In the north-east corner of St. Mary's Church, a church full of nooks
little known to ordinary visitors, is a dark vaulted chamber (dark,
because its windows have been built up), whose doors, when opened, only
now reveal the abiding-place of the University fire-engines. Here of old
sat the Chancellor of the University, surrounded by the Doctors and
Masters of the Great Congregation, in a fashion which was formerly
depicted in the great west window of St. Mary's Church, and is still
represented on the University seal, and which, in the early part of the
last century, was adopted by Dr. Richard Rawlinson as his book-plate,
being engraved from the impression attached to his own diploma in Civil
Law. Above this chamber there is another, lighted by four windows,
containing forty-five feet in length and twenty in breadth, and now
assigned as the lecture-room of the Professor of Law. Here was begun
about 1367, and finally established and furnished in 1409, the first
actual University Library, called after Bishop Thomas Cobham, of
Worcester, who about 1320 (seven years before his death) had commenced
preparations for the building of the room and the making provision for
its contents[1]. Wood tells us that before this time there were indeed
some books kept in chests in St. Mary's Church, which were to be lent
out under pledges, as well as some chained to desks, which were only to
be read _in situ_; but _this_ University chest soon gave way to the
formal Library, as, at a later period, another University chest was lost
in funded investments and a banker's balance[2]. Another precursor of
the general Library was found in the collection bequeathed to Durham
College (on the site of which now stands Trinity College) in 1345 by one
of its founders, the earnest lover and preserver of books, Philip of
Bury; he of that charming book, that 'tractatus vere pulcherrimus,' the
_Philobiblion_. He,--who apostrophizes books as the masters who teach
without flogging or fleecing, without punishment or payment; as ears of
corn, full of grain, to be rubbed only by apostolic hands; as golden
pots of manna; as Noah's ark and Jacob's ladder, and Joshua's stones of
testimony and Gideon's lamps and David's scrip, and who says that in the
noblest monasteries of England he found precious volumes defiled and
injured by mice and worms, and abandoned to moths,--gave strict
injunctions for the care of the large collection, gathered from all
quarters, with which he enriched his College[3]. It was to be free for
purposes of study to all scholars, who might have the loan of any work
of which there was a duplicate, provided they left a pledge exceeding
it in value, but for purposes of transcription no volume was to go
beyond the walls of the house. A register was to be kept, and a yearly
visitation was to be held[4]. Some of these books, on the dissolution of
the College by Henry VIII, are said to have been transferred to Duke
Humphrey's Library, and some to Balliol College.
The Librarian of Cobham's Library was also entitled Chaplain to the
University, and as such was ordered, in 1412, to offer masses yearly for
those who were benefactors of the University and Library, and was
endowed with half a mark yearly, as well as with £5 issuing from the
assize of bread and ale, which had been granted to the University by
King Henry IV, who was also a principal contributor to the completion of
the Library, and is therefore to this day duly remembered in the
Bidding-Prayer at all the academic 'Commemorationes Solenniores.' But no
trace remains of the devotional and sacred duties once attaching to the
office, and laymen have been eligible to it from the time of Bodley's
re-foundation. The old regal stipend, however, amounting at last to £6
13_s._ 4_d._, continued to be paid to the Librarian, until in 1856, by
the revised code of statutes, various small payments were consolidated;
it is found entered in the annual printed accounts up to that year.
