CAMBRIDGE

cambridge, a municipal and parliamentary borough, the seat of a university, and the county town of cambridgeshire, england, 56 m. n. by e. of london by the great eastern railway, served also by the great northern, london & north-western and midland lines. pop. (1901) 38,379. it lies in a flat plain at the southern border of the low fen country, at an elevation of only 30 to 50 ft. above sea-level. the greater part of the town is situated on the east (right) bank of the cam, a tributary of the ouse, but suburbs extend across the river. to the south and west the slight hills bordering the fenland rise gently. the parliamentary borough of cambridge returns one member. the municipal borough is under a mayor, 12 aldermen, and 36 councillors. area, 3233 acres. history cambridge university[1] shares with that of oxford the first place among such institutions in the british empire. it is the dominating factor in the modern importance of the town, and it is therefore necessary to outline the historical conditions which led to its establishment. the geographical situation of cambridge, in its present appearance possessing little attraction or advantage, calls nevertheless for first consideration. cambridge, in fact, owed its growth to its position on a natural line of communication between the east and the midlands of england, flanked on the one hand by the deep forests which covered the uplands, on the other by the unreclaimed fens, then desolate and in great part impenetrable. the importance of this highway may be judged from the number of early earthworks in the vicinity of cambridge; and the castle hill, at the north side of the present town (near the west bank of the river), is perhaps a british work. roman remains discovered in the same locality give evidence of the existence of a small town or village at the junction of roads; the name of _camboritum_ is usually attached to it, but without certainty. the modern name of cambridge has no connexion with this. the present form of the name has usually been derived from a corruption of the original name grantebrycge or grantabridge (skeat); but mr arthur gray points out that there is no documentary evidence for this corruption in the shape of such probable intermediate forms as grantebrig or crantebrig. on the other hand, he brings evidence to show that the name cantebrig, though not applied to the whole town, was very early given to that quarter of it near the cante brig, i.e. the bridge over the cante (the ward beyond the great bridge was called "parcelle of cambridge" as late as 1340); in this quarter, close to the bridge, cambridge castle was built by the conqueror, and from the castle and the castle-quarter the name spread within sixty years to the whole town, the similarity between the names grantebrig and cantebrig playing some part in this extension (_the dual origin of the town of cambridge_, p. 31). granta is the earlier and still an alternative name of the river cam, this more common modern form having been adopted in sympathy with the modern name of the town. cambridge had a further importance from its position at the head of river navigation, and a charter of henry i., in which the town is already referred to as a borough, grants it exclusive rights as a river-port, and regulates traffic and tolls. the wharves lay principally along that part of the river where are now the celebrated "backs" of some of the colleges, whose exquisite grounds slope down to the water. the great sturbridge or stourbridge fair at barnwell, formerly one of the most important in england, is a further illustration of the ancient commercial importance of cambridge; the oldest known charter concerning it dates from the opening of the 13th century, though its initiation may perhaps be placed a century before. concerning the early municipal history of cambridge little is known, but at the time of the domesday survey its citizens felt themselves strong enough to protest against the exactions of the norman sheriff, roger picot; and the town had attained a considerable degree of importance when, in 1068, william the conqueror built a castle on the site known as castle hill, and used it as a base of operations against hereward the wake and the insurgents of the fenland. cambridge, however, has practically no further military history. from the 14th century onward materials were taken from the castle by the builders of colleges, while the gatehouse, the last surviving portion, was removed in 1842. the medieval spirit of emulation between the universities of cambridge and oxford resulted in a series of remarkable fables to account for the foundation of both. that of cambridge was assigned to a spanish prince, cantaber, in the 4321st year after the creation. a charter from king arthur dated 531, and the transference of students from cambridge to oxford by king alfred, were also claimed as historical facts. the true germ of the university is to be sought in the religious foundations in the town. the earliest to be noticed is the augustinian house of st giles, founded by hugoline, wife of roger picot the sheriff, in 1092; this was removed in 1112 to barnwell, where the chapel dedicated to st andrew the less is practically the sole remnant of its buildings. in 1224 the franciscans came to cambridge, and later in the same century a number of other religious orders settled here, such as the dominicans, the gilbertines and the carmelites, who had before been established at newnham. students were gradually attracted to these several religious houses, and cambridge was already recognized as a centre of learning when, in 1231, henry iii. issued a writ for its governance as such, among other provisions conferring certain disciplinary powers on the bishop of ely. it soon became evident that the influence of the religious orders on those who came to them for instruction was too narrow. this was recognized elsewhere, for it was in order to counteract