Jan Erazim Vocel
{{Short description|Czech poet, archaeologist, historian and cultural revivalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jan Erazim Vocel
| image = Jan Vilímek - Jan Erazim Vocel.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Photo portrait by Jan Vilímek
| birth_date = {{birth date|1802|8|23|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kutná Hora
{{flagcountry|Habsburg Monarchy}}
| death_date = {{dda|1871|9|16|1802|8|23|df=y}}
| death_place = Prague
{{flagcountry|Austria-Hungary}}
| body_discovered =
| alma_mater = Charles University
University of Vienna
| occupation = Czech poet, archaeologist, historian and cultural revivalist
| years_active = 1820–1871
| spouse = Barbora Jaroslava Vocelová,
née Štětková
(m. 1843–died 1846);
Matylda Vocelová,
née Hovorková
(m. 1849–his death, 1871)
| children = Růžena Vocelová (c. 1844–1846)
Jaromirz Vocel (*1850)
Vojtěch Vocel (*1851)
Adalbert Vocel (*1851)
Ladislav Vocel (*1854)
Ludmila Vocelová (*1860)
| parents =
| website =
}}
Jan Erazim Vocel (23 August 1802–16 September 1871) was a Czech poet, archaeologist, historian and cultural revivalist.Niederle, L., Birnbaum, V., & Novák, A, [http://arne-novak.phil.muni.cz/books/jan-erazim-vocel-niederle-birnbaum-novak-1922/str-1 Jan Erazim Vocel] (Prague: Časopis Společnosti přátel starožitností, 1922). {{in lang|cs}} Though as heir to his father's trade, he was to become a baker, his parents, observing his youthful enthusiasm for Gothic history, eventually heeded his academic calling.Vélová, L., [http://www.archeologienadosah.cz/o-archeologii/dejiny-oboru/osobnosti-ceske-archeologie/jan-erazim-vocel-1802-1871 Jan Erazim Vocel (1802–1871)], Archeologie na dosah, August 1, 2012. {{in lang|cs}}
Early life
Vocel was born in Kutná Hora. At the age of 14, he moved to Prague to attend a Piarist college-preparatory high school. Concomitantly, he attended philosophy lectures at Charles University. Already by that time, he had begun writing fiction, of which efforts only two complete works survive—Krvočíše (Bloodshot), a romance about growing grapes in celebration of Charles IV (King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor), and Harp (1875),Gillespie, G. E. P., ed., Romantic Drama (Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1994), [https://books.google.com/books?id=hqbi8G3dd5wC&pg=PA292 p. 292].{{rp|292}} a tragedy. On graduating, Vocel departed from Prague to Vienna, where he studied philosophy and law. In order to support himself and assist his family, Vocel accepted tutoring appointments in various homes of the ancient Bohemian Czernin family and later of other noble families, e.g., the House of Harrach, where he established himself as an abiding mentor to nascent businessman/arts patron Jan Harrach (1828–1909).
On graduating from the University of Vienna, Vocel returned to Prague, where he helped to establish the Archaeological Society in 1843.Palacký, F., "Časopis společnosti wlastenského Museum w Čechách," [https://books.google.com/books?id=6YbQAAAAMAAJ Journal of the Bohemian Museum, Volume 17] (Prague: Knihkupectví J. G. Calve, 1843), pp. 607-626. {{in lang|cs}}{{rp|607–626}}
Literature
File:Jan Erazim Vocel grave.jpg, Prague, Czech Republic|left]]
Vocel's literary work reflects a pathological interest in medieval history, archeology and historiography. By and large, his two most significant works are thought to be Poslední Orebit and Přemyslovci.
In 1850, Vocel was appointed associate professor of Archeology and Art History at Charles University. As an author of numerous articles and scientific papers, he inadvertently introduced what would later become a widely accepted method of chemical analysis to determine the age of bronze objects.Vocel, J. E., Pravěk země české (Prehistory of the Czech Lands), [https://books.google.com/books?id=lEhBAAAAYAAJ&q=editions:5uRQ7XyimGQC Vol. 1], [https://books.google.com/books?id=TBKgAAAAMAAJ Vol. 2] (Prague: Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences, 1866, 1868). {{in lang|cs}}
A highlight of his literary career was the two-volume Prehistory of the Czech Lands (1866, '68), in which he posited a sound foundation for archeology in Czech science. Though beyond its expanded description of his method of chemical analysis, the work did not offer archeological breakthroughs or newer methods, it has exercised considerable influence abroad.
Together with Czech writer, historian, museum director, patriot and publicist Karel Vladislav Zap (1812–1871), Vocel contributed to the popularity and development of Czech archeology through their 1854 co-founding of a specialized organ, "Archaeological Monuments" (edited by Zap from 1854 to '66), in which Czech history, from its mythic beginnings to the Hussite movement, was examined and celebrated.
In 1872, the bourgeois Czech writer Jakub Malý, an early devotee of Czech history and literature and promoter of the study of the English language, published the biography Jan Erazim Vocel.Trencsenyi, B., and Kopecek, M., Discourses of Collective Identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945), Texts and Commentaries, Vol. II, National Romanticism: The Formation of National Movements (Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=dup4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA65 p. 65].{{rp|65}}
Science
Legacy
Vocel died in Prague. Alongside fellow Kutná Hora natives Karel Havlíček Borovský and Josef Kajetán Tyl, he is regarded as a key figure in the 19th-century Czech national revival.Anon., [http://www.parlamentnilisty.cz/profily/kraj-Stredocesky-373/clanek/V-Kutne-Hore-zacal-festival-Kutna-Hora-domov-muj-36112 "Kutná Hora, domov můj"], Parlamentní listy, October 27, 2014. {{in lang|cs}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
{{wikimedia|d=no|wikt=no|c=Category:Jan Erazim Vocel|q=no|s=yes|v=no|b=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|n=no}}
- Petřík, M., [https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/10169539755-dvaasedmdesat-jmen-ceske-historie/209572232200029-jan-erazim-vocel/ "Jan Erazim Vocel"], episode 65 of Dvaasedmdesát jmen české historie (Seventy-two names in Czech history), Česká televize, 2010, 13 min. (in Czech)
- Vélová, L., [https://www.archeologienadosah.cz/o-archeologii/dejiny-oboru/osobnosti-ceske-archeologie/jan-erazim-vocel-1802-1871 Entry on Vocel], Archeologie na dosah, National Museum. (in Czech)
- Vocel, J. E., [https://books.google.com/books?id=5EZXAAAAcAAJ Grundzüge der böhmischen Alterthumskunde] (Prague: Kronberger und Řiwnač, 1845). (in German)
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Category:People from Kutná Hora
Category:University of Vienna alumni
Category:Czech people from Austria-Hungary
Category:Scholars from the Austrian Empire
Category:Scholars from Austria-Hungary
Category:Charles University alumni
Category:19th-century archaeologists
Category:Historians from Austria-Hungary