fbpx
Wikipedia

Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12th oldest college in Oxford.

Corpus Christi College
Oxford
Arms: see below
LocationMerton Street
Coordinates51°45′03″N 1°15′13″W / 51.750909°N 1.253702°W / 51.750909; -1.253702Coordinates: 51°45′03″N 1°15′13″W / 51.750909°N 1.253702°W / 51.750909; -1.253702
Full nameThe College of the Body of Christ in the University of Oxford[1]
Established1517; 506 years ago (1517)
Named forCorpus Christi, Body of Christ
Sister collegeCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
PresidentHelen Moore[2]
Undergraduates252[3] (December 2017)
Postgraduates93[3] (December 2017)
Endowment£160.7 million (2018)[4]
Websitewww.ccc.ox.ac.uk
JCRCorpus Christi JCR
MCRCorpus Christi MCR
Boat clubCorpus Christi College Boat Club
Map
Location in Oxford city centre

The college, situated on Merton Street between Merton College and Christ Church, is one of the smallest in Oxford by student population, having around 250 undergraduates and 90 graduates. It is academic by Oxford standards, averaging in the top half of the university's informal ranking system, the Norrington Table, in recent years, and coming second in 2009–10.[5]

The college's role in the translation of the King James Bible is historically significant. The college is also noted for the pillar sundial in the main quadrangle,[6] known as the Pelican Sundial, which was erected in 1581.[7] Corpus achieved notability in more recent years by winning University Challenge on 9 May 2005 and once again on 23 February 2009, although the latter win was later disqualified.[8][9]

The Visitor of the college is ex officio the Bishop of Winchester, currently Tim Dakin.

History

Foundation

Corpus Christi College was founded by Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, and an accomplished statesman. After entering the clergy, Foxe worked as a diplomat for Henry Tudor. He became a close confidant of his and, during Henry's reign as Henry VII, Foxe was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal and promoted up the bishoprics, eventually becoming Bishop of Winchester. Throughout this time he was involved in Oxford and Cambridge Universities: he had been Visitor of Magdalen College and of Balliol College, had amended Balliol's statutes for a papal commission, was master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, for 12 years and had been involved in the foundation of St John's College, Cambridge, as one of Lady Margaret Beaufort's executors.[10]

Foxe began to build from 1513. He bought a nunnery, two halls, two inns and the Bachelor's Garden of Merton College.[11] Building was probably completed by 1520.[12]

Foxe was assisted in his foundation by his friend Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, and Oldham's steward, William Frost. Oldham was a patron of education and donated £4,000 and land in Chelsea towards the foundation. For this, he was styled præcipuus benefactor (principal benefactor) by Foxe, remembered in daily prayers and a scholarship was established for students from Lancashire, where Oldham was born.[13][14] Frost bequeathed his estate in Mapledurwell to the college, for which he and wife were remembered in a yearly prayer and a scholarship was founded for his descendants.[15][16]

Foxe was granted letters patent for the foundation by Henry VIII in 1516.[17] The college was officially founded in 1517, when Foxe established the college statutes.[18] These specified that the college was to contain 20 fellows, 20 students, three lecturers, two priests, two clerks and two choristers.[19]

The library of the college was "probably, when completed, the largest and best furnished library then in Europe".[20] The scholar Erasmus noted in a letter of 1519 to the first President, John Claymond, that it was a library "inter praecipua decora Britanniae" ("among the chief beauties of Britain"), and praised it as a "biblioteca trilinguis" ("trilingual library") containing, as it did, books in Latin, Greek and Hebrew.[21]

Founding fellows of the College included Reginald Pole, who would become the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury.[22]

Later developments

In its first hundred years, Corpus hosted leading divines who would lay the foundations of the Anglican Christian identity. John Jewel was Corpus' Reader of Latin, worked to defend a Protestant bent in the Church of England and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement.[23] John Rainolds, elected president in 1598, suggested the idea of the King James Bible and contributed to its text.[24] Richard Hooker, author of the influential Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, was deputy professor of Hebrew.[25]

No one county in England bare three such men (contemporary at large) [Jewel, Rainolds and Hooker] in what college soever they were bred, no college in England bred three such men, in what county soever they were born.

— Thomas Fuller, The Church History of Britain[26]

The Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives taught at Corpus during the 1520s while tutor to Mary Tudor, later Mary I of England.[citation needed] John Keble, a leader of the Oxford Movement, was an undergraduate at Corpus at the start of the 19th century, and went on to a fellowship at Oriel and to have a college named after him (Keble College, Oxford).[citation needed]

Having been founded nearly half a millennium earlier as a college for men only, Corpus Christi was among many of Oxford's men's colleges to admit its first female undergraduate students in 1979 (though women graduate students had been admitted five years earlier).[27] Between 2015 and 2017, 0.6% of UK undergraduates admitted to Corpus were black.[28]

Buildings and gardens

Buildings

The main buildings on the main college site are the Main Quad, the West Building, the MBI Al Jaber Auditorium, the Fellows' Building, Gentleman-Commoners' Quad and Thomas Quad.

 
The aisle of the library as seen from the former President's Study in the far west end. The chapel is visible through a pane of glass at the end of the library.

