Note 44 — THE ANCIENT SCHOOLS IN THE CITY OF LONDON

An entry in the Patent Rolls 19 Henry VI. ii. 19, “Pro Scolaribus S. Trinitatis, London, et aliis” refers to the foundation of a College at Oxford for the reception of the students from all the houses of Augustinian canons in England, the Prior of Trinity being only the first of a list, to whom with the Abbot of Waltham, the Prior of Twineham (Christ Church, Hants), the Abbot of Leicester, the Priors of Guisborough, Bridlington, St. Oswald’s, Nostell, Hexham, and Carlisle, the Patent was addressed. This college was known as St. Mary’s College, and Erasmus himself, an Augustinian canon, lived there when at Oxford. The fact that the Augustinian houses each sent one or two of their own members as students to the university does not imply that they kept public grammar schools or did anything for general education.