Portal:University of Oxford/Selected college/21

Oriel College, in the centre of Oxford on Oriel Square, is the fifth-oldest college at Oxford. It is the oldest royal foundation in Oxford, a title formerly claimed by University College, whose claim of being founded by King Alfred is no longer promoted. The original medieval foundation set up by Adam de Brome (the rector of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin), under the patronage of Edward II, was called the House of the Blessed Mary at Oxford. The first design allowed for a Provost and ten Fellows, called 'scholars', and the College remained a small body of graduate Fellows until the 16th century, when it started to admit undergraduates. Oriel's main site incorporate four medieval academic halls, including St Mary Hall). During the English Civil War, Oriel played host to high-ranking members of the King's Oxford Parliament. The College has nearly 40 Fellows, about 300 undergraduates and some 160 graduates, the student body having roughly equal numbers of men and women (although Oriel was the last of the men's colleges to accept women students). Its distinguished alumni include two Nobel laureates (the biochemist Alexander Todd and the economist James Meade); prominent Fellows have included John Keble and John Henry Newman, founders of the Oxford Movement.