Antall József szerk.: Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 5. (Budapest, 1972)
The Life of Ignác Semmelweis (1818-1865)
formed the School of Pest, the beginnings of which go back to the Reform period preceding the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence. Their circle extended and included such members as Lajos Arányi, János Wägñer , János Bókaÿ, István Sass, Ignác Hirschler, János Czermák, Jenő Jendrassik, Kálmán Balogh and among the very first - Ignác Semmelweis. BIRTHPLACE AND YEARS OF STUDY Ignác Semmelweis was born on July ist 1818, in the above described house built in the style of the age of Louis XVI, which is the seat of the Semmelweis Medical Historical Museum. The Semmelweis family did not belong to the ancient families of Buda. The history of the family can be traced back to the middle of the 16th century in historical Hungary on the basis of the occurence of the family name. They lived in small villages in what was called Western Hungary, which became part of Austria after World War I and was given the name Burgenland. They can be traced in Márczfalva (Marz), Szikra (Sieggraben), Kabold (Kobersdorf), Felsőpéterfa (Oberbetersdorf) and in Kismarton (Eisenstadt), today all in Austria. They - like Hyrtl or Ferenc Liszt originated from a distinct group of Germans called Hin z (German : Haenzen, Hungarian : hienc), quite different from the rest of the Germanspeaking population of Hungary. According to certain views, the Hin z is believed to be descendent of Cĥarle magne's Franks settled here previous to the Hungarian Conquest. József Semmelweis, (1778-1846) the father of Ignác Semmelweis was born at Kismarton. He moved to Buda and was granted citizen-rights in 1806. In the same year he opened his grocery store "To the White Elephant" in the Meinđ house in Tabán (seat of the Museum). His store had been run there for 17 years (between 1806 and 1823), and he rented there also a flat for himself and later for his family. He must have been a prosperous man, because in 1810 he married Terézia Müller, daughter of the famous coach-wright, Fülöp Müller. Their financial affluence is well demonstrated by the number of the houses (four) they owned. They moved into one of them which stood on the opposite side of the street, together with their shop. They had ten children, including a stillborn one. All the boys attended schools. At the age of 11, Ignác Semmelweis, having concluded his elementary schooling, attended the Royal Catholic University Gymnasium up in the Castle Hill, situated next to the Michael Tower on Hess András Square. Later the school was handed over to the Piarist order and so he attended the two last forms (forms V and VI) at a time when the Piarists had taken over the school. His final school certificate marks him as eminent, achieving the distinction of second best among sixty students but "competing with the best" (Fig.93.).
