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 MORAVIA

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MORAVIA

other in 1782 with " La Icccion poetica", a satire upon the popular poets of the day. These brought him to the notice of the statesman and author Jovellanos, through whose influence Moratin was appointed secretary to Count Cabarrus upon the latter's special mission to France in 1787. During the year that he spent in Paris he improved the opportunity to study the French drama and formed friendships with men of letters, both of which circumstances aided materially in the artistic development of the young poet. Re- turning to Spain in 1789, Moratin set out to continue the work begun by his father of reforming the Spanish drama upon the French classical model. He secured the patronage of Manuel Godoy, prime minister and favourite of Charles IV, through whose influence he was able in 1790 to stage the first of his plays, " El Viejo y la Niiia", a comedy in three acts and in verse. This was followed in 1792 by "La Comedia nueva" or "El Cafe " in two acts and in prose. In the same year Godoy gave him the means for foreign travel and his journey through France, England, the Low Countries, Germany, and Italy completed his education. His next play "El Baron" was produced in 1803, followed in 1804 by "La Mojigata" (The female hypocrite), a weak imitation of Moliere's "Tartuffe". An unsuc- cessful attempt was made to suppress this last piece on religious grounds by means of the Inquisition. Moratin's crowning triumph came in 1806 when the second of his prose comedies and his best work "El Si de las Niiias" was produced. Performed before crowded houses night after night, it ran through sev- eral editions in one year, and was translated into sev- eral foreign languages. In 1808, upon the fall of his friend Godoy, Moratin was compelled to flee from Spain, but returned shortly afterward to accept from Joseph Bonaparte the post of royal librarian, a lack of patriotism which lost him the friendship of loyal Span- iards, so that when the Spaniards returned to power, Moratin was compelled to pass the rest of his days in exile, principally in Paris where he died. In addition to the works mentioned, Moratin made a rather poor translation of Hamlet, and translated and adapted to the Spanish stage Moliere's "Ecole des Maris" and "Le Medecin Malgre Lui" under the titles respec- tively of "La Escuela de los Maridos" and "El M6- dico & Palos". During his exile he wrote a history of the Spanish drama entitled "Origines del Teatro Espanol". In his work, Moratin shows originality, he skilfully describes the manners of his time and is clever in his dialogue. He adheres to the French unities, but introduces certain peculiarities of the Spanish stage, dividing his plays into three acts and using the short romance verse. He was unquestion- ably the best dramatic writer Spain had produced since the famous ones of the Siglo de oro. The "Biblio- teca de Autores Espanoles", Vol. II, contains the plays of both the elder and the younger Moratin.

TicKNOR, History of Spanish Literature (Bogton, 1866); FiTz- maurice-Kelly, a History of Spanish Literature (New York. 1906): FedericO, Historia de la literatura y del arte dramdtico en EspaHa, tr. from Germaa of Meier (Madrid, 1S85-87).

Ventura Fuentes.

Moravia (German Mahren), Austrian crown land east of Bohemia. In the century before the Christian era the Germanic Quadi (a tribe closely re- lated to the Marcomanni, who had just driven the Celtic Boil from Bohemia) took possession of the mod- ern Moravia. Of these two tribes settled in Bohemia and Moravia we know nothing beyond their collisions with the Romans — e. g., their wars with Marcus Aure- hus in A. D. IG.'j and LSI and with Valentinian I (3(54- 7.5). Theinvasiiinof the Huns under Attila drove the majority of the Marcomanni and (^u:i(h from their settlements. In the fifth <'cntury the descried terri- tory was cieeui)ied l)ySlavtribcs. ■ .Mxiut theiniildlecif the sixth century, these were cdniiuered by the A(:irs, who advanced as far as Thuringia. The Sla\'a were X.— 36

delivered from the Avar yoke temporarily (622- .58) by Samo, who was perhaps of Prankish parentage, and finally by Charlemagne, whose defeat of the Avars in 796 enabled the Moravians to recover the territory extending from Mannhartsberg to the mouth of the Gran. During this period a uniform principality had developed on Aloravian soil, and received the name of the Kingdom of the Moimorides from the founder of the dynasty, Moimir. Moravia stood towards the Prankish Empire in relations of dependence; at least, the "Maharaner" brought presents to Emperor Louis at the Diet of RatLsbon in 822. When Moimir sought to assert his independence of the empire, he was de- posed by the Germans and Ins nephew Wratislaw ap- pointed prince. The latter's struggle for complete freedom ended in his betrayal into the hands of Louis the German by his nephew Swatopluk, who then at- tained to power under German protection.

In the ecclesiastical domain Wratislaw had also de- sired independence of the German Empire. Christian- ity had already been preached in Moravia, but had failed to reach the great mass of the people, as the German and Italian missionaries were ignorant of the vernacular speech. In 863 Wratislaw asked the Greek emiieror to send new apostles acquainted with the Slav tongue. This monarch dispatched the broth- ers Constantine (afterwards called Cyril) and Metho- dius in 864. Having only minor orders, the missionaries confined themselves to the training of the youth and the trai.slation of a portion of the Bible into the Slav language, for which purpose they invented special Slav characters. In 867 they set out for Rome to seek papal permission to conduct the Divine Service in the vulgar tongue. Pope Adrian II, who conse- crated both brothers bishops, is said to have acceded to their petition. While Constantine, having a pre- sentiment of his approaching end (869), remained in Rome, Methodius returned to Moravia and there re- sumed his work of evangelization, in opposition to the German clergy. After the fall of Wratislaw, Metho- dius had to submit to the German spiritual authori- ties, was confined for two and a half years in a German monastery, and was freed only at the strict command of the pope in 873. His activity was, however, even now narrowly restricted by the Bavarian bishops, al- though the use of the Slav Liturgy was expressly recog- nized by the pope in 880.

The understanding between Swatopluk and the Prankish Empire was of short duration. From 882 Swatopluk was engaged in fierce conflict with Arnulf, who administered Carinthia and Pannonia. In 885, however, a complete reconciliation took place, and the Moravian prince lent Arnulf his zealous support until the latter successfully established his claim to the German Crown. But the energetic Arnulf was not likely to tolerate any longer the growth of Swato- pluk's power, so dangerous to his empire. In 892 war again broke out, and Swatopluk died in 895 before any decisive result had been reached. Subsequently the Moravian Kingdom was rent asunder by the struggle of various claimants for the throne, and in the first dec- ade of the tenth century succumbed to the attack of Hungary at the battle of Presburg. The country re- mained in the hands of Hungary until the battle of Lechfeld in 955, when it was united with Bohemia by the Bohemian Duke Boleslaw of the Pfemysl family, the confederate of Emperor Otto I. Towards the end of the tenth century Moravia was conquered by the Polish duke, Boleslaw Chrobry (992-1025), but, when domestic disturbances broke out in Poland after his death, Duke Udalrich of Bohemia, with the assist- ance of his son Bfctislaw, recovered Moravia from the Poles. Bfetislaw administered the land as Duke of Moravia, and estiibHslie.l liis residence at Olmiitz. ^^'ilh tlie IxKity fiorii liis (■imipiiigns against the Poles, he founded the lii.-l .Moi :i\ lari monastery, that of liaigern near Briinu l,1018J. The strife, caused by