Regent master (''Magister regens'') was a title conferred in the medieval universities upon a student who had acquired a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

. The degree meant simply the right to teach, the ''Licentia docendi'', a right which could be granted, in the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, only by the Chancellor of the Cathedral of Notre Dame, or the Chancellor of St. Geneviève. According to the Third Council of Lateran, held in 1179, this Licentia docendi had to be granted gratuitously, and to all duly qualified applicants.''Catholic Encyclopedia'' If the new member stayed in the university and continued to take an active part in its teaching, he was called a ''magister regens'', a practising teacher. If he were to look for another career, however, he would become ''non regens'': a passive member of the corporation of masters, without losing his affiliation to it, which usually lasted for life. An example of regent master was William Vorilong, French philosopher of the Middle Ages.

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References

* ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' * Olaf Pedersen, Richard North, ''The First Universities'', Cambridge University Press, 1997 History of education Master's degrees Lateran councils University of Paris {{cultural-hist-stub