|C_OLLEGIUM Omnium Animarum Fidelium defunctorum de Oxon_. This title
expresses one of the purposes for which All Souls was founded. It was a
Chantry first, a home of learning afterwards. An obligation was imposed
upon the Society to pray for the good estate of the Founders, during
their lives, and for their souls after their decease; also for the souls
of Henry v. and the Duke of Clarence, together with those of all the
dukes, earls, barons, knights, esquires, and other subjects of the Crown
of England who had fallen in the French War; and for the souls of all
the faithful departed. To think of All Souls is to think of Agincourt.
As to learning, sixteen of the Fellows were directed to study civil and
canon law, the rest philosophy, theology, and the arts.
The Founders were Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury, and King
Henry vi. Chichele is the Archbishop who in Shakespeare's _King Henry
V_. urges the king (quite in accordance with history) to vindicate his
claims to the crown of France. Educated in all the prejudices of his
age, he set his face against the followers of Wyckliffe; at the same
time he protested against the encroachments of Rome, and was spoken of
in Oxford as "the darling of the people, and the foster-parent of the
clergy." He was deeply read in the law, and All Souls still bears the
impress of his legal tastes.
The buildings are very extensive, and are grouped around three
quadrangles. The first view (which gives also a glimpse of the Radcliffe
and the Old Schools) shews the front of the North Quadrangle, as
seen from St. Catherine Street, with the windows of the magnificent
Codrington Library.
[Illustration: 0169]
[Illustration: 0170]
But the Library is eclipsed, in general opinion, by the Chapel. "It
is usually observed," says Chalmers, "that whatever visitor remembers
anything of Oxford, remembers the beautiful Chapel of All Souls, and
joins in its praises." It is characterised by dignity and simplicity,
and its great reredos has a remarkable history. The Chapel was wrecked
in Reformation days, and the remains of the reredos were covered with
plaster in the reign of Charles II. In 1870 some workmen accidentally
discovered, on removing some of the plaster, the ruins of the now
forgotten reredos. It was then reconstructed, and the empty niches
refilled with statues of Chichele, Henry VI., and the great ones of
their time. The College also owns a fine sundial, the work of Sir
Christopher Wren, who was one of its Fellows.
The four Bible-clerks, as is well known, are the only undergraduates. An
All Souls' Fellowship is now what an Oriel Fellowship was in the early
part of the nineteenth century, the blue ribbon of Oxford. Since its
foundation in 1437 the following are a few of the eminent men who have
been members of this Society:--Linacre, Sheldon, Jeremy Taylor, the poet
Young, Blackstone, and Bishop Heber.