1428 Buckingham College founded

Abbott Litlyngton of the Benedictine monastry at Crowland had made representations to Henry VI, pointing out the undesirable situation that monks set to Cambridge to study canon law and theology had to live alongside secular students.

As a result, in 1428, he rececied Letters Patent from the King allowing him to establish a hostel for his monks. The original hostel was in two houses, both on the present site of Magdelene College. This hostel was the only one of its kind in Cambridge, though at Oxford the Benedictines had three colleges.

Litlyngtons successor, John de Wisbech, extended the hostel, on condition that other Benedictine houses should also be allowed to build rooms for their monks. And indeed, at later dates, monks from the monastries of Ely, Ramsey, and Walden built portions of the College.

In a deed dated 1472, the College was referred to as "the hostel called the Monks' Place", though by 1483 it was known as Buckingham College through association with the Dukes of Buckingham, who were reputed to have been benefactors of Crowland.

Buckingham College later became Magdelene College.

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