872 - According to legend Oxford university was founded in 872 when Alfred the Great happened to meet some monks there and had a scholarly debate that lasted several days.
Sep 1, 1167
1167 -. The university was given a boost in 1167 when, for political reasons, the English king ordered all students in France to return home.
Many of them came to Oxford.Teaching at Oxford existed in some form as early as 1096, but it is unclear when a university came into being. It grew quickly in 1167 when English students returned from the University of Paris.
Dec 6, 1209
1209-the students left Oxford and went to Cambridge.
Dec 6, 1214
1214- However the traders in Oxford soon missed the custom of the students and persuaded some of them to return. In that year the first Chancellor was appointed, a man named Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253).
Dec 6, 1238
1238-At first the students lodged with the towns people or lived in halls. St Edmund Hall dates from 1238. In the 13th century the first colleges were founded.Each college owned its own buildings.The colleges also owned land
Dec 6, 1249
1249 - Each college was self-governing. William of Durham founded the first college, University College. (The oldest part of the existing buildings dates from 1634).
Dec 6, 1264
1264 - Balliol College was founded by John de Baliol. He founded it as a penance after insulting the Bishop of Durham.
Dec 6, 1264
1264 - Walter de Merton founded Merton College.
Dec 6, 1314
1314 – Exeter College was founded by Walter Stapledon for students from Exeter Diocese, 8 were to come from Devon and 4 from Cornwall.
Dec 6, 1314
1314 - Adam de Brome founded Oriel College
Dec 6, 1333
1333–34 - an attempt by some dissatisfied Oxford scholars to found a new university at Stamford, Lincolnshire was blocked by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge petitioning King Edward III.
Dec 6, 1341
1341-Robert Eglesfield founded Queens College. He was the queen's chaplain and he named it in her honour.
Dec 6, 1377
1377- John Wycliffe was expelled from Oxford University after he criticized some of the church's teachings.
Dec 6, 1379
1379 - Merton Library was built.
Dec 6, 1379
1379- William of Wykeham who lived from 1324 to 1404 founded New College.
Dec 6, 1410
1410- After 1410 students were forbidden to lodge with townspeople and had to live in halls of colleges. Eventually colleges replaced most of the halls. However St Edmund Hall survived till the 20th century when it became a college.
Dec 6, 1426
1426- The Divinity School was built.
Dec 6, 1427
1427- The Bishop of Lincoln founded Lincoln College . It was intended to train men to fight heresy.
Dec 6, 1437
1437 -. All Souls College was founded by Archbishop Chichele to commemorate Henry V and all the men killed at Agincourt.
Dec 6, 1444
1444 - Duke Humfrey (younger brother of Henry V) founded a library at Oxford. At the reformation it was broken up and the books were sold.
Dec 6, 1448
1448 - William of Waynflet, Bishop of Winchester, founded Magdalen College.
Dec 6, 1458
1458 – Magdalen College was founded.
Dec 6, 1476
1476- Caxton introduced the printing press to England.
Dec 6, 1509
1509- Its bell tower was built.
Dec 6, 1509
1509 - Brasenose College was founded. Its name comes from a bronze doorknocker taken from a house in Stamford. The Hall was built in 1663. The chapel was built in 1666.
Dec 6, 1516
1516- Corpus Christi College was founded.
Dec 6, 1525
1525 -Cardinal Wolsey founded Christchurch College.
Dec 6, 1525
1525 -Cardinal Wolsey founded Christchurch College.
Dec 6, 1542
In 1542 the chapel of Christchurch College became Oxford Cathedral. Tom Tower (the college bell tower) was built in 1682 by Wren.
Jan 1, 1546
1546 – Christ Church was founded
Dec 6, 1546
1546 – Christ Church was founded.
Dec 6, 1555
1555 -St Johns College was founded .
Dec 6, 1555
1555 -St Johns College was founded .
Dec 6, 1571
1571 -Jesus College was founded by Queen Elizabeth.
1598 - Sir Thomas Bodley decided to restore a library at Oxford
1603 -. The new library was opened . Bodley then decided to extend the library. He died in 1613 but work went on and the Bodleian Library was completed in 1624.
1610 – Wadham College was founded.
1619-42 - Oriel College was rebuilt
1621- a physic garden, where medicinal plants were grown, was created at Oxford. It is now the Botanic Gardens
1624 - Pembroke College was founded
1630- The chapel was built.
1647 - After the civil war Oxford University was purged of royalists among its staff. After the restoration in 1660 it was purged of puritans.
1669 -Wren built the Sheldonian.
1683-The Old Ashmolean Museum was built (it is now the Museum of the History of Science).
1713 - The Clarendon Building was erected.
1714 - Worcester College was founded.
1740 –Hertford College was founded.
1749- Radcliffe Camera opened as a library in.
1782 - Magdalen Bridge was built.
1810 – Regent’s Park College was founded.
1823 -The famous debating society, the Union Society was formed .
1830 -Oxford University press dates from 1478. The present building was erected in 1830
1845 -The Ashmolean Museum was opened.
1854- The Taylor Institution was built.
1854- The University Act of 1854 made it possible for those who did not belong to the Church of England to study at Oxford.
1860 - University Museum of Natural History was opened.
1868 - Keble College was founded in 1868 to commemorate John Keble (died 1866). It was built by the famous architect William Butterfield (1814-1900)
1874 - Hertford College was founded
1876 – St. Stephen’s House was founded.
1878 – Lady Margaret Hall was opened
1878 – St. Anne’s College was founded.
1878 - Elizabeth Wordsworth founded Lady Margaret Hall for women
1878- Kellogg College for continuing education was founded
1879 – Somerville College was founded.
1879 -Somerville College for women was founded
1885- Pitt-Rivers museum was built.
1886 - Mansfield College was founded
1886 - St Hugh’s College was also founded in the same year
1889 – Harris Manchester College was founded
1889- A dissenter's academy moved to Oxford. It is now Harris Manchester College
1893 - St Hilda’s College was founded by Dorothea Beale
1895 -Campion Hall (Jesuit theological college) was founded . It was named after Edward Campion (1540-81).
1897 – St. Benet’s Hall was founded
1899 - Ruskin Hall was founded
1902 - Cecil Rhodes died. He left money to provide scholarships for students from the colonies, the USA and Germany.
1913 -It became Ruskin College
1914 -The Bridge of Sighs was built
1921-The first Oxford DPhil in mathematics was awarded
1929 –St. Peter’s College was founded
1929 - Rhodes House was built.
1937 - Nuffield College was founded
1948 – St. Antony’s College was founded
1952 – St. Anne’s College was founded.
1957 – St. Edmund Hall was finally made a College
1958 –Nuffield College was founded
1962 - Linacre College was founded
1963 –St. Catherine’s College was founded
1965 - Wolfson College (originally Iffley College) was founded
1965 –St.Cross College was also founded
1965- The Oxford Centre for Management Studies was founded.
1965 – The Conference of Colleges was established as a recommendation of the Franks Commission.
1970 - The Zoology and Psychology buildings at Oxford were erected
1974 - Brasenose, Jesus, Wadham, Hertford and St Catherine's became the first previously all-male colleges to admit women
1979 - . Green College was founded
1983 - it was renamed Templeton College after Sir John Templeton
1990 – Kellogg College was founded
1994- Blackfriars (a Dominican friary) was made a permanent private hall
1995 –Templeton College was founded .
1996 - Wycliffe Hall (which dates from 1877) followed
2008 – Green Templeton College was founded .
2008 - the last single-sex college, St Hilda's, admitted its first men, so that all colleges are now co-residential
