Life in the Medieval University | Page 7

cities, and these
boards gradually absorbed the government of the universities. The
foundation of residential colleges, and the erection of buildings by the
universities themselves, deprived the students of the possibility of
reviving the long disused weapon of a migration, and when the power
of the Papacy became supreme in Bologna, the freedom of its
student-universities came to an end. This, however, belongs to a later
age. We must now attempt to obtain some picture of the life of a
medieval student at Bologna during the greatness of the Universitates.
We will choose an Englishman who arrives at Bologna early in the
fifteenth century to study law. He finds himself at once a member of
the English nation of the Trans-montane University; he pays his fee,
takes the oath of obedience to the Rector, and his name is placed upon
the "matricula" or roll of members of the University. He does not look
about for a lodging-house, like a modern student in a Scottish
University, but joins with some companions (socii) probably of (p. 019)
his own nation, to take a house. If our new-comer had been a Spaniard,
he might have been fortunate enough to find a place in the great
Spanish College which had been founded in the latter half of the
fourteenth century; as it is, he and his friends settle down almost as
citizens of Bologna. The success of the universities in their attempt to
form a citizenship outside the state had long ago resulted in the creation
also of a semi-citizenship within the state. The laws of the city of
Bologna allowed the students to be regarded as citizens so long as they
were members of a University. Our young Englishman has, of course,
no share in the government of the town, but he possesses all rights
necessary for the protection of his person and property; he can make a
legal will and bring an action against a citizen. The existence of these

privileges, unusual and remarkable in a medieval state, may excite his
curiosity about the method by which they were acquired, and he will
probably be told strange and terrible tales of the bad old times when a
foreign student was as helpless as any other foreigner in a strange town,
and might be tortured by unfair and tyrannous judges. If he is
historically minded, he will learn about the rise of the smaller guilds
which are now amalgamated in his Universitas; how, like other guilds,
they were benefit societies caring for the sick and the poor, burying the
dead, and providing (p. 020) for common religious services and
common feasts. He will be told (in language unfamiliar at Oxford) how
the proctors or representatives of the guild were sent to cheer up the
sick and, if necessary, to relieve their necessities, and to reconcile
members who had quarrelled. The corporate payment for feasts
included the cost of replacing broken windows, which (at all events
among the German students at Bologna) seem to have been associated
with occasions of rejoicing. The guild would pay for the release of one
of its members who was in prison, but it would also insist upon the
payment of the debts, even of those who had "gone down." It was
essential that the credit of the guild with the citizens of Bologna should
be maintained.
Many of these purposes were still served by the "nation" to which our
Bologna freshman belonged: but the really important organisation was
that of his Universitas. One of his first duties might happen to be
connected with the election of a new Rector. The title of the office was
common in Italy and was the equivalent of the Podesta, or chief
magistrate, of an Italian town. The choice of a new Rector would
probably be limited, for the honour was costly, and the share of the
fines which the Rector received could not nearly meet his expenses. As
his jurisdiction included clerks, it was necessary, by the Canon (p. 021)
Law, that he should have the tonsure, and be, at all events technically, a
clerk. He could not belong to any religious order, his obligations to
which might conflict with his duty to the Universitas, and the expense
of the office made it desirable that he should be a beneficed clergyman
who was dispensed from residence in his benefice; he could enter upon
his duties at the age of twenty-four, and he was not necessarily a priest
or even a deacon. Our freshman played a small part in the election. As

a member of the English nation, he would help to choose a Consiliarius,
who had a vote in the election, and who became one of the Rector's
permanent Council. The dignity of the Rector's position would be
impressed upon our novice by his