Christ Church, Oxford [antikvár]

CHRIST CHURCH OXFORDMichael WattsThe origins of the monastery which once occupied the site on which Christ Church now stands are obscure and the détails of the life of its foundress, St Frideswide (c. ad 680-735), are equally difiicult to establish.Despite this, there is a consistent tradition which points to her as the person who established the monas-terium in Oxford, later to develop into the Priory of St Frideswide.Never a place of distinction, it produced no remarkable men and had more than its share of disorders and scandais.It was this priory that Cardinal Wolsey, armed with the authority of a buil from Pope Clement VII, sup-pressed together with some twenty other small houses to provide the necessary capital and endowment for the great college to be known as Cardinal College which he wished to establish in Oxford. There were to be 200 scholars and a vast staff to give it a grandeur and magnificence equalled by no other college.Nearly ail the old monastic buildings were demolished and with them the parish church of St Michael at the South Gâte. Four bays of the nave ofthe conventual church were removed to make way for the new building as the Quadrangle developed, and it was intended that the rest of the church should follow as soon as the new chapel had been built to take its place. The Chapter House, the Refectory and part of the Cloister are all that escaped demolition.The foundation stone was laid in July 1525 and work began. At one time the Cardinal's account books show that nearly 500 men were employed on the site. When Wolsey feil from the king's favour in October 1529, the Kitchen, Hall and adjoining buildings on the south side had already been built and the western side of the Quadrangle building completed up to and beyond the gateway, but not so far as the present north-western corner. From the completed Hall and Kitchen may be deduced the grandeur of the college which Wolsey had envisaged. A contemporary writer said that 'if all the rest had been finished to that determinate end as it was begun it might well have excelled not only all colleges of students but also palaces of princes'.When finished the Hall was 115 feet long, 40 feet wide and 50 feet high. The roof and wainscoting are probably according to the original design, although the woodwork has been renewed from time to time, as for instance after the disastrous fire in 1720. The west window contains remains of the original glass and is placed so as to form two rows of shields. Some are ensigned with a cardinal's hat and are the arms of four of the sees with which Wolsey impaled his personal arms, Durham, York, Lincoln, Bath and Wells and St Alban's Abbey. In addition there are the arms of Henry VIII and the arms of Clare brought here, it has been suggested, from the former Gloucester College which was for a*left: The Hall stairway dating from just bef ore the Civil War.facing page: Henry VIII, Founder of Christ Church, 1546.rrifl