GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE. FOUNDED 1348, A.D. EDMUND GONVILLE, Rector of Terrington, in Norfolk, obtained Letters Patent under the great seal of England, dated at Westminster, Jan. 28, 22 Edward III, by which he had leave to convert his three messuages, with the orchards situate in Leyborn, or Lurghburne Lane, in the parishes of St Benedict, and St Botolph, in Cambridge, into a perpetual College of twenty Scholars, students in logic and other sciences, and that he might give it what name he would. 1348. In this year, by his deed, bearing date on Thursday in Whitsun week, at Terrington, in honour of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he granted to John Colton, of Terrington, the first custos of his Hall, and to four other Scholars, "nomine custodis et scholarium aulæ suæ de Gonville,” and to their successors, his three messuages, &c., for a perpetual habitation, according to the king's licence, and such rules and orders as he gave them; intending there to establish twenty Scholars. 1350. Edmund Gonville died and left to William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, his executor, the care of his Hall, and a great sum of money, with intent that he should perfect what he had begun. At this time the bishop was building Trinity Hall, his own foundation for civilians, he being a doctor of that faculty. Bishop Bateman laid aside the name of Gonville, and caused the Hall on his own authority to be called "the College or House of the Annunciation of Mary the Virgin," but let the Keeper and Scholars whom Gonville had appointed, remain there still. This was done by his own decretal letters for that purpose, Dec. 21, 1351, confirmed and approved by the Bishop of Ely, and the Chancellor and congregation of Cambridge, under the University seal. He also (1353) enlarged the statutes of Gonville and prescribed others to the Keeper and Fellows; and by his own authority only, without any power from the king, gave them a common seal. In this year, King Edward III, by the consent and contrivance of the Bishop (because he desired to have two halls together), gave leave to the Keeper and Fellows of this Hall to change it for an edifice belonging to Benedict College, with other tenements, and the orchard and school there. Of these buildings altered, the structure of the North side of Gonville Court was framed, and made a habitation for the Keeper and four Fellows. 1393. Dame Mary Pakenham endowed one Fellowship for a priest. She also increased the Master's stipend, and gave to the four fellows an allowance out of the Rectory of Mattishall, in the County of Norfolk. 1479. Sir Stephen Smith, Clerk, Rector of Bloverton, alias Blonorton, in Norfolk, gave all his lands in Barningham, in Suffolk, for the maintenance of one Fellow, to be a priest, (and to preach thrice a year at Barningham) who may be chosen out of any place or county. The lands were then £4 per annum : in Dr Caius's time £5 per annum. 1487. Elizabeth Clere, widow, sometime wife to Robert Clere, Esq., gave certain lands and tenements in Tuttington, near Aylsham, in Norfolk, and other towns adjoining, with their appurtenances, for the subsistence of a Fellow, actually a priest, or at least a Student in divinity, and intending to be a priest, within one year after his admittance; to be out of the diocese of Norwich, and to receive six marks per annum for his stipend. This excellent woman, besides these lands, gave several considerable sums to the College,-first, She gave £40 to increase the number of scholars; secondly, she built the east side of the College, Gonville Court; thirdly, she gave £46 to repair the buildings of the Hall, besides a sum of 40 marks, which she bestowed on the College chest; and therefore Dr Caius says, he had almost called her the most indulgent mother and nurse of the College. 1502. The Lady Anne Scroope, sometime wife of the Lord John Scroope of Bolton, March 4, gave the manor of Mortimer's, in Newnham, by Cambridge, with the mill, for the maintenance of a Fellow, to be a priest, and of the diocese of Norwich, with a stipend of £8 a year. 1503. Thomas Willows, of Cambridge, glover, on the 12th of Aug., gave five marks per annum, a rent charge issuing out of Newnham Mill, and all his lands in Teversham, Ditton, Fulbourn, and Hinton, in Cambridgeshire, for seven marks stipend, and one mark for a gown, for a Fellow, to be a priest, out of any place or county; and £2 per annum for a Divinity Lecturer or Bible-clerk; all these lands then worth £4 per annum. 1507. William Sigo, Professor of Grammar, and sometime fellow of the College, gave, June 12, for the stipend of one Scholar, of the diocese of Norwich, his house at the Castle End, in Cambridge, called the Maid's Head, and his lands in the fields of Cambridge, Chesterton, Histon, Girton, and Colton, then £1 per annum. 1534. John Bayly, Doctor of Divinity, gave to the College, £300 and upwards; with £200 thereof were bought the lands in Haddenham, in the Isle of Ely, Feb. 20, of William Buckenham, then Master of the College; all which lands in Haddenham, Wilton, Sutton, Streatham, and Whittilisforth, alias Whichford, in the Isle of Ely, with their appurtenances, and his house in the parish of St Edward, in Cambridge, against the Pease Market Hill, this Dr Bayly gave to the maintenance of a Fellow, Student in Physic or Divinity, not to be a priest, unless he would, and of any place or county. 1540. Thomas Atkin, Vicar of Mutford, and Margery Hore, of the same town, gave to the College £48 each, to buy lands of the yearly value of £4. The same Thomas also gave Pain's Close, in Worlingham, in Suffolk, of the yearly value of 40s., for stipends for three Scholars of the diocese of Norwich, 35s. per annum. They are to be chosen by the Master and two Senior Fellows. The lands which were bought in Cowling and Kirtling, in Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, were worth £4 per annum. 