Juraj Sklenár (Georgius Szklenár; 25 February 1745 – 30 January 1790) was a Slovak historian, pedagogue and Catholic priest.

Life

He was born in Tiba, a manor-house near

Levoča Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча) is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wor ...

. Sklenár entered the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

as a novice in 1764 and become a doctor of philosophy. He worked in

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' (Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' (Trna ...

Prešov Prešov (, hu, Eperjes, Rusyn language, Rusyn and Ukrainian language, Ukrainian: Пряшів) is a city in Eastern Slovakia. It is the seat of administrative Prešov Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj) and Šariš, as well as the historic Sáros Cou ...

and

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

. After the abolition of the Jesuit order, he worked as a professor of rhetoric and deputy director at main royal grammar school in Pressburg (today's

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

). A part of Sklenár's works are

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ode An ode (from grc, ᾠδή, ōdḗ) is a type of lyric poetry. Odes are elaborately structured poems praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally. A classic ode is structured in three majo ...

s and occasional speeches related to his pedagogic position. In the 1770s, he already become more known among scientists. In the ''Geographic Lexicon of the Kingdom of Hungary'' (1876) he is mentioned as the pride of

Pressburg Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

. Sklenár, together with Juraj Papánek,

Juraj Fándly Juraj Fándly ( hu, György Fándly or ''György Fandl''; 21 October 1750 – 7 March 1811) was a Slovak writer, Catholic priest and entomologist (bee-keeper) in the Kingdom of Hungary. Life He was born in Častá (Cseszte), Kingdom of Hung ...

and Samuel Timon created the first scientific works about the earliest history of Slovaks. Slovak enlightenment historians already paid attention to

Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavs, Wes ...

and the mission of

Saints Cyril and Methodius Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs". They are credited wit ...

, but did not adopt yet a deciding position. In 1784, Sklenár published his most important work ''Vetustissimus magnae Moraviae situs et primus in eam Hungarorum ingressus et incursus, geographice, historice, critice descriptus''. He tried to separate the history of Great Moravia from the Slovak history and proposed the location of its center to

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank ...

. According to Richard Marsina, regardless of this mistake, Sklenár belonged among most qualified and most critical historians of Bernolák's generations.

Works

* Synchronisticon Josepho e com. Battyány S. R. I. principi et primato Hungariae * Raroria naturae monumenta in Ungaria occurentia * Origo er genealogia Illustris Battyaniorum Gentis * Vetustissimus magnae Moraviae situs et primus in eam Hungarorum ingressus et incursus, geographice, historice, critice descriptus * Hypercriticon examinis vetustissimi m. Moraviae situs et vindiciarum anonymi Belae regis scribae (St. Katona) * Onomasticon honoribus Mariae Theresiae * Oratio inaug. Occasione instauratarum Posonii litterarum * Onomasticon honoribus M. Theresiae Aug. Hung. Reginae * Oratio inaug. in Regio Posoniensi Gymnasio habita 1777 (scientias in Hungaria instauratas novumque systema introductum). * Ode in adventum Clementis AA. et Electoris Trevirensis * Ode in reditum Josephi II. Parisiis * Ode in reditum com. Francisci Balassa e commissione regia * Oratio quam pro die 13. Maji 1780. dum sub praesidio comitis Balassa reg. Tallosiense orphanotrophium Szemptzini collocaretur adornavit * Laudatio funebris in exequiis Antonii Mancini professoris Posoniensis. U. ott, 1783. * Georgii Papanek compendiata historia gentis Slavae, per Georgium Fándy cum notis G. Szklenar. Tyrnaviae, 1793.

References

Sources

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External links

Juraj Sklenár
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sklenar, Juraj 1744 births 1790 deaths 19th-century Hungarian historians Slovak Roman Catholic priests