that influence that walter de merton drew up the statute of governance for his foundation of merton college, oxford, a statute which was soon afterwards used as a model by hugh de balsham, bishop of ely, when, in 1281-1284 he founded the first cambridge college, peterhouse. the friction between town and university, due in the main to the conflict of their jurisdictions, the tradition of which, as in the sister university, died hard in the annual efforts of some undergraduates to revive the "town and gown" riots, culminated during the rebellion of wat tyler (1381) in an episode which is alone worthy of record and may serve to illustrate the whole. this was an attack by the rabble, instigated, it is said, by the more reputable townspeople, on the colleges, several of which were sacked. the attack was ultimately defeated by the courage and resource of henry spenser or le dispencer, bishop of norwich. the relations of the university of cambridge with the crown were never so intimate as those of oxford. henry iii. fortified the town with two gates, but these were burnt by the rebellious barons; and in much later times the two first of the stuart kings, and the two first of the georges, cultivated friendly personal relations with the university. during the civil war the colleges even melted down their plate for the war chest of king charles; but cambridge showed little of the stubborn royalism of oxford, and submitted to the commonwealth without serious resistance. colleges. the history of collegiate foundation in cambridge after that of peterhouse may be followed through the ensuing description of the colleges, but for ease of reference these are dealt with in alphabetical order. the main street which traverses the town from south to north, parallel to, and at a short distance from the river, is known successively as trumpington street, king's parade, trinity street, st john's street and bridge street. the majority of the colleges lie on either side of this street, and chiefly between it and the river. those of st john's, trinity, trinity hall, clare, king's and queens' present the famous "backs" towards the river, which is crossed by a series of picturesque bridges leading to the gardens and grounds on the opposite bank. _christ's college_ is not among the group indicated above; it stands farther to the east, in st andrew's street. it was founded in 1505 by the lady margaret beaufort, mother of henry vii. it incorporated god's house, which had been founded by william bingham, a cleric of london, in 1439, had been removed when the site was required for part of king's college, and had been refounded with the countenance of henry vi. in 1448. this was a small house, but the lady margaret's endowment provided for a master, twelve fellows and forty-seven scholars. edward vi. added another fellowship and three scholarships and the present number of fellows is fifteen. there are certain exhibitions in election to which preference is given to schools in the north of england--giggleswick, kirkby lonsdale, skipton and sedbergh. the buildings of lady margaret's foundation were in great part faced in classical style in the 17th century; a building east of the old quadrangle is also of this period, and is ascribed to inigo jones. the rooms occupied by the foundress herself are preserved, though in an altered condition, as are those of the poet milton, who was educated here, and with whom the college has many associations. in the fine gardens is an ancient mulberry tree believed to have been planted by him. among illustrious names connected with this college are john leland the antiquary, archdeacon paley, author of the _evidences_, and charles darwin, while henry more and others of the school of cambridge platonists in the 17th century were educated here. _clare college_ lies close to the river, south of trinity hall. in 1326 the university erected a hall, known as university hall, to accommodate a number of students, and in 1338 elizabeth de burgh, countess of clare, re-endowed the hall, which took the name of clare hall, and only became known as college in 1856. there was a strong ecclesiastical tendency in this foundation; six out of the twenty fellows were to be priests when elected. the foundation now consists of a master and fifteen fellows, besides scholars, of whom three receive emoluments from the endowment of lady clare. the old college buildings were in great part destroyed by fire in 1521; the present buildings date from 1638 to 1715, and are admirable examples of their period. they surround a very beautiful quadrangle, and the back towards the river is also fine. unconfirmed tradition indicates the poet chaucer as an _alumnus_ of this college; other famous men associated with it were hugh latimer the martyr, ralph cudworth, one of the "platonists," and archbishop tillotson. _corpus christi college_ (commonly called corpus) stands on the east side of trumpington street. the influence of medieval gilds in cambridge, the character of which was primarily religious, was exceedingly strong. about the beginning of the 14th century there is first mentioned the gild of st mary, which was connected with great st mary's church. the gild was at this time prosperous, but about 1350, when the idea of the foundation of a college by the gilds was matured, the fraternity of st mary lacked the means to proceed save by amalgamating with another gild, that of corpus christi. the age of this institution, whose church was st benedict's or st bene't's, is not known. by the two gilds, therefore, the "house of scholars of corpus christi and the blessed virgin mary" was founded in 1352, the foundation being the only instance of its kind. in early times it was commonly known as st bene't's from the church connected with the corpus gild which stands over against the college, and served as its chapel for nearly three centuries. the foundation consists of a master and twelve fellows, with scholars