The Main Quad was built for the college's foundation and designed in a late Mediaeval style. The quad was constructed by distinguished builders associated with Henry VIII's Office of Work: master mason William Vertue, master mason William East and carpenter Humphrey Coke (Warden of the Carpenter's Company in London).[29] The quad's architecture later inspired that of Oglethorpe University.[30]

The chapel adjoins the library and is just off the Main Quad. Its location is unusual: many colleges (even small ones) had their chapel in their main quad, with some colleges placing them on the first floor to fit them in (e.g. Lincoln and Brasenose).[31] Its lectern is one of the first bronze eagle lecterns in Oxford; it is the only pre-Reformation one and was a gift of the first president. The chapel's altarpiece is a copy of Ruben's Adoration of the Shepherds, a gift from the antiquarian Sir Richard Worsley.[32][33]

Later buildings on the main site include the Fellows' Building of 1706–1716, the Gentlemen Commoners' Building of 1737 and the Emily Thomas Building, designed by T.H. Hughes, of 1928.[14][34]

On the corner of Merton Street and Magpie Lane, lie the Jackson and Oldham buildings and Kybald Twychen, which all house students. In 1884–85, the architect T. G. Jackson had first installed a 'New Building and Annexe', replacing town houses on Magpie Lane.[35] In 1969, this work was trimmed and modified to make space for a further new building created by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya using a modernist beehive design, while leaving Jackson's Annexe substantially intact.[36] Powell and Moya's building uses local limestone rubble and has the architects' characteristically large windows mounted within an exposed concrete frame. Particular attention was paid to placing the design within the existing architectural context, including the plain wall of Oriel College, Merton's Gothic chapel and Jackson's heavily ornamented Annexe.[37] In 2017, the New Building and Annexe were substantially renovated and renamed the Oldham and Jackson Buildings, respectively.[38]

Corpus also owns several buildings further afield: the Liddell Building on Iffley Road (built with Christ Church in 1991),[38] the Lampl Building on Park End Street (completed in 2014 and named after Sir Peter Lampl)[39] and houses on Banbury Road.

Pelican Sundial

 
A sketch by Robert Hegge of the dial c. 1600.

The Pelican Sundial is the large pillar in the centre of Corpus' main quad and dates from 1579. The sundial is named after the gold-painted Pelican on an armillary sphere at the top of the pillar.[40] "Pelican Sundial" is a misnomer, as the pillar contains 27 separate sundials.[41] Nine of the sundials are found easily: four on each face of the square frustum beneath the pelican, four beneath each coat of arms on the cuboid and one facing south on the curved pillar shaft.[42] The remaining sundials are found on the hollows and scallops surrounding the east and west arms. The symbols surrounding the sundials are used to reckon feast days and the signs of the Zodiac.[43] The pillar shaft is covered by three tables: one for calculating the dates of the movable and fixed feasts and the Oxford and legal terms; one being a perpetual calendar and one for finding the time by moonlight.[44]

History and copies

The Pelican Sundial was designed by Charles Turnball and is sometimes called the Turnball Sundial after him. Turnball lived in Corpus for 8 years, reaching the degree of MA.[45] He went on to publish the book A Perfect and Easie Treatise of the Use of the Coelestial Globe in 1585, but it is otherwise unknown what he went on to do.[45]

The Pelican Sundial was not the first sundial at Corpus. Before it was erected, one had been designed for the college by Nicholas Kratzer, an astrologer and horologer for Henry VIII.[46] Like Juan Luis Vives, he was probably one of Cardinal Wolsey's lecturers who resided at Corpus while waiting for the completion of Cardinal College.[47] Kratzer designed many dials, however only three can definitely be attributed to him: fixed ones for the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and Corpus and a portable one for Cardinal Wolsey. Only Wolsey's survives;[a][49] Kratzer's Corpus dial stood in the garden until around 1706, when the gardens were remodelled for the construction of the Fellows' Building.[50]

The dial has required regular maintenance throughout existence. The markings were replaced many times over the centuries and, despite restorations overseen by a professor of natural sciences[51] and a historian of science, Robert Gunther,[52] more and more errors crept into the pillar's tables. The dial also developed a lean. This was fixed in 1967 after it was discovered that the dial had no solid foundation and that its base was made of stone panels loosely packed with rubble.[53] In 1976, the sundial was restored (and its tables corrected) to its state c. 1710 by Philip Pattenden. Since the 1710 tables were designed for the Julian calendar, they have no modern use.[54] The sundial was most recently restored in 2016.[55]

Two copies of the Pelican Sundial exist in America. The first, the Mather Sundial in Princeton University, was commissioned by William Mather as a goodwill gesture between the United Kingdom to the United States.[56] The second is on the front lawn of Pomfret School in Connecticut and was donated in 1912 by the father of a graduating student.[57]

Gardens

 
View from Small Garden towards Main Quad

Aspects of the evolution of the college's ornamental gardens (Grade II listed) have been documented since the late 16th century.[58][b] By the turn of the 19th century, a series of strict, geometrical layouts had given way to more informal features, including a lawn in the main garden, bordered by a dense shrubbery.[58][60]

In their present form, as tended by David Leake since 1979, the gardens are considered some of the university's most unusual and exuberant.[61] Described as 'wild' gardens, the stated aim is to blend a "range of wild and cultivated flowers into a vivid yet harmonious landscape."[62] Attention to detail marks even the most intimate of spaces, such as those around the 'small garden' linking the front quad to the main garden at the back of the college.[63]

The main garden is flanked on one side by the distinctive neoclassical architecture of the Fellows' Building, which is exuberantly bordered by ornamental shrubs and perennials, overseen by climbing roses and wisteria.[59] Across the lawn, a bank shaded by a dominant copper beech leads up to a vantage point on the old city wall (above Dead Man's Walk[64]), where a line of three lime trees traces the course of a terraced avenue that was originally raised in 1623.[60] The views from here across Christ Church Meadow and into the gardens of neighbouring colleges suggest a "pleasant gardening outpost."[65]

The style of gardening is, in Leake's words, "much less formal than [in] most other colleges, but sympathetic to the atmosphere."[66] Accordingly, the library windows in the front quad are framed by seven bamboo plants.[66] Beekeeping echoes the founder's wish for the college to be a hive of activity.[61][c]

Use of herbicides and fertilisers is avoided even on the main lawn, which characteristically is allowed to incorporate plants that have self-seeded, in keeping with an overall wildlife-friendly approach (for example, spontaneous red valerian can provide a food plant for caterpillars of the hummingbird hawk-moth).[66]

