Too many mixed ideas

Too many mixed ideas

The passage below is from The Library: A Fragile History by Andrew Pettegree.

1. England’s patchwork of early public libraries emerged later than in Germany or the Netherlands. 2. Here too the libraries were heavily influenced by local clergy, and especially charismatic local preachers. 3. A case in point, the fine library at Ipswich was established tentatively from the last years of the sixteenth century, though it only found a proper home in 1617. 4. The initiative for its foundation came from William Smarte, draper, member of parliament and local hero: Smarte was briefly imprisoned for having prevented the export of Suffolk bacon to the Earl of Leicester’s forces in the Low Countries, local patriotism trumping duty to country. 5. His bequest for a library also became snarled in legal issues and competing claims for the books and manuscripts, a contest won by the University of Cambridge. 6. So it was only with the arrival of Samuel Ward as town preacher that the library became reality. 7. Ipswich, the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey, who for over a decade was the influential first minister to King Henry VIII, was already in a highly privileged position with a distinguished grammar school. 8. The council minute ordering Ward and his colleagues to ‘make view in the hospital for some convenient rooms there for the placing of a library’ comes at the end of a discussion of scholarships for local boys to attend Cambridge under the terms of the contested Smarte bequest.

The passage above has so many mixed ideas that I can’t get the whole passage straight.

1. England’s early public libraries emerged later than in Germany or the Netherlands. (No problem.)
2. Local clergy leads the task of building public libraries. (No problem.)
3. The task of building Ipswich public library started in the late 16C but had proper place in 1617. (No problem.)
4. Local hero—his love for the home was too intense when its interest contradicts interest of his nation, he had been on his hometown’s side to his imprisonment—William Smarte’s donation triggered the beginning.

(I think this sentence is also No problem to me.)

Reading from here to the last sentence so many questions poured out inside of me.

1. His donation through a fervent contest finally went to the University of Cambridge.

(So the building of library lagged behind.)

Question: If Smarte’s donation went to Cambridge how did his donation also take place in the library of Ipswich?

1. So only with the arrival of Samuel Ward, the library building was on progress. (No problem.)

1. Ipswich, the birthplace of Cardinal and the influential first minister Wolsey, was in a highly privileged position with a distinguished grammar school.

Question 1: I don’t see how this sentence has anything to do with library building.

Question 2: Does a distinguished grammar school already in Ipswich so that it serves as a privilege to build a new library or does it had to be built in the future since Ipswich has its privilege to be the birthplace of Cardinal Wolsey?

1. The city council had a meeting to discuss of scholarships for local boys to attend Cambridge under the terms of the contested Smarte bequest, and after that the city council proclaimed a rule to give the right to Ward and his colleagues to make view (=prepare) rooms for a library in the hospital.

Question 1: I cannot figure out the specific meaning of ‘make view’. I tried every possible to find its meaning but failed. So I guessed the contextual meaning on my own.

Question 2: This sentence is the hardest one. Does my paraphrasing agrees with its original meaning?

Thanks in advance.