Václav Hanka (also written as ''Wenceslaus Hanka'') (10 June 1791 – 12 January 1861) 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 ...

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

Biography

Hanka was born at

Hořiněves Hořiněves is a municipality and village in Hradec Králové District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 700 inhabitants. Administrative division Hořiněves consists of four municipal parts (in brackets populatio ...

near

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

. He was sent in 1807 to school at Hradec Králové, to escape the conscription, then to the University of Prague, where he founded a society for the cultivation of the Czech language. At

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. ...

, where he afterwards studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, he established a Czech periodical; and in 1813 he made the acquaintance of

Josef Dobrovský Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech philologist and historian, one of the most important figures of the Czech National Revival along with Josef Jungmann. Life and work Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat, N� ...

, an eminent philologist. On 16 September 1817 Hanka claimed that he had discovered some manuscripts of 13th- and 14th-century Bohemian poems in the church tower of the town of Dvůr Králové nad Labem and later some more at

Zelená Hora Castle Zelená Hora (literally "Green Mountain") is a castle in Klášter in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It is located on an eponymous mountains, close to the town of Nepomuk. History The castle was first mentioned in a deed of Ottokar II o ...

near

Nepomuk Nepomuk (; ) is a town in Plzeň-South District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 3,600 inhabitants. It is known as the birthplace of Saint John of Nepomuk, who was born here around 1340. Administrative division Nepomuk ...

. The ''

Manuscripts of Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora The Dvůr Králové and Zelená Hora manuscripts (, and ''Rukopis zelenohorský, RZ'', and ''Grünberger Handschrift'') are literary Hoax, hoaxes purporting to be epic Slavic people, Slavic manuscripts written in Old Czech. They first appeared ...

'' were made public in 1818, with a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

translation by Swoboda. The originals were presented by him to newly founded

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 ...

at Prague, of which he was appointed librarian in the same year. Great doubt, however, was felt as to their genuineness, and Dobrovský, by pronouncing the latter manuscript (also known as ''The Judgment of

Libuše , Libussa, Libushe or, historically ''Lubossa'', is a legendary ancestor of the Přemyslid dynasty and the Czechs, Czech people as a whole. According to legend, she was the youngest but wisest of three sisters, who became queen after their father ...

''), to be an obvious fraud, confirmed the suspicion. Some years afterwards Dobrovský saw fit to modify his decision, but modern Czech scholars regard the manuscript as a

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

. A translation into English, ''The Manuscript of the Queen's Court'', was made by

Albert Henry Wratislaw Albert Henry Wratislaw (5 November 1822 – 3 November 1892) was an English clergyman and Slavonic scholar of Czech descent. Early life Albert Henry Wratislaw was born 5 November 1822 in Rugby, the eldest son of William Ferdinand Wratislaw (178 ...

in 1852. In 1846 Hanka edited the ''

Reims Gospel Reims Gospel (French language, French: ''Texte du Sacre'' which means "coronation text"; also referred to in some Czech language, Czech sources as the ''Emmaus Evangelie'' or ''Remešský kodex'') is an illuminated manuscript of Slavonic (Slavic ...

'' and made it available to the general public, for which he received the cross of the Order of St. Anna by the Tsar Nicholas I and a brilliant ring by Emperor Ferdinand I. In 1848 Hanka, who was an ardent

pan-Slavist Pan-Slavism, a movement that took shape in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with promoting integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had ruled the South S ...

, took part at the

Prague Slavic Congress, 1848 The Prague Slavic Congress of 1848 (, ) took place in Prague, Austrian Empire (now Czech Republic) between 2 June and 12 June 1848. It was the first occasion on which representatives from nearly all Slav populations of Europe met in one place to ...

and other peaceful national demonstrations, being the founder of the political society ' ("Slavonic Linden"). He was elected to the Imperial Diet at Vienna, but declined to take his seat. In the winter of 1848 he became lecturer and in 1849 professor of

Slavonic languages The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Earl ...

in the University of Prague. He died in Prague on 12 January 1861 at the age of 70.

Works

His chief works and editions are the following: *''Hankowy Pjsne'' (Prague, 1815), a volume of poems *''Starobyla Skiadani'' (1817–1826), in 5 vols, a collection of old Bohemian poems, chiefly from unpublished manuscripts *''A Short History of the Slavonic Peoples'' (1818) *''A Bohemian Grammar'' (1822) *''A Polish Grammar'' (1839) (these two grammars were composed on a plan suggested by Dobrovský) *''Igor'' (1821), an ancient

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n epic, with a translation into Bohemian *a part of the Gospels from the Reims manuscript in the

Glagolitic alphabet The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...

(1846) *the old Bohemian ''Chronicles of Delimit'' (1848) *''History of Charles IV'', by Procop Luph (1848) *''Evangelium Ostromis'' (1853) *Hanka also composed the song Moravo, Moravo!, sometimes used as a

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 ...

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

Biography

Works

Notes

Further reading