OXBRIDGE MUSIC | Advent and Christmas Choruses

Broad Street, Oxford

YouTube clips of Advent and Christmas choruses (which is your favorite?)

Christmas Choruses Kings, Cambridge (much-awaited Christmas Eve service).  Preview ("Once in David's Royal City," from the 100th Anniversary chorus in 2018) 👍 Oxford Advent Christ Church (59 minutes, 2020, startling cinematography)👍 Corpus Christi Magdalen (56 minutes, 2020) Merton New College Pembroke St. Peter’s Cambridge Advent Clare Downing Jesus Trinity (2019 service) (Hat tip to New England Branch of the Oxford University Society for the Advent links.) Oxford University Press book

OXFORD TRIALS | Regimen Has Average 70% Efficacy (Updated)

Race for the COVID-19 Vaccine.

November 23, 2020 (Updated Nov. 25)—The University of Oxford, in collaboration with AstraZeneca plc, today announced interim trial data from its Phase III trials.

The first report was that the average efficacy of the vaccine is 70 percent. The major advantage of the vaccine is that it can be much more cheaply produced than the other two vaccines in play from Pfizer and Moderna.

(Update: However, a New York Times raises questions about controls over the trials, in a setback for proponents of the vaccine.)

The AstraZeneca "candidate" vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-2019) was shown to be effective at preventing COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and offers a high level of protection. 

Phase 3 interim analysis including 131 Covid-19 cases indicates that the vaccine is 70 percent effective when combining data from two dosing regimens—90 percent in one and 62 percent in the other. The higher-efficacy regimen used a halved first dose and standard second dose. (Questions have been raised about the halved first dose, which appears to have been an unplanned underdose administered only to a group of subjects 55 and younger.)

Early indications are that the vaccine could reduce virus transmission, from an observed reduction in asymptomatic infections. There were no hospitalized or severe cases in anyone who received the vaccine. The vaccine was tested on a large safety database from over 24,000 volunteers from clinical trials in the UK, Brazil and South Africa, with follow up since April.

Crucially for the candidate vaccine, it can be easily administered in existing healthcare systems, stored at ‘fridge temperature’ (2-8 °C) and distributed using existing logistics. Also, large-scale manufacturing is ongoing in more than ten countries to support equitable global access.

For more information, go to the full announcement or the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine web hub or the COVID-19 trial website. (And the New York Times story previously  cited.)

KIRKUS REVIEWS | Quotes from Review of "Oxford College Arms" and Notes

The following will appear on the front and back covers of the next edition of Oxford College Arms:

Front: “Marlin meticulously covers each college, … its unique history, … its coat of arms, and its specific educational mission. —Kirkus Reviews

Back: Unfailingly clear language, and the entire work is as rationally organized as it is informative. For those in search of a confident guide to these meaningful hieroglyphics, it would be difficult to find one superior to Marlin’s effort. An astute exploration of Oxford’s coats of arms.”—Kirkus Reviews

For notes on, and an index to, the book, go to:

https://theoxbridgepursuivant.blogspot.com/2018/08/oxford-college-arms-end-notes-and-photo.html

OXFORD | Covid-19 Tracker

May 7, 2020—If you aren't subscribing to the Oxford Covid-19 tracker, you are missing out on a user-friendly set of daily updated information on the progress of the Civid-19 disease and what governments are doing about it. It is a great contribution to global understanding of the disease by Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government.

For example, the tracker includes a Stringency Index showing what countries have done to prevent spread of the disease. The United States is about 70 out of 100, which is low compared with other countries, even though many Americans are expressing their frustration with the stringency. A scan of the Global Comparisons map shows that most countries are more stringent than the United States, with ratings above 80 out of 100.










However, the U.S. number of cases is soaring above a million whereas other countries after 100 days have stopped increasing. The stringency index, shown in red changing over time in the six-country response chart, can be seen to affecting the growth rates in every country. How early the stringency is applied is crucial, as we see with South Korea's success. However, Italy had to ramp up its stringency much higher to slow the spread of the virus. China did not have to be so stringent to flatten its curve. Both the United States and the U.K. were late in applying stringency. The size of the country is less important than being speedy about stringency, as we can see by comparing China or South Korea with the United States. China flattened out at about 100,000 cases even though its stringency was no higher than that of the United States.

We can continue to look for clues in other charts that Oxford is making freely available, provided sources are always clearly identified. European countries acted faster than the United States. China was slow to get started but it ramped up its stringency more steeply than other countries. Some epidemiologists (e.g., at the Los Alamos Labs) fear that the dominant variety of the coronavirus in the United States has mutated from the Chinese version.

Putting stringency and number of cases together on the same chart, the United States is at the far end of the number of cases, an outlier to the right. However, in terms of stringency it is in a  minority of countries below the 80/100 threshold. It raises the question whether policies to to open up the United States and relax disease prevention measures are wise at this point.

Or as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo just tweeted after his daily briefing about the coronavirus: "Stay the course. If you are going through hell, keep going."

OXFORD | Visiting the Colleges; Tour-Bus Stops

For a self-guided tour of the Oxford colleges, take the Oxford tour bus. 

Buy a bus ticket at the City Sightseeing Sales Office at the Railway Station (Stop 1). 

Then hop on, hop off. Get off at one of the 15 (out of 20) numbered stops that have one or more colleges to look at. 

Some colleges may be closed, or require an admission charge. Warning: The college with the highest charges and most complicated booking system is Christ Church. Here is a list of the hours, restrictions, charges and concessions for each college: https://www.ox.ac.uk/visitors/visiting-oxford/visiting-the-colleges

Oxford alumni may obtain free admission or concession rates with their alumni card. https://www.alumni.ox.ac.uk/oxford-alumni-card

Passes for a walking tour may be obtained at Stops 8 and 13.

