university of oxford being one of the
oldest continuing universities in europe
doesn't really have a clear date of
establishment
this is because early medieval higher
schools of learning didn't have a set
campus there were mostly gatherings of
intellectuals trying to harken back to
the idea of plato's academy in ancient
greece
masters that would hold lectures would
usually either rent out a hall or just
denote a place of meeting for example
like the left bank of the cn river in
paris
which by the way is where and how the
university of paris started
these congregations of higher learning
started to be called studium generale
which was supposed to denote the idea
that anyone who is willing to learn the
seven main courses can do so no matter
where they come from
these seven main courses called liberal
arts or liberal pursuits were universal
throughout all european universities and
included
grammar logic rhetoric collectively
known as trivium and arithmetic geometry
astronomy music
collectively known as quadrupion later
on as european universities progress
students who completed their studies in
liberal arts had the possibility to
continue their education in law
theology or medicine which honestly
considering the state of medieval
medicine
getting this degree may have even
deteriorated your ability
to cure someone but i digress so taking
into account the state of early medieval
universities across europe
oxford was no different having masters
and students live in the same city and
hold lectures wherever possible
such learning may have occurred in
oxford as early as the 11th century but
we can't pinpoint an exact date we do
however know that by the middle of the
12th century oxford was already regarded
as a seat of higher education within
england
a seat which would gain a much needed
boost to its student and faculty
population when in 1167
king henry ii started a war with france
and banned all english people from
attending the university of paris
a majority of these returning students
and masters came to study and work at
oxford so planting the idea of the
university being the best in england
a reputation that was solidified by the
fact that people like gerald of wales a
writer
instrumental to today's understanding of
welsh and irish history was a lecturer
at oxford in 1188 the first university's
foreign student came not long after in
1190 from freezeland
the funding from the university during
this time came largely from its status
as a beneficiary of the catholic church
as such the university acted as an
independent entity from the city of
oxford which caused
more trouble than you may think this is
because the independent entity status of
the university meant that the teachers
and students were not under the
jurisdiction of the city's civil law
so oxford university not only had a very
good future bargaining team with the
city being a separate entity but also
had many
energetic students that were under the
jurisdiction of the university's
clerical law which was often times more
lenient to them than the city's law
unsurprisingly all of this resulted in
tensions between the people associated
with the university and the residents of
the city also referred to as town vs
gown or just
town and gown fights between the two
parties were a common occurrence and the
resentment and the city only grew
these increased hostilities started to
be more and more problematic for example
in 1209 when
england's relationship with the catholic
church was problematic at best
one of the university's students was
accused of raping and killing a town's
woman
this obviously riled up the town's
people which tried to apprehend the
murderer but after not being able to
fight him they took two of his roommates
instead they then quickly declared them
as guilty and hanged them
this clearly made the university unhappy
as even if the students were guilty they
shouldn't have been tried by the city
and also made the church unhappy as they
were the ones who were supposed to take
care of such problems since the
university was under the clergy's
protection
nonetheless such acts by the townspeople
prompted the university to suspend its
operation for a couple of years in
protest
some of the students and masters now
with no university and also fearing for
their life decided to leave oxford for a
newly emerging studium generally at
another city
the city being cambridge and these
people being the backbone for the
foundation of the university of
cambridge
so you could say that the townspeople of
oxford were indirectly responsible for
the foundation of a rival university
in 1214 the university with the help of
the church would reach an agreement with
the city
and open up operations once again this
agreement amongst other things mentioned
the official appointment of a chancellor
of the university
although there is no reason to believe
such position didn't exist prior to 1214
the first official holder of this
chancellory was robert grosatesta
maybe the sources are vague on this
point nonetheless we do know gracateste
was at least a master at the university
and was
instrumental in starting the oxford
intellectual movement
he pioneered the idea of controlled
experiments and demonstrative science
and at an age when alchemy was
older age he wrote books like
metaphysics of light
introductory text to astronomy
