The Thousand-Year History of Schools in Hungary [antikvár]

Lectori 6alutem Hearty greetings to the kind reader of this book! Hearty greetings from the author who wishes to draw your attention to some significant dates, events, institutions and personalities in the thousand-year history of Hungarian education, who wishes to conjure up a few scenes from the history of Hungarian culture. It is a well-known fact that the Hungarians — after several centuries of existence - settled in the Carpathian Basin, their present homeland, in the 890s. They have now been living in this land, in the heart of Europe, together with other peoples, for over one thousand and one hundred years. It was on Christmas day of the year 1000 - thus just one thousand years ago - that the archbishop of Esztergom put the royal crown which was sent by the Pope on the head of Stephen (formerly prince of Hungarians) in the newly built cathedral of Esztergom. Thus Hungary once and for all entered the commu-nity of Central European Christian states and became an integral part of Europe. It is to this point, this first millennium, that we have to return to if we wish to uncover the beginnings of educational establishments in Magyar lands and if we want to evoke the faces of the first teachers and the figures of the first students in Hungary. It was at this time, at the end ofthe 10th century, that the first schools began to function in the Carpathian Basin. Since then a network of many thousands of schools has developed in this country, in the Magyar fatherland, expanding and deepening the culture, faith and humanity of those dwelling here. The Hungarian schools and Hungarian culture are thus a thousand years old in this part of Europe, in the Carpathian basin. However, Hungarians have had to expend much of their energy on fighting and warfare; they had to struggle with invading Tartars and Turks as well as attacks by other forces in later centuries. The country has often been the goal of imperialist design of the great powers; it has often had to suffer under foreign occupation; internal and external political forces have often attempted to transform its image, its way of thinking and culture by brute force. Nonetheless, Hungarians have held out, making huge sacrifices not only in pursuit of their own freedom, their very ^ 7 J2Í