THE COLLEGES
The university and the colleges--the collegiate system--eras of
college building--Peterhouse--Michaelhouse--_collegium_ and
_aula_--Clare--college statutes--architectural scheme of a
college--Pembroke--founders of colleges--Gonville--Trinity
Hall--Corpus Christi--Cambridge in 1353--Chaucer at Cambridge--the
schools, library, the university printers and the Pitt Press, the
senate house--King’s--King’s College chapel--Cambridge college
chapels--Queens’--English sovereigns at Cambridge--S.
Catherine’s--Jesus--Christ’s--Lady Margaret and Bishop Fisher--S.
John’s--Magdalene--King’s Hall and Trinity College--college
libraries--gateways--Caius--monks in Cambridge--Emmanuel--Sidney
Sussex--Downing--public hostels--nationality of founders and
general scope of their foundations--university and college
revenues.
The college is an endowed foundation providing for the residence and
maintenance of teachers--masters or graduates, and for the free
education of a certain number of poor scholars, to whose company are
added, according to the capacity of the building, other students who are
able to live at their own charges.
[Sidenote: Relation of the college to the university.]
Much has been said about the relation of the college to the university.
By some it is supposed that the latter is nothing but the aggregate of
the former; that somewhere in the time of the Georges “the university”
arrogated to itself a separate existence, and that since that time
university offices have taken precedence of collegiate offices.[97] The
_universitas_, the corporation of scholars, must and did precede any
college foundation: at the same time we cannot distinguish the
development of either of our universities from the rise of these
foundations, whose history has, ever since, been the history of the
academic society. Each college is independent and autonomous, and though
the aggregate of colleges does not constitute the university, each
collegiate foundation forms part and parcel of it in virtue of its union
with the incorporated society of Chancellor Masters and Scholars which
formed at first and still forms “the university.”
[Sidenote: The college the distinguishing characteristic of Cambridge
and Oxford].
It is the collegiate system which distinguishes the English universities
from all others. Everywhere else in Europe students live in their own
private lodgings and have complete control of their lives, subject to no
supervision whatever; the university has no rights over them and no
means of ensuring their good behaviour during the period in which they
choose to attend its lectures. In many parts of Europe the student
passes from a school curriculum in which he has been treated as a
complete dependent, on whose sense of common fairplay and honour, even,
no reliance can be placed, to a curriculum in which he at once becomes
his own absolute master. English instinct is against this--against
abandoning a young man at a critical moment of his life to his own
devices, his own unsupported endeavours, as it is against ruling him by
a system of espionage in his school days. It is in favour in both cases
of the moral support to be found in an external guarantee for order,
orderliness--and of a tacit assistance to good instincts, a tacit
resistance to bad; and the result is the university college.
[Sidenote: The origin of the college system.]
The result, as we say, is an English result, and is the development of a
scheme to which shape was first given by Walter de Merton, Chancellor of
England and afterwards Bishop of Rochester, and Hugh de Balsham Bishop
and formerly subprior of Ely, in the reign of Henry III.[98] An endowed
house and college statutes formed part of this fine academic scheme,
which, in all its amplitude and completeness, sprang Athena-like from
the brain of Walter de Merton, and was destined from the first to be
realised in a university. It must, nevertheless, be clearly borne in
mind that the original college dwellings--and the college statutes--were
designed for adult scholars, they were, in fact, the earliest training
colleges for teachers, and it is only later that their advantages were
extended in equal measure to the taught.[99]
[Sidenote: The era of college building.]
College building began in the xiii century and ended with the xvith. The
first great period of building, however, belongs to the second quarter
of the xiv century, and no less than seven colleges and halls were
founded between the years 1324 and 1352. Ninety years elapsed before
the second period, which began with the foundation of King’s College in
1441 and ended with the foundation of S. John’s in 1509. The third and
last period opened a hundred years after the foundation of King’s and
closed with the foundation of the first Protestant colleges fifty years
later (1595):
First period. Second period. Third period.
Peterhouse 1284
(28 years) (68 years) (50 years)
Michaelhouse 1324 King’s College 1441 Magdalene 1542
Clare 1326-38 Queens’ 1448 Trinity 1546
King’s Hall 1337 S. Catherine’s 1473 (Caius 1557)
Pembroke 1347 Jesus 1495 Emmanuel 1584
Gonville Hall 1348 Christ’s 1505 Sidney Sussex 1595
Trinity Hall 1350 S. John’s 1509
Corpus Christi 1352
There were therefore 8 colleges in Cambridge by the middle of the xiv
century; when the xvi century opened there were 14, and at its close 12
of the previous buildings remained and 4 new had been added. Downing
College (built 1805) must be added to these, making at the present day a
total of 17 colleges.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Peterhouse.]
Peterhouse was founded by Hugh de Balsham[100] for his Ely scholars whom
he had in vain attempted to unite, with a separate endowment of their
own, under the same roof as the canons of S. John’s Hospital.[101] In
1284 he removed the Ely clerks to two hostels by S. Peter’s church at
the other end of the town, and at his death two years later left three
hundred marks for the erection of a hall. This was built in 1290 on the
south-west and formed with the scholars’ chambers the only collegiate
building at Peterhouse till the close of the xiv century. Here then were
the primitive elements of a college; the hostel or scholars’ lodging
house to which was added a common meeting and dining room, or hall. The
little parish church of S. Peter served for prayers and gave its name to
the college. College chapels were not built till considerably later: the
example first given by Pembroke College in the next century not being
followed for another hundred years. The quadrangle was not begun till
1424. A combination room[102] opening out from the hall, and a library,
were added along the south side. Over the former was the master’s room,
over the latter the students’ quarters; and all looked upon the ancient
lawn, the meadow with its elms beyond and, stretching to the right, with
its water gate, Coe fen.
Ye brown, o’er-arching groves,
That contemplation loves,
Where willowy Camus lingers with delight!
Oft at the blush of dawn
I trod your level lawn
* * * * *
With Freedom by my side, and soft-eyed Melancholy.[103]
[Illustration: PETERHOUSE FROM THE STREET
The Tower of the Congregational Church in the distance.]
Hostels and church, facing the Trumpington road, were just without
Trumpington gate. In 1309 the college area was extended southwards, over
the ground occupied by Jesu hostel.[104] The property of the Gilbertine
canons was added in the xvi century. The college area covers the space
between Trumpington Street and Coe fen, and Little S. Mary’s church and
Scroope Terrace; two-thirds of the site of the Fitzwilliam Museum being
ground purchased from Peterhouse. The new Gisborne building (1825) is
built on the west beyond the hall. The frontage of Peterhouse on
Trumpington Street is unpromising; nothing suggests the charm of the
buildings on the south side or the open country beyond, stored with
historical memories. From the hall, a site unrivalled in the university,
opens the panelled combination room,[105] the “Good Women” of Chaucer
limned in one of its bays, recalling
The chambres and parlers of a sorte
With bay windowes
described by the poet’s contemporary.
Above the xvi century library (of which Balsham’s own books were the
nucleus, enriched by Whittlesey, Bottlesham, Arundel, Warkworth, Gray,
Perne, and Cosin)[106] a charming corner room in the students’ quarters
has been set apart by the present Master for evening study, a veritable
_solarium_ where the readers are surrounded by the portraits of the
great sons of Peterhouse.
[Sidenote: The chapel A.D. 1628.]
Old S. Peter’s church was perhaps burnt down in 1338-1340 by a fire
which is supposed to have also destroyed the chapel of S. Edmund. On its
site rose the present church of Little S. Mary.[107] But in the early
xvii century a movement was set afoot at Peterhouse which resulted in
the erection of a college chapel. It now stands in the midst of the
college buildings, and one of the two ancient hostels, “the little
ostle,” was demolished to provide a site. Matthew Wren, uncle of Sir
Christopher and then Master of the college, afterwards Bishop of Ely,
was the builder. The desire of the fellows of Peterhouse for a chapel of
their own coincided with the movement in the English Church for an
elaborate ritual. As it stands it is a perfect specimen of a xvii
century chapel, with its dark oak stalls, and its east window spared
from Commonwealth marauders by the expedient of removing the glass piece
by piece and hiding it till the
[Illustration: PETERHOUSE--THE FIRST COURT
The entrance to the chapel faces the spectator. On the right is seen the
Combination Room (1460) and the Hall. Through the Cloisters we get a
view into the street. This is the oldest college in Cambridge.]
iconoclastic fever had spent itself. But still we have only the shell of
the original chapel, the roof of which was adorned with figures of a
hundred and fifty angels the statue of S. Peter presiding from the west.
