The University and College Chests

Summary

A very interesting feature of the University and of the Colleges in early times was the Chests. “The chests…were made of stout oak planks, from two to three inches thick,…and secured by locks and padlocks with different wards, so as to require the presence of several officials at the same time to open them.…The statutes of nearly every college…enjoin the safe keeping of the chests, the common seal, the valuables (jocalia) of the House, the charters, royal letters patent, and other important documents, to which books are not unfrequently added.” Some of them were loan-chests, where a student deposited some object of value as a pledge. Now and then, in the case of manuscripts, a note may be seen, recording the fact that it had been placed in one of the Chests as a pledge.

For these Chests there were Warders and Auditors. In the Grace Books, in connection with the University Chests, there was generally each year a list headed: Cautiones deliberate novis procuratoribus et jam in cista posite. “If we take the year 1516, 7 as an example we find deposited in the University Chest 12 spoons, a salt-cellar, a gold signet-ring, a crystal cup(mirra), etc.” (See the article on the Treasury or Muniment Room in the third volume of Willis and Clark.)