UNIVERSITY OF PARIS.

The commencement of this famous university is not recorded. Tradition has assigned its origin to Charlemagne, and it is consequently referred to the beginning of the ninth century; but this opinion rests on no distinct evidence, and has been rejected by all recent writers who have examined the subject. Among the schools which the great emperor of the west established, it is doubtful whether we can reckon that of Paris; and though there are some traces of public instruction in that city about the end of the ninth century, it is not certain that we can assume it to be more ancient. For two hundred years more, it can only be said that some persons appear to have come to Paris for the purposes of study; but the history of the school is very obscure, and, according to Mr Hallam, "it would be hard to prove an unbroken continuity, or at least a dependence and connexion of its professors." From the beginning of the twelfth century, Paris became the resort of learned men, who attached themselves in some degree to the existing schools, and infused new life into them by delivering public lectures on scholastic theology. One of these was William of Champeaux, who opened a school of logic in 1109, which is remarkable as the era from which alone the university can deduce the regular succession of its teachers. This celebrated dialectician, whose fame attracted crowds of pupils, was eclipsed by his disciple, afterwards his rival and adversary, Peter Abelard, to whose brilliant and hardy genius the university appears to be indebted for its rapid advancement as a seminary of school-divinity. One of Abelard's pupils was Peter Lombard, afterwards archbishop of Paris, whose Liber Sententiarum, a digest of propositions extracted from the fathers, obtained the highest authority among the scholastic disputants. These and some other less distinguished preceptors first gave permanency to the future university.

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Melden, p. 13. Dyer's Privileges of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 384. Dyer's History of the University of Cambridge, vol. i. p. 159. Conringius de Antiquitatibus Academ. Dissertat. i. sect. 63, and iii. sect. 5, with the Supplements. Berington's Literary History of the Middle Ages, p. 153. Hallam's Mid. Ages, iii. 522. Conringius, Dissert. i. sect. 45. Quas sola scilicet doctorum hominum studia colletiumque docentiumque celebritas eum fecit." Itinerus de Gradibus Academicis, cap. iv. Hallam, ut sup., where reference is made to Crevier's Histoire de l'Univ. de Paris, t. i. 13-75. Hallam's Lit. of Europe, i. 19. Crevier, i. 3. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 17. Suppl. xlvii. Hallam's Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. i. p. 10. Berington's Mid. Ages, p. 286. The learning communicated in this ancient school, as in others of the same age, was comprised in two courses, called the *Trivium* and *Quadrivium*, terms employed from a very early age\(^1\) to denote the seven liberal arts or sciences. The first course comprehended grammar, logic, and rhetoric; the second, music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. It may easily be imagined, that in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the extent of learning comprehended under these seven heads was not very great; but small as it was, not many scholars proceeded beyond the Trivium, and the student who mastered both courses was looked upon as a person of profound erudition,

Qui tris, qui septem, qui omne scibile novit.\(^2\)

The university, as a corporate body, had as yet no existence; and the teachers, on whom its reputation rested, delivered their lectures in Paris and its neighbourhood, or wherever the prospect of success invited them. It consisted entirely of a congeries of schools, partly in connection with the churches and monasteries, and partly formed by the celebrity of literary adventurers. The number of these schools in the middle of the twelfth century was great;\(^3\) encouragement produced masters, and able masters increased the number of scholars. The continually increasing number of teachers and students rendered it expedient to establish in the university some form of government to maintain the regularity and discipline necessary to its permanent success; and it accordingly appears to have been incorporated into a society toward the end of the twelfth century.\(^4\) Matthew Paris informs us, that John de la Celle, elected abbot of St Albans in 1195, had studied at Paris, and had been elected into the company or body of established teachers.\(^5\)

The antiquity of the different component parts of the university is involved in great uncertainty. The faculty of arts, which is acknowledged as the most ancient, appears to have existed at a very early period, and had assumed a regular form of self-government before the year 1169. In this year Henry II. of England offered to refer the adjustment of his dispute with Becket to the peers of France, the Gallican church, or the *provinces* (nations) of the school of Paris.\(^6\) The head or rector of the university is named in an ordinance of Philip Augustus in 1206; the procurators of the nations (*procuratores nationum*) in 1218; the faculty of theology existed as a separate body in 1267; the faculties of the canon law and medicine in 1281; the rights of the chancellor of Notre Dame were exercised in 1169.\(^7\) The oldest public documents extant which have reference to

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\(^1\) This division of the sciences is ascribed to St Augustin, and was certainly established early in the sixth century. Hallam's *Mid Ages*, iii. 521. The enumeration answered to the seven cardinal virtues, seven deadly sins, seven sacraments, &c., and was comprehended in those memorial lines.

\(^2\) Gram. loquitur; Dia. vera docet; Rhet. verba colorat; Mus. canit; AR. numerat; Geo. ponderat; Ast. colit astra.

But most of these sciences were scarcely taught at all. The arithmetic, for instance, of Cassiodorus or Capella is nothing but a few definitions mingled with superstitious absurdities about the virtues of certain numbers and figures. Hallam's *Lit. of Europe*, i. 4.

\(^3\) This barbarous verse was written in commendation of the learning of Alain de Insulis, who was one of the most famous scholars of his time, and who, according to Du Boulay, taught theology in Paris in the latter part of the twelfth century.

\(^4\) Bulai Hist. Un. Paris, ii. 10.

\(^5\) Ibid. iii. 563; Crevier, vii. 162.

\(^6\) Savigny, Geschichte des Römischen Rechts im Mittelalter, iii. 316, 317.

\(^7\) Itiner. de Grad. Academ. cap. iv. sect. 22.

\(^8\) Geschichts, iii. 318. It is addressed *Scholariibus Parisiensibus*. The same name is given to it by Rigord, in his history of that period, and is assumed by that learned body in a public deed, A.D. 1221. Rigordi Hist. p. 208. "Nos universitas magistrorum et scholiarum," &c.

