Cambridge (England) -- Pictorial works; University of Cambridge -- Pictorial works
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.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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