page_title: Parker Library, Corpus Christi College
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Parker Library, Corpus Christi College / History
caption_attribution_description: Matthew Parker (1504-1575), Archbishop of Canterbury
context_page_description: The Parker Library is the rare books and manuscripts library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It is known throughout the world due to its invaluable collection of over 600 manuscripts, particularly medieval texts, the majority of which were bequeathed to the College by Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker, a former Master of Corpus Christi College.
context_section_description: The collection was begun in 1376, shortly after the College's founding, and much improved by a bequest from Matthew Parker in 1574, the college's Master between 1544 and 1553. He served as chaplain to Anne Boleyn, Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559–1575. It was during this time that he formed a fine collection of manuscripts, salvaged from the libraries of dissolved monasteries. Parker, one of the architects of the Elizabethan Settlement and the modern Church of England, was keenly interested in collecting and preserving manuscripts from Anglo-Saxon England as evidence of an ancient English-speaking church independent of Rome. Parker wished to demonstrate an apostolic succession for the English Church. The original gift from Parker consisted of about 480 manuscripts and around 1000 printed books spanning the 6th–16th centuries.
  As early as the sixteenth century, this collection was recognised as a unique treasure, and Parker did not bequeath it without any strings. Within the terms of his endowment, Parker stated that if any more than a certain number of books were lost, the rest of the collection would pass first to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and then (in the event of any more losses) to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Every few years, representatives from both of those colleges ceremonially inspect the collection for any losses. Parker placed a similar condition on the silver that he also bequeathed to the college, and these stipulations are part of the reason that Corpus Christi College retains to this day the entirety of the library and the silver collection, as they were unable to sell off (or melt down) the less valuable parts of either collection without losing both.
  The collection has been housed in the Wilkins' Room, along the length of the south side of New Court within the College, since 1827. The ground floor, which was until 2006 the college's student library, has been converted into a temperature-controlled, fire-proof vault and separate reading room for visiting academics.
  The current librarian is Dr Philippa Hoskins, elected as the second Donnelley Fellow Librarian in 2019. In 2004 the College established The Friends of The Parker Library, a small subscription-based club in order to raise money and secure the future of the Library.
caption: Archbishop Matthew Parker, the college's greatest benefactor
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