Oxford (England) -- History; University of Oxford -- History
So wrote Lydgate, who knew. Even when he presented his books to the
University, he took care to reserve the right of borrowing them, for
were they not, according to the inscription which he was wont to insert
lovingly in them, all his worldly wealth (_mon bien mondain_)? It is
perhaps not surprising to find from the list of books which he gave to
the University, that the duke's taste in literature was for the
Classics, for the works of Ovid, Cato, Aulus Gellius and Quintilian, for
the speeches of Cicero, the plays of Terence and Seneca, the works of
Aristotle and Plato, the histories of Suetonius and Josephus, of Beda
and Eusebius, Higden and Vincent of Beauvais. A fancy for medical
treatises and a pretty taste in Italian literature are betrayed by the
titles of other books, for the duke gave seven volumes of Boccaccio,
five of Petrarch and two of Dante to the University.
Duke Humphrey promised to give the whole of his collection to the
University, together with a hundred pounds to go towards the
[Illustration: Kemp Hall]
building of the library. But he died suddenly, and the University never,
as it appears, received full advantage of his generosity. It was not
till 1488 that the books were removed from S. Mary's. For the completion
of the library was delayed by an order from Edward IV. The workmen
employed upon the building were summoned by him to Windsor, where he had
need of them, to work at S. George's Chapel. Those who were not employed
on the chapel were handed over to William of Waynflete, who restored
them to the University along with some scaffolding which had been used
in the building of Magdalen. William Patten or Barbour of Waynflete, an
Oxford man, who had been master of the school at Winchester, had been
appointed first master and then Provost of Eton by the founder, Henry
VI., and was rewarded for his success there by the Bishopric of
Winchester. In 1448 he had founded a hall for the study of Theology and
Philosophy, situated between the present schools and Logic Lane, and
called it, probably after the almshouse at Winchester, of which he had
been master, the Hall of S. Mary Magdalen. When he became Lord
Chancellor he immediately took steps to enlarge this foundation,
transferred it to the site of the Hospital of S. John, and styled it the
College of S. Mary Magdalen (September 1457).
Waynflete resigned the Chancellorship just before the battle of
Northampton. After some years, during which he was "in great dedignation
with Edward IV.," he received full pardon from his late master's
conqueror. The Yorkist monarch (whose fine statue is over the west
doorway of the chapel) also confirmed the grants made to Waynflete's
College in the last reign. After an interval, then, the foundation stone
of the most beautiful college in the world, "the most absolute building
in Oxford," as James I. called it when his son matriculated there, was
laid "in the midst of the High Altar" (5th May 1474).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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