University of Douai As part of a general programme of consolidation of the Spanish Low Countries, in 1560–1562,
Philip II of Spain established a university in Douai that was in some sense a sister-university to the
Old University of Leuven founded in 1426. The
University of Douai has emerged in recent studies as an important institution of its time. Of an avowedly Catholic character, it had five faculties: theology, canon and civil law, medicine, and arts. Similar colleges also came about at Douai for
Scottish and
Irish Catholic clergy, and also Benedictine, Franciscan and Jesuit houses. The aim of Allen and the college was to gather together some of the many English Catholics living in exile in different countries of the continent and provide them with facilities for continuing their studies (in what was effectively a Catholic University of Oxford in exile), thus producing a ready-made stock of educated English Catholic clergy ready for England's re-conversion to Catholicism (expected by Allen in the near future). At the same time the college was the first of the type of seminary ordered by the
Council of Trent, and so received papal approval shortly after its establishment. It was also taken under the protection of King
Philip II of Spain, who assigned it an annual grant of 200 ducats. Other
seminaries or houses of study on the European continent for the training of priests from and for England and Wales (all known typically as
English Colleges) included ones in Rome (from 1579),
Valladolid (from 1589),
Seville (from 1592) and
Lisbon (from 1628). Nevertheless, in the early years Allen's college had no regular income and was reliant on private donations from England and the generosity of a few local friends (especially the neighbouring monasteries of Saint-Vaast at Arras, Anchin, and Marchiennes, which, at the suggestion of Vendeville, had from time to time subscribed towards the work). Allen continued his own theological studies and, after taking his doctorate, became Regius Professor at the university, though he donated his whole salary to the college to keep it afloat. A few years after the foundation Allen applied to
Pope Gregory XIII for regular funding. In 1565, Gregory granted the college a monthly pension of 100 golden crowns per month, which continued to be paid down to the time of the French Revolution. Only a few years after foundation, Allen's personality and influence had attracted more than 150 students to the college. A steady stream of controversial works issued from Douai, some by Allen himself, others by such men as
Thomas Stapleton and
Richard Bristow. It was at the English College at Douai that the English translation of the Bible known as the
Douay–Rheims Bible was completed in 1609. However, the college did see opposition from the university and town, with all the English at Douai expelled in 1578 and the college finding a temporary base at
Rheims. The College did hold onto the house at Douai, however, and returned to it in 1593 (though without Allen, who had been called to reside in Rome, where he died on 16 October 1594).
Douai Martyrs When the open re-conversion of England did not materialise (since the Marian Catholic bishops were dead, imprisoned or in exile, and the Catholic priests who had stayed in England were dying out or converting to Protestantism), the college began to supply missionary priests or "
seminary priests" to enter England covertly, minister to existing Catholics and attempt re-conversion. Operating as a Catholic priest was legally high treason at the time (with the penalty of being hanged, drawn and quartered), and of the over 300 priests Douai sent into England by the end of the 16th century, more than 130 (mainly the secular clergy, known as the
Douai Martyrs) are known to have been executed, with many more imprisoned and nearly 160 banished back to the continent. In 1577
Cuthbert Mayne became the first of them to be martyred. Douai became ever more important to English Catholics when their hopes of England returning to Catholicism were finally ended by the defeat of the
Jacobite risings. Under the presidency of
Robert Witham (1715–1738) the English College at Douai was rebuilt on a substantial scale and rescued from the overwhelming debt into which it had been plunged when it lost nearly all its endowment in the notorious "
South Sea Bubble".
French Revolution As a town Douai suffered less than many others at the beginning of the
French Revolution and at first the university and its associated colleges held onto its Catholic character, but during the
Reign of Terror it suffered the same fate as many similar establishments. When all the clergy of the town were called upon in 1791 to take the "Civic Oath", the members of the British establishments claimed exemption in virtue of their nationality. The plea was allowed for a time but, when
Louis XVI was executed and Britain declared war, the superiors and students of most of the other British establishments realised their immunity was at an end and fled to England. The members of the English College, with their president,
John Daniel, remained in the hope of saving the college. However, in October, 1793, they were taken to prison at
Doullens in Picardy, together with six Anglo-Benedictine monks who had remained for a similar purpose, and Thomas Stapleton (President of
St Omer) and his students. After suffering in prison, the English Collegians were allowed to return to Douai in November 1794 and a few months later Stapleton managed to gain their release and permission to return to England, though the college would never return to Douai. In England, the Penal Laws had recently been repealed, and they founded two colleges to continue the college's work, at
Crook Hall, County Durham (afterwards removed to
Ushaw College, County Durham) in the North and
St Edmund's College, Old Hall, at
Ware, Hertfordshire in the South. With the laws of separation of Church and State implemented in 1905, all the property of the English Benedictines was confiscated by the French state. The community thus returned to England, reestablishing its monastery and school at
Woolhampton in
Berkshire, in proximity to London.
Present-day The college's buildings now house the
Institution Saint-Jean de Douai, a public-private school for children. == See also ==