But not a score of years had passed after Cobham's Library had been
actually completed and opened before the building of a room more worthy
of the University was commenced. In 1426 the University began to erect
the present noble Divinity School for the exercises in that faculty; but
as their own means soon failed they betook themselves to all likely
quarters to procure help. And Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the patron of
all learning[5], and the fosterer of the New School of theological
thought, the protector of Pecock, responded so liberally to the petition
of the University for aid to the fabric of their Material School, that
he is styled (says Wood) in the Bedell's Book its Founder, while the
roof to this day perpetuates his memory among the shields of arms of
benefactors with which its graceful pendants terminate. His gifts of
money for the School were quickly followed by still larger gifts of
books for the Library. Between the years 1439 and 1446 he appears to
have forwarded about 600 MSS., which were for the time deposited in
chests in Cobham's Library. The first donation, consisting of 129
volumes, was forwarded in November, 1439. The letter of thanks from
Convocation is dated the 25th of that month, and on the same day a
letter was sent to the House of Commons, to the 'ryght worshypfull
syres, the Speker, knyghtes, and burges (_sic_) of the worshepfull
parlament,' informing them that the Duke had magnified the University
'with a thousand pounds worth and more of preciose bokes,' and therefore
beseeching their 'sage discrecions to considere the gloriose gifts of
the graciose prince ... for the comyn profyte and worshyp of the Reme,
to thanke hym hertyly, and also prey Godde to thanke hym in tyme comyng
wher goode dedys ben rewarded.' Statutes for the regulation of the gift
were made on the same day, prayers appointed, and provision made for
the observance of the Duke's obit[6]. A catalogue of 364 of the MSS. is
printed, from the lists preserved in the University Register, p. 758,
vol. ii. of Rev. H. Anstey's _Documents Illustrative of Social and
Academic Life at Oxford_, published in the series of Chronicles issued
by the Master of the Rolls. The extent of these gifts rendered the room
at St. Mary's quite insufficient for the purpose to which it was
assigned, and the University therefore, in a letter to the Duke, dated
July 14, 1444, informed him of their intention to erect a more suitable
building, of which (as a delicate way, probably, of bespeaking his aid
towards the cost, as well as of testifying their gratitude for past
benefactions) they formally offered him the title of Founder. In the
subjoined note is given an extract from this letter (copied from the
Register of Convocation), which is interesting from its description of
the inconveniences of the old room, and the advantages of the new
site[7]. And this new building, first contemplated in A.D. 1444 and
finished about 1480, forms now the central portion of the great
Reading-Room, still retaining its old advantages of convenience and of
seclusion 'a strepitu sæculari.'
The Duke's MSS. were, as became the object of his gift, very varied in
character. With works in Divinity are mingled in the catalogue a large
number in Medicine and Science, together with some in lighter
literature, amongst which latter are found no less than seven MSS. of
Petrarch and three of Boccaccio. Some additional MSS., being 'all the
Latyn bokes that he had,' together with £100 towards the completion of
the 'Divyne Scoles,' which the Duke had intended to bequeath, but the
formal bequest of which was prevented by his dying intestate in 1447,
were subsequently procured, although with considerable difficulty[8].
But only three out of the whole number of his MSS. are now known to
exist in the present Library. One of these is a fine copy of books
iv.-ix. of Valerius Maximus, with the commentary by D. de Burgo, and
with an index by John de Whethamstede, Abbot of St. Alban's (now marked,
Auctarium, F. infra, i. 1[9]); the second is a translation by L. Aretine
of the Politics of Aristotle (marked, Auct. F. v. 27); and the third,
the Epistles of Pliny (Auct. F. ii. 23). The first bears the Duke's
arms; the second has an original dedication to him by the translator;
the last (which was restored to the University by Dr. Robert Master,
Oct. 30, 1620) contains his own autograph. Six MSS. now in the British
Museum, which formerly belonged to the Duke, are described in Sir H.
Ellis' _Letters of Eminent Literary Men_, (printed by the Camden
Society,) pp. 357-8. Two of these appear in the List of Humphrey's
benefaction to Oxford; for Harl. 1705, which is a translation of Plato's
Politics by Peter Candidus, or White, who gave it to the Duke, is
doubtless the book entered at the end of the List as 'Item, novam
traductionem totius Politeiæ Platonicæ;' while Cotton, Nero. D. v., the
Acts of the Council of Constance, appears at fol. 67. Another of these
six MSS., Harl. 988, is an anonymous commentary on the Canticles[10],
which formerly belonged to Sir Robert Cotton, and which contains an
inscription by him intended to commemorate his returning it to the
University Library in 1602. It came into Harley's possession amongst
Bishop Stillingfleet's MSS., all of which were bought by him. A letter
from Wanley to Hearne, in which the book is mentioned, is preserved in
the Bodleian in a Rawlinson MS. (Letters xvii.) under date of Oct. 13,
1714, Hearne's reply to which is printed by Sir H. Ellis, _ubi supra_;
while Wanley's rejoinder is also found in the above MS, dated Oct. 27,
in which he says, 'As for my Lord's MS. of the Canticles, designed for
the Bodleyan Library by Sir Robert Cotton, I know not how you find it to
have once belonged to Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. My Lord has indeed
two of his books, which we know to have been his, for certain; because
one of them (which was given to his Lordship) hath a note therein of his
hand-writing, and the other hath his armes and stile on the outside, as
also his library-mark. This last (which was bought of Sir Simonds
D'Ewes), together with the Cotton MS. of the Canticles, I besought his
Lordship to give to the University for your Library, and I hope his
Lordship will do so in a little time.' Another of the Duke's books,
being Capgrave's Commentary on Genesis, which occurs in the second list
of those given to the University, is now in the library of Oriel
College. One volume, containing, among other philosophical treatises,
Plato's _Phædo_, _Timæus_, &c., with the Duke's autograph, 'Cest livre a
moy Homfrey duc de Gloucestre' (given to him by an Abbot of St. Alban's)
is in Corpus Christi College, 243. And a copy of Wickliffe's Bible, in
two volumes, which bears Humphrey's arms, is amongst the Egerton MSS.
