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Expansion across Britain: the Cistercian Studium at Oxford (5/6)
In 1247 a college was established at Paris for Cistercians wishing to study at the university. A similar venture was undertaken in England in 1281, with the foundation of Rewley in Oxford, by Edmund, earl of Cornwall. Rewley suffered from many problems from the outset, and never prospered. Complaints of its remoteness and a dearth of books, lack of interest among patrons and new recruits and of lack of financial support led to Rewley’s cessation as a college in 1398. Some forty years later, in 1437, St
Bernard’s College (now St John’s College) was founded at
Oxford for Cistercians studying at the university. This too
had little
success, and, with the exception of Marmaduke
Huby, abbot of Fountains
met with a lukewarm response from the English abbots. Huby endowed
the college with books, relics and furnishings, and tried to motivate
others to follow his lead, but there was general apathy amongst
his contemporaries, and the buildings remained incomplete throughout
the fifteenth century.(6)
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