558 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
rector1 occurs in a bull of Alexander IV., 1259, but the office, no doubt, existed long before. He was chosen by the proctors or presidents of the four nations. The rector had to be a master of arts and might be a layman, but must be a celibate. He performed on great occasions, and wore a striking costume. He was responsible to the body whose agent he was. The Paris rector was addressed as "your amplitude," vestra amplitude.
At Paris there was also a chancellor, and he was the older officer. He stood at the head of the chapter of Notre Dame and was called interchangeably chancellor of the cathedral and chancellor of Paris. To him belonged the prerogative of giving the license to teach and confer degrees. His authority was recognized, time and again, by the popes, and also restricted by papal decree, so that what he lost the rector gained.2 In Bologna, by the decree of Honorius III., 1219, the archdeacon of the diocese conferred the degrees.3
Degrees. — By 1264, at latest, each faculty at Paris had its own dean 4 and exercised the right to grant the license to teach in its own department. Such license, — jus docendi, or legendi, — when conferred by Bologna or Paris, carried with it the right to teach everywhere, — jus ubique docendi. Gregory IX., 1233, and other popes conferred the same pre rogative upon the masters of Toulouse and other universities but it seems doubtful whether their degrees were respected. Even a degree from Oxford did not carry the right of lec turing at Paris without a reexamination. When Alexander IV. granted to the masters of Salamanca the right of teaching everywhere, Bologna and Paris were expressly excepted.5
The question of mediaeval degrees offers much difficulty. There seem to have been three stages: bachelor, or baccalaureus, licentiate, and doctor or master. They corresponded to the three grades in the guilds: apprentice, assistant, and master. The bachelors were received after examination and did subordinate lecturing. The degree was not merely
1 JRector univ. magistrorum et scolarium, Chart., I. pp. xxiii, 379.
2 Chart., I. p. xix. * chart., I. pp. xi, 441.
3 Chart., I. 90 sqq. 6 Rashdall, I. 16.
§ 90. THE UNIVERSITIES. 559
a testimonial of work done, but a certificate entitling the holder to ply the trade of reading or teaching. The titles, master, magister, doctor, dominus, and professor, scholasticus, were synonymous. " Doctor " was the usual title at Bo logna, and "master" at Paris, but gradually u doctor" came to be used chiefly of the graduates in canon law at Paris, and " master " of graduates in theology.1 In his charter of 1224, Frederick spoke of the " doctors and masters in each faculty," no doubt using the words as synonyms. The test for the degrees was called the "determination," determinancy the main part of which was the presentation of a thesis and its defence against all comers.
Eight years was fixed by Robert de Courgon, 1215, as the period of preparation for the theological doctorate, but in the beginning of the fourteenth century it was extended to fourteen years. In the department of jurisprudence a course of eight years, — in medicine a course of six years, — was required.
Teachers and Studies. — The teaching was done at first in convents and in private quarters. In 1253 there were twelve professors of theology in Paris, nine of them teaching in convents and belonging to the orders. University build ings were of slow growth, and the phenomenon presented by such great universities as Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and the University of Chicago, starting out fully equipped with large endowments and buildings, was unknown in the Middle Ages. Professors and students had to make their own way and at first no provision was made by king or municipality for salaries. The professor lived by lecture fees and the gifts of rich students. Later, endowments were provided, and cities provided funds for the payment of salaries.2 Col-
1 By the fifteenth century the title "doctor" had come to be the usual one for theologians in Germany, as Dr. Luther, Dr. Eck. Kashdall, I. 22. It was also applied to all the superior faculties. The title "master" was gradually restricted to the faculty of arts, and has gone out of use in Germany.
2 By the fourteenth century most of the professors in Bologna were paid by the municipality. Savigny, quoted by Compayre. p. 283.