In Western Christianity, a collegiate church is one in which the daily office[1] of worship is maintained collectively by a college of canons; consisting of a number of non-monastic or "secular clergy"[2] commonly organised by foundation statutes into a self-governing corporate body or chapter, presided over by a dean, warden or provost.
[6] In respect of prebends in particular, it became expected practice in the medieval period for canons to be non-resident, vicars being appointed to maintain corporate worship on their behalf, and these vicarages might be specified in the college statutes.
[7] Furthermore, in the later medieval period, developing expectations of corporate worship led to collegiate foundations increasingly making provision for professional choirs of singing men (or clerks) and boy choristers.
Prior to the Conquest, there had been considerable numbers of portioner collegiate churches in England, commonly having developed out of Anglo-Saxon minsters or monasteries,[8] and generally without formal statutes.
[12] Eleven former monasteries in England had been refounded under Henry VIII as collegiate churches or cathedrals; some of these were shortly dissolved by Edward VI, others continued.
The commissioners for suppression appointed under the Chantries Act 1547 had been empowered to apply tithes, pensions and annuities so as to establish vicarages in former collegiate churches to provide for cure of souls and maintain parochial worship.