St Edmund Hall

St Edmund Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Better known within the University by its nickname, "Teddy Hall", the college has a claim to being "the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university". As of 2007 St Edmund Hall had an estimated financial endowment of £39m.

History

Like the University of Oxford itself, the precise date of establishment of St Edmund Hall is unknown; it is usually estimated at 1278. The college is named after St Edmund of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, the first known Oxford Master of Arts and the first Oxford-educated Archbishop of Canterbury, who lived and taught on the college site.

St Edmund Hall began life as one of Oxford's ancient Aularian houses, the mediaeval halls that laid the foundation of the University, preceding the creation of the first colleges. As the only surviving mediaeval hall, its members are known as "Aularians". St Edmund Hall took on the status of a college in 1957, though retaining the historical moniker of "Hall".

The college has a history of independent thought, which has brought it into regular conflict with both church and state. During the late 14th century and early 15th century, it was a bastion of the Wycliffe heresy, for which college principal William Taylor was ultimately burnt at the stake, and principal Peter Payne fled the country. In the 17th century, it incurred the wrath of the crown for fostering nonjurors, men who remained loyal to the Scottish House of Stuart and who refused to take the oath to the German House of Hanover, whom they regarded as having usurped the British throne.

College colours

Like most academic institutions, Oxbridge colleges commonly have a colour scheme used for college scarves, ties, sports clothing and so on. There is a great deal of confusion regarding the Hall's official college colours which seems to have arisen due to a discrepancy between "official college wear" and sporting wear.

The college's official colours are "claret and cream"; while this is not stated explicitly anywhere on the college's official web-site, the "College memorabilia" section quotes these as the colours of official college merchandise, such as the college scarves.

In the vast majority of sporting wear produced the "claret and cream" are often substituted by maroon and gold. This has naturally led to many people incorrectly assuming that these are the college colours. Confusion may also be caused by the fact that the college's coat of arms has a yellow/gold field.