§ 1. The pontiff, the emperor, individual princes, and states have granted very many privileges. Since later academies are customarily endowed with the privileges of the older ones, it happens that very many are granted in a single phrase. We see this done in this most noble academy, concerning which Pope Sixtus IV speaks thus:
“For the praise of the divine name and the propagation of the same Catholic faith, by apostolic authority and the tenor of these presents we perpetually erect, constitute, and ordain a university in the same city of Mainz; and by the said authority we establish and also decree that henceforth, for all future time, a university shall flourish there after the pattern of the aforesaid universities of Bologna, Paris, and Cologne, both in theology and in canon and civil law, as well as in every other lawful faculty or science; and that masters in theology, doctors, lecturers, and students there may freely and lawfully use, possess, and enjoy each and every privilege, liberty, exemption, immunity, grace, and indulgence which other masters, doctors, lecturers, and students in the universities of Bologna, Paris, and Cologne enjoy and use. Moreover, those who in the course of time shall have merited degrees in any of the aforesaid lawful faculties in which they have studied may receive a license to teach, so that they may instruct others, and may have the honor of the mastership or doctorate bestowed by the masters or doctors of that faculty or science in which the examination is to be held.”
The founder equates Mainz with the three most excellent academies of Bologna, Paris, and Cologne. It has hitherto maintained that dignity so well that it has numbered among its auditors illustrious and learned men not only from Germany, Poland, and Belgium, but even from most cultivated France.
Therefore, lest anyone be ignorant of the great favor with which monarchs have pursued studies, and lest students themselves be unaware of their own advantages, I intend to set down those one hundred and eighty privileges—or, rather, heads and rubrics of privileges—from the most learned jurist Pierre Rebuffi.
§ 2. The first privilege from Rebuffi:
First. It is permitted to study, teach publicly, and dispute on every feast day—after divine worship has, of course, been rendered in the offices. Rebuffi thinks it forbidden if done for the sake of gain, as when an advocate studies on a feast day principally for gain. In this matter I by no means agree with him, for although he studies for the sake of gain, study is nevertheless not servile work, and desire for gain can obtain an honorable end. Nor does ecclesiastical law forbid gain, but servile work.
Second. It is lawful to study even in a church. Rebuffi’s exceptions are general: one must not study at a time when one is obliged to hear Mass, nor study forbidden arts—which is not lawful even outside a church. In a church, however, the offense is graver, because it makes the house of God a house of wickedness.
Third. Scholars may expel craftsmen from their own house if they disturb their studies with noise. This is a great and almost odious privilege. Rebuffi nevertheless cites laws concerning this matter. Indeed, at Montpellier he says that he drove away a weaver who impeded students with singing; for when the magistrate, after hearing the rights of the students, ordered the importunate musician either to sing more softly or to withdraw, he preferred to leave the house rather than moderate his voice.
Fourth. A case concerning this privilege may be conducted on a court holiday; so he says. But I judge that this must not be granted unless the cause is urgent. I judge the following a legitimate cause: if, because of the dog days or other vacations, there were an interruption of several weeks, then, lest an entire college of students be compelled to endure a prolonged disturbance, the matter could be decided even on a feast day.
Fifth. This case may be treated and concluded summarily and without formal proceedings. Otherwise studies could be impeded for entire years, since while the lawsuit is pending the hammerer retains the use of his possession, and students do not readily undertake long-lasting lawsuits.
Sixth. No appeal is granted from a sentence pronounced against the hammerer. This has been abrogated by practice and, unless I am mistaken, by equity; for why should this be denied if knowledge is in question?
Seventh. A scholar can compel someone to let him a house, room, or horse. But I have nowhere seen the use of this privilege, and indeed it is altogether better not to use it, since the right not to be compelled against one’s will to let property to another or admit a stranger into one’s household is highly consonant with reason; and it is a matter of great danger to let a house to another. I have indeed never observed its use in any place.
Eighth. A landlord cannot expel a student from a rented house, although the landlord himself needs the house—if, evidently, it would have to be relinquished for that reason.
