External links
- The Brasenose College Foundation Charter, 15 January 1511/12 (document created during Matthew Smith's tenure as Principal)
- History of the College on the official BNC website
Matthew Smyth (died 6 February 1547/8) was the first Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. [1]
Matthew Smyth or Smith was born in Lancaster. [2] One of his contemporary relations, Gilbert Smith, held the Archdeaconry of Peterborough. [3] Matthew Smith began his Bachelor of Arts degree at Oxford (Oriel College) in 1501; [4] he was a Fellow of Oriel from 1506 to 1512. Ralph Churton notes that Smith is frequently documented as a regent Master from 1509 onward. [4] In 1545, he was named Bachelor of divinity. [4]
Smith then became Principal of Brasenose Hall on 24 August 1510. He remained so until his death in 1547/8, serving during the foundation of Brasenose as a College. [1] [5] He was recorded as the "Principal of the College and Hall of Brasen Nose" in 1514. [6] (One other former Principal of Brasenose Hall, John Formby, held a similar title during the transition period.) [7] [8] Falconer Madan, a Fellow of Brasenose and later Librarian of Bodleian Library, suggested in a 1909 "Quatercentenary" reflection that the continuity established by Smith proceeding from the administration of Brasenose Hall to presiding over Brasenose College is unique among other Oxford colleges. [8]
As Principal, Smith presided over a college of twelve Fellows, six senior and six junior (including a Vice-Principal and Bursar), as well as 60 or 70 students. [7] His responsibilities included providing surety for university students committing infractions, as recorded in the Registrum Cancellarii for a student named "Hastyngs" in August 1512. [1] During this time, Smith also received various preferments for positions in the Anglican Church. [9]
Sources conflict on whether William Smyth, a co-founder of Brasenose College, was definitely related to Matthew Smith/Smyth and therefore granted him the position through nepotism. [10] [1] [11] Churton wrote in an 1800 biography of William Smyth:
Matthew Smyth, the first Principal of Brasen Nose college, is intitled[sic] to a place here by his personal merits and probable kin to the Founder, though none of the pedigrees of the family, which I have seen, acknowledge him; not have I been able, from any other quarter, fully to authenticate the fact. [4]
Smith died on 6 February 1547/8 and was buried in Oxford at St. Mary's. [9]
Smith's will is dated 11 December 1547. In it, he named two executors: his nephew William Smith (parson of Barton in the Clay) and the then prominent Robert Morwent (second President of Oxford's Corpus Christi College). Matthew Smith left some property in Sutton, Lancashire to his nephew Baldwin Smith on the condition that they support the "Usher" of Farnworth School with 20 shillings a year. He also gave lands to his own Brasenose College as income to support a scholar from Smith's home region (born near either Farnworth or Prescot). [9]
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mid-17th century and the new quadrangle in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
David Binning Monro, FBA was a Scottish Homeric scholar, Provost of Oriel College, Oxford, and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University.
William Smyth was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield from 1493 to 1496 and then Bishop of Lincoln until his death. He held political offices, the most important being Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches. He became very wealthy and was a benefactor of a number of institutions. He was a co-founder of Brasenose College, Oxford and endowed a grammar school in the village of his birth in Lancashire.
Sir Richard Sutton was an English lawyer. He was founder, with William Smyth, bishop of Lincoln, of Brasenose College, Oxford, and the first lay founder of any college.
Ralph Churton was an English churchman and academic, archdeacon of St David's and a biographer.
Daniel Greenwood D.D. was an English academic administrator at the University of Oxford.
The history of Brasenose College, Oxford, stretches back to 1509, when Brasenose College was founded on the site of Brasenose Hall. Its name is believed to derive from the name of a bronze knocker that adorned the hall's door. The college was associated with Lancashire and Cheshire, the county origins of its two founders – Sir Richard Sutton and the Bishop of Lincoln, William Smyth – a link that was maintained strongly until the latter half of the nineteenth century. The first principals navigated Brasenose, with its Catholic sympathisers, through the reformation and continuing religious reforms. Most of Brasenose favoured the Royalist side during the English Civil War, although it produced notable generals and clergy on both sides. The library and chapel were completed in the mid-seventeenth century, despite Brasenose suffering continuing financial problems.
James Falconer (1738–1809) was an English cleric. He was Archdeacon of Derby from 1795 until his death.
Sir Arthur Ingram Aston was an English diplomat.
John Hawarden was the second Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.
Thomas Blanchard was the third Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford
Samuel Radcliffe was an Oxford college head.
Thomas Yate, D.D. was an Oxford college head.
Francis Yarborough, D.D. was an Oxford college head.
William Gwyn, was an Oxford college head.
Ralph Cawley was an Oxford college head.
Thomas Barker, D.D. (c.1728–1785) was an Oxford college head.
The University of Stamford was an academic institution founded in 1333 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, by a group of students and tutors from the University of Oxford, including Merton College and Brasenose Hall.
