From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Jesus College at the University of Cambridge was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely. The chapel to nunnery, which was itself founded in the beginning of the 11th century, is the oldest building belonging to the university and is still in use today (which is fairly impressive for a thousand-year-old structure). Rumor has it that the nunnery was donated to the University as the nuns had gotten too licentious and were becoming quite the scandal.
Jesus is one of the few colleges to allow anyone, even students, to walk on the grass, or courts as they are often called. Interestingly enough, several of these courts are the burial sites for dead nuns from the original nunnery; even more interestingly, none of these courts are marked, although it is forbidden to walk on them. Jesus also has a college cat, who is called Jesus.
Famous alumni include Thomas Cranmer, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Donald Winnicott, and Thomas Malthus.