(617-8), Brit. Mus.
The large increase of treasures which these benefactions brought to the
University probably caused the first institution of a formal Visitation.
On Nov. 29, 1449, we find that Visitors were appointed by Congregation
for the purpose of receiving from the Chaplain an account of the books
contained in the Library[11].
Duke Humphrey was followed in the good work of the Divinity School and
Library by another whose name still retains its place in the formal list
of benefactors, Bishop Thomas Kempe, of London, who, besides
contributing very largely in money towards the completion of the former,
sent some books to the latter in 1487, some seven years after the new
room had been finally completed and opened for use. But Antony Wood (in
whose pages records of other benefactors may be found) tells us that
very few years passed before the Library began to lose some of its
newly-acquired treasures; for Scholars borrowed books upon petty and
insufficient pledges, and so chose to forfeit the latter rather than
return the former[12], while tradition reported that Polydore Virgil,
the historian, being at length refused any further opportunities of
abstraction, obtained a special licence from Henry VIII for the taking
out any MS. for his use! From this traditionary report Sir H. Ellis, in
his introduction to a translation of Virgil's history, printed for the
Camden Society in 1844, endeavours to vindicate his author's reputation,
but more by conjecture than evidence. In 1513 a Chaplain and Librarian
was elected, named Adam Kirkebote[13]. The new Librarian, soon after,
supplicated Congregation that on Festival Days he should not be bound to
open the Library before twelve o'clock; a practice which, commencing at
that day, does still unto this (the Library on Holy Days during Term
being now not opened until the conclusion of the University sermon, at
eleven o'clock) witness to the religious spirit which pervades all the
old institutions of Oxford. In 1527, when one Flecher was Chaplain, it
is recorded[14] that 'Magister' Claymond (doubtless the President of
Corpus Christi College, of that name) was permitted by vote of
Congregation to take Pliny's Natural History out of the Library. In 1543
Humphrey Burnford was elected Chaplain on Oct. 31, in the room of --
Whytt, deceased[15]. It was probably during his tenure of office that
the Library was destroyed. For in 1550 the Commissioners deputed by
Edward VI for reformation of the University visited the Libraries in the
spirit of John Knox, destroying, without examination, all MSS.
ornamented by illuminations or rubricated initials as being eminently
Popish, and leaving the rest exposed to any chance of injury and
robbery. The traditions which Wood has recorded as having been learned
at the mouths of aged men who had in their turn received them from those
who were contemporaneous with the Visitation, are abundantly confirmed
by the well-known descriptions of Leland and Bale of what went on in
other places, and therefore, although no direct documentary evidence of
the proceedings of the spoilers is known to exist, we may believe that
Wood's account of pillage and waste, of MSS. burned, and sold to tailors
for their measures, to bookbinders for covers, and the like, until not
one remained _in situ_, is not a whit exaggerated. One solitary entry
there is, however, in the University Register (I. fol. 157^a), which,
while it records the completion of the catastrophe, sufficiently thereby
corroborates the story of all that preceded, viz. the entry which tells
that in Convocation on Jan. 25, 1555-6, 'electi sunt hii venerabiles
viri, Vice-cancellarius et Procuratores, Magister Morwent, præses
Corporis Christi, et Magister Wright, ad vendenda subsellia librorum in
publica Academiæ bibliotheca, ipsius Universitatis nomine.' The books of
the 'public' library had all disappeared; what need then to retain the
shelves and stalls, when no one thought of replacing their contents, and
when the University could turn an honest penny by their sale? and so the
_venerabiles viri_ made a timber-yard of Duke Humphrey's treasure-house.
