COLLEGES
35. BUCKINGHAM COLLEGE
By the Constitutions of Pope Benedict XII
issued in 1337 every Benedictine monastery was
bound to send to a studium generale or university
one monk for every twenty members of their
convent. (fn. 1) In England the two universities were
Oxford and Cambridge, (fn. 2) and one immediate
result of this order seems to have been the purchase
by John Crauden, Prior of Ely, of a house in Cambridge which he converted into a hostel for monks
of Ely studying at the University. (fn. 3) At a General
Chapter of the Order in 1423 John de Bardeney,
Prior of the Benedictine students at Cambridge,
urged that a reasonable sum should be granted
towards the support of the students and that, with
the king's permission, a place should be acquired
for an hospitium religiosum. (fn. 4) The idea was favourably received, but nothing was done about it,
and at the chapter held in 1426 John Sudbury,
then prior of the students, emphasized the inconvenience of the monastic students being scattered
in lay hostels and stressed the necessity of a common hostel for them. (fn. 5) Steps were accordingly
taken, and on 7 July 1428 licence was given for
the Abbot of Crowland and certain trustees to
acquire 2 messuages in the parish of St. Giles, held
of the king in burgage and valued at 46s. 8d.,
where Benedictines studying Canon Law and
Theology might dwell together. (fn. 6) These messuages were 'lez pondyards', for which the Abbot
of Crowland paid 18d. to the town treasurer in
1432. (fn. 7)
The community housed in this hostel was probably always small, as most monasteries seem to
have sent their scholars to Oxford, (fn. 8) and of those
that went to Cambridge some entered the colleges
of Trinity Hall and Gonville Hall. (fn. 9) John of
Wisbech, Abbot of Crowland (1370-6), is recorded to have built rooms for the students from
his own abbey, (fn. 10) and the predominance of this
house is shown by the description of the head of
the hostel in 1492 as Richard Cambrygge, prior
monachorum Crolandie. (fn. 11) In a deed of 1472 the
house is mentioned as 'the Hostel called Monkis
place'; (fn. 12) but in 1483 the Abbot of Crowland owed
14d. for the hostel called 'Bokynham college'. (fn. 13)
The title Buckingham College, which continued
to be used after this date, is assumed to derive from
Henry, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1460–83), or
possibly from his grandfather Humphrey, 1st
Duke, in commemoration of his benefactions; (fn. 14)
but what those benefactions were and why they
were made to this community is entirely unknown.
Buckingham College was one of the colleges in
which Thomas Cromwell ordered in 1535 that
daily lectures in Latin and Greek should be given. (fn. 15)
The prior of the college in that year is alleged to
have been Dr. Henry Holbeach, or Rands, monk
of Crowland, who became Prior of Worcester in
1536 and later Bishop of Lincoln. (fn. 16) With the
dissolution of the monasteries the college ceased to
exist, and on 3 April 1542 the king granted the
site and buildings of Buckingham College, with
two gardens containing ponds, called 'two pounde
yardes', to Lord Chancellor Audley for the establishment of his new foundation, the College of St.
Mary Magdalene. (fn. 17)