Jan Erazim Vocel

• Name — Jan Erazim Vocel • Born — 23 August 1802 • Birthplace — Kutná Hora, Habsburg Monarchy • Place of death — Prague, Austria-Hungary • Education — Charles University University of Vienna • Occupation — Czech poet, archaeologist, historian and cultural revivalist • Years Active — 1820–1871 • Spouse — Barbora Jaroslava Vocelová, née Štětková (m. 1843–died 1846); Matylda Vocelová, née Hovorková (m. 1849–his death, 1871) • Children — Růžena Vocelová (c. 1844–1846) Jaromirz Vocel (*1850) Vojtěch Vocel (*1851) Adalbert Vocel (*1851) Ladislav Vocel (*1854) Ludmila Vocelová (*1860)

Vocel was born in Kutná Hora. At the age of 14, he moved to Prague to attend a Piarist college-preparatory high school. Concomitantly, he attended philosophy lectures at Charles University. Already by that time, he had begun writing fiction, of which efforts only two complete works survive—Krvočíše (Bloodshot), a romance about growing grapes in celebration of Charles IV (King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor), and Harp (1875), a tragedy. On graduating, Vocel departed from Prague to Vienna, where he studied philosophy and law. In order to support himself and assist his family, Vocel accepted tutoring appointments in various homes of the ancient Bohemian Czernin family and later of other noble families, e.g., the Harrach family, where he established himself as an abiding mentor to nascent businessman/arts patron Jan Harrach (1828–1909). On graduating from the University of Vienna, Vocel returned to Prague, where he helped to establish the Archaeological Society in 1843.

Vocel inadvertently pioneered a chemical method of determining the age of bronze objects. He published numerous scientific and historical-fiction books, including his two-part treatise Prehistory of the Czech Lands, which laid a foundation for scientific archeology in the country.