Peterhouse, Cambridge
Encyclopedia
Peterhouse is a constituent college
of the University of Cambridge
, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely
. Peterhouse has 273 undergraduates, 94 full-time graduate students and 45 fellows, making it the smallest of the university's traditional colleges (though larger than some of the colleges which admit only women, graduates, or mature students and which are smaller because of their restricted membership). The modern name of Peterhouse does not include the word "college".
from Edward I dated Burgh, Suffolk
, 24 December 1280 allowed Hugo de Balsham to keep a number of scholars in the Hospital of St John
, where they were to live according to the rules of the scholars of Merton
. After disagreement between the scholars and the Brethren of the Hospital, both requested a separation. As a result, in 1284 Balsham transferred the scholars to the present site with the purchase of two houses just outside the then Trumpington Gate to accommodate a Master and fourteen "worthy but impoverished Fellows". The Church of St Peter without Trumpington Gate was to be used by the scholars. Bishop Hugo de Balsham died in 1286, bequeathing 300 marks that were used to buy further land to the south of St Peter's Church, on which the college's Hall was built.
The earliest surviving set of statutes for the college was given to it by the then Bishop of Ely, Simon Montacute
, in 1344. Although based on those of Merton College, these statutes clearly display the lack of resources then available to the college. They were used in 1345 to defeat an attempt by Edward III to appoint a candidate of his own as scholar. In 1354-55, William Moschett set up a trust that resulted in nearly 70 acres (283,280.2 m²) of land at Fen Ditton
being transferred to the College by 1391-2. The College's relative poverty was relieved in 1401 when it acquired the advowson and rectory of Hinton
through the efforts of Bishop John Fordham
and John Newton. During the reign of Elizabeth I
, the college also acquired the area formerly known as Volney's Croft, which today is the area of St Peter's Terrace, the William Stone Building and the Scholars' Garden.
In 1553, Andrew Perne
was appointed Master. His religious views were pragmatic enough to be favoured both by Mary I
, who gave him the Deanery of Ely, and Elizabeth I. A contemporary joke was that the letters on the weather vane of St Peter's Church could represent "Andrew Perne, Papist" or "Andrew Perne, Protestant" according to which the wind was blowing. Having previously been close to the reformist regius chair of divinity, Martin Bucer
, later as vice-chancellor of the university Perne would have Bucer's bones exhumed and burnt in Market Square. John Foxe
in his Actes and Monuments
singled this out as "shameful railing". There is a hole burnt in the middle of the relevant page in Perne's own copy of Foxe. Perne died in 1589, leaving a legacy to the college that funded a number of fellowships and scholarships, as well bequeathing an extensive collection of books. This collection and rare volumes since added to it is now known as the Perne Library.
Between 1626-1634, the Master was Matthew Wren
. Wren had previously accompanied Charles I
on his journey to Spain to attempt to negotiate the Spanish Match
. Wren was a firm supported of Archbishop William Laud
, and under Wren the college became known as a centre of Arminianism
. This continued under the Mastership of John Cosin
, who succeeded Wren in 1634. Under Cosin significant changes were made to the college's Chapel to bring it into line with Laud's idea of the "beauty of holiness". On 13 March 1643, in the early stages of the English Civil War
, Cosin was expelled from his position by a Parliamentary
ordinance from the Earl of Manchester
. The Earl stated that he was deposed "for his opposing the proceedings of Parliament, and other scandalous acts in the University". On 21 December of the same year, statues and decorations in the Chapel were pulled down by a committee led by the Puritan zealot William Dowsing
.
The college was the first in the University to have electric lighting installed, when Lord Kelvin
provided it for the Hall and Combination Room to celebrate the College's six-hundredth anniversary in 1883-1884.It was the second building in the country to get electric lighting, after the Palace of Westminster
.
In the 1980s Peterhouse acquired an association with Conservative
, Thatcherite politics. Maurice Cowling
and Roger Scruton
were both influential fellows of the College and are sometimes described as key figures in the so-called "Peterhouse right"
– an intellectual movement linked to Margaret Thatcher
. The Conservative politicians Michael Portillo
and Michael Howard
both studied at Peterhouse. During this period, which coincided with the mastership of Hugh Trevor-Roper, the college endured a period of significant conflict amongst the fellowship, particularly between Trevor-Roper and Cowling.
