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# The Schools

Schools remained the principal vehicle of education, and the most significant change in the early 17th century was the growth in the proportion of villeins among students. This shift drew the attention of contemporary observers. Thus János Apáczai Csere noted that number of villein children in boarding-schools was 'so large that they filled the study halls, lecture rooms, and benches', threatening to squeeze out 'the children of noble parents'. This report would be difficult to credit if it did not come from Transylvania's greatest expert on matters of education. Apáczai went on to explain that many of those 'born to be ploughmen and carriers' went to school to 'escape' a life of 'perpetual villeinage or extreme poverty'.[99]99. 'Apa és fiú,' in Erdély öröksége V, p. 261. In fact, Gabriel Bethlen had confirmed a legal provision guaranteeing educational opportunities for Transylvania's villeins. Moreover, in 1629, the prince complemented the personal freedom of clergymen by awarding them noble status; the provision encompassed the descendants of Protestant ministers. Thus education became a widely available, if onerous, opportunity for social advancement.

The process was facilitated by an already dense network of schools. The latter were unevenly distributed, but, as before the long war, there were schools in all regions of Transylvania. Their reconstruction seems to have proceeded in organized and rapid fashion. In 1660, just about every Saxon congregation had a school; the records show 238 priests and 224 headmasters. In Hungarian-language regions, only the Székelys were similarly well-served. No comprehensive record survives of the school network in the Székelyföld, but sources indicate that, in Marosszék alone, forty {2-202.} schools were operating in the first half of the 17th century. This is proportionately greater than the seventy educational institutions functioning in two large counties, Belső-Szolnok and Doboka. And even the latter situation compares well with contemporary England, where, by rough estimate, there was one elementary school every twenty kilometres.

However, the average for all of Transylvania was considerably reduced by the backward state of education among Romanians. Some large, Romanian-inhabited districts were devoid of all educational institutions. The occasional Orthodox priest may have taken it upon himself to offer some rudimentary instruction to his parishioners' children, but only Lugos and Karánsebes had fully-functioning, Romanian-language schools. Toward the end of this period, in 1657, Princess Zsuzsanna Lorántffy established, on the Fogaras domain, a Romanian-language school dedicated 'to the greater glory of God and development of the Oláh [Romanian] nation'.[100]100. MPEA 1910, pp. 112ff.

Although there were very few Romanian schools, their significance must be weighed in relation to the situation in the voivodeships. In the first half of the 17th century, there were schools in the towns of Wallachia and Moldavia, and monasteries as well as churches engaged in educational activity, but records show only one village with a school. In Transylvania, some of the Romanian clergy worked deliberately to block the establishment of Romanian-language schools. When Ilie assumed the office of vladika [bishop] in 1640, one of the conditions of appointment was that he establish a Romanian-language school at Gyulafehérvár, but he purposely avoided fulfilling this promise.

The structure of Transylvania's educational system underwent two modifications in this period: schools were established for girls, and a university-level institution was created to complement the primary and secondary schools. In 1646, the Calvinist synod at Szatmárnémeti passed a resolution — applicable to Transylvania as {2-203.} well — for the establishment of girls' schools; reading and writing was to be taught exclusively in Hungarian, for the assembly obviously did not entertain the possibility that women might wish to pursue their studies at a higher level. The resolution was nevertheless of great import. Apart from adding a new type of school to the Transylvanian system, it opened up new cultural vistas for a vast segment of the population, one that suffered from total neglect. Potentially, this represented a major change; in the 16th century, even aristocratic women considered it a great achievement if they made themselves literate.

Given the lack of information on the organization of girls' schools, it cannot be determined how many women became literate thanks to this reform. Probably only a few schools were established in the short term. Still, it is significant that one of the most far-reaching educational ideals of the period found some application in the cultural world of Transylvania.

In a broader historical context, the foundation in 1622 of a university college was not particularly innovative, but account must be taken of Transylvania's particular circumstances. The province was still part of a united Hungary when the first medieval universities were established in that country; and when it moved towards greater autonomy in the 16th century, universities were no more to be found even in royal Hungary. In the absence of royal initiatives in the sphere of education, it fell to Péter Pázmány, the archbishop of Esztergom, to found a new university in 1636. In Transylvania, it was the ruler, Gabriel Bethlen, who took the initiative. Although a college had functioned for a brief period during the reign of Stephen Báthori, it was swept away by the war, leaving the slate clean for a fresh start.