Examples of exotic plants that have been cultivated include Campsis radicans (trumpet vine), Dracunculus vulgaris (dragon lily), Gunnera manicata (Brazilian giant-rhubarb), Philadelphus microphyllus (littleleaf mock-orange), and Zantedeschia aethiopica (arum lily).[65] Trees include a Wollemi pine (a species rediscovered in Australia in 1994) and quince (whose fruit is given to college fellows and friends).[61]

The greenhouse was designed by Rick Mather, the creator of the college's auditorium.[61][d] Almost frameless, it presents itself as a display cabinet in which a variety of horticultural and other informal exhibits are watched over by a surreally attired mannequin named Madame Lulu.[61][66]

Coat of arms and other symbols

The coat of arms marshalls three distinct coats of arms in adjacent vertical divisions, in heraldic terminology: tierced per pale, from dexter (viewer's left) to sinister (viewer's right):

  • 1: Azure, a pelican with wings endorsed vulning herself or (arms of the founder, Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester[67]);
  • 2: Argent, thereon an escutcheon charged with the arms of the See of Winchester (i.e. Gules, two keys addorsed in bend the uppermost or the other argent a sword interposed between them in bend sinister of the third pommel and hilt of the second the escutcheon ensigned with a mitre of the last);
  • 3: Sable, a chevron or between three owls argent on a chief of the second as many roses gules seeded of the second barbed vert (arms of Hugh Oldham (1452-1519), Bishop of Exeter.[68])

The Pelican in her Piety (pecking her own breast to draw blood to feed her chicks) in the personal arms of the founder, Bishop Richard Foxe, in Christian iconography symbolises Christ, who nourished the Church with his blood, which action is remembered in the Eucharist. The name of the college founded by him is thus well suited to that iconography, Corpus Christi signifying in Latin "the body of Christ".[citation needed]

Because of the complexity of the arms they are not suitable for use on items such as the college tie, where the pelican alone is used. The pelican also appears alone on the college flag and on top of the Pelican Sundial.[citation needed]

Traditions

The grace laid out in the founding statutes is still said before every formal dinner in hall:

Nos miseri et egentes homines pro hoc cibo, quem in alimonium corporis nostri sanctificatum es largitus, ut eo recte utamur, Tibi, Deus omnipotens, Pater caelestis, reverenter gratias agimus; simul obsecrantes, ut cibum angelorum, panem verum caelestem, Dei Verbum aeternum, Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum, nobis impertiaris, ut Eo mens nostra pascatur, et per carnem et sanguinem Eius alamur, foveamur, corroboremur.[69]

which translates to

We wretched and needy mortals give reverent thanks to you, almighty God, heavenly Father, for this food, which you have given us to nourish our bodies, praying at the same time that you may bestow on us the food of angels, the true heavenly bread, the eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ Our Lord, that our souls may feed on him, and that through his flesh and blood we may be nourished, cherished and strengthened.[69]

There is also a shorter grace said after dinner, which is now only used on special occasions.[citation needed]

The college traditionally keeps at least one tortoise as a living mascot, cared for by an elected 'Tortoise Keeper'. The 'Tortoise Fair', at which the Corpus tortoise(s) are raced against tortoises belonging to other colleges and local residents, is an annual event held to raise funds for charity. As of 2013, the college tortoise was named 'Foxe', after the founder of the college.[70]

People associated with the college

Notable former students and fellows

Former students of the college include the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, the writer Vikram Seth, the columnist Camilla Long, the financial commentator Martin Wolf, former Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband, and former Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Presidents

Helen Moore, Associate Professor and Tutor in English, was elected president on 19 October 2018 for a term of two years. Her research focuses on mediaeval and early modern literature; most recently she has researched the reception of foreign texts in English. She has been a fellow at Corpus since 1996.[2][71]

Gallery

Notes

  1. ^ The dial is currently held by Oxford Museum of the History of Science.[48]
  2. ^ The main garden, as seen today, is situated on the land the founder acquired in 1515 from Merton College (where it had been the site of their Bachelor's Garden).[58][59]
  3. ^ A surviving foxhole also references Richard Foxe in a more humane way than the fox that can be seen chained up in a yard in David Loggan's bird's-eye view of the college engraved in 1675.[60]
  4. ^ The auditorium was built in what used to be the fellows' private garden, with its rooftop Handa Terrace providing a further viewing area for the remaining gardens and their surroundings.[61]

