Floreat Oriel

Today is the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Oriel College in Oxford. Oriel is my college, and I am very proud to be part of such a long tradition of scholarship and piety.

It was on this day in 1326 that King Edward II granted a charter to establish it as a new college to the small academic community established in late 1324 which he had taken over from its founder Adam de Brome, rector of St Mary’s church in the High, exactly three weeks earlier. One of the endowments he gave to the college was the rectory of Saint Mary’s, and so it became known as the House of Blessed Mary the Virgin in Oxford, which is still its legal name. In the reign of King James I it gained the suffix of ‘commonly called Oriel College’.

I have sometimes observed that King Edward II’s sole enduring successful action as monarch was the foundation of Oriel. Our “memorable founder”, to quote the college prayer, had a singularly unhappy and unfortunate reign, but Oriel has now survived for seven centuries.

King Edward II

The effigy on his tomb in Gloucester Cathedral

Image: History Jar

It was the first Oxford college to be founded by a monarch, and was often referred to in the medieval period as King’s College or King’s Hall. Nine years earlier, the King had founded King’s Hall in Cambridge for the study of Civil Law, but that was merged in 1546 into King Henry VIII’s new creation of Trinity College. Oriel is, therefore, the oldest royal foundation with a continuous history in either of the ancient universities and the reigning monarch is The Visitor.

In 1326 there were only four existing colleges - University, Balliol, Merton and Exeter - all for graduates, alongside the undergraduate Halls - the solitary survivor being St Edmund Hall - and the friaries and the early Benedictine houses of study. Amongst the colleges Oriel might not be the first in order of foundation, but it was the first college to consistently refer to itself as a college, And therefore, might buy a stretch of terminology seen as the oldest college in the University.

Under the new establishment, the original founder, Adam de Brome, was constituted the first Provost, and spent the remainder of his life adding to the endowments of his new creation. These included the Hospital of St Bartholomew, or Bartlemas, east of Oxford, which served as a summer retreat or as a refuge from the plague, and eventually became, with its surviving medieval chapel, the college sports ground. He was, however, unsuccessful in attempting to seize for the college, the benefaction of the books of Bishop Cobham of Worcester, which went on to become the nucleus of the University Library, later the Bodleian.

Originally based in Tackley’s Inn facing the High, and which is still occupied in part by Oriel students, and establishing the old rectory house as St Mary’s Hall for undergraduates, and which in 1902 merged into Oriel and is buildings became St Mary’s or Third Quad it was not until 1329 that the new college acquired the adjacent house that gave its usual name. In that year its owner Master James of Spain, the illegitimate son of a brother of King Edward II’s mother Queen Eleanor of Castile, and a distinguished musical scholar, born in England, made over to the college the house called ‘La Oriole’. This was probably the largest private house in the town centre and arranged around a courtyard which lies under the early seventeenth century Front Quod. 

Oriel has formed the lives and careers of many over the seven centuries - the great and the good, the not so great and the not so good, clergy, writers, philosophers and theologians, historians, Nobel Prize winners, VCs, eccentrics and humourists, two cardinals, some sinners, some martyrs and Saints. 

What struck me as a member was its sense of community, created from a very diverse group of students - and Fellows - who melded together, and stood by one another. It was not a college that was just a one subject place, not just relentlessly hearty and sporty, not just abstrusely academic, but rather a community that was uniquely itself, a place to be a part of, to make friends, a place to belong.

When I used to show visitors around the college I used to conclude by saying that Oriel is not quite the oldest, not the largest, and indeed the second smallest, of the undergraduate colleges, not the wealthiest, but not the poorest, not necessarily the most successful academically, even if more often than not it is in rowing, but it is simply the best college.

The coat of arms of Oriel

Image: Oriel Alumni

Floreat Oriel!

Mad dogs and Romans go out in the midday Egyptian sun

I wrote a while ago in A Roman sunhat about the exceptional survival of what is recognised as Roman military sun hat discovered in Egypt and now, due to its being a textile in the Museum at Bolton. Having once visited Egypt during the autumn I can confirm the comfort and utility of such a covering to protect the head from scorching.

