Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the University; in that there was an internal division in the college, by staircase units, into parts where the monasteries sending monks had effective authority. The overall head was a Prior, later changed to a Prior Studentium, and finally a Principal.
It later became Gloucester Hall, an academic hall and annexe of St John's College and was again refounded in 1714 as Worcester College by Sir Thomas Cookes.
In 1283, John Giffard gave a house in Stockwell Street, Oxford, to the Benedictine order of the Province of Canterbury, which the province allocated to St. Peter's Abbey, Gloucester to operate as a cell for thirteen student monks. There was early friction with the local Carmelites, who had also claimed the land, and brought an assize of novel disseisin in 1288.
In 1291 Giffard granted further property, and general chapters of 1290 and 1291 decided to expand the establishment into an independent priory, to take student monks from all the priories of the province, with Gloucester renouncing its claim over the property. Henry de Heliun was appointed the first prior.
Pope Benedict XII in 1337 laid down, in the bull Pastor bonus, that 5% of Benedictine monks should be university students. The bull also led to the title of Prior being changed to Prior Studentium, elected by the students themselves. But from the middle of the 14th century onwards there was an alternative, at the University of Cambridge. There were also the Benedictine Durham College, Oxford, and Canterbury College, Oxford. Even though the catchment area after 1337 included the Province of York, numbers of students were never high, one reason being the cost of living in Oxford (which the home monastery had to meet). After the Black Death, Gloucester College was closed for a time. In 1537 it was found to have 32 students.
At the Dissolution the property passed to the English Crown, then to the Bishop of Oxford in 1542, who sold it to Sir Thomas White. White was the founder of St John's College, Oxford, and Gloucester Hall, as it then became, was treated as an Annexe to St John's College.
The penultimate Principal of Gloucester Hall, Benjamin Woodroffe, established a "Greek College" for Greek Orthodox students to come to Oxford, part of a scheme to make ecumenical links with the Church of England. This was active from 1699 to 1705, although only 15 Greeks are recorded as members.
The status of Gloucester Hall changed in the 18th century, when it was refounded in 1714 by Sir Thomas Cookes as Worcester College, Oxford. Oxford's Gloucester Green, which was opposite the old College, and the Gloucester House building within the current college preserve the name.
Prior
Prior Studentium
Principal
Those who studied at the college and hall include: