Alois Vojtěch Šembera, also Alois Adalbert Sembera or Alois Adalbert Schembera (March 21, 1807 – March 23, 1882) was a

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 *Czech (surnam ...

linguist, historian of literature, writer, journalist and patriot.

Life and work

He was born in

Vysoké Mýto Vysoké Mýto (; , also ''Hohenmauth'') is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. Its town square is the largest example of its type in the country. The historic town ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. During 1819–1826 he studied at the gymnasium in

Litomyšl Litomyšl (; ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is a former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle complex of the Lit ...

, during 1826/27

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

and then law at the same university (1827–1830). Between 1830 and 1839 he worked as municipal lawyer in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

(

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

) and gave there private lessons to the children of local nobility. During 1839–1847 he taught

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

at the

University of Olomouc A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

. Between 1847 and 1849 Šembera supervised the Moravian provincial archive. During years of 1848/49 he was an editor of ''Moravské noviny'' ("Moravian Newspaper"). In 1849 he was named professor of Czech language and literature at a

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

. Šembera was an active participant of the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech Czech language, language, culture and national identity. The most pro ...

. In 1839 he asserted to use Czech names for the streets in Brno, later in Olomouc, encouraged use of the Czech language and preservation of historical landmarks in the country. He initially believed in authenticity of manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and of Zelená Hora but later turned against them being rewarded by enmity of Czech nationalists. Šembera died in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, on March 23, 1882.

Works

* ''Historie pánů z Boskovic'' ("History of the Lords of Boskovice"), 1836. * ''Vpád Mongolů do Moravy'' ("Incursion of

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

into Moravia"), 1842. * ''Über die Gleichstellung der beiden Landessprachen in Mähren'' ("About equality of both languages of Moravia"), 1848, written in German. * ''Dějiny řeči a literatury českoslovanské. Věk starší. Od r. 58 př. Kr. do r. 1409 po Kr.'' ("History of Bohemian-Slavonic language and literature until 1409"), 1858. * ''Paměti a znamenitosti města Olomouc'' ("History and landmarks of Olomouc"), 1861. * ''Dějiny řeči a literatury českoslovanské. Věk novější. Od r. 1409 až do r. 1868'' ("History of Bohemian-Slavonic language and literature since 1409 to 1868"), 1868. * ''Obyvatelstvo české a německé na Moravě'' ("Czech and German inhabitants of Moravia"), 1873. * ''Kdo sepsal Královédvorský rukopis roku 1817?'' ("Who wrote the Manuscript of Dvůr Králové in 1817?"), Vienna, 1880.

Literature

* Emanuel Škorpil: ''Alois Vojtěch Šembera, přehled života a díla'' (''Alois Vojtěch Šembera, overview of life and work''), Vysoké Mýto, 1946. * Eva Straková: ''Alois Vojtěch Šembera a jeho vídeňské působení'' (''Alois Vojtěch Šembera and his activity in Vienna''), 2006
diploma work

Masaryk University Masaryk University (MU) (; ) is the second largest university in the Czech Republic, a member of the Compostela Group and the Utrecht Network. Founded in 1919 in Brno, it now consists of ten faculties and 35,115 students. It is named after To ...

. * Vysoké Mýto Regional Museum owns a collection of materials related to Šembera and is publishing his correspondence (5 volumes as of 200

.

External links

Short biography
(in Czech) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sembera, Alois Vojtech 1807 births 1882 deaths Scholars from the Austrian Empire 19th-century linguists Linguists from the Czech Republic Czech nationalists People from Vysoké Mýto Academic staff of Palacký University Olomouc