e, life in a medieval
College. The system originated in Paris. In the early days of the
University, students at Paris lived freely in private houses, which a
number of "socii" hired for themselves. A record of a dispute which
occurred in 1336 shows that it was usual for one member of such a
community to be responsible for the rent, "tanquam principalis dictae
domus," and the member who was held to be responsible in the
particular case is described as a "magister." At first it was not
necessary that he should be a master, but this soon became usual, and
ultimately (though not till the close of the Middle Ages) it was made
compulsory by the University. Dr Rashdall has drawn attention to the
democratic character of these Hospicia or Halls, the members of which
elected their own principal and made the regulations which he
enforced. This democratic constitution is found at Oxford as well as
at Paris, and was, indeed, common to all the early universities. (p. 050)
When a benevolent donor endowed one of these halls, he invariably gave
it not only money, but regulations, and it was the existence of an
endowment and of statutes imposed by an external authority that
differentiated the College from the Hall. The earliest College
founders did not necessarily erect any buildings for the scholars for
whose welfare they provided; a College is essentially a society, and
not a building. The quadrangular shape which is now associated with
the buildings of a College was probably suggested accidentally by the
development of Walter de Merton's College at Oxford; but, long after
the foundation of Merton College in 1263 or 1264, it was not
considered necessary by a founder to build a home for his scholars,
who secured a suitable lodging-house (or houses) and were prepared to
migrate should such a step become desirable in the interest of the
University.

The statutes of Merton provide us with a picture of an endowed Hall at
the period when such endowments were beginning to change the character
of University life. The conception of a College, as distinguished from
the older Halls, developed very rapidly, and the Founder's provisions
for the organisation of his society were altered three times within ten
years. In 1264, Walter de Merton, sometime Chancellor of England, (p. 051)
drew up a code of statutes for the foundation of a house, to be called
the House of the Scholars of Merton. His motive was the good of Holy
Church and the safety of t