Another point about Bill East's interesting history of St Frideswide: it
was actually Cardinal Wolsey who dissolved the Augustinian priory of
St Frideswide in 1525 in order to make way for his new foundation of
Cardinal College. To this end, he demolished the western part of the
cloister and priory church, and only his own fall from grace
in 1529 prevented him from finishing the job; he had planned a chapel
on the north side of his new cloister, opposite the hall. Henry VIII
refounded the institution as Christ Church College in 1532 and
decided to keep what remained of the priory church as the college
chapel. It was only in 1546 that St Frideswide's was also elevated
to the status of a cathedral in the newly created diocese of Oxford,
thus making it, uniquely so far as I know, a combined college chapel
and cathedral.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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