Seat of Wisdom

Extract

The Lord is my Light.’ These words from the psalm form the device of our senior University. Come back with me a moment to the early years Of the twelfth century. Come to Oxford, to the vicinity of St Mary the Virgin's Church in the High Street. A certain Theobald, a master from Normandy, arrives here with his own group of disciples. Later his place is taken by Robert Pullen and Vacarius of Bologna.

In the second half of the century, there comes a whole migration of masters and disciples, driven back from Paris because of discrimination against their countrymen. Oxford was then an island town, surrounded by marshland and rivers, at the spot where the Cherwell joins the Isis or Thames: an important river crossing with easy access to London. The food supply was good, and it was in the centre of England's population.