Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T04:26:30.704Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Universities, Colleges and Chantries

from III - PATRONS, PURCHASERS AND PRODUCTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2014

James Willoughby
Affiliation:
New College
Vincent Gillespie
Affiliation:
J.R.R. Tolkien Professor of English Literature and Language at the University of Oxford
Susan Powell
Affiliation:
Held a Chair in Medieval Texts and Culture at the University of Salford, and is currently affiliated to the Universities of London and York
Get access

Summary

In 1517 work was begun on a new library-room at Eton College, a grander building for an expanding collection. Chains for the books were bought in three different lengths and the windows were stained with vignettes to signify the various suits of study that were laid out on the shelves below. The provost, Roger Lupton, is credited with the building, and he also gave books to the college, a mixed collection in manuscript and print. Eton has been fortunate: the building, now Election Hall, still stands; Lupton's books are still on College shelves. As such, they serve to remind us that when we come to draw our conclusions on the early circulation and impact of print we should be aware of a slant in the evidence, in that conclusions respective to one constituency or another are easier to make from surviving copies, and survival has favoured the higher secular clergy. The libraries of their colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, at Eton and Winchester, and chapter libraries at the secular cathedrals, more or less stable across the breach of the Reformation, have kept good numbers of books on their shelves, unlike the houses of regular clergy where losses were comprehensive. Where there are not the physical books there is often a substantial archive that can hold catalogues or inventories of the pre-Reformation collection, or there may be testamentary evidence concerning bequests of books to the library, or registers of benefactors. Of course, not every class of secular institution was so fortunate.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×