SOUTHERN LOOP

Stops 1-10

3. Worcester College (famed gardens).

4. Nuffield College and St Peter’s College.

6. Alice in Wonderland Shop and punting on the Isis (Thames).

7. Christ Church (Harry Potter movies filmed here), Pembroke College.

8. Brasenose College, Oriel College, Lincoln College.

9. The Queen’s College, University College, Merton College, Corpus Christi College, All Souls College.

10. Magdalen College, St Hilda’s College.

NORTHERN LOOP

Stops 11-20

11. Linacre College, St Catherine’s College.

13. New College, Exeter College.

14. Trinity College, Wadham College.

15. Keble College.

16. St Hugh’s College, Lady Margaret Hall.

17. St Antony’s College.

18. St Anne’s College, Somerville College, Eagle and Child (“Bird and Baby"). 

19. Balliol College, St John’s College.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY NEWS | Staff

General contact, O.U. News Office: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

Head of Corporate Communications
 Stephen Rouse Tel: 01865 280533, email: stephen.rouse@admin.ox.ac.uk
Media Relations Manager (Corporate, Education and Outreach) 
Julia Paolitto tel: 01865 280531, email: julia.paolitto@admin.ox.ac.uk

Media Relations Manager (Corporate, Education and Outreach) 
Matt Pickles tel: 01865 280532, email: matt.pickles@admin.ox.ac.uk

Editor, QUAD (formerly Oxford Today) Richard Lofthouse Tel: 07790 902982, email: richard.lofthouse@admin.ox.ac.uk

Assistant News & Information Officer 
Clemency Pleming/Caroline Henshaw Tel: 01865 270164, email: clemency.pleming@admin.ox.ac.uk

Internal Communications Manager Annette Cunningham Tel: 01865 280720, email: annette.cunningham@admin.ox.ac.uk

Communications Officer Shaunna-Marie Latchman Tel: 01865 280657, email: shaunna-marie.latchman@admin.ox.ac.uk

Government and Community Relations Officer Vacant Administrator
 Nicola Sweetnam 
Tel: 01865 280528, email: news.office@admin.ox.ac.uk

OXFORD | The First Seven Centuries

Martyrs' Memorial from the Randolph Hotel. Balliol, 
and the Back Entrance of Trinity, behind. Photos by 
JTMarlin, September 2012.

May 16, 2018–From a European perspective, Oxford University was the original red-brick university.

In England's Anglo-Saxon days, Bologna was the proper place to attend university. Before William the Conqueror brought Norman civilization to England and thereby opened up new channels for knowledge, the major universities were in Italy (Padua as well as Bologna) and Spain (Salamanca), as all roads too learning then led to (and from) Rome.

Bologna is considered the first higher-learning, degree-giving institution in the world, chartered in 1088, when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Teaching at Oxford can be dated to four years after the creation of Bologna University, 1096, 30 years after William the Conqueror fought his way to the English throne.

The impetus for an English university accelerated after 1167, when Henry II banned English students from studying at the young University of Paris, soon (in 1200) to receive a charter from the Pope. Some markers of Oxford's progress:
- In 1188, a public reading to Oxford fellows by Gerald of Wales.
- In 1190, the first recorded foreign student arrived, Emo of Friesland, the Netherlands.
- In 1201, appointment of a master of scholars, named Chancellor in 1214.
- In 1231, designation of the masters as a corporate university.
- In 1248, chartered by Henry III.
- In 1254, recognized by Pope Innocent IV in the papal bull Querentes in agro.
- In 1355, praise from Edward III on Oxford University's contributions to England.

Town-Gown Relations

Town-gown relations in Oxford were tense from the beginning. The first recorded conflicts were  over space, as students and dons took over increasing amounts of the Oxford land and buildings from local farmers and tradespeople. To protect the tranquillity of Oxford's scholars and dons, the colleges constructed gated entrances.

The earliest three colleges are Balliol, Merton and University, established in the 1249-1264 period; Merton's claim to being the oldest college is based on its having the earliest statutes that show a college life, not just a residence for scholars.

Teaching at Oxford in the first 300 years was suspended twice.

• In 1209, when the town of Oxford executed two scholars, setting in motion the creation of Cambridge University by scholars protesting the town's action.  (Cambridge received a royal charter in 1231, before Oxford did.) 
• In 1355 because of the riots originating in a public house on the feast day of St. Scholastica, the twin sister of St. Benedict.

Religious Conflict

Religious controversy dominated Oxford headlines most of its life. Oxford was for centuries primarily a seminary for the clergy, who were the repository of knowledge. Theology trumped other academic subjects:
- In the 14th century, the Master of Balliol, John Wyclif, challenged the Papacy by campaigning for an English-language bible.
- In the 16th century, Henry VIII imposed acceptance of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon on the University.
- During the reign of Henry's daughter Mary Tudor,  three Anglican clerics (Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley) were martyred in front of Balliol for challenging Catholic dogma. A marker outside Balliol shows th spot where they were burned, and a monument to the three of them dominates St. Giles.
- In the 17th century, during Britain's Civil War, when both Anglicans and Catholics were challenged by the Puritan Roundheads, all the Oxford colleges except Merton were loyal to Charles I. Merton became the residence of Queen Henrietta Maria, and other colleges became the homes and offices of the King's government. Charles I had a counter-Parliament in Convocation House before Cromwell's Parliamentary troops defeated him.
- Charles II, the Merry (post-Cromwell) Monarch, also had a Parliament in Oxford.
- In the 18th century, the prayer meetings of John and Charles Wesley led to the Methodist Society.

The Civil War in England (1642-1651) 

America's bloody Civil War was fought over states' rights and slavery. Britain's Civil War (1642-51) was, by contrast, primarily about religion. However, the United States carried forward the religious wars in England in interesting ways:

• The settlers approved by the Crown were more likely to be in the southern colonies. 
• The dissidents went to the northeast.
• The American Revolution originated in the northeast and the southern states were convinced to join. 
• After the United States was established, the differences among the two regions became more prominent.

