Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)

FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY - The educational reform in 1629 and its consequences

THE REFORMED CHURCH COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

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benefits in question translated into small apartments in stone houses for the children of nobles. Fourteen such kamora were built between 1637 and 1638 and the dormitory was expanded to accommodate forty new beds. Nonetheless, they were expected to pay for their meals, something which became a major point of contention. This issue was the source of recurring problems for years despite the attempts of the church county’s leadership to resolve it: “if the meat is served with sides (cabbage, peas, lentils, porridge) the praebitor cannot buy more meat than twenty-five dinars’ worth. If there are no sides, he is to purchase fifty dinars’ worth of meat. As for giving out wine, the senior and praebitor should give priority to the interests of their master and not of the students, exactly as it is noted in the regulations: the contents of every tenth barrel is to be given out by measure; if four of forty have already been distributed, then dare he not give out any more”. Another source of tension was that - according to some noble parents - students of the commoners stratum in the upper classes were asking for too much money to be hired as private tutors. Despite the problems and complaints, more and more children of noble extract chose to study at the College. Between 1629 and 1639, two hundred three such students signed the contract; the number of commoners, that is, the rest of the students, numbered two hundred fifty in this period. A comment found in the records of a church visitation touched on this: “the students of the noble class have increased in numbers, there are not enough kamoras”.

But György Rákóczi’s joy could not be complete; the more difficult issue needing to be resolved was the erosion of the quality of instruction. His concerns were shared by the leadership of the church county. They found that two out of the three teachers were unreliable. Rákóczi’s stewards reported to the prince that the teachers tend to be hostile, especially towards the students of the noble order. The prince had hired János Erdőbényei Deák specifically to teach the noble children, a man who earlier had been a private tutor of the prince’s own children and whose university studies had been financed by the prince. Erdőbényei, however, was not particularly fond of this task, deeming it problematic to separate nobles and commoners in education. He also found it onerous that the noble youth came to his classes already pre-conditioned by their previous private tutors and thus limiting the effective use of his own methods to attain his goals. To

the prince he suggested the restructuring of the school, that the practice of separating the nobles from the commoners should come to an end and a unified system of education be created. Rákóczi rejected his suggestion but time proved Erdőbényei right and, in 1648, the structure was changed according to his suggestions.

It is certain that the conditions were less

Since the College in Patak has three regular teachers - thanks to the gracious donation of the prince - and in order to solve any problems and establish order between students and teachers, the students also must be divided in three categories: one category is for Latin and Greek, the second is for rhetoric, poetics and logic and the third one is for theology and philosophy, to which Hebrew can be added easily enough as it accords well with the theological disciplines. Each group should have its own study group much as in the past; furthermore, every study group in every class and everyone in every subject must practice on their own and with the teacher ofthat subject. Nobles and commoners are to be accepted in any given class, especially to classes in philosophy and theology, without differentiation if they are deemed to be competent,. As for the public debates, nobles are not only allowed to participate, but, by absolute mandate, they are required to participate.

A list of students from the noble classes