The Cambridge College of Saint John the Evangelist - a brief history

• Robert Shorton was appointed the first master, the bishop of Ely nominated the first three fellows: James Spooner, John West and Thomas Barker; the college was intended to eventually accommodate 50 fellows and scholars.

• The chapel was first to be built, and the rest of the building (consisting mainly the first court today) was to ajoin upon it. The original building cost amouted to some 5 thousand pounds, and Robert Shorton was instrumental in managing and improving the college revenue in those early years. The college was promised 400 pounds per annum and upward from the revenues left by the foundress, but that was never fulfilled. King Henry VIII, heir as law to the foundress' estate, did his best to limit the college income. The original foundation mainly consisted of the lands of the old hospital, the lands of the hospital at Ospring in Kent acquired through Bishop Fisher, and the foundress' estate at Fordham.

• When Alan Percy was elected and ordained as the Master in 1516, the number of fellows has risen to 31 though very few scholars were maintained. For maintenance, every fellow was allowed only 12 pence per week and a scholar 7. The revenue of the college then was around 200 pounds per annum.

• With endowments from Bishop Fisher (worth around 2000 pounds) and some lands acquired during the dissolution of monasteries, the college revenue continues to grow, reaching 600 pounds per annum by 1545. The number of scholars rose to over 20, whilst the number of fellows remained around 30.

• The Act of Parliament for the dissolution of Colleges (1545) was in the pattern of the dissolution of the monasteries and was aimed at colleges, chantries, hospitals and guilds. However, the University managed to persuade King Henry VIII to appoint as commissioners the Vice-Chancellor, Matthew Parker, and two chaplains of the University, with no townsmen. They ensured the King left the Colleges untouched, essentially by a piece of creative accountancy showing they were all poor. In 1561 Sir William Cecil (later Lord Burleigh), Secretary of State and Chancellor of the University, secured a new charter for the University which confirmed and increased the University's privileges. It now had total control over trading standards and licencing and exemption from all taxes, except for 10 pounds per year paid to the Exchequer. It was exempt from military service and from various other State requisitions.

• The second court was begun under the 17th Master Richard Clayton. For the sum of 3400 pounds, Wigge and Symon obliged themselves to erect a court in the same style, to be finished in 1602. In the event, the north side was finished first in 1599 (as can be seen from the gutter today) probably because it was designed for accommodating the master, and the rest was more or less done in 1602. The builders were ruined by the contract, and Mr Wigge ended up in prison. The countess of Shrewsbury (whose statue stands above the west gate) was to pay for the building, but her misfortunes limited her contribution to about 2760 pounds and the rest was met by the college.

• A new library was probably intended as early as 1616, but the funds were wanting. An unexpected letter from Dr Carey bishop of Exeter in April 1623 indicated that an unknown person (later revealed as bishop William) had promised 1200 pounds (later increased to 1450) towards a library. The Bishop William library was finished by Michaelmas 1624.

• The college was frequently visited by royalties, often on their way to New Market for races. Records show that James I visited on a number of occasions, and stayed in the Gallery of Second Court (then the Master's Lodge, now the Senior Combination Room). It was in that very room in December 1624 he arranged the marriage of his son (later Charles I) to Henrietta Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France. Though she never visited the college, an oval portrait of Henrietta on glass adorns the central oriel of that Room. James died the following March, the marriage took place in May and the seeds of the English Civil War (1642-48) were thus sown.

• Strongly Royalist during the Civil Wars, St John's sent money and silver to the King in support of his unsuccessful campaign, and were to suffer greatly under Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary occupation of Cambridge. In 1643, the college was surrounded, broken into and pludered by Cromwell's soldiers who then used it as a prison. Dr William Beale, the 19th Master and arguably one of the best, was arrested, paraded in London and imprisoned in the Tower. He eventually made his escape to Spain, where he died of illness.

• Following an ordinance of parliamnet for reforming and regulating the University, Edward earl of Manchester came to St John's and without a statutory election, appointed the new master Mr John Arrowsmith. An oath of allegiance was sought from all fellows, and several were ejected for not complying.