Juraj Matija Šporer or Đuro Matija Šporer or George Sporer or Đuro Matić Šporer (1795–1884) was a

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and writer who was one of the forerunners of the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...

. Šporer was the first Croatian person who attempted to publish a native 'Illyrian' language newspaper. His attempts failed because of the complete lack of interest for newspaper published in his native language.

Family, education and professional career

Šporer was born in Karlovac in 1795 in Habsburg monarchy. His father Josip, originally from Bribir, was the first mayor of Karlovac under French control (as part of the Illyrian Provinces), appointed directly by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and one of the first Freemasons in Karlovac. Šporer began attending the gymnasium in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, continued in

Senj Senj (; it, Segna, la, Senia, Hungarian and german: Zengg) is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains. The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress ( hr, Tvrđava Nehaj) whic ...

and completed it in Zagreb. He graduated with a degree in medicine and philosophy at

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 hist ...

and received the status of physician in 1819. Šporer worked as a physician in Karlovac, Bakar, Rijeka,

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

and

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

. After he was retired in 1851 he moved to Rijeka where he lived until his death on 1 August 1884.

Bibliography

Under the influence of his father and against the approval of Austrian emperor Francis II, in 1818 Šporer was the first Croatian person who made an attempt to publish a newspaper (''Oglasnik Ilirski'') in his native ( sh, domorodnom) language. His plans were to publish it in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

twice per week. In this attempt he was supported by Aleksa Praunsperger from Samobor and Aleksa Vancuš from Zagreb. He failed to realize his idea to publish this magazine because of the complete lack of interest in a newspaper published in his native language. In 1823 he published "Almanah Ilirski" in Karlovac. He signed his name as Matić. In 1849 Šporer published his tragedy on

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

(''Kastriota Škenderbeg: tugokazie u pet izvedah'') and depicted Skanderbeg as

Slav Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

who united all

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, ...

from Istria to Krujë.

Bibliography

* * "Odziv iz prošlosti" - 1863, memoirs

Family, education and professional career

Bibliography

Bibliography

References

Further reading