Cambridge in the fourteenth century was a small but busy town, with relatively good road and water communications. By the mid-1350s, it had eight Colleges – King’s Hall, Michaelhouse, Peterhouse, Gonville Hall, Trinity Hall, Bene’t College, the Hall of Valence Marie and Clare – along with a number of hostels and several friaries. Entry to the town was controlled by two gates (Barnwell and Trumpington) and two sets of bridges (Great Bridge and Small Bridges).
The Great Bridge had a turbulent history. There had been a crossing of the River Cam at this point since prehistoric times, and a newer, stronger bridge had been erected after William the Conqueror had raised his motte and bailey castle in 1068. By 1279 the bridge was in a poor state of repair, and a tax was levied on the townsfolk to pay for a new one. When the money was raised, the Sheriff simply declined to build a new structure, and instead made superficial repairs to the old one. Evidence indicates that any remaining funds found their way into his own pocket. Complaints about the state of the bridge continued until well into the fifteenth century, and it was common practice for soldiers from the Castle to remove parts of it so that would-be travellers were obliged to use the soldiers’ ferries.
The University, founded in the early years of the thirteenth century, grew in importance and influence throughout the Middle Ages. Among its most notable public occasions were its debates, and many were held in St Mary’s Church, which was the only building large enough to house everyone who wanted to attend. They occurred at regular intervals throughout the year, and it was considered a great honour to be invited to speak at one.
Contemporary accounts indicate that some subjects were more popular for these occasions than others. The possibility of life on other planets did not seem to interest medieval scholars much, and little is recorded of their speculations on the matter. When life on other worlds was considered, it was usually in the form of parallel universes – that is that there are universes identical to our own that exist simultaneously. The possibility of encountering little green men was apparently not something that inspired much serious discussion.
It is not possible to say whether the debate that raged in the fourteenth century between the realists and the nominalists ever led to violence. It was, however, a highly contentious issue, and dominated almost every aspect of teaching, from theology and natural philosophy to rhetoric and grammar. It was an old argument, originating with Aristotle and Plato, but it was revived in the 1300s by the Franciscan scholar, William of Occam. Occam was a student of the Oxford master Duns Scotus (the derogative word ‘dunce’ is derived from his name), who was a leading proponent of realism. Occam disagreed with his teacher, and spent a good part of his life in Europe being criticised by various popes. He died somewhere around 1349, possibly from the plague.
The debate did not die with Occam, and a group of like-minded scholars began to gather in the Oxford college of Merton. Men like William Heytesbury, Richard Swineshead and John Dumbleton were leading thinkers of their day, although little of their work has survived. Heytesbury’s
Not much is known about Heytesbury, other than that he was bursar of Merton in 1338, and that he was old when he became Chancellor of Oxford University in 1371. These dates alone indicate that he lived a long and successful life.
John Clippesby and Thomas Suttone were members of Michaelhouse in the 1350s, and Ralph de Langelee was its Master. Thomas Kenyngham, one of Michaelhouse’s founding members, had ceased to be Master by 1354, and had probably resigned. The University’s Chancellor was a man named William Tynkell.
In 1354, records show that the Prior of the Dominicans was probably William de Morden, while other Dominicans at around that time include Henry de Kyrkeby, Robert de Bulmer and Thomas Ringstead. Ringstead was a professor of theology in 1349, and was Bishop of Bangor by 1357. He died in 1366, leaving his Cambridge convent ?20 and a couple of religious books.
The Warden of the Franciscans in 1354 was probably William Pechem, while John de Daventre is mentioned in a document dated to 1348.
The Prior of the Carmelites at the time was William de Lincolne. John Horneby became an important man in the Carmelite Order, and was a Regius professor of theology. The Carmelite Order arrived in Cambridge in the 1290s, where they built a church on Milne Street (probably near where King’s Chapel stands today). Humphrey de Lecton was the first Carmelite to earn a doctor’s degree in Cambridge. If he were buried in the town, it is likely to have been in a graveyard in the conventual church, although he was probably not honoured with as splendid a tomb as the one described here.
With the blessing of the King, Ralph de Norton was elected Prior of the Austin community at Barnwell in 1349, after his predecessor died of the plague. His election was contested five months later by a man called Simon of Seez, who had been granted the position by the Pope at Avignon. This led to some lively politicking on Ralph’s part, but that is another story. Ralph had two brother monks called John and Simon Lynne, while a man named William Walcote was also a Cambridge Austin canon in the 1350s. The canons ran a small hospital, the chapel of which was dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. This still stands, and is the pretty Norman building on the Newmarket Road.
Throughout the fourteenth century, records indicate that the small Benedictine convent of St Radegund’s had something of a reputation for licentious behaviour. One Mabel Martyn was Prioress in the 1320s and 1330s, while Eve Wasteneys is recorded as Prioress in 1359. The nuns were poor, and had lost a great deal in a devastating fire in 1313, but this does not excuse some of their behaviour. In 1373, 1389 and several times in the 1400s, the convent was visited by various officials, and the nuns were warned about their ‘extravagant and dissolute lifestyles’. According to the officials’ reports, nuns were allowed to leave the priory when they pleased, and men visited them at ‘inappropriate hours’. By 1496, only two nuns remained (one of whom was said to have been of ‘ill fame’), and Bishop Alcock of Ely expelled them and used the estates and buildings to found the College of St Mary the Virgin, St John the Evangelist and St Radegund the Virgin, which, almost since its inception, was known as Jesus College. So, although the nuns in this tale might appear flagrant in their intentions, this part of the story may not be as far-fetched as it may seem.
About the Author
Susanna Gregory is a pseudonym. Before she earned her Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge and became a research Fellow at one of the colleges, she was a police officer in Yorkshire. She has written a number of non- fiction books, including ones on castles, cathedrals, historic houses and world travel.
She and her husband live in a village near Cambridge.
