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Josef Pekař (April 12, 1870 Malý Rohozec at Turnov – January 23, 1937 Prague) was a prominent Czech historian of the turn of 19th and 20th century, professor and rector of Charles University in Prague. == Life and work == After graduating at high school in Mladá Boleslav, which now bears his name, Pekař studied history in Prague. He started the career of historian already during studies, when his article, published in 1890 in Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk's magazine ''Athenaeum'', proved by historical findings, that so called "Manuscript of Králův Dvůr" (Rukopis královédvorský), allegedly from the 13th century, whose authenticity has long led disputes in the Czech society, is a counterfeit. Pekař graduated in 1893 by the work ''Nominantions of the King Ottokar II for the German throne'' about personal struggle of Přemysl Ottokar II for the imperial throne in the years 1272–1273. After studies, Pekař spent one year at universities in Erlangen and Berlin, then, he taught for shorter time at the secondary school in Mladá Boleslav and Prague. In 1895, he became the founder of ''Czech historical magazine'', which lead after for thirty years. In 1897, he wrote ''The History of the Wallenstein conspiracy (1630–1634)'' and the same year, he declined sharply an anti-Czech article of German historian Theodor Mommsen, proving the importance of Czech culture for Europe; his answer was published again several times and translated into many languages. From that time, Pekař has become well recognized authority among central European historians. In 1901, Pekař was appointed professor of Charles university in Prague. In 1903, in the work ''The Oldest Czech Chronicle'', Pekař proved, that so called ''Kristián's legend'' (Latin writings about the origins of Christianity in the Czech lands and the first Czech saints, Saint Ludmila and Saint Wenceslas), which origin was placed in the 13th century by Josef Dobrovský comes really already from the 10th century (written probably before 994). In the years 1909 and 1911, he published ''The Book about Kost (Kniha o Kosti)'', a precise description of the life of aristocracy during 30 years war and about the situation of tributaries in 17th and 18th century. His emphasis of the details of common life and economic circumstances was completely new and outrun that time. The following work was ''Czech cadasters 1654–1789'' from 1915, in which Pekař demonstrated gradual of centralization in Austrian empire. In 1912, Pekař wrote and published a brochure ''Masaryk's Czech philosophy''. In this book, he defended himself and pozitivistic school of Jaroslav Goll against attacks of pro-Masaryk Czech writer, historian and politician Jan Herben and critices Masaryk's historiographic methods, rejecting above all the claim, that the meaning of Czech history consists of religious idea of humanity. Thus, the long-term dispute on this theme among historians has begun. After the end od World War I and the formation of Czechoslovakia, Pekař wrote "Czechoslovak history" (published 1921), a textbook, which was used in high schools for many years. He also wrote about the causes of the conflict in the book "World War", published in the same year. In response to post-war anti-Catholic tendencies in the society, he started to apologize the Czech baroque period and the role of aristocracy at that time, which was usually considered a dark period of the Czech nation and the germanization of the Czechs. These themes were discussed in his works ''Three chapters from the fight for Saint John of Nepomuk'' (Tři kapitoly o sv. Janu Nepomuckém) and ''White Mountain'' (Bílá Hora) from 1921, and ''Fallacies and dangers of the holding reform'' (Omyly a nebezpečí pozemkové reformy) published in 1923. In his four-volume work ''Žižka and his times'' (1928–1934), Pekař rated Hussite's chieftain John Žižka from Trocnov rather as a warrior and a religious fanatic, contesting transnational significance of hussitism and presented it as a movement of genuinely medieval character with tragic consequences in Czech history. The book provoked sharp reactions, because that movement was usually hailed as the struggle for national and religious freedom. Pekař answered them with a series of articles, which were later published together as his best known book ''About the meaning of the Czech history''. In 1931–1932, he was elected Rector of Charles University. In inaugural speech, he emphasized his national-conservative views and the need the periodization of Czech history should be based on general historical epochs, similarly to art history.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Josef Pekař (in Czech) )〕 His contribution to the scientific discipline of history has been awarded by the membership in the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts. He was a member of the Czech Royal society of Sciences.〔Members of Czech academy of science and art 1890–1952, p. 230〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Josef Pekař」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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