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| Down this road, |
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| around this corner, |
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| and through this gate |
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is my favorite Oxford college, at least so far.
New College
New
College's official name is College of
St Mary, which is the same as the older Oriel College. It has been referred to as the "New
College of St Mary" or more commonly “New College” because, back in 1379
when it was founded, it was the newest college in town. It’s funny how names
stick, even after nearly 800 years.
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Despite
its name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges and was
originally established for the education of priests, there being a shortage of
properly educated clergy after the Black Death.
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As well as
being the first Oxford college for undergraduates and the first to have senior
members of the college give tutorials, New College was the first college in
Oxford to be designed around a main quadrangle which has been the pattern for most
of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges, as well as U.S. Ivy League colleges, built ever since.
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In the
film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, New College Cloisters was used for some of the Hogwarts scenes. This tree (top) was the bakdrop in which Draco Malfoy is transformed
into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody (In the movie, not the book)
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I also love New College's motto which is
"Manners Makyth Man". The motto was rather revolutionary, in it's time. First, it was written in English rather than Latin, which makes it very unusual in Oxford, especially considering the College's age. Second, the motto makes a social statement.
While it might initially seem to be suggesting that it is beneficial to have
good manners, this does not really capture its full scope. What it really means
is that it is not by birth, money, or property that an individual is defined,
but by how he or she behaves towards other people.
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| New College's Grand Hall. This is where the students eat! |
