CAMBRIDGE, UNIVERSITY OF. The younger of the two ancient seats of learning in England. The origin of the university, like that of Ox ford, is obscure. The old Benedictine estab lishment in Cambridge was swept away by the Danish invasions, and the university cannot boast the continuous existence beyond the Con quest assigned to it by the older writers. Though we may disregard the various fables of its foundation by a Spanish King, Cantaber. by King Arthur, by a Saxon King, Sigebert, and by Gislebert and his three companion monks of Croyland, it seems very probable that the uni versity originated in A0111e local talucatismal movement. during the Twelfth Century, aug mented, as time went on, by sueli influences as the migration of Oxford students thither in 1209, and of students from Paris in 1229. As early as 1231 a chancellor is mentioned in a royal writ, and two years later the university received Papal recognition. Following the ex ample of Cambridge maintained, besides the tritium and quadrivium (q.v.), or faculty of arts, the advanced faculties of theology, civil and canon law, and medicine. It was, how ever, not recognized formally as a Studimn Gen erale until the Papal hull of 1318. Like Paris, too, Cambridge was governed by a guild or cor poration of masters, resident teachers called regents, with whom resident masters not en gaged in teaching, called non-regents, were later associated. 'Ole presiding officer, called the ehancellor. was elected by the regents. To this Pew university the mendicant orders came very early. the Franciseans about 1224, the Domini cans half a century later. These, as well as other bodies of monks and of friars, established houses for their members, and for a time played a considerable part in university affairs. but their permanent induence was, save perhaps in one direction, not great. In the earlier stages of the university the students. here as else where, had boarded and lodged independently. With the increasing size and importance of Cam bridge there now arose, alongside these religious houses, voluntary associations of students, liv ing together in independent hostel, Private benefactors, finding in these tit subjects for encouragement, presently began to endow these halls, or to establish *colleges,' often by the consolidation of several halls. This new form of institution, providing for the support of deserving students. combined the idea of supervision and support of the religious houses, with that of the independence of the halls. The
collegiate system, beginning on the Continent, seems to have been carried to Cambridge by way of Oxford, and. though not original with either, has survived in them alone, giving them their unique place among the universities of the world. The first of the Cambridge colleges, Pcterhonse, it purely academie organization with no MO nastie discipline, was founded in 1281 by Hugh of Balsham. Bishop of Ely. and from this time for almost exactly three centuries the foundation of colleges continued. With one exception. the Cambridge of to-day is formed of the colleges established during that period. In this, Cam bridge differs much from Oxford. for though four colleges were founded in Oxford in the Seven teenth and Eighteenth centuries, the only per manent collegiate foundation in Cambridge since 1596 is Downing College, established in 1807. The short-Iived Cavendish College. Selwyn Col lege (18821. a 'hostel,' and the foundations for women, Girton (1869) and Newnhatu (1875), are not formally connected with the university. (A list of eolleges, with the dates of their foundation. will be found at the end of this article, and separate notices of the colleges under their names in the body of the Encyclopaalia.) The university, thus constituted, played a great part in the Reformation. Humanism en tered Cambridge early, associated wills the names of Sir John Cheke, Sir Thomas Smith. and Bishop Fisher. Of those closely associated with the Reformation, Erasmus was Lady Margaret professor of divinity from 1511 to 1514. and translated the New Testament here. Here, too, William Tyndale and Hugh Latimer began their labors in the new cause, and from here came Cratimer, who, in more ways than 011V. shaped the English Reformation in later years. The lloyal Injunctions of 1535 mark an (pod] in the history of the university, for by them the Ilv• learning was finally established. The study of the canon Ito was discontinued, public lectures in Greek and Latin were estahliblied in the col leges. the Bible, studied in the light of the new learning, replaced the Sentences. and the human istic method took the place of the st•Itolastie. As elsewhere, the recognition of the royal supremacy was enforced here, and with these sweeping changes, and the replacing of the clerical element in the university by lay students. the medifeval history of Cambridge may be said to close and its modern history to begin.