, to the south of Cambridge's town centre. The main portion of the college is just to the north of the Fitzwilliam Museum
, and its grounds run behind the museum. The buildings date from a wide variety of times, and have been much altered over the years. The college is reputed to have been at least partially destroyed by fire in 1420. The entrance of the college has shifted through its lifetime as well, with the change being principally the result of the demolition of the row of houses that originally lined Trumpington Street on the east side of the college. In 1574, a map shows the entrance being on the south side of a single main court. The modern entrance is to the east, straight onto Trumpington Street.
, a former Master, and originally built in 1590 to house the collection that he donated to the college. It was extended towards the road in 1633 and features interior woodwork that was added in 1641-8 by William Ashley
, who was also responsible for similar woodwork in the chapel. Electric lighting was added to the library in 1937. The area above the Perne Library was used as the Ward Library (the college's general purpose library) from 1952 to 1984, but that has now been moved to its own building in the north-west corner of the college site.
of the time Matthew Wren
(Christopher Wren
's uncle) demolished the college's original hostels. Previously the college had employed the adjacent Church of St Mary the Less
as its chapel. The Chapel was consecrated on 17 March 1632 by Dr Francis White, Bishop of Ely. The building's style reflects the contemporary religious trend towards Arminianism
The Laudian Gothic
style of the Chapel mixes Renaissance
details but incorporated them into a traditional Gothic
building. The Chapel's Renaissance
architecture contains a Pietà
altarpiece and a striking ceiling of golden suns. Its placement in the centre of one side of a court, between open colonnades is unusual, being copied for a single other college (Emmanuel
) by Christopher Wren
. The original stained glass was destroyed by Parliamentarians
in 1643, with only the east window's crucifixion scene (based on Rubens's Le Coup de Lance) surviving. The current side windows are by Max Ainmiller
, and were added in 1855. The cloisters on each side of the Chapel date from the 17th century. Their design was classicised in 1709, while an ornamental porch was removed in 1755. The Peterhouse Partbooks, music manuscripts from the early years of the Chapel, survive, and are one of the most important collections of Tudor and Jacobean church music. The Chapel Choir, one of the smallest in Cambridge, has recently attracted wider interest for its regular performances of this material, some of which has not been heard since the 16th century. The restoration of the 1763 John Snetzler
organ in the Chapel was by Noel Mander
.
The first person buried in the Chapel was Samuel Horne, a fellow of the college. Horne was probably chaplain.
, Ford Madox Brown
and Edward Burne-Jones
. The fireplace (originally built in 1618) was restored with tiles by Morris, including depictions of St Peter and Hugo de Balsham. The hall was extensively renovated in 2006-7.
The north and west sides of Old Court were added in the 15th century, and classicised in the 18th century. The chapel makes up the fourth, east side to the court. Rooms in Old Court are occupied by a mixture of fellows and undergraduates. The west and north sides of the court also house Peterhouse's MCR (Middle Combination Room), JCR, and the student bar.
at the Bauhaus
. The carved panel by Anthony Foster over the entrance doorway evokes the mood in Britain as the building was completed. It bears the inscription DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI MCMXL — "out of the depths have I cried out 1940". These are the first words of Psalm
130, one of the Penitential Psalms
. Alongside the inscription is a depiction of St Peter being saved from the sea.
The adjacent bath-house, known as the Birdwood Building, makes up the western side of Gisborne Court. This was also designed by Hughes and Bicknell, and was built between 1932 and 1934.
. It was adapted to its modern purpose by Robert Potter in 1982. It opened in its current form as a library in 1984. In recent years, the final gallery of the old museum building has been converted into a reading room, named the Gunn Gallary, after Dr Chan Gunn.
in an attempt to improve the situation. There are no longer any deer.
The remainder of the college's gardens divide into areas known as the Fellows' Garden, just to the south of Old Court, and the Scholars' Garden, at the south end of the site, surrounding the William Stone Building.
and Sir Colin St John Wilson
, it is an eight-storey brick tower. It houses a mixture of fellows and undergraduates. It has recently been refurbished, converting the rooms to be en-suite.
, and was built in 1736. It is one of several Cambridge neo-Palladian buildings designed by Burrough. Others include the remodelling of the Hall and Old Court at Trinity Hall
and the chapel at Clare College
.
style.
was housed in The Hostel and nearby buildings, at the invitation of the Master and Fellows.
, Clarenceux King of Arms
, in 1575:
The College did, however, habitually use a version with three pallets and this was allowed at the Herald's Visitation of Cambridgeshire in 1684. The latter version (with three pallets) was officially adopted by the Governing Body in 1935. The construction of the arms is that of the founder, Hugo de Balsham, surrounded by the crowns of the See of Ely.
