on the score that 
 it interfered v/ith a path frequented by them and their 
 neighbours.^ 
 
 The clerks themselves were as lawless and quarrelsome as 
 ever. There were great disturbances at Oxford in Lent 
 1378, and the messengers sent by the King's Council to 
 preserve the peace were so rudely treated by the Chancellor, 
 the Proctors, and three Benedictine monks, that the liberties 
 of the University were for a while suspended. ^ Fifteen 
 months later, the Chancellor had to invoke the assistance of 
 the Sheriff against certain scholars and others, who, on being 
 banished from Oxford, had fled to the neighbouring woods, 
 and organised themselves into a band of robbers. Soon 
 after the accession of the house of Lancaster, the King gave 
 authority to the Chancellor and his successors to demand the 
 arrest of any clerks who might be excommunicated by them 
 in the course of the next twenty years. ^ 
 
 ' Twyne MS. vol. xxii. f. 284. 
 
 " Close Roll, 3 Ric. II, m. 15. 
 There is among the undated Par- 
 liamentary petitions in the Public 
 Record Office another document 
 
 controversy. 
 
 3 Rymer's Feeder a^ vol. vii. p. 
 188. 
 
 Close Roll, 3 Ric. II. m. 40 
 (Hare MS. f. 127). 
 
 (No. 6322), probably a few years \ s Patent Roll, i Henry IV. p. 3, 
 later in date, referring to the same m. 30 (Hare MS. f. 134). 
 
 X
 
 3o8 WELSHMEN AND NORTHERNERS. 
 
 The bitterness of feeling that had so long subsisted between 
 the Northerners and the Southerners was aggravated, in the 
 later part of the fourteenth century, by the fact that the 
 former were on the whole inclined to Lollard opinions, 
 while the latter professed themselves the obedient children 
 of the Church. Derisive nicknames were freely bandied 
 between the two factions, and there was no surer way of 
 irritating a native of Durham or of Northumberland than by 
 calling him a Scot.' The Welsh sided with the Southerners, 
 and at the end of April, 1388, a general encounter took place, 
 in which several persons were killed. IMany Northern scholars 
 left Oxford in consequence, and the Chancellor, Robert 
 Rygge, having failed to do his duty in the matter, was deposed 
 by authority of Parliament,^ The strife was renewed with 
 increased virulence at the beginning of Lent in the following 
 year. Not satisfied with casual skirmishes in the streets of 
 Oxford, the contending parties arranged to fight a pitched 
 battle in the open country on a particular day, and this catas- 
 trophe was only averted by the active intervention of Thomas 
 of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. A royal messenger 
 was despatched in all haste to the Chancellor and Proctors, 
 and for about a fortnight the peace of Oxford was not 
 seriously disturbed. The banishment of some turbulent 
 Welshmen, however, proved the occasion of a fresh outbreak, 
 for as they knelt down to kiss the gates of the town, they 
 were subjected to gross indignities by their triumphant 
 adversaries. Moreover a party of Northerners, headed by a 
 chaplain named Speeke, paraded the streets in military array, 
 threatening to kill any one who looked out of window, and 
 shouting " War, war ! " " Slay the Welsh dogs and their 
 whelps!" Deep Hall, Nevile's Entry, and St. Agatha's Hall 
 
 ' Rymcr, vol. vii. p. 486 ; Mun. ' 11 Ric. II. m. 5 (Twyne MS. vol. 
 
 Acad. p. 587. iv. f. 573) ; Close Roll, 12 Ric. II, 
 
 - Knyghton, in Twysdcn's Scrip- m. 38 ; Chrfliiicon Adcc dc fA/', (ed. 
 
 toyes Decern, c. 2705 ; Close Roll. Thompson) p. 7.
 
 WELSHMEN AND IRISHMEN. 309 
 
 were broken open, and the goods of such Welsh scholars as 
 lodged in them were plundered. Three days later, on a 
 Sunday, the same Speeke and his comrades wrecked several 
 other halls, and caroused together at night. Adam of Usk, 
 the chronicler, boasts that, on the third day of the riot, the 
 Welshmen, reinforced by the Scholars of Merton Hall, drove 
 their adversaries from the streets and forced them to take 
 refuge in their own halls. For this breach of the peace, he 
 and the other ringleaders were put on their trial, and he 
 was fortunate in obtaining an acquittal. Some of his 
 comrades seem to have been imprisoned for several months.' 
 One element of disturbance was removed in 1401, for on the 
 outbreak of Owen Glcndower's rebellion the Welsh scholars 
 at Oxford and at Cambridge betook themselves to their 
 native land.^ 
 
 Wood gives the names of some Irish scholars who were 
 concerned in riots at Oxford in 1401 and 1402.3 Soon after 
 this, the University passed a statute to the effect that no 
 scholar, who had been expelled from any convent or hall, 
 should be received into any other society until he had under- 
 gone punishment, and given security for his better behaviour 
 in the future.^ The riots at Oxford in the spring of 141 1 were 
 so serious that the King's Council had to take the duty of 
 punishing the offending clerks out of the hands of the 
 Chancellor. 5 The violent opposition that Archbishop Arundel 
 encountered at Oxford in the same year has already been 
 noticed in the account of his visitation.'' 
 
 A Parliament which met in 141 3 ordered that all Irishmen 
 and Irish clerks, beggars called " Chamberdekens," should quit 
 the realm before a certain da)', except graduates in the schools, 
 
 ' Knyghton, c. 2735 ! Devon's iii. p. 457. 
 
 Issues of the Exchequer^ pp. 237, j ^ A7inals, vol. i. p. 539. 
 
 238 ; Wood's Amials, vol. i. pp. > * Mini. Acad. p. 252. 
 520, 521 ; Chroiiicon Aihe de Usk, '' Patent Roll, 12 Henry 1\'. m. 
 
 p. 7. 7''', and m. \^b. 
 
 "' Rotiili r,irlia/>iL/i/oi-uin, vol. ' Pages 293, 294, above.
 
 3IO LAWLESSNESS. 
 
 sergeants and apprentices of law, inheritors of property in 
 England, professed monks, and merchants of good reputation.' 
 A royal writ was, however, soon afterwards sent to the Mayor 
 and Bailiffs of Oxford, exempting the Irish and Welsh students 
 in that town from the operation of the statute.^ The Govern- 
 ment certainly had no w^ish to deter Irish clerks from studying 
 at the English Universities, and it allowed some of them to 
 receive the emoluments of their neglected benefices during the 
 whole time of their residence at Oxford. 3 
 
 The Oxford students gave evidence of their lawless character 
 far outside the walls of the town. In 1413, Henry V. had 
 cause to complain that some of them had been poaching in 
 the forests of Shotover, Stowood, and Bernwood, in the warren 
 of Woodstock, and in the park of Beckley, and threatening the 
 lives of his officers.'* So again, eight years later, the Commons 
 in Parliament represented that the scholars of Oxford were in 
 the habit of hunting the deer, the hares, and the rabbits, in the 
 neighbouring preserves, and of rescuing their guilty comrades 
 from gaol. 5 
 
 A serious attempt to cure the chronic disorders of the 
 University was made in the later part of the reign of Henry V. 
 The Millers Tale and the Reeves Tale in Chaucer, show some 
 of the evils that were certain to occur when a number of hot- 
 blooded young men were allowed to live in a crowded town 
 without any supervision. Many of the riots and brawls which 
 disgraced mediaeval Oxford were equally due to this want of 
 proper discipline, and at last it came to be seen that some 
 
 ' St. I Hen. \'. c. 8. | the purpose of study for no less 
 
 ' Close Roll, I Hen. V. m. 8. i than twenty years. Patent Roll, 
 
 ' Patent Roll, i Hen. IV. p. 6, i 4 Henry V. m. 3 (quoted in 6'/(Z////^j-, 
 
 vol. iii.). 
 
 - Close Roll, I Henry V., m. 29^ 
 (quoted in S/a/u/es, vol. iii.). 
 
 " Roliili ParUanicnioriiin, vol. iv. 
 p. 131 ; Staiuics of the Realtii., vol. 
 
 m. 35 ; Patent Roll, 6 Henry W . 
 p. 1, m. 32. In 1417 John Alartell, 
 a scholar of Oxford, a native of 
 Ireland, Warden of the free chapel 
 of the Holy Trinity, Cork, had 
 licence to remain in llnL^Iand for : ii. p. 20
 
 DISC IP LIN A R V R UL ES. 3 1 1 
 
 radical change was necessary. The King therefore, at the 
 end of March, 1420, issued some ordinances for academical 
 reform, which were reduced to a statute of the University a 
 month later. It was then enacted that all scholars, and 
 scholars' servants of years of discretion, should, on their first 
 coming to Oxford, solemnly take the oath for keeping the peace, 
 which had hitherto been taken by graduates only. More 
 important than this was the rule that scholars and their 
 servants should no longer be allowed to lodge in the houses of 
 laymen, every one of them being required to place himself 
 under the government of some discreet Principal approved 
 by the Chancellor and Regents.' All Masters and scholars 
 who kept servants were called upon to give surety for their 
 peaceable behaviour, and all Principals were made to swear 
 that they would not admit any unruly persons to dwell in their 
 halls.^ The effect of the statute of 1420 has been visible at 
 Oxford for more than four centuries and a half, the " unattached 
 students" of the present day being a class of very recent 
 origin. 
 
 The Colleges, steadily increasing in popularity and influence, 
 were not without their share of domestic feuds in the period 
 embraced by this chapter. In 1376, the Archbishop of York 
 as Visitor of Queen's Hall, sent commissioners thither to oust 
 the Provost, Henry Whitfield, and several of the scholars, 
 among whom was John Trevisa, well known to posterity as 
 the translator of Iligden's Polychronicon, and other works. 
 Whitfield seems to have gone through the form of resigning 
 his ofiice, and the ejected scholars received an offer of re- 
 admission. They decided, however, to go away, taking with 
 them the common seal of the College, and various muniments, 
 books, jewels, and keys. Those of them who were cited to 
 appear in Chancery neglected to do so, and, even after a 
 warrant had been issued for their arrest, the College was unable 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 277 279, ' given as 142 1. Cf. Cotton MS. 
 wlicrc, however, tlie date is wrongly ' Faustina, C. vii. f. 117.
 
 312 DISPUTES IN COLLEGES. 
 
 to recover its missing property.' At last the care of the 
 College was by royal order specially intrusted to a committee, 
 consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Treasurer, and 
 five other great officers of State.^ 
 
 It has been suggested that the seceding scholars were an 
 anti-northern party, who objected to the reservation of half 
 the places in the College for natives of Cumberland and 
 Westmoreland. Trevisa eventually returned, but merely as a 
 lodger paying rent for his chamber,3 By a petition addressed 
 to Richard H. by his wife, the official patroness of Queen's 
 College, it appears that the revenue was insufficient to main- 
 tain the proper number of members. There were but six 
 scholars instead of twelve, two chaplains instead of four, one 
 master instead of two, and six poor boys instead of twelve.* 
 
 There was a disputed election at Oriel College in 1386, five 
 of the fellows having chosen John Middleton to be Provost, 
 and four having chosen Thomas Kirton.s A royal commission 
 consisting of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of 
 Winchester, the Chancellor of the University, and the Warden 
 of Merton, was appointed to settle the controversy, and 
 eventually the King's serjeant-at-arms was ordered to put 
 Thomas Kirton in possession of the College.^ It was not long, 
 however, before Kirton resigned his office in the presence of 
 the Chancellor, and his former rival was then admitted with- 
 
 John Wyclif and his disciples had 
 not yet begun. W. Thomson, An 
 Opc7i College, pp. 27, 28, 30. 
 
 Patent Roll, 7 Ric. II. p. 2, m. 
 
 ' Rymer's Fa'dera, vol. vii. p. 
 125 ; Close Roll, i Ric. II. m. iS ; 
 Patent Roll, i Ric. II. p. 3, m. 24 ; 
 p. 5, m. z6l) ; RotiiU Parliauieti- 
 /oru/n, vol. iii. p. 69 ; Patent Roll, \ 11 (a.d. 1384). 
 3 Ric. II. p. 2, m. 12/;. Mr. Boase, i ' Thomson, pp. 32, 33. 
 following Wood, states that the | * Aiitiqiearia/i Repertory, vol. i. 
 Provost of Queen's and five others \ pp. 126, 127. 
 
 "were expelled as Wicklifites in '' '~ Patent Roll, 9 Ric. II. p. 2, m. 
 \y]C)!'-~ Register of Exeter College, 20 [Statutes). 
 
 |). xiv. There is, however, no ' Ibid. m. 4, Patent Roll, 10 
 
 evidence as to the cause of their l\ic. II. p. i,in. 18 'Statutes). 
 expulbion^ and the persecution of
 
 RIVAL FACULTIES. 313 
 
 out opposition.' Party spirit broke out again in this College 
 in 141 1, on the occasion of Archbishop Arundel's visitation. 
 
 The antagonism that had so long subsisted between the 
 secular and the regular clergy showed itself from time to time. 
 In 1379, the Dominican friars persuaded the King's Council 
 to revoke a letter of privy seal, which, they said, had been 
 fraudulently obtained in order to restrain them from taking 
 degrees at Oxford.^ The old rule of the University prescribed 
 that no one should be admitted to graduate in Theology at 
 Oxford who had not already graduated in Arts, and although 
 monks and friars generally received " graces," or exemptions, 
 any occasional enforcement of the rule was bitterly resented 
 by them. 3 They also complained that those of their number 
 who desired to lecture on canon law were hampered by 
 vexatious statutes. At last, under strong pressure from the 
 highest authorities in Church and State, the University in 
 142 1 promised that the necessary graces should be granted to 
 members of the religious orders as a matter of course, unless 
 there were some good reason for refusing them.* 
 
 The Faculty of Medicine, never very popular at Oxford, 
 found its prerogatives invaded at the end of the fourteenth 
 century, by certain laymen, who, without any licence, took 
 upon themselves to practise in the town and its neighbourhood. 
 Interlopers of this sort not being amenable to the statutes of 
 the University, might long have exercised their lucrative 
 calling with impunity, if the graduates in Congregation had 
 not, in 14CO, hit upon the ingenious device of proceeding 
 against them as " disturbers of the peace." ^ 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 10 Ric. II. p. i, {Sfahites). 
 
 111. I. I " Wilkins's Concilia^ vol. iii. pp. 
 
 - Close Roll, 2 Ric. II. m. 4 227,381,382,400. 
 
 {Statutes). 5 Mjin. Acad. p. 236 
 
 ' Close Roll, II Ri^. II. m. 15
 
 C Pi AFTER XII. 
 
 A.D. 1422 1485. 
 
 Continued Decline of the University Relaxation of Discipline 
 Erection of the Divinity School Cardinal Beaufort's Bequest 
 Bishop Kemp's Benefaction The Library Humphrey, Duke of 
 Gloucester Donors of Books Foundation of new Chests Privi- 
 leges The Chancellorship of Oxford Time-serving Policy of the 
 University George Neville Noblemen at Oxford Acts of Re- 
 sumption Visits of Edward IV. and Richard III. Rupture 
 between the Universities of Paris and Oxford The Councils of 
 Basel and Ferrara Irish Clerks at Oxford National Differences 
 Statute against Chamberdekens Turbulence of the Clerks 
 Intestine Controversies Claims of the Lawyers Proceedings against 
 Heretics The Oxford Press Enlargement of Gloucester College 
 Foundation of St. Mary's College and St. Bernard's College. 
 
 MID the .political troubles of the fifteenth century, 
 learning in England was in an almost stagnant 
 condition. The age of the great schoolmen 
 was over ; that of the revivers of classical 
 literature had not begun. There were but few 
 original writers on any subject sacred or profane, and 
 those few have been aptly described as "pale and ineffectual 
 luminaries in the prevailing darkness." ' The very chronicles 
 of the time are singularly meagre and dull. Under these 
 unfavourable conditions, the schools of Oxford and Cambridge 
 lost much of their ancient reputation. Henry VL in 1438, 
 
 ' Mullingcr's Vnivcrsily of Cambridge, \). 29S.
 
 DECLINE OF THE UNIVERSITY. 315 
 
 directed the attention of the Convocation of Canterbury to 
 the marked decrease in the number of students, and, in the 
 following year, the graduates of Oxford compared their 
 beloved University to Rachel weeping for her children/ It 
 would seem that in 1443 there was not a single Doctor of 
 Civil Law resident in Oxford.^ The clerks lost no opportunity 
 of saying that the decline of the University was due to the 
 neglect of the orders which had been issued for the bestowal 
 of benefices on graduates.3 The burghers on the other hand 
 affected to believe that the students would increase in number 
 if there were more craftsmen in the town to minister to their 
 wants, and accordingly demanded the repeal of a recent 
 statute, which, in the interests of agriculture, restrained the 
 sons of poor men from becoming apprentices.^ 
 
 A paucity of students was not the only token of the 
 decline of the University. Discipline was obviously relaxed. 
 Academical degrees were conferred " by grace " on unworthy 
 persons, and even sold for money. s A statute was indeed 
 passed in 1440, forbidding candidates who had not gone 
 through the usual course of instruction to procure letters of 
 recommendation from influential personages, but the graduates 
 had not the courage to enforce it.^ A letter in the King's 
 name, backed by sundry threats and promises, obtained the 
 degree of Doctor of Divinity for a certain Vincent Clement, 
 who had served the Duke of Gloucester at the Court of 
 Rome, although he was merely in deacon's orders at the 
 time of the application.'' On another occasion, Henry VI. 
 recommended to the University a drunken simpleton named 
 Fulk Bermingham, who had been allowed to hold the 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. pp. = Gascoigne, Loci c Libra Vcri- 
 
 528, 529. taiutn, pp. 3, 20, 28. 
 
 - Register F. f. 64. * Muni)/ie?tia Acadeniica, j). 332. 
 
 ^ Ibid. ff. 45, 54, \\2b. ' Correspondence of Bekyftton, 
 
 - Rohili Pm-Hanicntorian, \o\. (ed. Williams) vol. i. pp. 223-225 ; 
 
 V. pp. 205, 337, 338; Stat. 7 Hen. Gascoigne,. p. 28. 
 IV. c. 17.
 
 3i6 THE DIVINITY SCHOOL. 
 
 archdeaconry of Oxford, a rectory, and several prebends.' 
 The King seems to have claimed a right to interfere in the 
 election of the bedels, or common servants, of the University, 
 but in some instances, the bedels' places were sold.'' 
 
 It was at this period of depression and corruption that 
 the University raised the noblest pile of buildings which it 
 can claim as its own. Some preliminary steps were taken in 
 the spring of 1424, towards the erection of a School of 
 Divinity, 3 and, about three years later, a convenient site was 
 acquired from the Master and Fellows of Balliol College, 
 bounded on the west by Exeter College, on the east by 
 School Street, and on the north by the lane which ran along- 
 side of the northern wall of the town.4 The University had 
 very little money to spare for such a work, and it had to 
 depend almost entirely on external assistance. Letters in 
 explanation of the scheme were in the first instance addressed 
 to the chapters-general of the Benedictine and Augustinian 
 Orders, and to the secular chapters of Salisbury, Wells, 
 Exeter, and Lincoln. The Master of St. Thomas's Hospital 
 in London was at the same time requested to furnish a list 
 of such wealthy citizens as were likely to contribute.^ In 
 answer to its first appeal, the University received a hundred 
 pounds from the Benedictine monks, and considerable 
 tlonations from Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 Thomas Langlcy, Bishop of Durham, and other benefactors.^ 
 The work was accordingly set in hand, and in 1430 a mason 
 styled Master Richard Wynchcombe was appointed ovcr- 
 seer.7 Many great men of the realm and other skilled 
 
 whom the University described the 
 work as "already begun," died in 
 1424. 
 
 ' Twync A IS. vol. ii. f. 104. 
 
 ' Correspondence ofBckyntoi, vol . 
 i. pp. 100-103 ; Gascoigne, pp. 14, 
 25, 166 ; Lc Neve, Fasti. 
 
 - F. ft". 104, 139/'; Gascoigne, 
 l>p. 49, 208. i 5 Y. ^{. 68. 
 
 ' F. K. i/;, 3. Wood gives tlie 1 '' Ibid. fif. 6//, 1619, 1'^^- 
 dale as 1427, but Nicholas V,\\h- ' ' The University undertook to 
 with, liihhop of Bath and Wells, to give him a yearly salary of 405. and
 
 CARDINAL BEAUFORT'S BEQUEST. 317 
 
 advisers found fault with the design as too elaborate, and it 
 was therefore resolved in 1440 to curtail the amount of 
 ornament which the carvers would have lavished on the 
 canopies and the mouldings.' The building nevertheless 
 proved so costly that in 1444 the University was almost at 
 an end of its resources, and there is reason to believe that 
 the work was discontinued for a while,^ 
 
 A favourable opportunity of obtaining help occurred in 
 1447, after the death of Cardinal Beaufort. This very 
 wealthy prelate had by his will directed that a considerable 
 part of his property should be devoted " to works of charity 
 and pious uses," and in applying for a grant the University 
 was able to plead that he had formerly been its Chancellor.3 
 After some deliberation, the executors of the Cardinal's will 
 resolved to contribute five hundred marks to the building of 
 the schools at Oxford, stipulating however that the money 
 should be repaid to them if the work was not finished within 
 five years. 
 
 The Oxonians testified their gratitude by appointing 
 certain services for the repose of the Cardinal's soul, and 
 by inserting his name and the names of his executors in the 
 list of their benefactors. They also bestirred themselves 
 about the building. Two Masters, specially skilled in archi- 
 tecture, the one a Northerner and the other a Southerner, were 
 appointed overseers, at a yearly salary of four marks apiece. 
 A separate fund was established for the prosecution of the 
 undertaking, and a tax was imposed on Masters and 
 Bachelors not resident at Oxford. In their anxiety to obtain 
 money, the graduates had recourse to some very questionable 
 expedients. They publicly resolved to offer " graces " for 
 
 a gown of the livery of the gentle- ! ' F. f. 55(5. 
 men, or 13^. J^d. and an allowance - F. f. "job. 
 
 of 4^'. and hay for his horse daring ^ Nicolas, Tcstaicnta Vctusia, 
 
 every week that he spent at Ox- 
 ford. F. f. 14.
 
 3i8 THE DIVINITY SCHOOL. 
 
 sale to respectable scholars, and to apply to the Pope and 
 other bishops for saleable indulgences. In consideration 
 moreover of a contribution of a hundred pounds from the 
 old religious orders, they agreed to modify the ancient 
 statutes concerning the admission of monks to academical 
 degrees.' Two neighbours. Lord Lovel, and Edmund Rede 
 of Boarstall, gave stone and timber, but still the work seems 
 to have gone on slowly.^* At last in 1466, the School was 
 ready for use, being then furnished with thirty-seven wooden 
 desks and seats. 3 
 
 It is doubtful whether the original design for the Divinity 
 School included an upper storey. In 1444, the University 
 expressed a desire to move its books from St, Mary's to the 
 place where the new building was in course of erection, but 
 for thirty years and more the idea of making a library was 
 seldom mentioned, the cost of such a work being too great 
 for the slender resources of the University,* It was in 1478 
 that Thomas Kemp, Bishop of London, the builder of 
 St, Paul's Cross, and of one of the most sumptuous chapels in 
 St, Paul's, announced his intention of giving the princely 
 sum of a thousand marks for the completion of the Divinity 
 School and the Library at Oxford, The Masters did their 
 best to requite his liberality, by providing anniversary 
 services for him and for his distinguished uncle, John Kemp, 
 formerly Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal.s These 
 two prelates are still commemorated on solemn occasions in 
 the long " bidding prayer " of the University ; their arms arc 
 
 ' Mun.Acad. pp. 333336, 567 : 354, 355 ; Dugdale's St. Paul's, pp. 
 
 575j 735 737- Exeter College also I 28,88. The oft-repeated statement 
 
 obtained a grant from the executors : that John Kemp contributed five 
 
 of Cardinal Beaufort. JJoasc's hundred marks, seems to be based 
 
 Register of Exeter College, p. 21. on the fact that he was one of the 
 
 ^ F. f. 100. executors of the will of Cardinal 
 
 ^ Miin. Acad. Yii^. ']\(),']\'j. \ Beaufort, who gave that sum. 
 
 * F. ff. 71(5, 121. j See Antlquiis Liber Bedcllo7-um., 
 
 ^ Ibid. ff. 132, 132/;, 136, 136^, I in Hearne's Robert of Avesbury, 
 
 141- 143; i^/;/;?.^rrt;rt'. pp. 351,352, ! p. 304.
 
 THE P UBLIC LIBRA R Y. 319 
 
 still to be seen, recurring in every group of shields, on the 
 elaborate groined roof of the Divinity School.' Other 
 inemorials of them in the painted glass of the windows, were 
 ruthlessly destroyed by the "Reformers" of the sixteenth 
 century.^ 
 
 The necessity of providing a Library arose out of a great 
 increase in the number of books belonging to the Uni- 
 versity, an increase which was almost entirely due to the 
 generosity of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, the uncle of 
 Henry VI. It was probably at the instigation of his 
 physician, Gilbert Kymer, \\'ho had been Chancellor of Oxford 
 in 143 1, that this great collector resolved to transfer his 
 literary treasures to the chief seat of learning in England. 
 A gift of nine volumes was quickly followed by another of 
 a hundred and twenty, on the receipt of which, in 1439, 
 the Masters wrote to the House of Commons in high praise 
 of the Duke, who, they said, had presented them "with 
 a thousand pounds worth and more of precious bokes."3 
 Most of the books were placed alongside of those which 
 had belonged to Bishop Cobham, in the chamber above 
 the House of Congregation, on the north side of St. 
 Mary's Church. Those works, however, which were likely 
 to be useful in the schools of arts were placed in " the Chest 
 of the Three Philosophies and the Seven Liberal Arts," which 
 had been established in 1434 by the Duke of Bedford, 
 and a right to borrow them was accorded to Principals of 
 Halls and Regent Masters. Religious services were instituted 
 for the benefit of Duke Humphrey and his wife, the notorious 
 Eleanor Cobham. + During the next few years, the Uni- 
 versity received a considerable number of valuable books 
 from the same munificent donor.^ 
 
 ' Oxford Cale7idar. A list of the f. 53(5. 
 
 carved shields is given in Wood's * M tin. Acad. pp. 326 330; F. 
 
 Antiquities., vol. ii. pp. 783 786. ff. 28^, 31^, 42, 45. 
 
 ' Wood, vol. ii. pp. 779, 781 783. 5 F. ff. z^-^j,^ 5^^^ go, 63, 66,67, 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. pp. 758765 ; F. lo., jib; Mun. Acad. pp. 765 772.
 
 320 THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. 
 
 "The Duke of Gloucester," observes Dr. Pauli, "stands 
 forth, almost alone in his own country, as a man whose 
 aspirations and conceptions carried him far beyond the age 
 in which he lived. Folly and genuine wisdom, superstition 
 and enlightment, are all blended together in his mind." ' 
 Unscrupulous in his political career, and immoral in his 
 domestic life, " good Duke Humphrey" was a true lover of 
 learning. John of Wheathamstcad, Abbot of St. Alban's, 
 John Capgrave, Thomas Occleve, and other Englishmen of 
 literary tastes, were proud to claim him as their patron.- 
 John Lydgate, the chief versifier of the day, alludes to his 
 favourite pursuit : 
 
 " Duke of Glocester men this prynce call, 
 And notwithstanding his estate and dignitic. 
 His courage never doth appall 
 To study in bokes of antiquitie ; 
 Therin he hath so great felicitie 
 \'ertuously him selfe to occupye, 
 Of vycious slouthe, he hath the maistry." ' 
 
 Italian scholars sang his praises in more graceful language. 
 To him Lionardo Aretino dedicated a Latin translation 
 of Aristotle's Politics, and Pietro Candido Dccembrio a 
 translation of Plato's Republic. Titus Livius of Forli became 
 liis poet and orator.-* 
 
 " Mojin bien uiondain " " my worldly goods " was the 
 inscription which the Duke of Gloucester was wont to place 
 at the beginning of his books, and in presenting them to the 
 University, he reserved the right to borrow them for his own 
 use. On one occasion accordingly he borrowed a copy of 
 
 \Vood(y4;/;/rt'/j-, vol. ii. pp. 914, 915) ] ^ T/ie Tragedies gathered by 
 reckons the number of books given '; John Boclias . . . translated into 
 by the Duke to the University at English by John Lidgate. Pro- 
 five or six hundred. i logue. 
 
 ' Pictures of Old England, \ " Warton ; Tiraboschi, Storia 
 
 (translated by Ottc) p. 400. I delta Lctteratura Italiana, {Classici 
 
 - Warton's History of English \ Italiani) vol. vi. \). 164S. 
 
 Poetry, (ed. Hazlitt) vol. iii. p. 47. |
 
 THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER. 321 
 
 Plato's Phcedo,^ The library was that of a layman of culti- 
 vated tastes. If the two hundred and seventy-four volumes 
 enumerated in the register of the University are fair 
 specimens of the whole collection, it must have been com- 
 paratively poor in theological literature. There is only one 
 Bible among them, and one Psalter. The Fathers of the 
 Church are represented chiefly by their letters, while Peter 
 Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Bradwardine, and 
 several other great Schoolmen, are unrepresented. There 
 are but few works on Canon law, and yet fewer on Civil law. 
 On the other hand the library included Latin versions of 
 several books by Aristotle and Plato, and numerous 
 treatises on medicine and astronomy written by the Arabian 
 philosophers, Avicenna, Rhazes, Serapion, Haly Abenragel, 
 Albumazar and others. A manuscript " de cceIo et imindo" 
 by Bacon is mentioned in one of the lists. Among the 
 historical works were those of Suetonius, Josephus, Eusebius, 
 Bceda, Higden, and Vincent of Beauvais, a copy of the 
 Flores Historiafiivi, and a copy of the anonymous Eulogiiivi 
 Historiarinn. The taste of the Duke was more conspicuously 
 shown in other branches of literature. He possessed plays 
 by ^schines and by Seneca, copies of the Fasti and Meta- 
 DiOTphoses of Ovid, works by Cato, Aulus Gellius and 
 Quintilian, and no less than seven volumes of Cicero. It is 
 almost certain that no other library in England could boast 
 of five volumes of Boccaccio, seven of Petrarch, or two of 
 Dante. The Greek language was unknown in this country 
 in the time of Henry VI., and the only Greek book that is 
 known to have belonged to the Duke was a vocabulary. ^ 
 Even after the receipt of some of the finest manuscripts in 
 the kingdom, the Masters of Oxford described themselves as 
 " in great penury of boks." ^ The Duke of Gloucester 
 therefore promised to bestow upon them the remainder of his 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. 327 ; F. f. 72. ? f\ f. 77^ 
 
 = Ibid. pp. 758772 ; F. f. 60.
 
 322 THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 
 
 noble collection, and to contribute a hundred pounds towards 
 the fabric of the Library, in which the literary treasures of 
 the University were to be placed. His sudden death in 
 1447 prevented the fulfilment of the promise, and it is not 
 clear whether the University ever received the books or the 
 money.' 
 
 The example of the Duke of Gloucester inspired several 
 other persons to present books to the University, the chief 
 benefactor in this respect being John Tiptoft, the learned 
 Earl of Worcester, who gave or bequeathed the collection 
 of manuscripts which he had made during his sojourn in 
 Italy. Their value was estimated at no less than five 
 hundred marks.^ The completion of the Library was for a 
 while delayed by an order from Edward IV., that the 
 skilled workmen employed on it should repair to Windsor, 
 where St. George's Chapel was then in course of erection. 
 Those of them who were not required for that work were 
 transferred by the King to the service of William Waynflete, 
 Bishop of Winchester. The University knew that it could 
 count on the friendship of this prelate, and accordingly 
 applied to him for the restitution of the workmen, and for 
 the loan of certain scaffolding and other appliances which 
 had been used in the building of Magdalen Collcge.3 When 
 at last the Library over the Divinity School was almost 
 finished, the Masters invited the Bishop of London to come 
 to Oxford, to inspect the elaborate structure which owed so 
 much to his bounty.^ It was not, however, until 1488 that 
 
 ' Man. Acad. ff. 74^, 75, ^-j., 78. ! F. ff. 6\b, 66, 86, 97, 98, 99^, 119, 
 
 - Ibid. f. 121. Other donors of , \i2b, 157^, 160. 
 
 books were Thomas Knolles, citizen \ ^ Chandler's Z//t' 0/ Waynflete, 
 
 of London, Richard Brown, alias 1 pp. 360 364 ; Tighe and Uavis, 
 
 Cordon, Archdeacon of Rochester, Annals of Windsor, vol. i. pp. 
 
 John Somerset, Thomas Bekynton, 374 379. 
 
 Bishop of Bath and Wells, Thomas ' F. f. 141 ; Wood's Anliquiiies, 
 
 Grant, Precentor of St. Paul's, and | vol. ii. p. 7 78. 
 Thomas Kemp, Bisliop of London.
 
 BENE FA CTORS. 323 
 
 the books of the University were removed from St. Mary's 
 to their new abode.' 
 
 The PubHc Library which was built at Oxford in the time 
 of Edward IV. continues to fulfil its original purpose, but it 
 no longer bears its original name. The manuscripts too, 
 with which it was formerly stored, disappeared in the course 
 of the sixteenth century, lost through the negligence of one 
 generation, or destroyed by the ignorant fanaticism of 
 another.^ Out of the noble collection of the Duke of 
 Gloucester three volumes only now remain in the Bodleian 
 Library. One volume has found its way to Oriel College, 
 and another to Corpus Christi College ; six others may be 
 seen in the British Museum. ^ The University has shown 
 itself more careful of the Duke's memory than of his books. 
 In one of the grateful letters which the Masters addressed to 
 him, they promised that he should be mentioned in the 
 public prayers of the University so long as there should be a 
 single clerk left at Oxford,'^ and the promise has been fairly 
 kept. The founders of the different Chests, and other bene- 
 factors of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, have been 
 long since forgotten, but the list of benefactors which is from 
 time to time recited in the pulpit of St. Mary's Church, 
 begins with the name of " the most illustrious prince, 
 Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester," s 
 
 Of the four eleemosynary chests that were established at 
 Oxford during the reign of Henry VI., the first, that of " the 
 Three Philosophies and the Seven Liberal Arts," has been 
 already mentioned as providing a fund for the support of 
 lecturers on those subjects. The second owed its origin to 
 Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, the third son of John of 
 Gaunt by his second wife, Catharine Swynford. The Duke 
 
 F. f. 157/'. I ^ F. f. 7Sl>. 
 
 "" Leland ; Wood. ' ^ Ward's Oxford University 
 
 ^ Macray's Annals of the Bod- ' Statutes, vol. ii. p. 53 ; Oxford 
 leian Lil/rary, pp. 9, 10. Calendar. 
 
 V 2
 
 324 ESTABLISHMENT OF CHESTS. 
 
 of Exeter showed equal favour to the two Engh'sh universities, 
 ordering by will that a hundred pounds should be placed in 
 a chest at Queen's College at Oxford, and a like sum in a 
 chest at Trinity Hall at Cambridge. He died in 1417, and, 
 although his will was proved about nine years later, the 
 University of Oxford does not appear to have received his 
 bequest until 1442, when it issued the ordinance of the 
 Exeter Chest.' In the meanwhile Henry Chicheley, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, established the chest which bore his 
 name, endowing it with two hundred marks. The guardians 
 of this chest were empowered to lend five pounds to the 
 University, and five marks to any college except New 
 College, the cause of this exception being that the Arch- 
 bishop intended to found another chest for the special use 
 of the College in which he had partaken of the bounty of 
 William of Wykeham.^ In 1454, the University resolved to 
 transfer to St. Mary's the few chests which still remained at 
 St. Frideswyde's.3 Three years later, Dame Joan Danvers 
 gave a hundred pounds for the endowment of a new 
 chest, but, inasmuch as the University was allowed to 
 borrow ten pounds from it, and every College five, a small 
 part only of that sum became available for loans to poor 
 scholars. 4 
 
 Although Henry VI. was nominally one of the founders 
 of All Souls' College, he was too much occupied with the 
 interests of his own noble colleges at Eton and Cambridge 
 to become a notable benefactor to the University of Oxford. 
 When, in 1442, he assigned the revenues of the manor of 
 Penyngton for the support of five scholars at Oxford, he 
 carefully restricted the enjoyment of them to young men 
 who had been instructed in grammar at Eton. 5 Towards 
 
 ' Nichols's Royal Wills, pp. , ^ Register Aa. f. 83. 
 
 225, 256 ; K. f. Go/>. j Mim. Acad. pp. 336 344. 
 
 A.D. 1432. MiiJi. Acad. pp. i s Patent Roll, 20 Hen. VI. p. i. 
 
 291 -299. m. 5.
 
 CHANCELLORS OF OXFORD. 325 
 
 the close of his unfortunate reign, he empowered the 
 Chancellor of Oxford to banish all women of loose character 
 to a distance of ten miles from the town, and his charter to 
 this effect, wisely confirmed by Edward IV. and other 
 succeeding kings, has greatly tended to protect the morals of 
 the academical population.' 
 
 Through the exertions of the Abbot of Abingdon at the 
 Papal Court, the University obtained from Sixtus IV. in 
 1479, a bull confirming the privileges granted by Innocent IV. 
 in 1254, and another bull renewing the bull of Boniface IX. 
 which had been declared invalid by Parliament in 141 1. In 
 this instance, no protest seems to have been made against the 
 exemption of the University from episcopal and archiepiscopal 
 jurisdiction.'' 
 
 The Chancellorship of the University underwent an im- 
 portant change of character in the course of the fifteenth 
 century. Originally an episcopal officer, deputed to super- 
 intend the clerks who had congregated at Oxford, the 
 Chancellor had come to be a member of the academical 
 body, and the chief upholder of its liberties. By a further 
 development in the same direction, he ceased to reside at 
 Oxford, and became the dignified patron of the University, 
 rather than its actual chief. The early Chancellors had 
 sometimes been obliged to go away on public business, 
 leaving their duties to be discharged by a Com.missary, but 
 Robert Stratford was the only Chancellor of the fourteenth 
 century who was absent for any length of time. His re- 
 tention of the office while he was Lord Chancellor of England 
 and Bishop of Chichester, was an innovation, justified only 
 by exceptional circumstances. ^ From his time until that of 
 Thomas Bourchicr, nearly a hundred years later, the suc- 
 cessive Chancellors seem to have made Oxford their ordinary 
 
 ' Patent Roll, 37 Hen. VI. p. i, vol. vii. f. 103 ; Ayliffe, pp. xciv.- 
 m. 7 ; Rcgistrwn Privilci:^iorum. xcix. See pp. 45, 292 295 abo\c. 
 
 - F. ff. 134/', 164/'; Twyne MS. ~ Seep. 170 above.
 
 326 CHANCELLORS OF OXFORD. 
 
 place of abode. At the date of his election in 1433, Thomas 
 Bourchier was Dean of St. Martin's le Grand, though he was 
 under thirty years of age, his rapid preferment being due to 
 the fact that he was brother to the Count of Ewe, and a 
 great-grandson of Edward III. In December 1433, he was 
 advanced to the see of Worcester, but he continued never- 
 theless to be Chancellor of Oxford for upwards of three 
 years.^ By a will dated long afterwards in i486, when he 
 ^vas Archbishop of Canterbury, he bequeathed a hundred 
 pounds for the foundation of a chest at Oxford, and a like 
 sum for the foundation of a chest at Cambridge.^ Each of 
 his four immediate successors in the office of Chancellor held 
 some other benefice or benefices at the same time. John 
 Carpenter was Provost of Oriel College and Master of St. 
 Anthony's Hospital in London ; John Norton was Chancellor 
 of Durham ; William Grey was Archdeacon of North- 
 ampton ; Henry Sever was, in name at least. Provost of the 
 newly founded College of Eton. Thomas Gascoigne, the 
 author of the Theological Dictionary, and Robert Thwaytes, 
 who afterwards became IMaster of Balliol College, were 
 perhaps the only Chancellors at this period who devoted 
 themselves exclusively to their academical duties. Gilbert 
 Kymer, the eminent physician, was Treasurer of Salisbury 
 when elected Chancellor of Oxford for the second time, in 
 1447, ^"cl he did not resign the Chancellorship until he had 
 been Dean of Salisbury for some four years.^ 
 
 The election of George Neville to be Chancellor in 1453, 
 marks the low condition to which the University had sunk. 
 He was barely twenty-two years of age, and he had obtained 
 his degree as Master of Arts " by grace," without following 
 the usual course of study. On the other hand he was a 
 son of the Lord Chancellor, Richard, Earl of Salisbury, and 
 
 ' Mull. Acad. pp. 324, 506 ; bury, vol. v. p. 386. 
 Dugdale ; Le Neve; F. f. 42/;. ' Wood's Fasti, pp. 46 54 ; Le 
 
 " Hook's ArcJibisliops of Canter- Nc\'C.
 
 THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 
 
 327 
 
 he had signaHsed his recent inception at Oxford by giving a 
 princely banquet of no less than nine hundred messes of 
 meat. Through the influence of his father, and his brother 
 the great Earl of Warwick, he was in 1455 appointed Bishop 
 of Exeter, and the Pope allowed him to be consecrated three 
 years later, at the early age of twenty-seven.^ The 
 graduates of Oxford in the meanwhile gave him leave of 
 absence, and, when his term of office came to an end, they 
 elected him again.^ On his resignation in 1457, a more 
 worthy person was chosen to succeed him, Thomas Chaundler, 
 Warden of New College. 3 
 
 During the Wars of the Roses, the leaders of the Uni- 
 versity attempted to steer a safe, middle course. At first 
 indeed they endeavoured to prove their loyalty to Henry VI. 
 by appointing certain clerks to assist the townsmen in 
 keeping nightly watch at the four gates of Oxford, when 
 an attack was expected in 1450.-^ Yet despite the many 
 benefits which they had received from members of the 
 house of Lancaster, Henry IV., Henry V., Henry VI., the 
 Dukes of Bedford, Gloucester, and Exeter, and Cardinal 
 Beaufort, they subsequently showed themselves quite willing 
 to recognise the claims of the rival house. At the end of 
 the year 1459, soon after the unsuccessful rising of the 
 Duke of York and the Earl of Salisbury, Henry VI. wrote 
 to complain that two of the gentlemen bedels of the 
 University had "outrageously uttred and spoken certayn 
 unfittyng langage" against his royal estate, and against 
 " the honour and wurship " of his " most dere and best- 
 beloved wyf the Qucne," and against their son Prince 
 
 ' Gascoigne, Loci e Libro Vcri- 
 tatuin, p. 16 ; Miin. Acad. p. 730 ; 
 Foss's Judges of E?jglandj Le 
 Neve's Fasti, vol. i. p. 376. Those 
 who are interested in cuHnary an- 
 tiquities will find a list of the dif- 
 ferent courses at Geortre Neville's 
 
 banquet, in Wood's An/ials, vol. i. 
 
 P- 599- 
 
 "" Mu)i. Acad. p. 743 ; Wood's 
 Fasti, p. 55. 
 
 3 Muti. Acad. p. 748. 
 
 '* Register of the University, (ed. 
 Boase) vol. i. p. 287.
 
 328 
 
 THE WARS OF THE ROSES. 
 
 Edward. For this disloyal conduct they had not received 
 any proper punishment, and it was by the King's express 
 order that they were deprived of their offices and committed 
 to prison/ 
 
 Thomas Chaundler resigned the Chancellorship of Oxford 
 in May 1461, a few weeks after the accession of Edward IV., 
 and the electors again made choice of George Neville, who 
 was known to stand high in the favour of the new king. 
 Inasmuch as he was already Bishop of Exeter and Lord 
 Chancellor of England, his subsequent promotion to the 
 Archbishopric of York did not materially affect his relations 
 with the University. He was obliged to give up the Great 
 Seal in 1467, but he received it again three years later, when 
 the house of Lancaster was restored to power by his brother, 
 the celebrated "King-maker."^ On the 14th of December 
 1470, the Masters of Oxford wrote to Henry VI. to offer him 
 their unanimous congratulations upon the recovery of his 
 kingdom and to pray for a continuance of his favour.^ They 
 might almost have spared themselves the trouble of com- 
 posing and sending their servile letter, for only seventeen 
 weeks later their own selected Chancellor, Archbishop 
 Neville, betrayed the royal puppet into the hands of his 
 direst enemy.-* The battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury 
 were quickly followed by the death, or murder, of Henry VT., 
 and the Oxonians, perceiving the hopelessness of the Lan- 
 castrian cause, hastened to declare their affection for the 
 White Rose. On the 28th of June, 1471, they wrote 
 effusively to Edward IV., congratulating him unanimously 
 upon his recent victory, which had put an end to the civil 
 war. They wrote in the same strain to his Chancellor, 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. 756. Mr. Anstey 
 has given the date according to the 
 old style. 
 
 " Wood's Fasti., p. 58 ; Mttn. 
 Acad. p. 6R3 ; L.- Neve ; Foss. 
 
 3 F. f. 121^-. 
 
 Foss; Lingard's History of 
 E7ii;land, (ed. 1855) vol. iv. p. 91, 
 note.
 
 POLITICAL FICKLENESS. 
 
 329 
 
 Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, and, with utter 
 shamelessness, caused the two letters to be transcribed into 
 their Register, opposite to the copy of their recent letter to 
 Henry VI.' Edward IV. saw the inexpediency of trying to 
 punish the clerks for their fickleness. Their collective pro- 
 perty was of very small value, while on the other hand their 
 influence in the country was considerable. He therefore 
 sought to win their good-will by ignoring the past, and by 
 declaring that he intended to be the special protector of the 
 University.^ 
 
 George Neville did not escape so easily as the timid clerks 
 who had followed his guidance in political affairs. No sooner 
 was Edward IV. firmly established on the throne, than he 
 committed the treacherous prelate to a Norman prison, and 
 confiscated his vast possessions. 3 The Oxonians found it 
 necessary to elect a new Chancellor, and, in June 1472, made 
 choice again of Thomas Chaundler, who, since his former tenure 
 of the office, had been appointed one of the royal chaplains.* 
 Chaundler was so often called away from Oxford that he 
 found it necessary to resign the Wardenship of New College 
 in 1475, but he continued to be Chancellor of the University 
 until four years later.s On his final retirement from office, 
 the Masters sought to ingratiate themselves with the King by 
 electing his brother-in-law, Lionel Wydville, who was at the 
 time Dean of Exeter.^ He soon afterwards became Bishop of 
 Salisbury. 
 
 Among other clear signs of degeneracy, we may notice the 
 eagerness of the Oxonians to enrol men of high social 
 position as members of the academical body. In 1457, 
 they allowed Peter Courtenay to graduate in Civil Law on 
 very easy conditions, and when he had become a Doctor of 
 Canon Law at Padua, they admitted him to the same degree 
 
 ' F. f. 122. = IbidA. \-i2>b. ' '" Wool's /v^j-//, p. 62; Walcott's 
 
 ^ Fo?,s'?, Judges of England. William of Wykeham.y^. z\^^. 
 
 F. f. 123/'. F. f. 13^ ; Wood's Fasti, p. 63.
 
 330 SYCOPHANCY. 
 
 without even requiring his personal presence.' They were 
 not ashamed, in 1480, to entreat Edward IV. to send his 
 nephew Edward Pole, son of the Duke of Suffolk, to study 
 at Oxford. When the coming of the noble youth was for a 
 while delayed, they wrote in great anxiety to Richard 
 Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury. They afterwards sent 
 very favourable reports of his progress in literature, de- 
 claring in one of them that he had surpassed all his fellows. ^ 
 Great joy was expressed when the King sent to Oxford a 
 scion of another noble house, James Stanley, brother of the 
 powerful baron of that name.^ It w^ould almost appear that 
 a degree was conferred on John Bourchier, Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury, and nephew of the Archbishop, after he had 
 quitted the University.^ 
 
 Several of the colleges at Oxford would have lost part of 
 their endowments in the second half of the fifteenth century, 
 if they had not been exempted by name from the successive 
 Acts of Resumption that were passed by Parliament. s 
 Edward IV. showed his favour to the University in another 
 manner, by conferring on it the perpetual right of nominating 
 a learned theologian to minister in the chantry which he 
 had founded at St. George's Chapel at Windsor.^ He also 
 expressed an intention of establishing a lecture on theology 
 for which the listeners should not have to pay any fee, but it 
 is doubtful whether he ever carried the scheme into effect.^ 
 The promise was seemingly made on the occasion of a brief 
 royal visit to Oxford in September 1481. The Court was at 
 Woodstock on the 22nd of that month, when Bishop 
 
 ' Mim. Acad. p. 744 ; F. f. 133. i F. f. 138. 
 
 Another Doctor of Laws of Padua, 5 RotiiU ParHajnentonan, vol. 
 
 Henry Sharpe, had been incor- v. pp. 185, 187, 222, 469,522,606; 
 
 porated at Oxford in 1452. Register vol. vi. p. 78; Parliamentary Pe- 
 
 0/ the University, {td. Boase) vol. tition (Public Record Office), No. 
 
 i. p. 12. 6338 ; F. ff. 89 91. 
 
 ' F. ii. 137, 138/^, 139, 140/;, 143 " F. ff. 140^, 141, 143/;, 147. 
 
 l^t^b. ' Ibid, ff i^^b, 149. ' F. f. 143.
 
 VISIT OF EDWARD IV. 331 
 
 Waynflete arrived from Oxford, full of enthusiasm about the 
 noble institution which he had lately established on the 
 banks of the Chervvell, He returned a few hours later with 
 the unexpected news that the King would honour Magdalen 
 College with his presence that very day. There was little 
 time for preparation, but as the royal cavalcade drew near to 
 the North Gate of the town a little after sunset, it was met 
 by the Chancellor and the Masters of the University and a 
 great number of persons carrying lighted torches. With the 
 King came the Bishops of Chichester, Ely, and Rochester, 
 the Earl of Lincoln, Lord Stanley, and other courtiers, all ot 
 whom were hospitably received at Magdalen College, by the 
 founder and the President and Scholars, On the morrow, 
 which was a Sunday, the President delivered a congratulatory 
 address, and the King made a gracious reply, after which he 
 and his followers joined in a solemn procession round the 
 precincts and the cloisters of the College. They left Oxford 
 soon after mid-day.^ In the same year, the University gave 
 an entertainment to the King's mother and her daughter, the 
 Countess of Suffolk.^ 
 
 Richard IIL had not been on the throne a month when he 
 started on a progress to the north of England. His young 
 nephews, though prisoners in the Tower, were still alive, and 
 he was anxious to be recognised as King at some of the chief 
 
 ' Wood j\IS. 8513, f. 153, quoting 
 a Register of Magdalen College. 
 The Proctors' Roll for 148 1 records 
 payment '''' pro aqua rosarum be?ie- 
 dicta in advent k Regis, 4.d. Item 
 p7-o tortiis conductis in adveiitu 
 Regis, 2Qd. Item clerico pro dela- 
 tione crucis et aliis laboribus in 
 adventii Regis, iid." Twyne MS. 
 vol. i. Wood, in his Annals, has 
 somewhat confounded the visits of 
 Edward IV., the Queen-mother, j Beck's Gloves, their Annals, etc. 
 and Richard III. 
 
 - The University spent 3/. " in 
 vino et chirothecis datis niatri 
 Regis, et Coniitissce de Southfolke 
 et aliis seciun veftietitibus," and \2d. 
 ^^ pro delatione crucis et aliis labori- 
 bus in adventii niatris Regis ^ 
 Twyne MS. vol. i. When the Bas- 
 tard of Burgundy visited Oxford 
 in 1474, he also was presented with 
 wine and gloves. Ibid. See the 
 chapter on " Gloves as Gifts," in
 
 332 VISIT OF RICHARD III. 
 
 centres of political action. He therefore shaped his journey 
 from London to York, through Oxford, Gloucester, Worcester, 
 Warwick, Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham/ Waynflete 
 came to Magdalen College two days beforehand, and on the 
 22nd of July, 1483, the King rode from Windsor to Oxford, 
 accompanied by the Bishops of Durham, Worcester, and 
 St. Asaph, the Bishop-elect of St. David's, the Earls of 
 Lincoln and Surrey, the Lords Lovel, Stanley, Audley, and 
 Beauchamp, and other noblemen. The chief officers of the 
 University and all the Masters went out to meet him at the 
 end of the town, and presented a loyal address, and at the 
 gate of Magdalen College he was received with due honour 
 by the Bishop of Winchester, the President, and the Scholars. 
 On the morrow, two disputations were held in the hall of 
 the College, the first on moral philosophy and the second on 
 theology, wherewith the King declared himself so well pleased 
 that he rewarded the four disputants with a buck apiece, and 
 fees suitable to their respective degrees.^ The respondent in 
 theology on this occasion was William Grocyne, who after- 
 wards came to be known as one of the best scholars in 
 England. On the same day or on the following, Richard IIL 
 seems to have attended another disputation in the public 
 schools of the University, and to have made a speech 
 declaring that he would zealously uphold the liberties and 
 privileges of the academical body.^ 
 
 The great influence of the Wydvilles came to an end with 
 the nominal reign of their ill-fated nephew Edward V., and 
 Lord Rivers, the head of the family, was executed at 
 Pontcfract on the eve of the formal accession of Richard IIL 
 Lionel Wydville, Bishop of Salisbury, allied himself openly 
 with the enemies of the usurper, but the graduates of Oxford 
 were too prudent to follow the guidance of their Chancellor. 
 They allowed him to resign his office, and on the 20th of 
 
 ' Ross, Hi star id Rectum. j ^ F. f. 146/^. 
 
