CAMBRIDGE, UNIVERSITY OF. — Camboritum of the Romans, in the Middle Ages it was a small village around the church of St Benedict; later a centre of study formed there, but it only began to flourish when a certain number of students from Oxford arrived, where lectures had been suspended. In 1225 the Friars Minor settled there; in 1226 it had a chancellor recognized by the pope and the king; in 1240 the Dominicans established themselves; later the Carmelites and Augustinians. In 1261 the first proctors or rectors appear, along with the usual teaching of the trivium and quadrivium. At the end of the century a constitution was drawn up on the model of those of Oxford and Paris. The bull of erection with privileges including the ius ubique docendi was obtained by Pope John XXII on 9 June 1318. The head of the University governed it, organized studies, and approved the statutes of the colleges, assisted by two Proctors, borealis and australis, with financial duties. There was also the magister glomeriae, inspector of the grammar schools, appointed by the Archdeacon of Ely, the diocese to which Cambridge belonged.
At Peterhouse there was a magister (master) and 14 perpetual scholars (fellows), dedicated to the study of the arts, Aristotle, canon law, and theology; two studied civil and canon law, and one medicine. The examinations or tripos were initially oral discussions.
But Cambridge obtained in 1401 that the chancellor be dispensed from obtaining confirmation from the Bishop of Ely and, from 1432, it became entirely independent. During the course of the 15th century the mendicant orders had an important centre for studies in Cambridge in eastern England.
After a failed attempt at St John’s Hospital, Peterhouse was founded in 1284, modelled on Merton.