Peterhouse is the only college to have two separate halves to its grace, the first being a standard grace, and the second a quotation of 1 John 4:16.
According to college tradition, Thomas Gray
left Peterhouse for Pembroke College
after being the victim of a practical joke played by undergraduates. Gray is supposed to have been afraid of fire, and had attached a bar outside his window to which a rope could be tied. After being woken by undergraduates with a fire made of shavings, Gray climbed down the rope but landed in a tub of water which had been placed below his window.
.
Colleges of the University of Cambridge
This is a list of the colleges within the University of Cambridge. These colleges are the primary source of accommodation for undergraduates and graduates at the University and at the undergraduate level have responsibility for admitting students and organising their tuition. They also provide...
of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, England. It is the oldest college of the University, having been founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely
Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire , together with a section of north-west Norfolk and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the...
. Peterhouse has 273 undergraduates, 94 full-time graduate students and 45 fellows, making it the smallest of the university's traditional colleges (though larger than some of the colleges which admit only women, graduates, or mature students and which are smaller because of their restricted membership). The modern name of Peterhouse does not include the word "college".
History
The foundation of Peterhouse dates to 1280, when letters patentLetters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
from Edward I dated Burgh, Suffolk
Burgh, Suffolk
Burgh is a village and civil parish in the Suffolk Coastal district of Suffolk, England, about north-west of Woodbridge.St. Boltoph's church stands near the site of a Roman villa that stretches towards Clopton churchyard...
, 24 December 1280 allowed Hugo de Balsham to keep a number of scholars in the Hospital of St John
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, where they were to live according to the rules of the scholars of Merton
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
. After disagreement between the scholars and the Brethren of the Hospital, both requested a separation. As a result, in 1284 Balsham transferred the scholars to the present site with the purchase of two houses just outside the then Trumpington Gate to accommodate a Master and fourteen "worthy but impoverished Fellows". The Church of St Peter without Trumpington Gate was to be used by the scholars. Bishop Hugo de Balsham died in 1286, bequeathing 300 marks that were used to buy further land to the south of St Peter's Church, on which the college's Hall was built.
The earliest surviving set of statutes for the college was given to it by the then Bishop of Ely, Simon Montacute
Simon Montacute
Simon Montacute was a medieval Bishop of Worcester and Bishop of Ely.Montacute was nominated to the see of Worcester on 11 December 1333 and consecrated on 8 May 1334. and was then translated to the see of Ely on 14 March 1337. As bishop of Ely, he was involved in the foundation of Peterhouse,...
, in 1344. Although based on those of Merton College, these statutes clearly display the lack of resources then available to the college. They were used in 1345 to defeat an attempt by Edward III to appoint a candidate of his own as scholar. In 1354-55, William Moschett set up a trust that resulted in nearly 70 acres (283,280.2 m²) of land at Fen Ditton
Fen Ditton
Fen Ditton is a village on the northeast edge of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The parish covers an area of Fen Ditton lies on the east bank of the River Cam, on the road from Cambridge to Clayhithe, and close to junction 34 of the A14...
being transferred to the College by 1391-2. The College's relative poverty was relieved in 1401 when it acquired the advowson and rectory of Hinton
Cherry Hinton
Cherry Hinton is a suburban area of the city of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England. It is around southeast of Cambridge city centre.-History:...
through the efforts of Bishop John Fordham
John Fordham
John Fordham was Bishop of Durham and Bishop of Ely.Fordham was keeper of the privy seal of Prince Richard from 1376 to 1377 and Dean of Wells before being named Lord Privy Seal in June of 1377. He held that office until December of 1381....
and John Newton. During the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, the college also acquired the area formerly known as Volney's Croft, which today is the area of St Peter's Terrace, the William Stone Building and the Scholars' Garden.
In 1553, Andrew Perne
Andrew Perne
Andrew Perne , Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and dean of Ely, was the son of John Perne of East Bilney, Norfolk.-Biography:...
was appointed Master. His religious views were pragmatic enough to be favoured both by Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, who gave him the Deanery of Ely, and Elizabeth I. A contemporary joke was that the letters on the weather vane of St Peter's Church could represent "Andrew Perne, Papist" or "Andrew Perne, Protestant" according to which the wind was blowing. Having previously been close to the reformist regius chair of divinity, Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer
Martin Bucer was a Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a member of the Dominican Order, but after meeting and being influenced by Martin Luther in 1518 he arranged for his monastic vows to be annulled...
