483, just before Edward
IV's death, we find that nearly L1,300 had been spent on the chapel,
about L1,100 given by the King, and L100 by Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop
of York, Lord Chancellor of England, formerly a Fellow of the College,
but it is not stated how the deficit was met. Richard III, on his
accession, resumed the work with great vigour. Between May and December,
1484, about L750 was spent, nearly all of which was provided by the
king.

It is stated that in the year 1506 sufficient progress had been made in
the building to admit of the performance of divine service, at which
Henry VII and his mother, Margaret Countess of Richmond, Foundress of
St. John's and Christ's Colleges, who were on a visit to Cambridge, were
present; and it is said that John Fisher, President of Queens' College,
Bishop of Rochester, took part as chief celebrant. Professor Willis, in
_The Architectural History of the University of Cambridge_, takes
exception to this statement. He is of opinion that, as the Screen and
Stall work was not finished until 1536, and as the old Chapel[4] did not
fall down until 1537 (in fact it was used on the eve of the day on
which it fell), it is unlikely that the new chapel was used for service
until that time. He further quotes Dr. Caius to strengthen this view.

Henry VII, who has been credited with an excessive tendency to
accumulate treasure, was, next to the Founder, much the largest
contributor. A short time before his death in 1509[5], moved perhaps to
emulate the liberal example of his pious mother, he gave L5,000 to the
college, with instructions to his executors to finish the building. May
we not also think that Richard Fox, Founder of Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, Bishop of Winchester from 1500 to 1528, who was Henry VII's
constant adviser, Privy Seal, and one of his executors, had something to
do with this mark of Henry's generosity and favour? This sum of L5,000
was probably all spent by the beginning of 1512, when the King's
executors made over to the Provost and scholars, in 1511-12, a second
sum of L5,000.

Thus in 1515, in the 7th year of King Henry VIII's reign, the stonework
of the chapel was completed; it had cost, in the present value of money,
about L160,000. The stone used in the construction is of different
kinds. The white magnesian limestone from Huddlestone in Yorkshire is
that which was chiefly used in the lifetime of the Founder. The lower
part of the walls was built of thi