St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979, its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to provide a source of educated Roman Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary. St John's is the wealthiest college in Oxford, with a financial endowment of £632 million as of 2018 due to nineteenth century suburban development of land in the city of Oxford of which it is the ground landlord; the college occupies a central location on St Giles' and has a student body of 390 undergraduates and 250 postgraduates. As well as over 100 academic staff, the college is supported by a similar number of other staff, it is amongst the most academic of all Oxford colleges, in 2018 St John's topped the Norrington Table, the annual ranking of Oxford colleges' final results. On 1 May 1555, Sir Thomas White Lord Mayor of London, obtained a Royal Patent of Foundation to create a charitable institution for the education of students within the University of Oxford.
White, a Roman Catholic intended St John's to provide a source of educated Roman Catholic clerics to support the Counter-Reformation under Queen Mary, indeed Edmund Campion, the Roman Catholic martyr, studied here. White acquired buildings on the east side of St Giles', north of Balliol and Trinity Colleges, which had belonged to the former College of St Bernard, a monastery and house of study of the Cistercian order, founded in 1437 and closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries; the new St John's College was rather small and not well endowed financially. During the reign of Elizabeth I the fellows lectured in rhetoric and dialectic, but not directly in theology. However, St John's had a strong focus on the creation of a proficient and educated priesthood. White was Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company, established a number of educational foundations, including the Merchant Taylors' School. Although the College was linked to such institutions for many centuries, it became a more open society in the 19th century.
Female students were first admitted in 1979, after over four centuries of the college as an institution for men only. Elizabeth Fallaize was appointed as the first female fellow in 1990. Although a producer of Anglican clergymen in the earlier periods of its history, St John's gained a reputation for degrees in law, medicine and PPE; the endowments which St John's was given at its foundation, during the twenty or so years afterward, served it well and in the second half of the nineteenth century it benefited, as ground landlord, from the suburban development of the city of Oxford and was unusual among Colleges for the size and extent of its property within the city. The patronage of the parish of St Giles was included in the endowment of the college by Thomas White. Vicars of St Giles were either Fellows of the College, or ex-Fellows who were granted the living on marriage; the College retains the right to present candidates for the benefice to the bishop. Today St John's maintains the largest endowment of the Oxford colleges, for example owning the Oxford Playhouse building and the Millwall F.
C. training ground. The college is situated on a single 5.5 hectares site. Most of the college buildings are organised around seven quadrangles; the Front Quadrangle consists of buildings built for the Cistercian St Bernard's College. Construction started in 1437, though when the site passed to the crown in 1540, due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, much of the exterior was as it is now, but the Eastern range was incomplete. Christ Church took control of the site in 1546 and Thomas White acquired it in 1554; the college founder made major alterations to create the current college hall, designated the Northern part of the Eastern range to be the lodging of the President, for which it is still used today. Front Quad was gravelled until the college's 400th anniversary when the current circular lawn and paving were laid out; the turret clock, made by John Knibb, dates from 1690.. The main tower above the Porters' Lodge features a statue of St. John the Baptist by Eric Gill; the chapel was built and dedicated to St Bernard of Clairvaux in 1530.
The chapel was re-dedicated to St John the Baptist in 1557. The Baylie chapel in the north-east corner was added 1662–1669 and refitted in 1949. In 1840 the chapel's interior underwent major changes which created the gothic revival pews, wall arcading and west screen. Thomas White, William Laud and William Juxon are buried beneath the chapel. All three were presidents of the college, with the latter two holding the role of Archbishop of Canterbury. To the south of the chancel is a hidden pew directly accessible from the President's Lodgings, which allowed the only woman in college, the president's wife, to worship without distracting college members. Choral services have been sung in the chapel since 1618. Orlando Gibbons's famous anthem "This Is the Record of John" was written at the College's request, received its first performance here; the college in 1620 commissioned the anthem. The college choir today sings evensong services on Sundays and Wednesdays during term time, as well as singing the grace at Sunday formal hall.
Since 1923 the choir has been directed by
Worshipful Company of Grocers
The Worshipful Company of Grocers is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London and ranks second in order of precedence. Established in 1345, the Grocers comprise one of London's Great Twelve City Livery Companies; the company was founded in the 14th century by members of the Guild of Pepperers, which dates from 1180. The Company was responsible for maintaining standards for the purity of spices and for the setting of certain weights and measures, its members included London's pharmacists, who separated forming the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries in 1617. The guild was known as the Company of Grossers from 1373 until 1376 when it was renamed the Company of Grocers of London. In 1428, two years after building its first hall in Old Jewry, the Company was granted a Royal Charter by King Henry VI of England. One of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, it ranks second in the Companies order of precedence after the Mercers' Company, it is said that the Grocers' Company used to be first in the order, until Queen Elizabeth I, as Honorary Master of the Mercers' Company, found herself in procession, after her coronation behind the Grocers' camel, emitting unfortunate smells.
