Page:Oxford men and their colleges.djvu/99

 H3

EXETER COLLEGE.

114

twenty feast days. The common chest had three keys kept by the Rector, Senior Fellow, and Chaplain respectively, and there is still an old chest of this description in* the muniment room. The allowance of ten pence a week for commons may seem small, especially as the arrangement was made just after the great famine of 13 15, probably the time of greatest dearth that England ever experienced, but Exeter was a poor college, and the sum allowed in some of the richer colleges at Oxford was not much larger. At Exeter the allowance was raised to a shilling in 1408. The last twenty years of the fourteenth century had been singularly abundant but afterwards prices rose. In 1326 the Oriel statutes gave twelve pence as the sum, which was to be made fifteen pence in times of scarcity. In 1340 the Halliol statutes allow eleven pence, which might be raised to fifteen pence when food was dear. Merton in 1270 and 1274 allowed 40^. before determining and 50^. afterwards, part for the weekly commons, the rest to be paid at the end of the year, and in 1284 Archbishop Peckham checked an attempt of the fellows to increase the sum.

The hall and kitchen are of course constantly men- tioned. They were not on the site af the present hall and kitchen, but more to the north. There was a large washing basin in the hall ('lavacrum') with a pipe to it (fistula), and once we hear of a ' Lavacrum pendens in aula.' There are constant payments for towels. . . The Hall was lighted with torches, torticii, or rather large candles ; a great torch of wax cost 3s. 6d. in Lent 1 358, a torch for the hall 4s. yd. in wintei 1360, io%d. is given for making two torches in winter 1385. Charcoal (carbones) was used for the fire, and was in fact employed in college halls till within comparatively modern times. The smoke escaped through a hole in the roof. Chimneys came into use in the fourteenth century. . . . There was a tendency to remain round the fire in hall after dinner, partly perhaps for the warmth, but still more for the sake of an occasional drinking bout (bibesia) ; hence several colleges have stringent rules against staying in hall after dinner. Thus at Magdalen all are to leave the hall at curfew time, hora ignitegii, except on Saints' days, when they may stay on and amuse themselves with ballads, and read historical poems, chronicles, and the wonders of the world. Candles were dear, nearly two pence a pound, that is two shillings of our money ; men could not afford to read in their rooms after dark. Other young students be- sides Sixtus V. may have had to read by the light of the lantern hung up at the crossing of the streets. The burning candle was sometimes protected by a lantern. A very old lantern is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. It is of bronze and the light is transmitted through crystals. . . The men, too, were much crowded in their rooms. We con- stantly hear of chamber fellows, and there were some- times as many as four in one room. The churches and castles were splendid, but the inmates of colle- giate houses were closely packed and indifferently lodged, while the furniture was rough and scanty. The Magdalen statutes order that in each of the better rooms there shall be two chief beds and two beds on wheels, ' lecti rotales, Trookyll beddys vulgariter appellati,' and in each of the other rooms two chief beds and one truckle bed if the size of those rooms allow of so many. The services of a rat catcher had to be called in sometimes. Autumn, 1363, ' 8d. to a ratter (ratonarius) when he destroyed the rats in the rooms. ' The number of students then at Oxford was

large. The Universities were in fact the great public schools of the country. In 1261 the expenses of a boy called ' little Stephen ' at Oxford, from Christmas to Easter, were 4 s-. 3d.

The Library was thatched in autumn 1375, ' $s. ^d. for straw and for covering the Library.' It had just received a donation : Lent 1375, "40^. for the use of the Library in part payment of 20 marks given by M. William Reed, bishop of Chichester, but tempo- rarily used for College payments." Winter 1385, '3d. for repairing two books, id. for paper, 2s. $d. for glass in the great window of the Library.' In the east window was the picture of a man kneeling, with his gown and formalities on him, with this in- scription, ' Pray for the soul of M. William Palmer of this place, who caused this chapel to be lengthened. ' The Library had been the founder's chapel. Palmer was physician to Margaret of Anjou, and his name was well known in the west, as he built Greystone Bridge over the Tamarnear Launceston, thus fulfilling a promise made in his schoolboy days, perhaps when at Launceston school.

The books were chained to desks, and some of them kept in chests : Lent 1441, id. for a hanging lock for a book-chest. A new Library was built in I383-

The bishops of Exeter were kind patrons. Bishops Grandisson, Lacy, and Brentingham gave books. Bishop Stafford obtained a bull for the fellows from Innocent VII. , and he built a new gate at the west end of the College, and a chamber under the old Library.

Henry V., who is said to have been educated under Cardinal Beaufort's care at Queen's, had always taken much interest in Oxford matters. His father had been displeased with the University when it resisted a Visitation by the archbishop, and Prince Henry defended its liberties. Benedict Brente, a fellow of Exeter College, was one of the proctors who were compelled to resign on this occasion, and was com- mitted to the Tower. As soon, however, as the Uni- versity could assert its liberty they were re-elected. Prince Henry was attached to Richard II., who had treated him kindly, and on his accession to the throne he restored Richard's friends to their possessions. Henry IV. was supported by his nobles and the higher clergy, but Richard met with support from many of the clergy and the lower classes. Henry V. succeeded in conciliating both parties.

Several members of the College were somewhat closely connected with the House of Lancaster. William Palmer, mentioned above, was physician to Margaret of Anjou. John Arundell, another fellow, was physician to Henry VI. Another, Michael Tregury had been chaplain to Henry V., and was made byHenry VI. Rector of the University of Caen during the English rule in Normandy, on which occa- sion Paris remonstrated with Oxford on the unkind- ness of setting up a rival University against the mother University of Europe. Paris, however, was also suffering from the rise of a new University at Bourges. In fact, after its great effort at the Council of Con- stance, through Gerson and D'Ailly, the University of Paris steadily declined. Tregury became Arch- bishop of Dublin, and his tomb was discovered at S. Patrick's, in 1730, by Dean Swift. It may have been this connection with the royal family that induced Henry V. 's executors (one of whom was