Ninth. When the term of the lease has ended, students must be preferred if they are willing to pay as much as others, unless perhaps—as generally happens—the habitation of students makes a house worse than does that of others, or unless they are of insufficiently accommodating morals.
Tenth. If a doctor or scholar rents a house already let to another scholar before the term of the lease has ended, he is excommunicated.
Eleventh. If he withdraws for a just cause before the term has ended, he is bound to pay not for the whole year, but only proportionately.
Twelfth. A student withdrawing from a rented house may substitute another in his place, provided that the landlord’s condition is made worse in no way.
Thirteenth. If a civic statute provides that no one may buy more grain than for his own use, and a scholar buys for a year but then withdraws after half a year, he does not incur the penalty if he had intended to remain in that place for the whole year. I extend this privilege to everyone, including citizens, for an intention consonant with justice ought not to harm them.
Fourteenth. A scholar who withdraws may seek his share of things held in common.
Fifteenth. Flight does not render a scholar suspect of an offense; rather, he is presumed to be visiting his parents or seeking money.
Sixteenth. A loan for use made by a scholar is revoked before the end of its use when he wishes to withdraw.
Seventeenth. When the course of study has ended, a person is compelled, although unwilling, to bring his action against the student; or, if he does not act within a time to be fixed by the judge, perpetual silence is imposed upon him.
Eighteenth. Students acknowledge no charge for the lodgings in which they reside.
Nineteenth. Books are not tacitly pledged for the rent of a house.
Twentieth. In Rebuffi’s judgment, it is a wrong rather than a privilege that a student living dishonorably can be expelled less readily than another tenant. I judge that he must be expelled not only from the house but also from the city.
Twenty-first. It is similar and unjust that infamous prostitutes may be brought into a common lodging; but those things were drawn from the sewer of the gentiles into the books of Christians and must be condemned to eternal silence.
Twenty-second. It is peculiar to the French to obtain nominations, but Rebuffi complains that those laws have now been overthrown.
Twenty-third. A student who has gone home for the sake of seeking money and immediately returned retains the privileges of study, and that time is computed in the five-year period. But in most cathedral churches of Germany and in others this is not observed. If even a single night interrupts the biennium, the whole of the remaining time is lost. Evil morals produced this severity of the laws. This ought to be added: that they should carry testimony to their diligence and progress. As it is, many pass the biennium idly in wealthy cities or live luxuriously.
Twenty-fourth. When nominees present their nominations to prelates and seek benefices, they cannot be examined, because the university has already approved them by examining them and conferring a degree. These provisions are for the most part observed; indeed, here at Mainz masters of philosophy are not examined even for orders. Elsewhere, however, the Church examines even doctors of theology, and the Church altogether retains this right and does not depend upon universities. Nor is this safe now, since many academies promote unfit men to degrees; for that this happens is clearer than daylight. I have seen masters of arts and philosophy who knew no difference among the three figures of syllogisms. Nor does Italy cease daily to send us certain doctors with diplomas who can scarcely determine in what faculty they were promoted. Hence many dispute against the privileges of academies. Louis XII indeed punishes with suspension of privileges and another discretionary penalty those academies which promote men unfit in morals, knowledge, and merits. Every effort must therefore be made that academies reform themselves.
Twenty-fifth. In France, parish priests of towns must possess a degree or at least must have studied for three years; I judge that this study must be understood as theology. In Germany many prebends require a mastership or baccalaureate.
Twenty-sixth. If a student has let the revenue of a benefice for three years or a shorter term and dies in the meantime, his successor is bound to hold the lease valid, because it was made in favor of studies and therefore for the utility of the Church.
Twenty-seventh. Greater benefices are owed to learned men, provided that their life corresponds to their learning—and, as morals have now declined, provided that relatives are lacking. For vices have long since suppressed this privilege.
Twenty-eighth. A student who has a vicar is released from reciting the canonical hours if he recites each day the Office of the Blessed Virgin and the seven penitential psalms. So a few canonists hold, but the others and the theologians think otherwise. For cursed is the study through which the divine office is abandoned. It is certain that no one is excused, for the entire office can be completed in almost one hour. How little it is, if from twenty-four hours you spend one upon God and prayer, you who live from the patrimony of the Church! Will one hour, or one and a half spent in prayer, impede you from attaining learning? Do you so flee piety that you seek immunity from that hour? You spend entire days upon games, walks, and spectacles.