\(^9\) Malien, p. 10.

\(^10\) This ordinance was published in consequence of a quarrel between the students and the citizens headed by their provost, in which some foreign students of eminence were killed. The masters presented their complaint to the king, demanded justice against the provost and his accomplices, and even threatened, with their scholars, to leave the city. The provost was condemned to perpetual imprisonment; and provision was made for the future protection and safety of the students.

\(^11\) Coarngius, Dissert. vi. sect. 12 and 13, who quotes the words of the original enactment, from Rebuffi Privilegia Universitatis. The university of Paris, being thus recognised by the pope, and encouraged by the fostering care of the kings of France, soon became the most distinguished seminary of learning in Europe, and students resorted to it with an eagerness for instruction which may well astonish those who reflect how little of what we now deem useful could be imparted. A more systematic course of study was introduced; theology and the arts ceased to be the only objects of interest; medicine began to assume the form of a science; and the canon law, under the special patronage of the church, took its place as a new branch of jurisprudence.

The study of the civil law was introduced in the twelfth century, soon after its revival at Bologna, but was prohibited by Pope Honorius in 1220; a prohibition which Innocent IV. endeavoured to extend to the whole of France, England, Scotland, and Hungary. Some attempts were made to revive it under the authority of the parliament of Paris in 1368; but the prohibition was renewed, and the university was not finally relieved from it till the year 1679.

The number of students in the twelfth century nearly equalled that of the citizens, and included individuals from every part of Christendom. At the death of Charles VII. in 1453, it amounted to 25,000; and when Joseph Scaliger was a student, it had reached 30,000.

Having thus traced the university of Paris from its origin to its full establishment, we shall now give a short analysis of its constitution in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The most ancient part of the university was the faculty of arts or philosophy, which is believed to have had a special connection with the church of St Geneviève, and probably originated in the school attached to that church. The faculty was divided into four nations: 1. The French nation, including the French, Italians, Spaniards, Greeks, &c.; 2. The nation of Picardy, which included the students from the north-east of France, and the Netherlands; 3. The nation of Normandy, containing those from the west; 4. The English nation (after 1430, called the German nation), which, besides students from the provinces subject to the English, as Lorraine, Guienne, &c., included the English, Scottish, Irish, Hessians, Germans, &c. In these nations were enrolled the professors and students from the respective districts, without any distinction arising from the departments of learning in which they were devoted. This division, as we have already seen, existed in 1169; and there is a concordat of four nations respecting the election of a rector in the year 1205, which proves that, at that time, their privileges were recognised and acted upon. Each nation formed an independent body, had its own patron, church, place of meeting, academical buildings, great and small seal, &c., and managed exclusively its own affairs. At the head of each was a procurator, elected from their own number, whose duty it was to defend the rights and privileges of the nation, to convene and preside in its meetings, swear in new office-bearers and new members, and to see that all the acts and statutes were duly observed. The four procurators, with the rector, originally constituted the ordinary council of the university, in which its general government and legislation were vested. Their power extended even to the infliction of corporal punishment, some examples of which are mentioned as early as 1200, and in the fifteenth century they were not infrequent. They had a common seal, and as a corporate body were represented by the rector. Each nation was divided into provinces, and each province into dioceses. The names of the members of each province were enrolled in a register; and at their head was a dean, chosen by themselves. The deans formed the ordinary council of the procurator, and their assent was necessary in every undertaking of importance.

In all the old universities, the chancellor was the fountain of honour, the officer by whose authority degrees were conferred; and this dignity brought along with it considerable power. Each bishop appointed a chancellor within his own diocese, whose office it was to preside in the bishop's court, and generally to maintain and exercise justice within the episcopal territory. After the full establishment of monasteries, the abbots claimed the same power, and created chancellors with similar authority. It belonged to the bishop and his chancellor to grant licenses to teach within his own diocese; and the same power was claimed and exercised by the abbot and his chancellor within the territory of the abbey. When the university was placed in an episcopal city, the bishop of the diocese was very often the chancellor; and if not the bishop, some other ecclesiastical dignitary. The university of Paris being situated partly within the diocese of Paris, and partly within the abbey lands of St Geneviève, the power of granting license to students and masters was claimed by both. These chancellors were appointed, the one by his bishop, and the other by his abbot; the right of the latter extended to granting degrees in the arts only; that of the former to degrees in theology, law, and medicine. The chancellor of the church of St Geneviève was always the chancellor of the faculty of arts, though the bishop of Paris was the chancellor of the other three faculties, and was considered as the chancellor of the university at large. They chose their own deputies or vice-chancellors, appointed annual examiners of candidates for degrees, but had no power to interfere in the internal government of the university.

Middendorphus, Academiarum, &c. lib. vi. p. 367. Colon. Agripp. 1562. Conringius, Dissert. v. sect. 10. Savigny, Geschichte, iii. pp. 343, 344, 345, 346. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 18.

McRee's Life of Melville, i. pp. 419, 420. To the cause of this prohibition it is unnecessary to advert. The popes were too quick-tempered, and too much alive to their own interests, not to perceive that the authority delegated to the civil magistrate by the civil law militated against their own absolute ecclesiastical claims.

McRee's Life of Melville, i. 18. Hallam's Mid. Ages, iii. 527.

The term faculty, in all the older universities, denoted the body of teachers or graduates, who, besides the privilege of lecturing on certain departments of knowledge, of examining and admitting candidates for degrees into their body, had also the right of making statutes, electing officers, employing a seal, and performing all the offices of a privileged corporation. In the French universities, the faculty consisted of the teachers alone, but in the Italian universities it was composed of the teachers and students together. Savigny, Geschichte, iii. 141.

