William of Durham, the founder of Univ, died at Rouen in 1249, returning from having visited the Pope at Lyon. He was buried in Rouen Cathedral, which is depicted here, but the exact site of his grave has long remained unknown.

It was not until 1280/1, 30 years after William’s death, that his wishes to create a College were finally put into effect, and Univ’s first statutes drawn up. These statutes ordain that there should be just four Fellows, in the first instance, all studying theology.

In the early 1630s, thanks to a benefaction, Univ planned to replace its small medieval quad with something larger. William Maude was chosen as architect. These are fragments of a model of Maude’s design, thought to be the oldest architectural model in the UK.

The windows in the Chapel were created by Abraham van Linge in 1641, but not installed until the 1660s. This window shows the prophet Elijah being carried up into heaven in a fiery chariot, with his disciple Elisha looking on from the bottom left-hand corner.

The great poet Percy Bysshe Shelley came up to Univ in October 1810. Early in 1811, he published anonymously a pamphlet, The Necessity of Atheism. When he refused to answer questions about its authorship by the Fellows, he was expelled on 25 March 1811.

C. S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia books, and many theological works, came up to Univ in 1917, during the First World War. This portrait is from a larger photograph which shows him and the tiny number of students then resident. Lewis survived the war, and returned to Oxford in 1919 to complete his studies.

Professor Helen Cooper, Honorary and Emeritus Fellow, was English Fellow of Univ from 1978–2004, before being appointed Professor of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge. She was the first woman to be elected a Fellow of this College. This fine portrait is by June Mendoza.

Baroness Valerie Amos joined Univ as Master in 2020. She is the first black head of any Oxford College and Univ’s first woman Master. This portrait is a linocut by Melissa Pierce Murray, Univ’s Visitor in the Creative Arts 2019-20. It was included in a showcase of creative responses celebrating the anniversary of 40 years of women at Univ.

Univ North is the College’s visionary building project, which promotes the College community in a multi-generational setting. Comprising seven new buildings, this development is the largest capital expansion since the Main Quad was built in the 17th century.