chapel AND library. — From Ingram.
ST. EDMUND HALL.
[T. EDMUND HALL, or— as it was often
styled — Edmund Hall, is one of the
very oldest foundations in the University.
Antony Wood says that up to his time
the name was generally explained by the
assigning of the foundaticn of the flail
to Edmund Rich (of Abingdon), who afterwards
became Archbishop of Canterbury and in 1246 was
canonized by Pope Innocent IV. In this case the
date of the Hall would be some time in the reign of
Henry the Third. It is quite certain that Edmund
Rich, to whom the University owes a great deal, did
give public lectures somewhere in this part of Oxford,
and one would like to believe that he really did
lecture where this Hall called by the name of St.
Edmund stands. But — in discussing the question —
Wood goes on to give reasons for his own opinion
that the real founder was a private individual — one
Edmund, a native of Oxford of some local repute,
early in the beginning of the reign of Henry III.
The property, he says, belonged to this Edmund,
and from him it went to his son Ralph, and from
him to Sir Brian de Bermingham. He in his turn
sold it — in about the 48th year of Henry the Third's
reign — to Thomas de Malmsbury, and this Thomas
established a regular foundation for the purpose of
study and learning. In 1269 it went into other hands
— those namely of the Canons of the Abbey of Osney —
and they (we are told) had to pay to Thomas de Malms-
bury so long as he lived one mark per annum as rent — -
besides 8.r. yearly to a Nun of Littlemore — Elizabeth,
the daughter of Adam de Oclee. As in their other
establishments so here the Osney Canons did much to
foster the cause of learning — but little or nothing is to
be ascertained definitely about the fortunes of the Hall
for some years. But in the time of Henry the Eighth,
by the terms of the Statute of Monasteries, the Hall
passed out of the hands of the Abbey of Osney into
those of the King. And on the 22nd of November,
1546, Letters Patent were passed which brought it
into the possession of John Bellow and Robert Bygott.
They in their turn conveyed it (temp. Edward the
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Sixth) to William Burnell, and he again sold it to a
Provost of Queen's College — William Denyse. Thus
it was that, through this Provost Denyse, on the 28th
of July, 1557, Queen's came into possession of the
Hall, and in 1559 an Act of Convocation was pro-
cured by that Society, according to the terms of which
they obtained the perpetual right of nominating its
Principals.
The Buildings of the Hall have gone through various changes at different times in history. The oldest part of the existing buildings probably dates from some 250 to 300 years ago — possibly from even a longer period. It would be beyond the purpose of this notice to attempt to discuss the changes of the buildings minutely.
The present Chapel standing at the East end of the Quadrangle was built under the direction of Principal Stephen Penton, who was himself a muni- ficent contributor to its cost. Over the entrance is the Inscription
"DEO. OPT. MAX.
Capellam hanc Sumtu
Suo et Amicorum posuit
Stephanus Penton, s.t.b.
Istius Aulae Principalis. Anno Domini mdclxxxii. "
The first stone was laid on Monday, April 19th, 1680, and after completion in two years' time the Chapel was consecrated by Bishop Fell on Friday the 7th of April, 1682. It was by him dedicated to St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, and down to the present time the Day of St. Edmund of Canterbury (Nov- ember 16) is specially commemorated in the Hall. From these facts it is certain that, whether the original Edmund of all was the Archbishop or the Oxford Burgher, yet for more than 200 years the Hall has, by virtue of its dedication, had a proveable ecclesiastical connexion with that same St. Edmund of Canterbury.
The present Library, which stands immediately over the Ante-Chapel, was also begun, as it seems, in 1680, and took the place of a yet earlier one still,
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