Region and Denomination
In the second era of the Collegium’s history, 169 students were admitted to the Institute in seven years. Archival resources have been retained for 93 applicants from all those rejected.
Of these only one student had no personal documentation. In the previous phase of the Collegium’s operation, an average of 68 students submitted their application to the institute each year and this number dropped to 37 in this sub-period. This data in itself shows how the outbreak of the First World War affected the institute.
The territorial balance, which was characteristic of the period between 1895 and 1910 ceased to exist and the majority of applicants were born in the western parts of the country; 24% in the Transdanubian region and 18% in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve
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6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918 6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918
(in the latter the capital city’s share was 57%). In this order, Transylvania and Upper Hungary receded to third place with 17% each, the number of successful applicants from the historic region of Southern Hungary was 11% and only 10% came from the Trans-tisza Region.237 The majority, 51% of admitted applicants were born within the Trianon borders and 47% beyond.238 Regarding the breakdown by county, the phenomenon that had been established in the previous period further strengthened, namely, the expansion of the capital and its immediate catchment area among admitted collegium students. 13%
of admitted applicants were born in Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county (77% of the capital city’s share). (In 1910, 10.31% of the country’s population lived in the capital and Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun county [“Statisztika” 1911: 13–18].) The second in the ranking with 7% was Vas county (2.35%), while Sopron (2.52%)239 and Temes (2.16%) counties came in third place. Bihar county stands out from the average with 4% (3.14%). The county results also confirm the finding that the majority of those admitted were born in the western part of the country.
Regarding the administrative classification of settlement types, the number of children born in small settlements with a population below 5,000 people further increased – to 37% – compared to the previous sub-period. 26% of them were born in municipality towns (taking municipality towns as 100%, the share of the capital city in this sub-category was 40%, thus the number of births in Budapest doubled compared to 1895–1910) and 25% of them in towns with their own councils,240 while 5% of them were born in district seats and 3% in county seats. 2% of the admitted applicants were born in large villages with a population of 5,000–10,000, therefore, their proportion dropped to less than half compared to the previous period. However, admitted applicants moved from smaller settlements towards the administrative centres. Compared to the previous sub-period, there was a greater degree of territorial mobility among successful applicants between 1911 and 1918. 40% of them graduated from secondary school in the place of their birth and 57% in a different location.241 This data is significantly different from the conditions of the era, as most of society spent a significant part of its life in the place of birth (cf.
Kövér 2006: 62). At the same time, this phenomenon, as well as the increasing number of people born in the capital suggest that, unlike in the previous period, members of the institute were chosen from the rural middle class or from mobile social groups that wanted and were able, to acquire the life of the middle class, as well as from the urbanised strata of the larger settlements.
237 There is no data on where 3% of those admitted were born in the sub-period.
238 There is no data on which part of the country 2% of those admitted were born.
239 Data on the population of Sopron, Temes, Vas and Bihar counties in 1910 are provided in parentheses (“Statisz-tika” 1911: 13–16).
240 In 1910, 11.26% of the population lived in municipality towns, while 8.23% lived in towns with their own councils (“Statisztika” 1911: 13–14). Therefore, members of the Collegium were overrepresented in both types of settlements in relation to the total population.
241 There is no data on the place where 3% of admitted applicants graduated. See Table 4 for information on territorial and county breakdown of admitted and rejected applicants.
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6.1.Breakdown of Applicants Admitted and Rejected Between 1911 and 1918 6.1.Breakdown of Applicants Admitted and Rejected Between 1911 and 1918
Territorial distribution of admitted and rejected applicants (%) Admitted applicants
Breakdown by regions Breakdown by county
Name Collegium National Name Collegium National
Dalmatia 0 1 Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun 13 10.3
Délvidék (Southern Hungary) 11 21 Vas 7 2.3
Transdanubian region 24 15 Temes 5 2.1
Danube-Tisza Interfluve 18 15 Sopron 5 2.5
Transylvania 17 17 Bihar 4 3.1
Upper Hungary 17 17 Háromszék 3 0.7
Transtisza Region 10 14 Békés 3 1.6
No data 3 0 Veszprém 2 1.2
Rejected applicants
Breakdown by regions Breakdown by county
Name Collegium National Name Collegium National
Dalmatia 0 1 Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun 5 10.3
Délvidék (Southern Hungary) 9 21 Hajdú 5 0.8
Transdanubian region 16 15 Tolna 4 1.4
Danube-Tisza Interfluve 13 15 Temes 4 2.1
Transylvania 21 17 Szolnok-Doboka 4 1.3
Upper Hungary 17 17 Békés 3 1.6
Transtisza Regio 17 14 Szatmár 3 1.9
No data 7 0 Komárom 3 0.9
Table 4: Breakdown of admitted and rejected applicants by region and county compared to national population data 242
The territorial breakdown by the place of birth of rejected applicants is significantly different from that of admitted applicants: Transylvania leads the ranking with 21%
(17%),243 while the second place is shared by Upper Hungary (17%) and the Transtisza Region (10%). 16% (24%) and 13% (18%) of unsuccessful applicants were born in the Transdanubian region and in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve (the share of the capital in the latter category was 25%). 9% of those who were not admitted were born in the historic region of Southern Hungary.244 In addition to Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun (15%), in the county breakdown, Hajdú (4%) had 5%. 4% of unsuccessful candidates were born in Tolna (1%), Temes (4%) and Szolnok-Doboka each. There are also proportions that are different from those of admitted applicants in terms of the administrative classification of the birthplace:
