Jesus College, Oxford
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| Jesus College, Oxford | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Image:Jesus2ndQuad.JPG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College name
| Jesus College
| Named after
| Jesus Christ
| Established
| 1571
| Sister College | Jesus College, Cambridge
| Principal
| Sir John Krebs
| JCR President | John-Michael Arnold
| Undergraduates | 344
| MCR President | Claire Brunel
| Graduates | 134
| Homepage
| Boatclub
| Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is the eighth wealthiest college, with closing reserves and endowments of £79,700,391 (2003). The main entrance is on the west side of Turl Street. It is flanked by Ship Street to the north and Market Street to the south. Jesus has been called "the first Protestant College in Oxford",<ref>J.R. Green, quoted in Literary Landmarks of Oxford/Jesus. (2006, August 17). Wikisource, The Free Library. Retrieved 08:47, August 24, 2006 from http://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Literary_Landmarks_of_Oxford/Jesus&oldid=236239.</ref> and was founded by Elizabeth I in 1571 for the education of clergy. A major driving force behind the establishment of the college was Hugh Price (or Aprice), a churchman from Brecon in Wales, who was made Diocesan Treasurer of St David's in the same year the college received its first charter. The college continues to be associated informally with Wales even today.
[edit] HistoryJesus College was founded in 1571, occupying in part the site of the earlier White Hall, which had existed for several hundred years from the 13th century up until 1570, just before Jesus began. Jesus was founded by eight commissioners, of whom Hugh Price is often credited as the main force, and received its Royal Charter from Elizabeth I. The college was originally intended primarily for the education of clergymen. The particular intention was to satisfy a need for dedicated, learned clergy to promote the Elizabethan Religious Settlement in the parishes of England, Ireland and Wales. The college has since broadened the range of subjects offered, beginning with the inclusion of medicine and law, and now offers almost the full range of subjects taught at the university. The letters patent<ref>The letters patent of Jesus College, as quoted by J. N. L. Baker in Jesus College Oxford 1571-1971, Oxonian Press, Oxford, 1971.</ref> issued by Elizabeth I made it clear that the education of a priest in the 16th century included more than just theology, however:
On the strength of a promised legacy, worth £60 a year on his death, Hugh Price requested and received the authority to appoint the new college's Principal, Fellows and Scholars. He financed early building work in the college's Front Quadrangle, but on his death in 1574 it transpired that his benefaction yielded only a lump sum of around £600. Significant benefactions in the 17th century placed the college on a more secure financial footing. One Herbert Westfaling, Bishop of Hereford, left enough property to support two fellowships and scholarships (with the significant proviso that "my kindred shallbe always preferred before anie others").<ref>Martin E. Speight, ‘Westfaling , Herbert (1531/2–1602)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/29111, accessed 29 June 2006)</ref> Sir Eubule Thelwall, principal from 1621-1630, spent much of his own money on the construction of a chapel, hall and library for the college. This library, constructed above an overly-weak colonnade, was pulled down under the principalship of Francis Mansell (1630-49), who also built two staircases of residential accommodation to attract the sons of Welsh gentry families to the College. It was Leoline Jenkins, whose 1661-73 principalship followed Mansell's brief reinstatement, who secured the long-term viability of the college. On his death in 1685 he bequeathed a large complex of estates, acquired largely by lawyer friends from the over-mortgaged landowners of the Restoration period. These estates allowed the college's sixteen Fellowships and Scholarships to be filled for the first time (officially, sixteen of each had been supported since 1622, but the college's income was too small to keep all occupied simultaneously).<ref>http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/history/benefactors.php Benefactors of Jesus College. Date of access 29 June 2006.</ref> In 1974, Jesus was among the first group of five men's colleges to admit women as members, the others being Brasenose, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's. Five women's societies (Lady Margaret Hall, Somerville, St Hugh's, St Hilda's and St Anne's) had been granted full collegiate status fifteen years earlier in 1959. There has long been a rivalry between Jesus and nearby Exeter College. [edit] Location and BuildingsJesus is located on Turl Street in the centre of Oxford, on a comparatively small site by the standards of many Oxford colleges, and is one of the three Turl Street colleges along with Lincoln College and Exeter College. Much of what are considered the original buildings date from the 17th century, although parts date back to the college's foundation. Most of these earlier buildings have undergone some degree of restoration, although this is not generally obvious, and parts of the rear of the college are much more modern.
The main college buildings include the chapel (in the First Quadrangle) which was built in the early seventeeth century in Jacobean-Gothic style under Thelwall, and extended at the east end in 1636. It has a fine barrel vaulted roof, a late seventeenth-century ante-chapel screen and an early seventeenth-century pulpit. The chancel arch was widened in 1864 by George Edmund Street. The stone flooring and much of the woodwork also date from Street's alterations. The chancel features a Victorian stained-glass window and stone altarpiece, as well as a large copy of Guido Reni's St Michael subduing the Devil. This last item was given to the college by Thomas James Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley (a student in 1769), who acquired it in Rome during his Grand Tour. 
