Note 100 — Chapter II · THE COLLEGES

Balsham (a village 9-1/2 miles S.E. of Cambridge) was one of the 10 manorhouses, palaces, and castles of the bishops of Ely in the xiv c. Montacute resided here in 1341. In 1401 a controversy regarding archidiaconal jurisdiction in the university was held here: a similar dispute occurred in Balsham’s time (p. 28). On the alienation of this manor from the see of Ely it was purchased by the founder of the Charterhouse, and now forms part of the endowment of that college. There is a mention of Hugh de Balsham (Hugo de Belesale) in Matthew Paris.