English College, Douay

The English College was a Catholic seminary in Douai, now in France (also previously spelled Douay, and in English Doway), associated with the University of Douai. It was established in about 1561, and was suppressed in 1793. It is known for a Bible translation referred to as the Douay–Rheims Bible.

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 that founded at Louvain 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. In the early years there was a strong English influence, with several of the chief posts being held by professors who had fled Oxford University after the accession of Protestants in England. It was there, too, that after taking his licentiate in 1560, William Allen became Regius Professor of Divinity.

The foundation of this University coincided with the presence of a large number of English Catholics living at Douai, in the wake of the accession of Elizabeth I and the reimposition of Protestantism in England. These included the university's first chancellor, Richard Smith, who had studied at Oxford and thus had already brought the new University under Oxford influences.

It was William Allen who first had the idea for a seminary for English Catholic priests, with studies linked to those of the university. He had the idea in a conversation with Dr. Jean Vendeville, then Regius Professor of Canon Law in the University of Douai and later Bishop of Tournai (Allen and Vendeville went on a pilgrimage to Rome together in autumn 1567). The foundation began to take definite shape when Allen leased a house at Douai on Michaelmas Day, 1568, and the College was founded in 1569. Similar colleges also came about at Douai for Scottish and Irish Catholic clergy, and also Benedictine, Franciscan and Jesuit houses.