Nine years later all this was pulled down by the Commonwealth men and
the ritualist movement it embodied came to an end.[108]
[Sidenote: Hall portraits.]
Peterhouse hall, in common with the halls of all other colleges,
contains the portraits of its great men: here, however, they look down
upon us not only from the wall above the high table but from the stained
glass of the windows. Holbroke Master of the college, chancellor of the
university during the Barnwell process, and an early student of science;
Cardinal Beaufort scholar of the house who represented Henry V. at the
Council of Constance, and was himself, perhaps, _papabile_; Warkworth
writing his Lancastrian Chronicle--are in their doctor’s scarlet: here
also are Whitgift, Cosin, and Crashaw, who is depicted as a canon of
Loreto; the poet Gray, the third duke of Grafton chancellor of the
university and Prime Minister, and Henry Cavendish the physicist. The
panel portraits were removed here from the Stone parlour. The painting
of Bishop Law by Romney (?) reminds us that many of the Laws were at
Peterhouse, including the first Lord Ellenborough. Over the high table
is Lord Kelvin the latest famous son of the house. Among these must also
be noted Thomas Heywood “a prose Shakspeare,” Hutchinson “the regicide”
one of the first Puritan gentlemen and one of the best, Peter Baro,
Markland the classical critic, and Sherlock who measured himself against
Bossuet.
Peterhouse owes nothing to royal endowments but it has not lived outside
the stir of national movements either political or religious. There were
fervent Lancastrians within its walls in the xv century, fervent
partisans of the Stuarts in the xviith. It was, second to none in
England, the anti-Puritan college, numbering among its masters Wren and
Cosin, and that Doctor Andrew Perne who was among its most munificent
benefactors.[109] Perne was a Petrean first and a theologian afterwards,
and, as vice-chancellor, was to be found burning the remains of Martin
Bucer and Paul Fagius[110] in order to ingratiate the university with
Mary, and signing the Thirty-nine Articles on the accession of
Elizabeth. The letters AP AP on the weather cock of his college are said
to mean: Andrew Perne, “a Papist” or “a Protestant,” as you will; and in
Cantabrigian language a coat that has been turned is a coat that has
been _perned_, and _pernare_ signifies to change your opinions with
frequency.
Since the xvii century Peterhouse has been connected with no great
movements. In the xv century and again in the early xixth it produced
eminent physical and mathematical students; and in the xviii century
Sir William Browne, President of the College of Physicians, learnt here
his science. Scotchmen have a predilection for the college; and a
nucleus of history men is being formed under the present Master’s
guidance.
[Sidenote: Little S. Mary’s.]
The patronage of the historical church which was for three or four
centuries the chapel of Peterhouse remains in the hands of the college.
It is indeed an integral part of Peterhouse for every Petrean. But its
interest does not end here; it reaches across the Atlantic and binds the
new continent to the home-hearth of learning in England. A monument in
the chapel to Godfrey Washington who died in 1729 bears the arms _argent
two bars gules, in chief three estoiles_--the origin of the Stars and
Stripes. The Washington crest is an eagle issuant from a
crown--affirming sovereignty or escaping from a monarchy?[111]
[Sidenote: Cherry Hinton.]
The Rectory of Cherry Hinton two and a half miles south-east of
Cambridge, on the way to the village of Balsham, is no less important in
the history of the Ely scholars. In the xiv century the endowment of the
college was not sufficient for their maintenance all the year round: the
college nevertheless had made rapid progress since its separate
existence at Peterhouse began, and Fordham Bishop of Ely (1388-1426)
decided to confirm to them the greater tithes of Cherry Hinton of which
the college is to this day rector; but which had indeed been first
assigned them by Bishop Simon Langham as early as 1362.[112]
A visit to this interesting church completes our picture of the college
which “his affection for learning and the state of the poor scholars who
were much put to it for conveniency of lodging” persuaded Balsham to
endow.
[Sidenote: Peterhouse lodge.]
The lodge of Peterhouse is on the opposite side of Trumpington Street,
and is the only example of a lodge outside the college precincts in the
university. The house belonged to Charles Beaumont, nephew of the
metaphysical poet Joseph Beaumont who was Master of Peterhouse, and was
bequeathed by him for the college lodge in 1727.
Peterhouse has always been one of the small colleges. Balsham founded it
for a master, 14 fellows, and a few Bible clerks.[113] In the time of
Charles I. (1634) it maintained 19 fellows, 29 Bible clerks, and 8
scholars, making with the college officers and other students a total of
106. Sixty years earlier, when Caius wrote, there were 96 inmates, and
in the middle of the xviii century, 90. To-day there are 11 fellowships,
and 23 scholarships varying from £20 to £80 a year in value.
[Illustration: PETERHOUSE FROM THE FELLOWS’ GARDEN
On the right is the Combination Room (1460), while farther back in the
picture is the Hall, a continuation of this range of most ancient and
picturesque buildings.]
The bishops of Ely have never ceased to be the visitors of the college.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Michaelhouse.]
Nearly forty years elapsed before a second college was projected. On
September 27 1324 Hervey de Stanton, who like other founders in both
universities--like Merton, Alcock, Wykeham, and Wolsey--was a notable
pluralist,[114] opened Michaelhouse on the present site of Trinity. His
purchases for the site had been made in 1323-4, and as was the case with
the foundations preceding and succeeding it, Michaelhouse was an
adaptation of edifices already existing. It remained one of the
principal collegiate buildings until the xvi century and was
successively enlarged by absorbing both Crouched and Gregory’s as
students’ hostels.
[Sidenote: _Domus aula collegium._]
As Peterhouse was called “the House-of-Scholars of S. Peter,” so was
Michaelhouse called “the House-of-Scholars of S. Michael.” It will be
seen that _domus_ and _aula_ were the earliest appellations. As
_hospitia_ or _diversoria literarum_ signified the unendowed house, so
_domus_ or _aula scholarium_ signified the endowed house. Such compound
titles as “house of S. Peter or hall-of-scholars of the Bishop of Ely”
precede, as they explain, the later title _college_. A college denotes
not a dwelling but a community: precisely the same distinction is to be
drawn between _domus_ and _collegium_ as between _monasterium_ and
_conventus_. Every university _domus_ was intended for a college of
scholars, as every religious house was intended for a convent of
religious; the transition was easy, though not logical, from “college of
the hall of Valense-Marie” to Valence-Marie College, and to-day the word
is used indiscriminately to mean both the building and the
community.[115]
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Clare Hall 1326-1338.]
Clare Hall was erected on the site of University Hall, a house for
scholars founded during the chancellorship of Richard de Badew who
obtained the king’s licence for it on February 20 1326, when he was
lodged at Barnwell.[116] In the next reign (1344, 18th of Edward III.)
it is referred to as “the hospice belonging to Cambridge university.”
This hall, like Peterhouse, originated in two hostels purchased for the
university in the street running parallel to the High Street, from the
present site of Queen’s to the back gate of Trinity.[117] Twelve years
later Elizabeth de Burgh[118] sister and co-heiress of
[Illustration: CLARE COLLEGE AND BRIDGE FROM THE CAM--AUTUMN EVENING]
Gilbert Earl of Clare founded her college and in 1340 she obtained
possession of University Hall,[119] and decreed in 1359 that it should
thenceforth be known as the “House of Clare.”[120]
The scheme of building of Clare Hall was quadrangular; but no college
was longer in the building. A hall, combination room, and Master’s room
were on the west, while the chapel at the north-east angle was not built
till 1535.[121] The scholars had till then kept their prayers in the
parish church of S. Zachary and in the south chancel aisle of S.
Edward’s. The present chapel was not begun till 1764. As we see it now
Clare is a homogeneous piece of work of the time of Charles I., and in
its classical beauty is one of the finest in Cambridge. This complete
rebuilding occupied twenty-six years--from 1635 to 1661. There is no
record of the architect, though an unsupported tradition points to Inigo
Jones.
When one pictures Clare Hall it is to recall “the Backs,” the
characteristic feature of Cambridge scenery which rivals the beauty of
“the gardens” in the sister university. The grounds of the succession of
collegiate buildings fronting the ancient High Street, with sloping
lawns, bowling green, and fellows’ garden, extend along the backs of the
colleges beyond the narrow river over which each college throws its
bridge, and beyond again runs the well known road and the college
playgrounds.