A monument at the heart of Oxford is a reminder of how much Oxford and Cambridge were at the center of Britain's religious battles, and had an influence on the way the Revolution and Civil War played out in America.

The history takes us to Cambridge to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Catholic Persecution of Protestants

The east-facing view in Oxford from the Randolph Hotel's "Presidential Suite", where President Clinton once stayed, is of the Martyrs' Memorial. Behind it in grey stone is Balliol College, then the back entrance to Trinity College, and then St. John's.

Martyrs' Memorial from the Randolph.
Detail of statue by Henry Weekes.

The Memorial was erected to the memory of two Church of England archbishops and one bishop who were burned in 1555-56 at the behest of the ruling Catholic clergy - during the reign of Catholic Queen "Bloody" Mary I (1553-1558). Mary Tudor was the daughter of Henry VIII, who created the Church of England, and Roman Catholic Catherine of Aragon. Mary remained loyal to Roman Catholicism. She was preceded and succeeded by Protestants, Edward VI and Queen Elizabeth I.

The three martyrs, ironically known as "Oxford Martyrs" although they were all Cambridge men, were Thomas Cranmer (Jesus College), Nicholas Ridley (Pembroke College) and Hugh Latimer (Clare College).

A friend from Cambridge, David River, told me there is a saying at Cambridge: "Cambridge makes martyrs. Oxford burns them."

Of the three martyrs, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, was the most important, since he served as Henry VIII's adviser on obtaining an annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and he was the architect of the Reformation.

Martyrs' Memorial from
Ground. Balliol Behind.

The martyrdoms of the Protestant bishops - whose offense was being unwilling to profess faith in the transubstantiation of the Eucharist - occurred in front of Balliol on Broad Street, and is marked by a cross in the middle of the street and a plaque on the Balliol wall nearby referring to it. The Memorial replaced a house, creating a space that allows this part of Oxford to include a bus stop and bicycle park.

The Protestant reign of Elizabeth I was benign after that of Mary. But during the reign of Charles I,  dissident Protestants became restless about the privileges of the established church, and Parliament responded by building up its army, which was used by Oliver Cromwell to seize power.  

Cambridge Pilgrims vs. Oxford Orthodoxy

At Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge earlier this month, I visited the gravesite, since 1960, of Oliver Cromwell's head.

Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntington, near Cambridge, in 1599. He began his studies at Sidney Sussex on the day that Shakespeare died, April 23, 1616. Oliver's father died that year and Cromwell left the University after one year to support his family. He married and had many children.

He had a religious conversion to Puritanism in the 1630s, and rallied support from Protestants who dissented from the Church of England. The different sides of the Civil War were therefore complex, with the addition of Irish and Scottish nationalist concerns.

Portrait of Oliver Cromwell (1599-
1658) hanging in Hall at Sidney
Sussex College, Cambridge.
Photo by JT Marlin, June 2014.

Cromwell was elected to Parliament from Huntington in 1628 and then represented Cambridge in the Short Parliament of 1640 and the Long Parliament of 1640-49. In the meantime he advanced in the Parliamentary Army, from cavalry leader to a commander of the New Model Army created in 1645-46. He made Cambridge the military HQ of the Eastern Association of Counties. The country was divided into 11 military areas, each commanded by a major-general picked by Cromwell.

Cromwell almost single-handedly caused a break in the British monarchy. He led troops reporting to Parliament and tracked Charles I down in Oxford, defeating loyalist troops and putting Cromwell at the head of the government.

Although Cambridge was the center of the Roundheads and Oxford of the Cavaliers, many of the Cambridge colleges were pro-Royalist and gave much of their silver plate to help Charles I. Sidney Sussex sent £100 to help King Charles. When this later came to light, the Master of the College was put in prison.

After Charles was defeated, Cromwell urged Parliament to execute him, to reduce the likelihood of a rescue invasion by troops representing Roman Catholics from Ireland and the Continent.  Cromwell was the third person on the list of those who signed the death warrant for the king.  Charles I was beheaded in 1649. The Queen's website suggests that Charles I was a martyr. On the other hand, future royals tended to be more respectful of Parliament. Charles I was the only monarch in British history to have been executed.

From 1649 to 1653, the Rump Parliament ran England under Cromwell's leadership. Cromwell properly feared a counter-attack from Catholics. Charles I's Queen was a Roman Catholic from France, Henrietta Maria, after whom Maryland is named. Charles II was in France to obtain the support of the Catholic monarch.

Cromwell's Irish Campaign, 1649-1650

Cromwell decided to address first a possible attack from the west, with Royalists in Ireland joining up with Irish Catholic confederates, and he decided to protect his back with a crushing campaign. Cromwell went to Ireland in August 1649 with an army of 6,000 troops to suppress an alliance that threatened to turn into a significant rebellion.

I spent my 10th year of life at Blackrock College in Dublin, Ireland, and one of my most vivid memories was hearing from the Holy Ghost Fathers how brutal Cromwell was to the Irish Catholics on this pre-emptive strike.

Sign in a Cambridge restaurant. It
would be funnier if a Cambridge man
hadn't done just that to Irish children.

Cromwell raised his large army by promising those who put up money for the expedition that their security would be Irish land.  So from the beginning he intended to seize much Irish land and leave it in the hands of his supporters.

The Roundhead army met and overcame resistance in Drogheda, killed the garrison, and then moved on to Wexford, impatient to settle a score from 1641, when many Protestants drowned after defeat by the Catholic Confederates. The Wexford defenders were prepared to surrender and Cromwell sent a message suggesting he would be conciliatory. However, an estimated 2,000 defending soldiers and another 1,500 civilians were slaughtered, a massacre that Irish Catholics do not forget. Cromwell moved on to other Irish towns until Galway fell and the rebellion was declared ended in May 1650.

