1.
University of Cambridge
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The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, England, often regarded as one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Founded in 1209 and given royal status by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople, the two ancient universities share many common features and are often referred to jointly as Oxbridge. Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 constituent colleges, Cambridge University Press, a department of the university, is the worlds oldest publishing house and the second-largest university press in the world. The university also operates eight cultural and scientific museums, including the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridges libraries hold a total of around 15 million books, eight million of which are in Cambridge University Library, a legal deposit library. In the year ended 31 July 2015, the university had an income of £1.64 billion. The central university and colleges have an endowment of around £5.89 billion. The university is linked with the development of the high-tech business cluster known as Silicon Fen. It is a member of associations and forms part of the golden triangle of leading English universities and Cambridge University Health Partners. As of 2017, Cambridge is ranked the fourth best university by three ranking tables and no other institution in the world ranks in the top 10 for as many subjects. Cambridge is consistently ranked as the top university in the United Kingdom, the university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, and foreign Heads of State. Ninety-five Nobel laureates, fifteen British prime ministers and ten Fields medalists have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, faculty, by the late 12th century, the Cambridge region already had a scholarly and ecclesiastical reputation, due to monks from the nearby bishopric church of Ely. The University of Oxford went into suspension in protest, and most scholars moved to such as Paris, Reading. After the University of Oxford reformed several years later, enough remained in Cambridge to form the nucleus of the new university. A bull in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX gave graduates from Cambridge the right to teach everywhere in Christendom, the colleges at the University of Cambridge were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself, the colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels, the hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garret Hostel Lane. Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse, Cambridges first college, the most recently established college is Robinson, built in the late 1970s
2.
Lincoln College, Oxford
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Lincoln College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, then Bishop of Lincoln and it is the ninth oldest of Oxford Universitys extant colleges. As of 2016, it has an endowment of £108 million. Notable alumni include John Radcliffe, Howard Florey, Edward Abraham, Norman Heatley, Nevil Sidgwick, John Wesley, John le Carré, Rachel Maddow and Theodor Seuss Geisel. Philip May, husband of Theresa May, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, also attended Lincoln College, roland Berrill, an Australian barrister, and Dr. Lancelot Ware, a British scientist and lawyer, founded Mensa at Lincoln College in 1946. Lincoln College has one of the oldest working medieval kitchens in the UK, Richard Fleming founded the College in order to combat the Lollard teachings of John Wyclif. He intended it to be a college of true students of theology who would defend the mysteries of Scripture against those ignorant laymen who profaned with swinish snouts its most holy pearls. To this end, he obtained a charter for the College from King Henry VI, which combined the parishes of All Saints, St. Michaels at the North Gate, and St. Mildreds within the College under a rector. The College now uses All Saints Church as its library and has ties with St Michaels Church at the North Gate. Richard Fleming died in 1431, and the first rector, William Chamberleyn, in 1434, leaving the College with few buildings, the second rector, John Beke, secured the Colleges safety by attracting donors. By 1436, the College had seven fellows, John Forest, Dean of Wells and a close friend of Bekes, donated such an amount that the College promised to recognise him as a co-founder, it did not keep this promise. His gifts saw the construction of a chapel, a library, hall, after a pointed sermon from the incumbent rector, Thomas Rotherham was compelled to give his support and effectively re-founded it in 1478, with a new charter from King Edward IV. His appearances at College became less frequent after he departed for Georgia as a chaplain in 1735. Indeed, he took to signing his publications as John Wesley, a portrait of him hangs in the Hall and a bust overlooks the front quad. The room where he is believed to have worked is also named him and was renovated by American Methodists at the beginning of the 20th century. As is common with Oxford colleges, the College has a rivalry with neighbour Brasenose College. The two colleges share a tradition revived annually on Ascension Day, an alternative is that a Lincoln man bested a Brasenose man in a duel. Since the nineteenth century, the beer has been flavoured with ivy so as to discourage excessive consumption, academically, Lincoln has been one of the top ten in the Norrington Table each year since 2006
3.
