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PART I.

Order of

Stratford

ence thereto.

Peterhouse.

hung knives like swords'.' In order to repress such laxity of CHAP. IIL discipline an order was issued in the year 1342 by Archbishop Stratford, whereby every student in the university Archbishop was rendered incapable of any ecclesiastical degree or honour with referuntil he should have reformed his 'person and apparel;' and it is with express reference to this order that the following statute of Peterhouse appears to have been drawn up:— 'Inasmuch as the dress, demeanour and carriage of Statute of scholars are evidences of themselves, and by such means it is seen more clearly or may be presumed what they themselves are internally, we enact and ordain, that the master and all and each of the scholars of our house shall adopt the clerical dress and tonsure, as becomes the condition of each, and wear it conformably in every respect, as far as they conveniently can, and not allow their beard or their hair to grow contrary to canonical prohibition, nor wear rings upon their fingers for their own vain glory and boasting and to the pernicious example and scandal of others.'

tion non-mo

character, but

in any spirit

of

the monastic orders.

Similarly, as it was forbidden the clergy to play at dice, The foundaso is the same pastime forbidden the 'scholars of Ely.' On nastic in its the other hand the non-monastic purposes of the founder nodes are insisted upon with equal explicitness; should either the fitt master or one of the fellows desire to enter any of the approved monastic orders, it is provided that a year of grace shall be given him, but that after that, another shall be elected in his place, inasmuch as the revenues of the foundation are designed for those only who are actual students and desirous of making progress (pro actualiter studentibus et proficere volentibus). No clearer evidence could be desired that while, as in the case of Merton college, it was the design of the founder to provide assistance for students unfettered by the necessity of embracing the monastic life, nothing hostile to monasticism was intended; but as it was not the object of Hugh Balsham to found a monastery, the college was no home for the monk. If we add to the foregoing features that afforded by the statute which provides, that on any fellow succeeding to a benefice of the annual 1 Cooper's Annals, 1 95.

2 Documents, 11 72.

3 Ibid. 11 33.

PART I.

CHAP. III. value of one hundred shillings, he shall, after a year's grace, vacate his fellowship, we shall have enumerated the principal points in these concise and simple statutes'.

Foundation

of MICHAEL

An interval of forty years separates the commencement HOUSE 1824 of Michaelhouse from that of Peterhouse. In the year 132+ we find Hervey de Stanton, chancellor of the exchequer, and canon of Bath and Wells, obtaining from Edward II permission to found at Cambridge,-where, as the preamble informs us, exercitium studii fulgere dinoscitur,—the college of the 'scholars of St. Michael.' Though itself of later date, yet, as given by Her- an illustration of early college discipline, Michaelhouse is, voy de Stan- in point of fact, of greater antiquity than Peterhouse, for

Early sta

tutes of Mi

chaclhouse

ton.

Qualifica

tions requi

dates for fellowships.

given to cele

the statutes given at the time of its creation preceded those given by Simon Montacute to the latter society by at least fourteen years. The foundation itself has long been merged site in candi- in a more illustrious society, but its original statutes are still extant, and are therefore the earliest embodiment of the college conception, as it found expression in our own university. Their perusal will at once suggest that they were drawn up in a somewhat less liberal spirit than presents Prominence itself in the code of Hugh Balsham. The monk and the bration of re- friar are excluded from the society, but the rule of Merton is vices by the not mentioned. It is in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity, of the blessed Mary, ever a Virgin, of St. Michael the Archangel, and all the saints, that the foundation stone is laid; the fellows are to be priests or at least in sacris ordinibus constituti; they must have taught in the liberal arts or in philosophy, or be at least bachelors incepting in those branches, who intend ultimately to devote themselves to the study of theology; the celebration of service at the neigh

ligious ser

fellows.

1 These statutes,' observes Dean Peacock, present a very remarkable contrast to many of the later codes of statutes, which attempted to regu. late and control nearly every transaction in life, and which embodied nearly every enactment which the experience of other and more ancient bodies had shown to be sometimes required.' Observations on the Statutes, p. 110.

2 These statutes have never been

printed, and as the earliest college statutes of our university have consequently seemed deserving of insertion in extenso: see Appendix (D). I have printed them from a transcript of the original in Ottringham, or the Michaelhouse Book, now in the possession of the authorities of Trinity college. There is also a copy of these statutes in Baker MSS. XIX 7; XXXI 160.

PART I.

bouring church of St. Michael is provided for with great CHAP. III. minuteness; the services to be performed are specified. So much prominence, indeed, is given to this part of the founder's instructions, that he deems it necessary to explain that it is in no way his intention to prejudice the study of secular learning:-'It is not,' he says, 'my design herein to burden any of the officiating scholars with the performance of masses, as aforesaid, beyond his convenient opportunity, so as to prevent a due attention to lectures, disputations in the schools, or private study; but I have considered that such matters must be left to individual discretion". It is required that the fellows shall pray daily for 'the state of the whole Church,' and 'the peace and tranquillity of the realm,' for the welfare of the king, of the queen Isabella, of Prince Edward and the rest of the royal family, of the lord bishop of Ely, of the prior and convent of Ely, of the founder and his family. The consent of the bishop of the dio- John cese had, like that of the reigning monarch, been necessary; i6-1337. and if, as from the tenour of different statutes appears probable, the general scheme of the new foundation had been drawn up under the auspices of John Hotham, who at that time filled the episcopal chair, the prominence given to the religious services to be observed will be rendered more intelligible. That bishop, though a prelate of distinguished ability, unlike Hugh Balsham, directed his efforts almost exclusively to enriching and strengthening the monastic foundations of his diocese, and left it to Simon Montacute, his successor, to assist in the developement of the more secular theory 2.