 = Wood MS. 8513, f. 154.
 
 THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 333 
 
 October 1483, they chose as his successor the powerful 
 Bishop of Durham, who did not even deign to come to 
 Oxford for admission. ^ So unimpeachable indeed was their 
 loyalty to Richard III. that they ventured to petition for the 
 release of a political prisoner, John Morton, Bishop of Ely, 
 whom they described as one of the most eminent sons of the 
 University.^ They wrote again to the King soon afterwards, 
 to congratulate him on the defeat of his enemies. ^ 
 
 The wars of Henry V. and Henry VI. in France, followed 
 by the dynastic struggle between the houses of York and 
 Lancaster, tended to isolate the Universities of Oxford and 
 Cambridge from those of the Continent. English students 
 ceased to frequent the schools of Paris, and foreign students 
 discovered that the intellectual atmosphere of Italy was far 
 preferable to that of our remote island. The English Nation 
 in the University of Paris had begun to be styled the German 
 Nation as early as the year 1400, and its old designation was 
 finally abandoned in 1442. An English king was indeed 
 crowned at the capital of France in 143 1, but the clerks 
 from England, Normandy, Brittany, and Aquitaine, with- 
 drew soon afterwards to a place where the English power 
 was more firmly established. Despite the protests of the 
 Parisian Masters, a rival University was set up at Caen 
 under royal and papal sanction, and a former Fellow of 
 Stapeldon Hall, Michael de Tregury, was chosen to be its 
 first Rector.5 
 
 At one of the early sessions of the Council of Basel, a 
 letter was addressed to the University of Oxford, inviting it 
 to send some of its most learned members as delegates, and 
 the University of Paris also wrote in support of the invitation, 
 
 ' F. f. 146/7. 
 
 "^ Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 640. 
 
 5 F. f. 148. 
 
 Budinzsky, Die Universitiit 
 Pafis, pp. 32, 33. Du Boulay and | istcr of Exeter CoUci^c., p. 17. 
 Pasquier say that the change of 
 
 style was made in 1431 or 1432. 
 
 2 Ross, Historia Regum, p. 209 ; 
 Cor7-cspondcnce of Bckynton, \o\. i. 
 pp. cix, ex, 123, 124 ; Boase's Reg-
 
 334 EUROPEAN AFFAIRS. 
 
 declaring emphatically that no credence should be given to 
 certain calumnious reports which were being circulated for 
 the purpose of depreciating the Council.^ The Oxonians 
 thereupon sent a letter to their tried friend Archbishop 
 Chicheley, saying that they could not afford the expense of a 
 mission to Basel, unless he and other benefactors would 
 provide the necessary money.^ So again in 1438, when 
 Eugenius IV. invited them to send delegates to Ferrara, they 
 applied to the bishops and clergy of the province of Canter- 
 bury for a pecuniary grant.3 The University was too much 
 occupied with its own troubles to pay much attention to 
 foreign affairs. When however in 1456, it received the 
 joyful tidings of the battle of Belgrade, it went in pro- 
 cession to St. Fridcswyde's Church, to offer public thanks- 
 giving for the defeat of the Turks. A solemn Te Deuni 
 was sung, and a sermon was preached by Dr. Thomas 
 Gascoigne.4 Innocent IV. on his election to the papal 
 throne in 1484, wrote to request that the University 
 would cause a special mass to be solemnly said on his 
 behalf 5 
 
 It has been mentioned in a previous chapter that the Irish 
 students at Oxford had been exempted by royal writ from 
 the operation of the statute of 141 3, which banished from the 
 realm all Irish clerks except graduates of the English 
 universities.^ In the first Parliament of Henry VI., the 
 Commons sent up a petition complaining of the many out- 
 rages committed in the neighbourhood of Oxford by persons 
 repairing to the University, or living under the jurisdiction 
 of the Chancellor, some of whom were liege subjects of the 
 King in Ireland, but others his enemies, generally known as 
 " Wylde Irishmen." These turbulent persons, it was alleged, 
 
 ^ Corrcspojideticc of Bekyntoji, Y.W. \ ^ EigJitli Report of the Ilisiorica. 
 
 p. 104. ^ Ibid. p. 354. 3 p, f. 45. I MSS. Conii/iissio?t, p. 266. 
 
 "i (iascoignc. Loci e LJb7-o Vcri- ' ^ Page 309 abo\-c. 
 iatiDii, pp. 9, 49.
 
 IRISHMEN AND WELSHMEN. 335 
 
 set the King's officers at defiance, and used such threatening 
 language that the Baihffs of the town dared not stir out of 
 their houses for fear of death. Under these circumstances, 
 the Commons prayed that all Irishmen, except graduates in 
 the schools, beneficed clergy, professed monks, landowners, 
 merchants, and members of civic corporations, should be 
 compelled to quit the realm. They furthermore prayed that 
 graduates of Irish extraction should be required to find 
 security for their good behaviour, and that they should not 
 be allowed to act as Principals of halls. To this petition the 
 Government gave the royal assent, stipulating however that 
 Irish clerks might freely resort to the schools of Oxford and 
 Cambridge if they could show by certificate from the 
 Lieutenant or the Justiciar of their native country that they 
 were subjects of the English King.' In the next Parliament, 
 the Commons prayed that certain civil officers should be 
 empowered to exact security for the good behaviour of Irish 
 clerks, but the Government decided that the Chancellors of 
 the two Universities were the persons most capable of settling 
 such matters.^ 
 
 Many of the Welsh clerks fled from Oxford soon after a 
 serious riot in the early part of the year 1437. Those 
 however who remained were described by the University as 
 " honourable students, peaceful and quiet." ^ North-country- 
 men were sometimes mistaken for Scotsmen, and in 1448 a 
 certain Master Thomas Bysshopp, Principal of White Hall, 
 thought it necessary to appear before the Chancellor's Com- 
 missary with witnesses to prove that he was a native of 
 Kendal, and that all the members of his household were 
 loyal subjects of the English King.^ 
 
 ' Roiuli Parlianient07-iciii, vol. 
 iv. p. 190. 
 
 exceptions, among whom were 
 students at the Universities of 
 
 ' /^/c/. pp. 254, 255. Many years ^ Oxford and Cambridge. Ibid. \o\. 
 
 later, in 1477, the Irish themseh'es | vi. p. 192. 
 
 petitioned that their countrymen | ^ p_ f_ ^2(J. 
 
 might be sent back, with certain , * Miui. Acad. pp. 587, 588.
 
 336 
 
 LA IVLESSNESS. 
 
 The statute of the year 1420, which required that all 
 scholars should reside in some Inn or Hall, was strengthened 
 in 1432 by a further enactment against the pseudo-scholars 
 known as " Chamberdekens. " It was then ordered that 
 scholars should lodge in a hall at which a common table was 
 kept, under pain of imprisonment for the first offence and 
 banishment for the second. Severe penalties were also 
 devised for such householders as should allow scholars to 
 sleep under their roofs,' The measure was of course very 
 disagreeable to the townsmen, but, after some experience of 
 it, the University declared that it had produced good results.^ 
 In spite of all regulations, however, the clerks of Oxford 
 continued as turbulent as of yore. No fear of fine or im- 
 prisonment deterred them from carrying arms in the public 
 streets, and the cessation of serious encounters between them 
 and the townsmen was probably due to the fact that the 
 latter were cowed and submissive. It is worthy of remark 
 that among the persons who were from time to time required 
 to find sureties for their orderly behaviour, there were several 
 vicars and rectors of parochial churches. ^ In 1457, an Au- 
 gustinian canon was committed to prison by the Chancellor 
 for bearing arms, and another was bound over to keep the 
 peace.'* Many guilty clerks seem to have escaped punishment 
 through being allowed to clear themselves in the Chancellor's 
 court by compurgation, that is to say by bringing some of 
 their friends to profess belief in their innocence.^ An attack 
 on the servants of the Earl of Warwick in 1424, another on 
 Sir William Montfort in 1437, and a third on Lord Fitz-Walter 
 in 1460, may perhaps have been due to political animosity.^ 
 
 ' Mun. Acad. p. 320. " Chamber- 
 dekens" are said to have been 
 young men dwelHng in a private 
 chamber " aiJiicra dcgen/cs." 
 
 - F. f. 32/;. 
 
 ' /l//^//. Acad. pp. 538, 539, 588 ; 
 
 Register Aaa. ff. 2, 3. The usual 
 fine for bearing arms was 4^'. 
 
 Ahm. Acad. p. 668. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 536. 
 
 ^ F. iL 2d, 43 ; Mufi. Acad. p. 
 6S2.
 
 CONTENTIONS. 337 
 
 The quiet of the University was often disturbed by- 
 controversies among the graduates. In 1433, the superior 
 Faculties of Medicine, Civil Law, Canon Law, and Theology, 
 strove to aggrandise themselves at the expense of the Faculty 
 of Arts, with regard to the election of a bedel. They sought 
 to establish that the votes of the two Proctors and the other 
 four Regent Masters of Arts who sat on the board of selection 
 should be reckoned merely as the v^ote of one Faculty, and 
 that their own nominee should be admitted to the vacant 
 office, as having been chosen by the greater, the older, and the 
 wiser part of the electoral body. In this they had the support 
 of the Chancellor, Gilbert Kymer, who was a physician, but 
 they were soon obliged to withdraw their claim, and to agree 
 that a majority should mean a numerical majority, without 
 regard to the Faculties to which the different electors were 
 attached.' Two years later, there arose a violent contention, 
 which almost caused a dispersion of the University. It turned 
 upon the single word Master, which the Bachelors of Civil and 
 of Canon Law desired to have officially prefixed to their names 
 in all public proclamations and the like. Inasmuch as they 
 were the ordinary teachers of their respective Faculties, they 
 were styled Masters by their bedels no less than by their pupils, 
 but the other Faculties resisted the proposed change, on the 
 score that it would lessen the dignity of a Master's degree. 
 When therefore the lawyers carried their suit to the Court of 
 Arches, where of course all the advocates were favourable to 
 them, the University applied to the Crown for protection.^ 
 About the same time, the Doctors of Law raked up a 
 smouldering controversy between themselves and the Doctors 
 
 ' Mint. Acad. pp. 321 323. tumeliously of the lawyers in an 
 
 ^ F. ff. 34(^, 35, 2>9^- Master English sermon preached at All 
 
 Roger Bitson, Fellow of Lincoln Saints' Church on December 4th, 
 
 College, was cited before the Com- 1435. Some extracts from the 
 
 missary of the Archbishop of Can- sermon have been preserved. See 
 
 terbury for having spoken con- Tanner MS. cxcvi. f. \b.
 
 338 CONTROVERSIES. 
 
 of Medicine concerning their academical precedence.' This 
 was scarcely appeased before the clerks from the diocese of 
 Exeter gave trouble by celebrating the feast of their patron 
 St. Peter, in an unusual manner. Instead of repairing as of 
 old to St. Mary's, the official church of the University, they 
 carried an image of the Apostle from one of the other parochial 
 churches to the high altar of St. Frideswyde's, and caused their 
 annual mass to be said there. In this they were encouraged 
 not only by the Prior and Convent, but also by the lawyers, 
 who would not miss any opportunity of fomenting discord. 
 A few days later, a clerk who had been banished from Oxford 
 for contumacy, was instigated by the lawyers to take the 
 unprecedented course of appealing to the King against the 
 sentence of the Chancellor.^ 
 
 The restlessness of the mendicant friars was a constant cause 
 of anxiety to the rulers of the University. In the early part 
 of the reign of Henry VI., a Franciscan, named William 
 Russell, tried to persuade some of the laity that they might 
 lawfully withhold their tithes from the parochial clergy, and 
 apply them to other charitable purposes, such as the main- 
 tenance of convents. This doctrine was condemned both by 
 the University of Oxford, and by a Council of Bishops that 
 met in London in 1425, and every inceptorat the former place 
 was thenceforward required to abjure it. 3 A prosecution for 
 heresy, instituted at Oxford in 1427, against William Melton, 
 another Grey Friar, may have had some connexion with the 
 same affair.'* In 1438, an Augustinian P'riar, named William 
 Musulwick, brought a charge of heresy against a secular Doctor 
 of Divinity, named Philip Norej's, and, without due authority, 
 denounced him in the schools as excommunicate. For this he 
 was cited to appear before the Chancellor, and on his flight 
 from Oxford during the year of his "necessary regency," in 
 
 ' F. f. 39^. I 446, 447 ; iMun. Acad. p. 376. 
 
 ~ . f. 40/'. 1 * Co7Tcspondc7ice of Bckynfon, 
 
 \\"ilkins's Co/icil/a, vol. iii. pp. vol. ii. p. 248.
 
 THE OXFORD PRESS. 339 
 
 which he was bound to lecture daily, he and the other teachers 
 of his cloister were suspended from the exercise of their 
 magisterial functions. The quarrel was not appeased without 
 the intervention of the Duke of Gloucester/ In 1456, the 
 University wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury to disclaim 
 the charge of encouraging heretics,^ and, at the close of the 
 following year, it went to Carfax to witness the burning of 
 the books of Reginald Peacock, Bishop of Chichester. This 
 singular prelate had never exercised any great influence over 
 the schools of Oxford, and, having received a very ample 
 dispensation, he had not delivered a single lecture there, after 
 the day of his inception as a Doctor of Divinity .3 
 
 Although the printing press was destined to be the means 
 of propagating the bitterest attacks on the doctrine and 
 discipline of the mediaeval Church, its earliest productions were 
 harmless enough. Oxford has been claimed as the place at 
 which moveable types were first used in England, for a little 
 book printed there in the reign of Edward IV. bears a date 
 earlier than the first of Caxton's works. It is entitled " Ex- 
 posicio Sancti leroniiniin simbolo ApostoloriiiUy' and the date is 
 given as 1468, Mr. Blades remarks that it was " printed slowly 
 with one small fount of type, page by page." A Latin version 
 of Aristotle's Ethics by Lionardo Arctino, and a treatise 
 De Peccato Originali by yEgidius Romanus, were printed at 
 Oxford in 1479, ^'^d others followed from time to time be- 
 tween the years 1480 and i486. The first three books are 
 said to "form a distinct class," having the same type, the 
 sam.e length of line, and the same depth of page, and there 
 has been much controversy as to the duration of the interval 
 between the publication of the earliest of them and that of the 
 other two. Most bibliographers are now of opinion that a 
 numeral x was accidentally omitted from the date of the 
 treatise on the Apostles' Creed, and that the date should be 
 
 ' F. ff. 47 48^. I -^ Gascoigne, Loci e Libra Veri- 
 
 - F. f. 105. I tat It in. pp. 26, 30, 38, 217, 218. 
 
 Z 2
 
 340 THE OXFORD PRESS. 
 
 mcccclxxviij instead of mcccclxviij. Others, however, 
 still maintain that the printed date is correct. They insist on 
 certain typographical peculiarities of the earliest book, and 
 they observe in the second and third a distinct advance in 
 the printer's skill. 
 
 Concerning the books printed at Oxford between the years 
 1480 and i486 there is less controversy. The first of them, 
 Cicero's oration Pro Milone, the earliest classical book 
 printed in England, was probably issued in 1480. The next, 
 a gloss upon the De Anima of Aristotle by Alexander de 
 Hales, is dated 148 1, and described as ^^ Impressuni per Die 
 Theodoricuin Rood de Colonia in alma Universitate Oxon." 
 This mention of the University rather than of the town 
 seems to indicate that the printer, like his predecessors the 
 stationers and transcribers of the middle ages, was regarded 
 as subject to the authority and the protection of the Chan- 
 cellor, In the early days of printing, the University of Paris 
 exercised some control over the local press, and the arms of 
 that University are to be seen on the title-pages of many 
 books. The work of Alexander de Hales was followed by 
 a commentary of John Lattebury on the Lamentations of 
 Jeremiah. A Latin Grammar, and a book of selections from 
 Terence, were perhaps specially intended for the younger 
 members of the University. In or before the year 1485, 
 Rood entered into partnership with an Englishman named 
 Thomas Hunte, and in conjunction with him produced 
 the spurious Epistles of Phalaris, the great work of Lynd- 
 wode on the Canon Law, a Latin commentary by Richard 
 of Hampole, an English Festial, and other works. The last 
 was printed in i486. Thus after about eight years of activity, 
 the earliest Oxford press ceased to exist.' 
 
 The Benedictine students seem to have been numerous at 
 
 ' Ames's Typograpliical Aii- \ iii. pp. 13-17 ; GreswelFs Parisian 
 tiqiiities^ (ed. 1790) vol. iii. pp. Typography. 
 1 386- 1 409; T/tc Andqiiary, vol. j
 
 ST. MARY'S COLLEGE. 341 
 
 Oxford in the middle of the fifteenth century. They pos- 
 sessed Gloucester College, Durham College, and Canterbury 
 College, and some members of the order lodged at Burnell's 
 Inn, which occupied the site of the former Jewish synagogue 
 near St. Aldate's Church.' At Gloucester College a chapel 
 and a library were built between the years 1420 and 1440, 
 mainly by the liberality of John Wheathamstead, Abbot of 
 St, Alban's, and a chapel was erected at Durham College 
 about the same period.^ 
 
 In 1435, a certain Thomas Holden and Elizabeth received 
 licence to convey certain lands and tenements, in the parishes 
 of St. Peter le Bailey and St. Michael at the North Gate, to 
 the Augustinian canons of the Holy Trinity near Aldgate in 
 London, and this donation resulted in the establishment of a 
 religious house called St, Mary's College. Although some 
 of the canons of Oseney and St. Frideswyde's frequented the 
 schools of the University, neither of these monasteries was 
 exclusively a place of study. Students from other houses of 
 the Augustinian Order lodged in different places in Oxford, 
 and it was for their benefit that St. Mary's College was built. 3 
 The gateway and a portion of the cloister still remain, on the 
 eastern side of New Inn Hall Street, which was originally 
 known as the North Bailey and afterwards as the Lane of 
 the Seven Deadly Sins.'* 
 
 St. Bernard's College, the latest in date of the many religious 
 houses of Oxford, owed its origin to Henry Chicheley, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. That a Cistercian monastery should 
 
 ' Mu7t. Acad. pp. 627-631. i Dwrials, p. 13. There was certainly 
 
 ^ Reyner, Apostolatiis Beiiedic- j a chapel at Durham College as 
 
 iu!0)-uvi, Appendix, pp. 177, 1S7 ; j early as the year 141 7. See His- 
 
 Animles S. Albaiii a Joan7ie 1 torice Dtcnelicnsis Scrip tort's Trcs. 
 
 Aniicndcshani, vol. ii. pp. 256, 264. 
 The Perpendicular chapel of Dur- 
 
 p. ccni. 
 
 3 Patent Roll, 14 Hen. VI. p. 2, 
 
 ham College is shown in Loggan's m. 19. 
 
 view of Trinity College, of which Peshall's City of Oxford, p. 
 
 there is a copy in Ingram's Me- 186.
 
 342 ST. BERNARHS COLLEGE. 
 
 thus have been founded by a secular prelate at a time 
 when the regular clergy were regarded with jealousy is in 
 itself sufficiently remarkable, but it is worthy of more special 
 notice that Chicheley himself was then about to build and 
 endow a sumptuous college for secular clerks in the self-same 
 town of Oxford. The royal licence to Chicheley for the 
 foundation of St. Bernard's College bears date the 20th of 
 March 1437, ^"d the site of the future College of All Souls 
 was bought by him in the course of that very year. Some 
 writers have therefore thought that he merely gave to the 
 monks five acres of land which on examination he had found 
 to be unsuitable to his larger scheme.' These five acres lay 
 in the parish of St. Mary IMagdalen, without the walls of Oxford, 
 on the eastern side of North Gate Street, and consequently to 
 the north of Balliol College and Durham College.^ 
 
 The royal charter mentions that the Cistercian students had 
 no common abode at Oxford, and lodged in different halls of 
 the University, unable to observe the rules of their order, and 
 it would therefore appear that Rewley Abbey, which was 
 formerly recognised as the Cistercian place of study, had 
 changed its character. According to the statutes which were 
 issued in 1446, by the Abbot of Morimond in the diocese of 
 Langres, St. Bernard's College was governed by a Provisor, 
 who was also the confessor of the whole community. Those 
 of the students who were priests were required to celebrate 
 mass at least three times a week, and the others were required 
 to partake of the floly Eucharist on Sundays and holy days. 
 The inmates of the College were strictly forbidden to carry 
 arms, or to walk out of doors for their own amusement. 3 
 
 ' The earliest authority for this ' 24 ; Dugdalc's Monasticon, vol. v. 
 
 view appears to be R. lloveden's 
 manuscript Life of Chicheley, 
 which was not written until about 
 the year 1574. 
 
 ^' Patent Roll, 15 Hen. VI. m. 
 
 p. 746. 
 
 ;^ Smith MS. vol. xiii. f. 303 ; 
 Turner and Coxe, Catalogue of 
 Charters and Rolls, p. 283.
 
 ST. BERNARDS COLLEGE. 
 
 343 
 
 Archbishop Chicheley may have erected some part of the 
 College at his own expense, but it is more probable that the 
 cost of the fabric was defrayed by the monks themselves. 
 Forty-six years after the date of the foundation, Richard III. 
 wTOte to the Abbots of the chief Cistercian houses in England, 
 urging them to grant money for the work, which, he said, 
 " proceeded right wele in buylding," and warning them to send 
 their contributions to the Abbot of Stratford rather than to 
 the Abbot of Citeaux.' The refectory and the chambers that 
 were erected for the monks in the fifteenth century, now form 
 part of the outer quadrangle of St. John's College, and, although 
 the name of St. Bernard has been almost forgotten, a figure of 
 him is still to be seen in a niche over the great gateway. 
 
 ' Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archcsological Society, vol. vi. 
 pp. 60 65.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Origin of Lincoln College Richard Fleming Death of the Founder 
 Erection of Buildings Thomas Rotherham, the Second Founder 
 Statutes of 1480 The Origin of All Souls' College Henry Chicheley 
 Connexion with Henry VI. The Site and Buildings The Statutes 
 Benefactors after Chicheley The Origin of Magdalen College 
 William Waynflete Magdalen Hall Enlargement of the Scheme 
 The Buildings The Statutes. 
 
 INCOLN COLLEGE was established in 1427, 
 to serve as a defence of the CathoHc faith 
 against the heretical opinions that were then 
 widely held in the University of Oxford. The 
 founder, Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 was one of those unstable churchmen who, after befriending 
 the Lollards for a while, turned against them with indecent 
 zeal. When chosen to be Northern Proctor of the University 
 in 1407, he was already a Canon of York, and his vehement 
 opposition to the condemnation of Wyclif's doctrine in that 
 year attracted general attention.' He must ere long have 
 made his peace with the ecclesiastical authorities, for in 1420 
 he was elected Bishop of Lincoln. Martin V. moreover nomi- 
 nated him one of the papal chamberlains, and in 1424 trans- 
 lated him to the Archbishopric of York. The Council of 
 Henry VI., however, not only refused to acknowledge the 
 validity of this appointment, but declared the sec of Lincoln 
 
 ' Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii. p. ' Colleges and Ifa/Is, pp. 234, 235 ; 
 332 ; Mu>i. Acad. p. 237 ; Wood's Cotton MS. Faustina, c. vii.
 
 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 345 
 
 to be vacant, so that Fleming found himself in the position 
 of a shepherd without a flock. It was not without difficulty 
 that he obtained restitution of his former temporalities, while 
 the Pope tried to cover his defeat by issuing a bull for 
 the translation of " Richard, Archbishop of York," to the 
 inferior see of Lincoln/ Such were the relations that sub- 
 sisted between the courts of England and Rome. Richard 
 Fleming did not receive any further promotion, and the 
 most memorable incident in the later years of his episcopate 
 was his execution of the papal decree which ordered that 
 the body of John Wyclif should be exhumed and publicly 
 burned.^ 
 
 The letters patent of Henry VI., issued by authority of 
 Parliament in October, 1427, gave licence to the Bishop of 
 Lincoln to unite the parochial churches of All Saints, St. 
 Mildred, and St. Michael at the North Gate, and to convert 
 them into an institution which should be styled " the College 
 of the Blessed Mary and All Saints of Lincoln, within the 
 University of Oxford." These three churches were in the 
 direct patronage of the Bishop of Lincoln, and it was thought 
 that their joint revenue, together with that of the chantry of 
 St. Anne in the first of them, would suffice for the main- 
 tenance of a Rector and seven Scholars, as well as of two hired 
 chaplains. The College was accordingly incorporated in the 
 usual way, permission being given to it to acquire land in 
 mortmain to the yearly value of ten pounds. 3 
 
 The founder evidently intended to draw up a code of 
 statutes for the government of the College, but he did not 
 get beyond a pompous preface, in which he expressed his 
 detestation of the pestilent heresies that were then rife.'* In 
 further proof of his orthodoxy, he gave to the College a copy 
 of Walden's treatise against Wyclif, and other books of good 
 
 ' Le Neve's /vzi-Z/jVolii. pp. 17,18. 
 
 ^ Page 285, above. 
 
 3 Patent Roll, 6 Plcnry VI. p. i, 
 
 m. 8, printed in Statutes of the 
 Colleges of Oxford, vol. i. 
 Statutes of the Colleges.
 
 346 LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 repute.' He died, however, in the early part of the year 
 143 1, long before the completion of his scheme. 
 
 The small society of Lincoln College had not any suitable 
 habitation during the first few years of its existence. Bishop 
 Fleming doubtless chose the site and made some plans, but 
 he does not appear to have even completed the necessary pur- 
 chases of land. It was not until after his death that the first 
 buildings of the College were begun by John Forest, Dean 
 of Wells, who, as a Canon of Lincoln, took a warm interest 
 in the humble foundation of his late diocesan. Three sides 
 of a quadrangle, measuring eighty feet across, were finished 
 in or about the year 1437. O^'^ "^^ western side, facing the 
 street, was the gateway with a tower over it, and two floors of 
 chambers on either side ; on the eastern was the hall with 
 the buttery and the kitchen at its northern end. The third 
 side, bounded on the north by the churchyard of St. Mildred 
 and St. Mildred's Lane, consisted of a small oratory, or chapel, 
 and a library, the latter of which occupied the western part 
 and had a chamber above and another below.^ After the 
 demolition of the church of St. Mildred by order of Dr. 
 Forest, the chapel of Lincoln College was, in 1441, dedicated 
 in honour of that saint, conjointly with St. Hugh, the special 
 patron of Lincoln. In 1447, Cardinal Beaufort gave a 
 hundred marks towards the fabric of the College, and in 
 1469, the executors of the will of Bishop Bekynton con- 
 tributed two hundred pounds, which were expended in building 
 the Rector's lodging on the southern side of the quadrangle, 
 opposite to the chapel.^ Here may still be seen a panel 
 carved in stone, bearing the rebus of Thomas Bekynton, a 
 letter T beside a flaming beacon rising out of a tun.'^ 
 
 ' Second Report of tlie Historical 
 MSS. CoiiiDiission, p. 131. 
 - Ibid. ; Wood, pp. 245 249. 
 ' Second Report of the Ilistoricii! 
 
 * There is a woodcut of it in 
 Parker's Handbook for Visitors to 
 Oxford, (ed. 1S75) p. 202. A dif- 
 ferent treatment of tlie rebus occurs 
 
 MSS. Commission, p. 131. ! at Wells.
 
 THOMAS ROTHERHAM. 347 
 
 During the first forty years after the death of Richard 
 Fleming, the see of Lincoln was occupied by four successive 
 prelates, who did not show any special interest in the society 
 which he had established at Oxford. When however Thomas 
 Rotherham, Bishop of Lincoln, visited the College in 1474, 
 the Rector, John Tristrope, found a favourable opportunity 
 of urging its claims. Taking as his text some words in the 
 80th Psalm, " Behold and visit this vine, and the vineyard 
 which thy right hand hath planted," he delivered a sermon 
 in which he earnestly exhorted the Bishop to complete the 
 pious work begun by his predecessor. So effectually indeed 
 did he plead that at the end of the sermon the Bishop stood 
 up and announced that he would grant his request.^ It has 
 been thought by some that a vine which still grows in Lincoln 
 College, was planted in allusion to the text chosen by the 
 preacher on this memorable occasion.^ 
 
 Thomas Rotherham was a man who knew well the 
 advantages of collegiate institutions. He had been educated 
 at Eton College and King's College, and had spent some 
 years at Pembroke College, first as a Fellow and afterwards 
 as Master. He had, moreover, filled the high office of Chan- 
 cellor of the University of Cambridge. In 1474, the year 
 of his visit to Oxford, he was appointed Lord Chancellor of 
 England, and in 1480 he was translated from the see of 
 Lincoln to that of York, the duties of the Chancellorship 
 being considered quite compatible with those of the Primacy. 
 During a long and honourable career, Rotherham showed 
 himself a constant patron of learning, and he proved a 
 notable benefactor to his native town of Rotherham, to the 
 University of Cambridge, and to other places with which he 
 became connected. 3 The services which he rendered to 
 Lincoln College fairly entitled him to style himself its second 
 founder. He endowed it with the rectories of Twyford and 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges and Halls, [ - Ingram's Memorials, p. 10. 
 p. 23S. I ' Yoss^i Judges of England.
 
 348 LINCOLN COLI^EGE. 
 
 Long Combe, he increased the number of Fellowships from 
 seven to twelve, he completed the southern side of the quad- 
 rangle, and he drew up a code of statutes to express the 
 unwritten intentions of the original founder, Bishop Fleming.^ 
 
 As remodelled by Bishop Rotherham in 1480, the society 
 of Lincoln College consisted of a Rector and twelve Fellows, 
 besides whom there were two chaplains, a bible-clerk, a 
 manciple, a cook, and a barber.^ Of the thirteen members 
 of the foundation eight were always natives of the diocese 
 of Lincoln, four of that of York, and one of that of Bath 
 and Wells. Eight therefore came from the diocese over 
 w^hich the two founders had presided, one from that which 
 contained the birthplace of Thomas Rotherham, and one 
 from that which had furnished those two notable benefactors, 
 John Forest and Thomas Bekynton. Natives of Somerset- 
 shire were, however, ineligible for the offices of Rector and 
 sub-rector. 
 
 The position of the Rector of Lincoln College was not so 
 exalted or so lucrative as that of the Provost of Queen's, 
 or the Warden of New College. No special residence 
 was assigned to him by the statutes, and he seems to 
 have dined and supped with the Fellows in the common 
 hall. His yearly income was forty shillings, and so much 
 of the revenue of the Rectory of Twyford as remained over, 
 after the payment of a salary to a resident chaplain, of ten 
 pounds to the College, and of various other charges. He 
 was, however, allowed to hold a benefice with cure of souls, 
 necessitating long periods of absence from Oxford. Those 
 persons only who were, or who had been. Fellows of the 
 College were eligible for the office of Rector, and every 
 Rector-elect had to be presented to the Bishop of Lincoln 
 for confirmation. When the Rector was away, most of his 
 duties devolved upon one of the Fellows, chosen by his 
 colleagues to serve as sub-rector, or corrector, for a year. 
 ' Wood. I " Statutes of the Colleges.
 
 THE STATUTES. 349 
 
 It was moreover the duty of the sub-rector to denounce 
 ofifenders, and to make all arrangements concerning the dis- 
 putations that were held in the College. A salary of one 
 mark was assigned by the statutes to the sub-rector, and to 
 the other Fellow who acted as bursar, or treasurer. 
 
 Inasmuch as Lincoln College was intended to be a strong- 
 hold of orthodox divinity, rather than a place of secular 
 education, those students only were held eligible for Fellow- 
 ships who had taken the degree of Master of Arts, or at 
 least that of Bachelor of Arts, Fellows who were not in 
 priests' orders at the time of their admission were obliged 
 to enter the priesthood within a year, and all were alike 
 required to proceed to the degree of Bachelor of Divinity 
 within eight years of the completion of their necessary re- 
 gency in Arts. One Fellow only at a time was allowed to 
 devote himself to the study of canon law. On admission to 
 the College, every Fellow was required to swear in general 
 terms that he would obey the statutes, and more particularly 
 that he would never openly or secretly favour " that pestilent 
 sect, which, reviving ancient heresies, attacks the sacraments, 
 and the position, and the endowments of the Church." Any 
 one persisting in heresy was to be cast out of the fold of the 
 College " as a diseased sheep " at the end of eight days. 
 The Fellows were free to hold benefices within the bounds of 
 the University, to the yearly value of ten marks, but they 
 were not allowed to sleep outside the walls of the College 
 without good cause, save during six weeks in the long 
 vacation. They did not pay any rent for their respective 
 rooms, and in ordinary weeks they were entitled to commons 
 to the value of sixteen pence a head. On the other hand 
 they did not receive any yearly allowance in money or 
 in cloth. 
 
 It is clear that many of the rooms in the College were let 
 to students who did not belong to the foundation, the pre- 
 sence of these commoners, or sojourners, being expressly
 
 3SO LINCOLN COLLEGE. 
 
 recognised in the statutes. These commoners were not mere 
 boarders, for they were entitled to take part in the weekly 
 disputations that were held in the College, whereas outsiders 
 were only admitted as disputants by special permission of 
 the sub-rector. The theologians disputed on Fridays, and 
 the Bachelors of Arts on Wednesdays, in full term, except 
 during Lent, when " determinations " were taking place in the 
 public schools. If the number of Bachelors was very small, 
 the sub-rector might appoint one of them to argue on both 
 sides of a question, deciding finally in favour of the truth. 
 
 The ecclesiastical arrangements of Lincoln College deserve 
 notice, inasmuch as the Rector and Fellows, in their cor- 
 porate capacity, held the rectories of the three adjoining 
 parishes of All Saints, St. Mildred, and St. Michael at the 
 North Gate. The College maintained a chaplain to perform 
 divine service at All Saints, and another at St. Michael's ; 
 but in both these churches the Rector's stall on the right 
 hand side of the choir was occupied by one of the Fellows, 
 specially deputed by his colleagues. He had the whole 
 management of the choir, and it was his duty to assist the 
 chaplain in hearing confessions in Lent, and in various other 
 ways. On great festivals, all the inmates of the College, save 
 the Fellow who had charge of St. Michael's, attended service 
 at All Saints', which was considered a collegiate church, 
 while conversely, on the feasts of St. Michael, all, save the 
 Fellow who had charge of All Saints, repaired to St. Michael's. 
 Sermons in English were occasionally delivered in both these 
 churches by the Rector or by one of the Fellows. The small 
 church of St. Mildred, situated at the corner of Cheney Lane, 
 was demolished soon after tlie foundation of Lincoln College, 
 and the memory of it v.-as only preserved by a special service 
 in the chapel on the 13th of July, the festival of that virgin 
 saint. Masses and prayers for the founders and benefactors 
 of the College were prescribed by the statutes in the usual 
 form. Two chapters were held in the course of the year,
 
 HENR V CHICHELE V. 351 
 
 the first for the audit of accounts, the election of officers, and 
 the choice of books; the second for the apportionment of 
 vacant rooms. Complaints of misconduct and the like could 
 be laid before either chapter. 
 
 A few years after the first foundation of Lincoln College, 
 and many years before the second, "the College of the Souls 
 of all the faithful departed," commonly called "All Souls' 
 College," was established at Oxford, by Henry Chicheley, 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. Chicheley has been mentioned 
 already as a firm friend to the University, and more particu- 
 larly as the founder of an eleemosynary chest, and of the 
 Cistercian College of St. Bernard.' To trace his career in 
 detail would be to trace the ecclesiastical history of England 
 for upwards of forty years, and it will be sufficient here to 
 notice those parts of it which had a direct influence upon the 
 future of All Souls' College. In the first place, then, it is 
 necessary to observe that Chicheley received his education at 
 Oxford, on the noble foundation of William of Wykeham. 
 In 1389, he was a Fellow of New College and a Bachelor of 
 Laws. Until 1392 he was not even a sub-deacon, and he was 
 not ordained priest until four years later. Thenceforward his 
 promotion was rapid. 
 
 Although Henry Chicheley eventually attained to the 
 highest dignity in the Church of England, he was throughout 
 his long life a lawyer, a diplomatist, and a statesman, rather 
 than a theologian. Dean Hook has well remarked that the 
 remuneration given by the Crown to a useful practitioner of 
 civil law or canon law, was generally " not a salary, but some 
 ecclesiastical preferment, which was either a sinecure, or a 
 place the duties of which could be performed by a deputy."^ 
 After holding various offices, and discharging an important 
 mission to France, and two missions to the Roman Court, 
 Chicheley was nominated Bishop of St. David's, and consc- 
 
 ' Pages 324, 341, above. [ ' Lk'es 0/ the Archbishops of 
 
 Canterbury^ vol. v. pp. 9- 11.
 
 352 
 
 ALL SOULS' COLLEGE. 
 
 crated as such by Pope Gregory XII., at Lucca. His subse- 
 quent advancement to the see of Canterbury in 1414, was on 
 the other hand entirely due to Henry V., who entertained so 
 great a regard for him that he also chose him as godfather of 
 his infant son. There are fair grounds for believing that 
 Chicheley encouraged the invasion of France, although there 
 is no contemporary authority for the famous dialogue in which 
 Shakspere makes him urge King Henry to win his right "with 
 blood and sword and fire." It is more certain that he induced 
 the clergy of his province to assent to the final suppression of 
 the alien priories. These priories, it will be remembered, were 
 the possessions in England of religious houses in the north of 
 France, acquired at a time when the Kings of England were 
 Dukes of Normandy. Circumstances had greatly changed, 
 and it was no longer considered tolerable that the revenues 
 of estates in England should be sent to the subjects of the 
 avowed enemy of the English king. 
 
 The idea of founding a secular college at Oxford does not 
 appear to have occurred to Archbishop Chicheley until some 
 years after the close of the victorious reign of Henry V. His 
 first step in the matter was to acquire a suitable site. In 
 December 1437, he bought, in the name of three feoffees, a 
 tenement known as Bedford Hall, but previously called 
 Charlton's Inn, situated at the corner of the High Street and 
 Cat Street.^ When this and six adjoining shops had been 
 demolished, he had at his disposal an area measuring 172 feet 
 in length from east to west, and 160 in depth from south to 
 north, opposite to the eastern end of St. Mary's Church. 
 There the first stone of the collegiate buildings was laid on 
 the loth of February, 1438.'' The royal licence for the incor- 
 poration of the College was issued three months later.^ 
 
 ' Archhics of All SoiiW College, 
 (ed. C. T. Martin) p. 151. 
 
 " \\'ood's Colleges and Halls, p. 
 
 3 Patent Roll 16 Henry VI. m. 
 24. {Statutes of the Colleges of 
 Oxford, vol. i.)
 
 THE FO UN DA TION. 3 5 3 
 
 Following the example of Adam de Brome, who had asked 
 Edward II. to declare himself the founder of Oriel College, 
 Chicheley persuaded his godson, Henry VI., to become 
 nominal founder of All Souls' College. It is, however, 
 worthy of remark that in both instances the connexion with 
 the Crown proved a source of weakness rather than of 
 strength. During the political troubles which shortened the 
 unhappy reign of Edward II., Adam de Brome found it 
 prudent to transfer the patronage of his college to the Bishop 
 of Lincoln : All Souls' College narrowly escaped total sup- 
 pression on the accession of the House of York,'' 
 
 The letters patent of Henry VI. declare plainly the objects 
 of Chicheley's foundation. All Souls' College was not to be, 
 like Lincoln College, a society of theologians banded together 
 for the confutation of heresy, but a magnificent chantry, 
 whence prayers should daily ascend to Heaven for the souls of 
 Henry V. and his brother, the Duke of Clarence, and of the 
 many Englishmen who had been slain in the French wars. 
 Some have therefore thought that Chicheley established his 
 noble college in expiation of his own sin in fomenting the 
 quarrel between Henry V. and Charles VI. All Souls' 
 College, however, was to be something more than a chantry, 
 for the letters patent authorise the incorporation of a society, 
 consisting of a Warden, and forty Scholars or Fellows, studying 
 in the schools of the University. So grand was Chicheley's 
 scheme that he sought and obtained for the College permission 
 to acquire lands in mortmain to the yearly value of three 
 hundred pounds, a very large sum in those days.^ 
 
 The site of All Souls' College lay within the parish of St. 
 Mary the Virgin, and at one time some difficulty seemed 
 likely to arise from the fact that this church was appropriated 
 to the Provost and Scholars of Oriel College. The first 
 Warden therefore, Richard Andrew, was sent to Florence to 
 
 ' Burrows's Worthies of All \ "" Patent Roll, as before. 
 Souls, p. 27. I 
 
 A \
 
 354 ALL SOULS' COLLEGE. 
 
 seek papal exemption from the rectorial authority. He 
 brought back with him a bull, dated the 2ist of June, 1439, 
 by which Eugenius IV. gave licence to the Warden and 
 Fellows of All Souls' to have a chapel and a burial ground 
 within their own precincts, entirely exempt from the pay- 
 ment of dues or offerings to the rector or to the vicar of St. 
 Mary's, and exempt also from any interdict that might ever 
 be imposed upon the parochial churches of Oxford. This 
 grant of immunity proved somewhat costly, for besides the 
 expenses of Andrew's mission to Italy, and the fees exacted 
 by the officers of the papal court, a sum of two hundred 
 marks had to be paid to the Provost and Scholars of Oriel 
 College, by way of compensation for their future loss of 
 revenue.' No other secular college enjoyed similar privileges, 
 and there was only one other, New College, which had a 
 private burial-ground. 
 
 Archbishop Chichcley lost no time in erecting suitable 
 buildings for the members of his collegiate foundation. Fol- 
 lowing the example of William of Wykeham, he placed the 
 chapel on the northern side of the quadrangle, with the hall 
 at its eastern end. He furthermore copied the singular form 
 of the chapel of New College, in which he had worshipped 
 and disputed when he was a student at Oxford. In the 
 course of the first five years, a sum of more than four thousand 
 pounds was expended in building. The stone was brought 
 from the quarries of Headington, Teynton, Sherborn, and 
 Sunningwell ; the timber from the woods of Shotover, 
 Stowood, Horsham, and Eynsham. On one occasion, the 
 King contributed five trees from his park at Recklcy, and 
 on another, the Abbot of Abingdon twenty from his wood 
 at Cumnor. John Drucl, who was chosen a T^ellow of the 
 College in 1440, acted as survc)'or, and perhaps as architect.^ 
 
 ' Arfluvcs of All Souls' Collt\!^c, ~ IngranVs Manoriols, pp. 8, 9, 
 
 p. 289 ; WoocVi Coll(]i^-c's and Halls, 17, iS. 
 p. 287.
 
 THE EARLY WARDENS. 355 
 
 A breakfast was given in the choir of the chapel in May 
 1442, on the occasion of the first celebration of mass.^ Five 
 months later, the chapel was consecrated in honour of the four 
 Latin Fathers, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory, by 
 the Archbishop, \\\\o was assisted by the Bishops of Lincoln, 
 Worcester, and Norwich.^ The rest of the fabric, however, 
 was not finished until after his death. 
 
 The royal licence for the foundation of All Souls' mentions 
 Richard Andrew as the first Warden, and gives the names of 
 seven Fellows who had been nominated by Chicheley to form 
 the nucleus of the infant society.^ Andrew, however, re- 
 signed his office as early as the year 1442, in order to become 
 secretary to the King. In the course of a long and active 
 career, he was frequently employed in political negotiations 
 with the French and the Scots, and he was rewarded with 
 various preferments, including the Deanery of York. Pro- 
 fessor Burrows remarks that Chicheley might seem " to have 
 selected too great a man for Warden," but also points out that, 
 during the next forty years, Andrew was probably able to be 
 more useful to the College as a patron and adviser than if he 
 had retained his place as Wardcn.4 At different times in the 
 course of his life, Andrew gave many precious books and 
 ornaments to the chapel of All Souls', and spent a hundred 
 marks on the kitchen and other parts of the fabric. In 
 1469 he was formally admitted as a partaker of the prayers 
 of the society.5 Roger Keys, his immediate successor in the 
 office of Warden, proved so skilful in architecture that Henry 
 VI. removed him from Oxford to superintend the building 
 of Eton College.^ Nowadays such a removal would not be 
 accounted promotion. 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges and Halls, ' Wood's Colleges and Halls, 
 
 p. 288. ; pp. 265267. 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 287, 288. I *" Ibid. p. 267 ; Lyte's History of 
 
 3 Patent Roll, as before. ; Eton College, pp. 43, 44 ; Bentley's 
 
 Worthies of All Souls, p. 29. ' Excerpta Historiea, p. 49. 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 ALL somas' COLLEGE. 
 
 A great part of the endowments of All Souls' College 
 consisted of estates which had belonged to religious houses 
 in France until the suppression of the Alien Priories in the 
 reign of Henry V. All these estates had been vested in the 
 English Crown by Act of Parliament, and it was by suc- 
 cessive royal grants that the Warden and Fellows acquired 
 the Priory of Romney and the Rectory of Upchurch in Kent, 
 the Priory of Weedon Pinkeney in Northamptonshire, the 
 New Abbey near Alberbury in Shropshire, and Llangennith 
 in Glamorganshire. A general charter of confirmation, how- 
 ever, acknowledges that Chicheley had paid a thousand 
 pounds for them.' 
 
 The statutes of All Souls' College were not formally issued 
 until the 2nd of April, 1443, ten days only before the death 
 of the munificent Archbishop.^ They ordained that of the 
 forty Scholars mentioned in the royal letters patent of 1438, 
 twenty-four should apply themselves to the study of the 
 liberal arts, or of theology, and the remaining sixteen to that 
 of civil law or of canon law. Vacancies were to be filled up 
 once a year, at an election which was to be held by the 
 Warden and Fellows, within four days after the feast of All 
 Souls', in November. Those persons only were declared 
 eligible who had spent three years at the University, and had 
 acquired a knowledge of grammar and plain chant. Nobody 
 was to be admitted before his seventeenth birthday, or 
 after his twenty-sixth, and every Scholar was to undergo a 
 probation of one year before admission to the higher rank of 
 Fellow. A preference was, as usual, reserved by statute for 
 members of the founder's kin, and for natives of certain par- 
 ticular places and counties. ]Men who were of illegitimate 
 birth, or otherwise incapable of taking holy orders, were 
 wholly excluded. 
 
 Those of the I'cllows who belonged to the Faculty of Arts 
 
 ' Wood, pp. 260, 261 ; A?-chivcs i ^ Sfntutes of the Colleges of 
 of All Souls College, p. 289. , Oxford, vol. i.
 
 THE WARDEN. 357 
 
 were required to enter the priesthood within the second year 
 after the completion of their necessary regency, and to turn 
 to the study of scholastic theology within the third. Bachelors 
 of Civil Law were allowed to remain in minor orders for a 
 longer period, and those of them who proceeded to the degree 
 of Doctor were exempted from the necessity of taking priest's 
 orders. Fellowships were to be vacated by the possession of 
 a private income of \oos., by the acceptance of a benefice of 
 the yearly value of ten marks, by marriage, by the adoption 
 of monastic vows, or by absence from the College for more 
 than sixty days in the year. 
 
 The Warden of All Souls' was required by the statutes to 
 be a man of good learning and morals, prudent alike in matters 
 spiritual and temporal. The rules concerning his election 
 differed from those which prevailed at any of the other secular 
 colleges affiliated to the University. When the office became 
 vacant, the Fellows were to select two suitable candidates from, 
 among the members of their society, present or past, the one 
 a Doctor of Divinity or a ]\Iastcr of Arts, and the other a 
 Doctor or a Bachelor of Civil Law or of Canon Law, but the 
 ultimate choice between the two was vested in the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury and his successors. The Warden was to re- 
 ceive yearly ten marks in money, ten yards of cloth, commons 
 equivalent to those of two Fellows, and a small allowance for 
 the maintenance of a private servant. He was seemingly 
 expected to dine and sup in the hall, where the value of the 
 commons of the Fellows was fixed on a sliding scale, de- 
 pendent as usual upon the price of wheat. Those sections of 
 the statutes of All Souls' which relate to the duties of the 
 Warden, the vice-warden, the bursars, and the deans, and 
 the internal economy of the College, were copied almost ex- 
 act!}" from the corresponding sections of the statutes of New 
 College. The Warden and the Fellows were to be able to 
 borrow books from the library, and money from a chest 
 originally endowed with the sum of 133/. 6s. 8(/. Some of
 
 35S ALL SOULS' COL.L.EGE. 
 
 the books had been presented to the College by the King 
 himself.' 
 
 The statutes prescribed that weekly disputations on law 
 should be held in the chapel, and daily disputations on logic 
 in the hall. Within the precincts of the College, the Fellows 
 and Scholars were required to be dressed alike, in long gowns 
 reaching down to their ankles, with hoods behind ending in 
 liripipes, or ornamental tails, of which the exact length was 
 defined by statute. For this purpose, a certain allowance of 
 cloth was to be doled out to each of the former, yearly at 
 Christmastide. A Fellow or Scholar going to church, or to 
 the schools, was to wear the costume pertaining to his acade- 
 mical rank, and it was only when going into the suburbs for 
 some lawful recreation that he was left free to follow his own 
 taste in the matter of dress. At times of divine service the 
 Fellows and Scholars were to wear surplices, and those of 
 them who were graduates were also to wear furred hoods 
 lined with silk. The use of a biretta or skull-cap in the 
 chapel during the spring or summer was restricted to priests, 
 and to Fellows who had taken the degree of Master of Arts 
 or of Bachelor of Law. The statutes declared that Sundays 
 and other holy da}^s should be devoted to the service of God, 
 and therefore enacted that the Warden, the Fellows, the 
 Scholars, the chaplains, and the clerks, should attend first 
 and second vespers, compline, matins, and high mass, on all 
 such days. Once a week, on Fridays if convenient, they 
 were to meet in the choir of the chapel to perform the 
 exequies of the dead, according to the use of the church of 
 Sarum. Minute directions were also given as to the private 
 prayers which they were daily to repeat. 
 
 The statutes of All Souls' did not specify the number or 
 the duties of the chaplains and the clerks of the chapel, and 
 
 ' Proceedings of iJie rn\y eight books on law, seventeen on 
 Council, (ed. Nicolas) vol. v. pp. , theology, and one Barley's on 
 117 119. 'llie list comprises ' philosophy.
 
 BENEFACTORS. 359 
 
 although some clauses seemed to restrict the studies of the 
 Fellows to the liberal arts, theology, and law, others incident- 
 ally mentioned Bachelors and Doctors of Medicine as persons 
 who might lawfully be Fellows of the College. All omissions 
 and inconsistencies, however, were doubtless due to the haste 
 in which Chicheley issued the statutes, as soon as he felt him- 
 self stricken with mortal sickness. He died on the 12th of 
 April, 1443, and the Warden and Fellows of All Souls' still 
 hold themselves responsible for the repair of his monument, 
 erected during his own lifetime on the northern side of the 
 choir in the cathedral church of Canterbury, 
 
 The death of the venerable founder did not put an end to 
 the work which was being carried on at All Souls'. His suc- 
 cessor in the primacy, John Stafford, did somewhat to promote 
 it by oftering an indulgence of forty days to all penitents who 
 should visit the collegiate chapel on Relic Sunday, or on the 
 feast of All Souls.' In 1445, he issued an ordinance to regu- 
 late the election of the vice-warden, the bursars, and the 
 deans, the original statutes being silent on this matter. He 
 furthermore apportioned the different rooms which were ready 
 for use. To the Warden he assigned a large chamber at the 
 south-eastern corner of the building, with another room on 
 the opposite side of the staircase, and he ordained that in 
 some rooms there should be two Fellows or Scholars, and in 
 others three. ^ 
 
 In the last decade of the fifteenth century, the College of 
 All Souls received 50/. from a former Fellow, James Gold well, 
 Bishop of Norwich, " towards the building of the high altar," 
 and 21/. 13^-. ^d. from one of the Fellows named Robert Este 
 for setting up certain images over it. Bishop Goldwell also 
 bequeathed a larger sum for the establishment of a chantry in 
 the chapel.3 A screen erected at his expense between the 
 choir and the nave, or ante-chapel, has long since disappeared, 
 
 ' Archives of All Souls' College^ -' Siati/fes oft/ic Colleges. 
 
 p. 289. Wood, pp. 262, 287 289.
 
