Trinity College was founded by HenryVIII in 1546. To obtain a site for it, he suppressed King’s Hall and Michael-House, two medieval colleges which were built on or owned most of the ground now occupied by the Great Court, and with their revenues, largely augmented by property of dissolved monasteries, he endowed it. The scheme of the College and his objects in founding it are stated in his letters patent of 19December 1546, and particulars of the income assigned by him to the foundation are set out in his charter of dotation dated 24December 1546. These documents have been printed¹ and are readily accessible, but the history of the events leading up to the foundation of the College is less generally known. I cannot promise that the story in itself is interesting but the material facts have never before been brought together² so its telling is justified.

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After the dissolution of the monastic houses, anxiety was felt in Cambridge and Oxford lest they should suffer a similar fate. The policy of the suppression of the two universities and the confiscation of their property was openly advocated by politicians at court, and naturally great alarm was felt when in 1544 an Act³ was passed empowering the king to dissolve any college at either university, and appropriate its possessions.

The universities were right in thinking that the danger was pressing, for Parker, who played a leading part in the affair, has put on record⁴ the fact that after the passing of the Act certain courtiers importunately sued the king to have the possessions of both bodies surveyed, meaning afterwards to obtain the same on easy terms. In these circumstances the Cambridge authorities, says Strype, “looked about them and made all the friends they could at court to save themselves.” In particular they urgently begged the aid of two of their professors, John Cheke, then acting as tutor to the prince of Wales, and Thomas Smith, then clerk to the queen’s council. Here is the letter⁵ of the senate to Smith on the subject:

Si tu is es, Clarissime Smithe, in quem Academia haec Cantabrigiensis universas vires suas, universa pietatis jura [5] exercuerit, si tibi uni omnia doctrinae suae genera, omnia reipub. ornamenta libentissime contulerit, si fructum gloriae suae in te uno jactaverit, si spem salutis suae in te potissimum reposuerit: age ergo, et mente ac cogitatione tua complectere, quid tu vicissim illi debes, quid illa, quid literae, quid respublica, quid Deus ipse pro tantis pietatis officiis, quibus sic dignitas tua efflorescit, justissime requirit: Academia nil debet tibi, imo omnia sua in te transfudit. Et propterea abs te non simpliciter petit beneficium, sed merito repetit officium: nec unam aliquam causam tibi proponit, sed sua omnia, et seipsam tibi committit. Nec sua necesse habet aperire tibi consilia, quorum recessus et diverticula nosti universa. Age igitur quod scis, et velis quod potes, et perfice quod debes. Sic literis, academiae, reipublicae, et religioni; sic Christo et Principi rem debitam et expectatam efficies. Jesus te diutissime servet incolumem.

Parker tells us that the London friends of the University, among whom Smith and Cheke were doubtless conspicuous, wisely took the line of welcoming an enquiry, but begged the king to avoid the expense of a costly investigation. Their representations were successful, and he issued a commission⁶ dated 16January 1546 to Matthew Parker (then vice-chancellor, and later archbishop of Canterbury), John Redman (warden of King’s Hall, chaplain to the king, and later master of Trinity), and William Mey (president of Queens’, and later archbishop-elect of York) to report to him on the [6] revenues of the colleges and the numbers of students sustained therewith. The commissioners were capable and friendly.

The king must have been impatient to know the facts, for in less than a week, on 21January, he ordered Parker to come to Hampton Court with the report. Immediate compliance was impossible, but the command may well have stimulated the commissioners to act as rapidly as possible. In fact they obtained the services of eleven clerks from the Court of Augmentations in London, and at once set to work to collect information.

The University was keenly alive to the risks it was incurring. To placate the king, the senate, on 13February, put all its belongings at his service, and when forwarding a copy of the grace to Secretary Sir William Paget it reminded him of the value of the University to the state, and begged his protection. At the same time it addressed the queen, Katharine Parr, through Thomas Smith, imploring her advocacy.⁷

The queen replied⁸ on 26February. After complaining that he had written to her in Latin, though he could equally well have expressed himself in the vulgar tongue, she discoursed at length on the duties of members of the University, and, saying that [7] she was confident that her wishes in these respects would be fulfilled, she concluded her letter as follows:

I (according to your desires) have attempted my lord the King’s Majesty, for the establishment of your livelihood and possessions: in which, notwithstanding his Majesty’s property and interest, through the consent of the high court of parliament, his Highness being such a patron to good learning, doth tender you so much, that he will rather advance learning and erect new occasion thereof than [to] confound those your ancient and godly institutions, so that learning may hereafter justly ascribe her very original whole conservation and sure stay to our Sovereign Lord.