Oliver Cromwell
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Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader and later Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Cromwell was born into the gentry, albeit to a family descended from the sister of King Henry VIIIs minister Thomas Cromwell. Little is known of the first 40 years of his life as only four of his letters survive alongside a summary of a speech he delivered in 1628. He became an Independent Puritan after undergoing a conversion in the 1630s. He was a religious man, a self-styled Puritan Moses. He was elected Member of Parliament for Huntingdon in 1628 and for Cambridge in the Short and he entered the English Civil War on the side of the Roundheads or Parliamentarians. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles Is death warrant in 1649 and he was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. Cromwells forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, during this period, a series of Penal Laws were passed against Roman Catholics, and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651, as a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded. In a 2002 BBC poll in Britain, Cromwell, sponsored by military historian Richard Holmes was selected as one of the ten greatest Britons of all time. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterised as genocidal or near-genocidal, Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599 to Robert Cromwell and Elizabeth Steward. Katherine married Morgan ap William, son of William ap Yevan of Wales, Henry suggested to Sir Richard Williams, who was the first to use a surname in his family, that he use Cromwell, in honour of his uncle Thomas Cromwell. They had ten children, but Oliver, the child, was the only boy to survive infancy. Jasper was the uncle of Henry VII and great uncle of Henry VIII, Cromwells paternal grandfather Sir Henry Williams was one of the two wealthiest landowners in Huntingdonshire. Cromwells father Robert was of modest means but still a part of the gentry class, as a younger son with many siblings, Robert inherited only a house at Huntingdon and a small amount of land. This land would have generated an income of up to £300 a year, near the bottom of the range of gentry incomes, Cromwell himself in 1654 said, I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity. He was baptised on 29 April 1599 at St Johns Church and he went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, then a recently founded college with a strong Puritan ethos
4.
Charles II of England
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Charles II was king of England, Scotland and Ireland. He was king of Scotland from 1649 until his deposition in 1651, Charles IIs father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic and the Spanish Netherlands. A political crisis followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim, after 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649. Charless English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England, Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the treaty of Dover. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oatess revelations of a supposed Popish Plot sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charless brother, the crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, Charless wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James, Charles II was born in St Jamess Palace on 29 May 1630. His parents were Charles I and Henrietta Maria, Charles was their second son and child. Their first son was born about a year before Charles but died within a day, England, Scotland and Ireland were respectively predominantly Anglican, Presbyterian and Roman Catholic. At birth, Charles automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay, at or around his eighth birthday, he was designated Prince of Wales, though he was never formally invested. During the 1640s, when Charles was still young, his father fought Parliamentary, by spring 1646, his father was losing the war, and Charles left England due to fears for his safety. Charles I surrendered into captivity in May 1646, at The Hague, Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter, who later falsely claimed that they had secretly married
5.
10 Downing Street
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Situated in Downing Street in the City of Westminster, London, Number 10 is over 300 years old and contains approximately 100 rooms. A private residence occupies the floor and there is a kitchen in the basement. At the rear is a courtyard and a terrace overlooking a garden of 0.5 acres. Adjacent to St Jamess Park, Number 10 is near Buckingham Palace, the London residence of the British monarch, and the Palace of Westminster, originally three houses, Number 10 was offered to Sir Robert Walpole by King George II in 1732. Walpole accepted on the condition that the gift was to the office of First Lord of the Treasury rather than to him personally, Walpole commissioned William Kent to join the three houses and it is this larger house that is known as Number 10 Downing Street. The arrangement was not an immediate success, despite its size and convenient location near to Parliament, few early Prime Ministers lived there. Costly to maintain, neglected, and run-down, Number 10 was close to being demolished several times but the property survived and became linked with many statesmen, in 1985 Margaret Thatcher said Number 10 had become one of the most precious jewels in the national heritage. Number 10 Downing Street was originally three properties, a mansion overlooking St Jamess Park called the House at the Back, a house behind it. The town house, from which the building gets its name, was one of several built by Sir George Downing between 1682 and 1684. Downing, a spy for Oliver Cromwell and later Charles II, invested in property. In 1654, he purchased the lease on land south of St Jamess Park, Downing planned to build a row of town houses for persons of good quality to inhabit in. The street on which he built them now bears his name, straightforward as the investment seemed, it proved otherwise. The Hampden family had a lease on the land that they refused to relinquish, Downing fought their claim, but failed and had to wait thirty years before he could build. When the Hampden lease expired, Downing received permission to build on land further west to take advantage of recent property developments. The new warrant issued in 1682 reads, Sir George Downing. to build new, subject to the proviso that it be not built any nearer than 14 feet of the wall of the said Park at the West end thereof. Between 1682 and 1684, Downing built a cul-de-sac of two-storey town houses with coach-houses, stables, over the years, the addresses changed several times. In 1787 Number 5 became Number 10, Downing employed Sir Christopher Wren to design the houses. Although large, they were put up quickly and cheaply on soft soil with shallow foundations, the fronts were façades with lines painted on the surface imitating brick mortar
6.
