is one of the constituent colleges of the
University Of Oxford in the
United Kingdom . It tends to perform well academically, and as a small college does surprisingly well in sporting activities within the University (e.g., Women's Rugby and Gentlemen's Cricket). It had won the annual sporting challenge against its larger sister college,
Corpus Christi Cambridge , for six consecutive years, until its defeat in 2006. On
9 May 2005 , a team representing Corpus won
University Challenge .
The college was founded in
1517 by
Richard Fox , the
Bishop of
Winchester . Although intended as a traditional training college for secular clergy, under the influence of
Hugh Oldham it became the foremost humanist enterprise in Oxford, the model for many subsequent foundations. Fox was a humanist and interested in classical literature. He founded a library which was very progressive for the time. The library included books in Latin, Greek and even Hebrew – and was praised by
Erasmus on a visit to Oxford as a "biblioteca trilinguis". The important Spanish humanist
Juan Luis Vives taught at Corpus while tutor to Mary Tudor, later Queen Mary I.
The humanistic ideas of the founder are still important to the college today, with a continued emphasis on the teaching of
Latin ,
Ancient Greek , and
Ancient History .
The college attempts to select the brightest students regardless of their social background. Corpus Christi has around 350 students (of which roughly 220 are undergraduates), which makes it one of the smallest colleges in Oxford.
The
Visitor of the College is ''ex officio'' the
Bishop Of Winchester , currently
Michael Scott-Joynt .
:See also