, later as vice-chancellor of the university Perne would have Bucer's bones exhumed and burnt in Market Square. John Foxe
John Foxe
John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...
in his Actes and Monuments
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...
singled this out as "shameful railing". There is a hole burnt in the middle of the relevant page in Perne's own copy of Foxe. Perne died in 1589, leaving a legacy to the college that funded a number of fellowships and scholarships, as well bequeathing an extensive collection of books. This collection and rare volumes since added to it is now known as the Perne Library.
Between 1626-1634, the Master was Matthew Wren
Matthew Wren
"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...
. Wren had previously accompanied Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
on his journey to Spain to attempt to negotiate the Spanish Match
Spanish Match
The Spanish Match was a proposed marriage between Prince Charles, the son of King James I of England, and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, the daughter of Philip III of Spain...
. Wren was a firm supported of Archbishop William Laud
William Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
, and under Wren the college became known as a centre of Arminianism
Arminianism in the Church of England
Arminianism in the Church of England was a theological strand or tendency within the clergy of the Church of England particularly evident in the second quarter of the 17th century...
. This continued under the Mastership of John Cosin
John Cosin
John Cosin was an English churchman.-Life:He was born at Norwich, and was educated at Norwich grammar school and at Caius College, Cambridge, where he was scholar and afterwards fellow. On taking orders he was appointed secretary to Bishop Overall of Lichfield, and then domestic chaplain to...
, who succeeded Wren in 1634. Under Cosin significant changes were made to the college's Chapel to bring it into line with Laud's idea of the "beauty of holiness". On 13 March 1643, in the early stages of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, Cosin was expelled from his position by a Parliamentary
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
ordinance from the Earl of Manchester
Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester
Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester KG, KB, FRS was an important commander of Parliamentary forces in the First English Civil War, and for a time Oliver Cromwell's superior.-Life:...
. The Earl stated that he was deposed "for his opposing the proceedings of Parliament, and other scandalous acts in the University". On 21 December of the same year, statues and decorations in the Chapel were pulled down by a committee led by the Puritan zealot William Dowsing
William Dowsing
William Dowsing was an English iconoclast who operated at the time of the English Civil War. Dowsing was a puritan soldier who was born in Laxfield, Suffolk...
.
The college was the first in the University to have electric lighting installed, when Lord Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin
William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE, was a mathematical physicist and engineer. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging...
provided it for the Hall and Combination Room to celebrate the College's six-hundredth anniversary in 1883-1884.It was the second building in the country to get electric lighting, after the Palace of Westminster
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
.
In the 1980s Peterhouse acquired an association with Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
, Thatcherite politics. Maurice Cowling
Maurice Cowling
Maurice John Cowling was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.-Life:Cowling was born in Norwood, South London, to a lower middle-class family. His family then moved to Streatham, where Cowling attended an LCC elementary school, and from 1937 the Battersea Grammar School...
and Roger Scruton
Roger Scruton
Roger Vernon Scruton is a conservative English philosopher and writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including Art and Imagination , Sexual Desire , The Aesthetics of Music , and A Political Philosophy: Arguments For Conservatism...
were both influential fellows of the College and are sometimes described as key figures in the so-called "Peterhouse right"
Peterhouse school of history
The Peterhouse school of history was named after the Cambridge college of the same name where the history taught concentrated on 'high politics'...
– an intellectual movement linked to Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
. The Conservative politicians Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
and Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...
both studied at Peterhouse. During this period, which coincided with the mastership of Hugh Trevor-Roper, the college endured a period of significant conflict amongst the fellowship, particularly between Trevor-Roper and Cowling.
Buildings and grounds
Peterhouse has its main site situated on Trumpington StreetTrumpington Street
Trumpington Street is a major historic street in central Cambridge, England. At the north end it continues as King's Parade where King's College is located...
, to the south of Cambridge's town centre. The main portion of the college is just to the north of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
, and its grounds run behind the museum. The buildings date from a wide variety of times, and have been much altered over the years. The college is reputed to have been at least partially destroyed by fire in 1420. The entrance of the college has shifted through its lifetime as well, with the change being principally the result of the demolition of the row of houses that originally lined Trumpington Street on the east side of the college. In 1574, a map shows the entrance being on the south side of a single main court. The modern entrance is to the east, straight onto Trumpington Street.