Court of Chancery
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The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of lunatics and the guardianship of infants. Thus the Court of Chancery had a far greater remit than the law courts, whose decisions it had the jurisdiction to overrule for much of its existence. From the time of Elizabeth I onwards the Court was severely criticised for its pace, large backlogs. Those problems persisted until its dissolution, despite being mitigated somewhat by reforms, for much of its existence the Court was formally led by the Lord Chancellor, assisted by the judges of the common law courts. The staff of the court included a number of clerks, led by the Master of the Rolls. In 1813 a Vice-Chancellor was appointed to deal with the Chancerys increasing backlogs, offices of the Chancery were sold by the Lord Chancellor for much of its history, raising large amounts of money. The Court of Chancery originated, as did the other High Courts before 1875, in the Norman curia regis or Kings Council, maintained by most early rulers of England after 1066. Under the feudal system, the Council was made up of the Monarch and its jurisdiction was virtually unlimited, with executive, judicial and legislative functions. This large body contained lawyers, peers, and members of the Church and it soon became apparent that it was too unwieldy to deal with the nations day-to-day business. The Chancery started as the staff of the Lord Chancellor, described as a great secretarial bureau, a home office, a foreign office. The Chancery came to prominence after the decline of the Exchequer, dealing with the law of equity, something more fluid, complaints were normally brought via a bill or petition, which had to show that the common law did not provide a remedy for the problem. The Chancery writs were in French, and later English, rather than the Latin used for common law bills, in the reign of Edward III, the Court found a fixed home at Westminster Hall, where it sat almost continually until its dissolution. Prior to this, the disposing of justice had been made difficult by the fact that the Lord Chancellor was required to travel with the King wherever he went. By 1345 the Lord Chancellor began to be seen as the leader of the Court of Chancery, rather than as a representative of the King, and writs and bills were addressed directly to him. Under Richard II it became practice to consider the Chancery separate from the curia, the King gave evasive answers to the requests, and made no decision. Kerly suggests that many complaints from the Commons came from lawyers of the common law, the growth in the number of is a primary indicator of the changing position of Chancery. Chancery English, used in documents, can be seen as the beginnings of Standard English – a national standard of spelling
7.
William Wilkins (architect)
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William Wilkins RA was an English architect, classical scholar and archaeologist. He designed the National Gallery and University College London, and buildings for several Cambridge colleges, Wilkins was born in the parish of St Giles, Norwich, the son of a successful builder who also managed a chain of theatres. His brother George Wilkins was Archdeacon of Nottingham and he was educated at Norwich School and then won a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He graduated as 6th wrangler in 1800, on his tour he was accompanied by the Italian landscape painter Agostino Aglio, whom Wilkins had commissioned as a draughtsman on the expedition. Aglio supplied the drawings for the aquatint plates of monuments illustrationing Wilkins volumes from the expedition, Wilkins was a member of the Society of Dilettanti from 1817. He published researches into both Classical and Gothic architecture, becoming one of the figures in the English Greek Revival of the early 19th century. His architectural career began in 1804 with his Greek-revival designs for the newly established Downing College, Cambridge, the commission came after earlier plans in a Palladian style by James Wyatt had been rejected as insufficiently classical. Wilkins arranged the buildings around a single large courtyard. Construction began in 1807 and proceeded slowly, coming to a halt in 1821 with Wilkins scheme still incomplete, in 1806 Wilkins designed a college near Hertford for the East India Company. It became Haileybury College following the dissolution of the company and he built or added to Osberton House, near Worksop. These works were followed in 1808 by the Doric entrance to the Lower Assembly Rooms at Bath, in 1815 Wilkins inherited his fathers chain of six theatres. He continued to manage them for the rest of his life, in 1822–26, he collaborated with John Peter Gandy on the Clubhouse for the new United University Club, in Pall Mall. He was made an associate of the Royal Society in 1824, Wilkins was influential in the development of Trafalgar Square in London, which had been opened up as part of a scheme by John Nash. He campaigned to have the new National Gallery sited on the side of the square, initially suggesting that the existing building. The government accepted the idea, but opted for a new building. Wilkins also drew up plans for the out of the square itself. They were not put into effect, although the scheme eventually carried out by Charles Barry after Wilkins death replicated many of his ideas. Wilkins carried out two other major London buildings in a severe Classical style, University College, Gower Street and his other Greek Revival works include the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds 1819, St. Pauls Church, George Street, Nottingham 1822 and the Yorkshire Museum
8.
