Robert de Eglesfield

There is no evidence that he took a degree or studied anywhere. To provide income he had been admitted to the rectory of Brough, Westmorland in July 1332 though he was not ordained a priest until February 1333 and did not permanently reside in his parish.

Robert was one of Queen Philippa's chaplains in 1340 and next year founded what became known as The Queen's College, Oxford, purchasing the site from his own funds and adding to that gift his manor of Renwick. Having taken on the headship, he is named as Provost in deeds dated January and September 1347, he is known to have lived there during half of 1348 but he seems to have died elsewhere on 31 May 1349. His remains were interred in the chapel as he requested, but interment may not have taken place until some years after his death. The Queen and King assisted in the establishment of a modest endowment.

Not forgetting the 'devastated state, poverty and lack of letters' of the men of Cumberland and Westmorland from which he came, he asked for preference to be given to them, expecting few candidates, and to his own kin.

• The Queen's College, by John Richard Magrath, Provost, Clarendon Press, 1921
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1889). "Eglesfield, Robert of" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 17. London: Smith, Elder & Co.