Further conservation work on the hat is discussed in articles from Futura at This 1,600-year-old sun hat found in Egypt still baffles experts today - Futura-Sciences, on Earth.com which can be seen at Rare Roman hat from 2,000 years ago, used in Cleopatra's Egypt, is being restored and by C-astonhair.co.uk at Who Owned This 1,600-year-old Sun Hat Found In Egypt – And Why Does It Still Puzzle Researchers?

This is the end of this thread, but I will probably do others on the Roman theme as I find stories that I think are worth sharing.

Jerash

Art Net recently had an article about the very impressive ruins of the Roman city of Jerash, which lie close to Amman in Jordan.

The article, which has some excellent illustrations can be seen at The Forgotten Roman Ruins of the ‘Pompeii of the Middle East’

Caesarea Maritima

A regular reader shared with me an online article from the Daily Mail about the ruins of Caesarea Maritima, the Roman era port on the coast of the Holy Land, and one of those sites where the archaeology of the Empire meets the archaeology and texts of the New Testament.

The well illustrated article can be seen at Ancient Roman city uncovered that holds evidence supporting the Bible

The House of the Griffins

Art Net has a recent article about the conservation of the House of the Griffins which dates from the first century BC, and is on the slopes of the Palatine Hill in Rome. It remains an extremely well preserved site, because the house was absorbed into the complex of the Imperial Palace and whilst losing its upper floors the basement survived having been filled with earth to support Domitian’s extension above it.

The restored building will open at the beginning of March and includes the latest technology to facilitate virtual visits to inaccessible parts.

The history of the building and the modern project can be viewed at Long-Buried Roman Domus Opens to Public—With a High-Tech Twist

Cleaning and restoring the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome

Although it is not perhaps as well known as that of Trajan the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome is a marvellous survival of a celebration of the life and military achievements of a great second century Emperor. 

An online article and video about the current restoration project for the column from the Daily Telegraph website can be seen at Rome’s brutal imperial past brought back to life in restored 1,800-year-old column

A carriage workshop on the Via Claudia Augusta

A recent excavation by Italian archaeologists has uncovered a carriage workshop alongside the Via Claudia Augusta, the road which linked Italy to Innsbruck and Munich. This roadside repair outfit is described in an article from Popular Mechanics at Archaeologists Discovered the Remains of an Ancient Roman Mechanic Shop

The Romans in Switzerland

Further south two Roman sites in what is now Switzerland are featured in online articles.

The first are the important and substantial remains of the town of Augusta Raurica near Basel, which have long been an inspiration for archaeologists and artists. They are outlined in an article from Art Net at  The Quiet Swiss Town That Harbors an Ancient Roman Outpost at The Quiet Swiss Town That Harbors an Ancient Roman Outpost

To the south-east in the canton of Zug a recent excavation revealed the remains of an important house or public building. This is described by Popular Mechanics in an article which is accessible at An Ancient Roman Wall Has Emerged in Switzerland. It's an Archaeological Sensation. 

The Horse of Lahnau

Roman sites in Europe have been as rich in yielding archeological evidence in recent years as those in Britain.

A notable instance some years ago was the discovery at Lahnau in western Hesse by a farmer sinking a well of a gilt bronze head of a horse. This is believed to be a surviving fragment of an equestrian statue of the Emperor Augustus, and to date from the years at the beginning of the first century when the Romans were moving eastward into Germania, and before the disaster of the Teuterburg Forest. This context is set out in the Wikipedia article about the town and its neighbourhood which can be read at Lahnau

The story of the discovery can be read and the head of the horse can be seen in an article from X at ArchaeoHistories (@histories_arch)

The impact of the Roman Empire on the landscape of the German frontier

Recent research by Freiburg academics on the consequences of Roman efforts to consolidate the frontier of the Empire with the Germanic tribes in terms of its environmental impact is outlined in a recent article from LBV. It relates the changing impact of the Romans on the landscape and sets it against the changing political circumstances. By the end of the Empire what were to become major resources of timber in the middle ages were sprouting and able to grow to maturity.

 

The article can be read at The Roman Expansion Felled Forests So Remote, Inaccessible, and Ancient North of the Alps That They Had Never Been Exploited Before

The Roman villa at Margam

A very recently publicised discovery from the Roman era, is the site of a substantial villa at Margam near Port Talbot in south-west Wales. 

