All Souls College

College of Oxford University, England. It was founded in 1438 by Archbishop Chichele as a college where 40 scholars who had completed three years of study were to pray for ‘the souls of all the faithful departed’ and to study for higher degrees in theology and law.

The college still has no undergraduates, but its scholars, or fellows, now number around 80, plus, since 1966, about 10 visiting fellows.

Approximately two-thirds of its members are academics engaged in research and teaching chiefly in the fields of history, law, and politics; the other third is made up of re-elected ex-academics who have distinguished themselves in academic, professional, or public life. The college's large and handsome Codrington Library has, since 1867, been a specialized history and law library open to all members of the university.