List of founding Fellows, Scholars and Commissioners of Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College was the first Protestant college to be founded at the University of Oxford, and it is the only Oxford college to date from Elizabeth's reign. It was the first new Oxford college since 1555, in the reign of Mary, when Trinity College and St John's College were founded as Roman Catholic colleges. Education in Wales had been stimulated by the foundation of grammar schools during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI: King Henry VIII Grammar School in Abergavenny and Christ College, Brecon were established in the 1540s, and Friars School, Bangor dates from 1557. However, despite the numbers of Welsh students coming to Oxford University as a result, there was no special provision for Welshmen before 1571. A Welsh clergyman, Hugh Price, therefore petitioned Elizabeth to found a college at Oxford "that he might bestow his estate of the maintenance of certain scholars of Wales to be trained up in good letters." Whatever Price's wishes, and despite the links that he and many of the founding Fellows had with Wales, neither the 1571 charter nor any of the later charters limited entry to the college to Welshmen. Nevertheless, the college students were predominantly Welsh from the outset, and the college became "the pinnacle of the academic ambition of the young men of Wales". ==The charters==

Jesus College came into being when Elizabeth issued a charter dated 27 June 1571. The charter named a Principal (David Lewis), eight Fellows, eight Scholars and eight Commissioners. The eight Scholars named in the 1571 charter appear to have had nothing more than a purely notional connection to the college. Five of them are known to have studied at Merchant Taylors' School and Cambridge University, with four taking up scholarships in Greek at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. The charter also gave to the new college the site and buildings of White Hall, located on Market Street and Ship Street – the college still occupies this site today. The charter, written in Latin on the flesh side of a prepared calfskin, is . It is highly decorated with Tudor designs and motifs, with its style being similar to that of books of hours. Elizabeth is depicted in the opening illuminated letter, seated on a blue throne in robes of scarlet trimmed with ermine, and holding an orb and sceptre. It has been suggested by the art historian Roy Strong that the image is based on the work of Levina Teerlinc, a Flemish miniaturist. The border is decorated with floral and heraldic motifs, including the Tudor rose. The Great Seal of England was used to authenticate the charter, and the remnants of the Seal are still attached to it. As the Commissioners did not complete their task of drawing up statutes before too many of them had died to permit the remainder to act, a second charter, dated 7 July 1589, was obtained by the then Principal, Francis Bevans. Elizabeth appointed thirteen Commissioners, any three of whom could approve the statutes, and also confirmed Bevans as Principal. Thereafter Griffith Powell, a former student of the college who had been elected to a fellowship in 1589, drafted some statutes and attempted to have them confirmed by the new Commissioners. However, neither Bevans nor his successor John Williams pressed for statutes to be confirmed. In their absence, the Principal had an autocratic position. Powell's view was that successive Principals were "loath to have any statutes at all", since their power would be "limited" by them. by Daniel Mytens from 1621|thumb|left|uprightIn 1609, Powell brought matters to the attention of Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor of the University, and Bancroft compelled Williams to produce the statutes. However, there were by that time insufficient living Commissioners to validate the statute. It was not until Sir Eubule Thelwall became Principal in 1621 that matters moved forward. A third charter was obtained from James I on 1 June 1622, confirming Thelwall as Principal and nominating eight Fellows and eight Scholars. Two Fellows (Robert Johnson and John Higginson) and two Scholars (Lancelot Andrewes and Thomas Dove) were survivors from the 1571 charter. Four of the other six Scholars in the 1622 charter are known to have been undergraduates at Jesus College at the time; the other two appear to have been relatives of the Principal, Sir Eubule Thelwall, but do not appear in the college records. The charter also appointed new commissioners, and little time was taken in drawing up the statutes thereafter. ==People named in the 1571 charter==

, one of the Commissioners named in the charter of 1571 , one of the Commissioners named in the charters of 1571 and 1589 ==People named in the 1589 charter==

, Chancellor of the University in 1589 The charter of 1589 appointed 13 Commissioners – whilst Francis Bevans was confirmed as Principal, no Fellows or Scholars were appointed by this charter. ==People named in the 1622 charter==

, named as a Scholar in the charters of 1571 and 1622 , Chancellor of the University in 1622 and one of the signatories of the new statutes ==References==