The King's Hall Within the University of Cambridge in the Later Middle Ages

Book excerpt: A detailed study of the King's Hall, Cambridge, from its foundation in the early fourteenth century until its dissolution in 1546. It is based largely on the 26 extant volumes of the King's Hall accounts which form one of the most remarkable sequences of medieval collegiate records in Europe. The rich profusion of the material has made it possible to reconstruct the economic, constitutional and business organisation of a medieval academic society, thereby providing for the college that same kind of exhaustive treatment which has been lavished upon other categories of medieval institutions. Dr Cobban discusses the vital contribution made by the King's Hall to the evolution of the University of Cambridge and shows how the interpretation of medieval Cambridge history has to be considerably modified. He demonstrates the important formative influence of the King's Hall in shaping the course of English collegiate development and the ways in which this College was finely attuned to the new educational trends of the age.