«The city of brooding spires» is what some singer Matthew Arnold called Oxford in England in one of his songs. Exquisite architecture and stately buildings – everything here holds history. From Mary I first heard the information that even Adolf Hitler during the Second World War ordered not to bomb the city while London was constantly under air attack. All because, my neighbour claimed, it was the city that Hitler wanted to turn into the capital of England in case of its conquest.
Legend has it that Oxford came to England thanks to Princess Freidswade. The beautiful girl dreamed of becoming a nun, but the obstacle to this was the king, who wanted to marry her. To avoid this, she ran away to a small village, and when the king went after her, on the way he lost his sight and gained it only after the princess forgave his persecution. For this he promised the girl her freedom, and Freidswade founded a monastery, around which the first collegiate colleges sprang up, and then the city.
The history of Oxford begins in the ninth century, when King Alfred the Great ordered the construction of fortifications in several English villages for defence against invaders.
The fortress built by the Saxons soon became a flourishing town, and its favourable location between two rivers was the key to trade.
The town was periodically attacked by the Danes, and in the eleventh century it was completely destroyed in a fire. After reconstruction, the city was taken over by the Norman conquerors, who built the first castle here. At that time the city was the second in England in population just after London.
In 1117, the oldest university in England was founded in order to give the clergy a more complete education. It was not until the reign of Henry the Second that Oxford became a true university town. Its students received many privileges from the government, which, of course, displeased the local population. There were constant conflicts between students and residents, and to resolve the situation, the university authorities diverted students to Cambridge, which became the foundation of the second oldest university in the English-speaking world.
During the Tudor era, the city's economy revolved around the institution: students became a Playboy source of income for local manufactures and industrialists. Oxford soon grew from a small town to a large wealthy city.