Clare is supposed to have been the “Soler hall” of Chaucer’s Tale.[122]
It has enjoyed the reputation of a fashionable college, and indeed of a
“sporting college.” It no doubt enjoyed the former reputation from the
first, as a foundation under the patronage of the great house of Clare,
and furnished some of the overdressed dandies who flocked to Cambridge
in Chaucer’s time, as well as his “pore” Yorkshire “scolers” or others
like them. Ralph Cudworth was Master of the college; Tillotson
Archbishop of Canterbury, the martyr bishop Latimer, and Whiston the
successor of Newton were its fellows; and Nicholas Heath primate of
York, Sir George Downing, Cole the antiquary, Townshend, Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the first Marquis Cornwallis, Brodrick Archbishop of
Cashel, and Whitehead the laureate were its _alumni_. It was founded for
20 fellows or scholars, 6 of whom were to be in priests’ orders. In 1634
there were 15 fellows and 32 scholars, in all 106 inmates. In the time
of Caius there had been 129, and in the middle of the xviii century
there were about 100. There are
[Illustration: CLARE COLLEGE AND BRIDGE FROM THE AVENUE
King’s College Chapel is seen through the trees.]
now 18 fellowships and 31 scholarships ranging in value from £20 to £60.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: College statutes.]
The statutes of Clare Hall were written by the founder in 1359, a year
before her death. The statutes of Peterhouse[123] and of Pembroke do not
exist in their original form--and those of Hervey de Stanton for
Michaelhouse and of Elizabeth de Burgh for Clare must be held to be the
two types of Cambridge college statutes. Of these the latter rank as the
most enlightened original code framed for a Cambridge college. Stanton’s
contain little more than directions for the conduct of a clerical
seminary, and this type was followed by the framers of the statutes of
Corpus Christi and in their general intention by Gonville in statutes
afterwards modified by Bateman. The statutes of King’s Hall framed for
Richard II. reverted to the Merton type; Henry VI.’s statutes for King’s
follow, as we shall see, the type already laid down by William of
Wykeham, while Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond, and John Fisher
Bishop of Rochester framed statutes which contain some original
elements.
Elizabeth de Burgh’s originality consists in her realisation of the
value of learning and of general knowledge for all kinds of men and for
its own sake. “In every degree, whether ecclesiastical or temporal,
skill in learning is of no mean advantage; which although sought for by
many persons in many ways is to be found most fully in the university
where a _studium generale_ is known to flourish.”[124] Thence it sends
forth its “disciples,” “who have tasted its sweetness,” skilled and
fitted, to fill their place in the world. She wishes to promote, with
the advancement of religious worship and the welfare of the state, “the
extension of these sciences”; her object being that “the pearl of
knowledge” “once discovered and acquired by study and learning” “should
not lie hid,” but be diffused more and more widely, and when so diffused
give light to them that walk in the darkness of the shadow of
ignorance.[125]
The statutes of Marie Valence were written twelve years earlier and even
in the form in which they have come down to us have a character of their
own and conform to none of the three types of Merton, Michaelhouse, or
Clare.[126]
Merton’s statutes were issued in 1264, 1270, and 1274, and the 1274
statutes exist in the university library in a register of the Bishops of
Lincoln. Mr. J. Bass Mullinger has printed Hervey de Stanton’s in
Appendix D. to his “History of the University of Cambridge”; they are
contained in the Michaelhouse book in the muniment room of Trinity.
* * * * *
For King’s Hall, founded in 1337, see page 131.
[Illustration: THE HALL OF CLARE COLLEGE
The notable features of this interior are the plaster ceiling and the
large oak figures over the fireplace, the latter designed by Sir M.
Digby Wyatt 1870-72.]
[Sidenote: Pembroke College A.D. 1347.]
Pembroke Hall was founded in 1347 by Marie daughter of Guy de Chatillon
comte de Saint-Paul and of Mary grand-daughter of Henry III. She was of
the blood of that Walter de Chatillon who in the retreat from Damietta
during the 7th crusade, held a village alone against successive assaults
of the Saracen; and having drawn forth their missiles from his body
after each sally, charged afresh to the cry of _Chatillon!
Chevaliers!_--and the widow of Aymer de Valence Earl of Pembroke the
inexorable enemy of Robert Bruce in Edward’s wars against the Scottish
king. Pembroke stands opposite Peterhouse and several hostels were
destroyed to make room for it. It was called by the founder the hall of
Valencemarie, and in Latin documents _aula Pembrochiana_.
[Sidenote: Architectural scheme of a college.]
With Pembroke the first college foundation stone was laid in Cambridge.
Here for the first time we have a homogeneous collegiate house and not a
mere adaptation of pre-existing buildings, and may therefore enquire
what was the architectural plan of a college. The principle of the
quadrangle, although it underwent considerable architectural
development, was recognised with the first attempt at college
architecture.[127] The special collegiate buildings at first occupied
one side of the court only. Here, facing the gateway, were to be found
the hall with its buttery and kitchen, above the hall the Master’s
lodging, with perhaps a garret bedroom above it--the _solarium_. The
combination room attiguous to the hall makes its appearance in the next
century, and at right angles or parallel to this main block stretch the
students’ chambers and studies. A muniment room or treasury is over the
gate; the library, occupying a third side,[128] and the chapel, come
later; and last of all the architectural gateway is added.[129] Meadows
and fields and the Master’s plot of ground are soon developed into the
Master’s garden, the fellows’ garden, the bowling green, and tennis
court. By the xv century the buildings round a courtyard easily assume
the plan of the new domestic dwelling of that epoch, of which the type
is Haddon Hall Derbyshire and, in Cambridge, Queens’ College: the
college _domus_ of the xiv century becomes the quadrangular manor-house
of the xvth and xvith. In such a scheme of public buildings only a few
scholars could be lodged in the main court, and smaller quadrangles for
their accommodation were therefore added. University Hostel formed one
side of such a second court in Pembroke; Clare and Queens’ had also
second courts, and their example was followed at Christ’s and S. John’s.
Here then we have a scheme of building which is neither monastic nor
feudal. It may with propriety be called scholastic but it is also
essentially domestic architecture. The college quadrangle as we see it
evolved in Cambridge is the earliest attempt at devising a dwelling
which should resemble neither the cloister nor the castle, should
suggest neither enclosure nor self-defence--a scholastic dwelling. The
college is the outcome of that moment in our history when feudalism had
played its part and monasticism was losing its power; it represents what
the rise of the universities themselves represents and its architectural
interest is unique. No monastic terms are retained; the hall is not a
refectory, the one constant monastic and canonical feature, the church,
has no part at all in the scheme--the scholars were men not separated
from their fellows and they used the parish church.
The first collegiate dwelling houses, like the English manor-house,
consciously or unconsciously followed one of the oldest house-plans
known to civilisation--the scheme of dwelling-rooms round a court was
that of the Roman house. The _aula seu domus scholarium_ had moreover as
its starting point--like the earliest _domus ecclesiae_--a hall in a
house; the hall is the nucleus of the college.[130]
[Sidenote: The site of Pembroke.]
Marie de Saint-Paul, like her predecessor Elizabeth de Burgh, purchased
university property for the site of her college. “University hostel”
which stood here formed one side of the narrow quadrangle the building
of which was at once begun, and a messuage of Hervey de Stanton’s formed
the other. Within five years the complete area had been acquired, and
it is probable that the south side was also partly built before the
founder’s death in 1377. On the west were the hall and kitchen, on the
east, abutting on the street, was the gate with students’ chambers on
either side of it. With the hostel the founder bought an acre of
meadowland which she converted into an orchard--“the orchard against
Pembroke Hall” it is called in her lifetime. She also obtained
permission from two of the Avignon popes--Innocent VI. and Urban V.--to
erect a chapel and bell tower, and these were built, after the middle of
the xiv century, at the north west corner of the closed quadrangle. This
interesting site was used later as a library and is still a reference
library and lecture room. Traces of fresco remain under the panelling,
and the chaplain’s room with its hagioscope for the altar is on the
east. The lower part of the bell tower also still exists.
