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Tadija Smičiklas as Historian and his Scholarly Conceptions

Miroslav Kurelac

Sažetak

Analogous to the common sentiments at the dawn of the nineteenth century, which regarded historiography as the queen of all sciences, Croatian reformers have paid special attention to the knowledge of the past and to history as a scientific discipline. History for them existed on the basis of their political ideology. However, the heritage of the historians from past centuries is for the most part unscientific and narrative. The appearance of Tadija Smičiklas (1843-1914), who mastered the scholarly methodology of history during his studies in Vienna, and his works, presents an important cross-over. Smičiklas, continuing the work and standpoints of the historians from the period of national renaissance, published the first history of Croatia (2 volumes, 1879-1882). which was scholarly, critical, comprehensive and founded on reliable authenticated evidence. This synthesis and his other works laid the foundation for Croatian scholarly historiography and contributed to the strengthening of the idea of continuity of Croatian statehood and independence.
It is important to stress the point that in his work Poviest hrvatska [Croatian history] Smičiklas also devoted particular chapters to the internal life and development (cultural, social and economic) of the region, and cultural circumstances. These descriptive sections were pioneering work and needed particularly great effort. Smičiklas called them “cultural pictures” and regretted the fact that that they were not more extensive, complaining that for more extensive description more abundant evidence needed to be at his disposal. Because of that, his efforts towards the publication of medieval charters and their collection in Codex diplomaticus are understandable, as is his work in editing legal acts, statutes, and narrative sources, which provide a lot of much-needed source material. Smičiklas’s historiographical conceptions were an integral part of current streams in European historiography. Besides the accurate methodology they were marked by sincere patriotism; because of that he was rightfully called the “Croatian Herodotus.”

Ključne riječi

Hrčak ID:

15821

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/15821

Datum izdavanja:

1.3.2001.

Podaci na drugim jezicima: hrvatski

Posjeta: 2.272 *