578 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
authority than Paris. An unsuccessful attempt was made by the bishop of Lincoln, in whose diocese it was located, to assert supervisory authority. The bull of Innocent IV., issued 1254, was the nearest approach to a papal charter and con firmed the university in its "immunities and ancient cus toms." In 1201 a chancellor is mentioned for the first time. From the beginning this official seems to have been elected by the university. He originally held his office for a term of two years. At the present time the chancellor is an honorary dignitary who does not pretend to reside in Oxford.
In 1395, the university was exempted by papal bull from all control of bishops or legati nati. This decree was revoked in 1411 in consequence of the disturbances with Wyclif and his followers, but, in 1490, Sixtus IV. again renewed the ex emption from ecclesiastical authority.
The university was constantly having conflicts with the town and its authorities. The most notable one occurred in 1354. As usual, it originated in a tavern brawl, the keeper of the place being supported not only by his fellow-townsmen but by thousands from the neighboring country.1 The chan cellor fled. The friars brought out the host and placed it between the combatants, but it was crushed to the earth and a scholar put to death while he was clinging to the friar who held it. Much blood was shed. The townsmen, bent upon paying off old scores, broke into twenty college inns and halls and pillaged them. Even the sanctity of the churches was not respected, and the scholars were hunted down who sought shelter in them. The students left the city. The chancellor appealed the case to the king, and through his authority and the spiritual authority of the bishop the town corporation was forced to make reparation. The place was put under in terdict for a year. Officials were punished and restitution of goods to the students was made. The interdict was with drawn only on condition that the mayor, bailiffs, and sixty burghers should appear in St. Mary's church on the anniver sary of the breaking out of the riot, St. Scholastica's day, and
1 Two thousand entered the city gates. See KashdalPs account, II. 403 sqq.
§ 93. OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE. 579
do penance for the slaughtered students, each burgher laying down a penny on the high altar, the sum to be divided equally between poor students and the curate. It was not till 1825, that the university agreed to forego the spectacle of this annual penance which had been kept up for nearly five cen turies. Not for several years did the university assume its former aspect.1 Among the students themselves peace did not always reign. The Irish contingent was banished, 1413, by act of parliament for turbulence.2
The arrival of the Dominicans and Franciscans, as has been said in other places, was an event of very great interest at Oxford, but they never attained to the independent power they reached in Paris. They were followed by the Carmel ites, the Augustinians, and other orders.
The next important event was the controversy over Wyclif and the doctrines and persons of the Lollards, which filled the years of the last quarter of the fourteenth century and be yond.
At the English universities the college system received a permanent development. Endowments, established by the liberality of bishops,, kings, and other personalities, furnished the nucleus for corporations and halls consisting of masters and students, each with a more or less distinct life of its own. These college bodies and their buildings continue to impart to Oxford and Cambridge a mediaeval aspect and to recall on every hand the venerable memories of past centuries. Twenty-one of these colleges and five halls remain in Oxford. The oldest are University College founded by a bequest of William of Durham at his death, 1249; Merton, 1264; Balliol founded by the father of the Scotch king, 1266; Exeter, 1314; Oriel, 1324; Queen's College, 1340; the famous New College, 1379, founded by William of Wykenham, bishop of Winchester; All Souls,
1 Rashdall, II. 411, says, that by the middle of the fifteenth century the " town was almost entirely subjugated to the authority of the university." He also says, II. 416, that "few things are more calculated to make us realize the enor mous extent to which civilization has succeeded in curbing the natural passions, even of the lowest strata of modern society, than the annals of the mediaeval university." 2 Rashdall, II. 41<x