The aftermath of Cromwell's devastating march around Ireland was a complete change in power.  Penal Laws were instituted to keep the population from organizing any resistance. Cromwell's armed agents rounded up Irish beggars, widows and orphans to be sold as slaves or indentured servants to the sugar plantations of the West Indies. The reprisals were directed not only at Roman Catholics but at Ulster Presbyterians, Church of Ireland members and other minority religions. Priests were hanged, exiled or transported to the West Indies. Puritan preachers were brought over from England to replace them.

Cromwell's Scottish Campaign, Victory over Charles II and His Regime

After leaving Ireland, Cromwell's troops moved on to a 1650-1651 campaign in Scotland, with similarly ruthless treatment of Royalists and other potential rebels. The much-feared invasion from France did occur in 1651, but Cromwell by now had a large, seasoned and trained army ready for the invasion. He prevailed at the Battle of Worcester, bringing the Civil War formally to a close.

From 1653 until his death in 1658, Cromwell dissolved Parliament and ruled as Lord Protector as long as he lived. However, even the English came to dislike living under Cromwell's Puritanical regime. His religious conversion in the 1930s led him to dissent from the Church of England, on the basis that the official church had departed from strict adherence to the Ten Commandments and other rules gleaned from the Bible. The Puritans believed that enjoying too many pleasures meant yielding to the Devil and would lead to damnation.

Cromwell essentially ran a Christian caliphate. He shut down many drinking places and sports events. Swearing was punished by a fine, even imprisonment. On Sundays, work was banned and even going for a walk, if not to an approved church, could lead to a fine. Feast days were replaced by a monthly fast day. Cromwell banned feasting or caroling at Christmas, insisting it be celebrated only as a religious event; for example, in London, soldiers confiscated food being cooked for a Christmas dinner and Christmas decorations were banned.

(Later, the Oxford Movement resurrected Christmas carols and Oxford's Charles Wesley wrote "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and with his brother earned points for Methodism by championing the revival of caroling. The most popular early carol in America was "Joy to the World", written by English hymn-writer Isaac Watts based on Psalm 98.)

Women were forbidden by the Puritans from wearing makeup or overly colorful dresses. They were required to wear a long black dress that covered them to their shoes, with a white apron and headdress. Puritan men wore black clothes and short hair.  However, Cromwell himself enjoyed hunting, music and games and allowed ample entertainment at his daughter’s wedding.

Cromwell died in September 1658. His coffin was escorted by more than 30,000 soldiers to Westminster Abbey to be buried. His son, Richard Cromwell, took over as the Second Lord Protector in 1658 but lasted only nine months. The nickname the Royalists gave him was "Queen Dick".  In 1659 he quit (or perhaps more likely was encouraged by the army to leave) and exiled himself overseas.

The Restoration of Charles II and the Saga of Cromwell's Head

A 1960 plaque noting that Cromwell's
head is buried nearby in Sidney
Sussex College. 

Charles II was invited to return from exile to become king of England. His return was enthusiastically welcomed by a nation tired of the religious wars.

After the Restoration of the monarchy, Charles II ordered Cromwell’s body, along with two co-conspirators, to be dug up and put on "trial" as traitors and regicides. Cromwell's body and those of his colleagues were found guilty and were hanged from the gallows at Tyburn. Cromwell's head was put on display on a 20-foot pike over Westminster Hall until in 1685 wind from a storm outside broke the pike. Cromwell's head was in private hands from 1685 until 1960.

In 1960, Cromwell's head was given to Sidney Sussex, and it was buried there secretly in an undisclosed location somewhere in the ante-chapel of the College. The strange story is told authoritatively on the Westminster Abbey and Sidney Sussex websites.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY | Heraldry Society~

Oxonian Michael
Maclagan, Richmond Herald.

I just discovered that the Oxford University Heraldry Society was founded in 1835. The story is sketchily put together on the website of the Cambridge University Heraldry Society.

That the record is incomplete is admitted by the author of the article.

I can add a little bit to the story. Although the O.U. Heraldry Society may have been inactive at some times in the second half of the 20th century, Michael Maclagan, history tutor at Trinity College, Oxford was active through the 1980s as Richmond Herald.

HERALDRY: Oxford Superlink

BOAT RACE: Topolski Fund Raises $15 Million

Dan Topolski, 1945-2015 (OUBC photo).

The latest issue of Oxford Today reports that a major new rowing endowment has been set up in the name of sporting legend and Oxford coach Daniel Topolski.

The fund has been announced by Olympic silver medallist and three-time Oxford Blue, Colin Smith (St Catz, 2003).

Dan Topolski was born June 4, 1945 and died on February 21, 2015 at 69 after a long illness. Topolski was the coach of the 10-times-winning Oxford Blue Boat in 1987 when the Oxford Mutiny occurred, one of the most famous events in boat racing history. His side of the story was told in True Blue.

He was a riveting speaker at the April 3, 2008 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Dinner in New York City. (Other rowers who spoke that evening were Saman Majd, Kate Weber, and the late Peter Darrow.)

The Topolski Fund is a permanent endowment fund to support all four rowing clubs (the Men’s, Women’s, Men’s Lightweight and Women’s Lightweight), and is anchored by a £12 million (nearly $15 million at $1.22 to the £) donation made by a small group of anonymous donors.

The donation is made up of a £10 million donation and £2 million in matched funding towards a target of £20 million. Colin Smith notes the need for the donation stemming from declining sponsorship as TV rights incomes shrunk. He says the clubs have sought to replace lost income through merchandise sales, corporate events and fundraising. However, in the meantime, budget cuts have had to be made such as staff wage freezes and cancelled new boats.

The endowment is the first at Oxford requiring equal treatment of men and women. Funds are held on trust for the Oxford University Rowing Association (OURA), a new association comprising the four University clubs. Each club is equally represented on the OURA, which also includes three independent trustees.

