7/29/2019 henry viii.doc

1/1

Henry VIII, and his Troublesome University

Henry VIII was very involved with Oxford, and, particularly, with the life of the University. As perhaps the

foremost congregation of theological philosophers in the country, they represented much of the thinking of

the Church in England. Thus, in his disputes with the Pope, the University could either have proven avaluable ally, or a formidable foe. Henry devoted much effort to ensure that it never became the latter.

In 1525, Cardinal Wolsey planned to exceed all of the existing twelve colleges with a new one of his own

patronage, to be named Thomas Wolsey, Cardinal of Yorks College. St. Frideswides Abbey and a

neighbouring church were demolished to make way for the new college, which also obtained the properties

of Osney Abbey. The first of the colleges buildings to be completed were the magnificent kitchen and

dining hall, giving rise to the quip: Cardinalis iste instituit collegium, et absolvit popinam, Your Cardinal

founded a college, and ended up with a restaurant. This thirteenth college was, however, to prove far moreunlucky than Wolsey could ever have thought possible.

Wolsey made the first attempt to purge his college of Protestantism in 1528, with the arrest of a Lutheran of

the college, Thomas Garrett. Garrett promptly escaped from his confinement, but he and five other heretics

were captured, after the cardinals officers visited an astrologer. One was spared because he was just an

organist, three others died of their treatment, and the final two were burnt at the stake.

In 1529 Wolsey fell from power, and Henry took possession of the college, and disbanded its scholars. In1530, when Henry intended to divorce Catherine, he sent the following, foreboding letter to the University:

And in caas [case] ye do not upryghtly accordinge to divine lernynge handle yourself herein, ye may

be assurede, that we, not without great cause, shall so gwykely [quickly] and sharpely loke [look] to

your unnaturall misdemeanure therein, that it shall not bee to your [gwietnesse [quietness] and ease

hereafter.

In another, slightly later letter, he ended with the imprecation non est bonum irritare crabrones, It is not

wise to tease hornets.

In 1532 Henry (perhaps trying investment rather than threats as a way of ensuring the compliance of the

city with his wishes) re-established Cardinals College, made its chapel the Cathedral for the see of Oxford,

and called it Christ Church College. He appointed a Protestant as Dean, and Peter Martyr (an ItalianProtestant) was made Canon of Christ Church. These men both offended the Catholic community in the

city by marrying. It is interesting that Henry should have wanted, or, indeed, felt that he needed, such an

expensive, yet potent, symbol of royal authority in the city that was perhaps most steeped in theological

debate.

The course of study at the University was also affected by Henrys reign. He abolished the study of canon

law, but at the same time founded five Regius Chairs in Medicine, Civil Law, Greek, Hebrew and

Theology. These should not necessarily be seen as simply moves to establish a course of study not inimical

to the desires of a monarch, however, as the emphasis on civil law and Greek, not only involved a shift in

emphasis from canonical matters, but were also very much of their time, expressions of the humanism of

the Renaissance (see Renaissance Oxford).

This patronage of teaching in these more secular subjects perhaps marks the first and most fundamentalshift away from the monastic nature of the University, and towards its excellence in the sciences, law,

medicine, literature and history.