Higher education postcard: Balliol College, Oxford

Determining which is the oldest college in Oxford is not as simple as you might think. And not only because we’re talking about events in the mid-thirteenth century. It’s also a question of definition.

University College Oxford claims to be the oldest as its foundation dates to a legacy in 1249. Merton College was the first to be officially recognised, in 1274. And Balliol started teaching in 1263, even though it did not gain college status until 1282. So, you pays your money and takes your choice. And bear in mind that University College also used to claim foundation by Alfred the Great in 872.

But whichever claim you take, Balliol is old. Its origin story involves a nobleman taking a bishop hostage, and incurring the king’s displeasure. When released, the bishop had the nobleman flogged, and ordered him to perform an act of penance as charity. So the nobleman established a house for scholars in Oxford, which his widow later endowed with the capital to make it a college.

The nobleman was John de Balliol; the bishop was of Durham; the king was Henry III and the widow was Dervorguilla of Galloway. One of Dervorguilla and John’s children became king of Scotland in 1292: they were a well-connected family. And the story surely needs to be made into a film!

The college is also in two minds about how to present the history. Compare “in 1260 a dispute between John de Balliol and the Bishop of Durham erupted into violence and Henry III condemned Balliol’s behaviour” with “about 1260, with guidance from the Bishop of Durham, he decided to carry out a substantial act of charity”. Well, yes…

At this point my narrative could become one of buildings and the like, but people are more interesting. Here’s some of the notable names associated with Balliol College.

Firstly, John Wyclif: theologian, scholastic philosopher and translator of the bible into English. Wyclif was the Master of Balliol in the 1360s.

Secondly, a name which, shamefully, has not got the fame it deserves in the UK: Nathanael Konopios. Konopios was sent by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Cyril Loukaris as an envoy, to build relationships with the protestant northern European nations. He was in Oxford, at Balliol, in the 1600s, and while there introduced coffee. The first coffee shop in England is said to have opened on the High Street, Oxford, in 1650.

Balliol in the nineteenth century was a training ground for the British empire. It has also produced four Prime Ministers: H H Asquith (PM from 1908 to 1916), Harold Macmillan (PM from 1957 to 1963), Ted Heath (PM from 1970 to 1974), and Boris Johnson (PM from 2019 to 2022). My suspicion is that Balliol is prouder of some of these than of others.

The card itself shows Balliol during the first world war, when various colleges were used by the war office as bases for officer training. The 6th officer cadet battalion was quartered in various Oxford colleges: Keble, Wadham, Hertford, New, Magdalen, Trinity, Balliol, St John’s and Worcester. The cadets were not associated with the college or the university directly. Nevertheless, the postcard serves as testimony to that time.

The card was posted on 8 October, but the year is not clear from the postmark. It was sent to a lady in Cheshire.

The time is going now, so shall soon be looking forward to the return journey. It has been such a lovely day to-day, lots of sunshine.