Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. An important feature of de Merton's foundation was that this "college" was to be self-governing and the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.
South facade as seen from Merton Field
Walter de Merton, (c. 1205 – 27 October 1277), founder of Merton
Henry Savile, Warden from 1585 to 1621, had great influence on the development of the college
St Alban Hall, pictured in 1837, engraving by John Le Keux from a drawing by F. Mackenzie
Colleges of the University of Oxford
The University of Oxford has thirty-nine colleges, and four permanent private halls (PPHs) of religious foundation. Colleges and PPHs are autonomous self-governing corporations within the university. These colleges are not only houses of residence, but have substantial responsibility for teaching undergraduate students. Generally tutorials and classes are the responsibility of colleges, while lectures, examinations, laboratories, and the central library are run by the university. Students normally have most of their tutorials in their own college, but often have a couple of modules taught at other colleges or even at faculties and departments. Most colleges take both graduates and undergraduates, but several are for graduates only.
Aerial view of many of the colleges of the University of Oxford
Brasenose College in the 1670s