The endowment is permanent, with only the income available for disbursement, and is managed by Oxford University Endowment Management Limited (OUEM), led by Sandra Robertson.

The clubs receive funds when there is a shortfall in sponsorship income, meaning the Topolski Fund will top up club income to a "foundation budget". The lightweight clubs will therefore benefit especially from sponsorship of The Boat Race because they have been less well funded.

Other Oxford Rowing Posts: Rowing Blazers (Oxford Today) . Rowing Blazers (this blog) . Torpids and Summer Eights . Dan Topolski (Telegraph) . Dan Topolski (this blog). Boat Race History

SUMMER EIGHTS: May 19-27, 2017

The Wolfson Eight / On the water did great.
Now the crew / Has a job to do.😁
Clerihew by JT Marlin.

5th Week, Trinity Term

Rowing On, May 19-21, 2017

Bumps  May 24-27, 2017

Last Year (2016)

1938: Movietone film of a bump 

For more information, consult the O.U. Rowing Clubs, a confederation of the four varsity clubs: OUBC, OUWBC, OULRC, and OUWLRC.

For Oxford-Cambridge blue boat races and events in North America, go here. Great information here.

Related Links: Punting at Oxford . History of Thames Rowing .  Head of the Charles (Harvard) . Boat Club Blazers . Coats of Arms of Oxford Colleges . Arms as Brands . The Joy of Heraldry .  Coat of Arms vs. Crest . Sinister Questions . Visit to the College of Arms . Windsor Herald in NYC . Shaming of Harvard Law Arms . The Expansion of Oxford's Colleges . Oxford Stars . Heraldry Superlink . Harris Manchester College . Linacre College . St Catherine's . St Cross College . St Edmund Hall . St Peter's College . Trinity College . Regent's Park College . St Benet's Hall

FYI: Intercollegiate rowing at Oxford is sponsored by the London-based Neptune Investment Management.

COLLEGE ARMS: Oxford Shop (Updated Sept. 24, 2016)

These framed Oxford college shields include Merton's new one. The Merton and Green
Templeton enamels look metallic golden, which is good... but they differ from the yellow
enamels in the All Souls, St Antony's, SEH, Trinity, Wolfson and other shields, which is bad.

Following up on my article on the Oxford Colleges' coats of arms in the Michaelmas 2015 issue of Oxford Today and and a brief previous note on the Oxford University Shop, last week I paid another visit to the Oxford Shop at 106 High Street.

This time I had a kind introduction by Christine Fairchild and Chris Evans of Oxford Limited, which is charged with licensing the trademarked Oxford logo. This official logo used to be only the new belted shield as in the middle of the photo above. Now Oxford Limited has also licensed an older shield.

As the Walt Disney Company has found in earning its $52 billion/year revenue, mostly from its world-wide licensing programs, the job of a licensing agent goes beyond writing contracts with wannabe licensees. They must:

• ferret out knock-off producers who copy the licensed product without permission or fee, and  
• ensure that wherever the licensed product is on sale it is a quality item produced sustainably in socially accountable workplaces.

The Oxford college coats of arms, which is my focus, are in an interesting situation. The Oxford Shop sells college-branded products but it does not license them, nor do the colleges themselves. The arms of each college are the responsibility of the college's governing board. The colleges' boat race identifiers–the blades, Boat Club blazers, ties–present an even more interesting situation, since they predate many of the colleges, and in the case of St Catz the Boat Club provided the name of the college instead of the other way round.

Unlike Oxford University itself, none of the colleges—according to several knowledgable people to whom I have posed the question—has trademarked its arms. This surprised me, especially in the case of the business college Green Templeton!

In the Oxford Shop Tracey gave me a thorough tour of Oxford University's college arms offerings, and I was given special permission based on my introduction to photograph various items featuring the college coats of arms for the purpose of illustrating my analysis of the arms. (More to come.)

Other Posts on the Arms of Oxford Colleges and PPHs: Original Article in Oxford Today . Heraldry as Branding . Heraldry as Fun .  Coat of Arms vs. Crest . Sinister Questions . Visit to the College of Arms . Windsor Herald Talks to New Yorkers . Shaming of Harvard Law Shield :: Rapid Expansion of Oxford's Colleges and Halls . Oxford Stars . HERALDRY SUPERLINK . Harris Manchester College . Linacre College . St Catherine's . St Cross College . St Edmund Hall . Trinity College :: Regent's Park College . St Benet's Hall

Other Related Posts: Douglas Arms in France

OXONIAN: John Micklethwait of Bloomberg News

John Micklethwait

John Micklethwait was featured in The NY Times print edition today (yesterday online) as Editor in Chief of Bloomberg News. He has been in his job now for more than a year, having spanned Michael Bloomberg's 73rd and 74th birthdays.

Mr. Micklethwait was educated at Ampleforth College, an upscale English boarding school, and subsequently at the University of Oxford. He worked for Chase Manhattan Bank before switching to journalism and joining The Economist in 1987. By 2006, he was editing The Economist, famed for lively and collegial discussions at its weekly meetings – discussions that form the basis for some of its distinctive articles. If the World Economic Forum, held each year in Davos, Switzerland, decided to elect a mayor, the highly connected Mr. Micklethwait might be considered.

Micklethwait was born August 11, 1962, in London, England. At Oxford he read history at Magdalen College.

The story in The NY Times focused on the issues faced by Bloomberg News' Editor in Chief in covering the principal owner of his news medium, Michael Bloomberg, should Bloomberg decide to be a candidate for the presidency of the United States.

Oxford Birthdays

OXFORD: On Inviting Hitler to Speak in 1933

Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany,
appointed Adolf Hitler Chancellor. 

Oct. 12, 2015 – The Practical Ethics blogsite at Oxford Univ. poses a question in the context of a recent  invite to Marine LePen of France.

