the devastation caused by the black death plague of the 1340s included the loss of nearly half of the english population; bishop bateman himself lost nearly 700 of his parish priests, and so his decision to found a college was probably centred on a need to rebuild the priesthood. the site that bateman chose was the original site of gonville hall, which had been founded three years earlier, but was financially struggling. bateman's clerical aim for the hall is reflected in the foundation of 1350, when he stated that the college's aim was "the promotion of divine worship and of canon and civil science and direction of the commonwealth and especially of our church and diocese of norwich." this led the college to be particularly strong in legal studies, a tradition that has continued over the centuries.