Today was our visit to Oxford and Blenheim Palace. As a history major, it was very cool to see the architecture and hear the stories of each location. There were plenty of reformation stories which are always cool to hear given their importance in Catholic history and theology.

We started in Oxford near the location where reformation martyrs were burned at the stake by the Catholic queen of England. It does remind me of the story of Saint Thomas More who was one of the many killed by Henry VIII for refusing to accept the Church of England. While we stopped at Christchurch Cathedral and college we learned about more anti-Catholic sentiment from students at the time who were angry that Catholics would be allowed on the grounds.

The Cardinal College, as it was originally titled, was started by Cardinal Wolsey. After he failed to receive a divorce from Henry VIII’s first wife, however, he was stripped of his titles and eventually charged with treason. Though he died before the charges could be brought against him in London, Cardinal College did get transformed by Henry VIII into his own image. The location has a multitude of beautiful buildings and grounds and has even served as the filming grounds for many films, the most famous of which is Harry Potter.

Blenheim was equilally impressive in regards to both history of who occpuied it and impressive arcitecdture that surrouned it.