First Court
The area closest to Trumpington Street is referred to as First Court. It is bounded to the north by the Burrough's Building (added in the 18th century), to the east by the street, to the south by the Porters' lodge and to the west by the chapel. Above the Porters' lodge is the Perne Library, named in honour of Andrew PerneAndrew Perne
Andrew Perne , Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and dean of Ely, was the son of John Perne of East Bilney, Norfolk.-Biography:...
, a former Master, and originally built in 1590 to house the collection that he donated to the college. It was extended towards the road in 1633 and features interior woodwork that was added in 1641-8 by William Ashley
William Ashley
Sir William James Ashley was an influential English economic historian. His greatest work of note is The Economic Organisation of England, still a set text on many A-level and University syllabuses.-Life and career:...
, who was also responsible for similar woodwork in the chapel. Electric lighting was added to the library in 1937. The area above the Perne Library was used as the Ward Library (the college's general purpose library) from 1952 to 1984, but that has now been moved to its own building in the north-west corner of the college site.
Chapel
Viewed from the main entrance to Peterhouse on Trumpington Street, the altar end of the Chapel is the most immediately visible building. The Chapel was built in 1628 when the MasterMaster (college)
A Master is the title of the head of some colleges and other educational institutions. This applies especially at some colleges and institutions at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge .- See also :* Master A Master (or in female form Mistress) is the title of the head of some...
of the time Matthew Wren
Matthew Wren
"Matthew Wren" is also a British actor who appeared in BBC children's show Trapped!.Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar.-Life:...
(Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
's uncle) demolished the college's original hostels. Previously the college had employed the adjacent Church of St Mary the Less
Church of St Mary the Less, Cambridge
The Church of St Mary the Less is a Church of England church situated on Trumpington Street at the corner of Little St Mary's Lane, in central Cambridge, England, next to Peterhouse...
as its chapel. The Chapel was consecrated on 17 March 1632 by Dr Francis White, Bishop of Ely. The building's style reflects the contemporary religious trend towards Arminianism
Arminianism
Arminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic followers, the Remonstrants...
The Laudian Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style of the Chapel mixes Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
details but incorporated them into a traditional Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
building. The Chapel's Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
architecture contains a Pietà
Pietà
The Pietà is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus, most often found in sculpture. As such, it is a particular form of the Lamentation of Christ, a scene from the Passion of Christ found in cycles of the Life of Christ...
altarpiece and a striking ceiling of golden suns. Its placement in the centre of one side of a court, between open colonnades is unusual, being copied for a single other college (Emmanuel
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...
) by Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
. The original stained glass was destroyed by Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
in 1643, with only the east window's crucifixion scene (based on Rubens's Le Coup de Lance) surviving. The current side windows are by Max Ainmiller
Max Emanuel Ainmiller
Maximilian Emanuel Ainmiller was a German artist and glass painter.Under the tutorage of Friedrich von Gärtner, director of the royal Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory, Ainmiller studied glass painting, both as a mechanical process and as an art, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich...
, and were added in 1855. The cloisters on each side of the Chapel date from the 17th century. Their design was classicised in 1709, while an ornamental porch was removed in 1755. The Peterhouse Partbooks, music manuscripts from the early years of the Chapel, survive, and are one of the most important collections of Tudor and Jacobean church music. The Chapel Choir, one of the smallest in Cambridge, has recently attracted wider interest for its regular performances of this material, some of which has not been heard since the 16th century. The restoration of the 1763 John Snetzler
John Snetzler
John Snetzler was an organ builder of Swiss origin who worked mostly in England.He was born in Schaffhausen, in 1710 and died in Schaffhausen, 28 September 1785...
organ in the Chapel was by Noel Mander
Mander Organs
Mander Organs is an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the world of organ building, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with their refurbishment of the Royal Albert Hall's Father Willis organ....
.
The first person buried in the Chapel was Samuel Horne, a fellow of the college. Horne was probably chaplain.
Old Court
Old Court lies beyond the Chapel cloisters. To the south of the court is the dining hall, the only College building that survives from the 13th century. Between 1866 and 1870, the hall was restored by the architect George Gilbert Scott, Jr.. Under Scott, the timber roof was repaired and two old parlours merged to form a new Combination Room. The stained glass windows were also replaced with Pre-Raphaelite pieces by William MorrisWilliam Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown
Ford Madox Brown was an English painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painting was Work...
and Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
. The fireplace (originally built in 1618) was restored with tiles by Morris, including depictions of St Peter and Hugo de Balsham. The hall was extensively renovated in 2006-7.
