Corpus Christi College

Corpus Christi College stands in Oxford’s historic heart, squeezed between Merton College and Christ Church on Merton Street. Founded in 1517 by Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, it is one of Oxford’s smallest colleges, with roughly 250 undergraduates and 90 graduates. The college has long punched above its weight academically, regularly placing in the top half of Oxford’s Norrington Table and finishing second in 2009–10. Its role in the King James Bible translation remains a point of pride, and it twice won University Challenge in 2005 and 2009. The Pelican Sundial, erected in 1581, still marks time in the main quadrangle. The college’s early history is tied to powerful figures. Foxe, a close adviser to Henry VII, bought a nunnery, two halls and the Bachelors’ Garden of Merton College to build the new foundation. Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, donated £4,000 and land in Chelsea, becoming the college’s principal benefactor. Reginald Pole, who would later become the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, was among the founding fellows. In the 16th century, John Jewel, John Rainolds and Richard Hooker shaped Anglican thought while at Corpus. The Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives taught Mary Tudor here in the 1520s. The Front Quad, built for the college’s foundation, follows the classic Oxford college style with a tower over the main gate. The chapel, unusual for its position off the quad, holds a rare pre-Reformation bronze eagle lectern. Later buildings include the Fellows’ Building of the early 18th century and the Emily Thomas Building of 1928. The college library, once praised by Erasmus as one of Europe’s finest, still holds its trilingual collection. The Pelican Sundial remains a landmark, its gold-painted pelican perched on an armillary sphere above the stones of Corpus Christi.