In 1389 the college acquired Cosyn’s Place, and later Bolton’s, and in
1451 a perpetual lease of S. Thomas’s hostel. University hostel retained
its name till the last quarter of the xvi century, and it was only
pulled down in 1659 to make room for the Hitcham building which now
forms the south side of the second court. There is nothing left of the
xiv and xv century structures. The present lodge, hall, and library and
the other new buildings in stone and red brick have all been erected
since 1870. The chapel occupies part of the site of S. Thomas’s hostel,
and was built by Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely and Master of
[Illustration: THE OLD COURT, PEMBROKE COLLEGE
The Dining Hall is seen on the right of the picture.]
Peterhouse, at his own charges; the architect being his nephew
Christopher Wren. The bishop had already built Peterhouse chapel and
this new work was undertaken in fulfilment of his intention to make some
pious offering if he were ever liberated from the Tower, where the
Parliament kept him between the years 1642 and 1658. The fine
combination room is panelled with the oak from the xvii century hall.
The portrait of Marie de Saint-Paul presides in the present hall with
that of Henry VI. flanked by busts of Pitt, Gray, and Stokes.
Two spiritual relationships were bequeathed by the founder to the
college. One with the Franciscan friars, the other with the Minoresses
of Denney. The former connexion ceased almost as soon as it was devised,
for the existing edition of the statutes (made after the founder’s
death) omits all mention of it.[131]
No college but Trinity outshines Pembroke for the fame of its scholars
and none for the antiquity of its fame. Henry VI. in a charter granting
lands speaks of it as “this eminent and most precious college, which is
and ever hath been resplendent among all places in the university.”[132]
The king so favoured it that it was called his “adopted daughter”; and
when Elizabeth rode past it on her way to her lodging at King’s she
saluted it with one of those happy phrases characteristic of the Tudors:
“_O domus antiqua et religiosa!_” words which sum its significance in
university history.
Pembroke is the _alma mater_ of Edmund Spenser,[133] of Gray,[134] of
the younger Pitt,[135] of Thixtil, fellow in 1519, whose extraordinary
erudition is praised by Caius, of Wharton the anatomist, Sydenham the
xvii century physician, Gabriel Harvey the “Hobbinoll” of the
_Shepherd’s Calendar_,[136] Sir George Stokes the mathematician, and Sir
Henry Maine.[137] *Grindal and *Whitgift[138] of Canterbury, *Rotherham
and *Booth of York, *Richard Fox Master of the college, Bishop of
Winchester, and founder of Corpus Christi Oxford, the two Langtons
Bishops of *S. David’s and Winchester, *Ridley the martyr Bishop of
London, *Lancelot Andrewes Bishop of Ely, then of Winchester, with
[Illustration: A COURT AND CLOISTERS IN PEMBROKE COLLEGE
This represents the First or Entrance Court of the College. Beyond the
Cloisters is the Chapel designed by Sir Christopher Wren and completed
in 1664.]
Felton and *Wren of Ely, are on its honour roll. The second Master was
Robert Thorpe of Thorpe-next-Norwich, knighted by Edward III. and
afterwards Lord Chancellor.[139] The old college garden, loved by
Ridley, is much despoiled, but “Ridley’s walk” remains. Pembroke gave
two other martyrs for their religious opinions, Rogers and
Bradford.[140] Two fellows of the college[141] in the reign of Edward
III. died in Rome where they had gone to obtain from Innocent VI.
possession of part of the original endowment of the college; a statute
prescribes that mass shall be said for them each July.
In the library are Gower’s _Confessio Amantis_ and the _Golden Legend_,
printed by Caxton. It is this last book which brought him the promise of
“a buck in summer and a doe in winter” from the Earl of Arundel, for its
great length had made him “half desperate to have accomplished it.”
There, too, is Gray’s MS. of the “Elegy.” The college also possesses
Bishop Andrewes’ library. Matthew Wren is buried in the chapel, and his
staff and mitre are preserved in the college, the latter being a
solitary specimen of a post-reformation mitre; it was worn over a
crimson silk cap.
The college was founded for 30 scholars, if the revenues permitted.[142]
In the time of Caius it housed 87 members; in Fuller’s time 100
(including 20 fellows and 33 scholars); in the middle of the xviii
century the number of students averaged 50 or 60. There are now 13
fellowships and 34 scholarships of the value of £20 to £80.
[Sidenote: Founders of Cambridge colleges.]
The Cambridge colleges are remarkable for the large proportion of them
founded and endowed by women. Of the 16 colleges built between the xiii
and xvi centuries, now in existence, 6 are due to the munificence of
women--Clare, Pembroke, Queens’, Christ’s, S. John’s, and Sidney Sussex.
Next as college builders come the chancellors of England, the bishops,
and the kings who have each endowed the university with three colleges.
Hervey de Stanton, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward
II., Thomas Lord Audley chancellor to Henry VIII., and Sir Walter
Mildmay Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth, all founded colleges,
two of which still remain--Magdalene and Emmanuel.[143] Hugh Balsham of
Ely, Bateman of Norwich, and Alcock of Ely founded three existing
colleges--Peterhouse, Trinity Hall, and Jesus.[143a] The kings of
England account for some of the finest work in the university, King’s
Hall, King’s College, and Trinity College.[144]
[Sidenote: The early series of colleges.]
In the series of Cambridge colleges the 3 foundations of the early xiv
century which followed Peterhouse were all merged in other colleges.
Pembroke which was the sixth foundation was the first piece of
collegiate building to be carried through in Cambridge, and Corpus
Christi must rank as the second.
The colleges from Peterhouse to Pembroke:--
Peterhouse 1284
Michaelhouse 1324 (Gonville 1348 )
{University Hall 1326 (Trinity Hall 1350)
{Clare 1338
King’s Hall 1337 Corpus 1352
Pembroke Hall 1347
Michaelhouse and King’s Hall went to swell the greatness of Trinity;
University Hall became the foundation stone of Clare: and all of them,
with Gonville and Trinity Hall, were incomplete adaptations of earlier
buildings at the time when Pembroke and Corpus were finished.
* * * * *
We now come to two colleges which formed an East Anglian corner in the
university.
[Sidenote: Gonville Hall 1348.]
Within a month of the licence granted to Marie de Saint-Paul, Edmund
Gonville obtained his for the erection of the hall which is called after
him. Gonville was an East Anglian parson, rector of two Norfolk parishes
and sometime vicar-general of the diocese of Ely. In one of these
parishes his elder brother Sir Nicholas Gonville of Rushworth had
already established a college of canons, and Edmund Gonville himself
was a great favourer of the Dominicans. Edward III.’s licence enabled
him to found a hall for 20 scholars in Lurteburgh (now Free school)
Lane, between S. Benet’s and great S. Mary’s, in 1348. In 1352 this site
was exchanged with Benet College for another on the other side of the
High Street,[145] the present site of Gonville and Caius. The Hall was
dedicated in honour of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
enjoyed a great reputation among East Anglians and various proofs of
papal favour up to the eve of the Reformation.[146] Like Corpus its
object was the education of the clergy and theology was to be their
study. Alexander VI. (1492-1503) licensed annually two of its students
to preach in any part of England, apparently a unique permission.[147]
Humphrey de la Pole--who resided for many years--and his brother Edward,
sons of the second Duke of Suffolk, were students here; so was Sir
Thomas Gresham. Gonville was refounded as Gonville and Caius by Doctor
Keys (Caius) two hundred years later.[148]
[Sidenote: Trinity Hall A.D. 1350.]
Edmund Gonville left William Bateman Bishop of Norwich his executor in
the interests of his new foundation. Bateman, a notable
[Illustration: TRINITY HALL
The nearer building seen in the picture is the old Library, and beyond
it are the Latham Buildings.]
figure in the xiv century, set forth as Edward’s ambassador to the King
of France in the month that the Black Death made its appearance in East
Anglia (March 1350), and died at Avignon on an embassy from the king to
the Pope. In 1350 on his return from France,[149] he founded Trinity
Hall, near Gonville, on the site of the hostel of the monks of Ely[150]
which he obtained for that purpose.[151]
If Gonville’s foundation was intended for the country parson, Bateman’s
was intended for the _prete di carriera_. Both were designed to repair
the ravages in the ranks of the clergy left by the plague, but while
Gonville’s clerks were to devote their time to the study of theology
Bateman’s were to study exclusively civil and canon law. The college was
built round a quadrangle,[152] and the religious services were kept in
the church of S. John the Baptist (or Zachary) and afterwards in the
north aisle of S. Edward’s church; these two churches being shared with
the students of Clare. Indeed it was owing to Gardiner’s policy and
Ridley’s advice that Trinity Hall escaped incorporation with Clare
College in the reign of Edward VI. The library remains as it was in the
early years of Elizabeth’s reign, and was founded by Bateman with the
gift of his own collection. The Norfolk men were famous litigants.