242 Data from the 1910 census statistics were used to determine national data (“Statisztika” 1911: 13–19).
243 Similar data are provided in parentheses for admitted applicants in a breakdown by region and by county and in order to facilitate comparison in terms of the legal status of the settlements.
244 There is no data on where 7% of rejected applicants were born in the sub-period.
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43% (37%) were born in small villages with a population of less than 5,000 people and 16% (26%) were born in municipality towns (the capital’s share was only 20%). 12% (25%) were born in towns with their own councils, 10% (3%) in county seats and 9% (5%) were born in district seats. The proportion of people born in large villages with a population of 5,000–10,000 people was low, just 3% (2%).245 Compared to admitted applicants, there was a greater degree of mobility in the group of rejected applicants: 31% of them received a graduation certificate in their place of birth and 61% of them in a different settlement.246 These data confirm the social history findings related to territorial mobility. Although at the first glance it seems that the urbanised population among rejected applicants is lower, with the decline in the number of births in municipality towns being especially striking, but this is somewhat compensated by the high proportion of county and district seats.
The most noticeable change compared to the previous sub-period is the powerful decline in the number of applicants born in Upper Hungary. The reasons for this are to be found in the internal migration processes of the period and in the regional equalisation of the secondary school system (cf. Kövér 2006: 62–63).
The denominational distribution of admitted applicants differs in many respects from the proportions identified in the previous sub-period. 44% (48.6%)247 of successful appli-cants were of the Roman Catholic denomination. This is a significant increase compared to the period between 1895 and 1910, but still remains 14% below the similar denomina-tional proportions of students who passed their teacher examination in Budapest between 1897 and 1915 (cf. Karády 2007: 414). At the same time, the Protestant denominations even jointly (24% [11.5%] Evangelical-Lutheran and 17% [16.2%] Reformed) did not exceed their number. The reversal of the proportions between Lutherans and Calvinists among admitted applicants in the field of secondary education in the period of the Reformist expansion apparently contradicts the process (cf. Kende–Kovács 2011a: 92).
In terms of the number of students who passed their teacher examination in Budapest, the former were twice, while the latter were one and a half times over-represented in the Collegium. Applicants of the Greek Orthodox and of Jewish denominations were represented at 4% each (2.3% Greek Orthodox, 15.9% Jewish) among admitted students.
The former through foundation places and the latter made up just a quarter of Jewish members of the National Secondary School Teaching Examination Committee of Buda-pest, thus, being below their national proportions, they were far behind their presence at the university’s faculty of arts. However, compared to the previous period, their number in the institute doubled. Greek Catholics and Unitarians accounted for 2% (3.5%) and 1%
(1.9%) of admitted applicants, respectively.248 The proportion of the former is unchanged compared to the previous sub-period, while the latter doubled their number.
The proportion of Roman Catholics among rejected students was 47% (44%)249 in the researched period. Among Protestant denominations, the Reformed were represented at
245 There is no data on the administrative classification of the place of birth of 7% of rejected applicants.
246 There is no data on the place of graduation of 8% of rejected applicants.
247 The denominational distribution of students at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Budapest in the academic year 1909/1910 is presented in parentheses. (“Statisztika” 1911: 387–389).
248 There is no data to establish the denomination of 4% of students. See Table 5 for information on the denominational classification of admitted and rejected applicants.
249 Details of denominational affiliation of admitted applicants are provided in parentheses for easier comparison.
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6.1.Breakdown of Applicants Admitted and Rejected Between 1911 and 1918 6.1.Breakdown of Applicants Admitted and Rejected Between 1911 and 1918
21% (17%) and Lutherans at 14% (24%) among unsuccessful applicants. Thus, in terms of all applicants, the ratio between the two denominations was balanced. The expansion of Reformed students was clearly visible, but Evangelicals were admitted in the institute with more likelihood, which can be explained by their strong positions and educational network in Upper Hungary among those born after the 1880s in the elite with knowl-edge (ibid. 92). 8% (2%) of those rejected were Greek Catholics and 3% (4%) belonged to the Jewish denomination. Thus, on the whole, in the researched period, from among the latter, one and a half times more applicants applied than between 1895 and 1910.
