Tea at Trianon: Who Was a Typical Oxford Student in the 14th Century?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, November 6, 2021

Who Was a Typical Oxford Student in the 14th Century?

From History Hit:

Only baptised Christians were allowed to be students at the university of Oxford during the medieval period; non-Christians were banned from attending. Almost all of Oxford’s scholars were clerks, meaning that they held some form of position within the Christian Church, which they could use to help pay for their studies and living costs. Those who had converted from Judaism to Christianity were allowed to attend the university. A Jewish convert was even employed to teach (Hebrew and Greek) at Oxford in 1321. Students were supposed to be 16 before they could be allowed to study the Seven Liberal Arts at Oxford – this was a much higher age requirement than at the University of Toulouse, where students could begin at 10. Once at Oxford, students were required to study for between 5 and 6 years and then take an examination. The examination was only required if the students wished to gain their bachelor’s degree however, and many were content merely to study and did not want to gain an official degree. (Read more.)