MERTON COLLEGE. The oldest college of its type in Oxford, and the model of all later secular colleges, in both Oxford and Cam bridge. It was first founded as the House of the Scholars of Merton, in 1263 or 1264, by Walter de Merton (q.v.). The original endow ment consisted of his manor house and estate at Malden, Surrey, the income from which was to go to the support of scholars in Oxford, the estate being managed by a resident warden and `brethren.' By various changes between 1264 and 1274, the scholars were moved from a rented house to their own property. Merton Hall, ac quired for them by the founder, and were put in charge first of a sub-warden, then of the war den himself. who had come up from Surrey. The number of scholars, who had been originally con fined to the members of the founder's family, was increased, and the collegiate idea of the founda tion was crystallized in the statutes of 1274. The addition of a system of ecclesiastical patron age, the arrangement of the buildings., and the plan, size, and beauty of the chapel. in addition to the scheme of the statutes, had great influence on later foundations. The college has suffered various changes since its establishment, the last of which was its absorption of Saint Alban Hall in 1882. There were, in 1902, a warden, twenty
fellows, several honorary fellows, eighteen scholars, vatted post-masters, ten exhibitioners, four lecturers, two chaplains, college officers, and, in all, some one hundred and fifty undergrad uates. The buildings are among the most inter esting in Oxford. comprising. is they do, a con siderable part dating from the thirteenth century. Here Henrietta Maria occupied the warden's apartments. while Charles I.'s Court was held at Oxford. Again, in 1065, the year of the plague, Charles II. moved his Court hither, and his Queen occupied the lodgings formerly used by Henrietta Maria. The chapel, though not com pleted. is of cathedral size, but has no transepts. Among the worthies of Merton may be mentioned Harvey. the demonstrator of the circulation of the blood, Bishops Patteson and Jewell. An thony Wood, Sir Thomas Bodley. Sir Richard Steele, and Sir H. Savile. Consult Henderson. "Merton College," in University of Oxford Col lege Histories (Oxford. 1902). See OXFORD UNI VERSITY.