The misericords and history of St John's College, Cambridge

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St John’s College

The Misericords and history of St John’s College,

Cambridge.

St John’s College, Cambridge has forty four, early 14th century misericords

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History of St John’s College, Cambridge.

St John’s college has a similar history to Jesus College, Cambridge, that it was built on a previously occupied site, in this case, a 13th century hospital. Lady Margaret Beaufort and her chaplain, Saint John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, proposed the idea, however when Lady Margaret died their was no mention of the college foundation in her will - this rather put a crimp on the idea, however, more than 3 years after her death, on October 22nd 1512 the court of Chancery in Canterbury ratified the codicil to her will which permitted the release of funds. Meanwhile, St John Fisher had been continuing to push for the foundation in anticipation of the funding, and had been granted permission from King Henry VIII, the Pope and the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital and convert it to a college.

Typical of builders everywhere (and everywhen) they found that most of the existing structures were beyond repair, and so except for the chapel, the college was a new build.

The chapel was extensively repaired, but most of the fabric dates from the 13th century, whilst the most of the forty four misericords date from the early part of the 14th century. It is interesting to note that although most of the misericords show Foliate or floral designs, N-09 has the arms of Katherine of Aragon, and therefore must have been modified at some point between 1509, when she married Henry and 1533 when the marriage was annulled, and almost certainly during the reconstruction of the chapel between 1512 and 1518. N-14, showing a crowned Tudor rose and S-01, which may represent the College’s charter being delivered are also probably from this reconstruction period.

Over the ensuing 500 years the college expanded, and now has 11 courts, the most in any Oxbridge college. By 1861 it was decided that a larger chapel was needed, Sir George Gilbert Scott was employed to design and build a new chapel. Construction was started in 1866 using a similar design to that which he had used at Exeter College, Oxford, however, the major benefactor, Henry Hoare, had stated that not only would he pay £3000 towards the construction, but he would also pay £1000 per year if a tower was added - Scott not doing anything by halves created the tallest tower in Cambridge, replete with louvres, but missing any bells. Unfortunately Henry Hoare died in a train crash left the college short of £3000. Scott also caused much of the panelling and the misericords to be salvaged from the original chapel.

Click for the official St John’s College website

Click here for more East Anglian Misericords

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