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Michael von Kunitsch also Michael von Kunits and Mihajlo von Kunić (Serbian Cyrillic: Михаило фон Кунић; Alsóbán, then Hungary, Habsburg Monarchy, now Romania, 25 September 1765 - Karlstadt, Habsburg Monarchy, 9 April 1835) was an Austrian pedagogue, horticulturist, publicist and writer of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.[1]
Von Kunits came from a line of Serbian Hussars who fought Ottoman invaders at the border of Austria and Hungary, better known as the Slavonian Military Frontier. When Turks threatened to invade Western Europe, one of his ancestors rescued a prince of the realm in the Austro-Turkish War who was badly wounded in battle, and consequently received a patent of nobility for his heroic action.
Biography
editMichael von Kunits was born on 25 September 1765 in Báan in Hungary, then part of the Habsburg Monarchy. After graduating from elementary school he was educated at the Piarist Grammar School in the city of Trenčin which was located near his birthplace, and then went to the Military Institute in Wartberg in the Pressburg County (what would later become Pozsony county, a territory in today's Slovakia) where he, who had already distinguished himself through his excellent knowledge, was entrusted with the teaching of German and agriculture (horticulture). This institution was closed soon after, however, and Kunits became an actuary at the land survey and tax regulation office in Neutra. However, as he particularly enjoyed the subject, he soon returned to it and managed to obtain a teaching position for German at the Piarist Private Institute in Hungary. Even in this position he did very good work in terms of teaching. Under the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, the improvement of elementary schools began in all the hereditary lands of the realm and from then on made ever greater progress. In Styria too, by the end of the 18th century, the German school system had already reached a level of education that was significantly better than earlier times. The thorough pedagogue, Abbot Ferdinand Kigler, had contributed a great deal to this through his influence. It was during this time that Kunits also came to Styria and in 1790 he was appointed head teacher at the district model school in Bruck an der Mur. This institution had fallen into disrepair in recent years and Kunits skillfully put it into order so that in 1794 he was employed at the similar but larger school in the suburb of Geidorf in Graz, to organize this too. As he was successful in this, he was transferred to the school in the Mur suburb of Graz and finally in 1797 to the Imperial and Royal School. He was appointed to the model normal school in the state capital, which had opened in 1775, and was given the management of it. He taught German, as well as "On Righteousness", a type of simple moral lecture which introduced the pupils to the principles and duties of an honest life. Kunits soon appeared not only as the author of pedagogical works, but also as a writer, particularly in the field of biography and topography.
Michael von Kunits (Kunitsch) died on 9 April 1835 in Karlstadt, then Austria, now Croatia.
Works
editIn 1792 he had already published an "Attempt at Socratic Conversations on the Stories in the Second Part of the Reader for State Schools in the Imperial and Royal States", which the government arranged for translation into Czech for schools in Bohemia. His pedagogical works also include: "Children's Stories, Parables and Tales for Young People", the 6th edition of which appeared in 1826; "Miscellaneous Writings and Essays, Mostly of a Pedagogical Content" 1801; "New practical letters for German pupils, boys and girls and for school and private teachers", 1808, and finally in particular the "Steyermärkische Schul Almanach", the first year of which appeared in Graz in 1798 and which offers an excellent overview of the entire elementary school system in the country. Kunits soon had to give up his job because of his poor health; he had the reputation of being one of the most excellent Austrian teachers of his time.
Among the other works that he wrote, the following were also worth mentioning: "Grammatischer Orthographisches Wörterbuch der Homonymen der deutschen Sprache", 1803, 2 vols.; "Biographies of remarkable men of the Austrian monarchy", 1805-1812, 6 vols.; the biographies of the physicists "Leop. Gottl. Biwald", 1808 and "X. Freih. v. Wulfen”, 1810; “Topographical descriptions of the Kingdom of Hungary and its incorporated provinces”, 1824; “The Varasdin-Töplitz sulphur bath”, 1828; “Reflections on the establishment of the Magyar language in Hungary”, 1833; "Biographie Des Hochwürdigst-Hochgebornen Herrn Joseph Graf: Sermage de Szomszédvár"[2][3].
Literature
edit- Oesterreichische National-Encyklopädie, Vienna 1835. Vol. III. — Wurzbach. Biographical lexicon. Vol. XIII.
References
edit- Translated and adapted from German: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz47048.html?language=en