Further Up and Further In

Yesterday I had the very great privilege of touring the University Archives with the Oxford Society of Bibliophiles. This is a rare honor–the Archives are housed in the top two floors of the Tower of the Five Orders in the Old Schools Quadrangle with the Bodleian Library, are accessible only by a narrow, steep turret stair, and are NEVER opened to the public. Even the Bibliophiles, with its myriad connections around the University, has had to wait two years for the privilege.

The Assistant Keeper met us in the Quadrangle in front of the Divinity School, and took us up through the Bodleian’s Upper Reading Room to access the turret stair that would take us up to the Archives. It was a rare privilege just to be allowed to carry cameras and bags up through the Bodleian–ordinarily photography of any kind is prohibited, with very few exceptions. When we had climbed up to the first level of the Archives, we found that the Keeper had laid out several of the University’s most prized documents for our perusal.

The office of the Keeper was once one of much greater honor and privilege. The first official Keeper in the 1630s was given the Keys to the Tower, and he reportedly loved his work so much his health suffered. After the Keys (and therefore the office) were taken by a different professor under false pretenses, he spent the rest of his life trying to recover them. In the 1600s the Archives were given the top two floors of the Tower of the Five Orders (named for the five sets of columns from each order of architecture on the five levels of the tower) above the Bodleian. The Archives have been a separate organization in the Oxford hierarchy for centuries, only as recently as last year coming under the heading of the Bodleian system of libraries. This does not mean they are open to the public, however–while they do do some types of research on request, both the main stacks in the basement of Examination Schools on Merton and High and their eyrie in the Tower are closed to the public, and indeed most members of the University. Their voluminous collection concerns itself solely with the history and documentation of the University itself back to  the 1200s; while the University is almost certainly over a century older, no documents have survived directly to the present day.

We were shown the earliest surviving document related to the University, however, a letter from the papal legate in 1214. A bizarre story was associated with this letter–in 1209, apparently, an Oxford student murdered (or raped, depending on the account) his mistress in the City. The legal authorities tracked him back to his lodgings, only to find that he had fled. In response, they hung his housemates (allegedly implicated in the crime). The University was outraged at this summary justice (viewed as meddling in their rights and privileges, most University members were not subject to civil law) and in response some of the scholars left and founded Cambridge a hundred miles away.

Despite England falling under the interdict due to a conflict between Pope Innocent III and King John, the matter was laid before the papal legate Niccolò de Romanis. His judgement was handed down in 1214 in this letter–the City would respect the privileges of the University defined in the new Charter, rents for students would be frozen for twenty years, and the City would pay a certain sum annually to the University as reparations.

The judgement also helped establish the office of the Chancellor, and the next volume laid out for us was the original Chancellors’ Book, handed down one-to-another since at least the 1300s. This volume contained the original text for many degree ceremonies, records, and artwork, including some beautiful illumination. The tragedy is that the book has been well-worn over the centuries–writing on the bottom third of many pages has been obliterated by careless fingers, and a ill-fated restoration attempt during the time of the Glorious Revolution left many pages soaked through with ink and illegible. But this was a treasure far older than even the colonization of the Americas.

She also opened the University’s original 17th century Book of Statutes, with original seals intact. Each statute was signed so that nothing could be added after that point. The book bears its original silk ribbons and wax seals–the royal seal in particular is historically valuable, as it shows the skyline of London before the Great Fire.

Other documents included a book of accounts from the 17th and 18th century, and a volume with the regulations and proclamations of the University from the 19th (including prohibitions of smoking and “drag-hunting”, as they were disturbing others or destroying property.)

A final book of particular interest included Dorothy Sayers’s matriculation document! She was among the first women to study at Oxford in the early 1910s before women were actually allowed to graduate from the University. When the policy was changed in 1920, those women who had completed their studies without being awarded a degree returned and matriculated and graduated on the same day in October 1920.

After finishing with the Archives chamber, we returned to the staircase and ascended to the topmost level of the tower, and the office of the Keeper and the Assistant Keeper. This had to be the most spectacular office in Oxford–towering over the Bodleian, the office provided spectacular views in every direction from the center of the city. And only three people see this view with any regularity! The light was excellent, tinged with gold as it moved towards sunset, despite it only being 3:30 in the afternoon (the sun is down most days here by 4:30). I shot dozens of photos of the skyline from the tower, and we had a healthy argument identifying some of the less obvious church towers and spires (in the City of Dreaming Spires, you can take your pick of the towers within sight.

I hope you enjoy this album–it was an incredible experience to see what so few others even know exists in the vaults of the University, and I was tickled so many of my photos turned out–the low and uneven lighting made exposure a difficult proposition!