Václav Kaplický (28 August 1895,

Sezimovo Ústí Sezimovo Ústí (; ) is a town in Tábor District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,100 inhabitants. Etymology The name literally means "Sezima's river mouth". Geography Sezimovo Ústí is urbanistically fused wi ...

– 4 October 1982,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) 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 ...

writer, journalist and epic poet. He is most known as an author of historical fiction. __NOTOC__ Kaplický studied at Gymnasium in

Tábor Tábor (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants, making it the second most populated town in the region. The town was founded by the Hussites in 1420. The historic town centre is well pres ...

, finishing in 1914. In 1915 he was sent to the front in Galicia where he was taken captive (1916). Later he joined the

Czechoslovak Legion The Czechoslovak Legion ( Czech: ''Československé legie''; Slovak: ''Československé légie'') were volunteer armed forces consisting predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting on the side of the Entente powers during World War I and the ...

. For his political opinions he was imprisoned by the legion and labeled as a traitor. After returning to

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in 1921 he worked in civil service. During the period 1922–1950, Kaplický worked in several publishing houses associated with the Czechoslovak Socialist Party. From 1950 he dedicated his time solely to writing. The majority of Kaplický's works are historical fictions spanning the period from the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, a ...

in the 15th century to the revolutionary upheaval of 1848. His novel '' Kladivo na čarodějnice'' (1963), about witch trials in northern Moravia during the 1670s is the best known because it served as the basis for movie by

Otakar Vávra Otakar Vávra (28 February 1911 – 15 September 2011) was a Czech film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. Biography and career Vávra attended universities in Brno and Prague, where he studied architecture. During 1929–30, while still a stud ...

(''

Malleus Maleficarum The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise about witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic Church, Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinisation of names, Latini ...

'', also translated as ''Witches' Hammer'' or ''Witchhammer'').

Works

Historical fiction

* Kraj kalicha, 1945 – about Hussite period * Čtveráci, 1952 – about peasant uprising 1618–1620 * Železná koruna (2 volumes), 1954 – about hard life of common people after

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

* Smršť, 1955 * Rekruti, 1956 * Listy z kronik, 1958 – five short historical stories from northern Bohemia * Zaťatá pěst, 1959 * Kladivo na čarodějnice, 1963 – about witch trials in northern Moravia * Táborská republika (3 volumes), 1969 – about Hussite period * Nalezeno právem, 1971 – about accusation of a Jew from ritual murder in 1687 * Škůdce zemský Jiří Kopidlanský, 1976 – from period of dynasty of Jagellon * Veliké theatrum, 1977 – about earliest phase of Thirty Years' War and preparations to

Battle of White Mountain The Battle of White Mountain (; ) was an important battle in the early stages of the Thirty Years' War. It led to the defeat of the Bohemian Revolt and ensured Habsburg control for the next three hundred years. It was fought on 8 November 16 ...

* Kdo s koho, 1979 – from period of dynasty of Jagellon * Život alchymistův, 1980 – life of

alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

Edward Kelley Sir Edward Kelley or Kelly, also known as Edward Talbot (; 1 August 1555 – 1597/8), was an English Renaissance occultist and scryer. He is known for working with John Dee in his magical investigations. Besides the professed ability to se ...

For youths

* O věrnosti a zradě, 1959 – 15 short historical stories * Bandita, Paťara a spol., 1969 – for boys * Královský souboj, 1971

Other

* Gornostaj, finished in 1921, published in 1936 – autobiographic novel about the imprisonment of dissenting legionnaires near

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

, on an island in Gornostai Bay ( ru:) * Dobří přátelé, 1961 – about love of nature * Ani tygři, ani lvi, 1966 – short stories about pet animals * Od města k městu, 1975 – wandering of students throughout Czech lands * Hrst vzpomínek z mládí, 1988 – first part of Kaplický's memoirs, edited by Jaromíra Nejedlá * Hrst vzpomínek z dospělosti, 2010 – second part of memoirs, edited by Martin Kučera

External links

Short biography
(in Czech)

(in Czech, archived link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaplicky, Vaclav 1895 births 1982 deaths People from Sezimovo Ústí People from the Kingdom of Bohemia Czech novelists Czech male novelists Czech journalists Czech male poets Czech children's writers Czechoslovak Legions in literature 20th-century Czech poets 20th-century Czech novelists 20th-century Czech male writers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Czechoslovak Legion personnel Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery 20th-century journalists