John Amos Comenius (/kəˈmiːniəs/;[1]Czech:Jan Amos Komenský;German:Johann Amos Comenius;Polish:Jan Amos Komeński;Latinized:Ioannes Amos Comenius; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670)[2] was a Czech[3][4]philosopher,pedagogue andtheologian who is considered the father of modern education.[5][6] He served as the lastbishop of the Unity of the Brethren (direct predecessor of theMoravian Church) before becoming a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions ofuniversal education, a concept eventually set forth in his bookDidactica Magna. As an educator and theologian, he led schools and advised governments acrossProtestant Europe through the middle of the seventeenth century.
Comenius introduced a number of educational concepts and innovations including pictorial textbooks written in native languages instead of Latin, teaching based in gradual development from simple to more comprehensive concepts, lifelong learning with a focus on logical thinking over dull memorization,equal opportunity for impoverished children, education for women, and universal and practical instruction. He also believed heavily in the connection between nature, religion, and knowledge, in which he stated that knowledge is born from nature and nature from God.[7]
Oldest surviving manuscript by Comenius dated 1611; written in Latin and CzechAlphonse Mucha'sThe Slav Epic cycle No.16: The Last days of Jan Amos Komenský inNaarden: A Flicker of Hope (1918)Portrait of an Old Man byRembrandt, possibly a depiction of ComeniusHis grave in Naarden (the Netherlands)
John Amos Comenius was born in 1592 in theMargraviate of Moravia in theBohemian Crown.[8][9][11] His exact birthplace is uncertain and possibilities includeUherský Brod (as on his gravestone inNaarden),Nivnice, andKomňa (the village from which he took his surname, which means "man from Komňa"), all these localities being situated in theUherské Hradiště District of today'sCzech Republic. John was the youngest child and only son of Martin Komenský (died ca. 1602–1604) and his wife Anna Chmelová. His grandfather, whose name was Jan (János) Szeges, was ofHungarian origin. He began to use the surname Komenský after leaving Komňa to live in Uherský Brod.[12] Martin and Anna Komenský belonged to the Bohemian Brethren, a pre-Reformation Protestant denomination, and Comenius later became one of its leaders.[13] His parents and two of his four sisters died in 1604 and John, still a child, went to live with his aunt inStrážnice.
Owing to his impoverished circumstances he was unable to begin his formal education until his later teens.[13] He was 16 when he entered theLatin school inPřerov, returning there later as a teacher 1614–1618. He continued his studies at theHerborn Academy (1611–1613) and at theUniversity of Heidelberg (1613–1614). In 1612 he read theRosicrucian manifestoFama Fraternitatis. Comenius was also greatly influenced by the Irish JesuitWilliam Bathe as well as by his teachersJohann Piscator,Heinrich Gutberleth, and particularlyHeinrich Alsted. The Herborn Academy maintained the principle that every theory has to be functional in practical use, therefore it has to be didactic (i.e. morally instructive). In the course of his studies, Comenius also became acquainted with the educational reforms ofRatichius and with the report of these reforms issued by the universities ofJena andGiessen.[13]
Comenius became rector of a school in Přerov.[14] In 1616 he was ordained into the ministry of the Bohemian Brethren and four years later became pastor and rector atFulnek, one of the denomination's most flourishing churches. Throughout his life this pastoral activity was his most immediate concern. In consequence of thereligious wars, in 1621 he lost all his property, including his writings. In 1627 he led the Brethren into exile when theHabsburgCounter-Reformation persecuted theProtestants in Bohemia.[13][15] In 1628 he corresponded withJohann Valentin Andreae.
He produced the bookJanua linguarum reserata, orThe Gate of Languages Unlocked, which brought him to prominence. However, as the Unity became an important target of theCounter Reformation politics, he was forced into exile even as his fame grew across Europe. Comenius took refuge inLeszno (Lissa) in Poland, where he was head of thegymnasium school and was furthermore given charge of the Bohemian and Moravian churches.
