University and King's College. By the Bull of Erection of the University in 1494, the Bishop of Aberdeen was constituted Chancellor; and a Rector is mentioned, although the mode of election to that office is not prescribed. After the abolition of Episcopacy, the Chancellor, who was henceforth a layman, was chosen for life by the Principal and Masters; the Rector sometimes taking part in the election. The Officials of the College of St. Mary (in Nativitate), more commonly known as "The King's College," founded by Bishop Elphinstone, in 1505, with a view to the work of instruction in the newly erected University, were the Principal, who was also Doctor or Professor of Theology; a Doctor or Professor in each of the Faculties of Canon Law, Civil Law, and Medicine; a SubPrincipal or Chief-Regent, a Humanist, and three out of six Masters of Arts, Students of Theology on the Foundation, selected by the Principal and Sub-Principal to act with the latter as Regents in Arts. The three Regencies, which at first were held by the incumbents only for. the time (six years) necessary to enable them to graduate in Theology, soon came to be regarded as permanent appointments. According to the mode then general in Academic teaching, each Regent (the Sub-Principal included) conducted the studies of a class in all the branches of the Curriculum in Arts during the three and a half years from its entrance to its laureation. Towards the end of the Sixteenth Century, the assent of the Scots Parliament was given to a Nova Fundatio confining the teachers each to a separate department, as at present. It is not clear how far this alteration ever came at that period into active operation. The older system of continuous instruction under a Regent was undoubtedly again in force in 1641, when the King's College of Old Aberdeen was united, by Royal Charter, with the more recently-founded Marischal College of Aberdeen, under the title of King Charles' University. The Act of Parliament ratifying this union of the Colleges fell, by its date, under the General Act Rescissory, passed after the Restoration, and so became a dead letter. After the foundation, in 1620, of a distinct Professorship of Divinity, the Principal of the King's College, although still the head of the Theological Faculty, ceased to give stated prelections in Theology. By the Universities Act of 1858, the office of Principal in the united University was made tenable by Laymen, and the Principal, as such, has ceased, in terms of that Act, “to be or be deemed a Professor of Divinity". The office of the Canonist, which had become merely titular after the Reformation, ceased to exist in the 17th century. The Civilist became, in 1860, Professor of Law in the University of Aberdeen. The duties of the Doctor or Professor of Medicine (Mediciner), originally intended to embrace instruction in all the branches of Medical Education, were in 1839 restricted to the teaching of Chemistry. In its original form, this Chair constitutes the most ancient foundation for Instruction in Medicine in Great Britain. In 1700, in accordance with an Act of a Royal Commission for the Visitation of the Scottish Universities, the special duty and designation of Professor of Greek were assigned to one of the Regents, and a century later the functions and title of Professors of Moral Philosophy, of Natural Philosophy, and of Mathematics, were respectively allotted to the other three Regents. One of the four Regent-Professors was styled Sub-Principal until 1860, when the office was abolished. The Professorship of Oriental Languages was founded in 1673. In 1703, and again in 1732, the College appointed persons to be Professors of Mathematics, but the attempt to establish the office as a separate chair failed, through want of endowment. In 1800, one of the Regents was appointed Professor in this department. *Further details as to the officials will be found in the New Spalding Club's Officers and Graduates of King's College, 1893. + Previously Regent, Glasgow University. Ballenden was deposed by the Glasgow Assembly of 1638, and died in 1642. § Chancellor of King Charles' University of 1641. Afterwards third Duke of Argyll. Declined at first to accept the office, but bore the title till his death in 1761. ¶ Declined. ** Afterwards sixth Earl of Findlater. + In the following year Rector of the University of St. Andrews. Author of the "Irenicum," and one of the famous group of "Aberdeen Doctors" mentioned by Clarendon, in the time of the Covenant. §§ Another of the "Aberdeen Doctors". Medicus Regius, and, next to Buchanan, the greatest Latin poet of Scotland. * Principal from 1640. In 1642-3 is styled "Rector of King Charles' Univer sity". Re-elected by the Graduates. + Elected Chancellor in 1827. § Afterwards Lord Justice General. || Historian. Previously Professor in the College de Montaigue, Paris. Afterwards Bishop of Ross, and Secretary to Queen Mary. § Afterwards Principal of Marischal College. Afterwards Professor of the Practice of Medicine, Edinburgh University. ¶ Afterwards Professor of Chemistry, Edinburgh University. ** This Office ceased at time of Union of the Colleges in 1860. ++ Previously Professor of Hebrew, St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. Afterwards Principal of Edinburgh University. §§ Afterwards Regent, Edinburgh University. |