BALSHAM, HUGH DE (d. 1286), English churchman, ap pears first as sub-prior of the monastic cathedral of Ely. On the death of William of Kilkenny in i 256 the monks elected him bishop of Ely, to the annoyance of Henry III., who had the temporalities given to John de Waleran. The election was con firmed by the pope in 1257 and Hugh set to work to repair the harm done by the intruder. In i 28o the bishop obtained a charter allowing him to replace the secular brethren residing in his hos pital of St. John at Cambridge by "studious scholars" ; a second charter four years later entirely differentiated these scholars from the brethren of the hospital, and for them Hugh de Balsham founded and endowed the college of Peterhouse at Cambridge.