Simon Rutar
Encyclopedia
Simon Rutar was a Slovene historian
and geographer
. He wrote primarily on the history and geography of the areas that are now part of the Slovenian Littoral
, the Italian
region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
and the Croatia
n counties of Istria
and Primorsko-Goranska
.
village of Krn
near Kobarid
, in what was then the Austrian
county of Gorizia and Gradisca
(now in Slovenia
).
He attended the prestigious State Secondary School
in Gorizia
. In 1873 he enrolled at the University of Graz
, where he studied history
, geography
, and philology
. In Graz
, he was shaped by the contemporary positivist approaches in human sciences. In 1878 he was mobilized in the Austro-Hungarian Army
, in a unit sent to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina
. He was demobilized in Autumn 1879 and returned to Graz. The following year he got a job as a high school history teacher in the Dalmatia
n town of Kotor
. In 1882, he moved to Split
, where he taught at the local lyceum
for the next eight years. There, he met Frane Bulić
, a Croatian historian and archeologist who introduced him to the latest trends in archeology.
During his years in Split, Rutar started publishing numerous articles on the local history of his native lands, especially the County of Gorizia
. He established close contacts with the Carniolan Rudolfinium Museum
, led by the renowned historian and archeologist Karel Dežman
, where he helped as an expert in archeological excavations in the Slovene Lands
. In 1889 he settled in Ljubljana
, where he was employed as a teacher at the Second State Gymnasium of Ljubljana.
He died in the night between May 3 and May 4, when he was caught in a fire that burned down his house. Most of his personal archive was also destroyed in the fire. He was buried in St. Christopher's Cemetery in Ljubljana. In 1936, his tomb was transferred to the monumental Navje
cemetery, in which prominent Slovenes are buried.
and Friuli
from the feudal age to the late 18th century. He was however also interested in the habits and tradition of the peasant populations regardless their language and ethnicity, although he did concentrate on the two Slavic
-speaking peoples in the area, the Slovenes and Croats
. In his studies of the peasantry, he took advantage of his knowledge in philology
, ethnography
, and ethnology
.
He clearly rejected the Romantic nationalism
of the early Slovene amateur historians, such as Davorin Trstenjak
or Janez Trdina
, and instead focused on the specifics of local history
, his favorite area of inquiry. He wrote importatnt pioneering works on the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps
, the medieval history in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca and in Friuli
. He is also important as a researcher of the medieval legal institutions in his native Tolmin County
and the neighbouring Venetian Slovenia
. In both cases, he was particurlary interested in the institutions of rural municipal self-government, which in those two regions had survived up to the late 18th century.
He also wrote books on the history of Trieste
and Istria
, which were commissioned by the prestigious publishing house Slovenska matica
for a wider reading public. In them, Rutar incorporated a wide spectrum of subjects in the presentation of the regions, from geography, philology, and ethnography to geology
and demography
. He also wrote guidebooks and intineraries of Dalmatia
, as well as articles on the most various subjects in history and archeology.
Rutar was also a regular columnist
of the two major Slovene literary magazines of the time, Ljubljanski zvon
and Dom in svet
. In them, he exposed his views on Slovene history
. He saw the Slovene Lands
not only as a linguistic, cultural, and ethnographic unit, but also a political unit. He insisted on the political and legal continuity between the Slavic principality of Carantania and the Carolingian
Duchy of Carinthia
, from which all other provincies in Inner Austria
developed.
Differently from most Slovene public figures of the time, Rutar did not partake in any political activity, nor did he publicly profess any specific ideology. He regarded himself as a Slovene and Austrian patriot and clearly rejected Panslavism or any kind of radical nationalism
. He did however not enter any polemic with other Slovene authors who held different views, but he did openly criticize Italian irredentism
. He collaborated with both Liberal
and Conservative Catholic journals and institutions.
Rutar was a close fiend of the liberal catholic
poet and priest Simon Gregorčič
, a native of Vrsno
, a village very close to Rutar's native Krn. After Rutar's death, Gregorčič composed a poem in his memory.
Rutar was regarded as a vigorous, straightforward man and a passionate scholar. In the last years of his life, his health worsened and prevented him to carry out his major projects. Much of his work has remained in sketches and the destruction of his personal archive and notes has prevented later scholars from making a definitive assessment of his opus.
