Merton College, Oxford

History

The foundation of the college

Merton College was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester. It has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford, although this claim is disputed between Merton College, Balliol College and University College. The substance of Merton's claim to the title of oldest College is that Merton was the first college to be provided with "statutes", a constitution governing the College set out at its founding. Merton's statutes date back to 1274, whereas neither Balliol nor University College had statutes until the 1280s. Merton was also the first to be conceived as a community of scholars working to achieve academic ends, rather than just a place for the scholars to live in. At its founding, Merton consisted of several houses and a farm in Surrey which existed to support students at schools; however, shortly afterwards the College moved to three houses on Merton Street, the site on which it still stands. The oldest buildings in Merton date back to the late 13th century, with the oldest quadrangle (Mob Quad), college chapel (originally the church of John the Baptist) and dining hall in any College in Oxford. The chapel was originally planned to be very large and to function both as a college chapel and as the parish church for that area of Oxford (the original church of John the Baptist was demolished to make way for Merton's dining hall). However, by the 15th century plans to extend the nave of the chapel where dropped due to lack of funds and the land on which it would have been built was leased out to what is now Corpus Christi College. The chapel tower was finished in the 15th century and one side of the original stained glass, as well as the historic rose window, are still intact, providing the longest expanse of original medieval stained glass in Oxford.

Related Topics:
1264 - Walter de Merton - Balliol College - University College

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Two relics of the College's founding still survive. The number of Postmasters (the word used in Merton to denote what are called

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Scholars in other colleges) is still set at 25, which was the original number of students at Merton (the first students consisted of Walter de Merton's many nephews). There also exists the original archive room which Walter de Merton had built above the entrance to Mob Quad and which, along with the college library, houses one of the most complete set of college records in Europe which date back to 1264.

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The Civil War

During the English Civil War Merton was the only Oxford College to side with Parliament. The reason for this was Merton's annoyance with the uncalled-for interference from their visitor, who has always been the Archbishop of Canterbury. Due to this, the college was moved to London at the start of the Civil War and its buildings were commandeered by the Royalists and used to house many of Charles the First's court when Oxford was used as the Royalists' capital. This included the King's mistress, Henrietta Maria, who was housed in or near what is now the Queen's Room, the room above the arch between Front and Fellows' Quads.

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Differences were quickly settled after the war, however, and until very recently a portrait of Charles the First hung in Merton's Hall as a reminder to the role it played in his court. Since the Civil War Merton has been a fairly sleepy place.

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Modern times

In recent years, the College has achieved high rankings in the Norrington Table and in the last five years, Merton has been top of the Norrington table five times. It is, thus, the most academically successful College in the last twenty years, with more First Class degrees being awarded to its students than Upper Seconds.

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Merton has been Head of the River just once, in 1950, which makes it one of the least successful colleges at competitive men's rowing; Merton's women's VIII has done rather better in recent years.

Related Topics:
Head of the River - 1950 - Rowing

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Merton's peaceful precincts are disturbed once a year by the (in)famous Time Ceremony, when students, dressed in formal sub-fusc, walk backwards around Fellows' Quad holding candles and drinking port. The purpose is ostensibly to maintain the integrity of the space-time continuum during the transition from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time which occurs in the early hours of the last Sunday in October. There are two toasts associated with the ceremony, the first is "to good old times" whilst the second is "to the counter revolution". The ceremony was invented by two undergraduates in 1971, partly as a spoof on other Oxford ceremonies, and partly to celebrate the end of the experimental period of British Standard Time from 1968 to 1971 when the UK stayed one hour ahead of GMT all year round. It is also seen by many as a protest against the abandonment of sub fusc in recent years.

Related Topics:
Sub-fusc - Port - Toasts - British Standard Time

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