ACADEMIC LIBRARIES: CAMBRIDGE
§ I
As the libraries of Cambridge were mostly of later foundation than those
at Oxford, and as the collections were of the same character, it is less
necessary to describe them in detail, especially after having dealt
fully with the collections of the sister university. Cambridge
University does not seem to have owned books in common until the first
quarter of the fifteenth century. Before that, in 1384, the books
intended for use in the University were submitted to the Chancellor and
Doctors, so that any containing heretical and objectionable opinions
could be weeded out and burnt. In 1408-9 it was ordered that books
suspected to contain Lollard doctrines should be examined by the
authorities of both Universities; if approved by them and by the
Archbishop of Canterbury, they could be delivered to the stationers for
copying, but not before. And in 1480 keepers of chests were forbidden to
receive as a pledge any book written _on paper_.[397] Certain
regulations were also made with regard to the status of stationers and
others engaged in book-making in the town. But there seems to have been
no common library.
About the time when Gloucester made his first gift of books to Oxford
University a public library was possibly “founded” by John Croucher,
who gave a copy of Chaucer’s translation of Boëthius’ _De Consolatione
philosophiae_. Richard Holme, Warden of King’s Hall, who died in 1424,
gave sixteen volumes. At this time the collection amounted to
seventy-six volumes. Robert Fitzhugh, Bishop of London, now left two
books, a _Textus moralis philosophiae_ and Codeton _Super quatuor libros
Sententiarum_ (1435-6). By 1435 or 1440 it had increased to one hundred
and twenty-two books: theology accounting for sixty-nine, natural and
moral philosophy for seventeen, canon law for twenty-three, medicine for
five, grammar for six, and logic and sophistry for one each. Besides
Holme’s books there were in this library eight books given by John
Aylemer, six given by Thomas Paxton, ten by James Matissale, five each
by John Preston, John Water, Robert Alne (1440),[398] and John Tesdale:
other benefactors gave one or two or three.[399]
In 1423 one John Herrys or Harris gave ten pounds for the library,
possibly for a building, as books do not seem to have been bought with
it.[400] A common library is mentioned in 1438.[401] In the same year a
grant was made by the king of the manor of Ruyslip and a place called
Northwood for a library. The first room was erected between this year
and 1457. After 1454 many entries occur in the University accounts for
the roof of the new chapel and the library, for the general repairs of
the same buildings, for the chaining and binding of books, and for their
custody during a fire in the King’s College in 1457.[402] A sketch of
the Schools quadrangle drawn about 1459 shows this library, _libraria
nova_, above the Canon Law schools, on the west side.[403] Between the
completion of this library
[Illustration: _PLATE XXVIII_
SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARY, CAMBRIDGE, C. 1688]
and 1470 the south side of the quadrangle was built, the school of civil
law occupying the ground floor, and the Great Library or Common Library
the first floor. The second extant catalogue of books (1473) relates to
the books in this room: possibly the west room had been cleared for
other purposes. Now the inventory proves the library to have been in
possession of three hundred and thirty volumes, stored upon eight stalls
or desks on the north side and upon nine stalls on the southern side,
facing King’s College Chapel.[404] But in a few years the buildings were
extended and the collection augmented munificently by Thomas Rotherham
or Scot, then Chancellor of the University and Bishop of Lincoln,
afterwards Archbishop of York. Rotherham completed the building begun on
the east side of the quadrangle by erecting the library which occupies
the whole of the first floor (1470-75). In this _libraria domini
cancellarii_ his own books were stored. His generosity was recognised by
the University in the fullest possible manner; special care was taken of
his books, and his library came to be known as the private library, to
which only a few privileged persons were admitted, while the great
library remained in use as the public room.[405]
The learned Bishop Tunstall gave some Greek books to the library in
1529, just before he was translated to the see of Durham. Even then,
however, the collection was on the down grade. Nine years later, owing
to a decline in numbers at the University and a loss of revenue, some of
the books, described as “useless,” were sold.[406] Then again, in 1547,
occurs a more significant notice. A Grace was passed recommending the
conversion of the great or common library into a school for the Regius
Professor of Divinity, because “in its present state it is no use to
anybody.”[407] Neglect and worse had laid this part of the library as
waste as Duke Humfrey’s room at Oxford. Apparently then only the
Chancellor’s library remained. More “old” books were removed from the
collection in 1572-3. In this same year a catalogue was drawn up. Only
one hundred and seventy-seven volumes were left: “moste parte of all
theis bookes be of velam and parchment, but very sore cut and mangled
for the lymned letters and pictures.”[408] Clearly sad havoc had been
played with this library, which had started with so much promise.