Bulai Hist. Un. Par. iii. 554. They issued the decree which shut up the schools till redress was obtained from the king, for the insults injuries sustained by their body from the provost and citizens of Paris. According to Du Boulay, they formed the only governing body.

Savigny, iii. 534.

Bulai Hist. Un. Par. iii. 553. Johnston's View of Education in France, p. 16.

The power thus vested in the heads of ecclesiastical establishments to which schools were attached, was sometimes used, through personal motives, for the exclusion of fit and able teachers, as well as for the purpose of extorting a high price for license to teach. In the pontificate of Alexander III. A.D. 1179, a Lateran council enacted, "that every competent person ought to be admitted to teach;" and in the following year, the pope himself issued a decree, containing the following clause: "Ut quicunque viri idonei et literati voluerint regere studia literaria, sine molecula et exactione qualibet scholas regere permittantur." Conringius, Dissert. iv. sect. 24.

Bulai Hist. Un. Par. i. 273–276, 353–359; iii. 379; iv. 391, 389. Conringius, Dissert. i. sect. 43. The rector appears to have been originally chosen by the four nations voting collectively; but the number of students belonging to the French nation gave it so decided a superiority, that the other three became dissatisfied, and at last revolting, elected another rector. To put an end to this difference, which threatened the prosperity of the university, and to restore unity and peace, delegates were appointed, by whose mediation it was agreed, and confirmed by the seals of the four nations, A.D. 1249, that the election should in future be vested in the four procurators, with certain provisions if they were not unanimous. After the year 1280, he was chosen by electors specially appointed for the purpose. The rector was eligible from the faculty of arts only, and continued in office for three months, when he might be re-elected, or another chosen in his room. He presided in the general meetings of the university, took charge of the registers and public money, and administered generally the government of the university. Within the city he took precedence, not only of all the officers and members of the university, but also of bishops, papal nuncios, and legates.

Such was the constitution of the university of Paris till the middle of the thirteenth century. About this time the Dominican and Franciscan friars, supported by the pope and the bishop of Paris, succeeded in establishing the faculty of theology, which, after a strenuous opposition on the part of the heads of the university, was recognized in the year 1259. Faculties of medicine and law each soon followed, the theologians being those of theology. The three faculties are separately mentioned in a deliberation which took place in the year 1277, and four years after, were confirmed in all their rights and privileges of the university. At the head of each faculty was a dean, chosen in the same manner as the procurators of the nations, who presided in its meetings, and represented the body. From this period, therefore, the school of Paris, which had hitherto consisted of four bodies, was composed of seven, namely, of four nations and three faculties, represented respectively in the general council by four procurators and three deans. To the three new faculties belonged doctors only. The bachelors and scholars of theology, law, and medicine, were still included in the four nations of the faculty of arts. The general government of the university was vested in the council of seven, with the rector as president. The general assembly, comprehending all the masters, scholars, and officers (quae non repetentes), was convened on great and interesting occasions only; and general meetings of all the regents were sometimes held for literary business, for framing statutes respecting discipline, privileges, and order. The meetings of faculties took cognizance each of its own members, in matters chiefly of a literary nature.

The subordinate officers were, the syndic; the general procurator or agent of the university, who appeared to have been an occasional rather than a permanent officer; and the griffier or usher, who was the clerk and assessor. Each nation and faculty had its own clerk and assessor. There were also two classes of messengers, who were employed in transacting business of various kinds for the students.

The university, as a corporation, was always very poor, and never possessed any public building, but was obliged to hold its meetings in the houses of the religious orders who were willing to grant the requisite accommodation. Teachers originally delivered their lectures in such rooms as they could obtain for hire or otherwise. Afterwards, however, halls or schools for the use of their teachers were provided by the several faculties. Those of the faculty of arts and philosophy, which appear to have been very numerous, were in the Rue de la Fontaine (rue Strasbourg), and were apportioned among the nations of the faculty.

The great concourse of students to the early universities, rendered it difficult for them to obtain lodgings, and gave rise to exorbitant demands on the part of the townsmen in whose houses they were forced to reside. To remedy this inconvenience, various decrees were adopted, but with insufficient effect. Frederick II., who founded the university of Naples, fixed a maximum price for lodgings, and enacted that they should be let according to a joint valuation of two citizens and two scholars. A similar regulation was adopted at Bologna, and established about 1237, by Gregory IX., in the university of Paris. The taxers were two masters of the university, and two burgesses elected with the consent of the master. It was also provided that, when lodgings had once been hired, the student should not be disturbed in the possession of them, so long as he paid his rent, and conducted himself properly. Notwithstanding these regulations, the hardships to which the poorer students were exposed induced charitable individuals to provide houses, in which a certain number of indigent scholars might be accommodated with free board during the academic year. The example was first set by the religious orders who established in several of the university towns hostels (hospitalia) for those of their members who were reduced thereto, either as teachers or learners. Free board was soon added to free lodging; and in many cases small exhibitions or stipends to defray the necessary expenses of the scholars. For the sake of discipline, these foundations were placed under the superintendence of one or more graduates, who assisted and instructed their pupils, but only in subservience to the public lectures and exercises of the university. Such establishments were called inns, hostels, halls, or colleges; the last term being generally restricted to foundations which provided for the support of several graduates. These institutions, at first established on a small scale, led to the foundation of the colleges, which afterwards formed one of the most important and essential branches of the university.