The discovery is of important for a number of reasons. The site lies under water once a deer park, so it is not been disturbed by ploughing over intervening centuries. Whereas most Roman sites in Wales tend to be fortifications this reveals that there was also a villa economy, as in other parts of lowland Britain. The suggestion is that this may have been the property of a local chieftain who had been Romanised. This might account for the moat around the complex, or it might reflect the more trouble times, which affected Britannia in the later years of Roman rule.

 

The article from BBC News can be seen at Margam park Roman villa find could be 'Port Talbot's Pompeii'

Re identifying Beachy Head Woman

A while ago I posted about the debates around the skeleton found buried on the Sussex coast and known from the site as Beachy Head Woman or Lady and her ethnic origins. In this day and age the fact that she appeared to have sub-Saharan origins made her a celebrity for certain academics such as David Olusoga.

More recent research into the scientific evidence yielded by her bones has established that she was in fact local to the area and of the same racial type as many English people of long established indigenous origin.

The research is outlined in an article from BBC News at True origin of 'first black Briton' revealed

and in ones from the Natural History Museum at The changing story of the Beachy Head Woman  

from UCL at Roman-era Beachy Head Woman originated from Britain: new analysis and from the Journal of Archaeological Science  here

On the theme of those now long dead with some African ancestry I hope to link in a separate post to some recent discoveries of Anglo-Saxon burials, which do show evidence of some mixed-race ancestry, in the case of one grandparent. 

A personal Roman medicine box from Worcestershire

An excavation at Broadway in Worcestershire has yielded an intact bone box with a sliding lid ( remember those old pencil boxes we used to have?) which appears to have been used to hold a medicinal ointment and was associated with the burial of a young woman.

The discovery in described, along with other discoveries at the largest Roman burial site so far uncovered in the county, in an article from the Daily Telegraph which can be seen at Roman ‘medicine’ box carved from bone uncovered

A remarkable Roman road in Worcestershire

 

The recent discovery of an intact section of the paving of a Roman road in Worcestershire has been hailed as highly important and described as being as rare as those surviving in Rome and Pompeii.

The site is described and illustrated by Archeo-Histories in X at Archaeo - Histories

Revealing Roman Bedford

The BBC News website recently reported on a long- running excavation in Bedford, which has revealed the remains of what was clearly a very substantial Roman villa. Hitherto, there had been little evidence of Roman occupation in the region and the discoveries are helping to rewrite the history of what is now Bedford.

The article can be seen at Bedford Roman villa volunteers hoping to return after big find

Hark, a late Iron Age Carnyx from Norfolk

There have been several online articles recently about the discovery in west Norfolk of a hoard of late Iron Age metalwork which includes substantial remains of a Celtic Carnyx, the war trumpet of the tribes that was awesome both in its appearance and sound.

The articles about the discovery can be read from LBC at Ancient battle trumpet from the age of Boudica unearthed in Norfolk, from the Daily Mail website at Battle trumpet among stunning hoard of Iron Age items found in Norfolk and from Live Science at Rare 2,000-year-old war trumpet, possibly linked to Celtic queen Boudica, discovered in England

The Car Dyke and the Foss Dyke

Lincoln, the Lindum Colonia of the Romans, is on the top of a hill overlooking the point at which the river Witham, having flowed northwards parallel to the Lincoln Edge, turns sharply east and then runs south-east to enter The Wash below Boston.

Wher the river turns east below Lindum Hill it widens out to form the Brayford Pool. This is believed to be the oldest inland harbour in the country, used sine Roman times. Linked to it are two significant waterways that apparently date from Roman times. I was recently reminded of their long history by an online article from Cambridgeshire Live which can be seen at Ancient waterway built by Romans that runs for miles throughout Cambridgeshire

The Car Dyke runs almost sixty miles from Washingborough, which lies on the Witham three miles east of Lincoln, south to the Soke of Peterborough, and then further south to Waterbeach on the river Cam. It may have been created both for drainage and transport. Wikipedia has an article with considerable detail at 

Car_Dyke

If the Car Dyke helped to link Lincoln and the coast and the waterways to the south, then by creating a link from the Brayford Pool to the Trent at Torksey the Romans ( or if not them King Henry I) linked the city to the north midland river system around which the Trent. Wikipedia has another, similar, article at Foss_Dyke

I would consider them both to be Roman, if maybe given a makeover by the Normans, and a crucial part of the network of waterways that linked East Anglia, Lincolnshire, and southern Yorkshire throughout the medieval centuries.