 36o WILLIAM WAYNFLETE. 
 
 and the statues of the reredos were destroyed by Protestant 
 iconoclasts. When, however, the eastern wall of the chapel 
 was uncovered a few years ago, enough of the original work 
 was found to warrant the restoration which has since been 
 effected. In its pristine state, when the canopied niches were 
 filled with mediaeval images, when the whole surface was re- 
 splendent with gold and rich colours, this reredos must have 
 been one of the noblest examples of late Gothic art to be 
 seen in England. A representation of the Crucifixion occupied 
 the most conspicuous place over the high altar, and was 
 flanked and surmounted by tiers of detached statues. The 
 design culminated in a figure of our Lord seated in judgment, 
 and a gilded beam above it bore the words " Surgite mortui, 
 venite ad Jiidichim" most appropriate in a college founded in 
 honour of the faithful departed. 
 
 Like All Souls' College, Magdalen College at Oxford owes 
 its origin to an eminent prelate familiar with the educational 
 system of William of Wykeham. It is indeed almost certain 
 that the founder, William Waynflete, was never, like Chicheley, 
 a Fellow of New College, but he was for some sixteen years 
 the chief instructor of the poor boys who partook of Wyke- 
 ham's bounty. A native of Waynflete in Lincolnshire, he 
 appears to have substituted the name of his birthplace for his 
 patronymic of Patten or Barbour at the time of his ordination 
 as sub-deacon in 142 1. Of his academical career at Oxford 
 nothing is positively known beyond the fact that he proceeded 
 to the degree of Master *of Arts. It was perhaps by the in- 
 fluence of his friend Thomas Bekynton that he obtained, in 
 1429, his first preferment, the Mastership of Winchester 
 College.' So successful was he as a teacher of grammar that 
 Henry VI. selected him to be the first Master of the College 
 newly established under the shadow of Windsor Castle. In 
 1443, Waynflete was promoted to the office of Provost of Eton, 
 
 ' Chandler's Ij'/c of ]]^nyi!/Icii-, pp. i -21.
 
 MAGDALEN HALL. 
 
 361 
 
 and to him more than to any other person was due the early- 
 prosperity of that noble institution, and its subsequent pre- 
 servation from ruin,' The qualities which fitted him for the 
 government of a college recommended him for higher duties, 
 and in 1447 he was elected Bishop of Winchester at the 
 special desire of the King.^ 
 
 In the beginning of the second year of his episcopate, and 
 actually before his installation, Waynflete obtained royal 
 licence for the foundation of an academical hall at Oxford 
 under the patronage of St. Mary Magdalen, his devotion to 
 that saint being probably due to the fact that he had been 
 Master of a hospital at Winchester which bore her name. 
 The English appellation given to the new foundation was 
 Magdalen Hall, but, like Merton Hall, Balliol Hall, and 
 others, it was to be a college, the President and Scholars 
 being constituted a perpetual corporation, authorised to hold 
 lands in mortmain, and to use a common seal. The society 
 was to consist of an ecclesiastical President, and about fifty 
 Scholars, graduates engaged in the study of philosophy or 
 divinity ; but in the first instance the founder did not 
 nominate more than twenty, of whom thirteen were Masters 
 of Arts, and the remainder Bachelors. A site for the Hall 
 was soon found in the eastern part of Oxford, bounded on 
 the north by the High Street, on the west by Horsemill 
 Lane, on the south by St. John's Street, and on the east by 
 a street that ran parallel with the wall of the town, so that it 
 was approximately that now occupied by the sumptuous new 
 schools of the University. '^ The different tenements that 
 stood there in the middle of the fifteenth century seem to 
 have been utilised by the members of Magdalen Hall, no 
 
 ' L)-te's History of Eton College, 
 pp. 17, 21, 3134, 43, 47, 64, 74 
 77, 87. 
 
 = Chandler, pp. 3341,299317. 
 
 3 Patent Rol], 26 Henry VI., p. 2, 
 
 m. 33. {Statutes of the Colleges of 
 Oxford, vol. ii.) 
 
 "* Chandler, pp. 49, 50 ; Wood's 
 Colleges and Halls, pp. 307, 308.
 
 362 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 attempt being made to erect collegiate buildings suitable to 
 the wants of the community. 
 
 Some few years after the foundation of Magdalen Hall, 
 Waynflete resolved to remove the society to a more convenient 
 place, and to reconstitute it on a broader basis. At a very 
 short distance outside the east gate of Oxford there stood a 
 hospital, founded by Henry HI. in honour of St. John the 
 Baptist, one of the few neighbouring institutions that were 
 not in any way connected with the University.' Here the 
 Bishop saw ample space for a college, and, by his influence as 
 Lord Chancellor of England, he was able, in 1457, ^o obtain a 
 voluntary transfer of the hospital and its endowments to the 
 President and Scholars of Magdalen Hall, with the express 
 sanction of the King and the Pope.^ The Master and the 
 chaplains of the Hospital were dismissed with liberal pen- 
 sions, and life-long provision was made for the poorer in- 
 mates,3 On the 12th of June, 1458, the founder issued a 
 formal charter establishing the College of the blessed Mary 
 Magdalen, com.monly called Magdalen College, in the Univer- 
 sity of Oxford, in honour of the blessed Trinity, the Virgin 
 Mary, St. Mary Magdalen, St. John the Baptist, the Apostles 
 Peter and Paul, and the other patrons of the cathedral church 
 of Winchester. The site of it is described as bounded on the 
 south by the road leading from the East Gate of Oxford to 
 the East Bridge, on the east by the river Chcrwell, on the 
 north by Holywell, and on the west by the road leading from 
 Canditch to the East Gatc.+ In the south-eastern angle of 
 this area, on the site of the ancient hospital, the architectural 
 genius of the fifteenth century soon raised one of the most 
 lovely structures of ancient or modern times. 
 
 Several years elapsed between the formal establishment of 
 Magdalen Collccrc and the foundation of the collegiate build- 
 
 ' Ihigdale's MonasfiLO/i, vol. vi. ' Chandler, p. 94. 
 
 V- 67S. - Wood, ])]). 309, 310. ' Iliut jjp. 389 396.
 
 THE BUILDINGS, 363 
 
 ings, the delay being doubtless due to the unsettled condition of 
 the country. Waynflete himself must have found it very diffi- 
 cult to steer a safe course amid the political troubles of the time. 
 Although he owed his rank and his wealth to Henry VI., he 
 resigned the Great Seal at a critical juncture, three days 
 before the rout of the Lancastrian army at Northampton, 
 taking care to obtain a full pardon for all offences up to that 
 date." Bishop Longland states that Waynflete " was in great 
 dedignation with King Edward, and fled for fere of him into 
 secrete corners, but was at last restorid to his goodes and the 
 kinges favour." In 1469, he received an ample pardon from 
 the Yorkist monarch, and he afterwards obtained from him a 
 charter confirming the grants made to his College at Oxford 
 during the previous reign, ^ 
 
 The foundation-stone of Magdalen College was consecrated 
 on the 5th of May, 1474, by Robert Toly, Bishop of St. 
 David's, and laid on the site of the high altar by William 
 Tybard, the first President of the reorganised society. Most 
 of the stone for the building was brought from the neighbour- 
 ing quarry of Headington, and the work progressed so well 
 that it was almost finished in five years, no part of the ancient 
 hospital being retained except the oratory, which was con- 
 verted to other uses. The general plan of the collegiate 
 chapel was copied from that of the chapels erected at Oxford 
 by Wykeham and Chichelcy, and, as at New College and All 
 Souls', the hall was placed in a line with the chapel, and im- 
 mediately to the east of it. These buildings were made to 
 occupy the southern side of the chief quadrangle, around the 
 other three sides of which there was a low cloister giving access 
 to chambers and staircases. On the northern side of this 
 quadrangle was erected a tower of singular beauty, over a 
 gateway leading into the outer court. An alternative way 
 into the outer court was also made on the northern side of 
 
 ' Chandler,pp. 104, 105,342 346. | " Ibid. ^^. 109, 129,354356.
 
 364 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 the ante-chapel, under a smaller tower, which contained the 
 muniment room. Without and within, the chapel was adorned 
 with numerous images, good specimens of English sculpture. 
 In the ante-chapel there were placed four altars, besides those 
 immediately behind the stalls of the President and vice- 
 president. The choir was fitted with forty-two stalls for the 
 principal members of the society, and separated from the 
 ante-chapel by a screen surmounted by a rood-loft. Vest- 
 ments and other ecclesiastical ornaments of great value were 
 supplied by the founder and different benefactors.^ In con- 
 sideration of a fixed yearly payment, the vicar of St. Pcter's- 
 in-the-East abandoned his claim to oblations and ecclesiastical 
 dues from members of the College, and, by permission of the 
 Bishop of Lincoln and the Pope, the whole College was 
 subjected to the authority of the Bishop of Winchester.^ 
 
 For more than twenty years after the formal establishment 
 of Magdalen College, there were no written statutes for its 
 government. The very number of Scholars was left un- 
 determined. On the resignation of President Tybard, how- 
 ever, in 1480, the founder appointed as his successor a 
 Wykehamist named Richard Mayhew, and committed to 
 him a code of statutes. The new President, a vice-president, 
 a bursar, and others, took the prescribed oaths in due form, 
 but no less than ten out of the thirty-six scholars then be- 
 longing to the College raised objections to those regulations 
 which concerned their dress and their subordination to the 
 President.3 Two years later, Mayhew received a revised 
 version of the statutes from the founder, who seems to 
 have reserved to himself a right to amend them from time 
 to time.'* 
 
 The society was finally fixed to consist of a President, 
 forty Scholars, thirty other Scholars called Demies (because 
 
 ' VAoy.TiWv'i Rci^ister of Magdalen \ - Chandler, pp. 143, 144. 
 College, vol. ii. pp. iv, viii x, 235 ' ' Ibid. pp. 144-147. 
 -257. ' y/Vc/. pp. 154 156.
 
 THE COLLEGIATE BODY. 365 
 
 originally admitted to half- commons), four chaplains, eight 
 clerks, and sixteen choristers, irrespectively of servants and 
 dependants.^ A schoolmaster and usher were to receive yearly 
 stipends of 10/. and 5/. respectively, besides chambers and 
 weekly commons. The duties, position, and emoluments of 
 the President were to be analogous to those of the Warden 
 of New College, one of the most important dignitaries in the 
 University. Fellows and retired Fellows of Magdalen and of 
 New College were alone declared eligible for the office, and 
 the final choice between two candidates nominated by the 
 whole body of Fellows was intrusted to a majority of the 
 thirteen seniors among them. 
 
 To perpetuate the number of forty Scholars, Waynflete 
 directed that vacancies should be filled by the election of 
 Bachelors or Masters of Arts, fairly skilled in plain chant, 
 and otherwise fitted for the priesthood, to which all Masters, 
 save those studying civil law or medicine, were to proceed 
 within the year after the completion of their regency. Seven 
 scholarships were reserved for natives of the county of 
 Lincoln, five for natives of the diocese of Winchester, and 
 the remainder for natives of certain other dioceses and 
 counties in a fixed proportion. After election, the Scholars 
 were required to undergo a year of probation before ad- 
 mission to the privileges of perpetual Fellows. Poverty was, 
 as usual, made one of the necessary qualifications for a scholar- 
 ship, and any Scholar obtaining a benefice of 8/. a year, which 
 involved residence, was obliged to vacate his place at the end 
 of a year. So too those Scholars who were in priest's orders 
 were forbidden to accept any stipend for the celebration of 
 masses outside the precincts of the College, although they 
 were allowed to serve the cure of the neighbouring church of 
 Horsepath. Absence, the assumption of a religious habit, or 
 matrimony, rendered them liable to ejection, 
 
 ' Statutes of the Colleges of Oxford., vol. ii.
 
 366 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 In the admission of Demies, a preference was to be shown 
 to natives of parishes, and secondly of counties, in which the 
 College had acquired possessions during the lifetime of the 
 founder. None were to be admitted under the age of twelve, 
 and at the age of twenty-five they were required to make 
 room for others. It is remarkable that there was no special 
 arrangement for their promotion to scholarships of the better 
 class. 
 
 The four chaplains and the eight clerks were to hold their 
 places during the pleasure of the President. One of them 
 was expected to instruct the scholars in chant. Three masses 
 were to be said daily at the high altar, and three at the 
 Arundel altar in the ante-chapel. Special religious services 
 on behalf of different benefactors to the College and to the 
 founder were to be celebrated on particular days. It was 
 hoped that the President and all the Scholars would attend 
 mass daily, reciting devoutly fifty Ave Marias and five Pater 
 Nosters. On rising, and again on going to bed, they were 
 required to repeat an antiphon in honour of the Blessed 
 Trinity, with an intercession for Bishop Waynflete. In the 
 course of the day, moreover, each of them was to say 
 a psalm and offer prayers for Henry III., Edward III., 
 Henry VI., Edward IV., Sir Ralph Cromwell, Sir John 
 P'astolf, and the founder and his parents. Their religious 
 observances on Sundays and festivals were of course more 
 numerous. 
 
 A disputation on theology was to be held weekly in the 
 chapel, and two disputations on logic or moral philosophy in 
 the hall. It was wisely ordered by the founder that the 
 Demies should not be allowed to devote themselves to the 
 subtleties of logic until they were skilled in Latin grammar. 
 Considering that the Scholars of the better class were 
 Masters or Bachelors of Arts, it is somewhat strange to 
 find a clause in the statutes providing for their instruction
 
 TEACHERS AND PUPILS. 367 
 
 in logic by some of their own number. The most remarkable 
 section, however, is that which established three public chairs 
 in connexion with the College. Gratuitous teaching was to 
 be given not only to the members of the new foundation, but 
 also to all such other students as should wish to profit by it. 
 IMonks were to be welcomed no less warmly than secular 
 clerks. Two of the readers were to expound philosophy, 
 and one theology, Waynflete directed the President and 
 the thirteen senior Fellows to elect as readers the most 
 competent persons in the whole University, and to admit 
 any person so chosen from without the College to the next 
 scholarship that should fall vacant. His liberal scheme of 
 education did not stop here, for he furthermore established, 
 in close connexion with the College, a grammar-school free 
 to all comers. The boys frequenting it were for a while 
 taught in a low chamber on the south side of the ancient 
 chapel of St. John the Baptist, but in 1480 a separate school- 
 house, seventy-two feet in length, was begun on the north 
 side of the great gateway of the College.' 
 
 Subject to a few restrictions, the President was intrusted 
 with the appropriation of the different rooms in the cloistered 
 quadrangle, the expressed intention of the founder being that 
 each should contain two beds and one or two low beds on 
 wheels, then known as truckle beds. Choristers and Demies 
 under fifteen years of age were not entitled to a bed apiece. 
 Certain rooms were reserved for the commoners, young men 
 of noble family, who, to the number of twenty, were to be 
 allowed to live in the College at the charge of their relations, 
 under the care of private tutors called " creansers." 
 
 Besides their weekly commons, of which the value v;as 
 made to depend upon the current price of corn, all the 
 members of the foundation were to receive yearly at 
 
 ' Bloxam's Register of Magdalen College, vol. iii. pp. 3, 5.
 
 368 
 
 MAGDALEN COLLEGE. 
 
 Christmas a certain allowance of cloth, that assigned to 
 the Demies, the clerks of the chapel, the choristers, and 
 the common servants, being inferior in quality and quantity 
 to that assigned to the President, the Scholars, the three 
 readers, the masters, the usher, and the chaplains. The 
 statutes contain minute regulations with regard to the 
 costume and conduct of the Scholars, and other matters 
 of internal discipline, closely resembling those laid down for 
 New College by William of Wykeham.
 
 CHAPTER XI \^ 
 
 A.D. 1485 1509. 
 
 Accession of Henry VII. Correspondence about Bishop Stillington- 
 Royal Visit Benefactions of Henry VII. Arthur, Prince of Wales 
 The Lady Margaret Contests for the Office of Bedel The 
 Chancellorship Bishop Russell Cardinal Morton Bishop Smyth 
 Archbishop Warham St. Mary's Church The School of Canon 
 Law Riots Pestilences The Renaissance Petrarch and Boccaccio 
 The Study of Greek Guarino's English Pupils Cornelio Vitelli 
 William Grocyne Thomas Linacre The Humanists and the Church 
 John Colet Erasmus at Oxford. 
 
 OON after the battle of Bosworth, the resident 
 graduates of Oxford offered their congratu- 
 lations to Henry VII., in a letter not less 
 fulsome than that which they had addressed 
 to Richard III. a few months previously.' 
 Their vaunted loyalty was put to the test within two years by 
 a demand from the King for the surrender of Robert 
 Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, who was staying within 
 the limits of the University. It was stated that the Bishop 
 had refused to go to the King when summoned "for certain 
 great and urgent causes," and that he continued at Oxford 
 " using certain practices. prohibited by the laws of holy church, 
 and other damnable conjuracies and conspiracies." His invet- 
 erate hostility to Henry VII. had perhaps caused him to be 
 suspected of complicity in the imposture of Lambert Simnel, 
 ' Register F. f. 149. 
 
 1; n
 
 370 BISHOP STILLINGTON. 
 
 who was a native of Oxford. In order to anticipate resistance 
 on the score of academical privileges, the King was careful to 
 express his belief that the Bishop was not living " as a scholar 
 or student," and that he was not even " matriculate."' To this 
 the masters might have replied that Stillington had held the 
 office of Principal of Deep Hall as far back as the year 1442, 
 and that he had taken the highest degree in Law.^ They did 
 not, however, think fit to raise the question of immunity in a 
 direct manner, and they returned an evasive answer, to the 
 effect that they had, after diligent search, discovered the 
 hiding-place of the Bishop, and that they had committed him 
 to safe custody. The King thereupon sent a peremptory 
 letter demanding that the Bishop should be forthwith 
 surrendered to Edmund Hampden, his Esquire of the Body, 
 under pain of forfeiture of the liberties of the University. 
 Some ingenious excuse must have been devised, for, eight 
 days later, he wrote again complaining that he had received 
 "pleasant answers and words, but little or none effect of 
 deed." An examination of different records had, he said, 
 convinced him that the University had no right to shelter 
 persons accused of treason, and he declared his intention of 
 sending a military force to Oxford if his orders were not 
 obeyed without delay.3 
 
 Alarmed at this serious threat, the chief members of the 
 University waited upon the Bishop, and after some difficulty 
 succeeded in obtaining admission to his presence. The 
 greater part of the day was spent in fruitless arguments, for 
 the Bishop persisted in a dogged refusal to quit Oxford, He 
 expressed himself willing enough to appear before the King, 
 but fearful of certain armed men Avho intended to waylay him 
 on the journey. He would not even consent to entrust his 
 life to any escort that the University could provide* 
 
 ' Register F. f. 152. 
 " Mtin. Acad. p. 528 ; Le Neve's 
 Fasti. 
 
 3 Register F. f. 153. 
 IbidA. 154.
 
 HENRY THE SEVENTH. 371 
 
 The Oxonians were no doubt sincerely anxious to get rid of 
 so troublesome a visitor, but they would have incurred 
 sentence of excommunication if they had ventured to employ 
 physical force against a prelate of the Catholic Church. 
 They therefore wrote to the King and to several bishops, to 
 explain the difficult position in which they found themselves 
 placed. The former declared himself satisfied of their loyalty, 
 and again sent Edmund Hampden to arrest the Bishop, the 
 members of the University being merely warned to abstain from 
 any attempt at resistance or rescue. For some unknown 
 reason, however, there was further delay, and the King wrote 
 a fifth letter, desiring that the Bishop should be removed to 
 some College within the walls of Oxford, and there detained 
 until after the holy season of Easter. After writing one more 
 letter on the subject, he at last obtained possession of the 
 offending churchman, and committed him to prison at Windsor 
 for the remainder of his life.' 
 
 Any temporary irritation that Henry VH. may have felt 
 against the University had vanished before the year 1488, 
 when he paid a visit to Oxford. The chief members of the 
 academical body went in due order to meet him, preceded by 
 their silver cross, and they presented him with gloves.^ He on 
 his part offered a noble in the chapel of Magdalen College, 
 and in the same year contributed forty oaks from Shotover 
 towards the rebuilding of St. Mary's Church. ^ As an en- 
 couragement perhaps to his subjects to send their sons to 
 study in the schools, he undertook the maintenance of two 
 students at Oxford for a certain time, with a yearly allowance 
 of 5/. apiece. 4 
 
 In 1493, he established at University College an obit for 
 Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, the unfortunate 
 
 ' Register F. ff. 154155^. 
 ^ Proctors' Accounts. (Twyne 
 MS. vol. i.) 
 
 = Bloxam's Registc7- of Magdalen 
 
 College, vol. ii. p. 261 ; Proctors' 
 Accounts ; F. f. 156. 
 
 Bentley's Excerpta Historica., 
 pp. 96, 98, 100. lOI. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 HENRY THE SEVENTH. 
 
 widow of "the King-maker,"' Some years later, in 1504, he 
 made an arrangement whereby the University was to receive 
 10/. a year in perpetuity, for a rehgious service to be held in 
 memory of him and his wife, and of his parents, the Earl and 
 Countess of Richmond. On the anniversary of his burial, a 
 hearse covered with rich stuff was to be set up in the middle 
 of St, Mary's Church, before the great crucifix, and there the 
 Chancellor, the Masters, and the scholars, were to recite 
 certain specified prayers.^ Penurious in most matters, 
 Henry VII, showed magnificence in buildings and in works 
 of piety. In Westminster Abbey he erected one of the 
 grandest chantries in Christendom, and it was for the exclu- 
 sive benefit of the monks of Westminster that he established 
 at Oxford three scholarships in divinity, called after his name, 
 and each endowed with a yearly income of 10/.3 
 
 The King's eldest son. Prince Arthur, came to Oxford in 
 1495, in 1496, and again in 1501, On the first two occasions, 
 and probably on the third also, he was entertained at 
 Magdalen College, but the records of his visits are scanty. 
 It may have been for his amusement that two marmosets 
 were brought to the College in 1496, Some venison that was 
 sent to the President and Fellows may have been intended 
 cither for the Prince and his little court, or for the Venetian 
 Ambassadors who also visited the College in that year.'* 
 
 The Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of 
 Henry VII., took a warm interest in academical affairs. The 
 chief memorials of her bounty are the two colleges which she 
 
 ' Fifth Rcpo7-t of the Historical Henry the Seventh. 
 
 MSS. Commission., p. 478. ; ' Haileian MS. 1498, a very 
 
 " University Archives, Box I. i. sumptuous volume bound in red 
 
 (Twyne MS. vol. i.) ; Register FF\ ' velvet, with silver ornaments. Two 
 
 ff. 2b., 9, 12, 14. Among the articles volumes, and fragments of others, 
 
 in the custody of the verger of are preserved in the Public Record 
 
 the University is a very fine ancient Office. 
 
 pall of rich cloth of gold, embroid- ' " Churton's Lives of Smyth and 
 
 cred with the arms and badges of Sutton, pp. 163169, 498, 551.
 
 LADY MARGARETS READER. 373 
 
 founded at Cambridge, but she has further claims to 
 remembrance as the foundress of the oldest professorial chairs 
 that exist in either University. In December 1496, and in 
 March 1497, she received royal licence to convey lands in 
 perpetuity for the maintenance of readers in divinity at 
 Cambridge and Oxford ; and in Trinity term in that year, a 
 Bachelor of Theology named Edmund Wylford, appointed by 
 her for the purpose, began to give public lectures at Oxford 
 on the Quodliheta of Duns Scotus,^ On Wylford's retirement, 
 she signified her assent to the election of John Roper as his 
 successor.^ Roper was the occupant of the chair, when, 
 in September 1502, the Countess issued her charter 
 establishing the professorship on a permanent basis, and as- 
 signing to it a yearly salary of twenty marks. Mr. Mullinger 
 observes that " the regulations laid down seem to have been 
 singularly well adapted for guarding against a perfunctory 
 discharge of the specified duties." 3 The wealthy convent of 
 Westminster was made responsible for the punctual payment 
 of the reader's salary, and some control over him was vested 
 in the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor, and the Faculty of 
 Theology at Oxford. He was required to lecture daily for 
 one hour, namely from seven to eight in the morning, or at 
 such other time as the Chancellor or Vice-Chancellor should 
 think fit, without taking any fee or reward other than hig 
 prescribed salary. The lectures were to be given daily 
 throughout the year, save during about four weeks in the 
 long vacation, and during Lent, when, by the Chancellor's 
 permission, the reader and his hearers might apply them- 
 selves to preaching. If from any just and approved cause the 
 reader was unable to lecture in person, he was bound to 
 provide a deputy at his own expense. In order that the 
 chair should not be occupied by aged or incompetent persons, 
 
 5 University of Cambridge^ p. 
 
 ' Wood's Annals, vol. i. p 654 ; 
 vol. ii. p. 826; F. f. i8o(^. 
 ' Y. ft". 183/;, 184. 
 
 436.
 
 374 ELECTIONS OF BEDELS. 
 
 the election of a reader was to be held biennially by the 
 Chancellor, or the Vice-Chancellor, and the Doctors, Inceptors, 
 and Bachelors of Theology, who had graduated in Arts.' 
 
 It is somewhat strange to find that the most exalted 
 personages in the realm used formerly to interfere in the 
 election of the bedels of the University of Oxford, and that 
 the contest for a bedel's staff often excited general interest. 
 When, in 1456, Henry VI. and Queen Margaret tried to 
 secure the appointment of a certain John Andrew as gentle- 
 man bedel of law, they were told respectfully but firmly that 
 the electors were bound by oath to make choice of the most 
 suitable person, without regard to love, hate, fear, or hope 
 of reward.^ Nevertheless, a few years later, Edward IV. was 
 seriously displeased at hearing that a gentleman bedel of 
 law had been chosen before the arrival of any recommenda- 
 tory letter from the court. 3 In 1492, all lectures were for a 
 time suspended, on account of a controversy between the two 
 Proctors and a majority of the resident graduates as to the 
 time to be fixed for the election of an inferior bedel of divin- 
 ity.* At last the two parties seem to have agreed in rejecting 
 a candidate named Edward Mortimer, who had been recom- 
 mended by the King. 5 A few months later, Henry VII. 
 exerted his influence in the election of a gentleman bedel of 
 law, perhaps with success. When the office of gentleman 
 bedel of arts fell vacant in 1500, a native of Calais, named 
 Thomas Pantry, obtained letters of recommendation from the 
 Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Lady Margaret, and was 
 accordingly elected.'' In the following year, there arose a re- 
 markable contest for the staff of the gentleman bedel of 
 divinity, the influence of the royal family being no longer 
 
 ' Cooper's Memoir of Margaret, * Wood's Annals, vol. i. p. 650. 
 
 Coiaitess of Ric/uiiond and Derby, = Ibid. ; F. f. \']2b ; Churton's 
 
 p. 90; Lansdowne MS. 441. [ Lives of Smyth and Sutton, p. 176. 
 
 ' F. \'i. 104, lo^,b. I Cf. Mien. Acad. p. 362. 
 
 ' Ibid. \\. \y)b, 140. I *" Churton, pp. 144. 145.
 
 ELECTIONS OF BEDELS. 
 
 375 
 
 exerted in favour of one person. Three candidates came for- 
 ward John Stanley, a member of the household of the Prince 
 of Wales, Richard Wotton, the inferior bedel of the Faculty, 
 and John Greton, a servant of Dr. Mayhew the King's 
 almoner. The first was actively supported by the Prince, and 
 by the Bishop of Lincoln, Chancellor of the University; the 
 second by the Lady Margaret, and by Fitzjames, Bishop 
 of Rochester ; and the third by Henry VII. and his wife. 
 The electors were sorely perplexed, for they had much to 
 hope and much to fear from each of the august personages 
 who had interfered in the matter. At last, however, they 
 resolved to prove their gratitude to the Lady Margaret by 
 promoting Wotton, and in announcing his election they 
 begged her to intercede for them with their own Chancellor. 
 They also wrote to that offended prelate, reminding him that 
 Cicero with his great eloquence, Pompey with his singular 
 valour and refinement, and even Caesar himself, were not able 
 in every instance to achieve their designs or oblige their dear- 
 est friends.' The election of a bedel does not nowadays 
 interest any one save the candidates and their respective 
 families, but it is possible that in the middle ages the bedels 
 occupied a position somewhat analogous to that of the 
 heralds. 
 
 The election of John Russell, Bishop of Lincoln, to be 
 Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1484 shows that 
 the Masters and Scholars had ceased to be jealous of the 
 claims of their diocesan. From being a resident officer set 
 over them by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Chancellor had 
 gradually come to be an absent patron exercising inherent 
 authority. There was therefore no reason why the duties of 
 the Chancellorship should not be discharged by the Bishop 
 of the diocese as well as by any other prelate. At the time 
 
 ' Churton, pp. 170 176, 499 
 505. Professor Burrows gives a 
 letter from Prince Arthur recom- 
 
 mending a candidate for a Fellow- 
 ship at All Souls. Wort/lies 0/ 
 All Souls, p. 38.
 
 376 THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 
 
 of his election John Russell was Lord Chancellor; he had 
 been a Fellow of New College, and had taken the degree of 
 Doctor of Canon Law.' He is described by Sir Thomas 
 More as "a wyse man and a good, and of much experyence, 
 and one of the best menne undoubtedly that Englande had in 
 hys time." 
 
 The affairs of the University received but little attention 
 from him, and he declared himself willing to resign the 
 Chancellorship at any time. When on one occasion he was 
 urged to come to Oxford on his way from London northwards, 
 he replied that he was travelling in ordinary riding attire, 
 without the insignia pertaining to his office. 3 Wood styles 
 him " the first perpetual Chancellor " of the University, be- 
 cause he appears to have continued Chancellor for more than 
 two years without the formality of re-election. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1495, a few days after the 
 death of Bishop Russell, the King wrote to the Regents of 
 Oxford, desiring them to choose as their Chancellor, William 
 Smyth, Bishop of Lichfield, or Thomas Savage, Bishop of 
 Rochester, both of whom had been educated at Oxford. His 
 letter, however, did not reach them until the fifth day after its 
 date, and they had in the meanwhile elected the most promi- 
 nent statesman of the time, John Morton, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, Cardinal of St. Anastasius, and Lord Chancellor 
 of England. Although this haughty prelate told them plainly 
 that he could not personally fulfil the duties of the Chancellor- 
 ship, they were overjoyed at his acceptance of the honorary 
 title, and they styled him " a Moses whom God raised up 
 to be a lawgiver" unto them. When they deputed two 
 ecclesiastics of high rank to adminster to him the Chancellor's 
 oath, according to the usual form, he refused to take it, on the 
 ground that the oath which he had taken on admission to his 
 
 ' Wood's Appendix, p. 64. pp. 29 31. 
 
 There is a long account of him - F. ft'. 151, 152, 176. 
 
 in Blades's IJfe of Caxion. vol. ii.
 
 THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 377 
 
 degree was sufficient for all purposes. It was therefore found 
 expedient to remit the oath in this instance.^ 
 
 On the death of Cardinal Morton in the first year of the 
 sixteenth century, the Oxonians chose as their Chancellor 
 William Smyth, Bishop of Lincoln, who afterwards testified 
 his aff"ection for the University by benefactions to Oriel 
 and Lincoln Colleges, and by the foundation of Brasenose 
 College.^ Bishop Smyth's tenure of the office lasted less 
 than two years, and he was succeeded by Richard Mayhew, 
 President of Magdalen College, Archdeacon of Oxford and of 
 the East Riding, and Almoner to the King. Mayhew's ap- 
 pointment to the see of Hereford in 1504, did not materially 
 afiect his connexion with the University, and he continued to 
 be Chancellor for about two years longer. On his resignation 
 in May, 1506, the electors made choice of William Warham 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, who was, at that time, and for 
 several years afterwards. Lord Chancellor of England. 3 
 Warham was a Wykehamist who had attained to the highest 
 offices in the realm by his skill in law and in diplomacy. His 
 tenure of the Chancellorship lasted for the unprecedented 
 term of twenty-six years.* 
 
 The church of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford, the official 
 church of the University, underwent considerable alteration 
 during the second half of the fifteenth century. In 1462, the 
 
 ' F. ff. 177, 178. i William lyke an Archbishop syttyng 
 
 "" Churton's Lives of Smyth and on the ryght hande of the Kyng : 
 
 Si/tton, pp. 492 498. then the Chaunceler of Oxforde, 
 
 3 Register G. f. 18. ! with other Doctors about hym pre- 
 
 * At the feast given on the occa- sented the said Lord Wylliam, 
 
 sion of the enthronement of Arch- kneeling in a Doctor's habite, unto 
 
 bishop Warham at Canterbury the Kyng with his commend of 
 
 there was placed on the table a j vertue and cunnyng." Leland's 
 
 group of figures which is thus ; Collectanea, {tA. 1770) vol. vi. p. 21. 
 
 described in a contemporary ac- j Warham is highly praised as a 
 
 count : " First the Kyng sytting patron of learning in the writings of 
 
 in the Parliament with his Lordes ' Erasmus. See also Hook's Lives 
 
 aljout hym in their robes, and Saint of the Archbishops of Caiiterlu/ry.
 
 378 ST. MARY'S CHURCH. 
 
 chancel was entirely rebuilt in its present form, at the sole 
 cost of Walter Lyhert, Bishop of Norwich, in remembrance 
 of his former connexion with it as Provost of Oriel College.' 
 In 1487, the nave was found to be in urgent need of repair, 
 the lead on the roof having perished with age. Other parts 
 of the fabric appeared so insecure that people were afraid to 
 enter the church in stormy weather. The parishioners were 
 very poor, and the building would soon have become a ruin if 
 the University had not taken steps to prevent so serious a 
 calamity. Out of its own slender funds indeed the aca- 
 demical body could contribute little or nothing, but it had 
 influence in the country, especially among prelates and other 
 wealthy churchmen who had received their degrees in St. 
 Mary's Church. A proctor was therefore appointed to solicit 
 and collect subscriptions.^ At an early stage of the work, it 
 became evident that every part would have to be renewed save 
 the outer walls, and in 1490 it was resolved that these also 
 should be demolished to their foundations. ^ Some chapels 
 were swept away, and a new nave was erected in the Perpen- 
 dicular style, with two aisles. 4 Richard Lichfield, Archdeacon 
 of Middlesex, contributed no less than 200/., and other bene- 
 factors were induced to give money or materials, so that the 
 University was enabled to execute the work in a substantial 
 manner.5 At the beginning of the year 1495, nothing re- 
 
 ' Mr. James Parker, relying on . ing of which shows that it was put 
 
 architectural evidence, places the up during the Bishop's lifetime^ 
 
 date of the chancel at about A.D. j Smith MS. vol. xxii. p, 16. 
 
 i486. Proceedings of the Oxford [ ^ F. ff. 151, 157/^, 158. 
 
 Architectural and Historical So- ' ^ /^/^/. {{, i^g, 166. 
 
 cieiy, N.S. vol. ii. p. 266. But in , * Peshall's City of Oxford, p. 67. 
 
 Twyne's time there was an inscrip- 1 = Mun. Acad. p. 357 ; F. ff. 163/-', 
 
 tion in the east window : " Orate 166. Quotations from some of the 
 
 pro bono statu Walteri Lyhert \ appeals for money transcribed in 
 
 Norivicensis Episcopi qui Jiunc can- Register F. (ff, I'^'jb 159, 164 170) 
 
 cclluDi suis suniptibus cedifca^'it are given in the volume relating to 
 
 Ao. Dni. MCCCCLXH,'' the word- Oxford, published by the Arch;uo-
 
 ST. MARVS CHURCH. yj^ 
 
 mained to be done except the wooden roof of the nave.' 
 A desire for uniformity however induced the architect to 
 transform Adam de Brome's Chapel, on the western side 
 of the tower, by recasing its outer walls and inserting larger 
 windows. A very similar alteration was soon afterwards 
 made in the building which adjoined the eastern side of 
 the tower, by substituting a row of large windows for two 
 rows of small windows, so that from the outside the upper 
 and the lower story were made to appear as one. A trick 
 so repugnant to architectural truth attests the decadence 
 of Gothic art, which nevertheless maintained its sway at 
 Oxford until a much later period. In 1508, Edmund Audley, 
 Bishop of Salisbury, provided for the upper room a new 
 wooden roof, richly painted, and ornamented with gold, 
 and this room, being no longer wanted as a library, was 
 soon afterwards taken into use as the meeting-place of 
 Congregation.^ 
 
 At the very time when the University was begging for 
 money for the work at St. Mary's Church, it found itself 
 obliged to rebuild the School of Canon Law, a ruinous edifice 
 situated in the little parish of St. Edward. An appeal for 
 help was therefore issued in 1482, but it did not arouse much 
 enthusiasm, and seven years elapsed before the foundation 
 was laid.3 When the building was almost completed, the 
 Bishop of Ely wrote to suggest that it should be furnished 
 with the desks and seats which had been left in the old library 
 at St, Mary's after the removal of the books to the large 
 room over the School of Divinity.'* The subsequent history 
 of the School of Canon Law is obscure, and its very site is 
 now forgotten. 5 
 
 logical Institute. The design has 54'^, (i^b ; I. ff. 107^, 140; FF. 
 
 been attributed to Sir Reginald j (Bodl. MS. 282) f. 56. 
 
 Bray, the High Steward of the ' F. ff. 143/;, 144, 159 160. 
 
 University. ' F. f. 172. ^ Ibid.i. 162. 
 
 - Register '! {{. 18, bdb ; G. ff. ^ Wood's Antiquities., p. 772.
 
 38o RIOTS AND PESTILENCES. 
 
 In 1502, some students of law who lodged at Hinksey Hall 
 and Peckwater's Inn, near the School of Canon Law, made a 
 great disturbance in the streets on the night of Trinity 
 Sunday, and did much mischief to the doors and windows of 
 Brasenose Hall, the residence of the Northern Proctor.' 
 Four years later, there arose a more serious strife between 
 the Northerners and the Southerners, in which William Ewen, 
 the Principal of Hart Hall, and two others were killed, and 
 many w^ere wounded. The Principal of St. Alban's Hall and 
 at least two graduates of Merton College were among the 
 combatants who carried swords or bows,^ A riot thus pro- 
 iFiOted by persons who ought to have discouraged it, brought 
 grave discredit upon the body of which they were members, 
 and, on this or some similar occasion, the privileges of the 
 University would have been revoked but for the intercession 
 of Archbishop Warham with Henry VII.^ 
 
 Between the years 1485 and 1507, Oxford was visited 
 by at least six pestilences, which greatly disturbed the 
 studies of the University .* Among the benefactors of the 
 j)eriod the most notable after the Countess of Richmond, 
 were Richard Lichfield, Archdeacon of Middlesex and of 
 Bath, who, besides his liberal subscription towards the 
 rebuilding of St. Mary's Church, gave one hundred and 
 twenty-eight volumes to the library, and a certain Hugh 
 L^een, who bequeathed 200/. for the establishment of an 
 eleemosynary chest bearing his name.5 
 
 The intellectual torpor which fell upon England after the 
 suppression of Wyclif's movement lasted for a whole century, 
 during which the most industrious students devoted them- 
 selves without complaint to the interminable logic of the 
 
 ' Tvvyne MS. vol. iii. f. 611, from 
 a Register of Merton College. 
 
 - Ibid. ; Boase's Register 0/ Exeter 
 
 a Register of Merton College ; 
 Rogers's History of Agriculture 
 and Prices, vol. iii. p. 680. 
 
 College, p. 27. 5 Mull. Acad. p. 357 ; F. ii. 163^, 
 
 "^ Register FF. f. 56. 170, 175, 189. 
 
 ' Wood's Annals, vol. ii. from
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 381 
 
 Schoolmen. It was not until the reign of Henry VII. that 
 the two Universities began to take an interest in the revival of 
 learning, and that interest did not in the case of either 
 amount to enthusiasm. The Renaissance in England took a 
 very dififerent form from that of the Renaissance in Italy, "the 
 former," says Mr. Lang, "all intent on what it believed to be 
 the very Truth, the latter all absorbed on what it knew to be no 
 other than Beauty itself."' The barbarism of the middle ages 
 was eventually banished from the schools of Oxford, but the- 
 ology retained its position as the highest of the sciences, the 
 worthiest subject of human study. In Italy on the other 
 hand, the Renaissance was secular in character, if not actually 
 pagan. 
 
 The revolt against medisevalism began in the fourteenth 
 century. " In the prose works of Francesco Petrarch," says 
 Mr. MuUinger, "we have the earliest indications of the verdict 
 which the modern mind has either tacitly or formally passed 
 upon the method, the conceptions, and the aims of the 
 scholastic era ; the verdict, it must be added, unaccompanied 
 by those reservations and qualifications that at a later 
 period have been very forcibly urged by more dispassionate 
 critics. . . The labours of the schoolmen were, in his eyes, 
 only a vast heap of rubbish wherein lurked not a single grain 
 of gold. He was altogether unable to understand how any 
 man could find a real pleasure in chopping the prevailing 
 logic, and believed even the most famous disputants in the 
 schools to be actuated by no higher motive than the professors 
 of the civil law, but simply to ply their trade for the love of 
 gain." ^ In an age which knew little about Plato's philosophy, 
 Petrarch ventured to impugn the supreme authority of 
 Aristotle. So again, while a very debased form of Latin 
 was in use as a living language, he strove to imbue his 
 countrymen with a just appreciation of the elegances of 
 
 ' Ox/o7-d, Brief Histor-ical and I ^ University of Cambridge, pp. 
 Descriptive Notes, Y>- '7. ' 3<'^i, 3''^2.
 
 382 THE STUDY OF GREEK. 
 
 Cicero and Virgil. He fully deserves to be styled " the first 
 real restorer of polite letters."' 
 
 Despite the praiseworthy efforts of Petrarch and of 
 Boccaccio, the systematic study of Greek literature was not 
 revived in Italy until the close of the fourteenth century. 
 The ground was, however, ready for the reception of the good 
 seed. When, in 1396, Manuel Chrysoloras, a noble Byzantine 
 of great learning and eloquence, undertook to teach his 
 native tongue at Florence, the most promising scholars in 
 Italy came to receive instruction from him. For their use 
 he compiled the Erotemata, which for more than a century 
 was recognised in different countries as the standard work on 
 Greek grammar. His pupils Lionardo Bruni, Guarino of 
 Verona, Ambrogio Traversari, Poggio Bracciolini, Francesco 
 Filelfo, and others of almost equal reputation, propagated the 
 love of ancient literature. The troubles of the Eastern 
 Empire moreover, culminating in the fall of Constantinople, 
 caused several learned Greeks to flee to Italy for refuge, and 
 enabled the Italian collectors to acquire many precious books 
 hitherto unknown or forgotten. " Never," says Mr. Symonds, 
 " was there a time in the world's history when money was 
 spent more freely upon the collection and preservation of 
 MSS., and when a more complete machinery was put in 
 motion for the sake of securing literary treasures. Prince 
 vied with prince, and eminent burgher with burgher in buying 
 books. The commercial correspondents of the Medici and 
 other great Florentine houses, whose banks and discount 
 offices extended over Europe and the Levant, were instructed 
 to purchase relics of antiquity without regard for cost, and to 
 forward them to Florence. The most acceptable present that 
 could be sent to a King was a copy of a Roman historian. "^ 
 A notable change came over the literature of Italy. "Patient 
 acquisition," says the same writer, " took the place of proud 
 
 ' \\?\\-\xn^% Literature of Em'ope, I "^ Renaissance in Italy, vol. ii. 
 vol. i. , p. 139.
 
 GUARINaS ENGLISH PUPILS. 383 
 
 inventiveness ; laborious imitation of classical authors sup- 
 pressed originality of style. The force of mind which in the 
 fourteenth century had produced a Divine Comedy and a 
 Decameron, in the fifteenth was expended upon the interpreta- 
 tion of codices, the settlement of texts, the translation of 
 Greek books into Latin, the study of antiquities, the com- 
 position of commentaries, encyclopaedias, dictionaries, 
 ephemerides."' 
 
 The return of the Papal Court to Rome tended to attract 
 foreign clerks to Italy, and few travellers of the fifteenth 
 century can have failed to contrast the culture of that country 
 with the barbarism which prevailed beyond the Alps, Some 
 visitors applied themselves earnestly to polite literature. 
 Guarino of Verona had among his pupils at Ferrara at least 
 five students from Oxford, Robert Fleming, William Grey, 
 John Gunthorpe, John Free, and John Tiptoft, Earl of 
 Worcester, each of whom profited much by his instruction. 
 
 The first, a relation of the founder of Lincoln College, wTote 
 in honour of Sixtus IV. a heroic Latin poem, entitled Luciibi'a- 
 tiones Tibui-tince, which was printed at Ferrara as early as the 
 year 1477. In Italy he enjoyed the friendship of Platina and 
 other learned men, and he brought back with him many 
 precious books which he gave to the library of Lincoln College. 
 A Graeco-Latin dictionary, compiled by him at a time when 
 Greek was almost unknown in England, has disappeared since 
 the reign of Henry VIII. when it was seen at Oxford by John 
 Leland, the antiquary. Robert Fleming held the deanery of 
 Lincoln from 1452 until his death in 1483. ^ 
 
 William Grey, the second of Guarino's English pupils, was 
 
 ' Renaissance in Italy, vol. ii. 1 Verona with his son, another 
 
 p. 55. j eminent teacher, and, misled by 
 
 ^ Leland, De Scriptoribiis Bri- \ him, Mr. Hallam describes Flem- 
 
 tannicis, cap. dlxix. ; Rosmini, Vita ! yng. Grey, Free, Gunthorpe, and 
 
 di Guarino Veronese, vol. iii. pp. ' Tiptoft as " disciples of the younger 
 
 117, 118, 147; Le Neve, Fasti. Guarini." Literature of Europe, 
 
 Leland confounds Guarino of vol. i. p. 164.
 
 384 GUARINO'S ENGLISH PUPILS. 
 
 a man of good family. He was advanced to the see of Ely by 
 Pope Nicholas V. in 1454, and he became a notable benefac- 
 tor to the library of Balliol College, enriching it with many 
 fine manuscripts from Italy.' " His collection," remarks Mr. 
 Mullinger, " included the letters of Petrarch, and numerous 
 orations by Poggio, Aretino, and Guarino, compositions that 
 by their more classic diction and genuine admiration of 
 antiquity could hardly fail to awaken a like spirit in the 
 northern centres of learning ; a new translation of the Timceits 
 and another of the EutJiypliron were a contribution to an ex- 
 tended knowledge of Plato ; the Institutions of Lactantius, 
 versions of the Golden Verses of Pythagoras (a favourite text- 
 book at Cambridge in after years), hitherto unknown orations 
 and treatises by Cicero and Quintilian, and many of the 
 discourses of Seneca, were also important additions ; while 
 Jerome's Letter to Pammachius, on ' Origenism/ is deserving 
 of notice as the first instalment of a special literature which 
 was shortly to give rise to a controversy of no ordinary 
 significance." ^ These still remain, but others were destroyed 
 or mutilated in the sixteenth century.3 
 
 John Free, a poor student of Balliol Colleg-e, seems to have 
 enjoyed the friendship and patronage of Bishop Grey.4 After 
 entering holy orders at home, he sailed from Bristol to Italy 
 in quest of learning. He studied at Ferrara under Guarino, 
 and afterwards went to Padua where he took the degree of 
 Doctor of Medicine. By the practice of physic he acquired 
 a considerable fortune, but he did not relax his attention to 
 polite literature. The Italians accounted him worthy to com- 
 pose an epitaph for the tomb of Petrarch, and some English 
 writers have attributed to him a Latin translation of Diodorus 
 Siculus, which appears to have been made by Poggio 
 
 ' Leland, cap. dlxx. ; Warton's p. 397. 
 
 History of English Poetry., (ed. , ^ Wood's Colleges and Halls, 
 Hazlitt) vol. iii. p. 334. p. 89. 
 
 - The Uiih'ersify of Caiiihriilge, ' * Warton, vol, iii. p. 335.
 
 THE EARL OF WORCESTER. 385 
 
 BraccioHni. His translation of Synesius In praise of Baldness 
 was published at Basel many years after his death, which 
 occurred at Rome in 1465, immediately after his nomination 
 to the see of Bath and Wells by Pope Paul II.' 
 
 John Gunthorpe, another of Guarino's English pupils, and 
 a zealous collector of books, returned at an earlier date to his 
 native land, where he was successively appointed Secretary 
 to the Queen of Edward IV,, Master of King's Hall at 
 Cambridge, Almoner to the King, and Dean of Wells. In 
 his own day he was highly esteemed as an orator. He 
 died in 1498.^ 
 
 Unlike the four scholars just mentioned, John Tiptoft was 
 a layman. The son of a powerful noble, he succeeded to a 
 barony while he was yet a minor, and in the twenty-second 
 year of his age he was created Earl of Worcester. His 
 studies at Oxford inspired him with the desire to travel, and 
 he accomplished a journey to Jerusalem at a time when his 
 peers in England were chiefly occupied with the bloody 
 contest between the houses of York and Lancaster. On his 
 return from the East he landed at Venice, and he spent three 
 years in Italy, enjoying the society of Baptista Guarini, 
 Ludovico Carbone, John Free, and other learned men, Pius 
 II. was glad to welcome so illustrious a visitor to the Papal 
 Court. The Earl did not himself execute any literary work 
 more difficult than translations from Cicero and Caesar into 
 English, but in his own country he seems to have been 
 regarded as the Maecenas of his age. By Edward IV. he was 
 appointed Lord Treasurer, and Lord High Constable of 
 England, and Lord Deputy of Ireland. It would have 
 been better for him if he had not meddled in politics, 
 for, on the restoration of Henry VI. in 1470, he was executed 
 
 ' Warton, p. 334 ; Leland, cap. ' Ballioleiisis, p. 35. 
 dlxxvi. ; Zeno, Dissertazioni Vos- 1 ^ Warton, vol. iv. p. 334 ; Leland, 
 siane, vol. i. pp. 41 43 ; Coxe, cap. dlxxi. ; Le Neve's Fasti. 
 Catalogiis Ccdjcuvi MSS. Collej^ti I 
 
 C C
 
 386 THE STUDY OF GREEK. 
 
 on Tower Hill.' "Then," says Fuller, "did the axe at one 
 blow cut off more learning in England than was left in the 
 heads of all the surviving nobility." ^ It has been already 
 stated that this unfortunate nobleman presented to the Uni- 
 versity of Oxford the very valuable collection of manuscripts 
 which he had made during his sojourn in Italy.3 
 
 William Tilly, more generally known as William Selling, a 
 monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, and afterwards Prior of 
 that convent, may be mentioned here as an Oxonian who 
 went to study in Italy, somewhat later than those who 
 attended the lectures of Guarino. His epitaph describes him 
 as a theologian learned in the Greek and Latin tongues, and 
 a translation by him of one of St. Chrysostom's Homilies is 
 still extant. -^ Another Benedictine monk, bred in the schools 
 of Oxford, Thomas Milling, Abbot of Westminster in 1469, 
 and afterwards Bishop of Hereford, has also been credited 
 with some knowledge of Greck.^ No attempt, however, was 
 made in England to revive the study of ancient literature, 
 before the reign of Henry VII. In this respect Paris was in 
 advance of either of the universities of our remote island, for 
 a Neapolitan named Gregory Tifernas, a pupil of Manuel 
 Chrysoloras, was established there as teacher of Greek and 
 rhetoric as early as the year 1459.^ 
 
 Cornelio Vitclli, an Italian of good family, was the first 
 person who introduced polite literature to the schools of 
 Oxford. He began his career as a teacher in this country by 
 a discourse at New College, to which one of the Wykehamists 
 named Chandler made a formal reply. ^ The cause of his 
 
 ' Lcland, cap. dlxxxvi. ; Ross, = Leland, cap. dxci. 
 