Twenty-ninth. Scholars are not bound to reside in their benefices. It has now been most excellently established that they may not be absent without the permission of their prelates and that they must present testimonials of their studies.
Thirtieth. They are bound to pay nothing to the bishop if they do not reside.
Thirty-first. They receive the revenues of benefices as though present. This is not customary in Germany. A definite sum is assigned to them in favor of their studies. They certainly never receive distributions.
Thirty-second. Though absent, they retain the right of option.
Thirty-third. They are never deemed to be absent fraudulently.
Thirty-fourth. If someone studies in a nonprivileged place for the sake of repeating his courses, he retains the privileges of students for six months in France; in Germany no account is taken of private study.
Thirty-fifth. Once entered in the matriculation register, one returning by right of postliminy is bound to pay nothing.
Thirty-sixth. A beneficed cleric who, for the sake of studies, is not ordained within a year can receive a dispensation from the bishop.
Thirty-seventh. The bishop cannot revoke that dispensation without an evident cause.
Thirty-eighth. Money ought not to be received for a dispensation. This, however, is common to all sacred things, which ought to be given without a price.
Thirty-ninth. Dispensation is more readily granted to students and learned men.
Fortieth. Those who possess a degree can, with a dispensation, obtain four benefices. I shall speak of this abuse in Book 6, on the ecclesiastical magistracy.
Forty-first. A pension granted by the bishop for the sake of study is not taken away if an equal benefice is granted, but one which requires residence is, unless the studies have been completed.
Forty-second. The bishop together with the chapter can establish that every canon shall contribute something annually for the support of a poor, able, and diligent student.
Forty-third. Knowledge makes a rich man from a poor one.
Forty-fourth. Hence many serve learned men.
Forty-fifth. Students who have attained knowledge are regarded as noble. Indeed, in Germany they are equated with nobles—in the Imperial Diets at Augsburg in the years 1530 and 1548—and both formerly and now in many kingdoms they are preferred. For virtue is the one and only nobility; knowledge is a nobility lesser than virtue but greater than nobility of lineage.
Forty-sixth. A doctor who answers without present labor deserves a fee, because he has already labored formerly.
Forty-seventh. Poor students who beg, if able-bodied, cannot be compelled to labor, just as nobles cannot.
Forty-eighth. When two men of equal merit are elected—the unlearned choosing one and the university the other—the judgment of the university prevails.
Forty-ninth. The state ought to be entrusted to learned men.
Fiftieth. A learned student is preferred to an unlearned doctor.
Fifty-first. A scholar becomes more learned by teaching.
Fifty-second. A larger dowry is owed to a learned person.
Fifty-third. A father can be compelled to supply the expenses of study to his son. This privilege has so many limitations that I judge it never rightly done—indeed, not to be done.
Fifty-fourth. A parent is bound to give an allowance to a student at the beginning of the month. This privilege too is placed in the parent’s hand.
Fifty-fifth. In the division of an inheritance, a scholar receives the books before the division and is not bound to bring them into the common stock.
Fifty-sixth. Books are not reckoned into the lawful share; in a doubtful case the father is deemed to have given the books.
Fifty-seventh. When students are compelled to bring the books into account, they may retain the books and contribute their assessed value.
Fifty-eighth. A loan given to a son by his father can be reclaimed.
Fifty-ninth. A debt contracted for the sake of studies must be paid from the common property.
Sixtieth. A gift made to a son under paternal power is valid if the son studies.
Sixty-first. Nor can that gift be revoked.
Sixty-second. The father does not possess the usufruct of goods so given.
Sixty-third. A student may revoke a gift made with the intention of departing from study if he does not depart.
Sixty-fourth. A gift made to a student, even if it exceeds five hundred gold pieces, does not require registration.
Sixty-fifth. A student who is the son of a professor retains his origin in his father’s city.
