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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me here without any expenses on my part, 66 mentioning the loss he had to suffer due to infl a-<br />
tion: Johannes Stoeckelius delayed the settlement of the debts for seven years - and to what<br />
disadvantage for me, you yourselves be the judges. Because if I had this money four months<br />
ago, it would have been of no little help to me, because a measure of grain, which was then<br />
on sale for sixteen grossi, now sells for fi fty grossi or even more. The rest I do not ask you to<br />
consider, only take care that he would return to me the original amount. 67 Unfortunately, we<br />
do not know what the reaction of the town council was nor how the end of this story of unpaid<br />
debt turned out.<br />
Conclu<strong>din</strong>g remarks<br />
In conclusion, it can be stated that the town council participated actively in improving<br />
educational opportunities of the inhabitants of the town and its surroun<strong>din</strong>gs during the period<br />
of the Reformation. This involvement was a new element compared to the period before the<br />
Reformation although it was probably deeply embedded in the earlier tradition of ecclesiastic<br />
patronage and private pious bequests. The council’s attention extended into several fi elds,<br />
starting from continuing to support the local school through recruiting better trained teachers<br />
and other personnel, up to provi<strong>din</strong>g aid of various kinds to town inhabitants and other possible<br />
candidates in order to pursue their studies at appropriate secondary schools or universities.<br />
Several categories of benefi ciaries could be established. First, the town council would sponsor<br />
representatives of well-established families in the town, relatives of town council members<br />
or sons of former or present employees in the town administration, church or school. Unfortunately,<br />
because the respective documentation (church registers) for the town of Košice are<br />
missing up to the middle of the seventeenth century, it is diffi cult and sometimes even impossible<br />
to precisely establish the relationships among various town council members and the<br />
students being fi nanced. The only exceptions are those cases when direct references to this<br />
kind of relationship exist in the students’ letters or other documents. Besides sponsoring university<br />
attendees who were selected based on their merits or other criteria diffi cult to identify<br />
because of the lack of precise informations, cases existed when the council was entrusted to<br />
handle the inheritance of under-age heirs of prominent town burghers, and thus to help them<br />
fi nancially during their studies, sometimes out of their own inheritance. In addition to that, a<br />
number of students were promoted on the basis of the past services rendered by their family to<br />
the town. Another category of benefi ciaries was represented by individuals already employed<br />
at the school or in the local church or in the neighbourhood, who would receive support for<br />
further professional development, sometimes on the recommendation of offi cials from their<br />
respective locations. Sometimes, travelling scholars with no obvious affi liation with the town<br />
would make requests for fi nancial support although it was not possible to establish to what<br />
extent such inquires were successful.<br />
It is diffi cult to state with what frequency and for what period a student would receive<br />
fi nancial support. As illustrated in a number of extant letters, the common practice was to<br />
fi nance students two years at a university, but the term of support varied from case to case.<br />
Some students stayed longer and received fi nancial support for the entire period. In some cases,<br />
a student would receive support starting from his secondary school studies until the end<br />
66<br />
quapropter ornatissimi et prudentissimi viri ad vos confugio, vehementer etiam atque etiam vocans, ut in<br />
medium consulatis, et etiam ineatis rationem, ut primo quoque tempore, Johannes Stoeckelius residuos quinquaginta<br />
taleros mihi solvat, eosque sine meis impensis mihi huc adferri curet.<br />
67<br />
distulit Johannes Stoeckelius, solutionem debiti, per septem annos, quanto meo incommodo, vos ipsi iudices<br />
estote. Quod si autem ante quatuor menses istam pecuniam habuissem, non parum mihi profuisset, nam<br />
modius frumenti, qui tunc emebatur sedecim grossis, nunc emitur grossis quinquaginta, aut etiam pluris.<br />
Caeterum interesse non peto, tantum curetis, ut quamprimum mihi sortem reddat.<br />
– 217 –