Hugh de Balsham

Hugh de Balsham (d. 1286), English churchman, appears first as sub-prior of the monastery of Ely. On the death of William of Kilkenny[?] in 1256 the monks elected him bishop of Ely[?], to the annoyance of King Henry III of England who had handed over the temporalities of the see to John de Waleran[?]. The election was confirmed by the pope in 1257 and Hugh set to work to repair the harm done to the diocese by the intruder. In 1280 the bishop obtained a charter allowing him to replace the secular brethren residing in his hospital of St John at Cambridge by “studious scholars“; a second charter four years later entirely differentiated these scholars from the brethren of the hospital, and for them Hugh de Balsham founded and endowed the college of Peterhouse.