Peterhouse is the oldest of the constituent colleges in the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, on its current site close to the centre of the City. As a charitable institution, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, religion, learning and research, Peterhouse has made its own distinctive contribution to society for over 700 years.It is one of the smaller Colleges, housing an intellectual community of some 45 Fellows, 260 undergraduates and 110 graduate students. Peterhouse is the oldest of the Cambridge colleges, founded by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely in 1284 and granted its charter by King Edward I. The College is a Registered Charity, no. 1137457. As a charitable institution dedicated to education and research, the College has made its own distinctive contribution to society for over 700 years, surviving the Reformation, Civil War and the upheavals of every century since. It remains the smallest college in terms of number of Fellows and students, but as the late Noel Annan put it in his 1999 survey of the universities and society, The Dons, this small College has always had "an intellectual influence … out of all proportion to [its] size".