This was good news, and things now moved rapidly. By the end of February the commissioners had drawn up a detailed report giving the information required. It is printed⁹ at length in the Cambridge Documents, 1852, and occupies nearly 200 pages.

The commissioners in person presented to the king at Hampton Court a brief summary of this report. We do not know the date of this interview, but conjecturally it may be put as being early in March. Parker has left¹⁰ in his own handwriting a full account of their reception as follows:

In the end, the said commissioners resorted up to Hampton Court to present to the King a brief summary written in a fair sheet of vellum (which very book is yet [8] reserved in the college of Corpus Christi) describing the revenues, the reprises, the allowances, and number and stipend of every College. Which book the King diligently perused; and in a certain admiration said to certain of his lords which stood by, that he thought he had not in his realm so many persons so honestly maintained in living by so little land and rent: and where he asked of us what it meant that the most part of Colleges should seem to expend yearly more than their revenues amounted to; we answered that it rose partly of fines for leases and indentures of the farmers renewing their leases, partly of wood sales: whereupon he said to the lords, that pity it were these lands should be altered to make them worse; (at which words some were grieved, for that they disappointed lupos quosdam hiantes). In fine, we sued to the King’s Majesty to be so gracious lord, that he would favour us in the continuance of our possessions such as they were, and that no man by his grace’s letters should require to permute with us to give us worse. He made answer and smiled, that he could not but write for his servants and others, doing the service for the realm in wars and other affairs, but he said he would put us to our choice whether we should gratify them or no, and bade us hold our own, for after his writing he would force us no further. With which words we were well armed, and so departed.

This important interview was followed by a rumour that it was Henry’s intention to found at Cambridge a new and magnificent college to serve as an enduring record of his interest in learning, and perhaps the University may have taken the queen’s letter as indicating what was coming. It is believed that Henry had long entertained vague [9] ideas of the kind, but that the definite suggestion, which was encouraged by the queen, originated with Redman, who, as royal chaplain, had constant access to the king and considerable influence with him.

The preparations for Henry’s proposed foundation were made with extreme speed: a wise course in view of his failing health and variable temper. It was decided to take advantage of the Act of 1544 and suppress King’s Hall and Michael-House, using their grounds and adjoining property as the site of the new college. We have no reference to the appointment of commissioners for the business, though there is an allusion, quoted later, to receivers: perhaps the matter was left in the hands of the officials of the Court of Augmentations. Redman was the chief authority at Cambridge in the arrangements that had to be made there, and it was intended that he should be the first master of the new college when it was founded.

The two Societies above mentioned were (save for Peterhouse) the oldest in the University. To Trinity men their history has, naturally, great interest, and I interpolate a few remarks on this and their position in 1546.

The King’s Scholars, normally thirty-two in number and of all ages from fourteen upwards, were established by EdwardII under a warden in 1317 and incorporated in 1337. They had for their [10] original home a large house (King’s Hall) situated on the grass plot and walk in front of the present chapel, and rapidly acquired all the adjacent land between the High Street (now known as Trinity Street) and the river, extending their buildings in various directions. Popular writers sometimes assert or assume that all medieval colleges were founded for poor students. That is not universally true. No condition of poverty was imposed on the scholars of King’s Hall, nor was their life here penurious: they had a dining-hall, library, common room, chapel, kitchens, a brewery, a vineyard, a garden, and a staff of servants maintained by the Society, while a good many of them also kept their own private servants: they received a liberal allowance for daily commons, clothes and bedding were supplied from the royal wardrobe, and pocket-money was given to buy other things. They were appointed by the crown largely from among the families of court officials, nominations being restricted to those who knew Latin. After completing their course many of these students entered what we may call the higher civil service of the time in church or state.