How would you feel–i.e., what are the ethical issues–if it was 1933 and you were an officer of the Oxford Union considering an invitation to Chancellor Hitler?

A number of factors could be considered:

• The Oxford Union is a society independent of Oxford University (but I note that the Practical Ethics blogsite is copyright by Oxford University).
• Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January, so his official status was beyond question. 
• Oxford appears to have had a special status in the eyes of Germany and in the eyes of Hitler.
• Hitler had expressed extreme racial views in Mein Kampf, but his views were not widely known because few took him seriously. The book did not sell well when it first came out in 1925. The English translation My Battle did not come out until 1933.

What do you think?

BIRTH: Aug. 16–T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Oxonian

T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia)

T[homas] E[dward] Lawrence, "Lawrence of Arabia", was born on August 16, in Tremadoc (aka Tremadog), Wales. T. E. was the second of five sons born to Sir Thomas Chapman and Sarah Lawrence Junner. Junner was a Scottish governess to Sir Thomas's daughters. Sir Thomas had an affair with Junner in Wales. He then left his wife and he and Junner lived together as Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence in Ireland. The Lawrences then moved to Oxford.

T. E. matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford in 1907, studying history. He was fluent in Greek, Arabic and French. While at Oxford he joined the Oxford University Officer Training Corps. T.E. became an archaeological scholar and was recruited by the British Army military to conduct a military survey of the Negev Desert while doing archaeological research.

He famously became a champion and military strategist for Arab rebels against Ottoman Turkish rule. He was awarded the DSO but refused the KBE.

His book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926) was an account of his exploits as a military advisor to Arabs in their revolt against the Turks, and was the basis for the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962). He was killed on a motorcycle in 1935 after leaving the military; he had swerved to avoid two boys in the road on bicycles.

OXFORD SPORT: May 6–Roger Bannister Runs 4-Minute Mile

Sir Roger Bannister–breaking the 4-minute barrier in
1954–and recently in an interview.

May 13, 2014–In 1954, 60 years ago, Roger Bannister was the first person ever recorded as running a mile under four minutes. The record was set on the Oxford University track.

As Sir Roger says in an interview for Oxford Today, it was the year after Mt. Everest had been climbed (on May 29, 1953), and Queen Elizabeth II was newly  crowned, and Britain was looking for new challenges.

At the time, some doctors feared that the four-minute floor would be defeated only at the cost of the runner's life. The 1954 Pathé news clip looks as thought that could have been the case!

http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-05-13-going-sub-four

GW: Feb. 22–Washington's Oxford Ties

Rev. Lawrence Washington,
Brasenose Coll., Oxford

On the occasion of George Washington's 282nd birthday, the Oxford University community might with pride reflect on his multiple Oxford connections.

Long Story Short: Lawrence Washington (1602-1653), the great-great-grandfather of George Washington, became a Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford in 1623. He resigned his Fellowship in 1632 or 1633 to marry (his wife-to-be was already pregnant with her first child) and become the rector of the established church (Church of England) at Purleigh, Essex.

In 1643, Rev. Washington was one of more than 100 ministers whose livings were curtailed or ended by the Puritan ("Roundhead") Parliament under Oliver Cromwell. Their specific crime was refusal to renounce allegiance to Charles II. Lawrence's subsequent impecunity led to his son John and other children migrating to the colony of Virginia - John's grandson Augustine was George Washington's father. So Cromwell's moves against the Church of England helped give birth to the United States of America.

George Washington was an officer in the war against the French, with resources drummed up in Britain by Oxonian William Pitt the Elder. Washington later commanded colonial troops fighting with the help of the French against the British during the Prime Ministership (1770-1782) of Oxonian Lord North. The origin of the Stars and Stripes may be found in Durham County, England, where the Washington coat of arms was created, because the five-pointed mullet first appears there; the oldest surviving example of this coat of arms may be in the Old Library of Trinity College, Oxford.

Oxford in Britain's Religious Wars

Religious wars raged from the time of Henry VIII, whose break with Rome over its reluctance in 1529 to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon had huge repercussions. Henry seized Catholic lands and created the Church of England. Roman Catholic institutions were seized. The impact on Oxford and the Washington family of Henry VIII's action was multiple.

• He took control of Christ Church from his one-time high-flying adviser (whom the Pope named Bishop of Durham in 1523) Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a Magdalen College, Oxford alum. In 1530, summoned from York to London to be tried for treason, Wolsey died en route. 
• He abolished the study of canon law at Oxford, a major shift from its monastic origins - including Benedictines in Durham to which Lawrence Washington's family, and Trinity College, Oxford (originally created as a place for Durham Abbey monks to study) were closely connected.
• He seized Durham College. The man who handled this matter, Sir Thomas Pope, must have had a crisis of conscience, because he founded a new college on the spot, Trinity College, and required that forever after the college should pray for him. This request has been honored.
• He gave to Lawrence Washington, son of London Alderman John Washington, the property that is known as Sulgrave Manor, where the Washington family lived for many generations. His grandson was Rev. Lawrence Washington, M.A., George Washington's grandfather.

The pendulum swung the other way with Henry's Catholic daughter by Catherine of Aragon, "Bloody" Mary Tudor. She tried to turn back the clock, burning 280 Anglican leaders at the stake during her five-year reign - notably Bishops Latimer and Ridley, and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, who were condemned to death when they would not renounce their Protestantism. Latimer and Ridley, and later Cranmer, were burned outside Balliol College, Oxford. The site where they were burned is marked by a cross in the road outside Balliol. Their deaths are commemorated by the Martyrs' Memorial at Broad and St. Giles. Although they are collectively called the "Oxford Martyrs", Henry Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and Adviser to Edward VI, was at Clare College, Cambridge, as David River has informed me. The other two martyrs also studied at Cambridge. "Cambridge makes martyrs, Oxford burns them," is the Cambridge mantra. The Memorial was erected in part through the efforts of John Henry Newman, who was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Oxford, and became a Fellow of Oriel College; Newman's immersion in the Oxford Movement led to his conversion to Roman Catholicism.