, Ferdo Gestrin, and Bogo Grafenauer
. Overall, however, Rutar's influence on Slovenian historiography
has been relatively small, with two important exceptions. His views on the legal and political continuity of Carantania in the Carolingian
period influenced the historians Josip Mal and later Jožko Šavli
, while his study of the rural municipal self-government influenced the work of the renowned Slovenian legal historian Sergij Vilfan
.
Rutar's legacy is most stronly felt in his native Goriška
region, where several streets, schools, and other public institutions bear his name.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and geographer
Geographer
A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...
. He wrote primarily on the history and geography of the areas that are now part of the Slovenian Littoral
Slovenian Littoral
The Slovenian Littoral is a historical region of Slovenia. Its name recalls the historical Habsburg crown land of the Austrian Littoral, of which the Slovenian Littoral was a part....
, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Friuli–Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,858 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
and the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n counties of Istria
Istria County
Istria County is the westernmost county of Croatia which includes the biggest part of the Istrian peninsula . The area of the county is called Istra in Croatian and Slovene...
and Primorsko-Goranska
Primorje-Gorski Kotar County
Primorje-Gorski kotar County is a county in western Croatia that includes the Bay of Kvarner and the surrounding Northern Croatian seacoast, and the mountainous region of Gorski kotar...
.
Biography
Rutar was born in a peasant family in the AlpineJulian Alps
The Julian Alps are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretches from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav. They are named after Julius Caesar, who founded the municipium of Cividale del Friuli at the foot of the mountains...
village of Krn
Krn (village)
Krn is a small village under the Krn mountain in the Kobarid Municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.It is the birthplace of the Slovene historian Simon Rutar.-External links:*...
near Kobarid
Kobarid
Kobarid is a town and a municipality in the upper Soča valley, western Slovenia, near the Italian border.Kobarid is known for the famous Battle of Caporetto, where the Italian retreat was documented by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms. The battle is well documented in the museum in...
, in what was then the Austrian
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...
county of Gorizia and Gradisca
Gorizia and Gradisca
The County of Gorizia and Gradisca was a Habsburg county in Central Europe, in what is now a multilingual border area of Italy and Slovenia. It was named for its two major urban centers, Gorizia and Gradisca d'Isonzo.-Province of the Habsburg Empire:...
(now in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
).
He attended the prestigious State Secondary School
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in Gorizia
Gorizia
Gorizia is a town and comune in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, and it is a local center of tourism, industry, and commerce. Since 1947, a twin...
. In 1873 he enrolled at the University of Graz
University of Graz
The University of Graz , a university located in Graz, Austria, is the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria....
, where he studied history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
. In Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, he was shaped by the contemporary positivist approaches in human sciences. In 1878 he was mobilized in the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
, in a unit sent to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. He was demobilized in Autumn 1879 and returned to Graz. The following year he got a job as a high school history teacher in the Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
n town of Kotor
Kotor
Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....
. In 1882, he moved to Split
Split (city)
Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...
, where he taught at the local 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:...
for the next eight years. There, he met Frane Bulić
Frane Bulic
Frane Bulić was a Croatian priest, archeologist, and historian.Bulić was born in Vranjic near Split and studied theology in Zadar and then classical philology and archeology in Vienna...
, a Croatian historian and archeologist who introduced him to the latest trends in archeology.
During his years in Split, Rutar started publishing numerous articles on the local history of his native lands, especially the County of Gorizia
County of Gorizia
The County of Görz was a county based around the town of Gorizia in the present-day Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy.Count Meinhard, descendant of the Bavarian Meinhardiner noble family with possessions around Lienz in Tyrol, is mentioned as early as 1107...
. He established close contacts with the Carniolan Rudolfinium Museum
National Museum of Slovenia
The National Museum of Slovenia is located in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is situated in the Center district of the city near the Tivoli Park....
, led by the renowned historian and archeologist Karel Dežman
Karel Dežman
Karel Dežman, also known as Dragotin Dežman and Karl Deschmann was a Carniolan liberal politician and natural scientist. He was one of the most prominent personalities of the political, cultural, and scientific developments in the 19th century Duchy of Carniola...
