Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY - Tension and disruptions in the school - student unrest
THE REFORMED CHURCH COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY 44 Pósaházi often waged disputes with the Jesuits authors was indicative of how well the author had done his background research and how very well-versed he was in his subject matter. On the basis of his work, it becomes very clear that, in addition to languages and appropriate theological preparation, scientific subjects were also important to the curriculum. It was by taking Philosophia Naturalis in hand that the matter of space, place and time were discussed as well as movements and matter, atoms and world views. Students could audit lectures on the physical senses, blood circulation or the role of nerves in muscles. Pósaházi was a productive author, having published close to thirty books between 1653 and 1685. His massive book Igazság istápja (The pillar of truth) discusses Reformed theology and points out in over seven hundred pages of great detail how it can be defended in the face of attacks from the Roman Catholic side. In the foreword of the book, Pósaházi writes that, after the death of “the godly ethical” Menyhért Baczoni Baló, who had “towering stature in the field of Scriptural knowledge”, he was the one who began to teach the Cathechism and its explications at the school. From this issued his observation that “how very useful it would be for the youth of the school to study the catechism in their mother tongue”, and for this reason, among others, was why he wrote his books in Hungarian instead of in Latin. This sheds light on the fact that there existed a body of subject matter at the College in Patak - other than the subjects at the initial elementary level - which was taught in Hungarian. Although many teachers in Patak - especially Pósaházi - spent countless hours and much energy in disputations pertaining to faith, they still all managed to find time to further develop the school and increase its standards. To be a better judge of this positive evolution, it must be observed that in the post-Comenius era, that is, between 1655 and 1672, sixty-seven Hungarian students attended the University in Franeker in the Netherlands. Thirty-six of them were graduates of the school in Patak. The College’s influence on the intellectual life in Hungary became immeasurable. Several hundred congregations had pastors who were former students of Patak. Between 1615 and 1671, eight hundred fifty-five former students were appointed as rectors in well-established market town schools with good standards of education, thus taking with them the influences which had formed them in Patak. Slightly more than seventy percent of them became teachers in Upper-Hungary, in what counted as the Patak school’s hinterland. Others found similar teaching positions anywhere from Transylvania to the Transdanubian region. Many found jobs as city clerks or other financial positions and were able to put their knowledge and skills acquired in Patak into practice. TENSION AND DISRUPTIONS IN THE SCHOOL- STUDENT UNREST The term ‘student insurrection’ does not refer to disciplinary infractions. School life has always been replete with this given that the youth - juventus ventus - have always been prone to pushing the envelope in seeking a less constricting framework. Insurrection and rebellion in the context at hand means that the youth stood up in the face of local prejudice or when their rights for freedom were restricted, all the while consistently and fully accepting the potential con-
