Part 16

On January 22, 1450, the King refused to free the dependents of the university from taxation. The Masters and Scholars thereupon made formal complaint to him that this refusal hindered the free and peaceful pursuit of their studies as guaranteed by his charter of 1432 (see p. 103). In reply (February 13, 1450), the King recognized the justice of the complaint and granted the desired privilege. Compare the similar exemption in the Harvard Charter of 1650 (p. 101). The letter is apparently addressed to the Bailiff of Caen and other royal officials.

Nevertheless since those letters of ours [of January 22] were sent, proper and true objection has been made to us as to those privileges, whereby we have well understood that the Doctors, Masters, Scholars, dependents, officers, households and servitors should not be subject to or obliged to contribute to such villein-taxes, aides, and octrois.

Therefore is it, that we--wishing our letters, gifts of privileges, and commands to be guarded and supported without any diminution or loss in any manner whatever, but to be increased, augmented and maintained--have regarded and also considered the fact that said members of our said daughter [i.e. the University] could not well carry out the requirements of study, or continue therein, if their servitors and households did not enjoy and use such and similar privileges as said members. Desiring, with all our heart the maintenance, continuation and increase of our said University which (not without good reason) we have under our special favor, considering these things, with the advice and counsel of our very dear and very beloved Cousin Edmond, Duke of Somerset, Lieutenant-General and Governor in our stead of our realms of France, the country and Duchy of Normandy, we command and strictly enjoin you all and each one of you so far as he shall be concerned, that you make or cause to be made free and exempt from said villein-taxes, aides, and octrois, one advocate, one purveyor, one bell-ringer, two booksellers, two parchment makers, two illuminators, two bookbinders, six beadles, five bailiffs, (one for each of the five Faculties) and seven messengers (understanding that there shall be one for each diocese in our said Duchy), and this you shall do up to this number of attendants and servitors of this our University, and at the same time, uphold, maintain and continue them in their rights, franchises, and liberties, of which by our said command, foundation, and augmentation, you find them to be and to have been duly possessed, without suffering anything to disturb or interfere with this.

And, although in our other letters devoted to the regulation of this University the said five bailiffs and seven messengers were not in any way included, yet by special grace through these present letters, to the end that our said University may be able to have the servitors necessary to it, without whom the requirements of study could not be continued and maintained, we wish the said five bailiffs and seven messengers to enjoy such and similar privileges as the rest who are named in our other said letters of regulation, notwithstanding that the said letters and any others whatever may require, or seem to require, the contrary to this.

And that the aforesaid suppliants may be able to have, at their need, these present letters in various and diverse places, we wish that copies of these, made under the royal seal, be in good faith made like the original.

(d) The Privilege of suspending Lectures (Cessatio)

One of the most effective privileges of mediaeval universities was the right of suspending lectures. This was used again and again in cases of unredressed grievances against civil or ecclesiastical authorities,--more particularly against the former. A cessatio was usually followed by a migration of masters and scholars to some other university, unless satisfaction was promptly forthcoming. Such a migration was a serious blow to the commercial prosperity of any town; consequently the "cessation" was an instrument of great power for the extraction of all sorts of local concessions. It was often exercised without express authorization by civil or ecclesiastical powers, but the privilege was distinctly conferred by a bull of Pope Gregory IX for Paris in 1231:

And if, perchance, the assessment [right to fix the prices] of lodgings is taken from you, or anything else is lacking, or an injury or outrageous damage, such as death or the mutilation of a limb, is inflicted on one of you, unless through a suitable admonition satisfaction is rendered within fifteen days, you may suspend your lectures until you have received full satisfaction. And if it happens that any one of you is unlawfully imprisoned, unless the injury ceases on a remonstrance from you, you may, if you judge it expedient, suspend your lectures immediately.

The events leading up to the granting of this privilege are worth recounting as an illustration of the way in which such rights were frequently secured. The "clerks" referred to were of course scholars. The cessation of lectures was followed by a migration to other cities until satisfaction was given. The exact nature of the satisfaction given by the king is not known. One important result, however, was the great charter of papal privileges just referred to,--"the Magna Charta of the University" of Paris.