The north and west sides of Old Court were added in the 15th century, and classicised in the 18th century. The chapel makes up the fourth, east side to the court. Rooms in Old Court are occupied by a mixture of fellows and undergraduates. The west and north sides of the court also house Peterhouse's MCR (Middle Combination Room), JCR, and the student bar.
Gisborne Court
Gisborne Court is accessible through an archway leading from the west side of Old Court. It was built in 1825-6. Its cost was met with part of a benefaction of 1817 from the Rev. Francis Gisborne, a former fellow. The court is built in white brick with stone dressings in a simple Gothic revival style from the designs of William McIntosh Brookes. Only three sides to the court were built, with the fourth side being a screen wall. The wall was demolished in 1939, leaving only its footing. The College is currently considering plans to build a fourth side in a similar style. Rooms in Gisborne Court are mainly occupied by undergraduates. Many previously housed distinguished alumni, including Lord Kelvin in I staircase.Fen Court and the Birdwood Building
Beyond Gisborne Court is Fen Court, a 20th-century building partially on stilts. Fen Court was built between 1939 and 1941 from designs by H. C. Hughes and his partner Peter Bicknell. It was amongst the earliest buildings in Cambridge designed in the style of the Modern Movement pioneered by Walter GropiusWalter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....
at the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
. The carved panel by Anthony Foster over the entrance doorway evokes the mood in Britain as the building was completed. It bears the inscription DE PROFUNDIS CLAMAVI MCMXL — "out of the depths have I cried out 1940". These are the first words of Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
130, one of the Penitential Psalms
Penitential Psalms
The Penitential Psalms or Psalms of Confession, so named in Cassiodorus's commentary of the 6th century AD, are the Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 . These are specially expressive of sorrow for sin. Four were known as 'penitential psalms' by St. Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century...
. Alongside the inscription is a depiction of St Peter being saved from the sea.
The adjacent bath-house, known as the Birdwood Building, makes up the western side of Gisborne Court. This was also designed by Hughes and Bicknell, and was built between 1932 and 1934.
Ward Library
The north-east corner of the main site is occupied by the Ward Library. The building it is housed in was originally the University Museum of Classical Archaeology and was designed by Basil ChampneysBasil Champneys
Basil Champneys was an architect and author whose more notable buildings include Newnham College, Cambridge, Manchester's John Rylands Library, Mansfield College, Oxford and Oriel College, Oxford's Rhodes Building.- Life :...
. It was adapted to its modern purpose by Robert Potter in 1982. It opened in its current form as a library in 1984. In recent years, the final gallery of the old museum building has been converted into a reading room, named the Gunn Gallary, after Dr Chan Gunn.
Gardens
While officially being named the Grove, the grounds to the south of Gisborne Court have been known as the Deer Park since deer were brought there in the 19th century. During that period it achieved fame as the smallest deer park in England. After the First World War the deer sickened and passed their illness onto stock that had been imported from the Duke of Portland's estate at Welbeck AbbeyWelbeck Abbey
Welbeck Abbey near Clumber Park in North Nottinghamshire was the principal abbey of the Premonstratensian order in England and later the principal residence of the Dukes of Portland.-Monastic period:...
in an attempt to improve the situation. There are no longer any deer.
The remainder of the college's gardens divide into areas known as the Fellows' Garden, just to the south of Old Court, and the Scholars' Garden, at the south end of the site, surrounding the William Stone Building.
The William Stone Building
The William Stone Building lies to the south of the Deer Park and was funded by a £100,000 bequest from William Stone (1857–1958), a former scholar of the college. Erected in 1963-4, to a design by Sir Leslie MartinLeslie Martin
Sir John Leslie Martin KBE was an English Architect. A leading advocate of the International Style....
and Sir Colin St John Wilson
Colin St John Wilson
Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, FRIBA, RA, was a British architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury and now completed near Kings Cross.-Early and private life:Wilson was...
, it is an eight-storey brick tower. It houses a mixture of fellows and undergraduates. It has recently been refurbished, converting the rooms to be en-suite.
The Burrough's Building
The Burrough's Building is situated at the front of the college, parallel to the Chapel. It is named after its architect, Sir James Burrough, the Master of CaiusGonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
, and was built in 1736. It is one of several Cambridge neo-Palladian buildings designed by Burrough. Others include the remodelling of the Hall and Old Court at Trinity Hall
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. It is the fifth-oldest college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich.- Foundation :...
and the chapel at Clare College
Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1326, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. Clare is famous for its chapel choir and for its gardens on "the Backs"...
