CAMBRIDGE, UNIVERSITY OF. - Camboritum of the Romans, in the Middle Ages it was a small village around the church of St. Benedict; later a center of study formed there, but it began to flourish only when a certain number of students from Oxford, where lectures had been suspended, went there. 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 there; later the Carmelites and the 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 there is a constitution on the model of those of Oxford and Paris. The bull of erection with privileges, among them the ius ubique docendi, was obtained from Pope John XXII on 9 June 1318. The head of the University governed it, organized the studies, approved the statutes of the colleges, assisted by two Proctors, borealis and australis, with financial functions. There was also the magister glomeriae, inspector of the grammar schools, appointed by the archdeacon of Ely, the diocese on which C. depended.
In Peterhouse there was a magister (master) and 14 perpetual scholars (fellows), dedicated to the study of the arts, of Aristotle, of canon law and of theology; two studied civil and canon law, one medicine. The examinations or tripos were at first oral discussions.
But C. obtained in 1401 that the chancellor be dispensed from obtaining the confirmation of the bishop of Ely and from 1432 it became entirely independent. In the course of the 15th century the mendicant orders had in C. an important center for studies in eastern England.
After a vain attempt at St. John's Hospital, in 1284 Peterhouse was instituted, on the model of Merton College, Oxford. In 1324 Michael House, to provide chaplains for St. Michael's. In 1326 there was University Hall, which became Clare Hall in 1336, with statutes confirmed by Boniface IX in 1402. In 1347 Pembroke College, with a preference for French students. In 1349 Gouville Hall, enlarged in 1558 by the Catholic physician Caius and therefore from then on called Gouville and Caius College. In 1350 Trinity Hall was founded; in 1352 Corpus Christi College, from a confraternity resident at St. Benedict's. In 1439 there was God's House, to train schoolmasters for the countryside. Henry VI founded King's College in 1441 for the students of Eton; the chapel was finished by Henry VIII. Queen's College, originally St. Bernard's, is from 1446 and was refounded in 1475, in which year St. Catharine's College was instituted; in 1497 Jesus College; in 1505 Christ's College, absorbing God's House, which was from 1441; St. John's is from 1511. The renewal of C. in the 16th century was the work of St. John Fisher (1469-1535). He was a student at Michael House, B. A. in 1487, M. A. in 1491, fellow at Michael House, proctor of the University in 1494, vice-chancellor in 1501, chancellor in 1504 and president of Queen's College from 1505 to 1508. He had a new chair of theology founded in 1503 and was its first holder; to him is also due the foundation of Christ's College. He offered Erasmus the chair of theology and the teaching of Greek; Erasmus stayed there from 1511 to 1514, and in 1616 praised the admirable renewal of C.; Fisher had by testament bequeathed his library to St. John's College, but it was dispersed by order of Henry VIII.
After his martyrdom Cromwell was elected chancellor. After 1535, with the suppression of the religious orders, certain colleges benefited from it, namely Queen's College and Magdalene College; there then arose Trinity College, built on the ancient Benedictine foundation of Buckingham College, which absorbed Michael House and King's Hall and served for the study of theology, philosophy and letters, the arts and the sciences. In 1584 Emmanuel College was born; in 1588 Sidney Sussex College was founded. With the Elizabethan period there was a struggle of opposing tendencies represented by Puritanism with T. Cartwright and by Anglicanism with Whitgift; but studies at C. were reduced to theology and the arts and to the common law instead of civil law.
In 1665 Parliament conferred on the libraries of the king, of Oxford and of C. the privilege of receiving a copy of every book printed in England. With the 17th century there was at C. a great interest in the sciences and special chairs of mathematics were created. One of these was held for 33 years by Newton, who published there in 1687 his Philosophiae naturalis principia matematica. In 1706 a bequest of T. Plume caused new chairs of science, of astronomy and physics to be instituted. In the 18th century R. Bentley, president of Trinity College, was vice-chancellor for 33 years, and there he created a chemistry laboratory, calling to it the Veronese Vigani; there were also in 1724 the Regius-professorship of history (1724) and the chair of geology (1727). In the 19th century many reforms were introduced, some for C. and Oxford, others special to C. In the second half of the century students were accepted without the obligation of life in the colleges. Selwyn College is from 1882. In 1869 Girton College was instituted, in 1877 Newnham College, both for women. Women were admitted from 1923 to official degrees and from 1926 to all teaching chairs.
The University today comprises 20 faculties and 19 colleges. There are at present 2 Catholic colleges: St. Edmund's College for the secular clergy and St. Benet's College for the Benedictines. The doctorate in theology D.D. can also be obtained by those who have not received orders in the Church of England.
The University has its revenues, which are made up of donations, of special foundations for chairs, of tuition fees, of state subsidies and of contributions from the colleges. As members of the University are to be considered a certain number of students and many graduates with at least 7 years' seniority, who hold offices either in the colleges or in the University itself and have the right to elect two deputies to Parliament.
The fundamental principles of the University are fixed by royal decrees (ordes in council). The academic senate elects the chancellor, an honorary office, generally political, assisted by a vice-chancellor elected annually from among the heads of the colleges and re-eligible, assisted by 16 members chosen by the Regent House.
The University provides for the courses, determines the examinations. The degree of bachelor of arts is obtained after an examination in five subjects; the degree of master of arts after six years from the first term or trimester; doctor with honours after examinations in one or more of the 14 tripos.
UNIVERSITY CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
The University is a corporate body that includes all the colleges. A previous examination is necessary to enter the University, but the colleges may have special regulations for admission. The collegiate student is obliged to reside, may not be out after 10 p.m. without permission, must wear the gown and dine in the hall of the college five days a week.
The baccalaureate comprises three years of study of three terms each (Michaelmas, Lent, Easter and Summer). To obtain the degree a twofold examination is required: 1) general examination (classics, mathematics, a portion of English history); 2) special examination (a choice of subjects taken in different groups). Formerly candidates were classified in order of individual merit as wranglers, senior and junior optime, which since 1919 has remained only for jurisprudence.
Each college is autonomous with its own revenues deriving from foundations or sovereign or private donations. It is responsible for the lodging, board and preparation of the fellows and of the students through the tutors. Each college consists of buildings provided with one or more courtyards (courts). A large refectory hall for fellows and students; a library, a chapel, the lodgings for the fellows and for the students; all originally derived from medieval palaces, with subsequent modifications especially in the Renaissance. The residence statute of the senate is from 1722; the University library (communis libraria universitatis) is a complex of buildings ranging from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. It comprises 1,500,000 volumes, 10,000 manuscripts and 3,000 incunabula; 50,000 volumes of the Acton collection are for modern history. In the southern zone of Downing Street were established: the School of Agriculture (1910) enlarged in 1926-27, the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (1910-15), the psychological laboratory in 1913 and the physiological one in 1914, the Forestry School in 1914, the Molteno Institute of Animal Parasitology in 1921; a station for biochemical and biophysical research (1922) and the Sir William Dunn School of Biochemistry; in 1928 the new pathological laboratory.
In C. there are the following cultural institutes: the Philosophical Society with its Proceedings from 1821 and the Transactions from 1843; the Philological Society with the Proceedings (1872) and Transaction (1882); the Pathological Society with its Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. The Cambridge University Press since 1902 has begun the edition of the following collections: C. Modern History in 3 vols. and an atlas; C. Medieval History, 1911, in 8 vols.; C. Ancient History from 1924, in 17 vols. of which 5 illustrated. Furthermore: The C. History of the British Foreign Police C. 1922-23, 3 vols.; The C. History of the British Empire, 1929, 3 vols.; The C. History of India, 1922, 6 vols.; C. History of English Literature, 1907-16, 15 vols. - See Pl. XXVIII.
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Enrico Josi