Paris was the university in which collegiate establishments were first founded. Du Boulay asserts that colleges may be dated as far back as the university itself; and Crevier, according to Mr Hallam, enumerates fifteen which were founded during the thirteenth century, besides one or two of a still earlier date. Savigny considers the famous college of the Sorbonne, which was founded by Robert de Sorbonne, professor of St Louis, in 1257, as the most ancient in Paris. Crevier probably included in his enumeration the hospitaux established by the religious orders, which cannot properly be considered as colleges. During the fourteenth century many new colleges were founded, the most celebrated of which were those of Navarre and De La Pile. The former, which is said sometimes to have contained seven hundred pupils, was founded by Joanna, queen of Philip the Fair, in 1304; and the latter by Geoffroi du Plessis, apostolic secretary to Philip V., in 1323. The Collegium Trilinguae, or Royal Trilingual College, was founded by Francis I. in 1529.

The following account of the Parisian colleges is given by Mr Madden: "The great colleges of Paris stood on a footing very different from the colleges of the English universities. They soon became appropriated to particular faculties, or to particular departments of a faculty; sometimes, but rarely, they included more than one faculty. Thus the theological faculty was collected at an early period in the college of the Sorbonne; and all its lectures and public disputations took place there, with the exception of two courses delivered in the college of Navarre. Regiments were nominated by the faculties as lecturers in the colleges. These lecturers remained subject to their several faculties, and were liable to be controlled or removed by them. Consequently, attendance on their courses was considered as equivalent to attendance on the public courses delivered in the schools of the university. The colleges speedily began to admit within their walls scholars who were not supported by their foundations; and the college lectures were ultimately thrown open to the members of other colleges, and to those scholars of the university who belonged to no college at all. This took place in the course of the sixteenth century. The lectures in the public schools were thus almost entirely superseded, at least in the faculties of theology and arts; and the colleges became the immediate agents of the public instruction of the university. During the latter half of the fifteenth century, the great colleges of the faculty of arts, or, as they were called, the colleges 'de plein exercice,' amounted to eighteen; although by the middle of the seventeenth century..." There were about eighty smaller colleges, which more than half still survived in the eighteenth century, which provided their scholars with lodging and board, and sometimes with small stipends, but taught them only the elements of philosophy, sending them for all higher learning to the lecturers of the great colleges. The college of Navarre alone appears to have confined its instruction to its scholars. In this age of the universities it became usual for the scholars to belong to some college. These students of the university who were not attached to any college, were known by the name of mortuaries. As they were less amenable to discipline than the scholars of the colleges, the legislation of the university was directed against them; and at length it was made imperative on all scholars of the faculty of arts to be members of some college. The rule was not forced on students of the higher faculties.

The origin of academical degrees, like many other points connected with the early history of universities, is involved in obscurity. According to Dr. Liddel, degrees were conferred, after a regular examination, from the time of the university, while others assert that they were first introduced by Inebrus into the university of Bologna about the year 1150, and thence transferred to the University of Paris. That such distinctions existed at a very early period is unquestionable, but there is not sufficient evidence to justify us in believing that they were coeval with the earliest universities. The oldest greeks were those in arts. The term bachelor, used as the designation of the lowest degree in each faculty, which term is said to have been similar to the feudal or military law of France, seems to warrant the inference that the whole system of academical honours has been borrowed from the university of Paris. The terms master, doctor, were generally synonymous, and were designations given in their common acceptation, to denote teaching, and the titles conferred shortly after a prescribed course of study or a formal examination. Process of time the name master was restricted to members of the real arts, and the title of doctor was assumed by the teachers of theology, law, and medicine. The term professor, though frequently used in early times, had originally the same signification, and denoted even who professed to teach a particular subject. In the English universities the Latin designation of a doctor of divinity still is "sacerdotes professor." Professor is now, in academical language, applied to a salaried graduate, either actually employed in teaching, or at least bound to do so. When the masters of particular schools obtained recognition, which were afterwards confirmed by public authority, to present undergraduates to the faculty assuming their office, the term master, doctor, professor, became titles denoting a certain rank, and conferring certain powers in the scholastic body. They were, however, continued to persons admitted by competent authority to the teaching of teachers. When the titles of doctor and master were distinguished, more especially when an initiatory stage was marked by the name bachelor, these successive designations were called steps or degrees (grades). Every graduate had an equal right of teaching publicly in the university the subjects competent to his faculty, and to the rank of degree; and he even incurred an obligation to teach as the conditions under which the degree was granted. The bachelor or imperfect degree was bound to read, under a master or doctor of his faculty, a course of lectures; and the master, doctor, or perfect graduate was, in manner, after his promotion, obliged to commence (insegnare), and continue for a certain period publishing (recitare), some of the least important subjects pertaining to his faculty. The students were allowed to choose their regents, but were expected to attach themselves to one in particular. A period of necessary regency, different in different universities, was generally fixed, during which the graduates were obliged to teach, and after which they might, if they chose, become regents. The regents were allowed to exact from their pupils a certain regulated fee (pastus, collectum). The large number of graduates who were willing to devote themselves to teaching as a profession, to the neglect of the period of necessary regency, and enabled those to whom teaching was irksome to obtain a dispensation from its duties. The regents allowed except at rate and extraordinary occasions, were allowed to take part in the legislative and government of the university. The regents were ultimately superseded by the institution of salaried lecturers (professores), who delivered their instructions gratuitously. From the period of this innovation, which took place in 1719, the vigour of the university was gradually impaired. So long as the emoluments of the lecturers depended chiefly on the fees of their pupils, an honourable and useful competition was kept up; but the graduates, finding their pupils attracted by the gratuitous lectures of the endowed professors, ceased to teach, and the most powerful motive to exertion was thus withdrawn.

