Nicholaus clericus: a Hungarian student at Oxford University in the twelfth century

In the twelfth century a Hungarian cleric studied at Oxford, but it is unclear when, how and why he came to England. It is very unlikely that Nicholaus got his scholarship because of his services in the release of Richard I, as suggested by a former generation of scholars. The contacts between Hungary and some western European countries were strengthened under the rule of Béla III. In this process his marriage with Margaret of France (1186) was an important milestone which also led to closer relations between England and Hungary. In the second half of the twelfth century Hungarians often visited the University of Paris, and in the 1190s Hungarian students and scholars appeared in Oxford and Lincoln. They must have come with English scholars from Paris, where they studied in the same natio and have left Paris because of the war between Richard I and Philip II. All this made possible the studies in England of Nicholaus clericus, who became one of the first foreign students, and certainly the first Hungarian student, at Oxford University.