Doctor Jessopp has shown that neither the Black Death nor any lesser
tragedy could hold them from an appeal to the law on every trivial
pretext. That the first college of jurists should have been founded by a
native of Norwich is certainly therefore a fitting circumstance.
Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England was
Master of Trinity Hall in the reign of Edward VI. and again in the first
year of Mary. He used to say “if all his palaces were blown down by
iniquity, he would creep honestly into that shell”--the mastership of
Trinity Hall. Other distinguished Masters were Haddon,[153] Master of
the Requests to Elizabeth, and Sir Henry Maine who had been fellow and
tutor. Bishop Sampson, a pupil of Erasmus, Thirlby, Glisson,[154]
Bilney, one of the early reformers, Lord Chesterfield, Bulwer Lytton,
and Leslie Stephen were all members of Trinity Hall, which is still the
college of the larger number of Cambridge law students. There are 13
fellowships, and about 12 scholarships varying in value from £80 to £21
a year, besides exhibitions of the same value.
* * * * *
In the middle of the xiv century there were two important guilds in
Cambridge, the one under the invocation of _Corpus Christi_ “keeping
their prayers in S. Benet’s church,” the other dedicated to the
[Illustration:
ST. BOTOLPH’S CHURCH AND CORPUS COLLEGE FROM THE STEPS OF THE PITT
PRESS, TRUMPINGTON STREET
King’s College is seen in the distance.]
Blessed Virgin “observing their offices in S. Mary’s church.” These
guilds or confraternities--which existed all through the middle ages as
they had existed in classical Rome with precisely similar features--were
to be found, as we know, especially among the artisan class, and took
the place of our modern trades unions and mutual insurance societies.
Like every enterprise of the ages of faith they had a semi-religious
character, were usually attached as its “sisters and brethren” to some
church, and owed their members not only material assistance but
spiritual, paying for masses to be offered for the repose of the souls
of all deceased brethren.
[Sidenote: Corpus Christi A.D. 1352.]
It was two such guilds which forgetting their differences and laying
aside all emulations, joined together in the middle of the xiv century
in order to found and endow a college in their town. The brethren of the
guilds had been planning this enterprise since 1342, and in the
following years those who possessed contiguous tenements in the parishes
of S. Benet and S. Botolph pulled them down “and with one accord set
about the task of establishing a college there.”[155] “By this means
_they cleared a site for their college square in form_.”[156] Here then,
as in the case of King’s Hall and Pembroke, the earliest collegiate
buildings designed as such, the plan was quadrangular. Sometimes, as in
the case of Trinity Hall, the adjacent buildings for completing the
court could not be at once obtained, in others, as at Corpus itself and
Clare, the courts are irregular, owing to the same difficulty of getting
the foursquare space. Corpus Christi college presents us, indeed, with
the unique and perfect example in Cambridge of the ancient college
court. By March 1352 a clear space, 220 feet long by 140 wide, had been
cleared, and the guilds worked with so much good will that they had
nearly finished the exterior wall of their college in the same year.
“The building of the college as it appears at the present day,” writes
John Jocelyn, “with walls of enclosure, chambers arranged about a
quadrangle, hall, kitchen, and Master’s habitation, was fully finished
in the days of Thomas Eltisley, the first Master [1352-1376] and of his
successor” [1376-1377]. This original court is what we see also to-day:
the buildings are in two floors, the garrets were added later. The hall
range contains the Master’s lodging with a _solarium_ above it, a door
and passage leading thence to the hall. The three other sides were
devoted to scholars’ chambers. S. Benet’s served as the scholars’
church, and the gate was on this side of the court.
Before the reign of Henry VIII. there was but little glass or panelling
in either story of the building. But in Jocelyn’s time the Master’s and
fellows’ rooms were “skilfully decorated” with both. The fellows and
scholars together panelled, paved, decorated, plastered, and glazed the
public rooms of the college, in one case
[Illustration: THE OLD COURT, CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE
This is the oldest court in Cambridge. The Tower of the old Saxon Church
of St. Benedict is seen in the background.]
“the college paying for the material and the scholars for the labour.”
Thus was this college born of the democratic spirit and the sentiment of
union nurtured in the same spirit. The college was called “of Corpus
Christi and the Blessed Virgin” but was familiarly known from the close
of the xiv century to modern times as Benet College. It lay in the heart
of the Saxon town, between the Saxon church of S. Benet and the church
of the Saxon Botolph which also served the scholars for their prayers.
The former was used until the year 1500, when a small chapel
communicating with the south chancel of the church was built. In 1579
Sir Nicholas Bacon gave the college a chapel; and the modern chapel is
on its site. Sir Francis Drake was the largest contributor next to
Bacon. The queen gave timber, and the scholars of the college again
toiled side by side with the workmen.
On March 21, 1353 the guilds made over to their college Gonville’s house
in Lurteburgh Lane which they had exchanged with his executor Bateman.
More ground was purchased facing the street and in time two large
neighbouring hostels S. Mary’s and S. Bernard’s were acquired for
students. The second court has all been built since 1823, and contains
the modern hall, lodge, library and chapel, and muniment room, and the
Lewes collection. The ancient hall serves as the present kitchen.
In the Library is one of the most valuable collections of MSS. in the
country, the spoils of the dissolved monasteries gathered together by
Archbishop Parker. Here is the oldest or “Winchester” Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle (to A.D. 892), and Jerome’s version of the four gospels sent
by Gregory to Augustin--“the most interesting MS. in England.” Here is
the splendid Peterborough psalter and “bestiary”; a _penitentiale_ of
Archbishop Egbert’s (A-S. translation); a Pontifical, probably written
before 1407; a xv century MS. Homer rescued by Parker from the whilom
baker of S. Augustine’s Abbey; Matthew Paris’ own copy of his history;
the Sarum missal of 1506, and a copy of the great English bible of 1568.
Here also is the first draft (1562) of the Articles of Religion, 42 in
number, scored over by Matthew Parker’s red chalk; the 3 articles which
were finally omitted (dealing with the state of the departed, the last
containing the statement “That all shall not be saved”) are here struck
out by Parker. The clause concerning the transubstantiation of the
eucharist he has similarly overscored.
Corpus also houses some of the most interesting plate in the university.
[Sidenote: Candle rents.
Corpus Christi procession.
College arms.]
The college was the chief sufferer in the peasant revolt of 1381
principally on account of the wealth which accrued to it from “candle
rents,” a tax chargeable on the tenants of all houses which had been
guild property.[157] On the festival of Corpus Christi--the
[Illustration: ST. BENEDICT’S CHURCH FROM FREE SCHOOL LANE
Its Saxon tower is the oldest building left in Cambridge, and close by
is the oldest piece of College building, the wall of Corpus Christi.]
Thursday in the Octave of Trinity--a great procession which included the
officers of the united guild, the civic dignitaries, and the university
authorities, perambulated the town from Benet Church to the bridge, the
Master bearing the pyx under a rich canopy. Even after the dissolution
of the guild the Master of Corpus continued the procession until it was
abolished by Henry VIII. in the 27th year of his reign (1535/6). The
ancient arms of the college consisted of the shields of the two
guilds--the emblems of the Passion for Corpus Christi; the triangle
symbol of the Trinity for the guild of the Blessed Virgin, above, Christ
crowning the Madonna and below, the guilds dedicating their college.
Exception was taken to them in Parker’s time as too papistical, and he
got the heralds to change them. The new arms still however recorded the
two guilds: quarterly, gules and azure, in the first and fourth a
pelican, with her young, vulning herself; in the second and third three
lilies proper
_Signat avis Christum, qui sanguine pascit alumnos;_
_Lilia, virgo parens, intemerata refert._
Among its great names Corpus counts Sir Nicholas Bacon the father of
Francis Lord Bacon, Matthew Parker who was Master of the college and its
great benefactor in later times, Christopher Marlowe and Fletcher,
Archbishop Tenison, Sir William Paston and a group of xvii century
antiquaries, and Boyle ‘the great earl’ of Cork. Roger Manners was a
considerable benefactor. In the time of Henry VII. Elizabeth Duchess of
Norfolk founded a bible clerkship and a fellowship, and placed the
buttresses of the college.[158]
The college soon maintained 8 fellows, 6 scholars, and 3 bible clerks.
