The University of Cambridge (or simply Cambridge) is the second oldest university in the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world, and the seventh oldest in the world. The university was founded in 1209 by a group of students and teachers from Oxford, who had to leave the city due to conflict with the locals. The two oldest universities in England have much in common, but in many ways the history of these educational institutions is the story of their centuries-long rivalry. The status of university was confirmed in 1231 by a decree of King Henry III, and papal bulls of 1233, 1290 and 1318 secured Cambridge's right to "teach throughout the whole Christian world" and made it an international centre of education.
Not a single college of those early founding colleges survives, and the the oldest one in existence, Peterhouse, was founded in 1284 by Archbishop Hugh Balsham. From the 13th to the 16th centuries, 16 more colleges were founded, followed by a hiatus of more than 200 years, when no new colleges were founded. In the 19th century, 6 of them appeared, and in the 20th, 9 more.
At the time of the Reformation, a decree of King Henry VIII abolished Cambridge's the Faculty of Ecclesiastical Law and the teaching of scholasticism was discontinued. This had significant influence on the further development of the university - as early as 1520 the spirit of the Lutheranism and Protestantism was present in academic disputations and lectures. And a century later, when many begin to see in the Anglican Church more and more similarities with Catholicism, it was Cambridge that became the birthplace of such a movement as Puritanism.
Like many universities, Cambridge did not begin to educate women until the mid-19th century. Several colleges for women were opened, and in the second half of the 20th century all men's colleges gradually switched to mixed education, but Cambridge now remains the only university in the United Kingdom to maintain colleges admitting only women undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The university consists of 31 colleges, which mainly provide academic academic activities of the students. The university conducts lectures, awards degrees, it owns research centres, laboratories, the Central Library, where much of the books are freely available, which distinguishes it from the British or Bodleian libraries. At the same time, each college has its own library which mainly caters to the needs of the students. Trinity College library has over 200,000 books printed before the 1800, and Corpus Christi College boasts the richest collection of medieval manuscripts (over 600). In total, the university has more than 100 libraries. The colleges provide a unique system of teaching known as 'supervision' (in Oxford this system is called "tutoring"). Some colleges specialise in particular areas of science, but most provide a universal education. The university is headed by the Chancellor - until the summer of 2011, this honorary position was held by the Duke of Edinburgh himself. Practically all administration is handled by the Vice-Chancellor.
There are many student societies at the university and, traditionally, there's a lot of emphasis on sport - cricket, rugby and, of course, the famous the famous figure-eight races.
