Oriel College
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Oriel College, located in Oriel Square, Oxford, is the fifth oldest of the colleges.Oriel has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford.
Adam de Brome was the founder of the Hall which gradually developed into Oriel College. Fired by de Merton's noble example he had the concept of a similar college but without restriction to any locality. This college, in the form of two tenements, Tackley's Inn and Perilous Hall in High Street, came into being in 1324. Two years later the property was transferred into the possession of King Edward II who in 1326 refounded the college under statutes framed on those of Merton.
In 1327 the college acquired a hall called La Oriole standing on the site of the present quadrangle. The origin of the name is lost in obscurity, suggestions being Aureolum, a golden or beautiful room or some other physical feature of the building, orOratoriolum — an oratory.
Thomas Cobham, Bishop of Winchester, bequeathed his library to Oriel, but because of his debts, his executors pawned the books. Adam de Brome redeemed them and with them created a library. The University, not accepting this procedure sent students who forcibly entered the library and made off with the spoils. In spite of endless litigation the books were never returned to Oriel, and became the nucleus of the University's library.
John Wycliffe's opposition to authority seems to have been in keeping with this spirit dominant in the college. It is interesting that about that time Sir Walter Raleigh entered the college as a commoner.
Oriel took the lead in the academic revival which began in the nineteenth century. Its fellowships attracted a succession of eminent tutors and masters and eventually a fellowship here was regarded as the highest distinction the University had to offer. Thus, Newman, an undergraduate at Trinity, sought and won a fellowship at Oriel.
Other famous Oriel names include More, Keble, Pusey and Rhodes whose benefactions made possible the college's buildings facing the High, and whose scholarships bring thirty six young men (and very recently women) from the Commonwealth and thirty two from the United States.
The dates of some of the college's buildings: Gatehouse 1620, Chapel 1642, Hall 1642, Library 1788.
