Things are old in Cambridge

Wow, what an insightful statement, I know.  But just when you start to get used to so much of Cambridge having medieval roots, something will make you realize yet again how staggeringly long a tradition this place has.  For me, Trinity Hall's age was brought home again at a recent dinner that the MCR (grad student) committee had in the Master's Lodge.

At this dinner, the water cups were silver tumblers that looked vaguely like buckets.  I made a comment to the Master's wife, who was sitting next to me, and she explained that they were replicas of one of the college's most prized possessions.  The Founder's Cup (see picture) was given to Bishop Bateman by the Pope in the 1340s, before the bishop founded Trinity Hall in 1350.  And we still have this cup!  It comes out once a year for the Bateman Feast, which is when the Fellows invite eminent people in their field to come to the college.

That such a thing physically exists from that long ago and is in any way connected to me blows my mind.  I admit, I've been to the Cluny museum in Paris and looked at lots of medieval art, but it helps to have a personal tie.  Here's a picture of the inside bottom of the cup.  See the coat of arms?  It's still the college symbol.  It's on the scarf I wear when it's chilly out, and the crescent is on the uniform for the rowers of the first boats.  And some medieval silversmith worked it into this cup while living in a world that (as far as he knew) was populated by invisible beings, a world that sat in the center of singing spheres of heavenly bodies.  Amazing.