§ II
The earliest collegiate libraries were Peterhouse, Pembroke Hall, Clare
Hall, Trinity Hall, and Gonville. Peterhouse had the first library in
Cambridge. Hugh of Balsham, Bishop of Ely, introduced into an
Augustinian Hospital at Cambridge a number of scholars who were to live
with the brethren. Before Hugh died the brethren and the scholars
quarrelled, and the latter were removed to two hostels on the site of
the present college (1281-84). He did not forget to provide his new
foundation with books, among other properties. In the statutes of 1344
are stringent provisions for the care of books, which prove that the
society had a library worthy of some thought. Clare College was founded
by the University as University Hall (1326), then refounded twelve years
later by Lady Elizabeth de Clare as Clare Hall. In 1355 she bequeathed a
few books. Pembroke College, founded in 1346, received a gift of ten
books from the first Master, William Styband. The statutes of Trinity
Hall, which was founded by Bishop William Bateman in 1350, partly to
repair the losses of scholarly clergy during the Black Death, also
contain a special section relating to the college books. It was not
drawn up in anticipation of the formation of a library, for the founder
himself gave seventy volumes on civil and canon law and theology,
besides fourteen books for the chapel; forty-eight, including seven
chapel books, were reserved for the Bishop’s own use during his
life.[409] To Gonville College, founded as the Hall of the Annunciation
in 1348, Archdeacon Stephen Scrope left a _Catholicon_ in 1418.[410]
King’s Hall, later absorbed in Trinity College, some sixty years after
its foundation, possessed a library of eighty-seven volumes (1394).
Gifts of books were made to Corpus Christi College soon after its
foundation in 1352, but a library is not referred to in the old
statutes. Thomas de Eltisle, the first Master, gave several books, among
them a very fine missal, “most excellently annotated throughout all the
offices, and bound with a cover of white deer leather, and with red
clasps.” At this time (1376) we find an inventory showing that the
contents of the library were chiefly theological and law books.
The intention of King Henry VI was to make the library of King’s College
and that of Eton very good. In his great plan for the former, which was
never carried out, Henry proposed to have in the west side of the court,
“atte the ende toward the chirch,” “a librarie, conteynyng in
lengthe .cx. fete, and in brede .xxiiij. fete, and under hit a large hous
for redyng and disputacions, conteynyng in lengthe .xl. fete, and .ij.
chambres under the same librarie, euery conteynyng .xxix. fete in lengthe
and in brede .xxiiij. fete.”[411] But an apartment was set aside for
books, and, as a charge was incurred for strewing it with rushes in
expectation of a visit from the king, it was evidently a repository
worth seeing.[412] Early in 1445 the king sent Richard Chester, sometime
his envoy at the Papal court, to France and other countries, and to
certain parts of England, in search of books and relics for his
foundations. Within two years, however, a joint petition came from Eton
and King’s College, stating that neither of these colleges “nowe late
fownded and newe growyng” “were sufficiently supplied with books for
divine service and for their libraries and studies, or with vestments
and ornaments, ‘whiche thinges may not be had withoute great and
diligente labour be longe processe and right besy inquisicion.’ They
therefore begged that the king would order Chester to ‘take to hym suche
men as shall be seen to hym expedient and profitable, and in especiall
John Pye,’ the King’s ‘stacioner of London, and other suche as ben
connyng and have undirstonding in such matiers,’ charging them all ‘to
laboure effectually, inquere and diligently inserche in all place that
ben under’ the King’s ‘obeysaunce, to gete knowleche where suche bokes,
onourmentes, and other necessaries for’ the ‘saide colleges may be
founden to selle.’ They were anxious that Richard Chester should have
authority ‘to bye, take, and receive alle suche goodes afore eny other
man ... satisfying to the owners of suche godes suche pris as thei may
resonably accorde and agree. Soo that he may have the ferste choise of
alle suche goodes afore eny other man, and in especiall of all maner
bokes, ornementes, and other necessaries as nowe late were perteyning to
the Duke of Gloucestre.’”[413] At King’s College many charges were
incurred for books a year later, in 1448. By 1452 this foundation had
174 or 175 books, on philosophy, theology, medicine, astrology,
mathematics, canon law, grammar, and in classical literature.[414] The
only volume now remaining of this collection once belonged to Duke
Humfrey, and as the list contains a fair number of classical
books--Aristotle, _Liber policie Platonis_, _Tullius in noua rethorica_,
Seneca, Sallust, Ovid, Julius Cæsar, Plutarch--besides a book of Poggio
Bracciolini, it seems likely that King’s College, and perhaps Eton,
received some of the books promised by the Duke to Oxford University and
begged for repeatedly and in vain by that University, after his
death.[415]
Likewise at Eton--which may be referred to appropriately here--the king
desired to have a good library. “Item the Est pane in lengthe within the
walles .ccxxx. fete in the myddel whereof directly agayns the entre of
the cloistre a librarie conteynyng in lengthe .lij. fete and in
brede .xxiiij. fete with .iij. chambres aboue on the oon side and .iiij. on
the other side and benethe .ix. chambres euery of them in lengthe .xxvj.
