Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
Dénes Dienes: THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY - Sárospatak in brief
THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY 8 Szálkái Codex, Music Theory Book its considerable income, Dominican and Franciscan monasteries functioned in cooperation with certain churches. The Clarisse nuns had a convent and a community home and the Holy Spirit Chapel was built for the gracious noblewomen (“Beguine”) members of the Franciscan Third Order. On the basis of the archival sources pertaining to schooling, it can be ascertained that the standard of education was high and thus attracted students from distant places. László Szálkái, born in Mátészalka, later Archbishop of Esztergom (1524-1526), studied in Patak under the directorship of Professor János Kisvár- dai between 1489 and 1490. A collection of his student notebooks was preserved (Szalkai-code) and it proves that it was entirely possible to achieve a significant level of literacy in the school. It may be concluded from Szalkai’s student notes that the curriculum included topics and questions which are characteristically found in the disciplines of astronomy, medicine, classical verse, family law, rhetoric and music theory. Using the codex as source, a fragment from a description of spring is here quoted: „The weather is brilliant to the highest skies, there is sparkle in the air, a gentle breeze is blowing, the snow is melting, streams are running, springs are trickling. It is only on the peaks of the mountains that the snow still lingers. The foliage is on the trees, the branches are beginning to bud, the field crops are growing, the meadows are getting greener and the flowers are turning more beautiful and more colourful. Boats are launched to go sailing on the water. The trees are dressed in leaves, the ground is adorned by grass and the pastures are bringing forth new fodder. Everything is coming into its own. Birds are singing, the nightingale is whistling. The whole earth is beginning to flourish again, is adorned by beauty and will be akin to the most stunning, most wonderful bride dressed in a multitude of colours in order to be pleasing to the folk on the day of her nuptial”. A reflection of the standards of the school in Patak can be readily perceived from the entry in the records which show that, between 1440 and 1514, thirteen students were sent to the university in Krakow (Poland) to continue their studies there. Patak pursued its daily existence in a climate characterized by an ever-present landlord influence, this being most evident by the Perényi family maintaining its residence here. At the same time, the town possessed a certain degree of autonomy, it having the right to choose its priest and its schoolmaster even if the landlord, who in this case took his patron rights seriously, had to be consulted in the matter. The fact that the town evolved into an estate centre also proved to its benefit because this furthered its economic development. Viticulture and the associated wine trade took on considerable economic proportions and provided a better than average standard of living for the peasant citizenry of the market town. As a consequence of this situation, the town was able to make financial sacrifices in the interests of the most important workshop of the local culture, that being its school
