The charge of Oxford, and the district around, was committed to
Robert D'Oyly, afore-mentioned, who built the lofty tower opposite
the mound, deepened the ditches, enlarged the fortifications he
found already there; and, about the date of our tale, founded the
Church of St. George in the Castle.
He had a ruinous city to preside over. Before the Conquest it
contained about three thousand inhabitants; but the number was
greatly diminished, for out of seven hundred and twenty-one houses
formerly inhabited, four hundred and seventy-eight were now lying
waste.
The University was yet a thing of the future. Mr. James Parker (in
his pamphlet, on the history of Oxford during the tenth and
eleventh centuries, which he kindly presented to the writer.) has
clearly shown that its supposed foundation by Alfred is a myth. The
passage in Asser, commonly quoted in support of the statement, is
an interpolation not older, perhaps, than the days of Edward III.
During the twelfth century the town appears, from whatever causes,
to have recovered from the effects of the Conquest, and from that
period its growth was rapid, until circumstances brought about the
growth of a University honoured throughout the civilised world.
xxvi An undisciplined mob had preceded them and perished on the
road.
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