studia humanitatis

In the Hungarian schools which were reformed, classical sciences were taught to a high standard and the teaching of Latin grammar, logical thinking, poetry and rhetoric were given first priority. In the humanist-educator school of Nagyszombat a senior section supplemented the basic course where Latin and Greek philology were taught. One of the teachers of the school was Nicasius Ellobodius of Dutch origin and the European-wide famous Greek philologist of the time. Ellebodius later joined the bishop István Radéczi's literary society in Pozsony where he translated Aristotle's Poetics into Latin and provided it with a commentary. Fellow humanists of Radéczi's used to gather together under a lime-tree in the bishop's garden where they read out their latest poems to each-other. This group included such poets as János Zsámboky and Miklós Istvánffy - it was Istvánffy who wrote the inscriptions for Nicasius Ellobodius' grave who died in 1577.

ÁP-SzJú