Gresham College with Valerie Shrimplin

by | Nov 14, 2022 | Blog, Podcast Episodes | 0 comments

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Thomas Gresham is remembered as a Royal Agent to the King in England under Edward VI, Henry VIII, Mary, and Elizabeth I. A hugely influential man of his time, Thomas Gresham’s legacy continues today at Gresham College, the university he founded in 1597 when William Shakespeare was 33 years old. Competing with the likes of Oxford and Cambridge at the time, Gresham College was unique not only because universities themselves were a new concept in England, but because Gresham College chose to teach students in English, whereas Latin was the accepted language of universities during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Here to share with us how Gresham College was founded, and what the first classes were like there, is our guest and professor at Gresham College, Valerie Shrimplin.

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Dr Valerie Shrimplin is an Art Historian, Researcher and Author. Valerie holds a PhD in ‘Sun Symbolism and Cosmology in Michelangelo’s ‘Last Judgment’. Consequently, she writes a number of academic publications focusing on the influence of astronomy, cosmology, and architecture. She writes of the Byzantine, medieval and Renaissance periods. Connect with Valerie here.

I’ll be asking Valerie Shrimplin about:

  • Why did Thomas Gresham want to start this college?
  • How was Gresham College different from other colleges or universities at the time?
  • Who were the first professors at the college?
  • …and more!

Resources You Can Use to Learn More:

Valerie Shrimplin, Sir Thomas Gresham and his Vision for Gresham College (2017) 111 pages with many illustrations

Richard Chartres and David Vermont (1998), A Brief History of Gresham College 1597-1997, Edmundsbury Press

John Guy, Gresham’s Law: The Life and World of Queen Elizabeth I’s Banker   2019, 320 pages

Ames-Lewis, Francis (Ed.) (1999), Sir Thomas Gresham and Gresham College, London: Ashgate.

Blanchard, Ian, Thomas Gresham, entry in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101011505/Thomas-Gresham

Burgon, John William (First ed Cheapside 1839; reprint). The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, Founder of the Royal Exchange. Including Notices of Many of His Contemporaries, Volumes 1 and 2, New York: Burt Franklin.

Ward, John. The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College: To Which Is Prefixed the Life of the Founder, Sir Thomas Gresham. Milton Keynes: Ecco Print Edition

Frontage of Barnard’s Inn Buildings. The remains of the Inn lie down the entrance at the right | Photo by Airdrake, 24 February 2007 | This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. | Source
Engraving of Gresham College in the City of London, looking east at the front onto Old Broad Street | Public Domain | Source
Unsigned portrait in oils dated 1544 of Sir Thomas Gresham, in the collection of the Mercers’ Company of the City of London. 1544 portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham, aged 26 as inscribed, displaying his merchant’s mark (left). Apparently commemorating his 1544 marriage to Anne Ferneley, with the couple’s initials “AG” and “TG” framing the marriage vows Love Serve and Obei (right). The human skull denotes Vanitas. Flemish school, collection of the Mercers’ Company, City of London | Source
John Bull was the first Gresham Professor of Music and an important composer and virtuoso performer. He was previously organist at the Chapel Royal, and was appointed at the direct request of Elizabeth I. Source

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