Marie de St Pol

Marie de Châtillon at prayer (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Marie de St Pol (c.1303–1377) was the wife of Aymer de Valence, the Earl of Pembroke, and is best known as the foundress of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

The daughter of Guy III of Châtillon, legend has it that she was maiden, wife, and widow all in the space of a single day when her husband Aymer de Valence was killed in front of her in a friendly jousting match, on their wedding day. However, this is apocryphal as documentation indicates he died of apoplexy after three years of marriage. Marie was only seventeen when she married, whilst her husband was already fifty.

In 1347, Marie obtained licence from Edward III to establish an educational establishment in the still-young university town of Cambridge. The resulting college was known as the Hall of Marie Valence, and is known today as Pembroke College, home to over 700 students and dons. The first statutes of the college gave preference to students born in France who had already studied elsewhere in England.

Marie de St Pol died in 1377 and was buried in Denny Abbey, to the north of Cambridge on the road to Ely. The precise location of her grave is now lost.

Persondata
Name	Saint Pol, Marie De
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Date of death	1377
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