Origins of Oxford: The Legends Behind England’s Ancient City

The Mystery of Oxford’s Origins

Oxford as a city has been around for well over a thousand years, but tracing its exact foundations is murky, to say the least. The first true evidence of a place called Oxford existing is in the 10^th century. In 912AD, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle writes,

“This year died Ethered ealdorman of the Mercians; and King Edward took possession of London and of Oxford, and of all the lands which owed obedience thereto”.[1]

Whilst a clear statement showing that Oxford exists, this is not the year it was founded, as the town clearly already existed and was prominent by 912AD. This has led to much speculation about when Oxford truly came into existence. The well-known of these tales is that of St. Frideswide.

Saint Frideswide and Early Anglo-Saxon Legends

According to medieval writers, she was an Anglo-Saxon princess in the late 7^th and early 8^th centuries who refused to marry. Instead, she became a nun and founded a prominent church in an already present Oxford.[2] Unfortunately, the church was burned down during the St. Brice’s Day Massacre, but was rebuilt as a nunnery where Christ Church now stands today.[3]

It’s hard to determine much about Frideswide’s life – the only evidence we have comes from later histories, so whether she even existed is disputed.[4] However, some archaeological evidence would support the existence of a settlement in Oxford during her alleged time.

In particular, a cemetery located where Christ Church Cathedral now stands has been found to have started in the 8^th century, around when Frideswide was said to have lived.[5] So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume Oxford has an earlier history, perhaps being founded in the late 7^th or 8^th centuries, and perhaps by Frideswide.[6]

However, Frideswide and her church were not considered in the medieval era to be Oxford’s true origins. After all, the story claims she built a church in an already existing town. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s famous History of the Kings of Britain, written in Oxford, implies that Oxford existed far into the history of the ancient Britons.[7]

Medieval Myths: Alfred the Great and the Greeklade

By the 15^th century, ideas were being circulated that Alfred the Great had restored the university in 886AD, and brought it within the Saxon walls.[8] Assuming the university was restored in 886AD, it was believed by medieval historians that it must have existed before Alfred’s time.

From this, the idea of the “Greeklade” was formed – that ancient Greek philosophers accompanied the legendary Brutus and his Trojans to Britain, founding a place of learning that eventually morphed into the university north of Oxford and later restored by Alfred.[9]

This then culminated in a chronicle written by a priest called John Rous in the late 15^th century. Rous was inspired by the History of the Kings of Britain and other records, but often elaborated and added to these stories, much to the annoyance of later historians.[10]

John Rous and Legendary Kings

Rous claimed that in biblical times, there was a king called Mempric. He was a bad king, eventually torn apart by wolves for his wickedness, but one of the good things he did do was found a city called “Caer-Memre”.[11]

This city, according to Rous, morphed into becoming Oxford, and contained a centre of learning founded by Greek philosophers.[12]

Legend vs History and Oxford vs. Cambridge

None of the claims are verifiable, and no historian takes them seriously. However, scholars of the university at the time did take them seriously, mainly to prove they were better than Cambridge!

In 1564, Queen Elizabeth I visited Cambridge and a scholar there speaking at the queen’s visit claimed it to be “ancient and much more ancient than Oxford”.[13] These claims rested on the idea of a Spanish King Cantaber, who in a great conquest during his reign married the daughter of the King of the Britons and built a bridge called “Caergrant”, later becoming the town of Cambridge.[14]

It was claimed by Cambridge scholars that Cantaber had brought Greek philosophers and writers with him, starting the Greeklade in Cambridge, before being moved to Oxford at some later point.[15]

Ironically enough, Rous talks about both these myths as equally valid, though he would claim Oxford is the older university. This became the subject of fierce debate between the universities, though both sides quickly moved away from ideas of Cantaber or Mepric, as they were impossible to seriously prove.

Instead debate shifted towards whether Alfred had founded or restored Oxford’s university, which he hadn’t, but Cambridge found it hard to truly disprove at the time. As outlandish as they may seem, these ideas were not seriously debunked until the Victorian era, and University College would still claim King Alfred as their founder well into the Victorian era![16]

A City Shaped by Story and History

Though the city is not as ancient as the mythical Trojans, Oxford is still old with a tremendous amount of history.

At Oxford Castle & Prison, home to Oxford’s oldest secular building, St George’s Tower, we can still stand within a part of history that has witnessed the city’s growth and historic moments that shaped the country.

In the crypt of St George’s Chapel, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote The History of the Kings of Britain, helping to kick-start many of the myths that surround this city!

Author: Frederick Hudson

References

John Blair ‘St Frideswide Reconsidered’, Oxoniensia, Vol. 52, (1987)

Janet Cooper, ‘Medieval Oxford: A history of the city by Janet Cooper’, in Alan Crossley (eds), The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume IV, (London, 1979)

James Parker, The Early History of Oxford: 727-1000, (Oxford 1885)

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. J.A. Giles, (London, 1914)

[1] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, ed. J.A. Giles, (London, 1914), p. 67.

[2] Janet Cooper, ‘Medieval Oxford: A history of the city by Janet Cooper’, in Alan Crossley (eds), The Victoria History of the County of Oxford Volume IV, (London, 1979), p.5.

[3] James Parker, The Early History of Oxford: 727-1000, (Oxford 1885), p. 142

[4] Janet Cooper, ‘Medieval Oxford: A history of the city’, p. 5,

[5] John Blair ‘St Frideswide Reconsidered’, Oxoniensia, Vol. 52, (1987), p. 88.

[6] James Parker, Early History of Oxford: 727-1000, (Oxford 1885),

[7] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 18-19.

[8] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 13.

[9] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 10, 14, 16.

[10] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 6-7.

[11] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 5-6.

[12] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 5-6.

[13] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 24.

[14] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 9.

[15] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 26-27.

[16] James Parker, Early History of Oxford, pp. 62.