Trinity College Dublin

Founded in 1592 by royal charter of Elizabeth I, on the site of the Priory of All Hallows that Henry VIII had demolished, and christened by Provost Adam Loftus after Trinity College, Cambridge. It was established to consolidate Tudor rule in Ireland, and for over two centuries it was the Protestant university of the Ascendancy, an association with social elitism that stuck to it for most of its history. It is Ireland’s oldest university and one of the seven ancient universities of Great Britain and Ireland, with three faculties and twenty-five schools.