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Background

Two bishops would go on to found a college: Richard Fox and Hugh Oldham. Richard Fox was an accomplished and influential statesman and a longtime ally of Henry VII. He rapidly promoted in both government and church, eventually becoming Bishop of Winchester. His career lead to involvement in Oxford and Cambridge Universities: he was been Visitor of Magdalen College and of Balliol College, had amended the Balliol College's statutes under a papal commission, was master of Pembroke Hall, Oxford for 12 years and had been involved in the foundation of St John's College, Cambridge as one of Lady Margaret Beaufort's executors. Hugh Oldham was Bishop of Exeter and a patron of education.

Foundation

The construction of the college began in 1513 and Fox took possession of the completed college on 5 March 1517. Fox originally intended the college to train monks, but was persuaded by Oldham to make it a secular institution. The foundation attracted a great deal of attention, including from Cardinal Wolsely, who would later found Cardinal College. The primary benefactors for the college were Fox (who gave £4000), Oldham and William Frost, Oldham's steward.

The college had a number of innovations. The greatest was the college hosting a university lecturer specifically for Greek, who would cover the Greek grammarians and poets.

Notes

History

Foundation

12

   Hugh Oldham and his steward helped found the college. 

   Oldham was a Lancashire  

   Educated in the household of the Earl of Durham, Thomas Stanley whose third wife was Lady Margaret. He was educated with James Stanley and William Smith, later Bishops of Ely and Lincoln, effectively effectively respectively. 

   He was promoted to the bishopric of Exeter in 1504. 

   Donated "6000 marks (£4000)". 

   Styled hujus nostri Collegii præcipuus benefactor by Foxe. 

   Died before Foxe in 1519. 

   Statue/Sculpture of him in Exeter Cathedral? 

   Bishop Foxe was one of his executors  

14

Statutes and college life

• Greatest novelty of a public lecturer in Greek -- for the entire university. Apparently first such office intended specifcally for Greek instruction.
• He would lecture on alternating days on the Greek grammarians and poets. All members of the college below Batchelor of Divinity (including Masters of Arts) had to attend the lectures on pain of commons and to pass an examination on them three times a week.
• Similarly for Professor of Humanity or Latin

• Similarly for reader of Theology, whose lectures all theology fellows had to attend, except Doctors. He would lecture everyday, referring to ancient Greek and Latin doctors, not medieval authors.
• "This society of students" would consist of 50--60 people. Excluding the President, there were 20 fellows, 20 scholars (who would eventually succeed to fellowships), 2 chaplains, 2 choristers, 2 clerks, up to 3 readers, 4-6 sons of nobles or lawyers (later referred to as "gentlemen-commoners") and the rest being made up by staff and servants. The fellowships were restricted to the areas where the founders came from; for example, half to be natives of dioceses were Fox had been bishop.
• Fellows and scholars shared rooms, with one scholar and one fellow per room, the fellow supervising the scholar's behaviour. The fellow would be assigned by the president to be the scholar's tutor. The Fellow would have a high bed, and the scholar a truckle bed. This was an advance on current practice: recent colleges (Magdalen and Brasenose) allotted three or four to a room.
• Fellows and scholars were forbidden to take their clothes or others' to the wash.
• The college provided two meals a day
• Conversation was to be in Latin or Greek (unless ignorant of them) throughout college.

• Members of the college were not allowed to go outside college online. They had to go as a body to and from Magdalen College for lectures and otherwise be accompanied by another member of college "as witness of their honest conversation".

• No mention of wiktionary:rustication .
• The first professor of Humanity was Juan Luis Vives. The first professor of Greek Edward Wotton. Founding fellows and scholars include Reginald Pole, Nicholas Kratzer
• Erasmus writes of the great interest taken by Wolsely, Lorenzo Campeggio, Henry VIII and himself in the college's foundation. In flowery langauge, he describes the college as "inter praecipus decora Britanniae" and that its three language library (Latin, Greek and Hebrew) would attract more scholars to Oxford than to Rome.
• Erasmus' comments were undoubtedly exagerated, but when completed Corpus was likely the largest and best furnished library in Oxford.

• Statutory reform in 1855.

Buildings

• Original President's Lodgings on the first floor of the gatehouse.
• Fox had begun to build and purchase more land for the college in 1513 for the training of young monks.
• More than one fight between students at Brasenose College and workmen building Corpus, with one student, named Hastings, being imprisoned and made to pay for the victim's surgeon's bill.
• The college was built on the site of a nunnery, two halls, two inns and the Bachelers Garden of Merton.
• The college was likely completed by 1520.
• A separate house was built for the President in 1599 on the site of the present West Building.
• The college did not originally have battlements; they were added around 1624.
• The present Fellow's Building was was constructed in 1706-1712 at the expense of Dr Turner on the site of the old cloister chambers.
• An extra storey was added to main quadrangle from 1737
• The painting of The Adoration of the Shepherds was gifted by Sir Richard Worsley in 1804.
• The "New Building" and Annexe were erected, designed by Thomas Graham Jackson in 1884-85. The larger building was replaced between 1967 and 1969 by a design by Powell and Moya. In 2017, the buildings were refurbished and renamed the Oldham and Jackson Buildings, respectively.
• The original dial was constructed by Charles Turnbull in 1581.