.
The Master's Lodge
The Master's Lodge is situated across Trumpington Street from the College, and was bequeathed to the College in 1727 by a fellow, Dr Charles Beaumont, son of the 30th Master of the college, Joseph Beaumont. It is built in red brick in the Queen AnneQueen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
style.
The Hostel
The Hostel is situated next to the Master's Lodge. It was built in a neo-Georgian style in 1926 from designs by Thomas Henry Lyon. The Hostel was intended to be part of a larger complex but only one wing was built. It currently houses undergraduates and some fellows. During the World War II the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
was housed in The Hostel and nearby buildings, at the invitation of the Master and Fellows.
Arms
The College has, during its history, used five different coats of arms. The one currently in use has two legitimate blazons. The first form is the original grant by Robert CookeRobert Cooke
In 1916 Robert Cooke and Albert Vandeveer demonstrated the role of heredity in the origins of allergy. According to Cooke, 48% of his allergic patients had allergies in their family history. While the trait of allergy is transmitted through heredity, parents and children may be allergic to...
, Clarenceux King of Arms
Clarenceux King of Arms
Clarenceux King of Arms is an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial kings of arms and his jurisdiction is that part of England south of the River Trent. The office almost certainly existed in 1420, and there is a fair degree of...
, in 1575:
Or four pallets Gules within a border of the last charged with eight ducal coronets of the first.
The College did, however, habitually use a version with three pallets and this was allowed at the Herald's Visitation of Cambridgeshire in 1684. The latter version (with three pallets) was officially adopted by the Governing Body in 1935. The construction of the arms is that of the founder, Hugo de Balsham, surrounded by the crowns of the See of Ely.
Grace
Benedic nos Domine, et dona Tua, quae de Tua largitate sumus sumpturi, et concede, ut illis salubriter nutriti, Tibi debitum obsequium praestare valeamus, per Christum Dominum nostrum, Amen.
Deus est caritas, et qui manet in caritate in Deo manet, et Deus in eo: sit Deus in nobis, et nos maneamus in ipso. Amen.
Bless us, O Lord, and your gifts, which of your bounty we are about to receive, and grant that, fed wholesomely upon them, we may be able to offer due service to you, through Christ our Lord, Amen.
God is love, and he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. May God dwell in us, and we in him. Amen.
Peterhouse is the only college to have two separate halves to its grace, the first being a standard grace, and the second a quotation of 1 John 4:16.
Famous College Members
Members of Peterhouse - as masters, fellows (including honorary fellows) or students - are known as Petreans.Nobel Laureates
- John KendrewJohn KendrewSir John Cowdery Kendrew, CBE, FRS was an English biochemist and crystallographer who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Max Perutz; their group in the Cavendish Laboratory investigated the structure of heme-containing proteins.-Biography:He was born in Oxford, son of Wilford George...
- ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
(1962) for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography. - Sir Aaron KlugAaron KlugSir Aaron Klug, OM, PRS is a Lithuanian-born British chemist and biophysicist, and winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.-Biography:Klug was...
- ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
(1982) for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy. - Archer Martin - ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
(1952) for his invention of partition chromatography. - Max PerutzMax PerutzMax Ferdinand Perutz, OM, CH, CBE, FRS was an Austrian-born British molecular biologist, who shared the 1962 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with John Kendrew, for their studies of the structures of hemoglobin and globular proteins...
- ChemistryNobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
(1962) for determining the first atomic structures of proteins using X-ray crystallography.
Public Servants
- Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-SlossElizabeth Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-SlossAnne Elizabeth Oldfield Butler-Sloss, Baroness Butler-Sloss, GBE, PC is a retired English judge. She was the first female Lord Justice of Appeal and, until 2004, was the highest-ranking female judge in the United Kingdom. Until June 2007, she chaired the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess...
- First female Lord Justice of AppealLord Justice of AppealA Lord Justice of Appeal is an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, and represents the second highest level of judge in the courts of England and Wales-Appointment:...
(1988–1999); President of the Family DivisionPresident of the Family DivisionThe President of the Family Division is the head of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice in England and Wales. The Family division was created in 1971, out of the former Admiralty Court and probate courts into the then Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division.As of 13 April 2010,...
