Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 96 No. 1, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.96.1.1
Peasant Youth at the Royal University of Franz Joseph I in Zagreb in the period 1874 – 1918, with Special Emphasis on the Faculty of Theology
Ana Biočić
orcid.org/0000-0002-2894-4279
; University of Zagreb, Catholic Faculty of Theology, Zagreb, Croatia
Tihana Luetić
orcid.org/0000-0002-1590-8420
; Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute of Historical and Social Sciences, Department of Historical Sciences in Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The social picture of the student population of the University of Zagreb in the period from the foundation of the modern University in 1874 to the end of the First World War is an indicator of a series of modernization processes that affected the Croatian lands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By analysing the student enrolment forms (nationals) for each of the three faculties of the University of Zagreb of that time – Law (Faculty of Law and Political Science), Theology (Faculty of Theology) and Philosophy (Faculty of Philosophy), which are preserved in the Directories of enrolled regular and extramural students in the archives of each individual faculty, it is possible to determine changes in the social structure across the entire student population in the studied period, as well as changes within the student group that had originally belonged to peasant, agricultural families. The proportion of rural children attending Zagreb’s higher education institutions is an indicator of modernization among the peasantry. It is feasible to establish whether and to what extent this occurred by analysing the distribution of percentage across the entire time frame. A special focus is given to the students at the Faculty of Theology, where the highest percentages of students came from peasant backgrounds. Their regional, linguistic, and religious background, prior education, scholarships, and length of study are analysed.
Keywords
University of Zagreb; Faculty of Theology; students; peasantry; quantitative analysis; 19th century; 20th century
Hrčak ID:
349167
URI
Publication date:
11.7.2026.
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