 Ilistoria Rcgiii/i, p. 5. ^ Crevier, Histoire de T Universitc 
 
 ^ WortJiies of Enghmd, (ed. 1662) dc Paris, vol iv. pp. 243247. 
 
 p. 155- " Leland, cap. dlxiv. ; Polydore 
 
 3 Page 319, above. \'ergil, Historia Anglica, (ed. 1603) 
 
 * Leland, cap. dxc. ; Warton's p. 1566; Harpsfield, //zj/f^mz ^;;- 
 
 Histoy of English Poetry, vol. iv. ' glicana, (ed. 1622^) p. 651. Leland 
 
 P- 33'5- I calls the orator John Chandler,
 
 WILLIAM GROCYNE. 387 
 
 departure from Italy, and the date of his arrival in England 
 are alike unknown. It is, however, recorded that three 
 Italians Cornelius, Cyprian, and Nicholas, dined with the 
 President of Magdalen College on Christmas Day 1488, and 
 the first of them may safely be identified with the clerk 
 named Cornelius who hired a room in Exeter College in 1491 
 and 1492 at a yearly rent of sixteen shillings.^ During these 
 two years, and also in 1493, another room in Exeter College was 
 let at a like rental to William Grocyne, the first Englishman 
 who taught Greek to his fellow countrymen in his native land.^ 
 Grocyne was a Fellow of New College in 1468, but he 
 afterwards removed to Magdalen College, where, as has been 
 already mentioned, he took part in a theological disputation 
 in the presence of Richard III.^ Erasmus and Lily agree in 
 stating that he acquired the rudiments of Greek in England, 
 presumably therefore from Cornelio Vitelli. His knowledge 
 of that tongue, however, was not great when, in the early part 
 of the reign of Henry VII., he started for Italy in quest of 
 learning. For two years he studied Greek and Latin at 
 Florence under Demetrius Chalcondylas and Politian, and on 
 his return to Oxford he gave a course of lectures on the 
 former language.'* His sojourn at Exeter College is easily to 
 be explained by the fact that he had resigned his place at 
 Magdalen College before going to Italy. Erasmus, who was 
 for a while his guest, describes him as " an incomparable 
 man," and an accurate scholar, skilled in various branches of 
 lcarning.5 The luxury and the prevailing scepticism of 
 
 but identifies him with the Warden I - Boase, p. 27 ; Stapleton, Ties 
 
 of New College, whose name was | T]wnicc, (ed. i6i2)p. 155. 
 
 Thomas Chandler. j ^ Page 332, above. 
 
 ' Wood's ^4;/ //ii'/jT, vol. i. p. 64.6; j * Erasmi Eptstol(s,ccc\.,ccc\\\n.; 
 Boasc's Ee^^istc?- of Exeter Collei^c, Lily, Viroruin aliquot Eiogia, (ed. 
 p. xvii. Mr. Mullinger describes 1548) p. 48. 
 
 Vitelli as the instructor of Linacre = ]ori\i\'s Life of Eras??t7(s,\o\.\\. 
 
 in the Greek tongue, but without p. 350. 
 quoting any original authority. 
 
 C C 2
 
 388 THOMAS LI NACRE. 
 
 Florentine society had not corrupted the simple, earnest, 
 character of the English student. To the end of his life 
 Grocyne continued ascetic in his habits, strictly observant of 
 ecclesiastical regulations, and warmly attached to the study of 
 scholastic philosophy.' Laconic in his speech, and careful in 
 his literary compositions, he did not publish any of his works, 
 and his fame rests chiefly on his lectures delivered at Oxford 
 and in London. ^ The highest preferment which he attained 
 was the Mastership of the collegiate church of All Saints at 
 Maidstone, where he died at an advanced age, in or after the 
 year 15 19. 
 
 About the time when William Grocyne was studying Greek 
 at Florence, there came to that beautiful city another scholar 
 from Oxford, Thomas Linacre, a former Fellow of All Souls 
 College. Like Grocyne, Linacre became a pupil of Demetrius 
 Chalcondylas and of Politian, to the latter of whom he 
 was introduced by William Selling, the learned monk of 
 Canterbury. He furthermore enjoyed the patronage and 
 hospitality of Lorenzo de' Medici, and was thus brought into 
 close contact with Giovanni de' Medici, who afterwards 
 became Pope under the title of Leo X. From Florence 
 Linacre proceeded southwards, in order to explore the 
 splendid libraries of Rome. One day when he was at the 
 Vatican, reading Plato's PJitedo in the original Greek, he 
 was accosted by a stranger, who proved to be Hermolaus 
 Barbarus, the renowned scholar, and the acquaintance thus 
 casually begun soon ripened into an intimate friendship. 3 " It 
 became Linacre's privilege," says Mr. Mullinger, "to form one 
 of that favoured circle in whose company the illustrious 
 Venetian would forget, for a while, the sorrows of exile and 
 
 ' Jortin's Life of Erasnnts, vol. ' Leland, De Scripioribus Briian- 
 
 ii. jj. 411. i nicis, cap. dxc. ; Galen, De Tein- 
 
 * Ibid. vol. ii. p. 278 ; iii. p. 97. \ peranicnii'i, (ed. Linacre) preface ; 
 
 3 Lily, Virorum aliquot Elogia, \ Jortin's Life of Erasmus, vol. i. 
 
 p. 49 ; Erasmi Epis'olcp, ccci. ; p. 9.
 
 THOMAS LI NACRE. 389 
 
 proscription ; he was a guest at those delightful banquets 
 where they discussed, now the expedition of the Argonauts, 
 now the canons for the interpretation of Aristotle ; he joined 
 in the pleasant lounge round the extensive gardens in the 
 cool of the evening, and listened to discussions on the dicta 
 of Dioscorides respecting the virtues and medicinal uses of 
 the plants that grew around. It seems in every way probable 
 that, from this intercourse, Linacre derived both that predilec- 
 tion for the scientific writings of Aristotle for which he was 
 afterwards so distinguished, and that devotion to the study of 
 medicine which afterwards found expression in the foundation 
 of the College of Physicians, and of the Linacre lectureships, 
 at Merton College, Oxford, and at St. John's College, 
 Cambridge." ' 
 
 During his stay in Italy, Linacre visited Venice and Padua. 
 At the former city he made the acquaintance of the great 
 printer, Aldus Manutius ; at the latter he took his degree as 
 a Doctor of Medicine.' He returned to England laden with 
 books which he had either bought or transcribed, and he 
 became for a while a teacher at Oxford. From him, and from 
 his friend William Grocync, Thomas More and Erasmus 
 acquired their knowledge of the Greek tongue.3 Linacre's 
 first literary work was a translation from Greek into Latin 
 of the SpJiere of Proclus, printed at Venice by Aldus 
 Manutius in 1499, and dedicated to Arthur, Prince of Wales, 
 to whom he was at that time tutor and medical adviser.'* 
 After the accession of Henry VIII., Linacre was appointed 
 physician to the King, and subsequently tutor to the Princess 
 Mary. Entering holy orders in or about the year 1509, he 
 became eligible for different ecclesiastical benefices which 
 
 ' Tke University of Cambridge, ^ Erasini Episfolce,c\xv.,ccc\x\u. 
 
 p. 479. dxi. ; Stapleton, Tjes Thomce, p. 
 
 ^ Freind's History of Physic, 155. 
 
 (ed. 1758) vol. ii. App. pp. 34-36 ; " Lily, p. 49. 
 Pace, Dc Enirtti, p. 76.
 
 390 THOMAS LI NACRE. 
 
 were bestowed upon him in rapid succession.' Between the 
 years 15 17 and 1524, he pubh'shed translations into Latin of 
 five medical treatises by Galen, translations which, according 
 to Erasmus, were more valuable than the original treatises, 
 One of these, the translation of Galen, De Teniperainentis, is 
 remarkable as the earliest production of the English press in 
 which Greek characters were used. It was printed at 
 Cambridge in 1 521, by a German, John Siberch, for whose 
 possible errors Linacre apologizes, on the score of his want 
 of acquaintance with Greek type. 3 Like his friend Grocyne, 
 Linacre did not admire the literary style of Cicero, preferring 
 to take Aristotle and Quintilian as models in composition.-^ 
 P^ach of them has some claim to be considered the restorer of 
 Greek learning in England, Grocyne as the first person to 
 lecture on the subject to his fellow countrymen at Oxford, 
 and Linacre as the producer of "the first correct version of a 
 Greek author executed in this country after the revival of 
 letters.''^ There were, however, even in their time, several 
 other Oxonians who, like William Latimer and William Lily, 
 had acquired a knowledge of Greek direct from the more 
 celebrated teachers of Italy.^ 
 
 The attention bestowed on the ancient literature of Greece 
 and Rome was but the first sign of the intellectual revolution 
 Avhich had its birth in Italy and then spread northw^ards in 
 the second half of the fifteenth century. Before long, careful 
 scholars began to note the special characteristics of different 
 periods and different authors, and there arose a spirit of 
 
 ' Jolinson's Life of Linacre, pp. | p. / ; vol. ii. p. 278. Erasmus con" 
 
 182, 185, 191 193. Some of the ! sidered him too fastidious, and 
 
 statements in this biography are \ satirises him as a grammatical 
 
 misleading, especially those con- j pedant. Vol. i. p. 8. 
 
 cerning academical degrees. 
 
 ^ Johnson, p. 302. 
 
 ' Hallam's Liteyatiirc of Europe, 
 (ed. 1854) vol. i. p. 338. 
 
 5 Johnson, p. 152. 
 
 ^' Their names are recorded by 
 Leland in some Latin verses printed 
 in his Collcciduea, (cd. 1770) vol. v. 
 
 J (utin's /,//; /y/,';'(C.s7////,s-, vol. i. \ p. 137.
 
 THE RENAISSANCE. 39 1 
 
 critical enquiry hitherto unknown. One result was that men 
 generally ceased to regard the authority of bygone ages as 
 binding on their own consciences. Many works which had 
 long enjoyed an undeserved reputation were discarded as 
 spurious or worthless, and unproved traditions were treated 
 with open contempt. The schoolmen in particular fell into 
 disfavour, their tedious system and their barbarous Latinity 
 being alike repulsive to men of refined taste. Monas icism 
 too, which had in its best days rendered signal services to 
 literature, came to be regarded as an unnatural and vicious 
 institution, thoroughly effete and incapable of reform. The 
 attitude, however, which the champions of the new learning 
 assumed towards the fundamental truths of Christianity, varied 
 considerably in different parts of Europe. In the literature 
 and the art of Italy a thinly veiled Paganism almost sup- 
 planted the faith of the Catholic Church. 
 
 " Men," says Mr. Ruskin, " did not indeed openly sacrifice 
 to Jupiter, or build silver shrines for Diana, but the ideas of 
 Paganism nevertheless became thoroughly vital and present 
 with them at all times ; and it did not matter in the least, as 
 far as respected the power of true religion, whether the Pagan 
 image was believed in or not, so long as it entirely occupied 
 the thoughts."^ Several of the chief Italian scholars of the 
 fifteenth century showed by their lives and their writings 
 alike that they sympathised with the degrading vices, no less 
 than with the mental culture, of the ancient world. In 
 Teutonic lands, on the contrary, the Renaissance led directly 
 to a more careful study of Holy Scripture, and a correction of 
 ecclesiastic abuses. In England especially the revivers of 
 classical learning were for the most part men of fervent piety 
 and spotless character. 
 
 Such a man was John Colct, the eldest son of Sir Henry 
 Colet, a wealthy citizen of London, who had twice filled the 
 office of Lord Mayor. Born in 1466, John Colet took his 
 ' Stones of Venice^ vol. iii. p. 106,
 
 392 JOHN CO LET. 
 
 degree at Oxford in the usual way, and started for Italy when 
 he was twenty-seven years of age. There is no record of the 
 towns which he visited or of the teachers under whom he 
 studied, but it is not improbable that he met Marsilio Ficino, 
 with whose writings he was certainly acquainted at a later 
 period of his life. If he went to Florence, even for a short 
 while, he must assuredly have heard the voice of Savonarola 
 summoning his fellow citizens to repentance, and denouncing 
 the corruption of the Catholic Church." At any rate the young 
 Englishman soon became a reformer, of decided though 
 moderate views. 
 
 It is believed that John Colct spent about three years 
 in Italy. He returned to Oxford in or about the year 1496, 
 and it was apparently in that year or the following that he 
 began to deliver a course of public and gratuitous lectures on 
 the Epistles of St. Paul. He was at the time merely a Master 
 of Arts, and, according to the express testimony of his friend 
 Erasmus, not even an aspirant to a degree in Theology. The 
 lectures were nevertheless attended by learned Doctors and 
 by the heads of religious houses, and they proved sufficiently 
 novel to justify the exceptional attention thus accorded to 
 them.'^ " The scholastic divines," says Mr. Seebohm, "holding 
 to a traditional belief in the plenary and verbal inspiration of 
 the whole Bible, and remorselessly pursuing this belief to its 
 logical results, had fallen into a method of exposition almost 
 exclusively textarian. The Bible, both in theory and in prac- 
 tice, had almost ceased to be a record of real events, and the 
 lives and teaching of living men. It had become an arsenal of 
 texts ; and these texts were regarded as detached invincible 
 weapons to be legitimately sei/xd and wielded in theological 
 warfare, for any purpose to which their words might be made 
 to apply, without reference to their original meaning or 
 
 ' Sccbolini's Oxfoi'd Refoniicrs, * Erasiiii Epi'sfolo', ccccxxxv. 
 
 (ed. 1869) pp. 17, 21 ; Knight's IJfi- App. cccciii. ; \J\\\,Viroruin aliquot 
 of Colct. I /:A'_i,'7Vf, pp. 45, 46.
 
 ERASMUS AT OXFORD. 393 
 
 context."' John Colet adopted a method of exposition very- 
 different to that of the mediaeval teachers. Instead of 
 stringing together a number of isolated texts in which 
 particular words occurred, he took a general survey of St. 
 Paul's life and doctrine. He pointed out to his hearers the 
 marks of the Apostle's own character that are visible in the 
 canonical writings, and explained the circumstances under 
 which they were written, and the condition of the churches 
 to whom they were addressed."" 
 
 In 1497 or 1498, Colet made the personal acquaintance of 
 Erasmus, This illustrious stranger came to study at Oxford 
 in one of these two years, and, as became a regular canon, 
 took up his abode in the Augustinian College of St, Mary, 
 He was commended to Colet by common friends at Paris, 
 and also by the Prior of St. Mary's, Richard Charnock, one 
 of the most cultivated scholars then resident at Oxford. 
 Colet accordingly greeted him with a short complimentary 
 letter, to which he returned a graceful reply, modestly depre- 
 cating the praises bestowed on him. 3 Hence there arose an 
 intimacy which was maintained long after the departure of 
 both from the University, Erasmus makes frequent mention 
 of Colet in his correspondence, and he has also left a charm- 
 ing sketch of his character.^ In an oft-quoted passage, he 
 enumerates the chief members of a select literary circle to 
 which he had obtained admittance during his sojourn at 
 Oxford and in London : " When I listen to my friend Colet, 
 I seem to be listening to Plato himself. Who does not 
 admire in Grocyne the perfection of his training } What can 
 be more acute, more profound, or more refined, than the judg- 
 ment of Linacre .-' What has nature ever fashioned softer, or 
 sweeter, or pleasanter, than the disposition of Thomas More.''"5 
 
 ' Oxford Reformers, p. 29. "* Ep. ccccxxxv. A translation of 
 
 - Ibid. pp. 33 42, 78 90. it has been published with annota- 
 
 ^ Erasjui Epistolce, xi. xli. tions by Mr. J. H. Lupton. 
 
 5 J7p xiv.
 
 394 COLET AND ERASMUS. 
 
 Writing to a different correspondent, he declares that with two 
 such friends as Colet and Charnock he would not refuse to 
 live in remote Scythia.' In another letter from Oxford, he 
 describes a feast which appears to have been given on the 
 occasion of an inception in theology. Colet, who presided, had 
 on his right Prior Charnock and on his left the new graduate. 
 Conversation turned upon the respective characters of Cain 
 and Abel, and Colet propounded a theory that the former fell 
 into sin by trusting too much to his own skill of agriculture, 
 instead of resting content with the natural products of the 
 earth. To this the new graduate replied in formal syllogisms 
 after the manner of the schools, and Erasmus himself in more 
 rhetorical language, but Colet proved himself more than a 
 match for all opponents.^ Colet indeed often prevailed upon 
 Erasmus to adopt his views. Far inferior to his friend in 
 scholarship and in wit, he had greater originality of conception 
 and a loftier independence of character. Above all he was 
 thoroughly sincere and earnest. Unlike ordinary disputants 
 in the schools, he ever strove to ascertain the truth, rather than 
 to display his skill in argument. 3 To such a man the theo- 
 logical system of the Middle Ages was intolerable. The 
 Scotists "seemed to him stupid, and dull, and anything but 
 intellectual. For to quibble about the opinions and words of 
 other men, to nibble now at this and now at that, and to 
 dissect everything bit by bit, seemed to him to be the sign of 
 a barren and meagre mind."-* It was Colet who eventually 
 induced Erasmus to abate his reverence for the authority of 
 Thomas Aquinas,^ The two friends carried on the whole of 
 their conversation and correspondence in Latin, for Erasmus 
 never put himself to the trouble of learning the English 
 language. To him all languages except Latin and Greek 
 appeared contemptible.'^ Colet on the other hand was a care- 
 
 ' I'lp. xlii. '' Ep. xliv. ' Secbohm, pp. 103 no. 
 
 "' Secbohm, p. 121. '' ^\\\w\?L\\%Sa7'07iarola,Erasnnis, 
 
 * J'.rasini F.p/sfo/iT, rrccww. and other Essays^ pp. 12S, 129.
 
 CO LET AND ERASMUS. 395 
 
 ful student of English literature, but he did not learn Greek 
 until the later part of his life.^ During his stay at Oxford, 
 Erasmus was a learner rather than a teacher. When urged 
 by Colet to give a course of lectures on one of the books of 
 the Pentateuch or on the writings of Isaiah, he modestly 
 declined, and he returned to Paris in the early part of the 
 year 1500. There were, he declared, even among the theolo- 
 gians of Oxford, several who were both able and willing to 
 assist Colet in his laudable endeavour to restore the study 
 of Holy Scripture to its pristine beauty and dignity, freed 
 from the verbal subtleties of the schoolmen.^ Colet himself 
 quitted Oxford in 1 505, on his appointment as Dean of 
 St. Paul's. 
 
 ' Erasmi Epistolcc, ccccxxxv. ' "" Ibid. App. cccciii. 
 App. Hi. Ixxxiv. I
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Origin of Brasenose College William Smyth and Richard Sutton 
 The Statutes The Collegiate Buildings Benefactions. The 
 Origin of Corpus Christi College Richard Fox Alteration of the 
 original Scheme The Buildings The Statutes Influence of the 
 Renaissance.- New Statutes for Balliol College. 
 
 RASENOSE COLLEGE occupies the site and 
 perpetuates the name of an academical hall 
 whose existence can be traced as far back as 
 the thirteenth century.' As a collegiate insti- 
 tution it dates from the reign of Henry VI IL, 
 when it was established and endowed by William Smyth, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, and Richard Sutton of the Inner Temple, 
 a member of the King's Privy Council. Bishop Smyth has 
 been mentioned already as Chancellor of the University of 
 Oxford in the year 1500.'' Before his advancement to the 
 see of Lincoln in 1495, he had been successively Clerk of 
 the Hanaper, Dean of St. Stephen's Westminster, Bishop of 
 Coventry and Lichfield, and Lord President of Wales. 3 As 
 Bishop of Lincoln he was the official Visitor of Oriel College 
 and of Lincoln College, and he proved a benefactor to both. 
 To the former he gave the sum of three hundred pounds for 
 the establishment of a scholarship for a Bachelor of Arts 
 from his own diocese, and for the celebration of an obit ; to 
 
 ' Clnirton's Lii'es of Smyth and 
 Sutton, p. 277. 
 
 = Page 377, above. 
 
 ' Churton, pp. 23, 32, 42. 57. 89.
 
 ERASE NOSE COLLEGE. 397 
 
 the latter he gave landed property in Staffordshire and 
 Oxfordshire.^ 
 
 The scheme for the conversion of Brasenose Hall into a 
 College was known at Oxford some time before it was carried 
 into effect. By a will dated in January 1508, a Master of 
 Arts named Edmund Crofton bequeathed 6/. 13^-. /\d. towards 
 the building of Brasenose which was about to be undertaken 
 by the Bishop of Lincoln and " Master Sotton," and ordered 
 that his books should be placed in the library of Brasenose, 
 if the said library should be made within twelve years.^ In 
 the autumn of the same year, Richard Sutton took the first 
 step in the matter, by obtaining from the Master and Fellows 
 of University College a long lease of the tenements known 
 as Little University Hall and Brasenose Hall, with their 
 respective gardens.^ Little University Hall was so called in 
 contradistinction to Great University Hall, the abode of the 
 Scholars of William of Durham, on the southern side of 
 High Street.4 It stood on the western side of School Street, 
 at the corner of the lane that led to Exeter College and 
 Lincoln College. Immediately to the south of it was 
 Brasenose Hall, which derived its name from the sign of a 
 brasen nose that was to be seen on its front. 5 The site of 
 the future College was enlarged in 15 10 by the acquisition, 
 from the Provost and Fellows of Oriel College, of two 
 tenements known as Salisbury Hall and St. Mary's Entry, 
 situated on the southern side of Brasenose Hall.^ In the 
 meanwhile the Bishop of Lincoln and his colleague obtained 
 the use of a quarry at Headington, and on the ist of June 
 1509, they laid the foundation stone of the new fabric, in the 
 
 ' Statutes of the Colleges, Oriel, mark that the Hall did not take its 
 
 p. 29 ; Churton, pp. 232, 233, 238. ' name from the brasmeum, or brew- 
 
 ^ Churton, pp. 242 246. j house, of Alfred the Great, although 
 
 3 Jbid. pp. 270, 271. a statement to this effect is to be 
 
 * See pp. 83, 152, above. ; found in many modern books. 
 
 5 It is scarcely necessary to re- * Churton, p. 275.
 
 398 ERASE NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 south-western corner of the quadrangle.^ Brascnose Hall 
 seems to have been let to a Principal until the society of 
 collegians was fully organised.^ 
 
 Letters patent were issued by the King on the 15th of 
 January 15 12, empowering William, Bishop of Lincoln, and 
 Richard Sutton, Esquire, to found, incorporate, and establish, 
 a college consisting of a Principal and not more than sixty 
 Scholars, engaged in the study of sophistry, logic, philosophy, 
 or theology, with the right to acquire lands in mortmain to 
 the yearly value of three hundred pounds. 3 About the same 
 time, Matthew Smyth, the last Principal of Brascnose Hall, 
 presumably a relation of the Bishop, took office as the first 
 Principal of " The King's Hall and College of Brascnose in 
 Oxford," and John Fornby and Roland Messenger as the 
 first bursars.-^ Some statutes were also issued for the govern- 
 ment of the College.5 
 
 Bishop Smyth died on the 2nd of January, 15 17, when 
 Brasenose College was still incomplete in several respects. 
 By a will dated a few days previously, he had bequeathed to 
 the Principal and Scholars a considerable number of books, 
 ornaments, and vestments belonging to his own chapel. He 
 had moreover authorised his executors to explain and amend 
 the statutes.^ A revised code was accordingly issued by 
 them soon after his death, but this was itself revised in 
 1 52 1, by the surviving founder, Richard Sutton.7 
 
 As constituted by the statutes, Brascnose College consisted 
 of a Principal and twelve Scholars or Fellows, although the 
 actual number was much smaller during the early years of its 
 corporate existence.^ The benefits of the foundation were 
 intended firstly for natives of the parishes of Prescot and 
 
 ' Churton, pp. 272274. Ibid. pp. 343, 347. 348, 512 
 
 '' Ibii/. p. 287. 529. 
 
 -* Sfatuti's of iJie Colleges of Ox- ' Ibid. pp. 312, 313. 
 
 ford., vol. ii. Ibid. pp. 301, 302 ; Statutes of 
 
 " Churton, pp. 292, 293. the Colleges. 
 
 5 Ibid. ]x 517. I
 
 THE SCHOLARS AND FELLOWS. 399 
 
 Prestbury, the birthplaces of the two founders ; secondly for 
 natives of other places in the counties of Lancaster and 
 Chester ; and thirdly for natives of other counties in the 
 diocese of Coventry and Lichfield. In defect of these, a pre- 
 ference was shown to natives of the diocese of Lincoln, for 
 whom Bishop Smyth did not feel bound to provide more 
 specially, inasmuch as Lincoln College had been already 
 established for their exclusive benefit. Bachelors of Arts 
 were preferred to non-graduates, and nobody was eligible 
 who had a private income of as much as four pounds a year. 
 Vacancies were to be filled up within forty days, save during 
 the academical vacations. After election, every Scholar had 
 to undergo a year of probation before admission as a P'ellow. 
 He was furthermore obliged to reside in the College during 
 at least ten months of every year, and to enter holy orders 
 within seven years after taking the degree of Master. He 
 did not receive any emolument except board, lodging, and 
 attendance, but he' was allowed to accept ecclesiastical pre- 
 ferment in Oxford up to the yearly value of ten marks. 
 
 One of the Fellows, chosen yearly for the purpose, acted as 
 vice-principal, two others as bursars, a fourth as reader, or 
 lecturer, and a fifth as custodian of the jewels and ornaments 
 of the chapel. It was the duty of the reader to give lectures 
 on sophistry or logic to the non-graduate inmates of the 
 College, and his labours in this respect were considered so 
 arduous that he received a stipend of twenty shillings for 
 every academical term, in addition to his commons as a 
 Fellow. He was moreover allowed to appoint a suitable 
 deputy, and to claim assistance from any Bachelors of Arts 
 residing in the College. The provision for the tuition of the 
 younger Scholars of Brasenose is a remarkable feature in the 
 statutes. 
 
 The Principal was of necessity a man of not less than 
 thirty years of age, a priest, and a graduate, chosen from 
 among the Fellows, past or present, and confirmed in his
 
 400 BRASENOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 oflFice by the Bishop of Lincoln, the Visitor of the College. 
 He received an annual stipend of five pounds, besides the 
 value of his commons, and he was free to accept any benefice 
 that would not necessitate his absence from the College during 
 more than three months in the year. In the election of 
 Fellows, and of the officers of the College, as in all other 
 important business, he had as his associates the six or seven 
 senior Fellows, the junior Fellows being wholly excluded 
 from any part in the management of affairs. 
 
 The Principal and the vice-principal had jointly the right 
 to admit certain scholars who were not to be accounted 
 Fellows, or members of the foundation, a preference being 
 reserved, as before, for natives of the diocese of Coventry and 
 Lichfield. These scholars did not exactly correspond to the 
 independent commoners who lodged at their own expense 
 in some of the older colleges, inasmuch as they were not 
 required to pay anything for their rooms, for their tuition, or 
 for the services of the domestics. They were in fact partakers 
 of the bounty of William Smyth and Richard Sutton, and, as 
 such, they were not allowed to remain in the College if they 
 by any means acquired a private income of twelve marks a 
 year or more. There was, however, an exception in favour of 
 as many as six young men of noble birth, who had yearly 
 incomes of not less than forty pounds in possession or in ex- 
 pectancy. The founders doubtless thought that persons of 
 this class would in later life amply requite the benefits that 
 they received from the College. It is more important to 
 observe that the mention of "heirs of noblemen" as possible 
 inmates of Brasenose College marks a change that was coming 
 over the minds of men with regard to the University. Scions 
 of great houses, Cantilupes, Courtenays, Ncvilles,and Stanleys, 
 had studied in the schools of Oxford in the thirteenth, four- 
 teenth, and fifteenth centuries, but chiefly in order to prepare 
 themselves for high places in the Church. In the sixteenth 
 century, Oxford began to be regarded as a suitable place of
 
 INTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 401 
 
 education for knights and gentlemen no less than for priests 
 and lawyers. 
 
 One novel feature in the internal discipline of Brasenose 
 College was the system of pecuniary fines introduced by the 
 statutes. Fines varying in amount from a farthing to two 
 pence were imposed for coming late to a lecture, for omitting 
 to wear a surplice in the chapel, for neglecting any ritual 
 observance, for entering the buttery, the pantry, or the 
 kitchen without leave, for lingering in the hall after a meal, 
 or for speaking in English in any public place within the 
 precincts of the College. Books were so valuable that a fine 
 of a shilling was imposed upon any student who omitted to 
 close his volume, or to fasten the windows of the library before 
 leaving. The use of opprobrious language was punished by 
 a fine of eight pence. A scholar who struck another was 
 mulcted in 3^'. A^d. if the off"ence was committed with the 
 hand or the foot, in 6s. 8d. if with a stick or a stone, and in 
 I2,s. 4.d. if the blow drew blood, and these fines were propor- 
 tionately heavier if a Fellow was one of the parties concerned. 
 Personal violence to the Principal or the vice-principal was 
 punishable by expulsion. In cases where a pecuniary fine 
 seemed unsuitable or insufficient, the Principal and the reader 
 had power to inflict corporal punishment with a rod. All 
 the scholars of Brasenose College who did not belong to the 
 foundation were under the charge of some Fellow, who was 
 held responsible for the payment of their dues and fines. 
 
 Several of the disciplinary enactments in the statutes of 
 Brasenose College deserve notice. The use of dice, cards, 
 and balls, was forbidden, save at Christmastide, when games 
 of cards might be played in public in the common hall. 
 Dogs and birds were excluded only in so far as they were 
 likely to prove troublesome to the Fellows and Scholars. 
 The inmates of the College were strictly forbidden to disturb 
 the studies or the slumbers of their neighbours by noisy 
 shouts or by instrumental music. Within the College and 
 
 I) D
 
 402 ERASE NOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 without, in the chapel and in the hall alike, everyone was 
 required to give place to his senior. It was moreover ordered 
 that in the election of the Chancellor, or of any other officer 
 of the University, the members of the College should not 
 vote on opposite sides. Although the Fellows were not 
 provided with cloth, or obliged to dress alike, their costume 
 was subject to the control of the Principal and the vice- 
 principal. The clause in the statutes forbidding them to 
 wear long hair, or to array themselves in costly materials, 
 was copied almost word for word from the corresponding 
 clause in the statutes of Magdalen College. 
 
 The Bachelors of Arts disputed on logic twice a week 
 during term, save in Lent, when they disputed once a week 
 on moral philosophy. Their disputations and the weekly 
 disputations of the theologians were alike held in the chapel. 
 All the Scholars attended the first and second vespers, the 
 matins, and the high mass, appointed for every Sunday and 
 every great festival. On ordinary days they attended mass, 
 and repeated the Office of the Blessed Virgin and certain 
 specified prayers. Every Fellow furthermore recited the 
 Lord's Prayer five times a day " in honour of the five wounds 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ," the Angelic Salutation five times 
 " in honour of the five joys of the Blessed Virgin JMary," and 
 the Apostles' Creed once, and some prayers for the benefit 
 of William Smyth and Richard Sutton. On the anniversary 
 of the death of either founder, twenty-five masses were to be 
 said by Fellows of Brasenose College and priests belonging 
 to other colleges and halls at Oxford. The statutes make 
 no provision for chaplains, clerks, or choristers. 
 
 The original chapel was a small oratory situated over the 
 buttery, in the south-western corner of the quadrangle. It 
 now serves as the common room of the graduates. Opposite 
 to it, on the north side, was the library. The most 
 elaborate architectural feature of the College was the tower 
 over the gateway, which was not finished until 1520. Its
 
 INTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 403 
 
 beauty has since been somewhat marred by the addition of a 
 storey to the low buildings on either side, in the time of 
 James I.' The upper rooms of the original fabric contained 
 three beds apiece, and the lower rooms four, a separate bed 
 being- assigned to each Fellow. Two Scholars sometimes 
 occupied one bed.^ 
 
 In ordinary weeks ev^ery Fellow received commons in the 
 hall to the value of a shilling, but in festal weeks the fare was 
 better. The different graduates and priests resident in the 
 College served as stewards of the hall for a week each in turn, 
 the vice-principal, the bursars, and the Dcctorsor Bachelors of 
 Divinity, being alone exempt. The steward of the hall kept the 
 accounts, and moreover served the food at the different tables, 
 with the assistance of the Bible-reader, the manciple, and two 
 or three non-graduate scholars chosen for the purpose. The 
 Bible-reader, who was also the clerk of the chapel, was 
 reckoned among the servants, the other servants employed by 
 the College being a maniciple or spenser, a butler, a cook, some 
 scullions of the kitchen, and a porter, who, according to the 
 usual practice, acted also as barber. The laundress, however 
 old and discreet she might be, was not admitted within the 
 gates of the College. 
 
 After the death of Bishop Smyth, his colleague, Richard 
 Sutton, greatly increased the endowm.ents of the College. ^ 
 The Principal and Scholars also acquired from the canons of 
 Oseney, Black Hall and Glass Hall, which were situated on 
 the eastern side of School Street, and Little Edmund Hall 
 and Haberdashers' Hall, which lay between the College and 
 the Pligh Street.'* All four disappeared in the course of the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Black Hall and Glass 
 Plall were demolished when a space was cleared around the 
 site of the Radcliffe Library ; the existing chapel of Brascnose 
 
 ' Churton, pp. 309, 310. ' ^ Churton, pp. 432 435. 
 
 ^ Statutes of the Colleges j Chur- ^ Ibid. p. 280. 
 
 ton, p. 322. 
 
 I) D 2 '
 
 404 
 
 BRASENOSE COLLEGE. 
 
 College stands on the site of Little Edmund Hall, and the 
 official residence of the Principal on that of Haberdashers' 
 Hall. 
 
 It is worthy of remark that, during the early years of its 
 corporate existence, Brascnose College received benefactions 
 from various persons who were not directly related to either 
 of the founders. Seven new Fellowships were thus established 
 before the middle of the sixteenth century.' A gift or be- 
 quest of a hundred pounds generally yielded an income of 
 ninety shillings, which amply sufficed to pay for the commons 
 of a Fellow. The emoluments of certain Fellows were more- 
 over increased by the establishment of obits and commemora- 
 tive sermons on particular days. "" In 1538, John Claymond, 
 the first President of Corpus Christi College, gave money for 
 the maintenance and tuition of six scholars at Brasenose 
 College, with a proviso however that they should attend 
 lectures on humanity and Greek at the College with which he 
 was himself connected. 3 
 
 The influence of the Renaissance, imperceptible in the 
 statutes of Brasenose College, is very marked in those of 
 Corpus Christi College, which was established about the same 
 
 ' John Port, serjeant-at-law, in 
 I 522, founded two Fellowships for 
 natives of the county of Chester 
 of the lineage or name of John 
 Williamson or John Port ; John 
 I'^lton, alias Pakcr, Canon of Salis- 
 bury, in 152S, founded a Fellowship 
 with a preference for natives of the 
 dioceses of Hereford, Worcester, 
 and Salisbury ; William Porter, 
 clerk, in i 531, founded a Fellowship 
 with a preference for natives of the 
 diocese of Mercford ; Edward 
 Darbie, Archdeacon of Stow, in 
 1538, founded a Fellowship with a 
 preference for natives of the arch- 
 deacoiirv of Stow, and of the diocese 
 
 of Lincoln ; William Clyfton, Sub- 
 Dean of York, in 1538, founded a 
 Fellowship with a preference for 
 natives of the counties of York, 
 Lincoln, and Nottingham ; Brian 
 Higden, Dean of York, in 1549, 
 founded a Fellowship for natives of 
 the counties of York and Lincoln. 
 S/a/ufc's of the Colleges, ^ol. ii. 
 
 - Elizabeth Morley of West- 
 minster, in 1516, founded a lecture 
 at St. ]\Lirgaret's, Westminster; and 
 John Cox of Kirtlington, wool- 
 merchant, founded two lectures ;\t 
 that place in 1520. Statutes of the 
 Colleges. 
 
 -- U'id.
 
 BISHOP FOX. 405 
 
 time. The founder, Richard Fox, Bishop of Winchester, was 
 a large-minded ecclesiastic who perceived more clearly than 
 many of his brethren that the Church ought to encourage and 
 direct the movement that had arisen in favour of the New 
 Learning. " Prelate, statesman, architect, soldier, herald, and 
 diplomatist, he appears," says Dr. Ingram," to have combined 
 extraordinary powers and capacities." ^ Both the English 
 Universities claim him as a son, for he is said to have re- 
 moved from Magdalen College at Oxford to Pembroke Hall 
 at Cambridge, on account of a pestilence raging in the former 
 town.'' His active political career began with the reign of 
 Henry VH., by whom he was nominated a member of the 
 Privy Council, soon after the battle of Bosworth. Like other 
 servants of the Crown, he was rewarded with various ecclesias- 
 tical offices of honour and profit. In 1487, he was appointed 
 to the see of Exeter, whence he was successively translated 
 to Bath and Wells in 1492, to Durham in 1494, and to 
 Winchester in 1501. His episcopal duties did not prevent 
 his acting as Keeper of the Privy Seal, or his leaving the 
 country several times on important embassies to Scotland 
 and to France. 
 
 In 1500, the graduates of Cambridge elected Bishop Fox to 
 be Chancellor of that University, and, seven years later, he 
 was made Master of his own College. Henry VII., having 
 the greatest confidence in his integrity and prudence, named 
 him one of the executors of his will. He was also named 
 one of the executors of the will of the venerable Countess of 
 Richmond, and in that capacity he took part in the establish- 
 ment of St. John's College at Cambridge.3 It was not to 
 Cambridge, however, that he turned his thoughts when he 
 
 ' McJHOi-iaJs of Oxford, vol. ii. ; against the outbreak of pestilences 
 
 "^ Wood's Colleges and Halls, in Oxford, 
 p. 3S3. It may be observed that ^ Skelton's Pictas Oxoniensis ; 
 
 Fox's statutes for Corpus Christi ; Wood ; Le Neve's Fasti. 
 
 College contain many provisions ;
 
 4o6 BISHOP FOX. 
 
 resolved to dedicate a considerable portion of his wealth to 
 the service of the English Church. In the spring of 15 13, he 
 obtained royal licence to endow the cathedral church of 
 Winchester with temporal and spiritual possessions, to the 
 yearly value of two hundred pounds; and, a few months later, 
 he covenanted with the Prior and Convent that they should 
 therewith establish a college at Oxford for a certain number 
 of Benedictine monks and secular scholars under the govern- 
 ment of a Warden.' It was intended that the great 
 monastery of St. S within at Winchester should have a 
 seminary at the University, directly connected with it, as 
 Durham College was connected with St. Cuthbcrt's at 
 Durham, and Canterbury College with Christ Church at 
 Canterbury. 
 
 Bishop Fox, in pursuance of his scheme, bought some land 
 at Oxford, between Merton College and St. Frideswyde's 
 Priory, and began to build on it, but before the fabric 
 was finished, he resolved to make it a college of secular 
 students. Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, his chief 
 supporter and assistant in the work, is said to have prompted 
 this very important change, and liolinshcd professes to give 
 the very words that he used " What, my lord, shall we build 
 houses and provide livelihoods for a company of bussing 
 (amorous) monks, whose end and fall we ourselves may live 
 to sec.'' No, no! It is more meet a great deal that we 
 should have care to provide for the increase of learning, and 
 for such as by their learning shall do good in the Church and 
 commonwealth."'' It is certain that Bishop Oldham con- 
 tributed a very large sum of money towards the establish- 
 ment of the college founded by his friend Bishop Fox. His 
 arms are to be seen in various places in the existing buildings. 
 
 The plan of the new College w^as adapted to the site avail- 
 
 ' \^ooA\ Statutes of the Colleges^ '-' C//;'(?;V/t'J, vol. iii. p. 839. 
 
 \ol. ii.
 
 CORPUS CHRIST! COLLEGE. ' 407 
 
 able. On the eastern side of the quadrangle was built the hall, 
 and at the south-eastern corner the chapel, extending eastwards 
 towards Merton College. The library was placed on the first 
 floor on the south side. Opposite to it was built the main 
 gateway, surmounted by a tower having an oriel window and 
 three canopied niches on its outer front, almost facing the end of 
 Schydyard Street. As at All Souls and elsewhere, the name 
 of the College was indicated by sculpture over the entrance, 
 the subject represented in stone being a group of angels 
 bearing a monstrance, or pyx, the receptacle for the sacramental 
 host the Body of Christ. 
 
 In November 15 16, Bishop Fox obtained royal licence to 
 establish at Oxford a college consisting of a President and 
 thirty Scholars, more or less, and to endow it with lands in 
 mortmain to the yearly value of 350/.' The charter of 
 foundation was issued on the first of March following, and 
 the College established, in honour of God Almighty, the most 
 holy Body of Christ {Corpus Christi), the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
 the Apostles Peter, Paul, and Andrew, and Saints Cuthbert, 
 S within, and Birinus, patrons of the churches of Exeter, Bath 
 and Wells, Durham, and Winchester. John Claymond, 
 President of Bishop Waynflete's larger and wealthier founda- 
 tion, was nominated by Bishop Fox as the first President of 
 Corpus Christi College.^ 
 
 According to the statutes, which were issued in June 15 17, 
 the College was to consist of a President, twenty Scholars or 
 P'ellows, and twenty disciples or students, with two chaplains, 
 two clerks, and two choristers. 3 
 
 The President was to be chosen by the seven senior Fellows 
 in the chapel of the College, after solemn prayers for the 
 
 ' Statictcs of the Colleges. The : p. 390. 
 
 reference to the Patent Roll there ', 3 stahites of the Colleges j the 
 
 quoted should be 8 Hen. VIII. in- 1 Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox 
 
 stead of 17 Hen. VIII. | for Corpus Christi College, irans- 
 
 = Wood's Colleges and Halls, lated by G. R. M. Ward.
 
 4o8 CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. 
 
 assistance of the Holy Ghost. At the time of election he 
 was to be a secular priest, not less than thirty years of age, 
 and a graduate, or at least a student, of the Faculty of 
 Theology. The office was not to be held by a bishop actual 
 or titular, by a monk, or by a person of bad character. 
 After election, the new President was to be formally presented 
 to the Bishop of Winchester, or his representative. He was 
 to have two servants and three horses provided and kept for 
 him by the College, and a certain allowance of food and 
 raiment, but his yearly stipend was fixed at the moderate 
 sum of ten pounds, and he was ordinarily to take his meals 
 in the common hall. It is therefore evident that he was 
 not intended to occupy a position so lucrative and dignified 
 as that of the Warden of New College, or the President of 
 Magdalen College. 
 
 The twenty Scholars were to be chosen from among the 
 natives of twelve particular counties and dioceses more or less 
 connected with the founder, or with Bishop Oldham, the 
 number to be taken from each district being exactly specified 
 by the statutes. On the occurrence of a vacancy among them, 
 the President and the seven senior Fellows were, if possible, to 
 elect a clerk who had taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts 
 before the age of twenty-three, and had not yet obtained 
 licence to incept as a Master. Failing such a candidate, the 
 statutes insisted on the qualification of birth in a particular 
 locality more rigidly than on that of age or of academical 
 standing. At every stage, an avowed preference was to be 
 shown to the disciples, or younger students, of the College, 
 and any disciple under twenty-four years of age who had 
 received licence to incept in arts was to be preferred to all 
 other candidates, without regard to the place of his birth. All 
 Scholars were to undergo two years of probation before 
 admission as Fellows, and any of them who were pronounced 
 unworthy, either at the end of the first }xar or of the second, 
 were to be expelled from the College. After completing their
 
 THE FELLOWS AND STUDENTS. 409 
 
 course as Masters of Arts, all the Fellows, save one devoted 
 to the study of medicine, were to take holy orders, and were 
 moreover to proceed to the degree of Doctor of Divinity within 
 a specified time. Those Fellows who were priests were to 
 have four marks a year, those who were not priests forty 
 shillings, in addition to an allowance for livery, and commons 
 varying in weekly value from a shilling to eighteenpence. A 
 somewhat smaller provision was made for the probationary 
 scholars. Fellowships and scholarships were to be vacated, 
 as in other colleges, by the adoption of monastic life, by 
 marriage, by the acceptance of any office involving absence 
 from the College, or by the acquisition of a yearly income ot 
 five pounds, although Doctors of Divinity were allowed to hold 
 ecclesiastical benefices to the yearly value of ten pounds. As 
 in other Colleges, one of the senior Fellows was to act as vice- 
 president, two as deans, and two as " spensers," or bursars. 
 
 The three lecturers established at Corpus Christi College for 
 the benefit of the University at large, were to be chosen from 
 among the scholars, if any of them were qualified for the office. 
 A lecturer chosen from without was to be admitted to the 
 first Fellowship that should fall vacant after his appointment. 
 
 The twenty disciples, or junior students, were to be natives 
 of those dioceses and counties w4iich furnished the College 
 with Scholars, and the number of them to be chosen from each 
 district was to correspond with that of the scholars to be 
 chosen from the same. At the time of admission, the disciples 
 were to be between twelve and nineteen years of age, fairly 
 skilled in plain chant, capable of writing letters in Latin, and 
 free from any defect that would disqualify them for the priest- 
 hood. They were to vacate their places if they obtained an 
 assured income of the yearly value of five marks, or if they 
 attained the age of twenty-four without having graduated as 
 IMasters of Arts. Each of them was to receive commons to 
 the weekly value of eightpcnce, or as much as eleven pence in 
 times of dearth, clothes to the value of ten shillings a year, and
 
 4IO CORPUS CHRIST! COLLEGE. 
 
 an annual pension of two marks, which was to be committed 
 to the care of one of the Fellows appointed to act as his tutor. 
 All non-graduate disciples under the age of twenty were to 
 be subject to corporal punishment at the hands of their 
 respective tutors. At night they were to be dispersed in the 
 rooms of the graduate Fellows, each occupying a truckle 
 bed and performing certain menial duties for his elder. Those 
 of them however who were under fourteen years of age were 
 not necessarily to have a bed apiece. 
 
 The different members of the College were required to make 
 mention in their private prayers of the founder and his parents, 
 of Bishop Oldham, and of King Henry VII., his wife, and his 
 mother. On Saturdays and on certain vigils, hymns were to 
 be sung in the hall in honour of the Blessed Virgin. Priests 
 belonging to the College were required to celebrate mass 
 three times a week, and the rest of the community to attend 
 the earliest of the three daily masses, at about five o'clock in 
 the morning. Special services were also appointed for the 
 souls of eminent benefactors. Inasmuch as the staff of 
 ministers attached to the chapel was to consist of only six, a 
 precentor, a sacristan, an organist, a sub-sacristan, and two 
 choristers, it is evident that the founder did not intend that 
 the services in it should be so elaborate as those in some other 
 colleges. We may, however, remark that he forbade the 
 irreverent custom of performing two or more services simul- 
 taneously at different altars. He also defined attendance at 
 divine service to mean attendance from the beginning of it 
 to the end. Another notable clause in the statutes insisted 
 that every Doctor of Divinity connected with the College 
 should seven times a year preach publicly to the people in 
 some cit}', town, or important parish. 
 
 The rules concerning the discipline of the College were 
 singularly minute. The chief gate under the tower was usually 
 to be kept closed, and the wicket in it was to be closed from 
 eight at night to six in the morning in winter, and from nine
 
 INTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 411 
 
 at night to five in the morning in summer. No Fellow was 
 to go out alone, except on academical or scholastic business. 
 Non-graduates were not to go out without permission save to 
 disputations in the parvise or to ordinary lectures, and per- 
 mission to walk in the country was not to be granted to 
 parties of less than three. The practice of archery was allowed, 
 as also a game of ball against the garden wall, but other 
 games with wooden balls, dice, and cards, were strictly pro- 
 scribed. The Fellows, Scholars, disciples, and clerks, were 
 alike forbidden to keep dogs, ferrets, hawks, or even singing 
 birds, within or without the College. Long hair, robes of 
 velvet, damask, silk, or other costly materials, red, white, and 
 green hose, and peaked shoes were declared incompatible 
 with clerical sobriety. The number of commoners residing 
 in the College was limited to six, who were to be sons of 
 noblemen, or of persons learned in the laws of the realm, and 
 consequently able to assist the community in cases of 
 emergency. 
 
 The rules enforcing residence were very stringent. No 
 Fellow was to be absent from the College more than forty 
 days in the year ; no probationary scholar or disciple more 
 than twenty. Even at Christmas, at Easter, at Whitsuntide, 
 and in August, the total number of absentees was never to 
 exceed ten at a time. By a lively metaphor sustained 
 throughout the statutes, the College v/as styled a hive of bees, 
 upon whom industry was constantly enjoined. Bishop 
 Waynflete had forbidden the Fellows of Magdalen College to 
 canvass for the office of Proctor of the University ; Bishop 
 P"ox forbade the members of Corpus Christi College to accept 
 it if offered to them, and desired that they should not vote on 
 different sides at elections of academical olficers. A fore- 
 shadowing of the modern intcr-collegiate system of instruction 
 may be found in the directions of Bishop Fox, that the students 
 of theology and the Bachelors of Arts belonging to his college 
 should daily attend lectures at Magdalen College.
 
 412 CORPUS CHRIST J COLLEGE. 
 
 As has been already remarked, the statutes of Corpus 
 Christi College show very plainly the influence of the Renais- 
 sance. In the very first section, there is an apology for the use 
 of barbarous words not known to Cicero. Some acquaintance 
 with the works of Roman poets, orators, and historians, no less 
 than with logic and philosophy is required of all candidates 
 for scholarships, and the emoluments of a scholarship are 
 denied to any who cannot readily compose verses and write 
 letters in Latin. Provision is made for the maintenance of a 
 Fellow or of a promising disciple in Italy or elsewhere abroad 
 for a term of three years. In specifying the language to be 
 used for ordinary conversation in the hall, in the chapel, and 
 in the chambers, the founder offers Greek as an alternative 
 for Latin, Natives of Greece and of Central and Southern 
 Italy are declared specially eligible for the office of lecturer, 
 Cicero, Sallust, Valerius IMaximus, Suetonius, Pliny, Livy, and 
 Ouintilian are enumerated as the prose writers, and Virgil, 
 Ovid, Lucan, Juvenal, Terence, and Plautus, as the poets to 
 be expounded by the lecturer on humanity. The works of 
 Lorenzo Valla, Aulus Gellius, and Politian are recommended 
 as suitable subjects of study during the three vacations. The 
 lecturer on Greek, an officer unknown in any earlier college, 
 is enjoined to lecture publicly not only on grammar, but also 
 on the works of Isocrates, Lucian, Philostratus, Aristophanes, 
 Theocritus, Euripides, Sophocles, Pindar, Hesiod, Demo- 
 sthenes, Thucydidcs, Aristotle, and Plutarch. 
 
 The lecturer on Theology, the "third gardener" appointed 
 by Bishop Fox, is required by him to expound the Old 
 Testament and the New in alternate years, A paragraph 
 concerning his duties deserves particular notice : " In his 
 interpretation, he shall ever as far as possible follow the ancient 
 and holy doctors both Latin and Greek, and especially Jerome, 
 Augustine, Ambrose, Origen, Hilary, Chrysostom, John 
 Damascene and others of that sort, not Nicholas of Lyra, not 
 Hugh of A'ienne, and the rest, who, as in time so in learning,
 
 INTERNAL DISCIPLTNE. 413 
 
 are far below them, except where the explanation of the former 
 is wanting." Patristic theology is thus restored to the place 
 long usurped by the pedantry of the schoolmen. 
 
 It has been remarked that the usual precautions against 
 the alteration of the statutes were enforced at Corpus Christi 
 College with peculiar severity. The oaths were numerous 
 and lengthy beyond former example, and the President and 
 the Fellows were made to enter into recognisances not to 
 obtain dispensations from Rome or elsewhere. The Bishops 
 of Winchester, the Visitors of the College, were strictly 
 enjoined to enforce the observ^ance of the statutes. It has 
 been aptly remarked that the founder "anticipating the great 
 change which in a few years was to pass over the face of 
 European society, was determined by these regulations and 
 solemn imprecations to preserve his own institution immovable 
 amidst the great convulsion." ' 
 
 Bishop Fox himself issued some supplementary statutes 
 in 15 17. He had noticed with regret the growth of luxury 
 and of expenditure at the University, especially in connexion 
 with the feasts given by students on taking their degrees.^ 
 The sums then spent on food and drink would, he remarked, 
 have been more profitably spent on the purchase of books, and 
 he laid down some rules which he ordered to be observed 
 until the end of time. By these the cost of the suppers given 
 by logicians at the time of their creation as general sophisters 
 was limited to twenty pence apiece, and that of those given 
 by determining Bachelors to forty pence. Inceptors were 
 likewise restricted to an expenditure of twenty shillings at the 
 time of the act, unless a member of the College should be 
 obliged to figure as senior inceptor, in which case the custom 
 of the University required that he should entertain the Proctors 
 and the bedels. Finding moreover that the inmates of the 
 College were wont to have private suppers in their rooms 
 
 ' Rep07-{ of tJie Commission on tit: ~ See pp. 205,209, 210,215,216 
 
 Unii'crsity of Oxford ( i S52). alDOvc.
 
