or gladiators in charge of a trainer do not fight so many times
for a prize as these do under their teacher of philosophy. The
populace, not self-restrained and serious, but fickle, barbarous,
pugnacious, is wonderfully tickled with all this as with a mock
battle. So there are very many exceedingly ignorant men, utterly
without knowledge of literature in any form, who take more
pleasure in this form of show than in all else; and the more
easily to win the fight, they employ a quick and prompt mode of
fighting and deliver a blow every second, as it were, in order
the more speedily to use up their foe. They neither assail their
adversary with uninterrupted argument nor can they endure
prolonged talk from him. If by way of explaining himself he
should begin to enlarge, they raise the cry: "To the point! To
the point! Answer categorically!" Showing how restless and
flippant _their_ minds are who cannot stand a few words....
To such a degree did they go that instead of a settlement based
on the strongest arguments, such as drove them into their
absurdities, they considered it sufficient to say: "I admit it,
for it follows from my own conclusion," and the next step is: "I
deny it. Prove it. I will defend it appropriately." For he who
"defends appropriately" (in their own words), no matter by what
incongruous admissions and concessions, is held to be a learned
man and best adapted to disputation, that is, to the apex of all
knowledge.
(c) _The Examination_
The examination, as an exercise leading to a degree, is one phase of
modern educational practice which comes from mediaeval universities. The
system of examinations grew up slowly. Generalization is difficult owing
to the differences in practice in various universities, but broadly
speaking the student who took a Master's or Doctor's degree in any
Faculty passed through the three stages of Bachelor, Licentiate, and
Doctor, and at each stage underwent some form of examination. The
examination for the License (to teach anywhere) seems to have been the
most formidable of the three; that for the Doctorate being mainly
ceremonial. In general, the examination tested the candidate's knowledge
of the books prescribed, and his power of public debate.
The statutes of Bourges (c. 1468-1480) thus describe the requirements
and the manner of procedure of examinations for the License in Arts:
[In preparation for the A.B. degree, which preceded the License, the
candidate had heard lectures on (1) The Isagoge (Introduction) of
Porphyry to the Categories of Aristotle, (2) the following works of
Aristotle: (a) Categories; (b) Peri Hermeneias (On Interpretation), the
first (?) two books and a part of the fourth; (c) Topics, first book;
(d) Physics, first three books.]
Likewise we have decreed that before any one comes to the grade
of License he must have heard four other books of Physics, three
books "On the Heavens," two of "On Generation," the first three
of "On Meteors," three "On the Soul," "On the Memory," "On the
Length and Brevity of Life," with the first six books of
"Metaphysics" and the first six on "Ethics" with a part of
Euclid, and with the book "On the Sphere" [by John Sacrobosco].
Likewise we have decreed that candidates must respond twice
openly and in public, and there may be five at most in one day
and in the same debate; yet four will be sufficient. And when
they respond they must pay, each his own chairman, a scudo of
gold.
Likewise we have determined that, when this has been done, the
Faculty shall appoint four Masters who have already been Masters
for three years and who do not have [the candidates] that year as
pupils under their own special direction; and they shall test the
sufficiency of all the candidates. And the said committee shall
take oath that they will accept those who are eligible and will
reject those who are ineligible.
Likewise we have decreed that, when this has been done, on the
report of said committee, over their seals manual faithfully
transmitted, the Chancellor shall arrange the candidates in the
order assigned to them by said committee, always putting the
better men and those who are eligible ahead of the others, in
order that the opportunity of studying well may be given to the
students and that no one may suffer harm from his position.
Likewise we have decreed that before proceeding to license the
candidates themselves, the assembled Faculty of Arts shall ordain
four Masters, other than the first, who shall examine in assigned
groups the said candidates in their own persons. And if they do
not find them to be such as the first examiners reported that
they found them, they shall report to the Faculty, pointing out
the deficiency that the Faculty may have knowledge of the mistake
of the first committee. If it finds that they made a mistake it
shall have authority to correct their errors by changing the
positions [of the names on the list] and by rejecting them
entirely if they seem ineligible.