"Concerning the discord that arose at Paris between the whole body of clergy and the citizens, and concerning the withdrawal of the clergy" :

In that same year, on the second and third holidays before Ash Wednesday, days when the clerks of the university have leisure for games, certain of the clerks went out of the City of Paris in the direction of Saint Marcel's, for a change of air and to have contests in their usual games. When they had reached the place and had amused themselves for some time in carrying on their games, they chanced to find in a certain tavern some excellent wine, pleasant to drink. And then, in the dispute that arose between the clerks who were drinking and the shop keepers, they began to exchange blows and to tear each other's hair, until some townsmen ran in and freed the shop keepers from the hands of the clerks; but when the clerks resisted they inflicted blows upon them and put them to flight, well and thoroughly pommelled. The latter, however, when they came back much battered into the city, roused their comrades to avenge them. So on the next day they came with swords and clubs to Saint Marcel's, and entering forcibly the house of a certain shop keeper, broke up all his wine casks and poured the wine out on the floor of the house. And, proceeding through the open squares, they attacked sharply whatever man or woman they came upon and left them half dead from the blows given them.

But the Prior of Saint Marcel's, as soon as he learned of this great injury done to his men, whom he was bound to defend, lodged a complaint with the Roman legate and the Bishop of Paris. And they went together in haste to the Queen, to whom the management of the realm had been committed at that time, and asked her to take measures for the punishment of such a wrong. But she, with a woman's forwardness, and impelled by mental excitement, immediately gave orders to the prefects of the city and to certain of her own ruffians [mercenary body-guard] with all speed to go out of the city, under arms, and to punish the authors of the violence, sparing no one. Now as these armed men, who were prone to act cruelly at every opportunity, left the gates of the city, they came upon a number of clerks busy just outside the city walls with games,--men who were entirely without fault in connection with the aforesaid violence, since those who had begun the riotous strife were men from the regions adjoining Flanders, whom we commonly call Picards. But, notwithstanding this, the police, rushing upon these men who they saw were unarmed and innocent, killed some, wounded others, and handled others mercilessly, battering them with the blows they inflicted on them. But some of them escaping by flight lay hid in dens and caverns. And among the wounded it was found that there were two clerks, rich and of great influence, who died, one of them being by race a man of Flanders, and the other of the Norman Nation.

But when the enormity of this transgression reached the ears of the Masters of the University they came together in the presence of the Queen and Legate, having first suspended entirely all lectures and debates, and strenuously demanded that justice be shown them for such a wrong. For it seemed to them disgraceful that so light an occasion as the transgression of certain contemptible little clerks should be taken to create prejudice against the whole university; but let him who was to blame in the transgression be the one to suffer the penalty.

But when finally every sort of justice had been refused them by the King and the Legate, as well as by the Bishop, there took place a universal withdrawal of the Masters and a scattering of the Scholars, the instruction of the Masters and the training of the pupils coming to an end, so that not one person of note out of them all remained in the city. And the city which was wont to boast of her clerks now remained bereft of them.... Thus withdrawing, the clerks betook themselves practically in a body to the larger cities in various districts. But the largest part of them chose the metropolitan city of Angers for their university instruction. Thus, then, withdrawing from the City of Paris, the nurse of Philosophy and the foster mother of Wisdom, the clerks execrated the Roman Legate and cursed the womanish arrogance of the Queen, nay, also, their infamous unanimity [in the matter]....

At length, through the efforts of discreet persons, it was worked out that, certain things being done to meet the situation as required by the faults on both sides, peace was made up between the clerks and citizens and the whole body of scholars was recalled.

Not infrequently a university which had decreed a cessation was invited to establish itself elsewhere. The cessation at Paris in 1229 was followed by an urgent invitation from the King of England:

The King; Greeting to the Masters and the whole body of scholars at Paris. Humbly sympathizing with the exceeding tribulations and distresses which you have suffered at Paris under an unjust law, we wish by our pious aid, with reverence to God and His holy church, to restore your status to its proper condition of liberty. Wherefore we have concluded to make known to your entire body that if it shall be your pleasure to transfer yourselves to our kingdom of England and to remain there to study we will for this purpose assign to you cities, boroughs, towns, whatsoever you may wish to select, and in every fitting way will cause you to rejoice in a state of liberty and tranquillity which should please God and fully meet your needs.

