Citizens' school in St. Stephan
The St. Stephan Citizens' School was a school in what is now the city center of Vienna . In its time it was considered one of the most important schools in Austria.
history
As part of the elevation of Vienna to an imperial city , the school was first mentioned in a document in 1237 as a parish school. Presumably it has existed since the middle of the 12th century. It was probably founded soon after St. Stephen's Church was consecrated in 1147.
Originally the headmaster was appointed by the sovereign. The rectors and masters of the school were members of the clergy during the high and late Middle Ages. The Stephansschule played an important role in the education of the Austrian world clergy . The students served as choirboys at church festivals and most of them later became clergy themselves.
In the 13th century, the Stephansschule was apparently not as respected as the Prague schools, because under the rule of Ottokar II Přemysl , students from Austria and Styria went to Prague . In 1287, Magister Ulrich von Wien became the first more important scholar to become the headmaster of the school.
In 1296, Duke Albrecht I left the city of Vienna to supervise the school. It had probably already been obtained from the city's funds and was now under its control. The importance of the school grew as a result. The rector of the Stephansschule received the supervision of all schools in Vienna. No new schools were allowed to be founded without his consent. He also had jurisdiction over students, except for particularly serious offenses. Probably the most important rector of the Stephansschule was Konrad von Megenberg (approx. In the years 1342–1348).
The Sankt Stephan school was initially closely related to the newly founded university . One of the first rectors of the university, Magister Luderus, was also a schoolmaster at Sankt Stephan. Possibly he held both offices at the same time. In the years after the university was founded, it was probably the case that the rector of the university was also the schoolmaster of Sankt Stephan. Other schoolmasters were not rectors, but entered in the university's registers. In 1384 the rights of the Sankt Stephan school were restricted with regard to the university. The right to refuse admission to a student had to be shared between the community school and the university. Appointment and payment of the Masters of the Citizens School took place in agreement with the rector of the university.
Nothing is known about the geographical origin of the students. Several teachers from St. Stephen's School had also been to the University of Paris . One can assume that they also attracted students from further afield, especially from southern Germany.
The students were considered clerics in the legal sense, but were later able to return to the laity. The teachers of the Stephansschule had income from church benefices .
A curriculum is only known from the year 1446, but it can be assumed that the Septem artes liberales were taught at the level of cathedral and monastery schools before that . The emphasis was on the trivium .
From the middle of the 14th century there is a loan list from the school library, from which one can see which scripts were used for teaching. Works on grammar were particularly well represented, such as textbooks by Aelius Donatus and Priscian , writings by Prudentius and Boethius , an explanation of poems by Horace and other writings, some of which were probably collected in a Florilegium . Only one or two works are mentioned on rhetoric and dialectic. Books denoted by the term philosophia were either writings on logic or on science. Overall, the educational level of the Stephansschule was also limited, although it was higher than that of other parish schools or community schools.
The type of teaching was specified more precisely in the school regulations of 1446. The school consisted of two sections, in the first grammar and rhetoric were taught, in the second dialectic and the quadrivium . The students in the first section were divided into three groups, each consisting of three subgroups, according to age and ability. All students were taught in one large room. The first group learned to write and spell. Two Latin words had to be learned every day. This was followed by reading Donatus' grammar. At first it was all about reading, that is, connecting the letters. The text didn't have to be understood yet. The teaching of grammar and memorization gradually expanded, learning the cases and tenses. Half a verse was memorized daily, later a whole one. Eventually, the students learned two verses each day. The second and third groups stayed with Donat's textbook, but other books were also read. The focus of the lesson was memorizing. The training mainly included grammar. A little rhetoric was also taught in the third group. The ascent to a higher group or subgroup was possible every quarter and required an examination.
The teacher was supported in class by older students who practiced with the younger ones and asked them questions. The students improved what they had written, and the teacher checked it afterwards. The language of instruction was Latin, anyone who spoke German was punished. A common punishment was six to eight whip strokes. The school's duties also included instruction in morals, virtues and beliefs. This happened above all in the context of normal lessons, because these things were the basis of life and thus constantly flowed into the lessons. Only at the end of the lesson was there a separate story from the Bible that was told each day. In the second section dialectics and the quadrivium, consisting of geometry, arithmetic, music and astronomy, were taught. Arithmetic encompassed the four basic arithmetic operations, music only meant music theory. Sankt Stephan had its own singing school for practical singing lessons.
For some time the school was located where the Curhaus is today. A plaque on the outside of the house reminds of this.
Since 1862, recalls in the 1st district Inner City the Schulerstraße to the public school.
literature
- Helmut Engelbrecht : History of the Austrian educational system I. From the beginnings to the time of humanism . Vienna 1982.
- Anton Mayer: The St. Stephen's School in Vienna . In: Leaves of the Association for Regional Studies of Lower Austria . NF 14, 1880, p. 341-382 .
Web links
- Entry on Citizens' School in St. Stephan in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 29.2 " N , 16 ° 22 ′ 21.4" E