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Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor<ref group="Note">The word "Freiherr" denotes a baron. Valvasor never officially held the title, but was referred to as such by the people who admired him and gradually adopted it also himself in his writings.<ref name="Golec">Template:Cite journal</ref> </ref> or Johann Weichard Freiherr von Valvasor<ref group="Note">Although the spelling Weichard is used in Die Ehre... and Topographia..., the spelling Weikhard is more common in printed sources today.</ref> (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}})<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> or simply Valvasor (baptised on 28 May 1641 – September or October 1693) was a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, present-day Slovenia, and a fellow of the Royal Society in London.
He is known as a pioneer in the study of karst topography. Together with his other writings, until the late 19th century his best-known work—the 1689 Glory of the Duchy of Carniola, published in 15 books in four volumes—was the main source for older Slovenian history, making him one of the precursors of modern Slovenian historiography.<ref>Reisp, Branko et al. (1987): Korespondenca Janeza Vajkarda Valvasorja z Royal Society. Ljubljana: SAZU, p. 15.</ref>
BiographyEdit
Valvasor was born in the town of Ljubljana (Laibach), at the time the principal city of Duchy of Carniola, today the capital of Slovenia, to an aristocratic family originally from Bergamo, Italy.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 16th century, it was Johann Baptist Valvasor who moved the Valvasor family to the Duchy of Carniola in central Europe, to a part of the Habsburg monarchy that is now part of Slovenia. In medieval Latin Valvasor or Valvasore held the meaning 'carrier of a feud'.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Neither the exact day nor the actual place of Valvasor's birth are known, but his baptism was registered at Ljubljana Cathedral, where he was baptized Joannes Waichard Valvasor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was the twelfth child born to Bartholomäus and Anna Maria Freiin von Rauber, who only lived at Medija Castle in Izlake but also had a town residence in Ljubljana at Old Square. His godparents were Freiherr (Baron) Konrad Ruess von Ruessenstein from Strmol Castle and Regina Dorothea Rasp from Krumperk Castle.
Valvasor's father died when the boy was ten years old. His mother died when he was 16. At the time he was attending the Jesuit school in Ljubljana.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Graduating in 1659 at the age of seventeen, he did not choose to continue his studies at a university but decided to broaden his horizons by meeting learned men on a journey across Europe. This journey lasted fourteen years and it even took him to northern Africa. During this period, he joined the army in the Austro-Turkish War, where he became closely acquainted with the conditions on the Croatian Military Frontier.
Shortly after marrying 13-year-old Anna Rosina Grafenweger in 1672, Valvasor acquired Bogenšperk Castle near Litija, where he arranged a writing, drawing and printing workshop. Valvasor spent a fortune on the publishing of his books; towards the end of his life, his debts forced him to sell Bogenšperk Castle, his vast library and his collection of prints. In 1690, Aleksandar Ignacije Mikulić, the Bishop of Zagreb, bought his library, along with some 7,300 graphics, and moved it to Slavonia, where the collection became part of the library of the Zagreb Archbishopric, now part of the Croatian State Archives.<ref>Croatian State Archives, Division of the Zagreb Archbishopy. Retrieved 3 April 2009 Template:In lang Template:Webarchive</ref> In 1692, he lost most of his wealth after he invested in travel, graphics and printbooks which proved unprofitable. He had nine children, among them daughters Maria Sidonia, Maximilla Kordula, Johanna Rosina, and Anna Theresia, and sons Wolfang Waikhard, Johann Gottlieb, Johann Ludwig, Johann Wolfgang Engelbert, and Franz Joseph. Five children died very early, and then, when delivering their last child in 1687, Anna Maria Rosina died as well. Just three months after her death, Valvasor married Baroness Anna Maximilla Zetschker of Vrhovo. They had four children. In 1693, the same year that their last child, Franz Engelbert, was baptized, Valvasor died at age 52 in Krško.
