As a rule, bachelors went on with their
studies as before, attending the lectures of others, until three more
years had elapsed, when they became eligible for Inception. At first it
seems as if the terms "Determination" and "Inception" had somehow got
transposed. In reality the latter word contemplates a state or condition
which was only possible or usual when the scholar, having accomplished
the full course of study, finally and definitely assumed the rights and
duties of Master.
The fundamental distinction underlying all academic order was that of
teacher and pupil. The licentiate, it is true, may be regarded as a
hybrid, and the Doctor as an overgrown master--a master and something
more; but the existence of these classes only obscures what was,
nevertheless, the vital and essential principle on which University
discipline was organized.
We have heard of licentiates once before--as excluded from University
processions. This clearly implies no small amount of prejudice against
them, but ere an attempt can be made to account for it, we must
understand what, exactly, a licentiate was. A licentiate, then, was a
bachelor who had attended lectures for some time, had given lectures,
and had been privately examined by members of his faculty. Having been
presented by one of them, he had obtained from the Chancellor licence to
perform certain exercises before the _conventus_, or meeting of the
faculty, by which the degree was finally bestowed.
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