All the inmates were destined by the founders for priests’ orders, this
being one of the four foundations in Cambridge due in whole or in part
to the dearth of clerks consequent on the black death.[159] In the time
of Caius Corpus held 93 persons and in Fuller’s time 126. In the xviii
century about 60. There are to-day 12 fellowships, about 15 scholarships
varying from £80 to £30 in value, 3 sizarships worth £25 each, and 6
exhibitions for students from S. Paul’s school, Canterbury, and the
Norwich Grammar school varying from £18 to double this sum.[160]
* * * * *
The building of Corpus Christi marks an historical and closes an
architectural epoch at Cambridge. The university had indeed two golden
ages--the reign of Edward III. and the reign of the Tudors. It has not
been sufficiently realised that Cambridge had no European rival in
scholastic activity in either period. In Edward’s reign six colleges
were built there--King’s Hall, Clare, Pembroke, Gonville, Trinity Hall,
and Corpus; only one college--Queens’--was founded at Oxford during the
same time. Three of these six foundations signalise local enterprise,
but the three earlier are a record of the affection of Edward’s house
for the university; and it is their preference for Cambridge in the xiv
century and the preference of the Tudors for it in the xvth and xvith
which marks its two great epochs.
[Sidenote: Cambridge in 1353.]
Let us look at the university as it was in the middle of the xiv
century, and let it be the year 1353. It is 250 years since Henry I.
began to reign; 150 before Erasmus lived here, and 550 before our own
time. It is the eve of that great change in the mental and moral _venue_
of humanity which ushered in the modern world. The Oxford friar Occam,
and with him scholasticism, had died four years before, Petrarch was
mourning Laura, and Chaucer was walking the streets of Cambridge the man
who was to be our link with the early Italian renascence and to clasp
hands across the century with Erasmus. Lastly, it was at this moment in
our history that the final adjustment of Norman and Saxon elements went
hand in hand with the creation of an English language--a period of which
Chaucer is our national representative. The town and university were
just emerging from the havoc wrought by the “black death,” but the royal
and noble foundations which had sprung up on all sides before the
appearance of the scourge had already attracted the youth round Edward’s
court to Cambridge; necessitating in 1342 Archbishop Stratford’s
injunction against the curls and rings of the young coxcombs studying
there.
Cambridge had in fact the reputation of the fashionable university,
while its fame is extolled by Lydgate--a younger contemporary of Chaucer
who had himself studied at Oxford--in words which show that at this date
it was believed also to be the older university.[161] Let us suppose
that Chaucer is returning from his first walk to Grantchester, along the
Trumpington road, past the scene he describes in the _Reeve’s Tale_, and
let us follow him up the Saxon High street. He skirts Coe fen and
reaches Peterhouse, its greater and its “little ostle” on the street,
with Balsham’s hall behind; and as he proceeds he sees on either hand
conspicuous signs of the love of the Edwards for Cambridge--to the right
the narrow quadrangle of Pembroke, beyond it, off the high road, past S.
Botolph’s and two hostels, lay the limestone walls of Corpus which had
just passed under the protection of Henry of Lancaster;[162] its old
court, then the newest of new courts at Cambridge, nestling against the
Saxon church of S. Benet. Behind lay the Austinfriars, and across the
road the Whitefriars from which Austin’s Lane led to Austin’s hostel,
occupying with Mill street the site of the future King’s College and
King’s College chapel. To the north of S. Benet’s he sees the university
church of Great S. Mary’s, just rebuilt after the fire, and opposite are
the schools begun a few years previously, with University, Clare, and
Trinity Halls behind, and “le Stone house” of Gonville. Then still to
his left, where now we see the buildings of Trinity, he beholds the
“gret colledge” King’s Hall which Edward III. has just built,
Michaelhouse with Crouched hostel which passed into its possession in
the February of this year, and its satellite hostels Ovyng’s and
Garret’s.
Just beyond King’s Hall is the building which forms the nucleus of the
university in the Norman town--the hospital of S. John, bordering on
Bridge street. As soon as this road is reached, which leads to the Great
Bridge, we see the crusaders’ round church of S. Sepulchre, and
following the road to the right we come to the Greyfriars, to the site
of the future God’s House, and past Preachers’ street to the Friars
Preachers or Blackfriars. On our left, across in the Greencroft, we have
left the Benedictine nunnery of S. Rhadegund. Returning past S.
Sepulchre’s we cross the river and come to the heart of the Norman
town--the Conqueror’s castle with the Norman manor house bought by
Merton in its shadow, and the churches of S. Giles and S. Peter.
Many of the hostels had recently disappeared to make room for the
colleges, but they were still as regards these latter nearly in the
proportion of three to one--and these latter, with the sole exception of
Peterhouse, had all arisen in the previous thirty years.
The sights and sounds in the streets suggested a new epoch--something
already achieved and something about to be achieved. Something of stir
before an awakening. The English language which was to prove in the
hands of its masters one of the finest vehicles of literary expression
began everywhere to be heard in place of the French of Norfolk and
Stratford-atte-Bowe. The softer southern speech prevailed over
[Illustration: KING’S COLLEGE GATEWAY AND CHAPEL--TWILIGHT EFFECT
The Gateway and Screen on the left hand, and beyond it the Chapel. In
the distance the Senate House, Caius College, and the Tower of St.
John’s College Chapel.]
the northern, but the dialects of East Anglia and the Ridings of Yorks
were perhaps most frequently heard. The canons of S. John and S. Giles,
from the Norman side of the town, might be met in their black cloaks,
the Gilbertine canons, from the Saxon side, all in white with the homely
sheepskin cape. The Carmelites had already exchanged their striped brown
and white cloak--representing Elijah’s mantle singed with fire as it
fell from the fiery chariot--for the white cloak to which they owe their
name of Whitefriars. The Romites of S. Austin wore a hermit’s
dress.[163] Benedictine monks from Ely and Norwich could certainly be
seen in the streets of Cambridge,[164] and the Benedictine nuns of S.
Rhadegund rode and walked abroad in the black habit as it was the
universal custom in that great order for nuns to do. The Dominicans
looked like canons in their black _cappa_, the Franciscans like peasants
in their coarse grey tunic roughly tied with cord.
Besides the Carmelites and Austinfriars there were the Bethlemite friars
in Trumpington street and Our-Lady friars by the Castle; the former
could be distinguished at a distance by the red star of five rays on
their cloaks with a sky blue circle in its centre--the star of
Bethlehem; but both these communities wore the habit--black over
white--of the Dominicans. Scholars poor and rich jostled each other in
the schools and in the public ways, wearing the long and short gowns of
the day, the _cote_ which had just come into fashion, or the habit of
their order. There were doctors in the three faculties wearing scarlet
gowns and the doctor’s bonnet or _camaurum_, and there was a sprinkling
of doctors and of students from Orléans, Padua, Pavia, and Paris.
A large number of the inmates of the colleges round, and of the scholars
walking the streets, wear the clerical tonsure, many scores have the
coronal tonsure of the friar--yet the feeling in the air is secular.
Cambridge has always suggested a certain detachment; neither
zeal--perfervid or sour--nor the pressure of tradition upon living
thought has had its proper home there. It has not represented monastic
seclusion nor hieratic exclusion, and it did so at this moment of its
history less than ever. The dawn of the coming renascence shone upon the
walls at which we have been looking. The modern world has been born of
the birth-pangs which have since convulsed Europe, and the walls which
were then big with the future are now big with the past. But it is the
greatness of Cambridge that amidst the multiple suggestiveness of its
ancient halls of learning, tyranny of the past has no place. About it
the dawn of the renascence still lingers; and the early morning light
which presided at its birth still defines the shadows and seems to
temper the noon-day heat, as light and shade alternate in its history.
[Sidenote: Chaucer at Cambridge.]
