[Footnote 29: The initials S.T.P. (Sanctae Theologiae Professor), so
commonly used for Doctors of Divinity on monuments, are simply a
survival of the old usage according to which, in the Middle Ages,
Doctor, Professor, and Master were synonymous terms for the highest
degree. It was only later that 'professor' came to be especially applied
to a paid teacher in any subject.]

CHAPTER VI

THE PLACES OF THE DEGREE CEREMONY

The University of Oxford confers its degrees in three rooms, the
Sheldonian Theatre, the Divinity School, and the Convocation House; the
choice rests with the Vice-Chancellor, and now that, in the last year or
so, degree-days have been made less frequent, and there are consequently
more candidates on each occasion, the place is often the Sheldonian.
This is a great improvement on old custom, for it is the only one of the
three buildings which was designed for the purpose, and it is also the
only one which gives room for the proper conduct of the ceremony, when
the number of candidates is large.

[Sidenote: The Sheldonian.]

The Sheldonian, therefore, commonly known in Oxford as 'The Theatre',
will be spoken of first, although it is the last in date of
construction. It is a memorial at once of the munificence of one of the
greatest among Oxford's many episcopal benefactors, and also of the
architectural skill of her most eminent architect, Sir Christopher Wren.
Down to the time of the Civil War, the ceremony of the 'Act' (cf. p. 27
seq.) at which degrees were conferred, had taken place in St. Mary's;
but the influence of the Puritans was beginning to affect all parties,
and was causing the growth of a feeling that religious buildings should
not be used for secular purposes. John Evelyn, who gives us our fullest
account of the opening ceremony at the Sheldonian, notes that it might
be thought 'indecent' that the Act should be held in a 'building set
apart for the immediate worship of God'[30], and this was 'the
inducement for building this noble pile'. Wren had shown his design to
the Royal Society in 1663, and it had been much commended; he was only a
little more than thirty years of age, and it was his first public
building, but he was already known as that 'miracle of a youth' and that
'prodigious young scholar', and he fully justified the Archbishop's
confidence in him. So great was this that Sheldon told Evelyn that he
had never seen the building and that he never intended to do so. Wren