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Reformation Oxford

With Oxfords monastic concentration, it played a huge part in the Reformation, not least by playing host to

its major figures. Indeed, some of the most dramatic of the inter-denominational battles of this period took

place within the city itself, and its intellectual ferment fanned the flames (the often literal flames) ofreligious controversy.

John Wyclif, Master of Balliol in the 1360s, questioned the infallibility of the Pope, and, as a result, his

work was denounced as heretical by the Vatican (the fount of the entire western church at this point, let us

not forget) in 1382. This led to his stepping down as Master of Balliol, but the rise of his followers in the

Lollard movement across the country was an important symbolic step away from the Church of Rome. It

served, however, to put the religious leanings of Oxford in an unorthodox light, and the loyalty of the city

to whatever the prevailing denomination was, was put to the test many times over the next three centuries,culminating with the deaths of the Oxford Martyrs (see Religion in Oxford).

Needless to say, the religious controversies of the period had a huge affect on the composure of the

scholarly body in Oxford, but also in the way political manoeuvring could affect the physical city itself.

Perhaps the best example of this is the foundation of Christ Church (see Henry VIII and his Troublesome

University), and the changes in the course of study due to Henry VIIIs involvement with the University.

Nevertheless, as a centre of both monastic life and thought, the scholars of Oxford were vital to theReformation in England.