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From a notice of the year 1432 it transpires that the bedels received
one-twelfth of all fines inflicted for misdemeanours; and, in 1434,
prior to the admission of inceptors, the Chancellor announced that each
inceptor would be required to pay the ordinary fee of thirty shillings
and a pair of buckskin gloves for each bedel, or, in lieu of gloves,
five shillings to be divided among the bedels. Two licentiates protested
against such payment, stating that it was contrary to the statutes,
whereupon an inquiry was held, by which it was established that these
fees had been paid to the bedels from time immemorial and were therefore
due.
The appointment of the bedels rested with the Regent Masters, and was
one of their most jealously guarded prerogatives. Mention has been made
of John Came, who for many years held the office of bedel. When he was
elected, in 1433, by four Regent Masters and the two Proctors in
congregation, an attempt was made by the Chancellor and the Doctors of
the four faculties to substitute a nominee of their own, one Benedict
Stokes, on the ground that they were the senior members of the
University, and represented a majority of their faculties. Realizing
that the supremacy of the Faculty of Arts was menaced, the Proctors
resisted this claim and demanded the admission of Came, with the result
that the Chancellor reluctantly gave way. An appeal was entered by
Richard Cauntone, a doctor of laws, and the candidate, Benedict Stokes,
but three days later was renounced by both of them as frivolous, and
their cautions were forfeited.
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