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WELSH STUDENTS AT OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITIES IN THE MIDDLE AGES* THERE was no university in Wales in the middle ages. Owain Glyndwr, in 1406, proposed the foundation of two Welsh universities, but his plan was not carried out.1 Welshmen occasionally studied at continental universities. Philip Wallensis, an early Franciscan, lectured at Lyons.2 Of those who will be mentioned below as Oxford students, Adam of Wales, John Wallensis, Thomas Wallensis (the Franciscan bishop of St. Davids), John Trillek, and Edward Powell also studied at Paris, as did Gerald of Wales (Gerald de Barri); while Thomas Wallensis (a Dominican and theologian), John Blodwel, and William Walter studied at Bologna. John Pennant studied at Perugia and Rome as well as at Cambridge. More examples might be added, and further research may provide more light, for example, in the cases of the eminent bards Hywel Swrdwal and Ieuan ap Rhydderch, who are known to have studied at some university, but whom there is no reason to connect with Oxford or Cambridge.4 Most Welshmen wishing higher education, however, naturally turned to the English universities, and by far the greater number to Oxford. Oxford enjoyed everywhere a prestige considerably greater than that of Cambridge, and had the additional advantage for the Welsh Qf slightly greater proximity. For a time, students in the faculty of arts at Oxford were divided into 'northerners' and 'southerners', the Welsh being included in the latter, but this division was abolished in 1274, and the other faculties never had 'nations' A paper read at the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Medieval Institute. Western Michigan University. Kalamazoo. Michigan. 13 March 1968. 1 T. Matthews (ed.), Welsh Records in Paris (1910). pp. 42-54. reproduces the letter, dated at Pennal. 31 March 1406. in which Glyndwr promised obedience to Benedict XIII. the Avignon Pope. Glyndwr requested (p. 54) the establishment of two universities, one in north Wales and one in south Wales, the exact sites to be determined by later consultation. For the background of the letter. see Glanmor Williams. The Welsh Church from Conquest to Reformation (1962). ch. VI; J. R. Gabriel. 'Wales and the Avignon Papacy'. Archaeologia Cambrensis. LXXVIII (1923). 70-86. R. C. Easterling. 'The Friars in Wales'. Arch. Camb.. 6th series. XIV (1914). 354. 8 For references to specific students, see 355-61, infra. The name 'Wallensis' appears as 'Waleys' or 'le Waleys'. See also R. J. Mitchell, 'English Law Students at Bologna in the Fifteenth Century'. English Historical Review. LI (1936). 271. 281-82. For Gerald of Wales, see 'Barri. Gerald de'. in A. B. Emden. A Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to A.D. 1500 (3 vols.. 1957-59). hereinafter referred to as BRUO. 4 For Hywel. see 'Ieuan ap Hywel Swrdwal', ibid., and Williams. Welsh Church, p. 424; for leuan ap Rhydderch. ibid.. p. 416.