Editing Trinity College, Cambridge (section)

===Foundation===
The college was founded by [[Henry VIII]] in 1546, from the merger of two existing colleges: [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]] (founded by [[Hervey de Stanton]] in 1324), and [[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] (established by [[Edward II]] in 1317 and refounded by [[Edward III]] in 1337). At the time, Henry had been seizing (Catholic) church lands from abbeys and monasteries. The universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], being both religious institutions and quite rich, expected to be next in line. The King duly passed an [[Act of Parliament]] that allowed him to suppress (and confiscate the property of) any college he wished. The universities used their contacts to plead with his sixth wife, [[Catherine Parr]]. The Queen persuaded her husband not to close them down, but to create a new college. The king did not want to use royal funds, so he instead combined two colleges ([[King's Hall, Cambridge|King's Hall]] and [[Michaelhouse, Cambridge|Michaelhouse]]) and seven hostels to form Trinity.