Page:Oxford men and their colleges.djvu/233

 — ■■■ II I ' 11 1 TIT '""'__'" "* lr< '" '", " '" ln '" "' "' "* W 'M

'" 1 "' " '"

X.— MAGDALEN COLLEGE.

HE College of S. Mary Magdalen, commonly known as Magdalen College, was founded in the reign of Henry VI. by William Wayn- flete, Bishop of Winchester. The founder had been appointed in 1428 to the mastership of the school at Winchester, where he also held the mastership of the Hospital of S. Mary Magdalen. In 1440, he was transferred by the King to the mastership of Eton, where he became one of the first Fellows of Eton College, and after a few years exchanged the office of Headmaster for that of Provost. In 1447, on the death of Cardinal Beaufort, he was elected Bishop of Winchester. Early in the next year he obtained from the King a license to found at Oxford a Hall, to be called S. Mary Magdalen Hall, for a President and fifty scholars. The society so founded occupied certain buildings which stood on the ground now covered by the Examination Schools of the University, ln 1456 Waynfiete became Chancellor, and on his appointment to that office he applied for and obtained the permission to convert his Hall into a College with permanent buildings and endowment. For this purpose he obtained possession of the buildings and lands belonging to an older foundation, the ancient Hospital of S. John Baptist. The precise date at which this Hospital had been founded is unknown. It certainly existed before the reign of John, for its Master and Brethren had received benefactions from that sovereign while he was still known as Count of Mortain. It had been endowed, and possibly refounded, by Henry III. The Hospital buildings stood outside the East Gate of the city, on the ground between the gate of the present College and the Cherwell ; some portions of them are still remaining, and form part of the present College buildings. The Hospital, as a foundation, was united with the College which Waynfiete now founded, by a charter dated June 12, 1458. The greater part of the members of the Hall were transferred to the new College, under William Tybarde as President, and the Hall ceased to exist. The College for some time continued to occupy the buildings formerly tenanted by the Hall, until, after long delay, caused by the political troubles of the time, Waynfiete was able to fulfil his intention of providing them with a better dwelling place. In 1480 the members removed to the new buildings on the site of the Hospital and on the ground adjoining, though the work was not yet complete. They now received from the founder certain statutes, and a new President, Richard Mayew, afterwards Bishop of Hereford. Additional statutes were given in 1482, and the complete code in 1483, when the College may be said to have been finally organized by its founder. It was to consist of a President, forty Fellows, thirty Scholars called Demies, four Chaplains, eight Clerks, sixteen Choristers, a Schoolmaster, and an Usher. Besides the foundation members, the statutes allowed the admission, under certain conditions, of a small number of commoners. The Demies were to be chosen, if fit persons could be found, from places where the College held property : they were to be at least twelve years of age at the time of election, and were not to retain their places after reaching the age of 25. The Fe lows were to be chosen from certain counties and dioceses. The system which afterwards prevailed, by which any vacant Fellow- ship was filled, if possible, by the election of a Demy born in the particular county or diocese to which the Fellowship was assigned, was not part of Waynflete's scheme, but became established as a custom. The School- master and Usher were to give instruction in grammar to the junior Demies, and to any others who might desire to receive it. Special provision was made for higher teaching by the appointment of readers in Theology, in Moral Philosophy, and in Natural Philosophy. The lectures of these teachers were to be open not only to members of the College, but to all students who chose to attend them : and it is thus possible to trace in this part of Waynflete's design the beginnings of the endowment of professorial teaching in the University. The general regulations for the government of the College were based upon the statutes given by Waynfiete s great predecessor, William of Wykeham, to New College; these were the model for the statutes of Magdalen, as the

[ 289—29O ]

U