mathematical reasoning in natural
sciences
etc he also built much of the groundwork
on which roger bacon started off his
career
continuing on the university expanded
tremendously during the 13th century
first was the official recognition as
universitas in 1231 and the acquisition
of the royal charter 17 years later
the university started to be known all
around europe and the scholars came from
as far as hungary as the university
expanded in size complexity
faculty and student count the troubles
with the city started up yet again
although it is arguable if they ever
ended the large amounts of incoming
students became a problem as there
wasn't enough housing in the city
so this problem started to be solved by
housing students in
university-affiliated medieval halls
called aularian these medieval halls
don't exist anymore as they were
replaced by the college system
starting around the 14th century but the
last holdout to this day according to
them
is saint edmonds hall which states it is
the oldest
academical society for the education of
undergraduates in any university
now even though whole is part of its
name it is not a true medieval hall
anymore because it operates as a college
today and saint edmonds isn't the only
college at oxford that started off as a
whole so did university college
hertford college exeter college etc
going into the 14th century the town and
gown problem culminated in the battle
of the saint escalistic day or more
appropriately the saint scholastic day
riot
it started off where every good
disagreement starts and a tavern
two students thinking there was
something fishy with their drinks
confronted and then assaulted the
taverner which started a brawl between
the students and the locals
[Music]
after that event when the university
refused to punish the students the
townspeople
started a two-day riot and clashes
between the students and locals became
to resemble more of a battle than just a
riot
the townspeople attacked academic
housing with bows and arrows pitchforks
and swords and naturally the students
retaliated after two days of this the
fighting finally subsided but it left
63 students and 30 locals dead and many
more wounded
the church would later on take the
university side and punish the locals by
making the mayor and the councillors of
the city walked bare head to church on
every saint scholastic day for the next
500 years
with that said the university's 14th
century was highly productive the
university kept growing and
started to for the first time accept
tuition from incoming undergraduates
this meant that the university now
wasn't solely reliant on the endowment
of money from rich individuals the city
or the catholic church this created more
freedom of thought within the university
and may have been instrumental in the
continuation of the oxford intellectual
movement scholars that were part of this
movement were thinkers like simon breden
one of the earliest european
mathematicians to work on trigonometry
or dun scotus along with william of
alchem which are considered to be two
of the three most important philosopher
theologians of the high middle ages
and many more like john wickliffe who
translated the bible into english and
along with ochem was instrumental in the
foundation of the ideas which would
later on spur
up the protestant reformation in fact
martin luther himself would mention
allchem's ideas on several occasions
lastly we have to look at thomas
brodverden archbishop of canterbury
and a member of the oxford calculators
the oxford calculators who are mostly
part of the merton college
made numerous discoveries like the
difference between kinematics and
dynamics
theory of velocity and maybe most
importantly discovery of the law of
falling bodies
long before galileo was even born with
all that said when the last of oxford
calculators and john wycliffe died in
the 14th century they were considered
the last people of the oxford
intellectual movement
and with them the early oxford
intellectual renaissance ended
not to be seen again in such prominence
until the 18th and 19th century
why the oxford intellectual movement
ended so suddenly is usually accredited
to this small thing called the black
death
it came to england around the middle of
14th century but outbreaks continued all
the way till 1375. many oxford scholars
died to it
including brad verdin alchem breden etc
and the ones that survived weren't
enough to pass the intellectual torch to
the student body which was
also dwindling but just like a phoenix
university of oxford managed to rebound
from the ashes of the black death
through some very clever maneuvering
for one the city of oxford was also
devastated from the plague and the
university took this opportunity to buy
out large amounts of vacant land around
the city
for example this is how new college got
its start in 1379 when
vickim the bishop of winchester bought
up abandoned property near the city wall
the city gladly sold the land but had
one requirement which was that new
college had to take care and maintain
their part of the city wall
which they did to this day where it
still stands on the east side of the
college
this is where i will conclude my video
with the oxford intellectual movement
ending and the beginnings of what we
would recognize as the university of
oxford today
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