" The University of
Cambridge was for ages a very poor corporation; it had no funds out
of which to build halls or schools or library. The ceremonies at
_commencement_ and on other great occasions took place in the
churches, sometimes of the Augustinian, sometimes of the Franciscan
friars. In these early times the gownsmen dared not contemplate the
erection of a senate-house wherein to hold their meetings. When the
fourteenth-century schools were planned their erection was doubtless
regarded as a very bold and ambitious experiment. The money came in
very slowly, the work stopped more than once, and when it proceeded
it was only by public subscription that the funds were gathered. In
1466, William Wilflete, Master of Clare Hall and Chancellor of the
University, actually made a journey to London to gather funds from
whatever quarters he could, and he dunned his friends, and those on
whom the University had any claim, so successfully that on June 25 of
that year a contract for proceeding with the work was drawn up and
signed, but it was nearly nine years after this before the schools
were finally completed, together with a new library over them, by the
special munificence of Archbishop Rotherham, who had further enriched
the library with numerous volumes of great value.
The tie which bound the members of the _University_ together was
much weaker than that which united the members of the same
_college_.
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