The formation of the intellectuals from Turda in the modern age. Students from Turda at the great european universities during the modern age (1700-1830).
This study follows an older approach of ours research, which presented the students from Turda in the Middle Ages and in the pre-modern age. The aim of the current material is that of presenting the students who originated in Turda and who studied at the great European universities during the modern age. The universitary registry books during this period of time record 29 students from Turda. Before attending a university, the young citizens from Turda had prepared themselves at the Reformed College in Aiud, one of the most renowned secondary school institutions of Transylvania at that time. As to the age of the students from Turda, some records were kept for most of them. Thus, most of them got to study at a European university around the age of 25-27. The graduates from Turda opted for an ecclesiastical career and combined the pastoral activity with the didactic one in various educational institutions in Transylvania. Other citizens from Turda embraced a medical career, or even worked as pharmacists or opted for the military career. Most of the students from Turda were Hungarian, but this period of time also records the first two Romanian students from this town, namely Iosif Pop Salagianul and Baziliu Ratiu, notable personalities of the Greek-Catholic Church. Baziliu Raţiu was a renowned theologian and professor at Blaj, being involved in the Romanian’s national movement from Transylvania. Other personalities originating in Turda were Abats Johannes, who in 1796 became the Reformed bishop of Transylvania, Köteles Samuel (1770-1830), an important man of culture, member of the Hungarian Academy of Science, promoter of the Enlightenment, as well as Székely Nicolaus, Unitarian bishop of Transylvania starting from 1838.
Keywords: student, Turda, Univesity, career, Viena.
