Oxford: Henry VIII to Harry Potter
One of my favorite places we visited while on our trip was University of Oxford. The history and culture of the many colleges seemed like the perfect combination of so many topics we had discussed in class as well as my own interests. When I think of British culture I usually picture history and intelligence, which was personified at Oxford. Our trip allowed me to see the history of the college, the education system of England, and the popular culture I grew up with.
I knew going into the tour that Harry Potter had a large connection to the college and that it factored largely into my perceptions of England before arriving. I have seen the Harry Potter films too many times to count and the last time I came to London it was a priority to go to the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. I was taken aback by the large amount Harry Potter was brought up during the tour. The filming locations pointed out at Christ Church dining hall and the Bodleian Library were numerous. The guide also pointed out so many modern writers like J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis who impacted the Oxford life. I enjoyed that while I was learning about the history and education of England, I was also seeing popular culture references. I am a person who loves popular culture so it allowed me to see the England I always saw on screen and on the page.
As well as the popular culture references I saw at Oxford, there were so many references to our course themes. During our tour so much of the history of Oxford was related back to those we had studied.The history of England seems to have a close connection to the history of Oxford. There are connections to our studies of religion, education, and royal history. We focused much of our early themes on the reign of Henry VIII of which I was unaware had foundations at Oxford. We were enlightened that the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine Aragon resulted in many Oxford men burned at the stake in the city center, which we saw at the end of our tour. It was interesting to see the wider impacts of the divorce that really changed the path of history of England. I wouldn’t think a college would be impacted but what I failed to realize is that the whole country was affected.
The history of the royals and governance of England wasn’t the only connection I made while visiting Oxford. We spent the whole class before studying libraries and books that came to life in the Bodleian library. Seeing the chained books that I had seen in movies like Doctor Strange before and understanding why that is was a fulfilling moment. I also enjoyed the pure history of the library. Coming from a country with such a small history in comparison to England is astonishing. It was founded in 1602 while America wasn’t a country until 1776. You feel like a part of history just standing amongst the old books that have been used by so many before us.
Lastly the thing that stood out to me that made Oxford so memorable was the education system differences in comparison to the United States. From our tour guide and some research on the Oxford University website, it was surprising to learn the demographics of the university. Only about 11,000 undergraduates study at Oxford, which surprised me based on the vast size of the campus. University of Oxford, as we learned, isn’t one campus it is the whole city. There are 38 colleges that make up the whole school yet only 11,000 students. Ohio State has 45,000 undergraduates among 15 colleges. Before visiting Oxford we had seen a low-income primary school and the exclusive Eton College. Oxford to me seemed more approachable yet it is still very exclusive and academically challenging to get in. It was interesting to see the whole spectrum of the education system. It is very apparent to us as Americans the differences between the schooling system in the UK and our own system.
Overall I selected Oxford to focus on because of the diversity of knowledge I gained while visiting there. I enjoyed the connections to our class material on libraries, education, and English history, as well as my own interests in pop culture. It was one place that gave me an overall feel of England and their culture. This trip gave me new knowledge about a place I have loved for so long and made me love it even more.
