The Parish School in Kraśnik in the Old Polish Period

Abstract

At the turn of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Kraśnik, then belonging to the Gorajski and later to Tęczyński, was a significant urban center in the lightly populated eastern area of the province. Sandomierski (Lubelskie Voivodeship was not established until 1474). The parish of St. Peter and probably a parish school next to it were there. The Canons Regular of the Lateran settled in the city in 1468 and, in principle, took care of the running of schools and organizing libraries. The functioning of the school is confirmed by sources. Despite numerous elementary calamities (wars, pestilence, famine) which ruined the city causing the destruction of buildings (including the monastery and school) as well as economic stagnation and depopulation of the city, the school operated continuously, except for two decades after the great fire of the city (1735). At the beginning of the 17th century, the school was located in a separate, brick building, which consisted of a hall, two rooms (school class and teacher's apartment) and three chambers. The program at the Kraśnik school was based on the trivium, like the parish school at the mother monastery in Kazimierz and the monastery in Kłodzko, from which Kazimierz canons came. At least three years of teaching included grammar, rhetoric and dialectics. Graduates of these schools were able to read and write in Latin and acquired basic knowledge of arithmetic, geography, history, liturgy, music and church singing.