, where he helped as an expert in archeological excavations 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 1889 he settled 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...
, where he was employed as a teacher at the Second State Gymnasium of Ljubljana.
He died in the night between May 3 and May 4, when he was caught in a fire that burned down his house. Most of his personal archive was also destroyed in the fire. He was buried in St. Christopher's Cemetery in Ljubljana. In 1936, his tomb was transferred to the monumental Navje
Navje
Navje, formerly known as St. Christopher's Cemetery is a memorial park in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is located in the Bežigrad district, just behind the Ljubljana railway station....
cemetery, in which prominent Slovenes are buried.
Work
Rutar was one of the first Slovene historians that employed the new rigorous methods of positivist historical science into his writings. He wrote mostly on the history of political and legal institutions in the Austrian LittoralAustrian Littoral
The Austrian Littoral was established as a crown land of the Austrian Empire in 1849. In 1861 it was divided into the three crown lands of the Imperial Free City of Trieste and its suburbs, the Margraviate of Istria, and the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca, which each had separate...
and Friuli
Friuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
from the feudal age to the late 18th century. He was however also interested in the habits and tradition of the peasant populations regardless their language and ethnicity, although he did concentrate on the two Slavic
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
-speaking peoples in the area, the Slovenes and Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
. In his studies of the peasantry, he took advantage of his knowledge in philology
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, and ethnology
Ethnology
Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
.
He clearly rejected the Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
of the early Slovene amateur historians, such as Davorin Trstenjak
Davorin Trstenjak
Davorin Trstenjak , was a Slovene writer, historian and Roman Catholic priest.He was born in the village of Kraljevci near Sveti Jurij ob Ščavnici, in what was then the Austrian Duchy of Styria...
or Janez Trdina
Janez Trdina
Janez Trdina was a Slovene writer and historian. The renowned author Ivan Cankar described him as the best Slovene stylist of his period. He was an ardent describer of the Gorjanci Hills and of the Lower Carniolan region in general...
, and instead focused on the specifics of local history
Local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context and it often concentrates on the local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history...
, his favorite area of inquiry. He wrote importatnt pioneering works on the Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps
Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps
Slavic settlement of the Eastern Alps region was a historic process that took place between the 6th and 9th century AD, having culminated in the final quarter of the 6th century...
, the medieval history in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca and in Friuli
Friuli
Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
. He is also important as a researcher of the medieval legal institutions in his native Tolmin County
Tolmin
Tolmin is a small town and municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.-Geography:Tolmin, the old town that gave the name to the entire area , is the largest settlement in the Upper Soča Valley , as well as its economic, cultural and administrative centre. It is located on a terrace above the...
and the neighbouring Venetian Slovenia
Venetian Slovenia
Venetian Slovenia is a small mountainous region in northeastern Italy . Most of the region is located in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the area between the towns of Cividale del Friuli, Tarcento and Gemona ....
. In both cases, he was particurlary interested in the institutions of rural municipal self-government, which in those two regions had survived up to the late 18th century.
He also wrote books on the history of Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
and Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, which were commissioned by the prestigious publishing house Slovenska matica
Slovenska matica
Slovenska matica , also known as Matica slovenska, is the second-oldest publishing house in Slovenia, founded in the 19th century as an institution for the scholarly and cultural progress of Slovenes...
for a wider reading public. In them, Rutar incorporated a wide spectrum of subjects in the presentation of the regions, from geography, philology, and ethnography to geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and demography
Demography
Demography is the statistical study of human population. It can be a very general science that can be applied to any kind of dynamic human population, that is, one that changes over time or space...
. He also wrote guidebooks and intineraries of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, as well as articles on the most various subjects in history and archeology.
Rutar was also a regular columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
of the two major Slovene literary magazines of the time, Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon
Ljubljanski zvon was a journal published in Ljubljana in Slovene between 1881 and 1941. It was considered one of the most prestigious literary and cultural magazines in Slovenia.- Early period :...
and Dom in svet
Dom in svet
Dom in svet was a Catholic cultural and literary journal in Slovenia, published from 1888 to 1943. Its long-running rivalry with the national-liberal journal Ljubljanski zvon was a major feature of Slovenian cultural life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; historian Péter Krasztev...