Sixty-sixth. A doctor is bound to support his poor scholar. But this is fitting only when the doctor is rich and the student poor. There are now so many thousands of poor students that scarcely any king could support them.
Sixty-seventh. Doctors can be witnesses for their own students and disciples.
Sixty-eighth. He whom his auditors regard as learned must be deemed learned.
Sixty-ninth. A doctor cannot be rejected as judge in the cause of his own students. Scholars, however, can reject the ordinary judge.
There has been great controversy concerning criminal causes. Students are customarily judged by their own doctors, but in horrendous crimes they are remitted to the magistrate. The slowness and connivance of academicians in punishing offenses has abolished many privileges. Rebuffi says that the Bolognese renounced their privilege; those of Mainz defend their right and, so long as discipline flourishes, will defend it with the state’s applause. For privileges are customarily lost only through offenses.
Seventieth. Students do not summon their doctors to court unless permission has been sought, for no less reverence is owed to them than to fathers.
Seventy-first. Doctors ought not to beat their auditors. A light chastisement, however, is granted to a master of arts and to a teacher.
Seventy-second. An auditor may follow the judgment of a learned, conscientious, and modest doctor even when it is contrary to the common opinion. I understand this, however, only if the doctor judges it true and persuades himself of it by probable reasoning.
Seventy-third. A student summoned by his father may withdraw, even if he has affirmed by oath that he would not withdraw. This is unjust and therefore not a privilege, if the oath was given in a lawful manner and for a lawful cause; and it is an occasion of wrongdoing and fraud, which greatly bring the best arts into disrepute.
Seventy-fourth. One who swears that he will accompany the rector is not always bound to accompany him, provided that he devotes himself to studies at home.
Seventy-fifth. Students disobedient to the rector, even if they are perjurers, are nevertheless not infamous.
Seventy-sixth. Even if they swear that they will not take a degree in some university, they will nevertheless be able to do so if there is a new cause, such as a new examination. I judge that they are bound by the oath.
Seventy-seventh. A father visiting his son at the place of study cannot be sued there concerning other contracts, unless he is bound to the place by another cause.
Seventy-eighth. Much less can he be seized under reprisals, for studies would be greatly impeded.
Seventy-ninth. One who inflicts loss upon the relatives, servants, messengers, or messengers of students is bound to make restitution fourfold.
Eightieth. A mandate in favor of students does not expire upon the death of the mandator. Titus orders his agent to give one hundred gold pieces to Gaius the student; if he dies before the money has been given, his heir is bound to pay it.
Eighty-first. Doctors and students are not bound to execute apostolic rescripts.
Eighty-second. When there are two rescripts of entirely equal force, the presumption is in favor of the student.
Eighty-third. The goods of students ought not to be seized.
Eighty-fourth. An able and learned man can be made a doctor even before the five-year period of studies.
Eighty-fifth. The desire to surpass others in knowledge is not a sin. But this must be properly understood, and it applies to many other things.
Eighty-sixth. A student who is notoriously expert ought not to be examined.
Eighty-seventh. A student can exclude from his examination a doctor who is suspect.
Eighty-eighth. In this matter the student’s oath is accepted.
Eighty-ninth. Doctors ought not to demand a dinner for the beginning of a lecture which students commence.
Ninetieth. A doctor ought to demand nothing from the poor.
Ninety-first. A rescript against a student is not valid unless it mentions that he is a student.
Ninety-second. A rescript granted to a student is not void if he is designated not from his fatherland but from his place of study.
Ninety-third. A change of name is not forbidden to students.
Ninety-fourth. Garments of every kind and color are permitted to students, for they are foreigners. Individual academies, however, are accustomed to prescribe modesty to their own students.
Ninety-fifth. One who has promised that he will write a book for a student is not released if he pays the student’s interest; rather, it is necessary to complete the work itself.
Ninety-sixth. He is bound to write even with his own ink and rubric.
Ninety-seventh. A student may by his own authority seize a scribe who promised that he would write in a certain place, if the scribe deceives him. This privilege has been altogether abolished.
