Ljudevit Farkaš Vukotinović (13 January 1813 – 17 March 1893) was a Croatian politician, writer and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

. He was born in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. He studied philosophy in

Szombathely } Szombathely (; ; also see #Etymology, names) is the 10th largest city in Hungary. It is the administrative centre of Vas County in the west of the country, located near the border with Austria. Szombathely lies by the streams ''Perint'' and '' ...

, and law in Zagreb and

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, where he graduated. In 1836, he was a trainee at the Tabula Banalis and, after passing the bar exam in 1836, was appointed as a sub-notary of Križevci County and, in 1840, as the Grand Judge in Moslavina Kotar. As a representative of the

Croatian Parliament The Croatian Parliament () or the Sabor is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Croatia. Under the terms of the Constitution of Croatia, Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the nation, people and is vested with legislative power. ...

, where he had served since 1847, he was responsible, along with

Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski (; 29 May 1816 – 1 August 1889) was a Croatian historian, politician, and writer, most famous for delivering the first speech in Croatian before Parliament. Considered a renowned patriot, Kukuljević was a proponent ...

, for the declaration of Croatian as the official language in 1847. During the

Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire The revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire took place from March 1848 to November 1849. Much of the revolutionary activity had a nationalism, nationalist character: the Austrian Empire, ruled from Vienna, included ethnic Germans, Hungarians, ...

, he served as the supreme commander of the armies in Križevci County, securing the defense on the river of

Drava The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe.

and in Međimurje, and publishing reports from the front lines in ''Slavenski jug''. In 1849–1854, he served as the president of the Regional Court in Križevci until his forced retirement due to his opposition to the introduction of German as the official language. After the fall of Bach's absolutism, he served in Ban's Conference in 1860 and as the Grand Župan of Križevci County in 1861–1867. Although, he was appointed as a representative in the Croatian Parliament as a member of the People's Party in 1871, he soon turned Unionist, and has not entered the civil service ever since. As a political writer, Vukotinović made appearance with ''Ilirizam i kroatizam'' ("Illyrism and Croatim", 1842), an essay in which he debated on the cultural and linguistic unity of

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic people 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, ...

based on their ethnic unity, and the struggle for an independent position of Croatia within the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

and the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

. In the dissertation ''Regni Slavoniae erga Hungarium legalis correlatio'' ("The legal relationship between the Kingdom of Slavonia to Hungary", 1845), he opposed the Hungarian encroachments of three

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

n counties (

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungary, Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). I ...

Syrmia Syrmia (Ekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srem, Срем, separator=" / " or Ijekavian sh-Latn-Cyrl, Srijem, Сријем, label=none, separator=" / ") is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is div ...

and Požega counties), stressing the state unity of Croatia, Slavonia and

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

. During the Revolutions of 1848, he published a brochure, ''Nekoja glavna pitanja našeg vremena'' ("Some major issues of our time"), in which he pointed out the contemporary political issues in Croatia, while in the brochure ''Godina 1850. u Hrvatskoj'' ("The year 1850 in Croatia", 1851) he opposed the centralisation and

Germanisation Germanisation, or Germanization, is the spread of the German language, people, and culture. It was a central idea of German conservative thought in the 19th and the 20th centuries, when conservatism and ethnic nationalism went hand in hand. In l ...

. Vukotinović's literary work began in '' Danica ilirska'', where he published in 1835 the first Illyrian patriotic poem ''Pesma Horvatov vu Glogovi leto 1813'', known by verse ''Nek se hrusti šaka mala''. He published collections ''Pjesme i pripovjetke'' ("Poems and short stories", 1838), ''Ruže i trnje'' ("Roses and thorns", 1842), ''Pesme'' ("Poems", 1847) and ''Trnule'' (1867), and a collection of historical short stories, ''Pošasnost ugarsko-hrvatska'' (1844). In 1842, together with Stanko Vraz and Dragutin Rakovac, he founded the literary magazine '' Kolo'' and, in 1859–1861, established and edited the almanac ''Leptir''. With Dragutin Rakovac, he edited in 1842 the first Croatian anthology of patriotic poetry ''Pesmarica. Sbirka 1. Pesmice domorodne''. He also authored theatre plays (''Golub'', 1832). As a naturalist, Vukotinović was engaged in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, exploring the Croatian flora and co-authoring with

Josip Schlosser Josip Klasancije Schlosser pl. Klekovski (1801–1882) was a Croatian physician and botanist. Together with Ljudevit Farkaš Vukotinović, he was an author of ''Flora croatica'' (1869), the main work for the knowledge of plants in Croatia. He was ...

a number of important floristic works: ''Syllabus florae Croaticae'' ("An overview of the Croatian flora", 1843), ''Bilinar'' (1873) and the seminal work ''Flora Croatica'' ("Croatian flora", 1869). His herbarium is now a part of the collection ''Herbarium Croaticum'' in the Department of Botany, Faculty of Science in Zagreb. He also studied petrography, mineralogy and geology, and was one of the founders of the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

in Zagreb. He served as a secretary of the Economic Society (1854) and edited ''Gospodarski list'' (1855–1857). In 1867, he was appointed as a full member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts. He died on 17 March 1893 in Zagreb and was buried at

Mirogoj Cemetery The Mirogoj City Cemetery (, ), also known as Mirogoj Cemetery (), is a cemetery park that is considered to be among the more noteworthy landmarks in the city of Zagreb. The cemetery inters members of all religious groups: Catholic, Orthodox, M ...

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vukotinovic, Ljudevit 1813 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Croatian scientists 19th-century Croatian writers Politicians from the Austrian Empire Writers from Austria-Hungary Botanists from Austria-Hungary Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery Croatian botanists Croatian male writers Croatian politicians People of the Illyrian movement Representatives in the Croatian Parliament (1848–1918) Scientists from Zagreb Writers from the Austrian Empire Writers from Zagreb Naturalists from the Austrian Empire