• In 1991, Corpus and Christ Church built the Liddell Building.
• In 2014, the Lampl Building was completed, named after Peter Lampl.

Tudor and early Stuart periods

...a certain bee garden, which we have named the College of Corpus Christi, wherein scholars, like ingenious bees, are by night and day to make wax to the honor of God, and honey, dripping sweetness to the profit of themselves and of all Christians

Richard Fox, Somewhere in the statutes

• The first president was John Claymond and was formerly the President of Magdalen College.
• Claymond was a longtime friend of Fox.
• Claymond was a renowned scholar interested in the revival of classical learning.
• He held a large number of ecclesiastical benefices and consequently could be generous with his money: he constructed a covered market in Carfax for sellers of barley, (re)constructed bridges three bridges over the Botley meadows, repaired the city's gates, and gave to the city's poor: including poor friars, felons and debtors in the gaol. He gave large amounts of land to Corpus Christi, Magdalen and Brasenose upon his death.
• He was appointed President on 5 March 1517 and held until his death in 19 November 1537.
• He left for subsequent presidents his sapphire ring.
• Nicholas Udall admitted as Greek Reader in 1520.
• Richard Pate admitted in 1522, John Shepreve in 1528, James Brookes, William Chedsey, Richard Pate's nephew Richard Pate. <1-- etc. etc. -->

• The Vice-President, Robert Morwent, succeeded Claymond on 26 November 1537. He was also from Magdalen.
• He died on 16 August 1558.

• John Jewel was awarded a scholarship in 19 August 1539.
• Members of Corpus were originally called Somatochristiani.

• Jewel left, as Reader of Latin, on the accession of Queen Mary and took refuge in Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College.
• Morwent probably practised secretly as a Catholic throughout Edward VI's reign; he and two fellows were sent to Fleet Prison for using "other service than was permitted by the 'Book of Service'". Morwent and the Fellows were held until a £200 bond was paid.
• The visitation of Edward VI's commissioners was lighter than that for other colleges. The commissioners did not damage as severly as they did at Merton, New and other colleges and they did not take the silver and vestments.
• Students admitted during this time include Richard Edwardes and William Cole, later President of Corpus and Dean of Lincoln.

• William Chedsey succeeded Morwent on 8 September 1558.
• However, Queen Elizabeth succeeded Mary and ordered a new visitation to the University in June 1559. The visitation ejected Chedsey in late Autumn that year, likely for refusing to swear the Oath of Supremacy, and his replacement was installed on 15 December. Chedsey was subsequently thrown into the Fleet.

• William Butcher was appointed by the Commissioners as President.
• He was later impeached by the Visitor for keeping the fines of copyholds for himself and not the college. He resigned a few months later on 13 December 1561.
• Thomas Twyne was admitted during Butcher's presidentship.

• Thomas Greenway, the fifth president, was sworn in 3 January 1562.
• Greenway also attempted to appropriate the Copyhold Fines; after another unpleasant visitation resulting the summary expulsion of several members of college (for unrelated reasons) , he probably resigned in Summer 1568.
• During Greenway's presidency, John Rainolds was admitted in 1563.

• William Cole was sworn in on 19 July 1568.
• William Cole was not elected by the fellows of the college. Containing many Roman Catholics, they appointed Rob. Harrison, who had recently been expelled by the college visitor for his religious beliefs. The Queen, who had suggested Cole as president, annulled the election and ordered a visitation. The visitor and his retinue were shut out. After eventually entering, several members were consequently pronounced non Socii (i.e. expelled).
• Cole was the first married president of Corpus Christi.

• Claimed Cole brought the college into debt, which was only paid off under Rainolds.
• Bishop could not force him to resign, for fear of being forced to eat mice again, as he had in Zurich during Queen Mary's reign.
• Better relationship with the students than the fellows. "Not a man of conciliatory disposition" or "likely to work in harmon with his colleagues". "His avarice and self-seeking seem to have been established beyond doubt." Fines of copyholds still an issue.
• Better relationships likely due to younger generation being Protestant.

• Cole was Vice-Chancellor of the Univeristy in 1577, the first president of Corpus to do so.
• The Corpus statute forbid the president from being Bishop.
• Cole resigned in November/December 1598, later becoming Dean of Lincoln.

• Elizabeth taxed the colleges in 1592 and give an idea of their relative wealth: Corpus £500, All Souls £500, ChCh £2000, Magdalen £1200, New £1000, Merton and St. Johns £400 each, Univ and Balliol £100 each.
• Richard Hooker was admitted during Cole's presidency. He likely resided in college for 16 years.
• Also admitted were Edwin Sandys, Charles Turnbull, John Spenser, Thomas Jackson (both later presidents), Miles Smith and Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester.

• The young Hooker had been introduced to John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury, and impressed enough to have him support Hooker's entry into Corpus in late 1569.
• President Cole took an interest in Hooker's education.

• When Jewel died in 1571, Edwin Sandys took over as Hooker's patron.

• He was made a scholar in 1577 and became a full fellow in 1579. That July, he was appointed deputy professor of Hebrew.