Likewise we have decreed that when their approval or disapproval
has been settled by the said second examiners, they shall place
their candidates according to proper order in one list sealed
with their own seals, and shall deliver it, under enclosure, to
the Chancellor, and it shall not be lawful for him to change the
order but he shall license them in the order set down in the
list.[62]
The process of taking the Licentiate and the Doctorate in Laws at
Bologna, in vogue at the end of the thirteenth century and later, is
described at great length in the Statutes of 1432. The examination
consisted of two parts; the first private, the second public. The first
led to a License, which was, however, a license merely to proceed to
the public examination. The Statute concerning the private examination
is summarized by Rashdall:
The private Examination was the real test of competence, the
so-called public Examination being in practice a mere ceremony.
Before admission to each of these tests the candidate was
presented by the Consiliarius of his Nation to the Rector for
permission to enter it, and swore that he had complied with all
the statutable conditions, that he would give no more than the
statutable fees or entertainments to the Rector himself, the
Doctor or his fellow-students, and that he would obey the Rector.
Within a period of eight days before the Examination the
candidate was presented by "his own" Doctor or by some other
Doctor or by two Doctors to the Archdeacon, the presenting Doctor
being required to have satisfied himself by private examination
of his presentee's fitness. Early on the morning of the
examination, after attending a Mass of the Holy Ghost, the
candidate appeared before the assembled College and was assigned
by one of the Doctors present two passages (puncta) in the Civil
or Canon Law as the case might be. He then retired to his house
to study the passages, in doing which it would appear that he had
the assistance of the presenting Doctor. Later in the day the
Doctors were summoned to the Cathedral or some other public
building by the Archdeacon, who presided over but took no active
part in the ensuing examination. The candidate was then
introduced to the Archdeacon and Doctors by the presenting Doctor
or Promoter as he was styled. The Prior of the College then
administered a number of oaths in which the candidate promised
respect to that body and solemnly renounced all the rights of
which the College had succeeded in robbing all Doctors not
included in its ranks. The candidate then gave a lecture or
exposition of the two prepared passages; after which he was
examined upon them by two of the Doctors appointed by the
College. Other Doctors might ask supplementary questions of Law
(which they were required to swear that they had not previously
communicated to the candidate) arising more indirectly out of the
passages selected, or might suggest objections to the answers.
With a tender regard for the feelings of their comrades at this
"rigorous and tremendous Examination" (as they style it) the
students by their Statutes required the Examiner to treat the
examinee "as his own son." The Examination concluded, the votes
of the Doctors present were taken by ballot and the candidate's
fate determined by the majority, the decision being announced by
the Archdeacon.[63]
The successful candidate ordinarily proceeded within a short time to the
public examination, which was held in the cathedral. At this examination
he received both the formal license to teach and the Doctor's degree.
Before the appointed day he went about inviting friends and public
officials to the ceremony. Ostentation at this time was forbidden:
Those who are candidates for the Doctor's degree, when they give
their invitations to the public examination, should go without
trumpets or any instruments whatever; and the Beadle of the
Arch-deacon of Bologna, with the Beadles of the Doctors under
whom they are to have the public examination, should precede him
on horseback. At that late day they [the candidates] shall not
provide any feast, except among scholars from the same house or
among those related to the candidate in the first, second, third,
or even the fourth degree. Furthermore no one of the Rectors
shall presume to ride with him on that day.[64]
On the actual day of the examination, however, "the love of pageantry
characteristic of the mediaeval and especially of the Italian mind was
allowed the amplest gratification"; the candidate went to the cathedral,
doubtless preceded by trumpeters, and escorted by a procession of his
fellow-students. The statutes of the German Nation at Bologna describe
as one object of that organization "the clustering about, attendance
upon, and crowding around our Doctors-to-be, in season and out of
season." Moreover, "the Scholars of our Nation shall individually
accompany the one who is to be made Doctor, to the place where the
insignia [of the degree] are usually bestowed, if he so wishes, or has
so requested of the Proctor [of the Nation]. Also, they shall escort him
with a large accompanying crowd from the aforesaid place to his own
house, under penalty of one Bologna shilling."[65]
The University statutes are to the same effect, but they prohibit
horse-play, and the extravagance of tournaments. "Ultramontane" scholars
are those from north, "Cismontane," those from south, of the Alps.