Ninety-eighth. In ecclesiastical territories the emperor is accustomed to legitimize a student.
Ninety-ninth. The disadvantage of a purchased thing does not fall upon a student.
One hundredth. Someone can be compelled to sell a site for enlarging the schools or one suitable for a college.
One hundred first. No one can occupy the places of students.
One hundred second. A student cannot be seized in a school unless he is rebellious toward his doctor.
One hundred third. An injury done to one student is regarded as common to them all.
One hundred fourth. The greatest friendship is contracted through similarity of studies.
One hundred fifth. A judge inquires without an accuser against those who trouble students, for it is sacrilege to attack a student’s house.
One hundred sixth. A student who has suffered injury together with another who is not a student grants his own privilege to his companion, so that both may conduct their case before the conservators of the city.
One hundred seventh. An association of a few students can create a syndic.
One hundred eighth. If a student is killed and the murderer is not apprehended, the ten nearest houses are placed under interdict for five years. If a thing is taken from a student by theft, the neighborhood is liable. But these provisions have never been employed in Germany.
One hundred ninth. A doctor or exceptionally excellent student condemned for a crime ought to be given his life because of his expertise.
One hundred tenth. Neither students nor their servants ought to bear arms in a crowd. Scholars who carry arms every day—a sword and other weapons—are presumed wicked and to possess a malevolent disposition; the gloss on the paragraph If Any Rustic.
One hundred eleventh. If a student unknowingly passes counterfeit money, he is not punished, because he is presumed to know laws rather than money.
One hundred twelfth. If students become rich after a cession of goods, although they are bound to repay their creditors, nevertheless their books ought not to be taken from them.
One hundred thirteenth. Books cannot be taken from him for any cause, not even for execution of a judgment, unless he is unruly.
One hundred fourteenth. Books ought not to be given to another without an express mandate.
One hundred fifteenth. Jews and other purchasers of students’ books cannot retain them until they are reclaimed by their owners.
One hundred sixteenth. A bookseller is bound to produce books to scholars so that a scholar may see whether they are his. Thus defendants are compelled to produce books to the plaintiff in order to establish his claim.
One hundred seventeenth. Although Jews ought not to live with Christians, their children are nevertheless not excluded from Christian schools.
One hundred eighteenth. Students are preferred to the other creditors; indeed, they possess such preference in these matters that the goods of the city are judged mortgaged to professors for their salaries.
One hundred nineteenth. A student who has suffered loss can seek restoration to his original position during his studies.
One hundred twentieth. A student deceived by booksellers immediately possesses an action for rescission.
One hundred twenty-first. A student cannot be sued in an academic place on account of contracts entered into elsewhere.
One hundred twenty-second. Nor even on account of obligations contracted before his studies.
One hundred twenty-third. Indeed, not even on account of offenses committed at another university.
One hundred twenty-fourth. Repentance is also allowed to students, so that a student is not regarded as infamous if he restores what was taken away.
One hundred twenty-fifth. Students enjoy all the privileges of the citizens among whom they reside.
One hundred twenty-sixth. Yet students are citizens of the city in which they reside in such a manner that they experience its advantages, not its disadvantages.
One hundred twenty-seventh. Accordingly, they are not bound to the burdens of the city, even if something has been established concerning this matter contrary to their immunity.
One hundred twenty-eighth. A student can make a testament concerning goods given by his father or by others.
One hundred twenty-ninth. Students are regarded as foreigners, are presumed to be ignorant of the customs of the city, must be defended by everyone, and belong to the forum of the Church.
One hundred thirtieth. If a legacy of books is established, a doctor will possess all the books belonging to his faculties; if he has been promoted in several faculties, he will possess even those of medicine.
One hundred thirty-first. A legacy is owed to a student at the place of the academy, and is not diminished by the expense of conveying it unless the testator has provided otherwise.
One hundred thirty-second. If maintenance is bequeathed to a student, it must be paid in money.
One hundred thirty-third. An uncertain legacy for the sake of study is valid, because it is deemed to be for pious causes; the promise and stipulation are interpreted according to the judgment of good faith.