• John Rainolds was Hooker's tutor and lifelong friend.

• Hooker was expelled with some other fellows and Rainolds for opposing the appointment of John Barfoot, a rigorous advocate of conformity to the Common Book of Prayer. Hooker and his colleagues were restored when Rainolds assumed the presidency.

• May reflect "youthful tendencies towards Calvinist nonconformity".

• During his tenure at Oxford, he became close friends with George Cranmer and Edwin Sandys. Both co-operate greatly on Hooker's masterpiece Of the Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie.

• He was ordained in 1581 and left Oxford in Autumn 1584.

• John Rainolds was elected on 11 December 1598, having formerly been Dean of Lincoln.

• He entered Corpus aged 13 and was made probationary fellow at 17, which was very early even then. BA at 20.

But it is plain from all that we know of these times, that young men were then much more forward at life then they now are at the same age, and began much earlier to be self-reliant and self-supporting

Thomas Fowler, on Reynolds' early achievements.

• From an academic fellow: nephew of Thomas Rainolds, Warden of Merton, and had two brothers who had had scholarships at Corpus and a further one who was at New.
• Tutored by Hooker.
• Greek Reader in 1573. Succeeded by John Spenser, then aged 19 (Rainolds and the other fellows appealed against this decision to the Visitor). Spenser's election was likely intended to keep him at Corpus, as he was Suffolk, which was not one of the counties/sees from which Scholars and Fellows could be admitted from.
• In 1586, he took up a theology Lectureship (funded £20 p.a. by Sir Francis Walsingham) and retired to Queen's.
• Personally scolded by Elizabeth I on her 1592 visit to the University for "his obstinate preciseness, willing him to follow her laws, not run before them."

Many a man speakes of Robin Hood who never shot his bow : if you had a good wife yourself, you would think that all the honour and worship you could do to her would be will disposed.

James I, joking to Rainolds in reference to the proposed Bible line "With my body I thee worship", Cardwell, Edward (1849). A history of conferences and other proceedings connected with the revision of the Book of common prayer (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 200..

• Rainolds suggested James order a new translation of the Bible. James agreed; the team of translators included Rainolds and another Corpus alumni Miles Smith. The translators met with Rainolds once a week in his lodgings.
• Died 21 May 1607, either from gout or TB, aged 57
• A funeral oration at Corpus was held in the main quadrangle, the Chapel being too small to hold the crowd.

Note to self: ADD LINK TO Marian exiles!!!

• In his will, he donated many of the colleges he had studied at and left the remaining books to be given to students deserving (and considering their want of means) of them. Many of these "were his admirers, and had sate at his feet".
• "No doubt of the eminence of his rare abilities, of his pure and high character, and of his depth and extent of learning."
• Bishop Hall wrote that "He alone was a well-furnished library."
• Fuller writes of Corpus "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."
• Students admitted during this time include Henry Jackson

• John Spenser swore the Presidential Oath on 9 June 1607.
• He was chaplain to James I.
• Spenser died on 3 April 1614, aged 55.

• Thomas Anyan was selected by the Visitor when the three Presidential candidates failed to get a majority of the votes.
• He was became President at the start of Summer, 1614.
• "But there seems to have been, or there was supposed to have been, some dark stain on this character. It is unnecessary, for the purposes of this book, to pursue this subject further, or to detail the various circumstances which ended in the resignation of his office in April 1629."
• During this time, Edward Pococke was admitted.

• John Holt was elected President on 24 April 1629.
• Died less than two years later in London, on 10 January 1631. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

• Thomas Jackson succeeded Holt. He did not even know of Holt's death when he was elected, only finding out in the same letter which told him of his election.
• Sworn in 17 February 1631.
• Died 21 September 1640, buried in college without memorial.
• During this time, Robert Frampton and John Lenthall were admitted.

• Robert Newlyn was elected president and was sworn in on 9 October 1640.
• "After his restoration in 1660, he developed , to an inordinate degree, the quality of nepotism, and was frequently embroiled in quarrels with the Fellows."

The visitation and Commonwealth

• At the start of English Civil War, Charles ordered all collefges and inns in Oxford to surrender their collection of silver plate to be turned into money. However, Corpus remarkably managed to maintain its historic plate. Fowler speculates the College provided a monetary payment instead, likely because the plate was unsuitable for minting.

• On 1 May 1647 Parliament ordered a visitation to the University of the Oxford in retribution for its support of the King.
• Due to the war, Corpus had been unable to admit many scholars and in 1648 had twelve unfilled places. The fellows had 97 applicants on the first day of applications; by the election, there still remained 62.
• On 4 April 1648, the Visitors (aka Commisioners) searched President Newlin's lodgings.
• On 9 May 1648, the members of Corpus was summonedto appear before the Visitors. All except two refused to answer the Visitor's questions, instead referring to the responses of the University's delegates and the College President.
• On 15 May, the Parliamentary Commission ordered the expulsion of 394 members of the University.
• On 22 May, the Parliamentary Commission deprived Newlin of the Presidency and appointed Edmund Staunton as his replacement. The order was stuck on the college gate on 27 May, with the further order to the Vice-President to ensure no obedience to him as President. The order was torn down not long after.

