Albert Henry Wratislaw (5 November 1822 – 3 November 1892) was an English

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

man and Slavonic scholar of Czech descent.

Early life

Albert Henry Wratislaw was born 5 November 1822 in

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

, the eldest son of William Ferdinand Wratislaw (1788–1853), a solicitor of Rugby by his wife, Charlotte Anne (d. 1863), and grandson of Marc (Maximillian, 1735–1796), styled "Count" Wratislaw von Mitrovitz, who emigrated to Rugby ca. 1770. Albert Henry entered

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

, aged seven, on 5 November 1829 (Register, i. 161), and matriculated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, in 1840, but migrated to Christ's, where he was admitted 28 April 1842; he graduated B.A. as third classic and twenty-fifth

senior optime At the University of Cambridge in England, a "Wrangler" is a student who gains first-class honours in the Mathematical Tripos competition. The highest-scoring student is the Senior Wrangler, the second highest is the Second Wrangler, and so on. ...

in 1844. He was appointed fellow of Christ's College (1844–1852) and became a tutor,

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a priest of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

in 1846, and commenced M.A. in 1847. As a result, in collaboration with Dr

Charles Anthony Swainson Charles Anthony Swainson (1820–1887) was an English Anglican theologian, Principal of Chichester Theological College, Norrisian Professor of Divinity, and subsequently Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, Master of Christ's College, Cambri ...

of the college, he published ''Loci Communes: Common Places'' (1848). He left Christ's in 1852, and on 28 December 1853, married Frances Gertrude Helm (1831–1868). He was elected a member of the

Cambridge Camden Society The Cambridge Camden Society, known from 1845 (when it moved to London) as the Ecclesiological Society,

During the long vacation of 1849 he visited Bohemia, studied the

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

in Prague, and in the same autumn published at London ''Lyra Czecho Slovanska, or Bohemian poems, ancient and modern, translated from the original Slavonic, with an introductory essay,'' which he dedicated to Count

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, as "from a descendant of a kindred race".

Headmaster positions

In August 1850 Wratislaw was appointed headmaster of

Felsted School Felsted School is a co-educational independent school, independent boarding school, boarding and Day school, day school, situated in Felsted in Essex, England. It is in the British Public school (UK), public school tradition, and was founded i ...

, his being the last appointment made by the representatives of the founder,

Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich (July 1496 – 12 June 1567), was Lord Chancellor during King Edward VI of England's reign, from 1547 until January 1552. He was the founder of Felsted School with its associated almshouses in Essex in 1564. He was ...

. During the previous 24 years under Thomas Surridge, the school had greatly declined in numbers. Wratislaw commenced with 22 boys, and the revival of the school was inaugurated by him. Unfortunately he found the climate of Felsted too bleak for him, and in 1855 he migrated, with a number of his Felsted pupils, to

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

, to become headmaster of King Edward VI School there. At Bury also he greatly raised the numbers of the school, which controversy about the book ''Jashar'' of his predecessor, Dr

John William Donaldson John William Donaldson (7 June 1811 – 10 February 1861) was an English academic and writer in Greek classics, a philologist and a biblical critic. He was born in London, and was educated at University College, London, and Trinity College, Cambr ...

, is said to have helped to empty. During the twenty years that followed his appointment at Felsted scholastic work took up nearly all Wratislaw's time. He was one of the dozen who attended the historic December 1869 meeting of headmasters gathered by

Edward Thring Edward Thring (29 November 1821 – 22 October 1887) was a celebrated British educator. He was headmaster of Uppingham School (1853–1887) and founded the The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, Headmasters' Conference in 1869. Life T ...

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils 13–18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. ...

, considered to be the very first

Headmasters' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC), formerly known as the Headmasters' Conference and now branded HMC (The Heads' Conference), is an association of the head teachers of 351 private fee-charging schools (both boarding schools an ...

. In 1879 he resigned his headmastership at Bury St Edmunds, and became

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

(or

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) of the college

living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...

Manorbier Manorbier (; ) is a village, Community (Wales), community and parish on the south coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. The name means the 'Manorialism, Manor of Saint Pyr, Pŷr'. The community includes Jameston, Lydstep and Manorbier Newton. An Wa ...

in Pembrokeshire.

Writing

After his early publication of translated poetry in 1849, he published several texts and school books, but found it difficult to keep up his Bohemian studies. Wratislaw published ''The Queen's Court Manuscript, with other ancient Bohemian Poems'' in 1852, a translation from the original Slavonic into English verse, mostly in

ballad meter Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot co ...

