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The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the world's third-oldest university in continuous operation.
History. The University of Cambridge is one of the world's oldest universities and leading academic centres, and a self-governed community of scholars. Established in 1209, the University is rich in history.
Year YearEvent EventYear 1209Event Groups of scholars congregate at ...Year 1284Event Peterhouse, the first College at ...Year 1347Event Mary, Countess of Pembroke, founds ...Year 1446Event Henry VI, founder of Eton and of ...Oct 5, 2024 · History. The start of the university is generally taken as 1209, when scholars from Oxford migrated to Cambridge to escape Oxford’s riots of “town and gown” (townspeople versus scholars).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Cambridge became an important trading centre during the Roman and Viking ages, and there is archaeological evidence of settlement in the area as early as the Bronze Age. The first town charters were granted in the 12th century, although modern city status was not officially conferred until 1951.
- Prehistoric Ages, Stone, Bronze and Iron
- The Roman Period C. A.D. 43–410
- Anglo-Saxon 'Cambridge'
- Anglo-Danish Cambridge
- From The Norman Conquest to 1850
The Phase of Diffuse Settlement
The few paleolithic finds in the Cambridge area are strays in natural deposits; the earliest occupationknown to us, in the long phase of diffused settlement which preceded the foundation in Flavian times ofthe Roman town, is indicated by a find of late Neolithic grooved ware (c. 1800 B.C.) in a pit beside theHills Road associated with flint flakes and ox bone. A well-known 'A' beaker burial at Barnwell andlesser finds from Chesterton and Cherry Hinton represent the dawn of the Bronze Age, whi...
Concentration of Settlement Begun
The evidence for a civil settlement of the Roman period on Castle Hill, in a 'four-sided enclosure ofsome 28 acres' (25 is perhaps more correct), has not been materially altered since 1922, (fn. 14) although thepresent work has provided the opportunity for a fuller statement (see Sectional Preface). The coin series,largely that of 168 coins recorded by John Bowtell, (fn. 15) begins with a few pre-Flavian issues, is fullest for the3rd and 4th centuries, and ends with Arcadius and Honorius. The...
The Pagan Period c. A.D. 450–650
When we lose sight of the 'Cambridge' area at the end of the 4th century it was extensively occupiedby Romanised Britons; when approximately datable material reappears, perhaps 50 years later, the occupants are 'Anglo-Saxon' invaders who have apparently replaced them. The material evidence is almostentirely the grave-goods of newcomers, in large and small cemeteries, but the survival of many of theearlier inhabitants, in a servile condition, is strongly suggested by the 'Romano-Saxon' form of...
The Early Christian Period
The latest dated objects in the group of cemeteries we are considering belong to the 7th century, whenChristianity was replacing Pagan beliefs. Late in that century, as Bede records, monks from Ely fetchedfrom the 'waste chester' ('Grantacaestir') a stone coffin, similar no doubt to those on Plate 1, for theburial of the foundress of their monastery, St. Etheldreda. In the 12th century the site of this Roman burialwas defined as 'Armeswerk', which is a known enclosure protected by a watercour...
The Viking Settlement c. A.D. 875–1066
The Chronicle records under the year 875 that the Danes wintered at Grantabrycge; three years later,by the treaty of Wedmore, it passed into the Danelaw. The army (here) which belonged to Grantabrycge is mentioned in the Chronicle under 921 when the Danes submitted to King Edward the Elder,and the Anglo-Danish town was burnt in the most formidable of the northern invasions (A.D. 1010), thatwhich placed Svein, followed after an interval by Cnut, on the throne of England. If a town is a good tr...
The Immediate Effect of the Norman Conquest: A.D. 1066–68
The latest of the gravestones referred to in the previous section are of mid 11th-century date; theybring us to the Norman Conquest. The full effect of the battle of Hastings in 1066 on the communityat Cambridge was felt in 1068; for after the surrender of York in that year King William came south,raising en route castles at Lincoln, Huntingdon and Cambridge as Orderic records. St. John Hope wrote aclassic paper half a century ago on the motte-and-bailey structure of our 'Castle Hill', which...
The Conquest to c. 1200
The heavy hand of Sheriff Picot appears in the Domesday account of the town in increased requirementsof services and greatly increased heriot demanded from the Lawmen, whose presence in Saxon times is aninteresting indication of the status of the town. Domesday shows Cambridge divided into ten wards andgives particulars of each, except for the 6th ward which seems to have been omitted accidentally. (fn. 37) Inaddition to the twenty-seven houses destroyed in the 1st ward to make room for the c...
c. 1200 To c. 1325
The 13th century is perhaps the most important in the history of Cambridge. In the early years theCharters of King John (1201 and 1207) (fn. 51)finally consolidated the position of the town as a corporation,and in 1215 there is a reference in the Close Rolls to the enclosing of the town which may well refer tothe beginnings of the actual ditch that Henry III improved in 1267 and which was certainly known as theKing's Ditch before that date. Among the 1267 improvements were the construction of...
c. 1325 to c. 1440
In the second quarter of the 14th century a number of colleges were founded at Cambridge, beginningwith Michael House (now absorbed into Trinity College) for which Hervey de Stanton, Chancellor ofthe Exchequer to Edward II, bought a large house, previously belonging to Roger de Buttetourte, opposite the junction of Milne Street and St. Michael's Lane in 1324. The premises were entered from FoulLane and the whole property was enlarged and consolidated by the acquisition of further land to the...
The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209. Cambridge is the fourth-oldest university in the world.
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But Cambridge’s history dates back centuries before the University was established in 1208. This series will explore the history of settlements on the site of Cambridge right through from as early as 360,000 BC until the modern day.
