Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/158

 p A L P A L gooJs being despatched for Paklioi in the course of a year. A large number of the inhabitants (who exceed 10,000 in all) are engaged in fishing and fish-curing. PALACKY, FRAXTIEK (FRANCIS) (1798-1876), the Bohemian historian, was born in the year 1798 in the vil lage of Hodslavice, in the north-eastern corner of Moravia, where his father was a schoolmaster. His ancestors had secretly remained Protestants through all the persecutions of the 17th century, and only declared themselves as such on the publication of the edict of toleration by the emperor Joseph II. His mother s name was Anna Krizan; i she died in the year 1822, before her son had gained his great reputation. His father, Jiri (George), died in 1836 ; besides Francis they had three other sons and three daughters. Concerning the early years of the future his torian we are told that he was an indefatigable reader, eagerly devouring all books which came in his way. In 1812 Palacky entered the gymnasium of Pressburg ; his original intention was to become a Protestant clergyman. The national movement then going on in the country aroused the enthusiasm of the youthful student, who was induced to apply himself to the study of his native tongue by the Essay on the Bohemian Language of Jungmann. &quot;Vhile in Pressburg, Palacky assisted the publicist Palko- vich in his journal, Tydennik, and first made his appear ance as an author with a translation of some of the poems of Ossian (1817), then so popular throughout Europe. After this he was for some time private tutor in various families. In 1823 Palacky removed to Prague, and formed friendships with the leading Czech literati Jungmann, Presl, Dobrovsky, Hanka, and others. Dobrovsky intro duced him to Count Sternberg, and he was appointed editor of the new Casopis Ceskeho Jfusea, which is still published. In this occupation he continued till 1838. Count Caspar Sternberg and his brother were munificent patrons of the new Bohemian Museum, which had finally been founded after many efforts. The conduct of these men was the more remarkable that the Bohemian aristocracy had then become almost entirely Germanized. In 1829 Palacky was appointed public historiographer by the Bohemian states, and made several lengthened tours to consult documents in public libraries at Munich, Berlin, Dresden, Rome, and elsewhere. He then commenced his History of the Bohemian People, which has earned him the undying gratitude of his countrymen. The first volume appeared in German in 1836, but the work was carried on in the Bohemian language from 1848, and was concluded with the year 1526, the period when Ferdinand I. ascended the throne and the political independence of the Czechs ceased. Besides this Palacky obtained a prize from the Bohemian Society of Arts for his work entitled Wiirdigung der alten bohmischen Geschichtschreiber. In the year 1840 he published, in conjunction with Schafarik, Die dltesten Denkmdler der Bohmischen Spraclie. In this he appears as the champion of the early Bohemian manu scripts, the authenticity of which has been so much dis puted, adopting among others the glosses in the Mater Verborum in the library at Prague, which have been proved to be forgeries. In the troubled year 1848 Palacky, a man of the student type, was forced into political life, but acquitted himself well. He refused to take a seat in the German parliament at Frankfort when invited to do so, on the ground that as a Czech he had nothing to do with Ger man affairs. It was on this occasion that he uttered the memorable sentiment that so essential was Austria to the interests of Europe that, if such an empire had not existed, it would have been necessary to create one words which were afterwards used by Jellachich as the device on his flag. Before his death, however, Palacky had changed his opinion, and despaired of any help coming from such a source. Thus in a series of articles which he published in his old age under the title Radhost, he tells us &quot;I have thought all my life that the right would prevail, and my mistake has been in believing in the good sense and spirit of justice of the German people.&quot; So great was the influence of Palacky at this period that he was offered a portfolio in the ministry of Pillersdorf ; but in a short time the confidence placed in him by the Austrian Government was withdrawn, and he was regarded with suspicion. He soon, however, quitted politics and betook himself to his literary labours. His influence among his countrymen was now at its height. In 1860 he had the misfortune to lose his wife, whom he had married in 1827. In 1861 he was made a life member of the Austrian senate. He died in 1876, busy with litera ture to the end. The great work of Palacky, his History of the Bohemian People, is indeed a monument of conscientious labour. His love of truth and marvellous accuracy are conspicuous on every page. To enable the Bohemians to resist the insidious attempts at their denationalization which had been steadily pursued by their enemies during the 17th and 18th centuries, it was necessary to bring before them the great past which they had been taught to forget. This Palacky has done, and his work has become a national monument. The occupation of the last years of his life was the rewriting of some of the chapters, which had seemed to him imperfectly executed, owing to the want of original documents or the censorship of the Austrian Government. In 1845 the first part of his third volume appeared, dealing with the life and religious opinions of Huss. As the work was published, it had already undergone serious mutilation at the hands of the appointed censors, but the Bohemians saw the history of Huss presented to them in its true colours ; and so great was the sensation created that a Roman Catholic publicist named Helfert was commissioned to write an account of Huss and Jerome, his disciple, with the view of counter acting the effects of Palacky s work. This book duly appeared at Prague in 1857. Palacky, however, must be considered to have triumphed in the controversy. He published two other polemical works on the same subject in German: in 1868 appeared Die Geschichte des Hussiten- thums und Prof. C. Ho/ler, and in 1871 another work entitled Zur Bohmischen Geschichtschreibung. Besides the interesting portion of his work dealing with Huss and the subsequent Hussite wars, Palacky appears to great advan tage when dwelling upon the most prosperous periods of Bohemian nationality, as the reigns of Charles IV. and George Podebrad. No pains were spared by him in his researches. Dr Kalousek tells us in his interesting memoir that, when he visited Rome in 1837 to consult the library of the Vatican, he read through 45,000 docu ments in ten weeks and copied 400 of them with his own hand. The work is a monument of erudition ; but it may ! perhaps be said to be written in a somewhat dry and frigid style. It has become familiar to general readers in a German translation. Palacky also founded an historical school in Bohemia, foremost among his pupils being Vaclav Tomek and Antonin Gindely. PALADIN (Lat., palatinus) literally means a courtier, a member of a royal household, one connected with a palace. The palatium of the Roman emperors on the Palatine Hill supplied a name for all the royal and imperial residences in mediaeval Europe, and a correspond ing adjective and noun for royal officials and dependants. From being applied to the famous twelve peers of Charlemagne, the word paladin became a general term in romance for knights of great prowess. PAL^EICHTHYES. See ICHTHYOLOGY, vol. xii. p. 685.