One hundred thirty-fourth. The Falcidian deduction is not taken from a legacy to students, just as it is not taken from legacies for pious causes.
One hundred thirty-fifth. A legacy made to mendicant religious for the sake of study is valid.
One hundred thirty-sixth. An annual legacy is owed at the beginning of the year.
One hundred thirty-seventh. A legacy left by an informal expression of will, if it has been furnished for three years, is also owed thereafter.
One hundred thirty-eighth. When books are bequeathed to students, money for purchasing them is deemed to have been bequeathed.
One hundred thirty-ninth. Students may confess to the parish priest in whose parish they reside or to others possessing lawful authority.
One hundred fortieth. A student cannot be deprived of his privileges or matriculation unless he has been warned three times.
One hundred forty-first. If someone has been ordered to be matriculated, he is regarded as matriculated for the purpose of undergoing the imposed penalty if he has offended a student.
One hundred forty-second. Even one struck from the matriculation register enjoys the privileges until he is enrolled in another university.
One hundred forty-third. In a city which is under interdict, students can hear lectures, although their doctors too are under interdict.
One hundred forty-fourth. If a student beats a cleric moderately, he can be absolved by the apostolic conservator.
One hundred forty-fifth. What students expend is deemed to be expended for the utility of the Church.
One hundred forty-sixth. They owe no tolls upon the things which they carry with them.
One hundred forty-seventh. If they assert that they are carrying books, credence is given to their oath and that of their messengers.
One hundred forty-eighth. Those who compel students to pay tolls are deprived of all their privileges.
One hundred forty-ninth. Students are immune from levies and public duties.
One hundred fiftieth. They cannot be seized under reprisals.
One hundred fifty-first. A student who is not otherwise proscribed is always safe while going, remaining, and returning.
One hundred fifty-second. A student has as judges the bishop, the civil authority, the rector, and the doctor.
One hundred fifty-third. Even after joinder of issue, he can choose another judge.
One hundred fifty-fourth. When summoned by a judge who is not his own, he is not bound to plead his privilege, because he is notoriously privileged.
One hundred fifty-fifth. In civil and criminal matters he can be a plaintiff without the consent of his father.
One hundred fifty-sixth. Indeed, some extend the privilege concerning a civil action to monks; I judge that this is forbidden by the vows and oaths of religious.
One hundred fifty-seventh. One who draws a student before a foreign tribunal loses his case.
One hundred fifty-eighth. Doctors possess jurisdiction over students by the law of all academies, and in many places those who appeal elsewhere are perjurers.
One hundred fifty-ninth. Even masters of arts are judges in controversies among their fellow students.
One hundred sixtieth. A student sued before his own judge can bring a counterclaim.
One hundred sixty-first. Students may draw their debtors as far as four days’ journeys.
One hundred sixty-second. Students who are plaintiffs do not follow the forum of the defendant. But this is nowhere observed except where there are special conservators who are, as it were, judges of both parties.
One hundred sixty-third. Students may appeal from an interlocutory judgment.
One hundred sixty-fourth. Students may appeal directly to a superior judge without an intermediate judge, because the emperor by special grace offers himself for their defense.
One hundred sixty-fifth. A student loses his privilege when study ceases. If, however, he attends the schools from time to time and studies at home—especially if he is of advanced age—he retains it.
One hundred sixty-sixth. The servants and scribes of students, accessory persons, and even their entire colleges enjoy their privileges.
One hundred sixty-seventh. A student’s servant cannot seek wages unless mention and agreement were made.
One hundred sixty-eighth. Setoff cannot be sought against students, for by this means a student could be reduced to extreme straits.
One hundred sixty-ninth. A student is never deemed to seek academic honors through ambition.
One hundred seventieth. A student can be a witness for his companion and friend, especially in a cause concerning studies.
One hundred seventy-first. A student may be given as surety, but he must renounce his privilege.
One hundred seventy-second. A student who is a surety and is about to depart for study can ask the creditor to substitute another.
One hundred seventy-third. A magistrate who seizes a student offering sureties and does not release him is liable for injury; but this applies in a civil, not a criminal, cause.