. In them, he exposed his views on Slovene history
History of Slovenia
The history of Slovenia chronicles the period of the Slovene territory from the 5th Century BC to the present times. In the Early Bronze Age, Proto-Illyrian tribes settled an area stretching from present-day Albania to the city of Trieste. The Holy Roman Empire controlled the land for nearly 1,000...
. He saw 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.-...
not only as a linguistic, cultural, and ethnographic unit, but also a political unit. He insisted on the political and legal continuity between the Slavic principality of Carantania and the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
Duchy of Carinthia
Duchy of Carinthia
The Duchy of Carinthia was a duchy located in southern Austria and parts of northern Slovenia. It was separated from the Duchy of Bavaria in 976, then the first newly created Imperial State beside the original German stem duchies....
, from which all other provincies in Inner Austria
Inner Austria
Inner Austria was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Windic March, the County of Gorizia , the city of Trieste and assorted smaller possessions...
developed.
Personality and views
During his lifetime, Rutar was a popular writer. He was known for his simple, vigorous, and direct prose, as well as his predilections for clear statements and stalwart judgements. He did important work in popularizing history among Slovenes.Differently from most Slovene public figures of the time, Rutar did not partake in any political activity, nor did he publicly profess any specific ideology. He regarded himself as a Slovene and Austrian patriot and clearly rejected Panslavism or any kind of radical nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. He did however not enter any polemic with other Slovene authors who held different views, but he did openly criticize Italian irredentism
Italia irredenta
Italian irredentism was an Italian Irredentist movement that aimed at the unification of all ethnically Italian peoples....
. He collaborated with both Liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
and Conservative Catholic journals and institutions.
Rutar was a close fiend of the liberal catholic
Liberal Catholicism
Liberal Catholicism was a current of thought that was influential, especially in France, in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th.Being predominantly political in nature, Liberal Catholicism was distinct from the contemporary theological movement of Modernism, and is distinct also both...
poet and priest Simon Gregorčič
Simon Gregorcic
Simon Gregorčič was a Slovene poet and Roman Catholic priest.- Biography :Gregorčič was born in the small mountain village of Vrsno above the river Soča in the County of Gorizia and Gradisca. In 1851, he attended primary school in Libušnje, but was in 1855 sent to school in Gorizia. After...
, a native of Vrsno
Vrsno, Kobarid
Vrsno is a small village in the Kobarid municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.It is best known as the birthplace of the poet Simon Gregorčič. Since 1966, Gregorčič's home has housed a small ethnographical museum, with some exhibits from the poet's life.-External links:*...
, a village very close to Rutar's native Krn. After Rutar's death, Gregorčič composed a poem in his memory.
Rutar was regarded as a vigorous, straightforward man and a passionate scholar. In the last years of his life, his health worsened and prevented him to carry out his major projects. Much of his work has remained in sketches and the destruction of his personal archive and notes has prevented later scholars from making a definitive assessment of his opus.
Legacy
Rutar has been regarded as one of the first Slovene academic historians. He did not have any disciple to continue his work and was soon overshadowed by his fellow positivist historian Franc Kos. Rutar's studies of specific topics, such as the Slavic settlements in southwest Friuli in the 10th century, were recognized as very important by future historians such as Milko KosMilko Kos
Milko Kos was a Slovenian historian, considered the father of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography....
, Ferdo Gestrin, and Bogo Grafenauer
Bogo Grafenauer
Bogo Grafenauer was a Slovenian historian, who mostly wrote about medieval history in the Slovene Lands. Together with Milko Kos, Fran Zwitter, and Vasilij Melik, he was one of the founders of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography.- Early life :He was born in Ljubljana in a well...
. Overall, however, Rutar's influence on Slovenian historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
has been relatively small, with two important exceptions. His views on the legal and political continuity of Carantania in the Carolingian
Carolingian
The Carolingian dynasty was a Frankish noble family with origins in the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD. The name "Carolingian", Medieval Latin karolingi, an altered form of an unattested Old High German *karling, kerling The Carolingian dynasty (known variously as the...
period influenced the historians Josip Mal and later Jožko Šavli
Jožko Šavli
Jožko Šavli was a Slovene author, self-declared historian and high school teacher in economic sciences from Italy....
