Christ Church, Oxford

History

In 1525, at the height of his power, Thomas Cardinal Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of England and Archbishop of York, suppressed the Abbey of St Frideswide in Oxford and founded Cardinal College on its lands. He planned the establishment on a magnificent scale, but fell from grace in 1529, before the college was completed.

Related Topics:
1525 - Thomas Cardinal Wolsey - Lord Chancellor - Archbishop of York - Frideswide - 1529

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1531 the college was itself suppressed, and refounded in 1532 as King Henry VIII's College by Henry VIII, to whom Wolsey's property had escheated. Then in 1546 the King, who had broken from the Church of Rome and acquired great wealth through the dissolution of the monasteries in England, refounded the college as Christ Church as part of the re-organisation of the Church of England and made it the cathedral of the recently created diocese of Oxford.

Related Topics:
1531 - 1532 - Henry VIII - 1546 - Church of Rome - Church of England

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Christ Church's sister college in the University of Cambridge is Trinity College, Cambridge, founded the same year by Henry VIII. Since the time of Queen Elizabeth I the college has also been associated with Westminster School, which continues to supply a large proportion of the scholars of the college.

Related Topics:
Sister college - University of Cambridge - Trinity College, Cambridge - Queen Elizabeth I - Westminster School

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Major additions have been made to the buildings through the centuries, and

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wolsey's Great Quadrangle was crowned with the famous gate-tower designed by Sir Christopher Wren. To this day the bell in the tower, Great Tom, is rung 101 times at 9:05 GMT (9 o'clock Oxford time) every night for the 101 original scholars of the college. In former times this signalled the close of all the college gates throughout Oxford.

Related Topics:
Christopher Wren - Great Tom

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

King Charles I made the Deanery his palace and held his Parliament in the Great Hall during the English Civil War.

Related Topics:
King Charles I - English Civil War

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~