Dear JKP, all:
Quote:René, is there any information on earlier members of Iohannes Marci's family (father, grandfather, uncles)?
Sorry for a rather late response. A few months ago I did a major update to the biography of Marci (and others) here:
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which also clearly identifies the sources used. The Czech web article by You are not allowed to view links.
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The name of Marci's father is listed as follows: "Marek Lanškrounský" (as in the web article). The source for this is the wedding certificate of Marci's parents, but it is not clear if this is literally how it was written there. If so, the suggestion is that Marek was his first name.
No other senior relatives of Marci are known.
Servít suggests that the family was raised using the Czech language. The wedding certificate is in Czech, and so are some other early documents. Thus, Marci's family name "Marci" may simply mean "son of Marek", in a Latinised form.
Whether his father took over much of his early education is not known, but Marci's school career from elementary school onward is documented. From Gymnasium onward, Latin was the main language. He was clearly meant to follow a Jesuit career, but for some uncertain reason he did not become a Jesuit. This has been a topic of discussion among historians, because his official biography recorded by the Jesuits states that this was because of his weak voice. Since he did become a university professor, this is no longer believed.
There is an interesting anecdote from his earlier life. His brother David did enter the society of Jesus, and in his parental home there was a portrait of David in a Jesuit robe. One day it fell off the wall, and Johannes Marek's suggestion to his mother was that this either meant that he had just died, or he was expelled from the Society. It turned out that it was the second option.
In my personal opinion, the fact that Marci's brother was expelled from the Society is likely to be connected in some way with the fact that Marci never entered.