He is believed to have been buried in the family crypt at Medija Castle,<ref name="SBL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but this is uncertain.<ref name="Golec"/> The Yugoslav Partisans dynamited the castle in 1944<ref>Information sign posted at Medija Castle.</ref> and no trace of his putative grave remains today.<ref name="SBL"/>
LegacyEdit
The Glory of the Duchy of CarniolaEdit
Valvasor's most important work remains The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola (original title: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}},<ref>Johann Weichard von Valvasor: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}</ref><ref name="ley196802">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Slovene: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), published in 1689<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> in 15 books (four volumes), totalling 3532 pages and including 528 illustrations and 24 appendices, which provides a vivid description of Carniola at the time. He also recorded the first written document on vampires when he wrote on the legend of a vampire in Istria named Jure Grando.<ref>Boris Perić, Vampir, Biblioteka 21, Zagreb ( Naklada Ljevak) 2006. (Croat) Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Boris Perić, Vampir, translated into Slovene by Iztok Osojnik, Zbirka Beri globalno, Ljubljana (Tuma) 2007. Template:ISBN</ref>
From 2009 until 2012, it was translated into Slovene by Doris, Primož and Božidar Debenjak. The initiator, project manager, editor and technical editor of this monumental publishing project was Tomaž Čeč.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Karst researchEdit
Valvasor was a pioneer of study of karst phenomena. Upon the proposal of Edmond Halley, who was not only an astronomer but also a geophysicist, and in 1687 his extensive treatise on the hydrology of intermittent Lake Cerknica won him a fellowship of the Royal Society.<ref>Reisp, Branko et al. 1987. Korespondenca Janeza Vajkarda Valvasorja z Royal Society. Ljubljana: SAZU, p. 15.</ref>
WorksEdit
- Dominicae passionis icones, 1679, reprint 1970 Template:COBISS
- Topographia Ducatus Carnioliae modernae das ist Controfee aller Stätt, Märckht, Clöster und Schlösser, wie sie anietzo stehen in dem Herzogthumb Crain, 1679, reprint 1970 Template:COBISS
- Topographia arcium Lambergianarum id est arces, castella et dominia in Carniolia habita possident comites a Lamberg; Bagenspergi (Bogenšperg), 1679 Template:COBISS, reprint 1995 Template:COBISS
- Topographia Archiducatus Carinthiae modernae: das ist Controfee aller Stätt, Märckht, Clöster, undt Schlösser, wie sie anietzo stehen in dem Ertzhertzogthumb Khärnten; Wagensperg in Crain (Bogenšperg), 1681 Template:COBISS; Nürnberg, 1688 Template:COBISS
- Carniolia, Karstia, Histria et Windorum Marchia, Labaci (Ljubljana) 1681 Template:COBISS
- Theatrum mortis humanae tripartitum: figuris aeneis illustratum : das ist: Schau-Bühne des menschlichen Todts in drey Theil : mit schönen Kupffer-Stichen geziehrt vnd an Tag gegeben; Laybach, Saltzburg (Ljubljana, Salzburg); 1682 Template:COBISS
- Topographia Archiducatus Carinthiae antiquae & modernae completa: Das ist Vollkommene und gründliche Land – Beschreibung des berühmten Erz – Herzogthums Kärndten; Nürnberg 1688, Template:COBISS
- Opus insignium armorumque ...; (1687–1688) Template:COBISS
- Die Ehre deß Hertzogthums Crain: das ist, Wahre, gründliche, und recht eigendliche Belegen- und Beschaffenheit dieses Römisch-Keyserlichen herrlichen Erblandes; Laybach (Ljubljana) 1689 Template:COBISSFile:Enhanced Acta Eruditorum - XIII slovenia geografia, 1689 – BEIC 13398218.jpgLake Cerknica, from a critique of the first volume of Die Ehre deß Hertzogthums Crain published in Acta Eruditorum, 1689
