John Fell was born in 1625. After an education at Thame School he was made a student of Christ Church, Oxford, at the age of eleven. Thence he took his MA in 1643. In 1660 he became Dean of Christ Church and in 1675 he was elected Bishop of Oxford. He died on 10 July 1686. Further details are given in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Fell's medieval and antiquarian manuscripts, including lives of saints.

The manuscripts were bequeathed to the Library by Fell in 1686.

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card (for admissions procedures see http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/services/admissions/).

Falconer Madan, et al., A summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford which have not hitherto been catalogued in the Quarto series (7 vols. in 8 [vol. II in 2 parts], Oxford, 1895-1953; reprinted, with corrections in vols. I and VII, Munich, 1980), vol. II, nos. 8687-8708.

For a more detailed description of the medieval manuscripts see http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/medieval/fell/fell.html.

MSS. Fell 1, 3 and 4 are now Salisbury Cathedral Library MSS. 222, 223 and 221. Microfilm copies of MSS. Fell 1 and 3 (MS. Film 1782) and MS. Fell 4 (MS. Film. 1878) are available in the Bodleian Library.

Manuscripts, Medieval

Saints

Fell | John | 1625-1686 | Bishop of Oxford