The process of graduation was the following. After two years' study of grammar and philosophy, the scholar became a determinator; that is, he offered himself, if twelve years of age at least, to be taken on trials, in order, as further preparation, to his obtaining the degree of bachelor. The object of this proposal being made so early, was to subject the candidate to a rigorous examination, and to excite attention to his general conduct. In the middle of the fifteenth century, the course of study necessary for obtaining the degree of master of arts was three years and a half. After passing the ordeal of the academical examiners, he was conducted by the rector to the chancellor, who crowned and blessed him. In consequence of passing as a bachelor, he wore a round cap, attended the holy mass, and became a candidate for the degree of master of arts. He was now required to devote an equal portion of time, three years and a half, to the study of philosophy, and if he thus qualified, after frequent and severe examinations, was presented to the chancellor as worthy to receive license to teach the seven liberal arts. He was then invested with the biretta, was publicly and solemnly declared a master of arts, and was at liberty to commence his career of teaching. But his academical character was not yet complete. He next offered himself a candidate for acquiring a socia, or fellow of the masters in the university, an honour which was in the gift of the masters themselves, and by which he was admitted to the full enjoyment of their society, and of all their privileges.

To obtain the degree of doctor in divinity, it was necessary for the student to be twenty-five years of age when proposed, and to have studied philosophy for seven, or, if he belonged to a religious body, for six years. A further provision of nine years was requisite before he could attain that sacred degree. Twenty-three years were spent in the study of the Bible, and two in the study of the system of theology contained in the Book of Sentences. Sixteen years were thus spent at the university in order to become a doctor in divinity. The degree of doctor was conferred jointly by the chancellor and by the faculty, who admitted the candidate, with the solemnity of an oath, as a member of their body, and entitled to their privileges. The time necessary for acquiring the degree of doctor in law and medicine was shorter, and the rules were not so strictly observed. In each of these degrees certain fees were exigible.

The students were required to wear a cap and gown of a particular form, varying with their standing or degree in the university. The determinators wore a short black gown with a hood and sleeves, the bachelors a round cap and long gown of the best brocade or silk, and the masters a gown which reached down to their feet.

The revenue of the university seems to have arisen at first entirely from the fees of the scholars, and from contributions which were occasionally levied from them. Some of the colleges, however, were richly endowed from the beginning, for the maintenance both of the scholars and the masters. Their weekly provision appears to have been very small. In the college of Navarre, the students of grammar received each four sous a week, the students of philosophy six sous, and the theologians eight sous. The teachers respectively received a double allowance.

Of the other early French universities, the most celebrated was that of Montpellier, which was constituted by a bull of Pope Nicholas IV. in 1229, and placed under the superintendence of the bishop of the diocese. Montpellier was at first only a school of medicine, but subsequently embraced also the other faculties. The university was divided into three nations, and was governed by a rector, elected annually, with the assistance of twelve counsellors, of whom four were selected from each nation. The university of Toulouse was founded by Pope Gregory IX. in 1233, on the model of Paris, and was not much inferior to the pattern institution in success and celebrity. It early acquired fame as a school of law. The university of Orleans was established in 1507, and was occupied chiefly in the study of law. The students were at first divided into ten nations. The antiquity of this famous school is at least equal to that of Paris; and were it necessary to construe the word university in the strict sense of a legal incorporation, it might lay claim to still higher antiquity, inasmuch as its teachers obtained some important privileges before any such concession was made to those at Paris. It is alleged, and apparently on documentary evidence, that the emperor Theodosius established a school at Bologna in 433, which, after it had fallen into decay, was restored by Charlemagne. It is probable that the school continued in existence from the period last mentioned; but there is no evidence that it was entitled to the name university, as that word was understood in the twelfth century. According to Mr Hallam, there are a few vestiges of studies pursued in that city in the eleventh century; and there was also, in the same century, a school of the liberal arts at Ravenna, and a college of judges and advocates, who, besides administering and practising law, taught its principles in a public school. Masters and scholars are mentioned in documents of that age; and a certain individual, who was probably the head, is called legis doctor. A lawyer, named Pepo, who is designated by this appellation, delivered lectures on law about 1075, but without attracting much notice.

We may safely assume that, like the other early universities, the progress of Bologna was gradual, and that its origin cannot be traced to any definite period of arbitrary establishment. The fame of successful teachers attracted pupils to their schools, and these, settling in the city, gradually claimed for themselves rights and privileges, which the citizens found it their interest to recognise, and which, in process of time, obtained the sanction of the emperor.

The university started suddenly into celebrity in the early part of the twelfth century, when Irnerius began to teach the Roman law. (See Civil Law.) This great civilian is to be regarded, not only as the founder of the university of Bologna, but as the author of a great revolution in the jurisprudence of Europe. While engaged in teaching the liberal arts at Ravenna, he accepted an invitation from the civic authorities of Bologna, and opened a school in that city. He was employed as a lecturer in arts when copies of some of the books of the code of Justinian, which were beginning to excite attention, and to be circulated through Italy, reached Bologna. Irnerius applied himself diligently to the study of them, and, after making himself master of their contents, undertook to expound them in the public schools. According to Conringius, he engaged in this course of lectures with the sanction of the republic of Bologna, and was rewarded for his labours at the public expense. His zeal and energy collected large crowds of pupils, and gave an effectual impulse to the study of Roman law throughout Italy, while they raised the reputation of the lecturer to a pre-eminent height. The precise time at which Irnerius commenced his lectures has not been ascertained, nor are the events of the latter part of his life known. His name is mentioned in the records of public business and judicial proceedings between the years 1113 and 1118, when he appears to have relinquished his scholastic labours, and to have entered the service of the imperial court. By some he is supposed to have returned to his academical labours after the death of his patron Henry V. Sigonius, in his History of Bologna, fixes the time of his death in the year 1150.

