Emmanuel College overlooks St Andrew’s Street. It was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay (c. 1520-1589), chancellor of the exchequer and privy councillor under Queen Elizabeth. The foundation, considerably enlarged from the original, consists of a master, sixteen fellows and thirty scholars. There are further scholarships on other foundations which are awarded by preference to pupils of Uppingham and other schools in the midlands. Emmanuel was noted from the outset as a stronghold of Puritanism; it is indeed recorded that Elizabeth rallied the founder on his intention that this should be so. Mildmay assuredly had the welfare of the church primarily at heart, and he attempted to provide against the life residence of fellows, which he considered an unhealthy feature in some colleges. The site of Emmanuel was previously occupied by a Dominican friary, and some of its buildings were adapted to collegiate uses. There is only a little of the earliest building remaining; the greater part of the present college dates from the second half of the 18th century. The chapel, however, is by Sir Christopher Wren (1677). Richard Holdsworth, Gresham professor, and William Sancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, were masters of this college; Bishops Joseph Hall and Thomas Percy were among its alumni, as was John Harvard, principal founder of the great American college which bears his name.
Gonville and Caius College (commonly called Caius, pronounced Kees), stands mainly on the west side of Trinity Street. It arose out of an earlier foundation. In 1348 Edmund Gonvile or Gonevill founded the hall of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, which was commonly called Gonville Hall, for the education of twenty scholars in dialectic and other sciences, with endowment for a master and three fellows. This hall stood on part of the present site of Corpus, but on the death of its founder in 1351 it was moved to the north-west corner of the site of the present Caius, by William Bateman, bishop of Norwich and founder of Trinity Hall. The famous physician John Caius (q.v.), who was educated at this small institution, later conceived the idea of refounding and enlarging it, obtained a charter to do so in 1557, and became master of the new foundation of Gonville and Caius College. The foundation consists of a master and not less than twenty-two fellows, exclusive of the provision under the will of William Henry Drosier (d. 1889), doctor of medicine and fellow of the college, for the endowment of seven additional fellowships. Since its refoundation by Caius, the college has had a peculiar connexion with the study of medicine, while, besides many eminent physicians, Sir Thomas Gresham, Judge Jeffreys, Robert Hare, Jeremy Taylor, Henry Wharton and Lord Thurlow are among its noted names. Three sides of the main quadrangle, Tree Court, including the frontage towards Trinity Street, are modern (1870). The interior of this court is picturesque, and the design of the smaller Caius Court was inspired by Caius himself. He also designed the gates of Honour, Virtue and Humility, of which the two first stand in situ; the gate of Honour is a peculiarly good example of early Renaissance work. Caius is buried in the chapel.
Jesus College lies apart from and to the north-east of the majority of the colleges. It was founded in 1406 by John Alcock, bishop of Ely. The site was previously occupied by a Benedictine nunnery dedicated to St Radigund, which was already in existence in the first half of the 12th century and was claimed by Alcock to have been founded from Ely, to the bishops of which it certainly owed much. The name given to Alcock’s college was that of “the most Blessed Virgin Mary, St John the Evangelist, and the glorious Virgin Saint Radigund,” but it appears that the founder himself intended the name to be Jesus College. He provided for a master and six fellows, but the foundation now consists of a master and sixteen fellows, with twenty scholars or more. There are several further scholarships confined to the sons of clergymen of the Church of England. Architecturally Jesus is one of the most interesting colleges in Cambridge, for Alcock retained, and there still remains, a considerable part of the old buildings of the nunnery. The most important of these is the church, which Alcock, by removing most of the nave and other portions, converted into the usual form of a college chapel. The tower, however, is retained. The bulk of the building is an admirable example of Early English work, but there are traces of Norman; and Alcock added certain Perpendicular features. Of the rest of the college buildings, the hall is Alcock’s work, the brick gatehouse is a fine structure of the close of the 15th century, while the cloister is a little later, and stands on the site of the nuns’ cloister. Another court dates from the 17th and early 18th centuries, and there is a considerable amount of modern building. The most famous name connected with Jesus College is that of Cranmer. Among many others are Sir Thomas Elyot, John Bale, John Pearson, bishop of Chester, Hugh Peters, Gilbert Wakefield, Thomas Malthus, Laurence Sterne and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
King’s College has its fine frontage upon the western side of King’s Parade. It was founded by King Henry VI. in 1441. The first site was small and circumscribed, and in 1443 the existing site was with difficulty cleared of dwellings. The king designed a close connexion between this college and his other foundation at Eton; he provided for a provost and for seventy scholars, all of whom should be Etonians. In 1861 open scholarships were instituted, and the foundation now consists of a provost, forty-six fellows and forty-eight scholars. Half the scholarships are still appropriated to Eton. An administrative arrangement peculiar to King’s College is that by which the provost has absolute authority within its walls, to the exclusion of officers of the University. The chief architectural ornament of the college, and one of the most notable in the town, is the magnificent Perpendicular chapel, comparable with those of St George at Windsor and Henry VII. at Westminster Abbey. The building was begun in 1446, and extended (apart from the interior fittings) over nearly seventy years. Within, the most splendid features are the fan-vaulting which extends throughout the chapel, the noble range of stained-glass windows, which date for the most part from the early part of the 16th century, and the wooden organ screen, which, with part of the stalls, is of the time of Henry VIII. The college services are celebrated for the beauty of their music. The bulk of the other collegiate buildings are of the 18th century or modern. The old court of King’s College is occupied by the modern university library, north of the chapel; the gateway, a good example (1444), is preserved. John Frith the Martyr, Richard Croke, Giles Fletcher, Richard Mulcaster, Sir William Temple, William Oughtred, the poet Waller, and Horace Walpole and others of his family are among many illustrious alumni of the college.