Moreover, the ultramontane scholars shall accompany the
ultramontane candidate, and the cismontane, the cismontane, from
their dwelling places to Saint Peter's when they go there to take
the public examination, and at that time hay and straw shall not
be placed [on the floor of] the church. Furthermore all the
ultra-and cis-montanes shall be present at the public
examination, and all shall afterwards accompany the new Doctor
from the church to his house under penalty of ten Bologna
shillings, which it shall be the duty of the Rector to exact
within eight days. And no scholar at the public examination of
any citizen or foreign scholar shall be dressed for a dance or a
brawl or a tournament, nor shall he joust as a knight. If any
one disobey, he shall incur the penalty of perjury and ten
Bologna pounds, and if he does not pay this within ten days on
the demand of any Rector he shall be deprived of the advantage
and honor of our University. And we impose the penalty of perjury
also upon the Rector of the student who is to take the public
examination, and this penalty he shall incur from the very fact
that he should by all means exact from the candidate an oath that
on the day on which he rides about to give invitations for the
public examination which he is to take, he will not bring about
any jousting or brawling as some have done heretofore. And if the
candidate, when required, is unwilling to take the oath, or if he
takes the oath and breaks it, he [the Rector] shall utterly
forbid the public examination and direct the Doctors not to hold
their meeting and also stop the Beadle, so that he shall not dare
to announce his programme through the schools, under an arbitrary
penalty to be imposed.[66]
The ceremony at the cathedral included, first, the formal test of the
candidate. After making a speech he held a disputation, in which he
defended a thesis taken from the Laws against opponents chosen from the
body of students, "thus playing for the first time the part of a Doctor
in a University disputation." He was then presented by the Promoter to
the Archdeacon, who conferred the final License to teach Civil or Canon
Law or both, according to the student's training. This was done by a
formula probably similar to the following, which is taken from a book
published in 1710:
Inasmuch as you have been presented to me for examination in both
[Civil and Canon] Laws and for the customary approval, by the
Most Illustrious and Most Excellent D.D. (naming the Promoters),
golden Knights, Counts Palatine, Most Celebrated Doctors, and
inasmuch as you have since undergone an arduous and rigorous
examination, in which you bore yourself with so much learning and
distinction that that body of Most Illustrious and Excellent
Promoters without one dissenting voice,--I repeat, without one
dissenting voice,--have judged you worthy of the laurel,
therefore by the authority which I have as Archdeacon and senior
Chancellor, I create, publish, and name you, N.N., Doctor in the
aforesaid Faculties, giving to you every privilege of lecturing,
of ascending the Master's chair, of writing glosses, of
interpreting, of acting as Advocate, and of exercising also the
functions of a Doctor here and everywhere throughout the world;
furthermore, of enjoying all those privileges which those happy
individuals, who have been so deserving in these fostering
colleges, are accustomed to use and enjoy.
And I trust that all these things will forever result in the
increase of your fame and the honor of our Colleges, to the
praise and glory of Almighty God and of the ever blessed Virgin
Mary.[67]
"In pursuance of the license thus conferred, he was then invested by the
Promoter with the _insignia_ of the teaching office, [the chair, the
book, the ring, the cap,] each, no doubt, with some appropriate formula.
He was seated in the Magisterial chair or _cathedra_. He was handed the
open book--one of the Law texts which it was his function to expound. A
gold ring was placed upon his finger, either in token of his espousal to
Science or in indication of the Doctor's claim to be the equal of
Knights; and the Magisterial _biretta_ placed upon his head: after which
the Promotor left him with a paternal embrace, a kiss, and a
benediction."[68] Then followed the triumphal procession homeward
through the town, "preceded by the three University pipers and the four
University trumpeters."
(d) _A Day's Work at Louvain in_ 1476
Documents which describe the day's work of a mediaeval student are not
common. A Ducal ordinance for the University of Louvain in 1476
indicates the way in which the student was supposed to work at that
institution.
