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English autonomous institution of higher learning at Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng. It lies along the
Upper River Thames (called by Oxonians the Isis), 50 miles (80 km) north-northwest of London.
Sketchy evidence indicates that schools existed at Oxford as soon as the early 12th century. By the
end of that century a university was well established, perhaps resulting from the barring of English
students from the University of Paris about 1167. Oxford was modeled on the University of
Paris, with initial faculties of theology, law, medicine, and the liberal arts.
In the 13th century the university gained added strength, particularly in theology, with the establishment
of several religious orders, principally Dominicans and Franciscans, in the town of Oxford. The
university had no buildings in its early years; lectures were given in hired halls or churches. The various
colleges of Oxford were originally merely endowed boardinghouses for impoverished scholars. They
were intended primarily for masters or bachelors of arts who needed financial assistance to enable
them to continue study for a higher degree. The earliest of these colleges, University College, was
founded in 1249. Balliol College was founded about 1263, and Merton College in 1264.
During the early history of Oxford its reputation was based on theology and the liberal arts. But it also
gave more serious treatment to the physical sciences than did the University of Paris: Roger
Bacon, after leaving Paris, conducted his scientific experiments and lectured at Oxford from 1247 to
1257. Bacon was one of several influential Franciscans at the university during the 13th and 14th
centuries. Among the others were Duns Scotus and William of Ockham. John Wycliffe (c. 1330-84)
spent most of his life as a resident Oxford doctor.
Beginning in the 13th century the university was strengthened by charters from the crown, but the
religious foundations in Oxford town were suppressed during the Protestant Reformation. In 1571 an
act of Parliament led to the incorporation of the university. The university's statutes were codified by its
chancellor, Archbishop William Laud, in 1636. In the early 16th century professorships began to be
endowed, and in the latter part of the 17th century interest in scientific studies increased substantially.
During the Renaissance, Desiderius Erasmus carried the new learning to Oxford, and such scholars as
William Grocyn, John Colet, and Sir Thomas More enhanced the university's reputation. Since that
time Oxford has traditionally held the highest reputation for scholarship and instruction in the classics,
theology, and political science.
In the 19th century the university's enrollment and its professorial staff were greatly expanded. The first
women's college at Oxford, Lady Margaret Hall, was founded in 1878, and women were first
admitted to full membership in the university in 1920. In the 20th century Oxford's curriculum was
modernized. Science came to be taken much more seriously and professionally, and many new
faculties were added, including ones for modern languages, political science, and economics.
Postgraduate studies also expanded greatly in the 20th century.
The colleges and collegial institutions of the University of Oxford include All Souls (1438), Balliol
(1263-68), Brasenose (1509), Christ Church (1546), Corpus Christi (1517), Exeter (1314), Green
(1979), Hertford (1874), Jesus (1571), Keble (founded 1868, inc. 1870), Lady Margaret Hall
(founded 1878, inc. 1926), Linacre (1962), Lincoln (1427), Magdalen (1458), Merton (1264), New
(1379), Nuffield (founded 1937, inc. 1958), Oriel (1326), Pembroke (1624), Queen's (1340), St.
Anne's (founded 1879, inc. 1952), St. Antony's (1950), St. Catherine's (1962), St. Cross (1965), St.
Edmund Hall (1278), St. Hilda's (founded 1893, inc. 1926), St. Hugh's (founded 1886, inc. 1926),
St. John's (1555), St. Peter's (founded 1947, inc. 1961), Somerville (founded 1879, inc. 1926),
Trinity (1554-55), University (1249), Wadham (1612), Wolfson (1966), and Worcester (founded
1283, inc. 1714).
Oxford houses the Bodleian Library and the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (qq.v.).
The Oxford University Press, established in 1478, is one of the largest and most prestigious university
publishers in the world.
Oxford has been associated with many of the greatest names in British history, from John Wesley and
Cardinal Wolsey to Oscar Wilde and Sir Richard Burton to Cecil Rhodes and Sir Walter Raleigh. The
astronomer Edmond Halley studied at Oxford, and the physicist Robert Boyle performed his most
important research there. Prime ministers who studied at Oxford include William Pitt the Elder,
George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, William Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, H.H. Asquith, Clement Atlee,
Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Edward Heath, Sir Harold Wilson, and Margaret Thatcher.