In the report of the commissioners, the annual income of King’s Hall was returned as £214. 0s. 3d. and the expenses as £263. 16s. 7d.; and it was stated that at the time there were on its boards, a master, twenty-five graduate fellows, and seven [11] undergraduate fellows, besides servants. The Society owned the patronage of the livings of Arrington, Bottisham, StMary’s Cambridge, Chesterton, Fakenham, Felmersham, and Grendon. According to the return, the normal annual expenditure of King’s Hall, if all the scholars resided, required £182. 18s. 4d. for the emoluments of the warden and fellows (namely, £8. 13s. 4d. for the warden, £5. 10s. 0d. for each of twenty-five graduate fellows, and £5. 5s. 0d. for each of seven undergraduate fellows); £32. 2s. 0d. for the college servants (namely, the butler, barber, baker, brewer, laundress, cook, under-cook, and the warden’s servant); £3. 1s. 4d. for the estate officers and quit-rents; £3. 19s. 4d. for the expenses of the chapel services and the bible-clerk; £5. 0s. 0d. for firing for the hall and kitchen; £5. 0s. 0d. for rushes for the hall; £5. 10s. 4d. for the exequies of the founder and the following refections; £29. 1s. 4d. for repairs and renewals; and £10 for extraordinary expenses.

The other College (Michael-House) whose buildings were transferred to Trinity was of a different type. It was founded by Hervey deStanton in 1324 for a master and six secular clergy who wished to study in the University. Their original home was a large house on the site of the present combination room and the land round it; later they acquired all the property between Foul Lane and the river. At first the Society’s means were barely [12] sufficient for its needs, but in time it received many gifts, and the foundation was increased to a master and eight priests with chaplains and bible-clerks. It had an oratory in its House but did not need a chapel as it owned StMichael’s Church; traces of this ownership will be noticed in the arrangement for stalls (to be occupied by members of the Society) in the choir, which is sunk below the level of the nave and chancel.

In the report of the commissioners, the annual income of Michael-House was returned as £141. 13s. 1¾d. and its expenses as £143. 18s. 0d.; and it was stated that there were on its boards a master, eight fellows, and three chaplains, besides servants. Besides StMichael’s Cambridge, the Society owned the patronage of the livings of Barrington, Boxworth, Cheadle, Grundisburgh, and Orwell. According to the return, the normal annual expenditure of Michael-House required a sum of £91. 10s. 8d. for the emoluments of the Society (namely, £7. 6s. 8d. for the master, £47. 17s. 4d. for the six fellows on the original foundation, £11. 6s. 8d. for the two Illegh fellows, £15 for three chaplains, one of whom served Barrington, and £10 for four bible-clerks), £1 for the auditor, £6. 6s. 8d. for college servants (namely, the cook, butler, barber, and laundress), rather more than £17 for the exequies of benefactors, £1. 13s. 4d. for the commemoration [13] refection, £20 for repairs, and £6. 6s. 8d. for extraordinary expenses. A clerical society like Michael-House had no difficulty in providing for due celebration of the exequies of its friends, and in fact more than twenty benefactors are mentioned by name as being thus commemorated every year. In 1544, the House, presumably with the object of averting its destruction, began to admit students resident elsewhere in the University, and in a couple of years no less than forty-eight students matriculated from it; the number of admissions must have exceeded this, but what was involved in such cases by admission is uncertain.

A scheme containing a “first plott or proportion” for the new College was prepared for the king by the Court of Augmentations in London; it seems certain that this was worked out in collaboration with Redman. The clerk who drew it up was Thomas Ansill. The College, after its foundation, recognized its obligation to him in the matter and presented him to the vicarage of Barford which was and is in its gift. He preserved a copy of his scheme; this was purchased from his son by one of the fellows in 1611, and given to the College.

