Document PDF - Asociatia Tinerilor Istorici din Moldova
Document PDF - Asociatia Tinerilor Istorici din Moldova
Document PDF - Asociatia Tinerilor Istorici din Moldova
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(Zvonarits), pastor in Košice. In this last letter Kys mentions, among other things, that he has<br />
enjoyed the support of the town council for four years already, since 1643, two years before he<br />
sent his fi rst letter form Königsberg (therefore, this is a further case that illustrates that the fi rst<br />
two years of university studies were fi nanced rather smoothly!). Further on he refl ects upon his<br />
debts (yet it is still not clear under what circumstances these were incurred, except that they<br />
increased with the death of his brother), and explained that he could not leave the university<br />
before paying off all his debts since he had pledged it in front of the magistrates. If this happens,<br />
as Kys affi rms, the results will be devastating: otherwise if one would do it, he would not<br />
hope for anything else but for banishment with continuous disgrace, and this for certain without<br />
any kind of exception. 24 Thus, Kys is compelled, in a certain way, to stay at the university until<br />
he was able to pay all his debts, which added to his fi nancial woes, as he puts it: every day<br />
has added somethng to the expenses. 25 The situation being as it was, Kys asked Zvonorius<br />
for advice on how to proceed. The sum is considerable and he does not have any idea how to<br />
get it: I still need a minimum of forty imperials by means of which I could pay off all my debts.<br />
But I have no idea where I might obtain them from. 26 Unfortunately, we do not have any further<br />
documents to illustrate what the resolution of this case was. What we do know is that Adamus<br />
Kys returned to his hometown and developed a successful career fi rst as priest and then as<br />
school inspector. Therefore, we can presume that the town council somehow interfered and<br />
resolved the problems of his disciple.<br />
Besides the cases described above where students benefi ted from fi nancial support sent<br />
over a longer period of time, while moving from school to school, or from a school to a university<br />
(or several), there are a number of cases where students addressed the town council<br />
directly and received fi nancial support just once or twice, usually for studying in Wittenberg, a<br />
very popular university among the urban population in the region at that time. These students<br />
were not permanent solicitors of help from the town council, at least as far as the survival of<br />
the documents allows us to affi rm, and the fi nancial support accorded to them was rather<br />
sporadic. In most of the cases these were merely students from the neighbouring villages<br />
or market towns, acquaintances of priests or school teachers, and not inhabitants of Košice<br />
as such. Two well-illustrated cases of occasional fi nancial support are those of Stephanus<br />
Mustricius and Stephanus Tehani. There are four letters signed by both of them sent between<br />
November 1558 and September 1559 that open the collection of letters in the town archives. 27<br />
It is not known if these two students were inhabitants of Košice or came from somewhere<br />
else. Their case proceeded as follows: the fi rst letter was a request for fi nancial support, the<br />
second letter was an expression of gratitude for fi nancial support received, supplemented by<br />
a small present (a book, not preserved) sent to the town council in recognition for its help, the<br />
third letter represented a combination of gratefulness and a careful new request, while the<br />
fourth letter is a renewed direct request for fi nancial support. Mustricius’ and Tehani’s pledge<br />
for fi nancial help was supported by a recommendation letter sent to the town council of Košice<br />
by Philip Melanchthon, who was at that time lecturing at the University of Wittenberg. 28 The<br />
letters, especially the second one, suggest that Mustricius and Tehany had already received<br />
some fi nancial aid from the town council, however, it is impossible to state for what period.<br />
One single entry in the town protocols certifi es the amount of 50 fl orins – which was the<br />
24<br />
secus autem si fecerint, nihil nisi turpissimam cum perpetua infamia relegationem sperare poterint, eamque<br />
absque omni exceptione certissimam.<br />
25<br />
dies diei aliquid addidisset expensarum.<br />
26<br />
Quadringentis certe ad minimum adhuc indigeo imperialibus, quibus omni me aere alieno exsolvere potero.<br />
Sed unde eosdem acipiam, totus ignoro.<br />
27<br />
AMK H I, no. 2011/13; no. 2150/105; no. 2150/108, and no. 2150/106.<br />
28<br />
Original lost. Edited by Lajos Kemény in Történelmi Tár, 1889, 603-604.<br />
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