19
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.
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understand it to-day ? Of this there is no evidence,
and perhaps we should infer the opposite from the
report of the Commission of 1280, which enacts that
four Masters of Arts, chosen in the first instance by
the Chancellor and certain Masters in Divinity, but
themselves afterwards having a voice in the filling up
of vacancies in their number, "shall, living together,
study Divinity." This, perhaps, implies that prior
to 1280 they were not gathered together under one
roof, but lived in halls and houses of their own
choosing, as the Hertford and Ireland University
Scholars do at the present day. It is likely enough,
however, that they lived in one of the houses bought
for them ; the more so, as two of these houses faced
upon school-street, in which, or close to which, the
chief university disputations and lectures were held.
School-street, the Vitus scholarum, coincided with the
space now called Radcliffe Square, and has ever
since been the focus of University life. In close
proximity to it was situated the first University Library
with the room beneath for the congregation of Regent
Masters to meet in, which in 1320 Thomas Cobham,
Bishop of Worcester, built as an annexe of the
University Church of St. Mary the Virgin.*
The monies bequeathed by William of Durham were kept in a special coffer, called the chest of William of Durham, which was probably kept in the Priory of St. Frideswyde, since the University until 1320 had no buildings of its own. This is perhaps more likely than that it should have been kept in one of the houses or halls purchased in 1253 and 1255. Sir Maxwell Lyte, the historian of the University, suggests that the bulk of the bequest lay idle in the chest, and that no scholars were really appointed out of the interest on it until 1280. "Unprofitable loans," he says, "were occasionally granted to clerks," and " the University did not scruple to help itself in times of need . . . 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." (Hist, of the University, p. 71). This is to suppose that no interest was paid upon the loans made and no notice taken of the will of William of Durham further than was involved in the purchase of the three houses mentioned. It may with equal likelihood be supposed that the bequests of the will were so far as possible at once carried into effect, and that the purpose of the further regulations of 1280 was to bring the scholars in future under one roof, to provide from among them a Bursar or respon- sible person to keep the chest, and look after the houses purchased, to arrange for their discipline and payment and future method of - election. This is the more likely because 12 years later, in 1292, we find that William of Durham's executors were still alive and exerting themselves to induce the University to enact statutes more in accordance with the will than were those of 1280.
The payment made to each of the four masters appointed in 1280 was fifty shillings yearly, the same amount as was paid to the scholars of the New Foundation of Walter de Merton. The Bursar received five shillings more. All were to be Masters of Arts and were to study Divinity. One of them at least was to be a priest. No local restrictions were imposed, but they were to be poor men, who would not otherwise be able to " live handsomely in the State of Masters of Arts. "
- See Maxwell Lyte " History of the University of Oxford,
P- 99 •"
In 1292, at the procurement of the Executors of
the Venerable Mr. William of Durham, the Univer-
sity made new statutes for his scholars. In these
statutes several novelties occur. Firstly, the senior
socius or fellow is to rule the juniors. Here we
have the germ of the future master of the College,
and until a late period the master was officially known
as senior socius. Secondly, we have mention of a
College library or collection of books, and the con-
ditions are laid down under which the fellows might
use them or take them out. " Let there be put one
book of every sort that the House has in some com-
mon and secure place." Thirdly, the fellows shall
say mass at the beginning of each term for the Bene-
factors. Fourthly, no fellow shall undervalue another
fellow under certain penalties, which are to be
doubled if he do it publicly. Fifthly, provision is
made for the admission of commoners, and, as par-
ticular interest attaches to this, the first mention of
them, we give in full the clause regulating their ad-
mission : — " Since the aforesaid Scholars have not
sufficiently to live handsomely alone by themselves,
but that it is expedient that other honest persons
dwell with them ; it is ordained, That every Fellow
shall secretly enquire concerning the Manners of
everyone that desires to sojourn with them ; and then
if they please, by common consent, let him be re-
ceived under this condition, That before them he
shall promise, whilst he lives with them, that he will
honestly observe the customs of the Fellows of the
House, pay his Dues, not hurt any of the Things
belonging to the House, either by himself or those
that belong to him." Sixthly, it was ordained that
Latin be spoken within the College according to the
Custom of the time.
Other points which deserve notice with regard to the early Foundation are these. The will of William of Durham enacted that his scholars should be born in the diocese of Durham, but the first statutes made by the University in 1280 disregarded this restriction. The Executors of the will objected, and in 1292 it was laid down that the College was to be recruited from the parts nearest to Durham. The 'I hird body of Statutes made in 131 1 enacted that the Fellows should be indigent persons of good morals, who shall be ceteris paribus born nearest to the parts of Durham. This restriction continued down to the middle of this century, and similar restrictions were imposed on the Fellowships created by later Foundations : e.g. in 1403 three Fellowships were created by king Henry IV. at the request of Walter Skirlaw, for which were to be preferred persons born in the dioceses of York or Durham. In 1442 three more Fellowships were founded by Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, for persons born in the dioceses of Durham, Carlisle, or York, with a preference, other things being equal, to natives of Northumberland. The College was thus for many centuries distinctly a Northern College, and it was not till 163 1 that there was any change in this respect. In that year Sir Simon Bennett founded four Scholarships and four Fellowships, to be held by natives of the See of Canterbury or of the South of England. In recent years, owing to the recommend- ations of the Oxford University Commission appointed 1850, and of new statutes made in 1872, all local restrictions on the choice of Fellows and Scholars have been practically abandoned. Likewise all clerical restrictions. The will of William of Durham and the earliest codes of statutes distinctly contemplated lay Fellowships, or else they would not have enacted that the senior Fellow or Master was to be in Priest's
