2 - The libraries of Michaelhouse and the King's Hall

Summary

The ancient colleges of Michaelhouse and the King's Hall each had a library at the time of their amalgamation and refoundation as Trinity College in 1546. All that we know about the Michaelhouse collection is that the College was given three divinity books and two law books by the Founder in 1327; many books by William de Gotham, Master in 1387; works of Augustine and Hugh of St Victor by John Ottringham, Master, by 1454; 200 books by John Yotton, Master in 1492–3; seven books by four donors in the early sixteenth century; and six printed divinity books by William Filey DD, perhaps c.1525, of which three are still in Trinity College Library. At the time of its dissolution, moreover, Michaelhouse commemorated about 150 other benefactors, some of whom, perhaps, had also given books to the College. All this – and especially John Yotton's enormous donation – suggests that Michaelhouse had a large library by the 1520s; and it is likely, in view of the clerical character of the society, that it was a collection chiefly of divinity books.

Where Michaelhouse kept its books, however, we do not know. We have no Michaelhouse buildings records, and the buildings themselves were all pulled down long ago. All that is left are Trinity's sixteenthcentury demolition and building accounts, and three perspective views of Cambridge made in the later sixteenth century when about half of the old Michaelhouse buildings were still standing, but none of these documents so much as hint at where the Library was located.