Oliver Cromwell

Queen Elizabeth I restored the primacy of the Church of England, while showing tolerance toward Catholics. After her death in 1603, the reign of the Stuarts began under James I and Charles I.

Religious rivalries returned as the monarchy came under attack from Parliament and the Church of England attracted a new opponent, the Puritan dissenters. During the Civil War, Oxford served as the home base for Charles I, as the University was staunchly royalist ("Cavalier"). In 1642 the Oxford colleges donated most of their plate to Charles. In 1642-1646, Charles held court at Christ Church, while Queen Henrietta Maria was at Merton College. Other colleges hosted the rest of the court.

Eventually, Oxford was besieged by Oliver Cromwell and his "Roundheads" (Puritans) and they prevailed. The consequences were again multiple:

• In 1649 Charles I was beheaded, the only British monarch to meet that fate.
• During the Parliamentary interregnum, Oxford was punished for its support of the king, as Oliver Cromwell - former MP from Cambridge (1640-1649) -  became Chancellor of Oxford University in 1650 and systematically replaced some unfriendly college masters with Roundhead academics.
• Clerics with "livings" (established churches) who refused to renounce allegiance to Charles II were demoted, either losing their livings or being switched to a less comfortable one. (Hoppin, p. 123.)

After 11 years the monarchy was restored under Charles II and the eight surviving signers of Charles I's death warrant (Cromwell was the ninth) were themselves put to death. Charles II, the Merry Monarch, convened Parliament at Oxford for one week in March 1681.

Impact on Oxford Alum Rev. Lawrence Washington

The see-sawing political environment took its toll on Lawrence Washington's career. He was the fifth son of Lawrence Washington (1565-1616) of Sulgrave Manor, Northamptonshire, son of Robert Washington (1544-1619) of Sulgrave by his first wife Elizabeth Lyte. Sulgrave Manor, incidentally, is a delightful place to visit and, as one might expect, is extremely welcoming to Americans.

Brasenose College Coat of Arms
showing a Bishop's miter and other
religious charges.

Young Lawrence Washington was admitted to Brasenose College, Oxford in 1619, graduating with a BA in 1623. He was elected a Fellow of the College within a week. In 1626 he was awarded the MA. In 1627 he was appointed lector, and in 1631 proctor. One source suggests that as Proctor he made decisions relating to offenses by nonconforming clerics, which could have been held against him when the Roundheads came to power. In 1632 he obtained a BD degree and not long after left the university. His letter of resignation is sealed with the three-mullet-two-bar Washington coat of arms.

One can surmise that Lawrence Washington left Oxford to take up the rectorship of Purleigh. But different stories are told about his departure. One is that he married Amphilis (also spelled in some places Amphillis or Amphyllis) Twigden in December 1633 after she was pregnant with their first child, John, and Brasenose required its Fellows to remain unmarried. He was 33 when he married. Amphilis was the daughter of John and Anne Twigden of Little Creaton, Northamptonshire. (One source says her maiden name was Amphillis Roades; possibly Roades was her middle maiden name.)  John Washington (great-grandfather of George Washington) was born shortly after his parents' marriage - Lawrence and Amphilis subsequently had two more sons and three daughters. Three of their children went to Virginia; one of them returned later in life.

Brasenose Colleges records show that Lawrence Washington left the college owing 17/10 (17 shillings, 10 pence) personally and £9-5/9 uncollected from one of his students. In today's dollars that would be about $200 in personal debt and $2,000 owed by a student, accounting for inflation but not interest. The college's records note that "Mr. Washington to be sued", but there is no record of a suit. In 1924 some visiting attorneys from North America jocularly produced a pound note to pay Washington's personal debt. However, some defenders of the Washington family wrote a letter to the Daily Express denying that the debt was truly owed, and an article making the same point ensued in the New York Herald.

Washington was appointed rector of Purleigh, Essex, in 1632. He lost this appointment in 1643 during the Civil War along with more than 100 other English ministers, for alleged treason directed against Parliament. He was given a smaller parish, Little Braxted, Essex. His wife, Amphylis, did not go with him. Instead, she and her many children lived with her mother and stepfather, Andrew Knowling, in Tring, Herts. Lawrence Washington died in poverty.

Seeing too little opportunity in England, John emigrated to Virginia in 1656 (other sources say 1657 or 1658). John married, in 1656, Anne (also spelled Ann in some places) Pope (d. 1668), daughter of Nathaniel Pope of Virginia, by whom he had two sons, Lawrence (grandfather of George Washington) and John, and a daughter, Anne.  John Washington's son Lawrence married Mildred Warner, daughter of Col. Augustine Warner, and their had two sons, the younger one named Augustine, born 1715 and died 1743. Augustine was George Washington's father.

George Washington and Oxonians Pitt and North

George Washington.

The eldest of six children born to his father Augustine Washington's from his second wife, Mary Ball, George Washington was born in 1732 at Wakefield Plantation, Virginia. After his father died when he was 11, his half-brother Lawrence provided some guidance. Lawrence had served in the Royal Navy and young George considered a naval career, but his mother was opposed.

Instead, at 16, Washington joined the staff of Lord Fairfax, surveying land in Virginia and what later became West Virginia. In 1753, the British governor appointed George Washington a major in the militia. Accompanied by a guide, Washington went to Fort Le Boeuf, Penn. to give an ultimatum to French authorities to cease fortification in English territory. In 1754, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then colonel, and Washington led a force to challenge French control of the Ohio River Valley. However, the force was defeated at Fort Necessity, Penn. The French and Indian War (1754-63) was under way.

