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Merton College
UK-2014-Oxford-Merton College 05.JPG
Merton College Oxford Coat Of Arms (Motto).svg
Blazon: Or, three chevronels party per pale, the first and third azure and gules, the second gules and azure
University Oxford
Coordinates 51°45′04″N 1°15′07″W / 51.751°N 1.252°W / 51.751; -1.252
Full name The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford
Latin name Domus sive collegium scholarium de Merton in universitate Oxon.
Motto "Qui Timet Deum Faciet Bona" ("He who fears God shall do good")
Established 1264; 760 years ago (1264)
Named for Walter de Merton
Sister college Peterhouse, Cambridge
Warden Irene Tracey
Undergraduates 291
Postgraduates 244
Boat club Boat Club
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Merton College, Oxford is located in Oxford city centre
Merton College, Oxford
Location in Oxford city centre

Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. An important feature of Walter's foundation was that this "college" was to be self-governing and the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.

By 1274, when Walter retired from royal service and made his final revisions to the college statutes, the community was consolidated at its present site in the south east corner of the city of Oxford, and a rapid programme of building commenced. The hall and the chapel and the rest of the front quad were complete before the end of the 13th century. Mob Quad, one of Merton's quadrangles, was constructed between 1288 and 1378, and is claimed to be the oldest quadrangle in Oxford, while Merton College Library, located in Mob Quad and dating from 1373, is the oldest continuously functioning library for university academics and students in the world.

Like many of Oxford's colleges, Merton admitted its first mixed-sex cohort in 1979, after over seven centuries as an institution for men only. Merton's current warden, Irene Tracey, was appointed in 2019 and is Merton's second female warden.

Notable alumni and academics past and present include four Nobel laureates and writer J. R. R. Tolkien, who was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature from 1945 to 1959. Merton is one of the wealthiest colleges in Oxford and held funds totalling £298 million as of July 2020. Merton has a strong reputation for academic success, having regularly ranked first in the Norrington Table in recent years.

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