In 1638 Comenius responded to a request by the government of Sweden and traveled there to draw up a scheme for the management of that country's schools.[14][15]
After his religious duties, Comenius's second great interest was in furthering theBaconian attempt at the organization of all human knowledge. He became one of the leaders in the encyclopaedia orpansophic movement of the seventeenth century, and, in fact, was inclined to sacrifice his more practical educational interests and opportunities for these more imposing but somewhat visionary projects. In 1639, Comenius published hisPansophiae Prodromus, and in the following year his English friendSamuel Hartlib published, without his consent, the plan of the pansophic work as outlined by Comenius. These pansophic ideas find partial expression in the textbooks he produced from time to time. In these, he attempts to organize the entire field of human knowledge so as to bring it, in outline, within the grasp of every child.[13] Comenius also attempted to design a language in which false statements could not be expressed.[16]
In 1641, Comenius responded to a request from the EnglishLong Parliament and joined a commission there established to reform the system of public education. TheEnglish Civil War interfered with the latter project.[13][14] According toCotton Mather, Comenius was asked by Winthrop to be the President ofHarvard University. The Winthrop in question was more plausiblyJohn Winthrop the Younger than his father, since Winthrop junior was in England. However, instead Comenius moved in 1642 to Sweden.[17][18] to work with QueenChristina (reigned 1632–1654) and the chancellorAxel Oxenstierna (in office 1612–1654) at the task of reorganizing the Swedish schools. The same year he then moved toElbląg (Elbing) in Poland and in 1648 to England, this time with the assistance of Samuel Hartlib, who came originally from Elbląg. In 1650Zsuzsanna Lorántffy, widow ofGeorge I Rákóczi Prince ofTransylvania invited Comenius toSárospatak. There he remained as a professor at the first Hungarian Protestant College until 1654, writing some of his most important works in this period.
Comenius subsequently returned to Leszno. During theDeluge in 1655, he declared his support for the Protestant Swedish side, prompting Polish Catholic partisans in 1656 to burn his house,his manuscripts, and the school's printing press. The manuscript ofPansophia was destroyed in the fire. From Leszno he fled to take refuge inAmsterdam in the Netherlands. He lived in theHuis met de Hoofden and taught his grandsonJohann Theodor Jablonski as well as the young patriciansPieter de Graeff andNicolaas Witsen.
In 1659, Comenius produced a new edition of the 1618 Bohemian Brethren hymnal,Kancionál, to jest kniha žalmů a písní duchovních containing 606 texts and 406 melodies. In addition to addressing the psalms and hymns, his revision greatly expanded the number of hymns and added a new introduction. This edition was reissued several times into the nineteenth century. His texts in Czech were notable poetic compositions, but he used tunes from other sources. He also edited the German hymnalKirchen-, Haus- und Hertzens-Musica (Amsterdam, 1661), which had been published under the titleKirchengesänge since 1566. In other writings, Comenius addresses both instrumental and vocal music in many places, although he dedicated no treatise to the topic. Sometimes he follows the medieval mathematical conception of music, but in other places he links music with grammar, rhetoric, and politics. Musical practice, both instrumental and vocal, played an important role in his system of education.[19]
It was in Amsterdam that Comenius would die, in 1670. For unknown reasons he was buried inNaarden, where visitors can see his grave in the mausoleum, located in the Kloosterstraat, devoted to him. Next to the mausoleum is the Comenius Museum.
For the greater part of the eighteenth century and early part of the nineteenth, there was little recognition of his relationship to the advance in educational thought and practice. However, the importance of the Comenian influence in education has been recognized since the middle of the nineteenth century. The practical educational influence of Comenius was threefold.
He was first a teacher and an organizer of schools, not only among his own people, but later in Sweden, and to a slight extent in Holland. In hisDidactica Magna (Great Didactic), he outlined a system of schools that is the exact counterpart of the existing American system of kindergarten, elementary school, secondary school, college, and university.[13]
The second influence was in formulating the general theory of education. In this respect, he is the forerunner ofRousseau,Pestalozzi,Fröbel, etc., and is the first to formulate the idea of "education according to nature," which became consequential during the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century. The influence of Comenius on education is comparable with that of his contemporaries,Bacon andDescartes, on science and philosophy. In fact, he was largely influenced by the works of these two men. This comparison is largely due to the fact that he first applied or attempted to apply in a systematic manner the principles of thought and investigation, newly formulated by those philosophers, to the organization of education in all its aspects. The summary of this attempt is given in theDidactica Magna, completed about 1631, though not published until several years later.[13]
The third aspect of influence was on the subject matter and method of education, exerted through a series of textbooks of an entirely new nature. The first-published of these was theJanua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Tongues Unlocked), issued in 1631. This was followed by a more elementary text, theVestibulum, a more advanced one, theAtrium, and others. TheOrbis Pictus, published in 1658, became one of the most renowned and widely circulated school books over the next century. It was also the first successful application of illustrations to the work of teaching youth (though not the first illustrated book for children, per se).[13]
Relief of Comenius in Dolany, Czech Republic
The educational writings of Comenius comprise more than forty titles. These texts were all based on the same fundamental ideas: (1) learning foreign languages through the vernacular; (2) obtaining ideas through objects rather than words; (3) starting with objects most familiar to the child to introduce him to both the new language and the more remote world of objects; (4) giving the child a comprehensive knowledge of his environment, physical and social, as well as instruction in religious, moral, and classical subjects; (5) making this acquisition of a compendium of knowledge a pleasure rather than a task; and (6) making instruction universal "to all men and from all points of view".[20]
John Amos Comenius was a bishop of the Unity of the Brethren church that had its roots in the teaching of Czech reformerJan Hus. One of his most famous theological works is theLabyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart. The book represents his thinking about the world being full of various useless things and complex labyrinths, and that the true peace of mind and soul can be found only in one's heart where Christ the Saviour should dwell and rule. This teaching is also repeated in one of his last works,Unum Necessarium (Only One is Needed), where he shows various labyrinths and problems in the world and provides simple solutions to various situations. In this book he also admits that his former believing in prophecies and revelations of those days[15] was his personal labyrinth where he got lost many times. He was greatly influenced byBoehme.