The study of law having thus revived, made surprising progress, and its fame spread rapidly from Italy over other parts of Europe. Students flocked from all parts to Bologna, and some eminent masters of that school repeated its lessons in distant countries. Throughout this and several succeeding centuries, the schools of Bologna continued to be pre-eminent for legal learning. About the year 1220 they contained 10,000 students, and in the middle of the fourteenth century the number had increased to 13,000. "Not very long after the revival of the civil law, another subject of study, of much less intrinsic worth, was brought into public notice at Bologna. In the early ages of the church, the public letters of bishops were known by the name of decretals (epistolae decretales)," the influence of which, at first feeble, kept pace with the increase of the papal power, till the decretals of the apostolic see came to be regarded as of equal authority with the canons of councils. In 1151, Gratian, a monk of St Felix in Bologna, published a collection of these epistles, which was known simply by the title of Decretum; a compilation which was immediately received with great favour, and was made the subject of public lectures in Bologna in the pontificate of Eugenius III., who died in the year 1153; and many scholars were attracted to the study of it. (See Canon Law.) Such was the origin of pontifical or canon law, a branch of jurisprudence which was long regarded by the church with peculiar favour. Of the school of arts and philosophy, in which, as we have already stated, the university originated, nothing is known during the twelfth century. Though obscured by the splendour of the rising school of law, it appears nevertheless to have maintained a certain degree of celebrity. The emperor Frederick II. deemed it worthy of his patronage, and about the year 1220 transmitted to it certain works of Aristotle and other philosophers, which he had caused to be translated into Latin, partly from the original Greek, and partly from Arabic versions. The interesting letter which accompanied the gift is quoted by Conringius. This gift gave a new impulse to the study of philosophy.

The earliest historical document connected with the university is the charter of privileges granted by the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, at the diet of Roncaglia, in November 1158. In this authentic or rescript, which is entitled Habita, it is provided, first, that foreign scholars travelling to any seminary of learning should be allowed to pass without molestation; and that no obstruction should be offered to them, nor claim made upon them, under pretence of any public offence, or debt of the province or city to which they belonged; and, secondly, that all scholars, if any lawsuit were brought against them, should have the option of having it determined either by the lord or master under whom they studied, or by the bishop of the diocese. these singular privileges, which were afterwards the ery of other academical institutions, the students were empted from the ordinary tribunals, while the professors were invested with important powers. It is true that Bo- logna is not expressly mentioned in the authentic; but that was intended for the benefit of Bolognese scholars is ap- parent, because Bologna was by much the most celebrated school in the emperor's dominions, and probably the only one which was at that time frequented by foreign students. Teachers of law are specially mentioned, and Bologna was the only school of law; and the permission granted to students to bring his cause before his "lord and mas- ter," seems to assume that his judge was a legal character. An additional reason for applying the edict peculiarly to Bologna, is found in the fact stated in Conringius, that the principal professors in the university were at that time in attendance upon the emperor, having been invited by him to assist in deciding certain matters at issue between him and the cities of Lombardy. It can scarcely be doubt- ed therefore, that the edict was drawn up by them for the social benefit of their own university, though the lan- guage was purposely made general. The professors at first interpreted its provisions as conferring upon them criminal as well as civil jurisdiction; but finding themselves unable to repress the violence of the students, they allowed the for- mer to remain in the hands of the magistrates of the city, and assumed to themselves only the power of determining civil suits. This edict of Barbarossa is the earliest ex- ample of exemption or privilege granted to a university, and may be regarded as the source of the exclusive privi- leges which were afterwards conferred upon collegiate in- stitutions. The increasing power of the university excited jealousy of the inhabitants of the city, and led to fre- quent collisions, which, on more than one occasion, threat- ened the existence of the school, but which generally end- ed in extending and strengthening its privileges. In the year 1226, the emperor Frederick II threatened to remove the school of law, but in the following year recalled his decree.

Bologna was at first merely a school of law, and in this therefore the university consisted. The scholars were di- vided into two bodies, or universities, as they were called; the ultramontanes and the ultramontanes; the former in- cluding the Italians, and the latter, all foreigners. These were subdivided into nations; the ultramontanes into seven- teen, and the ultramontanes into eighteen. Each nation had its presiding officer, called its counsellor, except the nation of the Germans, who had two, under the name of curators. At an early period the professors and scholars of arts and medicine endeavoured to form themselves into separate universities; but being opposed by the jurists and prohibited by the city, they were compelled to unite them- selves with the scholars of law. A few years after, they owed their efforts, and their right as a distinct univer- sity was formally recognised by the city in 1316. After the middle of the fourteenth century, a theological school was established by Innocent VI. It was placed under the bishop of Bologna, as chancellor, and, like the theological faculty at Paris, consisted of doctors only, the scholars be- ing considered as belonging to the artists. Bologna had existed for more than two hundred years, as one of the most celebrated schools of learning, before theology formed a regular branch of study. Lectures in this faculty were occasionally delivered, but the teachers were not authorized or sanctioned by the university. From the year 1362, when the university of theology was founded, Bo- logna contained four universities; two of law; one of me- dicine and the arts, in which were included also the scholars of theology; and one of the doctors of theology. The two schools of law, however, formed together one whole, and are therefore frequently designated as one university.

"There were also formed," says Mr Malden, "in course of time, five colleges of doctors, which (with the exception of the theological college) were established upon quite a different principle. The theological college may have dif- fered only in the number of its members from the univer- sity of theology. But there were two colleges of law, one of doctors of the civil law, the other of doctors of the canon law; and two separate colleges of doctors of philosophy and medicine. These colleges seem to have been corporations, in which a limited number of doctors of the several facul- ties were united, and monopolized the power of promotion and admission to degrees, to the exclusion of other doctors, who, according to the earlier constitution of the university, had an equal right to exercise it. They were confirmed, however, by the statutes of the year 1397. The first ori- gin of the legal colleges runs back to the twelfth century; probably they were then open to all doctors. The legal colleges were each under a prior; how the others were go- verned, Savigny does not state. By these colleges or fa- culties, the candidates for degrees were examined. They had a building for their common use, in which they met, near the cathedral; because the public examinations were held in the cathedral, and degrees solemnly conferred there. Savigny warns his readers that these colleges of civil and canon law are not to be confounded with the College of Doc- tors, Advocates, and Judges, which was an institution of the city of Bologna for civic purposes. It may not be super- fluous to warn the English reader not to confound these colleges, which were merely corporate faculties, with the English notion of the word college. There were some col- leges in our sense of the word, which were restricted to the relief of really indigent scholars; but these foundations never had any weight or influence in any Italian univer- sity."

