Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/176

 1:28 KEMARKS OX THE CHURCH OF from John Rous, that " Ecclesia Sanctse Marine infra mures erat locus Creationis Graduatorum." The termination of the controversy which took place in the fifth or sixth year of King Edward II. 'ith the preaching friars concerning theological degrees, indicates the same conclusion. The disputations termed Vespers, and other scholastic exercises, which the friars had claimed the privilege of performing in their own houses, were then peremptorily transferred to the Church of St. Mary as the place of per- forming them for all academical persons. And to this it may be added that in a composition between the Chancellor, Proctors, and Masters of the University, and the Provost and Fellows of Oriel College, in the year 1409, it is rehearsed that the building called the Old Congregation House, on the north side of the chancel, belonged to the University before the appropriation of the Church to Oriel CoUege, and even before the memory of man ; " necnon per tempus et tempora cujus contrarii memoria non existit ; " and that the Congre- gation of Masters had been solemnly held there from all antiquity.'^ The right and interest of the University in the Church of St. Mary has also been exhibited on several occasions when they have taken upon themselves the charge of repairing the fabric. The most signal example of this kind took place in the early part of the reign of Henry VII., when, after it had been for some time in a ruinous condition, the whole edifice, except the tower and spire, a small portion eastward of the tower, and some j^ortions of the chapel to the westward of the tower, commonly called Adam de Brome's Chapel, was entirely rebuilt, as it now stands, by means of funds supplied by themselves, or obtained by the assistance of their friends.' In a MS. volume preserved in the University archives, endoi'sed, " Pegistrum continens diversas Epistolas, &c., ab anno Domini, 1422, ad annum 1508," upwards of fifty letters are recorded, which were addressed to the king, and to various prelates and other persons, whose assistance was solicited during the prosecution of this work, from the year 1486 to the year 1490. The series commences with the appointment of one Stephen Browne (who, if we may judge from the comph- ments paid him, was a person lield in great esteem) to be = Ex orig. Arch. Univ. » Peshall, 5b'.