The tutors shall see that the scholars rise in the morning at
five o'clock, and that then before lectures each one reads by
himself the laws which are to be read at the regular lecture,
together with the glosses.... But after the regular lecture,
having if they wish, quickly heard mass, the scholars shall come
to their rooms and revise the lectures that have been given, by
rehearsing and impressing on their memory whatever they have
brought away from the lectures either orally or in writing. And
next they shall come to lunch ...after lunch, each one having
brought to the table his books, all the scholars of the Faculty
together, in the presence of a tutor, shall review that regular
lecture; and in this review the tutor shall follow a method which
will enable him, by discreet questioning of every man, to gather
whether each of them listened well to the lecture and remembered
it, and which will recall the whole lecture by having its parts
recited by individuals. And if watchful care is used in this one
hour will suffice.[69]
(e) _Time-table of Lectures at Leipzig_, 1519
There must have been some orderly arrangement of each day's lectures as
the requirements for the various degrees became fixed; but I have not
found an early document on the subject. The Statutes of Leipzig for 1519
give "an accurate arrangement of the lectures of the Faculty of Fine
Arts, hour by hour, adapted to a variety of intellects and to diverse
interests." They do not always specify the semester in which the book is
to be read; in such cases the title is placed in the center of the
column. The list includes practically all the books required for the
degrees of A.B. and A.M. Unless otherwise specified, they are the works
of Aristotle; but the versions are, as noted on page 48, new
translations from the Greek. These translations are praised in no
uncertain terms in the Statutes. The Metaphysic is presented in Latin by
Bessarion "so cleverly and with so good faith that he will seem to
differ not even a nail's breadth from the Greek copies and sentiments of
Aristotle." The Ethics and the Economics are "cleverly and charmingly
put into Latin by Argyropulos;" the Politics and the Magna Moralia are
"finely translated by Georgius Valla, that well-known man of great
learning," etc. Lectures, it will be noted, began early. The following
tabular view is compiled from Zarncke, _Statutenbücher der Universität
Leipzig_, pp. 39-42.
In addition to the "ordinary," or prescribed, books, "two books of
Cicero's Letters will be read on festal days"; and "the Greek Grammar of
Theodorus Gaza will be explained at the expense of the illustrious
Prince George."
SUMMER | WINTER | SUMMER | WINTER
| | |
6 A.M. | 1 P.M.
|
Metaphysics. |Metaphysics. |Posterior |Topics (4 Bks.)
Introduction |On | Analytics. |Generation and
(Porphyry). | Interpretation |Sense and | Destruction.
Categories. |Logic (Aquinas). | Sensation. |Being and
| |Memory and | Essence
On Six Principles (Gilbert de la | Recollection. | (Aquinas).
Porrée). |Sleep and Waking.|
Physics (Digest of Aristotle by |Longevity and |
Albertus Magnus). | Shortlivedness.|
-----------------------------------| |
8 A.M. |Institutes of Oratory
| (Quintilian).
Physical Hearing (sic.) Physics? |----------------------------------
Reading and Disputation by | 2 P.M.
candidates for A.B. and A.M. |
Grammar (Priscian). |On the Soul (3 |On the Heavens
-----------------------------------| Bks). | and the Earth.
11 A.M. |Common |On the Substance
| Arithmetic, and| of the World
Logic: Summulae (Petrus Hispanus). | On the Sphere | (Averroes).
| | (Sacrobosco). |Common
Rhetoric (Cicero |On the Orator | | Perspective,
to Herennius). | (Cicero). | | i.e., Optics
Physical |On the Vital | | (John of
Auscultation | Principle | | Pisa).
(Themistius). | (Themistius). |Theory of the Planets (Gerard of
| | Cremona).
| Ethics
| Politics.
| Economics.
|Magna Moralia, _i.e._,
| Ethics, abbreviated from
| Aristotle and Eudemus.
|----------------------------------
| 4 P.M.
|
|Theocritus.
|Herodotus.
|Virgil.
|Aristotle, Problems.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 57: Giraldus Cambrensis, ed. Brewer, I, pp. 45-47.]
[Footnote 58: Quoted by Rashdall, I, p. 219.]
[Footnote 59: Malagola, _Statuti delle Università i dei Collegi dello
Studio Bolognese._ Selections from pp. 41-43.]
[Footnote 60: Bulaeus, _Historia Universitatis Parisiensis_, IV, 332.]
[Footnote 61: Dante, _Quaestio de Aqua et Terra_, tr. A.C. White, pp.
VII-IX.]
[Footnote 62: Document printed by Rashdall, II, Pt. II, pp. 742-3.]
[Footnote 63: Rashdall, I, p. 226.]
[Footnote 64: Malagola, _Statuti_, etc., p. 116.]
