Maria de San Pol

Maria de San Pol prazando (Bibliothèque nationale de France)

Mary of St. Pol (Marie de St Pol, h.1303-1377) was the wife of Aymer of Valence, second Earl of Pembroke, and is known above all as founder of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Guy IV daughter of Châtillon, count of St. Pol and Butler of France, says the legend that she was maiden, wife and widow in a single day when her husband Aymer de Valence was assassinated in front of her in a friendly fair his wedding day. However, it is an apocryphal story and what the documentation indicates is that he died of apoplexy after three years of marriage. Maria was only seventeen when she married, while her husband, Henry III's widower and half-brother, was in his mid-50s.

In 1347, Mary obtained a license from Edward III to establish an educational foundation in the still young university city of Cambridge. The resulting college is known as the Hall of Marie Valence, and currently as Pembroke College, home to more than 700 students and gifts. The first statutes of the school gave p to students born in France who had already studied elsewhere in England.

Mary of St. Pol died in 1377 and was buried in Denny Abbey, north of Cambridge on the road to Ely. The exact location of his tomb has been lost today.

wiki