Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely — John Shaqi
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and ElyConybeare, John William Edward
History
Highways and Byways in Cambridge and Ely
Conybeare, John William Edward
Cambridgeshire (England) -- Description and travel; Isle of Ely (England) -- Description and travel
From the Restoration onwards the Colleges of Cambridge were for two
hundred years, till the middle of the nineteenth century, divisible in
numerical strength between two strongly marked classes. At the top
came the two great Societies of Trinity and St. John's; of which the
former gradually drew ahead, and came to have some four hundred
students to St. John's two hundred. The remaining fifteen Foundations
were classed together as the "Small Colleges"; the largest of them
being well under a hundred strong, and the smallest (amongst them
Pembroke) small indeed. But with the great extension of the University
curriculum, by the addition of a host of literary and scientific
subjects to the Mathematics which had previously been the sole avenue
to a Degree, there has come as marked an increase in the number of
students, and the old College classification has broken down. Trinity,
indeed, remains at the top, even more than ever, having almost doubled
its overwhelming numbers; but St. John's has been caught up and
overpassed by several of the once "small" Colleges, amongst them by
Pembroke. And yet, in the year 1858, Pembroke had only one solitary
freshman; and he migrated to Caius, in dread, as the tale then ran, of
being divided into sections by the authorities, to satisfy the demands
of the Mathematical, Classical, and Philosophical lecturers provided
by the College.
The result is that Pembroke, even beyond most Colleges, is a medley of
architectural additions. When Gray migrated to it, and for a century
thereafter, the modest range of low white stone which still contains
the main entrance, formed the whole frontage; the College buildings
being a small quadrangle about half the size of the present First
Court. It was, in fact (except for a new Chapel, built by Wren in
1663, and still in use), no larger than it was at its first
foundation, in 1346, by Mary, widow of Amory de Valence, Earl of
Pembroke, and daughter of Guy, Count of Chatillon and St. Paul. Her
widowhood was brought about, according to tradition, by her husband
being accidentally slain, before her eyes, on their very wedding day,
at the tournament held to celebrate the nuptials. Modern criticism
disputes this tragic tale, but it was believed in Gray's day, and he
has referred, in his well-known list of the Founders of Cambridge
Colleges, to
"sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn
Who wept her bleeding love."
On her widowhood, however occasioned, she retired from the world, and
took the veil at Denny Abbey, between Cambridge and Ely. The College
was founded by her in her husband's memory, and has ever since
displayed her armorial bearings, the coats of Valence and St. Paul
dimidiated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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