Dr Philippa Hoskin, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Fellow Librarian, explains the important will of Margaret Andrew of Chesterton and how it provided the grounds of College today.

The College gives pride of place in its list of benefactors to Margaret Andrew of Chesterton who, by her deathbed will of 7 May 1349, gave lands to both the gild of St Mary and the gild of Corpus Christi, which just three years later were to merge into the joint gild in which Corpus Christi College has its origins. About Margaret we know very little: she had a small amount of land –she gave one and a half acres in Chesterton fields to Corpus Christi gild and a tenement ‘in St Andrews parish next that of St Radegund, and abutting on the King’s way’, to St Mary’s gild. The gift to the Corpus Christi gild is significant because it is the very earliest documentary evidence of its existence. Apart from that, Margaret left a collection of domestic goods that suggest that she’d had oversight of a relatively large household, including fourteen bowls and basins of various sizes.

Gilds were a key part of the lives of medieval men and women. The gilds which founded our College were what is know as religious gilds and they provided mutual social and religious support for their members. In return for gifts of cash, goods, or rents or land, members received the support of other members and the guarantee that after their deaths, their souls would be aided on their way to heaven by prayers and masses paid for by the gild. Gilds kept lists of their deceased members and we are fortunate that in our College archives we not only have a copy of Margaret Andrew’s will but also a list of the people that the gild of St Mary kept in their prayers and memories. If Margaret’s motive for her charitable bequest was to be remembered, then she has had her wish granted.

Our corporate life has been made possible by the collective good will of previous generations of men and women who for nearly seven hundred years have not only joined together to support the scholarly endeavours of College members of their own times but who have also had an eye to supporting the work of the future College and its members.

Above: The seal of Margaret Andrew's will features a standing figure holding a book

Main image: Margaret Andrew’s will, 7 May 1349, CCCC 1/G/1/34