[Footnote 65: _Acta Nationis Germanicae_, pp. 4, 8.]
[Footnote 66: Malagola, _Statuti_, etc., p. 116.]
[Footnote 67: Document printed by Rashdall, II, Pt. II, p. 734.]
[Footnote 68: Rashdall, I, p. 229.]
[Footnote 69: Document printed by Rashdall, Vol. II, Pt. II, p. 766.]
V
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREES IN ARTS
In general, the candidate for the A.B. degree must have taken part as
"respondent" or "opponent" (see p. 115) in a prescribed number of
disputations, and must have "heard" the lectures on certain prescribed
books before taking his examination for the degree. (This examination
seems, in some cases, to have been little more than a certification by a
committee of Masters that the student had fulfilled the foregoing
requirements.) The candidate for the degree of A.M. must have completed
further prescribed books and disputations, and must have "read," i.e.,
lectured upon, some book or books which he had previously "heard,"
before taking his examination for the License (to teach everywhere). No
general statement can be given as to the required number of
disputations; the practice differed at various times and places. The
Statutes of Leipzig required during the fifteenth century six "ordinary"
and six "extraordinary" responses from the prospective Bachelor. The
prospective Master was required to declare that he had been present at
thirty ordinary Bachelors' disputations, and had argued in each one "if
he had been able to get the opportunity to argue." The candidate for the
License at Paris, in 1366, must have attended disputations throughout
one "grand Ordinary," and must have "responded" twice. At Oxford the
youth must have taken part in disputations for a year as "general
sophister," and must have "responded" at least once, before taking the
A.B. or before "Determination," which was the equivalent of the A.B.
Prospective masters must have responded at least twice.[70]
The following lists of prescribed books give a good idea of mediaeval
requirements (aside from disputations) for the degrees of A.B. and A.M.,
at various times and places. The reader will note at once the
predominance of Aristotle, and the variations in requirements for the
degrees. Many similar lists might be cited from the records of other
universities; but they would give little additional information as
regards the degrees in Arts.
1. List of Books Prescribed for the Degrees of A.B. and A.M. at Paris,
1254.
The following list from the Statutes of 1254 does not separate the books
into the groups required for each degree, but indicates the total
requirement for both.
{Introduction to the Categories of Aristotle
{ (Isagoge), Porphyry.
(1) The "Old" Logic {Categories, and On Interpretation,
{ Aristotle.
{Divisions, and Topics except Bk. IV,
{ Boethius.
{Prior and Posterior Analytics, Aristotle.
(2) The "New" Logic {Sophistical Refutations, "
{Topics, "
(3) Moral Philosophy: Ethics, 4 Bks., "
{Physics, Aristotle.
{On the Heavens and the Earth, "
{Meteorics, "
{On Animals, "
{" the Soul, "
(4) Natural Philosophy {" Generation, "
{" Sense and Sensible Things, "
{" Sleep and Waking, "
{" Memory and Recollection, "
{" Life and Death, "
{" Plants, " (?)
(5) Metaphysics: Metaphysics, "
{On the Six Principles, Gilbert de la Porrée
{Barbarismus (Bk. 3, Larger Grammar),
{ Donatus.
(6) Other Books {Grammar (Major and Minor), Priscian.
{On Causes, Costa Ben Luca.
{On the Differences of Spirit and Soul
{ (another translation of On Causes).[71]
An interesting part of the Statute of 1254 relates to the length of time
to be given to the various books, or groups of books, prescribed. The
entire Old Logic is to be read in about six months (October 1-March 25);
the New Logic and Priscian's Grammar in the same length of time; the
Physics, the Metaphysics and On Animals, together, in somewhat more than
eight months (October 1-June 25); the four books of the Ethics, alone,
in six weeks; On Life and Death is to be completed in one week, and
several of the other treatises in the same group are to be read in
periods varying from two to five weeks. Knowledge of these facts renders
the list as a whole considerably less imposing than it might otherwise
appear.
2. Books required at Paris in 1366. In this and all the following
examples the books are by Aristotle unless otherwise specified.
For the A.B.:
(1) Grammar: Doctrinale, Alexander da Villa Dei.
(2) Logic: The Old and the New Logic, as above.
(3) Natural Philosophy: On the Soul.