Dean academy, Franklin, Mass., $350,000. Belief funds, in aid of aged and needy clergymen and their families, amount to $47,000. The ecclesiastical government of the denomination is representative and congregational, the United States convention being the final court of appeal in all cases of fellowship and discipline.—See Ballou's “Ancient Universalism” (edition of 1872), Whittemore's “Modern Universalism” (1880), Thayer's “Theology of Universalism,” &c.
UNIVERSITY (Lat. universitas), a corporation, consisting of the teachers or students, or teachers and students, of an educational institution, empowered to confer degrees in one or more faculties. The word universitas denoted primarily an aggregate of persons or things; in its secondary sense it was used to designate a society or corporation, but without necessarily any reference to education. Thus there were in Rome universities of priests, musicians, bakers, &c. In the beginning of the middle ages institutions of learning were called schola, studium, or studium generale, and afterward universitas magistrorum, doctorum, or scholarium. The university of Paris was a corporation of teachers, that of Bologna of students, while Salamanca partook of both characteristics. The remainder of the Italian and nearly all of the French universities were also associations of students, but the English and German universities were modelled after that of Paris.—The modern university, which had no exact counterpart in the ancient academies, had its origin in the schools which grew up around the monasteries and cathedrals of Europe. These began about the 6th century, and took the place of the Roman imperial schools which had fallen with the irruptions of the barbarians, but previous to the reign of Charlemagne they were of little importance. That emperor called around him learned men from all countries, and established cathedral and conventual schools in his principal cities; under his successors these became centres of learning, in which was taught all the erudition of the age. The fame of some successful teacher in any of these schools attracted thither other lecturers and many students, who in time formed unions or associations for mutual benefit, and thus laid the foundations of the universities. The oldest of these, the university of Paris, owed its early celebrity to the teachings of William of Champeaux, who taught logic in Paris in 1109, and of Abélard, his pupil and rival. Peter Lombard, a student of Bologna and afterward of Paris, taught theology there in the same century, and added to its reputation; and it is said that its students in 1150 exceeded the citizens in number. These were connected with many different schools, some of which were appendages of the churches and monasteries in and around Paris, and some private schools gathered around noted lecturers. Toward the end of the 12th century all were formed into a corporate body by Philip Augustus, but it does not appear that the term university was applied to it before the beginning of the 13th century. It is probable that it had formed several organizations previous to this consolidation; for the students of the arts and sciences were divided as early as 1169 into four provinces or nations: the French nation, including, besides French, natives of Spain, Italy, and Greece; the Picard, students from N. E. France and the Netherlands; the Norman, those from W. France; and the English (called German after 1430), those from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Germany. Each nation was governed by a procurator. The university comprised at first but two faculties, that of arts and sciences, and that of theology; law and medicine were added in the 13th century. Each faculty, excepting that of arts and sciences, had at its head a dean, and the three deans and the four procurators constituted a council, in which, under the presidency of the rector, who was elective, was vested the government of the university. The power of conferring degrees belonged to the chancellor alone. There were two chancellors, one appointed by the bishop of Paris, and one by the abbot of Ste. Geneviève, in whose lands were situated a part of the university buildings; the former, who took precedence, was chancellor of the three higher faculties, the latter of the faculty of arts. Academic degrees were conferred as early as the middle of the 12th century, and probably before, but their origin is unknown. At first the degree of master was synonymous with that of doctor, and was conferred on those who were competent to teach; but afterward the former was confined to those who taught the arts, and the latter to those who gave instruction in theology, law, or medicine. Bachelors were those who had passed through the curriculum of study, which required three and a half years; after a second equal period of study and the passing of the requisite examinations, they became masters and were qualified to teach the seven liberal arts within the limits of the university. Pope Nicholas I. gave the university the power of endowing its graduates with the privilege of teaching everywhere. For the doctor's degree in divinity nine years' additional study was required. As many of the thousands of students who annually flocked to Paris were poor, colleges were early established by individuals and by religious orders, where at first free board and lodging only were dispensed; but many of them finally became places of instruction also. Toward the close of the 15th century there were 18 large colleges belonging to the faculty of arts, and 80 smaller ones. At this time nearly all students belonged to some of the colleges. Those who were unattached to any were called martinets. (See College.) The university of Paris was endowed with extraordinary privileges, and was so powerful that it sometimes resisted even the royal authority. It did not acknowledge the jurisdiction of ordinary judges, but