One hundred seventy-fourth. Maintenance unduly given to a poor student cannot be reclaimed.
One hundred seventy-fifth. A gift made by a wealthy wife to her student husband is valid.
One hundred seventy-sixth. For a doctor, the time during which he professed before his doctorate counts toward the comitiva which someone obtains by twenty years of teaching.
One hundred seventy-seventh. A father may cede a lawsuit to his student son.
One hundred seventy-eighth. All these privileges are deemed to have been granted to students motu proprio; therefore deceit is presumed absent, especially with respect to those privileges which are in the body of law.
One hundred seventy-ninth. When all privileges are derogated by an edict of the prince, those privileges which are in the body of law are not deemed included, and a special privilege is not derogated by a general law.
One hundred eightieth. Historians, rhetoricians, and grammarians also enjoy these privileges, but not those who teach or learn the first elements of letters, and in no way those who devote themselves to forbidden arts.
The privileges of Mainz likewise extend only to those who devote themselves to studies. “Likewise,” says the founder, “we will that the privileges, concessions, exemptions, and indulgences given and granted as stated above shall be understood only of doctors and masters incorporated into the university and its faculties, and of students who enter, attend, and are enrolled in the matriculation register of the university.”
I wished to collect all these things from a most diligent and most learned jurist, not being ignorant that not all are everywhere employed and that many have been privately granted in other places, but so that they might be ready at hand for readers and all might recognize with what great favor, liberality, and munificence princes, kings, emperors, and above all the Church and the supreme pontiff have pursued professors and pupils of the sciences. His sole care ought to be that learned piety and pious learning be preserved in the Christian world.
There are, however, very many times and occasions on which scholars do not enjoy these privileges. For some privileges, if they do not involve injustice, rightly carry offense to others, and have a just use only among the most just. Next, students have fallen from the right of privileges if a student is a wanderer; if he lives dishonorably; if he neither studies at home nor attends lectures; if he is a disturber of others and of discipline; if he beats, mocks, reviles, or hisses at others; if he is a gambler, bankrupt, or blasphemer; if he is excommunicated; if, being a cleric or monk, he studies without the permission of his superiors; if he refuses to obey the rector; if he devotes his labor to forbidden arts; or if he studies outside privileged schools.
Golden, therefore, is the law of our academy, which adorns golden Mainz. Although expressed in the words of an ancient age, it possesses the sense of true and genuine piety: “We further will and establish that doctors, licentiates, masters, and generally all incorporated into our university who wish to enjoy its privileges shall live honorably and according to the precepts of law and the statutes of our university. First, let them render due honor to the rector; then each to the other according to the preeminence of dignities and degrees. Above all, we require doctors, masters, and graduates to display gravity, constancy, and maturity of mind; in scholars, obedience, chastity, and diligent study; in all, finally, gentle and honorable morals; and, in sum, a life becoming disciplined men. We shall nevertheless punish the rebellious, disturbers of the peace, unruly men, night-wanderers, and all other delinquents whatsoever according to the atrocity of the offense, as follows.”
To this pertains that noble exhortation of the Faculty of Philosophy to its pupils: “May it be happy and auspicious, and indeed for the entire literary state. We intend to publish our sacrosanct laws and statutes to our entire assembly. In this business of promulgation, you, studious cohort, present yourself to us as one who must first be admonished, lest you appear to have assembled for the publication of our statutes with unwashed hands and feet, as the saying goes, or with insufficient reverence. Indeed, we command and desire all comrades of our service to listen with purified ears and minds and to pay attention without yawning. We desire men who are properly well-born, tractable, intent upon the studies of the disciplines, and burning with love of them to be presented to us. But, on the contrary,
we send far away from here the unruly, undisciplined, difficult, and morose, those born under an unfavorable genius and with the Muses and Apollo angry; and by manifest declaration we reject them as unwarlike, slothful, and useless for literary service.”
The most provident care of our ancestors rightly enacted these things. For such great privileges were bestowed upon the study of wisdom, piety, and the liberal arts, and upon the utility of the state—not upon the wickedness, idleness, and luxury of wandering young men.