THE JOCUND ADVENT
The medieval student began his academic career with an initiation
ceremony which varied in different countries and at different dates,
but which, so far as we know, always involved feasting and generally
implied considerable personal discomfort. The designation, "bejaunus"
or bajan, which signifies yellow-beak ("bec jaune"), seems to have
been given almost everywhere to the freshman, and the custom of
receiving the fledgeling into the academic society was, towards the
close of the Middle Ages, no mere tradition of student etiquette, but
an acknowledged and admitted academic rite. The tradition, which dates
from very early times, and which has so many parallels outside
University history, was so strong that the authorities seem to have
deemed it wisest to accept it and to be content with trying to limit
the expense and the "ragging" which it entailed.
We have no detailed knowledge of the initiation of the Parisian
student, but a statute made by the University in 1342 proves that the
two elements of bullying the new-comer and feasting at his expense
were both involved in it. It relates that quarrels frequently (p. 110)
arise through the custom of seizing the goods of simple scholars on
the occasion of their "bejaunia," and compelling them to expend on
feasting the money on which they intended to live. Insults, blows, and
other dangers are the general results of the system, and the
University orders that no one shall exact money or anything else from
bajans except the "socii" with whom they live, and they may take only
a free-will offering. Bajans are to reveal, under heavy penalties, the
names of any who molest them by word or blow, threatening them or
offering them insults. Offenders are to be handed over to the Provost
of Paris to be punished, but not "ad penam sanguinis."
A fifteenth-century code of statutes of the Cistercian College at
Paris (generally much less stern than one would expect in a house of
that severe Order) refers to the traditions that had grown up in the
College about the initiation of a bajan, and to the "insolentias et
enormitates multas" which accompanied their observance. The whole of
the ceremonies of initiation are therefore forbidden--"omnes
receptiones noviter venientium, quos voluntaria opinione Bejanos
nuncupare solent, cum suis consequentiis, necnon bajulationes,
fibrationes ... tam in capitulo, in dormitorio, in parvis scholis, in
jardinis, quam ubiubi, et tam de die quam de nocte." With these evil
customs is to go the very name of the Abbas Bejanorum, and all (p. 111)
"vasa, munimenta, et instrumenta" used for these ceremonies are to be
given up. New-comers in future are to be entrusted to the care of
discreet seniors, who will instruct them in the honourable customs of
the College, report their shortcomings in church, in walks, and in
games, supervise their expenditure, and prevent their being overcharged
"pro jocundo adventu" or in other ways. So strong was the tradition of
the "jocund advent" that it thus finds a place even in a reformer's
constitution, and we find references to it elsewhere in the statutes
of Parisian colleges. An undated early code, drawn up for the
Treasurer's College, orders the members to fulfil honestly their
jocund advent in accordance with the advice of their fellow students.
At Cornouaille, the new-comer is instructed to pay for his jocund
advent neither too meanly nor with burdensome extravagance, but in
accordance with his rank and his means. At the College of Dainville
the expense of the bajan-hood is limited to a quart of good wine
("ultra unum sextarium vini non mediocris suis sociis pro novo sub
ingressu seu bejanno non solvat"). At the College of Cambray, a bursar
is to pay twenty shillings for utensils, and to provide a pint of good
wine for the fellows then present in hall. Dr Rashdall quotes from the
Register of the Sorbonne an instance in which the Abbot of the Bajans
was fined eight shillings (to be expended in wine) because he had (p. 112)
not fulfilled his duties in regard to the cleansing of the bajans
by an aspersion of water on Innocents' Day. The bajans were not only
washed, but carried in procession upon asses.
The statutes of the universities of Southern France, and especially of
Avignon and Aix, give us some further information, and we possess a
record of the proceedings at Avignon of the Court of the Abbot of the
Bajans, referred to in the passage we have quoted from the regulations
of the Cistercian College at Paris. Similar prohibitions occur in
other College statutes.
