Academic Education and Social Mobility in Transylvania
during the Late Middle Ages

Abstract:

An explicit relation between the academic education in universities from Vienna, Krakow, Basel and social ascent of former students within the society of Transylvania can be observed. The Bulkescher family, for instance, one of the leading families in Cluj during the first half of the 15th century, probably had its origins on the nobiliary estate of Balcaciu. The Polners from Sighisoara, Thomas Altemberger from Sibiu or Johannes Honterus from Brasov entered the urban elite of merchants and entrepreneurs, replacing the blood based upper class at the beginning of the 15th century.

Keywords:

academic education, urban elite, social mobility