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The Misericords and history of All Souls College, Oxford.
The Chapel at All Souls College has 42 beautiful mid 15th century misericords.
Click to launch a description of All Souls misericords
Please click on the thumbnail misericords for larger images.
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History of All Souls College Chapel, Oxford.
All Souls was founded in 1436, jointly by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Chichele and Henry VI. It has a fabulous history full of dodgy dealings and the pursuit of excellence, which frankly, I can’t do justice to in this one page, the All Souls official website, has a superb “No Holds Barred” history, which dishes all of the dirt in equal measure to the high points, with such wonderful comments as when discussing one of the Wardens, “A man of some learning, with a passion for sash windows and with low moral standards”.
The Chapel, however, has a far more sedate history. Built between 1438 and 1442 it remained largely unchanged until the Commonwealth - Oxford having been a Royalist stronghold, suffered a certain amount of the Puritan’s wrath. The misericords date from the Chapel’s building, and show a family resemblance to the misericords at Higham Ferrers. Sir Christopher Wren was a Fellow from 1653 and in 1658 produced a very fine sundial, which was placed on the South wall of the Chapel, until it was moved to the quadrangle in 1877. During the 1660’s a screen was installed, which was based on a design by Wren, however this screen needed to be rebuilt by 1713. By the mid-19th century, much work was needed and so, today’s chapel is heavily influenced by Victorian ideals.
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