Editing University College, Oxford (section)

== History ==
A legend arose in the 14th century that the college was founded by [[King Alfred]] in 872.<ref>{{cite web |title=Official College Web-site |url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/history-0 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517131652/http://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/content/history-0 |archive-date=17 May 2013 |access-date=23 August 2013}}</ref> This explains why the college arms are those attributed to King Alfred, why the [[Visitor]] is always the reigning monarch, and why the college celebrated its millennium in 1872. Most agree, however, that the college was founded in 1249 by [[William of Durham]]. He bequeathed money to support ten or twelve masters of arts studying divinity; a property that became known as Aula Universitatis (University Hall) was bought in 1253.<ref name="history">{{cite web |title=Oxford History |url=https://www.oxfordhistory.org.uk/high/tour/south/university_college.html |access-date=23 August 2013}}</ref> This later date still allows the claim that Univ is the oldest of the Oxford colleges, although this is contested by [[Balliol College]] and [[Merton College]].<ref name="Balliol Archivist">{{cite web|title=Q&A: oldest established|url=https://balliolarchivist.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/q-a-oldest-established/|access-date=8 March 2019|publisher=balliolarchivist.wordpress.com}}</ref><ref name="Brockliss">{{cite book |last=Brockliss |first=L. W. B. |date=2016 |title=The University of Oxford: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iMDmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=64–66 |isbn=9780199243563 }}</ref> Univ was open only to fellows studying [[theology]] until the 16th century.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

The college acquired four properties on its current site south of the High Street in 1332 and 1336 and built a quadrangle in the 15th century.<ref name="VCH University College">{{cite web|url= https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp61-81 |title=University College |publisher=british-history,ac.uk |access-date=8 March 2019}}</ref> As it grew in size and wealth, its [[medieval]] buildings were replaced with the current Main Quadrangle in the 17th century. Although the foundation stone was placed on 17 April 1634, the disruption of the [[English Civil War]] meant it was not completed until sometime in 1676.<ref name=UChistory /> [[Radcliffe Quad]] followed more rapidly by 1719, and the library was built in 1861.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History - University College Oxford (Univ) |url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/about/history/ |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=University College Oxford |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Like many of Oxford's colleges, University College accepted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, having previously been an institution for men only.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/about/history/|title=History - University College Oxford|work=University College Oxford|access-date=2018-05-04|language=en-GB}}</ref>