Corpus Christi guilds
Corpus Christi guilds were medieval religious guilds centering around the Feast of Corpus Christi and the Corpus Christi procession.[1] Other common aims of the guilds were providing altar candles to illuminate the Sacred Host[2] and accompanying priests when taking communion to the sick or dying.[3]
It was a common dedication for English guilds.[4] There were also a number of confréries dedicated to Corpus Christi in France.[5]
Examples
- The Cambridge Guild of Corpus Christi, which became Corpus Christi College, Cambridge[6]
- A London Corpus Christi guild founded in the Church of All Hallows, Bread Street became the Worshipful Company of Salters[7]
- In medieval Ipswich the town's Gild Merchant after losing its monopoly transformed into a religious guild of Corpus Christi[8] and founded Ipswich School
- The Corpus Christi Guild in York was a guild that attracted a large proportion of the city's elite including the Archbishop[9]
References
- Back to citation MacCulloch 2009, p. 407.
- Back to citation Rubin 1986, pp. 104–105.
- Back to citation Rubin 1986, pp. 105–106.
- Back to citation Rubin 1986, pp. 102–103.
- Back to citation Dossat 1976.
- Back to citation Scarisbrick 1984, p. 21.
- Back to citation "400th Anniversary of the Charter". Retrieved 5 December 2025.
- Back to citation Alsford, Stephen. "Chapter 2. The Social and Economic Background of Office-holders". The Men Behind the Masque: Office-holding in East Anglian boroughs, 1272-1460.
- Back to citation "The Guilds of York". History of York. York Museums Trust. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
Bibliography
- Dossat, Yves (1976). "Les confréries du Corpus Christi dans le monde rural pendant la première moitié du XIVe siècle". Cahiers de Fanjeaux (in French). 11: 357–385. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- MacCulloch, Diarmaid (2009). A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9869-6.
- Rubin, Miri (1986). "Corpus Christi Fraternities and Late Medieval Piety". Studies in Church History. 23. Cambridge University Press: 97–109. doi:10.1017/S0424208400010561. Retrieved 7 December 2025.
- Scarisbrick, Jack Joseph (1984). The Reformation and the English People. Oxford: Blackwell.