References

  1. ^ "Charter of Foundation", The Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox for Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford A. D. 1517, translated by Ward, G. R. M., Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1843, p. xlix
  2. ^ a b Elsner, Jaś (19 October 2018). . Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 13 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Student statistics". University of Oxford. 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Corpus Christi College, Oxford : Annual Report & Financial Statements : Year ended 31 July 2018" (PDF). ox.ac.uk. p. 43. Retrieved 5 March 2019.
  5. ^ . Archived from the original on 3 October 2010.
  6. ^ . Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2008.
  7. ^ Pattenden 1979, p. [page needed]
  8. ^ Corpus Wins University Challenge – Oxford News
  9. ^ "University Challenge team disqualified". BBC. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2009.
  10. ^ Fowler 1898, pp. 6–7.
  11. ^ Fowler 1898, pp. 38–40.
  12. ^ Fowler 1898, p. 41.
  13. ^ "Oldham, Hugh". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20685. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  14. ^ a b Salter, H. E.; Sobel, Mary D., eds. (1954). "Corpus Christi College". A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3, the University of Oxford. Victoria County History. London.
  15. ^ Charles-Edwards & Reid 2017, pp. 70, 264.
  16. ^ Fowler 1898, p. 15.
  17. ^ Fowler 1898, p. 32.
  18. ^ Fowler 1898, p. 18.
  19. ^ "1", The Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox for Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford A. D. 1517, translated by Ward, G. R. M., Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1843, p. 3
  20. ^ Fowler 1898, Appendix A.
  21. ^ Fowler 1898, pp. 34–35.
  22. ^ Fowler 1898, pp. 33–34.
  23. ^ Charles-Edwards & Reid 2017, pp. 64, 75–81.
  24. ^ Charles-Edwards & Reid 2017, pp. 131–132.
  25. ^ Gibbs, Lee W. (15 February 2008). "Life of Hooker". In Kirby, Torrance (ed.). A Companion to Richard Hooker. Brill's Companions to the Christian Tradition. Vol. 8. Brill. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-90-04-16534-2. ISSN 1871-6377.
  26. ^ The Church History of Britain: From the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year MDCXLVIII, vol. 3 (3rd ed.), Thomas Tegg (published 1842), 1655, p. 231
  27. ^ Charles-Edwards & Reid 2017, p. 403.
  28. ^ "Annual Admissions Statistical Report May 2018" (PDF). www.ox.ac.uk.
  29. ^ Tyack 1998, pp. 72–73.
  30. ^ Hudson, Paul Stephen (21 November 2016). "Oglethorpe University". New Georgia Encyclopedia.
  31. ^ Charles-Edwards & Reid 2017, p. 31.
  32. ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 29, 131.
  33. ^ Fowler 1898, p. 45.
  34. ^ "Corpus Christi College". An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Oxford. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. 1939. pp. 48–54. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  35. ^ Fowler 1898, pp. 46, 222.
  36. ^ Alan Baxter Associates (2014). . Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018.
  37. ^ Tyack 1998, p. 315.
  38. ^ a b . Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2018.
  39. ^ "The Lampl Building" (PDF). Sundial. No. 2. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. 2 September 2013. p. 10.
  40. ^ Pattenden 1979, p. 26.
  41. ^ Pattenden 1983, p. 322.
  42. ^ Pattenden 1983, p. 322–323.
  43. ^ Pattenden 1983, p. 322–325.
  44. ^ Pattenden 1979, p. 30.
  45. ^ a b Pattenden 1979, pp. 30–31.
  46. ^ Pattenden 1979, p. 12.
  47. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 11–12.
  48. ^ "Polyhedral Dial, by Nicolaus Kratzer?, English, 1518–30". MHS Collection Database Search. Museum of the History of Science. Inventory Number 54054.
  49. ^ Pattenden 1979, p. 14.
  50. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 21–22.
  51. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 48–53.
  52. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 55–57.
  53. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 59–61.
  54. ^ Pattenden 1979, pp. 64–70.
  55. ^ "The Corpus Estate" (PDF). The Pelican Record. Corpus Christi College, Oxford. LII. December 2016.
  56. ^ Pattenden 1983, p. 321.
  57. ^ "Pomfret School Sundial, (sculpture)". Art Inventories Catalog. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Inventory of American Sculpture, Control Number CT000250.
  58. ^ a b c . Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. (via Parks&Gardens). January 2000. Archived from the original on 25 July 2019. Agas' map (1578) shows the 'Gardaine' containing trees planted regularly below the wall, and a smaller, rectangular, formally laid-out area adjacent to the east. The raised terrace in this area, constructed c 1623-4 (The Pelican [(1979-80), pp 20-29]) against the City Wall, is shown in 1675 (Loggan [Map of Oxford]) with an elaborate two-storey pavilion at the west end, a line of trees growing along the top, and two rows of shrubs growing on the level, open area to the north, parallel with the trees. A similar layout is shown in 1726, behind Front Quad with its central sundial and the newly-built Fellows' Building to the east, which retains the smaller enclosed area east of the terrace garden, shown formally laid out in 1733 (Williams [Oxonia Depicta, 1733]). By 1814 (Ackerman [A History of the University of Oxford]) most of the formal elements in the garden south of the Fellows' Building, including the internal divisions, had been removed and the east end of the City Wall lowered, leaving an open lawn partially bordered by the raised terrace to the south.
  59. ^ a b Richardson 2018, pp. 66–67.
  60. ^ a b c Richardson 2018, p. 67.
  61. ^ a b c d e f Garth, John (16 March 2015). . www.oxfordtoday.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  62. ^ . www.ccc.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  63. ^ Richardson 2018, p. 64.
  64. ^ . www.oxfordhistory.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 July 2019.
  65. ^ a b Lacey, Stephen (9 July 2001). . The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  66. ^ a b c d Beck, Caroline (23 April 2016). . The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019.
  67. ^ Izacke, Richard (c.1624–1698), (improved and continued to the year 1724 by Samuel Izacke), Remarkable Antiquities of the City of Exeter, 3rd Edition, London, 1731, A Perfect Catalogue of all the Bishops of this Church ... together with the Coats of Armory and Mottoes Described, pp.25-50[1][2]
  68. ^ Oxford University Calendar 2001–2002 (2001) p.231. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-951872-6.
  69. ^ a b "General Information and College Rules" (PDF). Corpus Christi College, Oxford. September 2009. p. 31.
  70. ^ Miller, Emily (25 May 2013). "Oxford in suspense for Corpus tortoise fair". Cherwell. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  71. ^ "Dr Helen Moore". Faculty of English, University of Oxford. Retrieved 20 October 2018.

