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me here without any expenses on my part, 66 mentioning the loss he had to suffer due to infl a-
tion: Johannes Stoeckelius delayed the settlement of the debts for seven years - and to what
disadvantage for me, you yourselves be the judges. Because if I had this money four months
ago, it would have been of no little help to me, because a measure of grain, which was then
on sale for sixteen grossi, now sells for fi fty grossi or even more. The rest I do not ask you to
consider, only take care that he would return to me the original amount. 67 Unfortunately, we
do not know what the reaction of the town council was nor how the end of this story of unpaid
debt turned out.
Concluding remarks
In conclusion, it can be stated that the town council participated actively in improving
educational opportunities of the inhabitants of the town and its surroundings during the period
of the Reformation. This involvement was a new element compared to the period before the
Reformation although it was probably deeply embedded in the earlier tradition of ecclesiastic
patronage and private pious bequests. The council’s attention extended into several fi elds,
starting from continuing to support the local school through recruiting better trained teachers
and other personnel, up to providing aid of various kinds to town inhabitants and other possible
candidates in order to pursue their studies at appropriate secondary schools or universities.
Several categories of benefi ciaries could be established. First, the town council would sponsor
representatives of well-established families in the town, relatives of town council members
or sons of former or present employees in the town administration, church or school. Unfortunately,
because the respective documentation (church registers) for the town of Košice are
missing up to the middle of the seventeenth century, it is diffi cult and sometimes even impossible
to precisely establish the relationships among various town council members and the
students being fi nanced. The only exceptions are those cases when direct references to this
kind of relationship exist in the students’ letters or other documents. Besides sponsoring university
attendees who were selected based on their merits or other criteria diffi cult to identify
because of the lack of precise informations, cases existed when the council was entrusted to
handle the inheritance of under-age heirs of prominent town burghers, and thus to help them
fi nancially during their studies, sometimes out of their own inheritance. In addition to that, a
number of students were promoted on the basis of the past services rendered by their family to
the town. Another category of benefi ciaries was represented by individuals already employed
at the school or in the local church or in the neighbourhood, who would receive support for
further professional development, sometimes on the recommendation of offi cials from their
respective locations. Sometimes, travelling scholars with no obvious affi liation with the town
would make requests for fi nancial support although it was not possible to establish to what
extent such inquires were successful.
It is diffi cult to state with what frequency and for what period a student would receive
fi nancial support. As illustrated in a number of extant letters, the common practice was to
fi nance students two years at a university, but the term of support varied from case to case.
Some students stayed longer and received fi nancial support for the entire period. In some cases,
a student would receive support starting from his secondary school studies until the end
66
quapropter ornatissimi et prudentissimi viri ad vos confugio, vehementer etiam atque etiam vocans, ut in
medium consulatis, et etiam ineatis rationem, ut primo quoque tempore, Johannes Stoeckelius residuos quinquaginta
taleros mihi solvat, eosque sine meis impensis mihi huc adferri curet.
67
distulit Johannes Stoeckelius, solutionem debiti, per septem annos, quanto meo incommodo, vos ipsi iudices
estote. Quod si autem ante quatuor menses istam pecuniam habuissem, non parum mihi profuisset, nam
modius frumenti, qui tunc emebatur sedecim grossis, nunc emitur grossis quinquaginta, aut etiam pluris.
Caeterum interesse non peto, tantum curetis, ut quamprimum mihi sortem reddat.
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