The manuscript of the suggested scheme, to which Mr Bird first called my attention, is endorsed Distribucio Collegii and headed “the proporcon diuised for Trinite College.” It is undated, [14] but in a later hand it is added that it was made Anno37 Hen.8, and therefore before 22April 1546. From internal evidence it must have been composed in or after March in that year, since those who graduated in that Lent term are described as being of the standing of the degrees then taken. Of those who graduated afterwards some are described correctly, others not so: doubtless Redman knew about the standing of the members of King’s Hall and Michael-House, but he may well have made mistakes about the standing of some of the junior students of other colleges. If however we accept the endorsement as correct, we may fix the date of the composition of the plan as being in the early half of April, 1546. This manuscript has not been printed, and I proceed to describe it.

The object of the compilers of this scheme was to see what income would be required for the suggested new College, and to arrange how the income should be used; incidentally it reveals the general organization proposed. The constitution of the College, the various offices to be created, and the stipends intended are specified. In most cases the names of the proposed fellows, scholars, bedesmen, and servants are given, but generally the allocation of the proposed principal offices is not indicated and probably had not been then arranged. The names of the proposed fellows and scholars [15] agree with those appointed later, though the order is not always the same, but the provisional list of bedesmen differs from that of those ultimately nominated.

The Distribucio begins with a statement of the names and suggested stipends of the master and fellows. The stipend of the master was to be £100 a year: that of each of the next fifteen fellows (one of those proposed being a doctor of divinity, ten bachelors of divinity, and four masters of arts) was to be £10 a year and £1 a year for livery: that of each of the next twenty-five fellows (twenty-two of those nominated being masters of arts and three bachelors of arts) was to be £8 a year; that of each of the next twenty fellows and scholars (seven of the nominees being bachelors of arts and thirteen junior scholars) was to be £6. 13s. 4d. a year. The names are given and agree with those in the letters patent of 19December.

There was to be a schoolmaster (Richard Harman) who was to have £20 a year, an usher of grammar (William Boude) who was to have £10 a year, and provision was made for forty childer grammarians, whose names are given, each of whom was to have £4 a year. This shows that it was intended that the foundation should include students in grammar, and the two teachers specially responsible for them were to be a schoolmaster and usher.

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The question arises whether it was intended to found a grammar-school connected with the College or whether these grammarians were what we should call undergraduate scholars or exhibitioners. The former view is the correct one, for the royal commissioners in May 1549 definitely asked¹¹ the College “to surrender the Grammar Schole.” This was done and the school was then absorbed in the College. Probably at that time the distinction between boys at the grammar-school and junior undergraduates was not regarded as important—the term grammarian or grammaticus being commonly used for a junior undergraduate as well as a school-boy¹². This indifference to the distinction between the two classes is illustrated by the fact that of the grammarian school-boys named in the Distribucio, ten were already matriculated members of the University, nine matriculated from Trinity shortly after its foundation, and of the others six matriculated in 1548 or 1549 which is not inconsistent with their having been students of the University in 1546.

In 1547, the accounts include a particular payment for six boys of the grammar-school, and wages for one quarter for the schoolmaster and Mr Boude; thus showing that the school was then being carried on. In 1548, the accounts specify forty-two [17] grammatici, in addition to certain graduates and dialectici, as being in residence, but in this year there is no mention of a schoolmaster or an usher though possibly they may be included among the ten lectors for whom provision is made. In 1551 the grammatici appear as discipuli, and thenceforth the grammarians were treated as undergraduate scholars.

The Distribucio next goes on to enumerate seven readers. Three of these were to be public or university readers, of whom one (John Maydew) was to read in divinity, one (John Cheke) in Greek, and one (Thomas Wakefield) in Hebrew, each at £40 a year. The other four were to be fellows of the College, of whom one (Simon Bridges) was to read in divinity at £6. 13s. 4d. a year, two in philosophy at £5 a year each, and one in logic at £5 a year: such stipends to be in addition to their fellowship emoluments. It would seem that Bridges or Briggs declined to accept the nomination to a fellowship at Trinity and accordingly was not appointed to the office. Provision was also made for two under-readers in logic at £2. 3s. 4d. each. Next are mentioned two examiners in scholastic acts at £5 a year each; and two chaplains at £6. 13s. 4d. a year each, one (Henry Man) for the fellows and the other (unnamed) for the childer and bedesmen. I note that Henry Man occupied for many years [18] rooms in the Great Court adjoining and on the west side of what is now known as the Queen’s Gate.

