Editing King's College, Cambridge (section)

=== Henry VI, Henry VII and Henry VIII ===
The original plans for Old Court were too small comfortably to accommodate the larger college community of the second foundation, and so in 1443 Henry VI began to purchase the land upon which the modern college now stands. The gateway and south range of Old Court had already been built, but the rest was completed in a temporary fashion to serve until the new court was ready. The new college site was itself left unfinished and the "temporary" Old Court buildings, arranged to accommodate 70, served as the permanent residential fabric of the college until the beginning of the 19th century.{{sfn|Fay|1907|pp=8–9}}{{sfn|Austen-Leigh|1899|p=6}} Henry's grand design for the new college buildings survives in the 1448 ''Founder's Will'', which describes his vision in detail. The new college site was to be centred on a great courtyard, bordered on all sides by adjoining buildings: a chapel to the north; accommodation and the entrance gate to the east; further accommodation and the provost's lodge to the south; and a library, hall and buttery to the west. Behind the hall and buttery was to be another courtyard, and behind the library a cloistered cemetery including a magnificent bell tower.

[[File:20130808 Kings College Chapel 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|left|The College Chapel, as first planned by Henry VI. The building line between light and dark stone can be seen on the chapel's side.]]
The first stone of the chapel was laid by the King on St James's Day, 25 July 1446. The King encouraged support for the college. In 1448, John Conches, former prior of [[Wootton Wawen]] gave the priory's lands to ''"John Chedworth provost of the king's college of St. Mary and St. Nicholas Cantebrigge and the scholars thereof, and to their successors."''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flower |first1=C T |title=Close Rolls, Henry VI: May 1448 Pages 63-66 Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry VI: Volume 5, 1447-1454. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1947. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-close-rolls/hen6/vol5/pp63-66 |website=British History Online |access-date=8 August 2020}}</ref> Within a decade Henry's engagement in the [[Wars of the Roses]] meant that funds began to dry up. By the time of Henry's deposition in 1461, the chapel walls had been raised 60&nbsp;ft high at the east end but only 8&nbsp;ft at the west; a building line which can still be seen today as the boundary between the lighter stone below and the darker above. Work proceeded sporadically until a generation later in 1508 when the Founder's nephew [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]] was prevailed upon to finish the shell of the building. The interior had to wait a further generation until completion by 1544 with the aid of [[Henry VIII]]. The chapel was the only part of Henry VI's ''Founder's Will'' to be realised.

[[File:King's College Chapel - stonework detail - Cambridge - UK - 2007.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Royal arms of England|Coat of arms of King Henry VII]], interior stonework of the chapel's west end]]
It has been speculated that the choice of the college as a beneficiary by the two later Henrys was a political one, with Henry VII in particular concerned to legitimate a new, post-civil war Tudor regime by demonstrating patronage of what was by definition the King's College. Later building work on the chapel is marked by an uninhibited branding with the Tudor rose and other symbols of the new establishment, quite against the precise instructions of the ''Founder's Will''.

[[File:King's College - Gibbs' Building.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|The Gibbs' Building]]