Living in a Sixteenth-Century College

Abstract

This chapter details the building of Corpus Christi College. Richard Fox was a staggeringly wealthy individual. A mere fortnight of his earnings as the richest bishop in England was enough to buy the site of Corpus Christi. Fox was also a far from indifferent patron. Even as Corpus was being built, he was employing the very best workmen to construct his own chantry chapel and reconstruct the east end of Winchester cathedral. Ultimately, the choices he made in Winchester and in Cambridge reveal a sensitive and creative use of style. He was one of the very first to import Renaissance designs into England, but also employed older forms when he considered that they were appropriate. For that reason, the choices he made when building Corpus Christi offer a particularly useful way of understanding what he hoped the college might amount to.