The first Noble Colleges were founded in the 17th and 18th centuries by Jesuits and Piarists as an extension of existing secondary schools with the aim of providing education for the sons of impoverished gentlefolk. In the context of the Counter-Reformation these institutions placed especial emphasis on religious education and the formation of moral and ethical values in their pupils. They were intended chiefly for Catholics of noble birth and Catholic converts who would otherwise have received no education because their parents could not afford it or had died young. After the accession of Marie Theresa and the introduction of new legislation (Articles 74/1715 and 70/1723), the state took charge of these establishments, and with them their scholars, their welfare and their upbringing. Religious education and rote-learning of a narrow curriculum was now supplemented by foreign languages (German, Hungarian and French) and other subjects (calligraphy, arithmetic and geography). In the latter half of the 18th century the Viennese court set up a number of noble academies, including several in Hungary where young Hungarian noblemen could acquire an education commensurate with their social standing. Under Marie Theresa’s system of royal scholarships many poor students from the middle and lower nobility were able to receive an education. During her reign scholarship places in the academies and noble colleges became an instrument of social policy used by senior civil servants as rewards for services rendered, thus ensuring a new generation of public officials indebted and loyal to the Viennese Court., Ingrid Kušniráková., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy