Master's Old Book

The fire of 1521, which destroyed the Master’s Lodge and the Muniment Room, also consumed much of the evidence needed to reconstruct the earliest history of Clare College. Fortunately, one volume did survive and it is known as the ‘Master’s Old Book’. It provides a wonderful insight into life in Clare between c.1400-1600.  To celebrate the 700th anniversary of Clare College, the Master’s Old Book has been digitised and is now available to view in the Cambridge University Digital Library.

The volume has suffered some damage over the centuries and during conservation it was rebound, with the original binding being retained.

Written in Latin, the volume was kept by the Master to record information about the running of the College. The volume contains financial information, estate records, lists of Fellows and students, and details of benefactions.

The volume starts with a catalogue of books owned by the College, giving an insight into what was studied during this period. The first few leaves of the book are missing and it is likely that it was on these pages that books on theology and philosophy were recorded. The entries that do survive reveal books on medicine, logic, grammar, geometry, astronomy, and law. This is followed by an inventory of items, with a valuation, including books of Divine Offices and other religious texts, chapel ornaments, and household utensils.

Benefactors are crucial for the financial viability and, therefore, the survival of any College. A list of benefactors and their gifts was carefully recorded and it is interesting to see that many of these gifts were books.

The volume then proceeds through successive Masters, from William Wilflete (Master, 1446–1455) to Thomas Bailey (Master, 1557–1560), detailing events during each tenure. These include the election of Fellows and Scholars; the financial position of the College at the beginning and end of each Mastership; records of benefactions; and details of leases. While much of this information follows a similar pattern, certain entries are particularly striking. Among these are a record of the fire of 1521, accounts of building work carried out to the kitchen and Hall, and a donation of £95 made in 1535 towards the construction of the Chapel by Mr Spicer, Rector of Clopton, in return for the College saying masses for him four times a year.

The muniments of a College comprise documents, such as title deeds and charters, kept to provide evidence of ownership of land and of associated rights and privileges. Many of these documents were destroyed in the fire of 1521. Fortunately, summaries or transcripts of at least some of them have been made in a section towards the back of the book. Clare College was originally founded as University Hall by Richard de Badew, however after running short of money he surrendered his rights in University Hall to Lady Elizabeth de Burgh in 1338. She refounded the College providing its first Statutes and it became known as Clare Hall (changing its name to Clare College in the 19th century). One of the transcripts relates to the title of the rectory of Litlington which Lady Elizabeth granted to the College on the refoundation. Further endowments at Great Gransden and Duxford followed in 1346.

There are details of the ownership of rural land, sales of woodland, rents paid by farmers, and properties held within the town of Cambridge. There is also a record the gift of the Hospital of St John’s in Ely from Edward Leeds (Master, 1560-1571), the income from which maintained an additional ten scholars.

In most cases, had these individual documents survived, they would have borne the College seal, a hand-drawn illustration of which appears in the margin of one of the pages.

The digitisation of this archival treasure will be of significant scholarly interest for historians of the University, and brings the early administration of Clare College to life.