The cathedral church of Christ in Oxford - better known as Christ Church Cathedral - was established in 1546. It forms one half of Christ Church, the unique joint foundation of cathedral and university college created by King Henry VIII. Today's cathedral occupies the site of a monastery founded in the late seventh century by Frideswide, patron saint of Oxford and its university. In the early twelfth century it was re-founded as an Augustinian priory, and 400 years later it met its nemesis in Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, whose plan for an Oxford college grander than any other caused its dissolution. But when the cardinal fell from royal favour, the priory church was saved. The King's Cathedral is the first account of the convent, priory and cathedral for nearly a century. Judith Curthoys - author of two previous volumes on Christ Church - has drawn widely on scholarly research into the cathedral's archaeology, architecture and history for her fascinating and accessible new study of this historic building.

When Christ Church was founded in 1546, Henry VIII made the college a generous grant of land and other property. This endowment was large enough to ensure the smooth running of the college and cathedral including maintaining its buildings, educating its students and paying its staff. From earliest days up to the present, the endowment and later gifts - in all parts of the country, from Montgomeryshire to Norfolk and Cornwall to Yorkshire - have been managed with varying success, sometimes expertly, at other times less so. The shelves of the college archives are full of maps and plans, account books, manorial records, deeds, photographs and detailed correspondence with tenants and vicars. Drawing on this rich material, Cows and Curates recounts the history of the management of farms, urban dwellings, commercial property and industrial estates against the backdrop of national social change, legislation, agricultural developments and depressions, wars and modernisation.

Christ Church, founded by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525, and arguably the grandest college in the University of Oxford, has been the subject of only one previous history. Now Judith Curthoys, the college archivist, presents a new and fascinating account of this unique institution - a joint foundation of college and cathedral with its own peculiar constitution. Despite having been described as like cream ('rich, thick and full of clots'), Christ Church has never been just a refuge for the elite, and over the centuries it has produced a dazzling list of famous and learned men and (since 1980) women. We learn of its traditions and its eccentricities: from its early emphasis on prayer and discipline to the intricacies of its early plumbing; and from its strong associations with music, architecture and art to its battles (both ancient and modern) with student drunkenness. We learn too of the sometimes extraordinary power and influence of the Dean, the college's head, and at times of the reigning monarch too - Charles I even made it his headquarters during the Civil War. Above all, we see not an ivory tower, but a great institution that has survived all the vicissitudes of English history; adapting to, and often influencing, the constant tide of social, political, academic and ecclesiastical change.

Christ Church, Oxford's largest and arguably grandest college, has awed visitors ever since its foundation by Cardinal Wolsey in 1525: one seventeenth-century visitor said 'it is more like some fine castle, or great palace than a College'. The already impressive site was further enhanced during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by ever more imposing structures, and building has continued up to the present day, sometimes following fashion, sometimes leading the way with new architectural styles. The Stones of Christ Church tells the fascinating story of the college's buildings throughout its five centuries, and of those who brought them into being, from the three great 'builder deans', John Fell, Henry Aldrich and Henry Liddell, to the humble slaters, joiners, bricklayers and stonemasons, and the materials that they worked with. The resulting buildings - Tom Tower, Peckwater Quad, Meadow Buildings and many more - are among the most iconic sights of Oxford today. Judith Curthoys, archivist at Christ Church since 1994, is also the author of The Cardinal's College (Profile, 2012), an in-depth history of this remarkable institution. Her new and impeccably researched study shows how much each generation's buildings, whether grand or humble, can tell us about the history both of the site and of those who occupied it.