Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

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lmost all conceivable factors worked against Sárospatak being able to maintain, for centuries, its status as an intellectual centre in rural Hungary. Small, minimally industrialized towns, with no real middle class and denominationally heterogeneous, are generally not able to maintain for nearly half a millennium -and from time to time to even strengthen- their function as a school town. The economic and socio-geographical nature of the town’s environs indicate much the same. Sárospatak, the town, never evolved into a veritably important economic player in the region. Although it is located near the famous Tokaj wine region and lies halfway between Debrecen and Kassa (Kosice), both these larger cities are somewhat difficult to access from the banks of the Bodrog. At the same time, Patak is immediately adjacent to at least two large territories (the Bodrogköz and Hegyköz) which evolved inwards on themselves, thus never shedding their underdeveloped conditions. To the east lay the considerably more prestigious Reformed Church College in Debrecen whose network of “particulas” restricted the extending of Patak’s influence, while towards the north and northeast, the multiple denominations, languages and ethnics -and the many cultural boundaries arising from any combination of these- compartmentalized the neighbouring region and made the extension of influence in that direction impossible.

Yet, when surveying the history of Sárospatak and the Zemplén region, it becomes evident that, despite its difficult periods, the College, and the Teacher Training School it had spawned, shaped the intellectual life not only of the town but of the entire region (and also of Abaúj, Torna, Szabolcs, Szatmár,

Bereg, Borsod and Gömör). Furthermore, Sárospatak was able to attain intellectual achievements of such level from time to time that it brought nationally recognized esteem not only to the denominationally Reformed communities of northeastern Hungary but to the entire region, also.

The College's entrance