Today, the Grocers' Company exists as a charitable and ceremonial institution which plays a significant role in the election of and supporting the Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs of the City of London. The Company's motto is "God Grant Grace"; the Company provides banqueting and conference facilities at Grocers' Hall situated in Prince's Street, next to the Bank of England. The earliest known Grocers' Hall was in Poultry, London known as Conningshop-lane on account of the three conies or rabbits hanging over a poulterer's stall in the lane, it was built in 1428 on land once owned by Lord Fitzwalter and let out "for dinners, county feasts and weddings." The roof and woodwork of the hall were destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire and afterwards a new roof was erected on the old walls while Sir John Cutler, 1st Baronet paid for a new parlour and dining room. The hall was again renovated in 1681 by the future Lord Mayor of Sir John Moore. A new hall was built on the same site between 1798 and 1802 when part of the garden was sold to the Bank of England for the expansion of nearby Prince's Street.
However and extensive repairs were required due to defective foundations in the building, replaced by a fourth hall, completed in 1893 on Prince's Street. The hall survived the Blitz with only minor damage to its north wing, but was completely destroyed by a fire in 1965 caused by a lightbulb left on in the grand staircase beneath an oak lintel which smouldered and caught fire. A fifth and final hall was constructed nearby in 1970 on Prince's Street, which remains the Grocers' home today; the present Master Grocer for 2018-19 is James Whitmore and the Company's Clerk is Brigadier Greville Bibby. The Company is responsible for the maintenance of Oundle School at Oundle, which uses the Grocers' crest of a camel as its school badge, of the Elms School in Colwall, Herefordshire. Reed's School's Annual Foundation Appeal. Additionally, in 1876 the Company founded the Grocers' Company School, in Hackney, east of the City of London, for the education of "sons of the middle classes"; this was transferred into London County Council's control after that authority's formation in 1889 and changed its name to Hackney Downs School.
The school depicted as its school badge a camel, for the Lower School, a shield with cloves and the motto of the Grocers' Company for the Upper School. The Grocers' Company now maintains close links with and is the principal sponsor of Hackney's Mossbourne Academy, renowned for its excellent educational standards; the Company is affiliated to HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, with the Coldstream Guards, the British Army's oldest regular regiment. Eglinton Village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, was established by the Grocers' Guild in 1619, under the name of Muff; the church of St Mary the Virgin at Northill in Bedfordshire shows the Grocers' coat of arms on a stained glass window by John Oliver. The company commissioned the window in 1664. Guild John Benjamin Heath. "Some Account of the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London". Books. Google.com. London: W. Marchant, Printer. 1829 history of the Company by the Governor of the Bank of England, 1845–1847.
The Grocers' Company of the City of London www.liverycompanies.com
City of London
The City of London is a city and county that contains the historic centre and the primary central business district of London. It constituted most of London from its settlement by the Romans in the 1st century AD to the Middle Ages, but the agglomeration has since grown far beyond the City's borders; the City is now only a tiny part of the metropolis of London, though it remains a notable part of central London. Administratively, it forms one of the 33 local authority districts of Greater London, it is a separate county of England, being an enclave surrounded by Greater London. It is the smallest county in the United Kingdom; the City of London is referred to as the City and is colloquially known as the Square Mile, as it is 1.12 sq mi in area. Both of these terms are often used as metonyms for the United Kingdom's trading and financial services industries, which continue a notable history of being based in the City; the name London is now ordinarily used for a far wider area than just the City.
London most denotes the sprawling London metropolis, or the 32 London boroughs, in addition to the City of London itself. This wider usage of London is documented as far back as 1888; the local authority for the City, namely the City of London Corporation, is unique in the UK and has some unusual responsibilities for a local council, such as being the police authority. It is unusual in having responsibilities and ownerships beyond its boundaries; the Corporation is headed by the Lord Mayor of the City of London, an office separate from the Mayor of London. The Lord Mayor, as of November 2018, is Peter Estlin; the City is a major business and financial centre. Throughout the 19th century, the City was the world's primary business centre, it continues to be a major meeting point for businesses. London came top in the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index, published in 2008; the insurance industry is focused around Lloyd's building. A secondary financial district exists at Canary Wharf, 2.5 miles to the east.