* * * * *
But four years after the final despoiling of the Library there was an
undergraduate entered at Magdalen College, who, by the good Providence
which always out of evil brings somewhat to counterpoise and correct,
was to be moved by the sight of the ruin and desolation to restore what
his seniors had destroyed, and to reconstruct the old Plantagenet's
Library on such a basis, and with such means for carrying on its
re-edification, that the glory of the latter house should soon eclipse
that of the former. All around him he doubtless found traces of the
recent destruction; his stationer may have sold him books bound in
fragments of those MSS. for which the University but a century before
had consecrated the memory of the donors in her solemn prayers; the
tailor who measured him for his sad-coloured doublet, may have done it
with a strip of parchment brilliant with gold, that had consequently
been condemned as Popish, or covered with strange symbols of an old
heathen Greek's devising, that probably passed for magical and unlawful
incantations. And the soul of the young student must have burned with
shame and indignation at the apathy which had not merely tolerated this
destruction by strangers, but had contentedly assisted in carrying it
out to its thorough completion. Himself a successful student, he became
eager to help others to whom thus the advantages of a library were
denied; and, for a while without fee or reward, undertook a public Greek
lecture in the Hall of Merton College, to which college he had been
elected in 1563[16]. And when, after years thus spent in academic
pursuits, THOMAS BODLEY betook himself to diplomatic service abroad, he
still, amidst all the distractions of foreign and domestic politics,
preserved his affection for the scenes and the studies of his early
familiarity. So, when the days came wherein statecraft began to weary
him and Courts ceased to charm, his thoughts reverted to the place
where, free from these, he might still, although in a more private
capacity, labour for the good of the commonwealth; he remembered the
room once precious to students, 'scientiarum sedes,' as the University
had called it of old, but now destitute alike both of science and of
seats. 'And thus,' says he himself, 'I concluded at the last to set up
my staff at the Library-door in Oxon; being thoroughly persuaded that,
in my solitude and surcease from the commonwealth-affairs, I could not
busy myself to better purpose than by reducing that place (which then in
every part lay ruined and waste) to the publick use of students[17].' So
therefore, on Feb. 23, 1597-8, he wrote a letter to the Vice-Chancellor,
offering that whereas 'there hath bin heretofore a publike library in
Oxford, which, you know, is apparant by the roome itself remayning, and
by your statute records, I will take the charge and cost upon me, to
reduce it again to his former use,' first by fitting it up with shelves
and seats, next by procuring benefactions of books, and lastly by
endowing it with an annual rent[18]. This offer being accepted with
great gratitude, other letters followed from him in March, in which he
desired that delegates should be chosen to consider the best mode of
fitting up the room, and mentioned an offer on the part of his own
College, Merton, to provide timber for the purpose. Two years were spent
in the carrying out of this work and in the preliminary arrangements.
Amongst these preparations was the putting up the beautiful roof which
to this day is such an object of deserved admiration. It is divided into
square compartments, on each of which are painted the arms of the
University, being the open Bible, with seven seals[19], between three
ducal crowns, on the open pages of which are the words (so truly fitting
for a Christian School) 'DOMINUS Illuminatio mea[20];' while on bosses
that intervene between each compartment are painted the arms of Bodley
himself, being five martlets with a crescent for difference, quartered
with the arms of Hone (his mother's family), two bars wavy between three
billets; on a chief the three ducal crowns of the University shield,
'quarum merito gloriam ab Academia derivavit.' (Wake, _Rex Platon_. p.
