Cambridge (England) -- Pictorial works; University of Cambridge -- Pictorial works
This is the Cloister Court. In the quaint sixteenth century buildings on
the left is the Gallery, and facing the spectator is the doorway into
the First Court. The Hall is seen on the right of this doorway.]
president’s lodging with a set of rooms on the west side, among which is
the audit room now used as a dining room.
Queens’, like King’s, was originally built with a chapel, and in both
instances the foundation stone of the chapel was that of the college. A
new chapel and buildings now lie beyond the President’s garden on the
north. There is a small court on the south of the cloister court which
contains the rooms occupied by Erasmus, overhanging the college kitchen.
Besides Erasmus, who lived here for at least four years, Fisher was
there as President of the college until 1508, and Old Fuller was another
of its worthies. Henry Bullock, the opposer of Protestantism and friend
of Erasmus, was a fellow, so was Sir T. Smith; Bishop Pearson[192] and
Ockley _alumni_. Henry Hastings Earl of Huntingdon, whose portrait hangs
in the audit room, Manners Earl of Rutland, George Duke of Clarence,
Cecilia Duchess of York, and Maud Countess of Oxford, were among its
benefactors. But its chief benefactor was Andrew Doket, a friar (of what
order is not known) and its first President, who saved the fortunes of
the college after the fall of the House of Lancaster.[193] The picture
of principal interest is also to be found in the lodge--Holbein’s
portrait of Erasmus which was painted during a visit made at the
scholar’s request to England.
The college was originally endowed for a president and 4 fellows, and
their principal study was to be theology. There are now 11 fellowships,
and about 18 scholarships which vary in value from £30 to £60.
Queens’ College is a monument of peace. The Yorkist queen Elizabeth
Woodville continued Margaret of Anjou’s work, and the two queens are the
co-founders of the college. It is Elizabeth Woodville whose portrait
looks down upon us in the hall, and it was she who changed Queen
Margaret’s dedication and called their joint work Queens’ College.[194]
It is also a monument to the unambitious but well-defined revival of
learning that marked the reign of Edward IV., of which Woodville Earl
Rivers, the queen’s brother, Tiptoft Earl of Worcester, and Caxton
himself are the representatives.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: Kingly visitors to the university.]
Both King’s and Queens’ Colleges have offered hospitality on several
occasions to English sovereigns. Henry VI. came to lay the foundation
stone of King’s in 1441 and was at King’s Hall in 1445-6 (when he laid
the foundation stone of his second college?), in 1448-9 and in
1452-3.[195] Edward IV. visited the university in 1463 and 1476.
[Illustration: QUEENS’ COLLEGE FROM THE RIVER FRONT
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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