TRINITY COLLEGE

Trinity stands beyond Balliol on the same side of Broad Street. Its history is very similar to that of St John’s. It was founded in 1286 as Durham College for the Benedictine[1] monks of Durham cathedral priory and other northern monasteries. It was suppressed in Henry VIII’s reign, but was revived for secular students under its present title by St Thomas More’s friend, Sir Thomas Pope,[2] in 1555.
The monastic library building and a few other fragments are all that has survived from the original house. The present chapel is by Wren,[3] and has some fine carvings by Grinling Gibbons.[4]
John Henry Newman became an undergraduate here in 1817. After his restoration to the favour of the university at the end of his life, he was made an honorary fellow of his old college. This was in 1878. Two years later, he visited it as a cardinal and made a tactful after­dinner speech recalling the past. His portrait hangs in the hall, and there is a bust in the garden near his old rooms.
[1] Benedictines follow the rule drawn up by St Benedict (lived 480-543). There is no centralized control as in the case of a modem order, and the rule has been variously interpreted. Each monastery is independent. The tunic, scapular, hood and cowl are black, but a few monasteries have the privilege of a habit of other colours. There were about two hundred and ten houses of the order in England at the dissolution. (From Goulder, Pilgrimage Pamphlets: Oxford & Cambridge, 1963)

Trinity’s foundation is an example of Catholic reconstruction in the short reign of Mary Tudor. It produced many martyrs, including the Bl. Christopher Wharton (1546), Bl. Thomas Ford (1582), Bl. James Bell (1584), Bl. Alexander Rawlins (1595), Bl. Robert Sutton, Bl. William Spenser (1589) and Bl. George Errington (1596).

For more on the history of Trinity College, see their site.


[2] Lived c. 1507-1599. He held various court appointments under Henry VIII, but withdrew into private life for religious reasons in Edward VI's (reigned 1547­1553) time. Under Mary, he became a privy councillor and retained favour in the reign of Elizabeth.
[3] Lived 1632-1723. Sir Christopher Wren.
[4] Lived 1648-1720. Wood-carver and statuary.