12.) The striking motto 'Quarta perennis erit' was assigned to Bodley at
the same time with this academic augmentation[21]. When, in 1610, the
eastern wing of the Library was erected, a similar roof was added, as
was also done to the Picture Gallery (built between 1613-1619); in the
latter room the roof, having become decayed and out of repair, was
unhappily altogether removed in the year 1831, and a plaster ceiling,
divided into compartments, substituted. A few of the panels of this roof
have been preserved, one bearing the figures of two cats, which used to
be an object of interest to juvenile visitors, and a series bearing the
letters which compose Sir Thomas Bodley's name, together with a portrait
of him upon a centre panel. A high-backed arm-chair, the Librarian's
seat of office in the Library, was formed out of oak from the roof, and
an engraving hangs in the Gallery which represents the room before its
change for the worse.
On June 25, 1600, Bodley wrote to the Vice-Chancellor, mentioning that,
as the mechanical work was now brought to a good pass, he had begun to
busy himself in the gathering of books, and had provided a Register for
the enrolment of the names of all benefactors, with particulars of their
gifts. This Register (formerly, like all the books in folio, chained to
its desk), consisting of two large folio volumes, on vellum, now lies on
a table in the great room, and is an object of notice by most visitors.
The volumes are ornamented exteriorly with silver-gilt bosses on their
massy covers, on which are engraved the arms of Bodley and those of the
University, and interiorly in many places with the donors' coats of arms
painted in their proper colours, and with various devices. Vol. i.
extends from 1600 to 1688, containing 428 pages in double columns; and
commences with a printed record of the gifts for the first four years,
on pp. 1-90. The following printed title is prefixed: 'Munificentissimis
atque optimis cujusvis ordinis, dignitatis, sexus, qui Bibliothecam hanc
libris, aut pecuniis numeratis ad libros coemendos, aliove quovis genere
ampliarunt, Thomas Bodleius, eques auratus, honorarium hoc volumen, in
quod hujuscemodi donationes, simulque nomina donantium singillatim
referuntur, pietatis, memoriæ, virtutisque causa, dedit, dedicavit.' A
paragraph follows, which mentions Bodley's own work of refitting and
endowing, and notes that his own large gifts are not entered because he
hopes throughout his life to make continually large additions. The whole
of this title is printed in the preface to James' first Catalogue,
issued in 1605, who was probably part-writer of it[22]. Wake (_Rex
Platonicus_, p. 120) speaks of the Register, 'aureis umbilicis
fibulisque fulgidum,' as always lying 'eminentissimo loco,' a prominent
object of notice to all who entered the Library. Vol. ii. extends from
1692 to 1795, ending in the middle of the volume, on p. 216; but there
is reason to fear that there are many omissions in the later portion of
its period. Each volume has an index of names. The gifts of the
principal donors, as recorded in this Register up to its close, are
printed in Gutch's edition of _Wood's History_, vol. ii. part ii. pp.
920-950. It will not be necessary, therefore, to mention here the names
of many, but of such only as are 'e principibus principes.' From the
year 1796 inclusive, when the gifts of donors began to be entered in the
annual printed catalogues of purchases and statements of accounts, this
MS. Register ceased to be used.
Among the first and largest benefactors in the year 1600 occur Lord
Buckhurst (afterwards Earl of Dorset), the Earl of Essex, Lords Hunsdon,
Montacute, [editions of the Fathers], Lisle (afterwards Leicester),
Lumley[23], and William Gent, who gave a large collection of books,
chiefly medical.
Many volumes were given about this time by Bodley, which had been
collected in Italy by Bill, the London bookseller, who was employed by
Sir Thomas to travel on the Continent as his agent for this purpose.
The famous copy of the French _Romance of Alexander_ (now numbered Bodl.
264) must have been one of the MSS. given by Bodley himself at the
commencement of his work, as it is found entered in the printed
Catalogue of 1605, but does not occur in the Benefactors' Register. It
is decorated with a large number of beautiful paintings on a chequered
background of gold and colour; but its special interest lies in the
illustrations at the foot of about half the pages, which exhibit the
most quaint and grotesque representations of customs, trades,
amusements, dress, &c., of the time. Some of these were engraved by
Strutt; and four specimens, together with one of the larger miniatures
illustrating the text, are given by Dibdin in his _Bibl. Decam._ vol.
i., where, at pp. 198-201, he discourses, in his own peculiar fashion,
on the merits of the volume. A notice of the book may also be found in
Warton's _Hist. of Engl. Poetry_, edit. 1840, vol. i. p. 142. At f. 208
is the following colophon, which is of much interest, as affording
evidence that the work of the painter occupied upwards of five years:--
'Che define li romans du boin roi Alixandre,
Et les veus du pavon, les accomplissemens,
Le Restor du pavon et le pris, qui fu perescript
Le xviii^e ior de Decembre, lan M.ccc.xxxviii.
