Editing Corpus Christi College, Oxford (section)

===Foundation===
Corpus Christi College was founded by [[Richard Foxe]], [[Bishop of Winchester]], and an accomplished statesman. After entering the clergy, Foxe worked as a diplomat for [[Henry VII of England|Henry Tudor]]. He became a close confidant of his and, during Henry's reign as Henry VII, Foxe was appointed [[Lord Privy Seal|Keeper of the Privy Seal]] and promoted up the bishoprics, eventually becoming Bishop of Winchester. Throughout this time he was involved in Oxford and Cambridge Universities: he had been [[Visitor]] of [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]] and of [[Balliol College]], had amended Balliol's statutes for a papal commission, was master of [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], for 12 years and had been involved in the foundation of [[St John's College, Cambridge]], as one of [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]]'s executors.{{sfn|Fowler|1898|pp=6-7}}

Foxe began to build from 1513.<!-- Or "as early as 1512"? Check Fowler p. 37 --> He bought a nunnery, two halls, two inns and the Bachelors' Garden of [[Merton College, Oxford|Merton College]].{{sfn|Fowler|1898|pp=38–40}} Building was probably completed by 1520.{{sfn|Fowler|1898|p=41}}

Foxe was assisted in his foundation by his friend [[Hugh Oldham]], [[Bishop of Exeter]], and Oldham's steward, William Frost. Oldham was a patron of education and donated £4,000 and land in Chelsea towards the foundation. For this, he was styled ''præcipuus benefactor'' (principal benefactor) by Foxe, remembered in daily prayers and a scholarship was established for students from [[Lancashire]], where Oldham was born.<ref>{{cite ODNB | id=20685 | title=Oldham, Hugh}}</ref><ref name="VCH">{{cite journal | url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol3/pp219-228 | title=Corpus Christi College | journal=A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 3, the University of Oxford | date=1954 | series=[[Victoria County History]] | location=London | editor-first1=H. E. | editor-last1=Salter | editor-first2=Mary D. | editor-last2=Sobel}}</ref> Frost bequeathed his estate in [[Mapledurwell]] to the college, for which he and wife were remembered in a yearly prayer and a scholarship was founded for his descendants.{{sfn|Charles-Edwards|Reid|2017|pp=70, 264}}{{sfn|Fowler|1898|p=15}}

Foxe was granted letters patent for the foundation by [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] in 1516.{{sfn|Fowler|1898|p=32}} The college was officially founded in 1517, when Foxe established the college statutes.{{sfn|Fowler|1898|p=18}} These specified that the college was to contain 20 fellows, 20 students, three lecturers, two priests, two clerks and two choristers.<ref>{{citation|title=The Foundation Statutes of Bishop Fox for Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford A. D. 1517|translator-last=Ward|translator-first= G. R. M.|year=1843|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans|chapter=1|page=3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgdeAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref>

The library of the college was "probably, when completed, the largest and best furnished library then in Europe".{{sfn|Fowler|1898|loc=Appendix A}} The scholar [[Desiderius Erasmus|Erasmus]] noted in a letter of 1519 to the first President, [[John Claymond]], that it was a library "''inter praecipua decora Britanniae''" ("among the chief beauties of Britain"), and praised it as a "''biblioteca trilinguis''" ("trilingual library") containing, as it did, books in Latin, Greek and Hebrew.{{sfn|Fowler|1898|pp=34–35}}

Founding fellows of the College included [[Reginald Pole]], who would become the last Catholic [[Archbishop of Canterbury]].{{sfn|Fowler|1898|pp=33–34}}