Jan of Holešov
Open-knowledge reference entry
Jan z Holešova or Jan of Holešov (1366 in Holešov – 1436 in Rajhrad) was a Czech writer, linguist, musicologist, theologian, and one of the first ethnographers and a founder of modern comparative linguistics.
Biography
Jan of Holešov was born as the son of the administrator of the bishop's property in Holešov (Moravia). After a brief (and historically uncertain) period spent acting as a priest in Slušovice, he went to study to the Sorbonne, and after his return he joined the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov in Prague. After the outbreak of the Hussite Wars, 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
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, but above all linguistic, 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). Despite some small factual errors and limited access to the sources, it is the first work of modern comparative linguistics, 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.
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