We have taken it for granted that Chaucer was walking the streets of
Cambridge with us. We have no direct evidence as to where Chaucer
studied; but our indirect evidence is sufficient. In the “Canterbury
Tales” Chaucer introduces us to two Cambridge scholars and to a clerk of
Oxenforde; and if one considers what would nowadays be called the
internal evidence of the _Reeve’s Tale_ it is difficult to resist the
conclusion that Chaucer was at Cambridge. How else should he know
Trumpington so well? Its brook, its bridge, its mill, its fen? He knows
about the “gret colledge” which had risen a few years previously; he
knows that its Master is called “the warden,” that its scholars are also
its “fellaws.” He has learnt there the dialect of Yorkshiremen, and
reproduces not only their turns of speech but characteristic terms--as
_bete_, _kime_, _jossa_--in the East Anglian dialect. If we turn to the
_Miller’s Tale_ all this local colouring is to seek. A “clerke of
Oxenforde,” indeed, was no unfamiliar figure in the xiv century,
especially to a Londoner. Familiarity with the aspect of Cambridge and
its neighbourhood was a very different matter.
Chaucer was probably himself of East Anglian origin. His grandfather
Robert and John his father were both of Ipswich and London, and when he
was kidnapped by his mother’s family “Thomas Stace of Ipswich” is the
kidnapper. There are two events of his young life known to us, and both
suggest that he was at Cambridge. One of these we hear about from his
evidence in the famous Scrope and Grosvenor suit in 1386. An upstart
knight--Sir Robert Grosvenor--whose name Chaucer had never heard before,
had displayed the arms of the Scropes, and Chaucer testifies in the
Court of Chivalry action which ensues that he had often seen Henry le
Scrope use the proud armorials “azure, a bend or” in the French wars
where they had been companions in arms twenty-seven years before (1359).
Now this great Yorkshire family were connected with Cambridge from
Chaucer’s time: Richard le Scrope, the son of his old comrade, was
chancellor of the university in 1378.[165] Two members of the same
family were chancellors in the next century, and the intermarriage of
the Scropes with the Gonvilles is recorded there to this day in Scrope
or “Scroope Terrace.”[166] Is it not probable that Geoffrey Chaucer knew
Henry Scrope at Cambridge and formed there the friendship which moved
him to testify in his behalf thirty years later?
This conjecture does not become less probable when we turn to the other
incident in his early life, which came to light in 1866 with a fragment
of the household accounts of the wife of Lionel Duke of Clarence. Here
the name of Geoffrey Chaucer is mentioned (in 1357) as that of a junior
member of her household. His early connexion with the house of Edward is
therefore an historical fact like his later friendship with John of
Gaunt. Now in 1352 Lionel Plantagenet had married Elizabeth de Burgh the
grand-daughter and namesake of the founder of Clare Hall Cambridge. The
“gret colledge” about which Chaucer tells us in the _Reeves Tale_ is
called “Soler Hall” and “Soler Hall,” so Caius records, was the ancient
name for Clare. Remembering, however, the incomplete condition of Clare
and of other foundations at this date the present writer supposes the
“gret colledge” to have been King’s Hall, the first imposing
architectural undertaking in the university and the building which must
_par excellence_ have attracted attention in the middle of the xiv
century.[167] It may also have been Chaucer’s own college, and in this
connexion it is worthy of notice that with the exception of the
half-dozen “minor scholars” at Pembroke, King’s Hall was at this time
the only college which educated lads in their teens.
Assuming the year of the poet’s birth to have been 1340 he would have
been going to the university, according to the custom of those days,
about the year 1353, and his place in Elizabeth de Burgh’s household was
probably already assured him when he went to Cambridge.[168] He was back
in her service in his seventeenth year and therefore could not have had
time to study at both universities: and we may add to this that although
his general knowledge, which he had no time to acquire in later life,
suggests that he received a university education, there is not a tittle
of evidence to support the idea that Chaucer went to Oxford.
One more conjecture: had he got his information about prioress’s French
from the religious of the convent of S. Leonard of Stratford-atte-Bowe
whom we find owning land in Cambridge from the days of Edward I.?
[Sidenote: The Schools.
The High Street and School Street.]
It is to this period of the history of Cambridge that the first
university buildings as distinguished from collegiate buildings belong.
During the chancellorship of Robert Thorpe, Knight, Master of Pembroke
(1347-64) and Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, afterwards
Chancellor of England, the “schools quadrangle” was projected in that
street of colleges, unrivalled in Europe, which prolonging the
Trumpington Road as King’s Parade or Trinity Street or S. John’s Street
was anciently known as the “School street” of the university. It was
also the high street of the Saxon town of which S. Benet’s tower was the
nucleus, but whether the original Saxon town lay on this side of the
river, or whether, as frequently happened in the xi century, the Saxon
population retreated here leaving the Castle district to their Norman
conquerors, we have no means of determining.[169]
There were, then, no public buildings up to the xiv century. The
Greyfriars or the Austinfriars gave hospitality to the university on
public occasions, and the only brick and mortar evidence of a university
lay in the hostels and colleges. The “Schools” now erected were halls
for lecturing and scholastic disputations; the north, west, and east
sides were completed by the middle of the next century, the south side
being added in accordance with a decision taken in 1457 to build “a
_new_ school of philosophy and civil law, or a library.”[170] This was
erected on university ground (on the south) next to the school of canon
law (west). Over this last was the original library room (the “west
room” 1457) and “a chapel of exceeding great beauty.” The quadrangle
contained the Divinity school (north) with the Regent and non-regent
houses; opposite was the Sophisters’ school with the _libraria communis_
or _magna_; on the entrance side were the Chancellor’s (Rotherham’s)
Library, Consistory court and Court of the Proctors and Taxors; and
facing this the Bachelors’ school and the school of Medicine and Law;
the old “west room” having been converted into a school, by grace of the
Senate, in 1547.[171]
[Sidenote: The university library.]
The schools remained untouched till the opening years of the xviii
century when the Regent House was pulled down to build the present
university library. This is the oldest of the three great English
libraries, and stands on ground which has always been university
property. The early xv century library which was lodged in the Schools
quadrangle originated in gifts of single volumes by private donors until
52 had been collected; and books which were bequeathed in 1424 are still
preserved. Fifty years later (1473) the proctors Ralph Sanger and
Richard Tokerham made a catalogue of 330 books.[172] Rotherham
Archbishop of York next presented 200 tomes, and Tunstall Bishop of
Durham was another donor: many of these last gifts
[Illustration: GATEWAY OF KING’S COLLEGE, KING’S PARADE
This is one of the most picturesque views in Cambridge. On the right are
the Gateway and Screen and other portions of King’s College; on the left
are some ancient houses.]
were “embezzled” by “pilferers” before the middle of the xvi
century,[173] and the libraries of three successive Cambridge
archbishops of Canterbury, Parker, Grindal, and Bancroft, formed the
chief treasure of the university until 1715 when George I. purchased and
presented the library of Moore Bishop of Ely which is the nucleus of the
modern collection.[174]
There are 400,000 volumes on open shelves among which the student can
wander at will and get his own books without applying to the library
officials; a convenience which Lord Acton, the late Professor of Modern
History, used to say made this the only serviceable library in Europe.
Another privilege, which is possessed by all masters of arts, is that
books may be taken home. Undergraduates, if in academic dress, have also
free access. The university library is one of the three copyright
libraries in England.[175]
[Sidenote: The Pitt Press.]
A printing press was set up at Cambridge, early in the xvi century, by
Siberch who said of himself that he was the first in England to print
Greek--7 small volumes in the Greek character were printed by him at the
university. Carter, however, tells us that an Italian Franciscan,
William of Savona, printed a book at Cambridge in 1478, four years after
Caxton had printed the first book in England. Lord Coke pointed out
that this university enjoyed before Oxford the privilege of printing
_omnes et omnigenas libros_, “all and every kind of book” (1534). This
included the right to appoint 3 stationers or printers.
Siberch’s printing place was on the present site of Caius. In 1655 the
university obtained from Queens’ College a lease of the ground at the
corner of Silver street and Queens’ lane--the historic Mill street
district--now the site of the lodge and garden of S. Catherine’s. In
1804 the present site was obtained for the university press, with a
further “messuage fronting upon Trumpington street and Mill lane”; the
remaining properties in Trumpington street, between Silver street and
Mill street, being bought in 1831-3. The Pitt Press, a church-like
structure, stands opposite to Pembroke (Pitt’s) College, and owes its
name to the fact that the surplus funds of the Pitt monument in
Westminster abbey were a donation to the university towards defraying
the cost. The building also contains the offices of the university
Registrary.[176]
The Senate House was not founded till 1722, and lies on the north of the
library.[177]
[Sidenote: King’s College. A. D. 1441.]
