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‘standard’ amount per year – given to both students in 1558, on May 26 th , that is, before the
fi rst letter was written. 29 It cannot be established if some other kind of fi nancial support was
afforded to them later on. It could be that another sum was granted to both students after the
fi rst letter was written although there is no indication that this was the case. However, there is
documented information that the town council of Košice became involved in the subsequent
fate of these students, at least of one of them. There is a letter preserved in the town archives
dated 1560, which states that Stephanus Mustricius was successfully working as school rector
in Sobraniec, where he was sent by the town council of Košice to help establish a Protestant
school. 30 Thus, it is most probable that both students stayed at the University of Wittenberg for
two years, from 1557 to 1559, afterwards returning to the region and fi nding employment with
the help of the town council.
Categories of benefi ciaries
In addition to estimating the duration of fi nancial support, the question of who were the
benefi ciaries deserves special attention. Several categories of benefi ciaries could be established
from analyzing the sources. The fi rst category, representatives of which were most successful
in receiving fi nancial support, especially for long periods of time, included members
of well positioned families in the town. Among these, the case of Georgius Buntzler has been
already mentioned. A second category of benefi ciaries, in some ways related to the fi rst one,
was represented by children of town’s burghers or other former urban employees who held
important functions in the town administration or at the local school. In this case, the fi nancial
support accorded was of a general character and meant to help the young men in acquiring
some education and then assist them in fi nding a job either in Košice or elsewhere. Most of
this help occurred after the death of the respective pupils’ father. Two such cases are well
documented in the letters preserved in the town archives, namely those of the brothers Gulden
and Kauffi n. 31
It occurred sometimes that fi nancial support was accorded to clergy or school teachers
already employed in the town in order to go to a university to improve their qualifi cations.
These persons belong to the third category of town council benefi ciaries. Such is the case of
Martinus Schacht, student at Wittenberg in 1563. Before going to Wittenberg, Schacht had
been working at the local school in Košice as a teacher’s assistant. 32 He went to Wittenberg
with the support of the town council in 1563 and sent three letters back home during this year. 33
His fi rst letter is an expression of gratitude addressed to the town notary, Leonard Kromer, for
his support supplemented by three songs he hoped the addressee will enjoy (unfortunately
lost). The second letter was addressed to the town council of Košice, presented in June 1563,
and represented a rhetorical and fl orid acknowledgment of the town administration’s merits
in the propagation and support of the studies of its citizens. The third letter was sent in September
of the same year. In it the author implored the council to be sent some help in order to
survive the winter successfully and to return in order to be again of use for the town.
A copy of a letter of response from the town council to Martinus Schacht is preserved in
the town archives. In this letter, the town council confi rms the sending of money and expresses
their hopes that, one day, Martinus Schacht will return home to take a job either at the church
29
AMK H III/2, mac. 8, folio 54v: Eodem die duobus adolescentibus Stephano Thehani et alteri Stephano Mustricz
auxilium ad studia Vitebergam fl . 50.
30
AMK H I, no. 2249/60. See also VARSÍK 1991, 129-148, here 130.
31
AMK H I, no. 2301/98; no. 2392/44; no. 2392/26; no. 3473/105; no. 3526/64; and no. 3589/27.
32
See a letter sent by Adamus, minister ecclesiae Barphensis in 1558 to ”doctor et humano juveni Martino
Schochot, collaboratori in schola Casschoviensi“ […] edited by Lajos Kemény: KEMÉNY 1891, 81-83.
33
AMK H I, no. 2446/140; no. 2446/134; and no. 2446/135.
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