The City work there. About three quarters of the jobs in the City of London are in the financial and associated business services sectors; the legal profession forms a major component of the northern and western sides of the City in the Temple and Chancery Lane areas where the Inns of Court are located, of which two—Inner Temple and Middle Temple—fall within the City of London boundary. Known as "Londinium", the Roman legions established a settlement on the current site of the City of London around 43 AD, its bridge over the River Thames turned the city into a road nexus and major port, serving as a major commercial centre in Roman Britain until its abandonment during the 5th century. Archaeologist Leslie Wallace notes that, because extensive archaeological excavation has not revealed any signs of a significant pre-Roman presence, "arguments for a purely Roman foundation of London are now common and uncontroversial."At its height, the Roman city had a population of 45,000–60,000 inhabitants.
Londinium was an ethnically diverse city, with inhabitants from across the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, North Africa. The Romans built the London Wall some time between 190 and 225 AD; the boundaries of the Roman city were similar to those of the City of London today, though the City extends further west than Londonium's Ludgate, the Thames was undredged and thus wider than it is today, with Londonium's shoreline north of the City's present shoreline. The Romans built a bridge across the river, as early as 50 AD, near to today's London Bridge. By the time the London Wall was constructed, the City's fortunes were in decline, it faced problems of plague and fire; the Roman Empire entered a long period of instability and decline, including the Carausian Revolt in Britain. In the 3rd and 4th centuries, the city was under attack from Picts and Saxon raiders; the decline continued, both for Londinium and the Empire, in 410 AD the Romans withdrew from Britain.
Many of the Roman public buildings in Londinium by this time had fallen into decay and disuse, after the formal withdrawal the city became uninhabited. The centre of trade and population moved away from the walled Londinium to Lundenwic, a settlement to the west in the modern day Strand/Aldwych/Covent Garden area. During the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, the London area came in turn under the Kingdoms of Essex and Wessex, though from the mid 8th century it was under the control or threat of the Vikings. Bede records that in 604 AD St Augustine consecrated Mellitus as the first bishop to the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Saxons and their king, Sæberht. Sæberht's uncle and overlord, Æthelberht, king of Kent, built a church dedicated to St Paul in London, as the seat of the new bishop, it is assumed, although unproven, that this first Anglo-Saxon cathedral stood on the same site as the medieval and the present cathedrals. Alfred the Great, King of Wessex and arguably the first king of the "English", occupied and began the resettlement of the old Roman walled area, in 886, appointed his son-in-law Earl Æthelred of Mercia over it as part of their reconquest of the Viking occupied parts of Englan
Worshipful Company of Ironmongers
The Worshipful Company of Ironmongers is one of the livery companies of the City of London, incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463. The Ironmongers, who were known as the Ferroners, were incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1463; the Company's original association with iron merchants, has lessened due to the movement of the industry from Southern England to the North, where iron ore has been more available. The Company today is a charitable institution; the Company ranks tenth in the order of precedence of the City of London's livery companies. The Company's motto is God Is Our Strength. Ironmongers' Hall is the home of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, it is located in Aldersgate Street in the City of London. The first hall, dating back to 1457, was in Fenchurch Street; the third hall was destroyed on 7 July 1917 by a bomb dropped during World War I. The present Hall stands on land, bought in 1922: construction work, undertaken by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts, started that year and the Hall was opened on 17 June 1925.
Official website
Worshipful Company of Mercers
The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of older origin, the Company was incorporated under a Royal Charter in 1394, the Company's earliest extant Charter; the Company's aim was to act as a trade association for general merchants, for exporters of wool and importers of velvet and other luxurious fabrics. By the 16th century many members of the Company had lost any connection with the original trade. Today, the Company exists as a charitable institution, supporting a variety of causes; the Company's motto is Honor Deo, Latin for "Honour to God". The word "mercer" derives from the Latin merx, mercis, "merchandise" from which root derives the word "merchant"; the words mercero and mercier still used in Spanish and French have meanings similar to haberdasher, although the medieval mercers would not have recognised any relationship to that trade, covered by the separate Worshipful Company of Haberdashers.