The next entry is that of twenty-four almsmen or bedesmen at £6 a year each; the names of all but one are given, but the list differs somewhat from that appearing in the account book of 1547 of those appointed when the College began work. The unnamed bedesman was the cook of Michael-House, and it is impossible not to wonder whether his inclusion in this list (which involved his retirement from the kitchens) was due to the memory of indifferent dinners eaten by Redman when a guest at the high table of that House.

The Distribucio then returns to the enumeration of the officers and servants of the College. There were to be two bursars at £4 a year each; a vice-master at £5 a year; two deans to direct disputations of divinity and philosophy, one at £4 a year, and the other at £3. 6s. 8d. a year; eight bible-clerks, whose names are given, to serve the hall, choir and vestry, and to attend upon the curate when visiting, at £2. 13s. 4d. a year each; an organ-player at £6 a year and his commons; two butlers, the senior at £5 a year and the junior at £4 a year; a manciple at £6. 13s. 4d. a year; a master-cook at £6 a year; two under-cooks, one at £4 a year, and the other at £3. 6s. 8d. a year; and a turn-spit at £2 a year. There was also to be a barber at £5 [19] a year; a laundress at £5 a year; a porter at £6 a year; a bricklayer at £4 a year; a carpenter at £4 a year; a mason at £4 a year; two stewards of lands at £5 a year each; an auditor for the lands at £10 a year; a receiver for the lands at £13. 6s. 8d.; and an attorney in the exchequer for the lands at £3. 6s. 8d. Allowance was to be made for the yearly distribution of alms to the amount of £20; and of another £20 to be spent on the mending of highways. The total expenditure contemplated amounts to £1286. At the end in another handwriting is added that allowance (amount unspecified) should be also made for wine and wax, riding, extraordinary charges, and repairs.

It must have been in April, or early in May, 1546, that the commissioners, or other officials concerned, took possession of King’s Hall and Michael-House and the ground adjacent thereto. They at once made arrangements to shut up Foul Lane which ran across the present Great Court, to purchase such part of that court as did not belong to King’s Hall and Michael-House, and to enclose the site. Stone and other materials for the new work were taken from the church and cloisters of the dissolved Franciscan monastery which stood on the land now occupied by Sidney Sussex College, and in a survey, dated 20May 1546, those buildings are described as having been already partially [20] demolished in order to provide “towards the building of the King’s Majesty’s new College.”

It is probable that during this time members of King’s Hall and Michael-House were in residence, and possibly also some of the members-elect of Trinity College. The cost of the maintenance of the House and the expenses of the alterations must have been heavy, but in December 1546, the Court of Augmentations was ordered¹³ “to pay Dr Redman of your new College in Cambridge £2000 towards the establishment and building of the same, and in recompense for revenues of their lands for a whole year ended Michaelmas last, because the rents were paid to your Majesty’s receivers before they had out letters patent for their donation.” We have no record of these expenses, but I conjecture that this grant allowed a clean start to be made from Michaelmas 1546.

The members of the new College entered into possession of the buildings and began their academic life as members of Trinity College about Michaelmas 1546. The surrender of King’s Hall and Michael-House to the king took place on 28October, and arrangements were than made to pension the master and eight fellows of Michael-House and one fellow of King’s Hall. Redman was appointed master of the new foundation.