, High Court of JusticeHigh Court of JusticeThe High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
(1999–2005) - David Wilson, Baron Wilson of TillyornDavid Wilson, Baron Wilson of TillyornDavid Clive Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, is a retired British administrator, diplomat and Sinologist. Lord Wilson of Tillyorn was the penultimate Commander-in-Chief and 27th Governor of Hong Kong...
- Governor of Hong KongGovernor of Hong KongThe Governor of Hong Kong was the head of the government of Hong Kong during British rule from 1843 to 1997. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions...
(1987–1992)
Academics, Artists, Writers
- Denis Brogan - Historian
- Sir Herbert ButterfieldHerbert ButterfieldSir Herbert Butterfield was a British historian and philosopher of history who is remembered chiefly for two books—a short volume early in his career entitled The Whig Interpretation of History and his Origins of Modern Science...
- Historian; Master of Peterhouse (1955–1968), Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge (1959–1961), and Regius Professor of Modern HistoryRegius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I. The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day...
(1963—1968) - Thomas CampionThomas CampionThomas Campion was an English composer, poet and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.-Life:...
- 16th century composer - Maurice CowlingMaurice CowlingMaurice John Cowling was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge.-Life:Cowling was born in Norwood, South London, to a lower middle-class family. His family then moved to Streatham, where Cowling attended an LCC elementary school, and from 1937 the Battersea Grammar School...
- Historian - David Knowles - Regius Professor of Modern HistoryRegius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in history at Cambridge University. It was founded in 1724 by George I. The appointment is by Royal Warrant on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of the day...
(1954–1963) - Denis Mack SmithDenis Mack SmithDenis Mack Smith CBE is an English historian, specialising in the history of Italy from the Risorgimento onwards. He is best known for studies of Garibaldi and Cavour and of Mussolini, and for his single-volume Modern Italy: A Political History...
- Historian - Sam MendesSam MendesSamuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
- Academy Award-winning film director (for American BeautyAmerican Beauty (film)American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
) and four-time Laurence Olivier Award winner - Michael Postan - Historian
- Harold TemperleyHarold TemperleyHarold William Vazeille Temperley was a British historian, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge from 1931, and Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.- Overview :...
- Historian - Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre) - Historian
- Adolphus William WardAdolphus William WardSir Adolphus William Ward was an English historian and man of letters.He was born at Hampstead, London, and was educated in Germany and at Peterhouse, Cambridge....
- President, Royal Historical SocietyRoyal Historical SocietyThe Royal Historical Society was founded in 1868. The premier society in the United Kingdom which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past, it is based at University College London...
(1899–1901) - Eudora WeltyEudora WeltyEudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published...
- Pulitzer PrizePulitzer Prize for FictionThe Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...
-winning American author
According to college tradition, Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.-Early life and education:...
left Peterhouse for Pembroke College
Pembroke College, Cambridge
Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college has over seven hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest college of the university. Physically, it is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from almost every century since its...
after being the victim of a practical joke played by undergraduates. Gray is supposed to have been afraid of fire, and had attached a bar outside his window to which a rope could be tied. After being woken by undergraduates with a fire made of shavings, Gray climbed down the rope but landed in a tub of water which had been placed below his window.
Scientists and Inventors
- Christopher CockerellChristopher CockerellSir Christopher Sydney Cockerell CBE FRS was an English engineer, inventor of the hovercraft.-Life:Cockerell was born in Cambridge, where his father, Sir Sydney Cockerell, was curator of the Fitzwilliam Museum, having previously been the secretary of William Morris. Christopher Cockerell was...
- Inventor of the hovercraftHovercraftA hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout... - Peter Guthrie TaitPeter Guthrie TaitPeter Guthrie Tait FRSE was a Scottish mathematical physicist, best known for the seminal energy physics textbook Treatise on Natural Philosophy, which he co-wrote with Kelvin, and his early investigations into knot theory, which contributed to the eventual formation of topology as a mathematical...
- Mathematician - William HopkinsWilliam HopkinsWilliam Hopkins FRS was an English mathematician and geologist. He is famous as a private tutor of aspiring undergraduate Cambridge mathematicians, earning him the sobriquet the senior-wrangler maker....
- Mathematician - Edward John Routh - Mathematician
Essay Prizes
Peterhouse runs annually three essay prizes for History, Science and English. The Vellacott Historical Essay Prize, The Kelvin Science Prize, The Thomas Campion Prize are awarded by Peterhouse to members of the Lower Sixth or year twelve in a British Secondary SchoolSecondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
.
See also
- List of organ scholars