 414 CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE. 
 
 on Saturday nights, the founder provided a weekly supper for 
 them in the hall, so that this temptation to gluttony and 
 drunkenness might cease. He furthermore ordered that 
 every member of the College not in priest's orders should 
 confess his sins five times a year. 
 
 Bishop Fox died in 1528. The society which heestablished 
 at Oxford still preserves a pastoral staff, a chalice, and a 
 covered cup which belonged to him, and which rank among 
 the finest examples of medieval silversmith's work now 
 extant in England.' The high opinion of the founder's 
 merits entertained by intelligent contemporaries is expressed 
 by Erasmus, who, in a letter to Claymond, the President, 
 prophesied that just as Rhodes was once famous for the 
 Colossus, and Caria for the tomb of IMausoIus, so the new 
 College at Oxford, dedicated to the most profitable literature, 
 would be reckoned throughout the civilised world as one of 
 the chief ornaments of Britain.^ 
 
 Although Corpus Christi College is the chief memorial of 
 Bishop Fox at Oxford, it should not be forgotten that his 
 name figures prominently in the history of other colleges. 
 As the successor of Wykeham and Waynflete in the see of 
 Winchester, he held formal visitations of Magdalen College in 
 1506, and of New College and Magdalen College in 1520.3 He 
 also framed or revised the statutes by which Balliol College 
 has professedly been governed from the date of their issue, 
 in 1507, until a very recent time. 
 
 Between the original foundation and the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, Balliol College had received no less than 
 three codes of statutes, those issued by the Lady Dervorguilla 
 de Balliol in 12S2, those issued by Sir Philip de Somcrville in 
 
 ' Sec the engra\ing-s in Shaw's ' TiVidCn^^s,'?, College nndCcvporafw/i 
 Specimens of Ane/ent FiirnHi/rc, Plate, p. 50. 
 
 pi. 65, 69, 71 ; Skclton's Oxnnia \ " Ep. ccccxxxviii. 
 
 A?if/q!!a, pi. 66 ; Lascelles's Ufti- j ^ Ingram's Menwrieils, vol. ii. 
 I'rrsity mid Ci/y of Oxford, pi. 24 : r.c.c. pp. 5, 6.
 
 BALLIOL COLLEGE 415 
 
 1340, and those issued by Simon Sudbury, Bishop of London, 
 in 1364. Two other Bishops of London had moreover inter- 
 vened in the course of the fifteenth century to redress particular 
 grievances. Inasmuch, however, as some of the enactments 
 of the third code were ambiguous, and others inconvenient, 
 the society sought and obtained from Pope JuHus IL a 
 commission empowering the Bishops of Winchester and 
 Carhsle, or either of them, to revise the statutes throughout. 
 The work was accomplished by Bishop Fox, in 1507. 
 
 Unlike the elaborate statutes of Wykeham, Chicheley, and 
 Waynflete, for their respective foundations, and those which 
 Bishop Fox himself afterwards issued for Corpus Christi 
 College, these statutes of 1507 were short and simple. They 
 dealt with the aftairs of a small College, slenderly endowed, 
 and consisting exclusively of needy students. 
 
 The jMaster, a priest of suitable age, was to be elected by 
 the Fellows, but not necessarily from among themselves. No 
 official residence or separate establishment was assigned to 
 him, and his yearly salary of i/. os. ^d., and his weekly 
 commons of is. ^d. were to be no greater than those of a 
 Fellow of the degree of .Master of Arts. On the other hand 
 he was to be free to take any vacant benefice belonging to 
 the College, and to hold that or any other benefice, even 
 with cure of souls, without vacating his office. The 
 ecclesiastical revenues of a parish might thus be made to 
 supplement the inadequate income of the Master of Balliol ; 
 and he was not to be obliged to reside at Oxford more than 
 forty consecutive days in each academical term. 
 
 The Fellows were to be chosen without regard to their 
 place of birth, or their connexion with any benefactor to the 
 College. No Fellowship was to be given to any one having 
 a private income of more than forty shillings a year, or to be 
 retained by any one having an income of any sort of more 
 than five pounds a year. Elections to vacant Fellowships 
 were to be held only once a year, within a few days of the
 
 41 5 BALLIOL COLUIGE. 
 
 festival of St. Catharine, to whom, as the common patroness 
 of scholars, the chapel of Balliol College was dedicated. 
 After election, the Fellows were to swear a short oath, and to 
 undergo a year's probation. Having already taken the degree 
 of Bachelor of Arts, they were to proceed to the degree of 
 Master within four years of their determination, and within a 
 further period of four years they were to enter the priesthood. 
 An allowance, never exceeding two marks, might be given to 
 assist a Fellow to obtain an academical degree, but the cost 
 of the feast to be given by an inceptor was restricted by 
 statute to a small sum consistent with the poverty of the 
 College. Disputations on logic and on philosophy were to be 
 held weekly, and on theology occasionally, these being the 
 three subjects of study enjoined on the Fellows. 
 
 The senior of the two deans was also to be the librarian, 
 and the junior the sacristan. Two other Fellows were to 
 serve as bursars. The statutes of 1507 make no mention 
 of the Principal, an officer who in 1340 ranked next after 
 the Master. It was doubtless thought that in so small a 
 college there was no need to place one of the Fellows in a 
 position of superiority to the others. By an unusual arrange- 
 ment, the Master was empowered to appoint one of the 
 Fellows to act as his deputy during his absence from 
 Oxford. 
 
 The scholars, or servitors, of Balliol College were to occupy 
 a position humbler than that of the younger students of any 
 other college in the University. They were to wait upon the 
 Master and the graduate Fellows, and to be fed with the 
 crumbs that should fall from the table of their superiors. 
 Instead of being elected by the I'ellows, or by a committee 
 of the Fellows, they were to be nominated by the particular 
 persons whom they were respectively to serve. The youngest 
 of them was to be not less than eighteen years of age, and 
 the eldest not more than twenty-two. If industrious and 
 wcll-bcl-iaved, they were to be eligible for Fellowships, even
 
 DALLIOL COLLEGE. 417 
 
 if they should not have taken the degree of Bachelor of 
 Arts. As in most other colleges, commoners were to be 
 allowed to lodge within the walls and to take their meals with 
 the members of the society, conforming themselves to the 
 strict disciplinary rules of the establishment. 
 
 No provision was made for chaplains, clerks, or choristers, 
 two of the Fellows in priest's orders being charged with the 
 conduct of the religious services, which included masses for 
 the chief benefactors of the College, Sir John de Balliol and 
 the Lady Dervorguilla his wife, Ela, Countess of Warwick, 
 Sir Philip de Somerville and Margaret his wife, Sir Richard 
 Hunsingore, Sir William de Felton, and Master Hugh 
 de Vienne. 
 
 To the Master and Fellows was committed the singular 
 privilege of choosing their own visitor. By an elaborate 
 metaphor in an early section of the statutes, the College is 
 described as a human body. The Master was the head, 
 endued with the five senses of seeing clearly, hearing dis- 
 creetly, smelling sagaciously, tasting moderately, and touching 
 fitly. The senior Fellow was the neck ; the deans were the 
 shoulders ; the two priests the sides ; the bursars the arms 
 and hands ; the Fellows the stomach ; the scholars the legs ; 
 and the servants the feet. Just as the body when sick would 
 require a physician, so, it was said, would the College 
 sometimes require a Visitor.' 
 
 ' Statutes of the Colleges, vol. i. 
 
 1-. I-.
 
 CHAP T E R X \^ I. 
 
 A.D. 1509 1530. 
 
 Archbishop Warham as Chancellor- Wolsey's Power Proposed Revision 
 of the Academical Statutes Submission to Wolsey Appointment of 
 Proctors Controversies between the University and the Town John 
 Haynes Riots Charter of Privileges Arbitration rejected Excom- 
 munication of the Mayor Pestilences The Sweating Sickness 
 Decay of the Academical Halls Revived Study of Greek Greeks 
 and Trojans Sir Thomas More's Remonstrance Linacre's Lecture- 
 ships Lectures provided by Wolsey Foundation of Cardinal 
 College Suppression of St. Frideswyde's and other Religious Houses 
 The Buildings The Statutes Rise and Spread of Lutheranism 
 The Cambridge Students at Oxford Proceedings against Garret 
 Dajaber's Narrative Committee on Heresy The King's Divorce 
 Opinions of the Universities Fall of Wolsey Confiscation of Cardinal 
 College Conclusion. 
 
 ILLIAM WARHilM, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury, who was elected to the Chancellorship 
 of the University of Oxford in 1506, con- 
 tinued to hold that honourable office until 
 his death in 1532. To him the resident 
 Doctors and Masters applied for assistance and advice in the 
 various difficulties which arose from time to time, and they 
 generally received from him plain, practical answers, which 
 contrast favourably with their own florid compositions.' P^or 
 many years, however, Warham's influence at Oxford was 
 secondary to that of Thomas Wolsey, the last of that long 
 line of ecclesiastical statesmen who took the University 
 under their special protection. 
 
 ' Register FF. (IJodleian MS. 2S2), /!<iss////.
 
 THOMAS WOLSEY. 419 
 
 Wolsey's connexion with Oxford dated from an early 
 period of his h'fe, for he was made a Bachelor of Arts at 
 fifteen years of age, "which," as his biographer notes, "was a 
 rare thing and seldom seen," and led to his being called " the 
 Boy Bachelor." ' In 1497, his name occurs in a list of 
 Masters of Arts holding Fellowships at Magdalen College, 
 and in the following year he was one of the bursars of that 
 wealthy institution. For six months he acted as master of 
 the school established there by William Waynflete, and he 
 had among his pupils the three sons of the Marquess of 
 Dorset, through whose favour he was destined to obtain his 
 first ecclesiastical benefice.^ Nevertheless, John Skelton, the 
 poet, does not scruple to deride him as an unlearned man : 
 
 "He was but a poor master of art 
 God wot, had little part 
 Of the quadrivials 
 Nor yet of trivial s 
 Nor of philosophy. 
 
 * * 7- 
 
 His Latin tongue doth hobble, 
 He doth but clout and cobble 
 In Tully's faculty. "3 
 
 A greater poet than Skelton has recorded the opinion of 
 the next generation very differently : 
 
 " This Cardinal, 
 Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly 
 Was fashion'd to much honour, from his cradle. 
 He was a scholar, and a ripe, and good one ; 
 Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading : 
 Lofty and sour to them that lov'd him not, 
 But, to those men that sought him, sweet as j-ummer."-* 
 
 Wolsey was senior bursar of Magdalen College in 1499 
 and 1500, and in the latter year he retired to a living 
 in Somersetshire. While he was being rapidly promoted 
 
 ' Cavendish's Life of IVolscy, College^ vol. iii. pp. 25, 26. 
 (ed. Singer) p. 66. I ^ Why co/ne yc 7iot to Coi/rt? 
 
 ' B\QX3.m'=. Regisicrof Maj^dalen \ ^ Henry the F.ighth,\zi\\.^%c.z. 
 
 F. E 2
 
 420 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 from benefice to benefice, he maintained friendly relations 
 with his former colleagues at Oxford, and in 15 lo he took 
 the degree of Bachelor of Divinity.' During his brief 
 occupation of the see of Lincoln, the resident graduates 
 of the University began to recognise his growing power in 
 the State, and wrote to solicit his assistance in defence of 
 their privileges,^' A few months later, when he was Arch- 
 bishop of York, they addressed him as their Maecenas, their 
 intercessor, their patron, their spokesman, and their special 
 advocate at Court.3 A little later, they wrote again, saying 
 that their hopes depended on him alone, and that they had 
 resolved to raise him to the highest degree in Divinity. 4 In 
 a subsequent letter, they spontaneously promised that his 
 name should be commemorated by their public preachers at 
 Oxford and in London alike.s When at last they found it 
 difficult to devise any new compliments for the all-powerful 
 Cardinal, they sought to gratify his vanity by applying to 
 him the title of Majestas, in some cases three or four times 
 in the course of a letter.^ 
 
 If such adulation was without precedent, the receiver of it 
 
 ' Bloxam, pp. 2630 ; Register 
 of the University of Oxford, (ed. 
 Boase) vol. i. p. 67. 
 
 ^ FF. f. ijb. 
 
 3 Ibid.L i?>b. 
 
 Ibid. f. 1 9/7. 
 
 amy.' Charles, Duke of Savoy 
 wrote ' Moris'" le Cardinal mon 
 cousin.' Margaret Queen of 
 Navarre announced her belief of 
 her pregnancy to him, apparently 
 at her mother's desire, with her 
 
 ^ Ibid. f. 2^b. | own hand as ' Mons'' mon bon 
 
 '' Ibid. ff. 43, 43/^, 49^^,' ^ob, 60b, \ frere,' finishing ' votre bonne soeur 
 
 67, 68/^ The appellation Majestas et fille Marguerite.' Christiern 
 
 was bestowed on the Chancellor, King of Denmark wrote to him 
 
 Archbishop Warham, in two letters, ' Amico et protectori nostro longe 
 
 and on the Bishop of Lincoln in charissimo.' Charles the Fifth used 
 
 one. Ibid. ff. 53, 65, 85. A few to sign 'votre vray bon amy.' 
 
 examples of the manner in which Margaret Archduchess of Savoy 
 
 royal personages addressed Wolsey almost uniformly wrote to him 
 
 arc perhaps appropriate : 'votre bonne mere Marguerite.'" 
 
 " Francis the First, in writing to Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd Series, 
 
 liini, signed constantly 'votre bon vol. ii. p. 16.
 
 THE A CADEMICAL S TA TUTES. 42 1 
 
 was certainly no ordinary subject, " He clearly reigned 
 more truly than the King himself," says his contemporary, 
 Erasmus.' So again the Venetian Ambassador, writing in 
 1 5 19, says : " This Cardinal is the person who rules both the 
 King and the entire kingdom. . . . He, alone, transacts the 
 same business as that which occupies all the magistracies, 
 offices, and councils of Venice, both civil and criminal ; and 
 all State affairs, likewise, are managed by him, let their nature 
 be what it may. . . . He is in very great repute seven times 
 more so than if he were Pope." ^ 
 
 Many of the letters that passed between the University 
 and the two great churchmen who were its special protectors, 
 related to a project for the codification of the academical 
 statutes. During the middle ages, ordinances had been issued 
 from time to time to settle disputed points or to check 
 manifest abuses, but, for several centuries, the University was 
 to a great extent governed by traditional precepts that had 
 not been committed to writing. Those statutes moreover 
 which had been entered in the official registers of the 
 Chancellor and the Proctors, were not arranged in any order, 
 and the graduates, who had solemnly sworn to obey the 
 statutes, were fain to admit that they could scarcely find their 
 way through the labyrinth of confused and contradictory 
 enactments.3 The first definite proposal that the statutes 
 should be thoroughly examined and revised seems to have 
 been due to John Young, the titular Bishop of Gallipoli.4 
 Archbishop Warham supported it heartily, and the University 
 resolved to depute certain graduates to prepare a symmetrical 
 code of statutes.5 The work of revision, however, made little 
 or no progress before the year 15 18, when it was transferred 
 to other hands. 
 
 ' Ep. mcli. ^ FF. ff. 26/;, 30. 
 
 ' Four Years at the Court of * Ibid. f. 28^. 
 
 Hetiry VIII., (ed. Rawdon Brown) ? Ibid. ff. 14/;, 15 ; G. f. 208. 
 vol. ii. p. 314.
 
 423 JVOLSEV'S VISIT TO OXFORD. 
 
 An outbreak of the sweating sickness in 15 17 caused the 
 King and his Court to forsake London for some time, and 
 Abingdon was one of the places to which they went in the 
 following spring, in hopes of escaping the deadly contagion. 
 Thither certain prominent members of the University repaired 
 without delay in order to offer their tribute of respect, and 
 Queen Catharine was then induced to pay a short visit to 
 Oxford. She went thither accompanied by Cardinal Wolsey, 
 but their objects were very different. The Queen, as became a 
 pious princess, went to worship at the shrine of St. Frideswyde, 
 and afterwards dined at Merton College, the Warden of which 
 was already known to her in the capacity of Almoner to the 
 King. The Cardinal on the other hand seems to have gone to 
 St. Mary's to attend a solemn meeting of the graduates, and 
 to have informed them there of his design to establish certain 
 daily lectures for the benefit of the University at large. For 
 this purpose he asked for power to modify some of the old 
 statutes which prescribed the course of academical studies. 
 Such a request from so great a benefactor was not to be 
 refused, but it was found difficult to limit the area within 
 which changes were to be permissible. A proposal was 
 therefore made that the Cardinal should be entrusted with 
 the fullest authority over the whole body of statutes, so that 
 he might reform, revoke, or re-issue any or all of them at 
 pleasure. Thus, it was hoped, all discrepancies would be 
 reconciled, all difficulties of interpretation removed, and all 
 risks of incurring perjury avoided.^ The proposal was in due 
 course submitted to Archbishop Warham as Chancellor, but 
 he very naturally declined to ratify it with his assent. While 
 fully recognising the liberality of Wolsey's scheme, he urged 
 that the power of altering existing regulations with regard to 
 
 ' Register of Merton College, f. College on this occasion. Bloxam's 
 
 240 (Twyne MS. vol. iii. f. 612); j Register of Magdalen College, \o\. 
 
 FF. f. 30. The Cardinal seems to \ iii. pp. 33, 34. 
 have been entertained at his old i
 
 SUBMISSION TO WOLSEY. 423 
 
 study could not safely be committed to any person who was 
 not actually resident at Oxford, and thoroughly conversant 
 with academical affairs. It were better, he said, that the 
 Cardinal should specify the changes which appeared to him 
 desirable, the graduates being certain to favour any practical 
 suggestions proceeding from such a source.^ He might well 
 have added that a busy statesman charged with the admi- 
 nistration of public affairs would hardly find time for the 
 laborious task of examining and amending a chaotic collection 
 of mediaeval enactments relating to the minutest points of 
 academical discipline. In writing to the Chancellor, the 
 resident graduates had explicitly avowed that they could not 
 lawfully settle this matter without taking his advice in it. 
 Nevertheless, within a few days of the receipt of his answer, a 
 formal decree was made by common consent of the Regents 
 and non-Regents and all the Faculties, that the statutes of 
 the University should be unreservedly committed to the 
 Cardinal of York, with power to deal with them according 
 to his discretion.^ In thus disregarding the wishes of their 
 Chancellor, the graduates had the support and encourage- 
 ment of their diocesan, William Atwater, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 a prelate who stood high in Wolsey's favour. 3 As might 
 have been expected, weightier matters of State prevented 
 the Cardinal from giving his attention to the proposed 
 revision of the academical statutes. '^ This failure, however, 
 did not deter the graduates of Cambridge from following 
 the shameful example of the more illustrious University. In 
 1524, they unreservedly submitted themselves, their laws, 
 and their customs, to the all-powerful Cardinal, in terms of 
 servile adulation, "stronger, more specific and diversified," 
 than those employed by their contemporaries at Oxford. s 
 
 ' Fiddes, Life of Cardinal Wol- \ * Ibid. f. \'^b; Fiddes, Collections, 
 
 scy, Collectiojis, pp. 34, 35. \ \^. 123. 
 
 " /<J/V/. pp. 32 34. June 1,1518. 5 Fiddes, p. 185 ; Cooper's 
 
 ^ FF. ff. 32^, ^"jb, \ob. , Annals of Cajnbridge, vol. i. pp.
 
 424 APPOINTMENT OF PROCTORS. 
 
 Their self-sought humihation was if possible more com- 
 plete, inasmuch as Wolsey had done little or nothing for 
 them, whereas he was a conspicuous benefactor to his own 
 University. 
 
 Although Wolsey could not give his attention to the reform 
 of the statutes of the University of Oxford, he often inter- 
 fered in academical affairs. Hearing, in the spring of 1522, 
 that the clerks were so excited about the forthcoming election 
 of Proctors that they were neglecting their appointed studies, 
 he wrote to order that the whole matter should be referred to 
 him.^ The graduates, as was their wont, made an obsequious 
 answer, though they were careful to say that rumour had 
 greatly exaggerated the extent of their differences. In proof 
 of their virtual agreement, they begged the Cardinal to appoint 
 as Proctors a member of Magdalen College and a member of 
 Queen's College, who had received the support of all the 
 Regents,"" After thus entrusting Wolsey with unprecedented 
 authority in their local concerns, they wrote apologetically to 
 their Chancellor, who had reason to be displeased at their 
 conduct, Warham replied, somewhat sarcastically, that they 
 had on a previous occasion disregarded his advice by surren- 
 dering their liberties to the Cardinal, and that their new 
 protector would doubtless do whatever was best for them,3 
 In point of fact, Wolsey nominated two graduates to act as 
 Proctors for six months, and at the end of that term allowed 
 the University to elect two others according to the prescribed 
 form.4 His interference was more generally acceptable when 
 he appeared as the defender of the University against its 
 external enemies. 
 
 The old feud between the clerks and the townsmen of 
 Oxford broke out afresh in the early part of the sixteenth 
 century. One of the Bailiffs named John Hayncs, notorious 
 
 307 309; Mullinger, pp, 549 ^ Ibid A. '^ib. 
 
 551. ''' Fiddes, pp. 121123; H. ff. 
 
 ' FF. f. 51. - = Ibid.i. 50/;. 87/;, %b.
 
 JOHN HA YNES. 425 
 
 for his rapacity in trade, ventured in 1 506 to release a man 
 who had been committed to the stocks by one of the Proctors. 
 He was therefore discommoned, that is to say excluded from 
 all dealings with members of the University, and about seven 
 years later it was thought necessary to restrain him from 
 selling some Malmsey wine which was declared unfit for 
 human consumption,' He did not, however, forfeit the 
 esteem of his lay neighbours, and he was twice elected to 
 serve as Mayor of Oxford. "" So odious did he become to 
 the clerks that some of them attempted to set fire to his 
 house.3 
 
 In 15 16, when John Haynes was one of the chief members 
 of the Corporation, the Bailiffs purposely neglected to impanel 
 a jury of townsmen to assist the Commissary in his enquiry 
 into the proceedings of the local victuallers. When at last 
 they found themselves obliged to summon a jury, they 
 aggravated their original offence by issuing notices to two of 
 the bedels and to other privileged persons. They were there- 
 fore condemned by the Commissary to do open penance 
 before townsmen and clerks alike, by holding lighted tapers 
 in St. Martin's Church during the recital of the Gospel, and 
 by walking before the cross of the University, with rosaries in 
 their hands, at the next public procession. The decree to this 
 effect, being rejected by them as illegal, was quickly followed 
 by solemn sentence of excommunication. In this plight, the 
 Bailiffs had recourse to Archbishop Warham, the Chancellor 
 of the University, but as he supported the authority of his 
 deputy, they promised to make formal apology in person 
 before the assembled graduates at St. Mary's Church. The 
 penance enjoined on them was eventually commuted for a 
 fine of four pounds apiece. '^ 
 
 ' G. f. C)b ; T. f. 201. October ^ G. f. 311. 
 
 1 5 13. -* FF. ff. 2425^5 ; G. ff. 310, 311, 
 
 "^ Records of iJic City of Oxford, 3 1 S'^ ; Records, p. 1 5. 
 (ed. Turner) pp. 12, 14.
 
 426 RIOTS AT NIGHT. 
 
 John Haynes was more directly concerned in some dis- 
 turbances that occurred at Oxford in the spring of 15 17, in 
 consequence of a dispute between the Benedictines and the 
 Cistercians. He encouraged the former to make a violent 
 attack on their adversaries, and when they were punished 
 by one of the Proctors, he instigated them to seek a bloody 
 revenge. Arms were accordingly provided, and, on a dark 
 night in April, Haynes sallied forth with four Benedictines 
 and three secular clerks. The plot was almost successful, but 
 the Proctor and his companions managed to defend them- 
 selves, until others, awakened by the noise, came to their 
 rescue. Some of the conspirators thereupon fled to Haynes's 
 house, and entering by the back door, laid down their arms 
 and betook themselves to bed. They did not, however, escape 
 detection, for the rioters who had been taken gave up the 
 names of their associates. Several persons were arrested, 
 among whom were two canons of St. Frideswyde's, and a 
 monk of Abingdon. Haynes and his son-in-law were banished 
 from Oxford, and although, after some negotiation, they were 
 restored to their rights, the former wisely determined to quit 
 the town for ever.' 
 
 There appears to have been a long controversy between the 
 University and the Corporation of Oxford concerning the 
 nightly watch, each party claiming exclusive authority to 
 patrol the streets after dark.^ On a summer's night in 1520, 
 an encounter took place between the municipal watchmen 
 and certain scholars of Broadgates Hall, in which one of the 
 former was wounded mortally, and another very severely. 
 The delinquents fled from Oxford, and were consequently 
 banished by the Chancellor, but one of them obtained per- 
 mission to return in the following January, and two others 
 later. In the case of the first, the conditions attached were 
 that he should pay a fine of 6s. '^d. to the University, that he 
 
 ' Fiddcs, pp. 35, 36 ; F"F. ff. 27, * Brewer) vol. ii. p, 1183. 
 29 : Lelters and Tapers, (ed. i - FF. f. 55/'.
 
 THE CHANCELLOR'S AUTHORITY. i,2i 
 
 should contribute \s. Zd. to the repair of the staff of the 
 inferior bedel of the Faculty of Arts, and that he should say- 
 three masses for the good estate of the Regent Masters and 
 the soul of the slain watchman.' The infliction of such 
 punishments as these was scarcely calculated to appease the 
 anger of the townsmen. 
 
 Fresh subjects of dispute arose before long. In the second 
 year of his reign, Henry VIII. had granted a formal con- 
 firmation of the numerous privileges accorded to the 
 University by his royal predecessors.'' Wolsey, however, 
 was not satisfied with this, and at his special desire an 
 important charter was issued in 1523. The University was 
 thereby empowered to make corporations of tradesmen and 
 to frame regulations for their government, while conversely 
 all persons subject to the Chancellor were exempted from the 
 necessity of applying to the municipal authorities for per- 
 mission to carry on secular business in Oxford or its suburbs. 
 The local tradesmen were thus threatened with new and 
 formidable rivals. The Chancellor was specifically authorised 
 to have a prison, and to take all fines imposed by his 
 deputy for offences against the law. His power was 
 furthermore enhanced by a prohibition of writs of error, or 
 appeals from judgments delivered in his court. To him was 
 committed exclusive jurisdiction over all persons enjoying the 
 privileges of the University, so that he might claim the right 
 to decide suits brought against them in any part of the 
 kingdom. The King also surrendered to him the confiscated 
 goods of felons, and treasure troven in Oxford or its suburbs. 
 Several other rights and immunities, which it would be tedious 
 to enumerate, were granted by the same charter, the general 
 result being the elevation of the University into a position of 
 absolute supremacy over all persons in Oxford.^ 
 
 ' Reco7-ds,Y>^. 2^,2-, 2?>; Reg! stc7- '' YY . i. ^b ; Confirmation Roll, 
 
 of the Unii'crsUy, (eel. Boase) vol. 2 Hen. viii. part 9, no. 5. 
 i. pp. 116, 131, 155 : H. f. 51. 3 April r, 14 Henry viii. Regis-
 
 428 CONTESTS WITH THE TOWN. 
 
 The townsmen maintained for some time an attitude of 
 sturdy resistance to the claims of their rivals. Six months 
 after the date of the new charter, the King found it necessary 
 to reprove and threaten the Bailiffs for their refusal to summon 
 a sufficient jury to assist the Commissary in his enquiry 
 concerning the sale of victuals.' Four years later, the Com- 
 missary himself sent one of the Bailiffs to the Castle, and 
 the other to Bocardo, for a like refusal.^ The contention 
 between the parties waxed so hot that in 1528 the clerks 
 formulated their complaints in a series of twelve articles, 
 which they presented to Cardinal Wolsey as Lord Chancellor 
 of England. The Mayor, William Fleming, had refused to 
 provide the stipulated service at St. Mary's in commemoration 
 of the massacre of St. Scholastica's Day. He had also 
 refused to take the prescribed oath to observe the liberties of 
 the University. He had inhibited scholars and scholars' 
 servants from buying and selling by retail, and from exercising 
 any manual occupation in Oxford. The bakers and brewers 
 had been encouraged to disregard the ordinances given to 
 them by the Chancellor, and the price of bread and ale had 
 been raised, to the great prejudice of the scholars. One of 
 the Bailiffs had seized some meat belonging to a certain Dr. 
 Owen. The Mayor had released persons committed to prison 
 by the Chancellor's deputy, and had obstructed the court lect 
 of the University .3 
 
 The important charter of 1523 remained in Wolsey's hands 
 more than five years, apparently unknown to those for whose 
 benefit it had been granted. There may have been an inten- 
 tion on his part to issue it simultaneously with the code of 
 reformed statutes which he had undertaken to make. At any 
 rate he sent it to Oxford in 1528 by the hands of Dr. Higdon, 
 Dean of Cardinal College, and it was received by the clerks with 
 
 t7'um Privilegionwi Univ. Oxoti; \ ' Records, pp. 42, 43. 
 Records of the City of Oxford, pp, ! - Ibid. pp. 56, 57. 
 3335. ' Ibid. pp. 58-62.
 
 ARBITRA TION REJECTED. 429 
 
 the warmest expressions of gratitude.' The townsmen could 
 not dispute the authenticity of a document bearing the Great 
 Seal of England, but they remarked, with an obvious allusion 
 toWolsey's supremacy in the realm, "that many things passed 
 the King's broad seal that the King's grace was not aware 
 of." For their instruction therefore, a royal writ was directed 
 to the Mayor and Bailiffs in February 1529, reciting the 
 liberties granted to the University by the charter.^ 
 
 Shortly after this, Wolsey proposed that the matters in 
 dispute between the University and the Town should be 
 referred to the decision of Sir Thomas More, who was then 
 Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Considering that he 
 was also Steward of the University, and one of its most 
 devoted sons, the townsmen might reasonably have demanded 
 that he should have associated with him some person or persons 
 whose impartiality would be less open to question. They 
 did not, however, raise any objection on personal grounds. 
 When the proposal was formally brought before them, they 
 with one assent declared that they could not agree to it, 
 such arbitrations in past times having invariably resulted in 
 advantages to the clerks and corresponding disadvantages to 
 themselves. A resolution to that effect was subscribed by no 
 less than forty-eight representatives of the laity of Oxford.^ 
 On a certain unspecified day of the same year, the Mayor, 
 William Fleming, appeared before the Commissary at St. 
 Mary's Church, and there, for fear of spiritual censure, swore 
 that he would answer truly to questions regarding proceedings 
 taken before him and the Aldermen. * 
 
 The next Mayor, Michael Heath, proved very hostile to the 
 University. When summoned to appear with certain burgesses 
 at St. IMary's on the 28th of January 1530, he sent a letter to 
 the Commissary stating that the oath about to be tendered to 
 
 ' Wood's Annals.^ vol. ii. pp. ^' Ibid. pp. 63, 64. 
 
 33-35. ' Ibid. pp. II, 77- 
 
 - Records, p. 62.
 
 430 CONTESTS WITH THE TOWN. 
 
 him was contrary to that which he had taken in the Exchequer, 
 and that the matter had been referred to the decision of the 
 King's Council. Nevertheless, he and the Aldermen and 
 others took the accustomed oaths at St. Mary's on the 9th of 
 February, and, on the following day, made the prescribed 
 offerings at the mass that was annually celebrated in memory 
 of the clerks who had been slain in the great riot of St. 
 Scholastica's Day.' 
 
 P^urther controversies arose in the course of the next few 
 months, and Dr, Martin Lindsay, deputy to the Commissary, 
 sent three messages to the Mayor, asking him " gently, 
 charitably, and lovingly," to discuss the points at issue in a 
 friendly interview. Inasmuch, however, as this invitation met 
 with no satisfactory response, three bedels waited upon the 
 Mayor, and commanded him to appear at St. Mary's on a 
 certain day in August, to show cause why he should not be 
 excommunicated for the breach of the oath that he had taken 
 to observe the privileges of the University. To them he 
 replied : " Recommend me to your master, and show him 
 that I am, here in this town, the King's Grace's lieutenant, for 
 lack of a better, and I know no cause why I should appear 
 before him. I know him not for my ordinary." Excom- 
 munication was of course pronounced against him, and an 
 unwise attempt on his part to prevent the publication of the 
 sentence in his own parish tended only to make his disgrace 
 more widely known. By persuading or compelling the curate 
 of St. Ebbe's, who was about to read the sentence at evensong 
 on a Saturday, to doff his surplice and leave the church, he 
 caused the Commissary to order that it should be read on the 
 morrow to larger audiences, not only at St. Ebbe's, but in all 
 the other churches of the town. Among the lay people it was 
 commonly reported that excommunication had been pro- 
 nounced against all who should eat, drink, or keep company, 
 with the Mayor. In the end the University prevailed, for 
 ' Records of the City of Oxford, Pl^. 66, 67.
 
 THE SWEATING SICKNESS. 431 
 
 within four weeks of his exclusion from ecclesiastical privileges, 
 Michael Heath appeared before Dr. Lindsay in the church 
 of the Carmelite friars, and there humbly begged for 
 absolution.' 
 
 While the University was thus maintaining a prolonged 
 contest with the Corporation, the number of its students was 
 steadily decreasing. The notorious unhealthiness of Oxford 
 combined with other causes to deter young men from resorting 
 to the schools. Pestilences were frequent and severe ; the 
 Faculty of Medicine was powerless. In 1509, many of the 
 clerks fled to their homes for fear of contagion, and, a few 
 years later, Bishop Fox laid down a number of rules to be 
 observed at Corpus Christi College in the event of another 
 general outbreak of disease. ^ Most of the members of 
 Oriel College removed for a while to a farm at Dean 
 in 1513.^ The sweating sickness, which appears to have 
 been "an inflammatory rheumatic fever," visited the most 
 populous towns of England in 15 17.* Everything gave 
 way to a desire to escape this malignant scourge. " Not 
 only amusements but business ceased in a great measure ; 
 crowds and places of public resort were carefully avoided ; 
 noblemen broke up their establishments, and every one 
 in dread of the infection hastened, as best he could, to 
 isolate himself from his neighbours," Henry V'HI. "moved 
 from place to place, alarmed at every report of the sickness, 
 whether well or ill founded." ^ At the beginning of August, 
 it was reported in London that four hundred students had 
 died at Oxford in a week, and the town was still infected in 
 November.^ When the Court was at Abingdon, in the 
 following spring, Sir Thomas ?kIore gave order in the King's 
 
 ' Ibid. pp. 70 72, 79, 81, 82. 1 191. 
 
 ^ FF. f. I ; Statutes of the Col- \ '=' Letters and Papers, (&d.V>\:t\\'cr) 
 
 leges, vol. ii. ' vol. ii. p. ccxi. 
 
 ^ Register of Oriel College, f. 94. . ^ Ca/e?idar of State Papers, 
 
 ' Hecker's Efideim'es of the \ Ve7ietian, (ed. Rawdon Brown) vol. 
 
 Middle Ai:,es, i'trs. Babington) p. ii. p. 412.
 
 432 PESTILENCES. 
 
 name to the Mayor and the Commissary, that the inhabitants 
 of infected houses in Oxford should follow the example of 
 the Londoners, by hanging out wisps of straw and carrying 
 white rods. Whatever may have been the ravages committed 
 in the town in the previous year, he was able to certify 
 his royal master that three children only had died there 
 of the sweating sickness between the beginning of 1518 
 and the end of April. Under these circumstances, the 
 members of the King's Council were unwilling to postpone 
 the fair which was to be held in the month of May, close 
 to the convent of the Austin Friars.^ Nevertheless certain 
 Fellows of Oriel College were absent as late as the month 
 of June, by permission.^ 
 
 The sweating sickness was quickly followed by other 
 epidemics, which, if less alarming and deadly, were not much 
 less troublesome. A loathsome disease showed itself at Oxford 
 in August, and it was not until November that the students 
 who had fled from it began to return.3 The cessation, how- 
 ever, lasted no longer than the cold weather, and in March 
 the pestilence was again raging. The graduates ascribed it 
 to the noisome smells arising from the marshy ground by 
 which Oxford was surrounded. The course of the river, they 
 complained, was obstructed in many places, and floods were 
 consequently frequent.-* In another letter, addressed to the 
 Bishop of Lincoln, they contrasted the destructive character 
 of the swollen Thames with the fertilizing properties of the 
 Nile.5 In the early part of 1521, masses were said at Oxford 
 for the preservation of the University from pestilence, and a 
 year later the inmates of New College appear to have fled 
 on account of some outbreak of illness.'^ For a like reason 
 the Fellows of University College dispersed in 1525, and at 
 
 ' Records of iJic City of Oxfo?-d, ' Fiddes, Life of Cardinal 
 
 jjp. 18, 19. Wolsey, Collections^ p. 38. 
 
 ' Rcgistcrof Oriel ColIci,'^c,f. iiS. s FF. f. 40/-. 
 
 ^ FF. ff. 34/;, 35 ; H.f. 5. ' H.ff. 54, 56, n.
 
 THE SWEATING SICKNESS. 433 
 
 least one promising scholar of Magdalen College died.' The 
 University, in 1526, granted several dispensations from atten- 
 dance at ordinary lectures because the rate of mortality was 
 so great,^ 
 
 In 1528, the sweating sickness reappeared in its severest 
 and most alarming form. Many persons died four or five 
 hours after being attacked by the disease. " Public business 
 was postponed : the courts were closed, and four weeks after 
 the pestilence broke out, the festival of St. John was stopped, 
 to the great sorrow of the people, who certainly would not 
 have dispensed with its celebration if they had recovered from 
 the consternation arising from the great mortality. The 
 King's court was again deserted." 3 Oxford was one of the 
 towns which began to suffer in the month of May, and in 
 November the sweating sickness, or some contagious disease 
 attendant upon it, was raging in New College.'* Magdalen 
 College was infected in the following spring, and, in the month 
 of April, 1529, the University passed a decree that all clerks 
 who thought themselves to be in danger should be allowed 
 to remain absent until October. All lectures on civil and on 
 canon law were specifically postponed until Whitsuntide.s 
 Matters were still so bad in November that Regent Masters 
 received pei'mission to give their "ordinary" lectures in their 
 own houses without going to the schools.'' Once more, in 
 1530, there was so severe a pestilence in the convent of the 
 Austin Friars that it was thought prudent to transfer the dis- 
 putations that were usually held there to St. Mary's Church.'' 
 
 In consequence of the unhealthiness of Oxford, and the 
 increased cost of living there, the academical population 
 decreased rapidly in the reign of lienry VIII. Writing to 
 Sir Thomas More in 1523, the University lamented that 
 
 Wood's MS, S513, f. 29; FF. [ ' H. ff. 194/;, 201. 
 f yob. j 5 Ji)i(i. ff. 207, 208, 213. 
 
 - H. ff. 1 48, 152/--, 155. j Ibid. f. 219. 
 
 ' Hecker, p. 238. I '' Ibid. f. 225/^. 
 
 F F
 
 434 
 
 THE STUDY OF GREEK. 
 
 abbots had almost ceased to send their monks to the schools, 
 nobles their sons, and beneficed clergy their relations and 
 parishioners. The halls were falling into ruin, and the 
 endowed colleges alone maintained a semblance of pro- 
 sperity.^ So again, three years later, Dr, London of New 
 College mentions that sixteen halls had lately been aban- 
 doned, and that the total number of scholars residing in the 
 different halls did not exceed one hundred and forty.^ 
 Speaking of his own University, Fuller remarks that "as 
 stars lose their light when the sun ariseth, so all these Hostels 
 decayed by degrees when endowed Colleges began to 
 appear." 3 
 
 Although Oxford was the place at which the study of the 
 Greek language was first revived in England, the University 
 did not show much enthusiasm on behalf of the new learning 
 in the early years of the sixteenth century. After the 
 departure of the last of Colet's small band of associates, 
 scholasticism regained its former sway, and little attention 
 was paid to classical literature. It has been already remarked, 
 however, that the statutes of Corpus Christi College, issued 
 by Bishop Fox in 15 17, show clear signs of the Renaissance. 
 The lecturer on Theology was enjoined to follow the guidance 
 of the early fathers rather than that of the schoolmen, while 
 the lecturer on Humanity was required to expound the 
 works of the best poets and orators of ancient Rom.e. A 
 third lectureship was established for the teaching of Greek. 
 Inasmuch as the lectures given at Corpus Christi College 
 were open to members of the University at large. Bishop Fox 
 deserves the credit of having greatly encouraged the spread of 
 the new learning.-* 
 
 In Oxford itself there was considerable opposition to the 
 new revival of Greek scholarship. " Tlic men," says Mr. 
 
 ' FF. f. 61. 
 
 ^ Lcttc7's aitd Papers^ (ed. ])re\vcr) 
 vol. iv. p. 1 22 1. 
 
 3 Histcny of tJie University of 
 Cambridge, ii. 23. 
 ' Cliajitcr \\'.
 
 GREEKS AND TROJANS. 435 
 
 Mullinger, "whose character and reputation had upheld the 
 study in former years, were no longer resident. Grocyn, now 
 a palsied old man, was living on his preferment as warden of 
 the Collegiate Church at Maidstone. Linacre, as court 
 physician, resided chiefly in London. Pace was immersed in 
 political life, Latimer had subsided into the exemplary and 
 unambitious parish priest. More, the youngest of those who, 
 twenty years before, had composed the academic circle that 
 welcomed and charmed Erasmus, had long ago removed to 
 London." ^ Some members of the University were of opinion 
 that Greek literature was thoroughly infected with heresy ; 
 others who had acquired a reputation in the schools were 
 unwilling to apply themselves to a branch of study in which 
 their dialectical skill would prove useless ; others again 
 regarded all innov^ations as dangerous. In opposition to the 
 Grecians who pursued their studies at Corpus Christi College, 
 a number of clerks banded themselves together under the 
 name of Trojans. One, older in years than in wisdom, styled 
 himself Priam, another Hector, and a third Paris. The 
 adherents of the new learning were assailed with every sort 
 of ridicule, and openly derided in the streets. So far indeed 
 was opposition carried that, in the spring of 15 18, a priest 
 who should have preached a Lenten sermon in one of the 
 churches of Oxford, delivered in its stead a vehement denun- 
 ciation of Greek and other polite literature, seasoned with 
 jeers and personal allusions.^ William Tyndale, writing 
 about twelve years later, recalls how " the old barking curs, 
 Duns' disciples and like draff called Scotists, the children of 
 darkness, raged in every pulpit against Greek, Latin, and 
 Hebrew, and what sorrow the schoolmasters that taught the 
 true Latin tongue had with them, some beating the pulpit 
 with their lists for madness, and roaring out with open and 
 foaming mouth, that if there were but one Terence or Virgil 
 
 ' TJic U7iivcrsi(y of Cambridge., 
 p. 524. 
 
 ' Jortin's Life of Erasviiis, vol. 
 P- 359- 
 
 F F 2
 
 436 S/I? THOMAS MORE. 
 
 in the world, and that same in their sleeves, and a fire before 
 them, they would burn them therein, though it should cost 
 them their lives." ' 
 
 The exploits of the so-called Trojans were recounted in 
 London, very much to their discredit, and to the annoyance 
 of those who had the interest of the University most at heart. 
 When the Court came to Abingdon, to avoid the sweating 
 sickness then prevalent in the capital, visitors from Oxford 
 brought reports of the recent sermon and of the controversy 
 which it had provoked. Thomas More, who was then with 
 the King and VVolsey, perceived clearly that the intemperate 
 opposition to the study of Greek must be promptly suppressed, 
 if Oxford was not to forfeit its reputation as a seat of learning. 
 He accordingly wrote a long and elaborate Latin epistle to 
 the Commissary, the Proctors, and the rest of the academical 
 senate. In this he commented severely on the conduct of 
 the preacher, a man who owed much to his position as a 
 graduate, but who, nevertheless, had openly pleaded the cause 
 of ignorance. Then he remarked that theology, although 
 the highest, was not the first, or the only subject of study 
 recognised by the University, and that an acquaintance with 
 polite literature was useful to lawyers and to philosophers. 
 The Hebrew, Greek, and Latin tongues would, he contended, 
 be useful to theologians too, unless theology were to be 
 restricted to the qncestiones concerning which the schoolmen 
 and their followers disputed in a barbarous idiom. Augustine, 
 Jerome, Ambrose, and other great Fathers of the undivided 
 Church for more than a thousand years had, he said, treated 
 theological subjects without reducing them to minute qnces- 
 tiones. Then again he pointed out that the New Testament 
 had been written in Greek, that Jerome, Augustine, Bede, 
 and other writers of undoubted orthodoxy had studied Greek, 
 and that the Western Church had, at the Council of Vienne, 
 ordered that Greek should be taught in the principal Univcr- 
 ' JVflr/:s, [rarkcr .'Society') vol. iii. p. "j^.
 
 LI NACRE'S LECTURESHIPS. 437 
 
 sities. Lastly, after contrasting the conduct of the Oxonians 
 with that of their contemporaries at Cambridge, who were 
 contributing towards the support of a Greek teacher, he 
 warned them that any further opposition to sound learning 
 would alienate the favour of their Chancellor Warham, their 
 great patron Wolsey, and their King.' 
 
 Erasmus states that Henry VIII. himself took up the 
 matter at the instigation of More and Pace, and that thus 
 the noisy advocates of ignorance were put to silence.^ 
 
 The recognition of Greek as a legitimate subject of study at 
 Oxford was followed by an improvement in the system of teach- 
 ing other subjects. Dr. Thomas Linacre, already mentioned 
 as one of the small band of English scholars who enjoyed 
 the friendship of Erasmus, seems to have resolved, in 1522, to 
 make provision for a lecturer on medicine, the science in which 
 he himself excelled. Two years later, the Oxonians thought 
 it desirable to remind him politely that he had not carried 
 his laudable intention into effect, and it is characteristic of 
 the time that their letter contains allusions to the wealth of 
 Croesus, the golden sands of Tagus and Pactolus, and such 
 ancients as Seneca, ./4ischines, Socrates, and Alcibiades, 
 allusions which would scarcely have been understood by an 
 educated Englishman of the previous generation. 
 
 Thus impelled to action, Linacre applied for and obtained 
 letters patent authorizing him, his executors and assigns, to 
 found three separate lectures on medicine, two for the 
 University of Oxford, and one for that of Cambridge, and to 
 endow them with lands in mortmain to the yearly value of 
 30/. Linacre himself died on the 20th of October, 1524, 
 eight days after the issue of the letters patent, and, although 
 he had conveyed property in Kent to four trustees for the 
 execution of his scheme, the lectures were not regularly 
 established until the time of Edward VI. 3 
 
 ' Jortin, vol. iii. pp. 358 363. = Johnson's Life of Linacre., pp. 
 
 " ^bi'I. p. 363. 179182, 268277, 330333-
 
 438 WOLSEY'S LECTURESHIPS. 
 
 The establishment of public lectures was one of the means 
 by which Linacre's illustrious contemporary, Cardinal Wolsey, 
 sought to benefit his beloved University. It has been 
 already mentioned that when he visited Oxford in 15 18, he 
 announced his intention of providing for certain daily lectures, 
 and that he was consequently entrusted by the grateful clerks 
 with extraordinary authority over the academical statutes.' 
 There is no certain record of the steps which he took in 
 furtherance of his scheme. Wood, indeed, enumerates no 
 less than seven chairs, those of theology, civil law, medicine, 
 philosophy, mathematics, humanity, and rhetoric, as estab- 
 lished by the Cardinal, and attempts to give lists of their 
 successive occupants.^ It is, however, very doubtful whether 
 the arrangements made were other than temporary. 
 
 About a year after the date of Wolscy's visit to Oxford, 
 the University wrote to thank him for lectures given by 
 several persons, and especially for those on divinity given by 
 Thomas Brinknell, a graduate of Lincoln College, who had 
 been teacher of grammar at Magdalen College.^ The like 
 gratitude was expressed a few weeks later, when the Com- 
 missary announced that a Spaniard had been engaged by the 
 Cardinal to occupy the new chair of rhetoric.-* Lectures on 
 the ancient classics were given at Oxford in the early part of 
 1520, by order of the Cardinal, and, a few months later, he 
 sent thither as a teacher Thomas Lupset, a promising English 
 student from Paris, who had not yet attained the degree of 
 Master of Arts. s 
 
 Juan Luis Vives, the Spanish teacher invited by Wolsey, 
 did not come to Oxford until 1523, in the latter part of which 
 year he was incorporated as a Doctor of Civil Law.^ He had 
 
 ' Page 422, above. 1 * \dde.s,LifeofCardi7ial Wolsey, 
 
 - AnliqiiHies of Oxford, vol. ii. , Collections, pp. 39 40. 
 
 ' FF. f. y]b ; Bloxam's Register = FF. f. 43. 
 
 of Magdalen College, vol. iii. pp. ^ Register of the University, (ed. 
 
 70 73. lioase) vol. i. p. 133. Wood states
 
 JUAN LUIS VIVES. 439 
 
 studied at Paris, and taught at Louvain, whence the fame of 
 his learning had preceded him to England.^ On his arrival 
 he was received with enthusiasm, and the University from 
 time to time accorded high praise to his lectures, in Latin 
 epistles addressed to their common patron.^ By this time at 
 least, the so-called Trojans, and other opponents of the new 
 learning at Oxford, must have been reduced to impotence, 
 for the man thus commended by the assembled graduates had 
 distinguished himself by his attacks on the scholastic system 
 of the middle ages. According to some critics, Vives was one 
 of the three foremost scholars of his day, comparable only to 
 Erasmus and Budaius, and it is certain that his learning was 
 very highly esteemed by his contemporaries in England and 
 abroad. He does not appear to have enjoyed his stay at 
 Oxford. In one letter he says : " I must take care of my 
 health, especially here where if I were to fall ill, I should be 
 cast out upon some dunghill, and where there would not be 
 anyone who would regard me better than as a vile, diseased 
 dog." 3 In another, he complains of the distracting noises 
 made by the occupants of chambers near his own ; and, in a 
 third, he denounces the climate as "windy, dense, and 
 damp," + From England Vives paid at least one visit to the 
 Netherlands, where, finding himself again among the subjects 
 of his own king, he married a wife.s His relations with 
 the English Court were at first of a pleasant character, and 
 he was appointed to instruct the Princess Mary.^ After- 
 wards, however, he lost the favour of Henry VIII., by his 
 
 that Vives, while at Louvain, was PAcadeniie Royale de Bruxelles, 
 
 nominated one of the original i vol. xv. ; Letters and Papers, (ed. 
 
 Fellows of Corpus Christi College. , Brewer) vol. iii. p. 88 1. 
 
 Fasti. This, however, has been , - FF. ff. 63, 64;^, k<^b. 
 
 contradicted. Colleges and Halls, I ^ Vl^Wssd^s Literature of Etirope. 
 
 p. 390, n. 34. ; * Namcche, p. 30. 
 
 ' Nameche, Mcnioire sur la Vie ; ^ Ibid. p. 31. 
 
 ct Ics Ecrits de Jean-Lotiis Vives, '^ Vives's treatise De Ratioiie 
 
 in Meuwires coiirotines far Sttidii piierilis was dedicated to
 
 440 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 adherence to the cause of his unfortunate countrywoman, 
 Queen Catharine, and he seems to have quitted England 
 in 1528.' 
 
 Whatever intentions Wolsey may have had of directly en- 
 dowing the University with funds for the perpetual mainte- 
 nance of particular lectures, were before long abandoned in 
 favour of a much grander scheme. He determined to attach 
 the public professors to a new college, which should be the 
 largest, the most splendid, and in every respect the most 
 perfect institution of the kind in Europe. Like other great 
 churchmen who had filled the highest offices in the State, he 
 would raise at Oxford a visible memorial of his munificence ; 
 and the college to be there built by him, should in honourable 
 rivalry surpass the noble foundations of William of Wykeham 
 and William Waynfletc. Undaunted by the magnitude of 
 this self-imposed task, he would furthermore establish 
 grammar-schools in different parts of the country, where, as 
 at Winchester and at Eton, promising boys should be trained 
 for the severer studies of the University.^ " Indeed," says 
 Fuller, " nothing mean could enter into this man's mind." ^ 
 
 In order to provide the proposed college with the necessary 
 endowments, Wolsey had recourse to extraordinary measures. 
 Great as was the income that he derived from his various 
 offices, civil and ecclesiastical, he could scarcely hope to 
 execute his scheme without assistance. He therefore be- 
 thought himself of appropriating property belonging to the 
 regular clergy. Chicheley, having on political grounds 
 approved the suppression of the Alien Priories, had secured 
 
 (^uccn Catharine. It is probable ' Nameche, p. 30 ; Letters and 
 
 that the presence of the King and Papers, vol. iv. p. 2167. 
 
