„Scholae Papensi olim satis illustris fuit…” : a pápai református kollégium tagolódása és oktatási színvonala a XVIII. században = „Schola Papensis olim satis illustris fuit…” : The Structure and the Level of Education in the Pápa Reformed College in the 17th Century

Köblös, József and Kránitz, Zsolt (2009) „Scholae Papensi olim satis illustris fuit…” : a pápai református kollégium tagolódása és oktatási színvonala a XVIII. században = „Schola Papensis olim satis illustris fuit…” : The Structure and the Level of Education in the Pápa Reformed College in the 17th Century. ACTA PAPENSIA, 9 (1-4). pp. 1-266. ISSN 1587-6292

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Abstract

According to some authors, in the early period the Pápa Reformed College did not represent the most advanced level of education at the end of the 16th Century and in the 17th Century, while others argue that even in this period the College offered a three-level traditional education with its elementary, grammar school and academical (philosophy and theology) instructions. Through the interpretation of all available sources and a statistical analysis of the database on pastors and preachers created by the authors, the essay tries to identify the Pápa College in the network of the 17th Century educational institutions in Hungary. The results can be summarized as follows: 1. In the 1640s and in the 1690s, as two professors were working, all fields of philosophy were instructed. In other decades of the 17th Century only logic was mentioned (1630, the end of 1650s, before 1660, 1677). Disputes are mentioned in many sources ( 1585, 1630, 1694), but these, as far as their subjects are indicated, included only theology and logic. 2. Compared to other reformed institutions of higher education, the level of instruction in the Pápa College was higher in the 17 th Century than in the 18th Century. 3. Pastors and rectors from rural areas who only started their studies in the Pápa College continued to be a minority in the 17th Century and their studies only in Pápa proved to be even more insufficient in gaining quality offices in Pápa than in the 18th Century. Pastor and rectors serving in Pápa in the 17th Century completed their studies abroad. 4. But the school of Pápa was strong enough to enable their students to continue their studies abroad. It was not necessary for them to attend the College of Debrecen or Sárospatak before going abroad. While in the first half of the 18th Century Pápa was behind Deberecen and Sárospatak and it was on the same level as other second-best colleges (Losonc, Szatmár, Nagybánya, Máramarossziget, Székelyudvarhely), the 17th Century shows a more complecated situation. That time the country was divided into two ( not speaking about the Turkish territories): the royal Hungary and Transylvania, at the border of which was located Partium with its special rights and changing size. Those joining the calvinist line of reformation in Eastern Hungary, Partium and Transylvania lived in strong communities. But calvinists trying to survive in Trnasdanubia faced much worse circumstances. For them the Pápa College, as one of the strongest colleges of the region – with the Nagyszobat finally and the Komárom College temporarily destroyed – represented the last fortress of faith and education. At the same time, seen from the Eastern parts of the Carpathian basin, such as from Debrecen, Nagyvárad, Gyulafehérvár, Kolozsvár, Nagyenyed, Pápa was not that strong. On the other hand, the order and level of education in this Century was not permanent and due to the outer conditions the operation of the school was waiving. The authors of the essay, relying on the sources and the archontological and prosoprographical database, state, that the College was flourishing in the 1640s and it reached the level of classical college structures. But due to the continual attacks the level of education kept declining and after a transitional progress in the 1690s the College had to suffer a gradual decline until the middle of the 17th Century.

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