III.—ATTEMPTS AT ORGANIZATION-FACULTIES, OFFICERS.

It was about this time that the groupings of masters, according to the subjects taught by them (known as disciplinæ), came to be recognized and to be designated as faculties. As the association of masters doing the same sort of work, or laboring in the same special field, was natural, so was it natural, if not inevitable, that they should gradually assume a considerable degree of independence, from their own plans according to special needs, and frame regulations to insure their realization. Hence the term "facultas" in the sense of a separate "scientia," and in the compound sense of embracing a given field of study, the teachers devoted to instruction therein, and the scholars given to the acquiring of a knowledge of the subjects taught. According to Denifle, the earliest use of the term in this comprehensive sense was by Honorius III, in a missive of February, 1219, addressed to the students at Paris, wherein he lays it down as a rule that the student who has passed the proper examination and received his license might “libere in ea de qua licentiam obtinuit regere facultate." Again it was used by him in a missive on May 3, and in a bull on November 22, the same year. And in 1222 it was repeatedly used in this sense by the masters themselves as a body. Denifle also finds, however, that it was occasionally used afterwards to signify a union of the masters of a special "disciplina" or department of science. He says:

The magistri of each of the separate discipline from that earlier time (1215) began to construct separate statute regulations for themselves and to hold separate assemblies. In this they did but continue what they had begun. They instituted examinations binding upon the general membership; they established systems of promotion; they determined conditions under which promoted persons should be incorporated in the general membership; they determined how those already members should be excluded therefrom.

In 1225 for unknown reasons the university seal was broken by papal order. But later (in 1231) still another bull in the interest of the institution was issued by Gregory IX, a bull in which the faculties were dealt with separately and specially. Quite properly it has been styled the Magna Chartà of the university.

And well it was that the powers at Rome took such action, for meanwhile (in 1229), under advice of the bishop and papal legate, Queen Blanche, acting through the provost of Paris, caused the death of several students on the false assumption of their complicity in a recent riot, and so enraged the university in general that there was a practical dissolution (known in history as the "General Dispersion") and a scattering of professors and students to other institutions, both French and foreign, as well as the founding by them of some new ones. By reason of appeals from the Pope, coupled with the punishment of the Bishop and Chancellor of Paris, chief offenders, by diminution of their powers, and with the most solemn promises that every possible satisfaction should be rendered by all parties concerned, a majority of those who had broken away returned and regular work was resumed at Paris.

Among other favorable acts in fulfillment of the Pope's assurances was the issue of a bull in 1237 forbidding unauthorized acts of excommunication, and in which, moreover, the terms "proctor” and “rector" are so used as to lead to an earlier understanding of their meaning, viz, that “proctor" stood for the head of each of the "nations," and that the "rector" was the one common head over all. These meanings are placed beyond doubt, according to Denifle, by a resolution adopted by the faculty of arts in the year 1244, which subjects offenders against certain regulations to expulsion until "satisfaction shall have been made to the rector and proctors on behalf of the university, to the full and at their pleasure." This was in 1245 according to Rashdall, who further notes, as of

the same year, a statute of the whole university in which expulsion is made the penalty "after monition by the rector, or a servant sent by him, or in like manner by the proctors, or a messenger sent by them."

It remains to be said that in 1241, according to Laurie, the faculty of arts had a practical monopoly of the rectorship, since the choice of the incumbent preceptor was made by the common vote of all, and this particular faculty outnumbered all the rest-at least for a time sufficiently long to have the ruling practice become a law. For a considerable time the faculty of theology and the faculty of arts constituted the whole institution and in many things acted jointly; but with the creation of other faculties separateness of action became more and more common, and finally the general rule.

Again, it was not long after the organization of other faculties that a rule of noninterference of one with another in their domestic affairs was adopted—a rule well emphasized in 1259 by a missive from Alexander IX to the Bishop of Paris, requiring him to forbid the members of the faculty of arts from any such interference under penalty of excommunication. There seems to have been nothing like an arraignment of this faculty; indeed the missive disclaims any intent of that sort. It must be explained, therefore, on the ground that said faculty, being at once more numerous and embracing comparatively young men in larger proportions than others, as well as holding relations with the "nations" quite exclusively, would naturally be in greater need of warning. Besides which, the growth of the institution, the incoming of students in great numbers, and new signs of friction had seemed to require that new caution, and in terms not to be mistaken, should be given by the supreme authority.

This missive of Alexander IX is also interesting for the unmistakable evidence it furnishes of the complete separateness and independence of the several faculties as quasi corporate bodies, each of them supreme in its own particular sphere, while constituting an integral part of the university as a whole-the Universitas Magistrorum et Scholarium.

