Trinity College
Cambridge |
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Trinity College is a constituent college of the University
of Cambridge. Trinity is larger than any other college in Cambridge
or Oxford, with around 660 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and
over 160 Fellows. The college was founded by Henry VIII in 1546,
from the merger of two existing colleges: Michaelhouse, and King’s
Hall (established by Edward II in 1317 and refounded by Edward
III in 1337). At the time, Henry had been wiping out and seizing
church lands from abbeys and monasteries. The universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, being both religious institutions and quite
rich, expected to be next in line. The king duly passed an Act
of Parliament that allowed him to suppress (and confiscate the
property of) any college he wished. The universities used their
contacts to plead with his sixth wife, Catherine Parr. The queen
persuaded her husband not to close them down, but to create a
new college. The king did not want to use royal funds, so he
instead combined two colleges (King’s Hall and Michaelhouse)
and seven hostels (Physwick (formerly part of Gonville and Caius
College, Cambridge), Gregory’s, Ovyng’s, Catherine’s,
Garratt, Margaret’s, and Tyler’s) to form Trinity.
This, combined with lands confiscated from the Church, caused
Trinity to be the richest and biggest college. |
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