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.