The constitution of the university was based on certain statutes which were promulgated at various times, and con- firmed by Innocent IV. in 1253; but of these, and of the privileges conferred by them, our limited space will not permit us to give any account. The statutes were revised and corrected every twenty years, by eight scholars ap- pointed for the purpose, and called statuarii. They were again confirmed in 1544, by the pope, who had then be- come sovereign of the city, and were made binding on the whole community.

Savigny mentions as the leading distinction between the universities of Paris and Bologna, from the earliest period, that in the former the masters or teachers constituted the corporation considered as a privileged body, to the exclu- sion of the scholars; while, in the latter, the students formed the university, and had the power of selecting from their own body the academical officers, whom the professors were bound to obey. At the head of the universities of law was the rector, who took precedence of all the other officers. The rector is first mentioned towards the end of the twelfth century, when only one was elected. For a long period two were chosen, one for each university; and finally one, which appears to have been the case in 1514, and which was established as the rule before 1552. He was chosen annually by the preceding rector, the counsellors of the na-

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Malden, p. 50. Savigny, iii. 162. Conringius mentions several distinguished professors of medicine in the thirteenth century, who attracted a great con- course of pupils. They were in possession of a few books of Hippocrates and Galen, and of several translations of the works of Arabic phy- sics. Diss. iii. sect. 21. Savigny, iii. 163. Conringius, Dissert. iii. sect. 21. Origin of Universities, pp. 55, 56, 57, abridged from Savigny, iii. pp. 213, 214, &c. Ibid. iii. 141. tions, and a certain number of electors appointed by the university at large, and was taken from the different nations, according to a regular order of succession. The necessary qualifications for a rector were, that he should be twenty-five years of age, a clericus, not a member of any religious order, and should have studied law for at least five years, at his own cost. The powers of the rector were extensive. He possessed supreme authority over all members of the university, except those of the German nation, who were subject to their own procurators alone. His civil jurisdiction was not doubted when both parties belonged to the university, or when a citizen consented to bring before him a suit against a scholar; but when a suit against a scholar was brought before the magistrates of the city, the claim of the rector to hear it generally gave rise to a violent contest between the city and the university. Soon after the institution of the rectorate, an attempt was made by the city to abolish the office, or to render it subservient to the civic power; but the university succeeded in maintaining its privileges, which were ultimately confirmed by the authority of the pope. The criminal jurisdiction of the rector was limited generally to matters of academical discipline. He had the power of punishing both professors and scholars by fine and expulsion; and, in deciding more serious matters, he sometimes acted in conjunction with the magistrates of the city. In 1544, the pope confirmed by a bull his criminal jurisdiction when both parties belonged to the university, and when the offence was not capital. The rector was assisted by a council consisting of the counsellors of the nations.

In Bologna, as in Paris, there were two Chancellors. Honorius III., whose pontificate extended from 1216 to 1227, when he regulated the promotions or conferring of degrees in the school of law, placed them among the superintendents of the faculties of Bologna, whose duty, to prevent abuse, was rendered necessary. Savigny appears to consider this as a personal authority vested in the archdeacon for the time; but it was retained by his successors, who assumed the title of chancellor, and exercised authority over all the faculties except the faculty of theology. The bishop of Bologna was constituted chancellor of the university of theologians, when this faculty was established by Innocent VI. in 1362. All honours emanated from the chancellors.

Besides the rector and chancellors, the other officers of the university were: 1. The counsellors or representatives of the nations, who assisted the rector and formed his council. Each nation elected one counsellor, the German nation being represented by two counsellors, who were invested with judicial power over their own nation independently of the rector. 2. The syndic or common agent of both universities, whose duty it was to defend their rights and privileges. He was elected annually from among the scholars, and was subject to the jurisdiction of the university at large. He received a salary of twelve acres, and latterly a third of all fines. 3. The notary, who was also common to both universities. 4. The treasurer, who was elected annually from the bankers of the city. 5. Two bailiffs; one for each university.

The precise times when Degrees, properly so called, began to be conferred, cannot be ascertained; but perhaps we shall not much err in assuming that they were nearly coeval with the university itself. The earliest teachers were designated as docentes, magistri, praeses, lord, master, judge; but these were names given to those who publicly lectured, and were not titles of honour, carrying with them certain privileges, conferred by authority, and after examination. Magister was probably applied indiscriminately to any teacher, while docentes and judex were designations assigned only to the teachers of the Roman law. There appears to be no reason to doubt that the terms soon came to be used synonymously. Savigny states that, in the records of the university, Infirmarius is styled judex or causidicus, but never doctor, and assigns the middle of the twelfth century as the date of this last title. The term docent here, as in Latin, originally signified merely a teacher, and implied nothing more than that the person bearing it had obtained a license to teach in that particular school. Some writers have asserted that it was borrowed from the theological school of Paris; while others have reversed the transmission, and allege that it was borrowed by the Parisians from the Italian seminary. The truth probably is, that it was given independently at both places. Savigny supposes that it was in consequence of the privileges conferred on the masters and teachers by the edict of Frederick I., that they found it necessary to adopt measures to prevent the voluntary assumption of their office, and to establish a form of admission. If this supposition be admitted, it follows that degrees were conferred by public authority soon after 1188. The first mention of the degree of doctor in law, that being the branch of learning to which the Bolognese school was indebted for its early celebrity. At the close of the twelfth century, doctors and doctors of the canon law, who soon obtained an equal rank with the civilians, in the thirteenth century, doctors of medicine, grammar, logic, philosophy, and the other arts, were added. The title or dignity of doctor was at first conferred by the doctors themselves by co-optation, that is, they admitted the candidate into their body by common consent. This admission or promotion conveyed to him the right of lecturing in the school of Bologna, of exercising jurisdiction over his pupils, and of voting in the admission of future candidates. By a papal bull, the doctors of Bologna, like those of Paris, afterwards obtained the right of lecturing anywhere. This system of self-election having led to frequent abuses, by the admission of unworthy persons, Honorius III. in the early part of the thirteenth century, suspended his authority, and placed the promotions under the control of the archdeacon of Bologna.

