The Archaeological Journal. JUNE, 1851. REMARKS ON THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, OXFORD. THE few historical notices of St. Mary's Church which are to be produced on the present occasion have no claim to the credit of originality. They are principally derived from sources of information which are universally accessible, and scarcely deserve to occupy your time, except so far as they may serve for an appropriate introduction to some observations on the fabric, for which I am indebted to the kindness of the accomplished architect' now employed in effecting the restoration of the Tower and Spire. The original foundation of St. Mary's Church has been referred by an ancient and certainly not incredible tradition to the great King Alfred. It is alleged that when, on the resuscitation of the University after its devastation by the Danes in the ninth century, that prince erected Schools of Grammar, of Arts, and of Theology within the walls of Oxford, the place of conferring degrees, and celebrating other public acts of the University, was transferred from its former situation, where St. Giles's Church now stands, to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin 2 so called, as the learned President of Trinity College has observed, in contradistinction to the still earlier foundation of St. Frides wide's, which in the most ancient documents is denominated, not St. Frideswide's, but St. Mary's "prope Tamesin." John Rous, or Ross, a Chantry Priest of Guy's Cliff in the county of Warwick, who wrote about the middle of the fifteenth century, under the name of "Johannes Rossus," states that, "In prima dicta Universitatis fundatione ipse nobilis Rex Aluredus infra Urbis Oxoniæ moenia Doctores. in Grammatica, Artibus et Theologia tribus locis in nomine Sanctæ Trinitatis ex suis sumptibus instituit ;" and elsewhere observes that "Ecclesia Sancti Egidii, sub nomine cujusdam alterius sancti dedicata, erat locus creationis Graduatorum, sicut modo est Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ infra muros.” 4 In like manner, also, Brian Twyne, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, in his work published in 1608, under the title of "Antiquitatis Academiæ Oxoniensis Apologia," quotes from the Chronicles of Hyde Abbey: "Quæ Universitas Oxoniæ quondam erat extra portam Borealem ejusdem urbis, et erat principalis Ecclesia totius cleri Ecclesia Sancti Egidii extra eandem portam : modo vero est Ecclesia principalis cleri Ecclesia Sanctæ Mariæ infra eandem urbem." "Sic (he proceeds) Hydense Chronicon, quod cum Rosso tum Burlæo multo antiquius est."5 The Burlæus alluded to being Walter Burley, a Fellow of Merton College, in 1305, described by Twyne as "Edwardi Regis tertii præceptor longe doctissimus," 6 and so highly esteemed by the Parisian schoolmen as to have been honourably designated by them as "Doctor planus et perspicuus." Whatever be the truth of the popular tradition which ascribes the foundation of St. Mary's Church to Alfred, the earliest authentic recognition of its existence is found in the Domesday Survey. In that record it is stated that, "Ad terras quas tenet Albericus Comes, pertinet una Ecclesia et tres mansiones; harum duæ jacent ad Ecclesiam Sanctæ Mariæ, reddentes xxviii.d d" Mention is frequently made of this Church in ancient writings as belonging to the king. In a charter of the early part of the reign of King John an annual payment of xxxii. out of its lands was confirmed to the Church of St. Mary, the rector thereof, and his successors. In an inquisition in the 13th of Edward I., the Church of St. Mary is stated to be in the gift of the king, and of the annual value of thirty marks. 4 Hist. Angi., p. 77. 5 Twyne, 122. * Ibid, 121. 7 Wood. Annals, i., 213. At one time it appears to have been styled a Deanery; John of Oxford, the well-known partisan of King Henry II. in his contest with Becket, and subsequently Dean of Salisbury and Bishop of Norwich, being reported to have held it under that title. It remained in the patronage of the Crown until King Edward II., on April 26, 1326, appropriated it to his new College of Oriel. At that time a Vicar was appointed with an annual stipend of 104 shillings, subsequently augmented by Henry Burwash, or de Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, to 110 shillings.8 But though the patronage of this church pertained to the king from the earliest times of which we have any account, the ancient tradition that it has also always been the principal church of the university-" principalis Ecclesia totius cleri Oxoniensis"-is supported by the authority of many ancient records. A bond for 2007. granted by the Chancellor and Masters of the University of Oxford, under their common seal, to the Prior and convent of St. Frideswide, as security against the exercise of jurisdiction by the former over the latter, bears date "at Oxford, in our House of Congregation, on the Feast of St. James the Apostle (25th July) in the year of our Lord one thousand two hundred and one, the third year of King John." This document Twyne supposes to have been given in the House of Congregation in or by St. Mary's Church, and adds that there are many instances of acts passed and decreed by the Masters of the University in the same church during the succeding reign of Henry III.9 On the 30th December, 1274, the third year of King Edward I., Letters Patent were granted for the appointment of a Chaplain in the Church of St. Mary. It is there said, "Cum igitur dilecti et fideles nostri Cancellarius et Universitas Villæ nostræ Oxonii (ubi suum posuerunt Trivium et Quadrivium fundamenta, ubi fons scaturit Theologica facultatis, ac ubi nudæ animæ filiorum hominum, venientium de longinquis, philosophiæ vestibus induuntur) in Ecclesia Beatæ Virginis, dicti loci, Capellaniam quandam deliberatione sancta nuper et provida duxerint statuendam, &c." The expression. philosophiæ vestibus induuntur," appears to allude to the investiture of Graduates with the proper habits of their several degrees, and confirms the statement quoted above Rymer, ii., 43. 8 Peshall, 56. 9 Twyne, 234, 235. 1 |