ord
hanged two students accused of being involved in the killing of a
townswoman, many masters and students left for Cambridge. In 1214,
a charter created the office of Chancellor of the university at
Oxford. He was responsible for law and order and, through his
court, could fine, imprison, and excommunicate offenders and expel
undesirables such as prostitutes from the town. He had authority
over all crimes involving scholars, except murder and mayhem. The
Chancellor summoned and presided over meetings of the masters and
came to be elected by indirect vote by the masters who had
schools, usually no more than a room or hall with a central hearth
which was hired for lectures. Students paid for meals there.
Corners of the room were often partitioned off for private study.
At night, some students slept on the straw on the floor. Six hours
of sleep were considered sufficient. In 1231, the king ordered
that every student must have his name on the roll of a master and
the masters had to keep a list of those attending his lectures.

In 1221 the friars established their chief school at Oxford. They
were bound by oaths of poverty, obedience, and chastity, but were
not confined within the walls of a monastery. They walked barefoot
from place to lace preaching. They begged for their food and
lodgings. They replaced monks, who had become self-indulgent, as
the most vital spiritual force among the people.

The first college was founded in 1264 by Walter de Merton, former
Chancellor to the King, at Oxford. A college had the living
arrangements of a Hall, with the addition of monastic-type rules.
A warden and about 30 scholars lived and ate meals together in the
college buildings. Merton College's founding documents provided
that: "The house shall be called the House of the Scholars of
Merton, and it shall be the residence of the Scholars forever. . .
There shall be a constant succession of scholars devoted to the
study of letters, who shall be bound to employ themselves in the
study of Arts or Philosophy, the Canons or Theology. Let there
also be one member of the collegiate body, who shall be a
grammarian, and must entirely devote himself to the study of
grammar; let him have the care of the students in grammar, and to
him also let the more advanced have recourse without a blush, when
doubts arise in their faculty. . . There is to be one person in
every chamber, where Scholars are resident, of more mature age
than the others, who