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ERASMUS AT CAMBRIDGE IN 1506 591
known. The greater part of his time in England on the occasion of
his second visit seems to have been spent in London. He can be
traced there by his letters throughout January 1506 and perhaps
before then. On I April he is chafing at the continued absence of
his patron, Lord Mountjoy, on the King’s business, which obliged
him to live in the capital at his own expense; and his expression
seems to imply that he had not yet left it. But a manuscript* at
Queens’ College, Cambridge, records his presence there with the
following entry, ‘1505. Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus fuit pen¬
sionarius 21° Henrici sept.’; which implies that he must have been
in Cambridge between 22 Aug. 1505 and 12 Apr. 1506, the date of
Easter. That he should have arrived just in the interval between
2 April, the last date when he is found in London, and Easter is not
improbable.
Cambridge was then expecting a visit from the King, who was to
pass through on his way to Walsingham. In the previous year the
Lady Margaret Tudor, the King’s mother, had founded a new College,
Christ’s, to be the home of the New Learning in the University. By
the spring of 1506 the College was already at work in the old
grammar-school known as God’s House, which served as its nucleus
and round which new buildings were being added. At such a time
the King’s coming might well be expected with interest.
The Lady Margaret’s chief adviser in the foundation of her new
College was Bishop Fisher, who at the time was Chancellor of the
University and President of Queens’ College. The statutes drawn
up by him for Christ’s show a markedly humanistic bias, and among
the new subjects to be lectured on are included the classical poets
and orators. In this Mullinger? traces with great probability the
influence of Erasmus; and since Dr. Caius (1510-1573) states ® ex¬
pressly that Erasmus was in Cambridge at Henry vir's coming in
1506, it may be presumed that in preparation for the King’s visit,
which took place on April 22 and following days, Fisher brought
him down, perhaps with other scholars‘, and lodged him in Queens’.
Erasmus seems to have contemplated remaining at Cambridge ; for
before Easter he applied to the University for admission to the Doctor's
Degree, being evidently already Bachelor in Theology’. This appears
from an entry in the University Grace-book®; ‘1505. Conceditur
Des. Erasmo vt vnicum vel si exigantur duo responsa vna cum
duobus sermonibus ad Clerum sermoneque examinatorio et lectura
publica in Epistolam ad Romanos vel quaeuis alia sufficiant sibi ad
incipiendum in Theologia, sic quod prius admittatur Baccalaureus in
eadem et intret libros Sententiarum Bedellisque satisfaciat.
The fact that Erasmus did not proceed with this Degree probably
indicates that his residence in Cambridge was cut short; and the
cause may be found in the opportunity offered, perhaps on this
occasion, by a member of the royal household, which enabled him to
carry out his long-cherished dream of visiting Italy. On arriving
1 Walker MS. f°. 135; quoted by 3 Hist. Cant. Acad. (1574), p. 127.
W. G. Searle, Hist. of Queens’ College, * Cf. Ep. 228. 13 n.
p.135 (Cambridge Antiq. Soc. ix. 1867). 5 Cf. Ep. 64 introd.
2 Hist. of Cambridge Univ., i. 453- CAT,