Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

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Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Full name	The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cambridge
Motto	None. There is a toast, Floreat antiqua domus ('May the old house flourish'), from which the college's nickname, 'Old House', is derived
Named after	The city's Guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary
Previous names	None; the college was once popularly known as Bene't College, though this seems to have died out in the 1820s
Established	1352
Sister College(s)	Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Master	Prof Sir Alan Wilson
Location	Trumpington Street
Undergraduates	250
Postgraduates	210
Homepage	Boatclub

Corpus Christi College (full name: The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary, in daily usage often referred to simply as 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).

Contents 1 History 2 Buildings 3 Oddities, traditions, myths and legends 4 Famous alumni 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[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 colleges' Building C is reported to be the venue of the bi-weekly Friday meetings of the British Intelligence Study Group, presided over by the College's current President, Prof. Christopher Andrew - at which past and present members of the British and other intelligence services are reported to be exchanging information and analysis on various intelligence issues.

[edit] Buildings

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 is in the process of being built.

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 is the college's main library used by students.

There are also several outlying college properties. These include Bene't Street Hostel and Botolph Court, the former being located just above the famous Eagle pub. 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, a swimming pool and some of the best graduate housing in the University.

[edit] Oddities, traditions, myths and legends

As with all old institutions, Corpus has many legends, traditions and general oddities. Here is a sampling:

• 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.
• The chapel's three windows by the same stained-glass artist appear at the beginning of a story by M.R. James, The Treasure of Abbot Thomas.
• Reputedly, the Head Porter, Skullion, in Porterhouse Blue and Granchester Grind by Tom Sharpe is based upon a former Head Porter of Corpus, Albert Jaggard.
• In Corpus slang, a bop is called a 'slack', and members of the college often refer to themselves as 'Corpuscles'.^[1]
• One of the Corpus gentlemen's sporting and dining societies is known as the Pelicans. The society emerged when the notorious Chess Club was pressured to disband in the 1980s, due to their unacceptable social outings.^{[citation needed]} Members sport beige slacks, with blue shirts and a distinct maroon tie upon which a pelican has been hand sewn. Membership is restricted to those who have represented the college at Cuppers standard in at least three sports, or who have represented the University.
• An older dining Society, the Corpus Squares, was founded in 1977. Its membership comprises Fellows and students, and the principal prerequisite is to possess and wear a Square (the Cambridge term for what is elsewhere called a mortar-board).
• Each Lent term, a one day series of competitions is held against Corpus Cambridge's sister college, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. This competition, the Corpus Challenge, encompasses a number of different field and bar sports and is alternately hosted at Cambridge and Oxford. The 2006 challenge was held in Cambridge and was won by Cambridge for the first time since 1998, with victories in mixed lacrosse, badminton, men's hockey, mixed hockey, ladies football and mixed netball. The 2007 challenge was held in Oxford and won by Oxford.
• The mathematics society is named "T. Batterby" after the last Corpus recipient of the wooden spoon. The spoon is still in the college's possession. and hangs in the McCurdy Room
• The law society is named after Nicholas Bacon.
• While the College is known for playwright Christopher Marlowe, its drama society is named the Fletcher Players, after John Fletcher.
• There is also a smaller group of thespians, the Gravediggers, who also comprise Fellows and students, and who wear a tie in the College maroon, graced with an embroidered skull.
• The college Grace is read in Latin at formal dinners in the dining hall. The grace runs as follows: "Benedic, Domine, nobis et his donis tuis, quae de tuae largitate sumus sumpturi, et concede ut, iis salubriter nutriti, tibi debitum obsequium praestare valeamus. Per Jesum Christum, Dominum nostrum", to which the response is called out "Deo gratias."
• On Sundays and Feast Days, the Grace is preceded by the following antiphon: "Mensae caelestis participes faciat nos Rex gloriae aeternae".
• Corpus is known for two ghost legends, both from the seventeenth century: one is of the ghost of a young man who was supposed to have courted Elizabeth Spencer, the daughter of the then master, and the other is of the tragic death of Henry Butts, the master of the college who committed suicide in 1632.^[2]. In 1904, three students attempted to exorcise one of these ghosts.^[3] It is supposedly a sending down offence to report a sighting of either apparition.
• It is said that the porters refuse to enter the Hall when it is dark and the lights are off. Due to what terrifying spectre nobody is sure.
• 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 or 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.^[4]
• 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.^[5].
• 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, in the college toast), although it is in wide use among fellows, postgraduates and college staff.^[6]

[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
John Jewel	1522	1571	Bishop of Salisbury; leader in the English Reformation
Thomas Cavendish	1555	1592
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
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
Michael Mayne	1929		Dean of Westminster Abbey (1986-1996)
Alan Wilson	1939		Scientist, Current master of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
Neil Hamilton[1][2]	1947		Conservative MP (1983-1997)
Francis Maude	1953		Chairman of the Conservative Party
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

[edit] See also

• Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
• Category:Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
• Corpus Christi College Boat Club (Cambridge)

[edit] References

1. ^ Life at Corpus - Glossary. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
2. ^ Oliver Rackham, Treasures of Silver at Corpus Christi College, 2002.
3. ^ http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about/history.htm#11
4. ^ Oliver Rackham, Treasures of Silver at Corpus Christi College, 2002.
5. ^ Oliver Rackham, Treasures of Silver at Corpus Christi College, 2002
6. ^ As used in this entry - http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/oldmembers/diary.php?diaid=20 - on the college website. The Latin is, of course, obvious.

[edit] External links

• http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/jcr - JCR page

• http://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/mcr - MCR page