Kukuljević as biographer and historian of Croatian literature

Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski kao plemić školovao se u Beču za pripadnika kraljevske mađarske plemićke tjelesne straže koju je osnovala Marija Terezija. Časnici te postrojbe učili su vojne vještine, ali su pohađali i predavanja iz književnosti, povijesti i zemljopisa. U tu je jedinicu Kukuljević bio primljen nakon preporuke grofa Janka Draškovića. U ilirskom je preporodu bio pomoćnik Draškovića i njegove skupine velikaša. Ilirizam nije bio liberalan pokret, nije tražio slobodu tiska, ustav i sl., što su obično zahtijevali takvi pokreti, nego jura municipalia. Taj je legitimizam neobično nadahnuo Kukuljevićev uporni rad – uvijek je bio pun inicijative kako bi stvorio Hrvatsku kao duhovni prostor. U njegovu opusu osobito su važnu ulogu imali životopisi književnika.Ivan Kukuljevic Sakcinski was educated in Vienna, being an officer of the Royal Hungarian Noblemen Guard set up by the Empress Maria Theresia. The officers were trained in military skills, but they also attended lessons in history, literature and geographics. He was admitted in this particular military unit by Count Janko Draskovic, the most distinguished aristocrat of Croatia and a personal friend by the Emperor Francis I. Kukuljevic was a low ranking nobleman as well. In Illyrism Kukuljević acted as assistant to Drašković, who headed a group of aristocrats in the Parliament. The Parliament was a traditional, not a democratic one. The Parliament struggled for the jura municipalia, not for constitutionalism, freedom of the press and free elections as the liberals did. This was the starting point for his vast body of research. In his research and publications Kukuljević created Croatia as a modern nation