The college Hall, accessed from the screens passage that links the two main quadrangles, contains a fine full-length portrait of the college's Founder, Elizabeth I, attributed to Nicholas Hilliard or his school. This was presented to the college in 1687 by James Jeffreys, brother of George Jeffreys, the "Hanging Judge". Other portraits to be found here include contemporary likenesses of Charles I and Charles II, as well as numerous other benefactors, former Principals and alumni including T. E. Lawrence and Harold Wilson. The college library provides an extensive lending collection, primarily for undergraduates, and supplements the (often reference-only) University libraries including the Bodleian. There is also an important Celtic collection. Notable antiquarian holdings include the Red Book of Hergest (one of two manuscript sources for the Mabinogion), a copy of the laws of Hywel Dda, and one of two manuscript copies of The Owl and the Nightingale. Some of these can be viewed online as part of the University's Early Manuscripts Imaging Project [1]. In recent years the college has also built two annexes for student accommodation in the north and east of the city (named Stevens Close and Herbert Close respectively). Many students continue to live on the main central site, which remains the hub of the social and academic life of the college. The Herbert Close annexe is also known as "Barts", after nearby Bartlemas, and the college sports grounds are also located there. [edit] Student lifeThe college has a reputation within Oxford for being a friendly, close-knit community.<ref>OUSU, 2005. The Oxford Handbook. http://www.oxfordhandbook.com/the_university/colleges/jesus/</ref> Some have attributed this to the relatively small physical size of the main college site, where first-year students live in close proximity to one-another and form strong bonds of friendship and a keen sense of college spirit. The college has a reputation for apathy when it comes to Oxford Union and OUSU student politics. Students from the college participate in a variety of extra-curricular activities, their successes not being limited to any one field in particular. Some contribute to student journalism for The Cherwell or The Oxford Student. In the Arts, the annual Turl Street Arts Festival is of particular note. This week-long student-organised event is held annually in conjunction with Exeter and Lincoln colleges. The festival, which takes place in Fifth Week of Hilary term, includes exhibitions, plays and concerts. Although the college does not award Choral Scholarships, the Chapel Choir is well-attended by enthusiastic college members and others. The choir is non-auditioning for college members, and is run by one or more undergraduate Organ Scholars. [edit] SportsIn common with many Oxford colleges, Jesus is well provided with sporting facilities. These include extensive playing fields at the east Oxford Bartlemas site for (association and Rugby) football, hockey, cricket, tennis etc., and modern squash courts at a separate city-centre site on St Cross Road. The college boat house on the Isis is home to the Jesus College Boat Club. The club is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and competed in Oxford's first Head Race (against Brasenose College Boat Club) in 1815.
[edit] The Welsh connectionAlthough it accepts students from all over the UK and indeed the world, Jesus has a particular association with Wales and is often referred to as "the Welsh college". The college is also home to the university's Professor of Celtic, and a specialist Celtic library in addition to the college's normal library. To reflect this connection, the college's undergraduate gossip sheet is entitled The Sheepshagger in allusion to a racist joke about Welsh people's penchant for sheep. Furthermore, the Welshness of the College is self-perpetuating, as Welsh students will often apply to Jesus because it is seen as the Welsh college. To this day there is a larger proportion of Welsh undergraduates than in other colleges. [edit] St. David's DayIn modern times, the Welsh roots of the college come to the fore most prominently on Saint David's Day. The feast is marked by a choral Evensong in the chapel, decorated for the occasion with the inevitable Daffodils. The service, including music, is conducted entirely in Welsh (despite only a small minority of the choir usually being native speakers of the language). It is generally well attended by members of the Welsh community in Oxford. The college's annual St. David's Day Dinner traditionally culminates with the serving of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn's Pudding. The name recalls the Welsh politician and prominent Jacobite who attended the college early in the eighteenth century. [edit] College SilverwareLike many other colleges, Jesus has an impressive collection of silver. Probably the best-known single item is a massive silver gilt punch bowl, presented by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn in 1732.<ref>A treasured inheritance, Oxford Today (the University magazine) Volume 16, Number 3, Trinity 2004 http://www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk/2003-04/v16n3/07.shtml</ref> The bowl, which weighs more than 200 ounces (roughly 5.7 kg) and holds 10 gallons, was most famously used at a dinner held in the Radcliffe Camera in 1814, to celebrate what was supposed to be the final defeat of Napoleon. Those present at the dinner included the Tsar, the King of Prussia, Blücher, Metternich, the Prince Regent, the Duke of York and the Duke of Wellington.<ref>War and Peace, http://www.oxfordinscriptions.com/war_and_peace.htm</ref> [edit] College GracesThe College Grace is read by a Scholar of the college at Formal Hall (the second, more elaborate sitting of dinner) on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. It is relatively unusual for the grace after dinner to be read, as the custom is for those not dining on High Table to retire after finishing dinner, the Scholar who read the first grace having first requested permission from the Principal or the senior Fellow present. [edit] Grace to be said before Dinner
[edit] Grace after Dinner
[edit] Notable former students
[edit] Fictional
[edit] Academics/teachers[edit] Present
[edit] Past
[edit] Notes & references<references/> [edit] External linksWikisource has original text related to this article:
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