The regulations concerning a common table, a distinctive dress, and other details of discipline to be found in these statutes, offer but few points of difference when compared with those of Peterhouse, but many matters are unprovided

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Hotham,

bp. of Ely,

PART I.

CHAP. IIL for concerning which the code of the latter college is circumstantial and explicit, while there is nothing to indicate that the example of Walter de Merton was present to the mind of Hervey de Stanton.

Foundation

of PEMBROKE

COLLEGE, 1347.

The two foundations which next claim our attention, that of Pembroke Hall in 1347, and that of Gonville Hall in 1350, afford satisfactory evidence that the college was not necessarily regarded as an institution hostile to the religious Marie de St. orders; the former owed its creation to Marie de St. Paul, a warm friend of the Franciscans; while the latter was founded by Edmund Gonville, an equally warm friend of the DomiInaccuracy nicans. The allusion in Gray's Installation Ode, where in alluded to by enumerating

Paul.

of the story

Gray.

All that on Granta's fruitful plain

Rich streams of regal bounty poured,'

the poet, himself a Pembroke man, designates the foundress of his college, as

sad Chatillon, on her bridal morn

That wept her bleeding love,'

is founded on a mere fiction'; but it is certain that the untimely loss of her chivalrous husband first turned the thoughts of Marie de St. Paul, better known as Mary de Valence, to deeds like that to which Pembroke College owes its rise. Large endowments to a nunnery of Minoresses at Waterbeach, and the foundation of Deney Abbey, had fully

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1 However premature his death may have been, it assuredly did not take place so soon as our poet represents. Not that he is chargeable with the invention of this interesting tale. He only relates what was and is to this day currently believed to be true. And perhaps the lovers of poetry and romance, who have been accustomed to indulge a feeling of sympathy for the unhappy lot of this bereaved lady, would rather that the illusion were not dispelled. The historian of the sixteenth century, doubtless resting on the authority of monkish annals, and succeeding writers even to the present time, treading in their steps, state that she was on one and the same day a virgin,

wife, and widow, her husband having been killed by a jousting on the very day of his marriage. The date of his marriage being however ascertained the mere detail of subsequent events occurring during his lifetime will at once prove the whole account to be a fable.' Memoirs of Marie de St. Paul, pp. 26-28. By Gilbert Ainslie, Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, 1847. I am indebted to the courtesy of the present Master of Pembroke, the Rev. J. Power, for access to this valuable and interesting manuscript.

2 After her marriage she was never known by any other surname than that of St. Paul.' Ibid. p. 37.

attested her liberality of disposition before the Aula seu CHAP. III. Domus de Valencemarie arose.

PART I.

no

1 longer ex

It is much to be regretted that the earliest rule given to The original the new foundation of Pembroke Hall is no longer extant1. tant. A revised rule, of the conjectural date of 1366, and another of perhaps not more than ten years later, are the sole data whence the subjoined outline has been drawn up. The

1 The preamble in Heywood, Early Statutes, p. 179, and that in Documents, II 192, are calculated to give the impression that the statutes of 1347 are still extant; but such is not the case. Although no copy of them is extant,' says Dr. Ainslie, yet it is certain that they were enacted in the year 1347, since the revised copy of statutes, by which they were superseded, though itself wanting in date, explicitly states that fact. The document containing the revised statutes is in the form of an indenture, to one part of which remaining with the college was affixed the seal of our lady, and to the counterpart remaining with her the seal of the college. The part remaining with the college was, upon a subsequent revision, cancelled by cutting off the seal together with the names of the witnesses. The document never had a date. It may be conjectured to be about the year 1366. The like want of a date throws the same uncertainty over the time at which the second revision was made. All perhaps that can be affirmed with certainty is that it was not made later than the year 1420. Thus much at least there is internal evidence to prove, if not indeed that it was made by the foundress herself, that is, before March 17, 1376-7.' Ibid. p. 89.

2 The following succinct outline from the pen of Dr. Ainslie gives the substance of the two codes:-The house was to be called the Hall or House of Valence Marie, and was to contain thirty scholars, more or less, according to the revenues of the college; of whom twenty-four, denominated fellows, were to be greater and permanent; and the remaining six, being students in grammar or arts, to be less, and at the times of election either to be put out altogether or else promoted to the permanent

class. If the whole number of fellows was complete, six at least were to be in holy orders; if there were twenty there were to be at least four; and if twelve or upwards, there were to be two for the performance of divine service. These proportions were altered in the next code thus: if there were ten fellows or upwards, there were to be at least six in orders; and four, if the number was less.

"The fellows were to apply themselves solely to the faculty of arts or theology; the master might exercise more than one faculty, according to the judgement and approbation of the two rectors. And when any one should have finished his lectures in arts, he was to betake himself to theology.

The head of the college was to be elected by the fellows and to be distinguished by the title of Keeper of the House; and he was to have a locum tenens.

There were to be annually elected two rectors, the one a Friar Minor, the other a secular, who should have taken degrees in the university. They were to admit fellows elect, and to have visitorial jurisdiction, which after the death of the foundress they were to exercise even over the statutes with the consent of the college.

The later code however did not recognise the rectors at all, but appropriated their several duties to the master either alone or in conjunction with two or more of the fellows; saving only the power of control over the statutes, which, though reserved to the foundress during her life without any limitation, was not vested in any one after her decease.

'And thus ended all connexion between the Franciscans and the college.*****

To return to the earlier code. In the election of a fellow the prefer

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