The outskirts of Lindum Colonia

Archaeological investigations in advance of the last phase of the Lincoln bypass have revealed evidence both of prehistoric occupation and of at least one substantial Roman villa overlooking the Witham valley from below Bracebridge Heath. The site is being interpreted as the residence of wealthy Roman settlers outside the phyical limits of the Colonia on the hill opposite, but close to its amenities.

The BBC News report on the  excavation can be seen at Evidence of life in pre-Roman times unearthed near Lincoln

Septimus Severus living and in York

I came upon a video about the last years of the Emperor Septum Severus, which were spent in part in Eboracum, now York. This was following his move to Britannia in 208 and the city where he died and was cremated in 211. The suggestion by the video that his cremation site is still identifiable was new to me.

Wikipedia has a useful account of his life, and also quotes a contemporary account of his funeral ceremonies, at Septimius Severus

The video can be seen at A Roman Emperor Was Cremated On This British Housing Estate?

Roman gypsum burials

I wrote early last year in Gypsum burials in Roman Yorkshire about research being undertaken into burials in the region during the Roman period where the body of the deceased was covered in gypsum as part of the preparation for burial. 

Some of the results of this new study can be read about in an online article from Live Science, and which is accessible at 'They had not been seen ever before': Romans made liquid gypsum paste and smeared it over the dead before burial, leaving fingerprints behind, new research finds

Roman military whetstones from Weardale

An article in Popular Science reports on the excavation at a site on the banks of the Wear, not far from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of more than eight hundred discarded whetstones, made from local stone and intended for sharpening military equipment. They can be scientifically dated to the beginning of the second and first third of the third centuries, either side of the construction of Hadrian’s Wall.

The article can be seen at 800 ancient Roman blade sharpeners found in Britain

Hygiene on Hadrian’s Wall

There have been several articles online recently about research into the evidence for parasitic intestinal infections amongst the Roman garrison on Hadrian’s Wall. Each successive article seems to give ever more information about the diseases, so they are reading matter which should not, perhaps, be read in close proximity to having a meal….

The articles can be read at the following websites. Live Science has Diarrhea and stomachaches plagued Roman soldiers stationed at Hadrian's Wall, discovery of microscopic parasites finds

The Daily Telegraph reported on the research in The grim reason Romans couldn’t defend Hadrian’s Wall

The most recent, and the most graphic, are from Boc-maintenance.co.uk and can be read at Analyses of latrines in Hadrian's Wall reveal that Roman soldiers lived exposed to highly troublesome intestinal parasites 1,800 years ago from C-astonhair.co.uk at New analysis of Hadrian’s Wall latrines reveals Roman soldiers lived with widespread and disruptive gut parasites 1,800 years ago and from Bishopstrowe College at Analyses of Hadrian’s Wall latrines reveal Roman soldiers faced serious gut parasites 1,800 years ago

A High Imperial theme

    

At the beginning of the year I said I had a number of articles in mind about Roman themes in terms of discoveries and conservation. 

It occurred to me that to try and group these together as a thread would help place them all in context, but that rather than combining them into one article which might be rather indigestible, a series of sequential posts on each individual item would be a better way of sharing them. 

So with that in mind we shall, as I explain below, return to Hadrian’s Wall, review various recent discoveries in this country, then look at other locations in the Empire and finally revisit a remarkable survival from Roman Egypt.

My last post on a topic related to the Romans was last month in Roman life on Hadrian’s Wall, and so we will pick up the thread on Hadrian’s Wall …

Apethorpe

Northamptonshire has an incredible collection of historic country houses, built with the local limestone and which are a wonderful assemblage, mostly, but by no means exclusively, from the century between the reformation and the Civil War.