, while his study of the rural municipal self-government influenced the work of the renowned Slovenian legal historian Sergij Vilfan
Sergij Vilfan
Sergij Vilfan , was a Slovenian jurist and historian, part of the so-called Ljubljana school of historiography, and member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts....
.
Rutar's legacy is most stronly felt in his native Goriška
Goriška
Goriška is a traditional region in western Slovenia on the border with Italy. The name means "the Gorizia region" because it is named after Gorizia, Italy. It is part of the wider traditional region of the Slovenian Littoral . Its principal urban center is Nova Gorica...
region, where several streets, schools, and other public institutions bear his name.
Essential bibliography
- Razmere med Slovenci in Langobardi ("The Relations between the Slovenes and the LombardsLombardsThe Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
", 1875) - Domoznanstvo poknežene grofije Goriške in Gradiščanske ("Local History of the Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca", 1882)
- Zgodovina Tolminskega, to je: zgodovinski dogodki sodnijskih okrajev Tolmin, Bolec in Cerkno ž njih prirodoznanskim in statističnim opisom ("The History of the Tolmin County, i.e.: Historical Events in the Judicial Districts of TolminTolminTolmin is a small town and municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.-Geography:Tolmin, the old town that gave the name to the entire area , is the largest settlement in the Upper Soča Valley , as well as its economic, cultural and administrative centre. It is located on a terrace above the...
, BolecBovecBovec is a small city and municipality in northwestern Slovenia. The city of Bovec lies in the Bovec Basin in the Soča Valley below the Kanin mountain in the Julian Alps.-Geographical location:...
and CerknoCerknoCerkno is a small town and a municipality in the Littoral region of Slovenia.It has around 2,000 inhabitants and is the administrative centre of the Cerkno hills...
with a Geographical and Demographic Description", 1882) - Iz Bara v Podgorico: potopisna črtica ("From BarBar, MontenegroBar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
to PodgoricaPodgoricaPodgorica , is the capital and largest city of Montenegro.Podgorica's favourable position at the confluence of the Ribnica and Morača rivers and the meeting point of the fertile Zeta Plain and Bjelopavlići Valley has encouraged settlement...
: A Travelogue", 1891) - Poknežena grofija Goriška in Gradiščanska ("The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca", 1892)
- Guida di Spalato e Salona ("Guide to Split and Solin", with Frane BulićFrane BulicFrane Bulić was a Croatian priest, archeologist, and historian.Bulić was born in Vranjic near Split and studied theology in Zadar and then classical philology and archeology in Vienna...
, 1894) - Samosvoje mesto Trst in mejna grofija Istra ("The Self-Governing City of Trieste and the Margravate of Istria", 1896-97)
- Beneška Slovenija: prirodoznanski in zgodovinski opis ("Venetian SloveniaVenetian SloveniaVenetian Slovenia is a small mountainous region in northeastern Italy . Most of the region is located in the Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the area between the towns of Cividale del Friuli, Tarcento and Gemona ....
: A Geographical and Historical Description", with Peter Podreka, 1899) - Römische Strassen und Befestigungen in Krain ("RomanAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
Roads and Fortifications in CarniolaCarniolaCarniola 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...
", with Anton von Premerstein, 1899) - Dnevnik: 1869-1874 ("Personal Diary from 1869 to 1874", edited by Branko Marušič in 1974)
Sources
- Bogo Grafenauer, Struktura in tehnika zgodovinske vede (Ljubljana: Filozofska fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani, 1980), 222-223.
- Branko MarušičBranko MarušičBranko Marušič is a Slovenian historian.Born to an upper middle class Slovene family in Gorizia, Italy, he moved with the family to the Yugoslav side of the Yugoslav-Italian border in 1947, and has been living in Solkan since...
, "Simon Rutar: življenje in delo" in Simon Rutar, Zgodovinske črtice iz poknežene grofije goriško-gradiščanske (Nova Gorica: Založba Branko - Založništvo Jutro, 2001). - Boža Pleničar, "Bibliografija Simona Rutarja", in Goriški letnik 4/5 (1977–1978).
- Simon Rutar, Dnevnik (1869–1874), edited by Branko Marušič (Trieste - Nova Gorica, 1972).