• On 11 July, the a guard of musketeers was sent around Oxford to perform the expulsions. All those named were ordered to get five miles away from Oxford by sunset, or else be arrested as a spy (and likely hanged).
• On the same day, the Visitors, headed by the Parliamentary Vice-Chancellor and newly Dean of Christchurch, came to install Staunton as President. They struckout Newlin's name from the Buttery book and replaced it with Staunton's. The Visitors then went to search the Corpus treasury. After finding nothing, they returned to find that Staunton's name had been blotted out and then torn out of the book. The two scholars responsible were later expelled.
• On July 13, six college servants were summoned before the visitation. All refused to acknowledge Staunton as President. The committee ordered their expulsion, along with those who had ignored the Visitation's summons.
• On October 2, the expulsion proper took place on October 2.
• By this time, the Visitors had selected 42 replacements.
• James Metford, admitted 1648 and expelled the same year, said "As to the College of C.C.C. [sic], it was generally ruined in 1649. There was not one Fellow left but M^r Noel Sparks the Greek Lecturer who was bed rid ... M^r Zachary Bogan was a Probationer and consumptive and his death daily expected, he was also left by their Charity, so that 18 very worthy and learned men were thrown off with Dr. Newlin and the President and none were saved, but that twas plain inhumanity to drive them out."
• Staunton was a popular Puritan preacher.
• As President, he had vigorously promoted Religion.
• Discipline was exceptionally stringent during his Presidency. Four scholars were put out of commons for sitting with their caps on in his presence. Then Clerk Edward Fowler was deprived of his commons for throwing bread at the windows of Christchurch College (eo quod alumnos Aedis Christi pane projecto in tumultum provocavi) Two scholars were put of commons for a week for walking around Oxford at 10 o'clock at night without their gowns.

• In 1653, the ex-Steward Newlin returned a large quantity of College Silver and records to the college. The college subsequently dropped its threat of prosecution and awarded him for £5 in thanks.
• During this Presidency, John Rosewell was admitted.

Late Stuart and Georgian

• Almost all the fellows and scholars ejected were reinstated following the Restoration.
• Staunton was ejected from the President's Lodgings on 3 August 1660, Newlin having been restored by the Royal Commissioners three days before.
• Staunton retired to Hertfordshire to be a pastor.

• Constant appeals to the Visitor.

• Newlin was as nepotistic as before. One student was expelled for abusing the numerous relations of the President in college and for saying it was a scanadalous matter to be a Newlin.
• In 1677, two scholars, Robert Newlin and John Bradshaw, broke into the room of one of the senior Fellows, robbed him and attempted to murder him in his sleep.
• Practice of speaking Latin or Greek in Hall slowly being corrupted with English and Dog Latin..
• Practice of attending Magdalen lectures fallen into wt:desuetude for at least 50 years.
• In his 1674 Visitation, Bishop Morley investigated the practice of "corrupt resignations", where Fellows or Scholars resigned for money. At the time, this practice was prevalent at Magdalen, New and All Souls. The college denied any knowledge of such resignations, although a large number of resignations had occurred at the time.
• Relations with the Visitor became very rocky at this time, with frequent appeals and obvious enjoyment on part of the Bishop.
• By this time (c. 1670), the college succession had been painfully slow. In 1678, no matriculations took place at all. In the academic year 1680-81, just two undergraduate scholars were recorded in the college's Buttery Book but around 35 postgrads.
• On 6 March 1688, President Newlin died.

• Dr. Thomas Turner elected President on 13 March 1688.
• "Turner seems to have ruled the college well, wisely and peaceably. We hear of no scandals during his presidency, nor have we any evidence of internal dissensions, such as were so common in the days of Newlin.
• In 1706, Turner organised and funded the erection of the Fellows Buildings (briefly called Turner's Buildings). They were completed in 1712 and cost £4000. Said to have designed by Henry Aldrich.
• Turner died on 29 April 1714.

• Basil Kennet was elected President on 15 May 1714. Originally, Stephen Hurman was elected, but he resigned before formally going to the Visitor. Kennett died 8 months later of a fever, on 2 January 1715.
• During this brief Presidency, James Oglethorpe, founder of the Colony of Georgia, was admitted.

• On 12 January 1715, John Mather was elected President.
• Was Vice-Chancellor for five years from 1723.
• Had Jacobite tendencies.
• Little happens to him or the college during his 33-year presidency.

We are now in the depths of the very dulness [sic] of the eighteenth century.

Thomas Fowler, Corpus Christi,

• Register of punishment no longer records the "faults of boys", but "the vices of men".
• One student was convicted by the College of attempted murder and, as punishment, was deprived of his commons for two weeks and ordered to publicly beg for forgiveness in hall.
• In 1741, Corpus followed other colleges in introducing Public Examinations for Bachelor's degrees.
• Mather died on 15 April 1748 and was succeeded by Thomas Randolph on April 23.

