The history of Trinity College, Oxford documents the 450 years from the foundation of Trinity – a collegiate member of the University of Oxford – on 8 March 1554/5. The fourteenth oldest surviving college, it reused and embellished the site of the former Durham College, Oxford. Opening its doors on 30 May 1555, its founder Sir Thomas Pope created it as a Catholic college teaching only theology. It has been co-educational since 1979.
Origins.
In 1553, King Edward VI awarded the buildings and much of the grounds of the former Durham College, Oxford (established in the second half of the thirteenth century and seized by the crown in 1545) to Dr George Owen of Godstow and William Martyn of Oxford. Two years later, on 20 February 1555 (20 February 1554 in contemporary notation), Owen and Martyn sold the property on to self-made politician Sir Thomas Pope. As an executor of Thomas Audley, Pope had been deeply involved with the foundation of Magdalene College, Cambridge and the plot, situated on Broad Street, Oxford, included a recently constructed library, refectory and sleeping quarters. The political climate was also favourable: the new Queen Mary I was taking a great interest in reviving Oxford as a place of Catholic study. As well as gaining influence with Mary, Pope (who was rich but childless) may also have seen the potential for ensuring that his family name lived on. On 8 March 1555, sixteen days after acquiring the Broad Street site, Pope was given permission to found a college in royal letters patent.
The new statutes drawn up named the new (Catholic) establishment as "The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the Foundation of Thomas Pope", a name which persists. Durham College had been dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St Cuthbert, and the Trinity, and it is thought that Trinity College took its name from the last element of this dedication. The original statutes of the college provided for a President, twelve fellows, eight scholars and twenty commoners, making it one of Oxford's smallest colleges even at the time of its inception. The fellows were to study theology, a point insisted upon by Pope, who selected Thomas Slythurst, fellow of Magdalen, to be Trinity's first President. All the relevant property was transferred to the new college during Pope's only visit on 28 March 1555. Tuition for undergraduates included that in classical texts, philosophy (including arithmetic, geometry and arithmetic) and astronomy. Despite a delay whilst fellows were found, on 25 March 1556 revenues from the estates began to be transferred to the college. On 1 May the statutes officially came into force and 29 days later Trinity College Oxford opened its doors to its first students.
Early history (1555–1600).
Trinity's early problems centred on its finances, especially after Pope decided to establish places for four additional scholars. Aware of these problems, Pope both made out a loan to the college and gradually extended its endowment, such that by 1557 Trinity was in control of five manors: Wroxton-with-Balscote, Sewell, Dunthorp, Holcombe and Great Waltham. In total, these generated a rent of approximately £200, which was augmented by £65 from other smaller land holdings. In 1558 Pope swapped in extra lands at Great Waltham and took back Sewell and Dunthorp with no overall impact on Trinity's finances. He also sent large consignments of furnishings for the chapel (many of them ex-monastical), as well as sixty-three books for the library and various utensils for the refectory. After various teething problems, the statutes were amended and finalised in the same year.
On 29 January 1559, Thomas Pope died, leaving the new college without a protector at court. His will, the execution of which was undertaken by his wife Elizabeth, did however include several references to Trinity, including the provision of funds for a fence to demarcate Trinity's land from that of next-door St. John's and for a residence outside the city to act as a safe-house during the frequent times of plague. Any remarriage on Elizabeth's part was to be accompanied by a large gift of furnishings to the college, a clause which was belatedly adhered to in 1564. Contrary to his will, however, Pope's body (original interred in St. Stephen's, Walbrook) was moved to the college chapel around the same time.
Trinity's Catholicism made for a difficult relationship with the Crown following Pope's death. The new Protestant Queen Elizabeth, who succeeded to the throne in 1558, had the Catholic Slythurst removed from his post almost immediately. Fortunately for Trinity, his replacement (former fellow Arthur Yeldard), while hardly an avid Protestant, proved sufficiently pragmatic to retain his post for the next forty years. Over that time Trinity reluctantly moved with the times, and, threatened by the Crown, melted down its church plate and purchased new English-language psalm books. Fellows who disagreed with the changes left the college; this they did in significant numbers. In 1583, Trinity's first antagonism with neighbour (and modern rivals) Balliol was recorded, when the latter accused Trinity of being untrue to the Protestant faith.
The number of commoners (as opposed to religious scholars) attending grew steadily throughout the latter half of the sixteenth century, with the limit of twenty that had been imposed by the statutes quickly being exceeded. The group was divided according to circumstance, with servitors (who worked in college in part payment for their education) at the bottom, battelers in the middle and a further sub-divided hierarchy of fellow (or "gentleman") commoners at the top, though those from better backgrounds tended to have less need for official degrees and rarely bothered to officially matriculate. During the same period, Trinity hired its first professional gardener.
Early seventeenth-century and Protectorate (1600–1664).
