. Our
Englishman and his socii go together to the Cathedral, where he states
a thesis and defends it against the attacks of other licentiates. His
own doctor, known in Bologna (and elsewhere) as the Promoter, (p. 032)
presents him to the Chancellor, who confers upon him the _jus ubique
docendi_. He is then seated in a master's chair, and the Promotor
gives him an open book and a gold ring and (in the terminology of a
modern Scottish University) "caps" him with the biretta. He is
dismissed with a benediction and the kiss of peace, and is conducted
through the town, in triumphal procession, by his friends, to whom he
gives a feast.

The feast adds very considerably to the expenses of the doctorate, for
which fees are, of course, exacted by the authorities of the
University, the College of Doctors, and the Archdeacon. A considerable
proportion of the disciplinary regulations, made by the
student-universities, aimed at restricting the expenditure on feasting
at the inception of a new doctor and on other occasions. When our
young English Doctorand received the permission of his Rector to
proceed to his degree, he was made to promise not to exceed the proper
expenditure on fees and feasts, and he was expressly forbidden to
organise a tournament. The spending of money on extravagant costume
was also prohibited by the statutes of the University, which forbade a
student to purchase, either directly or through an agent, any costume
other than the ordinary black garment, or any outer covering other
than the black cappa or gabard. Other disciplinary restrictions at (p. 033)
Bologna dealt with quarrelling and gambling. The debates of
Congregation were not to be liable to interruption by one student
stabbing his opponent in Italian fashion, and no one was allowed to
carry arms to a meeting of Congregation; if a student had reason to
apprehend personal violence from another, the Rector could give him a
dispensation from the necessity of attendance. Gaming and borrowing
from unauthorised money-lenders were strictly forbidden; to enter a
gaming-house, or to keep one, or to watch a game of dice was strictly
forbidden. The University of Arts and Medicine granted a dispensation
for three days at Christmas, and a Rector might use his own discretion
in the matter. The penalties were fines, and for contumacy or grave
offences, suspension or expulsion.

There are indications that the conduct of the doctors in these
respects was not abo