1540. The Rev. William Gale, Clerk, of Eye, in Suffolk, gave the manor of Brandstedes, for a Priest and two Scholars; and other lands there bought with Elizabeth Clere's money, and some part of the price of the lands which the College had and sold in Cawston, in all to the yearly value of £16 together. The said W. Gale gave lands in Hinxton, in Cambridgeshire, which were sold by Dr Skip, Master of the College, who was compelled by the power of Edward North, Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations and Revenues of the Crown, (soon after Lord North, of Kirtling), to sell them for £300, who with that money bought the manor of Aynell's, in Bedfordshire, then £14 per annum; from whence there is but one Scholar, by the name of Gale's Scholar, paid 40s. per annum. 1546. The annual revenue of Gonville Hall, as reported by the Commissioners in the 37th year of King Henry VIII, was £119. 19s. 5d. 1558. Thomas Wendy, M.D., President of the College, and physician to Henry VIII. and the four following sovereigns, founded the first Bye-fellowship, and endowed it with a rentcharge on the rectory of Haslingfield. In 1609 it was found that no annuity had been paid according to Dr Wendy's will for 38 years, when the arrears amounted to £380. The College and his heir came to an agreement, that the rectory should be discharged of the rent-charge, and the whole debt remitted, and that he and his heirs should pay for ever, yearly, 20 marks out of his lands at Barrington, whereof £10 should be paid to a Fellow. At Dr Wendy's Commemoration, every year on May 11, a speech is delivered, called the Thruston speech, on the progress of Medicine since the time of Dr Caius. The speaker is chosen by the Master and Fellows out of the medical graduates, and receives £18; the appointment being made in rotation according to seniority among the Doctors of Medicine. If there be none of that degree who has not had the appointment, it is given to the Licentiate or Bachelor in Medicine, who presents the best English Essay on a medical subject, proposed by the College in the preceding October. 1558. Until this year the College or Hall of Gonville had never been incorporated, and yet was supposed to be a corporation, even by the Master and Fellows at that time; whereas the College was only incorporated by Bishop Bateman's power, and confirmed by the Chancellor of the University and Bishop of Ely, which without letters patent under the great seal of England, gave them no legal title to be an incorporation or body politic. In 1557, John Caius, Doctor of Physic, born in Norwich, and sometime Fellow of the College, upon petition of the Master and Fellows, preferred to the King and Queen, obtained a charter of foundation, as well as a confirmation of all the rights, estates, and privileges they formerly enjoyed; by which charter he himself was made a founder, and added to Gonville and Bateman, and had leave to appoint rules and statutes for the Master, Fellows, and Scholars to observe and keep, provided they were not repugnant to the statutes of Bishop Bateman, or any way encroaching upon the Queen's prerogative, or that of her successors. By the charter, he had licence to found two Fellows or more and twelve Scholars or more, and also that the College should be incorporated by the name of The Master and Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, founded in honour of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the Feast of the Annunciation, 1558, Dr Caius dedicated the College, and greatly added to its endowments*. * It appears that Dr Caius was very decidedly opposed to the innovations introduced by Sir Thomas Smith, the Regius Professor of Greek, and Sir John Cheke, his successor, in their attempts to reform the corrupt pronunciation of the Greek language which prevailed at that time in the University. Dr Caius was not only an eminent physician, but also one of the most learned men of his time, as his numerous writings on various subjects evince. It may also be remarked, that in the buildings which he added to the College, he designed that the gates should read a lecture on morality to such as go through them, and that the student might be reminded that the road to the gate of Honour opens at the gate of Humility and passes through the gate of Virtue and Wisdom. Opposite to St Michael's church, on the eastern side of the College, the entrance is by a small low gateway, which is inscribed with the word HUMILITATIS. In a direct line from the gate of Humility stands the gate of Virtue, a lofty and spacious portico, on the eastern side of which is inscribed the word VIRTUTIS, and on the western side Jo. CAIUS POSUIT SAPIENTIÆ, 1567. Passing through the gateway of Virtue and Wisdom into the Caius Court, on the south side of it, near the Public Schools, stands the third gate, an exquisite and elaborate piece of architecture, inscribed with the word HONORIS,—a distinction which in those early times, it was supposed, had been attained by all who passed through this gate to take their degree. It is a singular phenomenon to find so distinguished a man putting forth all his power to impede the progress of the new learning. He had travelled much and had read lectures on the Greek language in Italy, and he seems to have believed that then current pronunciation in those countries was the correct one. In the twenty-first section of the Statutes of Gonville and Caius College, which were confirmed by Queen Mary, Dr Caius exercises his authority, and decrees that the Master, and all the |