Beginnings of Oxford University. Part One: Early stirrings

When did Oxford University begin? It’s a good question, but has no simple answer. Here Rob Walters uses his long experience as an Oxford guide to steer you through the stirring of the early teaching faculties and in a second video provides a firm date and the evidence for it. This first video takes you up to the end of the twelfth century in an intriguing overview of those early years. It begins with a college which was not really a college located within Oxford Castle then moves on to early teachers such as Theobaldus of Etampes, Robert Pullen, Vacarius, and Gerald of Wales. It covers the royal ban imposed on students wishing to attend the University of Paris and shows where the original schools were in Oxford, and how they gradually evolved into halls mostly grouped around St Mary the Virgin church. The video explains why Oxford became a key centre for study based upon its location on the River Thames and the fact that the King had a palace there plus its importance in the teaching and practice of law and its attraction for monastic establishments.