Magdalene College (pronounced Maudlin) stands on the west bank of the Cam, near the Great Bridge. In 1428 the Benedictines of Crowland Abbey founded a home for student monks on this site, and in 1519 Edward, duke of Buckingham, partly secularized this institution by founding Buckingham College in connexion with it. After the dissolution of the monastery, Thomas, Baron Audley of Walden, erected Magdalene in place of the former house in 1542. The foundation consists of a master and seven fellows, besides scholars. There are some valuable exhibitions appropriated to Wisbech school. The appointment of the master is peculiar, the office being in the gift of the occupant of Audley End, an estate near Saffron Walden, Essex. Some parts of the original building are preserved, but the most notable portion of the college is the Pepysian library, dating c. 1700. It contains the very valuable collection of books bequeathed by Samuel Pepys to the college, at which he was a student. Buckingham College had Archbishop Cranmer as a lecturer; Charles Kingsley and Charles Stewart Parnell were educated at Magdalene.
Pembroke College stands to the east of Trumpington Street. It was founded in 1347 by Mary de St Paul, widow of Aylmer de Valence, earl of Pembroke. Henry VI. made notable benefactions to it. The foundation consists of a master and thirteen fellows, and there are six scholarships on the original foundation, besides others of later institution. The older existing buildings are mainly of the 18th century, but much of the original fabric was removed and rebuilt in 1874. The chapel is of the middle of the 17th century, and is ascribed to Sir Christopher Wren. The poets Spenser and Gray, Nicholas Ridley the martyr, Archbishop Whitgift and William Pitt were associated with this college; and from the number of bishops whose names are associated with it the college has obtained the style of collegium episcopale.
Peterhouse or St Peter’s College is on the west side of Trumpington Street, almost opposite Pembroke. It has already been indicated as the oldest Cambridge college (1284). Hugh de Balsham, the founder, had settled some secular scholars in the ancient Augustinian Hospital of St John in 1280, but the experiment was not a success. Nor did he carry out his full intentions as regards Peterhouse, the foundation of which followed on the failure of the fusion of his scholars with the hospital; but Simon Montagu, his successor in the bishopric of Ely, carried on his work, and in 1344 gave the college a code of statutes in which the influence of the Merton code is plainly visible. A master and fourteen fellows formed the original foundation, but the present consists of a master, and not less than eleven fellows and twenty-three scholars. The hall retains some original work; it was first built out of a legacy from the founder. The library building (c. 1590) is due to a legacy from Dr Andrew Perne (master 1554-1580); and Dr Matthew Wren (master 1625-1634), uncle of the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren, directed the building of the chapel and cloisters. The most famous name connected with the college is that of Cardinal Beaufort.
Queens’ College stands at the south of the riverside group, and one of its ranges of buildings rises immediately from the river. A college of St Bernard had been established in 1445 by Andrew Docket or Dokett, rector of St Botolph’s church, who had also been principal of a hostel, or students’ lodge, of St Bernard. He sought and obtained the patronage of Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., who undertook the foundation of a new house on another site in 1448, to bear the name of Queens’. Docket became the first master. In 1465 Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV., became the college’s second foundress. The foundation consists of a president and eleven fellows. The buildings are exceedingly picturesque. The main quadrangle, of red brick, was completed very soon after the foundation. The smaller cloister court, towards the river, retains building of the same period, and the beautiful wooden gallery of the president’s lodge deserves notice. Another court is called Erasmus’s; the rooms which he is said to have occupied remain, and a walk in the college garden across the river bears his name.
St Catharine’s College, on the west side of Trumpington Street, was founded by Dr Robert Woodlark or Wodelarke, chancellor of the university and (1452) provost of King’s College. It was opened in 1473, but the charter of incorporation dates from 1475. The foundation provided for a master (Woodlark being the first) and three fellows; there are now six fellows, and twenty-six scholars. The principal buildings, surrounding a court on three sides, date mainly from a complete reconstruction of the college at the close of the 17th century.
St John’s College, at the north of the riverside group of colleges, was founded in 1511 by the Lady Margaret Beaufort, also foundress of Christ’s College. It replaced the Hospital of St John, which dated from the early years of the 13th century, and has been mentioned already in connexion with Peterhouse. The Lady Margaret died before the college was firmly established, and her designs were not carried out without many difficulties, which were overcome chiefly by the exertions of John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, one of her executors. Thirty-two fellowships were endowed, but subsequent endowments allowed extension, and the foundation now consists of a master, fifty-six fellows, sixty scholars and nine sizars. A large number of exhibitions are appropriated to special schools. Of the four courts of St John’s, the easternmost is the original, and has a very fine Tudor gateway of brick. The chapel is modern (1863-1869), an ornate example of the work of Sir Gilbert Scott. The second court, practically unaltered, dates from 1508-1602. In this there is a beautiful Masters’ gallery, panelled, with a richly-moulded ceiling; it is now used as a combination room or fellows’ common-room. The third court, which contains the library (1624), backs on to the river, and the fourth, which is on the opposite bank, was built c. 1830. A covered bridge connects the two, and is commonly called the Bridge of Sighs from a certain resemblance to the bridge of that name at Venice. Among the notable names connected with this college are Cecil, Lord Burghley, Thomas Cartwright, Wentworth, earl of Strafford, Roger Ascham, Richard Bentley, John Cleveland, the satirist, Thomas Baker, the historian, Lord Palmerston, Professor Adams, Sir John Herschel, Bishop Colenso, Dr Benjamin Kennedy, Dean Merivale, Horne Tooke, Samuel Parr and William Wilberforce, and the poets Herrick (afterwards of Trinity Hall) and Wordsworth.