• "He had the habit of muttering upon the most trivial occassions 'Mors omnibus communis [all things die]'".
• In 1749, disputations were still held in hall.
• In 1754, the college was censured in the Evening Advertizer for having a picture of Prince Charles in the Bachelor's Common Room. By the time the issue reached the College President, the picture had had its head cut off, been replaced by the BCR in a 7-3 vote, and then was burnt (by some Gentleman-Commoners?). The Bachelors were sentenced to publicly beg forgiveness in hall.
• In 1755, the MA scholars were allowed leaves of absence from Corpus, whose allowances barely covered the expenses of living in Oxford. Those MA scholars also had little do, due to the glacial pace (at least 10-12 years) of the succession to the fellowships.
• Bachelors were a constant source of trouble to the College.
• In 1755, the scholars counted: 7 MA, 9 BA, 4 ordinary undergraduate, 2 clerks, 2 choristers and 5 gentlemen-commoners.
• 24 January 1755, Ames, an undergraduate scholar, set fire to the furniture in the Fellow's Common room, stuffed a lot of books and pamphlets under the (fireplace) grate and damaged a quantity of college plate. The room only just escaped being burnt down. He was allowed to resign and spared prosecution, the act being looked upon as a "sudden impulse of madness".

• In 1779, the College Chaplain was admonished before the President, senior fellows and officers of the college for his "misbehaviour, drunkenness [and] extravagance".
• In 1782, lack of candidates for Scholarships.
• Randolph died on 24 March 1783.
• College began to shake off its lethargy during this presidency and began attracting more successful, academic students.
• College "rowdyism and immorality" subsided by 1760.
• "[I]t was beginning to recover its pristine efficiency and reputation."
• Excellent relations between "indulgent" President Randolph and students.
• Anecdote about Randolph recollected by Richard Lovell Edgeworth. Edgeworth frequently missed chapel. One time he went, he was rebvuked by the President: "You never attend Thursday prayers." "I do sometimes, Sir," Edgeworth replied, "[But,] I did not see you here last Thursday". Edgeworth was correct and President's anger subsided immediately; it had been the first time Randolph had missed prayers for three years.

• John Cooke was elected on 3 April 1783.
• In 1787, college examinations for BA began to dropped for students who performed well in (the University-administered) finals. Eventually died out.
• In 1788, a petition from the Bachelors to allow strangers into Hall was rejected, being deemed incompatible with the statutes.
• In 1794, it was unanimously agreed to stop observing Corpus Christi Day.
• In 1809, BA Scholars were allowed to temporarily leave the college, for educational work. This was motivated by increased expenses, and due to the antiquated statute rule requiring MA's be awarded at least three years after attaining their BA.

• The college celebrated its 300th anniversary on 18 June 1817. Joined by the MPs for Oxford University William Scott and Robert Peel.
• Cooke died on 3 February 1823.
• During this time, Corpus admitted: Edward Coplestone, Henry Philpotts, William Buckland, John Keble, John Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Arnold.
• By 1815, clerks and choristers were called Exhibitioners.
• John T. Coleridge recalls his undergrad days: "Corpus is a very small establishment—twenty fellows and twenty scholars, with four exhibitioners, form the foundation.... the whole number of students actually under college tuition seldom exceeded twenty.", "we lived on the most familiar terms with each other ... Our habits were inexpensive and temperate : one break-up party was held in the junior common room at the end of each term, in which we indulged our genius more freely, and our merriment, to say the truth, was somewhat exuberant and noisy ; but the authorities wisely forbore too strict an inquiry into this."
• William Phelps gives similar impression of a small, friendly college:
• Phelps: "I have been invited once to the Bachelor's Common-Room, where I found all wore black pantaloons and stockings and white waistcoats."

Modern times

• Cooke succeeded by Thomas Edward Bridges, elected 13 February 1823.
• Died 3 September 1843.

• James Norris was elected President on 16 September 1843.
• Never seems to have done any educational work in College. He was a successful Bursar and was renowned for his business acumen.
• Had little sympathy for the university reforms, but faithfully implemented them.
• In 20 February 1851, it was unanimously agreed to cease to admit at most 6 Gentleman-Commoners and instead admit Commoners and as many as could be lodged in the College. The last Gentleman-Commoner was Drury Drury-Lowe.
• Until then, the number of scholars had barely increased in centuries.

• On 19 November 1851, it was agreed not to enforce the residence of BA scholars, "it being in the better interests of society not to do so."

• On 27 April 1852, the Scholars'/Junior Common Room was dissolved, likely to prevent a clique forming as many new Commoners entered the college. It had been formed on 20 November 1797 and had an elected Steward, and a Poet Laureate. The room was founded by George Leigh Cooke, President Cooke's nephew, and poems praising him were traditionally sung every 20 November.
• The college had three distinct common rooms : one for MA's, one for the Bachelors and Gentleman-Commoners, and the "JCR" mentioned above, for the Scholars and Exhibitioners .
• Corpus agrees to the University setting up its own Latin Professorship "in recognition of the claims of the University upon the public services of the Latin Lecturer of C. C. C."

• Oxford University Act 1854 allows Colleges to change their statutes. Most colleges used the "Ordinances" drawn up by Parliamentary Commissioners; only Corpus, Exeter and Lincoln drew up their own statutes. Corpus finalised its revised statutes on 9 October 1855, which were approved by the Queen-in-Council on 24 June, 1856.
• 30 October 1856: John Conington made an Honorary Fellow.
• 3 April 1857: first open election to a Scholarship.
• 16 June 1865: College offers to endow a Professor of Jurisprudence.
• 24 November 1868: compulsory attendance at Chapel abolished.
• Norris died 16 April 1862.
• 29 April 1871: John Ruskin elected Honorary Fellow.

