III.

History

Several religious orders, including the Franciscans and Dominicans, established houses of residence and affiliated schools in Cambridge early in the 12th century. Students of the University of Oxford and the University of Paris left to study in Cambridge in the 13th century. By the year 1209 the University of Cambridge had been formed. The origin of the colleges is traced to the associations of students, distinct from religiously affiliated groups, who began to reside in independent hostels, or halls. Over the centuries these halls were endowed by private benefactors, beginning with Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, who in 1284 founded Peterhouse, the first of Cambridge's colleges. In 1318 Pope John XXII issued a bull recognizing Cambridge as a studium generale, or place of study; that is, a university. Five new colleges were established during the 14th century, four in the 15th, and six in the 16th; not until the 19th century were other colleges founded. For a list of all the Cambridge colleges and collegiate institutions and their founding dates, see the accompanying table.

The University of Cambridge figured prominently in the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. The Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus was a professor of Greek and divinity at Cambridge from 1511 to 1514 and translated the New Testament from Greek into Latin there; the religious reformers William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, and Thomas Cranmer were educated at Cambridge. As a result of the decrees of King Henry VIII establishing the Church of England, the humanistic method of study replaced the scholastic. Canon law studies were ended, public lectures in Latin and Greek were held, and the Bible was studied in the light of contemporary learning.

A reaction took place, however, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), when Cambridge became a stronghold of Puritanism. Restrictive legislation enacted in 1570 transferred teaching authority to the heads of the colleges. In 1604, early in the reign of King James I, the university was granted the right to elect two members to the English Parliament; the right was ended in 1949. During the 17th century the group of scholars known as the Cambridge Platonists emerged, and, through the influence of such faculty members as the scientists Isaac Barrow and Sir Isaac Newton, an emphasis on the study of mathematics and natural sciences developed for which Cambridge has been subsequently noted.

Important 19th-century developments included the repeal of the restrictive statutes enacted during the reign of Elizabeth I and, accordingly, greater academic freedom; the abolition in 1871 of religious tests for admission; and the adoption of a broader curriculum, such as natural sciences (1851) and engineering (1894). Girton College, the first such establishment for undergraduate women, was founded in 1869. Among major changes in the second half of the 20th century were a marked increase in the size of the older colleges, the establishment of nine new institutions, a growing emphasis on research and advanced studies, and a movement toward coeducation. State aid has been granted to all British universities since 1914.

English clergyman John Harvard, for whom Harvard College (later Harvard University) was named, was a graduate of Cambridge, as were the statesman Oliver Cromwell, the most important leader of the English Revolution (1640-1660); the poet John Milton; the scientist Charles Robert Darwin, who developed the evolutionary theory of natural selection; and the economist John Maynard Keynes. Charles, Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the throne of the United Kingdom, studied at Trinity College (as did his forebears Edward VII and George VI) and received a degree in June 1970.