Sources

External links

  • Corpus Christi College website

corpus, christi, college, oxford, corpus, christi, college, formally, corpus, christi, college, university, oxford, informally, abbreviated, corpus, constituent, colleges, university, oxford, united, kingdom, founded, 1517, 12th, oldest, college, oxford, corpu. Corpus Christi College formally Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom Founded in 1517 it is the 12th oldest college in Oxford Corpus Christi CollegeOxfordArms see below LocationMerton StreetCoordinates51 45 03 N 1 15 13 W 51 750909 N 1 253702 W 51 750909 1 253702 Coordinates 51 45 03 N 1 15 13 W 51 750909 N 1 253702 W 51 750909 1 253702Full nameThe College of the Body of Christ in the University of Oxford 1 Established1517 506 years ago 1517 Named forCorpus Christi Body of ChristSister collegeCorpus Christi College CambridgePresidentHelen Moore 2 Undergraduates252 3 December 2017 Postgraduates93 3 December 2017 Endowment 160 7 million 2018 4 Websitewww wbr ccc wbr ox wbr ac wbr ukJCRCorpus Christi JCRMCRCorpus Christi MCRBoat clubCorpus Christi College Boat ClubMapLocation in Oxford city centreThe college situated on Merton Street between Merton College and Christ Church is one of the smallest in Oxford by student population having around 250 undergraduates and 90 graduates It is academic by Oxford standards averaging in the top half of the university s informal ranking system the Norrington Table in recent years and coming second in 2009 10 5 The college s role in the translation of the King James Bible is historically significant The college is also noted for the pillar sundial in the main quadrangle 6 known as the Pelican Sundial which was erected in 1581 7 Corpus achieved notability in more recent years by winning University Challenge on 9 May 2005 and once again on 23 February 2009 although the latter win was later disqualified 8 9 The Visitor of the college is ex officio the Bishop of Winchester currently Tim Dakin Contents 1 History 1 1 Foundation 1 2 Later developments 2 Buildings and gardens 2 1 Buildings 2 2 Pelican Sundial 2 2 1 History and copies 2 3 Gardens 3 Coat of arms and other symbols 4 Traditions 5 People associated with the college 5 1 Notable former students and fellows 5 2 Presidents 6 Gallery 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Sources 9 External linksHistory EditFoundation Edit Corpus Christi College was founded by Richard Foxe Bishop of Winchester and an accomplished statesman After entering the clergy Foxe worked as a diplomat for Henry Tudor He became a close confidant of his and during Henry s reign as Henry VII Foxe was appointed Keeper of the Privy Seal and promoted up the bishoprics eventually becoming Bishop of Winchester Throughout this time he was involved in Oxford and Cambridge Universities he had been Visitor of Magdalen College and of Balliol College had amended Balliol s statutes for a papal commission was master of Pembroke College Cambridge for 12 years and had been involved in the foundation of St John s College Cambridge as one of Lady Margaret Beaufort s executors 10 Foxe began to build from 1513 He bought a nunnery two halls two inns and the Bachelor s Garden of Merton College 11 Building was probably completed by 1520 12 Foxe was assisted in his foundation by his friend Hugh Oldham Bishop of Exeter and Oldham s steward William Frost Oldham was a patron of education and donated 4 000 and land in Chelsea towards the foundation For this he was styled praecipuus benefactor principal benefactor by Foxe remembered in daily prayers and a scholarship was established for students from Lancashire where Oldham was born 13 14 Frost bequeathed his estate in Mapledurwell to the college for which he and wife were remembered in a yearly prayer and a scholarship was founded for his descendants 15 16 Foxe was granted letters patent for the foundation by Henry VIII in 1516 17 The college was officially founded in 1517 when Foxe established the college statutes 18 These specified that the college was to contain 20 fellows 20 students three lecturers two priests two clerks and two choristers 19 The library of the college was probably when completed the largest and best furnished library then in Europe 20 The scholar Erasmus noted in a letter of 1519 to the first President John Claymond that it was a library inter praecipua decora Britanniae among the chief beauties of Britain and praised it as a biblioteca trilinguis trilingual library containing as it did books in Latin Greek and Hebrew 21 Founding fellows of the College included Reginald Pole who would become the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury 22 Later developments Edit In its first hundred years Corpus hosted leading divines who would lay the foundations of the Anglican Christian identity John Jewel was Corpus Reader of Latin worked to defend a Protestant bent in the Church of England and the Elizabethan Religious Settlement 23 John Rainolds elected president in 1598 suggested the idea of the King James Bible and contributed to its text 24 Richard Hooker author of the influential Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity was deputy professor of Hebrew 25 No one county in England bare three such men contemporary at large Jewel Rainolds and Hooker in what college soever they were bred no college in England bred three such men in what county soever they were born Thomas Fuller The Church History of Britain 26 The Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives taught at Corpus during the 1520s while tutor to Mary Tudor later Mary I of England citation needed John Keble a leader of the Oxford Movement was an undergraduate at Corpus at the start of the 19th century and went on to a fellowship at Oriel and to have a college named after him Keble College Oxford citation needed Having been founded nearly half a millennium earlier as a college for men only Corpus Christi was among many of Oxford s men s colleges to admit its first female undergraduate students in 1979 though women graduate students had been admitted five years earlier 27 Between 2015 and 2017 0 6 of UK undergraduates admitted to Corpus were black 28 Buildings and gardens EditBuildings Edit The main buildings on the main college site are the Main Quad the West Building the MBI Al Jaber Auditorium the Fellows Building Gentleman Commoners Quad and Thomas Quad The aisle of the library as seen from the former President s Study in the far west end The chapel is visible through a pane of glass at the end of the library The Main Quad was built for the college s foundation and designed in a late