Antall József szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 54. (Budapest, 1970)

TANULMÁNYOK - Kubinyi András: The Social and Economic Standing of Persons Concerned with Health Treatment in Buda at the Turn of the 15th and 16th Centuries (angol nyelvű közlemény)

only confirmed by reading the records of the medical faculty of the Viennese University. True, these data are not wholly reliable, as the most popular medical faculties at that age were to be found in Italy, consequently their matriculations should, too, be studied. This latter work has already been done by Endre Veress —not exclusively for the medical faculties — and it cannot be accidental that in the publications of Veress one does not find reference to any student of medicine who is of Hungarian origin [17]. This negative picture drawn by Veress is fully supported by the example of the University of Vienna. Here, where sons of the Buda townsmen studied in the greatest number and most willingly, in the discussed period we know of only one medical student born in Buda: János Ottman in 1521 [18]. Similarly there was only one enrolled student of medicine from the twin city of Pest: Master János Sartoris (i.e. son of taylor) in 1504. [19] So all signs indicate that the sons of the townsmen of Buda and Pest did not strive to get a degree in medicine. Its sole reason could be that the capital did not need a greater number of physicians. (As we have seen, the King and the barons preferred famous foreign doctors, in whom they had more confidence.) Then one should not find it surprising that the few physicians who can be found among the citizens of Buda, are, too, all foreigners. Here we shall try to illuminate the social and economic position of these "civilian" doctors, and drawing a sketch of their careers seems to be the best way to achieve that. Through there is no data left on the medicating activities of the first celebrated physician of Buda, but knowings his past, the existence of such activities can be taken for granted. Dr. Johannes Kellner, also known by the name of Kirchhaimer, received his doctor's degree in the medical sciences in 1449 in Vienna, and he stayed there to teach. He was Dean of the Medical Faculty four times, but curing and teaching was not enough for the ambitious doctor, who had been in conflicts with his professors already as a student, consequently he turned to politics. During the civil war in Vienna in 1402/03, as a leader of the supporters of Archduke Albrecht VI, it was him who arrested the pro-Emperor town council, and he himself became a councillor. But at the end of 1403 Albrecht died and his expelled brother, Emperor Friedrich III. recaptured Vienna, Doctor Kirchhaimer had to flee and moved to Buda, leaving his chair and fortune behind. It was here where he died in 1408 [20]. He must have soon become respected in the Hungarian capital, too, as three of his daughters married distinguished, illustrious burghers of Buda. One of the three Kirchhaimer sons-in-law belonged to the patrician Kronacher family, the other, György Mayr, was a celebrated goldsmith, whose daughther in turn was to marry the noted publisher of Buda, János Pap, while the third was an apothecarian, Engelhart Wild [21]. The person of Wild leads us to another doctor in Buda, also of foreign origin. (We may remark here that Wild's biographer, József Ernyey, mistook his christian name for a surname, and consequently mixed up the data relevant to Wild with those of another apothecarian, whose christian name was Bálint [22]. (But the same Ernyey made a quite probable suggestion (through unsup-