At Avignon, the Confraternity of St Sebastian existed largely for the
purgation of bajans and the control of the abuses which had grown up
in connection with the jocund advent. One of its statutes, dated about
1450, orders that no novice, commonly called a bajan, shall be
admitted to the purgation of his sins or take the honourable name of
student until he has paid the sum of six _grossi_ as entrance money to
the Confraternity. There is also an annual subscription of three
_grossi_, and the payment of these sums is to be enforced by the
seizure of books, unless the defaulter can prove that he is unable to
pay his entrance fee or subscription, as the case may be. The Prior
and Councillors of the Fraternity have power to grant a dispensation
on the ground of poverty. After providing his feast, and taking an (p. 113)
oath, the bajan is to be admitted "jocose et benigne," is to lose his
base name, and after a year is to bear the honourable title of
student. Noblemen and beneficed clergy are to pay double. The bajan is
implored to comply with these regulations "corde hilarissimo," and his
"socii" are adjured to remember that they should not seek their own
things but the things of Christ, and should therefore not spend on
feasts anything over six _grossi_ paid by a bajan, but devote it to
the honour of God and St Sebastian. The Court of the Abbot of the
Bajans, at the College of Annecy, in the same University, throws a
little more light on the actual ceremony of purgation. The bajans are
summoned into the Abbot's Court, where each of them receives, _pro
forma_, a blow from a ferule. They all stand in the Court, with
uncovered heads and by themselves ("Mundus ab immundo venit
separandus"); under the penalty of two blows they are required to keep
silence ("quia vox funesta in judiciis audiri non debet.") The bajan
who has patiently and honestly served his time and is about to be
purged, is given, in parody of an Inception in the University, a
passage in the Institutes to expound, and his fellow-bajans, under
pain of two blows, have to dispute with him. If he obtains licence,
the two last-purged bajans bring water "pro lavatione et purgatione."
The other rules of the Abbot's Court deal with the duties to be (p. 114)
performed by the youngest freshman in Chapel (and at table if servants
are lacking), and order bajans to give place to seniors and not to go
near the fire in hall when seniors are present. No one, either senior
or freshman, is to apply the term "Domine" to a bajan, and no freshman
is to call a senior man a bajan. The Court met twice a week, and it
could impose penalties upon senior men as well as bajans, but corporal
punishment is threatened only against the "infectos et fetidissimos
bejannos."
At Aix, a fifteenth-century code of statutes orders every bajan to pay
fees to the University, and to give a feast to the Rector, the
Treasurer, and the Promotor. The Rector is to bring one scholar with
him, and the Promotor two, to help "ad purgandum bejaunum," and the
bajan is to invite a bedel and others. Dispensations on the ground of
poverty could be obtained from the Rector, and two or three freshmen
might make their purgation together, "cum infinitas est vitanda," even
an infinity of feasts is to be avoided. The Promotor gives the first
blow with a frying-pan, and the scholars who help in the purgation are
limited to two or three blows each, since an infinity of blows is also
to be avoided. The Rector may remit a portion of the penalty at the
request of noble or honourable ladies who happen to be present, (p. 115)
for it is useless to invite ladies if no remission is to be obtained.
If the bajan is proud or troublesome, the pleas of the ladies whom he
has invited will not avail; he must have his three blows from each of
his purgators, without any mercy. If a freshman failed to make his
purgation within a month, it was to take place "in studio sub libro
super anum"; the choice between a book and a frying-pan as a weapon of
castigation is characteristic of the solemn fooling of the jocund
advent. The seizure of goods and of books, mentioned in some of the
statutes we have quoted, is frequently forbidden. At Orleans the
statutes prohibit leading the bajan "ut ovis ad occisionem" to a
tavern to be forced to spend his money, and denounce the custom as
provocative of "ebrietates, turpiloquia, lascivias, pernoctationes"
and other evils. They also forbid the practice of compelling him to
celebrate the jocund advent by seizing books, one or more, or by
exacting anything from him. There are numerous other references in
French statutes, some of which denounce the _bejaunia_ as sufficiently
expensive to deter men from coming to the University, but details are
disappointingly few.
