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December 1133 A.D.—Present. St. Radegund’s Priory & Jesus College, Cambridge,
Cambridgeshire—Benedictine Nuns; Founded 1133 by John de Cranden; Destroyed 1376 and 1389; Dissolved 1496; Founded as Jesus College, Cambridge
Currently On the Site; Priory Church
of Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Radegund;
Thomas Cranmer’s College
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St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The church of the nunnery, now Jesus College Chapel
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Historical plan of Jesus College (1897) showing the
monastic buildings
St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge was a Benedictine nunnery in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. It was founded before 1144 (probably in
the late 1130s) and dissolved in 1496 by the initiative of John Alcock, Bishop of Ely.[1]
Radegund was a 6th-century Frankish princess, who founded the monastery of the Holy
Cross at Poitiers. Between 1159 and 1161 Malcolm IV of
Scotland, as Earl of
Huntingdon, gave to
the nuns 10 acres adjoining Grenecroft (Midsummer Common) on which to place their church; the dedication to
St Mary and St Radegund was probably connected with Malcolm's visit to
Poitiers, 'the special centre of the cult of St Radegund', in 1159.
Jesus College was founded in 1496 on the site by Bishop John
Alcock of Ely. It has been traditionally believed that the nunnery was turned
into a college because the nunnery had gained a reputation for licentiousness. The College's full name is "The College of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin
Saint Radegund, near Cambridge".
When founded in 1496, the College took over the buildings of the nunnery:
namely the Chapel, and the Cloister attached to it; the nuns’ refectory, which
became the college hall; and the former lodging of the prioress, which became
the Master’s Lodge. These conventual buildings remain the core of the College
and account for its distinctly monastic character which sets it apart from
other Cambridge colleges. A library was soon added, and the Chapel was
considerably modified and reduced in scale by Alcock. Founded in the mid-12th
century, the Chapel is the oldest university building in Cambridge still in
use.
References
1. Jump up^ 'Houses of Benedictine nuns: Priory of St Radegund,
Cambridge', A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 2 (1948), pp. 218-219. URL:http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=39996 Date accessed: 21 February 2013
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