František Valentin Schmidt
(1863 - 1927) | Historian, pedagogue, ethnographer, archivist |
Franitšek Schmidt was
born 5 January, 1863 in Rožmitál in the Šumava mountains. He
studied on the German secondary school in Český Krumlov and after
his A-levels in 1883 entered the Vyšší Brod monastery. Four years
later he took a religious vow, adopted the religious name Valentin
and was consecrated a priest. Until October 1889 he served as a
chaplain in Horní
Dvořiště and Hořice na
Šumavě, then he studied on the German university in Prague
where he graduated in 1894 with a doctorate of philosophy. Almost
all the rest of his life he alternatively taught on the secondary
schools in Austria and Bohemia. From September 1926 till his death
he worked as a archivist of the Vyšší
Brod monastery. As a chaplain on the Cistercian vicarage in
Hořice na Šumavě he became acquainted with the idea of the Passion
plays and is credited with their popularisation. In 1908 - 1910
he published an extensive two-volume historical work referring to
Český Krumlov (Urkundenbuch von Krummau). He was interested in the
history of the settlement of the Šumava region, the trade routes,
and the history of religion and economy.
(pj)