Franjo Rački in “Memories of my Life” by Vatroslav Jagić

Jedan od najvećih slavista u povijesti te znanosti, Vatroslav Jagić (Varaždin, 6. srpnja 1838 - Beč, 5. kolovoza 1923), opisao je svoj život, prvo na njemačkom jeziku za austrijsku Akademiju, a zatim u proširenoj inačici za Srpsku kraljevsku akademiju, koju je, prema austrijskoj inačici, dovršio njegov zet, također poznati filolog, Milan Rešetar. Ta je srpska inačica objavljena pod naslovom Spomeni mojega života: prvi njezin dio izašao je 1930. i u njemu je Jagić opisao svoj život od 1838. do 1880., a drugi je izašao četiri godine kasnije (1934) i u njemu je opisan Jagićev život od 1880. do 1923. U «Spomenima» se spominju brojna imena značajnih ljudi iz hrvatske znanosti i politike, ali i iz javnoga života drugih zemalja, posebice slavenskih, a jedno od najčešće spominjanih osoba je prvi predsjednik Jugoslavenske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti i jedan od najvećih hrvatskih povjesničara - Franjo Rački (1828 – 1894). To je posve očekivano s obzirom na to da je Jagić bio među prvim akademicima (bio je najmlađi među njima, imao je samo 28 godina) i da je nakon jednog desetljeća rada na zagrebačkoj gimnaziji napustio Hrvatsku i napravio veliku sveučilišnu karijeru u Odesi, Berlinu, Petrogradu i Beču te se iz svih tih gradova dopisivao sa svojim predsjednikom pa Jagić ne samo da spominje ta pisma, nego ih često navodi u cjelini ili jako opširno. Iz te prepiske i Jagićevih komentara saznajemo mnogo zanimljivoga o dvije velike osobe hrvatske znanosti u 19. stoljeću.One of the most prominent Slavists in the history of philology, Vatroslav Jagić (Varaždin, 6th June 1838 – Vienna, 5th August 1923), wrote his biography first in German for the Austrian Academy and then as an extended version for the Serbian Royal Academy. The Austrian version was finished by his son-in-law Milan Rešetar, who was also a well known philologist. The Serbian version was published under the title Spomeni mojega života (Memories of My Life) and its first part, which describes Jagić’s life between 1838 and 1880, was published in 1930. The second part, Jagić’s life between 1880 and 1923, came out four years later, 1934. Memories of My Life mentions numerous renowned Croatian scientists and politicians, but also people from other countries’ public life, especially Slavic ones. One of the most frequently mentioned persons in Jagić’s memoirs is Franjo Rački (1828 – 1894), the first president of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts and one of the most renowned Croatian historians. This is not surprising since Jagić was among the first Croatian academicians and at the age of only 28 he was the youngest one too. After a decade of work at the Zagreb Gymnasium, he left Croatia and became a successful professor at the universities of Odessa, Berlin, Saint Petersburg and Vienna. He exchanged letters with Rački while living in all these cities, so Jagić not only mentioned the correspondence in his memoirs but often also quoted it, either fully or in great length. Those quotations give us a lot of interesting insight into these two prominent 19th-century Croatian scientists