Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY - Briefly on Sárospatak
FLOURISHING AND SCATTERING THE REFORMED CHURCH COLLEGE IN THE 17TH CENTURY BRIEFLY ON SÁROSPATAK T he 17th century brought extreme hardship for the people who lived in a country separated into three parts. Wars followed one after the other; arms were seldom at rest. In 1618, a pan-European war erupted (Thirty Years War). The princes of Transylvanian were repeatedly involved and, as a result, the region of Upper-Hungary became a war zone. During the last third of the century, the war of independence of the feudal-nobility and the exiles’ movement both affected this region greatly. Later, the war of liberation against the Turks caused widespread devastation. It is not irrelevant to our subject that the strengthening of Habsburg absolutism was linked with more open and more violent acts targeting Protestants. The times did not favor the safe haven of muses, as the school was often referred to in that time. The patron Ferenc Dobó died in 1602. The Protestant nobleman’s will and final testament affirmed the previously acquired resources of the College, and clearly stated that “no other religious order can he used anywhere under my protection, but the Christian religion that I followed”. By this time Sárospatak was already the centre for Reformed teaching in Upper-Hungary although its position became uncertain. Agents of the Habsburg government virtually looted the castle. The decade-long war against the Turks was about to come to an end. Counter-Reformation efforts relied heavily on German troops which were stationed in Upper-Hungary and were supported by the emperor. Bishop Ferenc Forgách from Nyitra wrote in 1603 that “Patak is the nest of heresy in the Upper-Hungarian region and the synagogue of the devil in Patak should be destroyed”. The following year, after the evangelical church building in Kassa was taken back by force, István Szuhay, the bishop of Eger suggested to Archduke Mátyás that “the Calvinist Seminary in Patak was founded from the income of Catholic monastery estates” and, as such, should be seized and a Catholic College should be established in its stead. The attempts of the counter-Reformation forces proved unsuccessful for now due to the armed resistance mounted by István Bocskai. The victorious Protestant Orders wanted to develop the school into a fully functional College in 1606.