. Wratislaw was aware that regarding the Queen's Court Manuscript (''Rukopis královédvorský'') allegedly discovered by

Václav Hanka Václav Hanka (also written as ''Wenceslaus Hanka'') (10 June 1791 – 12 January 1861) was a Czechs, Czech philologist. Biography Hanka was born at Hořiněves near Hradec Králové. He was sent in 1807 to school at Hradec Králové, to esca ...

, there were rising suspicions regarding its authenticity. But he dismissed the doubt, because sceptics had not laid out concrete arguments from rational grounds. Later developments branded the manuscript as a forgery, so that Professor Morfill, while the excellence of Wratislav's 1849 and 1852 translations, had to make a regretful remark on the inclusion of forged poetry. He later published ''Adventures of Baron Wenceslas Wratislaw of Mitrowitz'' (1862), which was a translation of a 1599 account by the then-young Count (1576–1635), from whom the Wratislaw family claim descent. This was literally translated from the Bohemian work first published from the original manuscript by Pelzel in 1777, and prefaced by a brief sketch of Bohemian history. It was followed in 1871 by a version from the Slavonic of the ''Diary of an Embassy from King George of Bohemia to King Louis XI of France.'' Two years later, as the result of much labour, Wratislaw produced the ''Life, Legend, and Canonization of St. John Nepomucen, Patron Saint and Protector of the Order of the Jesuits,'' being a most damaging investigation of the myth contrived by the Jesuits in 1729. Among the small group of scholars in England taking an interest in Slavonic literature, Wratislaw's reputation was now established, and in April 1877 he was called upon to deliver four lectures upon his subject at the

Taylor Institution The Taylor Institution (commonly known as the Taylorian) is the Oxford University library dedicated to the study of the languages of Europe. Its building also includes lecture rooms used by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Unive ...

in Oxford, under the Ilchester foundation. These were published at London next year as ''The Native Literature of Bohemia in the Fourteenth Century.'' While in Pembrokeshire, he wrote a biography of

Jan Hus Jan Hus (; ; 1369 – 6 July 1415), sometimes anglicized as John Hus or John Huss, and referred to in historical texts as ''Iohannes Hus'' or ''Johannes Huss'', was a Czechs, Czech theologian and philosopher who became a Church reformer and t ...

(''John Huss, the Commencement of Resistance to Papal Authority on the part of the Inferior Clergy'', London, 1882, 8vo, in the ''Home Library''), based mainly upon the exhaustive researches of

František Palacký František Palacký (; 14 June 1798 – 26 May 1876) was a Czech historian and politician. He was the most influential person of the Czech National Revival, called "Father of the Nation". Life František Palacký was born on 14 June 1798, at ...

and . His last work was ''Sixty Folk-Tales from exclusively Slavonic sources'' (London, 1889), a selection translated from

Karel Jaromír Erben Karel Jaromír Erben (; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech folklorist and poet of the mid-19th century, best known for his collection '' Kytice'', which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes. He also wrote ''Pí ...

's ''Sto prostonárodních pohádek a pověstí slovanských v nářečích původních'' ("One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects", 1865), also known as ''Čitanka slovanská s vysvětlením slov'' ("a Slavic Reader with Vocabulary"). It was given a mixed review by

Alfred Nutt Alfred Trübner Nutt (22 November 1856 – 21 May 1910) was an English publisher, folklorist, and Arthurian and Celtic scholar. Born in 1856 into a literary family in London, he took over his late father's publishing business in 1878 after st ...

, who said the quality of the translations cannot be reproached with auspices given by Prof. Morfill, but the work did not rise above a "charming" anthology of tales due to its shortage of critical material. Wratislaw included creation myth stories from

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

involving the supernatural being called

Kurent Kurentovanje is Slovenia's most popular and ethnologically significant carnival event first organised in 1960 by Drago Hasl and his associates from cultural and educational organizations. This 11-day rite of spring and fertility highlight event ...

; Wratislaw defended this as being genuine ancient tradition, which Nutt disputed.

Later life

He gave up his

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

(college living), owing mainly to failing sight, in 1889, and retired to

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea began as a f ...

. He died there at Graythwaite, Alhambra Road, on 3 November 1892, aged 69.

Family

One of his sons, Albert Charles Wratislaw (1863-1938) joined the British consular service as a Student Interpreter in the Levant in 1883, and retired in 1919 after serving in various posts in the Middle East.Wratislaw, A.C. 1924
A Consul in the East
Edinburgh, UK: W. Blackwood & Sons.

Explanatory notes

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wratislaw, Albert Henry 1822 births 1892 deaths Translators to English 19th-century English translators Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge Headmasters of Felstead School 19th-century English Anglican priests People educated at Rugby School Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge