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Robert Woodlark

Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and the founder of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 9, 2024
Entity authorityQ18009188 ↗
Source-derived summary

Robert Woodlark (also spelled Wodelarke) was an English academic and priest. He was the Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and the founder of St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was also a professor of sacred theology at the University.

He was the son of Richard Woodlark of Wakerley, Northamptonshire. Robert Woodlark was one of the founding Fellows of King's College in 1441. He was appointed Provost of King's in 1452, eventually being succeeded in 1479, by Walter Field. He was surveyor of King's College Chapel during its building and master of the works there, 1452–5.

While Provost of King's, Woodlark began the preparations for the foundation of a new college, which he established in 1473. He drew up the original statutes for the governance of the college and obtained a charter from Edward IV, 16 August 1475. His vision for the college was one populated by a small society of priests.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Robert Woodlark” as provost of King's College, Cambridge, and the founder of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, Woodlark and Provost.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1441, 1452, 1479, 1473—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1401. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Robert, Woodlark and Provost providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Robert Woodlark”, the useful work is to connect “provost of King's College, Cambridge, and the founder of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 9, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q18009188. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1441, 1452, 1479 and 1473.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Building a first chronology
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  2. Expand the search: follow Robert Woodlark primary sources, Robert Woodlark archive and Robert research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Robert Woodlark” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.