In this war, the support of Trinity College, Oxford alum William Pitt the Elder, later the 1st Earl of Chatham, was crucial. Pitt was an implacable foe of France and helped drive the French from the colonies, making possible independence of the colonies from Britain.

After a few months as a civilian, in 1755, Washington reentered the militia with the courtesy title of colonel, as an aide to Scotland-born Gen. Edward Braddock. Washington barely survived when the French defeated the general in the Battle of the Monongahela, Penn.; Braddock gave Washington his military sash, which Washington wore proudly in some portraits. Washington's bravery earned him back his colonel title and command of the Virginia militia forces.

Early in 1759, again he resigned and headed back to Mount Vernon, where he wed Martha Dandridge Custis, a widow and mother of two children, whom he reared as his own. During 1759-74, he managed his farms and sat in the Virginia House of Burgesses. He supported initial protests against British policies and became a Whig leader, aligning himself with Pitt's party.

The problem with the French and Indian war was that it was expensive for Britain to send troops and ships to fight the French. Another Trinity College, Oxford alumnus, Lord North decided it was only fair for the colonies to help pay down the debts that Britain incurred for the war, through taxes on imports... such as tea.

The independence for the colonies that Pitt made possible by scattering the French became a fervent goal of George Washington when he represented Virginia at the First and Second Continental Congresses. In 1775, after skirmishes with the British at Lexington and Concord, Congress appointed him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Overcoming major supply problems, he developed a well-trained fighting force that continually harassed British forces Scottish-style while major confrontations.

Finally, with the aid of the French fleet and army, he won a key victory over the British at Yorktown, Va., in 1781. During the next two years, he denounced proposals that the military take over the government, including the idea of appointing him king. He was then elected the country's first president.

Washington took the presidential oath of office at Federal Hall, New York City. He tried to maintain harmony between his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, whose differences reflected party politics. When the French Revolution created war between France and Britain, he ignored the pleas of Jefferson for France and Hamilton for England and the United States stayed out of the war until the British sent soldiers in 1812. Washington did not live to see this; he died at 67 in 1799. The outcome of the war of 1812 was a peace that has formally lasted to this day although Britain was surreptitiously involved in taking sides in the American Civil War, as Oxonian Amanda Foreman has shown in a new book.

Oxford Connections with the Washington Coat of Arms and the American Flag

Washington Coat of Arms in the
Trinity College Old Library.
Photo by JT Marlin.

Trinity College, Oxford has the coat of arms of the Washington family in a window in the Old Library, showing three stars (in heraldry, "mullets"), since they signify that the original knight wore spurs; the older versions of the coat of arms have a hole in the center indicating the axis around which the spur rotated. I have looked at some actual spurs, and I have counted in the range of 24 points, so bringing the number down from eight to six and then to five is a big departure from the spurs I have seen.

Below the stars are three stripes (in heraldic language, "bars") - two red, separated by one white. The Wikipedia entry for "Washington Coat of Arms" suggests that the Trinity window is the oldest surviving version of the coat of arms and the entry does not appear to have been challenged.

Trinity College was created out of Durham College when it was disestablished by Henry VIII. Durham County is where the Washington family originated. The Bishop of Durham sent students to Durham College to study to become Benedictine monks. The connections between Durham and Trinity are numerous.

The Washington coat of arms has been cited as an inspiration for the American flag, the Stars and Stripes. The people who designed the American flag were certainly "informed" by the Washington coat of arms, since it was widely used by George Washington in his correspondence and in items of furniture and decoration in his house. Heraldry experts pooh-pooh the possible influence of the Washington mullets and bars on the Stars and Stripes, for lack of evidence of a connection. But maybe, just maybe, they haven't looked hard enough.

Washington crest.

My view is that the key to the connection between the Stars and Stripes and the Washington crest or coat of arms is the five-pointed stars on the American flag. These stars originally appear in the Washington coat of arms as six-pointed mullets, following the French tradition. The Washington family originated with a Frenchman, Sir William de Hertburn, who took the Wessyngton, later Washington, name from property he acquired in Durham County, England near the Yorkshire border. The patrilineal line is as follows:

1. Patric FitzDolfin de Offerton, c. 1145-1182 2. William FitzPatric de Hertburn, c. 1165-1194 3. William de Washington, c. 1180-1239 4. Walter de Washington, c. 1212-1264 5. William de Washington, c. 1240-1288 6. Robert de Washington, 1265-1324 7. Robert de Washington, c. 1296-1348 8. John de Washington, c. 1346-1408 9. John de Washington, c. 1380-1423 10. Robert Washington, 1404-1483 11. Robert Washington, 1455-1528 12. John Washington, 1478-1528 13. Lawrence Washington, 1500-1583 14. Robert Washington, c. 1544-1623 15. Lawrence Washington, c. 1567-1616 16. Rev. Lawrence Washington, 1602-1653 17. John Washington, c. 1631-1677, emigrated to Virginia. 18. Lawrence Washington, 1659-1698 19. Augustine Washington, 1694-1743 20. George Washington, 1732-1799

Durham County records show that the Washington coat of arms originally had six points on the mullet and at some point they were reduced to five points ("rayons"). Since German heraldry traditionally used eight points and French heraldry used six, the switch from six to five points in the Washington coat of arms has been described in a French heraldry book as "truly revolutionary".

George Washington refused to be considered as a third term as President, was opposed to the establishment of a monarchy in the United States, and thought little of the trappings of power. But he was fiercely family-proud. I believe the reason that the United States has a flag with five-pointed stars is that a British ancestor of George Washington changed the number of points on the mullets of his coat of arms, and those around George Washington knew how he liked to put his family coat of arms on his books and letters. Only one coat of arms of the many related to the family has the five-pointed mullets (see chart facing p. 54 in Charles Arthur Hoppin, The Washington Ancestry (Greenfield, Ohio: Privately printed for Edward Lee McClain, 1932). The history of Trinity College, Oxford and its Washington window are links to this origin.