Editing St John's College, Cambridge (section)

==History==
[[File:Lady Margaret Beaufort.jpg|left|thumb|[[Lady Margaret Beaufort]] who founded the college]]
The site was originally occupied by the Hospital of St John the Evangelist, probably founded around 1200.<ref name="VictoriaV2">{{cite book|section=Hospitals: St John the Evangelist, Cambridge|title=A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely|volume=2|editor=Salzman, L.F.|publisher=Victoria County History|year=1948|pages=303–307|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol2/pp303-307}}</ref> The hospital infirmary was located where the east end of the current chapel now stands.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/architecturalhi02willgoog/page/n88|title=The architectural history of the University of Cambridge and of the colleges of Cambridge and Eton: Volume 4|year=1886|author1=Robert Willis |author2=John Willis Clark |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> By 1470 [[Thomas Rotherham]], Chancellor of the university, extended to the hospital the privileges of membership of the university.<ref name=VictoriaV2 /> This led to St John's House, as it was then known, being conferred the status of a college.<ref>{{cite book|title=Annals of Cambridge|volume=1|author=Cooper, Charles Henry|publisher=Warwick and Co|year=1842|pages=[https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg01coopuoft/page/254 254]|url=https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg01coopuoft}}</ref> By the early 16th century the hospital was dilapidated and suffering from a lack of funds. [[Lady Margaret Beaufort]], having endowed [[Christ's College, Cambridge|Christ's College]], sought to found a new college, and chose the hospital site at the suggestion of [[Saint John Fisher|John Fisher]], her chaplain and [[Bishop of Rochester]].<ref name=VictoriaV2 /> However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St John's in her will, and it was largely the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King [[Henry VIII of England]], the [[Pope Julius II|Pope]] through the intermediary [[Polydore Vergil]], and the [[Bishop of Ely]] to suppress the religious hospital (which by then held only a Master and three Augustinian brethren) and convert it to a college.

The college received its charter on 9 April 1511. Further complications arose in obtaining money from the estate of Lady Margaret to pay for the foundation, and it was not until 22 October 1512 that a [[codicil (will)|codicil]] was obtained in the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1512 the [[Court of Chancery]] allowed Lady Margaret's executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates. When the executors took over they found most of the old hospital buildings beyond repair, but they repaired the chapel and incorporated it into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, and an imposing gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury. The doors were to be closed each day at dusk, sealing the monastic community from the outside world.

Over the following five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the [[River Cam]] and now has twelve [[Quadrangle (architecture)|courts]], the most of any Oxford or Cambridge College. The first three courts are arranged in [[enfilade (architecture)|enfilade]].

The college has retained its relationship with [[Shrewsbury School]] since 1578 when the headmaster [[Thomas Ashton (schoolmaster)|Thomas Ashton]] assisted in drawing up ordinances to govern the school. Under these rulings, the [[List of mayors of Shrewsbury|borough bailiffs]] (mayors after 1638) had the power to appoint masters, with Ashton's old college, St John's, having an academic veto. Since then, the appointment of Johnian academics to the governing body, and the historic awards of 'closed' Shrewsbury Exhibitions, have continued. A former Master of St John's, [[Chris Dobson]], was an ''ex officio'' governor of the school from 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.shrewsbury.org.uk/page/governing-body-members-details|title=Governing Body Members' Details|date=20 December 2012|website=Shrewsbury School}}</ref> 
 
St John's College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students. The first women undergraduates arrived a year later.<ref>{{cite book|author1-link=Peter Linehan|last=Linehan|first=Peter|title=St John's College Cambridge: A History|pages=626–7|year=2011|publisher=The Boydell Press|location=Woodbridge|isbn=978-1843836087}}</ref>
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