Lichfield, and Worcester. Cardinal Wolsey was a fellow of the
college about the time when the bell-tower was building, but the
attribution of the design to him, or even of any active part in
the erection, is not borne out by evidence. Among alumni of
the college were William Camden, Sir Thomas Bodley, John
Hampden, at the time of whose matriculation (1610) Magdalen
was strongly Puritan, Joseph Addison, Dr Sacheverell, and for
a short period Gibbon the historian. Mention should be made
of the eminent president, Martin Joseph Routh, who was elected
to the office in 1791, and held it till his death in his 100th year in
1854. Magdalen College school had new buildings opened for it
in 1894.
Merton College is of peculiar interest as regards its foundation, which is generally cited as the first on the present collegiate model. At some time before 1264 Walter de Merton,[1] a native of Merton, Surrey, devoted estates in that county to the maintenance of scholars in Oxford. Thus far he followed an established practice. In 1264 he founded at Malden a “house of scholars of Merton” for those who controlled the estates in the interest of the scholars, who should study preferably at Oxford, though any centre of learning was open to them. By 1268 the Oxford community had acquired the present site of the college; in 1270 new statutes laid down rules of living and study, and in 1274 the whole foundation was established under a final set of statutes at Oxford—i.e. the society ceased to be administered from the house in Surrey. The society was under a warden, and certain other officers were established, but no limit was set on the number of scholars. The foundation now consists of a warden, from 19 to 26 fellows, and 20 or more postmasterships. The postmasters of Merton correspond to the scholars of other colleges; they had their origin in the portionistae (i.e. foundationers who had a smaller portion or emolument than fellows), instituted in 1380 on the foundation of John Wyllyot (fellow 1334, chancellor 1349). The college is adjacent to Corpus, with its front upon Merton Street, and some of its buildings are of the highest interest, notably the chapel and library. The chapel consists of a choir and transepts with a tower at the crossing; but a nave, though intended, was never built. The choir is of the purest Decorated workmanship (dating probably from the last decade of the 13th century), with beautiful windows exhibiting most delicate tracery. The transepts show the appearance of Perpendicular work, but there is also work of the earlier style in them; the massive tower is wholly of the later period (c. 1450). The library, which lies on two sides of the so-called “mob” quadrangle, dates from 1377–1378, and was mainly the gift of William Rede, bishop of Chichester (1369–1386). It occupies two beautiful rooms and is of great interest from its early foundation and the preservation of its ancient character. The treasury is a small room coeval with the foundation, with a curious high-pitched ashlar roof. The other buildings, which are of various dates, are mainly disposed about four quadrangles, including that of St Alban’s Hall, which, possibly dating from the early part of the 15th century, was incorporated with Merton College in 1882. The college hall retains an original door with fine ironwork, but the building is in great part modernized. A beautiful garden lies east of the buildings, being separated from the meadows to the south by part of the old city wall. Modern buildings (1907) have a frontage upon Merton Street; others (1864) overlook the meadows. Traditionally the names of Roger Bacon, Duns Scotus and Wycliffe have been associated with this college. Anthony Wood (1632–1695), the antiquary and historian of the university, was a postmaster of the college.
New College was founded by William of Wykeham in 1379. The founder’s name for it, which it still bears in its corporate title, is the College of St Mary of Winchester. But there was already a St Mary’s College (Oriel). Wykeham’s house thus soon became known as the New College, and the substantive is still retained in the ordinary speech of the university, whereas in mentioning the titles of other colleges it is generally omitted. Wykeham designed an exclusive connexion between his Oxford college and his school at Winchester. This connexion is maintained in a modified form. Wykeham’s foundation was for a warden, and 70 fellows and scholars, with chaplains and a choir. The present foundation consists of a warden, and not more than 36 fellows, while to the scholarships 6 elections are made annually from Winchester and 4 from elsewhere. The choir is maintained, as at Magdalen. Five of the fellowships were attached to university professorships, of which three (logic, ancient history and physics) are called Wykeham professorships. The buildings of New College remain in great measure as designed by the founder, and illustrate the magnificence of his scheme. The main gateway tower fronts New College Lane. The chapel and hall stand in line (as at Magdalen), on the north side of the front quadrangle. The period of building was that of the development of the Perpendicular style. In shape the chapel was the prototype of a form common in Oxford, consisting of a choir, with transepts forming an antechapel, but with no nave. The remarkable west window in monochrome was erected, c. 1783, from a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds. The reredos, with its tiers of figures in niches, had a history similar to that at All Souls, being plastered over in 1567. In the same way, too, it was restored c. 1890; but previously James Wyatt had discovered traces of the original, and had unsuccessfully attempted the restoration of the niches in plaster, carrying out also, as elsewhere in Oxford, other extensive alterations of which the obliteration was demanded by later taste. Portions of the old woodwork were incorporated in the excellent new work of 1879 (Sir Gilbert Scott). In the chapel is preserved the beautiful pastoral staff of the founder, and there is a fine series of memorial brasses, mainly of the 15th century, in the antechapel. To the west of the chapel are the cloisters, consecrated in 1400, and the detached tower, a tall massive building on the line of the city wall. As already mentioned, a fine remnant of this wall adds to the picturesqueness of the college garden. The hall was completed in 1368, and has a Tudor screen and wainscoting. The garden quadrangle, the east side of which is open to the gardens, dates from 1682–1708. On the north side of the college precincts, facing Holywell Street, are extensive modern buildings by Sir G. G. Scott and B. Champneys. In 1642, when Oxford was playing its prominent part in the Civil War, the tower and cloisters of New College became a royalist magazine.
Oriel College was founded by Edward II. in 1326. The originator of the scheme and the prime mover in it was Adam de Brome, the king’s almoner, who in 1324 had obtained royal licence to found a college; but in 1326 he surrendered his rights to the king, who issued charter and statutes, and created Brome the first provost. This foundation was for a provost and 10 fellows, but a number of bequests extending over nearly a century from 1445 enabled additional fellowships to be established. The foundation, however, now consists of the provost, 12 fellows and 2 professorial fellows, with at least 12 scholars and a number of exhibitioners. St Mary Hall, which had been the manse of St Mary’s church, was given with the church to the college by the founder, and was opened as a hall with a principal of its own. It was, however, incorporated with the college in 1902. Oriel College was dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, and the name by which it is now known appears first in 1349. It was derived from a tenement called La Oriole (but the origin of this name is unknown), which had occupied part of the college site, had belonged to Eleanor of Provence, wife of Edward I., and had been given by her to her chaplain, James of Spain (Jacobus de Ispania). The buildings of Oriel, which face Oriel Street, are not coeval with the foundation. The first quadrangle, with its elaborate battlements, dates from 1620–1637. The inner quadrangle has buildings of 1719, 1729 and later dates. The modern extension on Cecil Rhodes’s foundation faces High Street. Early in the 19th century a number of eminent men associated with Oriel gave the college its well known connexion with the “Oxford Movement.” Edward Copleston, elected fellow in 1795, became provost in 1814. In 1811 John Keble and Richard Whately were elected fellows,
- ↑ He was chancellor of the kingdom in 1261–1263, and again in 1272–1274, justiciar in 1271 and bishop of Rochester in 1274. He died in 1277.
