Glasney College

50°09′58″N 5°06′07″W / 50.1662°N 5.10193°W / 50.1662; -5.10193

Glasney College (Cornish: Kolji Glasnedh) was a centre of ecclesiastical power in medieval Cornwall and probably the best known and most important of Cornwall's religious institutions. It was founded in 1265 at Penryn, Cornwall, by Bishop Bronescombe.

The site at Glasney was at the head of a small creek. Much of the building was modelled on Exeter Cathedral, and as a defence Bishop Bronescombe built three towers, forming one block that acted as a defence both for the college and for the town of Penryn.

After its founding in 1265, during the later Middle Ages, Glasney was the largest clerical body in Cornwall, as large as any of the ancient monasteries had been, and with an equivalent income, mainly derived from the rectorial tithes of Budock, Colan, Feock, Kea, Manaccan, Mevagissey, Mylor, St Allen, St Enoder, St Gluvias, St Goran, St Just in Penwith, Sithney, and Zennor.

There were no monks at this college or collegiate church, but it had an establishment of one provost and 12 secular canons and held the patronage of sixteen parishes. William Bodrugan was the first official Provost of Glasney, from 17 April 1283 to 1288, before he became Archdeacon of Cornwall.

Miracle plays were performed here and elsewhere in Cornwall in the Cornish language. Only a few Cornish-language plays survive today, but those that do include several composed at Glasney, the Ordinalia: The Creation of the World, The Passion of our Lord, The Resurrection of Our Lord; and Bewnans Meriasek, the Life of St Meriasek, patron saint of Camborne.

King Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, between 1536 and 1545, signalled the end of the big Cornish priories, but as a chantry church Glasney survived until 1548, when it suffered the same fate. The smashing and looting of the Cornish colleges at Glasney and Crantock brought an end to the formal scholarship that helped sustain the Cornish language and the Cornish cultural identity, and played a significant part in fomenting the opposition to cultural 'reforms' that led to the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549. The granite taken from the college was used to form and build King Henry VIII's fort at Pendennis Castle.

Apart from being sorely missed centres of indigenous cultural excellence, many in Cornwall saw these institutions as bridges to the Celtic past, back even to the Christianised Celtic paganism of their forefathers.