Unitarian students accounted for 2% (1%), while Greek Orthodox students accounted for 1% of those who were not admitted.250
Distribution of admitted and rejected applicants by denominations (%)
Denominations Admitted applicants
Rejected applicants
Data on the Faculty of Arts of the University
Data on the Teacher Examination
Committee
National data
Roman Catholic 44 47 48.6 58.8 49.3
Greek Catholic 2 8 3.5
6.9 11
Greek Orthodox 4 1 2.3 12.7
Reformed 17 21 16.2 8.6 14.2
Evangelical-Lutheran 24 14 11.5 12.8 7.1
Judaist 4 3 15.9 16.6 4.9
Unitarian 1 2 1.9 0.15 0.8
No data 4 4 0 0 0
Table 5: The denominational breakdown of admitted and rejected applicants compared to the data relating to students of the University’s Faculty of Arts, the Teacher Examination
Committee and national data.251
250 There is no data on any denomination concerning 4% of rejected students.
251 Information on the Faculty of Arts of the University of Budapest in: “Statisztika” 1911: 387–389. Denomination related data on students who took the exam before the Teacher Examination Committee is available at: Karády 2007: 414. National denominational data for 1910 in: Kövér 2006: 139.
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6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918 6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918
6.2.
The Breakdown of the Secondary Schools of Applicants Admitted and Rejected Between 1911 and 1918 By Type and Field of Science
The expansion of state-run secondary schools that developed during the initial period of the Collegium’s operation can be clearly demonstrated in the examined sub-period.
Although 37% (31.91%) of admitted students came from grammar schools that were maintained by the Roman Catholic denomination, collegium students admitted from state-run institutions accounted for 24% (32.62%)252 of students (20% of state-run gram-mar schools, 4% of state-run secondary schools of sciences). 19% (12.76%) of successful candidates who were admitted to the institute came from Evangelical-Lutheran denom-inational grammar schools and 13% (17.73%) from Reformed denomdenom-inational grammar schools. 4% (1.41%) of applicants graduated from Greek Orthodox grammar schools, all of whom were admitted to places maintained either by the Gozsdu Foundation or the Naszód (Năsăud) Region Scholarship Fund.253
The first places in the absolute ranking of secondary schools were occupied by denom-inational grammar schools: seven collegium students from the Evangelical-Lutheran lyceum in Bratislava and five successful applicants from the Debrecen Reformed Gram-mar School and College, the Keszthely Roman Catholic GramGram-mar School and from the Veszprém Roman Catholic Grammar School each. The Evangelical-Lutheran lyceums in Prešov, Rožňava and Sopron, as well as the St. Benedictine Catholic Grammar School in Sopron were ranked third with four collegium students each. A significant change compared to the previous sub-period was that a capital-based secondary school, the Practising Grammar School of the Budapest Teacher Training Institute with three admitted students appeared among the top five places in absolute rankings. And several state-run secondary schools were also in the top ten: the Hungarian Royal State Gram-mar School of Timişoara with three admitted students, which is a significant change, as many applicants from the South region between 1895 and 1910 were unsuccessful.
The seats of the secondary schools of admitted applicants mainly concentrated in towns with their own councils (43%) and in municipality towns (42%). Thus, compared to the previous sub-period, the data show a further increase in favour of these types of settlements, which can be explained by the fact that the expanding state secondary school network was created primarily in these settlements. 7% of grammar schools operated in district seats, 2% in county seats and 2% in small villages. 1% of those admitted completed
252 The complete statistical statement of the maintainers of grammar schools in 1910 is in parentheses (“Statisztika”
1911: 359–360).
253 There is no information on the type of secondary school 4% of those admitted graduated from.
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6.2. The Breakdown of the Secondary Schools of Applicants Admitted and Rejected 6.2. The Breakdown of the Secondary Schools of Applicants Admitted and Rejected
their secondary education in settlements with a population of 5,000 to 10,000 people.254 Another significant change compared to the previous sub-period was that 53% of the seats of secondary schools were located within the borders of the Trianon region and 44% in the later annexed territories.255 A significant change compared to the previous period was that former students of Reformed grammar schools located in the Great Plain appeared among successful applicants – collegium students who graduated from the Debrecen, Kecskemét, Kiskunhalas and Kisújszállás schools.
