Portal:University of Oxford/Selected biography/40

Brian Twyne (1581–1644) was an antiquarian and an academic at Oxford. After being educated at Corpus Christi College, and becoming a Fellow of the college in 1606, he published his one main work, a history of the university, in 1608. This was designed to prove that Oxford was older than Cambridge University, and has been described by a modern writer as a "remarkable achievement for a young scholar of twenty-eight." His main accomplishment was to play a leading role in the revision of the university statutes under William Laud (Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Archbishop of Canterbury). He was rewarded by appointment in 1634 to the new position of Keeper of the Archives. In this role, he obtained a new royal charter for Oxford University to confirm its rights and privileges, and helped the university in its disputes with the city authorities. He also moved the archives into the Tower of the Five Orders (pictured) at the Bodleian Library, where they are still kept. (more...)