Frantisek Martin Pelcl

Pelcl, František Martin

 

Born Nov. 11, 1734, in Rychnov; died Feb. 24, 1801, in Prague. One of the Buditeli (Awakeners) of the Czech Renaissance. Historian and linguist. Professor of Czech language and literature at Charles University in Prague from 1792.

Pelcl’s principal historical works were devoted to the reigns of Charles IV and Václav IV. His New Czech Chronicle (vols. 1–3, 1791–96), written in Czech, constitutes the first systematic account of Czech national history from ancient times to 1378. He also published, in cooperation with J. Dobrovský, a collection of documents on Czech history—the Scriptores rerum Bohemica-rum (1783–84). Pelcl combatted the falsification of Czech history and defended the use of the Czech language.