Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. Az István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 22. 1982-1983 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (1985)
Die Anjovinen in Mitteleuropa - Sándor Mária: Recent contributions concerning the site of medieval Pécs University. p. 7–9.
DIE ANJOVINEN IN MITTEL-EUROPA Alba Regia, XXII, 1985 M. G. SÁNDOR RECENT CONTRIBUTIONS CONCERNING THE SITE OF MEDIEVAL PÉCS UNIVERSITY The first universities of Middle Europe were founded at the middle of the 14th century — first in Prague, 1348, then — hardly one and a half decade later — in Krakow, 1364. It was Wien that followed one year later in 1365, and in 1367 Louis the Great founded the first Hungarian university in Pécs. There are several excellent scholars who have already examined the problems of the foundation and history of Pécs University. At the beginning of the century the academic inaugural of Rémig Békefi dealt with the history of Pécs University. Then, after a long pause, the history of the University and the question of its foundation got into the focus of investigation on the occasion of the 600th anniversary. Newer treatises were published by excellent historians on that occasion, concerning the significance of Pécs University and its role in Hungarian humanism. I do not intend here to review those treatises, but the questions raised dealing with the building of Pécs University and the determination of its position are worth quoting. As there is no medieval documentary material still extant concerning the site of the university, investigation is reduced to induction and foreign parallels. In addition to these it is the 17th century description of the Turkish traveller Evlia Tchelebi which helps the scholars tackling this problem. Evlia Tchelebi, who had visited Pécs in 1663, wrote as follows: ".. .after the description of the cathedral transformed into a djami by the Sultan Suliman...", "In a circle around it there is a medrese (high school). .. But now all its cells are occupied by the castle guard, because, according to the measures of Khan Suliman, it has a commander and one hundred and fifty soldiers of its own. .." Then describing the schools of Pécs he continues: "Among others there is the old scholarly high school of the divine Eflatun (Piaton) in the inner castle which has seventy palatial rooms with princely vaults. Each has an arrangement elaborated according to different kinds of architecture. .. Students from the east and west had come to live here earlier and seeing all the strange and wonderful knowledge of their masters went on completing these studies. .. but now the castle-guard is living in those rooms having fun with the inhabitants. .." It was already Remig Békefi who came to the conclusion on the basis of Tchelebi's work, that the building of the university had been situated in the inner castle, near the cathedral. He fortifies this supposition also by emphasizing the role of William, bishop of Pécs, in the foundation and allowance of the university. György Székely, one of the following investigators, accepts as a decisive proof Tchelebi's information, namely that the university was standing in the inner castle. He draws a parallel between this statement and the situation of Krakow University in the Wawel, based on the reasoning that there the king, as a founder and maintainer, had given a place to the university first in the castle. The situation may have been the same in the case of Pécs University and the maintainer, the bishop William, who placed the university within the territory of the castle. Ottó Szőnyi explains the statement of Tchelebi according to the idea that it refers to the capitural school and not to the University. In this case we must add that the building of the University, situated in the castle, gave place to the "scola maior" after the dissolution of the University and in the later centuries, because the termination of university education does not consequently mean the destruction of the building serving the purposes of the university at the same time. The difference between the University and the "scola maior" is not in contradiction with the continuity of the university building. Ede Petrovich considers the "scola maior" as the survival of the University. A recent investigator of this question is Tibor Klaniczay, who deals in more detail with the question of the site of the university in his study. Examining this problem he gets to the conclusion through the analysis of Evia 7