of the old and later foundations. the ancient small quadrangle remains, and is of historical rather than architectural interest. the great quadrangle dates from 1823-1825. the library contains the famous collection of mss. bequeathed by archbishop matthew parker, _alumnus_ of the college, in the 16th century. _downing college_ is in the southern part of the town, to the east of trumpington street. sir george downing, baronet, of gamlingay park, who died in 1749, left estates to various relations, who died without issue. in this event, downing's will provided for the foundation of a college, but the heirs contested the will with the university, and in spite of a decision against them in 1769, continued to hold the estates for many years, so that it was not until 1800 that the charter for the college was obtained. the foundation-stone was laid in 1807, and the two ranges of buildings, in classical style, represent all that was completed of an intended quadrangle. the foundation consists of a master, professors of english law and of medicine, six fellows and six scholars. _emmanuel college_ overlooks st andrew's street. it was founded in 1584 by sir walter mildmay (_c_. 1520-1589), chancellor of the exchequer and privy councillor under queen elizabeth. the foundation, considerably enlarged from the original, consists of a master, sixteen fellows and thirty scholars. there are further scholarships on other foundations which are awarded by preference to pupils of uppingham and other schools in the midlands. emmanuel was noted from the outset as a stronghold of puritanism; it is indeed recorded that elizabeth rallied the founder on his intention that this should be so. mildmay assuredly had the welfare of the church primarily at heart, and he attempted to provide against the life residence of fellows, which he considered an unhealthy feature in some colleges. the site of emmanuel was previously occupied by a dominican friary, and some of its buildings were adapted to collegiate uses. there is only a little of the earliest building remaining; the greater part of the present college dates from the second half of the 18th century. the chapel, however, is by sir christopher wren (1677). richard holdsworth, gresham professor, and william sancroft, archbishop of canterbury, were masters of this college; bishops joseph hall and thomas percy were among its _alumni_, as was john harvard, principal founder of the great american college which bears his name. _gonville and caius college_ (commonly called caius, pronounced kees), stands mainly on the west side of trinity street. it arose out of an earlier foundation. in 1348 edmund gonvile or gonevill founded the hall of the annunciation of the blessed virgin, which was commonly called gonville hall, for the education of twenty scholars in dialectic and other sciences, with endowment for a master and three fellows. this hall stood on part of the present site of corpus, but on the death of its founder in 1351 it was moved to the north-west corner of the site of the present caius, by william bateman, bishop of norwich and founder of trinity hall. the famous physician john caius (q.v.), who was educated at this small institution, later conceived the idea of refounding and enlarging it, obtained a charter to do so in 1557, and became master of the new foundation of gonville and caius college. the foundation consists of a master and not less than twenty-two fellows, exclusive of the provision under the will of william henry drosier (d. 1889), doctor of medicine and fellow of the college, for the endowment of seven additional fellowships. since its refoundation by caius, the college has had a peculiar connexion with the study of medicine, while, besides many eminent physicians, sir thomas gresham, judge jeffreys, robert hare, jeremy taylor, henry wharton and lord thurlow are among its noted names. three sides of the main quadrangle, tree court, including the frontage towards trinity street, are modern (1870). the interior of this court is picturesque, and the design of the smaller caius court was inspired by caius himself. he also designed the gates of honour, virtue and humility, of which the two first stand _in situ_; the gate of honour is a peculiarly good example of early renaissance work. caius is buried in the chapel. _jesus college_ lies apart from and to the north-east of the majority of the colleges. it was founded in 1406 by john alcock, bishop of ely. the site was previously occupied by a benedictine nunnery dedicated to st radigund, which was already in existence in the first half of the 12th century and was claimed by alcock to have been founded from ely, to the bishops of which it certainly owed much. the name given to alcock's college was that of "the most blessed virgin mary, st john the evangelist, and the glorious virgin saint radigund," but it appears that the founder himself intended the name to be jesus college. he provided for a master and six fellows, but the foundation now consists of a master and sixteen fellows, with twenty scholars or more. there are several further scholarships confined to the sons of clergymen of the church of england. architecturally jesus is one of the most interesting colleges in cambridge, for alcock retained, and there still remains, a considerable part of the old buildings of the nunnery. the most important of these is the church, which alcock, by removing most of the nave and other portions, converted into the usual form of a college chapel. the tower, however, is retained. the bulk of the building is an admirable example of early english work, but there are traces of norman; and alcock added certain perpendicular features. of the rest of the college buildings, the hall is alcock's work, the brick gatehouse is a fine structure of the close of the 15th century, while the cloister is a little later, and stands on the site of the nuns' cloister. another court dates from the 17th and early 