Brasenose College

The imposing facade you see here belongs to Brasenose College, formerly known as Brazen Nose College. It is one of the 38 colleges that make up the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1509 by a lawyer and a bishop and built on the site of Brasenose Hall, a medieval Oxford university hall. Its name comes from a bronze knocker used to strike the door. As it had a nose-like shape, it was called Brasenose. The bronze hanging above the masters’ table in the college’s great dining hall is supposed to be the original Brasenose Hall knocker that was stolen in 1330 by students. It was found in 1890 when a house in Stamford named Brasenose was put up for sale. The college bought it just to retrieve its 12th-century knocker. Another interesting anecdote about this college dates back more than three centuries and is somewhat mixed with legend. At that time, Oxford was experiencing riots during which the townspeople chased students out of the city. The doorman of Lincoln College then opened his gate to rescue his students but denied entry to a Brasenose student. The boy died at the gate, left defenseless. Another version says that it was a Lincoln student who challenged a Brasenose student to a duel, but either way, the result is the same, and the young man dies in both cases, at the gate of Lincoln College where he is not allowed to enter. Since then, at lunch time on Ascension Day, the gate between the two universities opens, and Lincoln students, as a sign of repentance, offer unlimited beer to those of Brasenose. But since the 19th century, the drink has been cut off to avoid potential excesses.