Konstantin Josef Jireček (24 July 1854 10 January 1918) was an

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

historian, politician, diplomat, and

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic peoples, Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Sla ...

. He was the founder of Bohemian Balkanology (or Balkan Studies) and

Byzantine studies Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. T ...

, and wrote extensively on

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

and Serbian history. Jireček was also a minister in the government of the

Principality of Bulgaria The Principality of Bulgaria ( bg, Княжество България, Knyazhestvo Balgariya) was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. After the Russo-Turkish War ende ...

for a couple of years.

Life

Jireček was the son of Czech historian

Josef Jireček Josef Jireček (9 October 1825, in Vysoké Mýto – 25 November 1888, in Prague) was a Czech scholar. He was born in Vysoké Mýto (then part of the Austrian Empire). He entered the Prague bureau of education in 1850, and became minister of th ...

(1825–1888) and Božena, a daughter of Slovak philologist

Pavel Jozef Šafárik Pavel Jozef Šafárik ( sk, Pavol Jozef Šafárik; 13 May 1795 – 26 June 1861) was an ethnic Slovak philologist, poet, literary historian, historian and ethnographer in the Kingdom of Hungary. He was one of the first scientific Slavists. Famil ...

(1795–1861). His family was deeply involved in

Slavistics Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

. Jireček was brought up in Vienna and enrolled in the 1864–1872 period at

Theresianum Theresianum (or Theresian Academy; german: Theresianische Akademie) is a private boarding and day school governed by the laws for public schools in Vienna, Austria. It was founded in 1746 by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. History Early h ...

, a prestigious preparatory school in Vienna. During his education, he became very interested in and studied several foreign languages (French, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Italian, Russian, English, Hungarian, Turkish and Greek). In 1872 he became a student at the Philological Faculty at the University of Prague, where he studied history and modern philology. At this time, his nearest friends included French historian

Ernest Denis Ernest Denis (January 3, 1849 – January 4, 1921) was a French historian. Denis became known as a specialist of Germany and Bohemia, and played a major role in the establishment of the Czechoslovak state in 1918. Along with Louis Léger, he i ...

(1849–1921) and the sons of Bulgarian theatre director and actor Krastyo Pishurka. In 1874 he took a study trip to

Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

and

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, after which he published several essays on the history and traditions of the South Slavic countries. In 1876 he had his first book published, the ''History of the Bulgarians'', a historiographical work spanning the medieval Bulgarian state foundation to the Ottoman conquest, which attracted great attention to the 22-year-old historian. This was due to the European public's interest in the

April Uprising The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular bashi-bazouk units brutally su ...

of the Bulgarian people, a people little known in Europe at the time. For his dissertation on the history of the Bulgarians, Jireček was awarded the title of doctor in philosophy in 1876. In 1877, his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

work was divided between

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

(Serbia). After the end of the

Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

, which saw the re-establishment of the Bulgarian state, he helped construct the administration, school system and economy in the newly founded

. In 1879 he was employed by the Bulgarian government, and from May to July 1881 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, then until 1882 as Minister of Science. In 1884, he was appointed director of the

National Library in Sofia The SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (Национална библиотека „Свети Свети Кирил и Методий“) is the national library of Bulgaria, situated in the capital city of Sofia. Founded on 4 April 187 ...

. During his stay, he devoted himself to research in Balkanology and Byzantine Studies. He published his results in numerous studies and monographs. From 1884 to 1893 he taught universal history as a full professor at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University ( cs, Univerzita Karlova, UK; la, Universitas Carolina; german: Karls-Universität), also known as Charles University in Prague or historically as the University of Prague ( la, Universitas Pragensis, links=no), is the oldest an ...

. After that, he was a professor of Slavic philology at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

until his death in 1918. Carl Patsch succeeded the office at Vienna.

Work

The bulk of Jireček's writings deal with the history of the

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...

and their literature. They notably include a ''History of the

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

'' (Czech and German, 1876), ''History of

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

s'', ''The Principality of Bulgaria'' (1891), ''Travels in Bulgaria'' (Czech, 1888), etc. He mostly wrote in German. *''History of the Bulgarians'' ( cz, Dějiny bulharského národa; german: Geschichte der Bulgaren, published in Prague in 1876 *''Die altböhmischen Gedichte der Grünberger und Königinhofer. Handschrift im Urtexte und in deutscher Uebersetzung''. Prag: Rivnac, 1879. *''Die Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke von Serbien und Bosnien während des Mittelalters: historisch-geographische Studien''. Prag: Verlag der Königlich Böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 1879 *''Einige Bemerkungen über die Überreste der Petschenegen und Kumanen sowie über die Völkerschaften der sogenannten Gagauzi und Surguči im heutigen Bulgarien''. Prag: Verlag der Königlich Böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, 1889. *''Die Heerstrasse von Belgrad nach Constantinopel und die Balkanpässe''. Prag: Tempsky, 1877. * *''Poselství republiky Dubrovnické k císařovně Kateřině v roce 1771''. Prag, 1893. *''Das christliche Element in der topographischen Nomenclatur der Balkanländer''. Wien: Gerold, 1897 *''Staat und Gesellschaft im mittelalterlichen Serbien. Studien zur Kulturgeschichte des 13.-15. Jahrhunderts''. Wien 1912 (Fotomechanischer Nachdruck Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der DDR, 1974) * (Nachdruck Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967) * (Nachdruck Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1967) * *

Honours

Jireček Point on Smith Island in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after Jireček. In

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, Mount Jireček, the third highest peak of the

Rila Rila ( bg, Рила, ) is the highest mountain range of Bulgaria, the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula and Southeast Europe. It is situated in southwestern Bulgaria and forms part of the Rila–Rhodope Mountains, Rhodope Massif. The highest summit is Mus ...

mountain range, as well as two villages, also bear his name. A journal of the

Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Serbica, sr-Cyr, Српска академија наука и уметности, САНУ, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, SANU) is a national academy and the ...

bears his name ( sr-cyr, Зборник Константина Јиречека). Also, streets in Novi Sad and Belgrade are named ''Jirečekova'' after him.

In fiction

Jireček appears as a minor character in one of

Aleko Konstantinov Aleko Konstantinov ( bg, Алеко Константинов) (1 January 1863 – 11 May 1897) ( NS: 13 January 1863 – 23 May 1897) was a Bulgarian writer, best known for his character Bay Ganyo, one of the most popular characters in Bulgarian ...

's satirical feuilletons centred on the fictional character of

Bay Ganyo Bay Ganyo ( bg, Бай Ганьо, ; also transliterated as ''Bai Ganio'' or ''Baj Ganjo'') is a fictional character created by the Bulgarian author Aleko Konstantinov (1863–1897). He is considered an exemplary image of an anti-hero: an uneducated ...

where the protagonist visits him in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, looking for shelter and discussing politics.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jirecek, Konstantin 1854 births 1918 deaths 19th-century Czech historians 19th-century Austrian historians 19th-century politicians 19th-century linguists Czech Byzantinists Austrian Byzantinists 20th-century Austrian historians Austrian diplomats Czech politicians Austrian politicians Conservative Party (Bulgaria) politicians Slavists Linguists from Austria Austrian people of Czech descent Austrian people of Slovak descent Austrian expatriates in Bulgaria Czech expatriates in Bulgaria Members of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Charles University faculty Academics of the University of Vienna Writers from Vienna Historians of Serbia Balkan studies Historians of Bulgaria Scholars of Byzantine history Foreign members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts