CAMBRIDGE, UNIVERSITÀ of. — The Roman Camboritum, it was in the Middle Ages a small village around the church of St. Benedict; later a center of study was formed there, but it began to flourish only when a certain number of students from Oxford came there, 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 there, and later the Carmelites and Augustinians. In 1261 the first proctors or rectors appear, together with the customary teaching of the trivium and quadrivium. At the end of the century a constitution modeled on those of Oxford and Paris was adopted. The bull of erection, with privileges including the ius ubique docendi, was obtained from 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 functions. There was also the magister glomeriae, inspector of the grammar schools, appointed by the archdeacon of Ely, the diocese on which C. depended.
At Peterhouse there was a magister (master) and 14 perpetual scholars (fellows), devoted 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 at first oral disputations.
But in 1401 C. obtained the exemption of the chancellor from the requirement of confirmation by the bishop of Ely, and
from 1432 it became entirely independent. During the fifteenth century the mendicant orders had in C. an important center for study in eastern England.
After an unsuccessful attempt at St. John’s Hospital, Peterhouse was founded in 1284, modeled on Merton College, Oxford. In 1324 Michael House was established to provide chaplains for St. Michael’s. In 1326 there was the University Hall, which became Clare Hall in 1336, with statutes confirmed by Boniface IX in 1402. Pembroke College was founded in 1347, with preference for French students. In 1349 Gouville Hall was founded; it was enlarged in 1558 by the Catholic physician Caius and henceforth called Gouville and Caius College. Trinity Hall was founded in 1350; Corpus Christi College in 1352 by a confraternity residing at St. Benedict’s. In 1439 God’s House was established to train teachers for the countryside. Henry VI founded King’s College in 1441 for the students of Eton; the chapel was completed by Henry VIII. Queen’s College, originally St. Bernard’s, dates from 1446 and was refounded in 1475, in which year St. Catharine’s College was established; Jesus College was founded in 1497; Christ’s College in 1505, absorbing God’s House, which dated from 1441; St. John’s dates from 1511. The renewal of C. in the sixteenth century was the work of St. John Fisher (1469–1535). He was a student at Michael House, received his B.A. in 1487 and M.A. in 1491, became a 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. In 1503 he had a new chair of theology founded and became its first lecturer; the foundation of Christ’s College is also due to him. He offered Erasmus the chair of theology and the teaching of Greek; Erasmus stayed there from 1511 to 1514, and in 1616 praised the remarkable renewal of C. By his will Fisher 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, namely Queen’s College and Magdalene College; Trinity College then arose, built on the former 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. Emmanuel College was founded in 1584; Sidney Sussex College in 1588. During the Elizabethan period there was a struggle between opposing tendencies, represented by Puritanism with T. Cartwright and Anglicanism with Whitgift; but studies at C. were reduced to theology and the arts and to common law instead of civil law.
In 1665 Parliament granted the libraries of the king, Oxford, and C. the privilege of receiving a copy of every book printed in England. During the seventeenth century there was great interest in the sciences at C., and special chairs of mathematics were established. One of these was held for 33 years by Newton, who published there in 1687 his Philosophiae naturalis principia matematica. In 1706 a bequest from T. Plume led to the establishment of new chairs of science, astronomy, and physics. In the eighteenth century R. Bentley was vice chancellor for 33 years and president of Trinity College, where he established a chemistry laboratory, bringing in the Veronese Vigani; there were also, in 1724, the Regius-professorship of history (1724) and the chair of geology (1727). In the nineteenth century many reforms were introduced, some for C. and Oxford, others specifically for C. In the second half of the century students were admitted without the obligation of residing in the colleges. Selwyn College dates from 1882. Girton College was established in 1869, and Newnham College in 1877, both for women. Women were admitted to official degrees from 1923 and to all teaching positions from 1926.
The University today comprises 20 faculties and 19 colleges. There are currently 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., may also be obtained by those who have not received orders in the Church of England.
The University has its own revenues, consisting of donations, special endowments for chairs, tuition fees, state subsidies, and contributions from the colleges. Members of the University include a certain number of students and many graduates with at least seven years’ seniority, who hold offices either in the colleges or in the University itself and have the right to elect two representatives to Parliament.
The fundamental principles of the University are established by royal decrees (ordes in council). The academic senate elects the chancellor, an honorary and generally political office, assisted by a vice chancellor elected annually from among the heads of the colleges and eligible for re-election, assisted in turn by 16 members chosen by the Regent House.
The University provides the courses and 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 comprising all the colleges. A previous examination is required for admission to the University, but the colleges may have special regulations for admission. The collegiate student is required to reside in college, may not be absent after 10 p.m. without permission, must wear the gown, and must dine in the hall of the college five days a week.
The baccalaureate comprises three years of study, each consisting of three terms (Michaelness, 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 drawn from different groups). Formerly, candidates were ranked according to their individual merit as wranglers, senior and junior optime; since 1919, this system has remained only for law.
Each college is autonomous, with its own revenues deriving from foundations or sovereign or private donations. It is responsible for the lodging, board, and education of the fellows and students through the tutors. Each college consists of buildings equipped with one or more courtyards (courts). There is a large refectory, the hall, for fellows and students; a library, a chapel, lodgings for the fellows and students: everything originally derived from medieval palaces, with subsequent modifications, especially during the Renaissance. The Senate residence dates from 1722; the University library (communis libraria universitatis) is a complex of buildings ranging from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. It contains 1,500,000 volumes, 10,000 manuscripts, and 3,000 incunabula; 50,000 volumes of the Acton collection concern modern history. In the southern area 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 laboratory 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 Duun School of Biochemistry; in 1928, the new pathological laboratory.
In C. there are the following cultural institutions: the Philosophical Society, with its Proceedings since 1821 and its Transactions since 1843; the Philological Society, with its Proceedings (1872) and Transaction (1882); and the Pathological Society, with its Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology. Since 1902, the Cambridge University Press has begun publishing 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., 5 of them illustrated. In addition: 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. - Vedi Tav. XXVIII.