 (2ucen on some occasion when he ' Statutes of the Colleges of 
 
 was teaching their daughter, gave Oxford, vol. ii. ; Cardinal College, 
 
 rise to the story that they had p. 21. 
 
 attended one of his lectures at ^ Chiireh History, book v. i. 
 
 Oxford. Nameche, p. 29. 27.
 
 ST. FRWESIVYDE'S. 441 
 
 some of their lands for All Souls' College ; Wolsey proposed 
 the suppression of certain English Priories, in order that their 
 revenues might be enjoyed by the members of his new 
 foundation. Monasticism had fallen into disrepute in England, 
 and a statesman of the Cardinal's sagacity may well have 
 recognised that there was no prospect of its restoration to 
 public favour. A further reason for endowing secular clergy 
 at the expense of the regulars was, that a great part of the 
 land of England being already held in mortmain, the exemp- 
 tion of any more from the ordinary fiscal charges would have 
 caused grave discontent among the laity.' 
 
 In the month of April 1524, Wolsey, having very powerful 
 influence at Rome, obtained from Clement VII. a bull 
 authorising him, with the royal consent, to suppress the 
 Priory of St. Frideswyde, and to transfer the canons to other 
 houses of the Augustinian Order, so that their dwelling and 
 their revenues might be assigned to the proposed college of 
 secular clerks.^ Henry VIII. readily assented to the scheme, 
 and his minister was thus enabled to dissolve the oldest re- 
 ligious establishment within the walls of Oxford, and to dispose 
 of its income of almost 300/. a year.^ Dr. John Burton, the 
 last Prior of St. Frideswyde's, was elected to be Abbot of the 
 neighbouring monastery of Osency.4 
 
 About five months after the date of the bull for the 
 suppression of St. Frideswyde's, Wolsey obtained another, 
 conferring on him powers yet wider. By this instrument, the 
 Pope, after stating that divine service could not be properly 
 maintained in monasteries containing less than seven pro- 
 fessed members, gave permission to his Legate in England to 
 
 ' In the second of his bulls, Dugdale's Monasticon, (ed. Caley) 
 
 Clement VII. states that lands in vol. ii. p. 151. 
 
 England could not be bought and " 3 Nones April, 1524. Dugdale, 
 
 granted to the proposed college, p. 153. ^ Ibid. pp. 152, 157. 
 
 ^^ absque ijige.nti niurmufe et in- * Letters and Papers,{<sd.}ix&\\'tr) 
 
 di_^nationc in:olaruui died rcj^ni." \'ol. iv. p. 128.
 
 442 SUPPRESSION OF MONASTERIES. 
 
 suppress an unspecified number of such small religious houses, 
 provided that the inmates should be transferred to other 
 monasteries, and that their revenues to be thus taken for the 
 new college should not in all exceed the yearly value of three 
 thousand golden ducats.^ Having again secured the King's 
 consent, Wolsey proceeded to dissolve priories belonging to 
 various orders,, situated in dififerent parts of the country, and 
 he obtained royal licence to establish in Oxford a college 
 which should be styled in English " Cardinal College," and 
 should have the right to hold lands in mortmain to the clear 
 annual value of 2,000/.^ 
 
 The ejection of the monks and nuns was viewed with dis- 
 pleasure by many of their neighbours, and in some cases it 
 was not effected without opposition. 3 At Begham, for instance, 
 in Sussex, "a riotous company, disguised and unknown, with 
 painted faces and visors," came to the monastery, and rein- 
 stated the canons, promising that on the sound of the bell, 
 they would come with great force to defend them against the 
 Cardinal's agents. Hall, a chronicler generally unfriendly to 
 Wolsey, states that " the poor wretches " ejected from the 
 dissolved monasteries received scarcely any compensation.-* 
 Some such complaint made at the time to Henry V^IH. 
 elicited from Wolsey an earnest contradiction : 
 
 " Almighty God I take to my record, I have not meant, 
 intended, or gone about, ne also have w^illed mine officers, to 
 do any thing concerning the said suppressions, but under such 
 form and manner as is and hath largely been to the full satisfac- 
 tion, recompence, and joyous contentation of any person which 
 hath had, or could pretend to have, right or interest in the 
 same, in such wise that many of them, giving thanks and laud 
 to God for the good chance succeeded unto them, would for 
 
 ' 3 Ides September, 1524. Dug- ' vol. iv. p. ccclxix, 
 
 dale, p. 151. '' Union of Lancaster and York, 
 
 - 7 January, and 3 July, 1525. (ed. 1548) pp. 137, 143. 
 ' Letters and Papers, (ed. 1 Irewer)
 
 IVOLSEY'S POLICY. 443 
 
 nothing, if they might, return or be restored and put again 
 in their former state, as your Highness shall abundantly and 
 largely perceive at my next repairing unto the same. 
 
 "Verily, Sir, I would be loth to be noted that I should 
 intend such a virtuous foundation for the increase of your 
 Highness' merit, profit of your subjects, the advancement of 
 good learning, and for the weale of my poor soul, to be 
 established or acquired ex rapinis." ^ 
 
 On another occas'on, the King wrote mentioning the 
 reports then current that certain religious houses had con- 
 tributed money to the building of the College at Oxford 
 in order to find favour in the Legate's eyes, and so to obtain 
 from him undue immunities. He complained that some of 
 these houses, pleading exemption, had refused to grant to 
 him, their sovereign, in his necessity, so much as they thus 
 offered to his powerful minister.^ Wolsey replied : 
 
 "Albeit, as is contained in mine other letters, I have 
 knowledged to have received of divers mine old lovers and 
 friends, and other exempt religious persons, right loving and 
 favorable aids towards the edifying of my said college ; yet 
 your Majesty may be well assured that the same extendeth 
 not to such a sum as some men doth untruly bruit and report, 
 or that any part thereof to my knowledge, thought, or judge- 
 ment, hath been corruptly or contrary to the law taken or 
 given, as I shall more particularly declare to your Highness. 
 .... Nevertheless, ensuing your Grace's wholesome counsel 
 and most charitable admonition, to the intent that none 
 occasion of ill speech, untrue report or judgement, should 
 hereafter arise or insurge, I promise to your Majesty that 
 from henceforth, though I should be compelled to sell that 
 I have, and to live very straitly and barely, I, ne none other 
 by my consent or knowledge, though the same be never so 
 clearly, frankly, or friendly offered towards the building of the 
 
 ' Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd , ' Letters aiui Papers, vol. iv. 
 scries, vol. ii. p. 20. p, 1970.
 
 444 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 said college, or to any other mine use, shall take anything 
 of any religious person or persons being exempt or not 
 exempt ; so that thereby I trust, nor by any other thing here- 
 after unlawfully taken, your poor Cardinal's conscience shall 
 not be spotted, encumbered, or entangled ; purposing with 
 God's help and your gracious fav^or, so to order the rest of 
 my poor life that it shall appear to your Highness that I love 
 and dread God and also your Majesty." ' 
 
 Thus precluded from exacting further contributions from 
 Abbots and Priors, Wolscy continued to cherish a grand, 
 statesmanlike scheme, of establishing episcopal sees in some 
 of the larger monasteries, and annexing thereto smaller 
 monasteries to provide greater revenues.^ His proceedings 
 indeed, says Fuller quaintly but truly, "made all the forest 
 of religious foundations in England to shake, justly fearing 
 the King would finish to fell the oaks, seeing the Cardinal 
 began to cut the underwood." 3 
 
 It would be tedious to repeat the grateful expressions with 
 which the graduates of Oxford addressed Wolsey, when they 
 were officially informed that he intended not only to found a 
 college for nearly two hundred scholars, but also to establish 
 seven public lectures and to build new schools for the 
 University. Suffice it to say that they enrolled him among 
 their greatest benefactors, and promised that he should be 
 remembered in their solemn prayers to the end of time.^ 
 
 When Wolsey's scheme was more fully matured, John 
 Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, was deputed by him to explain 
 the details to the King and Queen. Both expressed their 
 warm approval, the Queen being specially pleased at being 
 made a participant in the future suffrages of the College.'' 
 
 ' State Papers, \o\.\. 2,\7- ^ Ellis, Orii^inal Letters, ist 
 
 ^ Wilkins's Cc;//t77/V?, V. iii. p. 715. series, vol. i. pp. iSo 1S4. The 
 
 3 C/;//rif// ///.f/iy;^', book vi. iii.4. Bishop's letter to his patron may 
 
 * Wood's Annals, vol. ii. pp. 27, : probably be referred to the year 
 
 28. I 1525. It is dated January 5th. 
 
 5 Ibid. pp. 33-35. 38, 39. Letters a?id Papers.
 
 THE BUILDINGS. 445 
 
 Bishop Longland's name occurs again in the early history of 
 Cardinal College, as he preached the sermon on the day when 
 the illustrious founder laid the first stone of the new 
 buildings. He took for his text the words of the Book of 
 Proverbs : " Wisdom hath builded her house." ' 
 
 It was obvious that the buildings of St. Frideswyde's Priory, 
 originally designed for a small body of canons living together 
 under monastic rule, would not afford accommodation sufficient 
 for a large body of secular students. Considerable additions 
 to them would have been necessary. With characteristic 
 magnificence, Wolsey resolved to supersede them by a 
 noble pile of collegiate buildings, to be erected from the 
 ground on a site much more extended than that of the 
 convent. His plan w^as to make a cloistered quadrangle, 
 longer and broader than any in England, having a sumptuous 
 chapel on its northern side, and chambers on the other three 
 sides. A massive tower was to surmount the main gateway 
 in Fish Street, and another tower was apparently to be built 
 over the entrance to the hall, which was to be above some low 
 chambers on the southern side of the quadrangle. 
 
 No obstacle was allowed to hinder the progress of the work. 
 The church or chapel of St. Michael at the South Gate of 
 Oxford was demolished under Wolsey's legatine authority, as 
 occupying the ground required for the southern end of the 
 western facade;^ part of the old wall of the town was thrown 
 down, to make room for the kitchen. Nor did the venerable 
 church of St. Frideswyde escape mutilation, several bays at 
 the western end of the nave being destroyed, lest they should 
 mar the symmetry of the new quadrangle. Wolsey's inten- 
 tions with regard to the remainder of the conventual church 
 are not known, but there is no reason to believe that he would 
 eventually have retained it A solemn translation of the bones 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges and Halls, p. ' ^ Letters and Papers, vol. iv. p. 
 421 ,'^l2L\t\^.r\^s List of early printed 672. 
 Books, p. 231. i
 
 446 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 of St. Frideswyde, the reputed foundress of Oxford, from their 
 ancient resting-place to a shrine in the new chapel of Cardinal 
 College, would unquestionably have increased the fame of the 
 latter. In the meanwhile, the old church of the Augustinian 
 canons was appointed to be the chapel of the Dean and 
 secular canons established by Wolsey. St. Frideswyde's Cross, 
 the chapter-house of the thirteenth century, the eastern and 
 southern sides of the cloister, and the refectory, were also 
 retained, but almost every other vestige of the old conventual 
 buildings was demolished within five years of the suppression 
 of the Priory. A letter written by Dr. John London, Warden 
 of New College, at the end of 1526, gives an interesting account 
 of the progress of the new fabric up to that date : 
 
 " First all the lodgings in the west side be fully finished, 
 save only batteling of the stone work ; and the great tower 
 over the gate is as high erect as the said lodgings. Towards 
 the street, the King's grace and my Lord Cardinal's arms 
 in three sundry works most curiously be set over the 
 middle of that gate, and my lord's grace's arms goodly 
 set out with gold and colour. All those lodgings be 
 thoroughly covered with lead. Inwardly the carpenters have 
 done right good diligence to prepare the doors, windows, 
 partitions, and other necessaries, so that almost nothing 
 shall let but that my lord's scholars shall at his grace's 
 pleasure inhabit the same. At the south end there is a 
 great tower which within four foot is erect as high as the 
 other lodgings. 
 
 " And so upon the south side, the chambers which be 
 towards the hall be almost come to bear the floors of the 
 upper lodging. And the foundation of the hall is in most 
 places five or six foot high. 
 
 " The foundation of the church in the north side is equal 
 with the ground, and in like manner the foundations of lodg- 
 ings of tb.e east side be upon the utter side erect unto the old 
 church door, and in the inner side nigh as far as is required.
 
 THE BUILDINGS, 447 
 
 Over this, almost all the foundations of the cloister be as high 
 as the ground. 
 
 "The kitchen is finished, save only the louver, and all 
 this Christmas the Dean and Canons had all their victuals 
 prepared there. Behind the kitchen southward be goodly 
 larder houses, pastry houses, lodgings for common servants, 
 slaughter and fish houses, stables, with such other neces- 
 sary buildings substantially and goodly done in such manner 
 as no two of the best colleges in Oxford have rooms so 
 goodly and convenient. And these places be all cleansed with 
 water so oft as need shall require currently passing through 
 them all, either by the common stream or else by policy. For 
 all the water which shall at rains issue into my lord's 
 grace's College is by a goodly vault conveyed unto the sink of 
 the kitchen ; and that sink is in every place so large that if 
 any stopping should chance, a man may go in to purge the 
 stoppage, and is as w^ell and substantially wrought as any 
 part of my lord's College. 
 
 " And where as the old lodgings of Pekwaters Inn do stand 
 now be made houses for masons to work in. Would God there 
 were so many masons as there is stuff ready carried requiring 
 their work ! This last summer, stone come in from Burford, 
 Teynton, Barendon, and Headington sufiicient to find many 
 more masons than yet be here until midsummer. And as good 
 provision is made for lime and all other necessaries. The 
 carpenters in their timber work be as far forward as their work 
 requireth, and every part of their and the masons' work is 
 as clean wrought as ever we saw any done in any place, and 
 everything in like substantial manner done as m.y lord's 
 gracious purpose is to have his meritorious act perpetually 
 to endure. 
 
 " And as we all of my lord's University be bound per- 
 petually to pray for my lord's grace for his most notable 
 benefit and excellent ornament done to his University, so in 
 like manner we be bound to pray for Mr. Dean, Mr. Townele3^
 
 448 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 and all the other overseers and masters of works by 
 whose providence and faithful diligence this meritorious 
 work is like within few years to be finished to my lord's 
 grace's immortal honour, I beseech Almighty God prosper 
 the same. 
 
 " And if I should express unto you how the like matters of 
 this College in every part and all degrees do prosper, a 
 great deal of paper could not contain the expressing of 
 the same. I think Almighty God is not more duly, more 
 devoutly nor better served in any church in Christendom, 
 both working day and holy day. And in their learning they 
 be the flowers of my lord's University. They be light to 
 all other places. And it can not be but they do prosper in 
 virtue where God is so truly served, and the gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost among every one of them be so abundantly 
 relucent. 
 
 " In the ordering of their lands all other places may and do 
 take example of them. If you were a continual dweller in 
 Oxford, and did take a watchful regard unto that young 
 College, but yesterday in manner begun, ye should not think 
 but it were a very old foundation, established in everything 
 as though it had been founded two hundred years past, only 
 the buildings not yet finished sheweth it to be a new 
 foundation." ' 
 
 In April 1528, Thomas Cromwell writes to his patron, 
 Cardinal Wolsey, more briefly, but very much to the same 
 effect : 
 
 " The building of your noble College most prosperously 
 and magnificently doth arise, in such wise that to every 
 man's judgment the like thereof never seen nor imagined, 
 having consideration to the largeness, beauty, sumptuous, 
 curious, and most substantial building of the same. 
 
 " Your chapel within the said College most devoutly and 
 virtuously ordered, and the ministers within the same not 
 ' Letters and Papers^ vol. \\. pp. 12 19, 1220.
 
 THE BUILDINGS. 449 
 
 only diligent in the service of God, but also the service 
 daily done within the same so devout, solemn, and full of 
 harmony, that in mine opinion it hath few peers." ' 
 
 Even John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, says a few 
 words in commendation of the work of an illustrious Cardinal 
 of the Roman Church : 
 
 " How large and ample those buildings should have been, 
 what sumptuous cost should have been bestowed upon the 
 same, may easily be perceived by that which is already 
 builded, as the kitchen, the hall, and certain chambers, 
 where there is such curious graving and workmanship 
 of stone-cutters, that all things on every side did glister 
 for the excellency of the workmanship, for the fineness of the 
 matter, with the gilt antics and embossings, insomuch that if 
 all the rest had been finished to that determinate end as it 
 was begun, it might well have excelled not only all colleges 
 of students, but also palaces of princes. This ambitious 
 Cardinal gathered together into that College whatsoever 
 excellent thing there was in the whole realm, either vestments, 
 vessels, or other ornaments, besides provision of all kind of 
 precious things." ^ 
 
 While the fabric of Cardinal College was in course of con- 
 struction, the founder wrote to the Fellows of Magdalen 
 College asking for leave to draw stone from their quarries, a 
 request which was readily and joyfully granted.^ On another 
 occasion, he applied to Count Beaumont, Grand Master and 
 Marshal of France, for exemption from the charges that would 
 have been laid upon the Caen stone required for his buildings 
 at Oxford and Ipswich. + In contrast to Wolsey's activity, 
 the workmen are said to have been shamefully idle.s 
 
 ' Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd 
 series, vol. ii. p. 139. In this and 
 other quotations in this chapter, 
 the spelling has been modernised. 
 
 ^ Acts and Monuments^ (ed. 
 Cattley) \ ol. v. ]). 4. p. 63. 
 
 G G 
 
 3 Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd 
 series, vol. ii. pp. 13 16. 
 
 * 'QloxSims Register of Magdalen 
 College, vol. iii. p. 48. 
 
 s Grisildthe Second, (ed. Macray)
 
 450 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 The spacious and lofty kitchen of Cardinal College was 
 the first part of the new buildings to be finished and taken 
 into use, a circumstance which gave rise to some unfavour- 
 able comments at the time. One of the current witticisms has 
 been recorded : " Egregiwn opus ! Cardinalis iste mstituit 
 Collegium, et absolvit popinanir " A noble work ! That 
 Cardinal founded a College, and finished an eating-house." ' 
 The " eating-house," however, comprised the hall of Christ 
 Church, one of the noblest rooms in Europe, which was built 
 in the year 1529. Wolsey appears also to have finished the 
 chambers on three sides of the great quadrangle, but he did 
 not live to make the arches and vaults of the cloister that 
 was to have surrounded the greensward in the middle.^ 
 
 The new College was to excel all others not only in the 
 splendour of its buildings but also in the number and value 
 of its possessions. Wolsey therefore sent thither a great 
 number of vestments from Hampton Court and other places.^ 
 He also opened negotiations in Italy for the purchase of 
 books at Rome and Venice, and for the transcription of the 
 Greek manuscripts which had belonged to Cardinal Bessarion.* 
 Indeed the progress of his foundation became an affair of 
 almost national importance. 
 
 The statutes of Cardinal College, issued by Wolsey soon 
 after its foundation, and revised by him in 1527, attest the 
 magnificence of his scheme. As a corporate body, the 
 College was to consist of a Dean and sixty Canons, while in 
 a wider sense it was to comprise also six Public Professors, 
 forty Petty Canons, thirteen chaplains, twelve clerks, sixteen 
 choristers, and a teacher of music, besides a large staff" of 
 servants. 
 
 ' Wood's Colleges and Halls, p. the wall as if for cloisters. 
 
 421. 3 Letters and Paper's, vol. iv. pp. 
 
 ^ The northern side of TomOuad. ; 759, 1009. 
 
 was built in the 17th century, in close " Calejidar of Venetian State 
 
 imitation of the other sides, shafts Papers, (ed. Rawdon Brown) vol. 
 
 and sprint,rcrs of vaults l^eing let into iii. p. 515.
 
 THE DEAN AND THE CANONS. 451 
 
 The Dean was to be a secular priest of English parentage, 
 skilled in the administration of temporal affairs, and a 
 graduate, or at least a student, of the Faculty of Theology. 
 He was to be chosen from among the Canons past and 
 present, by a process of twofold election. On admission, he 
 was to swear an elaborate oath, and enter into a bond that 
 he would not, directly or indirectly, obtain or use any papal 
 or other dispensation from the exact performance of every 
 particular contained in his oath. The duties assigned to him 
 were analogous to those of the heads of other Colleges. His 
 salary was fixed at forty marks a year, his commons at a like 
 amount, and his livery at twenty-eight shillings. He was also 
 left free to accept any other office, civil or ecclesiastical, not 
 requiring residence. A separate house or set of chambers 
 was to be provided for him, and seven private servants were 
 to be maintained for him at the expense of the College. 
 
 The Canons, corresponding to the senior Scholars, or Fellows 
 of other Colleges, were to be natives of certain English 
 dioceses and counties with which Wolsey was more or less con- 
 nected. The usual test of poverty was not imposed so strictly 
 as elsewhere, candidates having private incomes of as much as 
 ten marks a year being declared eligible. On election to a 
 year's probation, and again on formal admission, the Canons 
 were required to take oaths, and on the latter occasion to 
 enter into a bond similar to that given by the Dean. Having 
 taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts before, or soon after, 
 election, they were obliged to proceed in due course to that of 
 Master, and thence again successively to the degrees of 
 Bachelor and Doctor of one of the superior Faculties. No 
 members of the College were to enter holy orders before 
 attaining to the degree of Master of Arts, but all the Canons 
 of the first rank were eventually to seek ordination as priests- 
 A sub-dean, four censors corresponding to the deans in other 
 colleges, and three bursars, were to be annually chosen from 
 among the Canons. Four others, styled Private Professors, 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 were to give lectures daily, soon after six o'clock in the 
 morning, on sophistry, logic, philosophy, and humanity.' 
 The commons of the Canons were to be of the weekly value 
 of \s, 8d., and they were to receive salaries varying in amount 
 from four marks to 6/. according to their academical rank, 
 besides cloth for their livery. Those of them who should be 
 appointed to any special office in the College were to receive 
 additional payment. 
 
 Of the six Public Professors to be appointed in connexion 
 with the College those of Theology, Canon Law, and Philo- 
 sophy, were to be unmarried, and unmarried men were to be 
 preferred for the chairs of Civil Law, Medicine, and Humanity. 
 Inasmuch as it would be a matter of importance to the 
 University at large that the Public Professors should be 
 thoroughly qualified for their duties, the selection of them was 
 entrusted to a committee, or board, consisting of the Dean, 
 the Sub-Dean, and the senior Canons of Cardinal College, the 
 Public Professors, the Commissary of the University, the two 
 Proctors, and the heads of the ten secular colleges then 
 existing in Oxford. The composition of this electoral body 
 deserves notice, firstly because it illustrates the growth of the 
 power of the heads of houses, hitherto almost unrecognised, 
 and secondly because it shows how completely Wolsey ignored 
 the monastic element in the University. It was part of the 
 Cardinal's scheme to build schools suitable to the dignity of 
 the Public Professors, but, pending their completion, he 
 ordered that the lectures on Theology, Canon Law, Humanity, 
 and Medicine should be given in the Lady Chapel of St. 
 Frideswyde's Church, those on Civil Law in the hall of his new 
 College, and those on Philosophy in the former chapter-house 
 
 ' A clause in the original statutes, upon the " volume of sophists" or 
 
 altered in 1527, throws some light the LllcncJii of Aristotle, and the 
 
 upon the difference between sophis- teacher of logic upon the writings 
 
 tr\' and logic, by specifying that the of Porphyry, or a book of the old or 
 
 teacher of sophistry was to lecture the new logic of Aristotle.
 
 THE PUBLIC PROFESSORS. 453 
 
 of the Augustinian Canons. The hours for the public lectures 
 were specified by the statutes, seven o'clock being the earliest 
 appointed, and two the latest. The Professor of Theology 
 was to lecture on the text of the Old or the New Testament, 
 or on the Qncestiones of the Subtle Doctor, John Duns Scotus, 
 which Wolsey regarded as very valuable for the confutation 
 of heresy. Two lectures were to be given daily by the 
 Professor of Humanity, the first on the works of Cicero, 
 Quintilian, Trapezuntius, or some other rhetorician, and the 
 second on the works of Isocrates, Lucian, Philostratus, Homer, 
 Aristophanes, Euripides, Sophocles, Pindar, Hesiod, or some 
 other Greek poet or orator. Aristotle and Plato were the 
 authors to be expounded from the chair of Philosophy ; 
 Hippocrates, Avicenna and others, from that of Medicine. 
 The Professor of Canon Law was to lecture on the Decretals 
 or on the Epistles of Popes Gregory and Boniface, and the 
 Professor of Civil Law on the Pandects and the Code of 
 Justinian, the latter being specially charged to apply himself 
 to the meaning of the text, rather than to its phraseology. 
 At times, the Professors were to set themes to test the pro- 
 ficiency of their hearers ; on Sundays and certain other 
 festivals, they were to sit for a while in their respective schools, 
 ready to answer questions and to afford other assistance to 
 industrious pupils. The Professors of Theology and Humanity 
 were to receive 40/. a year apiece, and the others 20/. apiece, 
 besides commons at the Sub-Dean's table to the weekly value 
 of 2s., and an allowance for cloth. Those of them who were 
 unmarried were to have a chamber apiece within the College, 
 but they were forbidden to interfere in the elections of Canons, 
 or in other affairs of the College. 
 
 The junior scholars styled Petty Canons were to be chosen 
 from among the students educated at the Grammar schools to 
 be established by Wolsey in different parts of England. 
 Some anticipation of modern practice may be found in the 
 arrangement that candidates should be orally examined in
 
 454 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 the hall, in the presence of the chief officers of the College. 
 At the time of admission, Petty Canons were to be not less 
 than fifteen years of age. They were to be superannuated at 
 the age of twenty-five, or at the completion of their fifth year 
 in the College, unless previously promoted to be Canons of 
 the first order. Those of them who were under twenty years 
 of age were to be subject to tutors chosen from among the 
 Canons of the first order, and were not to be entrusted with 
 the money to be provided for their maintenance. The allow- 
 ance for a Petty Canon was to be \s, a week for commons, 
 335. 4^. a year for salary, and four yards of cloth for livery, 
 inferior in quality to that of the Canons of the first order, the 
 chaplains, the clerks, and even the servants of the College. 
 
 The statutes of Cardinal College make elaborate provision 
 for the seven masses, and other religious services to be cele- 
 brated daily in the chapel, for the exequies to be performed 
 in memory of the founder, and for the private prayers to be 
 said by the Dean and the Canons of both orders. A portion 
 of the Bible was to be read aloud during dinner by one of 
 the Petty Canons, and any conversation in the hall was 
 to be in Latin or in Greek. Wolsey seems to have con- 
 templated that the Canons would take meals, other than 
 dinner and supper, in their own rooms. Canons of either 
 order were to sleep in separate beds, although, as in other 
 Colleges, most of the rooms were to have two occupants. 
 Sons of noble or wealthy persons, to the number of twenty, 
 were to be allowed to lodge and study under the superin- 
 tendence of *' creancers," or tutors. The magnificence of the 
 College is more clearly shown by a provision in the statutes 
 that Kings of England or their eldest sons, with their respective 
 suites, might occasionally be received as guests. 
 
 The rules for discipline in Cardinal College closely resembled 
 those laid down by the founders of several other colleges. It 
 was expressly enacted that no Canons of either order should 
 walk out alone, except to the Library, to the Schools, or to
 
 INTERNAL DISCIPLINE. 455 
 
 St. Mary's. On the other hand the practice of archery was 
 sanctioned, and the Canons were to be allowed to indulge 
 moderately in hunting and hawking, when absent from the 
 University on leave. The rules concerning attendance at 
 lectures, disputations, and sermons, were very minute. Like 
 the Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Canons of Cardinal 
 College were forbidden to act as Proctors. In order to secure 
 careful administration, all the estates belonging to the College 
 were to be personally inspected, by the Dean at Easter, and 
 by one of the Canons at Michaelmas. The Archbishop of 
 York was appointed Visitor of the College. 
 
 Tt was Wolsey's intention to gather into his College the 
 most promising young men whom he could find in England 
 or abroad.' With this object he imported into it a certain 
 number of scholars from Cambridge, who, however, instead 
 of furthering his views for the advancement of the University, 
 became known as the chief propagators at Oxford of opinions 
 which he regarded as heretical. 
 
 It has been remarked by Mr. Gairdner that the religious 
 movement of the sixteenth century generally known as the 
 Reformation was not a continuation or development of that 
 inaugurated by John Wyclif in the fourteenth. For a consider- 
 able period there was in England no open opposition to the 
 doctrine or the system of the mediaeval church.^ Such few 
 persons as were punished for heresy in the early part of 
 the reign of Henry VIII. seem to have belonged to the lower, 
 uneducated class.3 
 
 It was in 15 17 that Martin Luther affixed his famous theses 
 on the nature of indulgences to the great door of the church 
 of VVittemberg, and some time elapsed before the English 
 people began to be moved by his example. In January 
 
 ' Ellis, Original Letters., ist ^ Burnet's History of the Re- 
 
 series, vol. i. p. 184. formation^ (ed. Pocock) vol. i. pp. 
 
 ^ Fortnightly Revieiv, quoted by 62 66. 
 Mr. Mullinger, p. 274.
 
 456 MARTIN LUTHER. 
 
 1 52 1, soon after the appearance of the German Reformer's 
 treatise De Captivitate Bahylonica Ecclesics, Tunstal writing to 
 Wolsey expressed a hope that the noxious book would not 
 find its way into England.' It came, however, before long, 
 and the King no sooner saw it in print than he resolved to 
 write a confutation of it. Wolsey too was of opinion that 
 steps should be taken to counteract its effect, and he accord- 
 ingly wrote to the University of Oxford, desiring that two or 
 three theologians should be sent to London to assist him and 
 others in the matter. John Kinton, Thomas Brinknell, John 
 Roper, and John de Coloribus, a Dominican friar, were the 
 representatives selected by the Masters in Convocation on the 
 2 1st of April 1521.^ Delegates were also sent from Cam- 
 bridge, and within a very short time resolutions were passed 
 condemnatory of the new doctrines. On the 12th May, the 
 Cardinal went to St. Paul's in state, accompanied by the chief 
 prelates of the realm, and there, after a sermon by Fisher, 
 Bishop of Rochester, copies of Luther's writings were publicly 
 committed to the flames. 3 The example thus set was before 
 long followed at Cambridge, and doubtless at Oxford also. 4 
 Henry the Eighth's answer to Luther, which won for him the 
 title of Defender of the Faith, appeared in print in the autumn 
 of the same year.s 
 
 The matter did not end here, for, by the King's command, 
 a further examination of Luther's works was undertaken by a 
 committee of theologians at Oxford. Kinton, Brinknell, 
 Roper, and John de Coloribus, assisted in the work, but the 
 two most conspicuous members of the body were Richard 
 Kidderminster, the literary Abbot of Winchcombe, and 
 
 ' Letters and Papers, {ft(\.. Brewer) ! 25 ; Letters afid Papers, vol. iii. p. 
 
 vol. iii. p. ccccxxxix. 1 4S5. 
 
 "^ H. ff. 60, 62 b. \ ^ Mullinger's Utiiversity of Cam- 
 
 3 Calendar of Venetian State , bridge,"^. 571 ;/. 
 
 Papers, (ed. Rawdon Brown) vol. 1 ^ Letters and Papers, vol. iii. 
 
 iii. p. 121 ; Strype's Ecclesiastical p. ccccxx. 
 Mc//!oria/s, vol. i. part ii. pp. 20
 
 LUTHERANS AT OXFORD. 457 
 
 Edward Powell, a Canon of Salisbury. The former wrote a 
 treatise on indulgences, and the latter wrote treatises on the 
 papal supremacy and the sacramental system, which were 
 warmly commended by the University, in letters addressed 
 to Henry VIII. and his great minister. It need hardly be 
 stated that the University took care to compliment the King 
 on his own theological production.' 
 
 Nevertheless Oxford itself did not long remain free from 
 the taint of heresy. Warham found it necessary to invoke 
 the assistance of Wolsey, and wrote to him as follows : 
 
 " Please it your good Grace to understand that now lately 
 I received letters from the University of Oxford, and in those 
 same certain news which I am very sorry to hear. For I 
 am informed that divers of that University be infected with 
 the heresies of Luther and of others of that sort, having 
 among them a great number of books of the said perverse 
 doctrine which were forbidden by your Grace's authority as 
 Legate de latej^e of the See Apostolic, and also by me as 
 Chancellor of the said University, to be had, kept, or read, 
 by any person of the same, except such as were licensed to 
 have them to impugn and convince the erroneous opinions 
 contained in them. But it is a sorrowful thing to see 
 how greedily inconstant men and specially inexpert youth 
 falleth to new doctrines, be they never so pestilent, and 
 how prone they be to attempt that thing that may be for- 
 bidden of their superiors for their own wealth. I would I had 
 suffered great pain in condition this had not fortuned there, 
 where I was brought up in learning, and now am Chancellor, 
 albeit unworthy. And I doubt not but it is to your good 
 Grace right pensyfuU hearing, seeing your Grace is the most 
 honourable member that ever was of that University. And 
 where the said University hath instantly desired me by their 
 letters to be a mean and suitor unto your Grace for them, 
 that it might please the same to decree such order to be taken 
 1 FF. ff. 44 bifi.
 
 458 LUTHERANS AT OXFORD. 
 
 touching the examination of the said persons suspected of 
 heresy, that the said University run in as Httle infamy 
 thereby through your Grace's favour and justice as may be 
 after the gravity of the offence. 
 
 " If this matter concerned not the cause of God and his 
 Church, I would entirely beseech your Grace to tender the 
 infamy of the University as it might please your incompar- 
 able wisdom and goodness to think best. For pity it were 
 that through the lewdness of one or two cankered members, 
 which, as I understand, have induced no small number of 
 young and incircumspect fools to give ear unto them, the 
 whole University should run in the infamy of so heinous a 
 crime, the hearing whereof should be right delectable and 
 pleasant to the open Lutherans beyond the sea and secret 
 behither, whereof they would take heart and confidence that 
 their pestilent doctrines should increase and multiply, seeing 
 both the Universities of England infected therewith, whereof 
 the one hath many years been void of all heresies, and the 
 other hath afore now taken upon her the praise that she 
 never was defiled, and nevertheless now she is thought to be 
 the original occasion and cause of the fall in Oxford. 
 
 " By this my writing I intend in no Avise to move but that 
 the captains of the said erroneous doctrines be punished, 
 to the fearful example of all other. But if the whole number 
 of young scholars suspected in this cause (which, as the 
 University writeth to me, be marvellous sorry and repentant 
 that ever they had any such books, or read or heard any of 
 Luther's opinions) should be called up to London, it should 
 engender great obloquy and slander to the University, both 
 behither the sea and beyond, to the sorrow of all good men 
 and the pleasure of heretics desiring to have many followers 
 of their mischief; and (as it is thought) the less wrote the 
 better, for the avoiding whereof the said University hath 
 desired me to move your Grace to be so good and gracious 
 unto them to eivc in commission to some sad father which
 
 LUTHERANS AT OXFORD. 459 
 
 was brought up in the said University of Oxford to sit there 
 and examine not the heads (which it may please your Grace 
 to reserve to your own examination) but the novices which 
 be not yet thoroughly cankered in the said errors, and to put 
 them to such correction as the quality of their transgression 
 shall require." ^ 
 
 Warham's allusion to Cambridge as the " cause of the fall 
 in Oxford " seems to refer to the fact, known to us from other 
 sources, that the students from Cambridge whom Wolsey had 
 appointed to be Canons of Cardinal College were the nucleus 
 of the Lutheran party in Oxford. Of the eight who applied 
 for incorporation in October 1525, no less than six, John 
 Clarke, John Fryer, John Fryth, William Betts, Richard 
 Coxe, and Henry Sumner, are known to have embraced the 
 new doctrines before, or soon after, their transfer from one 
 University to the other.^ Clarke appears to have been the 
 original leader of the party, and to have attracted to it many 
 of the younger students, both by the expositions of St. Paul's 
 Epistles which he gave in his chamber in the College, and by 
 the sermons which he preached at Poghley, in the summer of 
 1527, when the scholars were staying there, in consequence 
 of a pestilence raging at Oxford. 3 
 
 Another very active member of the party was Thomas 
 Garret, of Magdalen College, a graduate in priest's orders, 
 who associated much with such students as were endeavouring 
 to acquire a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.-^ To them and 
 others he sold Latin treatises on scripture written by the 
 German reformers, and copies of Tyndale's English translation 
 
 ' Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd : Papers, vol. iv. p. 1804. 
 
 series, vol. i. pp. 239 242. The 1 ^ Letters and Papers, vol. iv. p. 
 
 letter, which is dated the 8th of 1804; FF. f. 85. 
 
 March, has been referred to the * Letters and Papers, p. 1764 ; 
 
 year 1521, but it can scarcely be Register of the University, (ed. 
 
 earlier than 1526 or 1527. Boase) vol. i. p. 140; Wood's 
 
 ^ Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd Fasti. 
 series, vol. ii. p. 78 ; L^ettcrs and
 
 46o L UTHERANS A T OXFORD. 
 
 of the New Testament, which had been printed at Worms 
 and Cologne in 1526. Not content with disseminating these 
 books at Oxford, Garret sent some of them to the Abbot of 
 Reading, for the edification of the monks at that place.' 
 Members of the University knew well that books suspected 
 of heresy were dangerous possessions, and they accordingly 
 kept them carefully concealed in cellars and other secret 
 places. The little band of Lutherans used to meet from time 
 to time for mutual instruction and exhortation, generally in 
 the house ofa certain Radley, a singing-man. At times, they 
 caused some commotion in the University, by affixing famous 
 " libels and bills " upon church doors of a night.^ 
 
 In February 1528, an order was issued for the apprehension 
 of Garret as a pernicious heretic, and when a search for him 
 in London proved ineffectual, Wolsey sent directions for his 
 arrest at Oxford. A friend, however, informed him of his 
 danger, and a scheme for his escape was devised by certain 
 members of the little Lutheran community. One of them, 
 Anthony Dalaber, a young student lodging in Alban Hall, 
 reported that his brother, the Rector of Stalbridge in Dorset- 
 shire, was in want of a curate, and they resolved that Garret 
 should go thither, with letters recommending him as a fit 
 person for that office. It was hoped that, after some stay in 
 a quiet village, he would be able to make his way to the 
 coast, and so to the continent, without suspicion. He 
 accordingly started on the i8th February, but he returned on 
 the third day. Whether he encountered some unexpected 
 difficulty on the way, or whether he shrank from the course 
 of dissimulation by which alone he could serve under " a rank 
 Papist," does not appear. 
 
 On the very night of Garret's return, he was apprehended 
 in bed at Radley's house, and on the following morning he 
 
 ' Ellis, Original Lelle?'s, 3rd ' vol. v. p. 421. 
 series, vol. ii. pp. 78, 79 ; Foxe's " Ellis, 3rd serie?;, vol. i. p. 
 
 Acts and MrDiumrnts, (ed. Cattley) 253.
 
 GARRET'S FLIGHT. 461 
 
 was taken by the Proctors to Dr. Cottisford, Rector of 
 Lincoln College, the Commissary of the University. It was 
 resolved that he should be sent to London on the morrow, 
 and that in the meanwhile he should be detained in the 
 Commissary's chamber, rather than in Bocardo. When, 
 however, the Commissary and others went to evensong, he, 
 hearing nobody stirring in the College, managed to open the 
 door and effect an escape. He went in the first instance 
 to Gloucester College, to see one of the Benedictine monks 
 who had bought books of him, and, failing to find him, asked 
 to be directed to Dalaber's chamber. 
 
 Since Garret's sudden departure for Dorsetshire, Dalaber 
 had quitted Alban Hall, which was chiefly tenanted by 
 students of the Faculty of Arts, and had hired a chamber in 
 Gloucester College, so as to be in the company of students of 
 the civil law. He had been so much occupied with his own 
 affairs, with the removal and arrangement of his furniture and 
 other effects, that he had not gone abroad in Oxford, or heard 
 the news of Garret's return and subsequent capture. He 
 was therefore much surprised at his friend's re-appearance, 
 and on hearing what had happened, he began to realise the 
 risk which he incurred by sheltering a fugitive. Garret too 
 knew that he could not safely tarry in Oxford. He therefore 
 exchanged his priest-like gown and hood for a coat with 
 sleeves belonging to Dalaber, and, after a short prayer, took 
 an affectionate and tearful farewell, intending to go to Wales, 
 and thence, if possible, to Germany.' 
 
 Dalaber at once shut the door of his chamber, and kneeling 
 down in his study, read over the tenth chapter of St. 
 Matthew's Gospel "with many a deep sigh and salt tear," 
 and offered up earnest intercessions for the little community 
 in Oxford to which he belonged. This done, he put away 
 his book in a place of safety, laid Garret's gown and hood 
 in the press with his own apparel, and shutting the doors of 
 ' Foxe, pp. 42 1 423 ; Letters and Papers^ p. 1 761.
 
 462 DALABER'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 his study and his chamber, started for Cardinal College, to 
 inform Master Clark and others of the events of the afternoon. 
 On the way, he met " a brother," Master Eden, Fellow of 
 Magdalen, who " with a pitiful countenance " told him that 
 they were all undone, inasmuch as Garret was a prisoner in 
 the hands of the Commissary. Dalaber having in reply 
 communicated the welcome news of Garret's escape, proceeded 
 to St. Frideswyde's Church. 
 
 " Evensong," he writes afterwards, " was begun, and the 
 Dean and the other Canons were there in their grey amices ; 
 they were almost at Magnificat before I came thither. I 
 stood at the choir door and heard Master Taverner play, and 
 others of the chapel there sing, with and among whom I my- 
 self was wont to sing also ; but now my singing and music 
 were turned into sighing and musing. As I thus and there 
 stood, in Cometh Dr. Cottisford, the Commissary, as fast as 
 ever he could go, bareheaded, as pale as ashes (I knew his 
 grief well enough), and to the Dean he goeth into the choir, 
 where he was sitting in his stall, and talked with him very 
 sorrowfully ; what I know not ; but whereof I might and did 
 well and truly guess. I went aside from the choir door to see 
 and hear more. The Commissary and Dean came out of the 
 choir, wonderfully troubled as it seemed. About the middle 
 of the church met them Dr. London, puffing, blustering, and 
 blowing, like a hungry and greedy lion seeking his prey. 
 They talked together a while ; but the Commissary was much 
 blamed by them for keeping of his prisoner so negligently, in- 
 somuch that he wept for sorrow. . . . The Doctors departed, and 
 sent abroad their servants and spies everywhere. Master Clark, 
 about tlie middle of the compline, came forth of the choir. I 
 followed him to his chamber, and declared what had happened 
 that afternoon, of Master Garret's escape. He was glad, for 
 he knew of his foretaking. Then he sent for Master Sumner 
 and Master Bets, Fellows and Canons there. In the mean- 
 while he gave mc a very godly exhortation, praying God to
 
 DA LA BER 'S NARRA Tl VE. 463 
 
 give me and all the rest of our brethren prudentiam serpen- 
 tinam et simplicitatejn columbhiatn, for we should have shortly 
 much need thereof, as he verily thought. When Master 
 Sumner and Master Bets were come unto him, he caused me 
 to declare again the whole matter to them two. . . . Then 
 desiring them to tell unto our other brethren what had 
 happened, for there were divers other in that college, I went 
 to Corpus Christi College, to comfort our brethren there, being 
 in like heaviness. When I came to Corpus Christi College, I 
 found together in Diet's chamber, tarrying and looking for 
 me, Fitzjames, Diet, and Udal, They knew all the matter 
 before by Master Eden, whom I had sent unto Fitzjames, but 
 yet I declared the matter unto them again. And so I tarried 
 there, and supped with them in that chamber, where they had 
 provided meat and drink for us before my coming ; at which 
 supper we were not very merry, considering our state and 
 peril at hand. When we had ended our supper, and com- 
 mitted our whole cause with fervent sighs and hearty prayers, 
 unto God our Heavenly Father, Fitzjames would needs have 
 me to lie that night with him in my old lodging at Alban's 
 Hall. And so I did, but sm.all rest and little sleep took we 
 there both that night." 
 
 On the morrow, which was Sunday, Dalaber left Alban 
 Hall as soon as the gate was opened, at six o'clock, and 
 walked through the muddy streets to Gloucester College. To 
 his surprise, lie was kept waiting outside for some time, and 
 when at last he was admitted, at seven o'clock, he found it 
 difficult to open the door of his chamber, the lock having 
 been hampered during his absence. On entering, he observed 
 that his bed was tossed and tumbled, his clothes scattered 
 about the room, and the door of his study open. In ex- 
 planation of this, a monk, who occupied the chamber next 
 to his, told him that the Commissary and the Proctors had 
 been there in the night looking for Garret. Bills and swords 
 had been thrust through the bed-straw, and every corner
 
 464 DALABER'S NARRATIVE. 
 
 of the chamber had been searched in vain. Orders had 
 also been left that Dalaber should, immediately after his 
 return, appear in person before the Prior of the Students, 
 Anthony Dunstan, a monk of Westminster, afterwards Bishop 
 of Llandaff. 
 
 To the Prior's chamber Dalaber was accordingly taken, 
 before he had changed his gown or cleaned his hose and his 
 shoes. In reply to questions, he said that he had passed the 
 night at Alban Hall with his old "bed-fellow," Fitzjames, and 
 he admitted that Garret had visited him on the previous day. 
 He was then asked by the Prior to say what had become of 
 Garret since. "I told him," writes Dalaber, "that I knew 
 not where he was, except he were at Woodstock. For so, 
 said I, he had showed me that he would go thither, because 
 one of the keepers there, his friend, had promised him a 
 piece of venison to make merry withal the Shrovetide, and 
 that he would have borrowed a hat and a pair of high shoes 
 of me, but I had none indeed to lend him. This tale I thought 
 meetest, though it were nothing so. Then had he spied on 
 my finger a big ring of silver very well double gilt, with two 
 letters, A. D., engraved in it for my name. I suppose he 
 thought it to be gold. He required to see it. I took it unto 
 him. When he had it in his hand, he said it was his ring, for 
 therein was his name, an A. for Anthony, and a D. for 
 Dunstan. When I heard him so say, I wished in my heart 
 to be as well delivered from and out of his company, as I was 
 assured to be delivered from my ring for ever. Then he 
 called for pen, ink, and paper, and commanded me to write 
 when and how Garret came unto me, and where he was 
 become. I had scarcely written three words, but the chief 
 beadle with two or three of the Commissary's men were come 
 unto Master Prior, requiring him straightways to bring us 
 away unto Lincoln College, to the Commissary and to Dr. 
 London. Whither when I was brought into the chapel, 
 there I found Dr. Cottisford, Commissary, Dr. Higdon, then
 
 DA LA BEKS NA RRA TI VE. 46 5 
 
 Dean of the Cardinal's College, and Dr. London, Warden 
 of New College, standing together at the altar in the 
 chapel. 
 
 " While they had me in talk, one came unto them who 
 was sent for, with pen, ink, and paper. I trow it was the 
 clerk of the University. As soon as he was come, there was 
 a board and trestles, with a form for him to sit on set between 
 the Doctors and me, and a great mass-book laid before me ; 
 and I was commanded to lay my right hand on it, and to 
 swear that I should truly answer unto such articles and 
 interrogatories as I should be by them examined upon. I 
 made danger of it awhile at first, but afterwards being per- 
 suaded by them, partly by fair words, and partly by great 
 threats, I promised to do as they would have me, but in my 
 heart nothing so meant to do. So I laid my hand on the 
 book, and one of them gave me my oath, and, that done, 
 commanded me to kiss the book. Then they made great 
 courtesy between them who should examine me, and minister 
 interrogatories unto me. At the last, the rankest papistical 
 Pharisee of them all, Dr. London, took upon him to do it." 
 
 To these inquisitors Dalaber repeated the story which he 
 had told to the Prior of the students of Gloucester College, 
 and, although threatened with imprisonment and torture in 
 the Tower of London, he persisted in declaring it to be true. 
 Being grievously suspected of heresy and mendacity, he was, 
 by order of the Commissary, set in the stocks in an upper 
 room, but his narrative does not state how or when he was 
 released.' It also omits to mention that on examination he 
 betrayed twenty-two of his associates.^ On the following 
 day, search was instituted for heretical books, and a number 
 belonging to Garret were seized at Radley's house. Garret 
 himself, however, was not to be found in Oxford. Under 
 these circumstances the Commissary, " being in extreme 
 pcnsiveness," had recourse to an astrologer, who made a 
 
 ' Foxe, pp. 423 427. I ^ FF. f. 82^. 
 
 H II
 
 466 LUTHERANS AT OXFORD. 
 
 figure for him, and told him that Garret, having fled south- 
 eastward in a tawny coat, was at that time in London, on his 
 way to the seaside.' To consult the stars was strictly 
 forbidden by the Catholic Church, yet the Warden of New 
 College, a Doctor of Divinity, was not ashamed or afraid to 
 inform the Bishop of Lincoln of the astrologer's saying, or to 
 ask him to impart it to the Cardinal Archbishop of York, and 
 the Bishop of London.=^ In a subsequent letter, the same 
 writer expressed his regret that Wolsey had introduced any 
 Cambridge men into his most towardly College. " It were a 
 gracious deed," he said, " if they were tried, and purged, and 
 restored unto their mother from whence they came, if they 
 be worthy to come thither again," Oxford, he boasted, had 
 been free from the taint of heresy until the arrival of scholars 
 educated at the sister University.3 
 
 The Commissary did not rely wholly upon the astrologer's 
 information, and he sent notice of Garret's escape to seaports 
 in different parts of the realm, to the corporations of Dover, 
 Rye, Winchelsea, Southampton, Chester, and Bristol. Thus 
 it was that when Garret reached Bed minster, a suburb of 
 Bristol, on the sixth day after his flight from Oxford, he was 
 arrested and taken before a magistrate. Having admitted 
 his identity he was transferred to the county gaol at Ilchester, 
 and thence again to London into the custody of Cardinal 
 Wolsey.'* In prison his courage gave way, and he wrote a 
 piteous letter praying for release, not from the iron bonds 
 which he said that he justly deserved, but from the more 
 
 ' Letters and Paper 3,^^.11(^1. ' regardis ditobiis astrologis calcul- 
 
 " The sum of 1 12/. was stolen from ' an fib us pro cisdeni bonis ab/atis, 
 
 the bursar's chest at Magdalen Col- .i-.i"^-." Rogers's History of Agri- 
 
 legein i502,andthefollo\vingentries culture and Prices, vol. iii. p. 681. 
 
 appear in the accounts of the next ' Letters and Papers, p. 1764. 
 
 year: " Ci/idant sc/tolastico quater : '' Ibid. pp. 1776, 1783. Foxe 
 
 niisso ad quendam astrologuui con- states erroneously that Garret was 
 
 suIcnduDi pro bonis collcgii ablatis taken at Hinksey near Oxford, p. 
 
 supcriorc anno, /' it''- . . . . I>i 427.
 
 LUTHERANS AT OXFORD. 467 
 
 terrible bonds of excommunication. He also asked for the 
 use of a missal.' 
 
 Imprisonment and excommunication fell to the lot of other 
 members of the little Lutheran community at Oxford. Acting 
 doubtless upon instructions from Wolsey, Dr. Higdon, Dean 
 of Cardinal College, arrested four of the Canons, John Clarke, 
 Henry Sumner, William Betts, and John Fryth, one of the 
 Petty Canons named Bayley, and Sir Thomas Lawney, a 
 chaplain, suspected of having heretical books. He seems to 
 have been disposed to deal leniently with them, for when 
 Easter drew near, he wrote to the Cardinal praying that they 
 might be absolved, and allowed to receive the Communion.^ 
 The University too interceded on behalf of the younger 
 prisoners, who might, it was thought, easily be moved by 
 kindness.3 
 
 Lastly, their diocesan, John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, 
 who had advised the punishment of three "perilous men," 
 Thomas Garret, John Clarke, and Robert Ferrar, an Augus- 
 tinian canon, besought Wolsey to grant absolution before 
 Easter.'^ Most of the prisoners appear to have recanted. On 
 an appointed day, they went in procession from St. Mary's to 
 St. Fridesvvyde's, carrying faggots in token of the fate that 
 they had escaped, and as they passed Carfax each of them 
 cast a book into a bonfire that had been lighted for the 
 purpose. Among those who are stated by Foxe to have 
 taken part in these proceedings were Garret, Dalaber, Clarke, 
 Sumner, Betts, Taverner, Radley, Udal, Diet, two Benedictine 
 monks, two Cistercian monks of St. Bernard's College, Robert 
 Ferrar, and another Augustinian canon of St. IMary's College.? 
 Nevertheless at least three of the inmates of Cardinal College, 
 Clarke, Sumner, and Bayley, died in the month of August 
 following, without having been readmitted to Communion- 
 
 ' Lc/fers and Papers,-^. 1804. 1833. 
 