fete and in brede .xviij. fete with .v. utter toures and .v. ynner
toures.”[416]
A library room is referred to in 1445 or 1446; then “floryshid” glass
was bought for the windows of it.[417] In 1484-85 it is again mentioned
in connexion with repairs. A year later a lock and twelve keys for the
library were paid for.[418] Then in 1517, we are told, “the fyrst stone
was layd yn the fundacyon off the weste parte off the College, whereon
ys bylded Mr. Provost’s logyn, the Gate, and the Lyberary.”[419] It
would seem that these several references are to the vestry of the
Chapel, in which the books were first kept, and then to the Election
Hall, to which they were subsequently removed.[420] Henry VI seems to
have given £200 “for to purvey them books to the pleasure of God.”[421]
St. Catharine’s Hall, founded in 1473-75, in a few years enjoyed the
use of 104 volumes, of which 85 were given by the founder, Dr. Robert
Wodelarke. At Queens’ College a library was included in the first
buildings; and some twenty-five years after the foundation in 1448, no
fewer than 224 volumes were on the desks.[422]
As at Oxford, these collections were augmented by the gifts of generous
friends and loyal scholars. Peterhouse had many friends. Thomas Lisle,
Bishop of Ely, gave a large Bible (1300).[423] In 1418 a welcome gift
came from a former Master, John de Newton, who had reserved some
theological books, Seneca, Valerius Maximus, and other books for his old
house. At this time Peterhouse had 380 volumes: at Oxford the University
library was no larger, although it was possibly richer, and in numbers
only the library of New College can have beaten it. Sir Thomas Beaufort,
Duke of Exeter, bequeathed a volume of sermons in 1427.[424] Later Dr.
Thomas Lane gave some good books (1450). Then Dr. Roger Marshall
presented a large number of volumes, some of which were to be placed _in
libraria secretiori_, and in chains, if the Master and Fellows thought
fit, while the remainder were to be chained _in apertiori libraria_,
where they could not be borrowed, but were easily accessible (1472):
this benefactor evidently fully appreciated Peterhouse’s division of its
library into reference and lending sections. Less than a decade later
Dr. John Warkworth, the Master, presented fifty-five manuscripts, among
which was his own _Chronicle_. “Among the gifts made to the library in
the fifteenth century are one or two which raise curious questions. One
book comes from Bury and has the Bury mark. Another belonged to the
canons of Hereford; another to Worcester; another to Durham (it is still
identifiable in the Durham catalogue of 1391); and there are other
instances of the kind. Such a phenomenon makes one very anxious to know
how freely and under what conditions collegiate and monastic bodies were
in the habit of parting with their books during the time before the
Dissolution. Was there not very probably an extensive system of sale of
duplicates? I prefer this notion,” writes Dr. James, “to the idea that
they got rid of their books indiscriminately, because the study of
monastic catalogues shows quite plainly that the number of duplicates in
any considerable library was very large. On the other hand, it is clear
that books often got out of the old libraries into the hands of quite
unauthorised persons: so that there was probably both fair and foul play
in this matter.”[425] To Pembroke College came gifts from successive
Masters and from friends between the date of foundation and the year
1484, when the College had received 158 volumes in this way.[426] One of
the donors was Rotherham, the great friend of the public library. During
the same period a number of books were also purchased. Corpus Christi
received a like series of donations. The third Master, John Kynne, gave
a Bible, which he had “bought at Northampton at the time (1380) when the
Parliament was there, for the purpose of reading therefrom in the Hall
at the time of dinner.” The fifth and sixth Masters, Drs. Billingford
and Tytleshale, were benefactors to the library; and during the latter’s
mastership one of the fellows, Thomas Markaunt the antiquary, bequeathed
seventy-six volumes, then valued at over £100 (1439).[427] Later Dr.
Cosyn presented books; and Dr. Nobys, the twelfth Master, left a large
number of volumes, which were chained in the library.
A vicar of St. Mary’s, Nottingham, named John Hurte, gave books to
several colleges--to Clare Hall seven books, including Guido delle
Colonne’s Troy book, Ptolemy _in Quadripartito_; to the College of God’s
House, afterwards absorbed in Christ’s College, Egidius and a
_Doctrinale_; to King’s College Isaac _de Urinis_; to the University
Library three books; as well as an astronomical work to Gotham Chest
(1476).[428]
At Peterhouse in 1414 special provision was being made for the books in
a long room on the first floor. The workman employed on the job was to
receive, in addition to his wages, a gown if the College were pleased
with his work. By 1431 a new library was necessary, and a contract was
entered into for building it. Sixteen years later the work had so
progressed that desks were being made. In 1450 the old desks were broken
up, and locks and keys were bought for sixteen new cases. This library
was on the west side of the quadrangle. A library for Clare Hall was
built between 1420 and 1430. A little before this a new library was
begun for King’s Hall, probably to replace a smaller room. For the books
of Pembroke College a storey was added to the Hall about 1452. The early
collection of Gonville Hall was kept in a strong-room; then in 1441 a
special room was included in the buildings on the west side of the
quadrangle. At Trinity Hall the books were stored in a room over the
passage from one court to the other and at the east end of the chapel,
and here they remained until after the Reformation. The early library
room of Corpus Christi was in the Old Court, on the first floor next to
the Master’s lodge. In Queens’, St. Catharine’s, Jesus, Christ’s, St.
John’s and Magdalene a library formed a part of the original
quadrangle.[429]