In education, the Company has administered St Paul's School since 1509, St Paul's Girls' School since 1904, two prep schools in London, The Hall School and Bute House, retains close links with Collyer's College, Dauntsey's School, Abingdon School, Peter Symonds College and Gresham College, all founded by mercers. In recent times the Company has founded two City Academies. There was a Mercers' School, granted its first charter in 1447, closed in 1959 when pupil numbers fell; the school was most based in Barnard's Inn in Holborn, now the home of Gresham College. In 2011, the Mercers co-sponsored a new academy school, Hammersmith Academy, specialising in creative and digital media and information technology, located in Hammersmith; the school was established in a new building, with support from the Mercers and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. The Mercers' Company is based at 6 Frederick's Place in the City of London. From the 14th century onwards the Company held its meetings in the Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon on Cheapside.
Between 1517 and 1524 the Company built the Mercer's Chapel on this land, with the first Mercers' Hall above it, fronting Cheapside. The building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666; the second Hall, designed by Edward Jarman and John Oliver, opened in May 1676. The Hall was extensively refurbished during the period 1877 to 1881; the frontage was remodelled by George Barnes Williams and the interiors were redesigned by John Gregory Crace, the renowned Victorian designer. The Hall was destroyed by fire in 1941 during the Blitz; the third and present Mercers' Hall was opened in May 1958. The architect was E. Noel Clifton of Gunton; the Hall incorporates fittings from the old Hall, including some 17th-century woodwork and Victorian stained glass. The Mercers' Company is the only City Livery Company to have its own private chapel. Children whose father or mother was a member of the Company at the time of their birth have an automatic right to become Mercers by'patrimony'. Most other members obtain their Freedom by Redemption.
Under this process applicants are recommended for membership after an interview and, if approved, they pay a sum of money called a'fine'. Other people can become Members by Redemption. Membership is sometimes granted. Notable Members who joined the Company by Redemption are Winston Churchill. One other route to membership is by apprenticeship. In the early days this was a usual route. Freemen of a Livery Company are Freemen of the City of London, which used to carry certain privileges, such as the right to drive a flock of sheep without charge over London Bridge; the origin of the Mercers’ Maiden, the heraldic emblem of the Company, is not known. Unlike most of the City livery companies the Mercers had no early grant of arms but the 1425 charter granted a common seal. A few impressions of the early seal survive showing a simplified version of the present coat of arms; the fifteenth century Wardens’ Accounts reveal that then, the Company required the device of the Maid’s Head to be displayed on its property.
In 1530 the Company stated to the College of Heralds that they had no arms but only a Maid’s Head for their common seal and in 1568 the Heralds registered the seal as the Company’s arms. In 1911 the College of Arms confirmed the arms and granted the Company a crest and motto, ‘Honor Deo’; the grant describes the arms as: “Gules, issuant from a bank of clouds a figure of the Virgin couped at the shoulders proper vested in a crimson robe adorned with gold, the neck encircled by a jeweled necklace crined or and wreathed about the temples with a chaplet of roses alternately argent and of the first, crowned with a celestial crown, the whole within a bordure of clouds proper”. Every year the Mercers' Company publishes an annual review of their activities; the property portfolio includes 90 residential flats in Covent Garden. In an average year they might give away £7m, about one-sixth of the total charitable contributions for the 110 livery companies. Among famous Me
Worshipful Company of Vintners
The Worshipful Company of Vintners is one of the most ancient Livery Companies of the City of London, thought to date back to the 12th century. It is one of the "Great Twelve" livery companies of London, its motto is Vinum Exhilarat Animum, Latin for "Wine Cheers the Spirit". One of the more peculiar rights of the Company involves the ceremony of swan upping, it existed as early as the twelfth century, it received a Royal Charter in 1364. Due to the Royal Charter, the Company gained a monopoly over wine imports from Gascony, it acquired the right to sell wine without a licence, it became the most powerful company in the wine trade. However, in 1553, it lost its right to sell wine anywhere in the country. Up to 2006, Vintners retained the right to sell wine without a licence in certain areas, such as the City of London or along the route of the old Great North Road; this right has now been abolished. The Vintners' Company ranks eleventh in the order of precedence of Livery Companies, making it one of the "Great Twelve Livery Companies".
