Merton College (in full:
The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the
constituent colleges of the
University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when
Walter de Merton, chancellor to
Henry III and later to
Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to support it. The important feature of Walter's foundation was that this "college" was to be self-governing and the endowments were directly vested in the Warden and Fellows.