A further fact of importance in gaining a correct understanding of the status of the faculties is this, that up to the time we are now concerned with no faculty had a seal of its own. When, in 1255, the faculty of arts published its ordinance setting forth the studies to be embraced therein, it used the seals of each of the four nations; and when the university, as a corporate body, had occasion to make a transfer of property and found itself without a seal it commissioned the masters of the faculty of theology to use their private seals for the purpose. Here we have unmistakable proof that the several "nations" were distinct; that the faculties of arts and of theology were distinct and independent; that the nations did not constitute the university; and that there was a corporate totality correctly entitled "The University of Paris."

The other general officials deserving mention were the procurator, or syndicus; the bedels; the registrar, or scribe; the receiver, and the nuntius.

The procurator, or syndicus, was an advocate or common lawyer, who acted as legal assessor to the chief officer in the university-perhaps also to the heads of faculties and nations. He was later known as promotor universitatis; was, in fact, the chief permanent officer, uniting the functions of university counsel with some that pertained to the office of registrar.

The bedel in chief was the officer who, in special dress, and bearing aloft the ponderous mace which represented the authority of the university, preceded the rector on all public occasions and led the way. Besides him there were bedels of secondary and yet lower rank-those who sustained a like relation to the heads of faculties and to the proctors of the nations; and last of all those who served each of the masters, looking after their several lecture rooms,

opening and shutting the door, sweeping out twice a month, strewing the floor with straw in winter, and carrying the doctor's books for him back and forth. The registrar, as said above, was an officer of later date. As the institution grew he became a necessity, the syndicus being then no longer equal to the extra service which pertains to the office of secretary.

The general nuntius was simply a university messenger, having charge of the messages, and performing other kindred duties imposed by the rector, including the transmission of money and goods sent to students. There were also in course of time nuntij representing scholars of each general district and chosen by them-nuntii majores and nuntii minores. The first named were merchants or bankers, who assumed to pay money to students as forwarded by their parents from distant regions, or who lent them money on their own account; while those of second rank were plying messengers, actually traversing the country, or even the continent, with consignments of money or goods. In some cases they were charged with the care and safe delivery of younger students themselves.

Subordinates.-Besides the officers, so called, there were several classes of persons under control of the university, and charged with duties not so official in the general sense and yet important. Chief among them were the following: (1) The librarii, whose work it was to make the sale of books for private individuals, their compensation consisting of a percentage on the sales made.

(2) The stationarii, who performed the several duties of publisher, bookseller, and keeper of a circulating library. The stationarius often employed the persons who wrote the books which were in demand, and would then either sell, or even lend them for a consideration made secure by a sufficient deposit, the amount being determined by a board of university appointment, year by year, composed of four masters and four principal booksellers, who were also made responsible for the absolute correctness of each copy sold or loaned. The stationer must also inform the university in congregation assembled of his desire to sell a given book to a specified stranger, so that if important to do so they could prohibit and prevent its sale. Moreover, to prevent any wrong to those who had intrusted them with the loan of a book or books, booksellers were forbidden to sell such book or books without the owner's consent to another dealer until after a four days' exposure for sale "at the Black Friars' Convent during sermon time."

Under this head Rashdall states, in illustration of the amount of book business done, that "in 1323 there were (in Paris) twenty-eight sworn booksellers, besides keepers of bookstalls in the open, who were intrusted to the sale and loan of books of small value. The statutes required every theologian to bring a copy of the Bible or Sentences with him, at least during the first four years of his attendance. Many college statutes required the student attending logic or philosophy lectures to have a copy of the text."

(3) There was also a troop of parchment makers, illuminators, and binders, as also, later on, paper makers and sellers; all of them, in like manner, under university supervision. According to Rashdall, "the parchment makers were obliged to bring the bales of parchment, on their arrival in Paris, to the Hall of the Mathurines to be taxed' or valued by the four sworn parchmenters' of the university under supervision of the rector, who also visited the great fair of St. Deny's for the like purpose. The parchment had to remain at the Mathurines for twenty-four hours, during which it might only be sold at the appointed rate to members of the university.

It is also an interesting fact in this connection that after a while, with a greed ED 1904 M-34

not uncommon in those times, a tax upon all parchment sold in Paris became a most important perquisite of the rector's office.

(4) Finally, a class of unlearned surgeons (or chirurgeons) and the body of apothecaries were placed under the supervision of the medical faculty, and thus became a means of swelling the ranks of the university men of the time.

