Tadija Smičiklas

Tade Smičiklas
Tade Smičiklas, a painting by Joso Bužan, 1902
Born	1 October 1843 Reštovo, Žumberak
Died	8 June 1914 Zagreb
Nationality	Croatian
Fields	History
Institutions	University of Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Signature

Tadija Smičiklas (October 1, 1843 in Reštovo in Žumberak – June 8, 1914 in Zagreb) was a Croatian historian and politician.

Smičiklas finished gymnasium in Zagreb at the Greek Catholic seminary, and went on to study history and geography in the then imperial capital Vienna. He began his professorial career at the gymnasium in Rijeka in 1870 and several years later was appointed at the Zagreb gymnasium. In 1882 he became a full-time professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Zagreb. In 1883 he became a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

He was a member of the Independent People's Party, and was a follower of Franjo Rački and bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer. As a member of the Croatian Parliament Smičiklas had several memorable speeches. In 1891 he stated, "We seek that independent Croatia has the status in the monarchy which Hungary already has". He publicly defied ban Dragutin Karoly Khuen-Héderváry.

In the 1886/87 academic year he became the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and soon after was selected as the rector of the entire university. From 1875 he was an alderman in Matica hrvatska, and from 1889 to 1891 he was its president. In 1900 he was selected as president of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts and he remained in this post until his death.

In 1905 he retired from public life. He was an honoured citizen of Zagreb, Varaždin and Karlovac.

Smičiklas published the first history of Croatia (2 volumes, 1879-1882) which was scholarly, critical, comprehensive and founded on reliable authenticated evidence that, together with his other work, laid the foundation for Croatian scholarly historiography and contributed to the strengthening of the idea of continuity of Croatian statehood and independence.^[1]

Works

• Život i djela Vjekoslava Babukića (1876)
• Spomen knjiga Matice Hrvatske
• Obrana i razvitak hrvatske narodne ideje od 1790. do 1835.
• Život i djela Ivana Kukuljevića Sakcinskog
• Život i djela dra. Franje Račkoga (1855)

References

• Smičiklas' biography, at the University of Zagreb website

External links

• Tadija Smičiklas

Notes