Well-known tutors of the Medieval University
The decisive role of bishop William is suggested by the fact that he could „lure” an eminent professor of Canon law, Galvano di Bologna to Pécs, right after the foundation of the university. The scholar, originally from Bologna, Italy, has received his doctorate degree in Padua. From 1362 until his appointment in Pécs, he was a professor of Canon law at the University of Padua. In he early 1370s he served the Hungarian monarch as a diplomat. The attraction of the Pécs position included unusually favourable financial terms: an annual salary of 600 guilders plus 70 guilders tithe paid by the village of Ürög and a flat in Pécs. By all certainty, this was necessary for the reknown professor to leave Bologna for Pécs. In turn, the new university was made attractive by the presence of the famous scholar of law. At the same time, it is proven by his person that the organisation of the university began with the organisation of the faculty of law. Galvano di Bologna’s career in Pécs cold not be long, albeit, no exact data are available to confirm it. In 1374, probably following the death of bishop William, he returned to Bologna, making his stay in Pécs no longer than seven years. In fact, it must have been shorter than that, since he was also acting as an envoy for the king.
Herman Lurcz from Nuremberg, Germany, might have taught at the faculty of liberal arts. He appeared in Prague in 1379, and six years later he was working at the University of Vienna as the professor of the medical faculty. The academic body of the university could include some further scholars, namely Paul, provost of Sibiu, Rudolph, provost of Pécs, Michael of Slavonia, provost of Pozega, Jacob Kolozsvári, canon of Eger, and Imre Czudar, canon of Pécs.
The students of the Medieval University
The students of the university arrived from all corners of the „world” belonging to Latin Christianity. The groups of students coming from the same location formed “natio”-s. The Matricula testifies that the students had to get enlisted int he University. Although only the early ones survived in fragmented form, it is known for certain that some Hungarian students studied at Oxford and Paris as early as in the 12th century. As far as the actual students of Pécs concerned, only fragmented information is available concerning them, since the register of the university failed to survive. Only the petitions submitted to the Holy Seat in the early 15th century preserved the names of some students.
Where did the professors of Pécs teach?
Just like in the well-known Western European universities, education could take place at several locations: in the classrooms of the several-century-old cathedral school and in the houses or flats of the professors alike, while the lectures meant for a large audience must have been held in the churches, especially in the cathedral itself.
The so-called university speeches of Pécs
The first information about the manuscript, which in the Hungarian public awareness was known as the University Speeches of Pécs appeared in the catalogue of the Munich Staatsbibliothe (Sermones compilati in Studio generalized Quinqueecclesiense in Regno Ungariae). All of the university researchers were involved in the preparation of the book, while the philological processing of the text and preparing the Code for publication was made first by Ede Petrovich then Pál Timkovics. None of them could live to the publication of the volume, thus several other people were involved in the finishing works, such as Peter Kulcsar, Klára Pajorin, Kornél Szlovák and others.
However, examination of the university speeches as regards the relations of Pécs was completed with negative results. The original code was made sometime at the turn of the 13-14 centuries in the German-speaking areas, references to the Hungarian saints became part of the compilation in Hungarian Dominican environment, and the reference to Pécs is found only in the context of the use of the copy. It can be considered a valuable important document of Dominican education rather than take it as finding for the University.
