Bodleian Library

Today we visited the Bodleian Library at Oxford University!

With a catalog of 13 million printed items, the Bodleian Library is the largest university library in the United Kingdom. The first library at Oxford began with the collection of Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1488. Following the Reformation, the library - based in Catholicism - was disassembled. In 1602, the library was reopened by Sir Thomas Bodley, and the institution now bears his name. Much of the current library would be recognizable to its namesake!

The Divinities School; note the statue of St. Peter is missing its head, which was removed during the Reformation

We were fortunate to tour the medieval library, the 15th-century Divinity School, Convocation House, and the Chancellor's Court. While I loved the medieval library, I was particularly excited to be in the Chancellor's Court. The central figure of my research project, Samuel Foote, briefly attended Worcester College in Oxford. He left the university (without a degree) after tying the Provost of Worcester's cow to the college bell and setting fire to its tail. During his time at Oxford, Foote almost certainly passed through the Chancellor's Court. I was very excited when it suddenly occurred to me that I was in the same place he once was - albeit for very different reasons!

For more information about the Bodleian Library, see the full website at https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bodley