The history of Trinity in the seventeenth century was dominated by the presidencies of Trinity's third president, Ralph Kettell (president 1599 to 1643) and its eighth, Ralph Bathurst (president 1664 to 1704). Among other things, Kettell was responsible for rebuilding the dining hall (formerly Durham College's refectory) and the surrounding buildings when the hall collapsed in 1618 following excavation work in its cellar, now the college bar. The library was refurbished multiple times and its collection expanded, most notably via bequests from alumni Edward Hyndmer (1625) and Richard Rands (1640). One fellow was officially appointed shortly after Hyndmer's donation as a librarian and paid a small stipend for his duties. More minor improvements included improvements to the toilet facilities available. A "sound administrator", Kettell led several round of fundraising from former students of all grades and contributed his own funds in order to fund these developments. In addition to cash contributions, the combination of donations of plate from alumni and the institution of a compulsory "plate fund" contribution for wealthier students meant that a sizeable collection of gold and silver plate was soon established, at its peak weighing some . Trinity was thus put on a firmer financial footing, with spare funds continually reinvested, largely successfully, in increasing both the quantity and quality of the accommodation on site. Also to this end, Kettell constructed Kettell Hall on adjoining land leased from Oriel College. During Kettell's time it provided accommodation for Trinity students, though its later usage until its acquisition by Trinity is less clear. The result was a steady increase in the number of commoners attending to a peak of over 100 by 1630, though many did not stay to complete their degrees. Expenditure varied enormously among students; drunkenness and gambling were among the more common vices recorded.
The 1640s were less kind to Trinity as the college, like all others in Oxford, felt the effects of the English Civil War. First there was a loan of £200 to King Charles I in 1642, never repaid; then, after a brief alternation in the garrison of Oxford, it began to be fortified by the royalist cause. On 19 January 1643, almost all Trinity's plate, valued at £537, was forfeited to the crown, never to be seen again. Of the whole collection, only one chalice, one paten and two flagons survive. Many students (and later some fellows) simply left, or were not replaced, forcing the college to let its rooms to members of the King's court (a particularly attractive offer to those who were alumni of the college). Nevertheless, the college was brought to the point of financial collapse. During the surrender of Oxford to Parliament's forces in June 1646 the representatives of both sides were Trinity graduates. During the post-surrender purge of Oxford's royalists, Trinity's President Hannibal Potter, who had replaced Kettell on his death in 1643, was one of many to be forcibly exiled after a period of quiet defiance of the order to step down. He would remain in exile for 12 years.
A post-war audit undertaken by the Parliamentary Visitors revealed Trinity to have three fellows, nine scholars, and twenty-six commoners, though two fellows, one scholar, one commoner and both bursars were soon expelled for refusing to swear their loyalty to Parliament. A new President, Robert Harris, was simply imposed upon Trinity; despite this, what little evidence exists from his ten-year Presidency suggests little in the way of turmoil. Rather, Trinity recovered slowly, and it financial health improved considerably. Harris died on 12 December 1658, with the fellows electing William Hawes as his successor before the Visitors could intervene. Hawes himself fell ill just nine months later, but conspired to resign shortly before his death, almost certainly with the intention of giving the fellows a head-start on Parliament's men once more. They elected Seth Ward, "one of the most able men to hold the presidency", but he too did not last in the role: the Restoration of the 1660s saw the return of Oxford to its pre-war personnel, including Hannibal Potter. He died, seemingly contented, in 1664. The new President was Ralph Bathurst, who had been involved with the college intermittently for many years. Boosting student numbers was, he said, his immediate priority.
Bathurst's Trinity (1664–1704).
Bathurst's plan, executed over some thirty years, involved the regeneration of a number of Trinity's buildings, including the early fifteenth century chapel (which was rapidly becoming structurally unsound), and the Old Bursary, which became a common room. The old kitchen was similarly replaced in 1681, and the President's lodgings refurbished. The chapel, consecrated in April 1694 and requiring two loans to complete, is the only collegiate building to appear on the itinerary of Peter the Great during his trip to Oxford, though it is unclear whether he set foot inside it. Also constructed was a separate building, designed, like the final flourish of the chapel's design, by Sir Christopher Wren and forming the northern side of what is now the college's "Garden" quadrangle. Having raised funds from Trinity's alumni and fellows to settle the £1,500 construction costs, the new block was ready for use by 1668, though the room interior fittings were added gradually by their occupants. Bathurst's continuing desire for expansion precipitated in the creation from 1682–84 of an identical block, which now forms the western side of the Garden quadrangle, as well as an eponymous "Bathurst building", pulled down in the late nineteenth century.
The result was, as Bathurst had hoped, an increase in both the quantity and average wealth of Trinity's intake; by the 1680s there were once again over a hundred students at the college. In particular, the growth was driven by the children of England's middle classes, who sought to demonstrate their wealth by attending what was fast becoming Oxford's most expensive college. Trinity did however continue to admit annually four or five servitors – a quarter of the intake – though the rank of batteller slowly fell out of use. The college was also changing in other ways; although prayers remained compulsory, for example, the penalties for missing prayers were slowly relaxed, as were curfew times. Although the college authorities were prepared to overlook poorly performing students from influential families, the timetable still included seven hours a day for all students, with an extra three hours for many. Lectures remained "in house", though their content was gradually broadening, including "experimental philosophy" in addition to the more classical education students had received previously. Students could also take advantage of the first college undergraduate library in Oxford.
Eighteenth-century (1704–1799).
The eighteenth century saw far fewer variations in the college's fortunes, and it remained in much the same financial health as it