Clare College, Cambridge
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Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse and it was refounded in 1338 as Clare Hall by an endowment from Elizabeth de Clare. Clare is famous for its choir and for its gardens on the Backs. The current Master is Anthony Grabiner, Baron Grabiner, a British barrister, Clare is consistently one of the most popular Cambridge colleges amongst prospective applicants. As of 2016, it had an endowment of over £106m, the college was founded in 1326 by the universitys Chancellor, Richard Badew, and was originally named University Hall. Providing maintenance for only two fellows, it hit financial hardship. In 1338, the college was refounded as Clare Hall by an endowment from Elizabeth de Clare, a granddaughter of Edward I, the college was known as Clare Hall until 1856, when it changed its name to Clare College. Clares Old Court, a Grade I listed building, frames Kings College Chapel as the border of one of the most celebrated architectural vistas in England. It was built between 1638 and 1715, with an interruption for the English Civil War. The colleges chapel was built in 1763 and designed by Sir James Burrough and its altarpiece is Annunciation by Cipriani. Clare has a bridge over the river which is the oldest of Cambridges current bridges. Fourteen stone balls decorate it, one of which has a missing section, a more likely explanation is that a wedge of stone cemented into the ball as part of a repair job became loose and fell out into the river. Clares bridge connects Old Court to Memorial Court, which was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, a new court, Lerner Court, was opened in January 2008 and was designed by architects van Heyningen and Haward. Clare is known as a liberal and progressive college, in 1972 it became one of the three male Cambridge colleges that led the way in admitting female undergraduates. Clare continues in tradition and has won praise for the transparency of its admissions process. Clare is known as one of the most musical colleges in Cambridge and its choir has performed all over the world. Many Clare students play instruments, and the music society, Clare College Music Society, is well known. Like most Cambridge colleges, Clare allows students to have a piano in their college rooms, as well as popular jazz and comedy nights, Clare is renowned for Clare Ents, a student night held every Friday in term time
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St John's College, Cambridge
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St Johns College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, in constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The aims of the college, as specified by its Statutes, are the promotion of education, religion, learning, the colleges alumni include the winners of ten Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers and twelve archbishops of various countries, at least two princes, and three Saints. HRH Prince William was affiliated with St Johns while undertaking a course in 2014. St Johns College is also known for its choir, its members success in a wide variety of inter-collegiate sporting competitions. In 2011 the college celebrated its quincentenary, an event marked by a visit of HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The college was founded on the site of the 13th-century Hospital of St John in Cambridge at the suggestion of Saint John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester and chaplain to Lady Margaret Beaufort. However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St Johns in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, the college received its charter on 9 April 1511. In November 1512 the Court of Chancery allowed Lady Margarets executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates, when Lady Margarets executors took over they found most of the old Hospital buildings beyond repair, but repaired and incorporated the Chapel into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, and a gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury. The doors were to be closed each day at dusk, sealing the monastic community from the outside world. Over the course of the five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the River Cam, and now has eleven courts. The first three courts are arranged in enfilade, St Johns College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students. The first women undergraduates arrived a year later, St Johns distinctive Great Gate follows the standard contemporary pattern employed previously at Christs College and Queens College. The gatehouse is crenelated and adorned with the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort, above these are displayed her ensigns, the Red Rose of Lancaster and Portcullis. The college arms are flanked by curious creatures known as yales, mythical beasts with elephants tails, antelopes bodies, goats heads, and swivelling horns. Above them is a tabernacle containing a figure of St John the Evangelist
10.