Mediaeval style The quad was constructed by distinguished builders associated with Henry VIII s Office of Work master mason William Vertue master mason William East and carpenter Humphrey Coke Warden of the Carpenter s Company in London 29 The quad s architecture later inspired that of Oglethorpe University 30 The chapel adjoins the library and is just off the Main Quad Its location is unusual many colleges even small ones had their chapel in their main quad with some colleges placing them on the first floor to fit them in e g Lincoln and Brasenose 31 Its lectern is one of the first bronze eagle lecterns in Oxford it is the only pre Reformation one and was a gift of the first president The chapel s altarpiece is a copy of Ruben s Adoration of the Shepherds a gift from the antiquarian Sir Richard Worsley 32 33 Later buildings on the main site include the Fellows Building of 1706 1716 the Gentlemen Commoners Building of 1737 and the Emily Thomas Building designed by T H Hughes of 1928 14 34 On the corner of Merton Street and Magpie Lane lie the Jackson and Oldham buildings and Kybald Twychen which all house students In 1884 85 the architect T G Jackson had first installed a New Building and Annexe replacing town houses on Magpie Lane 35 In 1969 this work was trimmed and modified to make space for a further new building created by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya using a modernist beehive design while leaving Jackson s Annexe substantially intact 36 Powell and Moya s building uses local limestone rubble and has the architects characteristically large windows mounted within an exposed concrete frame Particular attention was paid to placing the design within the existing architectural context including the plain wall of Oriel College Merton s Gothic chapel and Jackson s heavily ornamented Annexe 37 In 2017 the New Building and Annexe were substantially renovated and renamed the Oldham and Jackson Buildings respectively 38 Corpus also owns several buildings further afield the Liddell Building on Iffley Road built with Christ Church in 1991 38 the Lampl Building on Park End Street completed in 2014 and named after Sir Peter Lampl 39 and houses on Banbury Road Pelican Sundial Edit A sketch by Robert Hegge of the dial c 1600 The Pelican Sundial is the large pillar in the centre of Corpus main quad and dates from 1579 The sundial is named after the gold painted Pelican on an armillary sphere at the top of the pillar 40 Pelican Sundial is a misnomer as the pillar contains 27 separate sundials 41 Nine of the sundials are found easily four on each face of the square frustum beneath the pelican four beneath each coat of arms on the cuboid and one facing south on the curved pillar shaft 42 The remaining sundials are found on the hollows and scallops surrounding the east and west arms The symbols surrounding the sundials are used to reckon feast days and the signs of the Zodiac 43 The pillar shaft is covered by three tables one for calculating the dates of the movable and fixed feasts and the Oxford and legal terms one being a perpetual calendar and one for finding the time by moonlight 44 History and copies Edit The Pelican Sundial was designed by Charles Turnball and is sometimes called the Turnball Sundial after him Turnball lived in Corpus for 8 years reaching the degree of MA 45 He went on to publish the book A Perfect and Easie Treatise of the Use of the Coelestial Globe in 1585 but it is otherwise unknown what he went on to do 45 The Pelican Sundial was not the first sundial at Corpus Before it was erected one had been designed for the college by Nicholas Kratzer an astrologer and horologer for Henry VIII 46 Like Juan Luis Vives he was probably one of Cardinal Wolsey s lecturers who resided at Corpus while waiting for the completion of Cardinal College 47 Kratzer designed many dials however only three can definitely be attributed to him fixed ones for the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and Corpus and a portable one for Cardinal Wolsey Only Wolsey s survives a 49 Kratzer s Corpus dial stood in the garden until around 1706 when the gardens were remodelled for the construction of the Fellows Building 50 The dial has required regular maintenance throughout existence The markings were replaced many times over the centuries and despite restorations overseen by a professor of natural sciences 51 and a historian of science Robert Gunther 52 more and more errors crept into the pillar s tables The dial also developed a lean This was fixed in 1967 after it was discovered that the dial had no solid foundation and that its base was made of stone panels loosely packed with rubble 53 In 1976 the sundial was restored and its tables corrected to its state c 1710 by Philip Pattenden Since the 1710 tables were designed for the Julian calendar they have no modern use 54 The sundial was most recently restored in 2016 55 Two copies of the Pelican Sundial exist in America The first the Mather Sundial in Princeton University was commissioned by William Mather as a goodwill gesture between the United Kingdom to the United States 56 The second is on the front lawn of Pomfret School in Connecticut and was donated in 1912 by the father of a graduating student 57 Gardens Edit View from Small Garden towards Main Quad Aspects of the evolution of the college s ornamental gardens Grade II listed have been documented since the late 16th century 58 b By the turn of the 19th century a series of strict geometrical layouts had given way to more informal features including a lawn in the main garden bordered by a dense shrubbery 58 60 In their present form as tended by David Leake since 1979 the gardens are considered some of the university s most unusual and exuberant 61 Described as wild gardens the stated aim is to blend a range of wild and cultivated flowers into a vivid yet harmonious landscape 62 Attention to detail marks even the most intimate of spaces such as those around the small garden linking the front quad to the main garden at the back of the college 63 The main garden is flanked on one side by the distinctive neoclassical architecture of the Fellows Building which is exuberantly bordered by ornamental shrubs and perennials overseen by climbing roses and wisteria 59 Across the lawn a bank shaded by a dominant copper beech leads up to a vantage point on the old city wall above Dead Man s Walk 64 where a line of three lime trees traces the course of a terraced avenue that was originally raised in 1623 60 The views from here across Christ Church Meadow and into the gardens of neighbouring colleges suggest a pleasant