 " Ibid. ^ FF. f. 86. 5 yj^fs and Monuments., vol. v. 
 
 - Letters and Pnpej's, pp. 1784. pp. 427,428. 
 
 II II 2
 
 468 SPREAD OF LUTHERANISM. 
 
 They had not confessed to any specific erroneous opinions, 
 but, having declared themselves penitent for their offences^ 
 they were buried as Christians, by permission of the Dean. 
 According to a contemporary letter, they all died of the 
 sweating sickness which was then raging in Oxford/ Foxe, 
 on the other hand, writing many years later, represents that 
 they were kept for nearly six months "within a deep cave 
 under the ground " upon a diet of salt fish, and that they 
 died in consequence of "the filthy stench " of their prison.^ 
 
 If the spread of reforming opinions was for a while 
 effectually checked at Oxford, it soon became manifest 
 elsewhere. Books and pamphlets containing open attacks 
 on the corruptions of the Church and the monastic orders, 
 Avere printed abroad, and widely circulated in London 
 and other large towns, in 15 28 and succeeding years. The 
 most notable of them, entitled The Supplication of Beggars, 
 elicited from Sir Thomas More a reply, called The Sup- 
 plication of Souls, in which he endeavoured to prove that 
 the departed require the prayers of the living. Henry 
 VIIL, however, was not disposed to leave his subjects free 
 to exercise the right of private judgment in matters of 
 religion, and he resolved that books savouring of heresy 
 should be proscribed throughout his realm. With this object, 
 he ordered the Chancellors of the Universities of Oxford 
 and Cambridge to appoint twelve theologians apiece, who 
 should examine certain suspected books that would be 
 submitted to them. 3 
 
 The joint committee met in London on the 9th of May, 
 1530, and fifteen days later issued a list of dangerous pro- 
 positions culled from these English books The Wicked 
 Mammon, The Obedience of a Clwistian Alan, The Supplication 
 of Beggars, The Revelation of A nti- Christ, and The Sum of 
 
 ' Letters a>ul Papers, vol. iv. p. 
 2036. 
 ' Arts and Monuvienfs, vol. v. 
 
 p. 5. 
 
 ^ Letters ajid Papers, (eel. Brewer] 
 vol. iv. p. 2859.
 
 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 469 
 
 Scripture.^ This was soon followed by a royal proclamation, 
 strictly forbidding the circulation of the condemned books, 
 and the publication of English treatises upon Holy Scripture 
 without ecclesiastical sanction. Versions of the Bible in the 
 vulgar tongue were at the same time proscribed, as likely to 
 cause an increase of error, although the King held out some 
 hope of the issue of a new translation, to be made by learned 
 Catholic divines.^ Two months later, the University of 
 Oxford was called upon to search its records for information 
 concerning the condemnation of Wyclif's doctrines in 1410 
 and 141 1.3 The King's zeal for the so-called orthodoxy of 
 the day was pre-eminent, although he was on the verge of a 
 breach with the See of Rome. 
 
 The story of the divorce of Henry VHI. from Catharine 
 of Aragon, despite the unsavoury character of some of its 
 details, is one that must ever possess a profound interest for 
 students. Recent researches have added much to our know- 
 ledge of the facts, and of the parts played by the different 
 actors. In this place, however, there is no need to enter upon 
 the controverted question whether the King was actuated 
 mainly by a patriotic anxiety to save the country from the 
 misfortune of a disputed succession to the Crown, or rather by 
 a criminal passion for Anne Boleyn. It will be sufficient to 
 show how the University of Oxford became involved in the affair, 
 after the failure of the King to obtain from the Papal Legates 
 in England a decree for the dissolution of his marriage. 
 
 The proposal to seek the opinions of different Universities 
 of Christendom as to the validity of the King's marriage, 
 appears to have originated with a committee of English 
 bishops and theologians who may have been unwilling to 
 compromise themselves in the matter.^ It is said to have 
 
 ' Letters afid Papers, {cd. Brewer) 1 ^ FF. ff. 109, no, 114, 115. 
 
 vol. iv. pp. 2865, 2869; Wilkins's i * Cavendish's Z//^- ^ JJW^t^',(ed. 
 
 Concilia, vol. iii. pp. 727 737. ' Singer) p. 205. 
 
 - Ibid. pp. 740-742.
 
 470 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 
 
 been afterwards urged more strongly by Dr. Thomas Cranmer, 
 a graduate of Cambridge, destined soon to play a very im- 
 portant part in public affairs.^ At any rate trusty agents 
 were sent into France, Germany, and Italy, to solicit from the 
 learned clerks of those countries opinions favourable to the 
 intended divorce. When their arguments proved insufficient, 
 they made liberal use of the money committed to them for the 
 purpose of gaining waverers.^ In England, a j udicious mixture 
 of fair words and covert threats seemed likely to be effectual, 
 although bribery was also employed when necessary. 
 
 Henry VIII, himself wrote to the graduates of Cambridge 
 on the 1 6th of February, 1530, saying that many of the 
 greatest clerks in Christendom, both within and without his 
 realm, had solemnly affirmed that marriage with the widow 
 of a brother deceased, though without issue, was forbidden by 
 divine and human law alike ; and desiring them to send him 
 their collective decision on the point. He reminded them 
 that they had always found him favourable to their interests, 
 and he expressed his confidence that they would not fail to 
 do anything that would minister gratification and pleasure to 
 their prince and sovereign lord. Dr. Stephen Gardiner and 
 Master Edmund Fox, were moreover sent to Cambridge 
 in order to negotiate on the spot with the leaders of the 
 University. By their efforts, after much opposition, twenty- 
 nine members were appointed to draw up a reply to the 
 King's letter in the name of the whole University, and 
 eventually, on the 9th of March, a vote was passed that it was 
 contrary to divine and human law that a man should marry 
 the widow of his childless brother, if the former marriage had 
 been consummated. 3 Upon these proceedings Mr. Mullinger 
 observes that the end " was attained by the nomination of a 
 
 ' Cf. Hook's Archbishops of Can- scries, vol. ii. pp. 167170. 
 
 Icrbury, New Series, vol. i. pp. 436, ^ Burnet's History of tJie Rc- 
 
 437. , formation, (ed. Pocock) vol. iv. pp. 
 
 -Ellis, Orii^inal letters, 3rd 130 133 ; vol. vi. pp. 28 35.
 
 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 471 
 
 commission which, if we examine its composition, can only 
 be regarded in the Hght of a packed jury, that the nomin- 
 ation of this commission was at the outset opposed by the 
 Senate, being on the first division nonplaceted, on the second, 
 obtaining only an equality of votes, on the third, carried only 
 by the stratagem of inducing hostile voters to stay away, 
 that even of this commission thus composed and thus 
 appointed, it was found necessary to persuade at least one 
 member to absent himself, ^and that finally its decision was 
 qualified by an important reservation, which, if the testimony 
 of Queen Catharine herself, independently of other evidence, 
 was entitled to belief, involved a conclusion unfavourable to 
 the divorce." ' The letters of the King's agents and the Vice- 
 Chancellor leave room for no doubt as to the views enter- 
 tained at Cambridge with regard to the King's conduct. 
 
 Henry VIII. and his advisers were well aware that more 
 serious opposition might be expected from the graduates of 
 Oxford. The question as to the validity of his marriage was 
 first brought before the southern University in a plausible letter 
 from the Chancellor, Archbishop Warham, who requested that 
 it should be decided unanimously and without regard to 
 persons.^ The King himself wrote on the ist of March to the 
 Commissary, the Rulers of the Colleges, and the Regents and 
 Non-Regents. He too called upon them to declare their minds 
 " sincerely and truly without any abuse." As in his letter to 
 the University of Cambridge, he expressed his belief that the 
 result would tend to his "high contentation and pleasure." 
 Nevertheless he thought it well to insert some plain words of 
 warning : " We will and command you, that ye, not leaning 
 to wilful and sinister opinions of your own several minds, 
 nor giving credence to misreports or sinister persuasions, 
 considering we be your sovereign liege lord, totally giving our 
 firm mind and affection to the true overture of divine learning 
 
 ' University of Cambridge, pp. 
 621,622. 
 
 - FF. f. 100.
 
 472 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 
 
 in this behalf, do show and declare your true and just 
 learning in the said cause, like as ye will abide by, wherein 
 ye shall not only please Almighty God, but also us your liege 
 Lord. . . . And in case ye do not uprightly according to 
 divine learning handle yourselves herein, ye may be assured 
 that we, not without great cause, shall so quickly and sharply 
 look to your unnatural misdemeanour therein, that it shall 
 not be to your quietness and ease hereafter." ^ The King's 
 confessor, John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, had already 
 gone to Oxford to make interest for his master.^ As at 
 Cambridge, it was proposed that the question should be 
 referred to a packed committee. The Masters of Arts, 
 however, refused to entrust the matter wholly to the Faculty 
 of Theology, and insisted upon their right to nominate a 
 certain number of delegates. Their obstinacy elicited from 
 the King the following letter, dated the 6th of March, and 
 addressed to the Commissary and the "ancient Doctors and 
 Bachelors " of the University : 
 
 " Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well : And of late 
 being informed to our no little marvel and discontentation that 
 a great part of the youth of that our University, with contemp- 
 tuous faction and manner, daily combining together, neither 
 regarding their duty to us their sovereign Lord, not yet con- 
 forming themselves to the opinions and orders of the virtuous, 
 wise, sad, and profound, learned men of that University, 
 wilfully do stick upon the opinion to have a great number 
 of the Regents and Non-Regents to be associate unto the 
 Doctors, Proctors, and Bachelors of Divinity^ for the deter- 
 mination of our question, which we believe hath not been 
 often seen, that such a great number, of right small learning 
 in regard to the other, should be joined with so famous a sort, 
 or in a manner stay their seniors in so weighty a cause, 
 
 ' Ikirnet's History of the Re- \ ^ Calendar of State Papers, 
 foriiiation, (ed. Pocock) vol. vi. j Sfa/iish, (ed. Gayangos) vol. iv. p. 
 ]). 36. : 467.
 
 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 473 
 
 which, as we think, should be no small dishonour to our 
 University there, but most especially to you the seniors and 
 rulers of the same ; assuring you that this their unnatural 
 and unkind demeanour is not only right much to our dis- 
 pleasure, but also much to be marvelled of, upon what 
 grounds and occasions they, being our mere subjects, should 
 show themselves more unkind and wilful in this matter than 
 all other Universities both in this and all other regions do. 
 Finally we trusting in the dexterity and wisdom of you and 
 other the sad, discreet, and substantial learned men of that 
 University, be in perfect hope that ye will conduce and frame 
 the said young persons unto good order and conformity, as it 
 becometh you to do. Whereof we be desirous to hear with 
 convenient diligence. And, doubt ye not, we shall regard the 
 demeanour of every one of that University according to their 
 merits and deserts. And if the youth of that University 
 will play masters, as they begin to do, we doubt not 
 but they shall well perceive that non est bonum irritare 
 crabrojies." ' 
 
 By another letter of the same date, the King ordered the 
 Oxonians to give credence to his agent Dr. Bell.^ 
 
 Nine days later, Warham wrote again, complaining that he 
 had received no answer to his former letter, an-d strongly 
 advocating an early decision. After expressing surprise at 
 the difficulties that had been raised at Oxford, he stated 
 untruly that the Universities of Paris and Cambridge had 
 given their respective decisions, as requested. Upon the 
 score that the "greater part in a multitude" was not 
 commonly the wiser or the more learned, he urged the 
 appointment of a committee. Finally, as if to show the 
 small esteem in which he held the attainments of some of 
 those whom he addressed, he added that he had written 
 
 ' " It is not well to stir the hor- pp. 37, 38. 
 nets." Burnet, as before, vol. vi. * FF. f. 105.
 
 474 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 
 
 his letter in English in order that its meaning should not 
 be misunderstood.' 
 
 On the 17th, the King wrote again, complaining that the 
 University had not taken the first step that would cause 
 " an entry into the matter." He cited the Cambridge decree 
 as if it had been entirely favourable to his own view, and 
 sent to Oxford a third agent, Dr. Fox, who had shown so 
 much dexterity in obtaining that decree.^ 
 
 While the Bishop of Lincoln and his two colleagues who 
 " well could flatter " were endeavouring by threats and 
 promises to attain the object of their mission, the task of 
 defending the King's cause by learned argument seems to 
 have fallen chiefly upon an Italian friar, named Nicholas 
 de Burgo, v/ho had been incorporated a member of the 
 University about six years previously. The reception ac- 
 corded to them was far from cordial. Pieces of hemp, 
 and rough drawings of gallows, were at night affixed to the 
 gates of the Bishop's lodging, and both he and Father 
 Nicholas were pelted with stones in the open street. The 
 women of Oxford in particular lost no opportunity of 
 proclaiming their sympathy with Queen Catharine, and 
 their detestation of her enemies. Matters became so serious 
 that the King despatched two of his courtiers to Oxford, the 
 Duke of Suffolk, and Sir William Fitzwilliam, the Treasurer 
 of the Household. The former caused thirty women to be 
 imprisoned in Bocardo for three days, and the latter dis- 
 tributed money among the more venal of the graduates. 3 
 
 ' Pocock's Records of the Re/or- - Ijurnet's History of the Refor- 
 mation., vol. i. p. 284. The Uni- j mation, (ed. Pocock) vol. vi. p. 38. 
 versity of Cambridge had, as has i '^ Grisild l/ie Second, {cd.l^lTicrziy) 
 been seen, avoided giving a direct | pp. 7579 ; Ellis, Original Lcitirs, 
 answer to the question; the Uni- ; 3rd series, vol. ii. p. 112 ; Calendar 
 versity of Paris did not give its j of State Papers, SJ)a7iish, {&dL. G?iy- 
 decision until the beginning of July. angos) vol. iv. p. 475; Register of 
 Ibid. p. 563 ; Purnet, (ed. i'ocock) tlie University, (ed. Boase) vol. i. 
 vol. i. pp. 14S-150. p. 128.
 
 PROCEEDINGS AT OXFORD. 475 
 
 Still there was further delay, and, on the 28th, Warham 
 wrote one more letter, addressed to the Commissary and 
 the Doctors and Bachelors of Divinity exclusively. In it 
 he severely censured " the unreasonable and unseeming 
 demeanour of the Regents and Non-Regents," who, he 
 said, "presumed to put laws and conditions" upon their 
 heads and rulers, daily showing more and more their " folly, 
 obstinacy, and wilfulness." He declared himself more 
 anxious for " the preservation and maintenance " of the 
 whole academical body, than for the strict observance of 
 any particular statute. Finally, he positively commanded 
 the appointment of a committee, of which the majority 
 should be empowered to use the common seal of the 
 University, and he demanded the punishment of Master 
 Kinton and certain others, who, he said, had spread 
 calumnious reports concerning himself^ 
 
 Thus urged by the Chancellor of the University, the 
 Faculty of Theology decided that the question as to the 
 validity of the King's marriage should be referred to a 
 committee consisting of the Bishop of Lincoln, the Com 
 missary, and Master John Kinton, and thirty other members 
 to be nominated by those three.^ To secure this result, it 
 had been found necessary to postpone an Act for which 
 all the arrangements had been made, because five out of 
 seven theologians who would have been admitted as doctors, 
 and consequently as voters, were known to be hostile to 
 the divorce.3 
 
 The next step was to solicit from the different Faculties a 
 declaration that the decision of the majority of the committee 
 should be accounted the decision of the whole University. 
 Little opposition was offered by the superior Faculties or 
 the Non-Regents, the whole number of open dissentients at 
 their respective assemblies being no more than eight or ten. 
 
 ' Pocock's Records of tlie Re/or- - Ibid. p. 528. 
 
 inaiion, \oI. i. p. 2S6. , ' Grisild the Second^ as before.
 
 476 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 
 
 When the proposal was brought before the Regent Masters 
 of Arts, several of them spoke " very frowardly," but it 
 was eventually carried by five votes, twenty-seven against 
 twenty-two. In a final division, taken at a meeting of the 
 Regents of the diiTerent Faculties, on the 4th or 5th of April, 
 thirty-six or thirty-seven votes were given in favour of the 
 proposed delegation of power to the committee, and twenty- 
 five against it. The Bishop of Lincoln and his colleagues 
 wrote at once to the King, stating that the main question 
 would be considered and decided by the committee on the 
 morrow. So confident were they now of success, that they 
 did not even hint at the possibility of an adverse decision.' 
 Arrangements were also made for the "Act " which had been 
 so arbitrarily postponed. 
 
 The final decree was issued by the committee on the 8th of 
 April, in the name, and under the seal of the University. 
 After reciting in precise terms the question submitted by the 
 King, it stated, according to the model of the Cambridge 
 decree, that marriage with the widow of a deceased brother 
 was contrary to divine and human law if the former marriage 
 had been consummated.^ With this qualified declaration the 
 King professed himself well pleased.^ His satisfaction would 
 indeed have been complete if he could have induced the 
 learned clerks of the two English Universities to pronounce 
 more positively that he, their sovereign lord, had been living 
 in incest for nearly twenty ycars.^ 
 
 Upon a review of the whole transaction, it is clear that a 
 majority of the resident graduates of Oxford were opposed to 
 the intended divorce, that it required a lavish and continual use 
 of threats, promises, and bribes, for the space of eight weeks, to 
 
 ' Pocock's Records of the Refer- by Reginald Pole arc quoted in Mr. 
 
 i/tatiofi, vol. i. pp. 291 293. Lewis's translation of Sander's 
 
 ' Ibid. p. 529. '= Ibid. p. 288. Rise and Groioth of the Anglican 
 
 " Some remarks upon this point Schism, p. 81.
 
 THE KING'S DIVORCE. 477 
 
 extort a decision that could be cited against the vaHdity of 
 the marriage between Henry and Catharine, and that the 
 decision eventually given was so qualified as to leave the 
 main issue in doubt.' 
 
 A brilliant and popular historian, overlooking several 
 important considerations, has described the conduct of the 
 two English Universities, in the matter of the divorce, as 
 typical of their respective characters.^ On closer examination, 
 however, it appears that the main difference between the 
 proceedings at Oxford and those at Cambridge, lay in the 
 fact that the graduates of the southern University ventured 
 to offer a longer resistance to the peremptory mandates and 
 the artful devices of an obstinate and unscrupulous tyrant. 
 ]\Ir. Froude considers, moreover, that the older graduates of 
 Oxford had "a just apprehension of the condition of the 
 kingdom, and a sense of the obligations of subjects in times 
 of political difficulty," while the Masters of Arts belonged to 
 " a class of men, who, defective alike in age, in wisdom, or in 
 knowledge, were distinguished by a species of theoretic High 
 Church fanaticism," and " required from time to time to be 
 protected against their own extravagance by some form of 
 external pressure." ^ Without, however, attempting to decide 
 whether the older graduates were actuated mainly by a care 
 for the future welfare of the realm, by fear of the King's 
 wrath, or by a desire to stand well with the chief dispensers 
 
 ' The Romanist writer, Nicholas j Sander's character for accuracy 
 
 Sander, states that the decree ! does not stand high, he would 
 
 was obtained "partly by force j scarcely have ventured upon such 
 
 and partly by fraud " by a small ! a statement if the decree had been 
 
 band of men, who privily broke 
 
 into the church where the affairs 
 
 of the University were ordinarily 
 
 transacted, and there affixed 
 
 the seal of the University to the 
 
 document, in order to avert the ^ Jl,i({_ p. 279 
 
 king's wrath. Ibid.-^.?<2. Although ; 
 
 known to express the prevailing 
 opinion of the resident graduates 
 of Oxford. 
 
 ^ Froude's History of England, 
 (ed. 1867) vol. i. pp. 277, 278, 282.
 
 478 THE FALL OF WOLSEY. 
 
 of ecclesiastical patronage, it may safely be said that the 
 Masters of Arts, rather than they, were the representatives 
 of the independent clerks who, in the thirteenth and four- 
 teenth centuries, had withstood kings, prelates, nobles and 
 burghers alike, in defence of their liberty of thought and 
 action. 
 
 During the two anxious months in which the question as 
 to the validity of the King's marriage was being keenly debated 
 at Oxford, the University seems to have had no direct com- 
 munication wfth Wolsey. The great statesman, on whom it 
 had for several years relied for advice in every difficulty, 
 was no longer able to act as his patron and protector. 
 Yet even after his enforced retirement from political life 
 he continued to take an interest in academical affairs 
 especially in those which concerned the college that bore 
 his name. 
 
 The decline of Wolsey's power dates from the time when 
 Henry VIII. found that he could not obtain from the 
 Icgatine court in England a decree invalidating his marriage 
 with Catharine of Aragon. Within a few hours of Cam- 
 peggio's departure from London, on his return to Italy, legal 
 proceedings were commenced against Wolsey for having 
 exercised the authority committed to him by the Pope, con- 
 trary to the statute of PrcEumnire. The Great Seal was taken 
 from him on the 22nd of October, 1529; his goods were 
 seized by the king's agents ; and he was commanded to 
 retire into the country. According to the view of the legal 
 advisers of the Crown, all acts done by him since his as- 
 sumption of the legatine authority were invalid, and liable 
 to be set aside.' Thus it was that, as early as the 8th of 
 November, a rumour was circulated that the King had given 
 orders for the immediate ejection of all the inmates of 
 Cardinal College at Oxford. A great part of the buildings, it 
 was said, were to be demolished, if only because they bore, at 
 ' ZtY/r;-.9c;;/^/'rir/^;'.v,(cd. Brewer) vol. iv.
 
 CARDINAL COLLEGE. ' 479 
 
 every prominent point, escutcheons carved with the arms 
 of the proud Cardinal' 
 
 A few weeks later, the rich vestments and other ornaments of 
 St. Frideswyde's Church were taken to London in order that 
 the fallen minister's arms might be removed from them.^ Con- 
 sidering their great value, it is highly improbable that the 
 rapacious monarch suffered them to be restored. There was still 
 a good market for such articles in England, as the monasteries 
 had not yet been despoiled of their treasures. When, five 
 months later, the King was asked by a representative of 
 Cardinal College named William Tresham to spare some 
 white copes for the use of the Dean and Canons on great 
 festivals, he replied cynically "Alack ! They are all disposed, 
 and not one of them is left." The same applicant besought 
 him earnestly to be gracious to the College, firstly, because 
 he himself had been its early patron and benefactor ; secondly, 
 because it had been established to the honour of God and 
 the general good of the realm ; and, thirdly, because its 
 members were bound by oath to offer prayers and celebrate 
 dirges for him every week. The King's answer to this appeal 
 is not recorded, but, to another intercessor, a fortnight later, 
 he said that it was only by his sufferance that the College 
 retained any of its property, and that it did not deserve any 
 favour at his hands, inasmuch as most of its members had 
 opposed his wishes in the matter of the divorce. In order to 
 prevent the immediate alienation of some of the endowments 
 of the College, the sub-dean and others suggested that a fee, 
 or bribe, should be given to the Chancellor of the Duchy of 
 Lancaster. At that time, there was some idea that Wolsey 
 might yet be reinstated in the favour of the master whom he 
 had served so faithfully. 3 Resuming for a very brief period 
 his position as patron of the University of Oxford, the 
 
 ' Calendar of State Papers, 
 Spanish, (ed. Gayangos) vol. iv. 
 p. 326. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p 370. 
 
 ^ Letters and Papers, vol. iv. pp. 
 2864, 2878.
 
 48o WOLSEY IN DISGRACE. 
 
 Cardinal issued an order that the out-going Proctors should 
 retain their places, an order which met with the royal ap- 
 proval.' With this ceased all direct connexion between him 
 and the University at large. 
 
 While the members of Cardinal College were left in 
 suspense as to their fate, the King's agents took possession of 
 the College which Wolsey had founded at Ipswich as a 
 training-place for young scholars. Its lands were declared 
 to belong to the Crown, and an inventory was made of its 
 books, plate, and ornaments.^ In April, 1530, Henry VIII. 
 announced his intention of dissolving the College and seizing 
 its property to his own use, an intention from which he was 
 not diverted by the arguments of Dr. Stephen Gardiner. 
 " Thus," says Dr. Brewer, " one of the noblest foundations for 
 education, so much needed for the eastern counties, was 
 brought to desolation by the avarice of the King an 
 greed of his favourites." ^ 
 
 These proceedings filled Wolsey with the utmost alarm as 
 to the treatment which his larger foundation would receive. 
 He therefore appealed for help to some of the most influential 
 persons who had not entirely turned against him. To 
 Thomas Cromwell he wrote : 
 
 " I am in such indisposition of body and mind by the 
 reason of such great heaviness as I am in, being put from 
 my sleep and meat for such advertisements as I have had 
 from you of the dissolution of my College, with the small 
 comfort and appearance that I have to be retained by the 
 King's highness in this mine extreme need. ... I cannot 
 write unto you for weeping and sorrow." ' 
 
 To Gardiner he wrote on the 23rd of July: "Suffer not 
 the things which by your great learning, study, counsel, and 
 travail, hath been erected, founden, and with good statute, to 
 
 ' Letters and Papers, vol. i\-. p. 
 2S64 ; Reg. H. f. 229. 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 2845, 292S. 
 
 '^ Ibid. p. dlxxxv. 
 Ellis, Original Letters^ 2vA 
 scries, vol. ii. p. 35, from a draft.
 
 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 481 
 
 the honour of God, increase of virtue and learning estabh'shed, 
 to be dissolved or dismembered. . . . Superfluities, if any- 
 such shall be thought and founden, may be resecat (cut off), 
 but to destroy the whole, it were too great pity." ' 
 
 So again, Wolsey wrote to the Lord Chief Justice on 
 behalf of the members of the College, praying that " the 
 sharpness and rigour of the law " should not be ministered 
 " to these poor innocents." ^ He also wrote in a like strain 
 to the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, the Attorney- 
 General, the Dean of Windsor, and others. 3 In preparing an 
 appeal to the king, the fallen minister described himself as 
 "prostrate" at his feet, "with weeping tears," and "of all 
 creatures living " the " most obliged and bounden " to him."* 
 
 In the early part of August, the Dean of Cardinal College 
 and a priest named Robert Carter, went to the Court to 
 'nt a petition from the whole community. The Duke 
 K.. orfolk, who had succeeded to a part of Wolsey's authority, 
 told them at first that the College was to be dissolved, that the 
 new buildings were to be demolished, and that all the 
 endowments, save such as had belonged to the Priory of 
 St. Frideswyde, were to be confiscated. Henry VIII. showed 
 himself somewhat more gracious, and said to them : "Surely 
 we propose to have an honourable College there, but not so 
 great or of such magnificence as my Lord Cardinal intended to 
 have, for it is not thought meet for the common weal of our 
 realm. Yet we will have a College, honourably to maintain 
 the service of God and literature." He moreover gave them 
 permission to receive their rents as usual until Michaelmas. 
 With this, they and Cromwell seem to have been fairly 
 satisfied, especially as the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl 
 of Wiltshire, Anne Boleyn's father, promised to endeavour 
 
 ' Strype's Ecclesiastical Memo- ' 2961. 
 
 rials, (ed. 1822) vol. i. part ii. p. '\ ^ Ibid. p. 2962. 
 137- * Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd 
 
 = Letters and Papers, vol. iv. p, series, vol. ii. p. 33, from a draft. 
 
 I I
 
 482 CARDINAL COLLEGE. 
 
 to obtain a writ of sjipersedeas, to restrain the King's com- 
 missioners from taking actual possession of the collegiate 
 buildings.' 
 
 At the beginning of October, the friends of the College 
 were still labouring for the writ. Sir Thomas More, who was 
 then Lord Chancellor, and Gardiner, who was Secretary of 
 State, used their influence with the King, and the University 
 of Oxford wrote, urging him to show mercy.^ At last, on 
 the iith of October, Tresham was able to inform Wolsey 
 that he had that day " got a supersedeas sealed in the 
 Chancery, and allowed by the King's Council." Nevertheless, 
 he said, " My Lord Chancellor fears that the King will in 
 conclusion have your grace's College for all the supersedeas ; 
 but he added that Mr. Secretary [Gardiner] was active for its 
 continuance, and he thought the King could not make it less 
 than you intended. "3 In this idea he was mistaken. Cardinal 
 College was totally suppressed, and when, nearly two years 
 later, another institution was set up in its stead, under the 
 title of " King Henry the Eighth's College," provision was 
 made for no more than a Dean and twelve Canons, not 
 necessarily connected with the University, and a few clerks 
 and choristers."* This purely ecclesiastical body was in its 
 turn suppressed in 1545, to make way for the grander 
 foundation which still flourishes under the name of Christ 
 Church. Thus, after many vicissitudes, the venerable minster 
 of .St. Frideswyde, one of the few remaining memorials of 
 pr.x-academic Oxford, now serves as the chapel of the largest 
 college in the University, and as the cathedral church of the 
 diocese. 
 
 In tracing the history of a great institution, as in tracing 
 that of a nation, it is sometimes difficult to fix on an exact 
 date at which a particular phase of its existence may be said 
 
 ' Letters and Papers. \o\. iv. p. ^ Ibid. p. 3010. 
 
 2963. Statutes of tlie Colleges of 
 
 - Ibid. p. 3004. Oxford., \o\. ii.
 
 CONCLUSION. 483 
 
 to have ended, and another to have begun. Events, however 
 remarkable and decisive, are often so closely connected with 
 others that precede or follow them, that there is no break of 
 continuity. The selection therefore of the death of Wolsey, 
 at the close of 1530, as the event with which this volume 
 should end, does not necessarily imply that this year marked 
 a turning-point in the history of the University of Oxford. 
 This limit has rather been chosen in order to make a pause 
 before the consideration of the great changes of the Reforma- 
 tion period, changes which followed closely upon one another, 
 and produced results of lasting importance. 
 
 In 1530, the University was in a depressed and unsatisfac- 
 tory condition, materially reduced in numbers, morally 
 deteriorated, and far more dependent than of yore upon the 
 favour of royal and other powerful patrons. The old order of 
 things, though threatened, had not yet passed away. Despite 
 the contemptuous criticism of enlightened men like Colet and 
 Erasmus, the authority of the Schoolmen was still recognised 
 as paramount. In the absence of any notable leaders of 
 religious or philosophical thought, the teaching of the schools 
 was dry and formal. No enthusiasm was apparent in any 
 quarter. Although Greek had come to be regarded as a 
 legitimate and worthy subject of attention, the study of 
 polite literature had not been introduced into the ordinary 
 academical curriculum. 
 
 English monasticism was approaching its end, and the 
 regular canons of St. Frideswyde's Priory had been displaced 
 in favour of the secular canons of Cardinal College. The 
 Augustinian Order still retained Oseney Abbey and St. Mary's 
 College. There were Benedictine students at Gloucester 
 College, Durham College, and Canterbury College, and 
 Cistercians at Rewley Abbey and St. Bernard's College 
 Each of the four great orders of mendicant friars, the Fran- 
 ciscans, the Dominicans, the Augustinians, and the Carmelites, 
 had large conventual schools in connexion with the University.
 
 484 CONCLUSION. 
 
 A few of the old academical halls were still tenanted by 
 students living under the government of Principals, but the 
 halls were quite overshadowed by the endowed Colleges, of 
 which there were twelve, not reckoning Wolsey's incomplete 
 foundation, Cardinal College. The Heads of Houses had 
 begun to exercise a controlling influence in the councils 
 of the Universit}^, and the tendency of the Colleges to 
 absorb the whole academical population of Oxford was 
 already manifest. 
 
 In tracing the subsequent history of the University, it 
 will be seen that the Colleges grew steadily in number, in 
 wealth, and in importance, and that to them Oxford is mainly 
 indebted for its architectural splendour and its world-wide 
 renown.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 K K
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abelard, 5 . 
 Abenragel, Haly, 321. 
 Aberdeen, Archdeacon of, 182. 
 Abingdon, 27, 34, 103, 132, 431, 
 
 436. 
 Abingdon, the Abbot of, 36, 104, 
 
 325, 354- 
 Abingdon, Edmund of, see Rich. 
 Abingdon, Henry, 303. 
 Accorso, Francesco di, 88, 89. 
 yEgidius Romanus, 339. 
 yEschines, 321, 437. 
 Agnello da Pisa, 28. 
 Ailh, Peter de, 296. 
 Alberbury, 356. 
 Albert the Great, 26, 56, 113. 
 Albumazar, 321. 
 Alcibiades, 437. 
 Alcuin, 239. 
 Aldus IManutius, 389. 
 Ale, the assay and assize of, 44, 46, 
 
 126, 161, 166, 232, 290. 
 Alexander IV., Pope, 106. 
 Alexander V., Pope, 285, 301. 
 Alfred, King, 238 240, 243 245. 
 Alfward, son of Edward the Elder, 
 
 All Souls' College, 186, 188, 324, 
 342, 351 360, 363, 375, 407,441- 
 
 Ambrose, St., 355, 412. 
 
 Amory, Sir Richard de, 168. 
 
 Andrew, Richard, 353355- 
 
 Andruyn, Cardinal, 179. 
 
 Angers, 31. 
 
 Anstey, Mr, quoted, 94, 95, 102, 
 169, 207, 208, 292. 
 
 Antony, St., 91. 
 
 Aquinas, Thomas, 26, 56, 113 
 
 115, 129, 321, 394. 
 Arabic, the study of, 112. 
 Aretino, see Bruni. 
 Aristophanes, 412, 453. 
 Aristotle, 9, 22, 25, 38, 1 1 3, 203, 207, 
 
 211, 215, 243, 321, 339, 340, 381, 
 
 389,412,452,453. 
 Arithmetic, the study of, 9, 57, 207, 
 
 241. 
 Armagh, Archbishop of, 94 96, 
 
 154, 174, 175, 244, 286. 
 Arthur, Prince, 372, 374, 375, 389. 
 Arundel, the Earl of, 294. 
 Arundel, Thomas (Archishop of 
 
 Canterbury), 277, 278, 280 284, 
 
 305, 309, 313- 
 
 Asaph's, St., Bishop of, 223. 
 
 Asser, 239 242 
 
 Aston, John, 268, 270 273, 276. 
 
 Astrologers consulted, 466. 
 
 Astronomy, the study of, 9, 190, 
 206, 241. 
 
 Atwater, William (Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), 423. 
 
 Audley, Edmund (Bishop of Roches- 
 ter and of Salisbury), 331, 379. 
 
 Augustine, St., 229, 355, 412, 436. 
 
 Augustinian Canons, 8, 225, 247, 
 267, 304, 316, 336, 341, 393, 441, 
 
 453, 467, 483- 
 Augustinian Eriars, 50, 119, 163, 
 
 211, 213, 263, 338, 432, 433, 483. 
 Aulus Gellius, 321, 412. 
 Aust, 252. 
 
 K K 2
 
 488 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Auvergne, Guy, brother of the 
 
 Count of, 31. 
 Averroes, 113, 115. 
 Avicenna, 321,453. 
 Avignon, 94, in, 128,174, I75, 221, 
 
 298. 
 Ayhner, John, 306. 
 
 Bachelor, the term, 7, 21 1. 
 
 Bacon, John, 42. 
 
 Bacon, Robert, 23, 26, 29. 
 
 Bacon, Roger. 39, 51, 5457, 220, 
 
 281, 321. 
 Baconthorp, John, 156. 
 Bagley Wood, 290. 
 BaUiol College, 71, 72, 85 87, 105, 
 
 153155, 251, 306, 316, 326, 342, 
 
 361, 384,414417. 
 BaUiol, the Lady Dervorguilla de, 
 
 72, 8587, 142, 155,414,417. 
 Balliol, Sir John de, 71, 72, 85 87, 
 
 417. 
 Banbury, 169. 
 Barbarus, Hermolaus, 38S. 
 Barber, Hugh le, 62. 
 Barbers, 94, 95, 171, 233. 
 Barbour, John, 182. 
 Barcelona, 49. 
 Barendon, 447. 
 Barnet, the battle of, 328. 
 Barons' War, the, 63 66, 71, 72, 
 
 74; 
 Barri, Gerald de, 12 14. 
 Basel, the Council of, 333, 334. 
 Basingstoke, 74, 78. 
 Piasset, Alan, 70. 
 Bath and Wells, liishops of 
 
 Nicholas Bubwith, 316. 
 
 Thomas Bekynton,, 322, 346, 
 360. 
 
 Robert Stillington, 329, 369, 
 
 .371. 
 Ricliard Fox, 405 414, 434. 
 
 "Battels," 152, 205. 
 
 Bayley, 467. 
 
 Bcauchamp, Richard (Prishop of 
 Salisbury), 330. 
 
 Iicaufort, iicnry (P,ishop of Win- 
 chester), 2S9, 300, 317, 318. 
 
 P>caumont, Count, 449. 
 
 I'eckct, Thomas (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 11, 15, 141, 229. 
 
 Beckley, 310. 
 
 Beckyngham, Edmund, 294. 
 Bede, 244, 321,436. 
 Bedels of the University, 97, 108, 
 168, 171, 213, 229, 230, 316, 327, 
 
 337, 374, 375, 425, 427- 
 
 Bcdeman, Laurence, 268, 272. 
 
 Bedford, the Duke of, 319, 327. 
 
 Bedminster, 466. 
 
 Begham, co. Sussex, 442. 
 
 Bekynton. Thomas (Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells), 322, 346, 360. 
 
 Belgrade, the battle of, 334. 
 
 Bell, Dr., 473. 
 
 Bellosite, 242. 
 
 Benedict XII., Pope, 225. 
 
 Benedict XIII., Pope, 298 301. 
 
 Benedictine Monks, 102 105, 155, 
 158161, 177180, 225, 242, 
 251, 261, 291, 303, 304, 307, 316, 
 340, 341, 3S6, 406, 426, 461, 483. 
 
 Benefices reserved for graduates, 
 289. 315. 
 
 Benvenuto da Imola, cpioted, 90. 
 
 Bereford, John de, 162, 165, 167. 
 
 Berengarius, 261, 263. 
 
 Bermingham, Fulk, 315. 
 
 Bernard's, St., College, 341 343, 
 
 351,467,483- 
 Bernwood, 310. 
 Berton, William de, 261, 264. 
 Bcssarion, Cardinal, 450. 
 Betts, William, 459, 462, 463, 467. 
 Beverley, St. John of, 244. 
 Beverley, Philip of, 245. 
 Bicester, the convent of, ']o. 
 Birch, John, 294, 295. 
 Bitson, Roger, 337. 
 Black Friars, sec Dominican Friars. 
 Blades, Mr., cjuotcd, 339. 
 Blound, John, 31. 
 Boccaccio, 89, 90, 321, 382. 
 Bodley, Sir Thomas, 181. 
 Boethius, 9, 207. 
 Boleyn, Anne, 469, 481. 
 Bologna, the University of, 4, 6, 7, 
 
 10, 15, 56, 60, 88, 89, 92, 112. 
 Boniface of Savoy (Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury), 47. 
 Pjoniface VIII., Pope, 239, 292. 
 Boniface IX., Pope, 292, 295, 298, 
 
 300, 325- 
 Boswortli, the battle of, 369, 405. 
 Botley, 290.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 489 
 
 Bourchier, John (Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury), 330. 
 
 Bourchier, Thomas (Bishop of Wor- 
 cester), 325, 326, 330, 339. 
 
 Boy-Bishop, 192. 
 
 Bradwardine, Thomas (Archbishop 
 of Canterbury), 156, 281, 321. 
 
 Brasenose College, 54, 83, 396 
 404. 6"^^ iz/j-*? Halls, Academical. 
 
 Bray, Sir Reginald, 379. 
 
 Bread, the assay and assize of, 44, 
 46, 126, 161, 166, 232, 290. 
 
 Brecon, Archdeacon of, 13. 
 
 Bredon, Simon de, 181. 
 
 Brent, Benedict, 294, 295. 
 
 Bretigni, the treaty of, 182. 
 
 Brewer, Dr., quoted, 480. 
 
 Brightwell, Thomas, 268. 
 
 " Bringers of scholars," 198. 
 
 Brinknell, Thomas, 456. 
 
 Bristol, 466. 
 
 Brock, William de, 104. 
 
 Brome, Adam de, 99, 141 147,353, 
 
 379- 
 Brompton, John, 243. 
 Brough under Stainmore, 148. 
 Brown, RicharJ, 322. 
 Bruges, 253. 
 Bruni, Lionardo, 320, 339, 382, 
 
 384. 
 
 Brute, Walter, 274. 
 
 Brutus, 242. 
 
 Bubwith, Nicholas (Bishop of Bath 
 and Wells), 316. 
 
 Budteus, 439. 
 
 Bugden, 128. 
 
 Burghersh, Henry (Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), 143. 
 
 Burgo, Nicholas de, 474. 
 
 Burgundy, the Bastard of, 331. 
 
 Burley, Walter, 156, 239. 
 
 Burnell, William, loi. 
 
 Burrows, Professor, quoted, 355. 
 
 Burton, John, 441. 
 
 Bury, Richard of (Bishop of Dur- 
 ham), 135, 157159, 174, 221. 
 
 Butchers, j6i, 232. 
 
 Bysshopp, Thomas, 335. 
 
 Caen, the University of, 333. 
 Cctsar, 385. 
 Caldwell, Roger, 2^6. 
 Camden, William, 240, 241. 
 
 Cambridge, the University of, 18, 
 33, 41, 64, 72, 87, 91, 106, 133, 
 175, 182, 196, 198, 206, 210, 212, 
 215, 217, 218, 221, 224, 238, 264, 
 281, 288,289, 299301, 309, 325, 
 333, 335, 347, 3^4, 405, 455, 456, 
 459,468,471- 
 Cambridge, Colleges of: 
 
 St. Catharine's College, 87. 
 Clare College, 87. 
 King's College, 186, 324, 347. 
 King's Hall, 385. 
 St. John's College, 389, 405. 
 Pembroke College, 347, 405. 
 Peterhouse, 87, 91. 
 Trinity Hall, 87, 324. 
 Campeggio, Cardinal, 478. 
 Cantaber, 238. 
 Canterbury, the Archbishop of, 80, 
 
 291295, 357- 
 Canterbury, Archbishops of : 
 Plegmund, 242. 
 Theobald, 11. 
 Thomas Becket, 11, 15, 141, 
 
 229. 
 Stephen I.angton, 15. 
 Edmund Rich, 21 23, 61, 
 
 229. 
 Boniface of Savoy, 47. 
 Robert Kilwardby, 62, 1 14, 129. 
 John Peckham, Si, 114, 129, 
 
 ISO- 
 Robert Winchelsey, 108, 109, 
 
 127. 
 Walter Reynolds, 109 in. 
 John Stratford, 109, no, 170. 
 Thomas Bradwardine, 156, 281, 
 
 321. 
 Simon Islip, 166, i6g, 177 179, 
 
 252. 
 Simon Langham, 178. 
 Simon Sudbury, 255, 256, 265. 
 William Courtenay, 171,254 
 
 256, 265, 266, 2/0 273, 291, 
 
 292. 
 Thomas Arundel, 277, 278, 280 
 
 284, 292, 305, 309. 
 Henry Chicheley, 285, 316, 324, 
 
 341-343, 351359,440. 
 John Staftord, 359. 
 John Kemp, 318. 
 
 Thomas Bourchier, 325, 3 
 
 330, 339. 
 John -Morton, 333, 376, 377. 
 
 26.
 
 490 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Canterbury, Archbishops of (coti- 
 tinued) : 
 William Warham, 377, 41 (S 
 428, 437,457459, 471,473 
 475- 
 Thomas Cranmer, 470. 
 Reginald Pole, 476. 
 Matthew Parker, 240. 
 Canterbury College, 160, 177 180, 
 
 251, 341,406,483- 
 
 Cantilupe, Thomas (Bishop of 
 Hereford), 61 63. 
 
 Cantilupe, Walter (Bishop of 
 Worcester), 61. 
 
 Capella, Martianus, 9. 
 
 Capgrave, John, 320. 
 
 Carbone, Ludovico, 385. 
 
 Cardinal College, 186, 428, 440 
 459, 462, 465, 467, 468, 478484- 
 
 Carlisle, Bishop of, 26, 97. 
 
 Carmelite Friars, 50, 120, 173, 264, 
 266, 272, 273, 481. 
 
 Carpenter, John, 326 
 
 Carter, Robert, 481. 
 
 Carthusian Monks, 274. 
 
 Cassiodorus, 9. 
 
 Catharine (of Aragon) Oucen, 422, 
 469478. 
 
 Catharine, St., 48, 154, 416. 
 
 Cato, 321. 
 
 Caxton, William, quoted, 236, 339. 
 
 Celestine III., Pope, 17. 
 
 Chalcondylas, Demetrius, 3S7, 388. 
 
 Chaldce, the study of, 112. 
 
 " Chamberdekens," 309, 336. 
 
 Champeaux, Guillaume de, 4. 
 
 Chancellor of the University of 
 Oxford, the, 19, 20, 29, 32, 40, 42, 
 4446, f,8, 59, 8284, 122, 125, 
 126, 132, 155, 161, 166172, 199, 
 231233, 244, 290, 291, 306, 
 325, 335, 340, 375377, 427, 46S. 
 
 Chancellors of the University of 
 Oxford: 
 Robert Grossetcste, 29, 30, 36, 
 38,-42, 50, 51, 56-58, 61, 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Ralph of Maidstone, 31, 60. 
 Richard of Wych, 60, 61, 229. 
 Thomas Cantilupe, 61 63. 
 Robert Winchclsey, 127. 
 William Kingscote, 127. 
 Henry Mansfield, 153. 
 Henry de llarcla, 1 11. 
 
 Chancellors of the University of 
 Oxford {continued) : 
 John Luttrell, ill, 130. 
 Richard Fitz-Ralph, 94 96, 
 
 154, 174, 175, 244- 
 Robert Stratford, 170. 
 John Wylliot, 170. 
 William de Palmorva, 169, 170. 
 Humphrey de Charlton, 162, 
 
 166. 
 William Courtenay, 171, 254 
 
 256, 265, 266, 270273, 29 f, 
 
 292. 
 William de Bert on, 261, 264. 
 Robert Rygge, 264, 267 269, 
 
 308. 
 Thomas Prestbury, 283. 
 Thomas Hendman, 292. 
 Philip Repyngdon, 267 273, 
 
 285, 305. 
 Robert Halam, 301, 303. 
 Richard Courtenay, 293 295, 
 
 305- 
 Thomas Bourchier, 325, 326, 
 
 330, 339- 
 John Carpenter, 326, 
 John Norton, 326. 
 William Grey, 326, 383, 3S4. 
 Gilbert Kymer, 319, 326, 337. 
 Richard Rothcrham, 347. 
 Thomas Gascoigne, 94 96, 
 
 279, 326334. 
 Robert Thwaytes, 326. 
 George Neville, 326 329. 
 Thomas Chaundler, 327 329, 
 
 386, 387. 
 Lionel Wydvillc, 329, 332. 
 William Dudley, 333. 
 John Russell, 375, 376. 
 William Smith, 377, 396. 
 William Warham, 377, 418 
 428, 437, 457459, 47i, 473 
 -475- 
 Chapyrnay, Lewis of, 246, 247. 
 Charles V., Emperor, 420. 
 Charles VT., King of France, 353. 
 Charles, Duke of Savoy, 420. 
 Charlton, Humphrey de, 162, 166. 
 Charnock, Richard, 393, 394. 
 Chaucer, quoted, 91, 199, 203, 204, 
 
 220, 310. 
 Chaundler, Thomas, 327 329, 386, 
 
 387. 
 Chester, Archdeacon of, 29, 60.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 491 
 
 Chester, 466. 
 
 Chests, or Hutches : 
 
 St. Frideswyde's Chest, 40, 59, 
 97, lOI. 
 
 William of Durham's Chest, 
 
 71, 97- 
 Ela, Countess of Warwick's 
 
 Chest, loi. 
 ohn de Pontoise's Chest, loi. 
 The Guildford Chest, loi. 
 The Vienna Chest, loi. 
 The Rothbury Chest, loi, 131. 
 The Lincoln Chest, loi. 
 The Chichester Chest, loi. 
 The Burnell Chest, loi. 
 The Queen's Chest, loi. 
 The (jcrmein Chest, 140. 
 The Grenfield Chest, 141. 
 The Turvile Chest, 180. 
 The Langton Chest, 180. 
 The Selton Chest, 180. 
 The Proctors' Chest, 180. 
 The Chest of the Four Keys, 
 
 180, 305, 306. 
 The Chest of Patterns, 180. 
 The Chest of the Five Keys, 
 
 306. 
 The Danvers Chest, 324. 
 The Exeter Chest, 323, 324. 
 The Chicheley Chests, 324, 
 
 357- 
 The Bourchier Chest, 326. 
 The Chest of the Three 
 Philosophies, and the Seven 
 Liberal Arts, 319, 323. 
 Chicheley, Henry (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 285, 316, 324, 341 
 
 343, 351359,440- 
 Chichester, Bishops of: 
 
 Richard of Wych, 60, 61, 
 
 229. 
 Gilbert de St. Leofard, loi. 
 John Langton, 180. 
 Robert Stratford, 170, 325. 
 Reginald Pecok, 286, 339. 
 Edward Story, 331. 
 Chillenden, Thomas, 180. 
 Christiern, King of Denmark, 420. 
 Chrysoloras, Manuel, 382, 386. 
 Chrysostom, St., 386, 412. 
 Christ Church, 186,482. See also 
 
 Cardinal College. 
 Cicero, 9, 243, 321, 340, 382, 384, 
 385,390,412,453- 
 
 Cistercian Monks, 102, 105, 225, 
 261, 271, 273, 276, 341343, 351, 
 426, 467, 483. 
 
 Clarence, the Duke of, 353. 
 
 Clarke, John, 459, 462, 467. 
 
 Claymond, John, 404, 407, 414. 
 
 Clemengis, Nicholas de, 296. 
 
 Clement IV., Pope, 54. 
 
 Clement V., Pope, no, 119, 225. 
 
 Clement VI., Pope, 174. 
 
 Clement VII., Pope, 296. 
 
 Clement, Vincent, 315. 
 
 Clifford, Sir Lewis, 276. 
 
 Clyfton, William, 404. 
 
 Cobham, Thomas (Bishop of 
 Worcester), 91, 99, 100, 181, 
 
 319- 
 Cobham, Eleanor, 319. 
 Colet, Sir Henry, 391. 
 Colet, John, 391 395. 
 "Collections," 218. 
 College, the term, 87. 
 Colleges, rise and development of, 
 
 69,70, 153,434- 
 Colleges, the heads of, 306, 452 , 
 
 471,484- 
 Collier, Jeremy, ciuoted, 278. 
 Cologne, 115, 460. 
 Coloribus, John de, 456. 
 " Commencement," see Inception. 
 Commissary of the Chancellor, the, 
 
 170, 181, 199, 232, 325, 428430, 
 
 432, 438,461466, 471. 
 " Commons," 204. 
 Commoners lodging in Colleges, 
 
 83, 251, 349, 350. 
 "Congregation," 49, 99, 100, 181, 
 217, 219, 234, 279, 280, 282, 292, 
 
 305- 
 Constance, the Council of, 286, 302, 
 
 303- 
 Constantinople, the fall of, 383. 
 " Convocation," 100, 233, 280. 
 Cordon, Richard, 322. 
 Cornwall, Archdeacon of, 42. 
 Cornwall, Edmund, Earl of, 102. 
 Cornwall, Richard of, 56, 
 Corpus Christi College, 323, 404 
 
 414, 431, 434, 435, 455, 463- 
 Cottisford, Dr., 461, 462 466, 
 Cotton, Sir Robert, 248. 
 Courcon, Robert de, 216. 
 Courtenay, Richard, 293 295. 
 Courtcnay, Peler, 329.
 
 492 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Courtenay, William (Bishop of 
 London, Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury), 171, 254 256, 265, 266, 
 270 273, 291, 292. 
 
 Cowley, 146. 
 
 Cox, John, 404. 
 
 Coxe, Richard (Bishop of Ely), 
 
 459- 
 " Creansers," or private tutors, 
 
 367- 
 Crevier, AL, quoted, 296. 
 Crickladc, 242. 
 Crofton, Edmund, 397. 
 Cromwell, Sir Ralph, 366, 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 448, 480, 481. 
 Croyland, Abbot of, 243. 
 Crumpe, Henry, 271, 273, 276. 
 Cuthbert, St., 229, 246. 
 Cyprian, an Italian, 387. 
 
 Dalaber, Anthony, 460 467. 
 Dalderby, John (Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), 119, 128. 
 Dante, 8991, 115, 228, 321, 383. 
 Danvers, Dame Joan, 324. 
 Darbie, Edward, 404. 
 Darlington, Hugh de, 105. 
 Dash, Walter, 264. 
 David II., King of Scotland, 182. 
 David's, St., Bishops of: 
 
 Thomas Walsh, 50. 
 
