Ludovit Stur

Ľudovít Štúr (in his era called: Ľudevít Velislav Štúr) was the leader of the Slovak national revival in the 19th century, the author of the present-day Slovak language standard (see 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846, 1851), an organizer of the Slovak volunteer campaigns during the 1848 Revolution in Hungary (see 1848 - 1849), a member of the Hungarian diet (see 1847-1848), politician, poet, journalist, publisher (see e. g. 1845), teacher (see e. g. 1836-1838, 1840-1843), philosopher and linguist.

The General Situation in Slovakia at Štúr’s time (1830 – 1860)

The situation before Štúr

Slovakia was a part of Hungary since the 11th century. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, Slovaks were divided concerning the literary language to be used. The Catholic majority used Anton Bernolak’s language codified in the 1780´s based on the West-Slovak dialect, but most Protestants remained true to the Czech language used in Slovakia, together with Latin, since the 14th (foundation of the Prague University) / 15th century (period of Czech Hussites in Slovakia and of king Matthias Corvinus) / 16th century (Czech Protestants move to Slovakia). This situation did not change until the 1840’s, when Ľudovít Štúr (1815-1856), became the chief figure of the Slovak movement. At the same time, modern nations started to develop in Europe and Hungary. But the Magyars (i. e. ethnic Hungarians) favored the idea of a centralized state, although the Magyar population numbered less than half the total population of the Hungarian kingdom. This was unacceptable to other nations including the Slovaks, and they expressed their disapproval.

Štúr’s group

In the 1830’s a new generation of Slovaks began to make themselves heard. They had grown up under the influence of the national movement at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum in Bratislava where the Czech-Slav Society (also called: Society for the Czechoslovak language and literature) had been founded in 1829. Initially, the society operated in accordance with the ideas of Ján Kollar, a Protestant poet and linguist, supporter of Czech-Slovak unity and of the use of the Czech language. In the latter part of the decade, when Ľudovít Štúr came to the fore (see below), its activities intensified. In the true spirit of European romanticism these young Slovaks burned with the idea of national independence. The most prominent representatives of the new generation were, along with Ľudovít Štúr, Jozef Miloslav Hurban (1817-1888) and Alexander Dubček will be born one day) as the 2nd child of Samuel and Anna Štúr and is baptised in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Uhrovec.

• till 1827: He acquires his basic education, including the knowledge of Latin, from his father Samuel who is a teacher.

• 1827 - 1829: He studies at Györ (present-day Hungary), where he attends a lower grammar school. There he improves his knowledge of history, and of the languages Hungarian, German and Greek, and this studies provoke his admiration of Pavel Jozef Safarik, Ján Kollár and Bratislava and becomes a member of the Czech-Slav Society there (see History of Bratislava), which causes his interest in all Slav nations. There is a famous Department of the Czechoslovak language and literature of the old professor Palkovič at the school – the only such department at a Protestant school of higher education in Hungary:

1831: He writes his first poems

1834 (January-September): He interrupts his studies temporarily because of serious lack of money and returns to Uhrovec, where he works as scribe with count Karol Zay

1834 (after September): He continues his studies, is active in the historical and literary circle of the Czech-Slav Society, is responsible for the correspondence with members of the Society, gives private lessons in the house of a merchant in Bratislava, teaches younger students at the Lyceum and establishes contact with important foreign and Czech scholars

1834 (December 17): He is elected secretary of the Czech-Slav Society at the Lyceum

1835 (May): He persuades František Palacký, where he states that the Czech language used by the Protestants in Slovakia has become incomprehensible for the ordinary Slovaks and proposes the creation of a unified Czechoslovak language provided that the Czechs would be willing to use some Slovak words – just like Slovaks would officially accept some Czech words. But the Czech were absolutely not ready to accept this, so that Štúr and his friends decided to introduce a completely new Slovak language standard instead (see 1843, 1844, 1851)

1836 (April 24): The famous trip to the Devín castle (today a city part of Bratislava) of the members of the Slovak national movement takes place and is led by Štúr as the vice-president of Czech-Slav Society. The beginning of the Štúr group’s extensive efforts on behalf of national awareness are linked to this visit to the ruins of Devin castle woven about with legends of the past with reminders of Great Moravia. They swear here to be true to the national cause and decid to travel around Slovakia to drum up support for their ideas. At the castle, they also adopt additional Slavic names (e.g. Jozef Hurban became Jozef Miloslav Hurban and so on)

• 1836 - 1838: As deputy (non-stipendiary assistant) for professor Palkovič at the Department of the Czechoslovak language and literature at the Lyceum where he was previously student, he teaches history of Slavic literature, continues to write poetry and under his leadership, the number of members of the Czech-Slav Society is constantly increasing. In this year, a poem of Štúr is published in printed form for the first time – it is the poem “Óda na Hronku” (An ode to Hronka)

1837 (April): The Czech-Slav Society is prohibited due to student commotion having occurred at the Lyceum, so that one week later Štúr founds the (official) Institute of the Czechoslovak language and literature, within which the activities of the Czech-Slav Society continue

1837: He continues to write articles for newspapers and journals (Tatranka, Hronka, Květy (Czech), Časopis českého musea, Danica (Croatian), Tygodnik literacki (Polish) etc.)

1838 - 1840: His poetic cycle “Dumky večerní” (Evening thoughts, written in Czech) is being published in the Czech journal Květy

• 1838 (September): He leaves Bratislava to start university studies in Halle in Germany. On his way to Halle, he spends more than one month in Prague surrounded by Czech patriots.

• 1838 – 1840 : He studies at the (Protestant) University of Halle, where he studies especially linguistics, history and philosophy. He is influenced by the works of the German philosophers Hegel and Herder.