gardening outpost 65 The style of gardening is in Leake s words much less formal than in most other colleges but sympathetic to the atmosphere 66 Accordingly the library windows in the front quad are framed by seven bamboo plants 66 Beekeeping echoes the founder s wish for the college to be a hive of activity 61 c Use of herbicides and fertilisers is avoided even on the main lawn which characteristically is allowed to incorporate plants that have self seeded in keeping with an overall wildlife friendly approach for example spontaneous red valerian can provide a food plant for caterpillars of the hummingbird hawk moth 66 Examples of exotic plants that have been cultivated include Campsis radicans trumpet vine Dracunculus vulgaris dragon lily Gunnera manicata Brazilian giant rhubarb Philadelphus microphyllus littleleaf mock orange and Zantedeschia aethiopica arum lily 65 Trees include a Wollemi pine a species rediscovered in Australia in 1994 and quince whose fruit is given to college fellows and friends 61 The greenhouse was designed by Rick Mather the creator of the college s auditorium 61 d Almost frameless it presents itself as a display cabinet in which a variety of horticultural and other informal exhibits are watched over by a surreally attired mannequin named Madame Lulu 61 66 Coat of arms and other symbols EditThe coat of arms marshalls three distinct coats of arms in adjacent vertical divisions in heraldic terminology tierced per pale from dexter viewer s left to sinister viewer s right 1 Azure a pelican with wings endorsed vulning herself or arms of the founder Richard Foxe Bishop of Winchester 67 2 Argent thereon an escutcheon charged with the arms of the See of Winchester i e Gules two keys addorsed in bend the uppermost or the other argent a sword interposed between them in bend sinister of the third pommel and hilt of the second the escutcheon ensigned with a mitre of the last 3 Sable a chevron or between three owls argent on a chief of the second as many roses gules seeded of the second barbed vert arms of Hugh Oldham 1452 1519 Bishop of Exeter 68 The Pelican in her Piety pecking her own breast to draw blood to feed her chicks in the personal arms of the founder Bishop Richard Foxe in Christian iconography symbolises Christ who nourished the Church with his blood which action is remembered in the Eucharist The name of the college founded by him is thus well suited to that iconography Corpus Christi signifying in Latin the body of Christ citation needed Because of the complexity of the arms they are not suitable for use on items such as the college tie where the pelican alone is used The pelican also appears alone on the college flag and on top of the Pelican Sundial citation needed Traditions EditThe grace laid out in the founding statutes is still said before every formal dinner in hall Nos miseri et egentes homines pro hoc cibo quem in alimonium corporis nostri sanctificatum es largitus ut eo recte utamur Tibi Deus omnipotens Pater caelestis reverenter gratias agimus simul obsecrantes ut cibum angelorum panem verum caelestem Dei Verbum aeternum Iesum Christum Dominum nostrum nobis impertiaris ut Eo mens nostra pascatur et per carnem et sanguinem Eius alamur foveamur corroboremur 69 which translates to We wretched and needy mortals give reverent thanks to you almighty God heavenly Father for this food which you have given us to nourish our bodies praying at the same time that you may bestow on us the food of angels the true heavenly bread the eternal Word of God Jesus Christ Our Lord that our souls may feed on him and that through his flesh and blood we may be nourished cherished and strengthened 69 There is also a shorter grace said after dinner which is now only used on special occasions citation needed The college traditionally keeps at least one tortoise as a living mascot cared for by an elected Tortoise Keeper The Tortoise Fair at which the Corpus tortoise s are raced against tortoises belonging to other colleges and local residents is an annual event held to raise funds for charity As of 2013 the college tortoise was named Foxe after the founder of the college 70 People associated with the college EditNotable former students and fellows Edit Main article List of Corpus Christi College Oxford people Reginald Pole James Oglethorpe William Buckland Isaiah Berlin John Keble Thomas Nagel David Miliband Ed Miliband Eldred JonesFormer students of the college include the philosopher Isaiah Berlin the writer Vikram Seth the columnist Camilla Long the financial commentator Martin Wolf former Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband and former Foreign Secretary David Miliband Presidents Edit Main article List of Presidents of Corpus Christi College Oxford Helen Moore Associate Professor and Tutor in English was elected president on 19 October 2018 for a term of two years Her research focuses on mediaeval and early modern literature most recently she has researched the reception of foreign texts in English She has been a fellow at Corpus since 1996 2 71 Gallery Edit Entrance to the college Under the entrance Archway Main Quad Hall Panoramic view from the Handa Terrace overlooking the main gardenNotes Edit The dial is currently held by Oxford Museum of the History of Science 48 The main garden as seen today is situated on the land the founder acquired in 1515 from Merton College where it had been the site of their Bachelor s Garden 58 59 A surviving foxhole also references Richard Foxe in a more humane way than the fox that can be seen chained up in a yard in David Loggan s bird s eye view of the college engraved in 1675 60 The auditorium was built in what used to be the fellows private garden with its rooftop Handa Terrace providing a further viewing area for the remaining gardens and their surroundings 61 References Edit Charter of Foundation The Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox for Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford A D 1517 translated by Ward G R M Longman Brown Green and Longmans 1843 p xlix a b Elsner Jas 19 October 2018 Dr Helen Moore elected President Corpus Christi College Oxford Archived from the original on 13 October 2018 Retrieved 27 July 2018 a b Student statistics University of Oxford 2017 Retrieved 31 August 2018 Corpus Christi College Oxford Annual Report amp Financial Statements Year ended 31 July 2018 PDF ox ac uk p 43 Retrieved 5 March 2019 Undergraduate Degree Classifications 2009 10 Archived from the original on 3 October 2010 Sundials on the Internet pillar dials Archived from the original on 14 February 2012 Retrieved 13 November 