The initiation of the bajan attained its highest development in the
German universities, where we find the French conception of the bajan,
as afflicted with mortal sin and requiring purification, combined (p. 116)
with the characteristic German conception of him as a wild animal who
has to be tamed. His reformation was accomplished by the use of
planes, augers, saws, pincers and other instruments suitable for
removing horns, tusks and claws from a dangerous animal, and the
Deposition, or "modus deponendi cornua iis qui in numerum studiosorum
co-optari volunt," became a recognised University ceremony. The
statutes attempt to check it, _e.g._ at Vienna the bajan is not to be
oppressed with undue exactions or otherwise molested or insulted, and
at Leipsic the insults are not to take the form of blows, stones, or
water. At Prague, "those who lay down (deponent) their rustic manners
and ignorance are to be treated more mildly and moderately than in
recent years (1544), and their lips or other parts of their bodies are
not to be defiled with filth or putrid and impure substances which
produce sickness." But the Prague statute contemplates a Deposition
ceremony in which the freshman is assumed to be a goat with horns to
be removed. A black-letter handbook or manual for German students,
consisting of dialogues or conversational Latin (much on the principle
of tourists' conversational dictionaries), opens with a description of
the preparations for a Deposition. The book, which has been reprinted
in Zarncke's _Die Deutschen Universitäten im Mittelalter_, is (p. 117)
(from internal evidence) a picture of life at Heidelberg, but it is
written in general terms.
The new-comer seeks out a master that he may be entered on the roll of
the University and be absolved from his bajan-ship. "Are your parents
rich?" is one of the master's first questions, and he is told that
they are moderately prosperous mechanics who are prepared to do the
best for their son. The master takes him to the Rector to be admitted,
and then asks him, "Where do you intend to have your 'deposition' as a
bajan?" The boy leaves all arrangements in the master's hands,
reminding him of his poverty, and it is agreed to invite three
masters, two bachelors, and some friends of the master to the
ceremony. With a warning that he must not be afraid if strangers come
and insult him, for it is all part of the tradition of a bajan's
advent, the master goes to make arrangements for the feast. Two
youths, Camillus and Bartoldus, then arrive, and pretend to be greatly
disturbed by a foul smell, so strong that it almost drives them from
the room. Camillus prepares to go, but Bartoldus insists upon an
investigation of the cause. Camillus then sees a monster of terrible
aspect, with huge horns and teeth, a nose curved like the beak of an
owl, wild eyes and threatening lips. "Let us flee," he says, "lest it
attack us." Bartoldus then guesses that it is a bajan, a creature (p. 118)
which Camillus has never seen, but of whose ferocity he has heard. The
bold Bartoldus then addresses the bajan. "Domine Joannes," he says,
"whence do you come? Certainly you are a compatriot of mine, give me
your hand." Joannes stretches out his hand, but is met with the
indignant question, "Do you come to attack me with your nails? Why do
you sit down, wild ass? Do you not see that masters are present,
venerable men, in whose presence it becomes you to stand?" Joannes
stands, and is further insulted. His tormentors then affect to be
sorry for him and make touching references to his mother's feelings
("Quid, si mater sciret, quae unice eum amat?"), but relapse into
abuse (O beane, O asine, O foetide hirce, O olens capra, O bufo, O
cifra, O figura nihili, O tu omnino nihil). "What are we to do with
him?" says Camillus, and Bartoldus suggests the possibility of his
reformation and admission into their society. But they must have a
doctor. Camillus is famous and learned in the science of medicine, and
can remove his horns, file down his teeth, cure his blindness, and
shave his long and horrible beard. While he goes for the necessary
instruments, Bartoldus tells the victim to cheer up, for he is about
to be cured from every evil of mind and body, and to be admitted to
the privileges of the University. Camillus returns with ointment, (p. 119)
and they proceed to some horseplay which Joannes resists (Compesce
eius impetus et ut equum intractatum ipsum illum constringe). Tusks
and teeth having been removed, the victim is supposed to be dying, and
is made to confess to Bartoldus a list of crimes. His penance is to
entertain his masters "largissima coena," not forgetting the doctor
who has just healed him, and the confessor who has just heard his
confession, for they also must be entertained "pingui refectione." But
this confessor can only define the penance, he cannot give absolution,
a right which belongs to the masters. Joannes is then taken to his
master for the Deposition proper. Dr Rashdall describes the scene,
from a rare sixteenth-century tract, which contains an illustration of
a Deposition, and a defence of it by Luther, who justified his taking
part in one of these ceremonies by giving it a moral and symbolical
meaning. The bajan lies upon a table, undergoing the planing of his
tusks, "while a saw lies upon the ground, suggestive of the actual
de-horning of the beast. The work itself and later apologies for the
institution mention among the instruments of torture a comb and
scissors for cutting the victim's hair, an _auriscalpium_ for his
ears, a knife for cutting his nails; while the ceremony further
appears to include the adornment of the youth's chin with a beard by
means of burned cork or other pigment, and the administration, (p. 120)
internal or external, of salt and wine."