In hisSynopsis physicae ad lumen divinum reformatae, Comenius gives a physical theory of his own, said to be taken from theBook of Genesis. He was also famous for his prophecies and the support he gave to visionaries. In hisLux in tenebris he published the visions of Christopher Kotterus, Mikuláš Drabík (lat.Nicolaus Drabicius) andKristina Poniatowska. Attempting to interpret theBook of Revelation, he promised the millennium in 1672 and guaranteed miraculous assistance to those who would undertake the destruction of the Pope and the house of Austria, even venturing to prophesy thatOliver Cromwell,Gustavus Adolphus, andGeorge I Rákóczi,prince of Transylvania, would perform the task. He also wrote toLouis XIV of France, informing him that the empire of the world should be his reward if he would overthrow the enemies of God.[14]
One of his daughters, Elisabeth, married Peter Figulus fromJablonné nad Orlicí. Their son,Daniel Ernst Jablonski (1660–1741), Comenius's grandson, later went toBerlin in 1693; there he became the highest official pastor at the court of KingFrederick I of Prussia (reigned 1701–1713). There he became acquainted with CountNicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (1700–1760). Zinzendorf was among the foremost successors to Comenius as a bishop (1737–1760) in the renewedMoravian Brethren's Church. His direct descendent, Jan Ferdinand Kallik (1939-____) was born in Prague and educated in South Africa. He now lives in California. All four of his children, Lynette, Peter, Alison, and Pamela are teachers.
The Comenius Medal, aUNESCO award honouring outstanding achievements in the fields of education research and innovation, commemorates Comenius.Peter Drucker hailed Comenius as the inventor oftextbooks andprimers.[21]
During the 19th-centuryCzech National Revival, Czechs idealised Comenius as a symbol of theCzech nation. This image persists to the present day.
The Czech Republic celebrates 28 March, the birthday of Comenius, asTeachers' Day. The University of Jan Amos Komenský was founded in Prague in 2001, offering bachelor's, master's and graduate degree programmes.[22]Gate to Languages, a project oflifelong education, taking place in the Czech Republic from October 2005 to June 2007 and aimed at language education of teachers, was named after his bookJanua linguarum reserata (Gate to Languages Unlocked). Comenius is pictured on the 200Czech korunabanknote.
Portrait of Comenius by the Slovak painter Karol Miloslav Lehotský
InLeszno,Poland, a local college is named after him.[24] There is also square of his name nearby post Unity's of the Brethren church.In Poland, theComenius Foundation is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the provision of equal opportunities to children under 10 years of age.
Monument of Comenius in Leszno on the square named after him.
The Italian film directorRoberto Rossellini took Comenius, and especially his theory of "direct vision", as his model in the development of hisdidactic theories, which Rossellini hoped would usher the world into autopian future.[26]
Comenius is aEuropean Union school partnership program.[27][28] In the United Kingdom, theUniversity of Sheffield's Western Bank Library holds the largest collection of Comenius manuscripts outside of the Czech Republic.[29]
In 1892, educators in many places celebrated the 300th anniversary of Comenius. Comenius Hall was built as the principal classroom and faculty office building onMoravian College's campus in Pennsylvania, and the Comenian Society for the study and publication of his works was formed.[31] The education department atSalem College in North Carolina has an annualComenius Symposium dedicated in his honor; the subjects usually deal with modern issues in education.[citation needed] TheComenius Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity which uses film and documentary production to further faith, learning, and love.[32] many of his musical creations have been preserved within the moravian music foundation in old salem in north carolina[33]
Linguae Bohemicae thesaurus, hoc est lexicon plenissimum, grammatica accurata, idiotismorum elegantiae et emphases adagiaque ("Treasure of theCzech language"), 1612–1656
Problemata miscellanea ("Different Problems"), 1612, non-existent, perished in fire while being prepared for printing.