I recently came across a 70 minute video about the history and saving of one of these great houses, one which has had little recognition because it has not been on the country house visit route, but that has now changed. It is Apethorpe - now designated Apethorpe Palace - whose heyday was in the reign, and under the patronage, of King James I.

The video does suffer from narration with an AI voice that occasionally mispronounces, notably King James’ regnal numeral, and a script which is unnecessarily loquacious but which is visually impressive - except from when it intrudes a view of another Northamptonshire great house, Deene Park. However despite those criticisms it is worth watching. It is also worth giving thanks for those who saved and are saving this amazing piece of the national heritage.

The video can be viewed at The Royal Palace Where a King Built a Secret Passage to His Lover's Bedroom

Exeter Cathedral

Country Life has had two articles about the history of Exeter Cathedral, both in respect of its building in the medieval centuries and also its nineteenth century restoration and a recent programme to restore the Choir and to recreate the destroyed east walk of the cloisters. They are by John Goodall, the architectural editor of the magazine, and are a rich source of information about the cathedral, and accompanied by some excellent illustrations.

The articles can be read online at Heaven in Devon: The sophisticated, ethereal beauty of Exeter Cathedral and at Our cathedrals are 'by far the most important works of architecture in Britain', and Exeter is a perfect 21st century update to a medieval masterpiece

The patronage of Queen Marie Antoinette

Artnet News has an interesting article linked to the current V&A exhibition Marie Antoinette Style which is running until March 22nd. 

 

The article looks at the Queen’s patronage of the arts
at Versailles, notably the Petit Trianon and Le Hameau, as well as artists and the world of fashion. It also looks at her charitable patronage, which was similar to that of her contemporaries as monarchs elsewhere in late eighteenth century Europe.

The article can be seen at Why Marie Antoinette’s Arts Patronage Was Radical for Its Time

The Eyes of Our Mind

The latest online letter from the FSSP includes an excellent article by Fr William Rock FSSP, whose work I have shared in the past. It is about the traditional Proper Preface for the Nativity and Candlemas, and also used traditionally on Corpus Christi and the Transfiguration until 1962, and since then is available as an alternative.

The article looks at the particular phrase “the eyes of our mind”, and looks at its recurring use through the Patristic ages and through to St Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth century. Fr Rock then proceeds to elucidate the phrase. That done the appositeness of the wording for the Christmas and Candlemas season and for corpus, Christie and for the Transfiguration becomes clear.

The article can be seen at The Eyes of Our Mind

The beginnings of Oriel

 

It was on this day in 1326 that Adam de Brome, Rector of the church of St Mary the Virgin in The High in Oxford took a decisive step in relation to his recent collegiate foundation within the University.

He had founded a small college in the autumn of 1324 and acquired for it Tackley’s Inn, which still stands, considerably altered, almost opposite the church on the south side of the street. His students had a home and the beginnings of an endowment but Adam knew that it would need much more to become a successful foundation. The other existing four colleges had been founded by a landed magnate ( Balliol ), bishops ( Merton and Exeter ) or by the University itself using an earlier bequest ( University). In order to join their ranks his scholars had to attract the support of a wealthy patron with influence beyond that at Brome’s command.

Since the beginning of the century he had been not just Rector of the University church but employed in the service of the Crown in a variety of tasks, as what today we might term a civil servant, and notably so in the mid-Thames region. With that as his background and doubtless aware of King Edward II’s interest in education, the monarch having founded Kings Hall in Cambridge ( which was to be incorporated by King Henry VIII into his new foundation of Trinity College in 1546 ) for the study of Civil Law in 1317, and having presumably outlined his ideas to him, Adam handed over to the King on this day seven hundred years ago his own foundation. With a speed that puts modern government to shame, three weeks later the King fulfilled his side of the bargain - but for that you will have to wait until January 21st.

New Year 2026

I will begin by wishing all my readers a happy and prosperous New Year for 2026. In uncertain times that seems all the more important than ever.

Having had a pause over Christmas I am ready to resume blogging and have quite a number of drafts to finish and publish as we move into the first weeks of January. There are quite a few on Roman discoveries and sites, which I may link as a thread, and others from the medieval centuries. There may also be some more book reviews.