Ninety years passed after the building of Corpus before Henry VI.
founded King’s College, and Margaret of Anjou, his consort, founded
[Illustration:
KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL AND THE ENTRANCE COURT, FROM THE FELLOWS’
BUILDINGS
A portion of the Chapel is seen on the left of the picture with Great
St. Mary’s tower in the distance. The Screen and Gate are on the
right.]
Queens’. It was in 1443 that the charter of the double foundation of
Eton at Windsor and King’s College at Cambridge was signed--the one “our
royal college of S. Mary of Eton,” the other “our royal college of S.
Mary and S. Nicholas”; for Henry dedicated his college to his patron
saint Nicholas “of Bari” the patron of scholars. The king laid the
foundation stone himself (p. 112) in the presence of John Langton
chancellor of the university, the keeper of the Privy Seal, the
chancellor of the Exchequer, and the bishops of Lincoln and
Salisbury.[178] The king’s father had intended to build a college at
Oxford; Henry VI. carried out his intention in endowing a college but
decided that the university should be Cambridge. A small college called
God’s House which had just been founded,[179] together with Mill Street
(acquired in 1445) and Augustine’s hostel (in 1449) and the church of S.
John Zachary, were pulled down to clear a space: but the original plan
for the college was never carried out, and the buildings we now see were
erected in the first quarter of the xviiith and in the xixth
centuries.[180]
[Sidenote: The chapel.]
The only portion of the original plan executed was the chapel. The
importance of King’s College chapel is not only architectural; is due
not only to the fact that it was begun before the Italian classical
revival as a monument of English Gothic, and completed in the full blaze
of the renascence, but that it marks a chapter in the history of English
religion. The church built for the old worship was consecrated for the
new; the first stone was laid by Henry VI. in the presence of great
catholic prelates, the oaken screen--perhaps the finest woodwork in the
country--bears the monogram of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn[181] twined
with true lovers’ knots. In the third place “this immense and
[Illustration: KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL AND THE FELLOWS’ BUILDINGS
The South door of the Chapel is seen to the right in the picture, and
the Fellows’ Buildings, constructed in 1723, are on the left. The
Fountain with a statue of the founder, Henry the Sixth, was designed by
H. A. Armstead, R. A.]
glorious work of fine intelligence,” as Wordsworth calls it, remains one
of the very finest monuments of Perpendicular architecture; and that
beautiful English feature the fan-vaulting, which is to be seen in the
Tudor chapel at the Guildhall, in Henry VII.’s chapel at Westminster,
and at S. David’s (now ruinous), is here carried out over a larger area
than anywhere else.[182]
That branching roof
Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells
Where light and shade repose, where music dwells
Lingering, and wandering on as loth to die--
Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof
That they were born for immortality.
So writes Wordsworth; and the stained glass windows, the most ‘complete
and magnificent series’ in the country says Carter, probably inspired
Milton’s
--storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light.
There let the pealing organ blow,
To the full voic’d quire below,
In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness through mine ear,
Dissolve me into ecstasies,
And bring all Heav’n before mine eyes.
On the death of the Lancastrian monarch, Edward IV. sequestrated the
building funds, but returned a thousand pounds later, and Richard III.
contributed £700; but it is Henry VII. who brought the work to
completion.
King’s is the only college in the university which receives only those
students who intend to read for honours, and until 1857 its members
could claim the _B.A._ degree without presenting themselves for
examination.[183] The college was, almost immediately upon its
foundation, exempted not only from archiepiscopal and episcopal control
but also from the general jurisdiction
[Illustration: KING’S COLLEGE CHAPEL INTERIOR FROM THE CHOIR]
of the university. It was endowed for the accommodation of a Provost, 70
poor scholars, 10 secular priests, 16 choristers, and 6 clerks--a total
of 103. Eton was designed for 132 inmates.[184] 24 of the 48
scholarships of King’s are now open. Each of these scholarships is of
the annual value of £80. There are also 46 fellowships. The most
celebrated Etonians have not however been educated at King’s, among
whose eminent sons have been Croke, Cheke (of S. John’s) Provost,
Woodlark the founder of S. Catherine’s, third Provost of the college and
also its benefactor, Sir John Harrington, Robert and Horace Walpole, Sir
Francis Walsingham, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, Conisby, Haddon, Giles
Fletcher, Waller, Fleetwood, Oughtred an Etonian on the first
foundation, Whichcote (of Emmanuel) Provost, Upton, Cole, and Charles
Simeon who was a life fellow. Nicholas Close (1551) and Aldrich (1537)
both bishops of Carlisle, the former one of the original six fellows,
the latter the intimate of Erasmus, Rotherham of York (1467) a fellow
and a donor to the chapel fund, Fox of Hereford (1535), William and
George Day bishops of Winchester and Chichester, one provost of Eton the
other of King’s, Wickham of Lincoln and Winchester,[185] Nicholas West
(Bishop of Ely 1515) the friend of Fisher and More and Richard Cox
(1559) both scholars of the college, Oliver King of Exeter, then of Bath
and Wells (1492), Alley of Exeter, Guest of Rochester and Salisbury
(1559), Goodrich of Ely (1534), Pearson, and Sumner, are among its
prelates. Henry and Charles Brandon, heirs of their father the Duke of
Suffolk, and nephews of Henry VIII. and both proficient scholars, died
of the sweating sickness while in residence here in the reign of Edward
VI. Cardinal Beaufort was a princely benefactor to the college, and John
Somerset, physician to Henry VI., who came to Cambridge as an Oxford
sophister and here graduated, was one of the chief instruments in its
foundation, and drew up its statutes.[186]
The college has produced several great schoolmasters, and is now
gradually acquiring a reputation for historical studies, about one third
of the students being history men. The dedication to S. Nicholas is only
retained in formal descriptions: _King’s College_ has been by common
consent regarded as the fitting title for this truly royal foundation,
and it recalls that still older King’s Hall which is now merged in
Trinity.[187]
[Illustration: THE HALL OF KING’S COLLEGE
This was built by Wilkins 1824-28. On the walls are several portraits by
Sir Hubert Herkomer, R.A.]
[Sidenote: The Cambridge College chapels.]
The importance of King’s College chapel in university history since the
xv century leads us to consider the rôle played in Cambridge by
collegiate chapels. Every college chapel, and every church which has an
historical connexion with the university, has served--as all early
Christian edifices have served--other purposes than those of religious
worship. What we have to remark in Cambridge is that this ancient custom
continued there longer than elsewhere. The “Commencements” which took
place later in the Senate House used to be held, as we have seen, in the
famous church of the Greyfriars or in that of the Austinfriars. The
University church--Great S. Mary’s--was used by the university for its
assemblies in the xiii century and was the scene of all great civic
functions; disputations were held in it on Elizabeth’s visit in 1564.
The college chapels were everywhere used for the transaction of
important business; the Provost of King’s and other Masters are still
elected in the chapel, documents are still sealed in the chapel of
King’s and Trinity, and the Thurston speech is still pronounced in the
chapel of Caius. The choir of King’s was used for degree examinations as
late as 1851, and declamations are even now held in the chapel at
Trinity. Indeed the “exercises of learning” “used” in the chapels was
the reason given by the Corpus men to Lord Bacon’s father when asking
for a church to themselves; and Queen Elizabeth witnessed the
_Aulularia_ of Plautus in King’s chapel on Sunday August 6th 1564, as
the abbess and her nuns had assembled for Hrostwitha’s play in the abbey
church of Gandersheim six hundred years earlier. The building of
colleges adjoining a parish church is a feature peculiar to Cambridge.
Merton is the one exception at Oxford, and Pembroke is, as we have seen,
the only early exception to this rule at Cambridge.[188]
List of pre-reformation colleges built with chapels:--
1. Pembroke 1355-63 (the existing chapel is xvii c.)
2. King’s 1446-1536 (the existing chapel).
3. Queens’ 1448 (defaced at the reformation and restored. But a xix
c. chapel is now used).
4. Jesus 1495 (The then existing xii c. monastic chapel was rebuilt
by the founder.)
5. S. Catherine’s 1475 (the existing chapel is xvii c.)
6. Magdalene 1483 (completely restored in the middle of the xix c.)
Existing pre-reformation chapels:--
King’s xv c.
Queens’ xv c. (restored).
Jesus xv c.
Trinity Hall xv c.
Magdalene (restored) xv c.