In 1622, the diet, acting on Bethlen's instructions, ordered the foundation of an 'ordinary academy'. The need was urgent, for while 'men of learning can usefully serve the interests of our country', the turmoil of the recent past had greatly reduced their number. {2-204.} The country would perish unless 'proper attention' was paid to education.[101]101. EOE 7, p. 96. In getting the diet to enunciate these lofty principles, the prince was emulating the educational policy of contemporary monarchs. The new college was designed to produce an intelligentsia for state service. Although the 'academy' was originally planned to be built in Kolozsvár, on the ruined site of the onetime Báthori college, it ended up in the princely capital of Gyulafehérvár. Construction was still in progress when it opened its doors in 1629. The college was one of the prince's proudest achievements; he contributed huge endowments as well as scholarships to put the institution on a firm financial footing, and, in his will, he assigned the income from several towns and villages to the same purpose. The college at Gyulafehérvár played a leading role in Transylvani-an education: for its many students, it would facilitate both intellectual development and social advancement.

The 'ordinary academy' began operation with chairs in theology, philosophy, and law, but Bethlen clearly expected it to become a full-fledged university. György Rákóczi I did not get around to take the necessary steps, to establish a chair of medicine and obtain international recognition of the institution's doctoral degree. Thus the Gyulafehérvár college remained as originally established by Gabriel Bethlen. Eventually, János Apáczai Csere drew up plans for converting the academy into a university, but they were forestalled by the catastrophe that engulfed the principality in 1658.

The Saxons, too, toyed with the idea of establishing an institution of higher learning. The matter was debated at the 1647 synod as well as at the national assembly of 1653. It was planned to invite four professors to teach at the college, and even the financing was worked out. Had the prince supported their endeavor, the Saxons might well have had a Lutheran college as early as the 17th century. In the event, the project failed to materialize, and the most promising Saxon students continued to obtain their degrees abroad. The Transylvanian Saxons enjoyed one great advantage: their {2-205.} Lutheran school system was identical to the one in Germany. Thus, upon leaving high school, the local students had no difficulty in pursuing their education at German universities.

This factor explains why Saxons always constituted the majority of Transylvanians studying at universities abroad. Only partial records survive, but it is significant that of the known 4,500 Transylvanians registered at foreign universities in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries, fully 55.4 percent came from the five largest Saxon towns. The remainder came variously from fifty-six localities.

The pursuit of higher studies abroad was common practice in all of Hungary, for the good reason that there was no alternative at home. Though driven in part by necessity, the practice also revealed an active desire for learning; after all, when the medieval universities disappeared and Hungary was divided into three parts, the country could well have lost contact with the mainstream of European culture. In royal Hungary, there was no official backing for study abroad. In Transylvania, on the other hand, the government actively supported this practice. In the first half of the century, the most noteworthy measures were taken by Gabriel Bethlen. He personally provided the means for many students to obtain their degree, and he paved the way for them by nurturing contacts with eminent professors at the distant universities.

Meanwhile, Transylvanian nobles and towns maintained their established practice of assisting people to study abroad. This helps to explain why the latter practice did not vary according to changes in the ruler's policies on education. Surprisingly, political events also seem to have had little impact, judging from trends revealed by the sample of 4,500 students. In 1591, the number of students abroad begins to rise above the average for the 16th century, but it does not soon reach the level of 1521–1530. The peak is reached in the 1630s, when the surviving registers show 304 Transylvanians studying abroad. That level was not reached again until the end of the 18th century.

{2-206.} With regard to the students' destination, a change can be detected at the beginning of the 17th century. István Bocskai and his successors were Calvinists, and, during their reign, Transylvanians turned away from Catholic universities in Italy and elsewhere. Padua, which in the 17th century offered the best training for physicians, eventually regained its popularity. The appeal of German universities, on the other hand, remained constant, largely because of the continuing high proportion of Saxons among Transylvania's expatriate students; the pattern did not change significantly even during the Thirty Years' War.

That war did produce a change in the 1620s, when a growing number of students began to head for universities in England and the Netherlands. Thus Transylvania drew some cultural advantage from that devastating conflict. Students from the principality knew Heidelberg in its heyday, before it collapsed in 1622, and their successors went to England and the Netherlands at a time of intellectual ferment in those countries. Transylvania may even have made a contribution to the scientific revolution in England, in the person of János Bánffyhunyadi, a famous chemist who taught at London's Gresham College until 1646.