• John Matthias Wilson elected President on 8 May 1872.
• Wilson had been a keen campaigner for the University's reforms in 1854 and 1877 and largely lead the Liberal party in Oxford.
• Died on 1 December 1881 after a long illness.
• James Legge admitted to the College to give him £300/year for his Professorship.

• Thomas Fowler elected successor on 23 December 1881.

• Frederick Pollock, Corpus Christi Professor of Jurisprudence, admitted Official Fellow.
• June 1891: The college published the first volume of its magazine, the Pelican Record .

• "And, at the present time, its students secure considerably more than their proportional share of University honours, its senior members, resident or non-resident, are distinguished in almost every branch of science, philosophy and literature, and there are few governing bodies in the University whose members take a larger share in the teaching of Undergraduates or exercise a greater influence in the direction of academic studies. The happy comparison of Foxe's foundation with bees making honey is no less appropriate in these days than those of the Founder."

• Oglethorpe University's Gothic Revival architecture was inspired by the design of Corpus Christi, which was were Oglethorpe had studied.

• In 1926, Corpus Fellows pinned the following notice to the College Noticeboard: "During formal hall, the Fellows dining at Top Table consider it insulting to be struck, and undignified to attempt to deflect, breadstick missiles."

Pelican Sundial

The Pelican Sundial is the large pillar in the centre of Corpus' main quad. "Pelican Sundial" is a misnomer, as the pillar contains 27 separate sundials. Nine of the sundials are found easily: four on each of the trapezoid beneath the pelican, four beneath each coat of arms on the cuboid and one facing south on the curved pillar shaft. The remaining sundials are found on the hollows and scallops surrounding the east and west arms. The symbols surrounding the sundials are used to calculate feast days and the time when when reckoning by moonlight.

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 to the United States. The second is on the front lawn of Pomfret School in Connecticut and was erected in 1929.

this beautifull Alter (on which Art hath sacrific'd such varietie of invention to the Deitie of the Sun)

Richard Hegge, on Kratzer's sundial

• Oxford in the 17th century had no shortage of sundials; practically every college had its own solar timepiece.

• Corpus' first sundial was designed by Nicholas Kratzer, an astrologer and horologer for Henry VIII.
• Like Juan Luis Vivès, he was probably one of Cardinal Wolsey's lecturers who resided at Corpus while waiting for the completion of Cardinal College. Kratzer was likely not a Fellow of Corpus. Kratzer many dials, however only three can definitely be attributed to him: fixed ones for Church of St Mary the Virgin and Corpus and a portable one for Cardinal Wolsey. Only Wolsey's survives . The St Mary's dial was made with stonemason William East, who also worked on Corpus under the direction of William Vertue. The St Mary's dial stood until 1744 and nothing of it remains.
• Probably soon after arriving in 1521, Kratzer made a dial for Corpus which stood in the garden until the end of the 17th century. The dial was likely removed around 1706 when the gardens were re-arranged during the construction of the Fellow's Building.

• Construction of the Turnball Sundial began in 1579; the date 1581 on the dial likely refers to the date when the last finishing touches were added.

• The Pelican stands on an armillary sphere.

• The south dial below Fox's arms is marked to show the (green lines) and (blue lines) and the dates according to the signs of the Zodiac and the horizontal red curves which how the sun's declination.
• The east dial indicates the hours with the same colour scheme. The horizon on the lower east and west dial is marked in blue.
• The east face has 11 dials in the scrollwork of the Royal Arms.
• On the north face, below the University Arms, only the equinoctial hours are indicated (in green). There is a lines carved into the stone and painted blue parallel to the lines for 6 am and 6 pm, but it serves no purpose.

• The west face has seven scrollwork dials and the same information as the others.
• On the south cylindrical dial, we have the equinoctial hours and the date. The lines of declension indicate the day on which the sun enters each sign of the Zodiac and when it is halfway through each sign.
• The last four columns of the dial are a moon table for finding the time by moonlight.
• The north side of the cylinder has a table for finding the date of the movable and fixed feasts and the Oxford and law terms.
• Turnball was admitted to Corpus on 14 December 1573 as the scholar for Lincoln, and appears to have come from the Founder's native village of Ropsley. He took his BA on 29 October 1577 and became a Fellow in 1579, proceeded to his MA on 16 March 1581 and received payments from the college until 1583. He published the book A perfect and easie Treatise of the Use of the coelestial Globe...' in 1585. It is unknown what he went on to; he returned briefly for the dial's repainting in 1605.

• Robert Hegge was a sundial enthusiast who recorded much about Corpus' sundials. He came to Corpus as the Durham scholar, sun of a notary-public and grandson of the Spiritual Chancellor of Durham, took his BA, MA, Fellowship, Junior Deanship before dying of apoplexy in 1629.
• During Thomas Turner's presidency, the dial was heightened to account for the extra storey added to the inside of the quad. Iron railings were also added around the base of the dial, rising to the top of the plinth. They were removed in 1936.