In the English universities we have no trace of the "jocund advent"
during the medieval period, but it is impossible to doubt that this
kind of horseplay existed at Oxford and Cambridge. The statutes of New
College refer to "that most vile and horrid sport of shaving beards";
it was "wont to be practised on the night preceding the Inception of a
Master of Arts," but the freshmen may have been the victims, as they
were in similar ceremonies at the Feast of Fools in France. Antony à
Wood, writing of his own undergraduate days in the middle of the
seventeenth century, tells that charcoal fires were made in the Hall
at Merton on Holy Days, from All Saints' Eve to Candlemas, and that
"at all these fires every night, which began to be made a little
after five of the clock, the senior undergraduates would bring
into the hall the juniors or freshmen between that time and six
of the clock, there make them sit downe on a forme in the middle
of the hall, joyning to the declaiming desk; which done, every
one in order was to speake some pretty apothegme, or make a jest
or bull, or speake some eloquent nonsense, to make the company
laugh. But if any of the freshmen came off dull, or not cleverly,
some of the forward or pragmatised seniors would "tuck" them,
that is, set the nail of their thumb to their chin, just (p. 121)
under the lower lipp, and by the help of their other fingers
under the chin, they would give him a mark, which sometimes would
produce blood."
On Shrove Tuesday, 1648, Merton freshmen entertained the other
undergraduates to a brass pot "full of cawdel." Wood, who was a
freshman, describes how
"every freshman according to seniority, was to pluck off his
gowne and band and if possible to make himself look like a
scoundrell. This done, they conducted each other to the high
table, and there made to stand on a forme placed thereon; from
whence they were to speak their speech with an audible voice to
the company; which if well done, the person that spoke it was to
have a cup of cawdle and no salted drink; if indifferently, some
cawdle and some salted drink; but if dull, nothing was given to
him but salted drink or salt put in college beere, with tucks to
boot. Afterwards when they were to be admitted into the
fraternity, the senior cook was to administer to them an oath
over an old shoe, part of which runs thus: 'Item tu jurabis quod
penniless bench (a seat at Carfax) non visitabis' &c. The rest is
forgotten, and none there are now remembers it. After which
spoken with gravity, the Freshman kist the shoe, put on his gown
and band and took his place among the seniors."
"This," says Wood, "was the way and custom that had been used in (p. 122)
the college, time out of mind, to initiate the freshmen; but between
that time and the restoration of K. Ch. 2 it was disused, and now such
a thing is absolutely forgotten." His whole description, and
especially the parody of the master's oath not to visit Stamford, goes
to show that he was right in attributing the ceremonies to remote
antiquity, and there are indications that the initiation of freshmen
was practised elsewhere in Oxford. Hearne speaks of similar customs at
Balliol and at Brasenose, and an eighteenth-century editor of Wood
asserts, that "striking traces" of the practice "may be found in many
societies in this place, and in some a very near resemblance of it has
been kept up till within these few years." Our quotation from Wood may
therefore serve to illustrate the treatment of the medieval freshman
at Oxford. We possess no details of the jocund advent at Cambridge,
but in the medieval Scottish universities, where the name of bajan
still survives, there were relics of it within recent times. At St
Andrews, a feast of raisins was the last survival of the bajan's
"standing treat," and attacks made by "Semis" (second year men) upon a
bajan class emerging from a lecture-room were an enlivening feature of
student life at Aberdeen up to the end of the nineteenth century. The
weapons in use were notebooks, and the belabouring of Aberdeen (p. 123)
bajans with these instruments may be historically connected with the
chastisement which we have found in some of the medieval initiation
ceremonies. It would be fanciful to connect the gown-tearing, which
was also a feature of these attacks, with the assaults upon the
Rector's robe at Bologna.