The following extract presents a curious feature in academical history. "Originally," says Mr. Melden, "scholars were forbidden to marry into the families of Bolognese citizens, without the license of the rector. Exemptions from this prohibition were granted, which were at last extended to all the descendants of all doctors. By the terms of this exemption, it is manifest that the doctors of the university had become closely connected with the families of the citizens. This connection was strengthened by the establishment of municipal offices; and at last the principal chairs in the university were granted only to Bolognese citizens. But the actual degree was fitted by the example, and went a step farther, and took an oath not to grant degrees to any but members of their own families. This outrageous monopoly began to produce its natural effects, in the ruin of the university; and commotions and struggles ensued, between the year 1295 and 1304, which ended in compelling the doctors to admit all Bolognese equally to degrees; but the rank of doctor, at least in the two legal colleges or faculties, was still confined to citizens of Bologna."

Degrees were conferred in the civil law, or in the canon law, or in both. In the early part of the university's history the offices were in most cases conferred by the doctors, and the previous study was necessary for the candidate, and eight for the citizen. If the student of the canon law had delivered a course of lectures, it was reckoned equal to a year's study; and in like manner the course of the civilians was shortened one or two years, by three or four years study of the canon law. The first step necessary for the candidate was to select a doctor who should present or recommend him to the archdeacon. He then underwent two examinations, the first of which (examen) was private, and the second (consecutio) public. Previously to the first examination, two points of law were prescribed to him, which he was required to explain and defend, in presence of the chancellor and college of doctors. The doctor by whom he was presented always examined him; the rest of the faculty had the power merely of asking questions, and raising objections, after making sure that the examination had been made with the candidate. The doctors were bound to treat the candidate leniently as their own son, on pain of suspension from their functions for a year. The votes of the faculty were then taken, and if the examination was sustained, the candidate became a doctoratus, that is, he obtained a license to present himself for public examination.

The consecutio, or public examination, by which the degree of doctor was acquired, took place in the cathedral, in presence of the university, when the licentiate read a thesis, and an exposition of a legal question, which was criticised, not by the doctors, but by the scholars. This was followed by an address from the archdeacon, or from a doctor appointed by him, in which the new graduate was solemnly proclaimed. He was then conducted to the church of San Petronio, and had his place in the cathedral assigned to him. It is probable that, in the earliest age of the university, this public examination by the scholars was the only one, and that the previous examination originated in an assumption of power by the doctors. The public examination frequently took place very soon after the private one, but sometimes a considerable interval was suffered to elapse, and thus the title of licentiate became a species of degree.

The candidate, before being received for examination, was required to swear, in presence of the rector, that he had studied for the period prescribed; before the private examination, that he had paid merely the private fees; and before the public examination, that he would promote the interests of the university and scholars, and if he remained in Bologna, would obey the laws, and comply with the statutes. At one time the commencing doctors took an oath to the magistrates of the city, that they would not lecture out of Bologna; but this oath was abolished in 1312, on the petition of the scholars, who purchased exemption from it with a sum of money. It is a curious point in the The university of Bologna, though fallen from its former glory, is still one of the first in Italy; and in several branches of study is inferior only to that of Pavia. The university contains the four faculties of Modern theology, law, physics, and philosophy, and furnished in 1835 instructed University in nine courses of education. 1. Elementary philosophy, which lasts two years, and consists of logic and metaphysics, the elements of algebra and geometry, physics and ethics. 2. Theological course, which lasts four years, and comprehends dogmatic theology, moral theology, lectures on the Scriptures, the Hebrew language, ecclesiastical history, and patristic doctrine. 3. Course of law, which continues four years: first year, institutions of the canon law, of the civil law, and of natural law; second year, institutions of public ecclesiastical law, and of criminal law, text of the civil law, and text of the civil law, taught by a different professor from that of the second year; fourth year, text of the canon law, and text of the civil law, by both professors. 4. Notary course, obligatory for two years: first year, logic, metaphysics, and ethics; second year, canon and civil institutions. 5. Medical course; theory, four years, and two of practice. 6. Surgical course, three years, and two of practice. 7. Pharmaceutical course, two years; first year, chemistry and botany; second year, materia medica and pharmacy. 8. Veterinary course, two years; veterinary medicine, comparative anatomy, chemistry, botany, surgery, physiology, and materia medica. 9. Course of philosophy and mathematics, four years; the first two courses are similar as in elementary philosophy; in the third and fourth years, firearms, mechanics, hydraulics, optics, and astronomy.

Every student, before entering the university, must prove that he is possessed of a monthly income of twelve scudi or dollars, this being the smallest sum on which, it is believed, he can live respectably. The salaries of the professors amount to from 300 to 400 dollars, and the students pay no fees. The scholastic year begins on the 5th of September, and terminates on the 26th of June. Deducting the holidays, there are but 104 days of lectures in the year. The number of students is under 1000. The university library contains 150,000 volumes. There is also in the city another library, the gift of a clergyman, containing 83,000 volumes and 4000 MSS.