'Grace books' were the volumes in which scribes recorded decisions of the administration of the University of Cambridge during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Many of the 'graces' concern the conferral of degrees on individuals, but others refer to more general University business including appointment of teachers and preachers, leaves of absence, inventories and financial records, and the resolution of disputes. The manuscript of Grace Book D covers the years from 1542 to 1589 in its first 160 pages, which are transcribed here. This edition was first published in 1910, with an introduction by John Venn, who points out that during the later sixteenth century many constitutional elements of the university took shape which persisted until the Victorian reforms. The documents in this volume constitute a valuable resource for those researching British history and institutions in the later Tudor period.
