Mihály Táncsics (21 April 1799 – 28 June 1884) was a Hungarian writer, teacher, journalist and politician.
Life
Mihály Táncsics was born on 21 April 1799 in the village of
Ácsteszér in the
Veszprém county of 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 ...
. By his own account, his father was of
Croat
The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...
ian antecedents and his mother was of
Slovak origin, but he was brought up to be a
Hungarian-speaker and an ardent Hungarian. He was incarcerated in
Pest for his radical political convictions in 1846. He propagated in his pamphlet ''The Word of the People Is God's Word,'' a paraphrase of ''Vox populi, vox Dei''. The pamphlet resulted in his arrest. Táncsics was freed from the
Habsburgs's prison on 15 March 1848, the very day when the Hungarian revolution broke out. Although Táncsics's role in the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas is highly emphasized in Hungarian history books, however, in literature he does not rank among the great active heroes of these events. He is remembered as someone who is freed rather than someone who liberates others.
As a teacher, Táncsics tirelessly worked to extend elementary education in Hungarian among children and adults in Hungary's urban centres, and his slim textbook on geography with a map of Hungary was part of a large educational project.
Commemoration
He is the namesake of a Hungarian national award for
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...
, the .
In 1948 a Hungarian 20 Forint coin was issued for the Centenary of the 1848 Revolution with his image.
* On 15 March 1947 Hungary issued a postage stamp in his honor in Hungarian Freedom-fighters series.
* On 15 March 1952 Hungary honoured him by a postage stamp in the Freedom-Fighters of 1848 series.
* On 13 March 1998 he was remembered by issuing a postage stamp in the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence series.
[http://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/182743-Mihály_Táncsics-1848-49_Revolution_and_War_of_Independence-Hungary. (Scott # 3600)]
References
*
1799 births
1884 deaths
People from Komárom-Esztergom County
Writers from the Austrian Empire
Writers from Austria-Hungary
Opposition Party (Hungary) politicians
Members of the House of Representatives of Hungary (1848–1849)
Members of the House of Representatives of Hungary (1869–1872)
Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery
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