Welsh students at Oxford, Cambridge and the inns of court during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
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Abstract
Between c.1540 and 1640 at least 2500 Welsh students entered
Oxford and Cambridge universities and the inns of court in London.
Oxford had attracted many Welshmen in the middle ages, and continued
to receive the majority, who were at their greatest proportion to the
total student body in the 1590s. The popularity of Cambridge and
the inns emerged after 1600, centring on the admission of wealthier
students. Relative to population, North Wales counties were better
represented. Approximately two—fifths of registered university
Welsh entrants graduated B.A. or higher, and about one—fifth of the
inns' Welsh intake became barristers.
Areal affinities figured significantly in Welsh associations
with particular inns and colleges. Some colleges offered scholarships
and fellowships to the Welsh, and new endowments strengthened
these links. The presence of Welsh officials represented another
bond, while the cautions and guarantor schemes, especially at the
inns, further embodied areal ties. Kindred loyalties also counted.
This influx in admissions coincided with advances in Welsh
schooling, which leading social groups supported. Important
university bequests followed to assist Welsh students, notably at
Jesus College, Oxford, and St. John's College, Cambridge. Informal
financial contributions to the inns helped Welshmen there.
Interest in higher education was reflected in the professions.
The quality of the Welsh clergy improved by the early seventeenth
century, though there was still a dearth of divinity graduates,
and many Welsh students gained better preferment in England. The
traditional Welsh association with ecclesiastical and civil law
was superseded by the superior attraction of the common law, many
barristers benefiting from the new Welsh courts system.
University and inn alumni were prominent among Welsh members
of Parliament and among justices of the peace by the 1630s. The
educational experience contributed to Welsh cultural change, challenging
the preconceptions of bardic learning and promoting new
literature and values