The University of Oxford—one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world—has a wealth of traditions, which is unsurprising given its long history. Some, like "trashing," where students have their uniforms doused in confetti and foam after their final exam, are relatively modern, dating back only about 50 years. Others stretch back centuries, their origins obscured by time. Some traditions are so ancient and mysterious that even the University itself has no record of their beginnings. The Bodleian Library’s Archives and Manuscripts blog discusses about one such mystery: the curious case of Henry Symeonis.
The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, and one of the oldest libraries in Europe. Photo credit: Deposit Photos
Students undergoing various undergraduate and post graduate courses at the University of Oxford are required to take oaths before they begin their academic session. These oaths are fairly standard, containing standard pledges to uphold the University's statutes, privileges, liberties, and customs, as well as to refrain from inappropriate activities such as lighting fire inside the library. However, among these seemingly routine pledges, one stood out— Bachelor of Arts students pursuing a Master of Arts degree had to swear that they would never consent to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis.
The official recorded oath in Latin was: Magister, tu jurabis quod nunquam consenties in reconciliationem Henrici Simeonis, nec statum Baccalaurei iterum tibi assumes, which translates to: “Master, you shall swear that you will never consent to the reconciliation of Henry Symeonis, nor will you assume again the status of Bachelor.”
This peculiar clause came to light in 1827, when University officials were reviewing its extensive rules and regulations. The most baffling part was that no one knew who Henry Symeonis was or what he had done to provoke the University. Brian Twyne, the first Keeper of the Archives and a noted 17th-century antiquary, speculated in his Antiquitatis Academiae Oxon Apologia (1608) that Symeonis had been a Regent in Arts at Oxford who fraudulently claimed to hold a BA in order to gain admission to a foreign monastery. However, Twyne provided no evidence or source for this claim.
In 1651, an attempt was made to abolish the statute concerning Henry Symeonis, but the proposal was rejected without explanation. By then, knowledge about Henry’s crime had already faded from collective memory, and the University may have simply chosen not to meddle with a rule they knew nothing about. It was not until 1827 that the institution finally decided the grudge had lasted far too long and officially removed the clause.
The identity of Henry Symeonis remained a mystery until 1912, when Reginald Lane Poole, then Keeper of the University Archives, finally uncovered the truth. Symeonis was the son of Henry Symeonis the Elder, a wealthy townsman of Oxford. The younger Henry inherited several properties around Oxford and he too was one of the richest men in early 13th-century Oxford.
Poole’s research revealed that in 1242, Henry and several other townsmen were convicted of murdering a University student. As punishment, King Henry III fined them £80—a substantial sum at the time—and ordered them to leave Oxford. They were permitted to reside in Northampton or farther north but were forbidden from returning until the King returned from abroad. Later that same year, after the King’s return to England, Henry was back in Oxford.
In 1264, tensions between King Henry III and his barons erupted into civil war, with Oxford at its center. To protect the city’s masters and scholars from harm, the King temporarily suspended the University and ordered its members to leave. Many departed, with a large number relocating to Northampton, where a thriving university was emerging.
A few weeks later, the King issued a proclamation pardoning Henry Symeonis for the murder committed 22 years earlier. He ordered the University to allow Henry to return to Oxford and live there in peace, provided he remained "of good behavior." Additionally, the King forbade the University from leaving Oxford in protest of his return.
It seems that Henry had secured his pardon through payment and the King was willing to allow his return if the University agreed to it. However, as Poole noted, the scholars were outraged at having Henry Symeonis forced back upon them after years of exile. Their anger escalated into a serious riot between students and townspeople. Not only did they defy the King’s order to reconcile with Henry, but they also made their resentment clear by swearing an oath never to forgive him.
And so, the oath against Henry Symeonis remained part of University regulations for more than five and a half centuries before finally being abolished in 1827. However, this was not due to a sudden change of heart—by then, the details of Henry’s crime had long been forgotten. The decision-makers likely acted that way because they didn’t knew what exactly they were abolishing.
The irony is that, by codifying its grudge against Henry Symeonis, the University ensured his name endured for centuries. In seeking to mark him as a villain, it had unwittingly granted him a peculiar form of immortality.
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