Jan z Holešova or Jan of Holešov (1366 in

Holešov Holešov (; ) is a town in Kroměříž District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. Administra ...

– 1436 in Rajhrad) 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,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

, and one of the first

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

s and a founder of modern

comparative linguistics Comparative linguistics is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness. Genetic relatedness implies a common origin or proto-language and comparative linguistics aim ...

Biography

Jan from Holešov was born the son of the administrator of the bishop's property in Holešov. After a brief (and historically uncertain) period spent acting as a priest in

Slušovice Slušovice (; ) is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,900 inhabitants. Geography Slušovice is located about east of Zlín. It lies in the Vizovice Highlands. The highest point is at above sea leve ...

, he went to study in the Sorbonne, and after his return he joined the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery in

Břevnov Břevnov () is a cadastral district in the west of Prague, located in Prague 6. The district is home to the Břevnov Monastery (Czech: ''Břevnovský klášter''). On the territory of Břevnov stems Brusnice brook. Břevnov was first mentioned in ...

in Prague. After the outbreak of 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 ...

, when the monastery was destroyed, he moved to the Benedictine monastery in Rajhrad u Brna (1420), where he served as prior and died in 1436.

Work

Hospodine pomiluj ny Traktat Jana z Holesova

His entire career was as a monk and scholar, and he probably was one of the most educated persons of his time. He became widely renowned for two publications for which his authorship is confirmed. The first, written in 1397, is a

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

, but above all

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

, analysis of the oldest-known Czech song " Lord, Have Mercy on Us" from the 10th or the first half of the 11th century (whose authorship is sometimes ascribed to

Saint Adalbert of Prague Adalbert of Prague (, , , , ; 95623 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojtěch (), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, ...

). Despite some small factual errors and limited access to the sources, it is the first work of modern

, for which Jan of Holešov could be considered a founder. Even more important is his "Treatise on Christmas Eve", where he describes and analyzes the folk customs associated with the celebration of Christmas Day and evening. This is an early example of an

ethnography Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

. He analyzes the different Christmas customs (using his own childhood experience), including their probable roots and describes the oldest known

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

carol "Vele, vele, stojí dubec vprostřed dvoru" ("Vele, Vele, the Oak Stands in the Middle of the Court"). The Czech historian Josef Pekař attributed the authorship of Czech spelling with

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...

al marks (instead of the previously used

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

s) to Jan; however, other historians have attributed that contribution to

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 ...

, possibly from ideological reasons when the Hussite movement became a kind of national ideology in Czech lands. Jan of Holešov was considered a theological opponent of Jan Hus, and in the 19th century a letter criticizing Jan Hus, called "Utrum credit possit in Papam", surfaced, supposedly sent by Jan from Holešov to the Pope. Modern linguistics cast doubt on the authorship of the letter, because Jan from Holešov used a different style of writing, but, because of that allegation, he and his works were ignored for a long time and remain widely unknown until now.Bibliographic medailons of Czech linguists (in Czech)
/ref> Besides the two works mentioned above, Jan of Holešov may be the author of five other books, but his authorship of these is not certain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holesov, Jan from Linguists from the Czech Republic Czech male writers Czech Roman Catholic theologians Czech ethnographers Czech Benedictines Czech musicologists 1366 births 1436 deaths People from Holešov