Explicit iste liber, scriptor sit crimine liber,
Xpristus scriptorem custodiat ac det honorem.
(_In gold letters._) 'Che liure fu perfais de le enluminure au
xviii^e jour dauryl. Per Jehan de grise, Lan de grace, M.ccc.xliij.'
This is followed by a continuation (of later date) of the romance, in
Northern-English verse, on seven leaves[24]; and lastly, by a French
Romance of the 'grant kaan à la graunt cite de Tambaluc.' A scribe's
name is given in the following lines on f. 208, but in a hand apparently
not that of any part of the book:--
'Laus tibi sit Christe, quoniam liber explicit iste.
Nomen scriptoris est Thomas Plenus Amoris[25].'
The earliest owner's name occurring in the volume is that of 'Richart
de Widevelle, seigneur de Rivières,' recorded in an inscription on the
cover at the end, which proceeds to say that 'le dist Seigneur acetast
le dist liure lan de grace mille cccclxvi. le premier jour de lan a
Londres.' Rivers' own autograph follows ('Ryverys'), with some words in
French, written in a perfectly frantic scrawl. Subsequent owners were
'Gyles Strangwayes' and 'Jaspere Ffylolle' (whose signatures are
engraved by Dibdin, _ubi supra_), and 'Thomas Smythe[26].'
[1] When Duke Humphrey's Library was completed, and the books were
removed thither, this upper room took the place of that beneath it as
the Convocation House, 'in which upper room,' says Hearne, 'was brave
painted glass containing the arms of the benefactors, which painted
glass continued till the times of the late rebellion.' (Bliss, _Reliquiæ
Hearnianæ_, ii. 693.)
[2] The original treasure-chest, from which all academic money-grants
are still said to be made, is preserved in the Bursary of Corpus Christi
College, in which college it was kept in accordance with the statutes of
the University, tit. xx. § 1.
[3] The Bishop's Bibliomania is thus noticed by a contemporary, W. de
Chambre, in his _Continuatio Hist. Dunelm._ (_Hist. Dunelm. Scriptt.
tres_; Surtees Society, 1839, p. 130):--'Iste summe delectabatur in
multitudine librorum. Plures enim libros habuit, sicut passim dicebatur,
quam omnes Pontifices Angliæ. Et præter eos quos habuit in diversis
maneriis suis, repositos separatim, ubicunque cum sua familia residebat,
tot libri jacebant sparsim in camera qua dormivit, quod ingredientes vix
stare poterant vel incedere nisi librum aliquem pedibus conculcarent.'
The bedroom of the late centenarian President of Magdalene College, Dr.
Routh, was in this respect just like Bishop Bury's; and as the latter
sent his library from Durham to be in some sort a nucleus for an
University Library at Oxford, so the former bequeathed his to Durham
that it might assist the development of the University Library there.
[4] _Philobiblion_, cap. xix.
[5] His love of literature was evinced by the motto which, according to
Leland, was frequently written by him in his books: 'Moun bien mondain.'
(Hearne's _MS. Diary_, xxxvi. 199.) Hearne, in his esteem for the memory
of this 'religious, good, and learned Prince,' quaintly says that he
used, whenever he saw his handwriting in the Bodleian Library (where it
occurs several times), 'to show a sort of particular respect' to it.
(_Preface to Langtoft_, p. xx.) Was this 'sort of respect' a reverential
kiss, such as that with which (as Warton in his _Companion to the Guide_
tells us) he saluted the pavement of sheeps' trotters, supposed by him
to be a Roman tesselated floor?
[6] Register of Convoc. F., ff. 53^b, 54^b. The subsequent gifts are
entered in the same Register as follows:--
1. Last day of Feb., 1440. A letter to thank the Duke for 126
volumes brought by John Kyrkeby. (f. 57^b.)
2. Nov. 10, 1441. Letter acknowledging ten books (Treatises of
Augustine, Rabanus, &c.,) received through Will. Say, proctor, and
John Kyrkeby. (ff. 59^b-60.)