• Princeton's Mather Sundial is a full-size copy of the Corpus sundial c. 1876, bar some corrections and adjustments to the table for Princeton's greater latitutude.
• Walter William Fisher, Fellow of Corpus, restored the dial in 1876 and corrected some of the errors that had accumulated over the years. However, he himself introduced new errors to the dial's tables.
• Fisher took part the repainting in 1907, where further errors were introduced. However, Fisher was away at the time, preparing for marriage and in another part of the country, leaving the painters stuck sending him notes.

• The battlements inside the quad were removed in 1935 on safety grounds.
• Railings were lowered in 1907.
• The quad was paved in 1972, replacing gravellings.
• The York stone steps currently beneath the Sundial were the gift of Sir Reginald Stubbs and replaced the railings.
• The Princeton Sundial needed attention in 1932, but the college was unable to help due to the "confused state" of the original dial.
• "It was felt, on the advice of the then Senior Tutor, W. Phelps, that the railings were better removed, since they failed to fulfil their prophylactic purpose and merely aided the ascent of the pillar by those venturous enough to attempt it."
• Robert Gunther advised on the 1936 restoration.
• More errors were introduced.
• "It was on the night of the College's Boat Club , on 21 February, that the cox of the successful First Torpid climbed the pillar while a sacrificial boat (a substitute for the actual one involved in the races) burned below him at the base of dial. The tale goes that in this stylite position somehow or other he performed the iconoclastic deed of breaking the neck of the pelican, with little concern for the extreme peril to himself or his perch. The fragments of the bird which fell to the ground are still treasured as relics of the 'true pelican' by his fellow oarsmen."
• Not that the practice was at that time unheard of.
• Major repairs (including dismantlement) took place in 1967 to correct the dial's lean and after the discovery that the dial had no solid foundation and the base was made of stone panels loosely packed with rubble.
• Sundial restored in summer 1976 to its state c. 1710 by Philip Pattenden. Tables are historically-accurate, if wrong for modern use, to the Julian calendar.

Buildings

• Part of Oxford's city wall runs along the southern edge of Corpus.
• Brasenose, Corpus and Cardinal followed the example of other Oxford colleges by being funded by high-ranking ecclesiastics (but not those of Cambridge, where royal patronage was more important) and the example of New and Magdalen in having extension provision for undergraduates.
• Foundation of the three colleges coincided with steep decline in the number of academic halls. Of 52 halls at the beginning of the 16th century, just 8 remained by 1537. The cause is not immediately clear. Brasenose and Corpus both took over the sites of halls in the east. Corpus razed them and began afresh; Brasenose kept the kitchen of one hall.
• Both built in quadrangular fashion, with gate towers containing lodgings of the head of house. "And both still retain their intimate, almost domestic charcater, typical of the smaller medieval colleges".
• Early buildings of Corpus probably completed in 1517.
• Master Mason used were connected with Henry VIII's Office of Works: William Vertue (involved in building Bath Abbey and the vault of St George's Chapel, Windsor) and William East. Appointment resented by local masons, judging by 1512 by masons at Brasenose.
• Niches on first-floor window illuminate principal chamber of President's Lodgings.

• Entrance passageway has fan-vault roof, one of the first to appear in Oxford. This is a characteristic feature of English late Gothic architecture.
• Hall has hammer-beam roof designed by Humphrey Coke, Warden of the Carpenter's Company in London, later Henry VIII's chief carpenter.

• Residential blocks originally two stories high and introduced new feature of rooms shared between just two people, a Fellow and an undergraduate/"disciple". Two people to a room later became standard.
• In the mid-16th-century an elaborate plaster frieze and ceiling was added to the principal chamber of the President's Lodgings. Ceiling is richly decorated with heraldic emblems and pendants like those of the stone vaults at the Divinity School and frieze is adorned with the coats of arms of the colleges set into Renaissance-inspired plasterwork.

• By 1610, new bookcases had been installed in Corpus library.
• Variety of building work began in 1700 at instigation of Thomas(?) Turner. New panelling and woodwork in Hall, 1700-01, by Arthur Frogley and Jonathan Maine. In 1706-12, William Townsend bought in to create new cloister on south of Corpus by building the Fellows' Building overlooking Christ Church Meadows. "Elegant structure, with its pilastered and pedimented facade, echoes the dignified classical architecture of Peckwater Quadrangle and many 18th century English country houses." Possibly designed by Townsend. Townsend also constructed (and maybe designed) the Gentleman Commoners' Building (Staircase 12/13/idk) in 1737.
• Powell & Moya built New Building (since renamed Oldham Building) in 1969. used local limestone rubble in conjunction with exposed concrete frame and characteristically large windows. Great efforts made to fit into its surroundings of the exuberant Jackson Building, the boundary wall of Oriel and the tower of Merton Chapel. Visual appeals lies in highly textured surfaces and carefully contrived outlines; tempered modernism.
• "A splendid stucco pediment of c. 1604 is in the Corpus library.
• In the chapel is the fist of the Oxford eagle lecterns of brass, and the only pre-Reformation one.
• Rubble-built late C16 to C17 house with two timber-framed gables. Oriels in the gables. One original five-light mullioned stone window. [Could this be Kybald Twychen?]
• "At Corpus everything is on the small side; that is what makes it so lovable."
• Facade is of three stories, is a heightening of 1737.
• Vault in the archway is of 1817.
• Front quad battlements added 1625.
• Stepped-up mid-piece facing gateway containing statue of founder added 1817.
• Sundial originally built in 1581, designed by Charles Turnball.
• Some later alterations (including perpetual calendar) added in C17.
• Tracery of hall's windows removed c. 1700 and replaced in 1857 by Charles Buckler.
• "Fine centrepiece below the big N window with segmental pediment." "Segmental pediments over the entrances. Sumptuous top achievement."