1839 (spring): He makes a long journey to the Upper and Lower Prague and Hradec Kralove, where he spends some time in the house of the publisher Jan Pospíšil

• 1840 - 1843: Since October 1840, he is again working as deputy for professor Palkovič at the Department of the Czecho-Slav language and literature at the Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum, teaches courses of grammar and Slav history, and continues his activities at the Institute of Czechoslovak language

1841 – 1844: He is co-editor of Palkovič’s literary magazine Tatranka

1841: He starts activities aiming at publishing a Slovak political newspaper (see 1845), writes defensive and polemic texts and writes his “Starý a nový věk Slovákov” (The old and the new age of the Slovaks, written in Old-Czech, published in 1935, in Slovak only in 1994)

1841 (August 16): He mounts the Kriváň mountain (a traditional mountain of the Slovaks) along with students and friends

1842: He initiates the first Slovenský prestolný prosbopis, a Slovak petition to the royal Court in Vienna requiring that the government stops national persecutions by the Hungarians in Slovakia

1842 (May): His application for a license for the publishing of a newspaper fails

1843 (February 2): In Bratislava, Štúr and his friends decide to codify the present-day Slovak language standard (based on central Slovak dialects) – a common language that would unify all Slovaks speaking many different dialects

1843 (June 26 - 29): A special committee meets to investigate against the Institute of Czechoslovak language at the Lyceum and also interrogates Ľ. Štúr. The main accusation is “treason (betrayal) of the Hungarian homeland&#822.

1843 (July): His defensive work “Die Beschwerden und Klagen der Slaven in Ungarn über die gesetzwidrigen Übergriffe der Magyaren” (Complaints and grievances of the Slavs in Hungary regarding illegal misfeasances of the Hungarians), which editorial offices in Hungary have refused to publish, is published in Leipzig in Germany

1843 (July 11-16): At the parish house of J. M. Hurban in Hlboká, the leaders of the Slovak national movement Štúr, J. M. Hurban and M.M. Hodža agree how to codify the new Slovak language standard (see February 2) and how to introduce it to the public. On July 17, they visit Bratislava – History). He will fall in love with Adela Ostrolúcka. In addition, his books “Nárečja slovenskuo alebo potreba písaňja v tomto nárečí” (see 1844) and “Náuka reči slovenskej” (The Theory of the Slovak language) are published in Bratislava. In Nárečia slovenskuo . . . he refuses Kollar’s concept of only 4 Slavic tribes (Russians, Poles, Czechs and Southern Slavs) and lists reasons for the introduction of the new language, which is based on central Slovak dialects and uses phonetic spelling. In Náuka reči slovenskej he explains the grammar of the new language standard. In the same year, the upset Kollár and his followers publish the compilation work „Hlasové o potřebě jednoty spisovného jazyka pro Čechy, Moravany a Slováky“ (Voices in favor of the necessity of a unified literary language of the Czechs, Moravians and Slovaks; written in Czech)

• 1847 (August): At the 4th convention of the Tatrín association in Čachtice, the Catholics and Protestants definitively agree to use only the newly codified Štúr language standard (see 1851)

• 1847 – 1848: Member of the parliament:

1847 (October 30): He becomes a deputy (for the town of Zvolen) in the Hungarian Diet in Bratislava (the Diet will meet only till April 11 1848 due to the 1848 Revolution)

1847 (November 17 – March 13) : He holds 5 (important) speeches at the Diet, in which he requires the abolishment of serfdom in Hungary, introduction of civil rights and the use of the Slovak language for teaching in elementary schools

• 1848 – 1849: The 1848 /49 Revolution:

1848 (April 1): In Vienna, he and his colleagues prepare the Slavic Congress of Prague

1848 (April 20): He arrives in Prague on an invitation of the Czech J. V. Frič, where he wins the support of Czech students that are members of the association Slávie regarding his attempts to enforce the Slovak language in Slovakia

1848 (April 30): He initiates the establishment of Slovanská lipa (Slavic lime) in Prague - an association aiming at promoting the mutual cooperation of the Slavs

1848 (May): He is one of the authors of the official petition “Žiadosti slovenského národa” (Requirements of the Slovak Nation). The “Žiadosti slovenského národa” are publicly declared in today’s Liptovský Mikuláš. The reader is Zagreb in Croatia (because the Slavic Congress is interrupted by fightings in Prague) and becomes there an editor of the Croatian magazine Slavenski Jug. With the financial support from some Serbs, he and J. M. Hurban start to prepare an uprising against the Hungarian government (see below)

1848(September) – 1849 (November): The Slovak Uprising of 1848-1849:

1848 (September): He comes to Vienna and participates in the preparations for an Slovak armed uprising

1848 (September 15-16): The Slovak National Council, the supreme Slovak political and military organisation consisting of Štúr, Hurban a Hodža (as politicians) and the Czecha B. Bloudek, F. Zach a B. Janeček (as military experts), is created in Vienna

1848 (September 19): In pan-Slavism)

1853 (March 18): Adela Ostrolúcka, his platonic girlfriend, dies in Vienna

1853: He has to care for his ill mother in Trenčín

1853 (August 28) : His mother dies

1853: The only compilation of his poetry “Spevy a piesne” (Singings and songs) is published in Bratislava

1854 (May 11): He holds a speech at the unveiling of the Ján Hollý monument (Ján Hollý died in 1849, see 1843) in Dobrá Voda and he has written a poem in honor of that man

1855 (December 22): He inadvertently shoots and wounds himself during a hunt near Modra. In the last days of his life he is mainly supported by his friend Ján Kalinčiak

1856 (January): He dies in Modra on January 12 and a national funeral takes place in Modra

Links:

• In: Studies in Post-Communism Occasional Papers Series published by Center for Post-Communist Studies, St. Francis Xavier University, Canada.