Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: Historically the area has always had some importance , it has been good agricultural land resting between the main southern cities and Oxford ( whose name came from Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford = `` ford for oxen '' ) .
Simplified: The university in the county town of Oxford ( whose name came from Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford = `` ford for oxen '' ) grew in importance during the Middle Ages and early modern period .