Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/175

 ST. MAKY TlIK VIItOIN, (»XFORD. 127 At one time it appears to have been styled a Deanei-y ; John of Oxford, the well-known partisan of J{^ing llenrj 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 aug- mented by Henry Burwash, or de Burghersh, Bishop of Lincoln, to 110 shilHngs.^ 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 alwa3^s been the prin- cipal church of the university — " principalis Ecclesia totius cleri Oxoniensis" — is supported by the authority of many ancient records. A bond for 200/. granted by the Chan- cellor 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 formei* over the latter, bears date " at Oxford, in our House of Congregation, on the Feast of St. James the Apostle (25th July) in the 3^ear of our Lord one thousand two hundred and one, the third year of King John." This docu- ment 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.^ On the 30th December, 1274, the third year of King Edward I., Letters Patent w^ere 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 Univer- sitas Villte nostra3 Oxonii (ubi suum posuerunt Trivium et Quadrivium fundamenta, ubi fons scaturit Theologicie facul- tatis, ac ubi nudce animse filiorum hominum, venientium de longinquis, philosophia3 vestibus induuntur) in Ecclesia Beatse Virginis, dicti loci, Capellaniam quandam dehberatione sancta nuper et provida duxerint statuendam, &c." ^ The expression " philosophise vestibus induuntur," appears to allude to the investiture of Graduates with the proper habits of their several degrees, and confirms the statement quoted above " FVslmll, ')!]. ^ Twvne, 234, 23,5. ' Rynier, ii., 4.'?.