Abstract
The purpose of this study on the origin and early history of the Oxford University is to trace the development of this English university during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and to outline the steps by which it gradually approached an independent position. Any attempt to describe the religious life, the organization, or the intellectual activity of the university is more or less incidental to the main purpose. This point of view illustrates the striking tendency towards organization so characteristic of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and focuses attention on those early influences which have shaped the character of all universities since the Middle Ages.