th June following.

By her will she had set aside lands to the annual value of L400 for the
new College; but innumerable difficulties sprang up. King Henry VIII.
was not sympathetic; the Bishop of Ely raised difficulties; the Lady
Margaret's own household claimed part of her goods. Fisher has left a
quaintly worded and touching memorandum of the difficulties he
experienced, but he never despaired. He ultimately got the licence of
the King, the requisite Papal Bull, and the consent of the Bishop of
Ely. From a letter to Fisher, still preserved in the College, it appears
that the "Brethren, late of St. John's House, departed from Cambridge
toward Ely the 12th day of March (1510-11) at four of the clokke at
afternone, by water."

All facts which have been preserved show Fisher to have been the real
moving spirit--to have been the founder in effect, if not in name, and
the College from the first has always linked his name with that of the
foundress. Of the foundress' estates only one small farm, at Fordham, in
Cambridgeshire, came to the College, and that because it was charged
with the payment of her debts. What did come was part of what would now
be called her personal estate--moneys she had out on loan, and what
could be realised from the sale of her plate and jewels, the furniture
and hangings of her various mansions. Rough priced-lists of these,
probably handed over by Fisher, are preserved in College.

One personal relic, a manuscript Book of Hours, which belonged to her,
was in 1902 presented to the Library by Dr. Alexander Peckover,
Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST CENTURY

1511-1612

The Hospital being closed, the way was cleared for the new College. The
Charter, signed by the Executors of the Lady Margaret, is dated 9th
April 1511; in this Robert Shorton is named as Master. He held office
until on 29th July 1516 the College was opened, when Alan Percy, of the
Northumberland House, succeeded. He again was succeeded in 1518 by
Nicholas Metcalfe, a member of the Metcalfe family of Nappa Hall, in
Wensleydale. Metcalfe had been Archdeacon of Rochester, and was no doubt
well known to Fisher as Bishop of that Diocese.

The building of the College commenced under Shorton, but was not
finished until about 1520.

It must be remembered that the College was founded before the
Reformation, and that these three M