The expansion of state-run institutions is noticeable also among rejected applicants, since the joint proportion of those applying from state grammar schools and secondary schools of sciences was 35% (24%)256 (24% state grammar schools, 11% secondary schools of sciences). From among denominational institutions, 22% (37%) of unsuccessful applicants were Roman Catholics, 19% (19%) were Evangelical-Lutheran and 13% (13%) graduated from a Reformed institution. 4% of unsuccessful applications were submitted from Greek Catholic grammar schools and 1% from Unitarian denomination institutes.257 Thus, the total number of applicants from state-run institutions reached the total number of appli-cants from Roman Catholic secondary schools, but their proportion was still behind that of the denominational students, which can also be attributed to the difference between the school maintainers of the period. In terms of the absolute ranking of secondary schools, the first four places are occupied – with three candidates each – by the Evangelical-Lutheran lyceums of Bonyhád, Nyíregyháza, Bratislava and Szarvas. The state grammar schools of Budapest were in the last half of the ranking (the Hungarian Royal State Grammar School of the 1st District, the later Werbőczy Grammar School, or the Hungarian Royal Grammar School of the 3rd district of Budapest, Árpád Grammar School).
With regard to the administrative classification of the seats of secondary schools, in the case of those rejected, similarly to those admitted, a significant proportion of applicants, 34% received their secondary education in county seats and 31% in municipality towns (the share of the capital city was 14%). Thus, the number of applicants coming from the urbanised population in this group was 20% less than among the admitted. 14% of them received high-school graduation in district seats, 12% in towns with their own councils and 4% in villages.258 Most (50%) of these institutions, just as in the case of the admitted applicants, were located within the Trianon border.259 On the whole, it can be stated that in the examined period, applicants came from the central or western parts of the country and obtained their graduation certificate in state, Evangelical-Lutheran, Roman Catholic or Reformed denominational institutions whose seat was located in a municipal town or a county seat. The chances of those coming from a less urbanised environment, with the exception of a few grammar schools of great traditions (Szarvas Evangelical-Lutheran Lyceum, Aiud Ev. Reformed College), were very low.
254 There is no information on the type of secondary school 3% of those admitted graduated from.
255 Similarly, for 3% of them there is no information whether their secondary schools were located within the borders of before, or after 1920.
256 To facilitate comparison, data on maintainers of high school students are provided in parenthesis.
257 There is no data on the type of secondary school of 5% of the rejected applicants.
258 For 5% of them there is no data in this regard.
259 45% of them were located in areas that were later detached, for 5% of them there is no data in this respect.
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6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918 6. The History of the Eötvös Collegium Between 1911 and 1918
72% of admitted applicants specialised in philology and 24% studied science at the institute.260 Most of the collegium students who studied philology, 34, specialised in the Hungarian-German field; classical philology took second place with 31 students and the third in the ranking were 10 students with a combined specialisation in French and German and 10 with in Latin and history. In the first five, a significant number of students (a total of 11) studied history combined with modern language or science-re-lated specialisations. Students who specialised in history and geography were called “mule philologists” at the Collegium, but they were considered to be more in the philological field. Physics and mathematics remained the most popular combination of specialisa-tions among the so-called “dögész” (natural sciences) students with 31 students. With a considerable lag, in the second and third places in the ranking were geography and natural history (5 people) and natural history and chemistry (4 people). One student specialised in physics and astrology.261 Thus, the institute fundamentally preserved its philological training profile, though modern linguistics courses also played an important role in that.
The proportion of those among rejected applicants who chose philological disciplines was 56% and among “dögész” (natural sciences) students 34%.262 If we compare this with the proportions of admitted applicants, it can be seen that it was easier to be admitted to the institute to study philology than to study science. The reason for this was that, in order to preserve the philological profile of the Collegium, there were far fewer places available for “dögész” applicants than for those who wished to study philological disciplines. The most popular combination of specialisations among unsuccessful applicants was physics and mathematics; 26 people submitted their applications in this field. Altogether four students wished to study natural history and chemistry and one student opted for natu-ral history and geography in the Collegium. In the field of philology, the most popular combination was Hungarian and German (eight students), just as among the admitted
The proportion of those among rejected applicants who chose philological disciplines was 56% and among “dögész” (natural sciences) students 34%.262 If we compare this with the proportions of admitted applicants, it can be seen that it was easier to be admitted to the institute to study philology than to study science. The reason for this was that, in order to preserve the philological profile of the Collegium, there were far fewer places available for “dögész” applicants than for those who wished to study philological disciplines. The most popular combination of specialisations among unsuccessful applicants was physics and mathematics; 26 people submitted their applications in this field. Altogether four students wished to study natural history and chemistry and one student opted for natu-ral history and geography in the Collegium. In the field of philology, the most popular combination was Hungarian and German (eight students), just as among the admitted