Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

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Colleges of the University of Cambridge

Corpus Christi College
Corpus Christi heraldic shield
                     
College name The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cambridge
Motto There is a toast, Floreat antiqua domus (Latin: May the old house flourish), from which the college’s nickname, ‘Old House’, is derived
Founders The Guild of Corpus Christi
The Guild of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Established 1352
Previously named Informal: Bene’t College (this seems to have died out in the 1820s)
Location Trumpington Street
Admittance Men and women
Master Prof Oliver Rackham OBE
Undergraduates 250
Graduates 150
Sister college Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Official website
Boat Club website

Corpus Christi College (full name: The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary, often shortened to simply Corpus) is a College of the University of Cambridge. It is notable for being the only college to have been founded by Cambridge townspeople, having been founded in 1352 by the Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is the second-smallest college (after Peterhouse), but the smallest in terms of undergraduates.

Contents

[edit] History

The licence to build an eighth college in the University of Cambridge was granted by Edward III in 1352 to the newly merged guilds of Corpus Christi and St Mary in the parish of St Bene't's. They immediately began the construction of a single modest court near the parish church and in 1356 it was ready to house a Master and two fellows, who drew up the college's statutes. Continuing their studies in theology and Canon law, they served as chaplains to the guild.

The college's first couple of centuries saw its wealth increase, which was put on display as part of the Corpus Christi guild's annual procession. This involved parading through the streets to Magdalene bridge, before returning for an extravagant dinner. The parade continued until Henry VIII put a stop to it in 1535.

Corpus is exceptionally rich in silver, but its greatest treasure is the Parker Library, one of the finest and most important collections of medieval manuscripts in the world. Its most famous possession is the Canterbury Gospels, probably brought to England in 597 AD by St. Augustine, when he was sent by Pope Gregory I to convert the people of Britain. However, it also contains the principal manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, works by Matthew Paris and Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, to name only a few.

Christopher Marlowe is perhaps the college's most-celebrated son, having matriculated to Corpus in 1580. Although little is known about his time there, it is often believed that it was during his study for his MA that he began his work as a spy, a claim based on only a single cryptic statement by the Privy Council. In 1953 during renovation of the Master's Lodge a portrait of a man "in the 21st year of his age" was discovered. As the painting is dated 1585, the year Marlowe was 21, it is inevitable that it has been claimed as a portrait of the playwright himself.

In recent years, the College has spearheaded the Northern Ireland Initiative which was set up to encourage students from Northern Ireland to apply to Oxbridge, but particularly Cambridge. They hold "Cambridge Taster Days" across the province and Dr. Melanie Taylor spends much of her year travelling around Northern Ireland talking to prospective students and allaying their fears over the interviews and other myths that have appeared over the years.

The college is the venue of the Intelligence History Seminar, a group of postgraduate historians that discuss newly released intelligence documents. These weekly meetings are presided over by the College's current President, Prof. Christopher Andrew. Invited guests occasionally include past members of the British and other intelligence services. At this seminar, views are expressed according to the Chatham House Rule and under an informal agreement with the group's members such views cannot be published.

Professor Oliver Rackham FBA was elected Master on 15 October 2007, indicating that he would serve until the end of September 2008. On June 2 2008 it was announced that Stuart Laing, the British Ambassador to Kuwait, would take over as Master from October 2008.

In July 2007, Corpus retained its position of 8th in the Tompkins Table with a score of 65.57% (25.9% firsts). [1] The college visitor is the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge [2], HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.[3]

Corpus owns The Eagle Pub (though it is managed by Greene King). Watson and Crick are said to have refreshed themselves in this pub while deliberating over the structure of DNA.