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The original members of the Society were selected from the whole University with the addition of a few Oxonians: it is believed that all the nominees were favourable to the new learning and the protestant faith. Of the forty childer grammarians named in the Distribucio all save one accepted the nomination; of these, six had been previously members of Michael-House, one a member of Pembroke, one of Peterhouse, one of StJohn’s, and one of some unnamed College. Of the sixty students nominated to fellowships or scholarships in the letters patent, fourteen did not reside and presumably refused the nomination. Of the forty-six who accepted the office, thirty-six were graduates and ten were non-graduates. Of these thirty-six nominees, three came from Michael-House, one from King’s Hall, two from Christ’s, one from Corpus, one from King’s, one from Pembroke, two from Peterhouse, one from Queens’, one from StCatharine’s, and three from StJohn’s: of the colleges or hostels from which the remaining twenty had graduated, I can find no particulars. Of the ten non-graduates who accepted the office, one had been at Pembroke, one at Queens’, two at StJohn’s, and one at Trinity Hall: of the previous history of the remaining five I know nothing. Of the fourteen who did not reside and presumably declined the offer, eleven were graduates, of whom one had been [22] at Corpus, one at King’s, one at Pembroke, three at Queens’, two at StJohn’s, and two at Oxford, and of the remaining graduate I can find no particulars. Of the three non-graduates who did not accept the nomination, one had been at Michael-House, one at Oxford, and of the other I know nothing. It appears from the account-books that there were also still in residence a few students¹⁴ who had been members of King’s Hall and Michael-House: it was only courteous to give these deposed students the hospitality of the House, and they occupied a different position to the pensioners and fellow-commoners who later were admitted in considerable numbers. We cannot prove or disprove the presence at this time of other students, but it is most likely that at first there were no residents in College other than those mentioned above.

The legal formalities connected with the surrender of the properties of King’s Hall and Michael-House took a considerable time, and were not completed till 17December 1546. The letters patent founding the College and the charter of dotation were signed a few days later¹⁵. The actual endowment granted was valued at £1640 net a year, [23] which must have been deemed ample to provide for the expenses and the maintenance of the House. Comparing this income and the estimated expenditure with those of King’s Hall and Michael-House we gather how much more important than these colleges was the contemplated new foundation.

Thus were King’s Hall and Michael-House dissolved, but only to be merged in a new and nobler Society. The letters patent founding Trinity College state that Henry to the glory and honour of Almighty God and the Holy and Undivided Trinity, for the amplification and establishment of the Christian and true religion, the extirpation of heresy and false opinion, the increase and continuance of divine learning and all kinds of godliness, the knowledge of language, the education of youth in piety virtue discipline and learning, the relief of the poor and destitute, the prosperity of the Church of Christ, and the common good and happiness of his kingdom and subjects, founded and established a College of letters, sciences, philosophy; godliness, and sacred theology, for all time to endure. These are noble objects, and we may look back with honourable pride to the way in which Trinity College has on the whole carried out the intentions of its founder.

The organization of the new College followed closely that outlined in the Distribucio. To meet [24] the expenses already incurred during the Michaelmas term the Court of Augmentations¹⁶ in January 1547 paid Redman £590 “towards the exhibition of King’s Scholars in Cambridge.” This was about one-third of the total intended income of the House, and presumably cleared matters up to 24December 1546, when the College entered into possession of its endowments. If we may trust the sermon preached in London on 12December 1550, by Thomas Lever, subsequently master of StJohn’s College, Trinity had reason to regret the death of Henry in January 1547, for the preacher asserted that a substantial part of the intended endowment was appropriated by courtiers in London; I have never investigated what part (if any) of it was thus lost to the College.

The first account-book of the new College covers the civil year 1547, but only certain selected items of income and expenditure appear therein. It shows total receipts of £786. 16s. 7d. and total payments of £799. 11s. 1½d. Most of the income is said to have come from the “Tower.” I conjecture that rents, etc. were paid to the master who kept the college moneys in the treasury in the Tower, and the bursar in his book accounted only for such portion of it as was handed to him: of other sums [25] received or paid on account of the Society, we have no particulars. In most cases the commons (though not the stipends or wages) paid to officers are set out, but up to Lady-Day instead of giving full details there is an entry of £52. 6s. 10d. paid to fellows and scholars for “the first quarter after the erection, besides stipends and wages.” The account-book for the next year, 1548, is better kept. It shows total receipts of £531. 13s. 11½d. and total payments of £528. 12s. 8½d. In the accounts of this year are mentioned a master, fifty graduate fellows (of whom thirteen were bachelors), ten dialectici, forty-two grammarians, and eight bible-clerks. Entries appear of payments for commons to six former members of King’s Hall and Michael-House, but of these only three seem to have been in regular residence. An examination of the early account-books allows us to see something of the development of the College, but a description of this would hardly come within the purview of this paper.