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

1. MacCulloch 2009, p. 407.
2. Rubin 1986, pp. 104–105.
3. Rubin 1986, pp. 105–106.
4. Rubin 1986, pp. 102–103.
5. Dossat 1976.
6. Scarisbrick 1984, p. 21.
7. "400th Anniversary of the Charter" . Retrieved 5 December 2025.
8. 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.
9. "The Guilds of York". History of York. York Museums Trust. Retrieved 7 December 2025.

Sources

• 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.