In Corpus slang, a bop is called a 'slack', and members of the college often refer to themselves as 'Corpuscles'.[1]

The College is said to be haunted by a number of ghosts. Most famous, and feared, is the terrifying apparition of Henry Butts, hero of the plague of 1630, who hanged himself with his garters in the then Master's Lodge on Easter Sunday, 1632 [2]. Butts' ghost was subject to an attempted (and purportedly unsuccessful) exorcism by three students in 1904.[3] Another is that of Elisabeth Spencer, daughter of the master, and her young lover (both dead in 1667). Their ghosts are said to walk on Christmas Eve.[2]

Corpus was the only college not to sell its silverware in support of either side during the Civil War. That - and its unrivaled collection of manuscripts and massive collection of rare wines and ports - fuels rumours that it is Cambridge's richest college per student. This is a moot point, since these assets cannot be sold and most cannot be valued.[2]

[edit] Buildings

Inside the New Court facing the Chapel
Inside the New Court facing the Chapel

Old Court, built in the 1350s, is one of Cambridge's oldest buildings and retains many of its original features, including sills and jambs to hold oil-soaked linen in the days prior to the arrival of glass. The court was possibly built from the core of an even older building and is the oldest courtyard in Oxford or Cambridge (a claim disputed by Merton College, Oxford who say the same of their Mob Quad) as well as, some say, the oldest continually inhabited courtyard in the country. A new library complex, designed by Wright & Wright Architects, has recently been completed. It is situated on the corner of Trumpington and Bene't Street that used to house the NatWest Bank.

St Bene't's church next door is itself the oldest building in the city, and served as the college's chapel until one was built in around 1500.

New Court (completed 1827) was designed by William Wilkins, who is buried in the college chapel. New Court is also the site of the Parker Library, which was begun in 1376 and much improved by a bequest from Matthew Parker, the college's Master between 1544 and 1553, who as Archbishop of Canterbury formed a fine collection of manuscripts from the libraries of dissolved monasteries. This court also houses Butler Library, which was the college's main student library. The library has since been relocated to Library Court and is called the Taylor Library.

Library Court (completed 2008) houses the college's student centre which include the college bar, JCR and the Taylor Library along with new college offices. The Taylor Library was named after Dr John Taylor[4] a former graduate of the college and former Chairman of Strix Ltd, an electric kettle thermostat manufacturer. He is reputed within the college to have invented the self switching off kettle. [5] [6]

There are also several outlying college properties. These include Bene't Street Hostel and Botolph Court, the former being located just above The Eagle. These house students of all years, but a large proportion of rooms are occupied by freshers. Newnham House, which is located near to Newnham College, accommodates mostly second-years. The Robert Beldam Building, adjacent to Bene't Street Hostel, is a modern accommodation block. There are also 2 houses (Nos 6 & 8) in Trumpington Street which are almost directly opposite the University Engineering Department. There is also a graduate campus at Leckhampton, which is situated about a mile west of the main college site, just outside the city centre. Here there are playing fields, 9½ acres (38,000 m²) of gardens, an open air swimming pool and some of the best graduate housing in the University.

Dining hall panorama
Dining hall panorama

Part of one of the college's buildings, Botolph Court, which houses some 30 students, is said to be built on top of a 17th century plague pit and slowly sinking into it. This rumour is supported by the old basement under the building, sloping walls and floors and that the building lies just outside the old city wall. The other part is medieval.[2].

The nickname 'Old House' has historically been used to refer to the whole college, but most usually (if, nowadays, at all) to designate the main college buildings, as opposed to outlying places like Leckhampton (e.g. "After my morning swim at Leckers, I'm going to eat lunch at Old House"). It is no longer in common usage among undergraduates (save for in the Latin form, Floreat antiqua domus (i.e. May the old house flourish), in the college toast), but it is occasionally used by fellows, postgraduates and college staff.[7]

