Takács Edit: Petrák-krónika, „meljis Szentes városának a legrégib idöktöl valló történetét … foglalja magában” - Tanulmányok Csongrád megye történetéből 25. (Szentes – Szeged, 1997)
Summary
Summary Summary Widespread social demand of local use of written records appeared at the same time with the reformation in the 161h century. Both the Calvinist and the Lutheran Church emphasized on teaching children. Within certain congregations local schools were formed from the very beginning. The first impulse of the reformation's written culture stopped immediately after the Turkish invasion. The instability of the country's internal situation slowed down the development of educational conditions. After chasing out the Turkish the consolidation after the peace treaty in 1711 that followed the Rákóczi War of Independence, resulted in economic growth and social and cultural increase. These economic changes influenced the farmers just as much as craftsmen. New demands had been emerging and there had appeared new civil features in everyday life such as the demand and knowledge for writing and reading. According to the civil and regional documents written composition spread in the middle of the 18th century. The document first appeared in archives. Civic accounts were maintained continuously from 1720, council minutes from 1740 and also documents belonging to them. Calvinist congregation history (1748), Catholic History Domus (1762) and registration of birth of both Churches were maintained at the same time. Two city historical documents were left to us from the first documents of civil writing. The one - The Szentes Calvinist Congregation History - was started in 1748 by the Calvinist priests - reviewed from 1700. The work remained handwritten in ecclesiastical style, but its writers - the excellent priests - immortalized the most important historical events of the town. Congregation histories were written continuously until 1880. The other work came into being around 1750 known as the Petrák chronicle. Based on the very near origin of these two works and their contents the following question was raised with good reason: who started the Petrák chronicle? Did Ferenc Petrák begin to record the recent past and important events of the town parallel to the period of the ecclesiastical chronicle, or did the writer of the congregation story use Petrák chronicle? Maybe both knew a third, unknown ancient chronicle, that can be found even nowadays. However, the chronicle of Ferenc Petrák became more wide-spread; it was read, copied and completed by generations, later they continued writing events as an almanac till 1927. We can't preclude that the first Petrák Chronicle was made as a syllabus. Suppose that the Churches recognised the convergent forces of the knowledge of the past and started to teach the main local events in the ecclesiastical schools that had been working from the middle of the 18th century in the town, beside teaching the local congregation. From the effect of all these things, the history of the mother country and interest in the past 305