Sylloge quaestionum controversarum, 1613
Grammaticae facilioris praecepta, 1614–1616
Theatrum universitatis rerum, 1616–1627
Centrum securitatis ("The Center of Safety"), 1625
Moraviae nova et post omnes priores accuratissima delineatio autore J. A. Comenio ("Map of Moravia"), 1618–1627
Manuálník aneb jádro celé biblí svaté ("Manual or Core of the Whole Holy Bible"), 1620–1623
Přemyšlování o dokonalosti kŕesťanské ("Thinking About Christian Perfection"), 1622
Nedobytedlný hrad jméno Hospodinovo ("Unconqerable Fortress (is) Name of the God"), 1622
Truchlivý, díl první ("The Mournful", volume I), 1623
O poezí české ("About Czech Poetry"), 1623–1626
Truchlivý, díl druhý ("The Mournful", volume II), 1624
O sirobě ("About Poor People"), 1624
Pres boží ("Press of God"), 1624
Vidění a zjevení Kryštofa Kottera, souseda a jircháře sprotavského ("Seeing and Revelation of Kryštof Kotter, Neibourgh of Mine and Tanner from Sprotava"), 1625
Překlad některých žalmů ("Translation of Some Psalms"), 1626
^"John Amos Comenius."Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research 1998. Reproduced inBiography Resource Center. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
^ab"Clamores Eliae" he dedicated "To my lovely mother, Moravia, one of her faithful son...". Clamores Eliae, p. 69, Kastellaun/Hunsrück : A. Henn, 1977.
^"Unum necessarium" Komensky subscribed as "J.A. Comenius Moravus""Unum.HTM". Archived fromthe original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved15 July 2012. (Czech translation)
^Vyskočil, František: JAN AMOS KOMENSKÝ, Kapitoly o jeho předcich, rodičích, přibuzných a místě narození, Brno 1990, p. 66
^Johann Amos Comenius, Charles William Bardeen, andCharles Hoole,The orbis pictus of John Amos Comenius.ISBN1-4372-9752-8, page ii, quoting Cotton Mather,Magnalia, vol. II, p. 14.
^Daniel Murphy,Comenius: A Critical Reassessment of His Life and Works (1995), p. 27.
^Drucker, Peter Ferdinand (2003) [1989].The new realities (revised ed.). Transaction Publishers. pp. 230–231.ISBN978-0-7658-0533-1. Retrieved8 April 2010.[...] a Czech, John Amos Comenius – the first person to advocate universal literacy – invented the textbook and the primer.
Kučera, Karel. 2014. Jan Ámos Komenský. A man in search of peace, wisdom, and proverbs.Proceedings of the Seventh Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Proverbs, November 2013, at Tavira, Portugal, ed. by Rui J. B. Soares and Outi Lauhakangas, pp. 64–73. Tavira: Tipografia Tavirense.
Löscher,Comenius, der Pädagoge und Bischof (Leipzig, 1889)
Monroe, Will S.Comenius and the Beginning of Educational Reform (New York, 1900)Web access
Müller,Ein Systematiker in der Pädagogik : eine philosophisch-historische Untersuchung : Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doctorwürde an der philophischen Fäcultat der Universität Jena (Dresden, Bleyl und Kaemmerer, 1887)
Comenius, Johann Amos;Charles Hoole (1777).Joh. Amos Comenii Orbis Sensualium Pictus: Hoc Est Omnium Principalium in Mundo Rerum, & in Vita Actionum, Pictura & Nomenclatura. London: S. Leacroft.OCLC166163.User Review – I was interested in this book after reading about Comenius on Wikipedia and being referred to Google Book Search as a source of this as an early children's textbook. A discouraging flaw in this book is that pages 8-15 are scanned out of order, and there are two copies of page 12 and no copy of page 8 in the resulting images. It would be good to have a direct way to report such trouble without having to go searching around the help pages. – translation byCharles Hoole, at Google Book Search
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