Master's degree

===Medieval era to 18th century===
The master's degree dates back to the origin of European universities, with a [[Papal bull]] of 1233 decreeing that anyone admitted to the mastership in the [[University of Toulouse]] should be allowed to teach freely in any other university. The original meaning of the master's degree was thus that someone who had been admitted to the rank (degree) of master (i.e. teacher) in one university should be admitted to the same rank in other universities. This gradually became formalised as the {{Lang|la|licentia docendī}} (licence to teach). Originally, masters and doctors were not distinguished, but by the 15th century it had become customary in the English universities to refer to the teachers in the lower faculties (arts and grammar) as masters and those in the higher faculties as doctors.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages: Volume 1, Salerno, Bologna, Paris|author=Hastings Rashdall|date=1895|pages=1–22|chapter=I|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108018104|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4-eLaN99PEC&pg=PA1|author-link=Hastings Rashdall|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=2 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102034925/https://books.google.com/books?id=E4-eLaN99PEC&pg=PA1|url-status=live}}</ref> Initially, the [[Bachelor of Arts]] (BA) was awarded for the study of the [[trivium]] and the [[Master of Arts]] (MA) for the study of the [[quadrivium]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.academicapparel.com/caps/History-College-Education.html|title=History of Medieval Education, Middle Ages European Learning|website=Academic Apparel|access-date=8 August 2016|archive-date=18 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118200807/https://www.academicapparel.com/caps/History-College-Education.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

From the late [[Middle Ages]] until the 19th century, the pattern of degrees was therefore to have a bachelor's and master's degree in the lower faculties and to have bachelor's and doctorates in the higher faculties. In the United States, the first master's degrees ({{Lang|la|Magister Artium}}, or Master of Arts) were awarded at [[Harvard University]] soon after its foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/commencement-from-1642-onward/|title=Commencements, from 1642 onward|website=Harvard Gazette|date=22 May 2012|author=Corydon Ireland|access-date=8 August 2016|archive-date=27 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160727082339/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/05/commencement-from-1642-onward/|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Scotland]], the pre-Reformation universities (St Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen) developed so that the [[Scottish MA]] became their first degree, while in [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|Oxford, Cambridge and Trinity College Dublin]], the [[Oxbridge MA|MA]] was awarded to BA graduates of a certain standing without further examination from the late 17th century, its main purpose being to confer full membership of the university.<ref>{{cite news|title=Oxbridge masters degrees 'offensive', says Cambridge don|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7771288/Oxbridge-masters-degrees-offensive-says-Cambridge-don.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/7771288/Oxbridge-masters-degrees-offensive-says-Cambridge-don.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|date=27 May 2010|work=Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref> At Harvard the 1700 regulations required that candidates for the master's degree had to pass a public examination,<ref>{{cite web|title=Harvard College Laws of 1700|url=http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/harvard.html|access-date=8 August 2016|publisher=Constitution Society|archive-date=19 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819225249/http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/harvard.html|url-status=live}}</ref> but by 1835 this was awarded [[Oxbridge]]-style three years after the BA.<ref>{{cite book|page=22|title=Revised Code of Laws|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2fgxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA86|work=Report of a Committee of the Overseers of Harvard College|date=6 January 1825|last1=Board Of Overseers|first1=Harvard University|access-date=4 September 2017|archive-date=1 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101064332/https://books.google.com/books?id=2fgxAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA86|url-status=live}}</ref>