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Canterbury College
Canterbury College
University of Oxford
	The surviving buildings of Canterbury College as they appeared in 1675
Location	Subsumed into Christ Church, Oxford
Coordinates	51°45′03″N 1°15′15″W / 51.75095°N 1.25421°W
Full name	The Warden and Scholars of Canterbury College, Oxford
Latin name	Collegium Cantuariensis Oxon
Founder	Simon Islip, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
Established	20 October 1361
Closed	10 April 1540
Named for	Christ Church Priory Canterbury
Warden	Last warden: William Sandwych
Map
	Location in Oxford city centre

Canterbury College was a University of Oxford college, owned and run by Christ Church Priory, Canterbury. Shortly after the dissolution of the monasteries, the college's hall, chapel and other buildings were surrendered on 10 April 1540 and acquired by Christ Church.^[1]

Background

The Priory first sent 4 monks to study in Oxford in 1311, in a hall it had bought there near the church of St Peter-in-the-East, but the actual college was founded in 1361 by Simon Islip, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, in the parish of St Edward, opposite Oriel College.^[2] The Royal Licence was granted by the King Edward III for the foundation of college and advowson of Pagham on the 20th of October 1361.^[3] It was to consist of twelve students (initially 4 monks and 8 "secular clerks" – i.e. ordained clergy who were not monks), under a warden, who would be a monk chosen by the Priory's prior and admitted by the archbishop. Its endowment was granted in 1363, and included the church of Pagham, Sussex, along with (initially) eight Oxford houses' rents and a portion of the rents from Woodford, Northamptonshire and Worminghall, Buckinghamshire, where the Priory had manors. Other endowments came in 1373, 1380, and 1392, eventually coming to about £86 a year, although these all gradually disappeared.

The licence to acquire land for building was only given in 1364–1365. Islip pulled out the monks and appointed as warden a secular clerk named, John Wycliffe. Then in 1366 Islip's successor as archbishop, Simon Langham, wished to put the monks back in place and litigation at the Roman Curia ensued. In 1368 Langham was appointed Cardinal and his influence induced the Curia to give judgment in favour of the monks in 1370.^[4] One more monk was added in 1383, with the Priory paying for all 5 monks' maintenance at 10 pennies per week per monk. One of its students from Canterbury Priory was Thomas Chillenden, later Prior of the monastery. Rooms were rented to other Benedictine monasteries' members, including Rochester, Coventry, Battle, Peterborough, and Evesham, though all inmates were to a greater or lesser extent subject to Gloucester College's 'prior studentium'. Lay students were occasionally admitted to the college to make up numbers and provide some income. In 1426 the 'prior studentium' complained that Canterbury College's students were breaking Benedictine rules on eating meat.

Shortly after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, the college's hall, chapel and other buildings were surrendered on 10 April 1540 and acquired by Christ Church.^{[citation needed]}

Buildings of Canterbury College in 1588
Buildings of Canterbury College in 1675
Old Canterbury Gate at Christ Church before demolition

Sources

'Houses of Benedictine monks: Canterbury College, Oxford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 2 (1907), pp. 68. Date accessed: 31 October 2007.
Map of Oxford, c.1375

References

^ Houses of Benedictine monks: Canterbury College, Oxford. Vol. 2. 1907. p. 68. Retrieved 31 October 2007. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ Eleanor Chance, Christina Colvin, Janet Cooper, C J Day, T G Hassall, Mary Jessup and Nesta Selwyn, 'Medieval Oxford', in A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4, the City of Oxford, ed. Alan Crossley and C R Elrington (London, 1979), pp. 3-73. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol4/pp3-73 [accessed 21 August 2018].
^ Cronin, H. S. (December 1914). "John Wycliffe, the Reformer, and Canterbury Hall, Oxford". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 8: 55–76. doi:10.2307/3678448. ISSN 1474-0648. JSTOR 3678448. S2CID 163528461.
^ Knowles, David. The Religious Orders in England, Volume II. Cambridge University Press, 1955, p. 21.