BACHELOR, a word commonly used to describe a man who has not been married; in various connections it implies subordination or inferiority of rank. It is derived from Med. Lat. baccalarius, with its late and rare variant baccalaris-cf. Ital. baccalare-through O.Fr. baclieler, in the most general sense of the word, a young man. The word, however, as it possesses sev eral widely distinct applications, has passed through many mean ings, and its ultimate origin is still involved in a certain amount of obscurity. It came to be applied to various categories of persons as follows: (I) Ecclesiastics of an inferior grade, e.g., young monks or even recently appointed canons (Severtius, de e pisco pis Lugdunensibus, p. 377, in du Cange) .
Those be longing to the lowest stage of knighthood. Knights bachelors were either poor vassals who could not afford to take the field under their own banner, or knights too young to support the responsi bility and dignity of knights bannerets (see KNIGHTHOOD and CHIVALRY). (3) Those holding the preliminary degree of a uni versity, enabling them to proceed to that of master (magister) which alone entitled them to teach. In this sense the word bac calarius or baccalaureus first appears at the University of Paris in the 13th century, in the system of degrees established under the auspices of Pope Gregory IX., as applied to scholars still in statu pupillari. Thus there were two classes of baccalarii: the baccalarii cursores, i.e., theological candidates passed for admis sion to the divinity course, and the baccalarii dispositi, who, hav ing completed this course, were entitled to proceed to the higher degrees. In modern universities the significance of the degree of bachelor, in relation to the others, varies; e.g., at Oxford and Cam bridge the bachelor can proceed to his mastership by simply re taining his name on the books and paying certain fees; at other universities a further examination is still necessary. But in no case is the bachelor a full member of the university. The degree of bachelor (of arts, etc.) is borne by women also. (4) The younger or inferior members of a trade gild or city company, otherwise known as "yeomen" (now obsolete). (5) Unmarried men, since these presumably have their fortunes yet to make and are not full citizens.
in the sense of un married men, have in many countries been subjected to penal laws. At Sparta, citizens who remained unmarried after a certain age suffered various penalties. They were not allowed to witness the gymnastic exercises of the maidens; and during winter they were compelled to march naked round the marketplace, singing a song composed against themselves and expressing the justice of their punishment. The usual respect of the young to the old was not paid to bachelors (Plut. Lyc.
At Athens there was no definite legislation on this matter; but certain minor laws are evidently dictated by a spirit akin to the Spartan doctrine (see Schomann, Gr. Alterth. i. 548). At Rome, though there appear traces of some earlier legislation in the matter, the first clearly known law is that called the Lex Julia, passed about 18 B.C. It does not appear to have ever come into full operation; and in A.D. 9 it was incorporated with the Lex Papia et Poppaea, the two laws being frequently cited as one, Lex Julia et Papia Poppaea. This law, while restricting marriages between the several classes of the people, laid heavy penalties on unmarried persons, gave certain privileges to those citizens who had several children, and finally imposed lighter penalties on married persons who were childless. Isolated instances of such penalties occur during the middle ages; e.g., by a charter of liberties granted by Matilda I., countess of Nevers, to Auxerre in 1223 an annual tax of five solidi is imposed on any man qui non habet uxorem et est bache larius. In Britain there has been no direct legislation bearing on bachelors; but, occasionally, taxes have been made to bear more heavily on them than on others. Instances of this are the acts of 1695 (6 and 7 Will. III.) which taxed bachelors to pay for the war with France; the income tax of 1798 also differentiated against bachelors. Since 1908 the British income-tax law, by giving special abatements to men of family, has in effect taxed bachelors. (See INcoME TAx.)
This German organization was formed in 185o, for the purpose of publishing a complete critical edition of J. S. Bach's works in celebration of the first centenary of his death, July 28, 1850, and thq 46 volumes which it issued in the course of its 5o years' existence—it was dissolved in 'goo- stand as an enduring evidence of its labours. Among that of several editors the work of W. Rust, a Bach scholar of unsurpassed learning and insight, who was responsible for 14 of the volumes, was especially noteworthy.