IV. THE NATIONS ORIGIN, POWERS, ETC.

Hitherto the "nations" have been mentioned incidentally only, because they were not, as at Bologna, the university, in effect, and could be left until we had a quite full understanding of what were the governing elements of the institution. As loose aggregations of students they had existed for some little time. But they found no place in history prior to 1249, and were not so many in number as at Bologna. From the first they were limited to four only, and bore the name, in each case, of the nationality which predominated, viz: The French nation, the Norman, the Picardian, and the English. The Normans and Picards were each limited to their own narrow boundaries, while the French nation included all of the Latin races, and the English nation embraced the Germans and all who came from countries in the north and east of Europe. The numbers were at times very unequal, and such inequalities now and then gave rise to schisms and secessions, with appeals to Rome for independence under a new head and new name. The faculties, especially the faculty of arts, suffered embarrassment from this a number of times, the French members electing a head of their own, and the members of the other three nations agreeing upon some one to represent them collectively. Indeed, such troubles were so common that in 1266, on an appeal to the papal legate from a dissatisfied nation, a constitutional right was granted te secede from the union and to choose a head of its own, subject to the approval of a board of arbitrators composed of three senior theologians and the four senior canonists in the university. Besides the students in attendance upon the university, the nations included the masters in the, faculty of arts. Why these, and none from the faculties

of theology, law, or medicine, was for a long time an occasion of no little speculation among those who have interested themselves in the history of the university, but has seemed to me simple enough, and is made very clear by Father Denifle in his exhaustive account.

(1) RELATIONS OF ARTS DEPARTMENT, ONLY, WITH THE NATIONS.

Briefly stated, the reasons for the association of the masters in this one department with the members of the nations, to the exclusion of masters in other faculties, are these: First of all, the studies embraced in the faculty of arts were in those days regarded as only preparatory to the professional courses. Even philosophy, according to its great master, Abelard, was treated as but a stepping-stone to theology. The masters considered themselves as still students, looking higher. Secondly, the nations embraced not a few men of large attainments, brought to Paris for special studies, who found it desirable to share in the advantages of various kinds enjoyed by the national organizations and were in every way worthy associates for the masters in the arts department. They were all learners together. True, there were distinctions made in the practical workings of the national organizations-in the more important affairs, I mean, such as the choice of officers. Here the students without rank or title were without voice. Even the arts masters were themselves subject to limitations as electors in certain cases-e. g., in the choice of the chief officer. It was not enough that they were masters in the faculty of arts; they must either have the degree of bachelor of theology or have gone through

courses of reading in theology, or at least have taught as one of the masters in the arts department for a period of six years. In other words, in order to vote for rector they must have made proficiency in what was regarded the very highest field of study or have made an honorable record in the work of instruction. Thirdly, it becomes plain enough, after a statement of the foregoing facts, why it was that a master or doctor in one of the professional departments was not associated with the masters of arts and the body of students in the nations: He had passed through the more purely disciplinary stage.

(2) ORGANIZATION OF THE FOUR NATIONS.

After much discussion, running through a long period, it may now be considered settled that at the head of each nation, when duly organized, there was a “procurator,” and at the head of the several nations, acting in harmony for a common need, there was a “rector."

As already stated, the rector could only be chosen from among and by the masters in the arts department. His functions were, of course, those of a presiding and administrative officer. After a little while he is found also acting as the executive head of the faculty of arts, so that orders and general communications were officially addressed "To the rector, masters, and scholars." By 1289 A. D. he had passed the stage of inferiority to the heads of the professional faculties (because of his connection with the faculty of arts), and was mentioned by the cardinal legate as being properly among them and their equal in rank. He had, in fact, come to a virtual precedence, in spite of the opposition of the chancellor of Notre Dame, who still claimed the sole prerogative of examining bachelors and issuing the license to teach (the jus ubique docendi) to "licentiates." And later still, it is not known just when, the departments of jurisprudence and of medicine were brought under his supervision. But it was not until after other years (in 1341) that he also gained recognition as supreme over the faculty of theology (whose dean up to that time had presided over all general assemblies), and thus became rector and acknowledged head of the whole university, entitled, in making university announcements to use the formula, "Nos rector et universitas magistrorum et scholarium."

Quite naturally the faculty of theology had been reluctant to consent to this supremacy, and had succeeded in postponing it thus long. It only came at last through a manifestation of overwhelming odds. The nations and the great faculty of arts were the compelling force, and the Pope himself, seeing the inevitable, in 1358 addressed a bull "To the rectors and masters of the university.”

IV. GENERAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY FACULTIES. We have already seen that the several faculties at Paris were near to each other in the time of their inauguration; that while the faculty of arts and the faculty of theology were practically begun at one and the same time, and were for a while all there was of the institution, the others were not slow in following their example; and that in the matter of a complete organization these last were earlier than the faculty of theology, which seems to have been without a dean of its own until the end of the thirteenth century.

But when all were duly organized, the several faculties were similar in their constitution, had officers that were alike in title and function, were under a common general direction, and worked in harmony as one comprehensive institu