Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY - Turtur gemens - the College in exile (1672 - 1703)
In 1686, the coalition of European Christian troops managed to free the capital city of Buda of the Turkish occupational forces. From hereon, liberating the country from Turkish occupation continued successfully but, not only did it leave great destruction in its wake, it also allowed the Habsburg empire to reaffirm its strength in the region and thus lent new momentum to the Catholic-driven counter-Reformation. Its unfortunate consequences became visible in Patak as well. On 24 April 1687, city authorities forcefully took possession of the church and the College and handed them to the Jesuits. Csécsi and his students escaped to Gönc where there was a well-established secondary school. Neither the school nor the townsfolk of Gönc were opposed to welcoming the ‘immigrants’ and willingly offered their support. Here Csécsi taught theology (dogmatics and ethics), Greek, Hebrew, history, logic and metaphysics, that is, basically everything that had been taught in Patak by three different teachers. Teaching all of these subjects was only possible because he taught certain subjects only in one semester during the year and there were other subjects which were taught only every other year. Children from noble families began to enroll once again, in fact, they even dined at Csécsi’s house. He taught them theology (this most likely meant Catechism and its explications), logic, history and politics. But life for the school was not without interruptions in Gönc, either. The city became a pledged property of the Jesuits in 1693 and from then onwards students were constantly harassed and finally chased away. For a Reformed-faith market town it was everyday practice that students who breached the law or the regulations of the school were disciplined and punished by the school. When Csécsi and the pastors in Gönc tried to discipline a student, the Jesuits claimed that they were interfering with the rights of the lord of the land and as such, they must leave Gönc; they even revoked the Reformed-faith believers’ rights to religious freedom. Csécsi was invited to the position of pastor in Miskolc at that time but, not wanting to leave his students, he declined, and, instead, with his students went to Kassa. At first, they found housing in the pleasant Reformed Church school building György Rákóczi I had had built but the Jesuits chased them away soon enough. They were then allowed to settle down in the outskirts, but even there the German captain of the city and the Catholic city administrators harassed them on a regular basis. In the midst of this, in addition to the above-mentioned subjects, Csécsi launched into teaching a new subject: Hungarian grammar. The number of students increased gradually and new students arrived from Gyulafehérvár as well. There was an attempt in 1699 to invite a second teacher, but the invited István Pósaházi, who had just returned from his studies at Western universities, declined the offer. The school in Kassa was supported, for the most part, by the middle noble class of Up- per-Hungary. In 1698, they could offer three hundred forints in cash and twenty köböl (approximately 1,280 litres) of grain in the way of a teacher’s salary. There are many indications 51 JOHANNIS TSÉTSI Ilk fir is Sebőké Sáros-Patak: Red: in eaqve S. S. TMcgun & Pbütjópbüa Profeßtris OBSERVATIONES ORTHOGRAPHIC OGRAMMATKi, De refla HUNGAR1CE Scribendi & Loquendi radoné, Ptfl obitum AuCltris primum Fditse i JOHANNE BREWER Tvpoc«. J.auTSCHOvi® Anno 170g, Ja .«6 CiBiNii Anno Mdcclxviu Csécsi’s Grammar (1708) In my great vineyards in Zemplén County from Tokaj and Tarczal, one tenth of my wine and one tenth of all my grain in that region should go to the College in Gönc. And if the College returns to its rightful place in Sárospatak by God’s grace (since with God everything is possible), these donations should go to Patak every year, forever. Similarly, in noble Bereg County, one tenth of the grain from my lands in Vásárosnamény should also go to the College.
