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Archiver > OLD-ENGLISH > 2007-04 > 1175589181


From: "Tompkins, M.L.L." <>
Subject: Re: [OEL] Magister
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 09:33:01 +0100
In-Reply-To: <000a01c77572$53670350$22d34454@lynhome>


<<I've lost the start of this, so sorry if this is not a sensible
suggestion, but if we are talking before the mid 16th century Magister =
Master means a cleric who is a graduate, the ones who weren't graduates
being, just to confuse everyone, given the honorif Sir. So the Magister
bears no relation to what sort of degree it was. >>


Strictly speaking only graduates who stayed on at university for the
extra three or so years necessary to do an MA were called Magister -
dominus (sir) applied to those who had only a graduate degree as well as
those with no degree at all. As I understand it the MA was an arts
degree only - study in medecine, theology, law, music resulted in
different degrees.

Magisters were not common - in the late medieval period only about a
third of those who started at university completed even a BA, and only a
sixth went on to complete an MA, while nearly 90% of priests presented
to livings in the diocese of Lincoln in the early 16th century had no
degree at all.

To go back to the original query, although it strikes me as rather odd
for a testator to refer to his eldest son by so formal a description as
'Master Freeman of Cambridge', that does seem to be the most likely
explanation of the abreviation Ms in the will in question.

Matt Tompkins

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