Medieval university of Pécs

The medieval university of Pécs is Hungary's first university (in Latin: studium generale), founded by King Louis I in Pécs in 1367. Very few written documents have survived concerning the university, which operated for only a few decades. The names of a total of four teachers and seven students are known, three of the students' names, for example, from a document created in a deadly encounter. Of the four general medieval faculties (arts, law, medicine, theology) only the arts and the (canon) law faculty can be proven to have existed in Pécs. Permission was granted for medicine, but it is unlikely that it ever existed. The pope did not permit the establishment of a theology faculty.

When the second Hungarian university, the University of Óbuda, was founded (1395), the university of Pécs presumably was no longer operating.

History

Very little is known about the history of the medieval studium generale of Pécs, because during the Turkish rule (1543–1686) and the two Christian sieges (1664, 1686) most medieval documents were destroyed. The names of seven Pécs students are known, whose names survived from a document created in a deadly encounter (1400). After the region's first three universities – Prague (1348), Kraków (1364) and Vienna (1365) – the papacy formally founded the university of Pécs, by Great Louis, in 1367 as part of a papal procedure. At the request of the Hungarian king, Pope Blessed Victor III Orbán gave permission for the institution's operation in his papal bull. The true intellectual father of the university was the contemporary bishop of Pécs, Wilhelm von Koppenbach (Koppenbachi Vilmos), who came from the Rhine region of the Palatinate and, besides his ecclesiastical office (1361–1374), was a royal chancellor and secret chancellor, an important diplomat and confidant of Great Louis. The institution was primarily intended for the proper teaching of canon law and the Latin language, so that Hungarian students of the time no longer had to travel abroad for university‑level education.

There is no precise knowledge about the number of teachers and students. Scholars estimate the number of professors teaching in Pécs at ten, of which only four are known by name. Among them the most famous was Galvano Bethini de Bononia of Bologna origin, a prominent canon lawyer of his time, who was in Pécs between 1372–1374. The university's second and last chancellor was Bishop Bálint Alsáni of Pécs (later cardinal) (1374–1408). The university was fundamentally linked to Bishop Vilmos, and after his death it began to decline, then ceased to exist around 1390, and it almost certainly was no longer operating at the founding of the University of Óbuda in 1395. The modern University of Pécs is not the legal successor of the medieval university; only an intellectual heritage can be spoken of. After that, university‑level education did not exist in the city until the early 20th century, although the renowned and high‑quality cathedral school continued to exist.

The presumed building of the medieval university of Pécs was uncovered between 1978–1998 by two archaeologists (G. Sándor Mária and Gerő Győző) in the bishop's castle, east of the Golden Mary Chapel, directly near the Pécs cathedral, on its northern side. The identification of the building is disputed, many researchers do not agree that the medieval studium generale operated there. In 2015 a permanent university‑history exhibition was opened in the restored building, featuring significant medieval Gothic sculptural relics.

The bishop's castle of Pécs in the Middle Ages

The history of the medieval university of Pécs is intertwined with the history of the Pécs diocese and the bishop's castle. University teaching could primarily take place in the ecclesiastical buildings located within the castle area. The bishopric of Pécs was founded by King Stephen I of Hungary in 1009, whose grandnephew King Peter had the first cathedral of Pécs built. The building and the surrounding episcopal structures burned down in a fire in 1064. Afterwards, under the effective intercession of Bishop Mór, the building was reconstructed, which is presented today as the medieval university. After the devastation of the 1242 Tatar invasion, Bishop Jób built a stone wall around the bishop's castle. During the construction of the inner castle in the 14th century, the episcopal palace was also transformed, which some scholars tentatively associate with the change of function of the building to the medieval university. During the tenure of Bishop Zsigmond Ernuszt (1473–1505) the outer castle wall received towers. The Turkish conquest did not cause as much damage to the medieval bishop's castle as the two Christian sieges in 1664 and 1686. The 18th–19th century reconstructions caused further destruction of the medieval details.

The Golden Mary Chapel

In the 12th–13th centuries the predecessor of the Golden Mary Chapel building was erected near the episcopal palace. Scholars assume that this could have been the palace chapel. The single‑aisle building’s floor was covered with red marble, a part of which has remained beautifully preserved to this day. The church was protected by a fence, and to its west a cemetery was established. In place of the old palace chapel Bishop Miklós Neszmélyi had the Golden Mary Chapel built in 1355. At the western end of the new single‑aisle church there is a polygonal apse, on the southern side four and on the northern side three side chapels were placed. The bishop was buried in the church apse in 1360. The tomb of his successor, Bishop Vilmos Koppenbach, the university founder, was placed next to the high altar.

During the excavation of the chapel the country's most important Gothic statue group was uncovered, of which only large fragments and pieces have survived. The statues can be dated to the reign of King Louis II. The chapel also preserves a significant monument: a tomb slab from the 1510s bearing a fragment of a coat of arms. An even more important relic, however, is the Mary portrait after which the chapel received its name. During the Turkish occupation the building was demolished, and the statues and frescoes found there were destroyed. Only the foundation and smaller fragments of the building have survived.

Magtár Visitor Center

The Magtár building is located west of the Golden Mary Chapel. It currently serves an informational role and is the venue for conferences, events, and film screenings.