18th centuries, and there is a considerable amount of modern building. the most famous name connected with jesus college is that of cranmer. among many others are sir thomas elyot, john bale, john pearson, bishop of chester, hugh peters, gilbert wakefield, thomas malthus, laurence sterne and samuel taylor coleridge. _king's college_ has its fine frontage upon the western side of king's parade. it was founded by king henry vi. in 1441. the first site was small and circumscribed, and in 1443 the existing site was with difficulty cleared of dwellings. the king designed a close connexion between this college and his other foundation at eton; he provided for a provost and for seventy scholars, all of whom should be etonians. in 1861 open scholarships were instituted, and the foundation now consists of a provost, forty-six fellows and forty-eight scholars. half the scholarships are still appropriated to eton. an administrative arrangement peculiar to king's college is that by which the provost has absolute authority within its walls, to the exclusion of officers of the university. the chief architectural ornament of the college, and one of the most notable in the town, is the magnificent perpendicular chapel, comparable with those of st george at windsor and henry vii. at westminster abbey. the building was begun in 1446, and extended (apart from the interior fittings) over nearly seventy years. within, the most splendid features are the fan-vaulting which extends throughout the chapel, the noble range of stained-glass windows, which date for the most part from the early part of the 16th century, and the wooden organ screen, which, with part of the stalls, is of the time of henry viii. the college services are celebrated for the beauty of their music. the bulk of the other collegiate buildings are of the 18th century or modern. the old court of king's college is occupied by the modern university library, north of the chapel; the gateway, a good example (1444), is preserved. john frith the martyr, richard croke, giles fletcher, richard mulcaster, sir william temple, william oughtred, the poet waller, and horace walpole and others of his family are among many illustrious _alumni_ of the college. _magdalene college_ (pronounced maudlin) stands on the west bank of the cam, near the great bridge. in 1428 the benedictines of crowland abbey founded a home for student monks on this site, and in 1519 edward, duke of buckingham, partly secularized this institution by founding buckingham college in connexion with it. after the dissolution of the monastery, thomas, baron audley of walden, erected magdalene in place of the former house in 1542. the foundation consists of a master and seven fellows, besides scholars. there are some valuable exhibitions appropriated to wisbech school. the appointment of the master is peculiar, the office being in the gift of the occupant of audley end, an estate near saffron walden, essex. some parts of the original building are preserved, but the most notable portion of the college is the pepysian library, dating _c_. 1700. it contains the very valuable collection of books bequeathed by samuel pepys to the college, at which he was a student. buckingham college had archbishop cranmer as a lecturer; charles kingsley and charles stewart parnell were educated at magdalene. _pembroke college_ stands to the east of trumpington street. it was founded in 1347 by mary de st paul, widow of aylmer de valence, earl of pembroke. henry vi. made notable benefactions to it. the foundation consists of a master and thirteen fellows, and there are six scholarships on the original foundation, besides others of later institution. the older existing buildings are mainly of the 18th century, but much of the original fabric was removed and rebuilt in 1874. the chapel is of the middle of the 17th century, and is ascribed to sir christopher wren. the poets spenser and gray, nicholas ridley the martyr, archbishop whitgift and william pitt were associated with this college; and from the number of bishops whose names are associated with it the college has obtained the style of _collegium episcopale_. _peterhouse_ or st peter's college is on the west side of trumpington street, almost opposite pembroke. it has already been indicated as the oldest cambridge college (1284). hugh de balsham, the founder, had settled some secular scholars in the ancient augustinian hospital of st john in 1280, but the experiment was not a success. nor did he carry out his full intentions as regards peterhouse, the foundation of which followed on the failure of the fusion of his scholars with the hospital; but simon montagu, his successor in the bishopric of ely, carried on his work, and in 1344 gave the college a code of statutes in which the influence of the merton code is plainly visible. a master and fourteen fellows formed the original foundation, but the present consists of a master, and not less than eleven fellows and twenty-three scholars. the hall retains some original work; it was first built out of a legacy from the founder. the library building (_c_. 1590) is due to a legacy from dr andrew perne (master 1554-1580); and dr matthew wren (master 1625-1634), uncle of the famous architect sir christopher wren, directed the building of the chapel and cloisters. the most famous name connected with the college is that of cardinal beaufort. _queens' college_ stands at the south of the riverside group, and one of its ranges of buildings rises immediately from the river. a college of st bernard had been established in 1445 by andrew docket or dokett, rector of st botolph's church, who had also been principal of a hostel, or students' lodge, of st bernard. he sought and obtained the patronage of margaret of anjou, wife of henry vi., who undertook the foundation of a new house on another site in 1448, to bear the name of queens'. docket became the first master. in 1465 elizabeth woodville, wife of edward