1546 Trinity College founded

In an Act of Parliament of 1544, the King was empowered to dissolve any College in Oxford or Cambridge. The universities appealed to Queen Catherine Parr to persuade her husband Henry VIII not to use these powers. The effect seems to have been royal support in the form of a new foundation at Cambridge to rival Christ Church in Oxford.

King's Hall and Michaelhouse were supressed and their buildings and resources were combined, together with a few other academic hostels, to form the new Trinity College. It was endowed with the King's personal wealth, numerous ex-monastic endowments, and the buildings and site of Cambridge's Franciscan friary.

Provision was made for a master, always to be appointed by the Crown, 50 graduate fellows, 10 undergraduate scholars, 40 grammar scholars, and 8 bible clerks.

It is thought that the King had great plans for the architecture of his new college, but as he died only a few weeks after its formal inauguration, these plans were never realised, and the College grew physically in piecemeal fashion.

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