t John’s is the richest of the Oxford colleges and one of the most architecturally impressive, with numerous clearly defined quads, large open informal spaces and arrangements that fall in between. It is situated outside the medieval city walls, on an extensive prime site, just off the city centre to the north. Beautiful ancient buildings sit with award winning modern structures together with, what some students describe as, comfortable 60’s and 70s monstrosities. St John’s is home to some 393 undergraduates and195 postgraduates who have an awesome reputation for hard work and achievement. Their undergraduate ratio favours men by around 15%. Recent British prime minister Tony Blaire studied at St John’s. The huge financial reserves mean it’s one of the cheaper colleges at which to study and offers students the unusual possibility of staying in college outside term time. Elizabeth I caused a change of direction The Counter-Reformation, during the reign of Queen Mary, offered Thomas White, a wealthy Catholic London merchant, the opportunity to establish St John’s in 1555, as a counterbalance to the anti-pope upstarts. The original idea to produce Catholic clerics had to be slightly modified when Protestant Elizabeth came to power. It was decided not to teach theology directly, but concentrate on Greek, Rhetoric and Dialectic with a discrete prod towards the Catholic priesthood. It eventually became a producer of Anglican clergy, and gained a reputation for law and medicine. Thomas White’s own college of St Bernard, founded in 1437, was a Cistercian monastery and place of study that had not survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It must have been with mixed emotions that he was able to acquire St Bernard’s former premises east ... ... middle of paper ... ... has enabled it to offer cheap food in hall, which is said to be of an average standard. However, the quality jumps up several notches at the twice-a-term guest dinners, that serve a five course extravaganza, along with huge and flowing volumes of Champagne, Baileys and what ever else is in the well stocked wine cellar at the time. The library is open every day in term time, but not at night, and adds 1,000 new books a year to its collection. Although not renowned as a serious sporty college, it has more than adequate facilities that are used in an enthusiastic and relaxed way. Rowing is regarded slightly more seriously – the college has its own boathouse, with 11 boats and a barge that is used for social events. St John’s has a musician in residence and a joint orchestra with nearby-by St Anne’s. Students can also enjoy an art gallery and a 200-seater auditorium.
- - - The New Penguin Atlas of Medieval History. London, England, Penguin Books, no publication
“A Pilgrim’s Visit to The Five Terraces Mountains”. Making of the Modern World 12: Classical & Medieval Tradition. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. Janet Smarr. La Jolla: University Readers, 2012. 108-110. Print.
Quinn, Patricia A. Better Than the Sons of Kings: Boys and Monks in the Early Middle Ages. (New York,
By the end of eleventh century, Western Europe had experienced a powerful cultural revival. The flourish of New towns provided a place for exchange of commerce and flow of knowledge and ideas. Universities, which replaced monasteries as centers of learning, poured urbanized knowledge into society. New technological advances and economics transformations provided the means for building magnificent architectures. These developments were representative of the mental and behavioral transformations that the medieval world underwent and the new relationships that were brought about between men, women and society in the twelfth century. As in technology, science, and scholasticism, Literature was also reborn with a new theme.3
The Foundation Charter of Cluny outlines the rulings set by Duke William and established what would come to be known as the ‘cluniac reforms’. The charter focuses on spiritual salvation and is dedicated to honouring the Apostles Peter and Paul presenting them as the patrons of the monastery. It highlights the monastery’s freedom from lay authority and specifies the ownership of the monastery and that the abbot could not be subject to external influence. Duke William also stipulates that the monks and all their possessions come under the named abbot Berno. The Foundation Charter of Cluny was hugely influential affecting not only the original abbey of Cluny but also the several later establishments, which adhered to the charter set by Duke William I in 910. Duke William I focuses great...
Kretzmann, N. et al (1989). The Cambridge History of Later Medieval Philosophy : From the Rediscovery of Aristotle to the Disintegration of Scholasticism, 1100-1600. Paperback: New York.
Not every great writer can be correct in what he or she is saying. This is the idea that Gaunilo had in mind when he wrote his criticism to St. Anselm’s Ontological Argument which states that if something greater than anything else that could be thought of is conceived in the understanding then it must exist. Gaunilo says it is foolish to believe in the existence of something just because it is understood. He says there must be some kind of other explanation. In this paper, I will try to explain both Anselm’s theory and Gaunilo’s argument by first breaking each of them down in simpler terms. I will attempt to show what Gaunilo is trying to discredit with his objection.
Private universities are mainly about creating a safe and supportive community that each resident can feel comfortable in to thrive. On top of the great housing, there are resident hall activities like volunteering. There are also over fifty clubs and after class activities available at St. Ambrose. There are academic, cultural, recreational and even more types of clubs and class activities available. St. Ambrose does its best to provide a home, away from home.
Late in the fifth century the son of a well-off family in Italy left for isolation on his mission to truly seek god. This man was St. Benedict, who is credited with the first establishment of the concept of withdrawing from all temptation for Christian beliefs in the west. St. Benedict left his home and went to the top of a mountain, where he established a monastic community. In this community the individuals who resided there, constantly reiterated their faith. They sacrificed whatever they may have had to prove their true commitment to God. This became an early ideal of Christianity, that one must suffer loss and sacrifice to prove their loyalty to the faith. It was believed in this time period that if one is content with only what they truly need one is freer to think about other people and to think about God . These individuals were called Regular Clergies (monks) and were considered heroes of the faith.
Ozment, Steven E. Introduction. The Age of Reform (1250-1550): An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation Europe. New Haven: Yale UP, 1980. 13. Print.
Hyams, Paul. "Medieval Sourcebook: The Strange Story Of Thomas Of Elderfield." www.fordham.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec 2013. .
Roger Babusci et al. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1994. 115-136. Print. “The Medieval Period: 1066-1485.”
and Writers. 4th ed. Ed. John Schlib and John Clifford. Bedford. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 1526-1561. Print.
The Saint Michael’s Library is not a mystery; it is like every other library in which I have even been. There are lots of books, computers and places for people to do work. There are round tables, square tables, rectangular tables, titled tables and flat tables. There are cubicles and small individual rooms known as ‘ masturbation closets’. The layout of the library is pretty standard and doesn’t need much explaining. There are three floors. The basement had one small room of books and the rest is study areas. The first floor is a mix of computer labs, books, magazines and more study areas. The third floor is mostly books and of course more places to study.
Rice, Eugene E. and Anthony Grafton. The Foundations of Early Modern Europe, 1460-1559. 2nd. ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1994.