Dénes Dienes: History of the Reformed Church Collég in Sárospatak (Sárospatak, 2013)
Dénes Dienes: THE PROTESTANT SCHOOL IN THE 16TH CENTURY - The vague beginnings of Protestant schooling, 1538-1557
THE VAGUE BEGINNINGS OF PROTESTANT SCHOOLING, 1538-1557 9 During the time of the Reformation, Protestant education in Sárospatak developed along the lines of an integrated continuation of the medieval parish school. Tradition marks 1531 as the year of the first beginnings. It is known that Péter Perényi was to some extent influenced by Luther’s doctrines, given that many of the persons integrally dedicated to the cause of the Reformation taking root in Hungarian soil often appeared within his circles. This eventually had its effect on the religious life of the town itself. The local parish priest named István, of whom there are records dating from between 1538 and 1541, was a Lutheran and is most likely one and the same person as István Gálszécsi who also studied in Wittenberg. His written work published in 1536, composed in the spirit of the Reformation, he dedicated to Perényi. As records show, Gálszécsi was, from 1535 onward, teacher in the school of the town of his birth (Gálszécs) and presumably influenced the transformation of Patak’s parish school to make it better collude with to the spirit of the Reformation. No more can be said at this point because there are no concrete records available which pertain to the school. It was in the years following 1538 that the unfolding of the Reformation in Sárospatak began to assume more significant proportions and, as a result, the Franciscan friars left the town in 1546. In the meantime, Péter Perényi was imprisoned by King Ferdinand and it was from prison that Perényi began to correspond with Philipp Melanchthon, a colleague of Luther’s, also in Wittenberg. Unfortunately, it is only knowledge of the content of the three letters written in 1542 which remained, much of the content consisting of Perényi confiding his “plans and reformational views” to Melanchthon. To his teacher in Wittenberg, who looked upon Hungarians favourably, the imprisoned landlord expounded on the importance of educating the youth and of establishing churches and schools. This in itself is significant because it allows for advancing the observation that the Protestant school in Patak did not in any way oppose or refute the influential landlord. While Péter Perényi was held in prison and then later, after his death in 1548, it was to his wife, Klára Ormosdi Székely, that fell the crucial role and influence which went with the management of the family’s vast estates, given that the son, Gábor, was not yet of age. It is reasonable viable to presume that, due to the nature of his situation, István Kopácsi was aware of and was entirely open to being invited to Patak in 1549. Coming from Nagybánya where he had the position of both pastor and teacher, he assumed the same roles here. At the same time, Márton Sánta Kálmáncsehi, pastor in the neighbouring town of Újhely, mentions a certain master of Patak in his letter written in Hungarian in 1548. Derived from the Latin expression magister, the director of the school was generally referred to as master in the 16th century. It is not impossible that the school had an independent teacher in Patak with István Kopácsi being the supervisor and not a teacher of the institution. Perhaps he was involved with presenting the higher sciences to the still smaller number of senior students. We learn from the later eminent teacher Balázs Fabricius Szikszai that his former student and then assistant teacher, János Vitus Balsaráti, had originally come with Kopácsi from Nagybánya and later went from Patak to the University of Wittenberg in 1550. It Péter Perényi