• It has been said library bookcases were of founder's time and heightened c. 1604; this is the not the case. In fact, the bookcases are of two shelves c. 1604 and were heightened in c. 1700. Stucco achievement and stucco work in window soffits likely of same date.
• Chapel slightly lengthened to west in 1676.
• Panelled roof is of 1843, but re-used original materials.
• Organ case by Jackson.
• Brass eagle lectern given by the first president.
• Stained glass window of 1931 by Henry A. Payne.
• Two demi-figures, one for John Reynolds, other for John Spenser.
• Fellow's Quad cloister built in 1706-1712, replacing C16 cloister and chamber.
• "[V]ery squared interior. English Baroque in mood." Has plaster vault with some stucco decoration.
• E of Front Quad is Emily Thomas Quad. N of which is kitchen, said to be C15 and part of Urban Hall, previously on the site of Corpus.
• S past kitchen is Gentleman Commoner's Building, built 1737. "Decidedly conservative for its date."
• From Merton Path, view of E cloister building does not match interior of cloister; in fact work of T. H. Hughes in 1937.
• Bust of Bishop King on this range by Sir Francis Chantrey, 1820.
• Thomas Building is of 1927-1929 by T. H. Hughes; looks 1900.
• On corner of Merton Street and Magpie Lane is Jackson Building, by T.G. Jackson, with typical overcrowding of decoration, the bay-windows and the sudden two aedicules indicate.

• In the SW of the college site are the former president's lodgings. S and E side from 1905-1906, N side from c. 1690. President Case took motifs from N side when ordering S and E extension. Case also did the "very noncommital" Gothic N of the project C17 wing (staircase 6) and connecting it with the quad.

• New entrance for staircase 6/West Building made in 1957-1959 by Michael Powers of the Architects Co-Partnership.

• "Has the glory of having been the first of the college buildings of Oxford to be unhesitatingly in the contemporary idiom. The plan is ingenious, as it had to provide a separate students' entrance to rooms as well as the president's entrance."
• College's collection of plate is made up of: Bishop Fox's pastoral staff, Fox's Chalice and Paten, two Flagons, two rosewater dishes, standing salt and cover, Bishop Oldham's six gilt spoons with owl finials, the Founder's font cup and cover, the Founder's siz gilt Spoons with banded ball finials, President Morwent's small two-handled cup and cover, Morwent's drum salt, Catherine Mather's Tankard, William Sclater's Porringer and Cover, James Parkins' two Caster and Norton Powlett's Monteith.
• The Episcopal Bishop of New York's crozier is a copy of Foxe's. The crozier was presented by the Bishop of London in 1922 as a symbol of Anglo-American friendship.

Sources

• Fowler, Thomas (1898). Corpus Christi. Oxford University College Histories. Bloomsbury, London: F. E. Robinson & Co.
• Pattenden, Philip (June 1983). "Pelican Sundials in America". Bulletin of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, Inc. XXV (3). ISSN 0027-8688.
• Tyack, Geoffrey (1998). Oxford: An Architectural Guide.
• Charles-Edward, Thomas; Reid, Julian (July 2017). Corpus Christi College, Oxford: A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879247-5.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09639-9.
• Pattenden, Philip (1979). Sundials at an Oxford College. Roman Books. ISBN 0-9506644-0-5.

Further reading

• Evans, G. R. (30 April 2010). The University of Oxford: A New History. I. B. Tauris.
• Brockliss, L. W. B. (24 March 2016). The University of Oxford: A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199243563.

COBOL draft

Rinehuls, author of the report writer removal proposal, resigned as chairman and acting vice-president.

Quotes

There is a cult that says Basic and Cobol are bad languages ... [but there] really are no viable alternatives.

Bill Gates

Boss: Are you a COBOL programmer?
Bob the Dinosaur: No, but I'm often told I look like one.

Dilbert by Scott Adams

I stood up in the question session and said
'What do you propose to do with the 3 million existing Cobol programmers?'
And the answer was, 'Shoot them.'

Edward Yourdon

Cobol has almost no fervent enthusiasts. As a programming tool, it has roughly the sex appeal of a wrench.

Charles Petzold

Cobol, for all its sometime popularity, does not seem to have any intellectual descendants.
It is an evolutionary dead-end—a Neanderthal language.

Paul Graham

It is hard to pinpoint the reasons for lack of charisma in a language, and it has very little to do with the actual use. For example, BASIC and COBOL are very widely used languages, but I doubt whether many people are personally enthusiastic about either of them.

Jean Sammet