2008 Pattenden 1979 p page needed Corpus Wins University Challenge Oxford News University Challenge team disqualified BBC 2 March 2009 Retrieved 2 March 2009 Fowler 1898 pp 6 7 Fowler 1898 pp 38 40 Fowler 1898 p 41 Oldham Hugh Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 20685 Subscription or UK public library membership required a b Salter H E Sobel Mary D eds 1954 Corpus Christi College A History of the County of Oxford Volume 3 the University of Oxford Victoria County History London Charles Edwards amp Reid 2017 pp 70 264 Fowler 1898 p 15 Fowler 1898 p 32 Fowler 1898 p 18 1 The Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox for Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford A D 1517 translated by Ward G R M Longman Brown Green and Longmans 1843 p 3 Fowler 1898 Appendix A Fowler 1898 pp 34 35 Fowler 1898 pp 33 34 Charles Edwards amp Reid 2017 pp 64 75 81 Charles Edwards amp Reid 2017 pp 131 132 Gibbs Lee W 15 February 2008 Life of Hooker In Kirby Torrance ed A Companion to Richard Hooker Brill s Companions to the Christian Tradition Vol 8 Brill pp 8 9 ISBN 978 90 04 16534 2 ISSN 1871 6377 The Church History of Britain From the Birth of Jesus Christ until the year MDCXLVIII vol 3 3rd ed Thomas Tegg published 1842 1655 p 231 Charles Edwards amp Reid 2017 p 403 Annual Admissions Statistical Report May 2018 PDF www ox ac uk Tyack 1998 pp 72 73 Hudson Paul Stephen 21 November 2016 Oglethorpe University New Georgia Encyclopedia Charles Edwards amp Reid 2017 p 31 Sherwood amp Pevsner 1974 pp 29 131 Fowler 1898 p 45 Corpus Christi College An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Oxford London His Majesty s Stationery Office 1939 pp 48 54 Retrieved 18 January 2022 Fowler 1898 pp 46 222 Alan Baxter Associates 2014 The Corpus Estate Corpus Christi College Oxford Archived from the original on 20 August 2018 Tyack 1998 p 315 a b Completed accomodation sic Projects Corpus Christi College Oxford 2016 Archived from the original on 20 August 2018 The Lampl Building PDF Sundial No 2 Corpus Christi College Oxford 2 September 2013 p 10 Pattenden 1979 p 26 Pattenden 1983 p 322 Pattenden 1983 p 322 323 Pattenden 1983 p 322 325 Pattenden 1979 p 30 a b Pattenden 1979 pp 30 31 Pattenden 1979 p 12 Pattenden 1979 pp 11 12 Polyhedral Dial by Nicolaus Kratzer English 1518 30 MHS Collection Database Search Museum of the History of Science Inventory Number 54054 Pattenden 1979 p 14 Pattenden 1979 pp 21 22 Pattenden 1979 pp 48 53 Pattenden 1979 pp 55 57 Pattenden 1979 pp 59 61 Pattenden 1979 pp 64 70 The Corpus Estate PDF The Pelican Record Corpus Christi College Oxford LII December 2016 Pattenden 1983 p 321 Pomfret School Sundial sculpture Art Inventories Catalog Smithsonian American Art Museum Inventory of American Sculpture Control Number CT000250 a b c Corpus Christi Oxford Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest via Parks amp Gardens January 2000 Archived from the original on 25 July 2019 Agas map 1578 shows the Gardaine containing trees planted regularly below the wall and a smaller rectangular formally laid out area adjacent to the east The raised terrace in this area constructed c 1623 4 The Pelican 1979 80 pp 20 29 against the City Wall is shown in 1675 Loggan Map of Oxford with an elaborate two storey pavilion at the west end a line of trees growing along the top and two rows of shrubs growing on the level open area to the north parallel with the trees A similar layout is shown in 1726 behind Front Quad with its central sundial and the newly built Fellows Building to the east which retains the smaller enclosed area east of the terrace garden shown formally laid out in 1733 Williams Oxonia Depicta 1733 By 1814 Ackerman A History of the University of Oxford most of the formal elements in the garden south of the Fellows Building including the internal divisions had been removed and the east end of the City Wall lowered leaving an open lawn partially bordered by the raised terrace to the south a b Richardson 2018 pp 66 67 a b c Richardson 2018 p 67 a b c d e f Garth John 16 March 2015 Root and branch John Garth meets the extraordinary creator of one of the most storied and unusual Oxford college gardens www oxfordtoday ox ac uk Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Corpus Christi College Oxford The Gardens www ccc ox ac uk Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Richardson 2018 p 64 Oxford City Wall South Wall Christ Church with Bastions 20 amp 21 www oxfordhistory org uk Archived from the original on 24 July 2019 a b Lacey Stephen 9 July 2001 A free for all in the quad The Telegraph Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 a b c d Beck Caroline 23 April 2016 Me and my garden It s like paradise surrounded by beautiful buildings and overlooking Christ Church meadow The Guardian Archived from the original on 23 July 2019 Izacke Richard c 1624 1698 improved and continued to the year 1724 by Samuel Izacke Remarkable Antiquities of the City of Exeter 3rd Edition London 1731 A Perfect Catalogue of all the Bishops of this Church together with the Coats of Armory and Mottoes Described pp 25 50 1 2 Oxford University Calendar 2001 2002 2001 p 231 Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 951872 6 a b General Information and College Rules PDF Corpus Christi College Oxford September 2009 p 31 Miller Emily 25 May 2013 Oxford in suspense for Corpus tortoise fair Cherwell Retrieved 26 April 2014 Dr Helen Moore Faculty of English University of Oxford Retrieved 20 October 2018 Sources Edit Charles Edwards Thomas Reid Julian July 2017 Corpus Christi College Oxford A History Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 879247 5 Fowler Thomas 1898 Corpus Christi Oxford University College Histories Bloomsbury London F E Robinson amp Co Pattenden Philip 1979 Sundials at an Oxford College Roman Books ISBN 0 9506644 0 5 Pattenden Philip June 1983 Pelican Sundials in America Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors Inc XXV 3 ISSN 0027 8688 Richardson Tim 2018 Corpus Christi College Oxford College Gardens White Lion Publishing pp 61 70 ISBN 978 0 7112 3978 4 Sherwood Jennifer Pevsner Nikolaus 1974 Oxfordshire The Buildings of England Yale University Press ISBN 0 300 09639 9 Tyack Geoffrey 19 March 1998 Oxford An Architectural Guide Oxford University Press ISBN 0 19 817423 3 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corpus Christi College Oxford Corpus Christi College website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Corpus Christi College Oxford amp oldid 1127734104, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.