Munimenta academica, or, Documents Illustrative of Academical Life and Studies at Oxford

Published in two volumes in 1868, this collection of documents gives a fascinating insight into academic life in medieval Oxford.

Henry Anstey (Edited by)

9781108048781, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 November 2012

560 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.2 cm, 0.81 kg

Henry Anstey (c.1828–c.1914) served as a teacher, curate and chaplain, before becoming a tutor and then vice-principal of St Mary Hall, Oxford. On behalf of the Rolls Series, he prepared in 1868 this two-volume collection of the university's oldest documents in Latin, dating from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries. Offering fascinating insight into academic life in medieval Oxford, this does not constitute a history of the university, but it remains an important resource for researchers, comprising registers, letters, university statutes and details of expenses entailed by the 'usual festivities' after examinations. Volume 1 includes, in addition to the chancellors' and proctors' books, Anstey's extensive introduction, in which he offers a brief background history and describes his struggles in establishing so far as possible a chronological order for the contents, and in dealing with the 'utterly illegible, torn, faded, and stained' condition of his sources.

1. Introduction
2. Summary of contents
3. Calendar
4. The chancellors' and proctors' books.

Subject Areas: British & Irish history [HBJD1]