[5] Mun. Acad., ii. 706.

[6] Hist. MSS. 2nd Rep., 140a.


The growth of the libraries made the provision of
special bookrooms a necessity. A library on the ground
floor of University College is referred to in the Bursar's
Roll (1391). At Merton the books were originally kept
in a chest under three locks. A room was set apart quite
early: books were chained up in it in 1284. In 1354 a
carpenter was paid for fittings and "deskis." Bishop
Reed of Chichester erected a library building in 1377-79;
Wyllyot and John Wendover contributed towards the cost,
which amounted to L 462. With the exception of the
room thrown into the south library at its eastern end, of
two large dormers, and of the glass in the west room, the
original structure has been altered very little, and it is
therefore one of the best examples of a medieval library in
this country. When the old library of Exeter College was
first used we do not know: it was possibly one of the
tenements originally given to the college by Peter de
Skelton and partly repaired by the founder. Money was
disbursed for thatching it in 1375.[1] Nearly ten years
later a new library was put up. Bishop Brantingham and
John More, rector of St. Petrock's, Exeter, contributed
handsomely towards the cost; another Bishop of Exeter,
Edmund Stafford,--in whose time the name of the house
was changed from Stapledon Hall to Exeter College,--
enlarged the building in 1404; and Bishops Grandisson,