Janez Bleiweis was a Slovene conservative politician, journalist and public figure. He was the leader of the so-called Old Slovene political movement. Already during his lifetime, he was called father of the nation

Father of the Nation

Father of the Nation is an honorific title given to a man considered the driving force behind the establishment of their country, state or nation...

.

Bleiweis was born in a wealthy merchant family in the Carniola

Carniola

Carniola was a historical region that comprised parts of what is now Slovenia. As part of Austria-Hungary, the region was a crown land officially known as the Duchy of Carniola until 1918. In 1849, the region was subdivided into Upper Carniola, Lower Carniola, and Inner Carniola...

n town of Kranj

Kranj

' is the third largest municipality and fourth largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 54,500 . It is located approximately 20 km north-west of Ljubljana...

, then part of the Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

. Since childhood, he was raised in a bilingual environment. He was fluent in both Slovene and German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, as most of the members of the upper middle class in Carniola at the time. He attended the lyceum

Lyceum

The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies between countries; usually it is a type of secondary school.-History:...

 in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...

 before enrolling at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

, where he studied medicine. After completing his studies, he worked as a professor of veterinary medicine

Veterinary medicine

Veterinary Medicine is the branch of science that deals with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in non-human animals...

 and pathology

Pathology

Pathology is the precise study and diagnosis of disease. The word pathology is from Ancient Greek , pathos, "feeling, suffering"; and , -logia, "the study of". Pathologization, to pathologize, refers to the process of defining a condition or behavior as pathological, e.g. pathological gambling....

 in Ljubljana.

In 1843, Bleiweis founded the journal Kmetijske in rokodelske novice

Kmetijske in rokodelske novice

Kmetijske in rokodelske novice , frequently referred to simply as Novice , was a Slovene language newspaper in the 19th century, which had an influential role in the Slovene national revival....

(Farmers' and Craftsmen's News), which dealt with economic, as well as with cultural issues in the Slovene Lands

Slovene Lands

Slovene Lands or Slovenian Lands is the historical denomination for the whole of the Slovene-inhabited territories in Central Europe. It more or less corresponds to modern Slovenia and the adjacent territories in Italy, Austria and Hungary in which autochthonous Slovene minorities live.-...

. In the spring of nations of 1848, he became involved in politics and supported the quest of United Slovenia

United Slovenia

United Slovenia is the name of an unrealized political programme of the Slovene national movement, formulated during the Spring of Nations in 1848...

. At the beginning of the constitutional period

October Diploma

The October Diploma was a constitution adopted by Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph on October 20, 1860. The Diploma attempted to increase the power of the conservative nobles by giving them more power over their own lands through a program of aristocratic federalism...

 in the Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

, Bleiweis emerged as the leader of the Slovene national movement. Already in the late 1850s, however, his politically conservatitive leadership was challenged by the younger generation of Slovene nationalists, known as the Young Slovenes

Young Slovenes

Young Slovenes were a Slovene national liberal political movement in the 1860s and 1870s, inspired and named after the Young Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia. They were opposed to the national conservative Old Slovenes. They entered in a crisis in the 1880s, and disappeared from political life by the...

, among whom were Fran Levstik

Fran Levstik

Fran Levstik was a Slovene writer, political activist, playwright and critic. he was one of the most prominent exponents of the Young Slovene political movement.-Life and work:...

, Josip Stritar

Josip Stritar

Josip Stritar was a Slovene writer, poet, playwright, publisher and translator.Stritar spent his early childhood in his home village in rural Lower Carniola and was sent to school in Ljubljana...

, and Josip Jurčič

Josip Jurcic

Josip Jurčič was a Slovene writer and journalist. He was born in Muljava, Austrian Empire and died in Ljubljana, Austria-Hungary...

. Bleiweis' group, which included Lovro Toman

Lovro Toman

Lovro Toman was a Slovene politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Etbin Henrik Costa, he was part of the leadership of the national conservative Old Slovene party....

, Etbin Henrik Costa

Etbin Henrik Costa

Etbin Henrik Costa was a Slovene national conservative politician and author. Together with Janez Bleiweis and Lovro Toman, he was one of the leaders of the Old Slovene political party....

, Luka Svetec

Luka Svetec

Luka Svetec was a Slovene politician, lawyer, author and philologist. In the 1870s and 1880s, Svetec was one of the most influential leaders of the so-called Old Slovenes, a national conservative political group in 19th century Slovene Lands...

 and Andrej Einspieler

Andrej Einspieler

Andrej Einspieler was a Slovene politician, Roman Catholic priest and publicist, and one of the early leaders of the Old Slovene national movement in the 19th century. He was known as the "father of the Carinthian Slovenes"....

 was identified as the Old Slovenes

Old Slovenes

Old Slovenes is the term used for a national conservative political group in the Slovene Lands from the 1850s to the 1870s, which was opposed to the radical national liberal Young Slovenes...

 thereafter, although they themselves never accepted such a name.

Bleiweis was a Habsburg

Habsburg

The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...

 legitimist and follower of the Austroslavist

Austroslavism

Austroslavism was a political concept and program aimed to solve problems of Slavic peoples in the Austrian Empire.It was most influential among Czech liberals around the middle of the 19th century...

 ideology. In politics, he followed the example of the Czech leader František Palacký

František Palacký

František Palacký was a Czech historian and politician.-Biography:...

 who demanded autonomy for the Slavic peoples within a unified Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

.

In 1881, Bleiweis was granted knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

hood by Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...

, the Emperor of Austria. The same year, he died in Ljubljana and was buried in the St. Christopher Cemetery in the Bežigrad

Bežigrad

The Bežigrad District or simply Bežigrad is a city district in the northern part of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It encompasses the area between the southern rail line to the south, the Upper Carniola rail line to the west, the highway loop to the north, and Šmartno Street and the Žale...

 district of Ljubljana.

Sources

• Jože Pogačnik
  Jože Pogačnik
  Jože Pogačnik is a retired Slovenian film director and screenwriter.After studying film directing, Pogačnik first worked as a film critic, before becoming a prominent author of docmentary films in the 1960s, manly dealing with social issues...
  
  , "Janez Bleiweis" in Slovenska misel: eseji o slovenstvu (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, 1987), 437-438

External links