medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
My guess (not having seen Duffy's reference) is that a 'non-graduate priest' would someone who has received ordination, but has not earned any sort of university degree (either because he never attended, or never completed a program of study).
'Magister' is the appropriate title for anyone who has earned either a degree in arts or any of the higher faculties. Hence 'master of arts' or 'master of theology'. The bachelor's degree was immediately followed by a mandatory regency in the classroom, which is what 'magister' signifies, and skipping the regency was fairly hard to do. Some Dominicans obtained a royal grace that allowed them to skip regency, but these so-called 'wax doctors' still got to style themselves 'magister'. So it would be a fairly odd duck who was out of the university and had only his bachelor of arts.
'Doctor' is an information title simply meaning 'learned' at this point, and could be applied to almost anyone who had some university education. I would not translate 'magister' as 'doctor', at least not in a medieval context.
Andrew E. Larsen
On Jun 9, 2011, at 6:57 AM, John Briggs wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Sir Topaz, the Curate, in "Twelfth Night". Similarly, nuns being styled "Dame" - still the case, of course. Duffy's reference to "Non-graduate priests" is slightly mysterious. He is presumably thinking of the title "dominus" being used by the holder of a bachelor's degree (still the case in some quarters, I believe) with th holders of a higher degree being styled magister, doctor or professor as appropriate (the last three originally being synonymous, of course.)
>
> John Briggs
>
> On 09/06/2011 09:39, Cate Gunn wrote:
>>
>> In The Voice of Morebath, an account by Eamonn Duffy of the history of a
>> Devon village through the Reformation, the vicar (who kept the detailed
>> parish accounts on which the book is based) was Sir Christopher Trychay.
>> Duffy comments, 'Despite the title, he was not of course a knight.
>> Non-graduate priests were conventionally given the honorific 'Sir' or,
>> in Latin, 'Dominus', though this was a form of respect which by the
>> sixteenth century could sometimes carry undertones of irony' (p. 14).
>
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