Vintners' Hall is situated in Vintry ward. The nearby Garlickhythe was a dock where wine were landed, from medieval times. One of the more peculiar rights of the company involves the ceremony of swan upping. William Abell William Herbert; the History of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of London: Principally Compiled from Their Grants and Records: with an Historical Essay, Accounts of Each Company: Including Notices and Illustrations of Metropolitan Trade and Commerce, as Originally Concentrated in Those Societies: with Attested Copies and Translations of the Companies' Charters, Volume 2. William Herbert. Http://www.vintnershall.co.uk/
Sallust
Gaius Sallustius Crispus anglicised as Sallust, was a Roman historian and novus homo from an Italian plebeian family. Sallust was born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines and was a popularis, an opponent of the old Roman aristocracy, throughout his career, a partisan of Julius Caesar. Sallust is the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which Catiline's War, The Jugurthine War, the Histories are still extant. Sallust was influenced by the Greek historian Thucydides and amassed great wealth from his governorship of Africa. Sallust was born in Amiternum in Central Italy, though Eduard Schwartz takes the view that Sallust's birthplace was Rome, his birth date is calculated from the report of Jerome's Chronicon. But Ronald Syme suggests that Jerome's date has to be adjusted because of his carelessness, suggests 87 BC as a more correct date. However, Sallust's birth is dated at 86 BC, the Kleine Pauly Encyclopedia takes 1 October 86 BC as the birthdate. Michael Grant cautiously offers 80s BC.
There is no information about Sallust's parents or family, except for Tacitus' mention of his sister. The Sallustii were a provincial noble family of Sabine origin, they had full Roman citizenship. During the Social War Sallust’s parents hid in Rome, because Amiternum was under threat of siege by rebelling Italic tribes; because of this Sallust could have been raised in Rome He received a good education. After an ill-spent youth, Sallust entered public life and may have won election as quaestor in 55 BC. However, there is no conclusive evidence about this, some scholars suppose that Sallust did not become a quaestor — the practice of violating the cursus honorum was common in the last years of the Republic, he became a Tribune of the Plebs in 52 BC, the year in which the followers of Milo killed Clodius in a street brawl. Sallust supported the prosecution of Milo. Sallust, Titus Munatius Plancus and Quintus Pompeius Rufus tried to blame Cicero, one of the leaders of the Senators' opposition to the triumvirate, for his support of Milo.
Syme suggests that Sallust, because of his position in Milo's trial, did not support Caesar. T. Mommsen states. According to one inscription, some Sallustius was a proquaestor in Syria in 50 BC under Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. Mommsen identified this Sallustius with Sallust the historian, though T. R. S. Broughton argued that Sallust the historian could not have been an assistant to Julius Caesar's adversary. From the beginning of his public career, Sallust operated as a decided partisan of Julius Caesar, to whom he owed such political advancement as he attained. In 50 BC, the censor Appius Claudius Pulcher removed him from the Senate on the grounds of gross immorality. In the following year through Caesar's influence, he was reinstated. During the Civil War of 49–45 BC Sallust acted as Caesar's partisan, but his role was not significant, so his name is not mentioned in the dictator's Commentarii de Bello Civili, it was reported that Sallust dined with Caesar, Oppius and Sulpicius Rufus on the night after Caesar's famous crossing of the Rubicon river into Italy on 10 January.
In 49 BC Sallust was moved to Illyricum and commanded at least one legion there after the failure of Publius Cornelius Dolabella and Gaius Antonius. This campaign was unsuccessful. In 48 BC he was made quaestor by Caesar to re-enter the Senate. However, the last statement is based on the "Invective against Sallust" ascribed to Cicero, a forgery. In late summer 47 BC a group of soldiers rebelled near Rome, demanding their discharge and payment for service. Sallust, as praetor designatus, with several other senators, was sent to persuade the soldiers, but the rebels killed two senators, Sallust narrowly escaped death. In 46 BC, he served as a praetor and accompanied Caesar in his African campaign, which ended in the decisive defeat of the remains of the Pompeian war party at Thapsus. Sallust did not participate in military operations directly, but he commanded several ships and organized supply through the Kerkennah Islands; as a reward for his services, Sallust was appointed governor of the province of Africa Nova — it is not clear why: Sallust was not a skilled general, the province was militarily significant, with three legions deployed there.
Moreover, his successors as governor were experienced military men. However, Sallust managed the organization of supply and transportation, these qualities could have determined Caesar's choice; as governor he committed such oppression and extortion that only Caesar's influence enabled him to escape condemnation. On his return to Rome he purchased and began laying out in great splendour the famous gardens on the Quirinal known as the Horti Sallustiani or Gardens of Sallust; these gardens would belong to the emperors. Sallust retired from public life and devoted himself to historical literature, further developed his Gardens, upon which he spent much of his accumulated wealth. According to Hieronymus Stridonensis, Sallust became the second husband of Cicero's ex-wife Terentia; however prominent scholars of Roman prosopography such as Ronald Syme refute this as a legend. Sallust's account of the Catiline conspiracy and of the Jugurthine War (B