[edit] Famous alumni

Name Birth Death Career
St Richard Reynolds 1535 Catholic Martyr
Matthew Parker 1504 1575 Archbishop of Canterbury
Nicholas Bacon 1509 1579 Politician
George Wishart 1513 1546 Scottish reformer and martyr
John Jewel 1522 1571 Bishop of Salisbury; leader in the English Reformation
Thomas Cavendish 1555 1592 Navigator
John Greenwood 1593 Puritan and Separatist
Christopher Marlowe 1564 1593 Dramatist, poet, translator
Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork 1566 1643
John Fletcher 1579 1625 Playwright
Thomas Tenison 1636 1715 Archbishop of Canterbury
Stephen Hales 1677 1761 Physiologist, chemist and inventor
William Stukeley 1687 1765 Antiquary
Richard Rigby Paymaster of the Forces
Richard Gough 1735 1809 Antiquarian
John James Stewart Perowne 1823 1904 Thelogian
John Cowper Powys 1872 1963 Writer, lecturer, philosopher
Llewelyn Powys 1884 1939 Writer
B.H. Liddell Hart 1895 1970 Military historian
Edward Upward 1903 Novelist
Christopher Isherwood 1904 1986 Novelist
Dudley Senanayake 1911 1973 Prime Minister of Ceylon
Sir Gordon Wolstenholme 1913 2004 Medical pioneer
John Chadwick 1920 1998 Classicist and decipherer of Linear B
Campbell Adamson 1922 2000 Director General of the CBI
E.P. Thompson 1924 1993 Historian, socialist, peace campaigner
Alistair Macdonald 1925 1999 Politician
John Michael Gorst 1929 Conservative Politician
Michael Mayne 1929 Dean of Westminster Abbey (1986-1996)
Alan Wilson 1939 Scientist, Former Master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Neil Hamilton[4][5] 1947 Conservative MP (1983-1997)
Francis Maude 1953 Chairman of the Conservative Party
Peter Luff 1955 Conservative MP (1992-present)
Scott H. MacKenzie 1958 Historian, Scholar
Bernard Jenkin 1959 Shadow Minister for Trade and Industry and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party
Simon Heffer 1960 Journalist
Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi 1956 former minister of finance, planning and development & law, Government of Pakistan
Makhdoom Ali Khan 1954 Barrister, Former Attorney General of Pakistan and Chairman Pakistan Bar Council

[edit] List of Masters of Corpus Christi

Name Start of service End of Service
Thomas de Eltisle 1352 1376
Richard Treton 1376 ?
John Kynne ? 1389
John de Necton 1389 1398
Richard de Billingford 1398 1432
Walter Smyth 1443 1474
Simon Grene 1474 1477
Thomas Cosyn 1487 1515
John Edyman 1515 1516
Peter Nobys 1516 1523
William Sowode 1523 1544
Matthew Parker 1544 1553
Lawrence Moptyd 1553 1557
John Porie 1557 1569
Thomas Aldrich 1569 1573
Robert Norgate 1573 1587
John Copcot 1587 1590
John Jegon 1590 1602
Thomas Jegon 1602 1618
Samuel Walsall 1618 1626
Henry Butts 1626 1632
Richard Lowe 1632 1661
Peter Gunning 1661 1661
Francis Wilford 1661 1667
John Spencer 1667 1693
William Stanley 1693 1698
Thomas Greene 1698 1716
Samuel Bradford 1716 1724
Matthias Mawson 1724 1744
Edmund Castle 1744 1750
John Green 1750 1764
John Barnardiston 1764 1778
William Colman 1778 1795
Philip Douglas 1795 1822
John Lamb 1822 1850
James Pullin 1850 1879
Edward Henry Perowne 1879 1906
Robert Townley Caldwell 1906 1914
Edmund Courtenay Pearce 1914 1927
Sir William Spens 1927 1952
Sir George Paget Thomson 1952 1962
Sir Frank Godbould Lee 1962 1971
Sir Archibauld Duncan Wilson 1971 1980
Michael William McCrum 1980 1994
Sir Anthony Wrigley 1994 2000
Haroon Ahmed 2000 2006
Alan Wilson 2006 2007
Oliver Rackham 2007

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Life at Corpus - Glossary. Retrieved on 7 February 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d Rackham, Oliver (2002). Treasures of Silver at Corpus Christi College. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052181880X. 
  3. ^ Corpus Christi College
  4. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/develoffice/studentlibrary.htm
  5. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/mea/general/annualReport02.PDF
  6. ^ {{cite web|url=http://www.strix.com/about_history.htm
  7. ^ The Main College ("Old House"). Corpus Christi College MCR. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.

[edit] External links

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