In testimony of which &c. Witnessed by the King at Reading, July 16. .

(e) The Right of Teaching everywhere (Jus ubique docendi)

Masters and Doctors of the three leading universities, Paris, Bologna, and Oxford, were early recognized as qualified to teach anywhere without further examination, by virtue of the superior instruction given at those institutions. Their degrees were in strictness merely licenses to teach within the dioceses in which they were granted. The recognition of these licenses elsewhere grew up as a matter of custom, not by any express authorization. At least one other university (Padua, founded 1222) acquired the privilege in the same way. Later universities,--or the cities in which they were established,--desiring to gain equal prestige for their graduates, obtained from the Pope or from the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire bulls conferring upon them the same privilege. Even Paris and Bologna formally received it from the Pope in 1292. "From this time the notion gradually gained ground that the jus ubique docendi was of the essence of a Studium Generale, and that no school which did not possess it could obtain it without a Bull from Emperor or Pope." "It was usually but not quite invariably, conferred in express terms by the original foundation-bulls; and was apparently understood to be involved in the mere act of erection even in the rare cases where it is not expressly conceded." In practice, the graduates of almost all universities where subject to further examination in one Studium or another before being admitted to teach there, although the graduates of the leading universities may have been very generally received without such test. The privilege is more important in officially marking the rank of a school as a Studium Generale, i.e. a place of higher education, in which instruction was given, by a considerable number of masters, in at least one of the Faculties of Arts, Theology, Law, and Medicine, and to which students were attracted, or at least invited, from all countries.

The Bull granting the jus ubique docendi to Paris (Pope Nicholas IV, 1292) is here printed, although it is not the earliest example; a similar Bull was issued for Toulouse as early as 1233. The rhetorical introduction is omitted, as in most instances above.

Desiring, therefore, that the students in the field of knowledge in the city of Paris, may be stimulated to strive for the reward of a Mastership, and may be able to instruct, in the Faculties in which they have deserved to be adorned with a Master's chair, all those who come from all sides,--we decree, by this present letter, that whoever of our University in the aforesaid city shall have been examined and approved by those through whom, under Apostolic authority, the right to lecture is customarily bestowed on licentiates in said faculties, according to the custom heretofore observed there,--and who shall have from them license in the Faculty of Theology, or Canon Law, or Medicine, or the Liberal Arts,--shall thenceforward have authority to teach everywhere outside of the aforesaid city, free from examination or test, either public or private, or any other new regulation as to lecturing or teaching. Nor shall he be prohibited by anyone, all other customs and statutes to the contrary notwithstanding; and whether he wishes to lecture or not in the Faculties referred to, he shall nevertheless be regarded as a Doctor.

(f) Privileges granted by a Municipality

Not infrequently mediaeval cities granted special privileges to universities and their members. These cities recognized the commercial and other advantages resulting from the presence of a large body of students within their gates, and made substantial concessions to retain them, or to secure the settlement of a university which might be migrating from some other city. Instances of the latter kind are numerous in the free cities of Italy. These privileges included very ample legal jurisdiction by the Rector of the university in cases affecting scholars, payment of professors' salaries by the city, exemption from taxes, loans to scholars at a low rate of interest, and guarantees against extortionate prices for food and other necessaries.

1. The following examples are cited, among many others in the statutes of the city of Padua:

The town of Padua binds itself to make loans to scholars, according to the quality of the scholars, upon good and sufficient securities or bonds worth a third more than the loan, and upon the oath and promise of the scholars that they accept the loan on their own account and for their own use in meeting their personal expenses and not for any other person or persons or for the use of others. (1260 A.D.)

Every six months the Chief Magistrate of Padua shall appoint two money lenders for the scholars,--judges or laymen at the will of the Rector of the scholars--who shall have charge of the town's money that is to be loaned to the scholars. And they shall, in the name of the town, make loans to the scholars in accordance with the statutes and the agreement of the scholars, and at their own risk entirely, so that the town of Padua shall not incur loss. And the money lenders shall themselves deposit in the town treasury good and sufficient security as to this. (1268.)

Scholars shall be regarded as citizens with regard to matters advantageous, but not with regard to matters disadvantageous to them. (1261.)