 Henry Chicheley, 285, 316, 324, 
 341-343, 371359,440. 
 
 William Lyndwode, 340. 
 
 Robert Toly, 363. 
 
 Thomas Langton, 332. 
 Decembrio, Pietro Candido, 320. 
 Degrees, the system of academical, 
 
 57, 52, 106 III. 
 Demosthenes, 412. 
 Dcnys, St. 91. 
 
 Despencer, Hugh le, 120, 142. 
 "Determination," 139, 151, 206 
 
 211,350. 
 Diet, John, 463, 467. 
 Diodorus Siculus, 384. 
 Disputation, the art of, 209. 
 Divinity, see Theology. 
 Divinity School, the, 242, 316 - 
 
 319- 
 Doctor, the term, 6. 
 Domesday survey, 2. 
 
 Dominican Friars, 23 27, 42, 49, 
 SO, 53,61,62, 65, 105 115, 121, 
 129, 130, 133, 173, 182,224, 259 
 261, 313,456,483 
 Do/ninus, the term, 216. 
 Donatus, 9, 235. 
 Dorset, the Marquess of, 419. 
 Dover, 184, 466. 
 Druel, John, 354. 
 Dublin, Archbishop of, 36. 
 Dudley, William (Bishop of Dur- 
 ham), 333. 
 Dundalk, 175. 
 Dunfermline, Gilbert of, 43. 
 Dunkeld, Bishop of, 188. 
 Dunstan, Anthony (Bishop of Llan- 
 
 daff), 464.. 
 Durham, Bishops of: 
 Walter Kirkham, 71. 
 Richard of Bury, 135, 157- 
 
 159, 174, 221. 
 Walter Skirlaw, 304. 
 Thomas Langley, 316. 
 William Dudley, 333. 
 Richard Fox, 404 414. 
 Durham College, 105, 141, 154, 155 
 158 161, 242, 304, 341, 342, 406 
 Durham, William of, 31, 65, 70, 82 
 
 85, 97, 153, 243, 245247, 397, 
 Dykes, Robert, 294. 
 
 Earthquake, the Council of the, 
 
 265. 
 Eden, 462, 4G3. 
 Edward the Elder, King, 2. 
 Edward I., King, 62, 67, 88, 89, 92, 
 
 130, 134, 145- 
 Edward II., King, 97, 109 iir, 
 
 120, 122, 126, 129, 130, 133, 141, 
 
 142, 145. 
 Edward III., King, 129, 135, 157, 
 
 159, 165167, 176, 179, 181, 191, 
 
 255, 366. 
 Edward IV., King, 286, 322, 328 
 
 331, 363, 366, 374, 385. 
 Edward V., King, 332. 
 Edward, the Black Prince, 166, 
 
 191. 
 Edward, Prince, 327. 
 Eglesfield, Robert de, 147 152. 
 Eleanor, Oueen, 145. 
 Elizabeth '('Wydville), Queen, 285. 
 P'lizabcth (of York), Queen, 374.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 493 
 
 Ely, Bishops of: 
 
 William Grey, 326, 383, 384. 
 John Morton, 331, 333, 376, 
 377. 
 
 Erasmus, 387, 389, 390, 392395, 
 421,435,437,439. 
 
 Este, Robert, 359. 
 
 Eton College, 186, 324, 326, 347, 
 355, 440. 
 
 Eugenms IV., Pope, 334, 354- 
 
 Eiilogiitni Historiaruin, 321. 
 
 Euripides, 412, 453. 
 
 Eusebius, 321. 
 
 Evesham, the battle of, 62. 
 
 Evesham, the Abbot of, 36, 104. 
 
 Excommunication by the Chan- 
 cellor of the University, 58, 172, 
 
 232, 307, 425- 
 Exeter, Bishops of: 
 
 Walter de Stapeldon, 137 
 
 142. 
 George Neville, 326 329. 
 Richard Fox, 405 414. 
 Hugh Oldham, 406. 
 Exeter College, 136 141, 148, 181, 
 276, 303, 306, 316, 333, 387, 397. 
 Exeter, Dean of, 329. 
 Exeter, Thomas, Duke of, 323, 
 
 327. 
 Expense of hving at Oxford, 14, 93, 
 
 201. 
 Eynsham, the convent of, 21, 40, 
 '100, 132, 354. 
 
 Faculties, division of the University 
 into, 14,54,98,110,218,219,231', 
 234, 237, 282, 337, 475. 
 
 Faculty, the term, 7. 
 
 Farley, 73. 
 
 Fastoif, Sir John, 366. 
 
 " Father," the, at an Inception, 213 
 215. 
 
 Fellow, the term, jy, 78, 178. 
 
 Felton, Sir William de, 417. 
 
 Fcrrara, 334, 338, 384. 
 
 Ferrar, Robert, 467. 
 
 Festivals, national, 48, 229, 338. 
 
 Ficino, ]\IarsiIio, 392. 
 
 Filelfo, Francesco, 382. 
 
 Fillingham, 251. 
 
 Fines, pecuniary, 401. 
 
 P'ishacrc, Richard, 26. 
 
 Fisher, John (Bishop of Rochester), 
 
 456. 
 Fitz-James, 463. 
 Fitz-James, Richard (Bishop of 
 
 Rochester), 375. 
 Fitz-Ralph, Richard (Archbishop 
 
 of Armagh), 9496, I54, I74, 
 
 175, 244, 264, 286. 
 Fitz-Walter, Lord, 336. 
 Fitzwilliam, Sir William, 474. 
 Fleming, Richard (Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln), 283, 285, 344347. 
 Fleming, Robert, 383. 
 Fleming, W^illiam, 428, 429. 
 Florence, 89, 90, 353, 382, 387 
 
 389- 
 
 Flores Htstortarum, 321. 
 
 Foreign clerks at Oxford, 14, 31, 
 36,49, 8893, 182, 219. 
 
 Forest, John, 346, 348. 
 
 Forgeries, 247. 
 
 Fornby, John, 398. 
 
 Fox, Edmund, 470, 474 476. 
 
 Fox, Richard (Bishop of Winches- 
 ter), 405 414, 431. 
 
 Foxe, John, quoted, 449. 
 
 Francis I. King of France, 420. 
 
 Franceys, Edmund, 244, 245. 
 
 Franceys, Idonea, 244, 245. 
 
 Franciscan Friars, 24, 27 30, 42, 
 5057, 85, 113 119, 164, 165, 
 259, 263, 273, 301, 306, 338. 
 
 Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor, 
 
 15- 
 
 Free, John, 383, 385. 
 
 French, conversation in, 141, 144, 
 151. 
 
 French, the study of, 235. 
 
 Friars, the Mendicant, 2330, 38, 
 49, 53, 56, 172176, 225, 254, 
 
 ^261, 263, 302, 305, 338. 
 
 triars of the Sack, 50, 119. 
 
 Frideswyde, St., the Priory of, 2, 
 8, 1 2, '19, 36, 40, 42, 65, 66, 75, 
 100, 230, 247, 248, 264, 267, 272 
 274, 292, 304, 324, 334, 33S, 
 341, 422, 426, 441, 445, 446, 453, 
 462, 467, 479, 4S1 483. 
 
 Froissart quoted, 184. 
 
 Froude, Mr., quoted, 477. 
 
 Fryer, John, 459. 
 
 Fryth, John, 459, 467. 
 
 Fuller, Thomas, quoted, 133, 156, 
 174, 274, 385, 434-
 
 494 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Galen, 220, 390. 
 
 Gardiner, Stephen (Bishop of Win- 
 chester), 470, 480, 482. 
 Garret, Thomas, 459 467. 
 Gascoigne, Thomas, 94 96, 279, 
 
 326, 334. 
 Gaveston, Piers, 133. 
 Geometry, the study of, 9, 22, 57, 
 
 206, 241. 
 George, St., 91. 
 Gerard, Thomas, see Garret. 
 German, St., 240. 
 Germein, Ralph, 140. 
 (ierson, John, 296, 301, 
 Giffard, Sir John, 103. 
 Gildas, St., 240. 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, see Barri. 
 Glendower, Owen, 309. 
 Gloucester, the Abbot of, 104. 
 Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, 
 
 181, 305, 315, 319323, 327, 339- 
 Gloucester, Thomas, Duke of, 305, 
 
 308. 
 Gloucester College, 103 105, 159, 
 
 160, 179, 242, 291, 303, 341, 461, 
 
 463-465. 
 Gloves, presents of, 331. 
 Godstow, 290. 
 Goldwell, James (Bishop of Nor- 
 
 wich), 359] 
 '' Graces," or dispensations, 53, 107, 
 
 289, 313, 315, 317, 326. 
 Grammar, the study of, 9, ^^ ^ 129, 
 
 159, 190, 206, 234236, 241, 324, 
 
 356, 366. 
 Grant, Thomas, 322. 
 Gratian, the Decretum of, 11, 222. 
 Gravesend, Stephen (Bishop of 
 
 London), 181. 
 Gray, Walter (Archbishop of York), 
 
 97- 
 Greek, conversation in, 412, 454. 
 Greek philosophers, 242. 
 Greek, the study of, 38, 112, 207, 
 
 32 1 , 382, 383, 386390,41 2, 434 
 
 437, 483- 
 Greeklade, 242. 
 
 (]reen, Mr.J.R. quoted, 92, 196, 197. 
 Gregory, St., 355. 
 Gregory IX., Pope, 41, 222. 
 Gregory XL, Pope, 253, 255, 256, 
 
 258. 
 Gregory XII. 285, Pope, 300, 301, 
 
 352. 
 
 Gregory Nazienzen, St., 91. 
 
 Grenfield, Richard, 141. 
 
 Greton, John, 375. 
 
 Grey Friars, see Franciscan Friars. 
 
 Grey, William (Bishop of Ely), 326, 
 383,384. 
 
 Grimbald, 240 242. 
 
 Grocyne, William, 332^ 387 390. 
 
 Grosseteste, Robert (Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), 29, 30, 36, 3842, 50, 51, 
 5658, 61, lOI. 
 
 Guarini, Baptista, 385. 
 
 Guarino of Verona, 382 384. 
 
 Guildford, Henry de, loi. 
 
 Gunthorpe, John, 383, 385. 
 
 Gwinear, 137. 
 
 Gynwell, John (Bishop of Lincoln), 
 165 170. 
 
 Hadlam, 184. 
 
 Halam, Robert (Bishop of Salis- 
 bury), 301, 303. 
 Hales, Alexander of, 56, 340. 
 Hales, Edward, 124. 
 Halidon Hill, the battle of, 159. 
 Hall, the term, 87. 
 Halls, the Academical, 199, 205, 
 
 311- 
 
 Alban Hall, 380, 460, 461, 463. 
 
 Angle Hall, 201. 
 
 Aristotle's Hall, 200. 
 
 Arthur Hall, 200. 
 
 Balliol Plalls, sec Balliol Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Bedford Hall, 352. 
 
 Black Hall, 201, 257, 403. 
 
 Brasenose Hall, 136, 380, 397, 
 398. See also Brasenose Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Broadgates Hall, 201, 426. 
 
 Burnell's Inn, 341. 
 
 Canterbury Hall, see Canter- 
 bury College. 
 
 Charlton's Inn, 352. 
 
 Chimney Hall, 200. 
 
 Deep Hall, 308, 370. 
 
 Eagle Hall, 200. 
 
 Edmund Hall, Little, 403, 404. 
 
 Elephant Hall, 200. 
 
 Exeter Hall, see Exeter Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Glasscn Hall, 200, 403.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 495 
 
 Halls, the Academical {con- 
 tinued) : 
 
 Gloucester Hall, see Glou- 
 cester College. 
 
 Greek Hall, 200. 
 
 Haberdashers' Hall, 403, 404. 
 
 Hart Hall, 138. 
 
 Hinksey Hall, 380. 
 
 King's Hall, see Oriel College. 
 
 La Lavandrie, 138. 
 
 Leadenporch Hall, 201. 
 
 Lion Hall, 200. 
 
 Maiden Hall, 16, 17. 
 
 Magdalen Hall, see iNLngdalen 
 College. 
 
 Merton Hall, see Merton Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Nevile's Entry, 308. 
 
 La Oriole, see Oriel College. 
 
 Peckwater's Inn, 200, 380, 
 
 447- 
 
 La Perilos Hall, 141. 
 
 (2ucen's Hall, see Queen's Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Salisbury Hall, 397. 
 
 Saracen's Head Hall, 200. 
 
 St. Agatha's Hall, 308. 
 
 St. Catherine's Hall, 87. 
 
 St. Edward's Hall, 200. 
 
 St. Margaret's Hall, 1 54. 
 
 St. Mary's Entry, 200, 397. 
 
 St. Mary's Hall, 86. 
 
 St. Stephen's Hall, 138, 
 
 Stapeldon Hall, see Exeter Col- 
 lege. 
 
 Studley Hall, 200. 
 
 Tackley's Inn, 141, 200. 
 
 Tingewick Hall, 200. 
 
 White Hall, 200. 
 
 University Hall, see University 
 College. 
 Hallam, Mr. quoted, 383. 
 Hampden, Edmund, 370, 37 ij 
 Hampole, Richard of, 340. 
 Hampton Court, 450. 
 Harold Harefoot, King, 2. 
 Haryngton, 164. 
 Hatfield, Thomas of, 159. 
 Haynes, John, 424 426. 
 Headmgton, 354, 363, 397, 447. 
 Heath, Michael, 429 431. 
 Hebdonmdarii, 232, 233. 
 Hebrew, the study of, 38, 112, 436 
 459- 
 
 Hendman, Thomas, 292. 
 
 Henle, 184. 
 
 Henry I., King, 10. 
 
 Henry II., King, 12. 
 
 Henry III., King, 26, 29, 31, 72, 74, 
 
 106, 362, 366. 
 Henry IV., King, 278, 288, 289, 291, 
 
 295, 300, 305, 307, 327. 
 Henry V., Kmg, 289, 295, 327, 352, 
 
 353- 
 Henry VI., Kmg, 186, 314316, 
 
 324, 327329, 333, 353, 355, 359, 
 
 360, 366, 374. 
 Henry VII., King, 369-377, 380, 
 
 405. 
 Henry VIII., King, 427, 42S, 431, 
 
 444, 456, 457, 468482. 
 Hereford, Bishops of: 
 
 Ralph of Maidstone, 31, 60. 
 Richard Swinfield, 93. 
 Adam Orlton, 134. 
 Richard Mayhew, 364, 375, 377. 
 Hereford, Nicholas, 260,264,268 
 
 274, 276. 
 Hertilpol, Hugh de, 85. 
 Hesiod, 412, 453. 
 Heyworth, 303. 
 Higden, Bryan, 404. 
 Higden, Ranulf, 239, 311, 321. 
 Higdon, John, 428, 464, 467, 481. 
 Hilary, St. 412, 
 Hilman, 270. 
 Hinksey, 466. 
 Hippocrates, 220, 453. 
 Historiola, 242. 
 Hobhouse, Bishop, quoted, 76. 
 Holden, Elizabeth, 341. 
 Holden, Thomas, 341. 
 Holcot, Robert, 156, 221, 286. 
 Homer, 453. 
 
 Hook, Dean, quoted, 351. 
 Horn, Roger le, 62. 
 Horsepath, 365. 
 Horsham, 354. 
 Hoton, Richard de, 105. 
 House, the term, 87. 
 Hoyland, William, 97. 
 Huber, Professor, quoted, 17, 94, 
 
 243- 
 Hugh of St. Victor, 258. 
 Hunsingore, Sir Richard, 417. 
 Hunte, Thomas, 340. 
 Huntman, John, 264. 
 Huss, John, 297.
 
 496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Hutches, see Chests. 
 Hyda, Liber de, 241. 
 Hyde Abbey, 240. 
 
 Ilchester, 466. 
 
 " Inception," 104, 139, 149, 177, 191, 
 
 213216, 224,413. 
 Ingram, Dr. quoted, 24S, 405. 
 Ingulph, 243. 
 Innocent III., Pope, 18. 
 Innocent IV., Popj, 23, 40, 45, 55, 
 
 61, 325. 
 Innocent VI., Pope, 174. 
 Innocent VII., Pope, 300. 
 Innocent VIII., Pope, 334. 
 Ipswich, 186, 449, 4S0. 
 Irish clerks at Oxfoid, 36, 37, 48, 
 
 49, 88, 92, 130, 131, 165, 293, 309, 
 
 31O) 334j 335' 
 
 Irncrius 4, 10. 
 
 Isidore of Seville, 9. 
 
 I slip, Simon (Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury), 166, 169, 177179, 252. 
 
 Isocratcs, 412, 453. 
 
 Jerome, St., 91, 355, 3S4, 412, 43^- 
 Jews at Oxford, 26, 41, 41, 58, 59, 
 
 66, 67, 230. 
 Joan, Princess of Vv''ales, 255, 258. 
 John of Peverley, St., 244. 
 John Damascene, St., 412. 
 John of (jiastonbury, 243. 
 John of Jandun, 255. 
 John, King, 13, 17. 
 John XXII., Pope, 63, 97, iii, 114, 
 
 128, 239, 255, 295. 
 John XXill., Pope, 2S4, 301, 302. 
 John, monk of St. David's, 241. 
 Jolm's; St., College, 1S6, 343. 
 Josephus, 321. 
 J(vasts forbidden, 133. 
 Julius II., Pope, 415. 
 
 Kemp, Jolm (Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury), 318. 
 
 Kemp, Thomas (Bishop of London), 
 318, 322. 
 
 Kendal, 335. 
 
 Kentigcrn, 240. 
 
 Keys, Roger, 355. 
 
 Kidderminster, Richard, 436. 
 
 Kilkenny, Odo de, 37. 
 
 Kilkhampton, 141. 
 
 Kilwardby, Robert (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 62, 114, 129. 
 
 Kingswood, 93. 
 
 Kinton, John, 456, 475. 
 
 Kirkham, Walter (Bishop of Dur- 
 ham), 71. 
 
 Kirton, Thomas, 312. 
 
 Knapwell, 130. 
 
 Knolles, Thomas, 322. 
 
 Knyghton, Henry, quoted, 156. 
 
 Kymer, Gilbert, 319, 326, 337. 
 
 Kyngton, Thomas, 289. 
 
 Lactantius, 384. 
 
 La Fyte, Stephen, Arnold, and 
 Bertram, de, 92, 93. 
 
 Lambeth, 257, 274. 
 
 Lancaster, John of Gaunt, Duke of, 
 253, 254, 262, 264, 269, 278, 323. 
 
 Lang, Air., quoted, 3S1. 
 
 L:\ngton, John (Bishop of Chiches- 
 ter), I So. 
 
 Langton, Robert, 152. 
 
 Langton, Stephen (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 15. 
 
 Latimer, Sir Thomas, 276. 
 
 Latimer, William, 390, 435. 
 
 Latin, conversation in, yj, 81, 83, 
 86,92, 141, 144, 151,412,454. 
 
 Lattebury, John, 340. 
 
 Law, Canon, the study of, 1 1, 1 3, 60, 
 77, 142, 148, 160, 190, 2ig, 222, 
 313, 321, 329, 337, 349,453- 
 
 Law, Canon, the school of, 379. 
 
 Law, Civil, the study of, 10, 11, 55, 
 56,60,77,142,172,219-222,315, 
 321,381. 
 
 Lawne)', Thomas, 467. 
 
 Lectures, ordinary, 93, 219, 226, 227, 
 
 433- 
 Lectures, cursory, 93,227. 
 Lectures, extraordinary, 222, 228. 
 Leeds, co. Kent, 184. 
 Legates, Papal, 18 21, 34 38, 45, 
 
 66, 216, 291, 441, 443, 457, 469, 
 
 478. 
 Lcland, John, 3S3. 
 Lent, riots in, 131, 210, 307, 30S. 
 Leo X., Pope, 38S. 
 Lewes, Air., qutited, 20}. 
 Lewes, the battle of, 66.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 497 
 
 Lexington, Henry of (Bishop of 
 
 Lincoln), 58. 
 Library of the University, the, 99, 
 
 100,180, 181,284,295,305,318 
 
 323, 397-. 
 Libraries in Oxford, 83, 158, 181, 
 
 193, 194, 303, 357, 358, 383, 384. 
 Licence to teach, the, 6, 212, 213, 
 
 224. 
 Lichfield, Richard, 378, 380. 
 Lichfield, Bishop of: 
 
 William Smyth, 376, 396 
 
 403- 
 Lily, William, 3S7, 390. 
 Linacre, Thomas, 387, 390393, 
 
 435, 453- 
 Lincoln, the Archdeacon of, 42, 184. 
 Lincoln, the Dean of, 383. 
 Lincoln, the Earl of, 331. 
 Lincoln, the Bishop of, 12, 19, 20, 
 
 32, 36, 37, 40, 45, 46, 1'^, 86, 124, 
 
 127, 128, 141, iCo, 169, 252, 290, 
 
 295, 348, 400. 
 Lincoln, Bishops of: 
 
 Robert Grosseteste, 29, 30, 36, 
 38-42, 50, 51, 56-58, 61, 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Henry of Lexington, 58. 
 Oliver Sutton, 97, 126, 127. 
 John Dalderby, 119, 128. 
 Henry Burghersh, 143, 145. 
 John Gynwell, 165 170. 
 Henry Beaufort, 289,300, 317. 
 Philip Repyngdon, 267 273, 
 
 285, 295. 
 Richard Fleming, 283, 285, 
 
 344- 
 William Aln\vick, 355. 
 Thomas Rotherham, 347. 
 John Russell, 375, 376. 
 William Smyth, 376, 377, 396 
 
 405. 
 William Atwater, 423. 
 John Longland, 363, 414, 444, 
 445, 467, 472, 474476. 
 Lincoln College, 337, 344 35', 396, 
 
 397,438, 461,464, 465. 
 Lindsay, Martin, 429. 
 Livius, TituS; 320. 
 Livy, 9, 412. 
 
 Llandaff, the Bishop of, no. 
 Llangennith, 356. 
 
 Lodgings in Oxford, the rent of, 20, 
 21, 33,42,46, 66, 20 f. 
 
 Logic, the study of, 9, 22, 1 16 1 18, 
 129, 159, 206, 241, 366, 381, 399 
 402, 416,452. 
 Lollards, the, 39, 175, 249, 255, 260, 
 264, 267, 271, 276286, 293, 295, 
 308. 
 Lombard, Peter, 56, 105, 107, 224, 
 
 321. 
 London, John, 434, 446^448, 462, 
 
 464, 466._ 
 London, Bishops of: 
 Roger Niger, 37. 
 Fulic Basset, 45. 
 Stephen Gravesend, 181. 
 Michael Northburgh, 180. 
 William Courtenay, 254. 
 Thomas Kemp, 318, 322. 
 Simon Sudbury, 415. 
 London : 
 
 The Tower, 35, 37, 131, 386, 
 
 465. 
 St. Paul's, 37, 254, 256, 257, 
 
 263, 266, 271, 279, 292, 31S. 
 Blackfriars, 265, 268, 272. 
 Carlisle House, 37. 
 Durham House, 37. 
 St. Thomas's Hospital, 316. 
 Sec also Westminster. 
 Long Combe, 347. 
 Longland, John (Bishopof Lincoln), 
 
 363, 414, 444, 445,467, 472, 474 
 476. 
 
 Lovel, Lord, 318. 
 
 Lucan, 412. 
 
 Lucca, 352. 
 
 Lucian, 412. 
 
 Ludgarshall, 252. 
 
 Luk, John, 283. 
 
 Luna, Peter de, 29S. 
 
 Lupset, Thomas, 437. 
 
 Lusignan, Aymar de (Bishop of 
 Winchester), 42, 43. 
 
 Luther, Martin, 455, 457. 
 
 Lutherans at Oxford, 457 468. 
 
 Lutterworth, 252, 274, 285. 
 
 Luttrell, John, in, 130. 
 
 Lychlade, Robert, 277. 
 
 Lydgate, John, 320. 
 
 Lyhert, Walter (Bishop of Nor- 
 wich), 378. 
 
 Lyons, the Council of, 51, 61, 63. 
 
 Lyndwode, William (Bishop of St. 
 David's), 340. 
 
 Lyra, Nicholas de, 306.
 
 498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Madeley, Walter de, 28. 
 
 Magdalen College, 186, 188, 322, 
 331, 360368, 371, 372, 377, 387, 
 405, 411, 419, 424, 433, 449, 459, 
 462, 466. 
 
 Maidstone, 18, 388, 435. 
 
 Maidstone, Ralph of (Bishop of 
 Hereford), 31, 60. 
 
 Maitre, M., quoted, 9. 
 
 AlajestaSy the term, 419. 
 
 Maiden, 7376. 
 
 Malmesbury, the Abbot of, 104. 
 
 Manciples of Halls, 202. 
 
 Mansfield, Henry, 153. 
 
 Mankyswell, 286. 
 
 March, Edmund, Earl of, 305. 
 
 Mare, William de la, 114. 
 
 Margaret, Queen, 374. 
 
 Margaret, Queen of Navarre, 420. 
 
 Margaret, Archduchess of Savoy, 
 420. 
 
 Marsh, Adam, 5053, 56, 72. 
 
 Marsh, Robert, 43. 
 
 Marshall, Roger, 141. 
 
 Marsilio of Padua, 255. 
 
 Martell, John, 310. 
 
 Martin V., Pope, 285. 
 
 Mary, Oueen, wife of Plenry IV., 
 288. 
 
 Mary, the Princess, 389, 439. 
 
 Mary's, St., College, 393, 467. 
 
 Maskell, Mr., quoted, 198. 
 
 Master, the term, 6, 216, 217, 337. 
 
 Matilda, the Empress, 3. 
 
 Matriculation, 199, 311. 
 
 Mauclerc, Weaker (Bishop of Car- 
 lisle), 26. 
 
 Mayhevv, Richard (Bishop of Here- 
 ford), 364, 375, 377. 
 
 Medici, the, 382, 388. 
 
 Medicine, the study of, 81, 190, 219, 
 220, 313,453- 
 
 Melton, William, 338. 
 
 Meny], WiUiam de, 85. 
 
 Merchant Taylors' School, 186. 
 
 Merton, 73. 
 
 Merton, Walter de (Bishop of 
 Rochester), 66, 72 80, 142, 147, 
 247. 
 
 Merton College, 7282, 116, 142, 
 149, 152, 153, 181, 185, 187, 188, 
 247, 250, 289, 294, 303, 306, 307, 
 309, 312, 361, 380, 389, 407, 422. 
 
 -Messenger, Roland, 398. 
 
 Micklebenton, 154. 
 
 Middleton, John, 312. 
 
 Middlesex, Archdeacon of, 378, 380. 
 
 Migration of clerks from Oxford, 
 17, 18,64,73, 74, 98, 130, 134 
 136, 164. 
 
 Milan, 114. 
 
 Milkin, 240. 
 
 Milling, Thomas, 386. 
 
 Milman, Dean, quoted, 117, 275. 
 
 Milton, John, quoted, 285. 
 
 Misterton, Hugh of, 53. 
 
 Monasteries, the suppression of, 
 442, 444- 
 
 Monasticism, the decline of, 406. 
 
 Montfort, Simon de, 51, 62, 66. 
 
 Montfort, Sir William, 336. 
 
 Montpellier, the University of, 219. 
 
 Moote, John de la, 303. 
 
 More, John, 286. 
 
 More, Sir Thomas, 376, 389, 393, 
 429, 431, 433, 435, 437, 468, 482. 
 
 Morimond, the Abbot of, 342. 
 
 Morley, Elizabeth, 404. 
 
 Mortimer, Edward, 374. 
 
 Mortimer, Roger de, 134. 
 
 Morton, John (Bishop of Ely, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury), 333, 376, 
 
 377- 
 Mote, Gaillard de la, 128, 168. 
 Mullinger, Mr., quoted, 6, 38, 117, 
 
 138, 206, 221, 226, 227, 373, 381, 
 
 387, 388, 435, 437, 438, 470. 
 Music, the study of, 9, 206, 237, 
 
 241. 
 Musuhvick, William, 338. 
 
 Nations in the University of Paris, 
 
 15,48,92,98, 216,297, 333. 
 Nennius, 240. 
 Neot, St., 239, 241. 
 New College, 183194, 303, 324, 
 
 327, 348, 351, 354, 357, 363, 365, 
 
 368, 376, 386, 387, 408, 432, 434, 
 
 465, 466. 
 Newman, Cardinal, quoted, 91. 
 Newton Longueville, 127. 
 Neyrmit, F"ulk de, 124. 
 Nicholas, a clerk from Hungary, 
 
 14. 
 Nicholas, an Italian, 387. 
 Nicliolas, St., 48. 
 Nobles' sonsj 197, 218, 305, 400.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 499 
 
 Non-Regent, the term, 6. 
 
 " Non-Regents," the, loo, 219, 233, 
 
 475- 
 Noreys, Phihp, 338. 
 Norfolk, the Duke of, 481. 
 Northampton, 64 66, 74, 134, 159. 
 Northampton, Archdeacon of, 29, 
 
 326. 
 Northburgh, Michael (Bishop of 
 
 London), 180. 
 North-country clerks at Oxford, 48, 
 49, 62, 78, 130, 131, 134, 148, 207, 
 231, 236, 251, 282, 293, 306, 308, 
 312, 317, 335, 380. 
 Norton, John, 326. 
 Norwich, Bishops of: 
 Thomas Brown, 355. 
 James Goldwell, 359. 
 Walter Lyhert, 378. 
 
 Occleve, Thomas, 320. 
 
 Ockham, William of, 118, 156, 174. 
 
 Oili, Robert de, 3. 
 
 Oili, Robert de, the younger, 8. 
 
 Oldcastle, Sir John, 263. 
 
 Oldham, Hugh, Bishop of Exeter, 
 
 406. 
 Olivi, Peter John, 129. 
 Oriel College, 141 147, 152, 181, 
 
 286, 293, 304, 305, 312, 323, 326, 
 
 353, 396, 397, 431, 432. 
 Origen, 412. 
 Orleans, 31, 61. 
 Orlton, Adam (Bishop of Hereford, 
 
 134- 
 Orosius, 9. 
 Oseney Abbey, 8, 9, 12, 19, 21, 34, 
 
 37,42,46, 128, 304, 341,441- 
 Otford, 270. 
 
 Ovid, 9, 57, 23s, 321, 412. 
 Owen, Dr. 428. 
 Oxford, early history of the town 
 
 of, 2 4, 12. 
 Oxford, town of: 
 
 St. Bartholomew's Hospital, 
 
 146, 147, 290. 
 Beaumont, 163. 
 
 Bocardo, 134,232,428,461,474. 
 Canditch, 105, 307, 362. 
 Carfax, 120, 123, 125, 162, 182, 
 
 283, 339- 
 The Castle, 3, 32, 46, 59, 232, 
 290. 
 
 Oxford, town of {continued) : 
 Cheney Lane, 350. 
 Crowell, 307. 
 
 East Gate, 124, 146, 147, 362. 
 Fish Street, 445. 
 High Street, 124, 141, 143,361 
 
 377, 403- 
 Horsemill Lane, 361. 
 Horsemonger Street, 86, 105. 
 The Jewry, 26,41, 49. 
 St. John's Hospital, 362, 367. 
 St. John's Street, 180, 361. 
 St. Mildred's Lane, 83. 
 New Inn Hall Street, 341. 
 The North Bailey, 341. 
 North Gate, 134, 232, 241,331, 
 
 343- 
 Port- Meadow, 2. 
 School Street, 83, 208, 316, 
 
 397, 403- 
 The Lane of the Seven Deadly 
 
 Sins, 341. 
 Schydyard Street, 143, 145, 407. 
 Smith Gate, 63, 124, 134, 138, 
 
 163, 307- 
 South Gate, 445. 
 Stockwell Street, 120, 179. 
 Trill Mill, 49, 121. 
 West Gate, 163. 
 Oxford, population of, 3, 94 96, 
 
 295, 296. 
 Oxford, churches and parishes of: 
 All Saints, 23,43, 124, 337, 345, 
 
 350- 
 
 St. Aldate's, 2, 26, 341. 
 
 St. Cross, Holywell, 75. 
 
 St. Ebbe's, 2, 27, 430. 
 
 St. Edward's, 2, 26, 379. 
 
 St. Giles's, 49, 163, 168, 241. 
 
 St. John the Baptist's, 66, 150. 
 
 St. Martin's, 2, 43, 123, 125, 162, 
 163. 
 
 St. Mary's, 98 102, 106, 123, 
 124, 132, 143, 145 147, 
 150, 162, 181, 191, 214, 224, 
 229, 234, 264, 269, 271, 294, 
 304306, 319, 323, 324, 352, 
 353, 371, 377379,422,425, 
 429, 430, 433- 
 
 St. Mary Magdalen's, 86, 120, 
 168, 342. 
 
 St. Michael's, 3, 341, 345, 350. 
 
 St. Mildred's, 2, 98, 213, 345, 
 34^ 350-
 
 500 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Oxford, churches and parishes of 
 {conttJiKcd) : 
 St. Peter's le Bailey, 3, 341. 
 St. Peter's-in-the-East, 75, 137, 
 147, 150, 160, 185, 240, 294. 
 Oxford, the Archdeacon of, 19, 128, 
 
 129, 168, 316. 
 Oxford, the Countess of, 26. 
 
 Pace, Richard, 435, 437. 
 
 Padua, the University of, 92, 329, 
 
 330, 384, 389- 
 
 Pageham, co. Sussex, 178. 
 
 Pahnorva, William de, 169, 170, 
 
 Pamphilus, 235. 
 
 Pantry, Thomas, 374. 
 
 Paris, Matthew, quoted, 38, 58. 
 
 Paris, the University of, 4, 7, 8, 12 
 15, 22, 25, 26, 30, 31, 33, 39, 41 
 47, 48, 50, 53, 56 58, 60, 62, 89 
 90,92, 96,97, 98, 106, 107, 112 
 113, 158, 162, 182, 196, 198, 206 
 210, 212, 218, 224, 239, 296 300 
 333, 340, 386, 395, 473, 474- 
 
 Parker, Matthew (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 240. 
 
 Parvise, the, 205. 
 
 Patryngton, Stephen, 272. 
 
 Paul II. Pope, 385. 
 
 Pauli, Dr., quoted, 51, 320. 
 
 Payne, Peter, 279. 
 
 Peckham, John (Archbishop of 
 Canterbury), 81, 114, 129, 130. 
 
 Pecok, Reginald (Bishop of Chi- 
 chester), 286, 339. 
 
 Pembroke, the Earl of, 133. 
 
 Penyngton, 324. 
 
 Percy, Sir Henry, 254. 
 
 Perry, Mr., quoted, 30. 
 
 Pestilence, the great, 176. 
 
 Pestilences, 405, 431, 434, 459. 
 
 Petrarch, 321, 381, 382, 384. 
 
 Petrus Hispanus, 207. 
 
 Philargi, Peter, 301. 
 
 Philippa, Queen, 147, 166. 
 
 Philoiophy, the study of, 129, 159, 
 191, 207, 211. 
 
 Philostratus, 412, 453. 
 
 Pindar, 412, 453. 
 
 Pisa, the Council of, 301. 
 
 Pius II., Pope, 385. 
 
 Platina, 383. 
 
 PLato, 321, 381, 384, 388, 393. 
 
 Plautus, 412. 
 
 Plcgmund (Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury), 242. 
 
 Pliny, 412. 
 
 Plumptre, Dean, quoted, 90. 
 
 Poets laureate, 236, 237. 
 
 Poggio Bracciolini, 382, 384. 
 
 Poghley, 459. 
 
 Pole, Edward, 330. 
 
 Politian, 387, 388, 412. 
 
 Pontoise, John de (Bishop of Win- 
 chester), lOI. 
 
 Porphyry, 9, 207. 
 
 Port, John, 404. 
 
 Porter, William, 404. 
 
 Powderham, John of, 133. 
 
 Powell, Edward, 457. 
 
 Prague, 280, 286, 297. 
 
 Prestbury, Thomas, 283. 
 
 Priests, the poor, 258 260, 281. 
 
 Principals of Halls, 201, 202, 204, 
 
 311, 319, 335- 
 Printing, the early history of, at 
 
 Oxford, 339, 3Z1.0. 
 Priories, Alien, the suppression of, 
 
 352, 356, 440. 
 Priscian, 9, 207, 235. 
 Proclus, 389. 
 Proctors of the University, 44, 53, 
 
 132, 231, 292, 294, 295, 306,411, 
 
 455, 479- 
 Professor, the term, 6. 
 Provisors, Statutes of, 287 289. 
 Pulham, 184. 
 
 Pullus, or Pulein, Robert, 10, 12. 
 Punishments, 401. 
 
 Qiuidrh'haii, the, 9, 22, 52, 206. 
 Ouapplode, Nicholas de, 154. 
 Oueenborough, 184, 186. 
 Queen's College, 147 153, 181 
 "251, 289, 306, 311, 312, 324, 348. 
 " Questionists," 206. 
 Ouintilian, 9, 93, 321, 384, 390, 412, 
 453- 
 
 Radley, 460, 465, 467. 
 Radyngate, John, 178. 
 Ralegh, William (Bishop of Win- 
 chester), 46. 
 Ravenwyk, 148. 
 Reading, 18, 42, 132.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 501 
 
 Reading, the Abbot of, 75, 104, 154. 
 
 Rede, Edmund, 318. 
 
 Regent, the term, 6. 
 
 " Regents," the, 100, 217 219, 228, 
 
 230, 233, 476. 
 " Regents, necessary," 338, 357. 
 " Regrators," 121, 166. 
 Renaissance, the, 381, 395, 434. 
 Renan, M., quoted, 25. 
 Repyngdon, Philip (Bishop of Lin- 1 
 
 coin), 267273, 285, 295. j 
 
 " Responsions," 205. { 
 
 Resumption, Acts of, 330. i 
 
 Rewley Abbey, 102, 105, 128, 342, j 
 
 483. ' 
 
 Reynolds, Walter (Archbishop of 
 
 Canterbury), III, 112. 
 Rhazes, 321. ; 
 
 Rheims, 31. j 
 
 Rhetoric, the study of, 9, 207, 236, ' 
 
 241. i 
 
 Rich, Edmund (Archbishop of j 
 
 Canterbury), 21 23, 6r. ' 
 
 Richard I., King, 14. ; 
 
 Richard II., King, 185, 196, 246, 
 
 262, 272, 277, 288, 298. 
 Richard III., King, 3^1333,343, 
 
 369, 387- 
 Richmond, the Earl of, 119, 372. 
 Richmond, Margaret, Countess of, 
 
 372375, 380, 405. 
 Richmond, co. York, 250. ' 
 
 Riots, 3234,41,63,64, 123125, I 
 130,131,162165,307309,336, I 
 380, 426. 
 Rishanger, William of, quoted, 96. 
 Rivers, Lord, 332. 
 Roches, Peter des (Bishop of 
 
 Winchester), 35, 36. 
 Rochester, Archdeacon of, 10. 
 Rochester, Bishop of : 
 
 Walter de Merton, 66, 72 80. 
 Edmund Audley, 33 r. 
 Thomas Savage, 376. 
 Richard Fitz-James, 375. 
 John Fisher, 456. 
 Rogers, Mr. J. E. T., quoted, 219. 
 Rome, 297, 385, 388, 450. 
 Romney, 356. 
 Roncaglia, the Diet of, 15. 
 Roper, John, 373, 456. 
 Rood, Dietrich, 340. 
 Roses, the Wars of the, 327 329, 
 333, 369, 385- 
 
 Ross, John, 243. 
 Rothbury, Gilbert, loi. 
 Rotherham, Thomas (Bishop of 
 Lincoln, Archbishop of York), 
 
 347. 
 Rudborn, Thomas, 243. 
 Rupert, King of the Romans, 300. 
 Ruskin, Mr., quoted, 391. 
 Russell, William, 213, 338. 
 Russell, John (Bishop of Lincoln), 
 
 375, 376. 
 Rye, 466. 
 Rygge, Robert, 264, 267 269, 308. 
 
 Salamanca, the University of, 112 
 Salerno, the University of, 7. 
 Salisbury, Bishops of : 
 
 Roger, 8. 
 
 William of York, 45. 
 
 Robert Halam, 301, 303. 
 
 Richard Beauchamp, 330. 
 
 Lionel W^ydville, 329, 333. 
 
 Edmund Audley, 379. 
 Salisbury, Denn of, 326. 
 Salisbury, William, Earl of, 276. 
 Salisbury, Richard, Earl of, 326, 
 
 327- 
 
 Sallust, 412. 
 
 Sander, Nicholas, quoted, 477. 
 
 Savage, Thomas (Bishop of Roch- 
 ester), 376. 
 
 Savile, Henry, 240. 
 
 Savonarola, 392. 
 
 Schism, the Papal, 296 303. 
 
 Scholar, the term, ']i. 
 
 Scholastica's Day, St., 162 164. 
 428430. 
 
 Scotists, the, 435. 
 
 Scottish clerks at Oxford, 36, 43, 
 49, 88, 92, 181, 1S2, 298, 308, 335. 
 
 Scotus, John Duns, 115 118, 281, 
 
 321, 373,435,453- 
 Scrope, Lord, 300. 
 Seebohm, Mr., quoted, 392. 
 .Selling, William, 386. 
 Selton, William de, 180. 
 Seneca, 321,437. 
 Serapion, 321. 
 Seravalle, Giovanni da, quoted, 89, 
 
 90. 
 Serle, William, 276. 
 Sever, Henry, 326. 
 Sharpe, Henry, 330. 
 
 I. L
 
 502 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Sheppard, Mr., quoted, i8o. 
 
 Sherborn, 354. 
 
 Shotover Forest, 32, 125, 310, 354, 
 
 .371- 
 
 Siberch, John, 390. 
 
 Sigier, 90. 
 
 Simnel, Lambert, 369 
 
 Sixtus IV., Pope, 383. 
 
 Skelton, John, quoted, 230, 419. 
 
 Shckbury, Richard de, 85. 
 
 Smith, WilHam, 247. 
 
 Smyth, Matthew, 398. 
 
 Smyth, WilHam (Bishop of Lin- 
 coln), 376, 377, 396398. 
 
 Socrates, 437. 
 
 Soissy, 61. 
 
 Somerville, Sir Philip de, 154, 155, 
 414,417. 
 
 " Sophisters," 40, 205. 
 
 Sophistry, the study of, 399, 452. 
 
 Sophocles, 412, 453. 
 
 Sorbonne, the College of, 79, 158. 
 
 Southampton, 466. 
 
 South-country clerks, at Oxford, 
 49, 62, 131, 134, 207, 231, 282, 
 29.3, 294, 306, 308, 317, 380. 
 
 Speeke, 308, 309. 
 
 Spelman, Sir Henry, 248. 
 
 Stafford, the Earl oV, 166. 
 
 St. Alban's, 270. 
 
 St. Alban's Abbey,58, 291,303, 320, 
 
 341- 
 Stamford, 134 136, 156, 170, 215, 
 
 277- 
 
 Stanley, James, 330. 
 
 Stanley, John, 375. 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 330332. 
 
 Stapeldon, Walter de (Bishop of 
 Exeter), 137 142. 
 
 Stapeldon Hall, see Exeter College. 
 
 Stationers, 94, 168, 171, 231, 233, 
 340. 
 
 Stephen, King, 3. 11. 
 
 Steward of the University, the, 290. 
 
 Stillington, Robert (]>ishop of Bath 
 and' Wells), 329, 369371- 
 
 Stockton, 294. 
 
 Stokes, Peter, 264, 266 268, 272. 
 
 Stow, Archdeacon of, 404. 
 
 Stowood, 310, 354. 
 
 Stratford, John, (Archbishop of 
 Canterljury), 109, no, 170. 
 
 Stratford, Robert (Bishop of Chi- 
 chester , 170, 325. 
 
 Stubbs, Bishop, quoted, 176. 
 Stadium, meaning of the term, 
 
 4, 5- 
 
 Sudbury, Simon of (Bishop of Lon- 
 don), 415. 
 
 Suetonius, 321, 412. 
 
 Suffolk, the Countess of, 331. 
 
 Suffolk, the Duke of, 330, 474. 
 
 Sulpicius Severus, 91. 
 
 Sumner, Henry, 459, 462, 463, 467. 
 
 Sunday, work on, 171, 302. 
 
 Sunningwell, 354. 
 
 Sutton, Oliver (Bishop of Lincoln), 
 97, 126, 239. 
 
 Sutton, Richard, 396 403. 
 
 Sweating Sickness, the, 422, 431 
 433, 436. 
 
 Sweyn, King, 2. 
 
 Swinfield, Richard (Bishop of Here- 
 ford), 93. 
 
 Swynford, Catharine, 323. 
 
 Symeon, Henry, 214. 
 
 Symon, William, 294. 
 
 Symonds, Mr. J. A., quoted, 382. 
 
 Synesius, 385. 
 
 Tacitus, the study of, 9. 
 
 Tackley, 141, 200. 
 
 Tavern er, 467. 
 
 Tempier, Stephen (Bishop of Paris), 
 114. 
 
 Terence, 340,412, 435- 
 
 Tewkesbury, the battle of, 328. 
 
 Teynton, 354, 447. 
 
 Theobald (Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury), II. 
 
 Theology, the study of, 10, 13, 39, 
 52, 53, 56, 62, 77, 90, io5, 107, 
 130, 142, 148, 155, 191, 219, 222- 
 226, 241, 281, 313, 381, 394, 395, 
 412,416,436,453. 
 
 Thorpe, William, 253. 
 
 Thucydides, 412. 
 
 Thurot, M., quoted, 96. 
 
 Thwaytes, Robert, 326. 
 
 Tifernas, Gregorv, 386. 
 
 Tilly, William, 386. 
 
 Toly, Robert (Bishop of St. David's), 
 
 363- 
 Tonsure, the clerical, 198, 199 
 Tonworth, Richard, 185. 
 Towneley, 447. 
 Trapezuntius, 453.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 503 
 
 Traversari, Ambrogio, 382. 
 Tregury, Michael de, 333. 
 Tresham, William, 479, 482. 
 Trevisa, John, 175, 311, 312. 
 Triviiim, the, 9, 52, 206, 
 Trojans, the, 242, 435, 436, 439. 
 Turvile, Philip de, 180. 
 Twyne, Bryan, 240, 241, 243, 246, 
 
 248. 
 Twyford, 347, 348. 
 Tybard, William, 364. 
 Tyndale, William, 435, 459. 
 Tyssyngton, John, 263. 
 
 Udal, Nicholas, 463, 467. 
 Ullerston, Richard, 301. 
 Universities, cosmopolitanism of 
 
 mediaeval, 15, 47,49, 8891, 199, 
 
 219. 
 University College, 82^ 85, 153, 
 
 181, 243-247, 306, 371, 397,432. 
 University, meaning of the term, 4, 
 
 5,37. 
 Upchurch, 356. 
 
 Urban V., Pope, 170, 179, 228. 
 Urban VI., Pope, 61, 266, 288, 296 
 
 298. 
 Usk, Adam of, 309. 
 
 Vacarius, 10 12. 
 
 Vacations, academical, 14, 228, 229, 
 
 280. 
 Valerius Maximus, 412. 
 Valla, Lorenzo, 412. 
 "Variations," 205. 
 Vaughan, Dr. Robert, 263. 
 Venice, 385, 389, 450. 
 Vesperice^ 62, 106, 213, 224. 
 Vice-Chancellor, see Commissary. 
 Victuals, the sale of, 33, 42, 161, 
 
 166, 232. 
 Vienne, the Council of, 112, 436. 
 Vienne, Hugh de, loi, 154, 417, 
 Villani, quoted, 89, 90. 
 Vincent of Beauvais, 321. 
 Virgil, 9, 382,412, 435. 
 \ itelli, Cornelio, 386, 387. 
 \'ives, Juan Luis, 438440. 
 
 Wadham College, 163, 1S8. 
 Wal]en^is, or Walsh, Thomas 
 (Bishop of St. David's), 50. 
 
 Walden, Thomas, 345. 
 Wallingford, 35. 
 
 Wallingford, Richard de, 104, 105. 
 W^arham, William, Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, 377, 418428, 437, 
 
 457459, 47 X, 473~475- 
 W^arren, the Earl of, 35. 
 Warwick, Richard, Earl of, 327, 
 
 328. 
 Warwick, the Earl of, 336. 
 Warwick, Ela, Countess of, 104, 
 
 107,417 
 Warwick, Anne, Countess of, 371. 
 Warwick, Lawrence de, 108. 
 Waynflete, William (Bishop of 
 
 Winchester), 322, 330332, 360 
 
 -368. 
 "Wax Doctors," 173, 315. 
 Weedon Pinkeney, 356. 
 Weights and Measures, the assize 
 
 of, 161, 166. 
 Wells, Robert, 121, 122. 
 Wells, Dean of, 346, 385. 
 Welsh clerks at Oxford, 34, 36, 49, 
 
 88, 92, 308310, 335. 
 Wenceslaus, Emperor, 297, 
 Wendover, Roger of, 239. 
 Werner, see Irnerius. 
 Weseham, Roger de (Bishop of 
 
 Coventry), 50. 
 Wesley, John, 249, 259. 
 West-country men, 338. 
 Westminster Abbey, 90, 179, 291, 
 
 372, 373, 386. 
 Westminster School, 186. 
 Wheathamstead, John of, 320, 341. 
 White Friars, see Carmelite Friars. 
 White, Sir Thomas, 186. 
 Whitfield, Henry, 311. 
 Whittington, Robert, 236. 
 Williamson, John, 404. 
 Wilton, William, 294. 
 Wilts, Archdeacon of, 29. 
 Wiltshire, the Earl of, 481. 
 Winchcombe, 103. 
 Winchcombe, the Abbot of, 456. 
 Winchelsea, 466. 
 Winchelsey, Robert (Archbishop 
 
 of Canterbury), 108, 109, 127. 
 Winchester, Bishop of, 74, 76, 80, 
 
 166, 364,413. 
 Winchester, Bishops of: 
 Peter des Roches, 35. 
 William Ralegh, 46.
 
 504 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 {con- 
 
 Winchester, Bishops of 
 iinued) : 
 Aymar de Lusignan, 42,43, 47- i 
 John de Pontoise, loi. 
 WiUiam of Wykeham, 183 
 
 194, 258, 303. 
 Henry Beaufort, 289, 300, 317, 
 
 318. 
 Wmiam Waynflete, 322, 33 
 
 332, 360368. 
 Richard Fox, 405, 414- 
 StephenGardiner, 470,480,402. 
 Winchester College, 183,186, 18S, 
 
 440. 
 Windsor, 184, 186, 322, 330, 3j2, 
 
 360, 481- 
 Wnne, the sale of, 46, 121, 161, 232. 
 
 Wittemberg, 455- 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, (Archbishop ot 
 York) 186, 418424, 427- 429, 
 438, 440457, 478481. 
 Wood, Antony, quoted, 94, 103, 1 1, 
 243, 246, 247, 300, 301, 331, 43- 
 Woodhull, Henry, I77- 
 Woodstock, 44, 67, 162, 310, 330. 
 Worcester, Bishops of : 
 Walter Reynolds, no. 
 Walter Cantilupe, 61. 
 Thomas Cobham, 91, 99, 100, 
 
 181,319- ,. , 
 
 Thomas Bourchier, 325, 32b, 
 
 355- 
 John Alcock, 332. 
 
 Worcester College, 103. 
 Worcester, John, Earl of, 322, 33, 
 
 385, 386. 
 Worms, 460. 
 
 Wotton, Richard, 375- , , 
 
 Wych, Richard of (Bishop ot 
 
 Chichester), 60,61, 229. 
 Wyclif, John, 174, 177179,249 
 
 286, 303, 312, 345, 380, 455, 469- 
 Wydville, Lionel (Bishop ot 
 
 Salisbury), 329, 332- 
 Wykeham, William of (Bishop ot 
 
 Winchester), 183194, 268, 
 
 303. 
 Wylford, Edmund, 373- 
 Wynchcombe, Richard, 316. 
 Wynterton, Thomas, 263. 
 
 Yeshampstead, 184. 
 
 York, the Archbishop of, 148, 152, 
 
 3"'455. . ^ ^ 
 
 York, Archbishops of : 
 Walter Gray, 36, 97. 
 Thomas Wolsev, 1 86, 41 8-424, 
 427429, 43'S, 440457, 478 
 481. 
 York, the Duchess of, 331. 
 York, the Duke of, 327. 
 York, Thomas of, 52, 53. 
 Young, John (Bishop of Gallipoli), 
 421. 
 
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