Archbishop of York
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The Archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the Province of York. The Archbishop of York is an ex member of the House of Lords and is styled Primate of England. The archbishops throne is in York Minster in central York and his residence is Bishopthorpe Palace in the village of Bishopthorpe outside of York. The incumbent, from 5 October 2005, is John Sentamu who signs as +Sentamu Ebor, there was a bishop in Eboracum from very early times, during the Middle Ages, it was thought to have been one of the dioceses established by the legendary King Lucius. Bishops of York are known to have been present at the Councils of Arles, however, this early Christian community was later destroyed by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and there is no direct succession from these bishops to the post-Augustinian ones. The diocese was refounded by Paulinus in the 7th century, notable among these early bishops is Wilfrid. Until the Danish invasion the archbishops of Canterbury occasionally exercised authority, at the time of the Norman invasion York had jurisdiction over Worcester, Lichfield, and Lincoln, as well as the dioceses in the Northern Isles and Scotland. But the first three sees just mentioned were taken from York in 1072, of these, Durham was practically independent, for the palatine bishops of that see were little short of sovereigns in their own jurisdiction. Sodor and Man were returned to York during the fourteenth century, several of the archbishops of York held the ministerial office of Lord Chancellor of England and played some parts in affairs of state. The bishoprics role was complicated by continued conflict over primacy with the see of Canterbury. Until the mid 1530s the bishops and archbishops were in communion with the pope in Rome and this is no longer the case, as the Archbishop of York, together with the rest of the Church of England, is a member of the Anglican Communion. Walter de Grey purchased York Place as his London residence, which after the fall of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, was renamed the Palace of Whitehall. The Archbishop of York is the bishop of the Province of York and is the junior of the two archbishops of the Church of England after the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since 5 October 2005, the incumbent is the Most Reverend John Sentamu who is also an ex member of the House of Lords. Bede, Willibrord and the Letters of Pope Honorius I on the Genesis of the Archbishopric of York
11.
Downing Street, Cambridge
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Downing Street is a street in central Cambridge, England. It runs between Pembroke Street and Tennis Court Road at the end and a T-junction with St Andrews Street at the eastern end. Corn Exchange Street and St Tibbs Row lead off to the north, Downing Place leads off to the south. To the north at the end is the New Museums Site of the University of Cambridge. To the south is the Downing Site of the University, many of the Universitys departments are located here. The area south of Downing Street was originally known as Pembroke Leys and this was acquired for Downing College. The architect William Wilkins was tasked by the trustees of the Downing estate to design the plan for the college, however, the estate was much reduced from that expected and these grand plans failed to materialize. Much of the end of the Pembroke Leys was sold to the University and is now home to scientific departments. There are several of the Universitys museums in this location, on the corner with Tennis Court Road is the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. On the corner with Downing Place is the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, to the north at the eastern end on the New Museums Site is the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology. Just to the west is the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Free School Lane off Pembroke Street
12.
University of Oxford
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The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university located in Oxford, England. It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris, after disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled north-east to Cambridge where they established what became the University of Cambridge. The two ancient universities are frequently referred to as Oxbridge. The university is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 constituent colleges, All the colleges are self-governing institutions within the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it not have a main campus, instead, its buildings. Oxford is the home of the Rhodes Scholarship, one of the worlds oldest and most prestigious scholarships, the university operates the worlds oldest university museum, as well as the largest university press in the world and the largest academic library system in Britain. Oxford has educated many notable alumni, including 28 Nobel laureates,27 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, the University of Oxford has no known foundation date. Teaching at Oxford existed in form as early as 1096. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris, the historian Gerald of Wales lectured to such scholars in 1188 and the first known foreign scholar, Emo of Friesland, arrived in 1190. The head of the university had the title of chancellor from at least 1201, the university was granted a royal charter in 1248 during the reign of King Henry III. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled from the violence to Cambridge, the students associated together on the basis of geographical origins, into two nations, representing the North and the South. In later centuries, geographical origins continued to many students affiliations when membership of a college or hall became customary in Oxford. At about the time, private benefactors established colleges as self-contained scholarly communities. Among the earliest such founders were William of Durham, who in 1249 endowed University College, thereafter, an increasing number of students lived in colleges rather than in halls and religious houses. In 1333–34, an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III. Thereafter, until the 1820s, no new universities were allowed to be founded in England, even in London, thus, Oxford and Cambridge had a duopoly, the new learning of the Renaissance greatly influenced Oxford from the late 15th century onwards. Among university scholars of the period were William Grocyn, who contributed to the revival of Greek language studies, and John Colet, the noted biblical scholar. With the English Reformation and the breaking of communion with the Roman Catholic Church, recusant scholars from Oxford fled to continental Europe, as a centre of learning and scholarship, Oxfords reputation declined in the Age of Enlightenment, enrolments fell and teaching was neglected
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