the manor of Denny in Cambridgeshire by Edward III, and there organised the foundation of a Franciscan nunnery in 1342; the order is known as the Poor Clares. The order was strengthened when the nearby community at Waterbeach was closed. Marie adapted part of the abbey as a home. The former choir of the church was pulled down and Marie built a more spacious choir, divided between herself and the nuns. The former nave was also divided and partly converted into her private accommodation. The south aisle of the church was pulled down and a two-storey building was made for her ladies-in-waiting and domestic staff. After Marie's death, this accommodation became the guest lodgings for the nunnery. Foundation of Pembroke College, Cambridge Edward III’s charter in 1347 gave Marie the authority to found a house of scholars in Cambridge, allowing them to study in the faculties of the university and also awarded them property in Cambridge for their habitation. The resulting college was known as the Hall of Valence-Mary, and is known today as Pembroke College, home to over 700 students and fellows. This makes it the oldest Cambridge College with an unbroken constitution from its foundation to survive on its original site. In 1355 and 1366, Marie acquired papal bulls to allow the college its own chapel, which was the first college chapel to be built in Cambridge. This chapel building still exists as the Old Library, immediately to the left of the college gatehouse. It should not be confused with the later classical chapel to the south by Sir Christopher Wren. The first statutes of the college gave preference to students born in France who had already studied elsewhere in England. The foundation of the college demonstrates Mary's piety as well as her interest in education. Mary favoured the Franciscan order of Christianity, so she required that at least one proctor always be a Franciscan friar. In addition, this kind of charitable bequest to house and support thirty scholars benefited her soul, according to the tenets of medieval Christianity. Marie arranged for the fellows of the college to be the counsellors and instructors of the nuns at Denny Abbey. Later life Marie had important ties with both the English and French kings. In 1326 Edward II exempted her from the royal order to arrest all French persons, and Edward III exempted her from the 1337 confiscation of the