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Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The squat, square tower of its chapel is one of the city's landmarks. It is claimed that Mob Quad, built in the 14th century, is the oldest quadrangle (or courtyard) of any Oxford or Cambridge college and set the pattern for collegiate architecture for future generations (though this claim is disputed by Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who say their Old Court is older). The other quads are Front Quad, Fellows Quad (planned by Sir Henry Savile), St Albans ("Stubbins", built on the site of St Albans Hall which was purchased by Merton in the 19th century due to its habit of taking on Merton students who had been 'sent down', or dismissed), Grove (a Victorian house built after a parliamentary report forced Merton to take on more undergraduate students) and Rose Lane, across the magnificent Fellows Gardens. The garden fills the southeastern corner of the old walled city of Oxford. The walls may be seen from Christ Church Meadows.

It is one of the wealthiest colleges, with an estimated financial endowment of £104m (2003).

History

The foundation of the college

Merton College was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Rochester. It has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford, although this claim is disputed between Merton College, Balliol College and University College. The substance of Merton's claim to the title of oldest College is that Merton was the first college to be provided with "statutes", a constitution governing the College set out at its founding. Merton's statutes date back to 1274, whereas neither Balliol nor University College had statutes until the 1280s. Merton was also the first to be conceived as a community of scholars working to achieve academic ends, rather than just a place for the scholars to live in. At its founding, Merton consisted of several houses and a farm in Surrey which existed to support students at schools; however, shortly afterwards the College moved to three houses on Merton Street, the site on which it still stands. The oldest buildings in Merton date back to the late 13th century, with the oldest quadrangle (Mob Quad), college chapel (originally the church of John the Baptist) and dining hall in any College in Oxford. The chapel was originally planned to be very large and to function both as a college chapel and as the parish church for that area of Oxford (the original church of John the Baptist was demolished to make way for Merton's dining hall). However, by the 15th century plans to extend the nave of the chapel were dropped due to lack of funds, and the land on which it would have been built was leased out to what is now Corpus Christi College. The chapel tower was finished in the 15th century and one side of the original stained glass, as well as the historic rose window, are still intact, providing the longest expanse of original medieval stained glass in Oxford.

The original archive room still exists, built by Walter de Merton above the entrance to Mob Quad; it houses one of the most complete set of college records in Europe, dating back to 1264.

The Civil War

During the English Civil War Merton was the only Oxford College to side with Parliament. The reason for this was Merton's annoyance with the uncalled-for interference from their visitor, who has always been the Archbishop of Canterbury. Due to this, the college was moved to London at the start of the Civil War and its buildings were commandeered by the Royalists and used to house many of Charles the First's court when Oxford was used as the Royalists' capital. This included the King's French wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, who was housed in or near what is now the Queen's Room, the room above the arch between Front and Fellows' Quads.

Differences were quickly settled after the war, however, and until very recently a portrait of Charles the First hung in Merton's Hall as a reminder to the role it played in his court. Since the Civil War Merton has been a fairly sleepy place.

Modern times

In recent years, the College has achieved high rankings in the Norrington Table and in the last five years, Merton has been top of the Norrington table five times. It is, thus, the most academically successful College in the last twenty years, with more First Class degrees being awarded to its students than Upper Seconds.

Merton has been Head of the River in Summer Eights only once: its men's 1st VIII held the headship in 1951, making Merton one of the less successful colleges at men's rowing; Merton's women have done rather better in recent years, gaining the headship in Torpids in 2003 and rowing over to defend the title in 2004.

Merton's peaceful precincts are disturbed once a year by the (in)famous Time Ceremony, when students, dressed in formal sub-fusc, walk backwards around Fellows' Quad drinking port. Traditionally participants also hold candles but in recent years this practice has been dropped, and many students have now adopted the habit of linking arms and twirling around at each corner of the quad. The purpose is ostensibly to maintain the integrity of the space-time continuum during the transition from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time which occurs in the early hours of the last Sunday in October. There are two toasts associated with the ceremony, the first is "to good old time" whilst the second is "long live the counter revolution!". The ceremony was invented by two undergraduates in 1971, partly as a spoof on other Oxford ceremonies, and partly to celebrate the end of the experimental period of British Standard Time from 1968 to 1971 when the UK stayed one hour ahead of GMT all year round. It is also seen by many as a protest against the abandonment of sub fusc in recent years.

Student life and politics

Merton college admitted its first female students in 1980 (largely due to pressure from the JCR) along with other traditionalist colleges such as Christ Church, leaving Oriel as the only remaining all-male college (although Oriel has since joined Merton to admit female students). Since this time however men have predominated at Merton and it consistently has one of the highest male to female ratios of an Oxford college (around 3:2). However Merton was the second traditionally male college to elect a female Warden in 1994. Merton has the distinction on these grounds also of being the only college to have single sex accommodation as freshmen are sorted with female students going into the Rose Lane buildings and most male students going into 3 houses on Merton Street. Merton has had a reputation for having the best food in Oxford since an old Mertonian left money specifically for the improvement of the kitchens.

In 2003 Merton JCR passed a motion expressing general support for student tuition fees making it the only pro-tuition-fee student body in the U.K.

Merton politics is otherwise traditionally seen as apathetic with no Mertonians rising to the top of either the Oxford Union or OUSU for many years. However, in November 2005, former Merton JCR president Alan Strickland was elected OUSU President for 2006–2007.

Notable former Mertonians

This list of Merton Fellows and alumni is grouped into centuries; where the person's life spans more than one century, the (approximate) date of matriculation is used, and given in brackets when known. The names are alphabetical by surname within each group.

See also Former students of Merton College, Oxford and Fellows of Merton College, Oxford of Merton College.

Medieval

16th century

17th century

18th century

19th century

20th century (matriculated before 1960)

Contemporary (matriculated since 1960)

Grace

The college preprandial grace is always recited before formal dinners in Hall and usually by the senior Postmaster present. The first two lines of the Latin text are based on verses 15 and 16 of Psalm 145.

Oculi omnium in te respiciunt, Domine. Tu das escam illis tempore opportuno.
Aperis manum tuam, et imples omne animal benedictione tua.
Benedicas nobis, Deus, omnibus donis quae de tua beneficentia accepturi simus.
Per Iesum Christum dominum nostrum, Amen.

Roughly translated it means:

The eyes of the world look up to thee, O Lord. Thou givest them food in due season.
Thou openest thy hand and fillest every creature with thy blessing.
Thou blessest us, O God, with all the gifts which by thy good works we are about to receive.
Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Amen.

For the relevant verses of the Psalm, the Authorized Version has:

15. The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
16. Thou openst thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

According to an article about Graces from the other place, a slightly different version of the Latin text of these verses is painted (apparently as a decoration) around Old Hall in Queens' College, Cambridge, and is "commonly in use at other Cambridge colleges".

The rather long pre-prandial grace contrasts to the brief post-prandial grace: Benedictus benedicat ("Let he who is blessed, give blessing"). The latter grace is rarely heard by undergraduates, as it is only used on High Table guest nights, and the undergraduates usually leave the hall well before the Fellows and their guests.

References

  • Bott, A. (1993). Merton College: A Short History of the Buildings. Oxford: Merton College. ISBN 0952231409.
  • Martin, G.H. & Highfield, J.R.L. (1997). A History of Merton College. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199201838.

See also

1264 establishments | Colleges of the University of Oxford | Merton College, Oxford

Merton College | Merton College (Oxford)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Merton College, Oxford".

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