Background
Philipp Friedrich von Rieger was born on December 18, 1818 at Semil in the circle of Jicin, Bohemia, Czech Republic.
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Philipp von Rieger Rieger
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He first came into prominence as one of the Czech leaders in the revolution of 1848. He was returned by seven constituencies to the Reichtstag at Vienna, where he was the leader of the Czech party. In 1858 he started the Slomik naucny, the Czech national encyclopaedia, the first volume of which was published in 1859, the 11th and last in 1874. After the issue of the "October diploma" of 1860, Rieger, with his father-in-law, Palacky, undertook the leadership of the reconstituted Czech party, and after the decision of this party in 1863 no longer to attend the Austrian Reichsrath, he led the agitation in favour of the restoration of the Bohemian kingdom. In 1871 he conducted the negotiations with the Hohenenwarth ministry for a federal constitution of the empire, which broke down owing to his extreme attitude in the matter of Bohemian independence. In March 1897 he was created a baron (Freiherr) and given a seat in the Upper House. He continued occasionally to interfere in politics.
Achievements
Politics
On the reappearance of the Czechs in the Bohemian diet (1878) and the Austrian Reichsrath (1879) Rieger was one of the leaders of the federalist majority supporting Count Taaffe's government and the chief of the so-called "Old Czechs. " On his seventieth birthday (December 10, 1888) he received a national gift ofgulden; but, in spite of this evidence of his popularity, his conservatism, his close connexion with the Bohemian nobility and his clerical tendencies brought him into conflict with the growing influence of the radical "Young Czech " party, and in 1891, together with the other "Old Czechs, " he was defeated at the poll.
Connections
In 1853 he married a daughter of the historian Palacky.
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Born
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Died
March 3, 1903 (aged 85) -
Nationality
Czech